For the past decade, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has dominated the world of epic fantasy in gaming. Its notoriety and influence are so great that even those not typically fans of the genre have heard of it and in many cases have been indoctrinated into the fandom of role-playing video games due to Skyrim. The sizable downloadable content, multiple re-releases, and perhaps most of all the community of talented modders has cemented the game’s endless replayability. The sheer possibility of what you can do in this complete virtual world is staggering. 

So while I’ve owned the game since its conception in 2011 I have had an on and off relationship with the fifth installment of the Elder Scrolls series for the past eleven years. As a storyteller, I am a recovering perfectionist and the way this translates into gaming is mostly during character creation. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve booted up the game, came up with a character concept, spent hours refining their look and plotting out what mechanics to utilize this playthrough only to complete the opening act of Helgen, plow through the first dungeon of Bleak Falls Barrow (which I have memorized) and become dissatisfied around level 9 or so. While being the lore-fanatic I am with access to wikis and all the material I need to be familiar with the Elder Scrolls mythology the majority of Skyrim remains a closed book to me, patiently collecting dust on the shelf and waiting to be opened.

 My opportunity to revisit the wintry climes of Tamriel’s northernmost province came again during the tumultuous year of 2020. Locked in a pocket dimension like a Daedric Prince due to the pandemic of COVID-19 and armed with the self-awareness that I have Jarl Balgruuf level indecisiveness I set out with the determination to create a character. Just as there are discovery writers I’d wager that even some hardcore roleplaying gamers explore and discover who their character is as the story unfolds and as they get a feeling for the game. Not me however I gotta go full architect mode and reverse engineer the system knowing the intricate ins and outs of my character’s history before ever clicking “New Game”. 

Cracked I know.

Because this would practically be my first real playthrough of the game I wanted to create a character who could be the epitome of everything it meant to be Dragonborn but still maintain an original flair. Someone who I could visualize going through each of the major plots, the main storyline, the Dawnguard, and Dragonborn expansions as well as being versatile enough to fit in with the guild and world quests.

Etymology

It gives me great pleasure, a good name. I always in writing start with a name. Give me a name and it produces a story, not the other way about normally.

J.R.R Tolkien

I’m obsessed with etymology so it would have been inappropriate to begin this quest without beginning there. The title of the hero is “Dovahkiin” and it literally translates to “Dragonborn” or “Dragon Child” in the language of the beasts themselves but courtesy of the Elders Scrolls Wiki I discovered Dovahkiin also has a second meaning: the “Dov” in “Dovah” refers to Dragonkind as a whole, while the “ah” means “hunter.” Interpreted thus, the name reads “Dragonkind Hunter Born,” or “Born Hunter of Dragonkind.”

I wanted to capture the essence of the Dragonslayer archetype from mythology and fully intended to “borrow” a name from such a story. Inspired by the Norse-based setting I looked first to the Volsunga sagas for inspiration. Should this character’s name be a reference to either Sigmund or Sigurd famous for slaying dragons? Yet while the game takes place solely within the frozen homeland of the Nords and all the official conceptual art features the Dragonborn as belonging to that race none of these names nor the origins behind them quite clicked. As well I had difficulty reconciling the fact that the game begins with the Dragonborn as a bound prisoner caught crossing into Skyrim. For all intents and purposes, he was a stranger to these lands. True he could have been a Nord born in another province or returning home but for me, there was something beyond that. I knew intrinsically that the stereotypical figure on the cover art was not the character I wanted to create as much as I cherish Norse mythos. 

The mural displays a Dragonborn adorned in Akaviri armor wielding a katana and the only faction remaining in Tamriel who utilize such weapons was the Imperial Intelligence Service known more commonly as the Blades. The Blades were sworn to the service of the Dragonborn and had been acclaimed dragon hunters, their patron God was Talos, once the mortal Tiber Septim who ascended to Godhood. Talos is a name of Cretan origin and a figure from Greek Mythology. Pondering this I turned to the heroic dragonslayer myths from that culture and stumbled upon the story of Cadmus.

Before Hercules rose to prominence as the most prolific monster slayer in Greek mythos there was Cadmus the Phoenician Prince, founder and eventual King of Thebes. Not only are the Dragonborn in the Elder Scrolls typically descendants of royalty, but this Cadmus is also credited as introducing the Alphabet to Greece. This was an interesting correlation because much of the game of Skyrim involves learning magical abilities from mysterious “Word Walls” ancient carvings of the Dragon Tongue etched in stone and found in hidden locations throughout the province. Under the behest of the Goddess Athena Cadmus slew a dragon that had been sacred to the God of War Ares and was thereafter cursed. The story of this ancient hero concludes with him becoming a serpentine-like dragon himself, there are versions that this was further punishment and retellings that say this transformation was a reprieve from his curse. Regardless, the parallel to Tamriel’s Dovahkiin, a mortal born with the voice, blood, and soul of a dragon, was more than apparent. Intrigued I went on to learn that the complete meaning of the name Cadmus might be: “He who excels from the east” and with the continent of Akavir (“Dragon Land”) lying far to the east of Tamriel’s shores I found the root meaning more than appropriate for this hero.

With the name decided upon, my next step; refining an origin, would be simple. Cadmus was a natural fit for an Imperial, a race heavily inspired by Greco-Roman and other Latin roots. Not only have the most notable lines of Dragonborn been of Imperial lineage but there is even a character in Skyrim who indicates that the protagonist originally came from Cyrodiil.