Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-11296535-20130914180002/@comment-4514669-20150318212220

98.221.64.128 wrote: Panic the Wolf wrote: Perhaps it is worth considering that this may simply have been an inconsistency in the writing. Although there is yet another, more conspiracy theory-esque option. Above the Jarl's throne in Dragonsreach, there is the skull of A dragon. Can we be certain it is that of Numinex? The skull of a beast driven mad that outlives the man who actually caught it and dies pitifully in captivity is hardly much of a trophy. Think about this: isn't it odd that someone as wise as Paarthurnax would be totally oblivious to the death of a well-known dragon? Amd consider that never do we actually see beneath Dragonsreach a dungeon large enough to hold a dragon. What if - and this is way out there - Numinex still lives, insane and miserable, deep beneath the castle, his death merely a popular belief? Since there is no way into his prison, it might even be that the entrance to it was sealed and that Jarl Balgruuf and the other inhabitants have no idea he's still down there, alone and forgotten. If you remember back to the quest to capture Odahviing, the Great Porch is large enough to house a captive Dov. This, paired with the fact Paarthurnax was able to visit him, implies that Numinex was imprisoned on the Great Porch in the trap that still resides on it. Paarthurnax was able to visit him because the Great Porch is easily accesible.

Woah, rereading my old theory, I just thought of another possibility. What if Numinex, driven mad, could not even remember his own name because it wasn't Numinex at all when Paarthurnax saw him last? I also must question--did the people at Bethesda put as much thought into these minor background elements as we're doing? Is there an answer to this stuff, or are we trying to weave an intricate story around a minor inconsistency?