Very interesting! I have learned more Skyrim Lore! There is a rare-ish random event around Dragon burial sites though, where you catch Alduin in the act of raising another dragon... he doesn't stick around to fight. In fact, I bugged out the event by shooting an arrow in his butt, and had to leave and return before he raised the dragon... but I guess that's on Bethesda, not Alduin!
I saw a theory in another video about Alduin's attack on Helgen. He came there because he sensed a dormant dragon soul in the middle of the town and cast the dragon resurrection shout at it, likely thinking a skeleton was buried there. Instead it hit your character, some distant bastard of the Septim bloodline, which awakened the soul and gave the control of the character to the player. The character moved on its own before that during intro, but not afterwards.
I'm sure that if Alduin had not sensed the death and absorption of Mirmulnir's soul, then he likely got a clue when the Greybeards called "DOV-AH-KIN" to summon you
But on the flipside, if the Greybeards, through mastery of the Voice alone, could sense the moment of the Dragonborn's ascension, then it isn't far fetched to believe Alduin and other dragons, innately masters of the Voice, would also sense such.
Not how it works. Akatosh didn't 'give' the soul. It was fated too happen - Hermaes Mora gave him a Dragon Soul. He is the one who controls fate, after all.
Or the Lokhran part of Akatosh created a new dragonborn to kill the avatar of Alduin in order to break the grip of the time god on nirm? I mean the dragon definitly broke after this, who knows what will happen because of that
I had no idea Mirmulnir was not resurrected. Imagine being in hiding for thousand of years and when Alduin returns, some random schmuck ends up being the Dragonborn and devours your soul.
@@hmmm.74 It's Vanilla, you can look it up on the wiki. However, in Vanilla you only see it through subtitles, the USSEP actually adds the voicelines that go along with the subtitles. So technically we're both correct.
I like the idea that the dragonborn stole the tablet mere hours before Alduin theoretically went to bleak falls barrow, it makes the player seem more like the nemesis to him. Constantly foiling his plans, would've been cool if he became a random encounter after Sahklokniir was killed - one that you'd have to hide from rather than fight.
I think it's funny for Alduin kept unintentionally aiding the Dragonborn. Helped us escape, helped us learn that we're dragon born, and revealed to us what he was so we could prepare.
I don’t know if it was just my game but I think that can happen throughout the main story!! I came up the Tower of Mzark and Alduin was right there when I loaded in and then flew away.
@@albertoluisamparobarros3478 Oh no I understand and hate you are right. Alduin was gaming and gaming hard and was on top only to have a blue screen and corrupted save and no back ups. Only for dragons race nerfed and worldeater class nerfed in a patch shortly after and the dragonborn class buffed and some dumbass with significant plot armour ruins the rest of his playthrough. I understand.
@@jackrose1018 and then he tries to rush things up back to the point where he used to be, only to have a new enemy pop up (a "dragonborn") who somehow follows him to his home and, together with Alduin's former enemies, ultimately defeats him. Then there's a blue screen again...
@@UnswimmingFishYT That would make so much sense! It's incredible that even after all these years, there are still so many things left to learn. I thought bro was damaged from an ancient battle or possibly just ugly. 😶
@@Lili_Chen2005 Nah, Skyrim just has an extreme amount of tiny details that are easily missed or not directly explained and require some thinking to figure out. One of the things I like about it.
Well that is a Philosophical Question, does the Case of a Clock know what Time it is simply by the Fact that it is Part of a Device to tell the Time? I would argue No.
@@MagaldiMateus Exactly. But even though the Dragons are Animate and Sentient doesn't mean they must know what Time it is simply because they have the Essence of Akatosh.
@@ravinosaurus grandfather genetic Alzheimer's moment Akatosh: "And that's why I made things linear instead of cyclic!" Dibella: "Nice Akatosh..." **motions for Stendarr** Stendarr: "Alright old man, time for you to go to bed now..." Akatosh: "Time for me to go to bed? What time did I make that again? Time... time..." **Dibella and Julianos start to tear up** Stendarr: "You made it around this time, old man..." Akatosh: "Oh, I did? I did, yes, I did...! What was it I did?" Stendarr: "Just rest here and we'll get back to it once you sleep, okay?" **puts in bed** Akatosh: "Oh, okay then..." **gets in bed**
It's interesting that Helgen is the only village that Alduin outright destroys. It's like he surveyed the aftermath and said "damn that's bad, we should just annoy the villages from now on. Maybe land on a house or two and then call it a day."
Would you take your chances against 4 yo who if somehow manage to kill you, he'll eat your soul. The moment Alduin thinks he has a chance against you, he gets his ass whooped so bad he immediately flew to sovngarde
alduin could sense our dragon soul in helgen, when he saw helgen he must’ve thought the human built helgen on a burial ground, mortals building on what is the resting place of their old gods
Remember two dragons arguing is them blasting each other with th'um.... so burning someone with a disstrack is a very real threat to dragons lol, so calling him fat isn't just a mental slap, it's also a literal blast to the face
Honestly I really like the theory that alduin actually abandoned his duty of eating the world in order to rule it. He enjoyed ruling over humanity, and when he returned it’s not like all of a sudden he wanted to eat the world. The him that returns in Skyrim is the same him that wanted to rule. And so the Dragonborn was actually sent to kill alduin and basically reset him, to ACTUALLY eat the world later on and fulfill the cycle. You covered it perfectly!!!
@@EricDraven-ci8wi ehhhhh idk about that honestly. According to the lore, alduin is basically like a creation or avatar of akatosh, sent to bring about the next Kalpa. Kalpas being like a new timeline or new world. So he’s basically been sent to reset this current Kalpa into a new one. Maybe him “eating” the world might be a metaphor, but he definitely is meant to destroy or reset it. Parthunaaux himself even leaves alduin to join the humans because alduin is not fulfilling this destiny
@@EricDraven-ci8wi I can respect that, but I'm not sure I agree. Multiple religions across Tamriel have world-eating deities that are meant to reset the kalpa. Khajiit have Alkhan, Argonians have Atakota, the Skaal have Thartagg the World-Eater. Yokudans, the people with likely the most knowledge on the kalpas due to their origin in the previous kalpa, have a god called Satakal. Rather than eating the world, the snake-god of everything, blend of Anu and Padomay, eats his own skin, shedding it anew to create a new world.
Normaly would make sense if it was not in the lore that Akatosh at this point is both Lokhran and Aka, which might indicate that it was actually the trickster god the one responsable for this, or hermeus mora or kyne or even Talos if he alredy mantled Lokhran considering what happens on the next era
I like to think Alduin came through the time wound, recognized he was not in his own time, and flew toward the first dragon he sensed: The Last Dragonborn. This understandably drives him into a rage and he proceeds to sack the whole town. As for Alduin escaping just in time, that can only be divine intervention or predestination.
Evidence suggests it was Paarthurnax who Alduin engaged first. We see Alduin flying from the Throat of the World in one of the trailers. In the game Alduin is coming from that direction when he arrives to Helgan. There are burned and destroyed wagens, houses, and objects around the area of the mountain suggesting a Dragon attack before Alduin raises anymore Dragons. And finally, Paarthurnax had to get those injuries somehow.
I thought of that too, but if Alduin could sense the Dragonborn upon exiting the time wound, he would be able to sense the Dragonborn continuously, so he would be able to track him/her down easily. So, that leaves me to think that the attack on Helgen was random.
@@wellingtonsmith4998 perhaps Alduin saving the Dragonborn was already part of his destiny. Like it was already written in his event that he'd come across the Dovahkiin one way or another, and not completely random. And it's also implied that he's coming back and forth from Sovngarde to Nirn to recharge his powers drained from resurrecting his subordinates. That's why we don't see him casually chasing us, instead his cronies are doing the job for him.
I've heard a theory that when Alduin returned he sensed the Dragonborn thinking they were a fellow Dragon to Alduin, and when he saw Helgen he thought humans built their settlement over the top of a buried dragon mount, this then pisses Alduin off, proceeding the start of the game.
I think that it was retroactively the reading of Elder Scroll that sent him forward, and also reading the Elder Scroll again that allowed him to return, even if he returned before that
The concept of Alduin is great, but the actual in-game implimentation always felt underwhelming to me. It feels like we're fighting yet another random dragon, but this one just thinks he's some kind of world-ending beast. It's like he's just pretending to be the real Alduin.
In concept, I love Alduin and think he's a great villain that has a lot of depth ...... but then I go back to how he is in game and he fucking sucks. He has all of the making of a great villain, but the writing of the game was very not good to say the least and they didn't even bother giving him special mechanics
@@sephikong8323 He just ends up being yet another stupid dragon. I don't even remember him being notably larger or stronger than the hundred other dragons I'd killed before him.
