There are many creatures in the large northern region of Tamriel known as Skyrim that can be called scary, such as vampires, werewolves, and mudcrabs, but there is a race that trumps all of them, and that race is dragons. Dragons are the first-hand creations of the God Akatosh and are some of the most fearsome creatures in the Elder Scrolls Universe. Very few other creatures would even last a few minutes against one of these terrifying fire-breathers, so it's a good thing they all died out a long time ago... or did they?

As the events of Skyrim unfold, it becomes very clear that the dragons have reemerged after centuries where they were thought to have gone extinct. Dragons terrorize the land of Skyrim as they once again attempt to enslave humanity, and who is responsible for the dragons coming back? A very powerful dragon named Alduin.

Alduin is the main reason that dragons have returned to Skyrim and is actually the first dragon that you encounter at the start of Skyrim. Alduin is considered a very evil figure and many consider his reemergence to be a sign of the apocalypse. A prophecy about Alduin ending the world is even written in the Elder Scrolls, so you can't really make fun of those people waving around the "The End is Nigh" signs because apparently panicking and hiding in a corner might be a good option. But let's say we put aside the prophecy for a second, would Alduin still be terrifying? Yes. Yes, he would be, and here's why.

20 Alduin Could Make A Return

Being an immortal dragon, Alduin is somewhat hard to kill, but at the end of Skyrim, the Dovahkiin manages to take on Alduin and win, leading to Alduin basically melting away.

There is a problem with this though. The Dovahkiin was able to effectively kill other dragons for good because he was able to absorb their souls, otherwise, Alduin would have been able to resurrect them again and again. Why this is important is because the Dovahkiin did not actually absorb Alduin's soul.

So The World-Eater's soul is still out there somewhere, waiting for the right opportunity to come back. Perhaps lurking in some other-worldly dimension, waiting for the day that someone capable of destroying him is not an obstacle anymore. Then he'll come back and spread chaos and destruction once again.

19 People Used To Serve Alduin

Many centuries before the events of Skyrim, dragons ruled the regions of Altmora and Skyrim and were served and worshiped as if they were gods themselves. People really had no choice in the matter either. Back then, people did not know a whole lot about dragons or how to fight them. They had complete control, and it was all led by Alduin.

There is also a high likelihood that Alduin would still be ruling Skyrim and much more if it wasn't for a betrayal made by his lieutenant Paarthurnax (the dragon that helps you in the game) who taught people how to understand the dragon language and use it against dragons. His dominion over Skyrim was literally ended because of an information leak and not because the inhabitants of Skyrim were in any way more powerful than he was.

18 Alduin Could Beat Up Your Pet Dragon

So it's been clearly stated that Alduin is more powerful than pretty much any human, but what about when compared to other dragons. Well if you were to pit Alduin against any other dragon, Alduin would much more than likely come out on top every time. In fact, there would probably be no contest.

Being the first-born of the god of time Akatosh comes with its perks. Alduin is a great deal larger than any other dragon and all of its attacks do a significant amount more damage than any other dragon. It is also theorized that he is holding back a lot of his power, seeing as he could destroy the world and all. So even compared to other fire-breathing flying monsters, he is still the scariest fire-breathing flying monster.

17 Knowledge Is, Indeed, Power

The heading for this one isn't meant to imply the Alduin is very smart, although he probably is. It's meant to imply that because he was created firsthand by a god, he would know and understand a great deal about the universe and everything in it. This is important because —in the dragon language— words don't have power if you just know them.

For dragon words to have power the user must also have an innate understanding of what the word means. For example, dragons cannot use the Dragonrend shout because it includes words that mean death, and since dragons are essentially immortal they cannot comprehend the concept of death and therefore cannot use Dragonrend.

Because of his connection with the gods, Alduin must have immense knowledge and understanding and therefore can use shouts that no other dragon can, let alone a person.

16 He Understands The Timey-Wimey Stuff

So, to understand is to have power, that's how the dragon language works. Well, it turns out that Alduin has a good understanding of time, which would make sense since the god of time created him. This understanding, along with the proper words, allows Alduin to manipulate time. Alduin does not appear to use this much, so there may be some time paradox side effects, or something, but he has used it in the past.

Back when he basically ruled Skyrim, he wanted to use his understanding of time to turn all of the people in Skyrim into either children and/or the elderly and was conspiring with the god of mortality, Orkey, in order to make that happen. The fact that he could literally steal a person's youth away if he wanted to is simply terrifying.

15 Death Is Only The Beginning

Seeing as Alduin has been the cause of the complete annihilation of many worlds, it would only make sense that he has a very good understanding of death, and he does. Because of how the dragon language works, Alduin can put his understanding of death to good use, not by causing more death but instead by reverting it.

