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Lore question about vampirism

Elvenheart
Elvenheart
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Hi everyone! I’m just working on a new character concept, and I was wondering if lore-wise it is thought that npc vampires in the game are considered to have as easy access to a vampirism cure as we the players do, and that they either just don’t know about it or are just choosing to embrace the “gift” rather than cure it?

EDIT: I guess the same question would apply to lycanthropy as well, but it seems like some of the in game books I’ve read suggest some werewolves do not like what they are and would cure it if they could.
Edited by Elvenheart on April 13, 2023 7:35PM
  • HappyTheCamper
    HappyTheCamper
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    It definitely depends on the era, but I do think in ESO’s case (the 2nd Era of Tamriel) everyone had access through priests of Arkay. The actual lore book on it says you need to see a priest immediately to prevent the disease fully, but with donations they are able to cure them.

    So I definitely think it depends on your condition. From the conversation you have with the Arkay Priest when trying to cure yourself, he doesn’t sound awfully surprised, as if he’s done it before with others.

    This might help as well: https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Noxiphilic_Sanguivoria
  • Soarora
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    As for lycanthropy, I don't think it's so easy to cure as talk to a priest. In vague memory of TES5, curing vampirism required a priest do some ritual... curing lycanthropy had to do with beheading specific hagravens? In ESO we see in March of Sacrifices that it's possible to cure someone by taking on the curse yourself as an offering to Hircine but that's not really getting rid of it.
    PC/NA Dungeoneer (Tank/DPS/Heal), Trialist (Heal/DPS/Tank), and amateur Battlegrounder (DPS) with a passion for The Elder Scrolls lore
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  • Elvenheart
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    Both of those comments were very helpful, thank you both!
  • jumapel29
    jumapel29
    Soul Shriven
    Soarora wrote: »
    As for lycanthropy, I don't think it's so easy to cure as talk to a priest. In vague memory of TES5, curing vampirism required a priest do some ritual... curing lycanthropy had to do with beheading specific hagravens? In ESO we see in March of Sacrifices that it's possible to cure someone by taking on the curse yourself as an offering to Hircine but that's not really getting rid of it.

    If I remember right you are required to kill a humanoid being, fill a black soul gem with their soul, perform a ritual to summon the beast "ghost" from inside you and kill it. And the other way is to become a vampire which automatically removes lycanthropy
  • Elvenheart
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    Thank you everyone for the comments! They’ve been very helpful! 😊
  • Trejgon
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    Soarora wrote: »
    As for lycanthropy, I don't think it's so easy to cure as talk to a priest. In vague memory of TES5, curing vampirism required a priest do some ritual... curing lycanthropy had to do with beheading specific hagravens? In ESO we see in March of Sacrifices that it's possible to cure someone by taking on the curse yourself as an offering to Hircine but that's not really getting rid of it.

    In Skyrim, curing vampirism involved black soul gem and a ritual, curing lycantrophy only required hagraven head from glenmoril coven, because glenmoril witches were the ones whom gave the lycantrophy to the companions.
  • PrinceShroob
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    In single-player Elder Scrolls games, curing vampirism or lycanthropy is usually an involved process and most characters believe that curing those conditions is impossible.

    The Glenmoril Coven in Daggerfall can brew potions that cure vampirism and lycanthropy, and when the player is tasked with delivering it, they're hounded by werebeasts and vampires desperately trying to cure themselves. If the player does not drink the potion themselves, vampirism can be cured by tracking down and killing the progenitor of the player's vampire bloodline. As for lycanthropy, quest dialogue in Daggerfall holds that lycanthropy can be transferred both by bite and by heredity. If a latent lycanthrope--a hereditary werewolf who has not yet manifested the curse--drinks the blood of a werebeast, the cure is lifted from the provider of the blood, but the imbiber immediately transforms.

    In Morrowind, it is common knowledge that it is impossible to cure vampirism. To quote Vampires of Vvardenfell, "even if it were curable, a cured vampire would be an abomination to be destroyed. Since the disease is infallibly cured if treated within three days, failure to treat oneself after an encounter with a vampire would be considered a deliberate attempt to contract the disease, and a mark of monstrous depravity..." Vampirism may be lifted by performing a service for Molag Bal, who obtains the cure from Vaermina.

    In Bloodmoon, the player must perform the Rite of the Wolf Giver for the Glenmoril witches on Solstheim. First, the player must collect wolfsbane and belladonna, which the witches use to create a potion. Then the player must slay an innocent sacrifice and remove her heart; the witches then pour the potion over the heart. Once the heart is placed on the sacrifice's body, the sacrifice is revived as a werewolf. Defeating this werewolf cures the player's lycanthropy. Alternatively, the witches have also prepared a scroll that will cure lycanthropy if read, which the player can learn about by killing them.

    In Oblivion, a witch of the Glenmoril Coven can brew a potion to cure vampirism, or the player can use Greywyn Blenwyth's Font of Renewal in Deepscorn Hollow. Researching purgeblood salts and collecting the items needed to refine them apparently took Greywyn months. Oblivion did not feature lycanthropy.

    In Skyrim, Falion can perform a ritual that requires a filled black soul gem, during which he offers the soul in the gem to Oblivion to bargain for a vampirism cure for the player. Since the Companions obtained their lycanthropy in a bargain with the Glenmoril witches, curing it requires the head of a Glenmoril witch, which Kodlak Whitemane calls the "seat of their abilities." Burning the head in a special brazier in Ysgramor's tomb manifests the player's "wolf spirit," and killing it cures the player's lycanthropy.

