@@contessa.adella that’s intense. I have no clue my hours but I’m sure it’s waaaaay up there but not 30 k 😱 how many characters do you think you’ve made?
My interpretation of the intro has always been that the Last Dragonborn was trying to get into Skyrim from Cyrodiil. They weren't captured with the Stormcloaks near Darkwater Crossing. Rather, the convoy was heading for Cyrodiil and ran into the Last Dragonborn somewhere in or near Pale Pass. Considering the value of their prisoner it makes sense the convoy would have scouts going ahead of the wagons to watch for Stormcloak patrols or ambushes. I think Ralof's comment that "You walked right into that Imperial ambush, same us," is him saying we were caught an ambush identical in style to the one that captured the rebels and Ulfrric. Lokir as well may have been captured in a separate ambush of a similar style or else at the same time as the Last Dragonborn. Lokir implies he was caught by additional Legion patrols, so he might have been headed for Cyrodiil as well with a stolen horse. Oh also, Ralof literally says we were trying to cross the border INTO Skyrim, so we were definitely not captured anywhere near Darkwater Crossing or at the same time as he and Ulfric and the others. I don't think the Last Dragonborn being captured near Darkwater Crossing would make sense because that is in the middle of Eastmarch and yet our character has no innate knowledge of the region. Where would we have come from if were there and on our way south? From a thematic standpoint as well our character coming FROM Cyrodiil makes more sense since that is the location of the previous game and we are coming from TES IV: Oblivion to TES V: Skyrim.
Saw that theory after making and uploading the video and also others have commented similarly to you on different platforms. I agree that is also makes a lot of sense, that the LDB was coming into Skyrim rather than going back to Cyrodiil, but at the time of writing and editing I had tunnel vision on the theory you saw in the video. Thank you for your feedback and for watching the video! :)
If you ask Hadvar who the other prisoners were, and follow up with a question about Ulfric, one of his replies is "Oh, right, you were caught trying to cross the border into Skyrim, weren't you? You're not kidding. Ulfric's the leader of the Stormcloaks - you know, the traitors trying to break Skyrim away from the Empire." So the Dragonborn was traveling North into Skyrim, which makes sense because the player was entering the game and the playing area.
My thoughts exactly. We most likely were an innocent person who was either entering or leaving Skyrim through the Pale Pass, but it just so happened like Ralof said we walked right into an ambush
@@OfficialNull That's a pretty fair assessment. The Dragonborn arrives in Skyrim with no knowledge of current or historical political events and the map is a blank because the player has not yet discovered any towns or locations other than Helgen. I don't agree that the DB is unlikely to be a beggar though. He arrives in Skyrim dressed in rags, which also suggests that he wasn't wealthy enough to own property anywhere. There is evidence that Maven has performed the Black Sacrement but it is pure conjecture to suppose that it was the Dragonborn in particular that she wanted dead.
Head canon follows Stormcloaks are caught in or near Darkwater Crossing. LDB is caught after crossing the border, while moving north, towards Fort Neugrad. (S)he's taken to Fort Neugrad. Tulius can't go to Cyrodiil for reasons (maybe the Thalmor caused an avalanche? in secret?) and Solitude is too far. He knows the Thalmor want Ulftic alive, so Ulfric must die. He doesn't want Ulfric to become a martyr, so he has to be executed as a criminal. That requires at least one or two more actual criminals ready for execution. Wait, there's a horse thief and some loat tourist caught crossing the border. Both are available. Well then, let the games begin.
I process vehicle titles all day at a credit union. I survive the boredom on Skyrim video essays from Camel and Epic Nate and the occasion fallout videos. I just got a suggestion to watch yours. Thank you for talking about this. I always wondered where DB came from. Subscribed.
This is the accurate version of prior events that we Skyrim enthusiasts ascribe to, as it fits all the dialogue descriptions and placement context. BTW if you disable the invisible borders and follow the road south from Helgen through the border gate you eventually do get to see in the distance, the low res spike of the White Gold Tower in the Imperial City. Imagine…the World Space designer put that in place even though you should never normally get to see it.
There's a lot of evidence in the pre-destruction phase of Helgen that the Dragonborn was actually traveling north to Skyrim rather than traveling south to Cyrodiil. For example, if you choose to be a Nord Hadvar while adding you to the list will say "You picked a bad time to come home to Skyrim kinsman". Other races get similarly treated as though they are not native citizens. My guess is that the Dragonborn was a citizen of Cyrodiil, or traveled through it specifically to get to Skyrim from somewhere else. They attempted to cross the border without a permit, walked into an imperial ambush, got knocked out, was searched, was found to not have a permit and was deemed a criminal for crossing illegally, and was thrown in with the other prisoners because the imperials were unwilling to deal with separate crimes separately and would rather just deal with all of their troubles in one fell swoop. Harsh, but convenient for them.
Travelling north makes the most sense, since it confirms two of the origin comments (Nord getting "picked a bad time to come home" and Dunmer getting "another refugee? seems the gods truly abandoned your people, dark elf"). Both a Nord and a Dunmer would have reason to want to head into Skyrim as refugees of some sort, one a theopolitical refugee and the other most likely out of sheer survival, especially since as of Dragonborn the Temple doesn't look like it cares for the poor anymore like it did under ALMSIVI. (Cyrodiil LOST the war with the Thalmor, after all, and they detest the Nords most of all, so I wouldn't be surprised if most of western Cyrodiil/Colovia is under at least veiled Aldmeri Dominion control justified with the Concordat's terms, since the justicars are all the way up into Skyrim itself. Even an Empire-born Nord would take it hard to see Talos and probably MARTIN SEPTIM being wiped out of history by the Concordat terms.)
@@neoqwerty It generally keeps things open ended enough for you to come up with your own reasons for crossing the border, not just for RP reasons but also for your later actions to make sense when given choices. For instance, you can still join up with the Imperials as a Nord, something that very few Nords would do without being drafted considering the affronts to their heritage and culture being committed by them. It is very strongly implied that you were indeed crossing north before your capture, but there's still that sliver of possibility otherwise that they left in for creative purposes. For instance, the Dragonborn could have been a citizen of Helgen who just happened to be crossing into Cyrodiil at a bad time and the specific details of their capture got fudged up due to the various troubles the Imperials were going through. This would also explain why nobody else in Skyrim knows the Dragonborn personally on first meeting. If they had lived in Helgen, their hometown would now be destroyed and nobody they knew personally would still be alive. Still, I personally believe the intention for the "canon" storyline was that the Dragonborn was indeed headed north. A sort of symbolic transition from one game into the next, and that this was what Bethesda was nodding towards by leaving in the evidence of it. They do generally treat it like whatever you want to be canon can be canon, but that doesn't mean they don't have their own version of the story in mind when developing each game.
The Dragonborn is stated to have entered Skyrim from Cyrodiil by Hadvar and Ralof alike. Both will state how the Dragonborn was caught ''crossing the border into Skyrim'', and if told of our ignorance of the Stormcloak rebellion, they are both quick to point out that ''down in Cyrodiil'' people must have other things to worry about. A comment which wouldn't make sense if we weren't coming in from Cyrodiil. Similarly, if we choose to play as a Nord, Hadvar will say that we picked a bad time to ''come home to Skyrim'', a comment which wouldn't make sense either if we were caught headed to Cyrodiil instead of from Cyrodiil.
Yep, and if it's a Dunmer you're assumed to be a refugee, that kind of assumes a Dunmer Dragonborn came from Morrowind, and not from one of the other provinces or heading to Cyrodiil (since there's two paths out of Morrowind through the mountains, the one that goes to Cheydinhal in Cyrodiil and the one to the Rift in Skyrim, if you wanted to get to Cyrodiil you'd head to Cheydinhal and not through the Rift... and specifically for the Dunmer it tells us we really don't even have enough coin to secure a boat to Windhelm, where most of the Dunmer refugees settled in the Snow/Grey Quarter, so they have to walk there.
Like others have said, I've always assumed that the Last Dragonborn was captured in an ambush by the Imperials after travelling through Pale Pass. The interpretation of us coming from Cyrodiil into Skyrim makes sense due to Hadvar and Ralof's dialogue. It also makes sense due to us seemingly knowing about the city of Skingrad in Cyrodiil. Though we could've just learned that from Sinderion's journal entry (in the 'A Return To Your Roots' quest). There's something I noticed that has stuck with me after multiple playthroughs of Skyrim, even after all these years. I'm probably misremembering but I'm gonna share this anyways: if you check the Stats Menu, specifically your General Stats, after you start up the game, you can see that the LDB had 140 Gold -- presumably before being captured by the Imperial Legion in that ambush. Which goes to show that aside from delving into the Arcane Arts a little bit, they were probably an adventurer/traveller who had prepared themselves as best they could before making the treacherous journey. Thinking about the general area around Helgen a bit, I've remembered something else too. Up the road east or south of Helgen (I'm pretty sure it's east), there's the wreckage of a Khajiit Caravan which was attacked and slaughtered by bandits :( Also, this was an awesomely made video and I'm so glad I came across this channel!! Thank you for reading ^^✨💗
I think unless the LDB is amnesiac, it doesn't make sense that they're from Skyrim because they know terribly little about the place based on questions you can ask.
The fact you are the only one unconscious seems to suggest you were being held and interrogated somewhere,then tossed in the cart with the others for Tullius to deal with.Probably somewhere towards or over the border with Cyrodil.
Sorry to disagree but that doesn't make sense. They're carrying a high-profile prisoner (i.e. Ulfric Stormcloak). No police or military group in their right mind would bother doing a stop over just to pick up some unknown prisoner with no significance to them. That would run the risk of their prisoners escaping or any of the remaining Stormcloak rebels catching up to them and instigate a fight. It's plain and simple: The Dragonborn and Lokir were unfortunate enough to get caught in that ambush in Darkwater Crossing. Although, that idea in it's self is stupid and also doesn't make sense.
I typically play a Breton who has escaped from a purge in a village just outside of Evermor in High Rock. His father, formerly an Imperial Battlemage during the Great War, and all of the men and most of the women in the village were killed. He is headed to Skyrim to go up to Winterhold and the college. He does not enter Skyrim near Falkreath or Markarth because he fears that those would be the border-crossings that the Thalmor would most likely watch. He crosses the border and heads north, the rest is explained in-game. I may have to revise the backstory, now... Good Job.
My (main) Dovahkiin started as nothing more than a Nord farmgirl whose family was being harassed by Stormcloaks for siding with the Empire. She had been sent to the house of a family friend in Cyrodil until things died down, but she received word that her father had been murdered by Stormcloaks and foolishly tried to return to Skyrim by sneaking across the border. And then some things happened.
