Vampires are people infected with Sanguinare Vampiris, a disease that becomes permanent if it is not cured within three days. The sufferer turns pale, grows fangs and red eyes, resists cold, burns easily and has to feed on blood to keep it all in balance. In Skyrim they hide in remote caves and ruins, raising the dead and draining anyone who strays too close; in Dawnguard they become a whole faction to join or hunt.
Any race can catch the disease, and Khajiit and Argonians change too: Khajiit fangs lengthen past the lip and their pupils narrow, while Argonian scales turn greyer. Bosmer and Dunmer, already red-eyed, can pass unnoticed. Dawnguard gave many human vampires a harsher, more bat-like face and golden-orange eyes.
Variants
Encounters come in two families: regular and master vampires. Which one you meet mostly depends on your level, though weaker types keep turning up later too. Race and gender are random.
- Vampire Fledgling – level 1
- Vampire – level 6
- Blooded Vampire – level 12
- Vampire Mistwalker – level 20
- Vampire Nightstalker – level 28
- Master Vampire – several ranks, levels 14 to 42
- Nightlord Vampire (Dawnguard) – level 60, the strongest standard type
- Nightmaster Vampire (Dawnguard) – level 65, a boss type replacing the Volkihar Master Vampire
Standard vampires cover levels 1–48 before Dawnguard adds the Nightlord. With Dawnguard, they also trade generic mage robes for vampire armor, boots and robes.
Where to find them
Wild vampires usually live in caves and old ruins across every hold. Dawnguard adds big nests:
- Castle Volkihar – the seat of Harkon‘s court.
- Forebears’ Holdout – during Prophet.
Lore
Vampirism traces back to Molag Bal, who created the first vampire, Lamae Beolfag, in the First Era. He still grants pure-blooded vampirism directly; Harkon earned it this way, while women who survive his ritual become Daughters of Coldharbour, an ordeal few survive. Most of Skyrim’s vampires descend from the Volkihar Clan, whose members are said to dwell under frozen lakes. They are weakened by sunlight rather than burned by it. Guards, the Vigilants of Stendarr and the Dawnguard attack known vampires on sight. Pure-bloods can take the form of a Vampire Lord.
