What I meant was besides Martin becoming the Avatar of Akatosh, Cyrus in Redguard fighting a Dragon summoned by the future Talos, and Dragonlings in Daggerfell there really hasn't been much to do with Dragons in TES. Thats probably been done on purpose by the Devs to not copy other games but the Trailer talks and shows about Dragons and Akavir possibly trying again to invade Tamriel is very possible. Once the GI mag comes out we might get new info that might squash this Dragon Shapeshifting theory or any other type of theory about Dragons but we will see.

Interesting, I'd like to see their approach to this. On a side note, people are asking for werewolves and werebears but what about weredragons? dun dun dunn

Hell, lets just go all the way, a were-lich-vampire dragon hiding in the middle of a city as a Altmer kid with bright yellow hair and a odd Tourette that makes him break out and say "By Azura, by azura, by azura!" every couple minutes!

(On second thought it would explain why I couldn't kill the little [insert 4 letter word here ]...)

Or, or, or a dragon with vampirism who transcended to lichdom... and he can go super saiyan too.

j/k

delicious shapeshifting loli dragons?

Really, I tend to take the whole 'dragons can shapeshift' thing as being a tongue-in-cheek statement. People always ask "where are the dragons?", and Bethesda gives whatever silly answer pops into their head at the time to explain their absence: "they can shapeshift", "they're invisible", "the cliff racers scared them off". Take them with a grain of salt until supported elsewhere.

Really though... I would neither be disappointed or surprised if dragons turned up in TES V as shapeshifters. It wouldn't be "too" cliche, nor very surprising, and it wouldn't be unappreciated. Likewise, if they went about it another way, I'd be just as happy, if they didn't include dragons at all (Pretty unlikely methinks), that also wouldn't bother me. On this matter though I only have one contention, if they add dragons, THEY CANNOT BE MINDLESS ANIMALS BENT ON DESTRUCTION! That IS a tired cliche... Very very very tired cliche....

That's probably more due to pre-Morrowind retconning than intentional inaccuracy (and they only claimed that goblin drove the dwarves out of hammerfell).

A lot of what is considered "lore" is pulled from books that seem to be historical fiction as understood within the game world, and yet are probably intended to be interpreted by the gaming audience as being reasonably truthy. I like that series, if only for the implication that the Aurielic pantheon was ancient tradition while Akatosh was still just a mortal golden dragon who tried to get other dragons to convert. It's a bucket of cold water to people that go on too long about enantiomorphs and crap like that. Forget your creation myths: every aedra used to be a mortal -- though they didn't all earn godhood the same way, and some of them just tried to steal it.

The Dragon Village part was also interesting, though it probably got retconned into the dustbin of history.

The gods are dramatis person?; Enantiomorph is an act.

If Dragons will have some sort of role in Skyrim that will probably change the canon on how Dragon are percieved in the world of Tamriel.

I suspect that's true, even so, I could see it being confirmed as canon in Skyrim, especially if dragons are actually the main antagonists in the game. I'm not really convinced of that yet, but everyone seems to have taken it as fact, so I'll just play along and say if they're our main enemies, having them disguise themselves via shapeshifting could have its uses in the story. After all, a big dragon isn't something you can just hide in plain sight. Whereas Mythic Dawn agents in Oblivion were indistinguishable from normal people as long as they didn't summon their armor and even the Sixth House in Morrowind could use Sleepers when they needed agents who could enter towns, dragons are kind of conspicious, so if they need agents who can enter cities without immediately being recognized, it's either shapeshift, or find humanoid servents.

I would not mind one dragon being able to shapeshift and talk but not all of them......I would not want a whole town of shapeshifting dragons. Maybe at the end of a quest you meet a mysterious man in a dungeon and blah blah blah some stuff happens and he turns into a dragon and have to fight him.

I would like it if they added it that way.

I agree I hope if it is implemented it's 6-12 Dragons that can shapeshift at the most.

Dragons with cultists is probably the best idea here. Although, it is possible Elder Scrolls dragons look vastly different from one another, some might be more humanoid-like, some might be gigantic and alien.

We have seen exactly one case of a physical dragon's anatomy, (dragonlings not counted) and two cases of deities being depicted as dragons.

Nafaalilargus (actual, not a god dragon) and Akatosh had two legs, wings for arms, thick torso, pretty basic dragon head and a tail.

Peryite is depicted as having two legs and two arms, with a long cylindrical, almost snake-like body, two wings separate from arms, long tail, very long neck, and and a rather serpentine head shape.

I said this in another thread a while ago, like the dragons in WoW. They can shapeshift and they're badass.

Given the proverbial black hole present in Dragon Lore in TES most of this is just heresay and opinion. The only thing we really know is that dragons make very few appearances in TES, and as such, in order to hold true to lore, this must continue, and if it doesn't there better be a brilliant explanation why it isn't that doesn't come of cheap.

That being said, other then the practically non-existence referencing and rumors, the only other thing we have to guess about the behavior of dragons is from other RPGs... I don't want a cheap rip off, I want originality, so accepting them on that basis would be irrational. However, that being said, Dragons in several versions of D&D are all but extinct, and for that matter whatever ones remain are rumor and heresay. Dragons that are seen or have stories around them are always very young and quickly killed with great haste followed by fleeing, and the majority of larger Dragons and older Dragons frequently use taking on the form of another being, usually humanoid, as a means of hiding away.

Beyond that the lore in TES is so intricate you could draw a million different little conspiracy theories as to how precisely Dragons fit into the story.... However, I recall very few major revelations brought about by the main quest that had enough evidence in the TES lore before the events took place to be predicted. Their stories are almost always beyond the ability of the community to figure out via research because they add a number of new elements and triggers that we could not possibly have been aware of until they start giving us hints or previews of the game. As such I hope there's a lot of evidence out there that we are just blind to, and that someone truly dedicated to figuring this out with a brilliant mind, and ingenuity could figure it out, because that adds to feeling of "Why didn't I see it!", when we don't figure it out but its revealed through the plot line and sums up a ton of unexplained Lore. However, this is unlikely, and most of the information, and originality will likely be created to specifically tailor the plot of TES V while maintaining the feeling.

We are dealing with creative game designers here, not experts at mystery reverse engineering .

Dragons shape-shifting is interesting and all, but I'd rather be the one to be able to do that. Shang Tsung anybody? xD

"but many stories tell of Akatosh co-mingling with and organizing groups of dragons" that fits with the teaser trailor.

Man Throat of the World will be epic!!!! Can't wait to se that mountain in all its glory!

epic I want more emoticons

Thanks for helping me make my point. Did you mean that plays typically have 4 or 5 enantiomorphs which delineate and compartmentalize a narrative? If the gods are dramatis personae, what does that make a deus ex machina?

Good post. Idk how I feel on it though.

I hope Dragons can shapeshift but only if they design it right. I don't want them copying other fantasy games like Origins or Divinity 2. I would want it done in a unique manner something that just jumps out at you as being Elder Scrolls but something that still embodies the essence of a Dragon. I hope that makes sense.