BrettM

Well, it sure took a while, but the question finally bore fruit. And yet ... late second era doesn't seem to match up well with Durnehvir's story. I find it a little hard to believe that the dragons were vying with each other for territory at a time after most of them were dead, having been exterminated by the Akaviri under Reman in the late first era and early second era. I would expect that most of the survivors, such as Mirmulnir, were well hidden by the late second era. There were still plenty of dragons roaming around during the early and middle parts of the first era. Paarthurnax tells us this was the case, before the Akaviri came, and King Olaf had no problem going out and finding a dragon to capture. This is the logical time they would be establishing their own territories after being freed of Alduin's control by the Dragon War. But then we'd have to believe that Durnehvir made a deal with the Ideal Masters in the first era that required him to guard a vampire who would not show up in the Soul Cairn for another millenium or so. Seems like there are inconsistencies in the overall story whether you pick first era or second era.

What, exactly, would the Dominion have pounded them with? The Empire had pretty much wiped out their armies and their greatest generals. According to The Great War "the main Aldmeri army in Cyrodiil was completely destroyed." Hammerfell was able to handle the forces sent against that province. I don't believe any forces were ever sent against Skyrim or High Rock. So, even though the Legions were decimated and unable to continue the fight, there doesn't seem to have been anyone left TO fight. Again, The Great War states that the Thalmor had committed "all available forces" to attacking Cyrodiil, and those forces were "completely destroyed". Was the Dominion somehow going to attack with UN-available forces if Meade didn't completely surrender? The Empire was pretty powerful and the Dominion had to give everything they had to give to have a chance of conquering it. They did. They failed. Meade won the war and then acted as if he had lost. Methinks there was some skulduggery involved with snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

I do use subtitles, but don't recall ever seeing it in Helgen. This bugs me, because everything I've seen/heard during that attack seems unconnected with the presence of the DB, leaving open the possibility of cosmic coincidence.

I must have missed something. When did Alduin shout "Dovahkiin" at Helgen? I probably would have missed that on my first playthrough, but I've run 8 or 9 characters through Skyrim now and most of them hung around Helgen as long as possible to try to catch everything Alduin had to say. I remember him talking about the foolishness of mortals and the failure of the Elder Scroll to defeat him, but no mention of the DB until Kynesgrove. I don't remember hearing the word until Mirmulnir used it just before he died.

Well said, LeddBate. I went through a similar process and struggle on my first playthrough, and I suspect this is fairly common among those who post here. A few points: 1. If you go with Hadvar, you will have an equally-pleasant experience with him and his people (Alvor, the smith, and his family) as you did with Ralof. After all, he was the guy who tried to persuade the captain that you didn't belong there, and he's glad to help you get away during the attack. 2. I'm afraid I find Tullius more despicable than you do. Different from Ulfric but not really better. While he's not racist, he is certainly a cultural elitist, glad to sneer at the quaint and disgusting customs of provincials, and willing to stomp them out if told to do so. He's just enforcing the law. Just following orders. And those orders come from a leader that I consider every bit as bad as Ulfric, though in a different way. 3. If you're hearing racist jokes in Windhelm, it must be coming from a mod. I've never heard any such after playing eight or nine characters through the game. I think I would consider any such mod as trying unfairly to tilt the balance towards the Empire. 4. Your conclusion that Rikke is right about Skyrim being stronger with the Empire than without it is debatable, and many threads here do debate it. There are good arguments in support, and other good arguments against the proposition. It is, like everything else about the Civil War, well balanced in terms of there being no incontrovertible right answer, but only answers that appeal to different player moral/political points of view. 5. Sadly, you cannot actually "win" the Civil War for either side. While one leader or the other dies, the ultimate outcome is inconclusive because there are still opposing troops in the field. Our efforts on either side achieve only a temporary victory, no matter how overwhelming it may appear. Another leader might arise to replace the slain Ulfric and succeed in taking down Tullius. Another general might be sent by the Empire, and Ulfric might never live to officially become High King. Not only is there no right answer, Bethesda hasn't given us one. They're free to slant the outcome either way in the next game, presuming there is one, and make a final victory by either side the canonical end. About the only certain thing is that both Ulfric and Tullius will be said to have been killed during the conflict, but the histories will never say exactly when or how, so either way you play can be seen as canon.

If Alduin came out not knowing yet how much time had passed and thinking that the Dragon War was still in progress, he might well have headed for a place where he assumed he would find rebels to fight. Perhaps Helgen was the site of a rebel stronghold during the Dragon War. Did Ivarstead even exist back then? Whiterun certainly did, but I don't think sensible rebels would have used it as a major base given that it sits in the middle of open tundra.

