Dragon Priests are known as some of the most daunting enemies you can encounter while traveling through Skyrim. Whether it's a Nordic tomb you're exploring or the peak of a snowy mountain, there's a slim chance you might stumble across their eternal sleep and disturb it.
While battling these lich-like priests is no easy task, the costs often outweigh the rewards. Each priest drops a mask so powerful it would be foolish not to pick it up. As much as the tales and the mystery surrounding these beings have us enthralled, there's also plenty of questions that we wish we could get answers for. Here, we've gathered 10 things about these fearsome dragon priests that just don't make any sense.
10 Far Too Loyal
It's said that a long, long time ago, dragons ruled over Skyrim. However, since they could not physically engage in politics and really couldn't even be bothered with managing their human subjects, they recruited dragon priests to do their dirty work for them. These humans gained immeasurable power and knowledge in return, however, after the dragons fell the cult of these priests still persisted.
You would think individuals with so much power between their hands would eventually set up a rule of their own, independent of dragons? Well, for some reason, the priests kept their undying loyalty despite it becoming their undoing.
9 Ruling Through Subjugation
The dragon priests weren't actually the most liked rulers. In fact, they did everything in their power to force the dragon cult upon their subjects. Many were known as cruel, heartless rulers who would do anything for their dragon overlords, including enslaving their own kind.
Ironically, it's this lack of awareness from the priests' part that creates the human rebellion against dragons. If the priests had ruled in a benevolent manner and shown that the dragons could provide something more and better for people than mere suffering, perhaps we would still have the dragons and their priests rule to this day. Truly, their approach to politics was incredibly backwards.
8 Untouched Tombs
When we begin our adventure in Skyrim, the tombs of the various priests that came to Skyrim are scattered all across the province. It's unlikely you'll somehow avoid even accidentally walking into one during your exploration. This, in turn, begs a question to be asked: how come no one else has disturbed the slumber of these priests so far?
It doesn't seem that complicated to actually get inside many of these tombs, and with so much loot lying around you would think that at least someone or some form of group would eventually come along. After all, it's been thousands of years since these tombs exist, and we're really supposed to believe no one's managed to wake these priests?
7 The Ritual That Lasts
Another weird thing about these untouched tombs that the dragon priests occupy is the still ongoing daily ritual. The draugr trapped in these tombs are in fact the servants of these priests and will regularly channel their life force into the dragon priest to keep them alive through their slumber.
Since draugr are incredibly fragile, it's a bit strange that they haven't already withered away in all the years they've spent giving away their life force to their masters. Surely this little ritual can't last forever, and even if it did, it's still weird that no one has come around to disturb it or at least take enough time to kill these draugr, which aren't that daunting to fight anyway.
6 Otar's Odd Tale
Each of these dragon priests have their own unique stories, but none of them is quite like Otar's. He was once known as an incredible ruler and talented warrior, but was driven mad and turned into a dragon priest. It wasn't until Saerek and Torsten, two heroes, came along and sealed him within his tomb.
To this day, these two heroes protect the tomb and carry the keys to it. Since this is the case, we would imagine that the draugr would be unable to perform their ritual to Otar and channel their life force, since Saerek and Torsten are guarding his body. Yet, somehow, Otar is as vigorous as every other dragon priest, even though it's implied his tomb is more guarded compared to most of the other ones.
5 Morokei's Predicament
Another unique dragon priest is Morokei, one of the bosses you'll need to fight during the College of Winterhold questline. Savos Aren, the Arch-Mage of the College, is responsible for sealing Morokei into a magical binding by two of his fellow mages. To be able to not only force his two companions to stay there for years to keep Morokei sealed in, but also to ensure the binding is strong enough to resist Morokei's powers, is pretty impressive considering how young he was at the time.
While Savos does become the Arch-Mage, he's largely useless and fails to illustrate the same amount of power he once did when he managed to seal Morokei in. The more you think about it and just how powerful the priest is, the less it actually makes sense for Savos to have accomplished this feat.
4 Krosis' Open Tomb
Not all dragon priests are buried deep in the depths of some decrepit Nordic tomb. Some, like Krosis, can simply be sort of stumbled upon. Perched at the top of a snowy mountain, Krosis' tomb is seated next to a word wall, completely out in the open where theoretically anyone could find him.
There's plenty of adventurers in Skyrim, and we would imagine that many are out there to find remote locations like this one yet, for some reason, his tomb, wide open for the world to visit, is completely untouched when we find him. Either he picked the perfect spot, or people truly are blind to the mysterious word wall that sits atop this mountain.
3 The Untouched Masks
One of the biggest reasons why it's worth it to go against a dragon priest is the mask. Each mask will provide the wearer with unique bonuses and abilities. Not to mention, these are precious artifacts that can fetch a pretty nice price. That alone should be a big enough motivation for bandits and adventurers to come in hordes into these Nordic tombs in search of a dragon priest's body, just to snatch a mask for themselves.
Yet, these masks remain untouched for thousands of years. The worst example of this is undoubtedly the wooden mask found simply lying around in the Labyrinthian, and which will transport its wearer back in time. How has no one come across it to this day? We'll never understand.
2 Vahlok Without A Mask
Vahlok is one of the most praised dragon priests out there and for a very good reason. When Miraak began to stray away from the principles of the dragon cult, Vahlok found out that he was planning on betraying their dragon masters. Immediately, both Vahlok and Miraak clashed in a destructive battle, which left Vahlok victorious. To this day, he awaits Miraak's return and is ready to banish him once more.
However, despite his absolute loyalty to his masters, he doesn't wear a signature dragon priest mask. Since the mask is a symbol of loyalty and a source of great power, it seems extremely bizarre that he's the one to not wear his mask, given how he risked his existence to defeat Miraak.
1 Miraak's Cult
Miraak, the main antagonist of the Dragonborn DLC, was once a dragon priest himself. However, his greed got the best of him and he became a servant of Hermaeus Mora. Despite it seeming like the ideal story, his choice to serve a Daedric Lord instead is definitely an odd and slightly illogical one. If anything, dragons and their priests are seen as above Daedra and their lords.
The priests are able to summon and harness Daedra to do their bidding, while dragons themselves are considered by scholars to be immortal and undying, with a physical existence not bound to one plane like Daedric Lords, who must possess objects or people. With this in mind, it almost feels like Miraak chose a weaker side in favor of following his much stronger dragon masters.