If out of all the infinite number of possible answers to this question, you guess my Skyrim character Tannenbaum, then gold star for you!

Tannenbaum the Orc, the warrior poet who retired after defeating the dragonlord and saving all of Skyrim, has once again donned his legendary armor and picked up his ax to join the Dawnguard, and destroy the accursed vampire race! Behold, your champion!

That’s him on the left, the sexy one

In all seriousness, though, I’m talking about the new DLC for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which just came out for the PC. It’s called Dawnguard, named after an ancient order of warriors who have dedicated themselves to killing vampires across Skyrim. I was a huge Skyrim fan back when it came out, logging in more than 140 hours across three different characters, mostly focusing on my warrior orc Tannenbaum. I made a few posts about him, sharing his adventures with all of you, but then I never got around to writing a full review. Probably because Skyrim is just so undefinable as a game. There’s just so much to encompass, and all of it so good.

Unfortunately, I lost all interest in the game after beating the final boss, and I moved on to other games. So Tannenbaum went into retirement. He never got married, but he is the richest orc in all the land. He bought the mansion in Solitude, while keeping the house in Whiterun to store all his junk. He’s a master blacksmith and a graduate of the Bard’s College. Plus there’s that whole saving the world thing, that’s pretty impressive. He’s an ally of the Blades and never gave in to the Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood or the werewolves of the Companions.

And in the new DLC, I’m playing Tannenbaum as accepting the Dawnguard quests, instead of joining the vampire lords. I’ll maybe keep you all updated with how this works out. I’m also very interested in hearing about your own Skyrim experiences, if you’d like to share in the comments.

And the greatest thing about the DLC? We can finally make dragon bone weapons! I spent more than an hour last night crafting a new bow, a new short sword and a new ax for my hero. All evil beware the mighty Axannenbaum!

Truly fearsome.