How Alduin and Akatosh are one and the same, and how TES:V Skyrims story can be explained without relying on the Imperial Pantheon.
This theory patches the disconnect between the Nordic and Imperial Pantheons that TESV creates. It gives a way that the story of TESV can be explained through a lens of the Nordic pantheon, and it clarifies how Akatosh and Alduin are one in the same while appearing to be opposing forces in the TESV story.
My current understanding of the lore is that The Last Dragonborn is given the power of Dragon Blood in lore by Akatosh in order to prevent the end of the Kalpa. This is confusing as Akatosh and Alduin are counterparts of each other in the Imperial and Nordic Pantheon (like Julianos and Jhunal for example).
Because Alduin giving someone powers to defeat themselves doesn’t really make sense, it’s assumed that Akatosh and Alduin are derived from each other, but are almost completely separate, with Alduin as a Nordic deity being phased and retconned into only being the boss at the end of the game.
This, along with the gameplay of Skyrim, suggests that the Imperial pantheon is “new and improved”, and that the Nordic pantheon has no place in Skyrim, because the storyline of the game can’t be explained solely using the Nordic pantheon: it relies on the Imperial Akatosh bestowing the power of Dragonborn to defeat the Nordic Alduin.
My theory will provide a reasonable way that the main story can be explained through a lens of the Nordic Pantheon, without relying on Imperial gods.
Why is this important?
I never really liked that Skyrim focuses on the Imperial Pantheon, and I feel that this was done for simplicity and easier understanding of casual gamers who played Oblivion, giving them a pantheon that they recognise. I believe that if Bethesda had a design direction that was less focused on mass appeal and more on developing their universe that they had created, they would have used and expanded massively on the Nordic Pantheon. In this way, I have always wanted to be able to play the game while exclusively focusing on the Nordic Pantheon. I hate that the great Nordic power of the Thu’um is bestowed upon a great Nordic warrior by an imperial god, when they have a perfectly good Nordic pantheon just begging to be developed!
This theory hinges on the idea that Alduin was never going to actually bring an end to the world and begin a new Kalpa, as we know his only interest is in increasing his power and dominating others (as Paarthunax states in dialogue, Alduin chose to forsake his duties and conquer the land). When the old Nords in the Merethic era used the Elder Scroll to send Alduin to the future, Alduin goes from dominating ancient Nordic civilisations through dragon priests and destruction and such, to immediately destroying Helgen, with no time to reflect or change his ways. His goal in the 4th era is still to dominate and conquer, with no desire to fulfil his duty of bringing an end to the current Kalpa.
This strays from the idea that Alduin is meant to bring the end of the world that the Nordic pantheon states. This leads me to theorise that the Dragon Alduin isn’t the whole of the Spirit/God Alduin, only acting as an aspect of it.
I’m suggesting that “Alduin”, as referred to in the Nordic pantheon, is merely a god that exists outside of the mortal plane, and the dragon that we encounter in TESV (that refers to himself as Alduin) is a being that is sent down to Nirn by the God/Spirit Alduin to do his bidding, similarly to the Christian idea that Jesus was sent by God to do gods bidding on earth, while also being an aspect of god. For ease of reading, I’ll refer to each as Spirit Alduin (equivalent of Christian God), and Dragon Alduin (equivalent of Christian Jesus).
Why does this matter in any way?
This can explain how Alduin can simultaneously want to dominate the world, and bestow the power of the Thu’um on a mortal in order to prevent it, without relying on the imperial pantheon to explain a Nordic god and saying that “Alduin and Akatosh must just be different gods, bro”.
This could imply that Spirit Alduin holds the role of ending the world and bringing on a new one. Spirit Alduin sent an aspect of himself, Dragon Alduin, to fulfil this role on Nirn. Because Dragon Alduin and Spirit Alduin are different in the same way that Christian God and Christian Jesus are (in that one exists in the mortal plane and the other doesn’t), Dragon Alduin can choose to forsake the duties given to him by Spirit Alduin and Conquer Nirn instead, being more interested in developing his personal power (I don’t have any specific reasoning or theories why Dragon Alduin would chose to betray Spirit Alduin, so would love to hear if anyone has any ideas).
Because Spirit Alduin still holds the idea that their role is to bring on the new Kalpa, he wants to intervene with the Dragon Alduin for not carrying out his bidding, destroying him to maybe try again in the future.
In order to do this, Spirit Alduin sends another aspect of himself to destroy the Dragon Alduin: bestowing the power of the Thu’um onto a Nord - The Last Dragonborn.
This theory aligns itself with the idea in the gameplay that Akatosh gives TLDB the power of the thuum, as this theory reinforces the idea that Alduin and Akatosh are one and the same.
Spirit Alduin gives the power of the Thu’um to TLDB to act as divine intervention to destroy dragon Alduin, an aspect of Spirit Alduin that went down the wrong path.
I’d love to hear anyone’s opinions on this! Are there any massive gaps in my understanding of the Lore that I overlooked?