Dragon rule - hypocrisies?

[Leckan]

The Dragons were seen as god-kings and were served by the ancient nords. Men eventually grew tired of the dragons' increasing barbarism and tyranny and revolted.

Then fast forward past the Dragon Wars, we have St. Alessia creating the empire and everyone swearing loyalty to her, a Dragonborn.

Then we have the Dragonguard, a group of professional dragon haters swearing their devotion to Emperor Reman, a Dragonborn.

Then fast forward again and we have everyone swearing loyalty to Emperor Tiber Septim, a Dragonborn.

Dragonborns as we know are dragons incarnated as mortal men. So not only did "dragons" continue ruling the people after the Dragon Wars, but Tiber Septim ended up ascending to godhood... making him something of a literal dragon god whom is popularly worshiped.

The only exception seems to be Miraak, this is especially surprising since at the time dragons were worshiped as god-kings, yet the ancient nords largely refused to serve him.

[Dark Spark]

The Dragonborn are seen as the Divines' means to counter dragons, beating the dragons by turning their power against them.

[spin]

maybe it's the lack of tyranny and barbarism in the dragonborns that make people like them more than the dragons? even if they technically are dragons born as men, if they don't have the horrible traits, people won't hate them.

[Br3admax]

Dragonborns as we know are dragons incarnated as mortal men. So not only did "dragons" continue ruling the people after the Dragon Wars, but Tiber Septim ended up ascending to godhood... making him something of a literal dragon god whom is popularly worshiped.

Not exactly. Dragonborn are not "dragons incarnated as mortal men." They are mortals born with the souls of dragons. That is, while they may have a few dragon like tendencies, special affinities for Akatosh, and a natural need to lead, they are not dragons. Being "kin to both wyrm and the races of Man," means they have a unique perspective of how to lead and the ability to. The fact that Akatosh himself has to bless them shows that they have the approval of the Divines themselves.

The only exception seems to be Miraak, this is especially surprising since at the time dragons were worshiped as god-kings, yet the ancient nords largely refused to serve him.

Also note that the Dragon Cult still existed then and was widely accepted throughout Skyrim, even with the Dragon War dawning. It's also not that the ancient Nords refused to follow him, he being able to force them all to anyway, it was that the rest of the Dragon Cult and Alduin stopped him.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

Alessia nor Tiber ever tried to enslave people or murder people for no good reason, though. Yes, they founded Empires and yes they had people killed, but those people were generally people who were worse people than the Dragonborn and the people the Dragonborn represented. When Alessia came on the scene, the Nedes were enslaved and brutalized by the Ayleids. When Tiber came along, Tamriel had been torn apart by centuries of plague, famine, petty wars and Daedric planemelds. Him stepping on a few toes to hammer the Empire back together is hardly an act of tyranny in and of itself, even if some questionable things happened under his command. Comparing him to Alduin and his ilk is just in poor taste.

[Dark Spark]

It's not like we can say that no one who's born without a dragon's soul has ever been an [&@%!].

[Pilaf The Defiler]

Yeah. My go-to saying about Tiber Septim conquering Tamriel is that he's the worst dictator of a monarch Tamriel ever had - except for every single one who came before him.

[MJJ]

I can see why the Emperor would be dragonborn. It's a sign that their blessed by the divines and worthy to wear the Amulet of Kings.

Perhaps in the next TES game they'll break the cycle of dragonborns ruling and go with a regular mortal. You did have the option to kill the Emperor in Skyrim so if they make that canon the lineage of dragonborn could well be over (it isn't revealed if he had any children).

[Dark Spark]

The line of Dragonborn Emperors was broken when Martin used the Amulet of Kings to merge with Akatosh. The Emperor during Skyrim is a common mortal schmuck descended from a line of common mortal schmucks.

My pet theory is that the reason the Amulet of Kings worked so well for Dragonborn Emperors was because Akatosh infused it with a bit of his soul. The Amulet has been regarded as some kind of uber-soul gem containing essences of previous rulers. A Dragonborn who wears the Amulet subtly taps into the power and knowledge contained within— giving them not only an overt sign of their rule, but the tools needed to actually rule Tamriel.

[Starfang]

I hope there's a quest in TES 6 to find/restore a new Amulet of Kings by means of an Aedric quest of some sort and get credibility for the Empire again.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

I hope there's a quest in TES 6 to find/restore a new Amulet of Kings by means of an Aedric quest of some sort and get credibility for the Empire again.

While it's certainly possible for such artifacts to be recreated or rediscovered, the prophecy on Alduin's Wall is quite literally set in stone.

Last Dragonborn. No more, at least during this kalpa. The whole Dragonborn thing is played out.

