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The other night I was thinking, which antagonist do you think was the most dangerous in the Elder Scrolls series? Who do you think would cause the most destruction if the player character in the game failed to vanquish said foe?

They would all cause destruction of Tamriel as we know it in their own ways. It would be different but roughly equal. The one exception would be Daggerfall which didn't have a specific antagonist of a conventional type. Even Mannimarco wasn't a traditional villain in that game and had his own motivations that didn't involve world enslavement, although he's tried that in the past (ESO Planemeld.)

As with any world, the world itself. As in its populace.

Alduin, if he could be bothered. He's got previous for destroying the world after all.

Yeah, I'd say Alduin in terms of potential. And heck, he apparently was only a problem because he wasn't planning on destroying the world, like he was actually supposed to.

Alduin because he is capable of destroying the entire world and could do it if he cared to. But Dagon would be able to destroy Nirn however, it would take him a lot longer then Alduin and that's if the other princes don't get involved. Or the nine for that matter. Unsure about Dagoth UR as i've not played Morrowind and can't remember the lore that i've read about him. However, the greatest threat to Tamriel would be the Dovahkiin if they decided that they wanted to rule Tamriel as they are a bit over powered.

Well, threats are implicitly proportioned to the targets. You wouldn't say that the greatest threat to a squirrel is nuclear winter, for example. That's more like hawks or cars or something like that.

Alduin is the greatest threat to all of Nirn, maybe all of Mundus (it's not clear just how far his "world-eating" goes). Mehrunes Dagon, likewise, poses a planet-wide or universe-wide threat. But the greatest potential threat to Tamriel is foreign invasion, most likely by Akavir.

I agreed with the others. I would say Alduin, as lore-wise he would have the largest impact and power, but then I realised that Alduin is not the true threat.

Minor Edits wrote:Well, threats are implicitly proportioned to the targets. You wouldn't say that the greatest threat to a squirrel is nuclear winter, for example. That's more like hawks or cars or something like that.

Alduin is the greatest threat to all of Nirn, maybe all of Mundus (it's not clear just how far his "world-eating" goes). Mehrunes Dagon, likewise, poses a planet-wide or universe-wide threat. But the greatest potential threat to Tamriel is foreign invasion, most likely by Akavir.

I'd argue that Aldmeri extremists are far more of a threat than Alduin. Alduin was programmed by the gods to reset the Kalpa. If the Thalmor succeeded in completely erasing physical existence, theoretically Nirn would not be reformed again in its current state. Alduin seems like a horrific foe but he is both destroyer and creator. He serves a purpose.

Linkuya wrote:The other night I was thinking, which antagonist do you think was the most dangerous in the Elder Scrolls series? Who do you think would cause the most destruction if the player character in the game failed to vanquish said foe?

A hard drive crash.

"It's 3:00 am. Where's your backup?"

Tamriel is [&@%!] big time if the Dovahkiin decided that he or she wanted to rule it as their overlord as they are very powerful. They are as powerful as Vile is or is implied to and is overpowered due to the Thu'um. Unsure about the other heros apart from the fact that they are demigods without actually being a demigod. If that makes sense.

Thelastdovah wrote:Tamriel is [&@%!] big time if the Dovahkiin decided that he or she wanted to rule it as their overlord as they are very powerful. They are as powerful as Vile is or is implied to and is overpowered due to the Thu'um. Unsure about the other heros apart from the fact that they are demigods without actually being a demigod. If that makes sense.

"As much as I hate to say it, you're almost as powerful as I am right now. But that's just because half of my power resides in that mutt, Barbas."

So no, not even half as powerfull as Vile. Besides that, I have seen dragonborns killed by just regular thugs, bandits, guards, hagraven, falmer, etc... That the dragonborn can kill whole cities, dedicate I to game mechanics.

I think that Dagon would be the one to pick, after all he is the Daedric lord of destruction.

However I think that the greatest threat to Tamriel would be warfare between the Empire, and the Aldmeri Dominion.

Ilaro wrote:"As much as I hate to say it, you're almost as powerful as I am right now. But that's just because half of my power resides in that mutt, Barbas."

