The Middle Ages in Modern Games: Conference Proceedings, Vol. 2 (2021)

12: Dragons and their slayers: Skyrim in Comparison to Middle High German romances and Heroic Epics Julia Kaspar, @KasparJulia, University of Bamberg In this paper I will analyse dragons and their slayers using the example of the game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by Bethesda in comparison to Middle High German chivalric romances, whose protagonists are knights, e.g. Iwein, Tristan, Parzival, Wigalois, and heroic epics, whose protagonists are heroes, e.g. Nibelungenlied, Ortnit, Wolfdietrich.

In Skyrim players design their own character. An alter ego, who is the hero of the developing story and whose role can be compared to the protagonists in medieval narratives. Especially the romances have each a knight, whose journey the recipients follow. Examples are Iwein of Hartmann von Aue’s Iwein, that is one of the classical Middle High German Arthurian romances, and Tristan of Gottfried von Straßburg’s Tristan. In contrast to the romances, the character of the player does not have to be a knight but can take any role, that suits the player best.

The world of Skyrim is medieval with fantastic elements: Transport is mainly by horse. Other characters depict warriors, peasants, hunters, and merchants. These are also found in Middle High German romances and heroic epics as well as magic, giants, and dragons. The player must fulfil quests, which are like the âventiure in the Middle High German chivalric romances. Aline Holzer also shows this connection in her book: Holzer, Aline Madeleine: Digitale Heldengeschichten: medienübergreifende narratologische Studie zur Rezeption der mittelalterlichen deutschsprachigen Epik in Computerspielen. Frankfurt am Main, 2017. The main quest in Skyrim, which is similar to Iwein’s aim to be worthy of Laudine and the court again or Parzival’s (Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival) fate to ask the right question, leads to the battle with the first dragon.

This quest is given by a Jarl, who also resembles the noble commissioners in the romances. Iwein fulfils a lot of commissions for nobility because it is honourable and his duty. Wigalois (Wirnt von Grafenberg’s Wigalois) is specifically tasked by a king to kill a dragon. Also, Tristan must slay a dragon to woo the princess Isolde. The knights and heroes of Middle High German literature fight dragons, too. In Skyrim are nameless dragons like the ones in the romances, that are easier to kill. Iwein slays his dragon, in contrast to Tristan, without much effort. But both dragons have no names. They are just animals. While these are simply enemies, the fights against dragons with names have more meaning.

In Skyrim they are stronger and mark important points, like the final boss Alduin. In Germanic sagas is Fafnir, who is slain by Siegfried, and the Midgard-Snake, slain by Thor.

When in Skyrim the first dragon is killed, its soul is passed to the player, who is then revealed as dragonborn. Like Siegfried’s invulnerability after the bath in dragon blood the dragonborn gains the might of the slain dragon. Now dragon shouts, the power of dragons, can be used. In Skyrim dragons were thought dead. Alduin is the first to show up after a long time and resurrects the other dragons.

This is unlike in the romances and epics, where dragons are somewhat common. Skyrim’s history has a dragon cult, too, which is not found in Middle High German stories, that are Christian.

Medieval dragons are depicted as horrible with an awful stench and poison, and they breathe fire. But they stay on the ground. In contrast the dragons in Skyrim fly most of the time and have no poison.

There are various dragons, the most breathe fire, but some use ice instead. In Skyrim you can use anything to kill a dragon, even just an iron dagger or your bare hands. So, players are not limited to one particular playing style. In contrast, the medieval knights and heroes use swords. In the epics Ortnit and Wolfdietrich only the sword ‘Rose’ can pierce dragon skin. While Skyrim has many swords with names, they do not live up to this significance.

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