Headscratchers / The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim 5

• The Main Quest, Dragons and being Dovahkiin
• Major questlines: Companions, College of Winterhold, Thieves' Guild, Civil War
• Other side quests
• The Aedra, Daedra, creatures and people encountered
• The Thu'um and Magic
• The DLCs: Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn (you are here)
• Lore and History of the Elder Scrolls
• The meta: questions about gameplay mechanics

Dawnguard

Elder Scrolls in Dawnguard

• So why does the Dawnguard Quest Line make you look for the Dragon Elder Scroll? (The one from the Skyrim Main Quests). You never get to read it, it has no bearing on the prophecy of the Tyranny of the Sun, despite what the Moth Priest says. Only the "Blood" Elder Scroll is really needed, yet the game has you search for both.
  • Check again when you read the Elder Scrolls where Dexion sends you. What makes sense more, picking up and reading a single Elder Scroll multiple times? Or reading the ones you have brought with you? You read the scrolls.
  • As for bearing on the Tyranny prophecy-information on the Dragonborn is probably in the Dragon Scroll, yes? The Dragonborn is one of the most important, if not the most important, figures in the prophecy. He's the one who retrieves the bow and either uses it to blacken the sun or slay the elder vampire.
  • If you pay attention during the quest, you draw and read three different Scrolls to get the vision: Dexion's Scroll, the Dragon Scroll, and the Blood Scroll. So yes, you need all three Scrolls to get the vision.

Vampire eyes in Dawnguard

• Dawnguard gives all vampires glowing eyes, yet people no longer recognize vampires on sight unless you morph into a Vampire Lord. Yet Serana's conversations when freed (That the fact she's a vampire should be obvious to the eye) makes it clear that people should recognize vampires on sight... So the glowing eyes aren't a case of Gameplay and Story Segregation. So this begs the question then: Why are people so cool with Vampires suddenly? Doesn't seem like the kind of thing Nords (Who barely tolerate mages) would be very receptive towards.
  • Maybe there's some other way (that you just never explicitly see) to get glowing eyes that wasn't around in Serana's time? Leaving aside such musings, this does seem rather odd, from a story perspective — the Nords didn't exactly seem much more inclined to tolerate vampires than the Dunmer of Morrowind was before Dawnguard was installed (the modern-day Volkihar curse just gives Skyrim's vampires a better ability to hide amongst the living than the Aundae/Berne/Quarra-variant vampires).
  • It is possible that the glowing eyes are not something that ordinary people can see. Being Dragonborn, you kind of have an Aedric soul that lets you see things that ordinary people can't, which is why I believe no one ever reacts to the Dragonborn when s/he's at a Word Wall; you're seeing the light streaming off the wall and hearing the Nord choir, but no one else sees it. The vampire glowey-eye thing might be similar; perhaps the power of Molag Bal in their blood comes out as something you can readily identify, but that the average person can't see, just like how the dragons can tell just by looking at you that you're Dragonborn while ordinary mortals don't know what you are.
  • Check out some of the crazy eye colors you have available in the standard character creation layout. Human characters can have red eyes, perpetually bloodshot eyes, blank white eyes, silver eyes, and black-on-black eyes. No NPC ever comments on these decidedly bizarre eye colors, so why would glowing yellow eyes put anyone off?
  • There seems to be some inconsistency with even the Dawnguard and their ability to spot vampires- if you walk in as a vampire they will recruit you as normal, with Isran not even catching on until the intense sunlight trap after recruiting Gunmar reveals you- in which case he tells you to get cured(assuming your turn has been due to an accidental encounter beyond your control) before proceeding. However if you deliberately contract vampirism, Isran will spot it the second yoo talk to him and demand you get cured.

Isran's anti-vampire attitude

• Isran's rabidly anti-vampire attitude doesn't make much sense if he knows that vampirism can be cured. It's pretty clear he would prefer to wipe them all out indiscriminately. Now obviously there are a lot of vampires who embrace their curse and will happily maim and kill and so on just because they can. But statistically some of the people with vampirism would probably love to be cured. I don't expect Isran to stand outside a vampire fortress and shout "Come on out! We can cure you!" or anything like that, but his extremely hard-line stance just seems odd if he knows there is a cure.
  • A quote from Vampires of Vvardenfell, Volume II may explain part of the logic: "Since the disease is infallibly cured if treated within three days, failure to treat oneself after an encounter with a vampire would be considered a deliberate attempt to contract the disease, and a mark of monstrous depravity". In other words, Isran may be of the opinion that the vampiric populace that'd love to be cured would be statistically negligible (as those that would lack the opportunity to be cured during the incubation phase would tend to be those cut off from civilization - in other words, liable to become feral and therefore not seek out the cure either). One may argue about the logic of this, especially given vampiric powers of entrancement, but there is precedent for his stance from anti-vampiric groups.
    • One point to note about this is that some people may not be aware of the 3 day time limit, how to cure themselves or may have even overlooked that they were bitten/infected(in fact most infections in Oblivion and Skyrim happen during combat, apparently the lore even regards combat as a way to spread the disease as well, not simply being bitten).
  • While there are cures, they are extremely difficult to obtain once you've actually progressed to true vampirism. One group of vampires went to Clavicus Vile for a cure (bad idea, really, but they apparently had no other choice) and the only surefire cure that doesn't involve drinking werewolf blood (which is a Companions secret) is an obscure mage in Morthal, who doesn't openly advertise his particular services in that department. So while Isran's aware that there is a cure, it is very difficult to acquire, if at all, which makes his hardline stance against vampires who allow their disease to progress past the point that it can be easily cured more reasonable. If you're infected, and you don't want to become a vampire, you've got to get cured quickly, and the ease of curing the disease (essentially just find a shrine to any deity and pray to them) would further support the idea that anyone who doesn't cure it wants to be a vampire. Also, Isran's an extremist vampire-hater, and by definition extremists hold....extreme views.
    • While the cure in Skyrim is much easier than it was in Oblivion, as noted above, it's not particularly advertised openly(though you can still learn of it even without Dawnguard installed) and it is rather likely that the easy instant cure from Deepscorn Hollow was never a revealed secret(not that traveling to the south end of Cyrodiil is even remotely viable due to the border being closed, even if it was known about).
  • (OP here) "the only surefire cure...is an obscure mage in Morthal, who doesn't openly advertise his particular services in that department" That's just it. If you have vampirism when you enter the Dawnguard HQ Isran tells you to go see that mage to get a cure. This is what I meant when I said his attitude doesn't make sense. Most of the time he acts like he would happily massacre every vampire in the world, whether they embrace evil or not. But if you walk into his home with glowing yellow vampire eyes he's like "No biggie. I know a guy in Morthal who can take care of that."
    • Isran offers an alternative because you've shown, by peacefully contacting the Danwguard, that you are willing to seek a cure (or die trying). Most Vampires don't look for a cure, most are outright predatorial. One can assume that, whenever Isran gets an inkling that a Vampire may seek a cure or be opened to it, he'll rather point them towards it like he did you.
    • Isran is also part of a vampire-hunting group - in other words, a group who includes members who will be engaging in combat with vampires, and as a result get infected with vampirism. Since the battlefield is unpredictable and a vampire hunter may not be realistically able to get to a healer who can cure them of the disease in time (since realistically, travel across a province takes weeks or months), Isran needs to consider the genuine possibility that a vampire hunter might be turned into a vampire. He's thus open to the idea that a Dawnguard member or potential dawnguard member might have become a vampire and need to be cured, and also that if someone has become a vampire and wants to be cured, they might seek out the Dawnguard for a solution. In any of those cases, Isran needs to be open to the idea of pointing them toward a cure.
    • That and the vampirism you're most likely to contract during the Dawnguard questline is immediate onset and is only one of two options available to you to enter the Soul Cairn which is a good extinuating circumstance (the other option weakens you making you less likely to accomplish what you need to while you're in there.) Regarding the "only surefire cure", it requires a black soul gem, which requires the sacrifice and imprisonment of a humanoid soul, something Isran probably thinks is morally abhorrent to do for the redemption of a vampire given that most vampires choose vampirism. Probably the only workaround in his eyes would be to charge the soul gem with an unrepentant vampire's soul (if that even works). Then there's the fact that every single vampire aside from Serana is a nakedly evil blood-sucking monster. That can tend to color one's perspective.
  • By the way: many intense anti-whatever crusades do not make much sense logically, since the respective problems could be solved in a maybe a tad more complicated but decidedly more happy way, yet they happen all the time around you.
  • According to the Prima strategy guide, vampires killed his family, and his actions are more driven by his Roaring Rampage of Revenge than the desire to protect people. It also notes that pretty much the same thing happened to Gunmar, whose reaction was the opposite of Isran's - Gunmar devoted his life to protecting others so that they wouldn't suffer what he went through.

