The Gift is a Volkihar Clan side quest from the Dawnguard add-on, given by Vingalmo at Castle Volkihar. His “suggestion” is that you share the blood of Harkon with the person you married. In other words: bite your spouse. It is a short quest, but one with real long-term effects on your household.
How to start
- Join the Volkihar Clan, be a vampire and complete The Bloodstone Chalice.
- Be married, which means having completed The Bonds of Matrimony. You do not need to wear or carry the Amulet of Mara.
- According to the source, other side quests from the castle’s vampires need to be finished before Vingalmo offers this one.
- Certain spouses rule the quest out: Aela the Huntress, Argis the Bulwark, Athis, Balimund, Benor, Borgakh the Steel Heart, Cosnach, Derkeethus, Dravynea the Stoneweaver, Farkas, Ghorza gra-Bagol, Jenassa, Muiri, Octieve San, Omluag, Perth, Roggi Knot-Beard, Romlyn Dreth, Scouts-Many-Marshes, Shahvee, Sondas Drenim, Stenvar, Torvar, Vilkas, Viola Giordano and Vorstag.
Walkthrough
1. Mesmerize and turn your spouse
Find your spouse and use Vampire’s Seduction to calm them, then feed on them. If you do not currently have the power, the journal advises going a day without feeding so that you gain it. After the change your spouse remarks that the night looks and smells different now, and thanks you for the gift.
2. Return to Vingalmo
Go back to Castle Volkihar and let Vingalmo know the deed is done while your spouse goes through the transformation.
Choices and consequences
If your spouse also travels with you as a follower, vampirism changes how they fight. Think it through before you bite.
Advantages
- Resist Frost +50: Nord spouses stack this with their natural frost resistance and end up nearly immune to cold.
- Vampiric Drain: every vampire spouse gets this Destruction spell, whatever their usual fighting style.
Disadvantages
- Weakness to Fire -50: Dunmer cope best, though it cancels out their racial fire resistance. Everyone else becomes very vulnerable to fire users, dragons in particular. Resist Fire gear is strongly recommended.
- No Restoration healing: healing spells no longer work on them, and vampirism does not make a non-essential character essential. Giving them weapons with Absorb Health enchantments is one way to keep them alive.
Rewards
- The source does not list a specific reward. What you get for certain is a vampire spouse.
Tips and notes
- Aela the Huntress, Farkas and Vilkas are werewolves and cannot be turned. Farkas and Vilkas can be turned once cured of lycanthropy; other members of the Companions can be turned normally.
- Some turned spouses do not get the usual glowing vampire eyes. Ysolda, for example, ends up with dark red marks under her eyes instead.
- Feeding on your sleeping spouse turns them without the quest ever being given. They become hostile, and a new objective tells you to return to Vingalmo.
- A spouse who is following you turns hostile once Vampire’s Seduction wears off, so dismiss them before accepting the quest and turn them at home instead.
- The journal includes a failure stage, but the source does not say what triggers it.
- Other Volkihar side jobs include Deceiving the Herd and Protecting the Bloodline.