I'd still call it tight. During that time Delphine would have had to learn of the attack and additional dragon sightings -- all from travelers who wouldn't be moving much faster than you can even if they had horses. She would then have to figure out a possible connection between those facts and the rumored, long-forgotten Dragonstone. Finally, she would have to get word to Farengar ahead of your arrival, because he already knew that his mysterious employer wanted him to find some daring thick-wit to fetch that item. It's a lot to get done, though I'm sure it's possible if you factor in that your character is going to have more travel delays than natives of the area.

If you look at the Atlas of Dragons, Mirmulnir is one of those listed as "known to live." I suspect that he was never killed, but came out of hiding when he sensed Alduin's return or heard Alduin's voice during the attack on Helgen. I would also point out that the graves marked on the map were all constructed by the Dragon Cult for dragons that fell during the Dragon War, but Mirmulnir survived that war. The Dragonguard would hardly have ceremoniously buried the dragons they killed in marked graves, and the Dragon Cult was no longer around to find and bury those corpses. If Mirmulnir was killed at some point, it would have been after the Atlas was written, so we would have no way to tell where he was killed or correlate it with the map. Alduin was clearly following the pattern of the marked graves, but it isn't clear why. Perhaps if they were all killed before he was banished, he already knew where they were. Or perhaps those graves were just easy to see from the air and Alduin just flew a logical search pattern. Or perhaps he just started with those because they were somehow easier to sense than those without formal burial. We can't even be sure that Alduin was able to find the others, since we never met either of the named dragons killed by the Dragonguard. While Alduin has powers other dragons lack, I'm wary of ascribing anything he does to some unknown power if there is an alternative theory that seems to fit the facts. There just isn't any support I can see for supposing that he sensed a dragonborn at Helgen. I also think that everything we do know can be explained without making this supposition. The Greybeards don't summon you until shortly after you have absorbed Mirmulnir's soul. Mirmulnir's last words ("Dovahkiin! No!") seemed surprised, as if he did not realize your nature until he was on the verge of death, perhaps feeling your power tugging at his soul. Miraak must also have been able to sense this tug, since he could appear just in time to steal the soul from your kill. Absorbing dragon souls seems to be the common factor that reveals you as dragonborn, even to the ordinary people who are around when you do it. But there is no evidence that anyone -- ordinary dragon, Greybeard, Miraak, or Alduin -- can sense dragon blood that has not yet manifested itself by soul absorption. I don't favor the theory that Alduin sensed us at all in Helgen, since he never even hinted at this in his dialog. He only boasted, in the dragon tongue, that the Elder Scroll didn't defeat him, calling the mortals arrogant and foolish for thinking their plan would work. I got the impression that he had just returned and had no idea yet that millennia had passed. He may have thought he was attacking rebel forces, not their remote descendants who could no longer understand his language and his taunts. But I heard no taunts about mortals claiming to be dovah until we saw him again at Kynesgrove. My guess is that Alduin came out of the time wound still thinking he was in the middle of the war, and then attacked the first town he saw. Shortly after Helgen, Mirmulnir caught up with him and filled him in on the history. Alduin then began resurrecting more followers. Mirmulnir may have been ordered to start spreading destruction in the meantime. Or perhaps he was helping to search for dragon graves, hitting any targets of opportunity he ran across in the process, such as the watch tower. Or maybe he was just wandering around amusing himself while Alduin was rebuilding his forces. I think this scenario holds together pretty well. The timeline is a bit tight if you go immediately to Whiterun, but it might allow for a couple of resurrections and word of more dragon sightings to reach Delphine before you are sent after the Dragonstone. (Actually, if you travel around first, you never see a single opened grave until after facing Mirmulnir. This may be a gameplay thing, though, that doesn't quite fit the story as we're supposed to understand it.)