The Tyranny of the Sun prophecy

• So in Dawnguard, Vyrthur says he created the prophecy of the Tyranny of the Sun. Yet the Prophecy was written inside two Elder Scrolls. How the heck did he manage to put his prophecy there? Considering the things are so powerful they can counter the curse of a Daedric Prince? It'd be one thing if he said he had found about it and put the word out so Harkon would know about it, but he instead says he created it. How? And while at it, why even bother? All he needed was the blood of a daughter of Coldharbour... So in the several ages he's been waiting, why didn't he just try and make one? Convince some poor girl to give herself to Molag Bal so he can take her blood and use the bow that is literally right on his front porch to finish his own prophecy.
  • The Elder Scrolls are magic. If a prophecy is exists, and true, chances are, it'll be there as soon as it's created. If it's not true, it might still get in there by causing enough influence that it is important. Basically, the Elder Scrolls are a wiki, moderated by the Aedra.
  • The bow isn't always right on his front porch. The Eternal Champion, the Agent and the Nerevarine all potentially could have found Auriel's Bow, and only one of them might have done so in Skyrim.
    • And all three of them account for less than 34 years of time, so what about the rest of the several millenias? What about the recent years, Vyrthur's brother makes it clear the bow's been in his possession for a long time when he meets the Dovahkiin, as there's been several before who came to him to claim it and failed. Gelebor outright says he's had the bow for thousands of years^Quote "For the thousands of years I've served as the Chantry's sentinel, there hasn't been a single visitor here for any other reason. They request Auriel's Bow, and I request their assistance. It's been repeated so many times, I can't imagine it any other way.": it's the only reason anyone visits. Seems pretty clear that when the bow isn't moving to end in the hands of champions, it seems to default back to Gelebor's hands.
  • "It's all true. Even the false hoods. Especially the falsehoods." The Tyranny of the Sun appears on the Elder Scrolls because they predict Vyrthur creating the prophecy. But they're fragments, so all you see is the prophecy that he created, not that he created it. Would be my guess, at any rate. Also, trying to use Molag Bal to create a vampire specifically for your own agenda would probably piss Molag Bal off royally. He *hates* doing anything to satisfy the will of anyone but himself.
    • Considering his plan is to piss off Auri-El on purpose, I doubt Vyrthur gives much more of a damn about Molag Bal's feelings, especially when Molag Bal's ability to interfere in Mundus is more limited (thanks to the events of Oblivion) than that of Auri-El.
    • Assuming the method of creating a pureblood vampire is to be taken literally, i.e., being raped by Molag Bal, then making one pre-oblivion would have required summoning Molag to the mortal plane(or traveling to Oblivion to do it), and post-Oblivion, may be impossible or at least obscenely difficult. And, either way, puts you in direct contact with Molag Bal, which is bad. One can't very well spite Auri-El if one is being tortured by the King of Rape.
  • Vyrthur created the Tyranny of the Sun by simply writing it down and then arranging for people to believe in it. He didn't need to go any further, since the Elder Scrolls record everything. As for gaining the blood of a Daughter of Coldharbour, they aren't terribly common and he's obviously not willing to risk going to war against vampire clans to find one he can capture, when instead he can lure one into the heart of his power so he can capture her. Considering that he also hates Molag Bal and the curse that was forced on him, it's unlikely that he would be able to create the ritual to make a Daughter of Coldharbour. Catching the direct attention of Molag Bal is a Bad Idea, even more so when it's obvious your intent is to use the ritual to your own ends, rather than as a means to submit to him. Mannimarco tried that, and it ended badly for him.

Blocking the sun to piss off Auri-El

• Why would blocking out the sun be an insult to Auri-El? According to lore, the sun was created when Magnus tried to withdraw from creation. That's why the sun is itself sometimes called Magnus. And it's not an elven thing, according to the Monomyth, the elves do believe in Magnus.
  • The sun may have been made by Magnus, and the magicka that flows through it from Aetherius is sort of Magnus' sphere (unknown how important that is, because we don't know how badly fleeing Mundus weakened Magnus), but he sun itself, and its influence on Nirn, is Auri-El's sphere.
    • Well, he wanted to not only blot out the sun, but to desecrate the bow with the blood of a Daughter of Coldharbour, a vampire. Maybe the Bow is connected to Auri-El, and if the Bow was completely defiled, it probably could affect Auri-El himself.
    • Auri-El both is and isn't Akatosh, Alduin, Alkosh and several others. The Elder Scrolls gods are extremely confusing. Likewise, literally anything to do with them is extremely confusing. Just because you're trying to piss off Auri-El doesn't mean you won't either piss of some other aspect or not piss him off.
  • The Sun was a Major Thing for the older elven civilizations back when Vyrthur was still breathing and not all vampire-y, and it's still a big thing for them now. In addition, Auri-El ascended to the heavens through the Sun after he defeated Lorkhan, according to elven myth, so he is indeed directly connected to the Sun, and a major part of Falmer belief was that they wanted to follow Auri-El into the heavens, which, you guessed it, involved traveling through the Sun.
  • The vampires aren't trying to block the sun to piss off Auri-El, they're doing it so they can walk outside without getting microwaved. Because, you know, vampires.
    • Arch-Curate Vythr is the one trying to block the sun to piss off Auri-El. And he is a vampire, and doing it out of spite to his former god for abandoning him.

How long was Serana trapped?

