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.

Looks like I’ll soon have to break out my old Skyrim game again for some sweet DLC. Don’t game makers know that I’m already pretty swamped when it comes to video games? Why do they have to release this amazing trailer for the upcoming Dawnguard expansion pack?

Boy howdy, that looks like fun! What my intrepid mind can piece together is that the new story mission is going to involve some kind of pack of super vampires who can transform into some kind of winged beast monster. Vampirism is already a thing in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, as it has been in most Elder Scrolls games. Basically your character can contract vampirism the same way normal people can, by being infected by a vampire. I haven’t experienced it myself with my characters, but you basically get hurt by sunlight and have a few other vampire-esque traits. Likewise, Skyrim also introduced werewolfism, which allows your character to become a werewolf and transform into a monster!

It was pretty sweet.

So I hope this new vampire transformation is equally sweet. Though I think my valiant orc warrior Tannenbum is going to join the titular Dawnguard, who seem to be the people who hunt and kill the vampires. Though that doesn’t necessarily make them good guys, mind you. I don’t know this for sure, but it seems like the DLC is going to be based around choosing either the Dawnguard or the vampires. I look forward to the excitement.

When I play these role-playing games, I really get into the storyline of my character. And for the same reason Tannenbaum never became a werewolf, I doubt I’ll have him become a super vampire. It’s just not who he is. That’s why I created a second character who could complete the Companion/werewolf storyline. Because becoming a werewolf (or vampire) is akin to picking an entirely different race. I didn’t want to get werewolf in my orc, if that makes any sense.

Either way, it looks like Tannenbaum is soon going to have to come out of retirement. And here I’d had him living in a nice mansion in Solitude, living off his great wealth and his membership in the Bard College.