I was reading up on stuff mostly lore about Skyrim and watching the Trailer and I thought maybe I should read up on Dragons and I did that and then I found out something interesting about them.

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

Apparently Dragons may be able to shapeshift into people in order to disguise themselves. If that is true would you want that feature in Skyrim for the enemy to use and what are your thoughts on this information.

Cool lore bro.

I will stab them with my DragonLance...

Seriously, this is interesting news. I wonder whether the Dragonborn would possess a similar trait? In any case, it could lead to some more subtle plot developments than the feared "we're dragons and we're here to burn everything down, roar!!!!" plot line.

Thats insane...I would love to see this added into the game. I hope it is

I hope they can shapeshift, as long as undercover dragons are better made than the mythic dawn sleeper agents.

It is not actually known as fact, only rumors, probably made up as an explanation of their disappearance.

I'd actually prefer dragons to be dragons. No shapeshifting here

That is true since they did disappear and there is no real explanation as to why they disappeared but for all we know it could be true that they have the ability to shapeshift.

I wonder if the Dragons in the teaser of Skyrim is more of a reference to this rather than actual physical dragons:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Gods_Y#Ysmir

Ysmir, Dragon of the North

The Nordic aspect of Talos. He withstood the power of the Greybeards' voices long enough to hear their prophecy. Later, many Nords could not look on him without seeing a dragon.

Greybeards

An ancient and honored people who dwell primarily in High Hrothgar on the Throat of the World (highest peak in Skyrim). They live in absolute silence in order to better attune themselves to the voice of the sky.

Tiber Septim (known as Talos at the time) led the invasion of Old Hrol'dan and reclaimed it from the Witchmen of High Rock. After this it was known by the storms; the Greybeards were about to speak. The nearby citizens evacuated the area, but Talos made his way to the Greybeards home. When the Greybeards spoke Talos' name the world shook and they told him that he would rule Tamriel, but he needed to go south to do so.

it'd be more like the Ka Po' Tun can shape shift into dragons.


According to Mysterious Akavir

Ka Po' Tun is the "Tiger-Dragon's Empire". The cat-folk here are ruled by the divine Tosh Raka, the Tiger-Dragon. They are now a very great empire, stronger than Tsaesci (though not at sea). After the Serpent-Folk ate all the Men, they tried to eat all the Dragons. They managed to enslave the Red Dragons, but the black ones had fled to (then) Po Tun. A great war was raged, which left both the cats and the snakes weak, and the Dragons all dead. Since that time the cat-folk have tried to become the Dragons. Tosh Raka is the first to succeed. He is the largest Dragon in the world, orange and black, and he has very many new ideas.

This is taken from the same source as the OP used to base his conjecture, http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Ka_Po%27_Tun


If this is true then it would be nice to play one of the cat-folk with this ability.

It'd be cool if you were just walking down the road and you decide to attack a random traveler, only to have him be like, "What?!" and shapeshift into a dragon on your ass.

"Dragons? Oh, they're everywhere! You must fly very high to see most of them, though. The ones nearer the ground are very hard to see, being invisible." - M'Aiq the Liar, Morrowind

Something like this? :mage:

It would be interesting if some major characters were revealed to literally be descended from (shapeshifted) dragons -- it would explain why only Mankar Cameron and Martin Septim could wear the Amulet of Kings, why the protagonist of Daggerfall (unlike the various leaders vying for its power) could not control the Numidium, and so on. "Dragonborn" would take on a whole new meaning.

This is not a fact only true of the Elder Scrolls, this is a recurring trait in many RPG's and its origins are actually far older then roleplay games to begin with, though as far as gamers are concerned its first practical application was in the Lore of D&D... In any case it would not be surprising at all to see this sort of feature implemented, and shouldn't provide much of a shocker, much less a plot twist for any player who is well versed in Role Play games at all, however, yes... It would be cool....

Might I also add, the TES series also uses the types of Dragons defined in D&D and even goes so far as to suggest the exact same characteristics you would expect from these types of dragons. This fact makes it even less farfetched that they'd use this particular plot line as a basis for their story, continuing from there if you add in consideration of the last spotting of dragons, its very reasonable to assume they are among the population in hiding rather then all vanquished, the reality is dragons that can shape-shift and hide well are almost all ancient in lore, or at least have reached advlthood... However that latter part has nothing to do with TES lore, that's just a trait of general lore from most RPG's and given that the rest of the traditions hold true, its reasonable to assume the same might hold true in TES.

Will we be able to get a pair of eyeglasses to see if they are actually Woolly Mammoths?

It would make me think twice about punching a beggar in the face cause hes already asked 15 times today.

I would be nice to people indeed if I thought there might be a chance they transformed into a house sized dragon.

This may allow for some more political story telling instead of just "GAH!! GO KILL THIS...go there...GAH I KILLED IT AHHH...come back Yay your a hero. Done. I want something more.

In RL maybe.

But as a battle mage, I might just give it a shot if the begger is too persistent.

Shape-shifting dragons:
A dragon may be a symbol for your sixuality, particularly if it - your sixuality - frightens you. Is your fear irrational; or does sixuality threaten to rule your life? In either case, don't kill the "dragon"; if necessary tame become it.

haha...

Somewhat more seriously, shape-shifting dragons aren't so cool. The "shape-shifting" could be attributed to the fact dragons are typically incorporeal. Over a few millenia, the accounts changed. Dragons are also transcendent beings, so one to transcend mortality is... a dragon. Depends on the culture.

Most of that page on dragons is crap.
This doesn't appear anywhere in TES.
The Mysterious Akavir didn't substantiate the rumor, it started the rumor. It also contains "quotes" from the tiger dragon, which I feel makes it a non credible source as people from Tamriel have never had much luck getting interviews from him.
Despite the name, Dragonlings aren't dragons.
It was backpedaling by a dev when people kept asking why dragons weren't in their current games. He's not serious.
That was from a fictional book in the game world, that claimed the Dwarves were driven out of Tamriel by the Goblins.

Lol, well that's a wrap folks, single handedly shut down the discussion before it even got started, unless we start on in game conspiracy theories that is 0.o

Yeah but your forgetting one small detail, everything about Dragons is basically rumors because nobody has really had the chance to either meet a dragon or seen one at all. Also what about Cyrus in Redguard fighting a Dragon. I still think Dragons are going to be an important part to Skyrim and until we get more Info we can't dismiss the Dragons.

Not true at all.

Unless by "nobody" you mean not everybody.