Genre: Adventure/Fantasy
Director: Miguel Sapochnik
Writer: Mo Buck
Based on the video game series
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Uma Thurman, Stellan Skarsgard, Jesper Christensen, Mark Hamill, Christopher Plummer, Frank Welker (voice)
Plot: Paarthurnax (Frank Welker) is perched at the top of the Throat of the World when he hears another dragon coming. He gets out of his trance to greet the much more imposing Alduin (Frank Welker). Alduin tells him he’s not here to harm him, he simply wants to remind him of their good times together, back when they ruled the world. Paarthurnax tells him to leave him alone and to not tempt him, he reminds him that it ended with him turning on Alduin and defeating him. Alduin warns Paarthurnax not to test him, he won’t defeat him this time and he flies away.
Gundmare Warlock, otherwise known as the Dragonborn (Chris Hemsworth) is trying to impress a woman with his newly acquired shout that allows him to breath fire like a dragon. The fire damages a couple of books on a shelf and she says he better not see it and he says it’s not end the end of the world, only a couple of boring old books. She wishes him luck telling that to him, referring to Savos Aren (Stellan Skarsgard), Arch-Mage at the College of Winterhold, who just entered the room. Savos, with his strict and stern attitude, tells Gundmare that he shouldn’t fool around here, this is a serious place and he expects his guests, especially the unexpected ones, to be respectful. He then asks Gundmare what’s bringing him here. He says that it’s a long story. In a quick flashback sequence, we see Gundmare talking to several people. It started at the end of the previous film, when he talked to Paarthurnax and he learned the words to make him breath fire like a dragon. He told him to get something, an Elder Scroll, which will help him defeat Alduin once and for all, thus liberating Skyrim from the threat he represents. Paarthurnax didn’t know where it was, so he sent him to Arngeir (Christopher Plummer), leader of the Grey Beards. Arngeir told Gundmare to come here, but Gundmare hated the idea of being around o many books and the College freaks him out, so he asked for a second opinion, the one of Esbern (Jesper Christensen) former leader of the Blades and a sort of mentor of Gundmare, but he told him the same thing, thus he came here. Savos says a lot of details could have been spared, but he has what he’s looking for. He slams a thick book on a table and he tells Gundmare his answer is somewhere in there. Gundmare reluctantly opens it and finds that it’s incomprehensible, written in another language. Savos tells him that he must ask for Septimus Signus’ help and he wishes him luck, because they refuse to speak to one another. All that Gundmare asks is that he’s not caught in the middle of a nerd war between the two and Savos throws him out of the library with the book.
Gundmare arrives at Signus’s house and Septimus (Mark Hamill) is cold and distant towards him, until he show him the book. He says he’s been trying to get his hands on that book for a long time, he’ll help him right away. While Septimus is trying to decipher the book, something breaks a window. Gundmare heads outside and he sees dozens of Ice Wraiths, an elemental creature of ice and snow who move quickly. Gundmare tries to show off his new skill, but he finds himself worn down from using it too much. He has to resort to his good old tricks and fight them with his sword and shield. In the middle of the battle, Gundmare asks Septimus if he’s done soon, because he doesn’t think he can hold them off much longer. He says he’s almost done, but Gundmare hands up having to kill them all before he goes back inside, where Septimus apologizes, he got so drawn into the story that he forgot to tell him where the Elder Scroll is. He tells him he will find it inside the Oculory in the Tower of Mzark. He asks him where the hell is that place, he never heard of it. Septimus says he doesn’t know either, he never leaves this place, but perhaps he can ask Savos, as much as he hates him, he may know where it is. He can also give him his book back. Gundmare leaves him and tries to remember the name of the place by repeating it out loud.
When Gundmare gets back to the College of Winterhold, Savos Aren is surprised to see him alive. He asks himself how he was able to defeat all the Ice Wraiths he conjured. He asks Gundmare is he got his answer and he tries to repeat what Septimus told him, but he messes it up a bit. Savos corrects him and Gundmare asks for a moment to write it down on a piece of paper otherwise he will forget it. As he’s writing, Savos attacks him with his magical powers. Savos says that now that he knows where it is, he can keep it to himself. He conjures Ice Wraiths again and he turns his flesh into stone, while projecting fire in Gundmare’s direction. Gundmare does his best to fight everything and he uses Savos’ fire to damage the ice wraiths by getting them in the way. He moves closer to Savos and he tries to cut him, but his stone flesh is too thick. Gundmare uses one of his shouts that sends a powerful force in front of him and it destabilizes Savos and his skin turns back to normal. He uses his long reach to cut him on the arm, but Saros uses his powers to close the wound. Gundmare wonders how Savos does to use all this magic and not get tired and he sees the amulet on his neck. He bets that if he takes it off him, he could defeat him. Gundmare’s sole purpose is now to take that amulet. He defeats a couple of new Ice Wraiths and he uses his shout to move forward quickly. He grabs Saros by the neck and pulls on his amulet, breaking it. Savos’ skin turns back to normal and Gundmare asks him who’s the tough guy now. He kills him with a swift, clean, swing of sword. He realises afterwards that he forgot to ask him where that weird place was.