@Rick586 If I recall, he just has something that reduces the damage he takes and he summons Meteor on the battlefield with a changed up version of call lightning? That's really about it, the fight is nothing special compared to other Dragons and it's even easier considering you have 3 mandatory allies. They really should have given him something else, like at the bare minimum have him summon 2 other Dragons to come alongside him if you don't want to create new mechanics, that way the fight becomes more epic and with your own ally that's like an actual battle
The problem is the shout 'Dragonrend' that was the in-lore weapon to fight Alduin. It weakens dragons by forcing them to experience the concept of mortality. While cool on paper, using them to weaken Alduin at the start of the fight meant we never get to fight Alduin at the height of his power, just in his scared, weaken state. The ultimate weapon should've been Dragon Aspect which gives mortals the power of a dragon. Then maybe after a stalemate we were taught Dragonrend by the old heroes or whatever and won the final battle.
Fun fact: The word wall you see in the elder scroll vision is intact. It's literally worn down from thousands of years of Partysnax sitting on it. I'm loving this video.
I find dragon agency and morality a fascinating topic. On one hand they are creatures very much driven by their nature, both instilled in them upon creation and innate as parts of Akatosh's oversoul: the desire to dominate, their perception of time, instinct to answer any challenge. On the other hand 3 of the 4 major dragons we meet, defy their nature by choice: Alduin, Paarthurnax and Dhurnevir all act out of their own will. They kind of remind me of Angels of the Bible who simultaneously act as extensions of God's influence and as independent moral actors capable of rebellion.
truly, i think skyrim's main plot is overhated, people are so quick to boil it down to "dragon evil bcuz todd say so" while ignoring the fun implications that come with the fact he is meant to be a natural force (as natural as it gets in tes lore ofc), and how it can become corrupted
@emiliawitko276 I feel like the setup of Alduin was done perfectly, but Alduin himself should have had AT LEAST one long conversation with the player, and Alduin should have been an independently designed boss fight, instead of just another dragon but with a bigger health bar.
@@wafflingmean4477 agreed. Seeing you more often would be way better. I think a long conversation (outside of MAYBE trying to get you to rule with him) would be out of place, though, just more encounters like the one during Sahloknir's resurrection would be best, i think.
@emiliawitko276I have issues more with how it was executed rather than its overall outline. One thing though that I will defend is how unique and interesting Skyrim’s dragons are different to that of other mythical stories. They’re time itself of a god, they are intelligent and how they breath fire is really just speaking, etc. as a kid back in 2011 I never understood how great this was but now I do.
They do have a dragon and that Alduin had his own area he can visit that isn’t connected to the current world. If Alduin had left earshot then they would have known. It makes sense: hey destroy and attack this town and i’ll snack on their souls. Alduin: spawn camping
@@Flesh_Wizard Probably just a hold or so. the whole "speak only in true need" thing cranks the graybeards' Thu'um up to eleven. Not to say the dragonborn isn't similarly powerful, but there are four graybeards and one last dragonborn.
Very interesting video! Was a fun watch. As others have pointed out, the Dragonborn prophecy seems to be Akatosh's way of giving Alduin a proverbial spanking and a lesson in humility, a concept usually foreign to dragons. Maybe next time he will keep his head down and just do his job lol.
It isn't though. Hermaes Mora is the one who controls destiny - he creates prophecies. He chose the Dragonborn - not Akatosh. He doesn't have that kinda power.
@@BlankEmporium correction, Akatosh has controls of dragon souls and Aedra are stronger than daedra, its entirely possible Akatosh and Herma mora worked together without realizing it, resulting in the dragonborn, but akatosh did have a hand in it, as Miraak wouldnt have lent a soul to make us
Nords: "... If you rule the world, can you get rid of the knife-eared fucks of the Altmeri Dominion?" Aldwin: "Yes." Nords: "Alright. That's good enough. Where do we sign?"
Me: I do not need to play Skyrim again, I do not need to play Skyrim again, you have bunch of other games you haven’t finished or even started and you do not need to play Skyrim again…. I’m going to play Skyrim again. Excellent video OP.
12:49 Alduin doesn't try to kill you himself until that fight at the throat of the world. If you meet him again before that when he's resurrecting other dragons he'll just fly away and let the resurrected dragon fight you
I like the idea that Alduin the Ruler took the mantle of the World Devourer only after he was banished to the 4th era and became enraged that the Nords no longer worshipped the dragons and deemed that Nirn no longer deserved to exist.
I love the fact that you've used the card "Battle atop the Throat of The World" at 2:52 . Shame Legends was a bit of a flop as that game is the single best card game I've ever played.
What’s rather odd to me is that whoever is doing the art for the legends is also I believe the same for fallout online and their absolutely fantastic artist so it’s a shame their work doesn’t get the praise it deserves.
You know I always thought about this, if Alduin was nicer he would still have his dragon empire. Grated there for sure would have been rebellions like in most empires but in the grand scheme of things he would have mostly been fine.
Well to be fair it wasn't really alduins fault that the nords (atmorans) started to rebel against the dragon cult since he and his dragons didn't really concern themselves with the day to day stuff they only cared about being worshipped as gods which they were at the time with alduin being the head of the pantheon and it was actually the dragon priests who ruled with an iron fist that caused the nord uprising. The dragon priest let the power granted to them by the dragons get to there head and started ruling like kings with an iron fist rather then being spiritual leaders and alduin being the destroyer god that he is isn't gonna stand for mere mortals trying to undermine his rule of course
In a sense Aldiun's story sounds like the Biblical Lucifer, he too betrayed his role and sought the crown of creation and got the repercussions leading to banishment.
@@LordoftheyeetWhile it is pretty clear that alot of the day to day abuse came from the priest, I don’t think we can seriously discount the overall oppressive or “evil” nature of the dragons. They may have been absent rulers for the majority of the population but, correct me if i’m wrong here i don’t keep up with the exacts of lore like I used to, the priest would bring them offering that would consist of people among with the treasures within their crypts or temples. Not the Priest dripping their own cyrpts, tho they definitely did that, but the Dragons themselves calling for these things: as seen in the temple of Miraak and Skuldafn. Similar to the Tribunal (in the respects of being figures in a religious sense, I will say the Tribunal are a bit more subjective with regard to being worthy of reverence outside of their power but that’s a completely different topic) they were actually present, and while they certainly weren’t involved in judging or ruling over most lower matters. They did interact with the world and domination is the nature of Dovah.
This was amazing. It may now be my fav in your library. I've seen/read many "character perspective" commentaries, but I never considered Alduin as a good candidate for that. Was I ever wrong. After watching this I think my next Skyrim playthru will feel very different. Thank you for, once again, giving me a reason to dive back into the game. So well done!
I like the idea that even with Alduin killed, Ancient and Legendary Dragons probably know the resurrection shout and are constantly bringing in more and more dragons to try and kill the Dragonborn. It's a way of explaining why even after you defeat Alduin, you still find dragons roaming around. Your job is now basically clean up and helping either the Blades or Parthanax to quell this new wave of dragons
Excellent video, super interesting. Would love more content like this. Maybe coverage of other ES games, like Oblivion from the perspective of Mankar or Mehrunes Dagon, or ESO main quest from the perspective of Molag Bal.
Tbh I feel like people completely misunderstand the point of Alduin in Skyrim. He isn’t Dagoth Ur, or Cameron from Oblivion. Simplifying it down to “evil dragon gets killed by demigod” always annoyed me as criticism because it ignores the nuance of Alduin is a world eater and therefore wouldn’t see himself as evil. They kind of beat it on your head that “maybe it’s better for Alduin to eat the world cause it’s natural” Alduin isn’t an iron woobie character that has to justify why he eats the world he just doesn’t care and sees the Dragonborn as an annoying pest/ abomination. It’s like trying to simplify Dagoth Ur to “insane cult leader becomes god therefore evil” Alduin has an orange and blue morality where might is right.
Tbf the alduin we see in Skyrim came straight from the fight with the tongues so he's still the version of him who wants to conquer the world. We're there to drop him from going astray and likely allow him to be reborn to complete his task at the end of the kalpa.
@@Ron_Jambo_ yeah and that was my point, like trying to argue Alduin is a mustache twirling villian misses the point that Alduin doesn’t have the same point or morality as regular people. He sees as prey and food.
@@phrabb5242 I mean the game makes it kinda clear he is planning on eating the world. Paarthunax and the rest assume he is just trying to conquer the world because they have no idea what Alvin’s initial goal is. Like Alduin wants to consume the world and everything in it and conquer it that way. The problem is people see him as a Molag Bal, Mehrunes Dagon fusion and he really isn’t. Alduin wants to see complete anhilation of the world and to burn it in ash so he can feast on more souls.
