Dragons

"A dragon! How exciting! Where was it seen? What was it doing?"

- Farengar Secret-Fire

Dragons (or Dovah) are a large and powerful reptillian-like race from Akavir that were once widespread throughout Tamriel. Although seeming rather beast-like, they are profoundly intelligent, capable of speech and comprehending other languages. Their language can be used to cast powerful magic usable by a Dragonborn or those who spend their life studying the Thu'um (Shouts) like The Greybeards. The dragons have been rendered almost extinct, but numerous mounds of dragons still exist and in 4E 201, they have resurfaced in Skyrim with the return of Alduin.

The known types of dragons are: Ancient, Black, Blood, Elder, Frost, Green, Red and Skeleton. Alduin, the firstborn of Akatosh and the self-proclaimed God of Destruction, is a massive, unique dragon with spiked black skin. Although not a dragon, the Daedric Prince Peryite takes the appearance of a green dragon.

Black Dragons
On Akavir, the Tsaesci attempted to "consume" the black dragons, and drove the dragons to the Empire of Po Tun. This led to a war between the Ka'Po'Tuns and the Tsaesci. During that war the Tsaesci killed most of the dragons. Black Dragons have a dark gray skin, are considered to be the lowest Dragon and use almost exclusively Yol (fire). In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, they are the first type of dragon encountered by the player.



Blood Dragons
Blood dragons are recognized by their greenish-gray skin, crowned head, and large fan formation on the end of their tail. They can use Yol (fire) or Fo (frost) breath attacks. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, they will start to spawn around level 15.



Frost Dragons
Frost dragons have a shiny white skin with massive protruding black spikes coming out of their back and predominately use Fo (frost) breath that deals damage, slows the player down, and reduces stamina. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, they can be encountered after hitting level 20.

Elder Dragon
Elder dragons have a bronze skin and use Yol (fire) or Fo (frost) breath attacks. They have a large amount of health and are considered some of the strongest dragons, only surpassed by the Ancient Dragons. The Elder Dragon's attacks are generally strong and debilitating. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, they can be encountered after hitting level 23.



Ancient Dragon
Ancient dragons feature red skin with black markings and spikes. They are considered as one of the strongest type of dragons and use Yol (fire) breath or Fo (frost). They also have the ability to use Unrelenting Force on the Dragonborn. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Ancient Dragons are encountered after approximately level 30 and they become the predominant Dragon of Random Encounters in the very late levels.

Red Dragon
Red dragons feature red skin with black or blue markings and spikes. They are considered one of the strongest type of dragons and use Yol (fire) breath. Only two red dragons are known, Nafaalilargus, a mercenary in the employ of Tiber Septim during his conquest of Tamriel, and Odahviing, the right-hand of Alduin. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Odahviing is encountered during the main quest.



Skeletal Dragons
Skeletal dragons are usually encountered in dungeons, caves, and any underground structure with draconic lore in Skyrim. Although flightless and not having dragon souls, they are still dangerous. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, one such dragon appears inside Labyrinthian, an event encounter during the Staff of Magnus quest.

Green Dragon
Green dragons are very rare and feature green skin. Only one green dragon is known: Skakmat, Nulfaga's dragon familiar. Its most famous feat was, under Nulfaga's orders, the attempted stoppage of the Battle of Cryngaine Field by creating a sudden unnatural fog which blinded the combatants. When the mist cleared, it was found that Lysandus' heart had been pierced by an arrow fired blindly by one of Sentinel's archers, fulfilling the prophecy which had foretold his death during the battle. Also, the Daedric Prince Peryite takes the appearance of a green dragon. Blood Dragons with their dark green coloration are popularly believed to be of this type of dragon.

In Tamriel
Dragons play a huge role in the legends and culture of Nirn beyond the continent of Akavir - for example, the symbol of the Septim Empire, as of the Third Era, is the Red Diamond, which is a red dragon shaped inside of a diamond. Dragons quickly began to dominate Skyrim after the arrival of Ysgrasmor and humanity - many Humans began 'Dragon Cults' worshiping them, dominating the land until their overthrow during the 'Dragon War' sometime before the first era. Additionally, the divine being Akatosh is associated with dragons, and his avatar takes on the form of a dragon. The Daedric prince Peryite's known form also appears as a dragon, but this is probably to spite Akatosh. In Morrowind, the dragons were driven out by the cliff racers. Young dragons of an unknown type were known to come in conflict with the hero of Daggerfall around Iliac Bay. A type of creature called the Wamasus once inhabited Black Marsh; the north men considered these to be dragons with lightning for blood.

