Hello, I tried searching first but could not find any answers. I haven't started the Dawnguard quest line yet but I am curious if it is possible for a character with a good heart to side with the vampires and follow that quest line? Without giving away any spoilers, is it possible or would l be forced to commit pure evil crimes?

Perhaps not "good," per se, but not as "evil" as one would expect.

You'll have to eliminate the Dawnguard itself, but they attack you first.

For the radiant quest to murder someone in a city, you can simply lead a generic enemy like a bandit close to the city gate and kill them.

It's possible to lead the Dawnguard agent you're tasked to kill discreetly away from the settlement by letting them chase you; then you can lead them to an enemy encampment.

The people you are asked to turn into vampires seem happy with their new powers.

The other radiant quests are neutral.

Other than the above mentioned examples, there's nothing that strikes me as particularly heinous. You thrall someone at some point, but he never suffers bodily injury and maintains some grasp on his identity.

You can even avoid feeding, if you consider that evil, by drinking bottles of blood.

Thank you for that in-depth answer. Very helpful.

Pure evil? Your fighting for your people's cause. You think the vampires who need to kill to survive would be worrying about little silly words like "evil"? On the contrary, your saving the vampire race from Harkon's extremist plot to plunge the world into darkness. You are a hero of the "Volkihar".

I would say Chaotic Good more than anything else. No one is eniterly innocent and so is fair game when it comes to some of the storylines from the vampires. My character is kind of good she wont kill random people, but if they are bandits, soldiers or mercs then they are fair game and if anyone attacks me I cave in their skull and drain them dry.

No the Vampires are evil you can't sugar coat it,They even have dead bodies on their dinner tables!And they get there gift from molag bal that alone should damn your characters soul!

They're hungry, they need to eat. Simple as that. The Dawnguard? They torture vampires.

Ever think about a lion keeping dead bodies in their den? I guess they're evil, too, right?

The people on the tables are not dead. Try speaking to them.

Lions aren't humanoid creatures.

Humans are then, right? Yet they kill and slaughter cows. They gotta eat, don't they? Humans see them as cattle. Shouldn't be bad that vampires see humans as cattle, after all, they are one of the apex predators in the franchise.

But atleast we KILL the cows before we start to eat them...

Pfft, blame that on the Volkihar, not all vampires. Volkihar are sloppy, just like the Quarra and the Morrowind clans. The "good" vampires at least keep their prey in an eternal coma so they can feed.

Volkihar are just plain nasty.

I play as a vampire character and they are evil,they are not neutral.dawnguard are good/neutral.Vampires kill people,helpless people for their own selfish reasons.They are blessed by molag bal,The pure blooded and half blooded anyways.And what is molag bal?By far the most evil of the deadric princes.Vampires=six blood and immortality!

Selfish reasons'? You mean hunger, right? The urge to drink something and eat something? I am sure you get those from time to time. Molag Bal is evil by mortal standards, but is what he is. The exact manifestion of what he represents. Hircine is the embodiement of the Hunt. He can't change his stripes because, well, he can't. It is impossible for a Daedra to change their own nature. Its like saying "Anger is no longer anger, because anger turned to love."

Predators kill helpless prey, they don't care if the mother of a doe or a stag would cry, or the family of a Hare would weep, food is food. Vampires like blood, they need blood to survive. Same reason werewolves need to kill to survive. Whomever is the victim will obviously label those who threaten them as evil. Common sense.

Yup as werewolf said the fight between dawnguard and vampires is a fight for survival nothing evil or good about it. Plus volkihar are not nasty! They are awesome!

They have no table manners!

We have our own form of table manners.

Why do you keep comparing humanoids with mundane animals 0-o the animal kingdom is separate from ours?They are evil just for the fact how they store there human meals!They eat them alive!You act as if its as bad as keeping cows for food.The vampires are dark hearted beings and are shunned from cities for a reason,I bet every vampire would even kill a child to prolong there lives for just another day.Wanting to be a vampire alone is evil.I don't like when people try and say somethings good when it clearly is not lol.The only good vampire I know of is count chocula from that cereal box.

Because thats how it works. Vampires don't consider humans "people", they're food. Why in the hell would they starve themselves just because their prey says its bad? I'm not acting as if keeping cows as food is bad, cause clearly, they're just pieces of meat we breed and use to eat and survive.

Vampires are totally fictiotious, so I'm just throwing this out there before some kid in the forum comes around saying "Herp Derp, your talking about fictional creatures, dood."

But if we go by vampire standards, they don't see people as people. They're superior, they're stronger and they're undying. I don't like it when people have to force their heroic goodie two shoes stuff down by throat, but we're having a civlized discussion, so I can tolerate it.

Evil is a point of view. End.

