[Most irritating plothole in dawnguard?]

I am thinking looking at the replies the debate here really boils down to the point of those who like Serana and those who don't...People who like Serana finding reason to do her bidding, people who are not fans of her's finding reason not to do so...I see logic in most of the reasons bought forward on both sides of the fence, barring those that foresee what our Dovahkin's don't know, can't logic what our Dovahkin's don't know as yet.

 

I would have liked it if she MUST live for the purpose of Story Telling to have two real choices in how to deal with her...those who like to favor RP acceptance of Serana and her condition and do as the story stands...choose to trust her, choose to return her home, choose to befriend her, etc...The alternate narrative to be much less trusting of Serana, taking her back to Dawnguard as a prisoner and holding her under questioning, Isran finally deciding that your Dovahkin is to return her to her home...much more like a recon mission....Option for pure mission focus dialog, not just the many way's to buddy, buddy with her and an allowance to distrust. Same story, just one change at the start and an extra line of added dialog options...Oh, and remove her essential tag once Harkon is dead....Reason I suggest removal of the 'essential tag' if she chooses to remain a Vampire, why does your Vamp Hunter let her live? As in essence she remains a threat so long as her special 'Child of ColdHarbor' blood and Auriels Bow continue to exist.

 

I like Serana, she's knifty and what not but it doesn't change the fact that the only reason she wouldn't be captured or killed is because the dragonborn is lawful stupid.

[Most irritating plothole in dawnguard?]

 

Appearance doesn't mean all that much in a world of Illusion magic, and Serana doesn't need inns or civilisation; she just needs to get back to Castle Volkihar. If she does so, then the Dawnguard knows nothing about her, her plans or Castle Volkihar. The Dawnguard at that point is Isran, Durak, Celann, Agmaer and you: assuming you're unwilling to murder Serana out of sheer force of racism (and if you're willing, refer to my "psychopathic murder of Delphine" argument) then that's three soldiers and a farmer vs. a Vampire Lord who's just trying to leave. One bat trasformation could get her out.

 

As for torture, if the Dawnguard and Dragonborn were willing (which I'm not sure I buy), and if Serana were incapable of escaping, then Serana could always just lie or claim ignorance. Torture is not actually all that useful for information extraction, especially in open-ended questions (it's more useful for obtaining confessions), so there's nothing to stop Serana from saying that she has no idea what Harkon might be planning, especially considering that she's been underground since before the Alessian Empire. If she needs time to make up a story, that looks exactly the same as if she just took time to break.

 

She could hypothetically escape, but at the absolute worst she's now in Castle Volkihar just like she would have been if you helped her. Your rationalizations aren't changing the fact that with the information you have there's no reason to help her and every reason to stop her.

 

When Serana shows up at fort Dawnguard she's standing in a torture chamber that's seen recent use. If you have any doubts about the purpose of that room look at the items called "Torture Tool" and "Torture Tools." Getting false information or no information is always a possibility but it doesn't change the fact it's better from a strategic standpoint than helping her achieve her goals.

 

What if she had walked into Volkihar Castle and fulfilled the prophecy right there. Sure you didn't know about the prophecy but you knew vampires were looking for her and that she wanted to be taken to vampires, that's reason enough to shut it down.

[Most irritating plothole in dawnguard?]

So what are you supposed to do - murder her for being suspicious? Walk away, and never learn what's going on? If you try to take her to Isran, what happens when she just leaves on the journey? As for the Dawnguard killing her (even if they could) - she isn't the only Daughter of Coldharbour, but she's probably the only one willing to give the information and aid required to counter the prophecy. If Isran locked her up (with what resources? She's a Vampire Lord wizard and the Dawnguard's only just reformed) she wouldn't be able to help the effort against Harkon, and would probably become disinclined to talk.

 

Then kill her or leave her description with every inkeeper and guard in Skyrim or do anything except help her. What would the vampire hunters do about the ancient and difficult to find Daedra blessed vampires? The dawnguard as it stands at that point isn't much smaller than the dawnguard strike force that sacks castle Volkihar, in a stand up fight they could take Serana. If she's disinclined to talk take those torture implements for a spin, maybe that's not your dragon borns style but it's something mine would do and it's apparently something Isran was ready to do to.

[Most irritating plothole in dawnguard?]

OK, I'm going to go against popular opinion and say that I really like Dawnguard's plot, and I actually think that its main plot is superior to that of the Main Quest and Dragonborn. I also think its "plot holes" are quite defensible.

 

The absolute most irritating one in my opinion is the fact you don't just kill Serana on the Dawnguard side.

 

 

Of course it depends on the character you're playing. A dyed-in-the-wool vampire slayer would have course kill Serana on sight, but then, an ax-crazy psychopath might just murder Delphine for fun, which the Main Quest doesn't let you do. On sane, non-pathologically-vampire-hating characters, there's no real reason to kill Delphine, nor Serana when she's entirely non-threatening towards you. Also, if you kill Serana, you don't learn what the vampires are planning.

 

 

Also, Isran apparently trusts Serana more than you. He knows Falion can cure vampirism and if you become a vampire he refuses to speak to you until you have it cured. He doesn't even mention this as an option for Serana and is totally cool just having her vampire all around his fortress.

 

He's not cool with it at all, but at the beginning reluctantly accepts Serana's help (and assumes that, since she was always a vampire from his perspective, she won't want a cure) and by the end grudgingly admits that Serana is an exception to the "vampires are evil" rule.

 

 

Serana is a vampire being sought out by the vampires you're investigating and in posession of an elder scroll. She tells you nothing about herself other than she wants you to take her somewhere. She exudes suspiciousness. Even if she wasn't a vampire and didn't acknowledge she had an elder scroll just implicitly trusting people like that is ridiculous. Even if you aren't as kill happy as I am the intelligent move is to take her to Isran, and if she complains that she doesn't feel comfortable when you get there inform her it's not really optional. After you've gathered some information and discovered her blood is the secret to destroying the world killing her is easier and more effective than going through the entire plot.

 

His objections last a brief conversation, even if she's absolutely necessary to the plot he doesn't order her put under guard or locked up he just sort of gruffly pays lip service to "I hate vampires" before. He also doesn't point out that killing her is the best possible course of action even if it's just for your paragon hero to say "no it shall not be."

[Most irritating plothole in dawnguard?]

Also, Isran apparently trusts Serana more than you. He knows Falion can cure vampirism and if you become a vampire he refuses to speak to you until you have it cured. He doesn't even mention this as an option for Serana and is totally cool just having her vampire all around his fortress.

[Most irritating plothole in dawnguard?]

I enjoy dawnguard, I like the idea behind it and the features it adds but the story is overwehelmingly awful. It's a barely coherent mess, I totally get that sometimes the story is just a vehicle for cool things to happen but that's not an excuse for just terrible writing.

The absolute most irritating one in my opinion is the fact you don't just kill Serana on the Dawnguard side. Any sort of casual listening in Dimhollow Crypt reveals vampires are looking for something but can't quite get to it. You of course release the thing ,because heroes always do that, and discover it's a vampire with one of the most powerful artifacts in all creation, an elder scroll. Your immediate and only possible response is to take her home and just generally do the vampire's job for them. Forgiving that you eventually realize the sacrifice of a daughter of cold harbor is necessary for the Tyranny of the Sun, killing her ruins harkons plan without any fuss

Do you have any plot holes that really irk you?