• Do we have any idea how long Serana has been sealed away in that underground container?
  • There's a few clues dropped: She doesn't know of an empire out of Cyrodill, she mentions fighting Draugr when she was younger, she shows no familiarity with the term "Dawnguard". We know the original Dawnguard was formed in the 2nd era, though not exactly when, so her sealing must either predate them, or have occurred long after the order was disbanded. Her lack of familiarity with an empire in Cyrodill means she either predates the first empire out of there (The Alessian Empire) or she lived during the 300 or so years between the end of the Akaviri Potentate and the rise of the Septim Empire in the 2nd era. The fact that she shows no surprise at seeing Dark Elves (The Chimer became Dunmer after the rise of St Alessia) makes it more likely she comes from the 2nd era, between 2E 430 (Death of the last potentate) and 2E 897 (Unification of Tamriel and beginning of the Third Era by Tiber Septim's decree).
  • We know Serana's mother took one of the Elder Scrolls and hid in the Soul Cairn. Durnehviir mentions coming to the Soul Cairn looking for power to overthrow other dragons. This has to have happened after Serana's mom was there because of the deal that was struck. "You work for us until that woman dies." This suggests that all this stuff happened back when the dragons were the ones ruling the planet.
    • Though Dragons still existed by the time of Tiber Septim (See Nafaalilargus, featured in Redguard and mentioned by Sven in Skyrim), it is possible that Durnehviir entered the soul cairn in the 2nd era while dragons were still not quite near extinct. As several dragons beside Paarthunax survived into the modern era (like Mirmulnir, who according to the Blades' own records was "known to be alive" by them, therefore most likely has survived till you kill him), it's possible Durnehviir's conflict and reason for going to the Soul Cairn was not to overthrow Alduin and his ilk, but wrestling for power amongst the dragons who survived the rebellion and the later Blades' onslaught. Which can fit both time frames.
    • There is also the possibility that Durnehviir's coming to the Soul Cairn far predates Valerica's arrival and his deal with the Ideal Masters. He mentions he can't risk leaving it now for too long because he's been there for so long, and the Soul Cairn is a part of him. Valerica, on the other hand, has no such limitations as she can be convinced to leave. And since she says that the Dragonborn has also taken a small part of the Soul Cairn in themselves, clearly humanoids are not immune to the effects of the Soul Cairn (ie: It's not a Dragon-only thing).
    • Valerica mentions several books having been written on Durnehviir's soul cairn-based immortality (His ability to rebuild himself), showing that his arrival there does predate hers. Furthermore, with Valerica is a copy of Immortal Blood. Since she can't leave, and no one can reach her to give her the book, it stands to reason she brought it with her. This gives us another clue for time since Immortal Blood mentions the Fighters Guild, which was founded in in 2E 320 by Akaviri potentate Versidue-Shaie. With the above, that seems to further cement Serana's date of emprisonment being the late 2nd era.
    • Alright, so if Durnehviir came to the Soul Cairn before Valerica then what did he do there? He can't have made the deal with the Ideal Masters before Valerica arrived. Why would he stay if he could leave of his free will? Did he make another deal that didn't blow up in his face?
    • Maybe the Ideal Masters have some prophetic ability? They told him at some point a woman would come and he'd have to remain in the soul cairn till she died? And before then he was free to come and go? It's also possible they did have prior deals they did not welsh on, only to gain his trust.

How is Gelebor still alive?

• I don't mean having survived the fall of the Falmer, that's explained. But how is he not dead of old age? The fall of the Falmer was caused by Ysgramor, in the Merethic Era, and Gelebor was alive then. So how the hell is he not only still alive, but youthful? Elves aren't immortal. The Telvanni are young compared to this, and had to use magic to stay alive. Barenziah is considered old by the events of Morrowind, and she's not even 500 years old. Nurelion in Windhelm is apparently dying of old age, and he doesn't seem like he's from the Merethic era, or even the 2nd era. The Ayleid Tjurhane Fyrre lived 1E 2790 - 2E 227, again, not even half a millennium. And yet Gelebor is still kicking at over 4 thousand years of age. Is Auri-El keeping him alive? Coz Auri-El didn't seem to feel like extending that courtesy to the rest of his fellows guarding way shrines.
  • Well, Divayth Fyr did seem set to continue to live on despite being over four thousand years old, but he was, as you mention, using magic to do that, so not exactly comparable. Now, one of the few pieces we have on how long the races tends to live make clear that there is variance amongst the Mer races, but it seems odd that the Snow Elves would be such extreme outliers...
    • Keep in mind saying Gelebor is over 4500 years old is bare minimum. We don't have a date for the fall of the Falmer beside "Late Merethic Era"^Math Assuming it took place in the last century of the Merethic Era, He's 30 Centuries (first era) + 9 (Second Era) + 4 (Third Era) + 2 (Fourth Era) = 45 centuries. Odds are it took place slightly earlier however as King Harald in 1E 113 was 13th of Ysgramor's Line, which using 22 year as an average for a generation leads us to say Ysgramor must have been around roughly 300 years prior., and we don't even know how old he was when that happened. It's quite possible he makes Divayth Fyr look like a toddler in comparison. And Fyr is acknowledged to be ancient by Telvanni standard.
    • This troper is banking on him being a devoted faithful to Auri-El. Auri-El sustains him so that any who wish to prove themselves can prove themselves. And also because he is very likely the only living memory of the true Snow Elves, not the Falmer shadows. (Yes, this troper knows that Falmer means 'Snow Elves'. But I'm referring to pre-Dwemer) He is also the only guardian left of Auri-El's shrines and cathedral, even if the Falmer drove him out of it...He still is the only one who can even try to defend it from forces unwelcome all the time.
    • This theory makes sense, but only if you accept that the other Snow Elves that were guarding the shrines did not die of old age, since they were also faithful to Auri-El and all that. This being Skyrim though there are dozens of other ways for them to die.
    • Especially considering Auriel/Akatosh is the God of Time (if not Time itself). In other words, halting aging: little trouble. Halting a Falmer sword to the face...that's a different story. (And I'll admit it's been a while, but didn't they explicitly state they were killed in the Falmer's attack?)
  • Suddenly Brynjolf's spiel about "genuine Falmer blood elixir" making you live for "thousands of years" doubles in it's hilarity.

More Tyranny of the Sun questions

• So the Dawnguard DLC establishes that Vampires are affected by the sun because the Elder Scrolls placed some sort of "Tyranny of the Sun" curse on them. Why? Did the gods have something against vampires? I mean vampires can't be anymore "evil" or dangerous on the scale of things than dragons or giants are. Why single them out to be affected by the sun?
  • I'm pretty sure the "Tyranny of the Sun" is just Harkon's way of referring to how vampires in the Elder Scrolls verse are severely weakened in sunlight.
  • Vampirism was created by Molag Bal raping a mortal to death to create a giant "fuck you" to Arkay. Gee, I can't imagine what the gods would have against vampirism!
  • "Tyranny of the Sun" is just the name of the prophecy that Arch-Curate Vyrthur created to bring a Daughter of Coldharbour to him so he could use Auriel's Bow to blot out the sun. The name is pretty much a summation of his spite toward Auriel/Akatosh's perceived apathy toward his plight as a vampire.

