@@B_BUNE well he would at least have found the lab, if he renovated the fountain (I mean, that goddamn secret entrance opens when the plates are normally placed, talk about a secret laboratory), and his vampires were minutes away from finding Serana when the Dragonborn barged in, pretty sure if needed he could have found her even quicker
And basically telling you are weak by calling you prey,I always finish the Dragoborn DLC then the Main Quest,like doesn't he even know who you are he should at least try the 'sweeter aproach',so yeah he insults a Demi-God that can stop time,shoot fire and ice from his mouth and still has the balls too call you prey.
"So the sun will kill me hmmm *Let's kill the sun"* "So I need blood of a pure blood vampire for the sun to be blocked out *kill her"* "So this guy walks in with my daughter and that means he can kill other vampires with ease *let's make him stronger"*
@@Jevix-xl1tx that's what i never got, i mean the sun destroying plan was big dumb but why did valerica make such a big deal about killing serana? you can just give her a lil poke on the arm, and bam! blood
Hahaha good one, but the hood doesn't block the effects of the sun, it only makes it "a little bit better" and Bloodstarved vampires are burnt instantly near the sun, so Harkons Plan wasn't so stupid, because Vampires *CAN* survive without blood, they only need blood to survive outside in the sun. But if there is no sun at all, every vampire will stay bloodstarved and technically in their strongest state. I don't think Harkon is stupid. People just don't read the lore correctly.
@@omnical6135 Hard to answer that because I don't know if vampires can make like..vampire baby's xD however I forgot to say in my last comment that only Volkihar Vampires can survive without blood, regular vampires would die in an instant, so there would be fewer vampires but I don't believe that Harkon would just chill and do nothing while the sun is gone. I can imagine that he would plan an overall attack on the humans and command all of his vampires to spread their vampirism. Vampires would have an insane advantage in fighting because they can hide in darkness and see everything while humans don't have good vision. Technically I believe there would be like 40 000 vampires rampaging in Tamriel
Yes but this is still in comparison to hundreds of thousands of troops. And that's just the main factions. No amount of lore can change the fact that Harkon is trying to use an incredibly short-sighted solution to the problem. Blotting out the sun does nothing but create more problems. @prometheus5218
I mean, unless you fully join them, they AREN'T a big threat. Hell wiping them out is a SIDE quest as a Vampire, and only after you do some other stuff. They aren't even second on the priorities list lol.
@@Akira-shakira they are not a bunch of idiots, clearly they know well what kind of threat vampires are, knowledge of magic, history and advanced tactics of combat against vampires, even they had a lot of intellegence to had information from all the corners of the province and even cyrodill. and more importat thing, they no are a gruop of assholes with short-mind like harkon and his club of cannibbals. Serana says that because she always is complainning of everything, and the end she decides side with them because Isran starts trusting of she, and see the valor what means had a vampire in your team. The dawnguard is too big for the crybaby vampire, without the dragonborn help Harkon is nothing... no, even with the dragonborn help harkon is nothing. sorry if i made some mistakes, english ins't my motherlanguage
@@RaxusXeronos as I recall, Isran basically tells the Dragonborn how openly recruting caught the attention of the vampires and that they should keep the order small rather than grow it out of proportion. That's likely why Harkon didn't see them as a threat, they purposefully kept themselves small so that the vampire lords would look over them and it worked. As for Alch3's comment, I doubt the Dawnguard are going to go down that route, a smaller order can keep its members in check and avoid derailing thanks to the fact that it is smaller, so they stay true to their goal for far longer than other factions.
@@Akira-shakira okay then, we need destroy all the hospitals and police stations of all the world, because delinquency and accidents will exist forever and nothing will change? thoughts like yours had no sense.
They actually AREN'T a threat though... Or at least not a major one....they barely do anything except grab the monk once and ambush you once you read the scrolls. They don't really put up a fight trying to stop Harkon unless you join and recruit the specialists and do most of the work.
Well, the Volhikar aren't even especially linked to ice (according to Immortal Blood they should have an ice breath, which would have been awesome)... I'll just assume it's a branching family that watched too much of Coppola's Dracula
Theres also the thing that: If Harkon defeats (aka kills) the Dragonborn BEFORE Alduin is killed....what exactly makes him think he can stop the dragon invasions? There literally breathing fire and only the Dragonborn can kill them permanently. Harkon would just set his own doom
I doubt the dragons would bother, the vampires could go in a plethora of places and be safe from the dragons, harkon has probably never seen a dragon in his life
Harkon: *I offer you power!* Dragonborn: _"I can literally devour a dragons soul, ragdoll people if I want to and everyone practically worships me as a God. I've got enough power for my liking thanks."_
@@omnical6135 if you use the vampire lord ability, you lose your ability to shout, use your stronger magics (if high skilled like most people) and your melee abilities for one handed and two handed can reach levels of higher than 400 damage. By you transforming into a vampire lord all you are doing is nerfing yourself. Being a vampire lord does not scale up to being the default dragon born at all. Then there is the sun weaknesses to top that off.
Harkon: I don't expect you to understand. Avarti: Understand what? That without the sun, all of the plantlife's gonna die, which is gonna kill all the animals, which is gonna kill all the people, which is eventually gonna kill all the vampires... Harkon: Wait wait wait wait.. can... can you say all of that again?
@Jason Kruger and the stars ? I think magicka is possible still , he is not completely getting rid of the sun as such, more just making it go darker (like when you use a blood-cursed arrow on it with auriels bow. It's still there, doesn't make it disappear.
This reminds me of The Senile Scribbles' take on the sheer stupidity of Harkon's plan: Dovahkiin: "Stop all the sunlight which kills off all the plants, which kills off all the animals which kills off all the humans, which kills off all the vampires." Harkon: "...wait, can you repeat that?"
joshua kim to be fair, we don’t know exactly how Nern’s ecosystem works. It’s possible it gets a lot more energy from geothermal or some magical source
@@willowbarrelmaker8269 Which is never shown or even hinted at. It's safe to assume Nirn's ecosystem works like ours. Although I don't how two moons would affect a planet.
I fought harkon... I had to try and not kill him quickly and i was about lv 50... That's not a FINAL boss... the fkn Soul Cairn Dragon was SOO MUCH MORE TERRIFYING
I feel like it was one of those "we are gonna make the villain so absolutely stupid, no player would want to side with him so we don't have to take the writing in that direction and save us some work" moments.
Oh my God it makes so much more sense now thank you I was freaking going crazy I was like maybe they just kept complimenting him and eventually he believed it was true
I remember coming to the castle before even know what's the big deal. There was just that one guy telling me to piss off and a locked gate. Sounds very sneaky and not suspicious at all.
Wouldn't the Falmer and all of the plants in blackreach overrun Nirn?. They are used to living in pitch black caves after all. The vampires could feed off the Falmer
Pff I doubt they could stand their hideous taste, they're not like people. Plus they wouldn't stand against their armies of Chaurus and Chaurus hunters.
@@NeoVault_ Yeah Falmet probably taste bad but they're the only thing I know of that could survive so they'll probably just get used to the taste after a while. Or they could add sugar to mask the taste idk lol. Chaurus aren't that powerful and you can easily take them out with enough range between them and you. Also I think vampires are resistant to poison I don't really remember
That's the best suggestion I've seen yet, they may be a bit fucked up but they are twisted elves who are probably able to be fed on, the Deep Elves used to keep them as slaves essentially so why cant the Vampires do the same?
@@spectroelectro3772 yeah pretty sure it was the madness caused by azura's curse that caused his behavior. the real idiot is Azura that destroyed her own artifact. you can see that through out history azura is a pretty silly daedra that makes questionable choices
When I played trough Dawnguard I thought Harkon was depressed and wanted to die. But he's too proud to take his own life so instead he opted to destroy the world and himself in the process. Think about it, out of all the vampires in castle Volkihar, he is the most isolated. He stays in his room and talks to nobody, while his advisers and generals bicker among themselves and plot against him openly. There are some more signs there. Like how all the vampires live in squalor, the castle is constantly dirty with blood and the garden in the courtyard of the castle is dead and overgrown with weeds. The whole building is mostly empty, every banner is faded and torn the place is in total disarray, much like the psyche of its master. The vampire maintains the illusion of lordly arrogance to maintain a semblance of control over his own existence but the truth is that he lost his mind a long time ago, somewhere along the road he also lost his will to live. That's why his plan is so random. He holds on to this strange idea of the prophesy like a madman, knowing full well that it spells his and the entire world's doom.
I think molag bol toyed with him for too long and is deluded. He doesn't truly care if he's overthrown or anything. He just feels like he needs to do something and doesn't care for his death. I mean if the player turned his offer down it would make most sense to kill them on the spot instead.
That theory would explain why he treats Serana so coldly, regardless of side chosen. He doesn't even desire to bond to his wayward daughter, who is the key to EVERYTHING he needed to achieve.
True. The sun in the elder scrolls acts more like an magic aspect and not like a star which attempts nuclear fusion to create heat. I think that explains why enchanting fire resistence wouldn't help you against Mundus
@@Mr-Trox You are right I made the mistake because Mundus and Magnus are kinda similar in their pronunciation. The sun is the Magnus and not the Mundus ty
That's true. But that doesn't mean all vampires. Only the Volkihar vampires can survive without blood while bloodstarved. Other "deseased" Vampires will get much more aggressive and so mad that they will attack other vampires, because they need blood.
@@Hyperlot Pretty sure its actual lore. Lord Lovidicus in Oblivion was alive albeit a little insane after not consuming blood for hundreds of years. Elder Scrolls vampires are slightly different from traditional ones.
I would argue Count Hassildor of Skingrad would rally quite a few vampires or even an army trained to hunt vampires against Harkon. The Count is considerably more charismatic and has vast wealth and influence in the Empire. Given that he is immortal, I imagine he would step in during the events of Dawnguard if Harkon got Auriel’s Bow and enacted his plan.
Imagine Vampires with the power of the voice. I think they would do better than mortals, because Vampires are immortal, that means they can live for eternity and learn so many words of power as possible. They would be so strong
Well, that and a bunch of legendary weapons and characters exist that could probably win. Add that to the fact that the other dadric princes would probably get annoyed at this (vampires are molag bahls pawns).
They say a character can only be as intelligent as the person who wrote them. With all the dumb characters in Skyrim, it doesn't look like Emil Pagiarulo is the sharpest tool in the shed.