[spin]

I hope there's a quest in TES 6 to find/restore a new Amulet of Kings by means of an Aedric quest of some sort and get credibility for the Empire again.

While it's certainly possible for such artifacts to be recreated or rediscovered, the prophecy on Alduin's Wall is quite literally set in stone.

Last Dragonborn. No more, at least during this kalpa. The whole Dragonborn thing is played out.

it wouldn't have to be based on Dragonborns if it is a new amulet. It could be some other power granted by the gods to create a new amulet.
As well as a new Dragonborn could be created the same way the first one was. Then the prophecy would be true, as that line of dragonborns was ended, but the prophecy didn't go far enough in the future to see the second creation of dragonborns.

[Zero_The_Dark]

All dragonborn were created the first one was. They were blessed by Akatosh to have the soul of a dragon. It isn't a bloodline gift or anything, there isn't really a line of dragonborn. So based off the prophesy I don't really see any reason to believe there will be anymore dragonborn.

[Leckan]

Dragonborns as we know are dragons incarnated as mortal men. So not only did "dragons" continue ruling the people after the Dragon Wars, but Tiber Septim ended up ascending to godhood... making him something of a literal dragon god whom is popularly worshiped.

Not exactly. Dragonborn are not "dragons incarnated as mortal men." They are mortals born with the souls of dragons. That is, while they may have a few dragon like tendencies, special affinities for Akatosh, and a natural need to lead, they are not dragons. Being "kin to both wyrm and the races of Man," means they have a unique perspective of how to lead and the ability to. The fact that Akatosh himself has to bless them shows that they have the approval of the Divines themselves.

The only exception seems to be Miraak, this is especially surprising since at the time dragons were worshiped as god-kings, yet the ancient nords largely refused to serve him.

Also note that the Dragon Cult still existed then and was widely accepted throughout Skyrim, even with the Dragon War dawning. It's also not that the ancient Nords refused to follow him, he being able to force them all to anyway, it was that the rest of the Dragon Cult and Alduin stopped him.

They may not have the body of a dragon, but they are still dragons. If you were turned into a rabbit, would you not be a person in a rabbit's body? Whether they are dragons reincarnated as humans or new dragon souls entirely, they still possess the souls of dragons; not mortals. What makes gives them a connection to both worlds is that they know what it's like to be human, to be mortal. They know what it's like to fight and struggle to survive, to be helpless, etc. Yet, they still have the souls of dragons and possess that which is innate to dragons. That's the way I see it.

It's weirder still that the dragon cult wouldn't worship a variable dragon. Was it Alduin that made them turn on Miraak? Was he aware of what Miraak was? Although, it was first Vahlok that discovered Miraak's plan to ascension.

[Raptor_X2000]

it wouldn't have to be based on Dragonborns if it is a new amulet. It could be some other power granted by the gods to create a new amulet.

MUDCRABBORN!!!

With regard to the OP though, men didn't throw off the Dragon-rule so much because they were ruled by dragons, as because the dragons were, as you said, barbaric and tyrannical. The Emperors were considerably more benevolent (for the most part), and the Third Empire was downright humanitarian, at least if Oblivion can be trusted. But even so, and even if one does consider Dragonborns as Dragons, the Emperors did not rule with absolute power like the dragons. Each Province had its own Kings or Jarls or Great Houses and the Imperial government itself has an internal division of power with the Emperor and Elder Council. Guilds with their own governing rules could and did flourish. Slavery is illegal in some provinces, and frowned upon by the Imperial government in the rest. Religions of different types are tolerated throughout the Empire (at least until the Dominion-imposed White-Gold Concordat). And with regard to Talos-worship, Talos does not continue to rule the Empire, so while he is a king who became a god, he was never a "god-king" as he was not a god while he was king. He became a god, and then was no longer king.

So I don't really see any hypocrisy here. The Dragonborn Emperors ruled in a way that was for the most part consistent with what the people hoped for and expected. And then finally, not every Emperor was a Dragonborn, and not every ruler throughout Tamriel was an Emperor.

10th Post btw. Finally got me (half) a coin!

[MidbossVyers]

According to http://uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Dragons dragon were once benevolent before Alduin decided to conquer everything. Also, in terms of the Dragonborn Emperor... Basically, it's like this: Humans (perhaps all mortal races) are shallow. They are uncomfortable with being lorded over by a giant, fire-breathing lizard, but they have little qualms with being lorded over a humanoid-shaped figure with the soul of a giant, fire-breathing lizard, so long as that figure looks human enough. Also, not quite Elder Scrolls, but the recent anime, Chaos Dragon, shows the brutality of dragon worship, and if ES dragon worship was even half as bad, then you know.