@@samwiseb2799 then what is the difference between alduin being an evil dragon that wants to kill us all and a bear. To end the world means to kill us all, so alduin is basically some giant cosmic predator beast. So basically he is a Dick Dastardly mustache twirler.
one thing i always think about is that if alduin is the end of time/ the world eater then when it is his time he will be all-powerful and unstoppable in ending the world, in a sense alduin is in his ruler state, after all he is meant to be the end of time, so when it is time for alduin to end the world, a dragonborn couldnt stop him,
Another brilliantly researched video! Thank you for that! Fun fact: After the attack on Helgen, Alduin flies straight to Skuldafn. Maybe he wants to see the priest there or he hopes to find some dragons that might be hiding there. Just look for the video “Skyrim - Where is Alduin flying when you escape Helgen (better version)” by Tyroine. (I've been trying to send you the link since yesterday, but RUclips deletes my comment every time -_-; )
if the dragon stone was really the map of dragon burial site, i would hope that if we never gone to bleak falls barrow somehow the dragon calamity would worsen. like riverwood would be destroyed because the guard never came and alduin already resurect too many dragon. i just wish skyrim had more branching path, anyway great video ! new perspective are always welcomed
Do this but for the Thalmor's Perpsective! I feel like Alduin you dont really see what they're seeing a lot of the time. Could be interesting to see how they'd react to various events, not just main story and civil war
Two things: 1. The fact that Paarthurnax just joined humanity because Alduin strayed from his destiny of "Ending the world" and actually wants to convince or push him in that direction again to fulfill his destiny...now I look at Delphine's urge to kill Paarthurnax with different eyes 😂. 2. Maybe the reason Helgen is the first place he visits is because he feels dragon there. But when he actually arrives there, he can't locate the dragon and on top of that he finds out humans no longer worship him. Being completely pissed off by the situation he just summons meteors and levels the town to the ground, all while failing to notice the dragon, or more specifically, the dragon soul he sensed belonged to a human. Those 2 points could explain a lot of things that at surface level don't make much sense in game.
I was under the impression - I think the theory came from the FudgeMuppet TES podcast - that Alduin “sensed” a dragon soul at Helgen (the DB), after being basically blinked out of one time-period and into another. He sought to free this soul and razed the settlement in order to find the burial mound or captive dragon, which he doesn’t and flees for Skuldafn(?) or wherever, but unintentionally then frees his doom in the process. Begs the question whether he is truly a master of his own fate, or a slave to it..
I dont know, I never really bought into that theory 100% because Paarthurnax was there, and alive. So that probably was the closest dragon soul + some dialogue (And TES Legends) imply that they fought when Alduin returned and Paarthurnax was witing for him
But then realistically if he can sense your soul he would always be able to sense your soul. So how would he not have sensed you below him when you escape helgen and he flies right over you and Hadvar/Ralof. He would sense you there and stop to look down, but he doesn't. I don't think he could sense your soul otherwise why wouldn't he be tracking you down to kill you throughout the game after you kill the second dragon at Kynesgrove? So I think it is far more likely the attack was random and Helgen was just the first town he came across when he left the throat of the world. If he could sense your soul all the way from the throat of the world, he would have to have been able to sense you when he flew right over your head and the whole time he was attacking Helgen as well. Meaning he would have seen you when he sat on the tower and registered you were a dragonborn, I don't think he could sense souls.
Fun fact: alduin has spikes on his back, animals only develop this to not get eaten, this implies there is something much greater than alduin, not only this but akatosh has it too. who do you think it might be?
This actually improved my opinion of Skyrim, I didn’t really pick up the stories feeling during gameplay and this helps flesh it out nicely… like freshly reanimating a dragon skeleton
The thalmor notes about Alduin says that maybe his objectives are the same as theirs, at least for a time, because by saving Ulfric, he guaranteed that the war would go on, with Ulfric sacrificing nords for his goals he indirectly made Alduin stronger, my interpretation is that the attack on helgen was calculated, and he was around before the execution took place
A few interesting things to note; Paarthurnax states that not all the dragons that Alduin resurrects remain loyal to him and instead tell him that he must prove himself worthy to rule over them. Odahviing reveals that the Dragonborn's Thu'um is stronger than Alduin's, so he sees him as a stronger leader so lends him his aide. Miraak reveals that he was approached to defeat Alduin during the Dragon War but he refused to get involved, instead Alduin himself probably appointed him as the ruler of Solstheim. Miraak was a dragonborn that was actually loyal to Alduin. Alduin may be travelling beyond Skyrim's borders to resurrect dragons in other lands. The randomly spawning unnamed dragons are not featured on the Dragon stone and they do not have burial mounds in Skyrim. Vulthuryol is one of the very few dragons that survived the Dragon War and has gone completely undisturbed for millennia, trapped underground by the Dwemer in Blackreach.
@@epicplaye5150nah I trust Miraak can handle it, not only is he just incredibly strong in many ways, but he has way more backup than the dragonborn had, Miraak has a whole ass army under his command.
Holy shit brother, this is such an eye opening video. I played Skyrim for the first time back when I was still in school and was too stupid to grasp many of the lore connections in the game. Skyrim's story might not be the most complex one, but from this perspective the core plot feels so interesting actually. What a frickin great perspective, thanks!
At the end of the day, he probably still considers partysnacks his brother and decided to spare his life. Or maybe he decided he was not even worth killing after he barely put up a fight against him.
Maybe he wanted to beat Paarthurnax in another way- by making him watch as he becomes the overlord. Then, when he has all the power, he can either convince Paarthy to rejoin him or finish Paarthy off as the traitor he is to him.
Maybe he couldn’t. Paarthanax has had thousands of years to ready himself for that fight, Alduin has just fought a fight against three great heroes and got hit with Dragonrend. Even if he isn’t wounded, he’s probably exhausted.
"umm your telling me that this murder hobo was going to be executed and i saved him... and now he the mostpowerful thing ever because of deadric items scattered through skyrim" on another note if skyrim special edition is canon them almost all of the known deadric artifacts are in skyrim at the time of the fourth era 200
Is there a reason why Alduin knows the name of akatosh if he was absent during aleesiah’s reign when she formed the religion? Even if someone taught him before our fight in snow-throat or realized akatosh is just another name for bormahu (his father in dovahzul ) why would he take pride in saying he is the son of akatosh and not the son of bormahu?
Alduin is just that smart. He knows everything. (Tbh I have no idea. Is possible that Paarthurnax mentioned the name when he spawned back in the present. Something like “Dont try to take Akatosh lordship again” or something like that. But thats just me explaining a plothole, because that is what it seems to be.
@@ImperialKnowledge maybe he’s proclaiming himself being the son of akatosh to impose some fear into the dragonborn, like you wouldn’t want to battle the son of an aedric god and secure his dominance on Tamriel by dealing with the only threat to himself, but eh you can chalk it up to Bruce nesmith imperializing most of Skyrim specifically the religion pantheon
@@ImperialKnowledgeanyways I hope we see nahfahlaar in TES vi if Alduin considered reviving him and the game will take place in hammerfell (supposedly)
The thought of Alduin returning to Skuldafn to the legion of Draugr and Nahkriin gives me the vision of him mustering an Undead, Dragon Cult army and leading it to conquer Skyrim. I love the ending we got with Sovngarde’s champions, but would love a grand-scale battle with the Dragon Lord Alduin and his reinstated Dragon Cult against a united Skyrim led by the Dragonborn champion.
It's not like she had any use for it until Alduin's return, and trying to locate it may have risked her cover being blown. She likely always knew about its location from some notes Esbern left behind and its retrieval only became necessary after Alduin returned.
It’s possible that the reason Mirmulnir attacked Whiterun in the first place was for the Dragonstone. If Alduin arrives at Bleak Falls just as the Dragonborn is leaving, he may learn that the Dragonstone has been taken to Whiterun. Then he sends Mirmulnir to fetch it. In essence, WE (the Dragonborn) unknowingly cause Whiterun to be attacked in the first place, only to save the city shortly after.
Quite a bit different from the usual content, but it definitely opens some doors. I'd imagine Skyrim from Astrid's POV is pretty frustrating. Addendum: Ignoring the Dovakiin joining all Factions obviously, cause its pure Gameplay
They ask where is Alduin, but never how is Alduin😭 Jokes aside I've always hated how most people thought Skyrim's story was just about op demi-god protagonist killing big bad dragon when there's more to it than that. I really appreciate these in-depth lore videos!
