On the Origins of the Nords and the Birth of Dragons
So! This is something that has been cooking in my head ever since I saw @jiubilant's dragon headcanon post, and I feel like it is something should be shared. It's a pet theory of mine, and the core principle of it is:
Dragons are born from myths.
To back up: it is known from numerous sources that I shan't list that dragons are children/fragments borne of the Time God AKHAT, with Alduin (also known as Ald) being the first of these aspects to separate, as the existence of time naturally necessitated the existence of an end.
It is also known that gods in general are born of ideas. The most primordial form of an idea is something indescribable, not possible to define by language. A deity is born when that idea coalesces/crystallizes into a concept and separates from the greater whole that is the Aurbis. The first concept to crystallize was AKHAT, thus giving start to Time and starting the chain reaction that would lead to the birth of LKHAN and then every deity to follow.
The key takeaway here is: AKHAT = Time, dragons = children/fragments of AKHAT, therefore dragons = fragments of time. This in and of itself means rather little as far as specifics go, but it already begs the question of what, exactly, this entails and what the significance of this is.
For this, we need to understand that all of the Aurbis is made up of myths and stories. No, literally. This is a recurring motif in just about every culture present in TES. All of time is made up of myths and stories, and the first myth is the myth of the Aurbis being born, which effectively begins with the birth of AKHAT, as prior to this any attempts at imposing chronology are even more impossible than after.
Given that the world is made up of myth and magic, this means that powerful enough myths are able to permanently alter it. This is a phenomenon referred to as mythopoeia, or myth-making. An example of mythopoeia would be Mantling, an act of a mortal becoming a god by following in their footsteps. This occurs when the idea-myth that the person embodies approaches and eventually assimilates with the target deity, modifying and expanding on the myth in question.
That being said, significant enough mortals have gone on record becoming myths. The most explicit examples of this would be Ysmir and Tiber Septim. By "Ysmir" here I mean not the individual Wulfharth Ashking, but rather the so-called "composite hero" (that is, a myth consisting of the deeds of multiple individuals), incorporating myths of many mortals - namely Wulfharth, Harrald Hairy-Breeks, Hans the Fox, Pelinal, etc. With Tiber Septim, the situation with Zurin Arctus and Wulfharth both impersonating the Emperor is explicitly written out in the Arcturian Heresy and mentioned in dev Q&As, so I will not dwell on it more than is needed.
And one less obvious example of this is... Ysgramor. From the comment by Hasphat Antabolis (an in-universe historian and known persona of Kurt Kuhlmann), we can see that Ysgramor's legends span an impossible amount of time for a regular mortal to have lived. The implication here being that Ysgramor was not a single individual, but is instead himself a "composite hero" whose myths comprise multiple humans, and the one we commonly know as Ysgramor was simply the one who started the myth (same as Tiber Septim).
But that "Ysgramor was a dragon" comment at the start might've already set some gears turning. And while I can pretty confidently say that in this case, this is just MK being a shitter, there is something that adds depth to this thing.
This unhinged mess of a text is primarily a list of names, which themselves are forum references to various users ("Merry Eyesore the Elk" for example was a nickname used by MK himself) or other texts (such as the 24 Perrifs, which are a reference to "Water-Getting Girl"). However, actually reading the text reveals an underlying narrative: it is a (very rough and sporadic) retelling of the Return, and... other things? Specifically, it follows through Ysgramor's line all the way up to Borgas, the last High King to descend from him. In other words, until the myth of Ysgramor and his line is exhausted...
That is, until the final paragraph, where it picks up from the beginning - except this time, it lists dragon names. Fucked up dragon names, mind, and ones that do not follow the established patterns, but dragon names nonetheless. What's more, these dragons very clearly parallel those who came before: for example "Jeorr the Rabbit-Hawk" and "Heimnelraw the Regular Hawk" become "the Rabid-Thought", and "Heimnelraaliagus the Regular Thought". In fact, we even encounter a familiar name - "Hans the Fox" becomes "Pelinaalilargus the Pragmatist".
But perhaps most important is the leader of this dragon crew, Ysmaalithax, whose story ends with being slain by Ysgramor, and the cycle begins again - the implication being that the myth of Ysgramor and his Companions is so ingrained into Nordic culture that it transcends time.
