Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-85.165.222.20-20130412232319/@comment-196.41.49.245-20130627220724

I see it like this, Konahrik was the most powerful and wisest of the dragon priests. Unlike the other dragon priests who put all their efforts into reviving themselves after death and becoming immortal, he transferred what remained of his spirit/soul into the mask so he could live on through it. He did this so that when a hero came one day (in this case dragonborn) who proved himself to be more powerful than all the eight dragon priests, (by placing their masks in the stands as a sign of their defeat in battle) the mask would be presented to that hero as he/she proved he was the rightful ruler of the dragonpriests. This is why when the spectral dragonpriest is summoned when wearing the Konahrik you can see it has no mask. The dragonpriest thats summoned is actually the soul of Konahrik coming to the aid of the rightful owner of the mask.