I'm a bit surprise there isn't an Artifact talk on here; I think. I didn't check much because my computer/internet isn't totally good...

I loved how Skyrim came out and it is currently my 2nd favorite Elder Scrolls (Behind Daggerfall) mainly because of artifacts. A few that are in-game were dissapointment while missing a lot of old favorites that been in the series.

One Artifact that is in the game that was truly a dissapointment is the Skull of Corruption. This was one of my favorite staves to mess around with, specially in Oblivion. My only question is, did Bethesda not have enough time to make the scripts or is it impossible to make the scripts again? Another artifact I kinda was upset about was Keening. I am glad to see it has returned but I'm upset, and I bet people out there will agree, that Sunder didn't came back. When I first got Keening, I begun searching for Sunder because duel-wielding them was a big thing I wanted to do in Morrowind and was hoping to do it in Skyrim but sadly, it didn't seem to came through. By the way, How can you even wield Keening in Skyrim without Wraithguard? I never figured that one out.

As for missing artifacts; there isn't many that wasn't in Skyrim that I was hoping for. The main Artifact that I was hoping to return was Chrysamere. That was my all-time-favorite one of all of them. Used it in Arena, Daggerfall, and Morrowind. Wasn't in Oblivion, and I couldn't get any mods that adds it because I have Oblivion (And Skyrim) for Xbox (They don't work on my PC). I do understand why it didn't came back; it would've require a lot of scripting and work to do. I'm just a little upset that it didn't, I guess.

Well... These are the main Artifacts I was dissapointed over.

Well, as far as Keening not hurting you, it is possible that because the heart which it was created to manipulate has been freed and because such a long time has passed that it has lost (some of) its original potency.
The person you get it for is surprised that you can handle it without injury though, so maybe its a dragonborn thing.

He actually uses Keening as well so it might be the whole 'over-time' thing.

Im more disappointed that they arent uber powerful. Like Umbra, that sword kicked ass. The Rueful Axe is a POS compared to it. That and the Sanquine Rose still only summoning a pathetic Daedra. No special effect there...

LOL. Sanquine Rose summons a VERY POWERFUL Dremora Valkynaz (always with Daedric Claymore) for me. I think that summon is base on your level. I gave this to my follower so he summons a Dremora Valkynaz while I summon two Dremora Lords =D

Chrysamere has better stats than Umbra and it can heals whoever has it. That sword is actually better than Daedric Claymores, I think.

I'm not surprise Umbra is gone and I wont expect it ever to come back, unless Bethesda wanna make C. Vile that unlucky.