The Dragonborn replaces the Fellowship of the Ring

[Captain Jibberish]

Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took arrive at the Prancing Pony Inn in Bree, where they meet not Gandalf, who they were expecting, nor the ranger Strider, but Skyrim's The Last Dragonborn, accompanied by his faithful housecarl Lydia. Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Boromir have disappeared from Middle Earth. The Dragonborn knows as much about Frodo and The Ring as Aragorn did at this point in the story, and he is determined to help Frodo in his mission to destroy The One Ring. How does the storyline of The Lord of the Rings progress from there? Would they be successful?

The Dragonborn may summon Odahviing up to three times to help in battle, but Odahviing refuses to carry The Dragonborn or any other passengers any long distances, or to fly over the territory of Mordor. The Dragonborn cannot use the Call of Valor, Soul Tear, Slow Time or Become Ethereal shouts.

Assume The Dragonborn is high level with all skills maxed, but no glitchy or exploity powers, abilities or gear (nothing made with the alchemy-enchanting loop, say).

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Too hard to tell, as the Dragonborn differs from each player. I played him as honest and good as possible, and using that, I'm not sure he could resist the Ring for long (considering how much magic stuff/power ups/artifacts he uses).

However, he could very well fly his dragon into Mordor and try getting rid of it. Or maybe his fire dragon shout will work, as it is supposed to be like dragon fire.

[Sharpandpointies]

There's some THOUGHT in Lord of the Rings (Gandalf notes it) that dragonfire could melt the One, but Gandalf immediately dismisses it as extremely unlikely (it has done so to some of the Seven, but they are not the One...unintended Babylon 5 reference).

Basically, dude would have to be more powerful than Sauron to melt the Ring with his magic.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

There's some THOUGHT in Lord of the Rings (Gandalf notes it) that dragonfire could melt the One, but Gandalf immediately dismisses it as extremely unlikely (it has done so to some of the Seven, but they are not the One...unintended Babylon 5 reference).

Basically, dude would have to be more powerful than Sauron to melt the Ring with his magic.

Er.. I suppose it depends on how long it'd take to corrupt him. He could ultimately just ride his Dragon to Mordor, Fus'ing anyone that gets in his way, to dump the thing.

[Sharpandpointies]

I was more addressing the idea of melting the thing himself. Granted, I don't know much about Skyrim; maybe the central character DOES get more powerful than Sauron by the endgame.

[Sharpandpointies]

Edited: Double post. Weird stuff happening with my posting, suddenly.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

I was more addressing the idea of melting the thing himself. Granted, I don't know much about Skyrim; maybe the central character DOES get more powerful than Sauron by the endgame.

It's possible. The Dragonborn is pretty high-end by the end of the game, dunno if the flames would be hot enough to slag the ring.

It also really depends on how you'd compare his/her stats to LoTR characters. Or how the Dragonborn's magic would factor in. A Max level Dragonborn is throwing down stuff that can mess with minds (causing frenzy or pacifying people), heal injury and dispel undead, blow the living mess out of someone (fire, lightning), freeze them solid, use telekinesis, paralyse people AoE or single target, boost durability to the point where they ignore 80% of physical damage for 30 seconds ... and this isn't getting into the full list of magic, or the Dragon shouts the CAN use; or whether or not they're a Werewolf or Vampire on top of all of this.

Or what Armor/Weapons they have (if it's stuff from the Gods, it'll have some pretty stupid enhancements). Like a staff that can turn things into other things like rabbits, or cause them to explode into coins.

[Sharpandpointies]

It's less their power breadth, and more their power DEPTH.

Check it.

It's not just 'heat', but also power that melts the Ring. It can get melted down in Mt. Doom because that's where Sauron forged the thing. Otherwise, it's not like it's superhard or dense or resistant to heat or something by dint of being made of special metal. It's a gold ring. It just so happens that it's sorcerous. It's magical. It was made by Sauron, filled with his sorcery and quasi-divine essence (no comments, please), etc.

It barely warmed up in Frodo's fire. That's not exactly 'superhard but otherwise non-magical metal'.

Gandalf basically says 'I don't even think Ancalagon could have melted it'.

Hence, my question on how powerful this dude is.

If his personal power - not swiss-army knife ability to pull out all kinds of different magic, but the actual depth of his power - seems to be equal to or greater than that of Sauron, I would say 'Sure, he can melt the Ring himself.'

If not? I would say 'No.'

Mileage may vary.

[Anarchist]

If this size-chart is valid, I don't think the Skyrim-Dragons can hold a candle to Ancalagon

[Sharpandpointies]

Ancalagon is large enough that him falling on Morgoth's summer home obliterated it.

It's noteworthy, in that Morgoth's summer home was three mountains, each of which was larger than Everest.

.....

Morgoth had a bit of an inferiority complex.

[The Drunkard Kid]

For what it's worth, Dragons in Skyrim are aspects of the god of time, or something to that extent, and the Dragonborn can induce mortality in them and eat their souls as well since he is essentially a dragon in human form himself.

[Lord Falcon]

For what it's worth, Dragons in Skyrim are aspects of the god of time, or something to that extent, and the Dragonborn can induce mortality in them and eat their souls as well since he is essentially a dragon in human form himself.

Yeah, killing dragons is tough but not impossible work, and the Nords of Skyrim are happy to have an epic fight now and then. The problem is Skyrim dragons keep coming back, as their souls have a certain magic that protects them from permanent death unless another dragon eats its soul. Not sure how that would figure up against the gods of the Elder Scrollsverse, who are no longer directly present in the world.

I'm fairly sure the Dragonborn doesn't need to get near the one ring though. End-game Dragonborn is powerful enough to allow the good guys to win on military strength alone.

[Hiromi]

Given that the Dragonborn's soul is in a manner of speaking spoken for(he belongs to Akatosh, aforementioned God of time, which is why he can work with basically all the Daedra and take their sacred forms ala werewolf or vampire which would normally make you a thrall of said deity) can the ring's influence work on him/her/filthy lizard thing?

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

It's less their power breadth, and more their power DEPTH.

Check it.

It's not just 'heat', but also power that melts the Ring. It can get melted down in Mt. Doom because that's where Sauron forged the thing. Otherwise, it's not like it's superhard or dense or resistant to heat or something by dint of being made of special metal. It's a gold ring. It just so happens that it's sorcerous. It's magical. It was made by Sauron, filled with his sorcery and quasi-divine essence (no comments, please), etc.

It barely warmed up in Frodo's fire. That's not exactly 'superhard but otherwise non-magical metal'.

Gandalf basically says 'I don't even think Ancalagon could have melted it'.

Hence, my question on how powerful this dude is.

If his personal power - not swiss-army knife ability to pull out all kinds of different magic, but the actual depth of his power - seems to be equal to or greater than that of Sauron, I would say 'Sure, he can melt the Ring himself.'

If not? I would say 'No.'

Mileage may vary.

Mm.. The Dragonborn would not have been particularly bothered by Durin's Bane?

Could have also done what the Ents did, solo? I mean power wise I'm not sure how you'd compare things given the power systems. But the majority of the fighting in LoTR would have been 'Dragonborn murders everything' while everyone else watches'. Against movie Sauron (the eyeball) the answer is 'yea, he'd overpower the guy'.

[Yun Lao]

"So, we must take this ring to Mount Doom to dispose of it? And you say this is a long trip by foot?"

"Yes, Mr. Dovahkiin-- wait, where are you going?"

"I know of a much quicker way to travel, but I must first go find a giant."