@@KonoGufo Is he coming back for ES6? If so, brace your anuses for another "Chosen One" main quest where you get pushed around by a bunch of autistic robots masquerading as people and no one bothers to explain anything fully. Sorry, I'm still pissed off at the shit quality of Skyrim's main quest.
So I agree that the plan to shroud the world in darkness is definitely not Harkon's brightest moment, but considering how old Serana is (as found out during dialogue, older than the empire), and the fact that her mother Valerica's portal to the Soul Cairn is in there, his base in Castle Volkihar probably just predates the Thalmor outpost by the coast. You can't exactle resettle a castle, so I can't fault him for that part.
They're from the First Era, because Serana knew nothing about an Empire from Cyrodiil, and if she had been born in the Second, she would have known about Reman's Empire, even if she didn't know about the Septim Empire.
@@danielshore1457 Alessia's Empire was founded in the First Era, it's possible she's from between those two periods or before the Slave Queen's rebellion.
I can imagine a scenario that is like the Oblivion crisis when the Argonians just zerg rushed into the Oblivion gate and freaked the Daedra out! Seriously just imagine the moment the sun is blocked/removed the Hist get's the Argonians to swarm the island castle in a supercharged Histskin berserker rage then either the smartest Argonians manage to restore the sun or just the act of completely devastating Harkon's forces allows the other races the safety to find a way to restore the sun. Moral of the story? if you want to try to go through with your plans that is basically world wide, make sure it doesn't affect the Hist Trees. Actually i can imagine that should Harkon's plan goes through, it might piss off a number of Daedric princes to varying degrees.
Imagine fulling a prophecy that allows your kind walk freely only for moment you walk out of your castle your greeted by punch to face by super soldier lizard man who proceed to kill your strongest vampires with ease
@@Timmothy_plays They wouldn't even have to restore the sun. They would just have to wait one day, because the bloodcursed arrow only makes the sun disappear for the rest of the day XD
@@Sithisine There's actually a theory on that. The theory goes that the eclipse is temporary because you did it wrong. You dipping the arrows in Serana's blood produced an imperfect, weakened result. In order to fully utilize the power of the Bloodcursed Arrows, in order to truly plunge Nirn into eternal darkness, you would have to kill a Daughter of Coldharbor. I believe one piece of cut content involved you siding with Harkon and killing Serana.
I completely agree with you, that was my problem with the Dawnguard DLC. The whole time I was absolutely flabbergasted at how nonsensical his plan was. As well there was no logistical plan for the transition into a vampire ruled society in place so you would be a bunch of monsters showing up and claiming to be in a authoritative position which essentially would end with a conflict. I don't understand why they didn't just do what the Mythic Dawn plan to do and set up a bunch of subterranean lairs underneath all the major cities so at least you have a base of operations when everything goes down. But really the same could be said for their Castle, why on Earth are they just inside? You should create an underground lair, that way you can escape it when someone finds you but instead it's 1. Take away sun. 2.profit. That's not how a takeover works you simpleton!!!
Harkon's plan is also doomed to fail simply because there's so much infighting between the clan members within Volkihar keep that it would be difficult to unite them against mortals. Let alone unite all the other clans under a single rule of Harkon.
honestly, this whole problem could be solved by changing the effects of the corrupt bow of Auri'el from darkening the Sun to making the Sun incapable of harming vampires. This way Harkon's plan would make sense: the people survive, and vampires can hunt during the day.
That's literally what it does, the sun will still provide the same magic that keeps stuff alive when blackened by the blood. The video creator doesn't know this. The sun in TES is just a really big tear into Aetherius, the realm of pure magic. It's just magic leaking out that provides light, stars are the same thing. The magic is changed by the blood of a Daughter of Coldharbour to no longer be lethal to Vampires. That's it. Plants and animals will still live just fine, but there won't be a day/night cycle anymore so that'll cause the issues Harkon's wife speaks of, "eternal night".
@@KillerChickn it does get a bit darker when you fire the bow, but not nighttime dark. Long term, it might get a touch colder and plants might not grow as well, but it wouldn't kill all life.
@@ATurnip people would be more sleepy because there's less "sun," so in turn itd be easier for everyone to feast. Personally I think they should just pay bandits to capture people and bring them to the castle, then keep those people as livestock to well eat from I guess. Also just get an umbrella and an armored fursuit and they should be fine lol
The thing is, this is one of the moments where such bad writing is done on purpose. Everyone in Harkon's own court knows that his plan is stupid and suicidal to the vampire race, hence why they decide to kill him even in the vampire route of the Dawnguard storyline. The literal ONLY reason why no one pointed this out sooner to him is because he's too crazy and stupid to listen to reason. The moment when his insanity actually appears to be on the track to working, all the vampires immediately go: "Oh shit, our beyond-retarded boss is going to do his beyond-retarded scheme which will get us all killed. Hey, demi-god dragon hunting super-vampire, mind killing him before he "succeeds" in his own stupidity?"
If the Dragonborn leaves Harkon for last..and does every other main plot line before. The Fool would be facing an incarnated dragon who has the loyalty of Alduin's former General and a Zombie Dragon, while in adition having the power to brainwash more dragons....and also has every daedric artifact in hands... Imagine a dude dressed in full daedric armor and with daedric weaponry shows up in front of your castle...are you really going to challange the monster that kicked Alduin into oblivion?
@@mistermidnight1823 Imagine showing up at his castle riding a dragon, with your other dragons summoned. the whole Imperial/Stormcloak army is tagging along, the Dawnguard is tagging along, you are the ultimate hero skyrim has ever seen. the LDB doesn't even need to enter the castle, mount siege engines and use the Dragons to raze it to the ground.
It seems like the DLC completely forgets you are Dragonborn. Harkon might be aware the Dragonborn is in Skyrim but he does not know its you... I suspect Serana would not be keen on telling him either since she develops a close connection to the Dragonborn and would want to protect them from her father. Even if Harkon knows.. I suspect his arrogance makes him severely underestimate what a Dragonborn is and assumes that his gift from Molag is still the greatest thing since sliced bread.
@@zahylon5993 A literal "Aegon the Conqueror/Daenerys Stormborn" moment. Particularly I'm thinking of the passage in "Fire and Blood" where Aegon burns Harrenhal down, with the ironborn king and his sons inside.
You're wrong on one point though, vampires in Skyrim don't need blood to survive and maintain immortality. This is obviously displayed by Valerica's case as well, being trapped in that soul cairne hole for god knows how long.
@sebastjan krek She was hibernated, not quite the same as being awake. You had to do that fancy ritual where your hand was pierced for a drop of blood to wake her up. Plus she's a pure-blooded vampire. Normally you go through debilitating hunger which makes you lose your mind and healing powers akin to that of standing in the sun.
@@sebastjankrek1744 My bad. Valerica is trapped in oblivion however, the antithesis being Aetherius such as Sovngarde. I do not think concepts such as sleep, hunger or thirst apply in such metaphysical afterlife.
I always looked at it as Harkon being able to blot out the sun at will instead of permanently turning it off. Either way he'd draw the attention of his enemies. He lives the best possible vampire life already. No one in his court is starving to death. It all seems like a cautionary tale about how greed doesn't make sense.
Harkon: With the power of Auriel's bow and my blood, I, Lord Harkon, shall block out the sun, ONCE AND FOR ALL! *Shoots bloodcursed elven arrow into the sun* Harkon, one day later: WTF
Hahah nice one, but Harkon's Plan isn't so stupid. Lore vise Vampires *CAN* survive without blood. They only need blood from mortals to stay outside in the sun. If vampires intend to become bloodstarved, sun would immediately destroy them. If there is no sun at all, Vampires will always stay bloodstarved and basically in their strongest state permenently. Harkon is actually a genius and his plan would indeed make the Vampires very terrifying and crown them as the strongest beings in Tamriel. People just don't want to read the lore correctly
@@Jamarvious_ You mean at night? Where vampires can rampage bloodstarved without worring about the sun? Also Volkihar vampires can't spread in the small position they are in, so if the sun is gone they can eventually come out and infect everyone with vampirism and just demolish everybody. You can't win against an vampire at night, because you can't see him and the vampire clearly does
Even if tamriel falls the other continents would be looking for why the planet nirn went dark and eventually they would have a bigger war on their hands
Off topic of this, but I think that would happen in marvel as well. I feel like a galactic republic or empire such as starwars would show up to our galaxy following the energy point from force of the infinity stones in Marvel's infinity war after the snap and wipe the floor with thano's army as well and any force that opposes them.
@@erikho6936 I'm saying like how a continent's worth of soldiers showing up to "deal" with the vampires, if the thanos snap was really the entire universe, some big military might follow the power signatures of the stones back to the marval galaxy
The moment Harkon thought himself a god, that's when I knew he was delusional as all hell. Before the final fight, as Vampire, I told him I'm here to protect our race from extinction. He actually scoffs at the notion. Talks about nonsense of "we will never tire, never weaken, and more than a match for their pitiful armies". That's when I knew he was truly insane. Even vampires like him are no match for sheer numbers. Goes against everything I know about the Art of War. Not only insulting, but sheer foolishness. Imbecile!
I sometimes wonder how did Serana's mother remain stuck so many years in the soul carrin and from who did she feed on blood ? So why can't the other vampires do that as well .
Survival Mode gives you a special effect that makes eating unecessary. Even then, vampires get more powerful without blood though slightly more unhinged and weaker to vampire weaknesses, but not instantly die.
To be fair harkons castle is probably a mere representation of the real size of the castle in lore and in lore its probably much much bigger with more vampires
There should be a mod where Harkon doesn't fight you if you he receives the bow and then it's always eternal night from that point, unless you go back to fight him.
To be fair darkening sun would Probably not destroy all life on Earth. I can see that Vampires would lose debuffs, but as you see in game there is still light and not complete darkness.
@@mitchellhorton9382 I wonder if using Auriel bow would stop magic of the world. Theoritically Sun still should give magic because we can use it in game and is in the same place, but what I know It's Skyrim.