What that means is that Alduin has the power to create zombies. Although if he can't find their souls they'd just be those mindlessly wandering kind. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, the souls of dragons stay within their bones when they die. That makes it really easy for Alduin to resurrect his dragon army when he returns from his apocalypse-free vacations in Reno.

Just imagine it, a landscape of never-ending zombie dragons. Now imagine having to fight them. Are you afraid? We all are.

14 A Connoisseur Of Human Souls

Some of you may recognize the character in the image as Soul Evans. Well, there is one thing that Soul and Alduin have in common: they both enjoy munching on souls, although Alduin is more partial to human souls.

If Alduin ever needs to replenish his power, there is a place where he can to find large amounts of energy he can use. This place is called Sovngarde, the Nordic afterlife created by the god Shor.

Alduin can go to Sovngarde and eat up as many human souls just trying to enjoy that afterlife as he wants and essential use them as batteries to fuel his homicidal tendencies, and thus create even more souls to much on. It's a never-ending cycle! If you think about it though, it's a very efficient way to go about his business. But still terrifying.

13 King Of The Dragons

Alduin has a high level of influence over all dragons as at one time he was the ruler of the dragons and the Dragon Cult that he founded, and he didn't get to be the leader through shady dealings and manipulations like they do in Game of Thrones.

Alduin came into the position of dragon king through sheer brute force, and ruled his civilization with an iron fist. If anyone else wanted the throne they would have to try to take it by force, and no other dragon can really compete with Alduin.

He is credited with building a rather large civilization where the dragons and other members of the Dragon Cult were worshiped, and much of the Dragon Cult still remain loyal to him since those times.

12 The Ultimate Roar

At the beginning of Skyrim, Alduin shows up at your execution and with a single mighty roar causes mass destruction in the town of Helgen. It is actually theorized that his roar isn't actually just a roar though.

There are a lot out there who believe that Alduin's roar is actually a shout. But not just any shout. Alduin's roar could actually just be the beginning of a single word spoken in the dragon language. A word that only he knows, and one that is so powerful that he doesn't even have to finish saying it to destroy towns.

It is very possible that this is, in fact, a shout because Alduin is supposed to have the power to destroy entire worlds but he never actually uses that power. It could be that his roar is the beginning of the shout that is supposed destroy the world.

11 The Elder Scrolls Won't Help

In the Elder Scrolls games, you'll occasionally need the use of an Elder Scroll in order to complete some major feat. The Elder Scrolls are powerful relics that can be used in a number of different ways, and can even show someone a possible future.

Being how they are so powerful, it might be useful to try them out on Alduin, right? Well, that won't actually work out very well. Ancient heroes have already tried using an Elder Scroll on Alduin, and all it really did was send Alduin to the future, which is pretty much just stalling in a poker game where you're clearly about to lose a lot of money.

On top of not being very effective against Alduin, the Elder Scrolls themselves tell of a prophecy that Alduin will destroy the world. So they probably wouldn't be very helpful any way you look at it.

10 Spawn Of Akatosh

So let's start at the beginning. A long, long time ago, the god of time known as Akatosh needed a creature that was very powerful and destructive, and so Alduin was born. Yup, Alduin is the son of what is probably the most powerful god in the Elder Scrolls Universe.

Alduin was given an extraordinary amount of power and knowledge by the god of time while attempting to create the perfect world. Why Alduin needed so much power I'll get to later, the point is that Alduin wasn't just created to be a pet dragon, he was created to assist with the work of a major god, and was instrumental in doing so. Instrumental in the way that you would use a sledgehammer to bust through a wall, but bigger. God-level big. Think of Alduin as a big, fire-breathing sledgehammer that a god would use.

9 The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

Being a direct creation of a god, Alduin is extremely powerful. So powerful, in fact, that the people who inhabit Skyrim often refer to Alduin as a god. Alduin is often referred to by several names that would make him seem like he's a god. Names like, the Nordic God of Destruction, the Dragon God of Destruction, and even Akatosh. Although Alduin specifically refers to himself as the firstborn of Akatosh, he's probably not Akatosh himself. Still though, to be powerful enough to be referred to as the god of time is something.

I would be lying if I said that I wouldn't be completely terrified if I had to go out one day and fight a flying, fire-breathing god. Or any kind of god really, I like to steer clear whenever I can.

8 Think Of Alduin As A World-Destroying Sledgehammer

As stated earlier, Alduin was created for a purpose by the god Akatosh, and what was this purpose? To aid in the creation of worlds, and destruction of "failed" worlds — mostly destruction though. It's really no wonder that he's called the world-eater and is thought to be the bringer of the apocalypse. It's literally his purpose for living. How big is a human compared to an entire planet? Is that even a question? Hold on, let me get a calculator...

