Genre: Adventure/Fantasy
Director: Miguel Sapochnick
Producer: Peter Jackson
Writer: Mo Buck
Based on the video game
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, Sarah Paulson, Jeff Bridges, Sean Bean, Christopher Plummer, Karl Urban, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Gabriel Byrne, Uma Thurman, Valter Skarsgard
Plot: As the camera moves in the Skyrim landscape, the following appears on the screen: Two hundred years have passed since the Oblivion Crisis, and it is now the year 4E 201. The High King of Skyrim lies dead, killed by Ulfric Stormcloak in a duel. A Civil War rages in the land. A rebel faction known as the Stormcloaks wishes for Skyrim to secede from the Empire. However, their cause is not supported by all o the land’s people and leaders; many still support the Imperial Army. The war has reached a stalemate. This schism is the final event of a prophecy of the Elder Scrolls. It is foretold that this conflict will lead to the return of the Dragons, led by Alduin, the Nordic God of Destruction, also known as the World-Eater.
General Tullius (Valter Skarsgard), of the Imperial Army is awaiting prisoners captured by the Empire, who were sentenced to death, just outside the small village of Helgen. With him is Hadvar (Karl Urban), one of the executionners. Amongst the prisoners, are Ralof Stormcloak (Russell Crowe) and Ulfric Stormcloak (Sean Bean), leaders of the rebellious Stormcloak faction. They talk with the other prisoners about how they were captured and what they did. One of them, Gundmare Warlock (Chris Hemsworth) was unconscious during the ride and just came back to his senses. They get down and a lowlife thief is called first to be killed. He tries to escape, but he’s brought down by archers. Tullius orders Ulfric, by far the most notorious prisoner amongst the group he has, to come up front. Ulfric started the war, by killing the king. He’s about to be executed by Hadvar, when suddenly…
A dragon is heard roaring. Hadvar was almost ready to swing the sword, but he interrupts his movement. Tullius begs him to carry on, but Stormcloak asks for the last rites. A priestess comes in and performs it. Hadvar is ready once again and so is Ulfric, to say goodbye to the world, but a dragon roars again. It roars for a third time and it lands on top of a tower, just next to the execution site. It sets the tower on fire. They soon recognize him as Alduin, the Nordic God of Destruction. Alduin strats destroying the entire village. Tullius suspends the execution and he orders his men to protect the townspeople. The prisoners escape custody. Gundmare follows Ralof Stormcloak. They’re able to find Ulfric Stormcloak despite the overwhelming chaos. On their way to safety, they’re intercepted by Hadvar. He offers Gundmare a chance to redeem himself and to follow him, instead of the rebellious faction. Gundmare declines, saying Hadvar will probably kill him the first chance he has, just like he wanted to do just a couple of minutes ago. Alduin continues his destruction path, destroying several buildings. Ulfric is separated from the others and he gets a chance to escape the village. Thanks to Alduin’s destruction, Gundmare and Ralof are obligated to enter the Helgen keep to survive. Inside, Ralof finally frees Gundmare from his shackles. He puts on the armor of a dead Stormcloak soldier. They come face to face with two Imperial soldiers and they fight each other. Gundmare and Ralof are victorious. They progress in the keep, killing Imperial soldiers along the way. They meet two other Stormcloak soldiers, but they’re unable to save them from a brutal beatdown at the hands of Imperials. After meeting several dead prisoners in the cell, Ralof and Gundmare escape through a cave. In the cave, they’re attacked by giant spiders, but they’re able to defeat them. They face their toughest opponent yet right before they exit. A bear. They try to pass around him, but he wakes up and attacks them. None of them is mortally wounded, but Ralof is in bad shape following the fight. They leave the cave and they see Alduin the dragon flying away to the north.
Ralof offers a shelter to Gundmare, in Riverwood. His sister lives there and she could help him. Gundmare accepts without hesitation. He’s even more happy to have accepted the offer once he sees Ralof’s sister, Gerdur (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), a splendid beauty, but he’s disappointed to learn that she’s married to the mill owner. Ralof leaves Gundmare as he heads back to Windhelm, the city controlled by the Stormcloak. Gerdur gives a basket of supplies to Gundmare and asks her to go tell the Jarl of Whiterun, a nearby city. She knows her brothers despite the man and everything he stands for, but he’s the only one that can help protecting the small town of Riverwood from an eventual dragon attack. To try to please her, Gundmare accepts and he heads for Whiterun.
When Gundmare arrives in Whiterun, he’s a little nervous. He doesn’t know if he has a warrant on his head for his escape from captivity. When he enters the city walls, he decides to know the truth, so he asks the first guard he sees where he can find the Jarl. That way, he’s going to know if there’s a warrant on his head, the guard will recognize him, after all he escaped with Stormcloaks. Instead of telling him where to find the Jarl, the guard tells Gundmare that he’s lucky to be an adventurer, because the guard used to be an adventurer too, but then he took an arrow in the knee, ending his hopes of exploring the world. Gundmare says he doesn’t care about that, he just wants to see the Jarl. The guard points him in the right direction. At least, he can walk freely, nobody seems to know that he was a prisoner who escaped custody.
