Alduin

"You do not even know our tongue, do you? Such arrogance, to dare take for yourself the name of Dovah!"

- Alduin to Dragonborn

Alduin is the Nordic God of Destruction and the main antagonist of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. He is the eldest son of the main god in the series, Akatosh, and his evil counterpart. He is also the elder brother of Paarthurnax, who was his chief lieutenant during the dragon war but ended up betraying him and helped the mortals instead.

Long ago, Alduin was defeated by the ancient Nord heroes who used an Elder Scroll to make him lost in time and hopefully never return. Unfortunately, he ended up in the 4E 201, the time the game takes place. Taking the form of a monstrous black dragon, he sets out to destroy Nirn (the world where The Elder Scrolls take place) with the help of his servants (dragons). It is up to the player, the last of the Dragonborn, to stop him. The Dragonborn defeated him in Sovngarde, while he was absorbing souls to rebuild his strength, though was not able to absorb his soul as they did to other defeated dragons. When the Dragonborn asks the Greybeard Leader Arngeir about this, he remarks that Alduin may return at the end of the world to fulfill his destiny, indicating that only his physical body was destroyed but his soul may be allowed to return to destroy the world if the gods permit.

Alduin is the son of Akatosh, the chief deity of the 9 divines in the Elder Scrolls lore. In fact, all dragons are children of Akatosh. Since the Dragonborn has the soul of a dragon, Alduin is technically the Dragonborn's brother.



Trivia

 * His name in draconic language translates into Destroyer-Devour-Master.
 * He has a noticeably larger scale size than any other dragon.
 * He is the only dragon who can use Meteor Rain shout. The words, however, are unknown to the player.