Oops.. Sorry I posted in the wrong thread. Please move this to the Lore section Mod.

When you say Aka, it's like saying 'the original Time Dragon from before mortality'.

The other names are cultural explanations for the Time Dragon. People in Tamriel can't know the original god because of the way the universe is set up.

This is because Aedric beings are affected by the beliefs of mortals, and the mortals developed opinions and beliefs about the gods from the beginning. So, you start with Aka, whose motives are unknowable, but Elves insisted he was tricked into creating the world, and that he regretted it. Every other race came up with their own version of the Time Dragon, and belief caused them all to be real, though none of them can be considered 'the real one'.

Adding to that, it could be that Auriel was once a mer who mantled the Time Dragon. He behaved in such a way that people and posterity mistook him for a god, and then their identities became intertwined.

Thanks! The whole thing is really confused. I get it better now.

Personally i think Akatosh and it's derivations are basically different aspects of it, for example Alduin is an aspect of Akatosh having to do with the end of one cycle, as Akatosh is personification of time, that's why Dovakhiin does not absorb it's soul, all the other dragons are basically fragments of Akatosh's consciousness so defeating one just means his will swung more to the side o the winner, like competing personalities in people, Alduin is different because he is not a personality, rather more akin to autonomous process like breathing or heartbeat, simply put gods are not monolithic, they are more akin to sapient natural forces, different aspects of certain gods have minds of their own and some are personified as creatures on Nirn (dragons) while others are more metaphysical (Auri-el, Kyne) i don't exactly know if i can explain this better.

Auri-El is the part of the time god that thinks Lorkhan's whole Mundus idea was a bad one.

Akatosh is the part that thinks Lorkhan might have been on to something.

And Alduin and the other dragons (to a lesser extent) are kind of like Jesus in Christianity, being both an aspect of Aka and a separate being as their child.