Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-11388043-20130711070950/@comment-69.169.132.7-20131107141427

I'm just gonna throw this out there for argument's sake. Didn't Alduin eat the world? I mean, Arngeir says that this world must be purged by fire so that the new world can be ushered in. Does that have to mean literally? I mean, as was previously stated in the post, prophecies are like 90% metaphor and interpretation anyway. Couldn't we say IRL that the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment ate the world of the pre-18th century feudal lords? Prior to that didn't Christianity eat the Pagan Roman world? And even earlier, the Romans ate the previous empires. These were things that marked gigantic changes in the world.

Well, depending upon the choices of the Dragonborn, the Dark Brotherhood might be destroyed or resurrected with the Emperor dead, the Empire now has either complete control or none in Skyrim, Miraak is dead, and vampires either can now turn off the sun whenever they want, or one of the most ancient and powerful families of vampires has been wiped out. Now the Empire will be weak either from losing their emperor and getting kicked out of skyrim, or from extended fighting in Skyrim to which they had to commit a ridiculous amount of resources, so the Aldmeri Dominion has another excellent chance to subjugate the "puny humans."

Because of Alduin, dragons are now back. I doubt they are just in Skyrim, they are probably all over the place, the Dragonborn has his work cut out for him. I mean what, they won't fly south because the Empire has established a restricted air space or something? They subjugated the world before, that will be their goal now, not just Skyrim. So if that's the case, Alduin resurrected hundreds of these suckers who probably are reproducing and all of tamriel at least has been caked in flame. Oh and for those who say that Parthurnaax is the new Alduin and all dragons now obey the Way of the Voice, here's a reality check for you, did all the dragons disappear and never fight you again after that scene on the throat of the World? No. Odaaving himself said there's no way in hell that he's gonna follow some stupid pacifist Way of the Voice (paraphrased). That's why he basically said, "Dragonborn, next time you're in a good fight, call me" (also paraphrased). There will now be factions fighting for dominance, some will go the way of the voice, some will follow the Dragonborn and some will find some Legendary Dragon and ally with him and attempt world domination again. Alduin also definitively settled the "Is Alduin another name for Akatosh?" debate (see The Alduin/Akatosh Dichotomy in game).

Now someone is thinking "This guy makes it sound like the Dragonborn ate the world, so obviously he's wrong."  Think about it. If it weren't for Alduin, the Dragonborn wouldn't have had a purpose. In fact, Alduin saved the Dragonborn from the chopping block. It's safe to say that if Alduin hadn't intervened, the Dragonborn would have just been Prisoner #2 to get killed in Helgen on day 4 of First Seed, 4E223 (date estimated, correct me if you're feeling anile). Alduin saved the Dragonborn, therefore the DB's actions are resultant from the return of Alduin, hence because of Alduin, these changes were wrought on the world. I'm not saying that Alduin's direct personal actions ate the world, I'm saying Alduin's influence and appearance were causitive of major changes in the course of history. The idea is that Alduin made waves. His return - and death - ushered in probably a new era if not an entirely new age, and it's hard to defend this position entirely because we haven't seen these waves' every ripple.

Just a thought.