Gundmare enters Dragonsreach, house of the Jarl Ulfric of Whiterun (Jeff Bridges). Gundmare asks for a word with the Jarl, who’s clearly doing nothing, but one of his companions, Irileth (Sarah Paulson) refuses. She wants to know what a scumbag like him wants to tell the Jarl. She says he doesn’t deserve to speak to him. He says he saw Alduin the Dragon, but she replies that everyone saw the dragon and not everyone will come here and tell the Jarl. She tries to make him leave the castle, but Gundmare tells that he was in Helgen when Alduin arrived. Irileth says he’s a liar, but the Jarl Ulfric interrupts her. He gets off his throne and talks to Gundmare, face to face. Gundmare says that he fought the dragon in Helgen and now the residents of Riverwood fear that they’re going to be the next target. All he came here to do was to ask him to send guards to Riverwood. Ulfric accepts, after all, Riverwood is under his jurisdiction. Ulfric tells Gundmare that he was not fighting the dragon in Helgen, he was escaping. A man of his stature and someone who looks like that clearly isn’t in the Imperial guard. He tells Gundmare that he has a chance for pardon. He must talk to his mage and accomplish the task he wants him to. After that, he’s free and pardoned.
Gundmare enters a room with several magic and alchemy objects and artifacts. The mage, Farengar Secret-Fire (Ray Liotta), orders Gundmare to go in Bleak Falls Barrow, to find the map of Dragon Burial sites, to try to know where the next fragon might rise. You see the return of Alduin marks the beginning of a centuries-old prophecy, in which Alduin will return after a tumultuous event. He will then revive all the deceased dragons and only the Last Dragonborn will be able to stop him. Gundmare doesn’t really understand. The only part he knows he got right, was that he has to head to Bleak Falls Barrow.
It may seem easy to just travel to Bleak Falls Barrow, but it’s on top of a mountain. With the small amount of money he had in the gift basket from Gerdur, he rents a horse. He soon finds out that he’s never going to be able to send it back, as on his way up, he’s attacked by a ice troll, which kills the horse. Gundmare is able to kill it, however. It’s not the only opposition he has to face. A group of bandits are guarding the entrance of the Barrow. Gundmare kills them easily, they weren’t worthy opponents. In the Barrow, which is designed like a dungeon, there’s the typical dungeon stuff: giant spiders and skeevers, a sort of big rat. Nothing to trouble Gundmare. After he kills what’s probably the final spider, he sees the unthinkable. A man is trapped in a spiders’ web! He helps him down. His name is Arvel the Swift (Gabriel Byrne).
As soon as Arvel is free. He makes a run for it, going deeper and deeper into the dungeon. Gundmare follows him, but he can’t catch the guy. Arvel is able to kill two draugrs, a living skeleton of a dead body. Arvel is finally outsmarted by the dungeon. He steps on a plate that activates a swing blade that impales Arvel. In his dying breath, he tells Gundmare that he has the key. He was so close to the goal. Gundmare finds the “key”, a Golden Claw. He progresses down the dungeon, dodging some well placed traps, until he comes face to face with the final room. He puts the Golden Claw in the lock and the door opens. A giant draugr awakens. Gundmare has a hard time defeating it, he’s surprisingly agile for a skeleton, and powerful too. Gundmare finally breaks him in half with an axe he grabbed from the wall. He finds the Dragonstone on the draugr, which is a “map”, but really it’s just a stone. He tries to find the exit, but when he’s close to the wall, he starts feeling weird, like there’s some sort of weird connection between him and the wall. It abruptly stops and he exits the dungeon by a well-hidden door.
Gundmare arrives in Whiterun and he gives the stone to Farengar, who thanks him relentlessly. Irileth comes in screaming. She says Gundmare looks like a fighter. She doesn’t trust him, but they need all the help they can get. Along with Irileth and a couple of soldiers, Gundmare arrive at the Western Watchtower, where a dragon was spotted. Currently, the dragon is fighting a steppe giant. They watch him and the dragon is victorious. The giant faints and the dragons lands on top of the tower. The soldiers plant arrows in his skin, but he doesn’t seem to care. The loss of blood eventually gets the better of him and he lands on the ground. They all rush at him and hit him. He bites a couple of them, steps on others. He spits fire, burning several soldiers. Gundmare climbs on top of the dragon and pierce his eye with his sword. He slides his sword down its face and slits its throat. The dragon is down. They all want to go back, until Irileth tells everyone to look at Gundmare. He’s absorbing the soul of the Dragon. The soldiers are all on their knees, praying. The last Dragonborn is here. Irileth is sceptical about the whole thing. She brings him back to the Jarl so he can judge for himself. On their way back, they hear a loud sound. Irileth says that the soldiers might be right, it comes from the Greybeards.
