Setting and characters
Skyrim is set 201 years after the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,[14] although it is not a direct sequel. The game takes place in Skyrim, a province of the Empire on the continent of Tamriel, amid a civil war between two factions: the Stormcloaks, led by Ulfric Stormcloak, and the Imperial Legion, led by General Tullius. The player character is a Dragonborn, a mortal born with the soul and power of a dragon. Alduin, a large black dragon who returns to the land after being lost in time, serves as the game's primary antagonist. Alduin is the first dragon created by Akatosh, one of the series' gods, and is prophesied to destroy and consume the world.
Plot
The player character is a prisoner being led to an execution overseen by General Tullius, which includes Ulfric Stormcloak, who is leading a rebellion against the Imperials, among the prisoners to be executed there. A dragon named Alduin unexpectedly interrupts the procession, destroying the town of Helgen before the player can be executed. The player escapes in the chaos and journeys to the city of Whiterun to request aid against the dragon threat. After slaying a dragon that attacks nearby, the player absorbs its soul, which grants them the ability to perform a shout. The city's amazed guards inform the player that they must be Dragonborn, and the player is summoned to meet with the Greybeards, an order of monks who live in seclusion on Skyrim's tallest mountain, the Throat of the World. The Greybeards train the player in using shouts and inform the player of their role in stopping Alduin. The player learns that Skyrim's civil war is the last in a sequence of prophetic events foretold by the Elder Scrolls, which also predicted the return of Alduin.
The player later meets with members of the Blades, an order of dragon hunters. The player and the Blades travel to Sky Haven Temple to find a prophetic engravement on Alduin's Wall and learn that ancient Nords used a special shout against Alduin so they could engage him. To gain more information, the player meets the ancient dragon Paarthurnax, the leader of the Greybeards. Paarthurnax reveals that Alduin was cast into the currents of time by the use of an Elder Scroll in the hope that he would never reemerge. The player locates the Elder Scroll and uses it to peer through a window in time and learn the shout to combat Alduin. The player battles with Alduin, who then flees to Sovngarde, the Nordic afterlife, to gain strength by devouring the souls of deceased Nords.
The player summons and traps a dragon named Odahviing, and learns from him that Alduin has fled to Sovngarde through a portal located at an ancient fort called Skuldafn. Odahviing agrees to fly the player to Skuldafn, claiming Alduin has shown himself as weak and undeserving of leadership over the dragon race by fleeing from the Dragonborn. The player enters Sovngarde and travels to the Hall of Valor. There, they meet up with the three heroes of Nordic legend who defeated Alduin originally. With their help, the player defeats Alduin for the second time but hints are given he may return one day to fulfill his destiny to destroy the world.