Harkness actually has the most interesting questline in Dawnguard

[DragonbornVet]

So I'm replaying Dawnguard on my current run and I just finished that whole thing with the guy in the Soul Cairn, and I'm genuinely surprised nobody talks about how good his arc is compared to the rest of the DLC.

Like, think about it. You've got Harkon who's basically just "evil vampire dad wants power," and Isran who's kind of a one-note "kill all vampires" zealot. But Harkness is actually dealing with something way more complicated - he's been trapped in literal hell for however long, his entire order is gone, and when you finally find him he's just... resigned to it. The dialogue where he realizes what's actually happened to him hits different.

And the choice you get to make with him feels way more genuine than the vampire lord/dawnguard binary. You're not picking a faction, you're actually deciding what happens to a person who's been through something genuinely awful. I ended up helping him escape and honestly it felt more rewarding than getting Auriel's Bow or whatever.

Am I the only one who thinks this questline should've been the actual centerpiece instead of the Harkon stuff? The Soul Cairn is visually cool but narratively it feels like Harkness's story got sidelined.

 

[ScrollsOfTamriel]

I think you're onto something, but I'd push back a bit on the framing. Harkness's arc is solid, don't get me wrong - that moment where he realizes the Dawnguard is gone and he's been down there for centuries hits hard. But I'm not sure it works as the centerpiece of Dawnguard specifically because his story is fundamentally about the past. He's a remnant. His order failed, his war is over, and the best resolution you can offer him is escape or peace.

Harkon's whole thing, messy as it is, actually ties into what Dawnguard is trying to do thematically - you're caught between two ideologies both trying to shape Skyrim's future. The Soul Cairn stuff exists because Serana's backstory is entangled with Harkon, and yeah, that's where Harkness ends up, but his questline works better as a side story that enriches the DLC's world than as the main spine.

That said, you're right that his dialogue is way more layered than Isran's "vampires bad" stance. And the choice you get with him - whether to free him, let him rest, or whatever path you took - does feel more morally textured than "pick a side." If anything, Harkness makes the rest of Dawnguard look a bit thin by comparison, which might be what's bugging you about it.

What did you end up doing with him on your run?