Harkon - backstory theory <Spoilers> : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Wed Aug 08, 2012 8:29 am

When You meet Harkon and join up with the Vampire's, he tells you a little story about how he was a powerfull king in an age long forgotten and he could not escape mortality so he turned himself and his family into vampires . Serana on the other hand comments on the tomb where we find her that "It looks diffrent". In Notes on Dimhallow Crypt volume III we can read that the chamber was buid as an addition to the crypt.

From these little bits of information we can extract:

- Serana was sealed within Dimhallow firstly, than the chamber was build and gargoyles were put to guard her.
- Serana remembers the way out and was not expecting the draugr. Maybe there were there, but sleeping and the recent come back of Alduin awake them.
- One chamber in Dimhallow has an arena with a fire pit in the center. And ofcourse a dragon wall - very rough translation :

Here lies (the) body of Zvala

Who (word needed) strength to

(word needed)

but not stamina to

(word needed)

many

- She is not suprised about dragons roaming the sky. - which could be an oversight or I am completely wrong on what I will write next.

- She is suprised by Cyrodillic Empire - Empire dates : Septim (2E 897- not ended) , Remanian(1E 2703- 2E 430)

or Allesian(1E 243 - 1E 498) empires. This can mean that she was put in the tomb before Remanian or Allesian empires times. Or Could be tied up to a Tamrielic war which will be presented in TES:O. My guess goes to after Remanian and before Septim. As she is suprised that there is an empire in Cyrodill and she knows the name of the province which was named after Reman the first. Maybe there will be a sidequest in TESO about Serana? Who knows.

Another evidence for this to be actually true is the strong presence of Molag Bal in this time period.

- Harkon and his family are nords, more sophisticated and not afraid of magic. And Harkon called himself "King" that leads me to believe he was an independent King in Skyrim(as there were some of the territories who were not jarldom but kingdoms in High Kingdom of Skyrim) or High Rock (when Skyrim hold lands there) . Serana comments on Solitude and Windhelm - that she read about them, and the Reach that "her father didn't want to live there". So we can rule out those as Harkon's lands. Riften would not be it becuase the ruler of the Rift was a Jarl - as we are told in the ancient dawnguard backstory. My guess would be Falkreath as it was described as a powerfull Colovian kingdom, and as I recall Harkon described himself as a warlord. Also there is an ancient vampiric castle called "Bloodlet Throne" and with Dawnguard installed, there are gargoyles there.

To sum up. Harkon in my oppinion was a Colovian warlord with Nordic ancestry. The ruler of Falkreath. And he was turned into a vampire lord at the time of Molag Bals invasion on Tamriel. After the invasion was over, he fled to Castle Volkahir (as being the worshipper of Molag Bal that could be a big problem from the population) , that's why Cuhlecain and Tiber Septim could conquer Falkreath Kingdom easly - the kingdom would go to despair and civil conflict without a ruler . When Molag's Bal invasion failed he found a prophecy about vampires and got obsessed about it. That lead Valerica to hide Serana and herself from him. So with this estimates I propose Harkon's age to about 1000 years.

Thank's for reading.

» Wed Aug 08, 2012 10:36 am

Nice read, but some things are off, he never fled actually, his vampirism was gained through power when he "sacrificed thousands" to molag bal, which he says himself in order to defeat mortality.
Also I dont know much about his controlled lands but, in the case of the reach when he says he doesnt want her living there, maybe because he thinks that land is filled with weaklings and he simply did not wish her to live amongst his slaves? Other than that, great read, I dont know much of Molag's invasion though

» Wed Aug 08, 2012 6:30 am

Sacrificing thousands to Molag Bal could be another thing tieing him with the time period of Bal's invasion. It makes perfect sense. Bal attacks Tamriel and eats souls for lunch, and there is this puny warlord who gives souls directly to Bal as he had a strong presence on Tamriel. Ofcourse please regard all of this as pure speculation, and I can be (and probably I am) wrong.

» Wed Aug 08, 2012 12:24 am

This can mean that she was put in the tomb before Remanian or Allesian empires times. Or Could be tied up to a Tamrielic war which will be presented in TES:O. My guess goes to after Remanian and before Septim. As she is suprised that there is an empire in Cyrodill and she knows the name of the province which was named after Reman the first. Maybe there will be a sidequest in TESO about Serana? Who knows.
Another evidence for this to be actually true is the strong presence of Molag Bal in this time period.

Another piece of evidence is Galbedor, the Paladin of Auriel. He was born before the prophecy was created and we know elves generaly don't become much older than a 1000 years. (excluding mages)

- Harkon and his family are nords, more sophisticated and not afraid of magic. And Harkon called himself "King" that leads me to believe he was an independent King in Skyrim(as there were some of the territories who were not jarldom but kingdoms in High Kingdom of Skyrim) or High Rock (when Skyrim hold lands there) .

1. Nords haven't always been afraid of magic. In the past it was known as the clever craft. The recent distrust of magic stems from the Oblivion Crisis, the Thalmor e.a..
2.The only time that High Rock has been a part of Skyrim is during the First Empire of the Nords. That empire dissolved around 1E 700, about two thousand years before Harkon was supossedly born.
3. Jarlings are sometimes refered to as kingdoms. Harkon could have been a Jarl for all we know.

» Wed Aug 08, 2012 7:53 am

1.My point of not being afraid of magic was exactly to underline that Harkon is way older than 200 years.
2. Yeah I suspected that much. That is why I am more sure about Colovia and Falkreath.
3. I think that would be weird if Harkon adressed himself as King even tho he was a Jarl in title. Why not just tell that he was a powerfull Jarl? A more common title in modern Skyrim.