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| “ | "In days of old, when dragons ruled the earth, there lived mortal men who worshipped the beasts as gods. These dragon priests are long since dead... but something has awakened them from their ancient slumber." | „ |
| ~ Skyrim Loading Screen. |
The Dragon Priests are major antagonists in the Elder Scrolls franchise, serving as major antagonists in the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the overarching antagonists of the final Skyrim DLC pack, Dragonborn, and supporting antagonists in the Elder Scrolls: Online. Thousands of years ago, these priests ruled over Skyrim at the behest of their Dragon overlords. In their service, many of these dragon priests were granted extraordinary powers and knowledge in arcane, and some of them managed to reach Lichdom to evade their own demise. Their burial sites in one of the many ancient tombs and temples, dotted all across Skyrim, awaiting the return of Alduin the "World-Eater."
History[]
The dragon priests themselves can be traced back to Atmora, where they were the ruling body during the Merethic Era. Known as the "Dragon Cult," they worshipped many animals as avatars of the gods, the Dragon being chief among them.
Dragons embraced their role as god-kings over men, but rather than deal with the actual ruling itself, they granted small amounts of power to dragon priests in exchange for absolute obedience. In turn, the priests ruled men as equals to the kings. The priests set down laws and codes of living that kept peace between Dragons and men, but to do so they demanded tribute.
When the Atmorans began to migrate to Tamriel over the next several centuries, the dragon priests and cultists were some of the first men to arrive. The system of rule in Tamriel, however, was quite different from Atmora. It is unclear why this was the case, but the priests began to rule with an iron fist, making slaves of the rest of the population.
At the height of the dragon cult's influence, the capital of Skyrim was considered to be the city of Bromjunaar, located in what is now Hjallmarch hold. It was here the highest ranking priests met within the temple of Labyrinthian to confer about matters of ruling. It was also during this time that the highest-ranking dragon priests were granted magical masks that defied the laws of time, and bore powerful enchantments. It is unknown if masks were named after the priests who wore them, or if the priest took on the name of the mask that was granted to them.
Rebellion[]
Eventually, men rebelled against the cruelty of the cult in what is known as the Dragon War. After Alduin was banished from Nirn, a large number of the cultists were killed and the surviving dragon priests were overthrown.The survivors adapted and went into hiding all across Skyrim. They entombed the remains of the dragons that died during the war within Dragon mounds, with the belief that Alduin would one day return and resurrect the faithful. However, other sects within the cult believed only those who ascended to the priesthood would be granted a second life.
Resurrection[]
Upon death, the dragon priests insisted that their followers be buried with them in the various Dragon temples and tombs across Skyrim. This act served a specific purpose, rather than a vain display of power. Because the concept of resurrection upon the return of Alduin was a core belief of the dragon cult, the priests required their followers to perform a daily ritual to facilitate this. The Dragon Priest Hevnoraak planned his resurrection obsessively, and sought to come back as a powerful Lich.
Every day, a group of followers that were entombed with the priest would awaken and gather around the sarcophagus of their respective priest. Here, they would prostrate themselves before it for several hours. During this time, an exchange of life force took place between the followers and the priest. This exchange sustained the dormant priest until it was time for his resurrection. Once the ritual was complete, the followers meticulously cleaned the area and would return to their burial chambers. While resting, the drained life force would magically restore itself, ready for the next day.
It is believed that the followers who were doomed to perform this ritual were initially buried as grown men and women, but over thousands of years they deteriorated into the draugr that now pledge to guard the ancient Nordic tombs with their lives.
Last remnants[]
The last known remnants of the dragon cult remained up until 1E 140, when a legion of King Harald's soldiers discovered a hidden stronghold of cultists in the secluded monastery, Forelhost, high in the Jerall Mountains. They shortly laid siege to it. The soldiers spent several weeks trying to break into the monastery, but the cultists put up a heavy resistance. It was only through the power of a young voice-master that they were able to breach the main gate. But the cultists (led by Dragon Priest Rahgot) had been preparing for this inevitable outcome. They had prepared a special poison that would kill them all so when the soldiers found the bodies, they would be deterred from investigating the monastery further and so Rahgot and his most faithful would survive. The plan worked and the soldiers withdrew, though Rahgot and the survivors eventually died of age.
Dragon Crisis[]
True to the prophecy, the Dragons returned to Tamriel and with the sign they'd been waiting for, the Dragon Priests awoke from their ancient slumber. Though their rebirth was short-lived however, as the Last Dragonborn, who had been prophesied to slay Alduin, began to put them down again.
Eventually, the Dragonborn slew all 8 of Skyrim's main Dragon Priest leaders, and took their masks to the Labyrinthian. Here, they placed all 8 masks on a shrine, and using a strange wooden mask carved in their image, managed to acquire the Konahrik mask, the Dragon Priests most powerful artifact.