I think this is the key question. It appears that the Empire began crumbling with the end of the Septim dynasty. At that point the struggle for the throne, which took years to resolve, caused the Imperials to turn inwards and become consumed with the internal problems of Cyrodiil. The provinces were left to fend for themselves, which is what allowed the Thalmor to take Elseweyr and Valenwood long before the Great War. Morrowind was also virtually abandoned during this time, as the Dunmer had no support from the Empire during their crises with the eruption and conflicts with the Argonians, and Solstheim was abandoned as well. I have to question whether the Mede dynasty is really a continuation of the third empire or could actually be considered the fourth, following an interregnum shorter than usual. Either way, I don't see how the Empire can last much longer, particularly with the loss of Hammerfell. It would take a miracle (maybe a Dragon Break) to reverse the trend. I believe the provinces had internal self rule under the Empire, so the Empire had no say in picking the jarls of Skyrim and probably no official say in the choice of the High King. Further, the jarl of a hold was answerable to the nobility of that hold, and the jarls of other holds had no say in the matter. The thrones of the holds only became a general political football because of the Civil War, and the only issue for either side was in choosing someone of trusted loyalty with sufficient rank. The integrity, the intelligence, or even the sanity of a candidate was not of concern to either Ulfric or Tullius. So Maven wasn't chosen because the Empire was corrupt but because she pledged her support.

I would have to agree with this. If she knew that the Dwemer were gone, why would she think they had any ability to prevent their cities from getting run down? They could only maintain them if they were still around somewhere. Apparently Serana thinks the Dwemer have a choice in the matter and does not realize that the entire race vanished.

Are you sure you're targeting the right dragon? It is possible to kill Paarthurnax during that battle, but should not be possible to kill Alduin. It's easy to accidentally bring Paarthurnax down with Dragonrend while trying to hit Alduin, and I once killed him before realizing that I had the wrong dragon. Oops.

Yes, you can cure yourself with one of the heads. Before that, however, you might want to check with Vilkas and Farkas, since they will each ask for your help in curing themselves, which is done the same way. I haven't checked, but are you sure the barrels in Jorrvaskr are safe? You don't want to lose those heads.

Give her time. You might notice that the ingredients that she needs your help to restock are all used in making poisons, and she seems to be a great admirer of the Dark Brotherhood. I really don't think that apple is going to fall very far from the tree in the long run.

Using disable first is a good way to make sure that you're about to delete the right thing and haven't accidentally clicked on a wall or the ground or something else that you don't want to remove. If the wrong thing disappears after disable, you can instantly bring it back with enable and no harm done. If the right thing disappears, you can markfordelete.

She didn't know. Probably everyone in Skyrim (and possibly beyond) heard the summons of the Greybeards, so she would know that there was a dragonborn around somewhere whether she was in Whiterun or in Riverwood. However, she didn't know that you were that dragonborn until you showed up at the inn asking for the attic room. She might not even have met you or heard your name before then, if you already had the dragonstone before meeting Farengar for the first time. Delphine somehow knew that the Greybeards would test any candidate by sending him after the horn. (The Blades were intelligence agents, after all, and had an interest in the Greybeards and dragonborn lore for many centuries.) Anyone who passed the test by reaching the tomb would almost certainly be the person that the Greybeards believed was dragonborn, so leaving a note there was a clever way to ensure that only a successful candidate would receive it and know the code phrase. No Thalmor agent or random adventurer or false dragonborn would be likely to get to that note. Only a true dragonborn would have an interest in reaching the tomb plus the ability to survive Ustengrav plus the ability to pass the final gates using a Shout. Delphine must have known some other way to get there that did not require her to kill everything in sight and use Whirlwind Sprint, or she couldn't have left the note. Perhaps the Greybeards had a secret route used to return the horn after previous dragonborn were tested, in which case Delphine probably learned of this when she learned about the test. But it seems unlikely that anyone else outside of the Greybeards would know such secrets, so the person who found the note would have had to do it the hard way.

@OP: You've misinterpreted Ulfric's dossier. The last thing the Thalmor want is for either side to win, so they do not want Skyrim to drive out the Empire as you suggest. Nor do they want the Empire to crush the Stormcloaks. They want to maintain a balance of power that keeps bleeding the resources of both sides until both are so weakened that they become pushovers for the Dominion. A quick victory for the Stormcloaks is as undesired as a quick victory for the Empire, since either outcome will make it harder for the Dominion to conquer the remaining provinces. The Thalmor are not Mer supremacists but, rather, Altmer supremacists. The Bosmer are a subjugated population despite being Mer, and I don't think the Dunmer could expect any better treatment. Furthermore, there are some enormous religious differences between the Dunmer and other Mer, meaning that the Thalmor would likely impose religious suppression on them that would make the suppression of Talos worship look like rainbows and unicorns in comparison. A Dunmer would have to be an utter fool to support the Dominion. I believe a smart Dunmer would support whichever side he believes would make the best bulwark between the Thalmor and a severely-weakened Morrowind. This approach could be used to justify involving a Dunmer character with either side whether he likes them or not. The enemy of my enemy may not be a friend, but may delay my enemy long enough to allow me to better prepare my own defense.

