What of the guys? There are a bunch of male Vampire Lords in Castle Volkihar but no mention of how they become vampires. The wiki states that Vampire Lords are generally pure-blood vampires but the only mentioned way of becoming one is the "offering" to Molag Bal and I can't imagine Lord Harkon being "offered" to Bal.Moreover if Vampire Lords are pure-blooded then what about the Dragonborn(should you choose to become one)? Won't that be a contradiction?

Also, how old could the Volkihars be?And are all the other breeds of vampires (look up "Immortal Blood" if you don't know what i speak of) pure-blooded too? Does that mean even they can become Vampire Lords? And why do we see no sign of the other breeds anywhere?And could these breeds have direct connections to Lamae?

I think there are other means that don't involve personal... violation from Bal himself. I think they involve mass sacrifice, if I recall what I heard about Harkon's own method.

Yes, good ole Harkon sacrificed 1000 innocent souls to become a pure blood. As for the LDB, I think they were a special case.

Imagine if that was the ONLY way to become a pure-blooded vampire?

During you Vampire Lord training, Harkon will tell you that he sacrificed a thousand innocents to Molag Bal and he gained eternal life for himself and his family. All other court members got their Vampire Lord powers from Harkon/Valerica/Serana/other court members (when certain conditions are met, like Vingalmo said), just like the player character.

I personally believe that the guys get time with Bal, don't believe Harkon one bit. Bal isn't...exactly what you call picky.

Poor Harkon.....

Wait, did I just say Poor Harkon?

Maybe I did...

What about the male Khajiits and Argonians though? Wait a minute Barret...Are you telling me that Molag is into furry and the like? No way man!

The true sadist only cares for the fear and pain of his victim. And one part of him enjoys to give another part pain.

In the end, Harkon tells that he did get the power from Molag Bal by the scarify. But he do good, not to tell everybody that his wife Valerica did make him to an vampire-lord, since he tell everybody that he want to kill Valerica.

Most of my chars have the theory, that Valerica did made Harkon to the vampire-lord. Some of them do then come to the conclusion, that in order to be like Harkon, they have to kill the vampire who made them to the vampire-lord...

Harkon wants to kill Valerica because they had a disagreement about Serana and Valerica hid her away and them fled to Soul Cairn. It has nothing to do with Vampire Lord powers.

The problem is: If Harkon is telling everyone that he wants to kill the vampire that did make him a vampire, everyone at his court will say that it is O.K. to kill the vampire that did make your to a vampire.

That would mean chaos. Harkon do not want chaos, at least not open chaos at his court.

As mentioned, it is a good excuse to kill Harkon himself...

So, instead of telling that he want to kill an higher (purer) vampire, he tells that he want to kill an equal, or even lower vampire.

What I want to say it: Your absolutely right, but that does not affect my theory.

The funny aspect: The whole Dawnguar-Story is like almost every vampire-story: You have to save the maid from the evil vampire.

But since this is Skyrim, the maid is herself a vampire and probably the one who did make the evil vampire, from who you have to save her, to the vampire that he is!

Like I said, he's not picky.

It is heavily implied that he....ah, had some time with your character in ESO despite your character's gender or race.

Basically it's a horrid version of Twilight. Mixed with a dash of the My Immortal Fanfiction.

Actually, considering the daedric pantheon as a whole (and the fact that they're not in any way human).... it's not without the realm of the possible that Bal has no particular preference as to gender, race, fur, etc. when it comes to its pleasures of whatever sort. What disturbs me this far on is how - unusual - the devs for this game were and probably still are. You don't generally find sixuality of those types in mass-market for mass-audience games whether labeled "M" or not.

Now, since I've played TES since Arena, I'm well-aware that statement's a bit "off" - but then, I was an advlt when I arrived at this franchise and began to play (an advlt who grew up in Vegas - where back then anything was a penny for whatever; nope, I wasn't into all that myself, but you just couldn't pretend it didn't exist....) - and I do not personally have any issue with whatever consenting advlts get up to.

But.... I would have done some serious "OH NO you're not playing this game!" had my young daughter showed any interest. She didn't. In fact, she only started playing games in her 40s.... I kept wanting to say - wait, are you SURE you're my daughter? You must be a changeling....

Say what you want about Molag Bal, but he does treat people with equality...

Indeed

Serana is surprised that there is an empire at the seat of Cyrodiil when you first meet her, indicating that she is at least 700 years old.

I thought Harkon wanted to kill Valerica because of her opposition to his pursuit of the prophecy to darken the sun.

That's the point!

Let's think of it as you where a new vampire at the court.

Valerica is a vampire of first generation, and claims that the way of the vampire is to hide in the shadows.

Harkon is a vampire of second generation, only by the "mercy" of Valerica or Serana. He want a new way of living for the vampires.

Now you have some options: You support Valerica, since she is first generation and represents the tradition.

Or you support Harkon, because you give nothing about respect for the older ones and the tradition.

With the second option, there is not really much reason not to rebel against Harkon himself.

So, Harkon make the world more easy for him, and simply claims that he is first generation and do own nothing to Valerica.

... or Harkon did use a gender-change-spell to make himself a Daughter of Coldharbour.

wooh. Imagine that!

That shows how old Serana is, but what of Harkon?

700 plus a few years. They where a human family before they where turned into vampires and stopped aging.