Empire: I heard that you opened a gate for someone, is this true? Rogvir: Yes sir! Empire: You did your job? We can't have that, off with his head! Rogvir: 👁👄👁 Empire: You stole a horse to go to Hammerfell? Lokir: Yes. Empire: Committing a minor crime to escape the war that was caused by us selling out our people? Can't have that, off with his head! Lokir: 👁👄👁 Empire: And what are *you* doing?! Dragonborn: I'm crossing the border, which is no where near Darkwater crossing, where that ambush took place. Empire: A completely innocent man? Can't have that! Off with his head! Dragonborn: 👁👄👁 Stormcloaks: 'garner support' Empire: 👁👄👁
@@goatslayer3160 the Mede Empire are completely illogical, by their own logic then a farmer who just happened to stumble upon an ambush by accident is clearly guilty of....something therefore deserves death. It also makes no sense if the Dragonborn is an Imperial or elf race to be sent to death. The blatant corruption also shows when Tullius does nothing as the captain sentences you to death when Tullius could clearly hear Hadvar say he/she is not on the list and the fact the Jarl who takes control of Riften is female Al Capone Also imagine if things at Helgen were different as in Alduin arrives 5 mins late and the Dragonborn is murdered by the Empire and Alduin completes the prophecy and dooms Tamriel all because the Mede Empire were too arrogant to admit they fucked up.
I've never read or seen anything about an avalanche in the Pale Pass that would have prevented Tullius from taking Ulfric back to the Imperial City. My interpretation of events is that Tullius fully intended to take Ulfric back for summary trial and execution in Cyrodiil (as he references to Ulfric if you follow the Imperial side of the Civil War quest), but that Elenwen and her Thalmor Justiciars intercepted the Imperials halfway between Helgen and the border, and were putting pressure on Tullius to hand over Ulfric to Thalmor custody, since he was clearly a Talos worshipper, and they felt that was their bailiwick. Tullius, being the military governor of Skyrim, and answerable only to the Emperor himself, knew that what the Dominion wanted was continued hostilities between the two factions (Stormcloak and Imperials). So in a bit of perversity, decided to execute Ulfric just as quickly as he could, in Helgen. No more Ulfric, no more rebellion. But who could have foreseen a dragon attack? As for the Dragonborn? Caught trying to cross the border, just as Ralof states. Beaten up, thrown on the cart, and because the Captain didn't want to bother with paperwork, sent to the block.
I think some Dialogue from Hadvar leads to the possibility that Tulius was taking the convoy to Cyridil but then went to Helgan: "I thought were taking Ulfric back to Cyridil, but I guess the general changed his mind"
I love your pronunciation of the names. Very excellently done. Now, I'm writing this comment to point out something that people often overlook. There is unique dialogue that can open up as an option I think in Cidna mine. In any case, the dialogue has the option of the Dragonborn stating that he does have family he has not seen for a long time because they are far from Skyrim. Not in Skyrim? Where could they be from? Given the circumstances of how he was captured and taken to Helgen, I think it is by this point obvious that his family is in Cyrodil. So why was he going towards Skyrim? It is his original country but not where he was living at the time. For whatever reason, the Black Brotherhood was attempting to assassinate him. That is why random encounters happen even immediately after you escape Helgen. That means somebody had paid for his assassination before he ever arrived to Skyrim. Protecting himself from assassination probably involved his use of a two-handed weapon. This is why you begin the game with the two-handed weapons skill about 10 or 15 points above the average mean. Above his one-handed and above his smithing. You're not going to tell me that a grown man has only as much two-handed skill as a newborn or a young child, so that higher level has to indicate the use of a two-handed weapon, it being above the average mean for an adult precisely because he had to use it to defend himself. He was mistaken for a rebel while he was crossing into Skyrim. The idea was probably that he had been returning from some mischief that he was undertaking in Cyrodil. This is made obvious by the dialogue with Hadvar. He was talking about the Storm Cloaks being taken back to Cyrodil. You cannot take a person back to a place that person was not in to begin with. I hope this helps to clarify things.
This is definitely a plausible alternative theory towards the origin of the LDB, defo love the explanation for random encounters and extra levels in the Two-handed skill! Thanks for the feedback and thank you for watching! :)
Maven Black-Briar has correspondence with Astrid about those assassins that keep failing. It's in a basement room in her mansion outside Riften, where you find she had also performed the Black Sacrement. No reason given for why she wants you dead. Going back and forth between Skyrim and Cyrodiil is possible, as much as crossing into Skyrim from Cyrodiil or, with some background story to explain how come you're near Helgen, Hammerfell (from near Falkreath) or Morrowind (from near Riften or even Windhelm). It's even possible to claim you've been in Skyrim for a while or even been born in Skyrim and never left it. The LDB never says they were crossing the border or which border. They just don't contradict others about it. As for the dialogue in Cidna Mine, it can be interpreted in any way, from a lie to a figure of speech to a literal truth. Beginning stats should be ignored as a game mechanic, for RP reasons. All skills start at 15. Each race gets one skill bonus +10 and 5 skills with a bonus of +5 each. 2H is just the one Nords get at +10. Having a Khajiit DB would have Sneak at 25, an Argonian would have Lockpicking at 25, Altmer would have Illusion at 25, and so on and so forth. Make a head canon and go with it.
@@chrisbasarab2446 , no, I believe you're wrong. The stats for each character also represent the practice each kind of person acquires over a lifetime. How is the Khajiit in boots better in sneaking than a Nord in boots? The mechanics of the boots work the same for both. They have more experience in sneaking because of their overall culture. The developers of the game were not stupid. The imperials have more well rounded stats because they have a more well rounded education. They have good culture, education and the funds to get educated. That's probably a good reason to go live there. As for the mine, you are wrong about the lying. The case is that every time the Dragonborn is going to lie it is marked for you as a lie. That is what you get with the letter in Riverwood. So, no, there is no lie there. It is simply a moment of camaraderie. Also, every response is a legitimate thought that the Dragonborn is having at the moment. You, as the player, simply determine which one he decides to speak. That is why every time you go speak to an innkeeper he has in the back of his mind the question about where he can learn more magic. Because, even when he was living in Cyrodil, he had an interest in magic and was evidently learning magic; which is why he has some basic training in all the magical schools. Enough training to allow him to use two novice skills from the jump and any other novice skill he happens to study from a tome. Any other person who has not had the same kind of training can open the same kind of tome and try to read through it but it might as well be German to him. For he has no training in magic to begin with. So there you are. Every dragonborn in Skyrim is originally from somewhere else but had lived in Cyrodil with his family for some time, was training in magic, and fled for his life from the Dark Brotherhood, an assassin who he probably even killed in defending himself. In fleeing for his life he had to cross over into Skyrim. As another poster pointed out, only the Nord Dragonborn gets the line from Hadvar, "You pick the bad time to return home, kinsman,". For those of you who do not have the ears to hear I must insist on pointing out the obvious: you cannot return to a place you were already in to begin with. As for the note from Maven Blackbriar, of all the discussed points, this is the only one that can be interpreted in any way. Why do you assume it is in reference to the Dragonborn? If it were in reference to the Dragonborn then why did she not have him killed when he was in Riften? No, instead she has a face-to-face meeting with him and then decides to employ him for a project she's trying to pull off. Doesn't sound like someone she wants dead. Her desire for the assassination probably was not anything so mundane as simple dislike or petty vengeance. Most likely it was because she was trying to increase her power and influence. It was probably for business and commerce. Maybe even related to the mission that she sent the Dragonborn to deal with. Who knows? It seems obvious to me she did not want the Draining dead because she owns Riften and yet he was not waylaid. Let me know if you still have any questions.
@@chrisbasarab2446 LDB living/familiar/growing up in Skyrim doesn't make sense because if (s)he did, then our map should have had some places discovered already. We start with a blank map (other than Helgen and all major holds).
Never thought it took 2 days between the ambush in Darkwater Crossing and the "Finally Awake" scene. Though it make sense because the Imperials were intended to send Ulfric to trial right in the Imperial City, Cyrodiil. But due to Cyrodiil coming in hot under the Thalmor and WGC, the borders are locked down. Not to mention some aforementioned avalanche or whatever winter hazards in those parts. So they made a plan B and sent Ulfric to trial in Helgen instead. Ralof implies that the Dragonborn crossed the border into Skyrim. They are on their way to Skyrim from Cyrodiil, not the other way around, and got caught somewhere in the souther roads. Considering the Dragonborn is a nord (by default), the Imperials might have suspected them as a Sotrmclock scouts or lookout and they got caught too as well as Lokir who stole a horse. Now the dragonborn's vague backstory is probably intended to us players, based on how we interpret these events. As a default nord, they might be those type of born and raised or lived somewhere else and about to return to their homeland. Other races are foreigners who stumbled in Skyrim to either study, train, meet someone in there, get away from their crimes, or just to explore. Then we all agree that the dragonborn got caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, even they are prophesized as heroes as foretold by the Elder Scrolls. Such destiny can either be a blessing or a curse. It's all uo to us players to give em the roleplay and immersion they offer.
I just met Froki and Hammel today for the first time in 2023 while looking for Kyne’s shrine north of Froki’s cabin. And your video pops up mentioning Froki. Skyrim is something else.
Inventing a backstory for my characters is *absolutely crucial* to me being able to enjoy that playthrough. Sometimes I go nuts and I'm almost writing a novel. I do consider "Take Notes: Journal of the Dragonborn" absolute must-have, but I'm good at babbling into a keyboard.
For me this theory don't make much sense. When you play the game, all the NPC talk to you like you are not from Skyrim, giving you information that should be obvious if you live there. For me, the Dragonborn was someone who was traveling from Cyrodill to Skyrim, and get unlucky when encountering the ambush Tulius make to Ulfric
You could be totally right, as I stated in a comment earlier, I figured out a theory and got blind sighted by it. Only after editing and uploading I took a step back and figured "maybe this went somewhat differently". Thanks for the feedback and thank you for watching! :)
"When you play the game, all the NPC talk to you like you are not from Skyrim,..." That's because the NPCs think you're stupid and a child, but in reality, they are the ones, frikkin T-posing immediately when something goes wrong. What a pathetic existence it must be, to be an NPC in Skyrim, constantly mocking others, being rude and then being the one that just lives in a rented room, while having the key to the owned house, a mansion even, which does not even exist. Catfolk always has wares, if you have coin. What if you don't have coin, but a shit ton of goodies you don't need? Yup, Khajiit also takes them, actually carrying your burdens. Don't go into the tombs when high level. Except if you like getting flung around by 30 shouting Draugr Death Overlords all at once. *A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON* ... No explanation needed. Mai'q... Could also call him "Todd the Howardly Liar". *HeY yOu. YoU'rE fInAlLy AwAkE* ... Why is Ulfric the one wearing the mask so that he can't speak and shuts the fuck up and not Ralof? Ulfric's shouting is less annoying and dangerous to the human mind, than Ralof's first words. The Horse from the cart intro. Yes. What did Bugthesda think they were doing, mashing all those bloating scripts into this one tiny area, not realizing that it would break their game immediately? "Did you see a dawg out there?" No, "Dawg" i didn't see a dog out there and if i had, i'd join him in his News tower and start fightin the good fight. Oh wait, wrong game franchise, whoops. And last but not least: Belethor would sell his sister, if he had one. Lucan has one. You know what both have in common? The Voice actor *BA DUM TSS* no but seriously though, i can't imagine how fucking stupid the voice actor must have felt, doing his lines for Lucan and for Belethor, then later for Mercer and probably the Dragonborn's mom. Bonus: Sadly we will never hear Paarthunax say: "It's a me, Paarthunax!" ... Oh wait, Daddy Dagoth is a thing and the same technology could be used for just that. What a fool i am, how could i be so naive?
