Where are the Dragons ?

Phantax · May 2014

I may be wrong but shouldn't there be Dragons at this point in Tamriel's history?

HandofBane · May 2014

You are wrong. Dragons would have been wiped from the face of the continent in the Merethic Era, before the First Era (we are in the mid Second Era now). Some may yet exist, but have gone deep into hiding avoiding all contact with other races.

UrQuan · May 2014

No, there shouldn't be any (except Paarthunax hiding up on top of a mountain). They're pretty much all currently dead and buried, not to be resurrected for centuries. I mean it's possible that there might be one or two others hiding around, but not a lot. Actually, there might be a whole bunch of them over in Akavir for all we know, but not in any of the regions that ESO currently includes.

Phantax · May 2014

So when was the Dragon War? First era??

isengrimb16_ESO · May 2014

No, not very many, and those that are around will probably be keeping low, like Paarthurnax up there on the Throat of the World. A book you can find about Dragonknights is called "Mythical Beast, Real Power".

I'm not sure when the capturing of the dragon at Dragonsreach occurred - it's not in the Timeline, or at least I can't find it - http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline - but wasn't that one of the Septims who did that? Some other stuff also comes later, I think, but yeah, otherwise, they hadn't been really known of since, what, the Merethic era or the early First Era (which lasted a couple of millennia).

Skyrim was a special case/special story. It was made quite clear in that game that the people of Tamriel thought dragons to be just as made-up as we do, forgetting that myths often have some kind of kernel of fact buried in them somewhere (in the RL case, dinosaur bones were probably the inspiration for dragons. The amazing thing is, primitive, non-sciencey people were able to recognize the reptilian traits, apparently.)

HandofBane · May 2014

Dragon war:

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Merethic_Era
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Dragon_War

Technically before the First Era, when exact dates were not really kept on things.

JosephChip · May 2014

Agreed.

Aren_Liore · May 2014

you may also want to read this found on the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Dragons

UrQuan · May 2014

Phantax wrote: »

So when was the Dragon War? First era??

The Merethic Era - before the First Era (although remnants of the Dragon Cult still existed into the First Era).

isengrimb16_ESO · May 2014

Aren_Liore wrote: »

you may also want to read this found on the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Dragons

Thanks. That pretty much clears things up. Glad to hear that they remembered to put the burial mounds in the Skyrim regions, too.

So, yes, any dragons still around should be wisely laying very low, because the Greybeards already exist, and have for a while; and the Dragonguard/Blades are probably starting to feel bored.

That being said, I can imagine some special event or something involving ONE (1) dragon. Maybe.

Phantax · May 2014

Hmm... so no chance of Dragon bone armors then...lol
Cheers guys, will check those links out and brush up on my lore

isengrimb16_ESO · May 2014

There hasn't been a Dragonborn (not in the Skyrim sense) for thousands of years already, and won't be until 4E201.

As for the royal sense of "dragonborn" ... the ones who can light the fires ... presumably Tiber Septim eventually fills that role, but not for another 300 years or so. With the dragonfires unlit (thank you Velen, you idjit) yeah, I can see why there's an attempted Daedric invasion now, and even why such an embarrassing point in history might be censored out quite heavily later.

As I once heard an historian say - "The so-called Dark Ages ain't dark, they're just garbled and coded." I think a lot of history often gets garbled, and a lot of things that we think are just insane flights of fancy may be .. not so much code, as heavy, in-group metaphor, meant only to be understood by the initiated.

(Case in point - the Gryphon/Griffin - that half-lion, half-eagle beast of mythology. Nowadays, we just think it's a cool mashup. To the medieval mind, it was one of the visual metaphors for Jesus - king of both heaven and earth. It appears for this reason in Dante's Purgatory, as the being who carries St Beatrice to Our Hero, as the revered pagan Virgil demurely steps aside.)

UrQuan · May 2014

Phantax wrote: »

Hmm... so no chance of Dragon bone armors then...lol
Cheers guys, will check those links out and brush up on my lore

Well, technically people could probably dig up the dragon burial mounds for their bones...

isengrimb16_ESO · May 2014

Ur-Quan wrote: »

Phantax wrote: »

Hmm... so no chance of Dragon bone armors then...lol
Cheers guys, will check those links out and brush up on my lore

Well, technically people could probably dig up the dragon burial mounds for their bones...

No, we can't, because they're still undisturbed in 4E 201 (if you don't kill Mumwossname outside of Whiterun, they won't start waking up, either).

Why such sites should remain undisturbed for so long is beyond me, but maybe it's just because they don't look like anything interesting in the first place.

Rosveen · May 2014

Invisible and very, very quiet.

ccole.nhub17_ESO · May 2014

They only way to put dragons in this game is to have an area, possible expansion, where you are transported to the past before the first area during the dragon wars. It would be hard to pull off and keep consistent with lore, but you never know.