I think that it was retroactively the reading of Elder Scroll that sent him forward, and also reading the Elder Scroll again that allowed him to return, even if he returned before that
I want to add another piece to the puzzle: In the main story of skyrim, we end or at least halt the civil war that is going on, and therfore massivly reducing the ammount of people dying -> the amount of souls alduin can use to recover. That is probably also a big hit to him, and another reason he accepts our challenge in sovengarge, because he knows, he can not recover without the souls. If he does not fight now, he will get weaker and weaker, so right now are his best chances.
A key moment in the intro, is that Ulfric grunts, remember that Ulfric has been trained in the voice, its likely that this is what caught alduin's attention
I always chalked the Helgen attack to Alduin being like "Bro says there's a human that can beat me down there, I'll show him...uhhh...so besides these old ones that can barely move, there's this younger one that uses the dragon language to kill other people, he must be that dragonborn thing" and the fact that you were there too was just an absolute fluke
Being able to shout was much more common back in Alduin's time than Dragonborns. I don't think he'd assume Ulfric is a dragonborn just because he can shout, not to mention he doesn't shout at Helgen.
@@szabok1999 I think they mean that Paarthurnax probably knows about and mentioned Ulfric, unaware he was bound and gagged. That would've enticed Alduin to search out this "Ulfric" and attempt to kill him. I mean sure it wasn't intentional, but look at how Alduin positions himself on the tower in Helgen. He looks more towards Ulfric like he's trying to make sure its him. he even hesitates to attack even if for a few seconds before calling upon his fire storm. When Ulfric doesn't fight Alduin, and essentially vanished, Alduin probably took it as "I must've already killed the threat" and leaves. Cause notice how Helgen is the only city that was properly attacked. After Helgen, Alduin ignores the cities, believing his work there to be done so he can go off to awaken his followers. A tidbit I do want to add on, is I personally now believe the Greybeards have a forgotten secret. The reason they don't fight and just preach peace, like the voice is a yoga move, is cause they're the only masters of the voice in skyrim barring Ulfric (who i wouldnt call master), they'd be the first line of defense against Alduin's return, hence their philosophy that students of the voice should stay there, and why High Hrothgar looks like a fortress. They forgot dragonrend as it's been so long, they assumed Alduin may never return, and even as Arngier says (in my own quotes) "shouldn't we just let Alduin end the world?" They've been up there for so long that by the time of Jurgen, they've already forgotten their purpose as a first defense, hence their ideology of peace keeping becoming so strong. They were likely founded so that those who can use shouts aren't tempted to fight and lose their lives, should they be needed to fight Alduin. Only reason Arngier and the others don't is cause (besides that this is a theory, and if plausible, wasn't originally planned) the few numbers, and exeeding age of the masters. They also more than likely witnessed Paarthurnax's defeat and just waited for the end until they found you and had a glimmer of hope. They don't even mention Alduin to you until after you metion him first, despite them knowing about his resurrection and ultimate goal.
This is fascinating! Skyrim is one of my favorite games, the Elder Scrolls lore is incredible. With how you phrased things, though, it almost sounds like the Dragonborn was sent to punish (unalive) Alduin for not wanting to end the world because he likes it too much. In real world mythologies, this could be compared to Enki of the Anunnaki tales getting punished for helping the first humans because he liked them instead of wanting slaves, or even Jesus coming to this planet as a mortal man destined to die because He likes the people too much to let them die (in a nutshell). So... that would make Alduin either the misunderstood hero (a "live long enough to see yourself become the villain" thing) or never a villain at all. He likes the world as it is, people included, so he doesn't want to unalive them all even if that means enslaving them because he thinks if they all obey then they will all be considered worthy by Akatosh, and that he was branded a villain and judged for punishment because he would mass-genocide every creature in Tamriel just so a new world could start (I also didn't fail to notice how the world ending in fire and a new world starting from its ashes is very similar to how people thought the world would end in nuclear bombs during WW2. Alduin is like the Illidan of the Elder Scrolls.
Alduin has a lot in common with the Dragonborn. He has been given a major goal, but he has completely abandoned the main quest to do sidequests and have fun.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Hope you enjoyed it! Its a bit different from my usual stuff but I hope still interesting!
Extremely interesting!
Would you consider doing this for other antagonists like Dagoth Ur/Mannimarco/Mankar
I actually really liked it, it added some flavour that isn't usually there when you're reciting lore
Make a lore video about Todd Howard, but make it all memes
Very interesting! I have learned more Skyrim Lore!
There is a rare-ish random event around Dragon burial sites though, where you catch Alduin in the act of raising another dragon... he doesn't stick around to fight. In fact, I bugged out the event by shooting an arrow in his butt, and had to leave and return before he raised the dragon... but I guess that's on Bethesda, not Alduin!
I saw a theory in another video about Alduin's attack on Helgen. He came there because he sensed a dormant dragon soul in the middle of the town and cast the dragon resurrection shout at it, likely thinking a skeleton was buried there. Instead it hit your character, some distant bastard of the Septim bloodline, which awakened the soul and gave the control of the character to the player. The character moved on its own before that during intro, but not afterwards.
I love this theory!
I like where your heads at
That’s cool as hell
i love that
Lowkey fire theory and makes sm sense looking at it now
I'm sure that if Alduin had not sensed the death and absorption of Mirmulnir's soul, then he likely got a clue when the Greybeards called "DOV-AH-KIN" to summon you
Yeah probably haha forgot about that one
@@ImperialKnowledge love the analysis here, keep up the excellent work!
@@finalaleks.6663Agreed 🔥💯
Alduin on some mountain somewhere
"Hmmmm i wonder if Mirmulnir has completed his mission yet"
DO VAH KIN!
"DAFUCK?!"
But on the flipside, if the Greybeards, through mastery of the Voice alone, could sense the moment of the Dragonborn's ascension, then it isn't far fetched to believe Alduin and other dragons, innately masters of the Voice, would also sense such.
Skyrim is basically Akatosh giving a mortal a dragon soul and telling him "Go clean up that mess."
hands him a broom to clean up the mess the son did
Not how it works. Akatosh didn't 'give' the soul. It was fated too happen - Hermaes Mora gave him a Dragon Soul. He is the one who controls fate, after all.
Or the Lokhran part of Akatosh created a new dragonborn to kill the avatar of Alduin in order to break the grip of the time god on nirm? I mean the dragon definitly broke after this, who knows what will happen because of that
@@BlankEmporiumwe are also enslaved to herma mora at the end too.
Basicly
I had no idea Mirmulnir was not resurrected. Imagine being in hiding for thousand of years and when Alduin returns, some random schmuck ends up being the Dragonborn and devours your soul.
I always love how he says his final words. “Dovahkiin??? NOOOOoooo°°°°••••….”
I THINK that was added by a mod.
@@KyleWilson96 nah it's vanilla
@@jacobstannard2475 its added by USSEP
@@hmmm.74 It's Vanilla, you can look it up on the wiki. However, in Vanilla you only see it through subtitles, the USSEP actually adds the voicelines that go along with the subtitles. So technically we're both correct.
I like the idea that the dragonborn stole the tablet mere hours before Alduin theoretically went to bleak falls barrow, it makes the player seem more like the nemesis to him. Constantly foiling his plans, would've been cool if he became a random encounter after Sahklokniir was killed - one that you'd have to hide from rather than fight.
I think it's funny for Alduin kept unintentionally aiding the Dragonborn.
Helped us escape, helped us learn that we're dragon born, and revealed to us what he was so we could prepare.
I don’t know if it was just my game but I think that can happen throughout the main story!! I came up the Tower of Mzark and Alduin was right there when I loaded in and then flew away.
@@mikaelmyers6135 yeah, there's a mechanic where you can see him raise a named dragon at a mound. But he never attacks you personally.
I would be pretty mad if I was sent to the future and had to rebuild my entire empire from the ground up.
it's like in those games when a glitch happens and you've got to start it all over again.
@@albertoluisamparobarros3478 Oh no I understand and hate you are right. Alduin was gaming and gaming hard and was on top only to have a blue screen and corrupted save and no back ups. Only for dragons race nerfed and worldeater class nerfed in a patch shortly after and the dragonborn class buffed and some dumbass with significant plot armour ruins the rest of his playthrough. I understand.
@@jackrose1018 and then he tries to rush things up back to the point where he used to be, only to have a new enemy pop up (a "dragonborn") who somehow follows him to his home and, together with Alduin's former enemies, ultimately defeats him. Then there's a blue screen again...
