» Thu Dec 08, 2011 12:04 am
Wait wait wait! What's this? Of the universe itself? (I'm going to assume you're referring to the Mundus.)
Well, aside from the fact that it's about to go down the maw of a huge bloody dragon... pretty long, I'd say.
In two perspectives: A) yeah, Alduin probably won't succeed, and in that sense the Mundus as we know it will continue for at least a little while more. Who knows what the result will be, though. Nobody's ever actually stopped the big dragon man before, as far as we (I) know. Could be that escaping this destruction could cause a more final destruction of some kind. Breaking the cycle of kalpas.
B ) Even if the Mundus is destroyed - whether by Alduin or by some other catastrophe - as long as the cycle of kalpas continues and the Arena is recreated, the TES universe will continue. Not as we know it, but it will continue.
(A postulation: the Leaper Demon King's goal was to hide stuff until there was too much for the dragon, and Alduin got a stomach-ache and had to halt his meal before it was complete. He got cursed, yeah, but what if he figured out a way around the curse? It seems likely that the PC in Skyrim will be successful at halting Alduin's voracity - well, ok, more likely his consumption and not his appetite - so what if the Dovahkiin himself represents the last bit that tips the scale of what Alduin can/cannot stomach? If Dagon learned to use the destruction of one thing to save another?)
I dunno. Am I even using these terms correctly? Sometimes I feel like I'm just spouting through my nose.