Skyrim players horrified to discover how vampires came to Tamriel

This article contains references to sexual violence that some readers may find distressing.

The lore runs deep in the Elder Scrolls games, and you can miss a lot of it if you don’t read all the in-game books or listen in on the conversations.

For The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, there’s plenty of in-game knowledge it simply won’t tell you directly, including the origins of vampires in Tamriel.

Check out the trailer for Skyrim below if you’re feeling nostalgic.

Vampires can, of course, be found as generic enemies in the open-world, plus they get an entire story dedicated to them with the game's DLC, but if you’ve ever found yourself wondering where the demonic species comes from, keep reading.

Reddit user OldSpiceZ wanted to know “the darkest secret in Skyrim that nobody talks about” and one of the top comments was about the infamous creatures of the night.

“The in-lore explanation for how vampires came to being is rather grim,” replied one fan, and another quickly elaborated on what they meant.

Be warned it’s a horrific bit of lore.

They said: “Basically, the Daughters of Coldharbour were young women sacrificed to Molag Bal. Some survived the ordeal, most did not. Who survived came back as a true blooded vampire. One of Molag Bal's titles is ‘King of Rape’. Go figure what happens.”

Many fans concluded that this is indeed the darkest bit of lore in the game, and it makes sense why the game doesn’t explicitly tell players about it in the story.

There are plenty of other secrets in the thread’s comments if you’re interested though, much of it being stuff you probably missed on your first or umpteenth playthrough, so it’s probably worth a read.

With The Elder Scrolls VI expected in the next few years, it makes you wonder how it’ll build off Skyrim in terms of lore and story, and if elements from the game will even be featured in the next entry.