The Dragonborn is an astronaut, he came from the planet Akila and found this weird planet called Nirn. After leaving his wrecked ship, he was captured.
The dragon born knows nothing of skyrims culture or any locations, for gameplay reasons this makes sense, but it also suggests that the dragonborn is from cyrodil
I have never thought about going to Ivarstead through Helgen..... I was always contouring the whole mountain for 30 minutes through every playthrough...
I usually play as a Breton as well. My thoughts that you were slipped a drug where you lost your memory at a local inn. Your inheritance was stolen from you by a relative or business rival. ( Maven has a note in her basement complaining to the Dark Brotherhood about failing to kill a target after multiple attempts). Through bribes you get thrown onto the prisoner wagon to get you killed and to be justifiably executed as a criminal to the Empire.
My personal headcannon goes that they were taking ulfric to cyrodil, at the same time as the LDB was crossing. Imperial scouts defeated and captured the LDB under suspicion of being with the stormcloaks. Tulluis then rushed the execution at helegen because he knew the thalmor would try to delay it
Was watching random stuff about Skyrim when this Video was recommended to me. Thought I am watching another Video of some well-known TH-camr having hundreds of thousands of subscribers...well my face when I saw "77 Subscribers" haha. Looking forward to more content from you!
I fairly certain that Skyrim's map isn't completely lore accurate for gameplay reasons. The region would a be lot larger and have a lot more roads etc. Therefore, you can't really deduct the complete route from in game map.
Did you know the blacksmith in whiterun has a sister. She works for the east empire company. You can find her in Windhelm if you do the quest In the East empire on the docks of windhelm you have her to follow you.
“You picked a bad time to come home to Skyrim, Kinsman.” The Dragonborn was entering Skyrim from the border with Cyrodiil. He got caught in the same ambush with Ulfric. Every racial dialogue line indicates a return to Skyrim (aka “It’s rare for a Wood Elf to come to Skyrim alone.”
My theory has always been that the imperials captured Ulfric near Darkwater Crossing and were taking him to Cyrodill for a proper trial. Somewhere near Pale Pass the stormcloaks tried to save Ulfric, but were ambushed by the imperial reinforcements. The DB was trying to sneak into Skyrim without papers, but unfortunately, they got caught in the skirmish between the stormcloaks and imperials. Some time after the battle and with the group traveling away from Skyrim, I assume Thalmor agents contacted Tullius, asking him to turn over the prisoners (namely, Ulfric) and the General, knowing they would probably get ambushed by Thalmor or their agents on their way to the Imperial City, decides to turn back to the nearest imperial fortified post: Helgen. The Thalmor have made their interest in Ulfric clear and Tullius decides that if he can't get the traitor to the Emperor, he's going to end the rebellion right there and then. Of course, he needs numbers to back him up in case more Thalmor show up. And they do! Ellenwen herself is already in Helgen by the time Tullius's entourage gets there. Her dialogue if you use a mod that restores cut content is as follows (Tullius has no dialogue): "General Tullius, stop! By the authority of the Thalmor, I'm taking custody of these prisoners." "Your Emperor will hear of this. By the terms of the White-Gold Concordat, I operate with full Imperial authority!" "You're making a terrible mistake!" Which implies that Tullius told her to go for a ride and explains why he didn't give a damn about everyone being executed. Why he didn't start with Ulfric is anyone's guess, but my money is on wanting him to witness his loyal men getting killed one by one. Tullius was expecting some ploy by Ellenwen and her cronies, but I guess with a whole garrison that had his back in case anything happened, he could take his time to savor the victory. Alduin was completely unaccounted for, though lol
My head canon is that DB is an imperial streetrat that's coming to Skyrim to escape a gig that went bad. Because right from the get go some one has a dark brotherhood bounty on DB. And that streetrat also happens to be a long lost descendant of Uriel. Explaining the dragon blood. Whose to say Martin or any of his other sons didn't have their own secret child? Would make lots of sense. Would also be one hell of a comeback for the Septims. DB comes back, saves Tamriel, reunites the empire, kills the false kings. I like to also point out that if the amulet of kings still existed and the DB put it on. That would automatically declare them the new emperor basically because of their dragon blood. Also ES5 was supposed to originally be about a long lost Septim coming back. Who says it isn't.
I've always considered the default Nord character as soon as the character creator starts is the canon dragonborn. The main quest is also, the only canon questline while everything else takes second stage, and that the last dragonborn is also the shezzarine seeing as how Shor is absent during your visit to sovngarde
It doesn’t make sense, then the Dragonborn goes on and becomes the champion of Skyrim killing Alduin and stopping the civil war but somehow gets captured and bound.
its a theory, a Skyrim theory, thank you for the feedback, will try to set a more structured and complete sequence of what I believe to have had happened in future videos, thank you for watching! :)
The Dragonborn is not this overpowered godlike champion many people believe they are. They don't have any inherit power beyond the ability to read the dragon language and Shout without training.
For me Dark Water Crossing just wasn't a posibility, i thought it was that the Stormcloaks was trying to pass from skyrim in to cyridel (trying to take the fight to them) The Horse thef was just in the area, and plater tryed to cross from Cyrodel in to Skyrim and got cought as suspicius due to the Stormcloaks being there
I always use the same backstory,,,my father was a nord moth priest searching Tamriel for elder scrolls when he met my mother, a/an (insert race),,they fell in love, got married,,,moved back to Cyrodil, where she was killed by the thalmor when I was a young child, and , since he still wanted to search for elder scrolls, I was raised by the other priests, then he became blind from reading too many scrolls, came home, and told me right before he died that my destiny was in Skyrim, so I should head there….☺️
According to Hadvar when you select your race, if the Dragonborn is a Nord, he is coming home to Skyrim. So I think you missed that detail. I usually play as an Imperial, I like to think that every race would have their own reason for coming to Skyrim, adventure, looking for a new life, something like that. I call my character Farwander, so he could be a wandering knight who left Cyrodill to make his name in another land, heard about the conflict in Skyrim and decided to help out there.
I come from elsywer, I was trying to cross the border into Skyrim, I had a massive Skooma deal set-up to meet a contact, didn’t know his name just that he came from roikstead. wrong place, wrong time it turns out. Some heretic calling himself ulfric stormcloak and with men were there at the same time and place the deal was meant to go down. Got ambushed by the imperial army. I just stayed quite on the ride to Helgen.
Why would he do that when he already have the power to eat the world he went to sovngarde to devour the souls there because he couldn't defeat the Dragonborn
You got it all wrong, the Dragonborn was entering into Skyrim because he wanted to get back with his ex who is in the legion. Turns out, she’s the legate who doesn’t even want to hear it and orders you to the chopping block for no reason at all. She ends up dead at Helgen and the story goes.
My Breton Dragonborn is originally from the western Reach. The son of a Reachman chieftain, he left his clan against his father’s wishes to see the wider world, eventually making his way to Cyrodiil. On hearing that a assassins from a rival clan had slain his father, he began his return journey to Highrock to enact vengeance on his enemies. The legion captured him as he crossed into Skyrim.
Never be ashamed or embarrassed for spending countless hours or days playing Skyrim, its not a waste of time, what is a waste of time and shameful is using Tik Tok.
Because he stole a sweetroll Anyways, I read he was a new student at the College of Whispers in Cyrodil, which is how he knows basic magic. And cannon wise he was written to be Nord, so maybe he wanted to visit his homeland, and boom.
i believe dragonborn was trying to get into skyrim and got caught in the way, that's why he doesn't seem to know anything about the culture or history of the place
I have 7000 hours in Skyrim. Ive been playing it since launch. Legacy of the Dragonborn keeps me on Tamriel. Every boss has been beaten, every beast has been slain, there are no more quests to be undertaken. You, only YOU can send me to Sovengarde with honor. Meet me at my last vigil.
I agree with the likelihood the Dragonborn is coming from Cyrodill to Skyrim. This is especially true if the DB is a Nord, an Imperial, a Breton...or pretty much any race. Khajit traders are coming north to do business. High Elves or Wood Elves would naturally be coming from the south. The mention that there have been avalanches in the Pale Pass could explain why he is going North. It is possible he was well up the road and the avalanches occurred behind him, making the only open path he had was to the North. My main feeling was the Imperials had word that Ulfric and his men would be in the area of Helgen and the "ambush" simply swept up anyone along the roads that wasn't absolutely identified as Imperial or an Imperial sympathizer. The Stormcloaks don't know the DB, it's clear the Imperials have no record of the DB's identity. I think the Imps and Tullius were just grabbing every stranger around...just trying to make sure no potential Stormcloak slipped away. By this time in the war, summary execution appears to have been done by both sides if a person was not clearly "On Our Side." Another reason I feel the DB was coming from the south is he has little or no awareness there is even a conflict going on in Skyrim. If he was coming from the north, there is no way he could have been oblivious to the war.
The most likely explanation is that the last dragonborn was trying to escape the dark brotherhood, as you don't need to do anything to be attacked by the dark brotherhood assassin
Well ralof says we got caught up in the ambush trying to cross the border and had at (who I always go with) said “I guess people down in cyrodiil have other things to worry about. So it’s quite cinfusing
One thing that got me asking why was the Dragonborn crossing the Boarder. It started from another TH-cam channel saying that Maven Black Briar was sending the Dark Brother after the DragonBorn. Maybe the DragonBorn was a smuggler or done something really bad. You wonder why Maven was so hostile to you and telling you get out of her way. She only says that to the Dragon Born.
