So far we know that we fight dragons for the main quest, but in the trailer it said their defeat was only a delay? Dragons were considered sacred before this and the Empire even gave them shelter. The only time in history that we know of that a dragon was even aloud to be killed was by Cyrus. (obviously in Akavir they were hunted) So i don't fully understand what is really going on.

Does anyone else have anymore info? Because as far as I know dragons were sacred beasts and not killed.

This is part of the reason why I wasn't convinced that dragons were the main enemies, prior to the Game Informer article, even though many posters seemed to have accepted it as fact, since the article confirms it, though, I guess I was wrong, so I also wonder about this, perhaps when we actually play the game, it will be explained how this fits in with previous lore on dragons, that, or maybe we have a retcon going on here, since my previous assumptions about the plot were proven wrong, I'd rather not assume anything is certain anymore, unless it's confirmed by official information.

Yeah i mean there is no lore, info at all about dragons being defeated by anyone in Tamriel. So i can't wait for BGS to enlighten me.

EDIT: oops, misread.

Well there used to be a groups of people named the Dragonborn, which were the only people that had the power to fight dragons. They would roam the land slaying dragons while their faithful protectors, the dragonguard (now known as the Blades) helped them and protected them. After the dragons disappeared the dragonguard began to protect only one lineage of dragonborn, the Septims. Their defeat was at the hands of the Dovahkiin, which are the dragonborn. As for the plot of skyrim, head to http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1156912-skyrim-information-compilation-and-explanation/



Which is why I think Cyrus was a Dovahkiin. Cyrus is one of my favorite characters from the TES games, he was a passionate character.

I was wondering because I thought I must of missed something when I was reading the lore because I spent a month reading lore on the elder scrolls

some may say depressing some say devoted and others say nothing

Yes i understand that now they introduce dragonborns fight dragons. But they have never been brought up before. And no where in lore does it say any of the Septims have fought dragons. And yes i already stated Cyrus fought a dragon. But dragons were considered sacred by the Empire so why would they go off slaying them? Especially when they used them in wars, it doesn't make sense. So yes you brought up this saying that there were people that fought dragons before, but it is never even mentioned before this point(except Cyrus which only fought a dragon to get the artifact it was protecting )

I already know the plot of the game hence why i asked the question.

Because the empire is relatively new in the history of Tamriel. Saying it like that, then there was no lore that the Numidium ever existed before Daggerfall. Just because it hasn't shown up in lore before now doesn't mean it never happened. This is how lore is built, things previously not known or stated become revealed as the story moves along.

The dragons were defeated by cliffracers.

No, the the dragons of Morrowind were overrun by Cliffracers and they retreated to Cyrodiil, while the dragons of Akavir were driven extinct by the war between Tsaesci and Ka Po Tun. These dragons seem to be something different altogether. But it seems that by the lore that has shown up with Skyrim that the surviving dragons of Tamriel may have disappeared and now they are returning. We won't know for sure until we get more information or play Skyrim and learn from quests and books in the game.

"The Dragon Nafaalilargus, a loyal soldier of Tiber Septim"
"It was rumored that they moved closer to Cyrodiil, and it may be for this reason that dragons are sacred to the Empire. The legends tell of their aid during wars in exchange for shelter"

Okay but this is the Septim blood line we are talking about, and the back bone to the Empire. Don't you think it would be known that he fought dragons before. It even says that dragons were loyal soldiers to the Empire, and fought in wars. So to tell me that the same person that had dragons as loyal soldiers also killed them doesn't make sense to me. Dragons were sacred beasts. Unless all the dragon fighting happened in the 200 years inbetween games i don't get it.



Yes true, but why would they attack humans when the Empire gave them shelter from the cliffracers.

The dragons of Morrowind are the black dragons that escaped from Akavir before they were killed off, the red dragons of Akavir were killed off all together. Might want to research into some lore.

Both and all dragons came from Akavir, that is why it's called the dragonland

Isn't it obvious? Tiber Septim must have use the threat of annihilation to gain their servitude, then made them loyal afterward.

Possible yes? And the best explaination so far, but i don't believe that to be true. But as far as we know they are all sacred. I don't have much to say to that. It really is a pretty good theory. It just seemed to me since Akatosh uses a dragon as his avatar that the empire found dragons sacred beasts, so i just can't think that the Empire would do that. Plus it says that the dragons were defeated, so even if threatened that doesn't mean they were defeated.

Total speculation from everything I read about in the lore, whether it is correct, only time will tell. But here's what I think happened.

First, Dragonborn's are people chosen by the gods who have the divine powers of dragons. Septim's were the only group that had Dragonborn lineage as in each generation possessed the power of the dragon born. Neraverine who was also a Dragonborn was chosen by Azura as such and his/her descendants if he/she had any were not. This is true to all hero's of the Elder Scrolls games except the Champion of Cyrodil. He was chosen to be a dragongaurd and ultimately ascend to godhood himself through Sheogorath.

Second, (heres where the speculation comes in) dragons came over from Akavir after the great wars almost brought them to extinction. They found Red Mountain and decided to stay there. Later cliffracers migrated north from Blackmarsh and drove them off of Red Mountain by eating to much of the food supply. Dragons then made it to the majority of Tamriel which would have been being covered by various men and mer at the time. They started treating men and mer as food which resulted in the creation of the Dragonborn. They were the Thu'um users and they hunted the dragons for protection of themselves and their races. This lead to a general dislike of dragons and many people who wanted them dead. At this time the Septim line was born and Tiber started his march on Tamriel. Being a Dragonborn one of the problems he had to deal with was the dragons. Most people can't speak dragon so diplomatic solutions were imposable to come to. Since he could he made an agreement with said dragons to give them food and protection because that was what they always wanted in exchange for them assisting the Empire.

Cue in Alduin the World Eater who is the dragons god. He made a deal with the Septim line honoring his minions wishes in exchange for a deal with him. It was probably something like my minions will work for you as long as they are treated as holy symbols and I am your nations god. Still the cycle had to go on so he made a deal stating when the staff of Chaos shatters, when the Warp to the West happened, when the four false gods fall and the Heart was removed from Mundas, when the Septim line ends and the doors to Oblivion open, and when the men fight amongst themselves then he will start to recreate the world as he has done before.

Then again maybe not. Just my guess, because it has never been stated before. Which relates to what Esbern said in the trailer "no one wanted to believe they even existed." Just seems like someone high up wanted to wipe clean a few pages of history (the Emperor, Alduin, BGS???). It is those massive hole in the lore that Bethesda uses to make games and ultimately fills in one installment at a time. The fact they are holes means no one knows why so all we can do is guess until it is said.

Guys, can we just be clear that the whole cliffracers thing is just a dev pulling someone's leg in a joke answer. It's just too funny seeing everyone being so credulous about it.

Very good speculation, to me that can explain alot. I didn't think there was any more lore than i knew but i wasn't sure so i asked the question. I personally cannot wait to see how BGS fill in the lore gap. It is exciting.

Didn't they clarify afterwards that the dragons were actually driven out because of the cliff racers dominating the food sources though? They didn't joke and say 'yeah Jeff was high during that interview, I'd like to clear it up and say that dragons were never in Morrowind', they carried it on. Whether in jest or not, it's the best we have to go on at the moment.