    In Online, there are several quests involving curing NPCs of lycanthropy, several of which harken back to Daggerfall and Bloodmoon, with Gloria Fausta giving the Duke of Camlorn her blood to cure his infection, to Adonatus Varian requiring the ingredients needed in the Rite of the Wolf Giver to cure his lycanthropy in Moon Hunter Keep. I don't recall any quests about curing vampirism off the top of my head--notably, in Rivenspire, the Ravenwatch recruit a few people who are turned, rather than curing them.

    ***

    In lore terms, vampirism and lycanthropy are often regarded as being irreversible. If they can be cured, it would require a great questing hero to gather the ingredients, or potentially the sacrifice of an innocent life.

    Prelate Sabinus exists as a gameplay convenience; Online is the first game to allow the player to contract and cure vampirism and lycanthropy an infinite number of times, and since it's an online game, it's frequently patched, altering the power of the curses, which affects how desirable it is to remain a vampire or werewolf.
    Edited by PrinceShroob on April 21, 2023 8:54PM
  • ghastley
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    Captain Janeve didn’t appear to get the option of visiting a priest for a cure. And nobody in House Ravenwatch ever mentions an option, so it appears that for NPCs, there is a point of no return, probably the incubation period used in the single-player games. After that, they are stuck with it.

    If acquiring vampirism is different for an NPC, it makes sense that curing it differs too. Maybe the Vestige condition interacts?
  • Tessitura
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    In TES generally curing vamprism is not a option for most. To a vast majority of people there is no cure, and to those that know, it is always a pain in the ass to cure. In Morrowind it requires the literal intervention of a daedric prince. In Oblivion you needed the ashes of a very powerful and ancient vampire. In skyrim you need to literally mess with your soul. ESO is the only game where is derp easy. I am not even sure how canon that it is suppose to be to the greater lore. It really just comes off as a gamified system rather then a lore tidbit.

    Same thing with werewolves. None of the cures are easy, and to normal folk they just don't exist. Again, the easy of access in ESO really just comes off as a gamified system with little thought put into it. It's a mmo, I guess it's about what we can expect but it probably shouldn't be taken too seriously. After all, people wouldn't consider it much of a curse if you could just pay to fix it as if it were a bad hair day and you need a cut.
    Edited by Tessitura on May 3, 2023 9:47PM
  • Wolf_Eye
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    jumapel29 wrote: »
    Soarora wrote: »
    As for lycanthropy, I don't think it's so easy to cure as talk to a priest. In vague memory of TES5, curing vampirism required a priest do some ritual... curing lycanthropy had to do with beheading specific hagravens? In ESO we see in March of Sacrifices that it's possible to cure someone by taking on the curse yourself as an offering to Hircine but that's not really getting rid of it.

    If I remember right you are required to kill a humanoid being, fill a black soul gem with their soul, perform a ritual to summon the beast "ghost" from inside you and kill it. And the other way is to become a vampire which automatically removes lycanthropy

    Curing lycanthropy with vampirism specifically required getting the blood of a Vampire Lord (Harkon). Other than Harkon (or his daughter, I think), you couldn't cure lycanthropy with vampirism using vampirism from any other vampire (aka "common" vampires).
  • Vevvev
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    Wolf_Eye wrote: »
    jumapel29 wrote: »
    Soarora wrote: »
    As for lycanthropy, I don't think it's so easy to cure as talk to a priest. In vague memory of TES5, curing vampirism required a priest do some ritual... curing lycanthropy had to do with beheading specific hagravens? In ESO we see in March of Sacrifices that it's possible to cure someone by taking on the curse yourself as an offering to Hircine but that's not really getting rid of it.

    If I remember right you are required to kill a humanoid being, fill a black soul gem with their soul, perform a ritual to summon the beast "ghost" from inside you and kill it. And the other way is to become a vampire which automatically removes lycanthropy

    Curing lycanthropy with vampirism specifically required getting the blood of a Vampire Lord (Harkon). Other than Harkon (or his daughter, I think), you couldn't cure lycanthropy with vampirism using vampirism from any other vampire (aka "common" vampires).

    They had to be pure blooded basically. Yes, Serana could have you go from lycanthrope to vampire as well.
    PC NA - Ceyanna Ashton - Breton Vampire MagDK
  • Wolf_Eye
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    Vevvev wrote: »
    Wolf_Eye wrote: »
    jumapel29 wrote: »
    Soarora wrote: »
    As for lycanthropy, I don't think it's so easy to cure as talk to a priest. In vague memory of TES5, curing vampirism required a priest do some ritual... curing lycanthropy had to do with beheading specific hagravens? In ESO we see in March of Sacrifices that it's possible to cure someone by taking on the curse yourself as an offering to Hircine but that's not really getting rid of it.

    If I remember right you are required to kill a humanoid being, fill a black soul gem with their soul, perform a ritual to summon the beast "ghost" from inside you and kill it. And the other way is to become a vampire which automatically removes lycanthropy

    Curing lycanthropy with vampirism specifically required getting the blood of a Vampire Lord (Harkon). Other than Harkon (or his daughter, I think), you couldn't cure lycanthropy with vampirism using vampirism from any other vampire (aka "common" vampires).

    They had to be pure blooded basically. Yes, Serana could have you go from lycanthrope to vampire as well.


    Yeah, they had to be pure blooded. It can be theorized that any pure blooded vampire might be able to change any lycanthrope to a vampire.
  • Kiyakotari
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    Some of the lore compliant explanations for the differences in ease and method of cure across various games could be attributed to the many different strains of vampirism, and the one that's most prevalent (one that's available to players for infection) ESO versus those in other games/eras.
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