Imagine, if Harkon succeeds and Valeria's point were to come true, the Imperials march along with the Thalmor, the Argonians swim along the waters waiting for their chance to attack, the Bretons with their Dragonskins, the Khajiits with shadow as their ally and sneak as their mastery, the dragons lead by Mari-, err, Paarthurnax..., the Orcs with their brute strength, the Mage's College with their mastery over each school of magic, and the Dragonborn himself to lead the whole army of Tamriel armed with countless of Shouts and restoration-looped equipment, all against Harkon's army of vampires...
By the time I fought Harkon, I was destruction incarnate and did a bunch of quest mods gaining power beyond description. Even with mods that make the game several times harder than it needs to be, it was extremely difficult not to curb stomp him because it felt like bullying.
It would have been funny to see his reaction for the Bow's effect being temporal. However the ability to turn off the sun is still extremely unvaluable for vampires for neutralizing their main weakness.
Perahps the best joke I heard about Harkon's issues with sunlight: "Dude, sunlight doesn't even hurt that much. You can go outside whenever you want." "Well yeah but, it's fucking annoying."
As far as the placement of the castle, I always assumed that it was his castle before or just after becoming a Vampire. Meaning the castle was originally placed far away from everything and after a few thousands years civilization built its way to the castle.
I really like this series. Maybe I’m being pretentious but to me this really shows how the writing for the elder scrolls has gone downhill since Morrowind, although I suppose you could argue the games before morrowind didn’t have the best writing either, especially Redguard
His plan could be to a way to honor Molag Bal to insure a decent afterlife And remember, the blotting out the sun doesn't need to be "eternal", just be a thing Harkon could do randomly - just as YOU can do in game, so it is definitely a good boon
Good video, but you forgot a major detail. When you're a vampire, and you're just doing some not important quests. Most of the ones I get involve killing other vampires. So, talking about the thousands of dawnguard, they wouldn't have enough vampires to help them fight, because they killed "the weaker fledglings."
On my first play through the DLC, I understood it as a special ritual. A special ritual that would not stop the sun. It would just remove the parts of the sun that affect vampires. Like removing the purification aspects or removing the spectrum that affect vampires.
0:26 Dexion Evicus actually explains the stupidity of Harkon's plan really well, at the end of the completion of the Dawnguard questline (provided you've sided with the Dawnguard).
@@slowman9794 Elves used light magic, sun magic, star magic as light sources. It's literally the same as actual starlight/sunlight and can provide the same magical sustenance as the sun.
And given that Vampires can walk in the sunlight, even if they can't regenerate health or magic, they can equip enchanted items that overcome this. If Harkun had a master enchanter working for him it would allow him to overcome their weakness that way.
Some counterpoints: 1) no one knows how the sun would be blotted out, its entirely possible that it ends up in a similar state to when its shot with bloodcursed arrows, which could arguably still support good amounts of life. 2) Serana was locked away before the dwarves vanished, and she lived in castle volkihar. Harkon and his clan have likely lived there for longer than solitude or the thalmor have existed. 3) Castle volkihar is very easily defendable. It has two entrances and must be reached by boat. No large force would ever be able to land all of their troops for an attack, leaving the vampires to pick off boatloads of soldiers from the walls while they were just sitting, waiting for the space to land, greatly reducing the odds created by numbers. 4) Harkon and his clan were created directly by Molag Bal. He would likely engage in the total domination of humanity.....
this goes off the assumption that plants work the same way on nirn as they do in real life. considering the sun isn't even a star and actually a god ripping a hole through the sky that supplies magicka, you can't really expect that cursing the sun would cause nirn to turn to ice. all the effects we see ingame when the sun is shot with the bow simply renders it unable to damage vampires.
The characters do go on a lot about how Harkon is mad. It's clear that the centuries have not been kind to Harkon's sanity. I only sided with him because I wanted the power of a Vampire Lord, and I wanted lordship of Clan Volkihar for myself; I was planning to usurp him from the very beginning.
There’s issues with your argument against their base, it’s already their home. Not only that but the castle has partially collapsed as visible from outside. As they are their only big risk is if anyone fancies fixing up a castle that would take significant manpower in a place where transport would be limited. Not exactly ideal. Though staying there after drawing attention after blotting out the sun might be questionable
@@kresse5647 What's even funnier to me, is from a stat perspective. Arch-Curate Vyrthur is actually stronger than Harkon. They cap at levels 75 and 60
@@TheInsaneTeddy haha i know right. Its funny because the Arch curate totally scraped me Like 4 times until i defeated him but i Made harkon First try without problems. But what i actually meant was that the Vampires would maybe even be able to Take over parts of Skyrim but that the new falmer are another Race that can live without sunlight and that they and their chaurus hordes would overrun the world
@@TheInsaneTeddy It makes sense that Vyrthur is more powerful stay wise at least, because he is the older vampire. Of course he isn't a pure blood like Harkon, so his bag of tricks only goes so far. Harkon can edge out the win with his Vampire Lord form.
The point of Harkon’s quest line is that no matter how much he goes on and on about how much of a gift his vampirism is, he really doesn’t want to be a vampire.
The thing is, Harkon could've been one of the best villains to appear in an Elder Scrolls game. If the Bethesda writers really dug into the agony vampires feel when exposed to sunlight and came up with something that Harkon (or all vampires for that matter) want but are kept from it by the sun, they could really make him a sympathetic character. Imagine if this was Harkon's story: Harkon was a man who sought power from the daedra, but he never wanted to be a vampire and was deceived by Molag Bal, tricked into a pack with the Daedric Lord. He feels regret for the way vampirism tore his family apart (just like we see in Serana) and he gave into his inner demons, becoming the "not a very good person, even for a vampire" as Serana describes him. But then, Harkon learns of the Tyranny of the Sun prophecy. In his eyes, a way of bringing his family together again. If the sun no longer hurt vampires, they could feed wherever they wanted, no longer forced to be monsters of the night. His daughter could explore the world and his wife could tend to her beloved garden for eternity. But Harkon then _actually_ discovers that the Tyranny of the Sun requires the death of his own daughter (a daughter he actually loves in this version of the story). Now, Harkon is conflicted. Is he truly willing to murder his own daughter in pursuit of his perceived destiny? He decides he is, even though doing so will tear him apart inside. Valerica discovers Harkon's intentions and seals Serana away, to hide her from Harkon.
"What is the life of one girl against an entire race?" "Everything" I agree with everything you said. As George RR Martin once spoke, the human heart in conflict with itself is the only true thing worth writing about.
Magelight can grow crops, since vegetation gets its nourishment from the magic that comes off of Magnus. Also (most) vampires in TES don’t technically need to feed. Fudgemuppet has a really good video on the subject
To be fair, getting Auriel's Bow to shroud the sun with darkness only once in a while, when necessary, is actually a very good idea for vampires, allowing for more strategic victories. So there would be some degree of value to Harkon's plan... if that was actually his intent, which it isn't, ergo he's still dumb as heck.
Even fantasy settings like Skyrim have/need some foundation in reality (e.g. gravity, sunlight and water for flora, some of which is eaten by fauna; the elves, humans and other races which hunt fauna and harvest crops for food etc.) So even a few days without sun might not have immediate effects, things will change quickly and after time will be irreparable. Love these videos btw. Please keep up the good work!
So basically Harkon is Pippin Took when explaining why his plan is so great. "The closer we are to danger the further we are from harm its the last thing he'll expect."
1:05 actually the bow only allows darkness for one day at a time. so if you think about it. i doubt harkon will blot out the sun forever and come to the understanding that he can use this as an opportunity for a culling instead of keeping the sun away forever, so maybe he's not an idiot, after all the vampires already make the use of stored cattle when they go out to cull the population as this will be when they are at their most powerful. but even harkon would recognize that it might be in the vampires best interest to let the population grow for a while before culling the population once more. this is essentially a plot from a tv show with an enemy that uses the very same tactics and also sucks the life out of humans. they basically sleep for a few generations, then wake up to start their culling of the population once again. they wait a few generations before it's time to do another culling, because they can't allow the population to grow too advanced to protect themselves but it's not all the vampires whom are asleep as they need other vampires to keep the population at large in a state of perpetual danger. but it's used to keep the mortals at bay and serves as an occasional snack for the vampires who work during the sleeping generation vampires. these vampires are also a kind of care taker for the sleeping vampires while they sleep.
I was thinking about the castle being visible from the mainland, What if its protected by an illusion spell ? Vampirism alone supposedly boosts ones affinity with illusionary spells, And harkon has some elven mages, Alchemists and enchanters in his court. I wouldn't put it past them to have an illusion spell covering the castle.
To be fair on the location of the castle thing, the castle was there before Solitude and Northwatch were built. Hell it was there even before Windhelm was built.
Wait, in the metaphysics of the Elder Scrolls, the Sun is actually a literal hole in the sky made by Magnus at the dawn of creation. A hole that acts as the source of most magic in the world. To get rid of the sun would be to seal or block the hole, thus cutting Nirn off from the primary source of magic in the world. In a fantasy world, that’s myriad levels of stupid.
The fact is that nobody cares you’re the Dragonborn, you can basically destroy him by shouting fire, and yet he acts like if you were not even a good soldier. Killed Alduin, stopped the civil war and I’m the prey? Let me show you who the prey is
I don't know if you've tried this out, but shooting directly at the sun with a blood cursed elven arrow, using Auriel's bow, will result in the sky turning red, and the sun getting blotted out for a whole day. Under this effect, vampires, gargoyles and death hounds can be seen roaming Skyrim's wilderness, even during day time. The same can be reversed by firing a sunhallowed elven arrow at the sun, using Auriel's Bow, of course. The sun will go back to normal, causing huge explosions which knock out any enemies near by. They're called Sunburst attacks, and are especially deadly to the undead.
