Dawnguard

Dawnguard is undoubtedly one of my favorite questlines.  The plot smacks of Greek drama, the main characters are poignant and well-written (Serana in particular), and the surprises are truly shocking (Snow Elves!).  That said, I have a hard time writing about it from a moral perspective because the only major decision point in the game (Dawnguard or Volkihar?) involves a choice I had made much earlier in the game, and the more in-depth treatment of vampires in the DLC offers nothing that would cause me to change my mind.

My outlook on vampires was formed initially by my experiences during Laid to Rest and solidified by way of comparison during the Companions questline.   In short, whereas NPC werewolves are depicted as loyal, honorable, and in control of their condition, vampires come off as manipulative, self-centered, and unable to help themselves.  While the player may certainly attempt to run a restrained and responsible vampire, joining the Volkihar would be a bridge too far for Lothar’s moral profile.  Keeping human cattle and blotting out the sun are not really my wheelhouse.

To extend the contrast between lycanthropy and vampirism further, consider the relevant Daedric Princes – Hircine and Molag Bal, respectively.  While neither of them are model citizens, the latter seems less evil than the former.  Hircine presents as a single-minded purist who cares only for the hunt and little for the collateral damage it may cause.  Like the natural order, he may be ruthless and destructive, but is rarely malicious unless personally offended.  We hear reports of werewolf attacks, but we never actually see the Companions doing anything dishonorable.  Molag Bal, on the other hand, delights in the rape, subjugation, and torture of others.  He is malice personified, and his progeny (for the most part) seem to follow suit.

In other words, there was no way I was going to join the vampires.  Still, I think the Dawnguard faction had potential for some moral dilemmas that Bethesda never invested in.  Isran in particular struck me as a character who might ask me to cross some lines.  He reeks of zealotry, so I can easily envision him giving me an order to, say, torture a captive vampire.

You...you guys see the torture stuff, right...guys?

Alternately, what if the Dawnguard discovers a nest of vampires that are behaving themselves -- restricting their feeding to spouses, followers, and other non-thrall volunteers, for example.  Should we wipe them out?  The ex-Vigilant of Stendarr (a faction that always creeped me out a little) would likely say yes, but what if the Dragonborn was given the option of saying no and possibly standing up to Isran?  I would then have to think more carefully about my cooperation with the Dawnguard..  Precedent for this kind of objective exists in the game, and casting a shadow on the faction one has joined makes for good role-playing.  I realize that Dawnguard is DLC, and therefore not expected to be as robust as the main game, but I still think Bethesda missed a opportunity for moral complexity in an otherwise excellent questline.

The only other potential moral dilemma concerns the Soul Cairn -- a setting which partially answers some of the questions I asked in an earlier article.  I will reconsider the morality of soul gems in the next post.