"You mean like the sort you might find hiding out in the wilderness? I pity them. Most probably didn't want to be as they are. But some... well, let's just say that if you intentionally tried to be a vampire, because you wanted power or something... maybe you are a monster. Those sorts give us all a bad name. If I may say so, though: if you find yourself in a quandary about whether you can kill your feral brethren, I won't penalize you for it. Many are too addled by bloodlust to think clearly, much less give up the fight, or let you pass in peace. Fighting, and inevitably, killing them may be the only way to protect yourself from grievous harm... Sneak around them if you can, but if not... Kill them to defend yourself, but don't think of it as a "mercy kill" -- that cheapens what little life they had left. And certainly don't enjoy it."

"Yes, I bite people. But only sometimes, and never with malice... I don't like what I am any more than you do. And I would gladly be cured, except that... Well... it's just... all my life all I heard about vampires was that they were things to be feared and hated. But now, being one, I can't say that that's entirely justified. I'm not a monster, am I? I don't go around killing or eating people, I just mind my own business and try to do what's right, like any other citizen. If I'm not a monster, what's the point of a cure? If I'm not a monster, then I'm still the same as I ever was, and no one sees that, or wants to see that... Anyway, I wondered if all the vampires that you hear about, all the really horrific and bloodthirsty ones... were just like me. You know, accidents. Never meaning any harm... just unable to control what they are. And I got to thinking: why do we shun these poor creatures and try to kill them? Shouldn't we try to help them instead? Sometimes I think that it's ordinary people who are monsters, when they don't know the whole story."

"...How dare you say that? I haven't done anything wrong... it was an accident. What did you expect, that I'd kill myself instead, or leave my friends and family to hide with a vampire coven in some dank cave? Or do you mean that just being a vampire makes me evil? That by merely existing, I am innately worthy of your scorn and hatred? How narrow-minded."

"What have I ever done to you? What did I do to deserve death? Existed, is that it?"

"Society needs to be reminded that all vampires were men once, no matter what they are now. And like men, some vampires are good and some are evil..."

***

Alternative viewpoints:

"If the vampires are as well-behaved as I'm sure [is intended], then it would be perfectly benign. However, such creatures are ruled by an inborn nature that conflicts with all rational thought. I'm sure you've had situations where you've felt yourself consumed by emotions you never intended to feel. Now imagine that you were overwhelmed, not by emotion, but by bloodlust. Any man runs a risk of becoming a monster, if the situation is right. Or wrong, I should say. And if things get out of hand... if the tiniest thing goes awry... the Imperial City could be confronted by a covert group of vampires preying on its citizens. And we could prevent that."

"To help your group succeed, to make it public, would create sympathy for our fellow creatures of the night. It is a sympathy that many of them do not deserve. Most, if not all, vampires revel in their way of life. It sickens me. You and I bear our burden with dignity and restraint; they, with a perverse joy in their power. It would be wrong to lend my support, to give unwarranted compassion to those who do not deserve it. I am sorry to disappoint you, my friend."

***


Quotations, yes, but of my own. A usually-undisclosed modding project, and, in my opinion, some of my strongest writing.

The top quotations are largely polemical and from the same character, a "good" vampire. The bottom quotations are from a non-vampire and a certain vampire from Oblivion.

Vampires don't need to kill what they eat. If you were a cow would you prefer to belong to a human that would kill you and then eat your dead flesh? Or would you prefer to be one owned by a vampire who would keep you healthy and happy so they could milk you once a day? Even on a human scale it would be better to be a dairy cow than a beef cow - if you were born a cow, that is...

@PrinceShroob: Interesting dialogue you have there, is it for an Oblivion mod, or for Skyrim?

Oh don't you start with that "Table manners are relative" crap. Volkihar (the mannish underlings, at least) have no class. Fact. Respectable vampires feed in private or out of cups or glasses. To take the cattle anology further, one does not take a whole cow, even a dead one, throw her on the table, lean downwards and bite directly out of her carcass.

I think the this means, Myth Busted.

The Vampires are evil no matter how you look at it. People always say, "Ohh but Harkon is only saving the vampire race from being wiped out, blah blah blah".
Yeah, okay, let's start on that.
How did Harkon become a Vampire again?
Oh Yes! He slaughtered 1000 people in the name of Molag Bal.
No matter how you look at it, that's definately Evil.
He wanted to blot out the sun so Vampires didn't have to have a care in the world about being crapped on by the sun. Yeah, what do most Vampires do? Kill Innocent people. He's just helping them to kill people easily, not saving the Vampire race.

You can play as a good vampire in-game though, as you don't have to kill any innocents if you don't want to, but as the Vampires are Evil, to get the good stuff, you'll have to kill some innocents.