Crossbows vs. vampires

• I've been wondering this for a while, and this has been a long time coming anyway, but since Skyrim shows the most recent example of it that I've seen: Why are crossbows said to be the most effective weapons against vampires? I haven't been able to ever find anything on it other than the FVZA page on it and I don't want to use just that source. Why crossbows? Several prominent works of fiction depict vampire hunters favoring crossbows (Van Helsing, Buffy, etc.) It could make sense I'm sure, bolts are similar to stakes and stakes kill vampires when shot into their hearts. Not everyone can hit the heart consistently when under pressure (when fighting a group of vampires), nor are they very fast when it comes to attacking (Yes they can save at least one bolt loaded and drawn back but that would only provide an advantage with the first shot and you'll end up with very slow reloads afterwards). Can anyone explain this to me? And I swear if it all ends up being just one big joke about vampires being weak against crosses I'm just going to feel silly.
  • Crossbows (the enhanced versions) can bypass armor, making them more devastating on the first strike, ostensibly allowing Dawnguard soldiers to take out a vampire in the first shot before they can use their powers? Crossbows are also (Historically) easier to use with minimal training unlike bows. So it allows one to attack vampires easily and fairly devastatingly while being out of range of their vampiric drain (which can infect one with vampirism).
  • Historically, crossbows were the go-to ranged weapon if you wanted to kill someone who was tough or armored. The bolts most crossbows and their ilk fired were also heavy; even if shield or armor stopped the bolt, the bolt was so heavy that it would impair movement if lodged in a shield or plating. They can also be fired very quickly once the bolt was cocked, which would be very useful when the traditionally ssuperhumanly-fast vampires suddenly appeared; it is much quicker to depress a trigger than to draw an arrow all the way back and release. As for Dawnguard and the crossbows in TES lore, the aforementioned point about their power is very relevant. The crossbow's raw power can kill a vampire before it even knows you're there, which is essential when dealing with beings that powerful and durable. The common theme with monster hunters across most fiction is "kill it first before it can kill you." The fact that TES vampires don't need to have stakes driven into their hearts or other such specific weaknesses helps too.
    • As an addendum to that, the Dawnguard favors weapons that are easy to pick up and gain a degree of effectiveness in. Hammer? Hit 'em with the big part. Axe? Probably most any child of Skyrim has had to swing one of those around a few times. Crossbow? Point and click, then reload.
  • In general, crossbows are simpler and more reliable than a bow. Bows require more training to be effective with, and lack consistency. A crossbow takes much less training to use as an individual, and can place bolts in very close proximity.

"Half-breed" vampires

• In Dawnguard, two vampire characters Valerica and Harkon snidely refer to a Dovahkiin vampire lord as a "half-breed vampire". Considering that the only way to become a vampire lord is through either Serana or Harkon, how exactly is that insult supposed to work?
  • Serana, Valerica and Harkon all became vampire lords because of something Molag Bal did. The Dovahkiin vampire lord became a vampire lord because one of the vampire lords made him or her one. In other words, it is about how you became a vampire lord.
    • How did Harkon becomes a vampire lord? Did Molag Bal raped him too? Serana only mentions her and her mother undergoing the ritual. If Harkon is indeed raped by Molag Bal, why can't he use his own blood?
    • It specifically states in-game that Harkon feared death, so he made a pact with Molag Bal, sacrificing a thousand innocents to the Daedric Prince in exchange for becoming a vampire lord.
  • If taking quests into account, it seems that the second-hand power the Dragonborn has as a vampire lord is less potent than that of a full-blooded one. The people turned by the Dragonborn all note feelings of sickness, but can go off on their own power. Whereas the bite from Harkon instantly knocked out and nearly killed someone as powerful as the player character. Even moreso, Harkon's bite is so potent that it can even overpower a werewolf's curse. Something that the Dragonborn can't replicate.
    • Vingalmo says that the alignment of the stars determine if one can be turned or not. So blood might have nothing to do with it than a sub-optimal stellar arrangement.

Serana and feeding

• How is it that Serana went so long without feeding with no adverse affects? Oblivion showed that just a few weeks without feeding was enough to drive vampires to madness with hunger- Serana went without blood for centuries.
  • Serana was kept in a magically-sealed container with the intent to keep her locked away for an extended period. She's essentially been in the vampire equivalent of suspended animation.
  • Serana's vampirism came directly from Molag Bal, which makes her inherently superior to all other vampires. Perhaps one of the additional blessings includes not requiring constant feeding to remain sane, which seems very likely considering her mother was just fine after centuries of isolation. Presumably, Serana could start feeding to gain some additional powers, but chooses not to either because she thinks the Dragonborn wouldn't approve (if Dawnguard) or because she isn't evil.
  • Another factor to consider is that what is true for one line of vampires is not necessarily true for another. There are literally hundreds of vampire lines, with each one having their own particular and unique characteristics. Some vampire lines don't even need to feed like other vampire lines do, they simply feed because it makes them stronger. The true, Molag Bal-created Vohlikar line is likely one of the latter types.

Soultrapping the Dragonborn

So Dragonborns have Dragon Souls. It's the whole point and the entire story revolves around this. And Dragons are immune to Soultrap from both regular soul gems, Black Soulgems, and even from Azura's Star / The Black Star. Yet Serana, with seemingly no difficulty, can partially soultrap the player in a black soulgem. She doesn't even mention it being harder than usual. Just bam, same special effect as when you soultrap anything (It doesn't even cause your soul to fly out of you like when one sucks out a dragon soul or Miraak's soul). So how does she do that? And furthermore, if one can just casually soul trap part of a dragon's soul in a black soul gem, then why is the Dragonborn needed at all? The Blades could just have used the process repeatedly on every dragon they met (Soultrapping their souls bit by bit till none's left). Alduin's shout ain't going to do anything if the Souls are stuck in soul gems. Why look for Reman and pledge undying loyalty to one dude?

• Several reasons why that would be a bad idea. 1: We don't even know if it would work. The Dragonborn may have the soul of a dragon, but they still have the body of a mortal, and that may or may not influence the outcome.
  • 2: Both times the Dragonborn has been soul-trapped, they did it willingly. A dragon is certainly not going to just stand there while you repeatedly cast soul-trap on it.
  • 3: Both times, the Dragonborn was soul-trapped while they were still alive, again because they did it willingly. Under normal circumstances, the victim must be dead.
  • 4: Even if, hypothetically, a dragon could be soul-trapped, the only thing that could possibly carry even a fragment of the soul would be a black soul gem. Or maybe even a colossal black soul gem (from Oblivion) could carry the entire soul. Several problems there.
    • A: Black soul gems are extremely illegal, and to carry one is to be branded a necromancer.
    • B: They're ridiculously rare, and there are thousands of dragons. Add in the fact that even the weakest dragon might need multiple soul gems, and there lies the problem.
    • C: Following up on the rarity, there are only two known ways to create black soul gems. The first is to take a grand soul gem (also ludicrously rare) to a shrine in Cyrodiil, wait for some celestial event that only happens every ten days, and cast soul trap on the shrine with the soul gem in it, which would take way too long and use up resources. The other is to offer a grand or greater soul gem at a shrine in the Soul Cairn. It should be obvious what's wrong with that scenario.
  • Serana trapped a little bit of your soul - even less than the whole of a regular mortal's soul - and fed it to the Soul Cairn immediately. She never actually put it in a gem - Soul Trap has limited duration; if she hadn't given it to the Soul Cairn, your soul would have stayed put. Perhaps you can't put fractions of souls into a soul gem, or perhaps dragon soul fragments are powerful enough to escape soul gems.
  • Its possible that the aedric protection granted to mortal souls(and by extension aedric souls like that of a dragons) that prevent them from being soul trapped only apply to having a soul stolen, not one willingly given, which is how daedra can claim the souls of there mortal servants, its likely a similar process is how Durnehviir was brought to the soul cairne, the ideal masters had claim of his soul thus making him partially dead, which would also explain why he did not simply renage on the deal when he realised he had been tricked

