So this has been bothering me for a long time now did Bethesda Game Studios confuse how dragons are actually depicted in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim?

Morphology

A dragon is a mythological representation of a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptile. In antiquity, dragons were mostly envisaged as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_%28symbolism%29, but since the Middle Ages, it has become common to depict them with legs, resembling a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizard.

Dragons are usually shown in modern times with a body like a huge lizard, or a snake with two pairs of lizard-type legs, and able to emit fire from their mouths. The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_dragon has bat-like wings growing from its back. A dragon-like creature with wings but only a single pair of legs is known as a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyvern.

A wyvern http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Keyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Keyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Keyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Keyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Keyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Keyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English, sometimes spelled wivern, is a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendary_creature winged creature with a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon's head, which may be said to breathe fire or possess a venomous bite, a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptile body, two legs (sometimes none), and a barbed tail. A sea-dwelling variant, termed the sea-wyvern, has a fish tail in place of a barbed dragon's tail.

Points to make.

Dragons have 4 legs not 2 legs and their tails usually are not barbed at all.

Wyverns have only 2 legs and barbed tails and they look like dragons but they are not dragons.

So are the creatures in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim actually wyverns? Or did Bethesda Game Studios confuse wyverns with dragons?

Discuss away.

They're dragons because they're called dragons in the game and the lore.

Well that's where it's wrong dragons have 4 legs only.

What's the problem? Let Bethesda do their Dragons their own way.

In one of the shouts they're called Wyverns.

There is no problem just got me thinking if they got it wrong or didn't feel like adding 2 more legs.

Hexapods tend to be insects, or Daedric Princes. I like watching Dragons crawling like Bats.

And if they aren't wrong and only wanted them to have two legs?

I believe the Dragon "Naafhlargus" (terrible spelling, I know) from Redguard uses the same model as those in Skyrim.

My feeling is the people who put dragons in The Elder Scrolls video games didn't know dragons have 4 legs not 2 or confused it with the wyverns.

Not all dragons have 4 legs. Bethesda chose to do their dragons differently then the typical norm. They did nothing wrong or incorrect.

Here, the Dragon from Redguard which was years ago.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Nafaalilargus

As it says in mythology.

A dragon-like creature with wings but only a single pair of legs is known as a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyvern.

In mythology, elves are short little bastards that run around stealing shoes, making shoes, stealing children, or generally being nuisances.

Then we got the wood elves over here, eating people and becoming Cthulhu.

I think BGS has taken some liberties.

It bothered me slightly when Alduin was called a "wyrm", but thought it was out of emotion than being technically correct.

It's like saying the Dwemer/Dwarves are "wrong" for not being short, drunken louts.

I think it was more of a creative decision than not doing research on "real" dragons.

Yeah, that is a "dragon-like creature". That means nothing towards dragons. Your argument is like saying all birds are parrots because they have wings, feathers, and beaks.

The simple fact here is that the typical definition of a dragon does not define ALL dragons, just as the typical definition of a bird does not define ALL birds. Because this is a fictional universe, they can define things however they want. There are even depictions of feathered dragons, metal dragons, and yes, 2-legged dragons.

Well the dwemer basically are dwarves in The Elder Scrolls lore they build mechanical devices that run on oil or steam and some of them are short. There is a dwarf ghost in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and hes short at least from what I remember.

Okay, so technically they may be 'wyverns' but so what, it's not as noticeable as say, calling a horse with two horns a unicorn.

They're actually about the same height as Dunmer. They got the name "dwarf" from giants' POV of their size, not from their actuall stature. They're just elves that shun worship of "gods" and were technologically advanced.

That said, it is pretty similar to the dragon thing. Keep some bits but alter others for fun.

Honestly, although in spiritual form (not the diseased form of a famous one), a Dwarf was not short in TES standards in that game. Name was given due to Giants (explain the Dwarven armor set if it was meant for the stereotypical "short people").

^In Morrowind, at least, Dwarven Armor was actually pieces of broken-up Centurions and Spheres.

And Orcs never existed in mythology until Tolkien invented them as such. And I would challenge you to find a Vivec equivalent anywhere.

TES is unique. It wants to be unique. Your confining restrictions are bleeding all over my and Bethesda's imagination - I like our way better

I guess that makes sense because of the giants they are dwarfs to them.

I just realized yeah the ghost form of the dwarfs are not short the diseased one with the mechanical spider legs Yargum is short he may appear big but it's because hes fat.

Without looking, I do not know where Orcs originated before Tolkien and not arguing for the Orcs either. I did not mean to offend on the matter. *confused*

Just saying if Dwarven armor is for the stereotypical little people, no one, perhaps a huge stretch, Bretons and Bosmers can make claim, but cannot. I did not think I was not offensive in my previous post, but do apologize if it came that way.

Wyvernborn sounds stupid
Dragonborn sound badass
Wyverns are still dragons. I don't see the problem with the dragons in TES.

Wrong or not, I like their dragons and I'm pretty happy they design them as they did.

What about elves then? Elves are obviously like this, so is Bethesda wrong about elves?
http://www.kunnaskerho.fi/user_data/pix/KUNNAS0609/mkkk_9_kuvituskuva1.jpg
No. Because every culture, every book and every game has its own view of elves.
It's the same thing with dragons. Here is a Japanese dragon:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Hokusai_Dragon.jpg/330px-Hokusai_Dragon.jpg
It doesn't even have wings, but its still called a dragon.
If this was a European historical mythology setting, BGS would be wrong about dragons.
Now they are not.