So why did Alduin decide to attack Helgen?

[Valkasha]

Ah that would explain, I don't use subtitles and only heard Mirmulnir use it in the early quests. I don't think Alduin actually uses that word until he spots you at Kynesgrove.

[BrettM]

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.

[Ceruulean]

Alduin probably sensed a dragon soul near helgen and decided to visit a fellow comrade, but as several people mentioned, there was no dragon on site. He figured there was a dovakiin instead, and tries to kill him. He sets Helgen on fire because it will likely kill everyone in town, and any of those people could be dragonborn but only ulfric had shouted before. Then Alduin flies away to get business done.

[stromclock19]

He knew that you are the dragonborn and he wanted to kill you himself.
he wouldn't have let you die like a common criminal.
this was his fatal mistake.

But I actually respect Alduin.

[stromclock19]

lol , so you say Alduin went there to save Ulfric, yeaaaaa rrrrrriiiiigggghhhht, Alduin is secretly a stormcloak.

[Moksha8088]

While Alduin was cast adrift on the currents of time, the Elder Scroll enabled him to see the appointed Dragonborn at the nexus of his fate. Alduin's will for dominance forced him to confront the Dragonborn, once he had mastered the Thu'um, and possibly triumph.

[Lachdonin]

Alduin's will for dominance forced him to confront the Dragonborn

His will, or the rules forced upon him by another? Alduin is a hard worker, a fundikental element of the Mundus Experement, and what evidence we have is that he takes his job very, very seriously. The End must come, lest the Mundus decay into entropy and be unrecoverable.

 

The whole thing reeks of the Greedy Man's manipulation. All Alduin wants to do is eat the world and restart the cycle, but something is stopping him. And God dammit, he's going to stamp that something out even of he has to kill every mortal on the planet.

[HalloweenWeed]

So shouldn't the 5th era start after the questline is over?

 

Also, I think many ppl forget about smell, Alduin could smell the Dragonborn, and knew he was in/near Helgen. It was just a matter of coincidence in timing. However, smelling from 100ft. in the air, can't determine the exact location.

Edited August 4, 2016 by HalloweenWeed

[Lachdonin]

So shouldn't the 5th era start after the questline is over?

 

Nah, there's not set criteria for the Eras. They're political constructs announced by whoever has the power, authority or prestige to make them widely known.

[Raivan31]

Ever notice how the Daedra are not really the antagonists in Skyrim? Infact, it could be argued that they attempt to help the dragonborn, most don't even make any mention of you being Dovakin. Humungus dingus knows but thats kinda his thing, it'd be weird if he didn't, the smug tentacle barstool. My point is that i don't think anyone has factored in the possible meddling by Daedra in all of this. It's my belief that the Elf Nazi's are being puppeted by a Daedra, as an example,

.

It just seems that this timeline may have gone on for longer then those before it and there must be a reason for that. Perhaps this one is working out better for some of the deities and they have worked to extend it. Perhaps Talos is a reason, it's very existence might have thrown the divine plans off kilter or (more likely) they were an envisioned change in path that is not common knowledge to all of the deities (except Haemorrage-inducing Moron - because knowledge god)

.

Just because the original format involved a world/existence eating dragon-thing-that-looks-more-like-a-Wyvern-but-lets-not-get-into-that, does not mean that there would be no room for growth and change. I mean, doing the same thing over and over again is kinda pointless. A dynamic and evolving universe would seem to fit the bill for many of the deities involved anyway, fits with the original spirit behind the creation of mundus in the first place.

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So Maybe being a world eater is no longer a growth industry, he's being made redundant. It's all good though, he should be able to get re-trained to manage the never ending flow of time now instead of just trying to end it all the time. It's always sad when bad economic circumstances ruin the lives of elder beings. He could try mantling some mundus based spirits like elementals and making his dragon kind a legit semi-mortal race..... that'd be fun, they could hoard gold and stuff, it'd be a hoot.

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If you consider that various Daedra may have been attempting to manipulate events then it opens up a whole can of worms. Hermoine dingleberry is the most likely culprit, he is already in balls deep with Miramax so he obviously has taken some time out from making a certain genre of japanese pornography to study the whole Alduin/world eating/stolen sweetroll thing thats goin on.

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And then there are the Aedra. Though they don't tend to get involved in things down on solid ground they do still - with great effort - have the ability to have some degree of influence on things, small though it is. Correct me on the Aedra being able to do stuff with great effort thing but i seem to vaguely recall reading that in game somewhere.