Serana's Outfit

• If Serana wears the hood to protect herself from the sun, even though the sun doesn't kill vampires outright (just weakens them), then logically she'd want to protect ALL of her skin. So what's up with the Cleavage Window? I want to say it's just because it's supposed to be sexy, but given her personality and also the fact that it's not even a big one, I don't think that's the case.
  • Clothing can't protect vampires from the sunlight. If you are a vampire you'll be weak to sunlight no matter what clothes you wear. Serana's hood is most likely to protect her eyes from the bright light. She has been locked up in a cave for a few thousand years, after all. They're bound to be a little sensitive.
  • It's there because she doesn't like the sun. She continues to wear the hood even after becoming human. She just doesn't like the light in her eyes.

Harkon just lets Serana go?

So, if you reject Harkon's offer of vampirism, he lets you go, you head back to Castle Dawnguard, and Serana shows up, elder scroll in hand. Harkon's been waiting/searching for hundreds/thousands of years for her and that scroll, and he just lets her waltz right out the door with it and walk right into the lair of his sworn enemies?

• Aside from Serana being familiar enough with the castle to slip out of the grounds - she's apparently very familiar with the layout of the tunnels and cisterns - she's also hostile to Harkon's vampires, and his vamps will attack her as well. That alone is a pretty strong indicator that Serana probably whacked a few guys on the way out.

So phase 2 of Harkon plan is?

• So let's say Harkon succeeds in his plan to permanently block out the sun and can stay outside as long as he wants. This will make him more powerful when attempting to overthrow all humans and turn them into good yes but.....assuming there was no Dragonborn to stop him, how's he gonna deal with Alduin? Or any of the dragons of which just one would be enough to level entire towns? It's pretty doubtful perpetual darkness would help that much against an immortal creature that's as big as a building and knows all sorts of destructive abilities.
  • Its not even clear if he even knew that dragons were really a thing to begin with. Also keep in mind that Harkon is powerful enough that he could kill most dragons by himself - even more so with a vampire army backing him. Plus he has no idea that Alduin's returning (not even the Thalmor know what's going on in that regard) nor does he know that a dragonborn is required to defeat Alduin.
  • That would've made for one hell of a Did Not Think This Through and Oh, Crap! moment, though. Accomplish your dreams, then watch as Alduin and his dragons burn it all down.
  • Harkon would be far from the first villain to not think through And Then What? Evil is usually pretty short-sighted.
• Valerica actually provides some insight into the fact that Harkon isn't thinking everything through. She clearly states that Harkon's plan is doomed to failure: Even if he succeeds in blotting out the sun, it wouldn't be the "glorious age" of vampirism that he thinks would happen. Instead, it would turn a worried but otherwise apathetic populace against Harkon en masse, and he would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Also, Harkon would have to somehow imprison Serana and/or Valerica alive, as the effect only lasts one day and would have to be repeated every day.
  • Yeah, his goals quickly went from 'make us stronger' to 'power at all costs'. He went off the deep end pretty quickly and despite a relatively charming demeanor has zero foresight beyond his lust for domination over others. Him and Bal are a perfect fit.
    • About his having to imprison Valerica or Serana to bleed on arrows all day, I was under the impression that the only reason the "block out the sun" effect only lasts for a day is because Serana is bleeding on the arrows and not the bow itself. Also pretty sure Harkon was set on killing her to taint the bow. That part of the plan might have worked.
  • Also note that this is consistent with how the other vampires behave. They're fine with you taking over as Lord of the Clan after killing Harkon. If Harkon was a rational leader capable of coming up with well thought out plans, you'd think there would be more concern about this upstart vampire killing him and taking his place. But no, that's business as usual.
  • Miraak does indicate in certain dialog trees(depending on player progress) that he is capable of dealing with Alduin, which could potentially be an option should no other Dragonborn be available, so there's that.
• Forget Alduin and the pissed off people of Skyrim. The sun is a vital part of what makes Earth (or Mundus) fit for life, so losing the Sun could potentially end all life on the planet. Which wouldn't be a problem for Harkon and the vampires... if they didn't depend on living people and animals and their blood to survive. The "age of vampirism" would be very short, ending with all bloodsuckers eventually dying of starvation.

Escorting Serana home

• Apologies if this has already been asked elsewhere (if it is, I couldn't find it). In the Dawnguard expansion, you join an order of vampire hunters, walk into a crypt killing vampires left and right, open up an ancient casket to reveal another vampire, and... escort her home after some polite conversation. What?
  • Sounds like you're forgetting the whole reason why you're in the crypt in the first place. Isran sent you to find out what the vampires wanted with Serana. Serana's being quiet on why she's carrying an Elder Scroll and why the vampires want her, but she's also presenting you with an opportunity to find out more by effectively taking you into her clan's lair. The best possible way to get further information at this point is to go with her, not kill an otherwise quite friendly and non-hostile vampire outright.
    • Mission: Find out what the vampires want in Dimhollow Crypt. Hey, it looks like they want this chick with an Elder Scroll! Mission accomplished! I will now proceed to give them exactly what they want. Yeah, that makes sense.
    • Except, no, you didn't find what the vampires were after. All you found were more questions. You found a chick with an Elder Scroll but nothing more than that. Its not even clear when you meet Serana that she's even with the vampires that attacked the crypt or the Hall of the Vigilant. The only way to really find out the vampire's reasons for going after Serana are to follow her home and gather more information.
    • You can go back to Isran with Serana in tow and he tells you to take her to where she wants to go. He's extremely reluctant, but mentions that for all he knows she's just a part of it rather than the key.
    • Isran will actually explicitly order you to take her back to her home, even if you tell him she's a vampire, because they don't know what's going on and this is the quickest way to figure out what they're up to.

Why is the Dawnguard so small?

• Alright so when first get the mission to recruit old associates of Isran for the Dawnguard, he mentions that they have to keep their numbers down so the vampires can't track them down. Fair enough. But literally as you get there after leaving Harkon's Castle, vampires are attacking them, meaning that the vampires already know they're there. Not only that, but they also have a way to tell who is and isn't a vampire (the bright light thing in the entry of the fort). So why doesn't he just mass recruit an army instead of three extra guys? Isn't it a little late for stealth?
  • For one, let's be fair. The whole "Dawnguard" thing sounds a bit mental. He's sending you to recruit people he knows are aware of the vampire threat. Mass recruiting would most likely be met with a large number of semi-derisive snorts and comments.
  • By the end of the Dawnguard questline, you have 17 people hanging out there (including Gunmar, Sorine and Florentius). By Skyrim standards, that is an army.
  • The Dawnguard is pretty much an army by the end of the questline, it's just that because of engine limitations you only see the core membership of the organization. Realistically, there's probably hundreds of Dawnguard troops.

