The Secret History of the Dragon Cult - Part 1

I wish to start of this post with a slight bit of background about myself and my thoughts on historical accuracy in Skyrim and why Bethesda treats you all like shmucks.

I've played somewhere around 500 unmodded (console) hours of all the DLCs for Skyrim. During this time, the game ESO was in development and a group of intrepid and varyingly wacky people formed a guild where we pretended to be the Dragon Cultists. Anyway, over the course of the past two years, we've theory-crafted and researched and so on so I'll present some of our more well-formed ideas here. (you may have heard a few of them before; I do not claim to be the first to think of them but I believe many were independently "discovered")

Whilst I do not claim that this is canon, I would like to say that it is objectively accurate and feasible. So what do I class as objectively accurate? Player experiences, some architecture and some dialogue, which isn't particularly helpful. I'll drop in examples in the main text so you guys can follow my train of thought.

Finally, why Bethesda treats you all like shmucks. Let's have a basic look at the Dragon Cult in game. There are Dragons, which try to kill you repeatedly. There are undead zombie dudes, who try to kill you repeatedly. You get stronger after defeating them and are encouraged to fight them. Furthermore you're given lore books explicitly telling you that these guys were evil. But, let's be frank, it's not all that simple, is it? Every single (relevant) lore book (in game) is written by humans, aka the victors of the war. Of course, they wouldn't lament gaining independence and what better than a shared mythos of ex-slaves defeating cruel masters to unite a naturally feuding people. This isn't an in-game point but, if you read a lot of the historical lore books on the dragon cult, it's almost as if they're trying too hard be biased and there is a distinct lack of any evidence supporting any of their claims. Heck, they're even called a "Cult". Just look at the negative connotations there! Without further ado, I'll make my most main and important point and, if you guys want to hear some more of my wordy and boring prose, I'll make a part 2 and then some.

How did the Dragon War start? The lore books would have you believe that it was a slave uprising/rebellion against too taxing masters. However, this set of dialogue and the following actions suggest otherwise.

Alduin: Ful, losei Dovahkiin? Zu'u koraav nid nol dov do hi.
    So, my false Dragonborn? I do not recognize you as dragon. (So, my of-fake Dragonborn? I recognize no from dragon of you.)
Alduin: You do not even know our tongue, do you? Such arrogance, to dare take for yourself the name of Dovah.
Alduin: Sahloknir, krii daar joorre.
    Sahloknir, kill these mortals. (Sahloknir, kill these mortals.)

At which point, Sahloknir becomes hostile.

Two points to take from this.

  1. Alduin (I won't have a discussion on Dragon-Alduin vs. God-Alduin, as it's irrelevant) does not like Dovahkiins. He sees them as false and attacks them without provocation.
  2. Alduin can sense Dovahkiin without them doing anything unnatural to a normal humanoid.

I would call this dialogue objective in that Alduin knows you are a Dovahkiin and that he then has Sahloknir attack you.

Skip back to nearing the beginning of the First Era (by my timeline) and let's teleport to Solstheim. It is fairly apparent that Akatosh makes Dovahkiin; I'll cite this, if you guys want me to, but I won't unless I have to. It is also fairly apparent that Dovahkiin appear at important times during history. They cause major events, like empire building and world saving. It isn't a poor leap of logic to suppose that Akatosh creates Dovahkiin to do these events.

Now what's up with Miraak? What the hell did he do? And why would Alduin permit a "Dragonborn" to be one of his high priests?

This all boils down to whether Dovahkiin are born that way. I feel that "Dragonborn" is a misnomer, a human word, and I try not to use it. "Born" no. "Blessed" yes. Akatosh can bless anyone at any time and transform them to become a Dovahkiin. Now things fall into place a bit better:

Miraak becomes a high priest of the Dragons and the Priesthood of the Ancient Nordic Pantheon (DaPanp). Akatosh transforms him to become a Dovahkiin so that the Dragon Cult will basically implode when Alduin and the Dragons turn on Miraak. (essentially assuming that Akatosh wants DaPanp to fall to give rise to a human run empire or something- speculate on this in the comments please!) Miraak quickly works out that his time is limited because Alduin hates Dovahkiin. Starts killing Dragons (I count 12 skeletons outside his temple- a few more inside), seeking out Hermaeus Mora through the Black Books, rallying some fellow Dragon Priests to his side and conscripting the men and women of Solstheim through mind-control.

This event catalyses the entire start of the Dragon War. Miraak acting to save himself sows the first seeds of dissent and deals enough damage to DaPanp that rebellion can start elsewhere and grow.

The key dialogue which connects Miraak to being contemporary to the Dragon War is this: "They wanted to use me to deal with Alduin - Hakon and the rest. I chose otherwise." Objectively, Miraak knows of Hakon. And, clearly, Miraak's temple was destroyed before the end of the War.

So that'll round up my first post on the Dragon Cult. Please criticise everything, give feedback and suggestions.

Potential futher topics could include Konahrik, Paarthurnaax, Alduin's Wall, stone tablets, architecture, language, culture and basically anything Dragon-related. Give a shout, if you're interested in this.

Finally, a request to all you readers. Skyrim is a large game, larger with it's DLCs. Basically, I want to turn Skyrim on its head as much as I can and completely break everyone's pre-existing ideas about the most widespread but hidden faction in the game. For a project like this, crowdsourcing would help fantastically. Any details you find in dungeons. the correct sequences for the Claw doors, word walls, murals, theorycrafting, inconsistencies, geography etc. Anything. Just keep an eye out is all I'm asking.

https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/3jc6zm/the_secret_history_of_the_dragon_cult_part_2/

https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/3lao18/the_secret_history_of_the_dragon_cult_part_3/