Yes. The presumed "conspiracy" was a matter of paranoid thinking by Delphine and the Thalmor. Each would suspect the other of being behind anything untoward, up to and including bad weather. Remember that the dragons had been gone for centuries and few knew anything about them. The possibility that dragons were intelligent beings that might have their own agendas never occurred to either Delphine or the Thalmor. Neither considered the idea that a dragon might take action on its own without any man or mer behind it. Until we rescued Esbern, no one (other than the Greybeards) knew that the black dragon was Alduin. The idea that dragons had language and purpose was only found in dusty old books and silly ancient tales. Delphine (not to mention the rest of the Blades) had always dismissed Esbern as a crank on the subject of dragons and never paid attention to anything he had to say on that topic. The Thalmor knew only that the lost archives of the Blades were reputed to contain old dragon lore and that Esbern was the only living link to that information.

I'm afraid there isn't anything you can do to the Blackbriars aside from trying to annoy them by stealing the horse and lying to Sibi about his ex-girlfriend. The most you can do about the Silverbloods is to see that Thonar dies after you get out of Cidhna Mine, which is a satisfying thing to do but doesn't really seem to change anything.

But that's true of every single major quest line, main or side. There is only one canonical outcome to each (unless there is a Dragon Break), and the only difference is whether the Dragonborn will be known to history as provably involved or not. Alduin was defeated and the Dragonborn did it. Emperor was assassinated, but nobody can prove whether the Dragonborn was involved at all, much less on which side. Miraak was defeated and the Dragonborn did it. The threat of the Eye of Magnus was dealt with, but the details will somehow be lost to history (Psijic influence?), if the incident is even mentioned at all in future games. Harkon was defeated and the Dragonborn did it, regardless of side chosen. In some cases the canonical ending isn't even known yet, such as the outcome of the Civil War, which is left in an inconclusive state regardless of which side (if any) you choose. The history can easily be written to say that both Ulfric and Tullius were killed during the course of the war, and Beth is left free to choose any canon they like, ranging from an independent Skyrim to a Skyrim so totally subjugated that it never even had a High King following Torygg.

Problem is that they never really give it to you straight in-game. For example, The Alduin/Akatosh Dichotomy "proves" that the two are identical because the Nord tales of a black dragon who eats the souls of the dead and led the dragons on a war against mankind are simply unbelievable. We know that those tales are true, but that doesn't prove the opposite case that the two are totally separate (Alduin ent Akatosh), much less instruct us on the nuanced view regarding Alduin having individual characteristics fragmented from the original Akatosh.

Nicely said. I would also add that it is not correct to count paid or coerced informers, Khajiit assassins, and other collaborators as being "Thalmor". Just because someone sucks up to the Thalmor and/or takes their coin does not make him Thalmor. Such agents are merely hirelings.

Ultimately, every single person involved in the main quest ends up placing his/her own agenda above the problem of Alduin. Every one -- jarl, Blade, or Greybeard -- eventually indicates a willingness to let Alduin eat the world if the Dovahkiin does not serve their ends. Neither Tullius nor Ulfric are willing to put aside their Civil War agendas to see Alduin stopped. Balgruuf will not aid if it will disadvantage him in his dealings with the Imperials and Stormcloaks, which is why the peace conference is necessary in the first place. Delphine and Esbern will refuse further aid unless Paarthurnax is killed first. Master Arngeir will initially refuse to talk about Dragonrend or allow a meeting with Paarthurnax because he's ticked off about the Dovahkiin speaking with the Blades. All of them would rather see the world end than give an inch on their own desires, which is rather mind boggling.

Yes, the dwarves have definitely been gone that long, since we have solid information proving it. The Dwemer vanished in 1E 700 during the Battle of Red Mountain at the end of the War of the First Council. If Serana is truly unfamiliar with the fact that the Dwemer have disappeared and expected to see a Dwemer city in its normal, inhabited state, then that puts an upper limit on when she was placed in the crypt.

Isn't the Pale Pass the only route between Cyrodiil and Falkreath? The road leading from the Pale Pass is the one going by Southfringe Sanctum, and Ft. Neugrad was part of the Neugrad Watch settlement set to guard that road. If I remember the cart ride correctly, doesn't it approach Helgen from the direction of Ft. Neugrad? If so, perhaps those captured at Darkwater Crossing were first sent to Ft. Neugrad, where they were consolidated with other prisoners (such as the Dragonborn) to await the arrival of Tullius and the Thalmor at Helgen.

The Dawnguard are pretty fanatical and won't let you proceed as a vampire. The plot will stall until you get yourself cured.