Hearthfire

Player Built Houses

• Why are the player built houses so unsafe? All of them are located near something hostile, like bandits or a Nordic Barrow. Windstad is the worse, since it has two pirate ships nearby, two Nordic Barrows, and a hideout for the Dark Brotherhood nearby. Lakeview has necromancers and bandits for neighbors, with the bandits only a few feet from you. Heljarchen Hall is the least worst, but it still puts you next to two giant camps, a Nordic Barrow, and a Dwarven Ruin. Are these spots the only ones left because everyone knew they were unsafe to live, or are the jarls just messing with you?
  • You're in Skyrim. There's really nowhere safe that doesn't have a wall around it. All the truly safe areas have already been settled and secured by large numbers of people, or at least a decent-sized village. Anywhere else is wilderness.
  • Perhaps they know you're no normal adventurer. Those pirates, draugr, and giants might pose a threat to other people, but you? You kill dragons and eat their souls for breakfast. In fact that's probably why they make the offer specifically to you, even to the point of hiring a courier to literally track you across the country to let you know about it. Hell, they might even be using you as a kind of informal security measure. Sell you a plot out in a nearby dangerous area and all those nasty things will throw themselves at you instead of the town.
    • To buy and own property, you need to become a noble. At that point, I suspect that you're expected to be able to protect you and yours.
    • But even before you can buy a property the Jarls of the smaller holds will still send out letters specifically offering you the property. And those letters will find you even if you're hundreds of miles away or smack in the middle of nowhere. They want YOU living on their land.
    • Only the Jarl of Falkreath does that, and you can only buy the land after you clear a whole bandit base. Something that you presumably routinely do at that point in the game. Likely as motivation for you to stay and kill more bandits in his hold, or at least the ones refusing to pay him money.
    • Fair point, I was wrong about that. However the point still stands. Once you reach a certain level (the Elder Scrolls wiki says it's level 9) the Jarl of Falkreath will track you from one side of Skyrim to the other just to let you know the property is available. Now obviously he still requires you to pass a test, pay the fee, and become ennobled, but those are just formalities. At the end of the day, HE was the one who tracked YOU down. The other Jarls may not go to the trouble of tracking you across the country, but consider what you have to do to gain their favor. Wiping out a vampire lair and clearing out a temple of Vaermina worshippers can't possibly be the standard tests to become a minor noble in Skyrim. That's like making someone win a wrestling match with a grizzly bear before they can become an alderman. Nobody would bother applying. I submit that the Jarls can tell at a glance that you're not just some schmuck with a sword. So they tailor the test to fit your obvious Badassitude, and they offer you those plots of land in dangerous locations (where bandits, giants, and saber cats are known to wander freely) because they know you can handle it. You might even solve their bandit/giant/saber cat problem while you're out there.
  • Hell, in order to get the Morthal and Dawnstar properties, you have to wipe out a vampire lair and clear an entire temple of Orcs/Vaerminia worshippers, respectively, which proves to the Jarls that you're pretty damned badass to begin with.
  • There's a reason the land for each respective house was unowned until you came along. Most normal citizens wouldn't either couldn't afford the price or didn't want the trouble and risk. You, being the Dragonborn, see this plot of the land, surrounded by dangers, and think it would be a perfect place to build a house.
  • Even if the Dragonborn is easily capable of taking care of himself when living in the wilderness things can not be said for the Dragonborn's family as most player's Dragonborn would spend most of their time adventuring rather than staying at homesteads and in a position to protect the family. Having the bedroom wing is now pretty much pointless if you are not going to have your family living with you. Why can't you build a palisade or hire guards?
    • Its actually kind of consistent with the rest of the homesteads outside the hold walls that there's no wall surrounding the player homes. If you look at just about every other farm, home, and hamlet in the game, none of them have any kind of defensive walls, and what guards there are tend to be hold soldiers. The obvious answer is that people in Skyrim are tough, expected to be tough, and can take care of themselves.
    • You received a housecarl, if they are not out following you they will patrol the area. You also can have another follower as steward and they will hang around outside a couple of hours every day.
    • In theory, you could have at least five defenders at your homestead at once (this troper is currently unsure if Barbas the talking dog stays at your homestead if you decide to keep him): the spouse (if they're also a capable fighter, such as Lydia), the housecarl assigned to you who will stay at the homestead if they're not following you, your steward, a follower who can't stay at the homestead permanently due to not being available for marriage or stewardship, and of course the Dragonborn themselves. And that's not counting familiars, wild beasts recruited with the Animal Allegiance shout, and Odahviing. The only ones who can't conceivably defend your homestead are adopted children. Considering that just you can your one follower can practically rip through a dragon like paper by the time you can even get a homestead, at least five defenders with proper equipment will make short work of simple bandits.
  • After I handed them better gear, my housecarl and steward became perfectly capable of murdering giants without my help. Your houses are fine.

Bedrooms Layout

• Okay, I don't mean to sound perverted, but in Hearthfire, one of the wings you can build is the Bedrooms. This includes a full-sized bed for the Dragonborn and their spouse, as well as two beds for their children. But it's all one big room. The master bedroom and childrens' room aren't seperated. This is kind of impractical, because what if the Dragonborn and their spouse wanted to... um... have some alone time?
  • That... honestly sounds like a horrible idea. I suppose it might make sense historically, because there literally were houses that only had one room. Granted, those tended to be hovels, and nothing like the mansion you designed yourself. Either it might be to share body heat when it's really cold. Or additionally, the Dragonborn is being genre-savvy; kidnappers taking the children at night while he/she sleeps (as relatives of famous figures like the dragonborn tend to be) would be far less successful if the kids were in the same room. As for the... alone time, the Dragonborn could make up some chore or arrange a playdate to keep the kids out of the house for long enough, or that the bed is strictly for sleeping and other rooms/furniture are used for intimate actions at night.
  • If they want to have alone time they can just kick the kids out for a bit. Not to mention that a lot of houses in the game are one or two-room homes where the kids sleep in sight of the parents, so its obviously not that much of a problem for other people around the continent.
  • Easy.
  Dovahkiin: Hey kids, Mommy/Daddy and I thought you two wanted to get out of the house for a bit, so we arranged for Housecarl Lydia to take you to [nearby town] to look at the sweetrolls and other stuff they may have for sale. Here's 100 gold each. Spend wisely!
  • At the risk of invoking the Squick, I distinctly recall from my college days a professor telling me that families in the past would often sleep in the same room, or even the same bed, and the children would witness their parents making love to one another at night. So...yeah.
  • While it takes some artistic license with history, Vikings tackles this with the "kick the kids out of the room" option; when the main character's brother comes over for a visit, he finds his nephew sitting outside his house. When he asks his nephew where his parents are, the boy responds, rather awkwardly, "They're having sex." But yea, not an insurmountable problem, is the point here.
  • Also in the player build houses, regardless of what you build there is always another double bed, upstairs on the right side, maybe the bedrooms one is like it was said, on the colder nights to keep more bodies in one room, and the upstairs one is the regular marital bed.

Did Rochelle forget what the plan was?

• So Rochelle the Red gets the idea to kidnap the last dragonborn's spouse and hold them for ransom. I can think of a thousand reasons why that's a bad idea, but I've already accepted that the bandit leader is monumentally stupid. What really strikes me as odd is that she just attacks the last dragonborn on sight, not even attempting to make the trade. Is she just so stupid that she can't even remember her own idiotic plan?
  • Well, what may have happened was that she simply had no idea who she was pissing off, so when the Dragonborn walked into her lair, she saw him/her, had an Oh, Crap! moment and relied on her survival instincts. If you're a bandit and you see a man/woman walking into your lair armed with enchanted dragon/daedric armor, you're not going to think they're here to barter with you or reason with you. You are going to (rightfully so) think they're here to kill you. Granted she probably could've done better had she at least tried to reason with the Dragonborn first, but can we really fault her for assuming the worst?
  • Another possibility is that sometime between kidnapping the Dragonborn's spouse and your arrival, she's come to the horrible realization of just what she's done and knows that right now, a walking apocalypse is headed her way. So she panics and starts swinging when you step through.

Dragonborn

Miraak and dragon priest outfits

• So why is the First Dragonborn so out of Dragon Priest uniform?
  • Since it hasn't been released yet I can only speculate, but something tells me that he does not particularly like serving Dragons any more.
  • If that's the only reason, he shouldn't be wearing his old mask either.
    • But the masks have power, and that's presumably something he does like.
    • So do the robes.
    • Considering that you can't loot any robes from the other priests, let alone anything powered, that's doubtful.
    • Considering that even run-of-the-mill training clothes given to apprentices is powered, I'd say that it is. Also notice that they're awesome shape in spite of being buried with their now decayed wearers for untold centuries. Also, there are lots of things in the game that are magical that you cant loot.
    • Draugr armor is in fantastic shape too, but anyway, you're missing the point: that's not even dragon priest apparel.
    • No it isn't. It's rusted and falling apart in various places.
    • For armor that's been sitting around, unmaintained, for thousands of years, that is being in fantastic shape.
    • Also, who's to say it's his old mask; it's very different from all the others. Rumours abound that there is more to this villain than a Dragonborn/Priest combo.
    • His new outfit is also specifically designed for fighting dragons, with the exception of his mask.
  • I think it's safe to assume that when the other dragon priests found out Miraak was murdering dragons and eating their souls, they had him defrocked and took away his holy vestments. Also, Miraak's mask probably isn't the same mask he would have worn as a dragon priest (if he even had a mask back then; not all the dragon priests got one apparently). If you look close you can see that his mask shares the same "tentacle" theme as his sword and staff. So Hermaeus Mora probably gave him all three.

Lack of pre-existing lore about Miraak

The dragonborn dlc which revisited Solstheim suddenly revealed existence of Miraak, yet in the Morrowind DLC Bloodmoon there was virtually nothing that alluded to the existence of a Dragonborn priest who once ruled Solstheim in the ancient past.

• And? There wasn't a lot of lore about Alduin or the Dragonborn before Skyrim either, and Miraak existed back in the Mythic Era, where the records of entire wars and civilizations were lost. Its not surprising that there wouldn't be a lot of information on him, at least not information that was relevant in Bloodmoon.
• Lore works differently in the Elder Scrolls universe than it does in most works. In most, lore is Word of God. It's unchanging, never rearranging, and static, until a retcon is needed. Elder Scrolls lore is more like real life "lore", aka history. For example, in an in-game book from several games, you can find mention of "Alduin" simply being the Nordic name of Akatosh. However, this is incorrect, as shown in game. However, this is not a retcon by any means. The book still is in Skyrim. The reason? The scholar was wrong. That's it. Although we don't see it, one must infer a language barrier that exists in-universe, as well as various racial egos and the fact that their myths often overlap, but also often conflict. Assuming one way or another can lead to that. So, a scholar hears about a Nordic dragon of time whose name is similar to Akatosh and they assume it's the same thing as the Khajiit cat-dragon of time whose name is similar to Akatosh, being different culture's interpretations of Akatosh. However, were they to hunt down really old stuff on the dragon cults and prophecies, they'd realize that Alduin is and is not Akatosh. This sort of issue pops up all over the Elder Scrolls universe, much like how our own understandings of our myths and history are sometimes fragmented or garbage. Remember, there's two backstories for Talos/Tiber Septim/Hyjal Early-Beard, and some scholars aren't actually certain he even had the Thu'um, just the help of the Underking to make it look like it. Furthermore, some scholars think "Talos" is an amalgamation of the souls of Talos, the Underking, and Talos' Imperial battlemage. Canon offers no answer, just in-universe debates. Likewise, Bloodmoon and Skyrim are centuries apart. In real life, the pyramids went from glorious monuments to being buried under tons of sand in only a few centuries, forgotten about for even longer and only dug back up fairly recently. Likewise, it's quite possible that nobody knew about Miraak, other than maybe a few Nordic legends of a cruel ancient ruler, if that. Remember, the era of the Dragon Priests and Alduin's reign are so far back that almost nobody knew that Alduin was a separate entity from Akatosh, and, as one of the loading screens reminds you, most people believed the dragons were but a myth. The issue with myths in the Elder Scrolls, as is show in in-game texts all the time, is that nobody really has any way of separating the myths from reality, because they live in a fantasy universe. In real life, nobody is going to believe that Zeus turned into a swan, fucked a woman and got her pregnant with his kid, because it's extremely fantastical. In the Elder Scrolls universe? The Aedra and Daedra, the "gods" and "demons" of their world, are a fact. Magic is a science like any other, although one viewed with suspicion by many, kinda like stem cell research in real life. Magic has rules and guidelines they've worked to discover for centuries. The Dwemer used magic to make basically underground steampunk a reality, complete with steam-powered airships. Basically, the lore is only as useful as a history textbook is for telling you the entire knowledge of Earth. Since so much is lost or hasn't been found yet, it might be good for the last several centuries, but that's it.