Arngeir (Christopher Plummer) was reading when he felt the ground shake. In the High Hrothgar, home of the Greybeards, it can only mean one thing, a Dragon’s soul was absorbed. He wakes up the other Greybeards to prepare. He goes to activate the device that makes a sound heard all around Skyrim. When people of Skyrim hear that sound, it can only mean one thing: The Greybeards have spoken. The last time they spoke to Skyrim, they announced the death of Tiber Septim, the man who united the continent together. Arngeir and all the Greybeards stand in a circle, on their designated spot. From the outside, they look like a cult. They start to meditate, waiting for the Dragonborn to arrive.
When Gundmare arrives in Whiterun, he’s being looked at by practically everybody. Irileth escorts him to the Jarl, who heard about his impressive feat. He bestows upon him the honorary title of Thane of Whiterun for everything he did for the city. He lets him go, saying that the Greybeards are waiting for him. Along with Farengar and Irileth, Jarl Ulfric look at him leaving. They can’t believe that the man who came knocking at their door yesterday was the Last Dragonborn, destined to defeat Alduin.
Gundmare travels to the High Hrothgar. He must climb 7,000 steps to get there. During this time, Arngeir the Greybeard narrates a book about the Last Dragonborn prophecy. The Greybeards are interrupted in their meditation by someone knocking at the door. It’s Gundmare. Arngeir, the only Greybeard who can speak the common tongue welcomes him. He gives him soup and shelters him. Gundmare was basically freezing to death out there. While he’s eating, Arngeir explains to Gundmare what being a Dragonborn, or a Dovahkiin means. He says he needs to dig deep down and find a Word in him. Gundmare doesn’t really know what to do and with the help of Arngeir, he’s able to shout a Word. The Word pushes everything around him. Arngeir takes Gundmare’s head in his hands and he looks at him in the eyes. He gives him the knowledge to a new Word. Gundmare repeats the process and with his newly found voice, he shouts the new Word. He practically teleports himself forward. Arngeir assembles the rest of the Greybeards and they meet outside, where Gundmare, or should I say the Dragonborn demonstrates his ability to Speak. Arngeir tells Gundmare that his training is over. He can now Speak. To prove his ability, Arngeir sends Gundmare to Ustengrav, an ancient Nordic tomb, to find the horn of Jurgen Windcaller, a possession of the founder of the Greybeards. Gundmare accepts and he leaves High Hrothgar.
Ustengrav is destined to test the Dragonborn’s ability as a Speaker and as a human being in general. It has a set of traps, a puzzle rooms and foes to defeat. It may sound ridiculous to send humanity’s last hope against a deadly dragon in a cave full of enemies, but the Greybeards know what they’re doing. Gundmare easily defeats the draugrs and rebellious mages who want to throw spells at him. The Dragonborn uses his two newly acquired Words to progress in the Cave. Next to a waterfall, there’s a wall with a word on it. Gundmare learns it, but he doesn’t have the ability to shout it just yet. Then, Gundmare reaches the puzzle room. Gundmare struggles at first, but he looks at the wall closely and finds the answer to the puzzle. He uses a Word to get through the door just as it was closing down. He then enters the catacomb of the cave, where there’s giant spiders and again, mages. Gundmare uses his fighting skills to defeat them. Things go relatively well for Gundmare, as there are no enemies in sight. He starts walking, until he presses on something, which sets the floor on fire. He uses the Word to sprint across the room, nearly getting burned at the end. The Dragonborn is now at the end of the cave and he doesn’t find the horn on the podium. He thinks it’s a joke at first. He looks around the room, but he can’t find anything other than bones and pennies. He looks on the podium and he sees a note, that asks him to go to the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood. Gundmare exits the cave by a well-hidden door and he goes in Riverwood’s direction.
Delphine (Uma Thurman), owner of the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood, polishes the Horn of Jurgen Woodcaller, as she’s serving clients at the bar. She notices Gundmare who enters the inn and she asks her husband to tend the bar. Gundmare asks for a room in the inn, to which Delphine responds that she has one available. They enter the room and Delphine locks the door behind her. She says she doesn’t believe he’s the Dragonborn, she’ll have to verify first. She gives him the Horn and she asks to meet with her here, at the Sleeping Giant Inn as soon as he gets back. To make sure he’ll come back, she takes a lot of stuff from him and locks it in a chest. Annoyed, Gundmare leaves for High Hrothgar with the Horn.
Arngeir is happy to have it back, but Gundmare doesn’t mention that Delphine had it and not him. He gives Gundmare the ability to shout the Word that he learned in the cavern and he gives him another one. Arngeir now has proof that Gundmire is really the Dragonborn. He assembles the rest of the Greybeards and they start the ritual recognizing the Dragonborn as the true Dovahkiin. They say the following, while Delphine opens the closet in the inn’s room and opens a secret door which leads to an armory, with a map of the dragon’s burial site. She marks an X on one of them and she grabs her sword. The film ends after the Greybeards say the following.
Long has the Storm Crown Languished with no worthy brow to sit upon.
By our breath we bestow it now to you in the name of Kyne, in the name of Shor, and in the name of Atmore of old.
You are Ysmir now, the Dragon of the North. Hearken to it.
Post Credit Scene: Alduin the Dragon is seen shouting Words at a dragon at a burial site and a dragon rises from its grave. We see the city of Riverwood not far away, with the dragon setting its sight on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment