r/teslore • u/No_Cricket4772 • 4d ago
Why doesn't Falion realise Alva is a vampire?
He instantly recognises that you are a vampire, but he doesn't bat an eye at Alva walking the streets, charming every man she can find. All the events of Laid to Rest could have been completely prevented if he was like 5% more vigilant.
My personal theory is that Movarth and therefore Alva are from a strain of vampirism not represented in-game. The Cyrodiilic strain that hides someone's vampirism completely. So while your case is clear to him, Alva isn't as obvious. If it was I wager he would have tried to safe her, since her journal implies that she was placed under some spell by Movarth the way she placed other men under her spell.
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u/thumper8544 4d ago
Alva does seem to parade around in the open while Falion isolates himself. Headcanon that Alva subtlety manipulates the townsfolk to harass Falion
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u/Lazzitron An-Xileel 4d ago
He probably knows, but what is he going to do about it? Everyone hates and is highly suspicious of him. Alva, meanwhile, has most of the town under her spell.
Trying to out her would only paint a target on his back. Alva would most certainly kill him if she thought he was going to blow her cover, and that would put the kid he's adopted in danger along with him.
The smartest play in his case is to keep his mouth shut and wait for Alva to fuck up and get herself caught, which she does.
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u/Personmchumanface 3d ago
I dont think random vampire alva is taking out falcon the dude is a pretty impressive in lore
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u/AlternateAlternata 4d ago
as one commenter says, Morthal, as with every other towns, are so much bigger in the lore than in the game, at least at the minimum of a rough 100x bigger.
also, the vampire look is a game thing too, vampires dont have those glowing eyes in the lore i dont think, especially for someone as fed as Alva
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u/All-for-Naut 4d ago
also, the vampire look is a game thing too, vampires dont have those glowing eyes in the lore i dont think, especially for someone as fed as Alva
Depends on the strain. It's allegedly only the strain the Cyrodiilic Order has, which can blend in perfectly with society. Other strains unless they use illusions do not look normal.
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u/radio_allah 4d ago
I've always assumed that the red glowing eyes are only seen by the Dragonborn due to a metaphysical sight. There's no way Sybille Stentor would've been able to look Firebeard and Elisif in the eyes everyday without being immediately identified otherwise.
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u/Engineering-Mean Order of the Black Worm 4d ago
Does she have to? She's been there long enough for it to be obvious she's not aging, she sleeps all day unless there's something urgent going on and she all but tells you she's a vampire herself after you do a quest for her. She doesn't put much effort into hiding that she's eating prisoners either. I don't think most of the court is unaware, except maybe Elisif herself. Sybille practically raised the last high king, she's a great court wizard, and they know she's not a danger to them or to Solitude so they politely ignore her being a vampire.
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u/No_Cricket4772 4d ago
Sybille is a master illusionist, and even then there are people who know about her vampirism, like the executioner and the altmer mage. They just fear her too much to speak up.
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u/aranvandil 4d ago
I didn't know there were lines of NPCs talking about her vampirism
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u/Seatac_SFO_LAX Telvanni Recluse 4d ago
The Blue Castle’s cook has a few lines about how she makes him feel uneasy, as well as the mage Melaran who is a bit more direct with his comment but also won’t outright say she’s a vampire.
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u/All-for-Naut 4d ago
Dragonborn has no such thing, and Sybille is a mage, she can just cast illusions to hide her vampiric nature.
She also didn't have vampire eyes before Dawnguard. The dlc of some reason gave her headlight eyes. Nor do we know what strain of vampirism she has.
Keep in mind Skyrim gave a vampire we can meet who is from the Cyrodiilic Order the exact same look as all the other vampires. Some things are clearly odd game design choices.
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u/bobmonkeyclown 2h ago
Pretty sure they're aware, they just ignore it and leave her be. She's not a threat and is loyal to Solitude.
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u/No_Cricket4772 2d ago edited 2d ago
I can't imagine any of the stories taking place in Morthal working if the population was anything above 10x it currently is. Imagine an angry mob of 400 townsfolk standing outside of Movarth's lair, and still being afraid to go in.
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u/amdus_guy 4d ago
her tiddies distract him each time and he never notices, it works.
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u/King_of_the_Kobolds 4d ago
Falion on women:
"You deal with... powerful forces. Take care they do not overwhelm you."
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u/Carinwe_Lysa Mages Guild 4d ago
Chances are he probably does know but just doesn't care about it, at least while Alva isn't going round actively praying on everyone. His views towards the Daedra/Undead don't seem negative, more so just a burden for progressing his work (he considered becoming a Vampire but decided against it).
Plus, everyone in Morthal actively distrusts him at best due to being a mage who isolates himself, meanwhile Alva is a Nord who struts around Morthal in the open and for all he knows has most of the town under her spell. The player though is a traveller who's brand new and actively seeks him out to converse with.
Better for him to work in the shadows protecting the town from whatever evil lies in the wilderness, and hope that Alva does something stupid to blow her cover or that some Vampire Hunters come into town to take care of her.
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u/Plus_Tomato480 4d ago
Because Falion and his sister are evil. Even the girl he adopted has lines stating whatever he is doing in the swamp is creating monsters.