KitLightning · May 2014

Rosveen wrote: »

Invisible and very, very quiet.

Twue the dwagons finally pewfected teh spell of invisibility, alas, it became too powe'ful and so they eventually stayed invisible... for all etewnety and beyond...

UrQuan · May 2014

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

Ur-Quan wrote: »

Phantax wrote: »

Hmm... so no chance of Dragon bone armors then...lol
Cheers guys, will check those links out and brush up on my lore

Well, technically people could probably dig up the dragon burial mounds for their bones...

No, we can't, because they're still undisturbed in 4E 201 (if you don't kill Mumwossname outside of Whiterun, they won't start waking up, either).

Why such sites should remain undisturbed for so long is beyond me, but maybe it's just because they don't look like anything interesting in the first place.

Nah, as long as we remember to bury them again before the 4th era it'll all be good.

If I had to guess why they remained undisturbed through the millenia, I'd say that there's probably magic at work. Maybe some kind of spell of preservation, or some sort of curse that affects anyone who tries to dig them up.

ccole.nhub17_ESO wrote: »

They only way to put dragons in this game is to have an area, possible expansion, where you are transported to the past before the first area during the dragon wars. It would be hard to pull off and keep consistent with lore, but you never know.

Not necessarily. We know that the dragons are long gone from Tamriel by this time period, but we don't know if the same is true on other continents. Akavir is a good candidate for a place where there might still be dragons. I mean, the name Akavir actually means "dragon land".

HandofBane · May 2014

Ur-Quan wrote: »

Not necessarily. We know that the dragons are long gone from Tamriel by this time period, but we don't know if the same is true on other continents. Akavir is a good candidate for a place where there might still be dragons. I mean, the name Akavir actually means "dragon land".

From the Dragons UESP link above - "Their numbers dwindled over the years due to many causes: their population in Akavir was wiped out by the Tsaesci, who also brought their onslaught to Tamriel, and the dragons in Vvardenfell were overrun by invading cliff racers."

UrQuan · May 2014

HandofBane wrote: »

Ur-Quan wrote: »

Not necessarily. We know that the dragons are long gone from Tamriel by this time period, but we don't know if the same is true on other continents. Akavir is a good candidate for a place where there might still be dragons. I mean, the name Akavir actually means "dragon land".

From the Dragons UESP link above - "Their numbers dwindled over the years due to many causes: their population in Akavir was wiped out by the Tsaesci, who also brought their onslaught to Tamriel, and the dragons in Vvardenfell were overrun by invading cliff racers."

Yes, but we don't know when they were wiped out in Akavir, because we barely know anything about the history of Akavir. It could be a process that's still ongoing by the time of ESO, or it could have been done already by the time of the dragon war in Tamriel. We don't know.

isengrimb16_ESO · May 2014

Ur-Quan wrote: »

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

Ur-Quan wrote: »

Phantax wrote: »

Hmm... so no chance of Dragon bone armors then...lol
Cheers guys, will check those links out and brush up on my lore

Well, technically people could probably dig up the dragon burial mounds for their bones...

No, we can't, because they're still undisturbed in 4E 201 (if you don't kill Mumwossname outside of Whiterun, they won't start waking up, either).

Why such sites should remain undisturbed for so long is beyond me, but maybe it's just because they don't look like anything interesting in the first place.

Nah, as long as we remember to bury them again before the 4th era it'll all be good.

If I had to guess why they remained undisturbed through the millenia, I'd say that there's probably magic at work. Maybe some kind of spell of preservation, or some sort of curse that affects anyone who tries to dig them up.

ccole.nhub17_ESO wrote: »

They only way to put dragons in this game is to have an area, possible expansion, where you are transported to the past before the first area during the dragon wars. It would be hard to pull off and keep consistent with lore, but you never know.

Not necessarily. We know that the dragons are long gone from Tamriel by this time period, but we don't know if the same is true on other continents. Akavir is a good candidate for a place where there might still be dragons. I mean, the name Akavir actually means "dragon land".

Yes, a curse on such sites (or an illusion spell) or even rumours of them being cursed sites might be enough to make them untouchable. Hogwarts is affected by such a spell - anyone who read the books knows that any Muggle who comes across it only sees a ruin with yellow danger/police tape around it.

And yeah, the exact details of foreign continents is up for grabs, lore-wise. I'd love to see a new beast race out of the foreign continents, besides cats and lizards. Lord knows there's enough variety of elves and humans!

HandofBane · May 2014

Ur-Quan wrote: »

HandofBane wrote: »

Ur-Quan wrote: »

Not necessarily. We know that the dragons are long gone from Tamriel by this time period, but we don't know if the same is true on other continents. Akavir is a good candidate for a place where there might still be dragons. I mean, the name Akavir actually means "dragon land".