Miraak, a renegade dragon priest and self-proclaimed 'First Dragonborn', was able to survive until 4E 201 in the Daedric realm of Apocrypha before he was defeated by the Dragonborn and slain by Hermaeus Mora after attempting to enslave all of Solstheim.
Each Dragon Priest possessing a mask were located in various Nordic burial tombs around Skyrim. Some have side quests pertaining to confronting them, while others can be fought at any given time to get access to the Dragon Word Walls they guard. Only two can not be fought unless reaching a certain point in either the original main quest line leading to fighting Alduin, or progressing in the College of Winterhold quest line. Except for Morokei and Nahkriin, when a Dragon Priest is encountered, they will burst the lid of their sarcophagus off, rise into the air, let off an inhuman shriek, and if they haven't detected the Dragonborn yet, float there until provoked, at which point, they will equip their Destruction magic staff, cast the Alteration spell Ebonyflesh to reduce physical damage, and possibly a Destruction elemental cloak, before going on the attack. As they take damage, their robes will start to show signs of decay and shredding, and upon death, the rest of their robes, along with their lich body, will dissolve into dust, leaving only their armor and an ash pile behind, from which their mask, staff, and some gold, can be recovered, along with anything else they might have possessed.
The Dragon Priests were located as follows:
- Nahkriin was located in the ruins of Skuldafn, guarding the portal to Sovngarde, only accessible via riding the dragon Odahviing to the area. Nahkriin's staff was necessary to open the portal, so eliminating him to get his mask was mandatory. He was also guarded by two dragons.
- Morokei was entombed in the ruins of Labyrinthian, having been sealed there by Arch-Mage Savos Aren of the College of Winterhold after half of his team from the College were killed navigating the ruins to the chamber where Morokei resided, with Savos turning his remaining two teammates into thralls to keep Morokei imprisoned for eternity. Morokei possessed the Staff of Magnus needed to stop the Eye of Magnus and Thalmor operative Ancano, so eliminating him to get his mask was mandatory.
- Otar the Mad was located in the Nordic burial tomb of Ragnvald in the Reach. He was sealed in his coffin by two warriors who also had themselves interred in the tomb as well to maintain vigil over him and guard their skull keys that would undo the locks and release him, Torsten and Saerek.
- Volsung was located in the Nordic burial tomb of Volskygee on the edge of the border between the Reach and Haafingar Hold. Reaching him required fighting past both bandits and many draugr to reach his coffin on the mountain peak where the Word Wall was.
- Krosis guarded the Word Wall that contained all three pieces of the Throw Voice Shout at the dragon lair Shearpoint along the border between Whiterun Hold, the Pale, and Winterhold Hold.
- Hevnoraak was located in the Nordic burial tomb of Valthume in the Reach and the side quest "Evil in Waiting" relates to waking him to acquire his mask at the request of the spirit, Valdar.
- Rahgot was located in the Nordic burial tomb of Forelhost in the Rift and the side quest "Siege on the Dragon Cult" relates to reaching his coffin and fighting him to acquire his mask at the request of an undercover Thalmor operative, Captain Valmir, who was using disguises as both a Stormcloak and Imperial Legion officer to dupe members of both factions into going in to get the mask.
- Vokun was located in the Nordic burial tomb of High Gate Ruins on the border between the Pale and Hjaalmarch Hold and the side quest "A Scroll for Anska" relates to reaching his throne room and fighting him to acquire his mask and retrieve a scroll that the mage Anska was looking for when meeting her in the entrance after she was able to fight off the draugr attacking her there.
The introduction of the Dragonborn DLC for Skyrim introduced three new Dragon Priests with unique masks alongside the main antagonist in Lord Miraak:
- Ahzidal was located in the Nordic burial tomb of Kolbjorn Barrow on Solstheim. However, his tomb had long since been buried by the ashfall from the Red Mountain. The side quest "Unearthed" involved uncovering the tomb and digging it out of the ashfall, but then dealing with the draugr who awoke and killed the diggers and their protection each time until the final area where Ahzidal was finally awoken and had to be fought and killed, before dealing with the Dunmer (Dark Elf) responsible for everything, Ralis Sedarys.
- Dukaan was located in the Nordic burial tomb of White Ridge Barrow on Solstheim. The tomb was being used by Merilar Rendas to turn albino spiders into a variety of Spider Scrolls using the Imbuing Chamber, but had avoiding waking Dukaan while doing this.
- Zahkriisos was buried in the Nordic burial tomb of Bloodskal Barrow, but could only be reached through the Raven Rock ebony mine and opening a door using the Bloodskal Blade during the side quest "The Final Descent" to enter the chamber where Zahkriisos resided. Once he is eliminated, a passage back out through the main part of Bloodskal Barrow opens up, and Raven Rock can reopen their ebony mine, restarting their economy and saving it from collapse.
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