Bloodskal Blade vs Auriel's Bow, but actually for roleplay reasons

[ScrollsOfTamriel]

I keep seeing people compare these two weapons on a pure damage spreadsheet, but I think we're missing something. Both are technically Daedric artifacts - well, Auriel's Bow is Aedric, which is the whole point - and they represent completely different philosophical sides of the conflict.

Auriel's Bow is supposed to be this ancient Aldmeris weapon, right? The thing that literally blotted out the sun. Using it as a Dawnguard feels thematically perfect because you're literally wielding the tool of the old gods against vampires who worship Molag Bal. There's weight to that. But if you're playing a character who's actually conflicted about the war, or who sides with Harkon, it feels wrong in a way that's hard to articulate.

Bloodskal Blade though - that's a Daedric weapon from a dead civilization. It's morally neutral in a way that makes it way better for a vampire character, imo. You're not swinging around an Aedric artifact that's supposed to counter your entire existence. You're just using a really good sword.

I'm not even arguing one is mechanically better. I'm saying the roleplay implications of which weapon you pick kind of matter more than people think, especially on a second or third playthrough when you actually care about that stuff.

 

[NordOfSolitude]

Yeah, this is a really solid observation. The mechanical comparison totally misses what makes these weapons interesting in the context of their stories.

I'd push back a tiny bit though - Bloodskal Blade being "morally neutral" is kind of the thing that makes it less interesting roleplay-wise, at least for me. Like, yeah, it's a great sword and you can use it without philosophical baggage, but that's also why it feels kind of hollow? Especially for a vampire playthrough. If you're playing someone who's actually committed to Harkon's vision or even just conflicted about it, I think the tension of wielding Auriel's Bow against your own nature is way more compelling than just... picking a sword because it's good.

That said, if your character is a vampire who's genuinely indifferent to the whole Aedra/Daedra thing and just wants a weapon that works, then yeah, Bloodskal makes perfect sense. It's the weapon of someone who doesn't care about the cosmic weight of what they're doing.

The thing that actually gets me is that most people never even consider the roleplay angle because they're just optimizing for damage. So props for bringing it up. Have you done a full Harkon playthrough where you stuck with Bloodskal the whole way, or is this more of a thought experiment?