User blog comment:IceFireWarden0/Next Official Elder Scroll's Game Predictions/@comment-142.1.57.140-20121129183607/@comment-4705438-20121130073506

The identity of Alduin is perfectly clear. He is not a god, nor he ever was. While the Dragons may have been Akatosh' creation, he wasn't connected to him in any special way.

Alduin was an arrogant and powerhungry tyrant, a skilled and powerful Dragon necromancer. And that's it... an old and powerful Dragon.

Also, Alduin didn't want to "consume" Nirn. He wanted to conquer and enslave it. The concept of End-Times is a heavy dramatization.