Summary
Time is a strange business in Nirn. Thanks to the Dawn and Merethic era, it is impossible to get an exact date on history because of Nirn’s fantastic nature; although it may seem to pass as normal and in one direction, it is subject to the whims of the gods, occasional breakages, and imperfect reformations. Whenever time breaks, it is said thatdragons work to put it back together. Being that dragons and time are intrinsically linked, in that death is not a permanent state for them unless a Dragonborn absorbs their souls, it can be difficult to assess their ages, even if, for example,Skyrimmarks some dragons as “ancient.”
Dragons (dovah, in their tongue) are a creation of the time god, Akatosh, but from most ofTheElder Scrollslore, it seems that not all dragons were created at the same time, as there exists a seniority hierarchy. Most dragons were hunted down and turned into a pile of bones before the end of the Merethic Era, and as such, these dragons had less experience and might be considered “younger.” The dragons that survived longer might then be considered older. However, some dragons never died at all, giving them more experience over their kin regardless of Nirn’s occasional non-linear time.
6Nahfahlaar
Died: 2E, 864
Not every dragon seen inSkyrimhad to be returned by Alduin after his return from his temporal exile. In fact, some survived the dragon slaughter that followed the Dragon War in the Merethic Era. Nahfahlaar is an example of a particularly shrewd dragon who survived well into the second era by siding with mortals, including Tiber Septim (before his ascendancy to godhood), despite having many enemies among his own kind.
His actions in the Imperial army were so great that he was considered a “jewel in the imperial crown.” While Nahfahlaar had been sly in keeping his life on Nirn, he was not sly enough to evade Cyrus' dragonfire-branded sword during the events ofThe Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, and he perished in the treasure vaults of Stros M’kai.
5Dragonne Papré
Died: 3E, 398
Besides his alliance with an Imperial Battlemage and colossal size, not much is known about Dragonne Papré’s past. He made his home in the depths of the Battlespire, a proving ground for Battlemages (at least before its partial destruction and sealing). Duringthe Battlespire’s Daedric invasion, Dragonne Papré’s companion Samar Starlover attempted to have him fly to warn Emperor Septim of the attack, but Daedric forces got to him first by locking the main gate.
When Starlover finally made his way to his beloved dragon shortly afterThe Elder Scrolls: Battlespirebegins, he found only his bones. Starlover died not soon after, presumably from the same rampaging Daedric forces. Having died in the year 398 of the Third Era, Dragonne Papré would have been almost 6,000 years old, assuming that he had not been killed for a time and resurrected by Alduin during the height of the dragon war.
4Shulkunaak
Last Seen: 4E, 180: Blades
Shulkanaak, whom players meet on the course of their journey inThe Elder Scrolls: Blades, proves that even regular dragons are remarkable creatures. They have knowledge of things beyond the mortals' grasp, such asthe workings of an Elder Scroll, and a vague knowledge of events to come. to defeat the Sorcerer-king Celemaril, the player has to consult (or fight) Shulkunaak in his cave lair to gain information about how to bind Celemaril to a doomed fate.
Shulkunaak seemingly survived the Blade’s hunting down of dragons since the end of the Dragon War and held onto his life until at least twenty years before Alduin’s return and the subsequent resurrection of his slain kin. He did this despite not dabbling in the dark arts of claiming descendancy from the dragon god of time, making him one of the oldest of his kind.
3Durnehviir
Last Seen: 4E, 421
While most dragons went underground (literally, in more cases than one) to survive their doom at the hands of zealous dragonslayers, Durnehviir went as deep as anyone can go: the realms of Oblivion, specifically the Soul Cairn, the realm that souls find themselves in once they are trapped in a soul gem. Long before the extinction of the dragon race, Durnehviir sought power by tapping into the dark art of necromancy. He bargained with the Ideal Masters in the Soul Cairn for powers over the undead in exchange for watching over a mortal they had trapped in their dimension.
Little did he know that this mortal was, in fact,an immortal Volkihar vampire, and because of this, the Masters had trapped him for all time. Even freed by the Last Dragonborn, Durnehviir’s physical form had become reliant on the Soul Cairn, and besides being summoned, he is irrevocably tied to the place. Durnehviir entered the Ideal Masters' realm during the Merethic Era and given that time moves differently in the realms of Oblivion; it is possible that his sentence has aged him even longer than his brethren.
2Paarthurnax
Secondborn Of Akatosh, Last seen: 4E, 421
Paarthurnax was once Alduin’s right-hand dragon, and during the dragon’s oppression and war against humanity, he was considered the second strongest due to being Akatosh’s second born. This second-place status is important when gauging his age, but being number two doesn’t point to his age on the cosmic scale of things. The firstborn dragon is known to have existed before the creation of the universe, which seems to put him ahead of Paarthurnax, who, given his lack of thoughts on the matter, likely emerged after the creation of Nirn.
However, Paarthurnax has never been defeated and has witnessed all of creation play out from the time of his making, however long that was since his elder brother’s arrival. His dialogue and appearance certainly give off the impression of world-weariness, but that could also be the result of trying to deny his inborn hunger to dominate and oppress. Since the time of the dragon war, Paarthurnax spends his infinite time atop the Throat of the World,musing on the Way of the Voiceand avoiding the ire of dragonslayers like the Blades.
1Alduin
Firstborn of Akatosh, Last Seen: 4E, 421
Alduin was created by Akatosh, the god of time, forone purpose and one fate: to eat the world to end it so that a new one can begin. However, during the events ofSkyrim, it is shown how he went rogue and began instead dominating mortals and attempting to rule Tamriel. However, at the height of the great Dragon War, when humanity was on its back foot, three nords managed to shout him down from the skies and banish him forward through time.
This might reasonably lead some to believe that, having been thrown thousands of years through time, Alduin should have ceded his status as “eldest” to his younger brother. However, Alduin has likely been around for several kalpas (the timespan of a whole universe), and it is even possible that he has always existed, making his absence from the Merethic to the Fourth Era a blip in his immortal life.
