Skyrim: Why do dragons still attack me after I've ***spoiler***

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I must have missed something in the plot. Granted I probably didn't pay enough attention to it, but wasn't the whole point of defeating Alduin so that I could stop the return of the dragons?

Nothing seems to have changed at all after I've finished the main quest. Is there some minor plot point that I must have skipped over that explains this, or have I got it all wrong?

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Spoiler

Some dragons refuse to follow you or Paarthurnax and still attack people. Flimsy? Yes. But they needed some way to keep dragons around after the story so you could still work on shouts and dragon armor.

 

[SwagLordYoloson]

Yes there really is no closure given by the main questline, if you dislike dragons don't start it. You won't see as many then as they will most likely just be chilling at their little mountain retreats instead of hunting you down like they do after game.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

It just doesn't give me much sense of achievement. Everyone I met in the game carried on about how I was the Dragonborn come to save them from the dragons, and it turns out I haven't achieved much at all. The moment I finished the main quest I came across an Imperial camp being massacred by a frost dragon. If I were the Jarls I wouldn't be happy with my job at all.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

no, you stopped Alduin. that's the point. there are more dragons.

 

[Mr Companion]

The problem is, if no dragons turned up after you killed Alduin then everybody would be like "WTF I liked the dragon battles now my game is boring!" and it would compel you to start again to make things interesting again.

Personally I think its fine that dragons are still about its not like they pose an apocalyptic level threat with Alduin gone, I mean have you seen one of those elder dragons try to take out the Mages Guild? Drops like a fly I tells ya!

Edit: PS Im not saying the dragon battles are the only interesting point they just spice up otherwise fairly predictable travels across the overworld. Never has simply walking through pretty forests been so tense!

 

[Valagetti]

Dragons, dragons, dragons. Skyrim woundn't be the same without dragons, killing me all over the show. Love the game. I think the Dragons have it in for the dragonborn and Alduin unleashed them before he dies. Welp off to play more of Skyrim, its midnight, I've been playing for like 15hours straight and Still going strong.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

no, you stopped Alduin. that's the point. there are more dragons.

Alduin didn't do anything then. He never attacked anyone, in fact he was hiding in a Valhalla-like place and I went to enormous trouble to find him. It wasn't Alduin who was problematic for the citizens of Skyrim.

 

[Ectoplasmicz]

While the dragons become repetitive, you always hold out hope for an elder dragon, provides a challenge.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I could have sworn Bethesda mentioned this at some point before Skyrim's release. Didn't they say something about the game not ending? Something about Dragons still being around after you finished the main quest? I could be wrong of course but I could have sworn they mentioned it.

 

[Chase Yojimbo]

In a sense, Dragons by their very nature are like Politicians, except extremely wild. They don't like the fact that they were dead for so long, and a good number of them would rather be back on top ruling the world than even think of being on the level with the Mer/Bretons, and Nords/Imperials.

So in a sense, despite losing the First Son of Akatosh, Alduin the World-Eater, they still choose to destroy the world one lesser being at a time!

I actually don't find much wrong with it. If I were a dragon who was set on being on top, I would go out and kill anything I see to prove that point as well, including the heavily armored being who may very well be the lesser being who killed Alduin by shouting profanity at Him.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

no, you stopped Alduin. that's the point. there are more dragons.

Alduin didn't do anything then. He never attacked anyone, in fact he was hiding in a Valhalla-like place and I went to enormous trouble to find him. It wasn't Alduin who was problematic for the citizens of Skyrim.

Alduin is the Nordic God of Destruction, and he's the one who brought the dragons back.

 

[Vegosiux]

The same reason you generally still have to deal with the enemy army even after killing their commander.

 

[Loop Stricken]

As far as the plot goes; yeah you're the Dragonborn, you kill dragons. Alduin is going around resurrecting dragons, which is bad.
But later on you find out that he is literally Armageddon. Alduin is the end of the world. Reason enough to focus on stopping HIM, and any dragons that wanna go around attacking people afterwords is relatively small change.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

no, you stopped Alduin. that's the point. there are more dragons.

Alduin didn't do anything then. He never attacked anyone, in fact he was hiding in a Valhalla-like place and I went to enormous trouble to find him. It wasn't Alduin who was problematic for the citizens of Skyrim.

Alduin is the Nordic God of Destruction, and he's the one who brought the dragons back.

So I kill him because he brought the dragons back, and not to get rid of the dragons? I got the impression everyone just wanted the dragons gone. I still think that there should be an expansion to provide the opportunity to eliminate the dragons once and for all.

 

[Hawgh]

Alduin was eating the souls of the dead, and working himself up to destroying the world. That's what was stopped. A few remaining flying fire-critters aren't really an issue compared to the end of the world.

 

[darth.pixie]

So I kill him because he brought the dragons back, and not to get rid of the dragons? I got the impression everyone just wanted the dragons gone. I still think that there should be an expansion to provide the opportunity to eliminate the dragons once and for all.

I think he was supposed to bring the End Times and devour people's souls.

Damned if I know how those End Times would come though. It's a pretty flimsy plot. It starts all epic and then Alduin drops like a fly. They should have either ended the game after the main plot or just made dragons much more rare.

Every time I fast travel there's a dragon there. It's gotten to the point where seeing and killing them is tedious and annoying which I think might have been the opposite of what they wanted. Dragons are special for a reason - they are rare and powerful. Seeing them everywhere is the same as with a horror game in which the more enemies you see, the less scary it is. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Skyrim made dragons boring for me.

 

[WolfThomas]

Alduin is the Nordic God of Destruction, and he's the one who brought the dragons back.

Spoiler: Not just that

he's Akatosh, sort of. Akatosh and Alduin are two sides of a coin. Akatosh represents the nuturing aspects of time, that builds civilisations and makes people grow, Alduin the destructive aspects, that erodes and kills everything invetiably. Interesting stuff, considering Akatosh is who drove Mehrunes Dagon off in Oblvion.

 

[Bobbity]

I never really felt the threat from Alduin, hence I had no sense of achievement after I killed him. Of his character model had been bigger - not as big as Akatosh in Oblivion, certainly, but, nonetheless, bigger - and we had witnessed him wipe out a town Kvatch style, then yeah, it would've been pretty great. As it was, killing him felt pretty pointless, and there wasn't even any loot.