Here's my head canon. The Dragonborn lives with family in or around Bruma, a rather tense region in the wake of the White Gold Concordat. Many Nords in the region have refused to cease their worship of Talos and have thus fled to Skyrim to avoid religious persecution. Knowing this and being fully aware of the current hostilities in Skyrim, the Thalmor have taken a heavy-handed approach to Bruma. In the midst of the turmoil, the Dragonborn flees the region, likely due to confronting either Thalmor or Imperial agents after repeated harassment. He flees north to Skyrim via Pale Pass, narrowly surviving the journey, the emergence of Alduin having sent tremors through the Pass that resulted in multiple avalanches that sealed it shut in the Dragonborn's wake. With no other option, the Dragonborn presses onward. At the same time, General Tullius and a sizeable caravan are approaching Pale Pass with a collection of prisoners due to be tried in Cyrodil. Amongst them is none other than Ulfric Stormcloak, the leader of the Nordic rebellion himself. Tullius sends a contubernium of pathfinders ahead of the caravan to both flush out any potential Stormcloak ambushes and ascertain the condition of Pale Pass in the wake of the tremors felt recently. The contubernium stumbles upon the Dragonborn, as well as a mouthy horse thief. Both are detained, though the Dragonborn is knocked unconscious during the scuffle. Reporting back to Tullius, the decanus explained that Pale Pass was impassable. This forces Tullius to order the caravan to turn about and head north to Helgan, the closest Imperial outpost. Arriving in Helgan, Tullius is approached by Thalmor agents that demand Ulfric's summary execution, as the Dominion is unwilling to risk losing the leader of an open rebellion espousing heretical beliefs. Knowing well that this will simply serve to make a martyr of Ulfric and likely rally his allies and supporters, Tullius is reluctant, but his hands are tied. He knows this will extend the war and cost the Empire precious resources and he knows that that is exactly what the Dominion wants. Thus, in an effort to at least delay the news of Ulfric's death from spreading throughout Skyrim, Tullius orders the execution of every prisoner in the caravan, reducing the number of witnesses as much as possible. Fortunately, possibly having sensed the power within both Ulfric and the Dragonborn, Alduin arrives and disrupts this execution and the game begins.
You are aware that Helgen Spawns bandits, aren't you? Or did they get tossed with the Anniversary Edition? In the earlier versions once the gates of Helgen get locked and no longer open freely you will find one set of bandit and a boss chest in the section of the caves past the now repaired bridge. The other set of about 5 live in the building next to the gate on the road to Iverstead and some of them patrol down to the entrances to the keep.
I've got pet hypotheses: The Dunmer and female Orc were headed north, everyone else were headed south to flee the war only to get caught up in the middle of it. But why would those two specific race backgrounds be running TOWARDS the Civil War? Because it's in the background of their real destinations: Dunmer are the easiest - being refugees, they have nothing left to lose, and didn't manage to integrate into Cyrodil, which was swarming with penniless Dunmer not unlike Eastern Skyrim. They were on their way to Windhelm to use the rest of their money to buy passage to Raven Rock. If it wasn't for Ulfric's capture, the Dunmer DB would have ended up making ends meet in the Gray Quarter. Orc males were similarly looking for non-picky job opportunities in a war-torn land. Orc females are the bride sent to Narzulbur's chief Makhulakh. If it wasn't for the situation, the chief's incestuous aunts would have made them disappear later on her way to the stronghold.
The thing about it is that I always interpreted that the Dragonborn was going to Skyrim, not Cyrodiil. Also, Ralof says, "You were trying to cross the boarder, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush. Same as us, and that thief over there." So, it seemed like Lokir, the Stormcloaks, Ulfric, and the Dragonborn were all ambushed. And, in the same place and time. But, if they were ambushed near Darkwater Crossing, which is way north of the borders of Skyrim and Cyrodiil, that would mean that either Ralof's dialogue about waking into the ambush was wrong, or where they got ambushed wasn't near Darkwater Crossing. (edit) It may not be the Skyrim/Cyrodiil boarder that the Dragonborn was trying to cross. So, Darkwater Crossing is on the border of Eastmarch and the Rift. Perhaps the Dragonborn was crossing the Eastmarch/Rift border. But, then it wouldn't make sense due to being called an outsider, and some characters say that you're "new to Skyrim," which means you might have tried crossing a border of either Skyrim/Cyrodiil or Skyrim/Morrowind. But, also, it's hard to say where exactly the Dragonborn was captured, but the Eastmarch/Rift border seems a little more plausible. Unless, the Dragonborn crossed many borders and ended up near Darkwater Crossing. That would mean that Ralof was actually talking about the Imperial/Stormcloak Civil War boarders instead of the borders of Tamriel's countries (I use this term lightly). That would make more sense due to people calling you an outsider and new to Skyrim. But, I think that would apply to non-Nords. If you're a Nord, then Hadvar says that you're coming home to Skyrim. To that, I say that if the Dragonborn was a Nord, then they crossed Skyrim/Cyrodiil boarder or Skyrim/Morrowind boarder. There are Nords in Morrowind and Cyrodiil, so it's possible they could've come from Morrowind or Cyrodiil. It's also possible that the Dragonborn was seen crossing the Skyrim/Cyrodiil or Skyrim/Morrowind border and they've been following the Dragonborn up to Darkwater Crossing. But, I doubt it because the Imperials have horses, so they might have caught up to the Dragonborn faster. But, again, it's unclear what actually happened, so there's that.
Well, I had been on a killing spree when they caught me, not entirely sure about the details as I was very high on skooma at the time. Still, worked out for the best. Not many living things left in Skyrim now. Except all those strange immortals, and children. Dont know whats up with that.
It's not embarrassing brother we've all spent a ridiculous amount of time on this game. Still one of the greatest games of all time. I actually just started a new play through After being away from the game for a little while.
As far as gameplay reasons go, it's probably because it's close to the center of the map and one of the biggest main cities. Kinda equidistant to all of the content, save for Falkreath since there's literally nothing there except the Dark Brotherhood
What if DB wasn't travelling into (or from) Skyrim at all? Empire could just create a roundup and grab some randoms from both sides of the mountains just to perform "proper" execution of the convicts.
I don't see how the dragon killed every single inhabitant of Helga and that makes no sense, with all the guards running around and people going back and forth there should been at least 10:15 people that survived because if the dragonborn can survive and other members of the empire survive helgan then chances are there should have been more than just one kid who survived. And I have to admit I didn't know that you could store stuff in Helga I would have used it long ago when I first started playing the game It's very handy All these years of playing I never knew that.
TLD (Nord by default) was a bastard child, the result of a Nord legionnaire who fell in the Great War and the mother, a lusty Argonian that abandoned TLD and went back to Black Marsh in shame. TLD grew up orphaned and then was caught trespassing into Skyrim while just wanting to "return to (his/her father's) roots." Caught by those "Imperial bastards" after they had to detour from going to Cyrodil with Ulfric and his men caught around Dark Water Passage, due to inclement weather and back to Skyrim. Helgen just happened to be the closest town and the Imperial just wanted to get it over with after traversing several days on the road. Thanks to Alduin, TLD got a second chance in life. While familiarizing with his father's native land, filled with pride, TLD realizes why "Skyrim belongs to the Nords!" TLD then proceeds to cut down Imperial soldiers and every Thalmor he encounters. Well that's my version and I'm sticking to it.
My inteprtion conserding we were on a carriage/convey we were on coming into Skyrim from the entrance area of the dawngurad and ran into the stormcloaks as the imperals ambushed them around the exit of the cliff face we and the horse theif just happend to go into the same area conserving he says was going to hamerfall meaning he was leaving skyrim while we were entering he got caught in the ambush same as us and when we tied to say we were part of the storm cloaks they knocked us out and bined us plus remember carriges go all over skyrim
You know how people say that achieving chim is the individual realizing that the elder scrolls universe they are living in is the dream of the god head and therefore you begin what is closely related to as lucid dreaming or the effect of it by which you can virtually do anything I.e god powers. Now here where it gets crazy, you are basically a nobody with no past or knowledge of anything within the world which in it of itself very strange so I propose that the nord hero who becomes the Dragonborn only became the Dragonborn the moment he “wakes up” (achieved chim)
I think most skyrim players reach the 1000 hr waypoint, like its rare for a skyrim player to have less than 250 hrs if theyve owned the game for more than 2 years
The dragonborn was trying to escape skyrim because someone performed the black sacrament and was trying to have them killed. Simply a case of wrong place, wrong time.
I personally think he was trying to kill Ulfric who used a shout on the late High King. Maybe Alduin wanted to get rid of a potential threat as he clearly knew dragon shouts. Once Alduin shows up in Helgen he senses the LDB as well.
Im still confused as to why we weren't given an option to submit to Alduin, and if offered become his new dragon priest. The dude literally saved your head from being chopped off. You'd think that would make the LDB grateful, whether or not it was Alduin's intention.
I think that Alduin wasn’t planning on saving us in Helgen, but he smelled our dragon blood and knew we could kill him, so he tried to kill us, but lucky for us, the headsman stood up just in time to take the hit, and gave us a chance to get away🤔
@@danentakoto2701 I am always online till I crash around 11pm,,here in mountain time☺️😉…and I am an old retired woman who has all day to chill, playing skyrim a few hours almost every day 😋.. then I like to watch some youtube videos,, only youtube, tho☺️
It’s never embarrassing to have countless hours in skyrim. Don’t be ashamed 😂
About 30,000…. No joke. Played every day since release….mad….but true.
Wear it as a badge of pride
One of the best games
@@contessa.adella that’s intense. I have no clue my hours but I’m sure it’s waaaaay up there but not 30 k 😱 how many characters do you think you’ve made?
@@contessa.adellathat has to be a Record… I’ve never heard anyone play for that long.
My interpretation of the intro has always been that the Last Dragonborn was trying to get into Skyrim from Cyrodiil. They weren't captured with the Stormcloaks near Darkwater Crossing. Rather, the convoy was heading for Cyrodiil and ran into the Last Dragonborn somewhere in or near Pale Pass. Considering the value of their prisoner it makes sense the convoy would have scouts going ahead of the wagons to watch for Stormcloak patrols or ambushes. I think Ralof's comment that "You walked right into that Imperial ambush, same us," is him saying we were caught an ambush identical in style to the one that captured the rebels and Ulfrric. Lokir as well may have been captured in a separate ambush of a similar style or else at the same time as the Last Dragonborn. Lokir implies he was caught by additional Legion patrols, so he might have been headed for Cyrodiil as well with a stolen horse. Oh also, Ralof literally says we were trying to cross the border INTO Skyrim, so we were definitely not captured anywhere near Darkwater Crossing or at the same time as he and Ulfric and the others.
I don't think the Last Dragonborn being captured near Darkwater Crossing would make sense because that is in the middle of Eastmarch and yet our character has no innate knowledge of the region. Where would we have come from if were there and on our way south? From a thematic standpoint as well our character coming FROM Cyrodiil makes more sense since that is the location of the previous game and we are coming from TES IV: Oblivion to TES V: Skyrim.
Saw that theory after making and uploading the video and also others have commented similarly to you on different platforms.
I agree that is also makes a lot of sense, that the LDB was coming into Skyrim rather than going back to Cyrodiil, but at the time of writing and editing I had tunnel vision on the theory you saw in the video.
Thank you for your feedback and for watching the video! :)
Hadvar also mentions that "You picked a bad time to come home to Skyrim, kinsman."
If you ask Hadvar who the other prisoners were, and follow up with a question about Ulfric, one of his replies is "Oh, right, you were caught trying to cross the border into Skyrim, weren't you? You're not kidding. Ulfric's the leader of the Stormcloaks - you know, the traitors trying to break Skyrim away from the Empire."