I can't defend this guy's decision making... but in his defense the waiting game through several eras to wait out Serana's awakening probably made him rusty, waaaay too patient and way too overconfident in his own abilities to the point he believed his victory in a 1v2 against a vampire on the same level as him and a literal demigod who's true identity he was aware of since the beginning is guaranteed. His overconfidence probably also stem from simply not knowing about other vampire clans since vampires are naturally secretive and he assumes others are similar to him, relying on their Daedra gifted powers alone, while the most dangerous vampires rely on their sheer knowledge, skill and magical power having the vampiric condition as just a simple and easy way to be immortal. His plot to take out the sun to turn the world into an eternally dark paradise for vampires is not wrong either. Life finds a way and the Falmer living and thriving underground ever since the Merethic era proves that mortal life can survive without sunlight and they care little about what provides their blood that they don't even need to survive, nor they are concerned with reproduction being immortal creatures. Valerica talks about the scenario where the entire world would miraculously get to know about the perpetrator's identity and location, banding together to take him down and retrieve the bow in an attempt to purify it, but it's hardly possible since vampire incursions would become a global problem with nations fighting off the vampire clans located in their own lands, and there are far stronger vampire clans than Harkon's own. In a world where he succeeded his actual problem would be the ensuing eternal game of many other big shot clans looking for him to secure the bow to themselves since it would be clearly under far better protection under their own care from their point of view. You can't really expect the Legion and the Stormcloaks to gang up on Harkon either because Tullius' forces will be called back to Cyrodiil, just like how the legions were called back form provinces during the Oblivion Crisis, and the locals would struggle with keeping order and defending from the creatures of the night, not to mention the constantly approaching Falmer threat from below the Earth and other machinations of the Daedra.
I haven't finished watching the video, but I just want you to know that the sun of Nirn isn't like the sun of Earth. The sun is basically a hole that lets all magic flow from Aetherius to Mundus. This hole exists because Magnus fled the creation of the world leaving the giant hole behind. The other spirits noticed this and followed him, thus making the stars. I don't think Plant life behaves in the same way on Nirn as it does on Earth. OK back to the video :P Okay you apparently already knew all that lol. Good points as always, nice to watch someone who actually know their lore. (I might be wrong about the plants need sunlight as well) Anyways I just want to thank you for making me want to replay Skyrim with your videos. You always bring something up that makes me remember how awesome this game is and why I've played it for over 8 years. Peace!
When I finally got around to the Dawnguard questline in my playthrough on Switch, Harkon looked even more idiotic. By the time I started the questline, I already defeated Alduin and Miirak, I was the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, and Companions factions (meaning I was also a werewolf), I was a legate in the Imperial army, and I was the champion of every Daedric Prince in the game. He essentially made an enemy of a very crazy and overpowered Dragonborn. Oops.
Harkon: "I have a great destiny! I am prophecied to end the tyranny of the sun!! You cannot hope to beat me!" My Dragonborn for that playthrough, Unferth: "Actually, the prophecy works for *me,* Harkon. I am a vampire lord, *I* have Auriel's Bow, held in hands that have been tempered by the blood of a Daughter of Coldharbor, AND I have become immune to the wrath of the sun using a method that other vampires can follow (Hidden perk from the Sacrosanct Vampire Mod). I match all of the conditions of the prophecy. It is *me* who is destined to triumph here." Harkon: "...Why do I hear boss music...? ._. "
they could live off falmer? they live under ground, eat mushrooms which dont need any light and they dont seem to be hard to... "breed" also it was mentioned (if im right) that magic mist protects the castle from being seen or access before the dragonborn
You can take a boat to the castle and the guy who owns the boat mentions the castle and refuses to take you there unless you pay him extra also through experience from gameplay the only thing stopping me from getting in the castle was the portcullis and the fact that you cannot climb in Windows in Skyrim so if it is said that magic mist protects it from being seen then the game contradicts itself.
Harkon strikes me as someone who's head is so far up his own arse, he can't see that he's breathing in his own crap. He is a powerful vampire, with access to abilities the Dragonborn can't achieve even as a Vampire Lord. His strength is flawed by his own narcissistic intentions. He has all this power and influence, and he only hungered for more that the Sun limits. By trying to blot out the sun, he could expand his influence and tastes; but in the same light he doesn't realize the dangers of a world without the sun. Ignoring that he has the dragonborn in his fingers, he is extremely cold to the assets he needs most. Serana's blood being a prophetic need for the Tyranny of the Sun, he shoiuld've built a bond that Serana wouldn't have easily broken. But his love was as fickle as his future plans.
Hircine seems so much easier to deal with. Even when someone dies he still gives them the option to not be stuck hunting I'm his grounds for eternity. He doesn't sit in a basement and force too people to kill eachother for no reason lol
I personally interpreted how the Tyranny of The Sun works as more corrupting the sun rather than just putting it out Vampires aren't harmed by UV radiation or something, it's weird supernatural magic mumbojumbo, so turning the sun in the way Harkon plans doesn't destroy the ecosystem The bit about everyone immediately deciding to commit genocide on the bloodsuckers is entirely fair though
man, the story would of been so much cooler if harkon was trying to replace the sun with the eye of magnus, instead of just simply removing it! Not only would it have a bit more connection to the main game due to the connection to the college of winter hold. But it also makes a bit more sense. Hes still going to get rid of vampires weakness, but they won't kill all of humanity either.
To be fair as well This dude's been obsessed with this for thousands of years :/ The entire point is that he's lost his mind He's not an idiot he's just delusional
His Speech and Illusion are maxed out on Legendary, its so high that he even fooled himself into thinking his plan would work.
So good at fooling people, he fooled himself
@@pg3384 yes that is what OP said thank you for reiterating it
I HAVE A PLAN DRAGONBORN! I just need the Elder Scrolls, my daughter and more faith.
Reqrieum of Rememdium DRAGONBOORN WE NEED JUST ONE MORE BIG SCOOOORE
HAVE SOME NINE-DAMN FAITH, DRAGONBORN! WE'LL GET AURIEL'S BOW, BLOCK OUT THE SUN, AND GO ON A BOAT TO SOLSTHEIM OR ELSWEYR!
If only he decided to renovate the castle at least once in the last few hundred years he would have probably found his wife
That’s if he could figure out how to access the soul cairn.
@Jack the Gestapo LOL
@Jack the Gestapo he still would have needed serana for her blood
Showing how he doesn't care much for the food chain out of human
@@B_BUNE well he would at least have found the lab, if he renovated the fountain (I mean, that goddamn secret entrance opens when the plates are normally placed, talk about a secret laboratory), and his vampires were minutes away from finding Serana when the Dragonborn barged in, pretty sure if needed he could have found her even quicker
Harkon's biggest mistake is letting his daughter's dragon killing demigod boyfriend waltz around in his castle.
And basically telling you are weak by calling you prey,I always finish the Dragoborn DLC then the Main Quest,like doesn't he even know who you are he should at least try the 'sweeter aproach',so yeah he insults a Demi-God that can stop time,shoot fire and ice from his mouth and still has the balls too call you prey.
Or girlfriend.
Or did you forget the Dragonborn can be a chick?
@@dancingcarapace That really isn't important if the Dragonborn is male or female it doesn't really matter
@@dancingcarapace canonically dragonborn is male
@@comeslammer9455 wait how do you know? Has Bethany Esda confirmed this?
Harkon: *Blocks out Sun*
*Humans and Elves disappear*
Harkon: _Task failed successfully_
*_I won, but at what cost?_*
subbed for good comment
It's like Barbara Lerner spectre, and the tribe.... Idiots..
Sun is being blocked only for a day have you ever used that bow
Me : *laughs in argonian*
This guys problem solving skills are on point with a 5 year old
-The sun hurts my eyes, break the sun
Sounds about right.
Shove Dawnbreaker up his ass for an insult.
"So the sun will kill me hmmm *Let's kill the sun"*
"So I need blood of a pure blood vampire for the sun to be blocked out *kill her"*
"So this guy walks in with my daughter and that means he can kill other vampires with ease *let's make him stronger"*
@@Jevix-xl1tx
that's what i never got, i mean the sun destroying plan was big dumb but why did valerica make such a big deal about killing serana?
you can just give her a lil poke on the arm, and bam! blood
@@TheSilentVoid_ lmaooooo
@@TheSilentVoid_ _“Harder, daddy”_
Maybe if harkon was smart then he’d figure out how to wear a hood
Hahaha good one, but the hood doesn't block the effects of the sun, it only makes it "a little bit better" and Bloodstarved vampires are burnt instantly near the sun, so Harkons Plan wasn't so stupid, because Vampires *CAN* survive without blood, they only need blood to survive outside in the sun. But if there is no sun at all, every vampire will stay bloodstarved and technically in their strongest state. I don't think Harkon is stupid. People just don't read the lore correctly.
@@prometheus5218
yeah but also, no people... life would be pretty boring, what would he rule over? like 50 vampires?
@@omnical6135 Hard to answer that because I don't know if vampires can make like..vampire baby's xD however I forgot to say in my last comment that only Volkihar Vampires can survive without blood, regular vampires would die in an instant, so there would be fewer vampires but I don't believe that Harkon would just chill and do nothing while the sun is gone. I can imagine that he would plan an overall attack on the humans and command all of his vampires to spread their vampirism. Vampires would have an insane advantage in fighting because they can hide in darkness and see everything while humans don't have good vision. Technically I believe there would be like 40 000 vampires rampaging in Tamriel
Yes but this is still in comparison to hundreds of thousands of troops. And that's just the main factions. No amount of lore can change the fact that Harkon is trying to use an incredibly short-sighted solution to the problem. Blotting out the sun does nothing but create more problems. @prometheus5218
He should've been more aggressive against the dawnguard during the story if you went for the dawnguard route
I mean, unless you fully join them, they AREN'T a big threat. Hell wiping them out is a SIDE quest as a Vampire, and only after you do some other stuff. They aren't even second on the priorities list lol.
@@Akira-shakira they are not a bunch of idiots, clearly they know well what kind of threat vampires are, knowledge of magic, history and advanced tactics of combat against vampires, even they had a lot of intellegence to had information from all the corners of the province and even cyrodill.
and more importat thing, they no are a gruop of assholes with short-mind like harkon and his club of cannibbals.
Serana says that because she always is complainning of everything, and the end she decides side with them because Isran starts trusting of she, and see the valor what means had a vampire in your team.
The dawnguard is too big for the crybaby vampire, without the dragonborn help Harkon is nothing... no, even with the dragonborn help harkon is nothing.
sorry if i made some mistakes, english ins't my motherlanguage
@@RaxusXeronos as I recall, Isran basically tells the Dragonborn how openly recruting caught the attention of the vampires and that they should keep the order small rather than grow it out of proportion. That's likely why Harkon didn't see them as a threat, they purposefully kept themselves small so that the vampire lords would look over them and it worked.
As for Alch3's comment, I doubt the Dawnguard are going to go down that route, a smaller order can keep its members in check and avoid derailing thanks to the fact that it is smaller, so they stay true to their goal for far longer than other factions.
