To be fair there are many vampires I enjoy. Bram Stoker’s good Count Dracula of course, his depiction in the Van Helsing movie, Salem’s Lot by Stephen King, those lurking in the Blade series, and the Count (once again) in Castlevania.

But by far my favorite depiction of vampires has to be those in the Elder Scrolls series of video games by Bethesda.

As a teenager I dove into the deep world of Morrowind and stumbled across the world of vampires hidden within this game. It was the first time I can remember being presented with the notion of heartless vampires separated into broods due to different bloodlines.

In the game there are three bloodlines; the Berne Clan an assassin-like cult gifted with stealth and speed, the Quarra Clan whose powers gave them brute strength and endurance to crush foes with their bare hands, and my personal favorite the Aundae Clan vampires whose darkness has improved their magical capabilities.

Rather than unite the clans against the greater threat of mortals, Witchhunters, Crusaders, and the Tribunal Temple they fight against each other. Perceiving their bloodline to be superior and the others inferior.

The vampires in this series had a number of benefits such as boosted stats, various abilities, immortality, and so on. But they also had significant downsides, like exposure to sun causing death in seconds, the need to drink blood or suffer grotesque degradation in their appearance, and being immediately despised and attacked by the majority of mortals in the world.

It was very different than the sexy vampires depicted in Anne Rice’s works or the anxiety teens in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which were arguably the most popular/mainstream portrayals of vampires at that time. These were brooding creatures hiding caves and ruins, bickering with other vampires over the superiority of their bloodlines, and struggling to survive while also scheming for world domination.

No hyper emotional teenagers looking for love, no undead Hugh Hefners looking to build a harem, no tortured souls wishing they were human, just aggressive, grim monsters, with little if any emotions.

Granted this has morphed a little over time. Skyrim’s vampires are a tad different with a bit more emotional attachment, but the underlying desire for global conquest, ego, and raw power never went away. If anything the concept of Vampire Lords was a lot of fun to explore.

But Morrowind in particular had something that really brought the vampiric concept home and made it much more interesting. The Vampire’s Embrace mod by Cortex.

This incredible addition to the game kept the lore and continuity of vampire mythos in the Elder Scrolls series and expanded upon it to set you up as the lord of your own brood of vampires. It also played well into the events that took place towards the end of the Third Age.

With this mod you had the ability to turn NPCs in the game into vampires loyal to you. Attacking one NPC at a time you could build your own army of dark creatures, outfit them with gear, and launch raids on local villages and settlements.

If the 1% in real-life are a group of hardworking individuals looking to expand their corporate empires, build large amounts of wealth, create new products/services, and shape the world to be a more interesting and fun place for them and others to live in, the 1% of vampires in The Elder Scrolls would be similar, but with a much darker, destructive twist.

I loved roleplaying one of those 1% vampires, turning bandits, conquering villages and replacing the inhabitants with my own brood, taking on the Tribunal Temple and working region by region until the whole continent was either vampires under my command or thralls willingly keeping everyone fed.

I still return to this game now and then to play because I’ve yet to come across another game that gives you the kind of control, and power this mod did.

Between the already interesting vampires in the vanilla game itself and the incredible power you could wield as one of those vampires with Vampire’s Embrace I would definitely say the vampires in Elder Scrolls are my favorite from any piece of fiction I’ve ever encountered.

Also, for those who are curious, if I had to pick my favorite bloodline/species from The Elder Scrolls, I would say it’s a tie between the Volkihar vampires in Skyrim or the Cyrodiil Vampyrum Order mentioned in Oblivion’s Vile Lair plugin.

The Volkihar vampires fascinate me because of how powerful and ambitious they are. Vampire Lords are brutal on the battlefield because of their abilities and necromantic powers, Lord Harkon nearly achieved his goal of blotting out the sun forever after all, and Volkihar generals with their vampiric armies are said to be horrific forces of incredible might.

The Cyrodiil Vampyrum Order is interesting to me in an entirely different manner, they are more crafty and cunning. Their power is obtained from the shadows through anonymity, political manipulation, and great wealth. Some fans have a fun theory that you’ve encountered a number of these vampires in the games but they’re so effective at hiding you may not have realized it.

My ideal vampire would have to be a mixture of these two. Vampires with incredible abilities and powers like the Volkihar, but the cunning and craftiness of the Order. I would argue that this mix of vampire types would give rise to a brood capable of overthrowing the various factions of the world and controlling all of Nirn.

If that brood ever got their hands on Auriel’s Bow and the Elder Scroll (Blood) they would truly be a force to be reckoned with.

As it stands my favorite vampires are those found in the Elder Scrolls mythos.