Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-6941549-20140817100402/@comment-29461586-20140817102142

When concerning lore, their appearances are like a nod to their status as 'offsprings' of Molag Bal himself in my opinion. Not an expert of lore myself, but I think their appearances are a humanoid version of real life bats with the appearance (possibly skin tone) of Molag Bal.

Vampires are usually also affilated to bats in real life like Count Dracula in some media, and this allusion is used in the Vampire Lord form imo. Bats in real life also suck blood from other mammals when necessary. But what likely kills their victims is not blood loss, but rabies from their saliva..

The venom of the Vampire Lord's claw attacks may also allude to the deadly rabies of real life bats.