"Dragonborn" is the theme song for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of the 2011

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...

video game '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'' from

Bethesda Softworks Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a division of Media Technology Limited, and in 1999 became a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media. In its ...

, composed by the American composer

Jeremy Soule Jeremy Soule (; born December 19, 1975) is an American composer of soundtracks for film, television, and video games. He has composed soundtracks for over 60 games and over a dozen other works during his career, including ''The Elder Scrolls'', ' ...

. The composition is Nordic-influenced classical in style and features a chorus singing lyrics in a fictional language, Dovahzul, that was created by Emil Pagliarulo for the game. The composition borrows heavily from "Nerevar Rising", the theme from '' The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind'', as well as elements from music in '' The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'', both of which were also composed by Soule. "Dragonborn" was lauded by critics and audiences alike. It is featured in orchestral performances and spawned numerous covers, many of which combine the song with an in-game, English-language composition "The Dragonborn Comes". One such cover, by

Lindsey Stirling Lindsey Stirling (born September 21, 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter, and dancer. She presents choreographed violin performances, in live and music videos found on her official YouTube channel, which she created in 2007. Stirling pe ...

and

Peter Hollens Peter James Hollens (born March 4, 1980) is an American singer/songwriter, producer and entrepreneur. He has been involved with ''a cappella'' music since 1999 when he and Leo da Silva founded the University of Oregon's ''a cappella'' group, On ...

, holds the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for most viewed cover version of a video game soundtrack.

Recording and composition

The director of ''Skyrim'',

Todd Howard Todd Andrew Howard (born 1970) is an American video game designer, director, and producer. He serves as director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, where he has led the development of the ''Fallout'' and ''The Elder Scrolls'' s ...

, envisaged the game's theme song to be performed by a choir of chanting "

barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

". Emil Pagliarulo, the game writer, invented a fictional dragon language, Dovahzul, for the choir to sing in

unison In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

. Pagliarulo, as requested by Howard, designed the language in such a way that the lyrics rhyme will not only rhyme in Dovahzul but also when translated into English. The lyrics praise the Dragonborn (the customizable player character), who is prophesied to save Tamriel from the dragons using the dragons' own shouts. The song also recounts the return of the great dragon Alduin and the climactic final battle which banishes him forever. Thirty singers composed the choir. Multiple recordings of the choir were layered over each other to achieve the sonic impression of over one hundred voices. Soule incorporated motifs from some of his compositions for previous ''Elder Scrolls'' on "Dragonborn". The song heavily borrows from "Nerevar Rising", the theme for ''Morrowind'', to the extent where portions of "Dragonborn" are essentially an orchestral and choral arrangement of "Nerevar Rising" rather than merely a variation on it, as well as borrowing elements from music in ''Oblivion''. The opening combines rhythm from

taiko are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming m ...

drums with a string section and male choral chants. Horns then join and the choir assists in driving the melody. The harmonies from brass and strings give the melody a darker tone prior to a trumpet

fanfare A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets, French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introduction to an instrumental perfo ...

. At 2:09, the main melody is reprised, setting up for the Dragonborn melody.

Reception and analysis

In Kyle E. Miller's review of the game soundtrack, he found "Dragonborn" to be the most memorable and felt it "accurately establishes and conveys the tone of Skyrim before the player ever sees the world." Michiel Kamp and Mark Sweeney in "Musical Landscapes in ''Skyrim''", compare Soule's soundtrack to 19th century interest in landscapes. According to them, Carl Dahlaus's concepts of ''Naturklang'' which he used explain the music of

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

also apply to Soule's work on ''Skyrim'', including "Dragonborn". ''Naturklang'' is a sense of stasis that paradoxically contains an inner drive from ostinatos and a proto-minimalist rhythmic repetition of "cells" and ''Klangfläche'' is a "sound-sheet" which is externally static yet full of constant motion from rhythm and unresolved harmonic notes ( seconds and fourths) preventing the music from becoming "dull and lifeless". In "Dragonborn", rhythmic string ostinatos in the "A" sections of the track exhibit ''Naturklang'' and the wash of string harmony in the "B" sections exhibit ''Klangfläche''. The woodwinds playing in the "B" sections are comparable to other static pieces such as the bird calls in

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

's ''Symphony No. 6'' or the "Forest Murmurs" sequence in

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's ''

Siegfried Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

.''