Alduin forgot to Quick Save before the boss fight, and got autosaved after he got loaded into the future Tamriel worldspace lol
I swear there are animes or mangas with this kind of plot. 😁
I like to imagine that alduin came back while parthurnax was on a smoke break or something and just missed him
I actually never even considered that Parthanaux and Alduin had been fighting at the throat of the world during the opening. 😮
It's a very likely explanation for why Paarthurnax has a missing horn.
@@UnswimmingFishYT That would make so much sense! It's incredible that even after all these years, there are still so many things left to learn. I thought bro was damaged from an ancient battle or possibly just ugly. 😶
@@Lili_Chen2005 Nah, Skyrim just has an extreme amount of tiny details that are easily missed or not directly explained and require some thinking to figure out. One of the things I like about it.
@@UnswimmingFishYT I think his missing horn is actually the horn of Jurgen Windcaller.
@@MasterSkyrim1000 Common idea but the shape isn't the same
Can you imagine being a dragon and don't know what time is it? You literally a piece of the time god.
Well that is a Philosophical Question, does the Case of a Clock know what Time it is simply by the Fact that it is Part of a Device to tell the Time? I would argue No.
@@feragosmyxixarashtra7948 No the clock is mindless obejct. It doesnt know anything.
@@MagaldiMateus Exactly. But even though the Dragons are Animate and Sentient doesn't mean they must know what Time it is simply because they have the Essence of Akatosh.
@@feragosmyxixarashtra7948True. Even Akatosh doesn't know what time is it sometimes 😂
@@ravinosaurus grandfather genetic Alzheimer's moment
Akatosh: "And that's why I made things linear instead of cyclic!"
Dibella: "Nice Akatosh..." **motions for Stendarr**
Stendarr: "Alright old man, time for you to go to bed now..."
Akatosh: "Time for me to go to bed? What time did I make that again? Time... time..."
**Dibella and Julianos start to tear up**
Stendarr: "You made it around this time, old man..."
Akatosh: "Oh, I did? I did, yes, I did...! What was it I did?"
Stendarr: "Just rest here and we'll get back to it once you sleep, okay?" **puts in bed**
Akatosh: "Oh, okay then..." **gets in bed**
It's interesting that Helgen is the only village that Alduin outright destroys. It's like he surveyed the aftermath and said "damn that's bad, we should just annoy the villages from now on. Maybe land on a house or two and then call it a day."
It's because the Dragonborn's hands were bound.
Would you take your chances against 4 yo who if somehow manage to kill you, he'll eat your soul.
The moment Alduin thinks he has a chance against you, he gets his ass whooped so bad he immediately flew to sovngarde
alduin could sense our dragon soul in helgen, when he saw helgen he must’ve thought the human built helgen on a burial ground, mortals building on what is the resting place of their old gods
I assume that one of the other dragons called Alduin fat and so he went on a diet, refusing to eat _any_ worlds, only people.
Remember two dragons arguing is them blasting each other with th'um.... so burning someone with a disstrack is a very real threat to dragons lol, so calling him fat isn't just a mental slap, it's also a literal blast to the face
Honestly I really like the theory that alduin actually abandoned his duty of eating the world in order to rule it. He enjoyed ruling over humanity, and when he returned it’s not like all of a sudden he wanted to eat the world. The him that returns in Skyrim is the same him that wanted to rule. And so the Dragonborn was actually sent to kill alduin and basically reset him, to ACTUALLY eat the world later on and fulfill the cycle. You covered it perfectly!!!
I think "eating" the world is just a metaphor.
@@EricDraven-ci8wi ehhhhh idk about that honestly. According to the lore, alduin is basically like a creation or avatar of akatosh, sent to bring about the next Kalpa. Kalpas being like a new timeline or new world. So he’s basically been sent to reset this current Kalpa into a new one. Maybe him “eating” the world might be a metaphor, but he definitely is meant to destroy or reset it. Parthunaaux himself even leaves alduin to join the humans because alduin is not fulfilling this destiny
@@EricDraven-ci8wi I can respect that, but I'm not sure I agree. Multiple religions across Tamriel have world-eating deities that are meant to reset the kalpa. Khajiit have Alkhan, Argonians have Atakota, the Skaal have Thartagg the World-Eater. Yokudans, the people with likely the most knowledge on the kalpas due to their origin in the previous kalpa, have a god called Satakal. Rather than eating the world, the snake-god of everything, blend of Anu and Padomay, eats his own skin, shedding it anew to create a new world.
Normaly would make sense if it was not in the lore that Akatosh at this point is both Lokhran and Aka, which might indicate that it was actually the trickster god the one responsable for this, or hermeus mora or kyne or even Talos if he alredy mantled Lokhran considering what happens on the next era
"Perhaps in your attempt to save your world, you instead hasten its end."
I like to think Alduin came through the time wound, recognized he was not in his own time, and flew toward the first dragon he sensed: The Last Dragonborn. This understandably drives him into a rage and he proceeds to sack the whole town. As for Alduin escaping just in time, that can only be divine intervention or predestination.
Evidence suggests it was Paarthurnax who Alduin engaged first. We see Alduin flying from the Throat of the World in one of the trailers. In the game Alduin is coming from that direction when he arrives to Helgan. There are burned and destroyed wagens, houses, and objects around the area of the mountain suggesting a Dragon attack before Alduin raises anymore Dragons. And finally, Paarthurnax had to get those injuries somehow.
I thought of that too, but if Alduin could sense the Dragonborn upon exiting the time wound, he would be able to sense the Dragonborn continuously, so he would be able to track him/her down easily. So, that leaves me to think that the attack on Helgen was random.
@@wellingtonsmith4998 perhaps Alduin saving the Dragonborn was already part of his destiny. Like it was already written in his event that he'd come across the Dovahkiin one way or another, and not completely random. And it's also implied that he's coming back and forth from Sovngarde to Nirn to recharge his powers drained from resurrecting his subordinates. That's why we don't see him casually chasing us, instead his cronies are doing the job for him.
I've heard a theory that when Alduin returned he sensed the Dragonborn thinking they were a fellow Dragon to Alduin, and when he saw Helgen he thought humans built their settlement over the top of a buried dragon mount, this then pisses Alduin off, proceeding the start of the game.
I think that it was retroactively the reading of Elder Scroll that sent him forward, and also reading the Elder Scroll again that allowed him to return, even if he returned before that
The concept of Alduin is great, but the actual in-game implimentation always felt underwhelming to me. It feels like we're fighting yet another random dragon, but this one just thinks he's some kind of world-ending beast. It's like he's just pretending to be the real Alduin.
Yeah Sovngarde otherwise was a super cool and well done mystical place, but the dragon fight was pretty boring and anti-climactic
In concept, I love Alduin and think he's a great villain that has a lot of depth ...... but then I go back to how he is in game and he fucking sucks. He has all of the making of a great villain, but the writing of the game was very not good to say the least and they didn't even bother giving him special mechanics
@@sephikong8323 He just ends up being yet another stupid dragon. I don't even remember him being notably larger or stronger than the hundred other dragons I'd killed before him.
@Rick586 If I recall, he just has something that reduces the damage he takes and he summons Meteor on the battlefield with a changed up version of call lightning?
That's really about it, the fight is nothing special compared to other Dragons and it's even easier considering you have 3 mandatory allies. They really should have given him something else, like at the bare minimum have him summon 2 other Dragons to come alongside him if you don't want to create new mechanics, that way the fight becomes more epic and with your own ally that's like an actual battle
The problem is the shout 'Dragonrend' that was the in-lore weapon to fight Alduin. It weakens dragons by forcing them to experience the concept of mortality. While cool on paper, using them to weaken Alduin at the start of the fight meant we never get to fight Alduin at the height of his power, just in his scared, weaken state. The ultimate weapon should've been Dragon Aspect which gives mortals the power of a dragon. Then maybe after a stalemate we were taught Dragonrend by the old heroes or whatever and won the final battle.
The dragons literally saved me from getting beheaded. To not side with the dragons is insane.
More likely is it was Akatosh, he gave the player the powers to begin with.
@ Hmm. Never thought of it like that. I remember Akatosh being a dragon or whatever so maybe. Interesting.
@@JettVideogamesAccount hes the time god, head of the 9 divines, his "children" are the dragons and the dragonborn.
@@nolen_ix Ah ok.
Fun fact: The word wall you see in the elder scroll vision is intact. It's literally worn down from thousands of years of Partysnax sitting on it.
I'm loving this video.
Never realized it until I saw the art in this video constantly repeating.
its also possible that alduin knows he cannot defeat you, a mortal. thats why he says "i will outlast you, mortal" after his defeat at the snow throat
Vampire db: 🤣
I find dragon agency and morality a fascinating topic. On one hand they are creatures very much driven by their nature, both instilled in them upon creation and innate as parts of Akatosh's oversoul: the desire to dominate, their perception of time, instinct to answer any challenge.
