Co-Written by Sildoyol.

Irredacted by Septimus Signus

Turdas 24th Sun's Height, 4E 200

The Arch-Mage Savos Aren of the College of Winterhold grows Jazbay grapes in his tower-garden, using magelight as a substitute for the sun. Savos Aren seems welcoming at first, as does the complimentary mead he bequeathes upon you with grace. But be warned! The College is not so friendly. The wine that you see may not be so complimentary as you presume...

 After talking to Tolfdir, he told me that he would continually lose his precious alembic used for distilling various alchemical ingredients, he also noted that it would re-appear in quite odd places, usually underneath drawers and such. I found this quite odd and so pursued this oddity. I explored the college and found the Jazbay grapes in the Arch-Mage's personal garden. I sample tasted these Jazbay grapes to find myself certainly weak to magicka, however it also boosted my magicka. This is where I thought it was a little strange that the Arch-Mage would be making poisons that damaged his magicka resistance, and that is when it struck me.

My theory is that, the Arch-Mage Savos Aren, has been stealing Tolfdir's Alembic to poison the mead with his Jazbay Grapes, another effect it had was ravaging my body of it's health which again would be harmful to mages. I think Savos Aren is not to be trusted.

^^^ Cool theory.

Mine is probably more well-known, but I discovered it nonetheless and thought it fascinating.

When the last Dragonborn travels throughout Skyrim, assassins from the Dark Brotherhood are sent their way. Despite the fact that they all carry letters, none of them say who desired to kill the Dovahkiin.

I used to accept this as a simple fact of the game, put in to either introduce people new to TES to the Dark Brotherhood or as a simple, random encounter, or perhaps as a message from Bethesda that the Dragonborn was not liked by everyone.

That is, until I made a thief character, who obviously joined the Guild down in Riften. 

Now, as someone who has sunk major hours into Skyrim, and as a self-proclaimed Elder Scrolls nerd, I was instantly drawn to the Shadowmarks the Guild uses, and quickly learnt their meaning.

One night, Daro'Shulya, my thief, was just trolling through Riften trying to steal herself some swag, until she came across a large mansion with the Shadowmark 'protected' on it. I walked to the door, to see who's house it was- and it was Maven Black-Briars. Well, Guild members had told me to never steal from her (she's important blah blah blah), but that, combined with the Shadowmark and the fact that I have always DETESTED Maven, just made me want to break in.

So long story short, I did exactly that. I stole everything I could from that house, just to spite an AI character who won't even notice, and then I arrived down in the basement. I instantly see a door which is locked with an Expert-level lock. I pick it and- OHHH SH*T A BLACK SACRAMENT!

Looking further, I find notes from her to the Dark Brotherhood expressing dissapointement that they had not been able to kill the target she had given them. 

And I may believe that that target is the Dragonborn only because I hate her, but c'mon:

-She knows EVERYTHING that happens in Skyrim. She probably heard about the prisoner who escaped Helgen the very same day, and she obviously would hear about you killing the dragon at Whiterun. 

-She is power hungry and may believe the Dragonborn would claim more power in Skyrim than she could get

-I mean, WHO ELSE could fight off so many assassins besides the Dovahkiin?

-Seriously, is there anyone else in the whole province who can fight off a Dark Brotherhood assassin, especially someone who Maven knows

-She's also a biiiiitch and would want to kill us just for the sake of it

(okay that last point is just me being salty)

(also i'm pretty sure that the assassins come after you even if you don't complete dragon rising but idgaf and also maybe she has a premonition that the prisoner who survived helgen has potential. and even if your character doesn't do dragon rising i'm sure they do plenty of other important things in skyrim and that is probably enough for maven)

We know that Dov means dragon kind, or we may say the essence of being a dragon. Therefore, looking at dovah as a compound word, we notice that the word for individual dragons is literally translated to dragon hunter. This would suggest that dragons (much like young boys, perhaps, or lobsters for sure) establish a dominance hierarchy. We know this though because the first dragon literally named "destroyer devour master" is the dominant dovah. We also know that dragons possess the ability to absorb souls from fallen dovah. This may lead one to believe dragons are the embodiment of chaos (the classic image of the dragon eating its own tail). That is partially true. Dov is a representation of tyranny, and at a certain point, tyranny becomes chaos for all who aren't the tyrant. That point is embodied by the myth of the father that eats his own children (Cronus/Kronos). The reason dov is only partially this sort of tyranny is Alduin isn't eating all the other dragons, he's raising them to rule over them. That's the order inside the chaos, just like the ying-yang image. Paarthurnax is the opposite of this: he's the order with the chaos (or potential/suppressed chaos). Dovahzul is another interesting aspect of dov. The idea that dov uses tinvaak as a form of combat and normal conversation is, perhaps, another example of order within chaos. 

Munenvok

looking at dovah as a compound word, we notice that the word for individual dragons is literally translated to dragon hunter.

I agree about everything else, but dovah is as likely a coincidence as it is dov+ah. Not every polysyllable is a compound - look at bo, naar, bonaar.