Cover, concert, and tribute versions

* Malukah gained international fame after her acoustic cover version, which combined the bard song "The Dragonborn Comes" with the main game theme, went viral on YouTube. Within two weeks of its posting in November 2011, the video had garnered two million views. By 2014, it had achieved ten million views. On July 30, 2017, she released recorded versions of the cover as part of her album ''The Dragonborn Comes''. The success of her versions of the song led to Jeremy Soule planning a concert performance of ''Skyrim'' music in which she would participate and

ZeniMax Media ZeniMax Media Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Rockville, Maryland, and founded in 1999. The company owns publisher Bethesda Softworks with its development unit Bethesda Game Studios (developer of ''The Elder Scrolls,'' ...

(the owner of Bethesda Softworks) requesting her to compose bard songs for ''

Elder Scrolls Online ''The Elder Scrolls Online'', abbreviated ''ESO'', is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by ZeniMax Online Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released for Windows and OS X in April 2014. It is a ...

'' as well as a tribute song for that game. * "Skyrim (Main Theme)", alternatively known as "The Dragonborn Comes", by

and

, released in 2012. The music video for this version set a

for most views of a video game soundtrack cover, having achieved 64,461,976 views on YouTube as of March 8, 2017. Peter Hollens also recorded a solo version of the song. *

Headhunterz Willem Rebergen (born 12 September 1985), better known by his stage name ''Headhunterz'', is a Dutch DJ and music producer. Rebergen is also a voice actor. He has done dubbing for several movies and TV series. He started his career in 2005 work ...

in 2012 performed and then studio recorded a tribute version of the song that included samples and remixes of both Soule's original composition of the song and Malukah's cover version. He also released a remix version, "Dragonborn part 3 (Oceans Apart)", featuring

Sian Evans Sian Evans is a Welsh singer. Throughout the 2000s, she was front woman and singer-songwriter of the band Kosheen, a trip-hop/drum & bass group that, during that decade, placed two albums within the Top Ten of the UK Albums Chart. She has also ...

, in 2020. * The related tavern song "The Dragonborn Comes", which in-game is performed by non-playable bards if requested (and for a small in-game fee), is regularly performed by Sabina Zweiacker and the

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra ( sv, Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester) is a Swedish radio orchestra based in Stockholm, affiliated with Sveriges Radio (Sweden's Radio). Its principal performing venue is the Berwaldhallen (Berwald Hall). The o ...

. * A live orchestral version of "Dragonborn" was performed by

Orphei Drängar Sångsällskapet Orphei Drängar (OD) is a Swedish male voice choir and singing society based in Uppsala, Sweden. While best known for its high quality performances of the classical repertoire, OD sings music of all genres in many different langua ...

and

Myrra Malmberg Anna Myrra Malmberg (born 20 December 1966) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, actress and photographer. Early life Anna Myrra Malmberg was born in the Stockholm suburb of Farsta,Sveriges befolkning 1980: ''Malmberg, Anna Margareta'' and spent ...

at the 2014 Swedish Grammy Awards. A recorded version of the song was released on the 2016 compilation ''The Greatest Video Game Music III (Choral Edition)''. *

Celtic Woman Celtic Woman is an all-female Irish musical ensemble conceived and created by David Kavanagh, Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the Irish stage show ''Riverdance.'' In 2004, Downes recruited five Irish female music ...

included a version of the song, featuring

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

lyrics in addition to Dovahzul, on their 2016 album ''Destiny'' and the accompanying tour. Dr. Christopher Bailey from

Austin Peay State University Austin Peay State University () is a public university in Clarksville, Tennessee. Standing on a site occupied by a succession of educational institutions since 1845, the precursor of the university was established in 1927 and named for then-sitt ...

joined the group for eight shows as a featured soloist. *

Leah Leah ''La'ya;'' from (; ) appears in the Hebrew Bible as one of the two wives of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. Leah was Jacob's first wife, and the older sister of his second (and favored) wife Rachel. She is the mother of Jacob's first son ...

released "Skyrim Theme (Dragonborn), alternatively known as "The Dragonborn Comes", in August 2017. * The YouTube artist Jonathan Young released "The Dragonborn Comes" in November, 2021. * In December 2021, the YouTube artist Alina Gingertail released "The Dragonborn Comes". *

Saltatio Mortis Saltatio Mortis is a German medieval metal group. The Latin name means "dance of death". It is an allusion to the Danse Macabre, and a motto of the band is: "He who dances does not die." Members Current * Alea der Bescheidene - vocals, b ...

, in February 2022, released "The Dragonborn Comes", featuring Lara Loft.

References

{{The Elder Scrolls Jeremy Soule songs 2011 songs The Elder Scrolls Video game theme songs