Seems like several people don't realize you don't have to be molag bals six toy to become pureblood. Just offer him a lot of souls and he will grant you the gift. Id offer him only one soul. The soul of barbas which I think he would graciously accept.

Dragon souls definitely.

But Barbas is so cool. Why would you torture him so?

He has a New Yorkie(No pun) accent.

.

All we know is what was stated in a book that we have no way to prove or disprove if its true or not.

I for one go with the chance it may not be true.

This is my line of thinking as well when we're talking about "official lore".
Unless it comes from the Dev Teams' (the writters) mouth, or some other trusted source, as far as I'm concerned it's here-say.

Just because those books appear in game does not necessarily make them cannon. They were written by characters who had their own point of view on the events and subjects in question, and in most cases they are less than complete or thorough. Unfortunately that also goes for many comments made by characters, to include the gods who are just as fallible and prone to whims as any other mortal.

Just because Harkon called the Dovakiin a half-blood doesn't make it so. Sure, he might be considered an authority on it given he is 1st generation VL; but consider the context of those comments. It's my opinion that he meant them as an insult. If he were to call your mom a [censored] or your daddy a bastard doesn't mean they are, even if he may also be an authority on that.

It's my point of view, take it or leave it, that "pure-blood" has two possible meanings. 1) you're considered "pure" if you are from Lord Harkon's bloodline and 2) if your gift came directly from Mo-ba. "Mo-ba", that's what I call him. We're pretty tight . Even if you don't see things in this light, the fact that you're 2nd Generation of Harkon's blood would make you more pure than 95% of all the other vampires in Tamriel, let alone Skyrim.

Again, that's just how I see things

On another note: I would say that your Vampire Lord form is your true form, or at least the form that Mo-ba intended. That you can change back and forth is just groovy.

Yeah I think so as well that the VL is the vampire's true form and when molag bal's blood becomes diluted from being passed on too much the thin bloods loses the form of the VL.

The evidence of which I type is from several books as well as several instances of actual gameplay experience. We know that some of the topics discussed in the books are actually true and some of it we have experienced in gameplay. I could list books and gameplay mechanisms and point out facts but you can easily find this information yourself.

How do you get half blood being equivalent to 95% more pure than other vampires? I do not recall it ever being said Harkon was a pure vampire, he was human and he became a vampire, his wife and daughter were human and were recreated as pure vampires. Harkon changes to the monstrous form same as the Dragonborn, Serana has the same powers in her human form, neither her mother nor herself ever changed into another form. Either way it seems unlikely a halfbreed is going to be any better than any other vampire in that castle.

The the only book to refer to the Volkihar vampires was written by a vampire was it not? So probably none of the information in it is reliable.

Some of the information in "Immortal Blood" has been proven to be true.

Ah hah! My evil plan succeeds! You were obviously distracted by the dancing bunny > < because little of what you just said made sense

Let me try and help you straighten out what it was I said....and I'll try to clarify along the way for ya.

It is my understanding that Harkon, Valerica, and Serana were all Human, but were taken by Molag Bal and turned into Pure Bloods, or the first Vampires of their kind. It is also my understanding that Harkon was the first to receive this gift, but at what price is unclear to me. I also understand that following Harkon, his wife Valerica and daughter Serana were made Pure Bloods, but only after Molag Bal [censored] them, as was the price they had to pay for their gift.

Now, considering that Molag Bal is the source, Harkon and Family would be 1st generation Vampire Lords, or Pure Bloods. Naturally as time goes on, if any one of the three turns me, then I become 2nd generation, anyone I turn becomes 3rd gen, so on and so forth. This is the dilution of the blood line that I assume everyone else talks about, and eventually you'll work your way down to "thin-bloods". Who knows how many generations you'd need to go through to get to them, but it is my opinion that it would be many. Possibly more than 10, but that's just my opinion.

It is my point of view that while 2nd generation is technically "less pure" than 1st gen, it is nonetheless "more pure" than any other generation. In my point of view, whatever dilution in the bloodline would be faint. Since there is no definitive cannon on any of this, feel free to interpret "pure" however you like. This is just how I see it.

"Half-Blood" was only mentioned by Harkon when refering to the Dragonborn, as I remember it. To be honest my memory is a bit slack on this since I've only played through once, and its been more than a week since I've finished the DLC...but at the moment I can only recall one time he calls you "half-blood", and it is my opinion that he meant it more as an "insult" than he did "a statement of fact". For more clarification on that point I refer you back to the two examples I provided in my last post.

Elementary my dear Watson!

I never said that

What I did say was "...the fact that you're 2nd Generation of Harkon's blood would make you more pure than 95% of all the other vampires in Tamriel, let alone Skyrim."
Forgetting the "half-blood" thing for just a moment...consider the fact that you were turned by Harkon. That would make you 2nd Generation Vampire Lord, or 2nd Gen pure-blood (if you will). Just to be clear, even if you were turned by Serana you would still be 2nd Generation. It is my understanding that the majority of Vampires out there, in Tamriel, were turned through a disease contracted from another vamp. Who knows how many generations have passed between you and the origin. 10 generations? 20? Somewhere along the line their bloodline thinned so much that they've lost much of their original power. If we accept that being a Vampire Lord is both rare and powerful, then that would put you into the small upper percentile of "vampirdom", making you more powerful than the majority. To throw out an arbitrary percentage that just feels right to me, lets say that in all of Tamriel's Vampires you are in the upper 5%. That would make you more powerful than roughly 95% of all the other vampires in Tamriel. Yes, this is accounting for the other "strands" as well.