Munenvok

We know that Dov means dragon kind, or we may say the essence of being a dragon. Therefore, looking at dovah as a compound word, we notice that the word for individual dragons is literally translated to dragon hunter. This would suggest that dragons (much like young boys, perhaps, or lobsters for sure) establish a dominance hierarchy. We know this though because the first dragon literally named "destroyer devour master" is the dominant dovah. We also know that dragons possess the ability to absorb souls from fallen dovah. This may lead one to believe dragons are the embodiment of chaos (the classic image of the dragon eating its own tail). That is partially true. Dov is a representation of tyranny, and at a certain point, tyranny becomes chaos for all who aren't the tyrant. That point is embodied by the myth of the father that eats his own children (Cronus/Kronos). The reason dov is only partially this sort of tyranny is Alduin isn't eating all the other dragons, he's raising them to rule over them. That's the order inside the chaos, just like the ying-yang image. Paarthurnax is the opposite of this: he's the order with the chaos (or potential/suppressed chaos). Dovahzul is another interesting aspect of dov. The idea that dov uses tinvaak as a form of combat and normal conversation is, perhaps, another example of order within chaos. 

Very interesting...

Alduin might have saved you just so he could die. He may have wanted you to kill him so that when he comes back again there wouldn't be a known dragonborn in the world at the time he (assumably) reappears. Kind of like the Emperor arranging his death theory. I haven't researched it though, just wanted to know your thoughts.

Potatoe Pope

Alduin might have saved you just so he could die. He may have wanted you to kill him so that when he comes back again there wouldn't be a known dragonborn in the world at the time he (assumably) reappears. Kind of like the Emperor arranging his death theory. I haven't researched it though, just wanted to know your thoughts.

Now that is an interesting hypothesis! I haven't heard any such theory before, but it makes sense in a way. However, Alduin seems to be working awfully hard to keep himself alive during the events of Skyrim, doing things such as retreating to Sovngarde to replenish his strength. If he had wanted to be defeated, then he wouldn't have made it so difficult to do. He could have simply bided his time until the Last Dragonborn inevitably died. The fact that he tried to go ahead with his plans despite the existence of a Dragonborn indicates that he did not expect to be killed. His tone of voice during his last words definitely made him seem surprised. "Zu'u unslaad! Zu'u nis oblaan!" ("I am eternal! I cannot die/end!" Alduin, 000ED359) Those aren't the words of someone with everything going according to plan.

The possibility that Alduin may return in the future is a worrying one, but it may be more a matter of fate than a plan. Even the strongest of all dov cannot see exactly what destiny has in store for him. The kel did foretell of the Dovahkiin's victory, and not even Alduin, the self-proclaimed Firstborn of Akatosh, can avoid the inevitable.

Hahdremro

Now that is an interesting hypothesis! I haven't heard any such theory before, but it makes sense in a way. However, Alduin seems to be working awfully hard to keep himself alive during the events of Skyrim, doing things such as retreating to Sovngarde to replenish his strength. If he had wanted to be defeated, then he wouldn't have made it so difficult to do. He could have simply bided his time until the Last Dragonborn inevitably died. The fact that he tried to go ahead with his plans despite the existence of a Dragonborn indicates that he did not expect to be killed. His tone of voice during his last words definitely made him seem surprised. "Zu'u unslaad! Zu'u nis oblaan!" ("I am eternal! I cannot die/end!" Alduin, 000ED359) Those aren't the words of someone with everything going according to plan.

The possibility that Alduin may return in the future is a worrying one, but it may be more a matter of fate than a plan. Even the strongest of all dov cannot see exactly what destiny has in store for him. The kel did foretell of the Dovahkiin's victory, and not even Alduin, the self-proclaimed Firstborn of Akatosh, can avoid the inevitable.

The rescue could also have been a "trial" to see if the Dovahkiin was strong enough to defeat Alduin and decided that he could go ahead with his destiny without interference from the Dovahkiin.

Looking at the Ayleidoon dictionary on UESP, the entries for "Molag" and "Bal" would make his name "Fire stone" in English. I don't really have anything else for this, but there may be some kind of hidden easter egg somewhere in TES about this.

Fronlaasfrin

Looking at the Ayleidoon dictionary on UESP, the entries for "Molag" and "Bal" would make his name "Fire stone" in English. I don't really have anything else for this, but there may be some kind of hidden easter egg somewhere in TES about this.

Now that's an interesting observation. I hadn't noticed anything like this, but then again, I haven't done much research into Ayleidoon other than in relation to other languages in the series. I wonder if any of the other languages have similar easter eggs?

Vomirmun
This may also mean that the Falmer look the way they do because of there strain of vampirism, and not (entirely) of subterranean slavery, and that the Dwemer put them underground to prevent them from wreaking havoc on Tamriel.

The Falmer were put underground because they were enslaved by the Dwemer. There's ample documentation of this in the TES series. That said, your idea would be a fantastic alternate universe, and could be the inspiration for a potentially brilliant fanfiction. I feel like it would be worth it to expand upon this concept.

Hahdremro

The Falmer were put underground because they were enslaved by the Dwemer. There's ample documentation of this in the TES series. That said, your idea would be a fantastic alternate universe, and could be the inspiration for a potentially brilliant fanfiction. I feel like it would be worth it to expand upon this concept.

Kogaan, fahdoni!

Boi90
Platters are actually interdimensional rifts that allow you to pass through physical barriers.

I just snorted from laughing so hard at this. Pruzah sod, fahdoni. This is in my top ten favorite posts on this site now.