In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Dragons play a significant part in Skyrim. Todd Howard has confirmed in this video that they will be randomly appearing, but there is also the potential for the player to have the option of fighting multiple dragons at once. There is also a potentially infinite number of dragons that can be fought at once as they can be spawned by a console command. Although dragons primarily speak the Dragon Language (in fact, they are speaking it when they breathe fire) {C, in game, a few dragons are able to speak "Common Language" and will taunt you as they fly above. Also, the primary dragon, Alduin, speaks to you in Common on a few occasions. They are unscripted and will attack NPCs. In E3, Todd Howard was asked, "Are all dragons out to hunt you down?", Todd replied that, "most are but, there are a few that aren't." This means that some dragons will be out to kill the player, but, based on past observations, a surprising number just want to be left alone. Dragons guarding Word Walls will almost always be hostile.

In a interview on G4.TV Todd Howard confirmed that later in the game there will be a named dragon Odahviing which the player can befriend. . This dragon can be called to aid the player with a dragon shout and even be used against other dragons. The only limitations to this feature are that you cannot call it while inside and it cannot be used constantly. (There is also a dragon at the throat of the world which can help you meditate on three Shouts, increasing their power.)

A dragon's power is not measured by its element but by its color. For example, a white and bronze dragon is notably more potent than a green and brown dragon.

It’s confirmed that dragons don’t start appearing until you launch into the main quest, and they gradually increase in frequency as you progress in the main story. Similar to portals in Oblivion, the exception being that they do not stop appearing after you have completed the main quest.

Dragons can appear anywhere at any time, including inside the walls of a city. These powerful enemies will kill any NPC's they can, including quest givers and quest targets. Since many quest NPC's are killable and do not take a knee when heavily injured like some critical NPCs, Dragons can disrupt quests pertaining to those NPCs.

Dragons of Skyrim
Todd Howard stated in an interview that there will be six different types of Dragons along with named ones. Here are some types seen in game:
 * Ancient Dragons: Orange in color, extremely powerful. Uses powerful fire breath attack that leaves you susceptible to their other physical attacks.
 * Elder Dragons: Brown in color, very deadly with extremely high health. Uses powerful fire or frost breath attack.
 * Blood Dragons: Dark green in color, sometimes with a spaded tail. Uses frost breath attack that drains your stamina and slows you down. Some are also capable of fire attacks.
 * Frost Dragons: Stronger than regular Black Dragons, and can use a frost breath attack that drains your stamina and can slow you down. They have a grey-white scaly body.
 * Black Dragons: One of the most common dragons in Skyrim. Although they are not as strong as their Frost Dragon counterparts, they are still a force to be reckoned with.
 * Dragons that use fire based attacks are 50% more resistant to fire based attacks although 25% weaker when faced with frost based attacks. The same is reversed for frost dragons.

Notable Dragons
These are Dragons encountered throughout Skyrim. While mostly identical to random nameless Dragons in terms of gameplay, these Dragons are usually encountered in campaign with individual names and dialogue:

Alduin: The Nordic God of Destruction and has taken the form of a Dragon in Skyrim. He is raising the dragons throughout Skyrim so that he may feast on the souls of the dead and the living. One of the few red dragons.

Paarthurnax: Leader of the Greybeards and son of Akatosh (though all with dragon blood are said to be), Paarthurnax was present during the original "defeat" of Alduin.

Odahviing: Alduin's right hand Dragon, Odahviing was captured by the Dovahkiin and then pledged allegiance to him in return for his freedom. Can be called to aid the Dovahkiin by using the Call Dragon shout. Another one of the few red dragons.



Mirmulnir: The first Dragon encountered by the player. He attacks the Western Tower of Whiterun.