Retaking Thirsk

• Let us discuss "Retaking Thirsk". You do everything right. You drive out the Rieklings, you spare Bulja, you ultimately win the day...and yet Kuva still hates you if you tell him the truth about Hrothmund's judgement, despite the deceit being entirely on Bulja's head, not yours. Ungrateful Bastard much?
  • His reasons for disliking you are spelled out plainly; you killed his woman. Regardless of whether or not you were justified, anyone would be angry over that.
    • Except that even if you spare Bulja and later tell Kuva the truth of Hrothmund's judgement, he still blames you entirely and hates you for it, despite the fact that the only guilty party in all of this was Bulja. (Well, her and the Rieklings, but they were already dead at this point)
  • In that instance, he's angry at you for being a dishonourable liar and backing the unworthy chieftain.
  • A lot of people do shoot the messenger. Keep in mind, Bulja was his wife. She was the love of the life. His principles ultimately led him to banish her but there's still no doubt a part of him that wishes he didn't do it and he hates you not for your actions specifically but for giving him a dilemma in which there was no way to win. Let her stay and he knowingly allows a bad leader to govern their clan but still gets to remain with the love of his life. Banish her and he loses the person he cares about most but follows tradition and keeps his clan strong. He takes out his frustration on you and it's something that happens often in real life.
• Better question is, why can't we be the Chief of Thirsk? Hrothmund must have really narrow vision if he can't see anybody worthy there. It's not a case of not allowing outsiders either, as it worked just fine in Bloodmoon. Admittedly, encouraging a bunch of losers to stop being losers isn't in the same league as slaying the Uderfrykte, we still kill dragons for a living, that's got to count for something.
  • Likely because you likely aren't considered part of the clan at that point. Alternatively, it could be because Hrothmund knows you won't stay with the clan for long (either you've still got to kill Alduin, or you'll be called away by the next Dragon attack).
    • Plus, even if things go quiet, Hrothmund may sense that your soul isn't tied to Thirsk. Either you're a wanderer, always out seeking adventure and challenge, or your home is somewhere else (either your homestead or a house)

The All-Maker Stone of the Beast and Werebears

• Why does the All-Maker stone let you turn into a werebear if the All-Maker considers the Daedra to be unnatural abominations?
  • Werewolfism is stated to be a creation of Hircine. I don't recall it ever being established that Werebearism also comes from Hircine.
    • All Lycanism is stated to come from Hircine. He's the father of Manbeasts, not the father of Manwolves
  • According to Wulf when you ask him about it, werebears are "twisted beasts of Hircine".
    • I imagine it's something like Solomon's summoning demons to help build the temple.
    • Depending on which version of Christianity you ascribe to, or which of the three Abrahamic Religions, 'demons' may not be entirely evil.
  • The All-Maker religion doesn't seem to oppose many Daedra save Hermaeus Mora, chances are they're not fond of them, but if they don't have an actively "evil" position in their religion, *and* aren't even pure Daedra, but Daedrically changed mortals, I don't see why they wouldn't be okay with it.
  • Keep in mind that the All-Maker religion, like all other religions in The Elder Scrolls, is an interpretation of the natural forces and divine powers involved in the universe. While lycanthropy is a creation of Hircine, Hircine himself is still a reflection of the natural forces of the universe - in this case, the act of hunting. It's important to remember that the distinction between the Aedra and Daedra is something made by traditional Tamriel religions - the Eight and Nine Divines and the Elven pantheon. Other religions have more inclusive definitions of the Daedra; for example, Herma-Mora was part of the ancient Nordic pantheon, as a trickster god, while Sheogorath is part of the Khajiit pantheon. Because the All-Maker religion venerates the natural world in its entirety, viewing all natural things as a blessing, Hircine and his curses/blessings may be considered a part of this natural world. Indeed, the fact that an All-Maker stone grants a lycanthropy blessing indicates that Hircine may indeed be a part of what the Skaal venerate as the All-Maker.

Shellbug Helmet: Why?

So the Dawnguard plug-in adds the Shellbug Helmet as a craftable armor piece. But why just a helmet and not an entire set of Shellbug Armor? It seems odd that they would throw in this one helmet with nothing else to go with it.

• Because there's a serious shortage of shellbugs.

Miraak and the Greybeards

• During the battle At the Summit of Apocrypha, Miraak says this little line. "I know things the Greybeards will never teach you!" Only... how does he even know who the Greybeards are? Miraak was defeated by Vahlok and banished to Apocrypha during the Dragon War, before Alduin was sent into the future. Jurgen Windcaller founded the Greybeards much later.
  • He was imprisoned in a place filled with all knowledge and made entirely out of books, new ones arriving as they were written. It's not like he couldn't keep up with current events or Tamriel's history. And he had modern day cultists at his employ who could fill him in. Lastly he's been clearly keeping tabs on you (After all, how does he know you exist otherwise?) so he likely knows the Greybeards trained you, ergo he had to learn who the Greybeards were.

Why did Hermaeus Mora need you in the first place?

• If he can extract knowledge on his own, why not do that to the Skaal and Miraak directly and cut out the middleman?
  • Because then he would have no Dragonborn servant to call his own. By involving the player, he gets a claim on their soul, ensuring that he gets a replacement for Miraak (unless one of the many other Daedric claims on the player's soul end up taking precedence).
  • Actually, Hermaeus Mora can't extract knowledge on his own. The major plot of Oblivion and its DLC's is that the Daedric Princes and the Nine Divines are only omnipotent gods within their own realms. A barrier protects Mundus from the forces of Oblivion, and therefore Hermaeus Mora cannot just enter Mundus whenever he wants. He can only send an avatar through his gates of Oblivion, the Black Books. This is why the Daedra need champions to do their bidding, because they are unable to do anything directly outside of their own realms.
  • In keeping with his cthulhu theme, Hermaeus Mora likely spends most of his time tempting lore seeking scholars to serve him in exchange for knowledge, knowing that he can then in turn extract knowledge from them to keep up to date.

Miraak's Question

• There is a point where Miraak calls out the Last Dragonborn, by asking if dragons feel pain when you absorb their souls. What I want to know is, what's the message Miraak's trying to send? Is it supposed to be a taunt to demoralize the Last Dragonborn? Or is he honestly questioning the morality of hunting them down for power?
  • I saw it more as morbid curiosity and a taunt - Since he ultimately wants to suck out your soul, do you think it'll hurt? He's obviously not questioning the morality of doing it.

Miraak's Race

• Well in game he's designated as Nord as a placeholder, but lore wise, that couldn't possibly be his actual race, as he long predates the existence of any of the modern races. So... what IS he? Is he elven? Or is he human? Is he an Aldmer, possibly? A Nede? Or something else entirely?
  • Atmoran, most likely. The Atmorans were the proto-Nords who migrated from Atmora to Tamriel at from the Late Merethic Era. Given that he was a dragon priest and the cult was an exclusively Atmoran/Nordic religion it is a fair assumption. Atmorans may be Nedic, depending on how much faith you put into the "Out of Atmora" theory. This theory puts forth the idea that all humans migrated from Atmora, mostly in the middle-to-late Merethic Era. However, detractors of this theory (including myself) state that this theory was a fiction perpetrated by the early Septim Empire to improve relations with the recently integrated Kingdom of Skyrim, and that the Nedic peoples had always lived in the Niben Valley.

Re-opening the Mine

• How exactly does exploring Bloodskal Barrow cause Raven Rock Mine to re-open? I just played thorugh that mission again at the time of writing this, and all you find is a ton of undead and not a single ore-vein.
  • You killed the undead in the lower parts of the mine, allowing more exploration, as well as opening up a lot of pre-cut tunnels the miners can use for vein exploration. That's a big deal for mining concerns, as cutting that much stone takes a long time and securing those tunnels opens up a huge amount of surface area that can be explored.

Why did the Skaal need to keep their knowledge from Hermaus Mora?

• Why exactly would the Skaal keep their secrets from Hermaeous Mora in the first place? It seems like it would needlessly antagonize him.
  • Because Hermaeous Mora is the Skaal's enemy. He is considered to be part of The Adversary and thus is the enemy of the All-Maker and thus never to be dealt with.