User blog comment:Jack Pistol/The First Dragonborn?/@comment-108.195.32.180-20121223045901

You guys should read:  http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Book_of_the_Dragonborn

and http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Dragon_War

Miraak may not have always been evil. The dragon priests in early mythic era were not evil in the beginning. Originally, dragon priests set down laws to keep peace between dragons and men. When the dragon war broke out, it is speculated that Akatosh intervened in some way to help men. This "intervention" is also the reason that some dragons allied with men. So here are my thoughts

1) Miraak was originally blessed by Akatosh and then corrupted by Hermaeus Mora.  You can be dragonborn without actually knowing any thu'um.   I doubt Alessia learned any dragon shouts on her deathbed.

or

2) Akatosh allowed Miraak to be dragonborn so that the now evil dragon priests would be destabilized and man could survive.

I think the first is most likely true.

Whatever the case, it is clear from the in game texts that Alessia was not the first dragonborn. She was, however, the first person to recieve the title "Dragonborn." This was very significant because it signified akatosh sealing the veil between oblivion and the mortal plane. Before her, there were still dragonslayers who could absorb the souls of dragons (as per "The Book of the Dragon Born" ). They just wern't called "dragonborn"

Skyhaven Temple and the "Dragonguard" were built during the first akavir invasion in the merethic era -- well before Alessia.