Sahloknir: An incredibly old Dragon with the ability to breath both fire and ice, was resurrected by Alduin only to be killed shortly after by the Dovahkiin.

Viinturuth: A dragon that has been observed speaking in native tongue to other dragons. This dragon can be randomly encountered while wandering Skyrim. You can see Alduin resurrect this dragon west from Anga's Mill (Might be random) (Needs expansion)

Nahagliiv: Encountered near Rorikstead. He appears to be a random encounter dragon found after completing the quest The Throat Of The World. His grave being west of Rorikstead he can be seen being resurrected by Alduin and can be encountered before completing the quest The Throat Of The World.

Vuljotnaak: Encountered north-west of Bloated Man's Grotto, south-west of Sleeping Tree Camp, and south of Broken Fang Cave. Was being resurrected by Alduin when encountered. The resurrection can somehow be interrupted. He can be a random encounter.

Has been encountered by chance.

Numinex: A dragon captured by King Olaf One-Eye and jailed in Dragonsreach.

Vulthuryol: A dragon encountered underground in Blackreach, underneath Alftand. To trigger this dragon attack the player must use the Unrelenting Force shout on the massive orange globe hanging from the roof of Blackreach. Video of him - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHnzpGFGyrg

Dragon Gameplay Behavior
Although most commonly hostile, occasionally dragons will fly around you as if you're not there. While this may be a bug, eventually dragons will catch sight of something they wish to attack. However, Todd Howard mentioned that not all dragons may be hostile towards the player. Some dragons may be docile and harmless unless provoked (attacked).

If two dragons happen to attack at the same time, they may attack each other.

You can see here how multiple dragons act during a fight.

Dragons may fly by you any time randomly. They will sometimes gang up on you in groups as you progress in skill and/or the storyline.

Their combative patterns usually involve fly-overs while shouting spells, hovering while shouting at you, and ground attacks. The sheer force of their landing can crush the ground around them. Ground attacks involve swinging their tails, using shouts, and attempting to bite with their jaws. If dragons successfully do enough damage to a player they will perform a finishing move by grabbing half player's body with their mouth, swinging them back and forth a couple of times, then launching them in the air like a rag doll.

Dragons will not land exclusively on open ground. They can also land on buildings, cliffs, and rocky outcrops to gain a tactical advantage over the player.

They may also crash land, after sustaining enough damage, becoming unable to fly and scarring the ground in the process.(This has been known to cause glitches, if the dragon has enough health to start flying again the tracks in the ground might keep following them up into the air.)

Dragon breath attacks are decreased by the player's resist magic as well as the correct elemental resistances. (Tested with fire and frost breath attacks only.)

Although time consuming, it is possible to escape from a fight with a dragon. One need simply run away for a long time and hope that the dragon gets caught up with fighting other creatures long enough for it to lose interest in you. Alternatively, you can simply enter into another area, such as a dungeon or hold, and the dragon will disappear. However, they will sometimes follow you if you go into a hold.

If bashed with a shield or weapon, dragons will be staggered temporarily. This will cancel any attack or shout, making it an easy way to eliminate a dragon provided the player has the stamina and is using either a shield or single weapon. If timed correctly, this can be used to kill dragons while remaining completely unharmed. The same tactic can be used with Destruction magic dual-wielded spells with the Stagger perk. An easy way to defeat a dragon without harming yourself other than using a shield is to lure it into a town or giant camp.

Dragon Souls
Dragon Souls are needed to utilize the different words in Dragon shouts. Souls can only be obtained through slaying a dragon, and they can be absorbed to enable a dragon shout.

Because there are 20 shouts that the Dragonborn can learn and each shout contains three words each, the player would have to kill 60 dragons (minus shouts learned as part of a quest line) in order to be able to perform every shout fully. One exception being soulless Skeletal Dragon which does not unlock any Dragon Shout.
 * Bug - (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) Sometimes the player will not absorb a dragon's soul after killing it. This usually, but not always, occurs on non-first time visits at exterior word wall spawn locations with Blood Dragons. One possible cause of this bug is fast traveling to a location with a dragon triggering the dragon to begin it's event/attack before the player has fully loaded in yet. High enough sneak or having muffle effects on may prevent this. It may also be a radiant story error regarding the dragon in question being regarded as the same dragon as was already killed at that location.