So the Dragonborn was traveling North into Skyrim, which makes sense because the player was entering the game and the playing area.
My thoughts exactly. We most likely were an innocent person who was either entering or leaving Skyrim through the Pale Pass, but it just so happened like Ralof said we walked right into an ambush
@@OfficialNull That's a pretty fair assessment. The Dragonborn arrives in Skyrim with no knowledge of current or historical political events and the map is a blank because the player has not yet discovered any towns or locations other than Helgen.
I don't agree that the DB is unlikely to be a beggar though. He arrives in Skyrim dressed in rags, which also suggests that he wasn't wealthy enough to own property anywhere.
There is evidence that Maven has performed the Black Sacrement but it is pure conjecture to suppose that it was the Dragonborn in particular that she wanted dead.
Head canon follows
Stormcloaks are caught in or near Darkwater Crossing.
LDB is caught after crossing the border, while moving north, towards Fort Neugrad. (S)he's taken to Fort Neugrad.
Tulius can't go to Cyrodiil for reasons (maybe the Thalmor caused an avalanche? in secret?) and Solitude is too far. He knows the Thalmor want Ulftic alive, so Ulfric must die. He doesn't want Ulfric to become a martyr, so he has to be executed as a criminal. That requires at least one or two more actual criminals ready for execution.
Wait, there's a horse thief and some loat tourist caught crossing the border. Both are available.
Well then, let the games begin.
This is my favorite type of content! Video essays on the most random parts of skyrim are always good background audio
might need to step of the time in premier pro then, happy you enjoyed some ASMR, thank you! :)
I process vehicle titles all day at a credit union. I survive the boredom on Skyrim video essays from Camel and Epic Nate and the occasion fallout videos. I just got a suggestion to watch yours. Thank you for talking about this. I always wondered where DB came from. Subscribed.
This is the accurate version of prior events that we Skyrim enthusiasts ascribe to, as it fits all the dialogue descriptions and placement context. BTW if you disable the invisible borders and follow the road south from Helgen through the border gate you eventually do get to see in the distance, the low res spike of the White Gold Tower in the Imperial City. Imagine…the World Space designer put that in place even though you should never normally get to see it.
There's a lot of evidence in the pre-destruction phase of Helgen that the Dragonborn was actually traveling north to Skyrim rather than traveling south to Cyrodiil. For example, if you choose to be a Nord Hadvar while adding you to the list will say "You picked a bad time to come home to Skyrim kinsman". Other races get similarly treated as though they are not native citizens.
My guess is that the Dragonborn was a citizen of Cyrodiil, or traveled through it specifically to get to Skyrim from somewhere else. They attempted to cross the border without a permit, walked into an imperial ambush, got knocked out, was searched, was found to not have a permit and was deemed a criminal for crossing illegally, and was thrown in with the other prisoners because the imperials were unwilling to deal with separate crimes separately and would rather just deal with all of their troubles in one fell swoop. Harsh, but convenient for them.
Travelling north makes the most sense, since it confirms two of the origin comments (Nord getting "picked a bad time to come home" and Dunmer getting "another refugee? seems the gods truly abandoned your people, dark elf").
Both a Nord and a Dunmer would have reason to want to head into Skyrim as refugees of some sort, one a theopolitical refugee and the other most likely out of sheer survival, especially since as of Dragonborn the Temple doesn't look like it cares for the poor anymore like it did under ALMSIVI.
(Cyrodiil LOST the war with the Thalmor, after all, and they detest the Nords most of all, so I wouldn't be surprised if most of western Cyrodiil/Colovia is under at least veiled Aldmeri Dominion control justified with the Concordat's terms, since the justicars are all the way up into Skyrim itself. Even an Empire-born Nord would take it hard to see Talos and probably MARTIN SEPTIM being wiped out of history by the Concordat terms.)
@@neoqwerty It generally keeps things open ended enough for you to come up with your own reasons for crossing the border, not just for RP reasons but also for your later actions to make sense when given choices. For instance, you can still join up with the Imperials as a Nord, something that very few Nords would do without being drafted considering the affronts to their heritage and culture being committed by them.
It is very strongly implied that you were indeed crossing north before your capture, but there's still that sliver of possibility otherwise that they left in for creative purposes. For instance, the Dragonborn could have been a citizen of Helgen who just happened to be crossing into Cyrodiil at a bad time and the specific details of their capture got fudged up due to the various troubles the Imperials were going through.
This would also explain why nobody else in Skyrim knows the Dragonborn personally on first meeting. If they had lived in Helgen, their hometown would now be destroyed and nobody they knew personally would still be alive.
Still, I personally believe the intention for the "canon" storyline was that the Dragonborn was indeed headed north. A sort of symbolic transition from one game into the next, and that this was what Bethesda was nodding towards by leaving in the evidence of it. They do generally treat it like whatever you want to be canon can be canon, but that doesn't mean they don't have their own version of the story in mind when developing each game.
The Dragonborn is stated to have entered Skyrim from Cyrodiil by Hadvar and Ralof alike. Both will state how the Dragonborn was caught ''crossing the border into Skyrim'', and if told of our ignorance of the Stormcloak rebellion, they are both quick to point out that ''down in Cyrodiil'' people must have other things to worry about. A comment which wouldn't make sense if we weren't coming in from Cyrodiil.
Similarly, if we choose to play as a Nord, Hadvar will say that we picked a bad time to ''come home to Skyrim'', a comment which wouldn't make sense either if we were caught headed to Cyrodiil instead of from Cyrodiil.
Yep, and if it's a Dunmer you're assumed to be a refugee, that kind of assumes a Dunmer Dragonborn came from Morrowind, and not from one of the other provinces or heading to Cyrodiil (since there's two paths out of Morrowind through the mountains, the one that goes to Cheydinhal in Cyrodiil and the one to the Rift in Skyrim, if you wanted to get to Cyrodiil you'd head to Cheydinhal and not through the Rift... and specifically for the Dunmer it tells us we really don't even have enough coin to secure a boat to Windhelm, where most of the Dunmer refugees settled in the Snow/Grey Quarter, so they have to walk there.
Like others have said, I've always assumed that the Last Dragonborn was captured in an ambush by the Imperials after travelling through Pale Pass.
The interpretation of us coming from Cyrodiil into Skyrim makes sense due to Hadvar and Ralof's dialogue. It also makes sense due to us seemingly knowing about the city of Skingrad in Cyrodiil. Though we could've just learned that from Sinderion's journal entry (in the 'A Return To Your Roots' quest).
There's something I noticed that has stuck with me after multiple playthroughs of Skyrim, even after all these years. I'm probably misremembering but I'm gonna share this anyways: if you check the Stats Menu, specifically your General Stats, after you start up the game, you can see that the LDB had 140 Gold -- presumably before being captured by the Imperial Legion in that ambush. Which goes to show that aside from delving into the Arcane Arts a little bit, they were probably an adventurer/traveller who had prepared themselves as best they could before making the treacherous journey.
Thinking about the general area around Helgen a bit, I've remembered something else too. Up the road east or south of Helgen (I'm pretty sure it's east), there's the wreckage of a Khajiit Caravan which was attacked and slaughtered by bandits :(
Also, this was an awesomely made video and I'm so glad I came across this channel!! Thank you for reading ^^✨💗
I think unless the LDB is amnesiac, it doesn't make sense that they're from Skyrim because they know terribly little about the place based on questions you can ask.
The fact you are the only one unconscious seems to suggest you were being held and interrogated somewhere,then tossed in the cart with the others for Tullius to deal with.Probably somewhere towards or over the border with Cyrodil.
Hey, that is also a possibility, not allowing the player to see adds a whole ocean of options and theories, thank you for watching! :)
Sorry to disagree but that doesn't make sense. They're carrying a high-profile prisoner (i.e. Ulfric Stormcloak). No police or military group in their right mind would bother doing a stop over just to pick up some unknown prisoner with no significance to them. That would run the risk of their prisoners escaping or any of the remaining Stormcloak rebels catching up to them and instigate a fight. It's plain and simple: The Dragonborn and Lokir were unfortunate enough to get caught in that ambush in Darkwater Crossing. Although, that idea in it's self is stupid and also doesn't make sense.
Imagine its the same protagonist as oblivion except with amnesia
Playing Skyrim is never a waste of time 🙂
I typically play a Breton who has escaped from a purge in a village just outside of Evermor in High Rock. His father, formerly an Imperial Battlemage during the Great War, and all of the men and most of the women in the village were killed. He is headed to Skyrim to go up to Winterhold and the college. He does not enter Skyrim near Falkreath or Markarth because he fears that those would be the border-crossings that the Thalmor would most likely watch. He crosses the border and heads north, the rest is explained in-game. I may have to revise the backstory, now... Good Job.
My (main) Dovahkiin started as nothing more than a Nord farmgirl whose family was being harassed by Stormcloaks for siding with the Empire. She had been sent to the house of a family friend in Cyrodil until things died down, but she received word that her father had been murdered by Stormcloaks and foolishly tried to return to Skyrim by sneaking across the border. And then some things happened.
Dragonborn: *is innocent*
corrupt Mede Empire: "I missed the part where thats my problem"
Empire: I heard that you opened a gate for someone, is this true?
Rogvir: Yes sir!
Empire: You did your job? We can't have that, off with his head!
Rogvir: 👁👄👁
Empire: You stole a horse to go to Hammerfell?
Lokir: Yes.
Empire: Committing a minor crime to escape the war that was caused by us selling out our people? Can't have that, off with his head!
Lokir: 👁👄👁
Empire: And what are *you* doing?!
Dragonborn: I'm crossing the border, which is no where near Darkwater crossing, where that ambush took place.
Empire: A completely innocent man? Can't have that! Off with his head!
Dragonborn: 👁👄👁
Stormcloaks: 'garner support'
Empire: 👁👄👁
@@goatslayer3160 the Mede Empire are completely illogical, by their own logic then a farmer who just happened to stumble upon an ambush by accident is clearly guilty of....something therefore deserves death. It also makes no sense if the Dragonborn is an Imperial or elf race to be sent to death.
The blatant corruption also shows when Tullius does nothing as the captain sentences you to death when Tullius could clearly hear Hadvar say he/she is not on the list and the fact the Jarl who takes control of Riften is female Al Capone
Also imagine if things at Helgen were different as in Alduin arrives 5 mins late and the Dragonborn is murdered by the Empire and Alduin completes the prophecy and dooms Tamriel all because the Mede Empire were too arrogant to admit they fucked up.
@@goatslayer3160 Rogvir opened the gate for Ulfric which is why he got executed.