@@Akira-shakira okay then, we need destroy all the hospitals and police stations of all the world, because delinquency and accidents will exist forever and nothing will change?
thoughts like yours had no sense.
They actually AREN'T a threat though... Or at least not a major one....they barely do anything except grab the monk once and ambush you once you read the scrolls. They don't really put up a fight trying to stop Harkon unless you join and recruit the specialists and do most of the work.
Harkon could've used some illusion magic to make his castle look like a giant iceberg, which fits well with Volkihar lore. But the devs says nah.
No they didn’t say nah they said :
it just works
@@zero0092 when you say that enough times *IT JUST WORKS*
Well, the Volhikar aren't even especially linked to ice (according to Immortal Blood they should have an ice breath, which would have been awesome)... I'll just assume it's a branching family that watched too much of Coppola's Dracula
Theres also the thing that: If Harkon defeats (aka kills) the Dragonborn BEFORE Alduin is killed....what exactly makes him think he can stop the dragon invasions? There literally breathing fire and only the Dragonborn can kill them permanently. Harkon would just set his own doom
I doubt the dragons would bother, the vampires could go in a plethora of places and be safe from the dragons, harkon has probably never seen a dragon in his life
@@jackofastora8962 but Aldiun would destroy the world, that includes vampires
It's not like Harkon knew about our condition as Dragonborn.
Thomas takes a toll for the dark ok but they don’t know that
YayDude123, the body of a man(edit) or what ever race you are, but the soul of a dragon.
Harkon: *I offer you power!*
Dragonborn: _"I can literally devour a dragons soul, ragdoll people if I want to and everyone practically worships me as a God. I've got enough power for my liking thanks."_
@SuperSansCraft 1212 true
but i want more power...
@@omnical6135 if you use the vampire lord ability, you lose your ability to shout, use your stronger magics (if high skilled like most people) and your melee abilities for one handed and two handed can reach levels of higher than 400 damage. By you transforming into a vampire lord all you are doing is nerfing yourself. Being a vampire lord does not scale up to being the default dragon born at all. Then there is the sun weaknesses to top that off.
@@joshuagodbay8025 but its cooler being a vampire😎😎
@@joshuagodbay8025 it's good for low level characters tho
Harkon: I don't expect you to understand.
Avarti: Understand what? That without the sun, all of the plantlife's gonna die, which is gonna kill all the animals, which is gonna kill all the people, which is eventually gonna kill all the vampires...
Harkon: Wait wait wait wait.. can... can you say all of that again?
That shit was funny the animation series was funny as fuck
Senile scribbles?
@@neilswientek624 Yes, and I went over the scene over and over again to get this.
Except , vampire are immortal. They can't die lol
@Jason Kruger and the stars ? I think magicka is possible still , he is not completely getting rid of the sun as such, more just making it go darker (like when you use a blood-cursed arrow on it with auriels bow. It's still there, doesn't make it disappear.
This reminds me of The Senile Scribbles' take on the sheer stupidity of Harkon's plan:
Dovahkiin: "Stop all the sunlight which kills off all the plants, which kills off all the animals which kills off all the humans, which kills off all the vampires."
Harkon: "...wait, can you repeat that?"
joshua kim to be fair, we don’t know exactly how Nern’s ecosystem works. It’s possible it gets a lot more energy from geothermal or some magical source
@@willowbarrelmaker8269 ,
Sure, there is enough life in caves for the Falmer to live off of... but how many falmer can one vampire exist off of?
@@willowbarrelmaker8269 Which is never shown or even hinted at. It's safe to assume Nirn's ecosystem works like ours. Although I don't how two moons would affect a planet.
@@microqueen69 I'm just saying that, in a fantasy setting, eternal night might not have the same implications it does for our world.
@@microqueen69 ohh boy don't open that can of worms. Just from the look of the sky the moons should be slamming into each other.
I like how you can just shoot the sun with the bow after you kill him.
Dragonborn: I’LL STOP YOUR EVIL PLAN HARKON
Also Dragonborn: Lol F the sun **spams auriels bow**
@@emeraldsky2823 Harkon wanted to permanently blacken the sun, you are only doing it for about an hour
Other Gopher That’s why we’re gonna be spamming it
@@emeraldsky2823 Or better yet:
Dragonborn: The sun says FUCK YOU! *Shoots sun, solar death rains rampantly*
I like how it is not even physically possible to shoot an arrow into the sun.
I fought harkon...
I had to try and not kill him quickly and i was about lv 50...
That's not a FINAL boss... the fkn Soul Cairn Dragon was SOO MUCH MORE TERRIFYING
Well Durnehviir can shout the Soul Out of your fucking Body so yes Hes more terrifying
Durnehviir is literally trash, I killed him in an instant, harkon put up a fight. I was level 86
Harkon has arrogance as a superpower.
@@jackofastora8962 You didnt kill him Hes immortal whereas harkon died.
Blu3 D3viL what about the reaver? Or is it the reaper? Can’t remember but the boss in soul cairn he was terrifying
I feel like it was one of those "we are gonna make the villain so absolutely stupid, no player would want to side with him so we don't have to take the writing in that direction and save us some work" moments.
Oh my God it makes so much more sense now thank you I was freaking going crazy I was like maybe they just kept complimenting him and eventually he believed it was true
I remember coming to the castle before even know what's the big deal. There was just that one guy telling me to piss off and a locked gate. Sounds very sneaky and not suspicious at all.
Wouldn't the Falmer and all of the plants in blackreach overrun Nirn?. They are used to living in pitch black caves after all. The vampires could feed off the Falmer
Pff I doubt they could stand their hideous taste, they're not like people.
Plus they wouldn't stand against their armies of Chaurus and Chaurus hunters.
@@NeoVault_ Yeah Falmet probably taste bad but they're the only thing I know of that could survive so they'll probably just get used to the taste after a while. Or they could add sugar to mask the taste idk lol. Chaurus aren't that powerful and you can easily take them out with enough range between them and you. Also I think vampires are resistant to poison I don't really remember
@@alessandrocoatti5186
Skyrim's vampires are immune to poison and diseases.
Considering how much more bullshittingly strong high level Falmer and Chaurus are compared to vampires, i highly doubt this would work.
That's the best suggestion I've seen yet, they may be a bit fucked up but they are twisted elves who are probably able to be fed on, the Deep Elves used to keep them as slaves essentially so why cant the Vampires do the same?
You should do Malyn Varen from Azura's quest. He trapped himself in a soul gem with nothing to do for all of eternity just to be immortal.
Great suggestion! Thanks
Madness?
Maybe he plays Uno with the Dremora in there.
@@spectroelectro3772 yeah pretty sure it was the madness caused by azura's curse that caused his behavior. the real idiot is Azura that destroyed her own artifact.
you can see that through out history azura is a pretty silly daedra that makes questionable choices
Immortality always comes at a price, and for some any price is worth the ability to cheat death (potentially forever).
When I played trough Dawnguard I thought Harkon was depressed and wanted to die. But he's too proud to take his own life so instead he opted to destroy the world and himself in the process.
Think about it, out of all the vampires in castle Volkihar, he is the most isolated. He stays in his room and talks to nobody, while his advisers and generals bicker among themselves and plot against him openly. There are some more signs there. Like how all the vampires live in squalor, the castle is constantly dirty with blood and the garden in the courtyard of the castle is dead and overgrown with weeds. The whole building is mostly empty, every banner is faded and torn the place is in total disarray, much like the psyche of its master.
The vampire maintains the illusion of lordly arrogance to maintain a semblance of control over his own existence but the truth is that he lost his mind a long time ago, somewhere along the road he also lost his will to live. That's why his plan is so random. He holds on to this strange idea of the prophesy like a madman, knowing full well that it spells his and the entire world's doom.
I think molag bol toyed with him for too long and is deluded. He doesn't truly care if he's overthrown or anything. He just feels like he needs to do something and doesn't care for his death. I mean if the player turned his offer down it would make most sense to kill them on the spot instead.
Dam.... I like this one I hope you don't mind if I try to believe this instead this would make him a lot less annoying
That theory would explain why he treats Serana so coldly, regardless of side chosen. He doesn't even desire to bond to his wayward daughter, who is the key to EVERYTHING he needed to achieve.
So pretty much like Castlevania Dracula, just not nearly as charming or intimidating
That actually makes sense
To be fair... the sun in the Elder Scrolls isn’t the same as our sun.
I dunno if Mundus acts the same way, because it’s not a star
Which... may be one of many reasons shooting an arrow at it causes it to burst out or veil, though x)
True. The sun in the elder scrolls acts more like an magic aspect and not like a star which attempts nuclear fusion to create heat. I think that explains why enchanting fire resistence wouldn't help you against Mundus
@@prometheus5218 Mundus is the name of the mortal realm, not the sun.
@@Mr-Trox You are right I made the mistake because Mundus and Magnus are kinda similar in their pronunciation. The sun is the Magnus and not the Mundus ty
@@prometheus5218 It's not Magnus either, Magnus is the Aedra that ripped the hole in the sky that became the sun.
The sun is just a hole to Aetherius.
One thing though. Vampires dont die if they dont feed. They become more demonic in appearance and lose the ability to blend into society.
And go mad over time.
That's true. But that doesn't mean all vampires. Only the Volkihar vampires can survive without blood while bloodstarved. Other "deseased" Vampires will get much more aggressive and so mad that they will attack other vampires, because they need blood.
No. Thats a game mechanic. Not lore.
@@Hyperlot Pretty sure its actual lore. Lord Lovidicus in Oblivion was alive albeit a little insane after not consuming blood for hundreds of years. Elder Scrolls vampires are slightly different from traditional ones.
I would argue Count Hassildor of Skingrad would rally quite a few vampires or even an army trained to hunt vampires against Harkon. The Count is considerably more charismatic and has vast wealth and influence in the Empire.
Given that he is immortal, I imagine he would step in during the events of Dawnguard if Harkon got Auriel’s Bow and enacted his plan.
Hey look another person who watches this channel and also has played oblivion like me!
That would've been a great cameo...
Parthurnaax and the dragons would surely oppose the vampires as well
And vamps don't fare well against fire.