Dragon Locations
Apart from appearing in random encounters, dragons are scripted to be perched atop word walls, guarding Thu'um words. They are typically at mountain peaks.

Another location for dragons is at Dragon Burial Mounds. Their locations can be discerned by obtaining a Dragon location map, after talking to Delphine in Riverwood in the main story line.

The following locations are known to have Dragons:
 * The College of Winterhold (Shows up several times, infinite)
 * Azuras Shrine
 * Labyrinthian (Quest) (1)
 * Statue to Meridia
 * Throat of the World (After main quest completion)
 * Helgen
 * Riverwood
 * Dragontooth Crater
 * Shearpoint (later on in the game)
 * Near Riften (later on in the game)
 * Ancient's Reach
 * Fort Greenwall
 * Dawnstar
 * Northwind Summit
 * Falkreath
 * Blackreach (cavern, spotted after killing Falmer with helmet at the top of the castle)
 * Bleak Falls Barrow
 * Windhelm
 * Ancient's Ascent
 * Eldersblood peak
 * Mount Anthor
 * Morthal
 * Slightly South of Wreck of The Pride of Tel Vos
 * Skyborn Altar
 * Whiterun
 * Shor's Stone
 * Tower Stone
 * Randomly around Skyrim
 * The Lover Stone
 * Autumnwatch Tower
 * Solitude
 * Bonestrewn Crest

Combating Dragons

 * You will often hear a dragon long before you see it. They roar on a regular basis and they make a distinctive sound when flying. Use this to your advantage to either avoid or track them.
 * It is possible to find gear in game that protects against a percentage of elemental damage. This percentage stacks, so if you have the right gear it's possible to nullify up to 85% of elemental damage. Unfortunately, 100% resistance to any elemental damage is impossible. Works well against Dragon Priests.
 * Spellbreaker can deflect the breath attack of any dragon up to ancient dragons without its ward breaking.
 * Remember that a dragon can only land near you if there is enough room around you for them. If you find yourself fighting a dragon who simply refuses to land on the ground, consider moving somewhere where they may have room to do so.
 * If you have killed a dragon you can push its remains far and easily by using a magic charged spell like Fireball, Magelight or Raise Zombie. This trick is useful if the dragon is blocking your path.
 * Dragons can be instantly killed either with duel wielding dagger sneak attacks, or even sneak attacking with a bow or other weapons of your choice.
 * A dragons flame or frost breath may harm you even if submerged in a body of water.
 * If you are a Vampire you are more resistant to ice, but vulnerable to fire, this might be good or bad depending of the dragons you encounter, if you are a Dunmer and a third grade Vampire you will be very resistant to all elemental damage, and have no problems at all fighting Dragons at low levels.
 * When landed, a dragon will let out a long roar when an attack causes it to reach 50% health (the same point where it can no longer fly). While doing its roaring animation, the dragon is incapable of attacking. Using the Slow Time shout can give you enough time to finish it off before it even stops roaring.
 * Shield bashing a dragon on the head will cause it to recoil its head and stop breathing fire or frost prematurely.
 * Beware of your surroundings when combating Dragons anywhere; sometimes NPC's get in your way and can get hit and become hostile or wild animals might engage you from behind.

Bugs

 * Prior to patch 1.3 dragons had been known to become glitched into mountains and other textures, which cause them to fly backwards while spinning around.
 * Despite patch notes to the contrary, even after patch 1.2 it is possible you wont absorb a dragon's soul (this is most often the case with Blood Dragons)
 * At several locations, at the edge of the map, dragons can land beyond the mountains and will slowly lose health. You will be unable to absorb their souls, as they are out of bounds.
 * Rarely after you kill a dragon it may fall through the ground and be teleported to another location.

Achievements

 * Dragon Soul - Absorb a Dragon Soul. (10 Gamerscore) (Bronze Trophy)
 * Dragon Hunter - Absorb 20 dragon souls. (20 Gamerscore) (Silver Trophy)

Appearances

 * The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
 * An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire
 * The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard
 * The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
 * The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Akatosh's Avatar, brief)
 * The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim