Harkness is the most wasted character in all of Dawnguard

[NordOfSolitude]

So I just finished the Soul Cairn questline again and I'm genuinely frustrated. Harkness shows up, he's this ancient vampire who's been trapped in literal purgatory for god knows how long, and then... nothing. He just becomes a regular follower. No special dialogue, no quest tied to him, no real payoff to his story.

Like, the setup is there. He's got this whole tragic backstory about being imprisoned by Harkon, he's been suffering in the Soul Cairn for ages, and when you finally free him he's just like "cool thanks, I'll follow you now." Compare that to Serana who has an entire personal questline with actual stakes and character development. Even Frea gets more narrative weight and she's from a completely different DLC.

I get that Dawnguard was probably stretched thin in development, but Harkness feels like a character they designed and then completely forgot about. He could've had a quest where he seeks revenge on Harkon's bloodline, or something about reclaiming his old life, or literally anything beyond "follower with a cool backstory."

Am I the only one who finds this annoying? Does anyone actually use him as a companion past the Soul Cairn or is he just kind of... there?

 

[ScrollsOfTamriel]

I think you're onto something, but I'd push back a little on the comparison to Serana. She's the DLC's anchor character - the whole expansion basically orbits her questline and her relationship with Harkon. Harkness is more of a side discovery, which I get is frustrating given how much potential he has.

That said, I don't think he's totally abandoned. The stuff you learn about him in the Soul Cairn - that he was Harkon's court mage, that he got trapped there as punishment - that's actually pretty meaty for a companion you pick up partway through. And there's a reason he doesn't have a revenge quest: Harkon's already dead by the time you free him in most playthroughs. The actual payoff is just... you freed him. That's it. Which yeah, narratively feels thin.

Where I think the real issue is that Dawnguard needed either more time with him or less. Either commit to making him a full companion questline like Serana, or lean into him being this broken, tragic figure who doesn't really know what to do with freedom anymore. Instead he just... exists as a follower with decent combat stats and some lore flavor text.

I don't use him much tbh. Not because he's bad, but because there's no reason to invest in him when Serana or even the Dawnguard recruits have more personality. But I think that's more a design miss than him being wasted - the foundation's there, it just needed one more pass in writing.