The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

What happens in the game

The Dragonborn studies with the Greybeards and allies with people who understand the old dragon war, while the province's Imperial-Stormcloak conflict continues around the larger threat.

Reaching Alduin requires recovering ancient knowledge and entering Sovngarde. The main prophecy has a fixed confrontation, while faction, guild and civil-war choices remain player-dependent.

The story, step by step

1. Dragonborn in a divided province

   Alduin's attack interrupts an execution and returns dragons to Skyrim during civil war. Whiterun, the Greybeards and Delphine identify the player as Dragonborn, but disagree over what that inherited power should serve.

2. Learning Dragonrend

   The Dragonborn enters ancient ruins, negotiates a temporary truce when necessary and uses an Elder Scroll to witness the old heroes' battle. Dragonrend embodies mortal comprehension of time, forcing an immortal dragon to experience finitude.

3. Sovngarde

   After trapping Odahviing, the Dragonborn reaches Sovngarde through Skuldafn and joins legendary heroes against Alduin. His defeat ends the immediate world-eating threat, while the civil war, Paarthurnax dispute and faction stories remain dependent on player judgment.

What the story is really about

How it ends

The Dragonborn defeats Alduin in Sovngarde, preventing his present attempt to consume the world; Skyrim's political outcome depends on the player's other choices.

What changes afterward

• Dragons and the Thu'um return to the center of Tamrielic history.
• The Fourth Era remains politically unresolved beyond Alduin's defeat.

How it connects forward

The next numbered Elder Scrolls story remains unreleased, so the Dragonborn's later fate is not closed here.

Places in this game

• Skyrim
• The First and Second Era

Characters in this game

• The Dragonborn
• Alduin

Continue exploring

• The Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionEnd of the Third Era
• The Elder Scrolls III: MorrowindThird Era