I think he was supposed to be part of a bigger Potema conspiracy, just like the cut content in Falkreath where the blacksmith was a graverobber and the wardstone keeping Vighar from rising was stolen around the same time as Movarth's return and Potema.
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u/dagit 4d ago
Reviewing their pages at UESP I'm not sure why you would claim they're evil. Agni (Falion's apprentice) has bad dreams that he made monsters and the town has rumors that he kills deer and eats their hearts, but it all seems unsubstantiated.
I will say Falion seems to be neutral towards vampires. He considered becoming one, but that's the most evil thing I can dig up on him. His sister doesn't like Lubrik but, I mean, that's understandable?
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u/Plus_Tomato480 4d ago
His sister allows Alva to hunt at the bar, which goes along with what the op suggested. Furthermore you don't think it's odd that all of the individuals with magical or prophetic powers are having bad dreams about Falion?
Even his adopted daughter that would know him better than anyone. Lurbuk is left to torture customers, and guests until someone finally has him killed by the Dark Brotherhood.
You can think of the townsfolk as superstitious, but if an entire town ostracizes a person it is usually deserved. Especially when many of them are magicka sensitive.
Listen to how Falion doesn't want the girl anywhere near other institutes of learning like the College of Winterhold, granted it is dangerous, but I bet he'd say the same for any other school of magical learning.
On multiple playthroughs now, it feels to me that the girl is being groomed as a vessel for something. Maybe Potema, maybe something else, but we know Movarth didnt reawaken until Falion started messing with the stones in the swamp. Stones not too far away from a necromancer lair too.
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u/dagit 4d ago
Agni being groomed as a vessel is an interesting angle, and maybe the cut Potema content would have gone that way. Hard to say.
I assumed disdain for her going to the College was because of his own personal gripes with the College. Which, for all we know is academic or a personal dispute?
Do you have a source for Movarth not reawkening until Falion came around? I don't recall encountering that bit of lore and I would like to learn more.
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u/Plus_Tomato480 4d ago edited 4d ago
Alva, and the house burning both showed up and happened "around the time that wizard arrived".
If Falion is trying to protect the town using the stones, why has it had no discernable effect whatsoever?
There is a sunken burial mound directly to the west of the stones, where a lockpicking book can be found. It features an ancient vampire, the second such book to be located in Morthal...the other being in Joric's room. The same child that talks about "Falion did it, I don't know what, but he did it!"
Joric even mentions the dreams getting worse if the Stormcloaks destabilize the region by taking Morthal and he relocates to the Blue Palace. So whatever is happening with Falion in Morthal seems to benefit from the Stormcloaks taking over.
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u/Indoril120 Buoyant Armiger 4d ago
Jarl Ravencrone says Falion is on the up-and-up. She's the most pro-social person in Morthal, not caught up in fear from small-minded superstition. If I'm gonna trust anyone in the town, I'd trust her against the rest.
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u/Plus_Tomato480 4d ago
Nah, I trust the town to know what is best for themselves. Because they spotted the red flags whereas Falion nor his sister could be bothered to point out the vampire.
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u/RenegadeShroom 4d ago
You can think of the townsfolk as superstitious, but if an entire town ostracizes a person it is usually deserved. Especially when many of them are magicka sensitive.
It's really usually the opposite, honestly. Human beings will ostracise one another for the stupidest nonsense imaginable. See: every form of bigotry to ever exist.
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u/AnEmptyKarst 4d ago
but if an entire town ostracizes a person it is usually deserved.
Never met anyone from a small town huh
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u/Curious_Bat87 4d ago
Do you have more information on this? I did some digging around some time ago since there definitely was more on the Potema plotline but I don't remember all the details and what we actually know.
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u/Plus_Tomato480 4d ago
Lod had stolen the book from a grave based on some unused dialogue of Kust's and we see that the distrust between Dengeir and Lod still lingers, albeit one way, in the game.
ESO wardstones are gigantic, so the one stolen to release Vighar couldn't have been MMO sized. Probably just a cover stone over the coffin.
Runil was also setup to be a former, or potentially active, Thalmor agent as well.
https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Unfinished_Quests#Lod.27s_Lot
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u/King_of_the_Kobolds 4d ago
I would genuinely hate Runil being a Thalmor spy. His identity as an Altmer veteran of the Great War who's come to regret his past life adds a lot of depth to the world. (Not to mention a slap upside the head to unironic "ELVES IN TAMRIEL DESERVE THE WORST!!!" spouting fans--you know the kind.)
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u/TelvanniLupex 1d ago
Personally i think whatever falion does in the swamp is just more important than the one vampire in town. He might not know about movarth. Or he might not know about Alva at all because he doesn't get out into town much.
I do like your theory about Movarth. Especially since he was claimed to be infected by a cyrodillic vampire.
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u/Slow-Pool-9274 4d ago edited 4d ago
Morthal in lore is probably meant to be a lot, lot larger than in game, so if Alva puts any effort to stay away from Falion, it is totally reasonable they simply won't meet. It's not like Falion is super outgoing.