So no, not even half as powerfull as Vile. Besides that, I have seen dragonborns killed by just regular thugs, bandits, guards, hagraven, falmer, etc... That the dragonborn can kill whole cities, dedicate I to game mechanics.

You can't draw any specific conclusions based on that quote from Vile, because he says it no matter how powerful the Dragonborn is at the time.

That said, things like cooldown times and magnitudes of the Dragonborn's Shouts can also be ascribed to game mechanics. With study and practice, the higher-potential shouts such as Storm Call, Bend Will, etc. could be used to make a case for an OP Dragonborn.

The Dragonborn is powerful in the mythic sense. It's not just "who would beat up who in a fight." He/she is a powerful symbol of Akatosh' authority on Nirn. Talos was a powerful Tongue and a fine swordsman but he didn't unite Tamriel by beating all his enemies in personal combat. His Voice was the Voice of the gods.

However, since the Amulet was destroyed the Dragonborn As Emperor thing has diminished. Nobody in the Mede dynasty is Dragonborn. It's not really the same covenant any more. Akatosh made a new deal via the statue at the Temple of the One.

The Last Dragonborn existed to delay Alduin, which he or she did a fine job of. It's not that person's destiny to unite Tamriel or rule anyone.

Medomé wrote:You can't draw any specific conclusions based on that quote from Vile, because he says it no matter how powerful the Dragonborn is at the time.

That said, things like cooldown times and magnitudes of the Dragonborn's Shouts can also be ascribed to game mechanics. With study and practice, the higher-potential shouts such as Storm Call, Bend Will, etc. could be used to make a case for an OP Dragonborn.

I totally agree with you. But it was a comment on what Thelastdovah said. He made it look like it was a fact that the dragonborn is almost as powerful as Vile and invincible against mortals. Just a arrow or ice spike through the neck will kill the dragonborn as anybody else.

I never said that they were immune to death. They are very hard to kill and it is implied that they are almost as powerful as Vile when he had half of his power seperated from him and was weakened by Umbra. It's not every day that you see a Daedric Prince admit that a mortal is almost as powerful as they are. The Dovahkiin is overpowered but is mortal and any number of things could kill them. From disease to dying in battle. But i believe they are capable of taking on an entire army due to the Thu'um and their dragon armour outmatching any armour apart from Daedric. But the lore regarding armour is not that deep so would be hard to tell. That said, they can use the Thu'um to literally become invincible for a few seconds.

The dragonborn while mortal will be neigh impossible to kill, both game and lore wise. Sure you can find yourself killed by a wolf or simple bandit if it happens but the lore is, you don't.

You slay hundreds of dragons cut swaths through the elite of the Dominion, single handedly change the course of a war, and defeat one of the strongest beings in the lore, and for an added measure also a vampire lord and one of the strongest dragonborns to exist

Mehrunes.

Both Mehrunes and Alduin have intrinsic powers capable to destroy a world but Mehrunes is more inclined to actually destroy it than Alduin, who would probably 'just' enslave its people.
Dagoth Ur have the Heart of Lorkhan and Numidium but both can be destroyed/stopped by 'mere' tools crafted by mortals. Meanwhile, Alduin could only be defeated by a Dovahkiin using an Elder Scroll and the Mehrunes requried an actual God.

Just regular dragons alone would have easily destroyed almost all of the settlements by now. If they didn't unrealistically fly mostly round one small area for no reason and limit their attacks. They seem to act more territorially than anything, whereas if they acted more as lore suggests, Tamriel would be a scorched/frozen ruin by now.

Actually, I've read quite a bit of the lore myself. ()Pretty much all of it.) Both the older and newer lore on Dragons suggests that besides the whole never being born and being truly immortal thing, they fit many traditional Dragon tropes. They love mountain tops and sometimes caves. They have a weakness for gold, jewels and enchanted treasure. They sometimes work for humans if it benefits or amuses them, etc. Above all, the biggest thing they have in common with traditional dragon myths is that they're highly territorial. They would often fight anything or anyone which entered their personal space including other Dragons. This was before, during and after the Dragon War. Pretty much the only unspoken rule was that nobody really challenged Alduin. Anyone else was fair game. Some Dragons enjoyed killing other Dragons and taking their souls. Durnehviir talks about this in his dialogue in the Soul Cairne.