Vexed Rat but they do against frost and almost all of the god damn dragons only have one or the other
Imagine Vampires with the power of the voice. I think they would do better than mortals, because Vampires are immortal, that means they can live for eternity and learn so many words of power as possible. They would be so strong
Well, that and a bunch of legendary weapons and characters exist that could probably win. Add that to the fact that the other dadric princes would probably get annoyed at this (vampires are molag bahls pawns).
I hope he would
They say a character can only be as intelligent as the person who wrote them. With all the dumb characters in Skyrim, it doesn't look like Emil Pagiarulo is the sharpest tool in the shed.
Or he was intentionally low balling it because he knew everyone was going to use "Kill everything ESPECIALLY the children!!" Mods.
@@kaimagnus5760 That just means he's a passionless fuckwit. Which he himself has admitted to in a round-about way.
@@KonoGufo Is he coming back for ES6? If so, brace your anuses for another "Chosen One" main quest where you get pushed around by a bunch of autistic robots masquerading as people and no one bothers to explain anything fully. Sorry, I'm still pissed off at the shit quality of Skyrim's main quest.
Rohan Narain, Elder scrolls has been deteriorating since morrowind, it's to be expected in future releases.
@@KingZealotTactics So basically since Julian Lafay left and Todd "it just works" Howard took over.
So I agree that the plan to shroud the world in darkness is definitely not Harkon's brightest moment, but considering how old Serana is (as found out during dialogue, older than the empire), and the fact that her mother Valerica's portal to the Soul Cairn is in there, his base in Castle Volkihar probably just predates the Thalmor outpost by the coast. You can't exactle resettle a castle, so I can't fault him for that part.
Not his brightest moment ha puns
They're from the First Era, because Serana knew nothing about an Empire from Cyrodiil, and if she had been born in the Second, she would have known about Reman's Empire, even if she didn't know about the Septim Empire.
@@Mr-Trox but wouldn't she know about alessias empire? Or am I getting the time line wrong
@@danielshore1457 Alessia's Empire was founded in the First Era, it's possible she's from between those two periods or before the Slave Queen's rebellion.
The hist would've warned the argonians who would also be prepared pitting them + the people of skyrim against them before more could join the fight.
I can imagine a scenario that is like the Oblivion crisis when the Argonians just zerg rushed into the Oblivion gate and freaked the Daedra out!
Seriously just imagine the moment the sun is blocked/removed the Hist get's the Argonians to swarm the island castle in a supercharged Histskin berserker rage then either the smartest Argonians manage to restore the sun or just the act of completely devastating Harkon's forces allows the other races the safety to find a way to restore the sun.
Moral of the story? if you want to try to go through with your plans that is basically world wide, make sure it doesn't affect the Hist Trees.
Actually i can imagine that should Harkon's plan goes through, it might piss off a number of Daedric princes to varying degrees.
Imagine fulling a prophecy that allows your kind walk freely only for moment you walk out of your castle your greeted by punch to face by super soldier lizard man who proceed to kill your strongest vampires with ease
@@Timmothy_plays They wouldn't even have to restore the sun. They would just have to wait one day, because the bloodcursed arrow only makes the sun disappear for the rest of the day XD
@@Sithisine There's actually a theory on that. The theory goes that the eclipse is temporary because you did it wrong. You dipping the arrows in Serana's blood produced an imperfect, weakened result. In order to fully utilize the power of the Bloodcursed Arrows, in order to truly plunge Nirn into eternal darkness, you would have to kill a Daughter of Coldharbor. I believe one piece of cut content involved you siding with Harkon and killing Serana.
I completely agree with you, that was my problem with the Dawnguard DLC. The whole time I was absolutely flabbergasted at how nonsensical his plan was. As well there was no logistical plan for the transition into a vampire ruled society in place so you would be a bunch of monsters showing up and claiming to be in a authoritative position which essentially would end with a conflict. I don't understand why they didn't just do what the Mythic Dawn plan to do and set up a bunch of subterranean lairs underneath all the major cities so at least you have a base of operations when everything goes down. But really the same could be said for their Castle, why on Earth are they just inside? You should create an underground lair, that way you can escape it when someone finds you but instead it's
1. Take away sun.
2.profit.
That's not how a takeover works you simpleton!!!
Me: Dragonborb is an idiot
Dragonborn: What? I was just trying to cross the border.
Avarti: You picked wrong time to get lost friend.
Hes idiot probably because Hermeous Mora. I mean hes already strong. Why want more
I agree, the Dragonborb is an idiot.
The Dragonborn on the other hand.
You got caught by General Trumpius.
You picked the wrong time fool!
Dragonborb
Harkon's plan is also doomed to fail simply because there's so much infighting between the clan members within Volkihar keep that it would be difficult to unite them against mortals. Let alone unite all the other clans under a single rule of Harkon.
honestly, this whole problem could be solved by changing the effects of the corrupt bow of Auri'el from darkening the Sun to making the Sun incapable of harming vampires. This way Harkon's plan would make sense: the people survive, and vampires can hunt during the day.
That's literally what it does, the sun will still provide the same magic that keeps stuff alive when blackened by the blood. The video creator doesn't know this. The sun in TES is just a really big tear into Aetherius, the realm of pure magic. It's just magic leaking out that provides light, stars are the same thing. The magic is changed by the blood of a Daughter of Coldharbour to no longer be lethal to Vampires. That's it. Plants and animals will still live just fine, but there won't be a day/night cycle anymore so that'll cause the issues Harkon's wife speaks of, "eternal night".
@@KillerChickn it does get a bit darker when you fire the bow, but not nighttime dark. Long term, it might get a touch colder and plants might not grow as well, but it wouldn't kill all life.
@@ATurnip people would be more sleepy because there's less "sun," so in turn itd be easier for everyone to feast. Personally I think they should just pay bandits to capture people and bring them to the castle, then keep those people as livestock to well eat from I guess. Also just get an umbrella and an armored fursuit and they should be fine lol
Harkon : *tries to darken the sun*
Gru from Despicable Me : *steals the moon*
The difference here is in who tries and who actually does it
Suggestions for next idiots: The Silverblood family, Miraak, Maven Blackbriar.
Silverbloods. they have alot of BigThink moments
@Samueldedieu wait what
Seems the only thing you're proving with this series, is how bad bethesda's writing is.
That's basically what this entire series does
Except that the mechanics of the bow prove Harkon would have achieved his goal since the effect is temporary.
We already knew that he's just highlighting it.
The thing is, this is one of the moments where such bad writing is done on purpose. Everyone in Harkon's own court knows that his plan is stupid and suicidal to the vampire race, hence why they decide to kill him even in the vampire route of the Dawnguard storyline.
The literal ONLY reason why no one pointed this out sooner to him is because he's too crazy and stupid to listen to reason. The moment when his insanity actually appears to be on the track to working, all the vampires immediately go: "Oh shit, our beyond-retarded boss is going to do his beyond-retarded scheme which will get us all killed. Hey, demi-god dragon hunting super-vampire, mind killing him before he "succeeds" in his own stupidity?"
@@joshuakim5240 The Castlevania anime had a similar theme for Dracula.
If the Dragonborn leaves Harkon for last..and does every other main plot line before. The Fool would be facing an incarnated dragon who has the loyalty of Alduin's former General and a Zombie Dragon, while in adition having the power to brainwash more dragons....and also has every daedric artifact in hands... Imagine a dude dressed in full daedric armor and with daedric weaponry shows up in front of your castle...are you really going to challange the monster that kicked Alduin into oblivion?
Especially if the LDB is wielding the Wabbajack
@@mistermidnight1823 Imagine showing up at his castle riding a dragon, with your other dragons summoned.
the whole Imperial/Stormcloak army is tagging along, the Dawnguard is tagging along, you are the ultimate hero skyrim has ever seen. the LDB doesn't even need to enter the castle, mount siege engines and use the Dragons to raze it to the ground.
It seems like the DLC completely forgets you are Dragonborn. Harkon might be aware the Dragonborn is in Skyrim but he does not know its you... I suspect Serana would not be keen on telling him either since she develops a close connection to the Dragonborn and would want to protect them from her father. Even if Harkon knows.. I suspect his arrogance makes him severely underestimate what a Dragonborn is and assumes that his gift from Molag is still the greatest thing since sliced bread.
@@zahylon5993 A literal "Aegon the Conqueror/Daenerys Stormborn" moment. Particularly I'm thinking of the passage in "Fire and Blood" where Aegon burns Harrenhal down, with the ironborn king and his sons inside.
You're wrong on one point though, vampires in Skyrim don't need blood to survive and maintain immortality. This is obviously displayed by Valerica's case as well, being trapped in that soul cairne hole for god knows how long.
@sebastjan krek She was hibernated, not quite the same as being awake. You had to do that fancy ritual where your hand was pierced for a drop of blood to wake her up. Plus she's a pure-blooded vampire. Normally you go through debilitating hunger which makes you lose your mind and healing powers akin to that of standing in the sun.
Probably because she is a pure vampire
If vampires don't drink blood they go feral and eventually turn to stone
@@akatsukicloak That's serana, not Valerica.
@@sebastjankrek1744 My bad. Valerica is trapped in oblivion however, the antithesis being Aetherius such as Sovngarde. I do not think concepts such as sleep, hunger or thirst apply in such metaphysical afterlife.
Something people repeatedly forget is that his clan does not require blood to live. Only to appear human.
I always looked at it as Harkon being able to blot out the sun at will instead of permanently turning it off.
Either way he'd draw the attention of his enemies. He lives the best possible vampire life already. No one in his court is starving to death. It all seems like a cautionary tale about how greed doesn't make sense.
Harkon: With the power of Auriel's bow and my blood, I, Lord Harkon, shall block out the sun, ONCE AND FOR ALL!
*Shoots bloodcursed elven arrow into the sun*
Harkon, one day later: WTF
Lol
Hahah nice one, but Harkon's Plan isn't so stupid. Lore vise Vampires *CAN* survive without blood. They only need blood from mortals to stay outside in the sun. If vampires intend to become bloodstarved, sun would immediately destroy them. If there is no sun at all, Vampires will always stay bloodstarved and basically in their strongest state permenently. Harkon is actually a genius and his plan would indeed make the Vampires very terrifying and crown them as the strongest beings in Tamriel. People just don't want to read the lore correctly
Prometheus you forgot the part where everybody would just band up against the vampires and kill them all
@@Jamarvious_ You mean at night? Where vampires can rampage bloodstarved without worring about the sun? Also Volkihar vampires can't spread in the small position they are in, so if the sun is gone they can eventually come out and infect everyone with vampirism and just demolish everybody. You can't win against an vampire at night, because you can't see him and the vampire clearly does
Prometheus you forget about khajits
Let's be honest, we all joined the vamps for Serana
Lmao, i actually did for this reason.
No i instantly disagreed on joining them
I always join Dawnguard
And the armor! And the cool dogs
You get serana as a follower either way.
Even if tamriel falls the other continents would be looking for why the planet nirn went dark and eventually they would have a bigger war on their hands
Off topic of this, but I think that would happen in marvel as well. I feel like a galactic republic or empire such as starwars would show up to our galaxy following the energy point from force of the infinity stones in Marvel's infinity war after the snap and wipe the floor with thano's army as well and any force that opposes them.
@@kyle18934 what?
@@erikho6936 I'm saying like how a continent's worth of soldiers showing up to "deal" with the vampires, if the thanos snap was really the entire universe, some big military might follow the power signatures of the stones back to the marval galaxy
@@kyle18934 But their... different worlds? They're not even the same universe
@@erikho6936 but similar.
Idk just a random thought that I was thinking at the time
The moment Harkon thought himself a god, that's when I knew he was delusional as all hell.
Before the final fight, as Vampire, I told him I'm here to protect our race from extinction. He actually scoffs at the notion.
Talks about nonsense of "we will never tire, never weaken, and more than a match for their pitiful armies".
That's when I knew he was truly insane. Even vampires like him are no match for sheer numbers.
Goes against everything I know about the Art of War. Not only insulting, but sheer foolishness. Imbecile!
“Vampire Lords and fancy blood magic doesn’t count for much when you’re outnumbered 15 to 1.”
I sometimes wonder how did Serana's mother remain stuck so many years in the soul carrin and from who did she feed on blood ? So why can't the other vampires do that as well .
Survival Mode gives you a special effect that makes eating unecessary.
Even then, vampires get more powerful without blood though slightly more unhinged and weaker to vampire weaknesses, but not instantly die.
Hey, man. Literally discovered your channel yesterday, but I already love it. Never clicked a video faster in my whole life
To be fair harkons castle is probably a mere representation of the real size of the castle in lore and in lore its probably much much bigger with more vampires
There should be a mod where Harkon doesn't fight you if you he receives the bow and then it's always eternal night from that point, unless you go back to fight him.
I don't think stupid is the correct word for him, I actually rather think that he's insane. He's completely lost his mind.
To be fair darkening sun would Probably not destroy all life on Earth. I can see that Vampires would lose debuffs, but as you see in game there is still light and not complete darkness.
Hes treating the nirn with our worlds physics which is stupid
Except there would be no more magic in the world.
You know.
That stuff that keeps vampires alive?
@@mitchellhorton9382 wut
@@kolczak6964 Magicka on Nirn comes from the giant hole in the dimension that they call the "sun"
no sun, no magicka
No magicka, no vampires.
@@mitchellhorton9382 I wonder if using Auriel bow would stop magic of the world. Theoritically Sun still should give magic because we can use it in game and is in the same place, but what I know It's Skyrim.
Harkon- “then you will be prey”
Man who literally beat Harkon in 1-2 minutes in his last play through- “YoU WiLl bE pReY”
Imagine, if Harkon succeeds and Valeria's point were to come true, the Imperials march along with the Thalmor, the Argonians swim along the waters waiting for their chance to attack, the Bretons with their Dragonskins, the Khajiits with shadow as their ally and sneak as their mastery, the dragons lead by Mari-, err, Paarthurnax..., the Orcs with their brute strength, the Mage's College with their mastery over each school of magic, and the Dragonborn himself to lead the whole army of Tamriel armed with countless of Shouts and restoration-looped equipment, all against Harkon's army of vampires...
By the time I fought Harkon, I was destruction incarnate and did a bunch of quest mods gaining power beyond description. Even with mods that make the game several times harder than it needs to be, it was extremely difficult not to curb stomp him because it felt like bullying.
More like harkon. Because he lets his emotions cloud his judgement.
Man who killed the Sun. He do it for the clout
Like 90% of the characters in Skyrim.
It would have been funny to see his reaction for the Bow's effect being temporal. However the ability to turn off the sun is still extremely unvaluable for vampires for neutralizing their main weakness.
I think it's different if you like kill Serana I'm not sure though I'm just guessing
Just wanted to thank you and let you know these “Idiot” videos are what got me Into doing another Skyrim Playthrough!
*Destroys all life on the planet
“Hm. Really didn’t think this plan through”
On the "life needs light" thing: Blackreach has no sun, yet it has it's own ecosystem. Though that's mostly fungi and chaurusses.
Perahps the best joke I heard about Harkon's issues with sunlight:
"Dude, sunlight doesn't even hurt that much. You can go outside whenever you want."
"Well yeah but, it's fucking annoying."
harkon failed to take the next leap of logic and ask himself, "and then what happens?"
As far as the placement of the castle, I always assumed that it was his castle before or just after becoming a Vampire. Meaning the castle was originally placed far away from everything and after a few thousands years civilization built its way to the castle.
The volkihar clan doesn't need to drink blood to survive they just needed it to stave off the Sun
I really like this series. Maybe I’m being pretentious but to me this really shows how the writing for the elder scrolls has gone downhill since Morrowind, although I suppose you could argue the games before morrowind didn’t have the best writing either, especially Redguard
100% agreed on this.... on the other side it took me forever to realize that bow actually blots out the sun in game.
His plan could be to a way to honor Molag Bal to insure a decent afterlife
And remember, the blotting out the sun doesn't need to be "eternal", just be a thing Harkon could do randomly - just as YOU can do in game, so it is definitely a good boon
I said it with ancano And I’ll say it again the answer to the title is he tried to piss off the Dragonborn. You don’t piss off the Dovahkiin.
@Nav I *Dragonborn laughs in rotting all alone in a rundown temple*
Good video, but you forgot a major detail. When you're a vampire, and you're just doing some not important quests. Most of the ones I get involve killing other vampires. So, talking about the thousands of dawnguard, they wouldn't have enough vampires to help them fight, because they killed "the weaker fledglings."
On my first play through the DLC, I understood it as a special ritual. A special ritual that would not stop the sun. It would just remove the parts of the sun that affect vampires. Like removing the purification aspects or removing the spectrum that affect vampires.
On my second play through, I realized that he was a tragic hero. He had seen so many prophesies, he knew he had to die. He knew how it had to end.
0:26 Dexion Evicus actually explains the stupidity of Harkon's plan really well, at the end of the completion of the Dawnguard questline (provided you've sided with the Dawnguard).
Interesting video Avarti. Regarding a light source, what about the dwemer device in blackreach?
TMKsheep03 I think it’s an artificial sun that’s used as a light source for crops or maybe it’s just a night light :/
@@slowman9794 I think you're right, but it's interesting to think whether the vampires could use this to help sustain some life in Harkon's vision
TMKsheep03 that’s a good idea :D
@@slowman9794 Elves used light magic, sun magic, star magic as light sources. It's literally the same as actual starlight/sunlight and can provide the same magical sustenance as the sun.
And given that Vampires can walk in the sunlight, even if they can't regenerate health or magic, they can equip enchanted items that overcome this. If Harkun had a master enchanter working for him it would allow him to overcome their weakness that way.
Some counterpoints:
1) no one knows how the sun would be blotted out, its entirely possible that it ends up in a similar state to when its shot with bloodcursed arrows, which could arguably still support good amounts of life.
2) Serana was locked away before the dwarves vanished, and she lived in castle volkihar. Harkon and his clan have likely lived there for longer than solitude or the thalmor have existed.
3) Castle volkihar is very easily defendable. It has two entrances and must be reached by boat. No large force would ever be able to land all of their troops for an attack, leaving the vampires to pick off boatloads of soldiers from the walls while they were just sitting, waiting for the space to land, greatly reducing the odds created by numbers.
4) Harkon and his clan were created directly by Molag Bal. He would likely engage in the total domination of humanity.....
this goes off the assumption that plants work the same way on nirn as they do in real life. considering the sun isn't even a star and actually a god ripping a hole through the sky that supplies magicka, you can't really expect that cursing the sun would cause nirn to turn to ice. all the effects we see ingame when the sun is shot with the bow simply renders it unable to damage vampires.
The characters do go on a lot about how Harkon is mad. It's clear that the centuries have not been kind to Harkon's sanity. I only sided with him because I wanted the power of a Vampire Lord, and I wanted lordship of Clan Volkihar for myself; I was planning to usurp him from the very beginning.
There’s issues with your argument against their base, it’s already their home. Not only that but the castle has partially collapsed as visible from outside. As they are their only big risk is if anyone fancies fixing up a castle that would take significant manpower in a place where transport would be limited. Not exactly ideal. Though staying there after drawing attention after blotting out the sun might be questionable
Once the Hist trees realized what was happening, the Argonians likely could beat the Vampires alone.
Heck the falmer man the falmer
@@kresse5647 What's even funnier to me, is from a stat perspective. Arch-Curate Vyrthur is actually stronger than Harkon. They cap at levels 75 and 60
@@TheInsaneTeddy haha i know right. Its funny because the Arch curate totally scraped me Like 4 times until i defeated him but i Made harkon First try without problems. But what i actually meant was that the Vampires would maybe even be able to Take over parts of Skyrim but that the new falmer are another Race that can live without sunlight and that they and their chaurus hordes would overrun the world
@@TheInsaneTeddy It makes sense that Vyrthur is more powerful stay wise at least, because he is the older vampire.
Of course he isn't a pure blood like Harkon, so his bag of tricks only goes so far. Harkon can edge out the win with his Vampire Lord form.
The point of Harkon’s quest line is that no matter how much he goes on and on about how much of a gift his vampirism is, he really doesn’t want to be a vampire.
The thing is, Harkon could've been one of the best villains to appear in an Elder Scrolls game.
If the Bethesda writers really dug into the agony vampires feel when exposed to sunlight and came up with something that Harkon (or all vampires for that matter) want but are kept from it by the sun, they could really make him a sympathetic character.
