So, as most of you know, maps of the provinces were included Oblivion and Skyrim. At the bottom of Cyrodiil's map reads "3E 433 Natalia Dravarol, Cartographer"
On Skyrim's, it reads "4E 182 Nataly Dravarol, Cartographer"

The simularity between names is what first caught my attention. The maps were drawn roughly 192 years apart, yet the cartographers have the same last name and nearly the same first name.

This got me thinking- Are the names a coincidence? Are they just related? Are they the same person who somehow achieved immortaliy (Maybe through Vampirism)? Or am i just overthinking it? Lemmie hear your theories.

Out of universe, it's just the distorted name of the actual lady at Bethesda who drew the maps. In universe, I'd say it's a family business.

That makes sense, but it's still fun to speculate!
Personally I think she's a diabolical vampire who is trying to take over Tamriel, one map at a time... O.O

This was much discussed when Skyrim was released. The consensus at the time agreed with what Lady Nerevar says here: Nataly is a descendent.

::EDIT:: Thought I would look this up on UESP. They seem to think it's the same person: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:People_N

Hmm, Dravoral. If we had to put a race to that name what do you think we would come up with? I am feeling imperial. Maybe Colovian but just because of Lord Vlindrel and iirc he was from Colovia. Sounds similar but is quite arbitrary though.

Hey maybe she is a mer? That would explain the long life span.

For some reason, Dravarol sounds to me like a Dunmer name. This would make sense for the "lived 200 years" argument, as elves are known to live long, in some instances many hundreds of years, though another account stated they usually only lived to 150 or something thereabouts and another stated that it was not uncommon to pass the thousand year mark. I've heard it suggested this could be based on class, but who knows exactly. Point is it's plausible a Dunmer Cartographer could live that long. Then again Natalia sounds Imperial and Dravarol could be the same, so my guess is probably on poor grounds. So the more likely situation is that Nataly is Natalia's descendent.

Dragonbone has a point. Its just that 200 years later, I doubted a descendant would still have the same last name and just happen to have a similar first name.
Shes most likely the same person.EDIT: Thanks for putting my thoughts to rest.

I never said that, you know. However, it did just occur to me that they are a woman, which would make it unlikely, that is, assuming the conventions of taking a spouse's surname are the same in Tamriel is the same as on Earth, which of course it might not be.

A master of Levitation, and a vampire, Natalia would hover above provinces for months on end to make accurate maps.

A unique ring makes her immune to the sun's rayd, thus allowing her to cartograph for the IGS until the Septim Empire is dead and forgotten.

and no feeding since shes a vamp? seems legit

Well there have been a lot of Vampires that managed to blend into mortal society, and seeing as her name sounds dunmeri it is possible to hide the illusion of long life.

Of course I don;t think she is a vampire.