Lachdonin Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I find any connection theory to Alduin and him mystically wanting to help you thing shady at best, because Alduin "feels" the prophecy, doesn't make sense. Paarthunax is quite clear that Dovah are much more sensitive to time than any other species, being the children of Akatosh and all. Prophesy is simply a prediction fo time to come, as such Dovah would likely have a much greater penchant for feeling and understnding Prophesy than anyone else, save for maybe Azura. The idea that Alduin 'feels' an obligation because of the prophesy isn't that far off. As for the brotherly thing, yes, there have been many Dovakiin, and the bond is more a spiritual (literally) thing than biological. All Dovah regard themselves as brothers and sisters, because they are all children of Akatosh. The Dovahkiin, too, are children of Akatosh in a spiritual sense. Their bodies may be mortal, but they have the soul of a Dovah. Alduin and the Dovahkiin's souls are the stongest, and since it seems that, amongst Dovah the order of 'birth' determines strength (Alduin is the first born, thus the strongest) it means the Dovahkiin is very closely related to Alduin. One also has to consider that the Dovah, as Aedric entities (Akatosh being an Aedra after all) Are very closely bound to order. While they may be oppressive and 'evil' they still espose the ideal that there is an order to the world. It just happens to have them at the top. If Alduin and the Dovahkiin are two sides of the same coin (Destruction versus Creation) then their confrontation is enevitable. Alduin, as a creature of order, both knows and accepts this, and seeks to fulfil the requirement. HE must confront the Dovahkiin, not some upstart little mortals. Of course, he may not recognise the Dovahkiin right off, since the powers of the Dovah are repressed at that point, which would explain why he's flying around shouting your name. Its kind of like "I know your here, little brother, stop hiding and fight me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhorizon09 Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) When Alduin attacks Helgen, he calls you "Dovakiin". It means he knows who you are, perhaps even his brother, according to the lore. He saved you so you could fulfill your destiny. Read all the books you can find and you'll learn that Alduin is possibly much more than depicted in what the characters alive tell you. If you and your brother were part of an eternal struggle between destruction and creation and one of you was about to be executed by mere mortals, ending this round in a fizzle, maybe you'd step in? One thing is for sure intended by the writers, Alduin intentionally saved you from execution. It was not just some incredibly improbable freak accident or major plot whole. Notice he lands exactly before your head chop. A few minutes later, he actually says dragonborn in the dragon tongue. If that's the case, then Alduin has a strange sense of honor. He saves you just so that he can try and scorch you to death shortly after? On the part where you have to choose who to go into the building with (Stormcloaks or Imperial), Alduin came after my character and 1-shot him before I could make him go into the building. Edited January 10, 2012 by redhorizon09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faifh Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Maybe it was just Alduins idea of a welcome-party! Maybe you all know this video already, but here is the more macho version of him, I watch it over and over, and that way it makes more (non)sense anyway :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesapien Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 When Alduin attacks Helgen, he calls you "Dovakiin". It means he knows who you are, perhaps even his brother, according to the lore. He saved you so you could fulfill your destiny. Read all the books you can find and you'll learn that Alduin is possibly much more than depicted in what the characters alive tell you. If you and your brother were part of an eternal struggle between destruction and creation and one of you was about to be executed by mere mortals, ending this round in a fizzle, maybe you'd step in? One thing is for sure intended by the writers, Alduin intentionally saved you from execution. It was not just some incredibly improbable freak accident or major plot whole. Notice he lands exactly before your head chop. A few minutes later, he actually says dragonborn in the dragon tongue. If that's the case, then Alduin has a strange sense of honor. He saves you just so that he can try and scorch you to death shortly after? On the part where you have to choose who to go into the building with (Stormcloaks or Imperial), Alduin came after my character and 1-shot him before I could make him go into the building. I do think my wording was off and that I should not had made it into such a strong claim. However, your objection has already been address in this thread. Of course, Alduin will kill you. He may prevent your death at the hands of a puny mortal, but he still has a destiny to fulfill and that is defeating you. Maybe preventing your death was just a silly accident on his part, but that seems... unlikely, given who he is. Nevertheless, if you linger or stray from your own destiny, it doesn't seem out of character for Alduin to go ahead and put you down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faifh Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) Watching the Helgen scene a few times, I think he just plays with you, like our cat that plays with a mouse it captured, until it eventually kills it off, when playing either too wild, or when bored swallows it. For example he shouts unrelenting force upon you, to see how you react, not firebreath just yet. He just sensed you, and want to look what you are capable of, luckily you escaped, like our cat that loses a mouse in its play one or the other time. Then he was bored with you, so he didn't come back against you, unless you learned dragonrend, whence you suddendly posed a possible danger. Edited January 10, 2012 by faifh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesapien Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I find any connection theory to Alduin and him mystically wanting to help you thing shady at best, because Alduin "feels" the prophecy, doesn't make sense. Paarthunax is quite clear that Dovah are much more sensitive to time than any other species, being the children of Akatosh and all. Prophesy is simply a prediction fo time to come, as such Dovah would likely have a much greater penchant for feeling and understnding Prophesy than anyone else, save for maybe Azura. The idea that Alduin 'feels' an obligation because of the prophesy isn't that far off. As for the brotherly thing, yes, there have been many Dovakiin, and the bond is more a spiritual (literally) thing than biological. All Dovah regard themselves as brothers and sisters, because they are all children of Akatosh. The Dovahkiin, too, are children of Akatosh in a spiritual sense. Their bodies may be mortal, but they have the soul of a Dovah. Alduin and the Dovahkiin's souls are the stongest, and since it seems that, amongst Dovah the order of 'birth' determines strength (Alduin is the first born, thus the strongest) it means the Dovahkiin is very closely related to Alduin. One also has to consider that the Dovah, as Aedric entities (Akatosh being an Aedra after all) Are very closely bound to order. While they may be oppressive and 'evil' they still espose the ideal that there is an order to the world. It just happens to have them at the top. If Alduin and the Dovahkiin are two sides of the same coin (Destruction versus Creation) then their confrontation is enevitable. Alduin, as a creature of order, both knows and accepts this, and seeks to fulfil the requirement. HE must confront the Dovahkiin, not some upstart little mortals. Of course, he may not recognise the Dovahkiin right off, since the powers of the Dovah are repressed at that point, which would explain why he's flying around shouting your name. Its kind of like "I know your here, little brother, stop hiding and fight me" Good read. Your last two sentences read like a disclaimer. So you're still open to Alduin not really knowing which one is you and not meaning to prevent your beheading? I don't rule it out; just seems highly unlikely given we're talking about a scene with both Alduin and Dovakiin and the timing was so... timely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesapien Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Watching the Helgen scene a few times, I think he just plays with you, like our cat that plays with a mouse it captured, until it eventually kills it off. For example he shouts unrelenting force upon you, to see how you react, not firebreath just yet. He just sensed you, and want to look what you are capable of, luckily you escaped, like our cat that loses a mouse in its play one or the other time. Then he was bored with you, so he didn't come back against you, unless you learned dragonrend, whence you suddendly posed a possible danger. That's actually a large part of how I think about it. If you're immortal in one world, then that world is like playing a game. You can't die by being killed in that world so it really is a play world. Alduin knows that Dovakiin can't really kill him. So why would he be in a hurry to see his arch-enemy's character die? Getting all meta, I wonder if Dovakiin vaguely refers to one and many because it refers to us players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeridiesSylva Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 It seems like everyone has missed this, so I'm gonna throw it in to the fray :) Alduin didn't attack Helgan the moment he arrived in the present time. Not far from Helgan you can find a small cabin with two burnt people and a lot of structural damage. A journal entry claims that the people there had seen the dragon coming and going for days, and that they had been left alone thus far. The author's wife is said to have wanted the guards in nearby Helgan warned, but the man refused to leave his home. The journal even gives you directions to a small cave where Alduin apparently lived prior to his attack. Also, I seriously doubt he could sense the Dragonborn. Having been thwarted once by your kind, I do not think he'd let you escape so easily if he had the ability to track you down, regardless of you prowess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosisab Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) Alduin had an acute duty sense so he knew if he did not attack Helgen at that exact moment the whole game would go pipe down :) Edit: Ahh, totally forgot having drained already whatever fun that poor joke attempt could have (what in itself is highly doubtful). Still MeridiesSylva has a point, myself saw this journal soon after the game start and before finding any other dragon what points it almost certainly refers to Alduin. Besides is supposed no Dragon existed in that era before Alduin began bringing them to life again. So, forcibly he was around for quite a time then. On the other hand, at least once Alduin meets Dovakiin face to face before the main events leads to the final confront, at KinesGroove, and again he doesn't try killing him/her even at this point was supposed to know the Dovakin had already proved more than a match for the "minions" and in double they would have better chance to slay him/her even if personally fearing a confront. Is all but clear the feelings of Alduin toward Dovakiin, is almost as he wished being stopped. Is like he cared to hone Dovakiin's power, kept him/her alive when not yet conscious of the role reserved to him/her, allowed Dovakiin to grow in power, he is not supposed to be stupid. Edited February 14, 2012 by nosisab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsmanners Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Forget about Alduin's timing at Helgen. How about that Mirmulnir? I mean, my character gets this outrageous request from Farengar (just "delve" through this dungeon and find an ancient artifact in the main chamber), so he goes on his flower-picking way to Riften, thank you very much. Then to Windhelm, Dawnstar, Morthal, Solitude, Markarth, Falkreath. Fast forward a couple months, and he finally remembers: "Oh wait! I need to go look for a Dragonstone!" My poor flower-picking khajiit character finally does find the artifact and brings it to Farengar at 2am. Just at that moment, another dragon attack. Coincidence? I don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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