Imagine if this was Harkon's story:
Harkon was a man who sought power from the daedra, but he never wanted to be a vampire and was deceived by Molag Bal, tricked into a pack with the Daedric Lord. He feels regret for the way vampirism tore his family apart (just like we see in Serana) and he gave into his inner demons, becoming the "not a very good person, even for a vampire" as Serana describes him.
But then, Harkon learns of the Tyranny of the Sun prophecy. In his eyes, a way of bringing his family together again. If the sun no longer hurt vampires, they could feed wherever they wanted, no longer forced to be monsters of the night. His daughter could explore the world and his wife could tend to her beloved garden for eternity. But Harkon then _actually_ discovers that the Tyranny of the Sun requires the death of his own daughter (a daughter he actually loves in this version of the story). Now, Harkon is conflicted. Is he truly willing to murder his own daughter in pursuit of his perceived destiny? He decides he is, even though doing so will tear him apart inside. Valerica discovers Harkon's intentions and seals Serana away, to hide her from Harkon.
"What is the life of one girl against an entire race?"
"Everything"
I agree with everything you said. As George RR Martin once spoke, the human heart in conflict with itself is the only true thing worth writing about.
Magelight can grow crops, since vegetation gets its nourishment from the magic that comes off of Magnus. Also (most) vampires in TES don’t technically need to feed. Fudgemuppet has a really good video on the subject
To be fair, getting Auriel's Bow to shroud the sun with darkness only once in a while, when necessary, is actually a very good idea for vampires, allowing for more strategic victories. So there would be some degree of value to Harkon's plan... if that was actually his intent, which it isn't, ergo he's still dumb as heck.
Even fantasy settings like Skyrim have/need some foundation in reality (e.g. gravity, sunlight and water for flora, some of which is eaten by fauna; the elves, humans and other races which hunt fauna and harvest crops for food etc.) So even a few days without sun might not have immediate effects, things will change quickly and after time will be irreparable. Love these videos btw. Please keep up the good work!
So basically Harkon is Pippin Took when explaining why his plan is so great. "The closer we are to danger the further we are from harm its the last thing he'll expect."
1:05 actually the bow only allows darkness for one day at a time. so if you think about it.
i doubt harkon will blot out the sun forever and come to the understanding that he can use this as an opportunity for a culling instead of keeping the sun away forever, so maybe he's not an idiot, after all the vampires already make the use of stored cattle when they go out to cull the population as this will be when they are at their most powerful.
but even harkon would recognize that it might be in the vampires best interest to let the population grow for a while before culling the population once more.
this is essentially a plot from a tv show with an enemy that uses the very same tactics and also sucks the life out of humans. they basically sleep for a few generations, then wake up to start their culling of the population once again. they wait a few generations before it's time to do another culling, because they can't allow the population to grow too advanced to protect themselves but it's not all the vampires whom are asleep as they need other vampires to keep the population at large in a state of perpetual danger. but it's used to keep the mortals at bay and serves as an occasional snack for the vampires who work during the sleeping generation vampires. these vampires are also a kind of care taker for the sleeping vampires while they sleep.
I was thinking about the castle being visible from the mainland, What if its protected by an illusion spell ?
Vampirism alone supposedly boosts ones affinity with illusionary spells, And harkon has some elven mages, Alchemists and enchanters in his court.
I wouldn't put it past them to have an illusion spell covering the castle.
To be fair on the location of the castle thing, the castle was there before Solitude and Northwatch were built. Hell it was there even before Windhelm was built.
Wait, in the metaphysics of the Elder Scrolls, the Sun is actually a literal hole in the sky made by Magnus at the dawn of creation. A hole that acts as the source of most magic in the world.
To get rid of the sun would be to seal or block the hole, thus cutting Nirn off from the primary source of magic in the world.
In a fantasy world, that’s myriad levels of stupid.
The fact is that nobody cares you’re the Dragonborn, you can basically destroy him by shouting fire, and yet he acts like if you were not even a good soldier. Killed Alduin, stopped the civil war and I’m the prey? Let me show you who the prey is
Love hearing this dude roast literally all the major players in Skyrim 😂😂😂
I don't know if you've tried this out, but shooting directly at the sun with a blood cursed elven arrow, using Auriel's bow, will result in the sky turning red, and the sun getting blotted out for a whole day. Under this effect, vampires, gargoyles and death hounds can be seen roaming Skyrim's wilderness, even during day time. The same can be reversed by firing a sunhallowed elven arrow at the sun, using Auriel's Bow, of course. The sun will go back to normal, causing huge explosions which knock out any enemies near by. They're called Sunburst attacks, and are especially deadly to the undead.
I can't defend this guy's decision making... but in his defense the waiting game through several eras to wait out Serana's awakening probably made him rusty, waaaay too patient and way too overconfident in his own abilities to the point he believed his victory in a 1v2 against a vampire on the same level as him and a literal demigod who's true identity he was aware of since the beginning is guaranteed.
His overconfidence probably also stem from simply not knowing about other vampire clans since vampires are naturally secretive and he assumes others are similar to him, relying on their Daedra gifted powers alone, while the most dangerous vampires rely on their sheer knowledge, skill and magical power having the vampiric condition as just a simple and easy way to be immortal.
His plot to take out the sun to turn the world into an eternally dark paradise for vampires is not wrong either. Life finds a way and the Falmer living and thriving underground ever since the Merethic era proves that mortal life can survive without sunlight and they care little about what provides their blood that they don't even need to survive, nor they are concerned with reproduction being immortal creatures.
Valerica talks about the scenario where the entire world would miraculously get to know about the perpetrator's identity and location, banding together to take him down and retrieve the bow in an attempt to purify it, but it's hardly possible since vampire incursions would become a global problem with nations fighting off the vampire clans located in their own lands, and there are far stronger vampire clans than Harkon's own.
In a world where he succeeded his actual problem would be the ensuing eternal game of many other big shot clans looking for him to secure the bow to themselves since it would be clearly under far better protection under their own care from their point of view.
You can't really expect the Legion and the Stormcloaks to gang up on Harkon either because Tullius' forces will be called back to Cyrodiil, just like how the legions were called back form provinces during the Oblivion Crisis, and the locals would struggle with keeping order and defending from the creatures of the night, not to mention the constantly approaching Falmer threat from below the Earth and other machinations of the Daedra.
I haven't finished watching the video, but I just want you to know that the sun of Nirn isn't like the sun of Earth. The sun is basically a hole that lets all magic flow from Aetherius to Mundus. This hole exists because Magnus fled the creation of the world leaving the giant hole behind. The other spirits noticed this and followed him, thus making the stars. I don't think Plant life behaves in the same way on Nirn as it does on Earth. OK back to the video :P
Okay you apparently already knew all that lol. Good points as always, nice to watch someone who actually know their lore. (I might be wrong about the plants need sunlight as well) Anyways I just want to thank you for making me want to replay Skyrim with your videos. You always bring something up that makes me remember how awesome this game is and why I've played it for over 8 years. Peace!
When I finally got around to the Dawnguard questline in my playthrough on Switch, Harkon looked even more idiotic.
By the time I started the questline, I already defeated Alduin and Miirak, I was the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, and Companions factions (meaning I was also a werewolf), I was a legate in the Imperial army, and I was the champion of every Daedric Prince in the game. He essentially made an enemy of a very crazy and overpowered Dragonborn. Oops.
Harkon: "I have a great destiny! I am prophecied to end the tyranny of the sun!! You cannot hope to beat me!"
My Dragonborn for that playthrough, Unferth: "Actually, the prophecy works for *me,* Harkon. I am a vampire lord, *I* have Auriel's Bow, held in hands that have been tempered by the blood of a Daughter of Coldharbor, AND I have become immune to the wrath of the sun using a method that other vampires can follow (Hidden perk from the Sacrosanct Vampire Mod). I match all of the conditions of the prophecy. It is *me* who is destined to triumph here."
Harkon: "...Why do I hear boss music...? ._. "
they could live off falmer? they live under ground, eat mushrooms which dont need any light and they dont seem to be hard to... "breed"
also it was mentioned (if im right) that magic mist protects the castle from being seen or access before the dragonborn
You can take a boat to the castle and the guy who owns the boat mentions the castle and refuses to take you there unless you pay him extra also through experience from gameplay the only thing stopping me from getting in the castle was the portcullis and the fact that you cannot climb in Windows in Skyrim so if it is said that magic mist protects it from being seen then the game contradicts itself.
Harkon strikes me as someone who's head is so far up his own arse, he can't see that he's breathing in his own crap.
He is a powerful vampire, with access to abilities the Dragonborn can't achieve even as a Vampire Lord. His strength is flawed by his own narcissistic intentions. He has all this power and influence, and he only hungered for more that the Sun limits. By trying to blot out the sun, he could expand his influence and tastes; but in the same light he doesn't realize the dangers of a world without the sun.
Ignoring that he has the dragonborn in his fingers, he is extremely cold to the assets he needs most. Serana's blood being a prophetic need for the Tyranny of the Sun, he shoiuld've built a bond that Serana wouldn't have easily broken. But his love was as fickle as his future plans.
I feel like his first mistake was making a deal with Molag Bal
Hircine seems so much easier to deal with. Even when someone dies he still gives them the option to not be stuck hunting I'm his grounds for eternity. He doesn't sit in a basement and force too people to kill eachother for no reason lol
You practically just described an alternate questline if Harkon got the chance to execute his plans . Good job lol
Everything about earth doesn't apply on the planet of nirn, so we don't know what is needed for life to exist
I personally interpreted how the Tyranny of The Sun works as more corrupting the sun rather than just putting it out
Vampires aren't harmed by UV radiation or something, it's weird supernatural magic mumbojumbo, so turning the sun in the way Harkon plans doesn't destroy the ecosystem
The bit about everyone immediately deciding to commit genocide on the bloodsuckers is entirely fair though
man, the story would of been so much cooler if harkon was trying to replace the sun with the eye of magnus, instead of just simply removing it!
Not only would it have a bit more connection to the main game due to the connection to the college of winter hold. But it also makes a bit more sense. Hes still going to get rid of vampires weakness, but they won't kill all of humanity either.
He is already insane.
Keep Doing something over and over again expecting thing to change
To be fair as well
This dude's been obsessed with this for thousands of years :/
The entire point is that he's lost his mind
He's not an idiot he's just delusional
Just gonna point out that the Falmer prominently exist in caves and eat shrooms and bugs, so the vampires would get by. Barely.