I've never read or seen anything about an avalanche in the Pale Pass that would have prevented Tullius from taking Ulfric back to the Imperial City. My interpretation of events is that Tullius fully intended to take Ulfric back for summary trial and execution in Cyrodiil (as he references to Ulfric if you follow the Imperial side of the Civil War quest), but that Elenwen and her Thalmor Justiciars intercepted the Imperials halfway between Helgen and the border, and were putting pressure on Tullius to hand over Ulfric to Thalmor custody, since he was clearly a Talos worshipper, and they felt that was their bailiwick. Tullius, being the military governor of Skyrim, and answerable only to the Emperor himself, knew that what the Dominion wanted was continued hostilities between the two factions (Stormcloak and Imperials). So in a bit of perversity, decided to execute Ulfric just as quickly as he could, in Helgen. No more Ulfric, no more rebellion. But who could have foreseen a dragon attack? As for the Dragonborn? Caught trying to cross the border, just as Ralof states. Beaten up, thrown on the cart, and because the Captain didn't want to bother with paperwork, sent to the block.
Great video man keep it up not enough ppl talk about helgen 😭
thank you! :) if I scrape the barrel enough, maybe another part will come out
I think some Dialogue from Hadvar leads to the possibility that Tulius was taking the convoy to Cyridil but then went to Helgan:
"I thought were taking Ulfric back to Cyridil, but I guess the general changed his mind"
I love your pronunciation of the names. Very excellently done. Now, I'm writing this comment to point out something that people often overlook. There is unique dialogue that can open up as an option I think in Cidna mine. In any case, the dialogue has the option of the Dragonborn stating that he does have family he has not seen for a long time because they are far from Skyrim. Not in Skyrim? Where could they be from? Given the circumstances of how he was captured and taken to Helgen, I think it is by this point obvious that his family is in Cyrodil. So why was he going towards Skyrim? It is his original country but not where he was living at the time. For whatever reason, the Black Brotherhood was attempting to assassinate him. That is why random encounters happen even immediately after you escape Helgen. That means somebody had paid for his assassination before he ever arrived to Skyrim. Protecting himself from assassination probably involved his use of a two-handed weapon. This is why you begin the game with the two-handed weapons skill about 10 or 15 points above the average mean. Above his one-handed and above his smithing. You're not going to tell me that a grown man has only as much two-handed skill as a newborn or a young child, so that higher level has to indicate the use of a two-handed weapon, it being above the average mean for an adult precisely because he had to use it to defend himself. He was mistaken for a rebel while he was crossing into Skyrim. The idea was probably that he had been returning from some mischief that he was undertaking in Cyrodil. This is made obvious by the dialogue with Hadvar. He was talking about the Storm Cloaks being taken back to Cyrodil. You cannot take a person back to a place that person was not in to begin with.
I hope this helps to clarify things.
This is definitely a plausible alternative theory towards the origin of the LDB, defo love the explanation for random encounters and extra levels in the Two-handed skill!
Thanks for the feedback and thank you for watching! :)
Maven Black-Briar has correspondence with Astrid about those assassins that keep failing. It's in a basement room in her mansion outside Riften, where you find she had also performed the Black Sacrement. No reason given for why she wants you dead.
Going back and forth between Skyrim and Cyrodiil is possible, as much as crossing into Skyrim from Cyrodiil or, with some background story to explain how come you're near Helgen, Hammerfell (from near Falkreath) or Morrowind (from near Riften or even Windhelm). It's even possible to claim you've been in Skyrim for a while or even been born in Skyrim and never left it. The LDB never says they were crossing the border or which border. They just don't contradict others about it. As for the dialogue in Cidna Mine, it can be interpreted in any way, from a lie to a figure of speech to a literal truth.
Beginning stats should be ignored as a game mechanic, for RP reasons.
All skills start at 15. Each race gets one skill bonus +10 and 5 skills with a bonus of +5 each. 2H is just the one Nords get at +10. Having a Khajiit DB would have Sneak at 25, an Argonian would have Lockpicking at 25, Altmer would have Illusion at 25, and so on and so forth.
Make a head canon and go with it.
@@chrisbasarab2446 , no, I believe you're wrong. The stats for each character also represent the practice each kind of person acquires over a lifetime. How is the Khajiit in boots better in sneaking than a Nord in boots? The mechanics of the boots work the same for both. They have more experience in sneaking because of their overall culture. The developers of the game were not stupid. The imperials have more well rounded stats because they have a more well rounded education. They have good culture, education and the funds to get educated. That's probably a good reason to go live there. As for the mine, you are wrong about the lying. The case is that every time the Dragonborn is going to lie it is marked for you as a lie. That is what you get with the letter in Riverwood. So, no, there is no lie there. It is simply a moment of camaraderie. Also, every response is a legitimate thought that the Dragonborn is having at the moment. You, as the player, simply determine which one he decides to speak. That is why every time you go speak to an innkeeper he has in the back of his mind the question about where he can learn more magic. Because, even when he was living in Cyrodil, he had an interest in magic and was evidently learning magic; which is why he has some basic training in all the magical schools. Enough training to allow him to use two novice skills from the jump and any other novice skill he happens to study from a tome. Any other person who has not had the same kind of training can open the same kind of tome and try to read through it but it might as well be German to him. For he has no training in magic to begin with. So there you are. Every dragonborn in Skyrim is originally from somewhere else but had lived in Cyrodil with his family for some time, was training in magic, and fled for his life from the Dark Brotherhood, an assassin who he probably even killed in defending himself. In fleeing for his life he had to cross over into Skyrim. As another poster pointed out, only the Nord Dragonborn gets the line from Hadvar, "You pick the bad time to return home, kinsman,". For those of you who do not have the ears to hear I must insist on pointing out the obvious: you cannot return to a place you were already in to begin with.
As for the note from Maven Blackbriar, of all the discussed points, this is the only one that can be interpreted in any way. Why do you assume it is in reference to the Dragonborn? If it were in reference to the Dragonborn then why did she not have him killed when he was in Riften? No, instead she has a face-to-face meeting with him and then decides to employ him for a project she's trying to pull off. Doesn't sound like someone she wants dead. Her desire for the assassination probably was not anything so mundane as simple dislike or petty vengeance. Most likely it was because she was trying to increase her power and influence. It was probably for business and commerce. Maybe even related to the mission that she sent the Dragonborn to deal with. Who knows? It seems obvious to me she did not want the Draining dead because she owns Riften and yet he was not waylaid.
Let me know if you still have any questions.
@@chrisbasarab2446 LDB living/familiar/growing up in Skyrim doesn't make sense because if (s)he did, then our map should have had some places discovered already. We start with a blank map (other than Helgen and all major holds).
The information about Helgen and it's chest not respawning are great!
Never thought it took 2 days between the ambush in Darkwater Crossing and the "Finally Awake" scene. Though it make sense because the Imperials were intended to send Ulfric to trial right in the Imperial City, Cyrodiil. But due to Cyrodiil coming in hot under the Thalmor and WGC, the borders are locked down. Not to mention some aforementioned avalanche or whatever winter hazards in those parts. So they made a plan B and sent Ulfric to trial in Helgen instead.
Ralof implies that the Dragonborn crossed the border into Skyrim. They are on their way to Skyrim from Cyrodiil, not the other way around, and got caught somewhere in the souther roads. Considering the Dragonborn is a nord (by default), the Imperials might have suspected them as a Sotrmclock scouts or lookout and they got caught too as well as Lokir who stole a horse.
Now the dragonborn's vague backstory is probably intended to us players, based on how we interpret these events. As a default nord, they might be those type of born and raised or lived somewhere else and about to return to their homeland. Other races are foreigners who stumbled in Skyrim to either study, train, meet someone in there, get away from their crimes, or just to explore.
Then we all agree that the dragonborn got caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, even they are prophesized as heroes as foretold by the Elder Scrolls. Such destiny can either be a blessing or a curse. It's all uo to us players to give em the roleplay and immersion they offer.
Underrated topic that's fs, good vid
And I'm so glad mods exist having to go through that first scene over and over and over again over the years is a pain in the butt
I just met Froki and Hammel today for the first time in 2023 while looking for Kyne’s shrine north of Froki’s cabin.
And your video pops up mentioning Froki.
Skyrim is something else.
The Dragonborn is clearly trying to cross the border INTO Skyrim, not OUT of Skyrim.
Inventing a backstory for my characters is *absolutely crucial* to me being able to enjoy that playthrough. Sometimes I go nuts and I'm almost writing a novel.
I do consider "Take Notes: Journal of the Dragonborn" absolute must-have, but I'm good at babbling into a keyboard.
For me this theory don't make much sense. When you play the game, all the NPC talk to you like you are not from Skyrim, giving you information that should be obvious if you live there. For me, the Dragonborn was someone who was traveling from Cyrodill to Skyrim, and get unlucky when encountering the ambush Tulius make to Ulfric
You could be totally right, as I stated in a comment earlier, I figured out a theory and got blind sighted by it. Only after editing and uploading I took a step back and figured "maybe this went somewhat differently".
Thanks for the feedback and thank you for watching! :)
"When you play the game, all the NPC talk to you like you are not from Skyrim,..."
That's because the NPCs think you're stupid and a child, but in reality, they are the ones, frikkin T-posing immediately when something goes wrong.
What a pathetic existence it must be, to be an NPC in Skyrim, constantly mocking others, being rude and then being the one that just lives in a rented room, while having the key to the owned house, a mansion even, which does not even exist.
Catfolk always has wares, if you have coin. What if you don't have coin, but a shit ton of goodies you don't need? Yup, Khajiit also takes them, actually carrying your burdens.
Don't go into the tombs when high level. Except if you like getting flung around by 30 shouting Draugr Death Overlords all at once.
*A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON* ... No explanation needed.
Mai'q... Could also call him "Todd the Howardly Liar".
*HeY yOu. YoU'rE fInAlLy AwAkE* ... Why is Ulfric the one wearing the mask so that he can't speak and shuts the fuck up and not Ralof? Ulfric's shouting is less annoying and dangerous to the human mind, than Ralof's first words.
The Horse from the cart intro. Yes. What did Bugthesda think they were doing, mashing all those bloating scripts into this one tiny area, not realizing that it would break their game immediately?
"Did you see a dawg out there?"
No, "Dawg" i didn't see a dog out there and if i had, i'd join him in his News tower and start fightin the good fight. Oh wait, wrong game franchise, whoops.
And last but not least: Belethor would sell his sister, if he had one. Lucan has one. You know what both have in common? The Voice actor *BA DUM TSS* no but seriously though, i can't imagine how fucking stupid the voice actor must have felt, doing his lines for Lucan and for Belethor, then later for Mercer and probably the Dragonborn's mom.
Bonus: Sadly we will never hear Paarthunax say: "It's a me, Paarthunax!" ... Oh wait, Daddy Dagoth is a thing and the same technology could be used for just that. What a fool i am, how could i be so naive?
@@Haggysack2k8Ok.
@@Haggysack2k8Holy fuck go outside
@@Haggysack2k8 What are you on about, man?