On the other hand 3 of the 4 major dragons we meet, defy their nature by choice: Alduin, Paarthurnax and Dhurnevir all act out of their own will.
They kind of remind me of Angels of the Bible who simultaneously act as extensions of God's influence and as independent moral actors capable of rebellion.
truly, i think skyrim's main plot is overhated, people are so quick to boil it down to "dragon evil bcuz todd say so" while ignoring the fun implications that come with the fact he is meant to be a natural force (as natural as it gets in tes lore ofc), and how it can become corrupted
Both cool takes.
@emiliawitko276 I feel like the setup of Alduin was done perfectly, but Alduin himself should have had AT LEAST one long conversation with the player, and Alduin should have been an independently designed boss fight, instead of just another dragon but with a bigger health bar.
@@wafflingmean4477 agreed. Seeing you more often would be way better. I think a long conversation (outside of MAYBE trying to get you to rule with him) would be out of place, though, just more encounters like the one during Sahloknir's resurrection would be best, i think.
@emiliawitko276I have issues more with how it was executed rather than its overall outline. One thing though that I will defend is how unique and interesting Skyrim’s dragons are different to that of other mythical stories. They’re time itself of a god, they are intelligent and how they breath fire is really just speaking, etc. as a kid back in 2011 I never understood how great this was but now I do.
It’s said that when the Greybeards summoned the Dovahkiin, their voices were heard all over Tamriel. I’m pretty sure Alduin heard it
Maybe he was in sovngarde at the moment?
They do have a dragon and that Alduin had his own area he can visit that isn’t connected to the current world.
If Alduin had left earshot then they would have known.
It makes sense: hey destroy and attack this town and i’ll snack on their souls.
Alduin: spawn camping
Does that work for the Dragonborn too? I'm going to wake up everyone in Tamriel at 2am with a "DUR NEH VIIR!"
@@Flesh_Wizard Probably just a hold or so. the whole "speak only in true need" thing cranks the graybeards' Thu'um up to eleven. Not to say the dragonborn isn't similarly powerful, but there are four graybeards and one last dragonborn.
Very interesting video! Was a fun watch.
As others have pointed out, the Dragonborn prophecy seems to be Akatosh's way of giving Alduin a proverbial spanking and a lesson in humility, a concept usually foreign to dragons. Maybe next time he will keep his head down and just do his job lol.
It isn't though. Hermaes Mora is the one who controls destiny - he creates prophecies. He chose the Dragonborn - not Akatosh. He doesn't have that kinda power.
@@BlankEmporium correction, Akatosh has controls of dragon souls and Aedra are stronger than daedra, its entirely possible Akatosh and Herma mora worked together without realizing it, resulting in the dragonborn, but akatosh did have a hand in it, as Miraak wouldnt have lent a soul to make us
@@BlankEmporiummora doesn’t control destiny tho lol
that's not gonna happen since he got the taste of domination and from this moment alduin wants to rule forever
Nords: "... If you rule the world, can you get rid of the knife-eared fucks of the Altmeri Dominion?"
Aldwin: "Yes."
Nords: "Alright. That's good enough. Where do we sign?"
Me: I do not need to play Skyrim again, I do not need to play Skyrim again, you have bunch of other games you haven’t finished or even started and you do not need to play Skyrim again…. I’m going to play Skyrim again. Excellent video OP.
What @roserainier5917 said. 100%.
The right dragon in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.
12:49 Alduin doesn't try to kill you himself until that fight at the throat of the world. If you meet him again before that when he's resurrecting other dragons he'll just fly away and let the resurrected dragon fight you
And cause magic, he can just recast if the soul isn't absorbed
I like the idea that Alduin the Ruler took the mantle of the World Devourer only after he was banished to the 4th era and became enraged that the Nords no longer worshipped the dragons and deemed that Nirn no longer deserved to exist.
Hissy fit
I love the fact that you've used the card "Battle atop the Throat of The World" at 2:52 . Shame Legends was a bit of a flop as that game is the single best card game I've ever played.
What’s rather odd to me is that whoever is doing the art for the legends is also I believe the same for fallout online and their absolutely fantastic artist so it’s a shame their work doesn’t get the praise it deserves.
Alduin, looking at Daragonborn charging at him with funny-looking ceremonial dagger with pointy handguard: "I'm in danger!!!"
Love this slight change on your videos. Looking at what Alduin might of perceived his reality etc. You should do Miraak, Dagoth Ur and the like.
It is impossible to do a video about the sixth house and the tribe unmourned. The lord dagoth will not allow
You know I always thought about this, if Alduin was nicer he would still have his dragon empire. Grated there for sure would have been rebellions like in most empires but in the grand scheme of things he would have mostly been fine.
Well to be fair it wasn't really alduins fault that the nords (atmorans) started to rebel against the dragon cult since he and his dragons didn't really concern themselves with the day to day stuff they only cared about being worshipped as gods which they were at the time with alduin being the head of the pantheon and it was actually the dragon priests who ruled with an iron fist that caused the nord uprising. The dragon priest let the power granted to them by the dragons get to there head and started ruling like kings with an iron fist rather then being spiritual leaders and alduin being the destroyer god that he is isn't gonna stand for mere mortals trying to undermine his rule of course
In a sense Aldiun's story sounds like the Biblical Lucifer, he too betrayed his role and sought the crown of creation and got the repercussions leading to banishment.
@@anderporascu5026True.
@@LordoftheyeetWhile it is pretty clear that alot of the day to day abuse came from the priest, I don’t think we can seriously discount the overall oppressive or “evil” nature of the dragons. They may have been absent rulers for the majority of the population but, correct me if i’m wrong here i don’t keep up with the exacts of lore like I used to, the priest would bring them offering that would consist of people among with the treasures within their crypts or temples. Not the Priest dripping their own cyrpts, tho they definitely did that, but the Dragons themselves calling for these things: as seen in the temple of Miraak and Skuldafn.
Similar to the Tribunal (in the respects of being figures in a religious sense, I will say the Tribunal are a bit more subjective with regard to being worthy of reverence outside of their power but that’s a completely different topic) they were actually present, and while they certainly weren’t involved in judging or ruling over most lower matters. They did interact with the world and domination is the nature of Dovah.
Alduin was kind. It was his Priests who grew corrupt and cruel that incited the rebellion.
this was such a fun video to watch, i have always loved the villain perspective
3:38 he also says something like "the elder scrolls didn't defeat me" in the dragon tounge
This is a great video concept. Nice to see the lore timeline from a totally different angle. Thanks!
This was amazing. It may now be my fav in your library. I've seen/read many "character perspective" commentaries, but I never considered Alduin as a good candidate for that. Was I ever wrong. After watching this I think my next Skyrim playthru will feel very different. Thank you for, once again, giving me a reason to dive back into the game. So well done!
I like the idea that even with Alduin killed, Ancient and Legendary Dragons probably know the resurrection shout and are constantly bringing in more and more dragons to try and kill the Dragonborn. It's a way of explaining why even after you defeat Alduin, you still find dragons roaming around. Your job is now basically clean up and helping either the Blades or Parthanax to quell this new wave of dragons
Amazing, cudos for the discovery. Cudos for the passion of the Bethesda devs that put all these clues in. You've made them proud.
Your channel has quickly become one of my favorites. Thank you for your work. I'd never heard these translations of Alduin.
The indomitable will of man, blessed with divinity of a dragons soul.
Alduin never stood a chance.
Excellent video, super interesting. Would love more content like this. Maybe coverage of other ES games, like Oblivion from the perspective of Mankar or Mehrunes Dagon, or ESO main quest from the perspective of Molag Bal.
Thanks, and please do a Director's Cut. I want your notes. Good video.
Tbh I feel like people completely misunderstand the point of Alduin in Skyrim. He isn’t Dagoth Ur, or Cameron from Oblivion. Simplifying it down to “evil dragon gets killed by demigod” always annoyed me as criticism because it ignores the nuance of Alduin is a world eater and therefore wouldn’t see himself as evil. They kind of beat it on your head that “maybe it’s better for Alduin to eat the world cause it’s natural” Alduin isn’t an iron woobie character that has to justify why he eats the world he just doesn’t care and sees the Dragonborn as an annoying pest/ abomination.
It’s like trying to simplify Dagoth Ur to “insane cult leader becomes god therefore evil”
Alduin has an orange and blue morality where might is right.
Nobody see themselves as evil no matter what
Tbf the alduin we see in Skyrim came straight from the fight with the tongues so he's still the version of him who wants to conquer the world. We're there to drop him from going astray and likely allow him to be reborn to complete his task at the end of the kalpa.