From Nordic mythology we are already aware of the belief that the Nords hold, which is that the first Nords were born at the Throat of the World from Kyne's breath. However, combined with the actual design document for the Nords' Totemic Religion, we see that the situation may be a bit more complicated: Kyne's breath does not simply give birth to the Nords, but also leads them to the end - to Sovngarde, where heroes who have proved their worth await the "Last War" at the end of time-
Their myths do not end with their lifetime - they span multiple world cycles, imprinted upon them as a universal constant. And if a myth is imprinted so strongly... well, where do dragons come from, again? Ah right. They are fragments of Time.
AKHAT and LKHAN are twins, doubles. This much is already established. At the beginning of time, they confront each other in a war that always ends with the loss of LKHAN and the finalization of the Mundus. As per the Five Hundred Mighty yadda-yadda, it would appear that each side has its own vanguard: Shor has his mortals, meanwhile Ald has his immortals - the dragons. And yet just from the fact that they mimic each other so strongly, to the point where they almost seem like two halves of the same whole...
Olaf was Numinex, in human form!
Perhaps the least hinged but also most significant part of this theory. It is a known meme theory that Olaf One-Eye is actually the dragon Numinex, shapeshifted into a mortal and dragging back his own discarded corpse as a "slain dragon" which earned him the renown he used to become High King.
But under this theory, there is a much more convoluted but possibly interesting explanation: Olaf's myth is so ingrained into Nordic cultural history due to his role in uniting all of Skyrim and ending a Succession War that spanned centuries that Numinex was indeed Olaf - his myth, born into a dragon.
Let us draw a parallel to the Five Hundred text.
On the one hand, we have Ysgramor and Ysmaalithax. The story begins with a tale of how Ysgramor came to be in the incident of Saarthal, then taking up his role as Harbinger and leading his Companions into war until he dies and is taken to Sovngarde, only to return again at the birth-end of time. His story culminates in a confrontation with the dragon Ysmaalithax, which Ysgramor wins, thereby earning him the title Ysgramor the Returned, thus finalizing the myth and starting it all over again.
On the other hand, we have Olaf and Numinex. The story begins with a tale of how Olaf came to be in the wake of the Succession War, taking up the mantle of Jarl of Whiterun and leading his troops into war. His story culminates in a confrontation with the dragon Numinex, which Olaf wins, thereby earning him the title High King Olaf, finalizing the myth and...
...starting it all over again. Because if you recall, Olaf One-Eye also goes to Sovngarde and thus will be there at the Last War, becoming one of the first Nords. And true enough - in the Five Hundred text, there is one "Olaf the Dog, a berserker who had been to Hsaarik’s Head a thousand times or more and knew leaping magic." What's more - this Olaf's story ends with his being burned in Haafingar, which now happens every year.
But wait, what does this have to do with dragons?
Dragons are fragments of time, and important myths are imprinted unto the fabric of time. From this, the natural consequence is that when dragons are born during the Dawn Era in-between kalpas, they are born from significant moments in time - from myths that spirits and mortals create and perpetuate.
If we examine the dragons under this lens, a lot of things suddenly start to make sense about them.
For example, Alduin being the firstborn god can be easily explained under this interpretation: the existence of a beginning necessitates an end, so Alduin was born to embody the End of Time. His was the very first story to be told, the story of time itself.
Another example is the odd elemental affinities of dragons. Sometimes they correspond to the basic three elements of Destruction: fire, shock, frost. But at times, there are outliers - dragons who manipulate the earth, who hide in ash-filled mountains, who swim in the waters or even breathe disease and poison. Their effects upon the world are very varied, and one might even say cataclysmic - which would make sense if these dragons were born from stories told about natural disasters!
This could also explain their desire to eat one another - if dragons are myths, then devouring other dragons would naturally incorporate those myths into that of the victor. As a result, not only does the dragon's power and wisdom broaden, but it also grows closer to usurping the ultimate myth - that of Akatosh himself, which is a desire that dragons are known to share.
So, to sum up:
- Sovngarde and the Hall of Valor specifically are not just an afterlife. They are the repository where Shor holds his hand-picked warriors that will be at his side at the beginning of time.
- Skyrim really does belong to the Nords - the first of them came down from Sovngarde, carried by Kyne's Breath to the Throat of the World, where they became the first of their people, bringing with them stories of their culture.
- Dragons are born from fragments of time, which includes both universal constants and man-made stories that have become strongly ingrained into the fabric of space-time.
- As consequence of the former, dragons can sometimes be born from significant myths, such as Numinex being born from the myth of Olaf One-Eye.
Aaand that's about it! Hope this was an enjoyable and enlightening read. Thoughts very welcome and appreciated.