Every single time I see a video for Skyrim I’m forced to replay Skyrim. Idk why it’s like a curse? But also a blessing in disguise
Ohhh a new ES channel. Whelp gotta support
guards, get the town people to their prefered youtube watching device, thank you for watching! :)
The Dragonborn is an astronaut, he came from the planet Akila and found this weird planet called Nirn. After leaving his wrecked ship, he was captured.
This was good! Keep it Uo
The dragon born knows nothing of skyrims culture or any locations, for gameplay reasons this makes sense, but it also suggests that the dragonborn is from cyrodil
I have never thought about going to Ivarstead through Helgen..... I was always contouring the whole mountain for 30 minutes through every playthrough...
Excellent video. Keep it up man!
Thank you and thanks you for watching! :)
I usually play as a Breton as well. My thoughts that you were slipped a drug where you lost your memory at a local inn. Your inheritance was stolen from you by a relative or business rival. ( Maven has a note in her basement complaining to the Dark Brotherhood about failing to kill a target after multiple attempts). Through bribes you get thrown onto the prisoner wagon to get you killed and to be justifiably executed as a criminal to the Empire.
i love this guy content!
thank you! :)
Great content! I love your content.
My personal headcannon goes that they were taking ulfric to cyrodil, at the same time as the LDB was crossing. Imperial scouts defeated and captured the LDB under suspicion of being with the stormcloaks. Tulluis then rushed the execution at helegen because he knew the thalmor would try to delay it
Was watching random stuff about Skyrim when this Video was recommended to me. Thought I am watching another Video of some well-known TH-camr having hundreds of thousands of subscribers...well my face when I saw "77 Subscribers" haha. Looking forward to more content from you!
The dragonborn was trying to cross the border, walked right into that imperial ambush. Same as us, and that thief over there.
I fairly certain that Skyrim's map isn't completely lore accurate for gameplay reasons. The region would a be lot larger and have a lot more roads etc. Therefore, you can't really deduct the complete route from in game map.
Did you know the blacksmith in whiterun has a sister. She works for the east empire company. You can find her in Windhelm if you do the quest In the East empire on the docks of windhelm you have her to follow you.
“You picked a bad time to come home to Skyrim, Kinsman.”
The Dragonborn was entering Skyrim from the border with Cyrodiil. He got caught in the same ambush with Ulfric. Every racial dialogue line indicates a return to Skyrim (aka “It’s rare for a Wood Elf to come to Skyrim alone.”
He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
My theory has always been that the imperials captured Ulfric near Darkwater Crossing and were taking him to Cyrodill for a proper trial. Somewhere near Pale Pass the stormcloaks tried to save Ulfric, but were ambushed by the imperial reinforcements. The DB was trying to sneak into Skyrim without papers, but unfortunately, they got caught in the skirmish between the stormcloaks and imperials.
Some time after the battle and with the group traveling away from Skyrim, I assume Thalmor agents contacted Tullius, asking him to turn over the prisoners (namely, Ulfric) and the General, knowing they would probably get ambushed by Thalmor or their agents on their way to the Imperial City, decides to turn back to the nearest imperial fortified post: Helgen. The Thalmor have made their interest in Ulfric clear and Tullius decides that if he can't get the traitor to the Emperor, he's going to end the rebellion right there and then. Of course, he needs numbers to back him up in case more Thalmor show up. And they do! Ellenwen herself is already in Helgen by the time Tullius's entourage gets there.
Her dialogue if you use a mod that restores cut content is as follows (Tullius has no dialogue):
"General Tullius, stop! By the authority of the Thalmor, I'm taking custody of these prisoners."
"Your Emperor will hear of this. By the terms of the White-Gold Concordat, I operate with full Imperial authority!"
"You're making a terrible mistake!"
Which implies that Tullius told her to go for a ride and explains why he didn't give a damn about everyone being executed. Why he didn't start with Ulfric is anyone's guess, but my money is on wanting him to witness his loyal men getting killed one by one. Tullius was expecting some ploy by Ellenwen and her cronies, but I guess with a whole garrison that had his back in case anything happened, he could take his time to savor the victory.
Alduin was completely unaccounted for, though lol
Hearing that the Dragonborn is trying cross into Cyrodiil from Skyrim is something I've never heard before. I don't believe it.
My head canon is that DB is an imperial streetrat that's coming to Skyrim to escape a gig that went bad. Because right from the get go some one has a dark brotherhood bounty on DB. And that streetrat also happens to be a long lost descendant of Uriel. Explaining the dragon blood. Whose to say Martin or any of his other sons didn't have their own secret child? Would make lots of sense. Would also be one hell of a comeback for the Septims. DB comes back, saves Tamriel, reunites the empire, kills the false kings. I like to also point out that if the amulet of kings still existed and the DB put it on. That would automatically declare them the new emperor basically because of their dragon blood. Also ES5 was supposed to originally be about a long lost Septim coming back. Who says it isn't.
I've always considered the default Nord character as soon as the character creator starts is the canon dragonborn. The main quest is also, the only canon questline while everything else takes second stage, and that the last dragonborn is also the shezzarine seeing as how Shor is absent during your visit to sovngarde
Love the video!
thank u! :)
It doesn’t make sense, then the Dragonborn goes on and becomes the champion of Skyrim killing Alduin and stopping the civil war but somehow gets captured and bound.
Might be similar to oblivion where the player character was basically on autopilot until the time was right
its a theory, a Skyrim theory, thank you for the feedback, will try to set a more structured and complete sequence of what I believe to have had happened in future videos, thank you for watching! :)
First of all he had no experience at the time what so ever and he also didn’t know any shouts.
The Dragonborn is not this overpowered godlike champion many people believe they are. They don't have any inherit power beyond the ability to read the dragon language and Shout without training.
@@Aewon84 wdym lmaooo
For me Dark Water Crossing just wasn't a posibility, i thought it was that the Stormcloaks was trying to pass from skyrim in to cyridel (trying to take the fight to them)
The Horse thef was just in the area, and plater tryed to cross from Cyrodel in to Skyrim and got cought as suspicius due to the Stormcloaks being there
"Leaving my stack in Helgen" ....mmmm yeah sure im positive a bandit wrote that line
I always use the same backstory,,,my father was a nord moth priest searching Tamriel for elder scrolls when he met my mother, a/an (insert race),,they fell in love, got married,,,moved back to Cyrodil, where she was killed by the thalmor when I was a young child, and , since he still wanted to search for elder scrolls, I was raised by the other priests, then he became blind from reading too many scrolls, came home, and told me right before he died that my destiny was in Skyrim, so I should head there….☺️
According to Hadvar when you select your race, if the Dragonborn is a Nord, he is coming home to Skyrim. So I think you missed that detail. I usually play as an Imperial, I like to think that every race would have their own reason for coming to Skyrim, adventure, looking for a new life, something like that. I call my character Farwander, so he could be a wandering knight who left Cyrodill to make his name in another land, heard about the conflict in Skyrim and decided to help out there.
Look at that colourful sky while secunda is playing and tell me that time was wasted again bro …
I don't regret the decade I've put into this game, the elder scrolls games are my all time favorite above all others ❤
I come from elsywer, I was trying to cross the border into Skyrim, I had a massive Skooma deal set-up to meet a contact, didn’t know his name just that he came from roikstead.
wrong place, wrong time it turns out.
Some heretic calling himself ulfric stormcloak and with men were there at the same time and place the deal was meant to go down.
Got ambushed by the imperial army.
I just stayed quite on the ride to Helgen.
Alduin attacked Helgen in order to keep the civil war going. He needed souls in Sovenguarde in order to build up enough power to eat the universe.
Why would he do that when he already have the power to eat the world he went to sovngarde to devour the souls there because he couldn't defeat the Dragonborn
@anime-rr6og He did not have the power to devour the world, if he did, he would have done it. He needed more souls.
Deserves more likes and subs!
You got it all wrong, the Dragonborn was entering into Skyrim because he wanted to get back with his ex who is in the legion. Turns out, she’s the legate who doesn’t even want to hear it and orders you to the chopping block for no reason at all. She ends up dead at Helgen and the story goes.
Then you end up killing her after the dragon attack, with no remorse
My Breton Dragonborn is originally from the western Reach. The son of a Reachman chieftain, he left his clan against his father’s wishes to see the wider world, eventually making his way to Cyrodiil. On hearing that a assassins from a rival clan had slain his father, he began his return journey to Highrock to enact vengeance on his enemies. The legion captured him as he crossed into Skyrim.
Never be ashamed or embarrassed for spending countless hours or days playing Skyrim, its not a waste of time, what is a waste of time and shameful is using Tik Tok.
mate i could see u one of the top eso TH-camrs out there
if TES6 finally comes out I might even hit the starting wave, thank you! :)
@@MidJake Don't worry. I have it on good authority that it comes out right after Half-Life 3. So it's totally coming out.
Because he stole a sweetroll
Anyways, I read he was a new student at the College of Whispers in Cyrodil, which is how he knows basic magic. And cannon wise he was written to be Nord, so maybe he wanted to visit his homeland, and boom.
incredibly underated video
Appreciate it dude, thank you for watching! :)
i believe dragonborn was trying to get into skyrim and got caught in the way, that's why he doesn't seem to know anything about the culture or history of the place
I have 7000 hours in Skyrim. Ive been playing it since launch. Legacy of the Dragonborn keeps me on Tamriel. Every boss has been beaten, every beast has been slain, there are no more quests to be undertaken. You, only YOU can send me to Sovengarde with honor. Meet me at my last vigil.
I agree with the likelihood the Dragonborn is coming from Cyrodill to Skyrim. This is especially true if the DB is a Nord, an Imperial, a Breton...or pretty much any race. Khajit traders are coming north to do business. High Elves or Wood Elves would naturally be coming from the south. The mention that there have been avalanches in the Pale Pass could explain why he is going North. It is possible he was well up the road and the avalanches occurred behind him, making the only open path he had was to the North. My main feeling was the Imperials had word that Ulfric and his men would be in the area of Helgen and the "ambush" simply swept up anyone along the roads that wasn't absolutely identified as Imperial or an Imperial sympathizer. The Stormcloaks don't know the DB, it's clear the Imperials have no record of the DB's identity. I think the Imps and Tullius were just grabbing every stranger around...just trying to make sure no potential Stormcloak slipped away. By this time in the war, summary execution appears to have been done by both sides if a person was not clearly "On Our Side." Another reason I feel the DB was coming from the south is he has little or no awareness there is even a conflict going on in Skyrim. If he was coming from the north, there is no way he could have been oblivious to the war.
The most likely explanation is that the last dragonborn was trying to escape the dark brotherhood, as you don't need to do anything to be attacked by the dark brotherhood assassin
Well ralof says we got caught up in the ambush trying to cross the border and had at (who I always go with) said “I guess people down in cyrodiil have other things to worry about. So it’s quite cinfusing
One thing that got me asking why was the Dragonborn crossing the Boarder. It started from another TH-cam channel saying that Maven Black Briar was sending the Dark Brother after the DragonBorn. Maybe the DragonBorn was a smuggler or done something really bad. You wonder why Maven was so hostile to you and telling you get out of her way. She only says that to the Dragon Born.