@@Ron_Jambo_ yeah and that was my point, like trying to argue Alduin is a mustache twirling villian misses the point that Alduin doesn’t have the same point or morality as regular people.
He sees as prey and food.
@@phrabb5242 I mean the game makes it kinda clear he is planning on eating the world.
Paarthunax and the rest assume he is just trying to conquer the world because they have no idea what Alvin’s initial goal is.
Like Alduin wants to consume the world and everything in it and conquer it that way.
The problem is people see him as a Molag Bal, Mehrunes Dagon fusion and he really isn’t.
Alduin wants to see complete anhilation of the world and to burn it in ash so he can feast on more souls.
@@samwiseb2799 then what is the difference between alduin being an evil dragon that wants to kill us all and a bear. To end the world means to kill us all, so alduin is basically some giant cosmic predator beast. So basically he is a Dick Dastardly mustache twirler.
one thing i always think about is that if alduin is the end of time/ the world eater then when it is his time he will be all-powerful and unstoppable in ending the world, in a sense alduin is in his ruler state, after all he is meant to be the end of time, so when it is time for alduin to end the world, a dragonborn couldnt stop him,
Another brilliantly researched video! Thank you for that!
Fun fact: After the attack on Helgen, Alduin flies straight to Skuldafn. Maybe he wants to see the priest there or he hopes to find some dragons that might be hiding there.
Just look for the video “Skyrim - Where is Alduin flying when you escape Helgen (better version)” by Tyroine. (I've been trying to send you the link since yesterday, but RUclips deletes my comment every time -_-; )
This is very helpful for my dnd campaign that's based on Skyrim and I'm completely improvising. This information helps quite a bit, thanks bro
if the dragon stone was really the map of dragon burial site, i would hope that if we never gone to bleak falls barrow somehow the dragon calamity would worsen. like riverwood would be destroyed because the guard never came and alduin already resurect too many dragon.
i just wish skyrim had more branching path, anyway great video ! new perspective are always welcomed
Do this but for the Thalmor's Perpsective! I feel like Alduin you dont really see what they're seeing a lot of the time. Could be interesting to see how they'd react to various events, not just main story and civil war
Do more thought experiments!! These are super fun!!
Two things:
1. The fact that Paarthurnax just joined humanity because Alduin strayed from his destiny of "Ending the world" and actually wants to convince or push him in that direction again to fulfill his destiny...now I look at Delphine's urge to kill Paarthurnax with different eyes 😂.
2. Maybe the reason Helgen is the first place he visits is because he feels dragon there. But when he actually arrives there, he can't locate the dragon and on top of that he finds out humans no longer worship him. Being completely pissed off by the situation he just summons meteors and levels the town to the ground, all while failing to notice the dragon, or more specifically, the dragon soul he sensed belonged to a human.
Those 2 points could explain a lot of things that at surface level don't make much sense in game.
I was under the impression - I think the theory came from the FudgeMuppet TES podcast - that Alduin “sensed” a dragon soul at Helgen (the DB), after being basically blinked out of one time-period and into another. He sought to free this soul and razed the settlement in order to find the burial mound or captive dragon, which he doesn’t and flees for Skuldafn(?) or wherever, but unintentionally then frees his doom in the process. Begs the question whether he is truly a master of his own fate, or a slave to it..
I dont know, I never really bought into that theory 100% because Paarthurnax was there, and alive. So that probably was the closest dragon soul + some dialogue (And TES Legends) imply that they fought when Alduin returned and Paarthurnax was witing for him
That theory predatsd fudgemuppet by years. Fudgemuppet don't create theories - they steal them and claim they did. It happens constantly.
But then realistically if he can sense your soul he would always be able to sense your soul. So how would he not have sensed you below him when you escape helgen and he flies right over you and Hadvar/Ralof. He would sense you there and stop to look down, but he doesn't. I don't think he could sense your soul otherwise why wouldn't he be tracking you down to kill you throughout the game after you kill the second dragon at Kynesgrove? So I think it is far more likely the attack was random and Helgen was just the first town he came across when he left the throat of the world.
If he could sense your soul all the way from the throat of the world, he would have to have been able to sense you when he flew right over your head and the whole time he was attacking Helgen as well. Meaning he would have seen you when he sat on the tower and registered you were a dragonborn, I don't think he could sense souls.
Something to note. After a bit, he will specifically start to harass you once you are offered the choice of who to go into Helgen Keep with.
My brother found if you go through bleakfall barrow a 2nd time when you exit the end theres always a dragon waiting for you to kill
Literally not true
I would have loved some dialogue from Odahviin reacting to the mutated forms of dragons from The dragonborn dlc
Alduin would have seen Mirmulnir leave the chat when we killed it
Fun fact: alduin has spikes on his back, animals only develop this to not get eaten, this implies there is something much greater than alduin, not only this but akatosh has it too. who do you think it might be?
Really did enjoy this! Need more alternative perspective videos. Maybe Ulfric and Tullius?
i love the channel man , keep up
This actually improved my opinion of Skyrim, I didn’t really pick up the stories feeling during gameplay and this helps flesh it out nicely… like freshly reanimating a dragon skeleton
The thalmor notes about Alduin says that maybe his objectives are the same as theirs, at least for a time, because by saving Ulfric, he guaranteed that the war would go on, with Ulfric sacrificing nords for his goals he indirectly made Alduin stronger, my interpretation is that the attack on helgen was calculated, and he was around before the execution took place
He was eating on fallen soldier souls in Sovangarde
@poetryismyting8854 Yes, and by saving Ulfric from execution, he guaranteed the war would go on
@@piratavorak I like your theory
A few interesting things to note;
Paarthurnax states that not all the dragons that Alduin resurrects remain loyal to him and instead tell him that he must prove himself worthy to rule over them.
Odahviing reveals that the Dragonborn's Thu'um is stronger than Alduin's, so he sees him as a stronger leader so lends him his aide.
Miraak reveals that he was approached to defeat Alduin during the Dragon War but he refused to get involved, instead Alduin himself probably appointed him as the ruler of Solstheim. Miraak was a dragonborn that was actually loyal to Alduin.
Alduin may be travelling beyond Skyrim's borders to resurrect dragons in other lands. The randomly spawning unnamed dragons are not featured on the Dragon stone and they do not have burial mounds in Skyrim.
Vulthuryol is one of the very few dragons that survived the Dragon War and has gone completely undisturbed for millennia, trapped underground by the Dwemer in Blackreach.
The moment you realize that if Alduin would have waited 5 more minutes the Dragonborn would have been executed and no one would be able to stop him
That’s right! Where the world would’ve ended.
Miraak claims he coulda stopped Alduin himself
@@poetryismyting8854”claims”
@@epicplaye5150 Miraak wouldn't have had a choice if it weren't for us, Alduin devouring the world would have messed up his entire game
@@epicplaye5150nah I trust Miraak can handle it, not only is he just incredibly strong in many ways, but he has way more backup than the dragonborn had, Miraak has a whole ass army under his command.
Holy shit brother, this is such an eye opening video. I played Skyrim for the first time back when I was still in school and was too stupid to grasp many of the lore connections in the game. Skyrim's story might not be the most complex one, but from this perspective the core plot feels so interesting actually. What a frickin great perspective, thanks!
My question is if Alduin ran into Partysnacks first, knowing he's a traitor, why wouldn't he have killed him?
At the end of the day, he probably still considers partysnacks his brother and decided to spare his life.
Or maybe he decided he was not even worth killing after he barely put up a fight against him.
As Paarthurnax was Alduin's right hand man, he may have thought that he could corrupt him again.
Maybe he wanted to beat Paarthurnax in another way- by making him watch as he becomes the overlord.
Then, when he has all the power, he can either convince Paarthy to rejoin him or finish Paarthy off as the traitor he is to him.
Maybe he couldn’t. Paarthanax has had thousands of years to ready himself for that fight, Alduin has just fought a fight against three great heroes and got hit with Dragonrend. Even if he isn’t wounded, he’s probably exhausted.
Paarthurnax has gotten off lightly, as he only got a slap on the wrist for betraying Alduin. Or in his case, a slap on his wing.
"umm your telling me that this murder hobo was going to be executed and i saved him... and now he the mostpowerful thing ever because of deadric items scattered through skyrim"
on another note if skyrim special edition is canon them almost all of the known deadric artifacts are in skyrim at the time of the fourth era 200
Almost as if all the daedra are throwing their hands in to protect this kalpa
Akatosh had to factory reset Alduin this time around
Interesting I really like the theory about the opening dragon roars being the two talking or potentially fighting.