Alduin is not a big bad guy who is trying to come up with a plan to destroy the planet like in other games, he is the bigger bad guy who was born with the means to destroy the planet. How can you even fight something like that?? Not very easily, would be a huge understatement.

7 Ph.D In World Destruction, With A Second Major In Terrifying

So what if he can destroy the world though? Ask any recent college graduate, just because you can do something doesn't mean someone will hire you, you need experience. Well, Alduin happens to already have a lot of world-destroying experience as it is.

While the gods were attempting to create the perfect world (the one that the Elder Scrolls series takes place in) they created a bunch of worlds where life eventually failed. Alduin was the cleanup crew. He would come in, kill everyone and do all the world destroying stuff, and then bring some stuff with him to the next world. His experience in world destruction is probably in the top 15 of all video game characters. I would totally hire him if I needed a world destroyed.

6 Call Alduin Uncle

As was said previously, the gods were trying to create a perfect world where life would not inevitably fail, and Alduin's role in that process was mainly as the clean-up crew. He did, however, have one other role in the creation of the perfect world that makes him kind of scary.

While he destroys the failed worlds, he gathers up all the souls of the living and brings them to the next world. So he always plays a pretty pivotal role in starting life in the next world, which is a little ironic, when you think about it. So basically, he indirectly helps to father and raise the new worlds, including the one that they eventually settle on is the perfect one. He doesn't create people like the gods do, he just brings their souls to them. So he could probably be considered as that one weird uncle.

5 Don't Bother Wasting Your Arrows And Swords

Born of and imbued with the power of a god, Alduin has some pretty crazy abilities that would make the most brave of adventurers want to take on the challenge of bringing Alduin to his knees. But there is one problem: it doesn't matter how they try to take down Alduin because Alduin is very much immortal.

Much like all dragons, Alduin cannot be killed by conventional means. When a dragon "dies" only their body dies while their soul continues to inhabit its body until the time that it's resurrected — this is also true for Alduin. Lucky the Dovahkiin is around, eh?

4 Symbol Of Fear

It's not just that Alduin is a big scary dragon, but that the large majority of people (in Skyrim at least) see Alduin as a symbol of fear and destruction. By the masses, Alduin is called things like The World-Eater or the God of Destruction. The god Akatosh was even removed from religious practices in Skyrim as a result of Alduin's association with him, they refer to the gods as the Eight instead of the Nine.

Alduin is the kind of figure that parents would tell their children about for generations so that they will behave, except it's not just children that are afraid of Alduin. Virtually everyone sees Alduin as a huge symbol of fear, the bringer of the end of times. Most anyone who grew up in Skyrim would cower before the thought of Alduin instead of trying to assist you in taking him down.

3 Extremely Limited Weaknesses

So what about Alduin's weaknesses? Sure, he has a ton of power at his disposal but maybe if you land a sword strike in the right place it'll take him out easier. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Alduin has extremely strong scales that allows him to take more hits than any other dragon in existence.

Even if you could get a really powerful weapon, chances are he won't stay close enough for you to be able to use it. The only way you could really make use of it is with the Dragonrend shout, and for that, you have to be the Dovahkiin, and even then it only makes him temporarily unable to fly.

And it's also a very particular weakness that only really works because, as a creation of the god of time, Alduin has a certain affinity for spells and shouts that utilize properties of time.

2 Battling Alduin Is Out Of Your League

Being as powerful as Alduin is, it is probably not that big of a surprise that Alduin has never been defeated by a mortal human. Sure, there were a few who managed to create the Dragonrend shout and use it against Alduin, but that shout doesn't really do damage to Alduin and they didn't defeat him either, not really anyway.

The only being, before the Dovahkiin, who had ever gone toe-to-toe with Alduin and come out on top was the warrior-god Shor. And actually, Shor fought with and defeated Alduin at least twice. When you think about it, for any mortal to actually do lasting damage to Alduin would be pretty impressive, and a feat of god-like proportions. So kudos to the Dovahkiin for doing so.

1 Alduin Would Not Be On Social Networks

Alduin would most likely not have any sort of account on any sort of social networking websites, and that in itself is scary. And it's not just because computers and social networks haven't been invented yet in the Elder Scrolls Universe.

Alduin has an innate hatred of everything, yes including puppies. This hatred stems from the purpose for which he was created, which is to destroy worlds. Alduin is supposed to destroy the world and everything in it, but since the gods have created their perfect world Alduin isn't allowed to carry out his purpose for living. So, he hates the world and has a very deeply misanthropic. It's safe to safe that he would much rather burn you to a crisp than add you as a friend on Facebook.