Clear as mud?

BUNNY!

Is it possible to suggest that a vampire's progressively more monstrous appearance is entirely due to the thinning down of their blood from pure, almost as if rather than switch from man to monster etc. they end up a blend of both. This fits well with Immortal Blood, whose writer, being a thin-blood, would likely have little knowledge on the subject of the purebloods, as they seem to be a secretive bunch. Most vampires vaguely remember their origin story, but the details have been muddled by history, and so even the vampires themselves don't fully understand themselves.

The cyrodiilic order are the only thin-bloods capable of hiding their appearance due to a pact, would be a better thing to say. Unfortunately, the game lets us BE a thin-blood, and... we're still able to blend. But other than that I think it makes sense.

^this^

You know, this conversation is making me think of harry potter. Half-blood this, pure-blood that, bla bla bla...

Edit: Made this post with intention of it being comical relief.

Harry Potter my butt, pureblood and thin-blood and half-blood vampires call came from the Blade franchise.

Vampirism is a disease and I'm not sure if diseases work this way. Wouldn't the infected be exactly the same as the one who infected them? There is no evidence to suggest that Harkon is any more "pure" than any other Vampire. Sure, he received Vampirism directly from Molog Bal but again, disease. We don't know if Harkon or Lamae Beolfag (or who or what the first was) were any different than any other Vampire that came after them. Harkon calls the Dovakiin "halfblood" yes, but I don't see how he would really know, unless he and Molog Bal had a heart to bottomless pit which is unlikely.

Hehe...Heart to bottomless pit...

I can see that.
I'm not sure how diseases work, but I'd assume that certain strands of "whatever sickness" would become weaker in time while some would become stronger. I'm talking about real world, outside the game here. As you go about treating some illness it may respond by becoming weaker, or mutate to become stronger and more resistant to whatever treatment you were using at the time. It may also be that you simply become more resistant to that strand of illness, which I'd think is more likely. In that case you're the one that's mutating, lol. I'm no pathologist, but that's my basic understanding.

In game lore, I would almost consider the "vampiric disease" to be a by-product of the thinning bloodlines. It's entirely possible that the closer you get to the source, in this case being Molag Bal, the least likely that you'll come across this phenomenon. I have no real basis for this other than how you were turned by Harkon.
It all seemed fairly straight forward. I bite you, you turn, take a day or so to adjust and then away you go. With your run-of-the-mill Cave-Vamp, you'd be infected, it would incubate for a time, then one night you change in your sleep. Now, in my own defense here I can understand that this might just be a part of the play mechanic used to move the story along. In which case I'm totally off base. However, with the lack of clarification on Bethesda's part, it seems plausible to me so I'm running with it .

On a side note, two things just occurred to me.
1) All of my explaining may sound like I'm pushing my point of view. If it ever appears that way, then I apologize. We're all entitled to our own points of view; so to "short answer" this: I can see what you're saying Kakistos, and I can agree with that view.
2) In my posts I've never really answered the original question of this thread lol! So to answer that specific question: I think all (if not most) of the inhabitants of Castle Volkihar are or could be Pure Blood. We know that Harkon and Fam are for sure, but beyond that its hard to say for certain.

Now that I think about it.

When a Pureblood bites you, you are instantly a Vampire, if a thin-blood vampire bites you it takes three days to incubate.

That could be proof of a bloodline that thins as more and more people are turned by those first turned by the Purebloods to the point where they can't even become a Vampire Lord.

Which could mean the dragonborn is as close to being a Pureblood vampire without being...touched...by Molag Bal.

That's part of the reason. I find that his voice is like nails on a chalk board.

Well harkon does say that most people don't survive when he turns people into a vampire I think the same goes for serana biting you but she seems more "gentle" about it.

Harkon is not the only one who refers to you as a half blood. In the soul cairn, Valerica asks Serana what she is doing in the company of (I think) " a mixed blood". And she 's never met you so how does she know?

Maybe you let off a certain kind of smell? I mean harkon says he can smell it off you if you are a werewolf.

Like Shrink-O's said, you let off a smell. Vampires and werewolves have enhanced senses. Aela knew the werewolves captured in the Silver Hand cages were not part of the Companions because she can detect them by the smell. Serana, if you are a vampire, comments on how she could smell you before you even opened your eyes and how she knows your a vampire. Same goes for Harkon smelling the "filth" of Lycanthropy on you, and of course, Valerica in the Soul Cairn.

Sounds right. Still, a quest to become pureblood would be fantastic.

But what, exactly, are the advantages of a pure blood over a half-blood? :/