Who Buried Skyrim’s Dragons (& When)

Dragons are a central focus of Skyrim‘s main storyline, serving as reoccurring enemies, primary antagonists, and powerful allies throughout the course of the game. Many are resurrected from dragon burial grounds scattered across the map, but when exactly did these landmarks originate and who was responsible for burying the dragons in the first place?

Fortunately, Skyrim‘s history is covered extensively thanks to the existence of firsthand sources like The Blades and the dragon Paarthurnax. That, along with the existence of many lore books in Skyrim, makes it easy to learn the story of the game’s setting. The war between mankind and the dragon species receives heavy focus as the main questline progresses, and players have a central role in these events thanks to the player character’s title of Dragonborn.

Dragons are thought to have originated on the mysterious continent of Akavir, which some fans have speculated may serve as the setting of the Elder Scrolls 6. Many characters in-game believe that dragons are additionally descended from Akatosh, the dragon god of time in Skyrim‘s Aedric pantheon. At some point in the history of the Elder Scrolls universe, the dragons fled to the continent of Tamriel, where they quickly came to be revered as gods.

Skyrim’s Dragon Cult & Why The Dragons Were Buried

Dragons maintained control over the races of man for a significant part of Skyrim‘s history, serving alongside high-ranking Dragon Priests. The powerful masks of the Dragon Priests were gifts bestowed upon them from the dragon rulers, which helps to explain their significant magic compared to many other items in the game. Their rule was maintained with an iron fist, according to an in-game book titled The Dragon War that details much of Skyrim‘s early history, and eventually this resulted in the general populace rebelling against the Dragon Priests. The result was the start of the Dragon War.

During this war, it’s assumed that the majority of Tamriel’s dragon population was destroyed or driven into hiding away from mankind, as the last was reportedly seen around the era of Tiber Septim. Exceptions include Paarthurnax, the leader of the Greybeards, and Skyrim‘s primary antagonist Alduin. Despite this, however, the Dragon Cult survived, and its remaining members constructed elaborate burial mounds to entomb the dragons in hopes that one day they would be resurrected in order to reward their faithfulness. Both the Dragon Priests and the burial mounds are testament to the longstanding lore of the Elder Scrolls series, and help to further cement Skyrim‘s place on the timeline as hundreds of years after the events of the Dragon War.

About The Author

Ky Shinkle
(528 Articles Published)

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Ky Shinkle is a Senior Gaming Features Writer for Screen Rant as well as an overall avid gamer and writer. Her prior experience is primarily that of a narrative designer for video games, although her writing has covered all formats from screenplays and novels to stage scripts. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, when she isn’t writing she works on digital media projects and other types of fiction writing. Ky currently works out of Ohio and enjoys spending her free time either playing RPGs or running with her dog.

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