Prospective videos are fun. Hope this does well and we get to see the history of Morrowind from Dagoth Ur's perspective.
You as usual,since the begginings of the channel,do very good job with lore videos but this one was one of those amazing,unforgetable ones. GG
I remember being here in your first 1k subs. Glad to see you have grown, and glad to see new content that’s interesting!
Is there a reason why Alduin knows the name of akatosh if he was absent during aleesiah’s reign when she formed the religion? Even if someone taught him before our fight in snow-throat or realized akatosh is just another name for bormahu (his father in dovahzul ) why would he take pride in saying he is the son of akatosh and not the son of bormahu?
Alduin is just that smart. He knows everything. (Tbh I have no idea. Is possible that Paarthurnax mentioned the name when he spawned back in the present. Something like “Dont try to take Akatosh lordship again” or something like that. But thats just me explaining a plothole, because that is what it seems to be.
@@ImperialKnowledge maybe he’s proclaiming himself being the son of akatosh to impose some fear into the dragonborn, like you wouldn’t want to battle the son of an aedric god and secure his dominance on Tamriel by dealing with the only threat to himself, but eh you can chalk it up to Bruce nesmith imperializing most of Skyrim specifically the religion pantheon
@@ImperialKnowledgeanyways I hope we see nahfahlaar in TES vi if Alduin considered reviving him and the game will take place in hammerfell (supposedly)
Because bethesda didn't have any writers and doesn't care to proof-read
The thought of Alduin returning to Skuldafn to the legion of Draugr and Nahkriin gives me the vision of him mustering an Undead, Dragon Cult army and leading it to conquer Skyrim. I love the ending we got with Sovngarde’s champions, but would love a grand-scale battle with the Dragon Lord Alduin and his reinstated Dragon Cult against a united Skyrim led by the Dragonborn champion.
How did Delphine learn the whereabouts of the dragon stone? An an incredible coincidence that she locates it right at this time
It's not like she had any use for it until Alduin's return, and trying to locate it may have risked her cover being blown. She likely always knew about its location from some notes Esbern left behind and its retrieval only became necessary after Alduin returned.
@@killean2645 ahh very true makes sense
It’s possible that the reason Mirmulnir attacked Whiterun in the first place was for the Dragonstone. If Alduin arrives at Bleak Falls just as the Dragonborn is leaving, he may learn that the Dragonstone has been taken to Whiterun. Then he sends Mirmulnir to fetch it. In essence, WE (the Dragonborn) unknowingly cause Whiterun to be attacked in the first place, only to save the city shortly after.
Quite a bit different from the usual content, but it definitely opens some doors. I'd imagine Skyrim from Astrid's POV is pretty frustrating.
Addendum: Ignoring the Dovakiin joining all Factions obviously, cause its pure Gameplay
I always seen Alduin as a very basic villan but now my opinion has changed, wonder if you would make a video like this for dagoth ur or mirak
Great video! Love this unique perspective
Wow, this was a wonderfully told, fascinating oerspective. Thank you!
Thanks. I’ve been running around this game for 40 hours with no fkng idea what’s happening.
There's a lot of this kind of thing happening recently. I saw one on LOTR from the perspective of the Witch King, which was done rather well.
I have played the opening countless times, and it never occurred to me that those first dragon shouts were Alduin and Parthunax battling.
They ask where is Alduin, but never how is Alduin😭 Jokes aside I've always hated how most people thought Skyrim's story was just about op demi-god protagonist killing big bad dragon when there's more to it than that. I really appreciate these in-depth lore videos!
excellent video! so well timed a few weeks ago I googled something similar to this topic. thanks for your efforts :)
I think that it was retroactively the reading of Elder Scroll that sent him forward, and also reading the Elder Scroll again that allowed him to return, even if he returned before that
I want to add another piece to the puzzle:
In the main story of skyrim, we end or at least halt the civil war that is going on, and therfore massivly reducing the ammount of people dying -> the amount of souls alduin can use to recover. That is probably also a big hit to him, and another reason he accepts our challenge in sovengarge, because he knows, he can not recover without the souls. If he does not fight now, he will get weaker and weaker, so right now are his best chances.
I absolutely enjoyed listening to what said it was fantastic thank you very much.
A very insightful video. Subbed.
Oh my gods this video helped me figure it all out. Alduin was supposed to be Savangardes Ragnarok.
a very worthy video
This video should have just simply been him waiting years for the DB to finally remember that the main questline exists.
Stuff like this makes me not mind the wait for elder scrolls 6, I say let Bethesda cook
A key moment in the intro, is that Ulfric grunts, remember that Ulfric has been trained in the voice, its likely that this is what caught alduin's attention
Or he mistaken the Dragonborn for a dragon. You think he can’t sense dragon souls?
@@zerotodona1495the question would be how exact his sense is.
He knew a dragonborn was present, but couldn't tell which human it was.
I always chalked the Helgen attack to Alduin being like "Bro says there's a human that can beat me down there, I'll show him...uhhh...so besides these old ones that can barely move, there's this younger one that uses the dragon language to kill other people, he must be that dragonborn thing" and the fact that you were there too was just an absolute fluke
Being able to shout was much more common back in Alduin's time than Dragonborns. I don't think he'd assume Ulfric is a dragonborn just because he can shout, not to mention he doesn't shout at Helgen.
@@szabok1999 I think they mean that Paarthurnax probably knows about and mentioned Ulfric, unaware he was bound and gagged. That would've enticed Alduin to search out this "Ulfric" and attempt to kill him.
I mean sure it wasn't intentional, but look at how Alduin positions himself on the tower in Helgen. He looks more towards Ulfric like he's trying to make sure its him. he even hesitates to attack even if for a few seconds before calling upon his fire storm. When Ulfric doesn't fight Alduin, and essentially vanished, Alduin probably took it as "I must've already killed the threat" and leaves. Cause notice how Helgen is the only city that was properly attacked. After Helgen, Alduin ignores the cities, believing his work there to be done so he can go off to awaken his followers.
A tidbit I do want to add on, is I personally now believe the Greybeards have a forgotten secret. The reason they don't fight and just preach peace, like the voice is a yoga move, is cause they're the only masters of the voice in skyrim barring Ulfric (who i wouldnt call master), they'd be the first line of defense against Alduin's return, hence their philosophy that students of the voice should stay there, and why High Hrothgar looks like a fortress. They forgot dragonrend as it's been so long, they assumed Alduin may never return, and even as Arngier says (in my own quotes) "shouldn't we just let Alduin end the world?" They've been up there for so long that by the time of Jurgen, they've already forgotten their purpose as a first defense, hence their ideology of peace keeping becoming so strong. They were likely founded so that those who can use shouts aren't tempted to fight and lose their lives, should they be needed to fight Alduin. Only reason Arngier and the others don't is cause (besides that this is a theory, and if plausible, wasn't originally planned) the few numbers, and exeeding age of the masters. They also more than likely witnessed Paarthurnax's defeat and just waited for the end until they found you and had a glimmer of hope. They don't even mention Alduin to you until after you metion him first, despite them knowing about his resurrection and ultimate goal.
Definitely an interesting take! For me it fills a lot of the blanks in!
Appreciate your videos!
A few thousand years later...
unknown contact on the radar, engaging.
The literal second we come into Alduin's life, it was downhill from there.
Surprised you're still making videos. Good vid man.
This is fascinating! Skyrim is one of my favorite games, the Elder Scrolls lore is incredible. With how you phrased things, though, it almost sounds like the Dragonborn was sent to punish (unalive) Alduin for not wanting to end the world because he likes it too much. In real world mythologies, this could be compared to Enki of the Anunnaki tales getting punished for helping the first humans because he liked them instead of wanting slaves, or even Jesus coming to this planet as a mortal man destined to die because He likes the people too much to let them die (in a nutshell). So... that would make Alduin either the misunderstood hero (a "live long enough to see yourself become the villain" thing) or never a villain at all. He likes the world as it is, people included, so he doesn't want to unalive them all even if that means enslaving them because he thinks if they all obey then they will all be considered worthy by Akatosh, and that he was branded a villain and judged for punishment because he would mass-genocide every creature in Tamriel just so a new world could start (I also didn't fail to notice how the world ending in fire and a new world starting from its ashes is very similar to how people thought the world would end in nuclear bombs during WW2.
Alduin is like the Illidan of the Elder Scrolls.
Alduin has a lot in common with the Dragonborn. He has been given a major goal, but he has completely abandoned the main quest to do sidequests and have fun.
This is the best video since old fudgemuppet
Wow, blew my mind since I had never thought of the story that way! I always thought that the dragonborn was pretty naive to keep the world going...