From the Dragons UESP link above - "Their numbers dwindled over the years due to many causes: their population in Akavir was wiped out by the Tsaesci, who also brought their onslaught to Tamriel, and the dragons in Vvardenfell were overrun by invading cliff racers."

Yes, but we don't know when they were wiped out in Akavir, because we barely know anything about the history of Akavir. It could be a process that's still ongoing by the time of ESO, or it could have been done already by the time of the dragon war in Tamriel. We don't know.

True, though it's not unreasonable to assume they had done so before the end of the First Era, when the Tsaesci launched their invasion of Tamriel. If your species has taken on a long running genocidal task against creatures who could burn entire towns by themselves, would you leave it unfinished before invading neighbors far over the seas?

Nazon_Katts · May 2014

Broken.

UrQuan · May 2014

HandofBane wrote: »

Ur-Quan wrote: »

HandofBane wrote: »

Ur-Quan wrote: »

Not necessarily. We know that the dragons are long gone from Tamriel by this time period, but we don't know if the same is true on other continents. Akavir is a good candidate for a place where there might still be dragons. I mean, the name Akavir actually means "dragon land".

From the Dragons UESP link above - "Their numbers dwindled over the years due to many causes: their population in Akavir was wiped out by the Tsaesci, who also brought their onslaught to Tamriel, and the dragons in Vvardenfell were overrun by invading cliff racers."

Yes, but we don't know when they were wiped out in Akavir, because we barely know anything about the history of Akavir. It could be a process that's still ongoing by the time of ESO, or it could have been done already by the time of the dragon war in Tamriel. We don't know.

True, though it's not unreasonable to assume they had done so before the end of the First Era, when the Tsaesci launched their invasion of Tamriel. If your species has taken on a long running genocidal task against creatures who could burn entire towns by themselves, would you leave it unfinished before invading neighbors far over the seas?

Probably not, but we know that they came to Tamriel at least in part because of a prophecy (at least, if I'm remembering part of Skyrim correctly). People do all kinds of things that may not seem logical when they believe that they're fulfilling a prophecy.

Also, wasn't there something in the lore about the Tsaesci actually enslaving some of the dragons rather than just exterminating them, or am I remembering that wrong?

AlexDougherty · May 2014

Phantax wrote: »

I may be wrong but shouldn't there be Dragons at this point in Tamriel's history?

Um, No, well maybe a few stragglers, who are getting hunted by the Akaviri Dragonguard, but they'll be hiding mostly. By this point in history most dragons are dead.

AlexDougherty · May 2014

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

There hasn't been a Dragonborn (not in the Skyrim sense) for thousands of years already, and won't be until 4E201.

Um, wrong. There is generally at least one Dragonborn around at anytime, who then uses the Amulet of kings to start the Dragonfire. otherwise Deadra can freely invade Tamriel.

Not every Dragonborn ruled, and it certainly was hereditary until Tiber Septims time. (which raises the question why it was called the Amulet of Kings prior to him) But they did exist, in fact the Reman Emperors were Dragonborn.

www.spideypeb18_ESO · May 2014

The dragons are dead, but only the dragonborn can make sure they stay that way by absorbing their souls and not every dragonborn has been a warrior capable of slaying dragons. *Technically they are wyverns*

Kayira · May 2014

Dragons were only present in Skyrim, neither Oblivion nor Morrowind had dragons meaning that Tamriel does not have Dragons everywhere. Also they have been eradicated before this storyline. So yeah no dragons for now. They might be added in a future expansion though (wouldn't surprise me)

randomriffyrocksprerb18_ESO · May 2014

I think I may have found the bones of dragons in the Bone Orchard in Grahtwood. I also think Dringoth may have been a dragon (The Destroyer) before he was cursed into an elven body. I also found a HUGE skull of some sort dugged up by the Worm cultists, it talked to me, its a friend of Dringoth but I cannot remember the name??

Anyways they could be Bones of Dragons.

UrQuan · May 2014

Kayira wrote: »

Dragons were only present in Skyrim, neither Oblivion nor Morrowind had dragons meaning that Tamriel does not have Dragons everywhere.

Actually, the lack of dragons in Oblivion or Morrowind doesn't mean that Tamriel doesn't have dragons everywhere, it means that Tamriel doesn't have dragons everywhen. Those games, like ESO, were set during a time period when there really weren't any living dragons in Tamriel (exceptions such as Paarthurnax aside). Having said that, Skyrim is obviously the part of Tamriel which had the most dragons by far back during the time period when they were around, as that's where the dragon cult was, and that's where you find dragon burial mounds.