Board Thread:Skyrim/@comment-1157147-20130322022136/@comment-173.248.7.239-20170727180344

I have an idea at the original purpose of the Tonal Artefact in the centre of the ruin.

It was a bell, simple as that, its tone would ring through blackreach and was meant to call meetings in the hall, judging by the names of the internal cells.

As for why the dragon doesnt fly. That ones a simple answer as well, flight is not an easy task underground or in any room without wind and air currents. I have a pair of pet doves and when they take wing they have to put quite a lot more effort behind their flight and flap their little hearts out just to get from point A to point B.

I always figured the dragon was trapped there, perhaps fallen there during the Dragon Wars and eventually driven mad from the seclusion. Dragons are more social creatures than we are, and too much seclusion can result in utter madness.

When you rung the bell, he probably emerged from a cavern he was using as his home to see what the ruckus was about, spotted a joor shouting at the bell, and attacked you out of a maddened haze.

Or, perhaps in that moment, the dragon had a moment of clarity in his clouded mind, saw that a dragonborn was walking the deep halls of his eternal prison, and decided that death in battle would be better than remaining here in this cold hell.