Here's my head canon.
The Dragonborn lives with family in or around Bruma, a rather tense region in the wake of the White Gold Concordat. Many Nords in the region have refused to cease their worship of Talos and have thus fled to Skyrim to avoid religious persecution. Knowing this and being fully aware of the current hostilities in Skyrim, the Thalmor have taken a heavy-handed approach to Bruma. In the midst of the turmoil, the Dragonborn flees the region, likely due to confronting either Thalmor or Imperial agents after repeated harassment.
He flees north to Skyrim via Pale Pass, narrowly surviving the journey, the emergence of Alduin having sent tremors through the Pass that resulted in multiple avalanches that sealed it shut in the Dragonborn's wake. With no other option, the Dragonborn presses onward.
At the same time, General Tullius and a sizeable caravan are approaching Pale Pass with a collection of prisoners due to be tried in Cyrodil. Amongst them is none other than Ulfric Stormcloak, the leader of the Nordic rebellion himself. Tullius sends a contubernium of pathfinders ahead of the caravan to both flush out any potential Stormcloak ambushes and ascertain the condition of Pale Pass in the wake of the tremors felt recently.
The contubernium stumbles upon the Dragonborn, as well as a mouthy horse thief. Both are detained, though the Dragonborn is knocked unconscious during the scuffle. Reporting back to Tullius, the decanus explained that Pale Pass was impassable. This forces Tullius to order the caravan to turn about and head north to Helgan, the closest Imperial outpost.
Arriving in Helgan, Tullius is approached by Thalmor agents that demand Ulfric's summary execution, as the Dominion is unwilling to risk losing the leader of an open rebellion espousing heretical beliefs. Knowing well that this will simply serve to make a martyr of Ulfric and likely rally his allies and supporters, Tullius is reluctant, but his hands are tied. He knows this will extend the war and cost the Empire precious resources and he knows that that is exactly what the Dominion wants. Thus, in an effort to at least delay the news of Ulfric's death from spreading throughout Skyrim, Tullius orders the execution of every prisoner in the caravan, reducing the number of witnesses as much as possible.
Fortunately, possibly having sensed the power within both Ulfric and the Dragonborn, Alduin arrives and disrupts this execution and the game begins.
One more sub! Nice content!
I too, have wasted too much of my life on this game... great video!
back to the shameful corner we go, thank you! :)
You are aware that Helgen Spawns bandits, aren't you? Or did they get tossed with the Anniversary Edition? In the earlier versions once the gates of Helgen get locked and no longer open freely you will find one set of bandit and a boss chest in the section of the caves past the now repaired bridge. The other set of about 5 live in the building next to the gate on the road to Iverstead and some of them patrol down to the entrances to the keep.
I've got pet hypotheses: The Dunmer and female Orc were headed north, everyone else were headed south to flee the war only to get caught up in the middle of it. But why would those two specific race backgrounds be running TOWARDS the Civil War? Because it's in the background of their real destinations: Dunmer are the easiest - being refugees, they have nothing left to lose, and didn't manage to integrate into Cyrodil, which was swarming with penniless Dunmer not unlike Eastern Skyrim. They were on their way to Windhelm to use the rest of their money to buy passage to Raven Rock. If it wasn't for Ulfric's capture, the Dunmer DB would have ended up making ends meet in the Gray Quarter. Orc males were similarly looking for non-picky job opportunities in a war-torn land. Orc females are the bride sent to Narzulbur's chief Makhulakh. If it wasn't for the situation, the chief's incestuous aunts would have made them disappear later on her way to the stronghold.
The thing about it is that I always interpreted that the Dragonborn was going to Skyrim, not Cyrodiil. Also, Ralof says, "You were trying to cross the boarder, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush. Same as us, and that thief over there." So, it seemed like Lokir, the Stormcloaks, Ulfric, and the Dragonborn were all ambushed. And, in the same place and time. But, if they were ambushed near Darkwater Crossing, which is way north of the borders of Skyrim and Cyrodiil, that would mean that either Ralof's dialogue about waking into the ambush was wrong, or where they got ambushed wasn't near Darkwater Crossing.
(edit) It may not be the Skyrim/Cyrodiil boarder that the Dragonborn was trying to cross. So, Darkwater Crossing is on the border of Eastmarch and the Rift. Perhaps the Dragonborn was crossing the Eastmarch/Rift border. But, then it wouldn't make sense due to being called an outsider, and some characters say that you're "new to Skyrim," which means you might have tried crossing a border of either Skyrim/Cyrodiil or Skyrim/Morrowind. But, also, it's hard to say where exactly the Dragonborn was captured, but the Eastmarch/Rift border seems a little more plausible. Unless, the Dragonborn crossed many borders and ended up near Darkwater Crossing. That would mean that Ralof was actually talking about the Imperial/Stormcloak Civil War boarders instead of the borders of Tamriel's countries (I use this term lightly). That would make more sense due to people calling you an outsider and new to Skyrim. But, I think that would apply to non-Nords. If you're a Nord, then Hadvar says that you're coming home to Skyrim. To that, I say that if the Dragonborn was a Nord, then they crossed Skyrim/Cyrodiil boarder or Skyrim/Morrowind boarder. There are Nords in Morrowind and Cyrodiil, so it's possible they could've come from Morrowind or Cyrodiil. It's also possible that the Dragonborn was seen crossing the Skyrim/Cyrodiil or Skyrim/Morrowind border and they've been following the Dragonborn up to Darkwater Crossing. But, I doubt it because the Imperials have horses, so they might have caught up to the Dragonborn faster. But, again, it's unclear what actually happened, so there's that.
People forget with ease that in-game distances are not equals to in-lore distances.
Well, I had been on a killing spree when they caught me, not entirely sure about the details as I was very high on skooma at the time. Still, worked out for the best. Not many living things left in Skyrim now. Except all those strange immortals, and children. Dont know whats up with that.
One guy in the dawnguard dlc was one of the soldiers in helgen
Who
It's not embarrassing brother we've all spent a ridiculous amount of time on this game. Still one of the greatest games of all time. I actually just started a new play through After being away from the game for a little while.
As far as gameplay reasons go, it's probably because it's close to the center of the map and one of the biggest main cities. Kinda equidistant to all of the content, save for Falkreath since there's literally nothing there except the Dark Brotherhood
I thought it was the Dragonborn coming back to Skyrim from Cyrodiil.
I’m pretty sure the border was referring to the border between The Rift and Eastmarch
Either the bandits are stupid for not looting, OR. They thought it was already ransacked
What if DB wasn't travelling into (or from) Skyrim at all? Empire could just create a roundup and grab some randoms from both sides of the mountains just to perform "proper" execution of the convicts.
I think the Ghost of Uriel sent the Dragonborn to Skyrim
I don't see how the dragon killed every single inhabitant of Helga and that makes no sense, with all the guards running around and people going back and forth there should been at least 10:15 people that survived because if the dragonborn can survive and other members of the empire survive helgan then chances are there should have been more than just one kid who survived. And I have to admit I didn't know that you could store stuff in Helga I would have used it long ago when I first started playing the game It's very handy All these years of playing I never knew that.
I mean, at the end of the day it's entirely up to player interpretation. After all, it is an RPG.
TLD (Nord by default) was a bastard child, the result of a Nord legionnaire who fell in the Great War and the mother, a lusty Argonian that abandoned TLD and went back to Black Marsh in shame. TLD grew up orphaned and then was caught trespassing into Skyrim while just wanting to "return to (his/her father's) roots." Caught by those "Imperial bastards" after they had to detour from going to Cyrodil with Ulfric and his men caught around Dark Water Passage, due to inclement weather and back to Skyrim. Helgen just happened to be the closest town and the Imperial just wanted to get it over with after traversing several days on the road.
Thanks to Alduin, TLD got a second chance in life. While familiarizing with his father's native land, filled with pride, TLD realizes why "Skyrim belongs to the Nords!" TLD then proceeds to cut down Imperial soldiers and every Thalmor he encounters.
Well that's my version and I'm sticking to it.
There's nothing embarrassing about playing this game for to long a lots of us have and are there personally i think this game the best game ever made❤
My inteprtion conserding we were on a carriage/convey we were on coming into Skyrim from the entrance area of the dawngurad and ran into the stormcloaks as the imperals ambushed them around the exit of the cliff face we and the horse theif just happend to go into the same area conserving he says was going to hamerfall meaning he was leaving skyrim while we were entering he got caught in the ambush same as us and when we tied to say we were part of the storm cloaks they knocked us out and bined us plus remember carriges go all over skyrim
Weren't
You know how people say that achieving chim is the individual realizing that the elder scrolls universe they are living in is the dream of the god head and therefore you begin what is closely related to as lucid dreaming or the effect of it by which you can virtually do anything I.e god powers. Now here where it gets crazy, you are basically a nobody with no past or knowledge of anything within the world which in it of itself very strange so I propose that the nord hero who becomes the Dragonborn only became the Dragonborn the moment he “wakes up” (achieved chim)
great video! i was shocked to see how few views this has and how few subs you have. you got one more of each from me!
I'll cherish every single one as low or high they might go, thank you! :)
I think most skyrim players reach the 1000 hr waypoint, like its rare for a skyrim player to have less than 250 hrs if theyve owned the game for more than 2 years
The dragonborn was trying to escape skyrim because someone performed the black sacrament and was trying to have them killed. Simply a case of wrong place, wrong time.
Bro got elected by the algorithm from day one
Time is never wasted playing the best game ever made! Don’t feel bad ❤
I personally think he was trying to kill Ulfric who used a shout on the late High King. Maybe Alduin wanted to get rid of a potential threat as he clearly knew dragon shouts. Once Alduin shows up in Helgen he senses the LDB as well.
Im still confused as to why we weren't given an option to submit to Alduin, and if offered become his new dragon priest. The dude literally saved your head from being chopped off. You'd think that would make the LDB grateful, whether or not it was Alduin's intention.
I think that Alduin wasn’t planning on saving us in Helgen, but he smelled our dragon blood and knew we could kill him, so he tried to kill us, but lucky for us, the headsman stood up just in time to take the hit, and gave us a chance to get away🤔
@@stormym5434 regardless, an alternative quest centered on conqeuring skyrim in alduins name would have been fun...
@@danentakoto2701 yes, it sure would ☺️😉
@stormym5434 that was quick...surfing the net?
@@danentakoto2701 I am always online till I crash around 11pm,,here in mountain time☺️😉…and I am an old retired woman who has all day to chill, playing skyrim a few hours almost every day 😋.. then I like to watch some youtube videos,, only youtube, tho☺️
It was his destiny.
Should there be a mod like this
I thought the dragon born was coming from cyridl