Why do vampires have nightmares? : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:02 pm

Those nightmares must be my favourite part of being a vampire. I'm just wondering why do they have nightmares, does the lore say anything about it?

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:12 pm

Because humans have nightmares,

» Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:46 am

Well, Vaermina's sphere is the realm of dreams and nightmares, so it's easy to assume she is responsible. In Morrowind, Molag Balg, who is responsible for vampires, claims in the Cure for Vampirism quest that he obtained the cure from Vaermina, so it's likely that she has some reason to inflict vampires with constant nightmares.

From the Imperial Library:

Vaernima? What did the Prince of Dreams and Nightmares do with Vampirism? Did she alter the Bloodlines of Vvardenfell Vampires just like Clavicus Vile did with Cyrodiilic Vampires? Perhaps she did something with the dreams or nightmares that Vampires receive? Lots of questions, no answer just yet.

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:14 pm

I'm on the belief she made them, and used the rapist, Molag Bal, as a way to spread it.

» Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:30 am

If I had to venture a guess, it's probably because as they're brushing their fangs before bed time, the last thing they see in the mirror is the god awful http://xca.xanga.com/ed2f7a6472d32260428477/z207442597.jpg.

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:30 pm

Just to spin what people've been saying in a different way: they're a nightmare made manifest. Of course they'd fall under the pervue of Vaernima.

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:08 pm

That too (and yet, we get too many people wanting them to be pretty in the general Skyrim section :banghead: )

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:56 pm

If I had to venture a guess, it's probably because as they're brushing their fangs before bed time, the last thing they see in the mirror is the god awful http://xca.xanga.com/ed2f7a6472d32260428477/z207442597.jpg.

But vampires can't see themselves in the mirror. (unless for some reason this doesn't count in the TES universe.)

» Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:49 am

That too (and yet, we get too many people wanting them to be pretty in the general Skyrim section :banghead: )

That is just wish fulfilment. I'm not sure how it detracts from the idea of a nightmare made manifest though.

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:59 pm

But vampires can't see themselves in the mirror. (unless for some reason this doesn't count in the TES universe.)

I've never heard it mentioned.

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:03 pm

I never heard the mirror thing mentioned either. But there could be a clan somewhere that won't have reflections. I mean, garlic won't do squat against vampires in ES, unless you're Vicente Valtieri.

As for the nightmares. Molag Bal created vampirism by [censored] a Nedic female(Both sources recoreded, including Manifesto Cyrodiil Vampyrum).

Molag Bal: I created Vampires. To make fun of Arkay"

Vaermina: "Cool...i'll make a cure and give them nightmares"

Molag Bal: "Deal"

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:34 pm

I always thought they were a kind of racial memory.
Ancestral 'do's and dont's'.
In Morrowind one dream warns you about ashlander wise women (and they do attack you if you try to talk to them as a vampire)
And another dream is about a quest for a vampire ancient, and that one made me wary for Mastrius, who did turn out to want to kill me.

» Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:49 am

Maybe so, but Morrowind and Oblivion vampp dreams were the same, but different. They switched the scrib larvae part and the Telvanni mage to Necromancer.

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:36 pm

Wait........do vampires nightmares :tongue:

» Tue Mar 01, 2011 2:26 am

Yeaaaaah...they do. You should catch vampirism in DF, MW, and OB and see for yourself. I know OB's nightmares goes into detail, and the descriptions are pretty nightmarish.

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:37 pm

I loved the nightmares you got in-game when you became a vampire.
Always made me feel like a child.

» Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:22 am

They probably eat cheese before bedtime.

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:14 pm

They probably eat cheese before bedtime.

I eat cheese before bedtime...

» Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:30 am

I always thought they were a kind of racial memory.
Ancestral 'do's and dont's'.
In Morrowind one dream warns you about ashlander wise women (and they do attack you if you try to talk to them as a vampire)
And another dream is about a quest for a vampire ancient, and that one made me wary for Mastrius, who did turn out to want to kill me.

I don't want to kill you :devil:

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:21 pm

I assumed the copious nightmares were a symptom of being severed from Arkay's sleep-maintenance.

While we're here, Vaernima's realm, Quagmire (giggity, giggity, giggity, giggity), is so named, because horrifying visions surface, more terrible than the last, the further one walks her realm. Water bubbling through ground, in a literal quagmire, correct?

» Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:48 pm

I'm on the belief she made them, and used the rapist, Molag Bal, as a way to spread it.

interesting theory you got there.