Delphine (Uma Thurman) is talking with Esbern. She’s getting worried that Gundmare will not come back, after all, it’s been a while since they’ve seen him. Esbern, finds himself reassuring, saying if Gundmare really is the Dragonborn he will come back. Just as he says that, Gundmare enters the Blades’ secret hideout. He says it’s been a long time, but he needs their help now. They ask what he wants and he asks them where the Oculory in the Tower of Mzark is. Delphine asks him he’s asking about an old legend, but Esbern says it’s not a legend. He’s been there himself, but he had to leave before the things that guard the place kill him. He says he’d love to go with them, but he’s too old for that sort of things now. He gives them the directions and Delphine leaves with Gundmare. He asks her if she really wants to do this and Delphine asks him to admit that he loves when she’s around with a sly smile.
In a flashback sequence set in the past, we see the two great dragons, Paarthurnax and Alduin battling each other near the Throat of the World. Alduin had an army of dragons by his side, whilst Paarthurnax was alone. Alduin defeats Paarthurnx who lands on top of the mountain. Alduin flies away triumphally in the background.
Delphine leads Gundmare to the underground city of Blackreach, but to make it there, they need to pass through Alftand first. Alftland is located in glacial mountains and is made of large glacial tunnels and guarded by Dwarven spheres, mechanical warriors who stand on big spheres. Gundmare, who has never encountered such things, asked Delphine what they are. They say are ancient Dwarven warriors who belonged to the Dwemer civilization, an ancient civilization who was technologically advanced. She says the Spheres are good warriors, but they aren’t the strongest Dwarven mechanical guards, so they should extra careful. They are able to sneak past the spheres and reach the entrance to Blackreach. The entrance is guarded by two Dwarven Centurions, very large mechanical combat warriors. Delphine warns Gundmare that they are the toughest Dwarven automaton to battle. She says they can sneak past them without turning them on and that’s what they want to do, because they don’t want to face these warriors. They manage to do it and pass the gate and are officially in Blackreach.
Delphine points at the Tower of Mzark and tells Gundmare that it’s where they need to go and they see that it is guarded by several Dwarven creatures and automatons but they do not seem to be activated. Delphine tells him to just watch where he steps, because he doesn’t want to activate any automatrons or traps set up by the Dwemer when they were still around, but Gundmare doesn’t really watch his step, he prefers to look at the landscape and impressive architecture. He feels stopped by Delphine as he was about to step on something fishy and she says she doesn’t want to die here. He promises to be more careful next time. They reach the entrance of the Tower of Mzark and get to the front door expecting it to be full of traps and promise each other to be extra careful.
Gundmare and Delphine avoid the traps set up in the Tower and reach the Oculatory, where they see the Scroll Gunmdare needs guarded by some sort of puzzle. Delphine looks around the room and finds a dead body. She turns around and she sees Gundmare trying his hand at the puzzle. He tells her this looks easy and he’S about to press the button to validate his answer when Delphine urges him to stop, but it’s too late, Gundmare presses the button. Gundmare uses a shout to dodge upcoming arrows from a trap and the walls start to shake. A Dwemer Centurion enters the Oculary and starts to battle Delphine and Gundmare. He’s slow and clumsy, but his body is rock hard and his attacks are powerful. Delphine now understands why there’s a dead body in the room, he was most probably killed by the Centurion. They team up to take it on, but Delphine soon realises that her sword isn’t really useful against it so she hides and is trying to solve the puzzle using the notes she found on the corpse. Gundmare tries to defeat the Centurion with his magic, but he finds out that it is mostly ineffective. He doesn’t give up and he keeps on fighting, ultimately defeating it. When it’s all over, Gundmare is pissed at Delphine because she didn’t help him in the fight, but she points out that she knows how to solve the puzzle to unlock the Scroll. Thanks to Delphine, Gundmare is able to grab the Scroll. Then, they hear some rumbling and noises coming from outside and they both agree that it’s not looking good for them.
They exit the Tower of Mzark and find out that most of the automatons are now activated. They react quickly and head for the shortest way out. Delphine and Gundmare fight off mechanical spiders and knights, but are mostly trying to avoid them. However, the automatons cover all the possible exits except the front gate, guarded by two Centurions. They find out that have no choice but to go there. Gundmare is able to close the gate before too many automatons get through and the Centurions hit him. Delphine fights off the remaining automatons while Gundmare does his best against the Centurions. Delphine suggests they leave, but Gundmare loses the Scroll and it rolls behind the Centurion. They realise they have no way around them except defeating them, so Gundmare and Delphine work together to defeat the Centurions, but it’s no easy task. When they are finally defeated, Gundmare grabs the Scroll back and promises Delphine he won’t lose it anymore. They get the hell out of there and head back to the Blades headquarters.
Once they get back to the Blades headquarters, Gundmare shows the scroll to Esbern and he asks him who told him to get that, because by the looks of it, it contains the shout to ground a dragon, a scroll that hasn’t been used in thousands of years. Gundmare says it’s Paarthurnax the dragon and Esbern is taken aback by this, as he can’t believe Paarthurnax is still alive. He says Paarthurnax used to be one of Alduin’s lieutenant in his War against the people of Skyrim and he committed many atrocities before Alduin battled him at the Throat of the World. Gundmare says that’s where Paarthurnax is now and Esbern urges him to kill him, because Paarthurnax was sly and wise, he can’t be trusted. Gundmare doesn’t really know what to do with this new information. He asks before leaving if what Paarthurnax did was that terrible and Esbern says it was.
In a flashback sequence, we see Paarthurnax and many other dagons burning down villages and killing soldiers. They g back to Alduin who congratulate them for their good work for his cause.
When Gundmare arrives at the Greybeards manor, he finds it surprinsingly calm, but he can sense something is wrong. He wanders around the manor and he finds Arngeir meditating and praying. He wants to ask him question about the dragon, but Arngeir doesn’t want to talk. Gundmare then heads outside with the scroll. There’s a heavy blizzard leading to the Throat of the World and Gundmare can barely see in front of it, but he can hear dragons fighting nearby. He then finds Paarthurnax and Alduin fighting. Alduin notices Gundmare and his scroll and he wants to do everything he can to prevent him from showing the scroll to Paarthurnax. Gundmare joins the fight, determined to defeat Alduin once and for all. But then, Gundmare is disappointed to see that Paarthurnax can’t fly, therefore has a terrible disadvantage against Alduin, who stays in the air. Gundmare tries to fight him with his bow and arrow, but it really doesn’t do much to the mighty Alduin. Alduin attacks Paarthurnax viciously and once he sees that enough damage has been done, he flies away on the horizon. Then, Gundmare rushes to the aid of Paarthurnax, who tells him not to help him, he probably came here with the intent of killing him, like the Blades ordered him too. Gundmare asks him how he knows that and Paarthurnax says they don’t have time for that. He then asks to see the scroll and in his dying breath, teaches Gundmare how to shout it. Then, Paarthurnax dies and the blizzard dissipates at the Throat of the World. Gundmare can see the Greybeard’s manor. He goes back down and Arngeir asks him what happened. Gundmare says Paarthurnax died and the Greybeards want to fight him for killing their master, but Gundmare tells them that Alduin killed him in fact, and he’s on his way to kill him now. Arngeir wishes him luck in his quest as they go in mourning.
Gundmare doesn’t let Arngeir go and chases him in the mansion, but he finds out that he’s not that hard to catch up, given his advanced age. He asks him how can get to Alduin, since no one seems to know where to find him. Arngeir says no one really knows where Alduin is hiding, but the best way to find out would be to follow a dragon he awakened, as Alduin’s lieutenant frequently go back to him to report. Gundmare says it sound easier said than done and Arngeir says he only needs to capture one and threaten him unless he brings him to Alduin. The dragon’s arrogance and belief in Alduin will probably lead him to guide him to Alduin. Gundmare thanks him for his wisdom and leaves the Greybeads behind with the hopes of finding a dragon roaming around.
Gundmare is desperate to find a dragon and he walks around Skyrim boring himself to death. He realises he is near Whiterun where his journey all started and he decides to head over there to say hello to some old friends. This thought rejoices him, but before he’s able to set foot in Whiterun, he’s attacked by a dragon. Gundmare tries to down with the new shout he learned, but he struggles a bit and he tries to remember it while dodging the dragon’s fire. He finally manages to do it and once the dragon is down, he gets on his back and he threatens him with his sword. He tells him that he needs to bring him to Alduin and if he doesn’t, he will die right here, right now. The dragon is confident that Alduin will be able to defeat Gundmare so he accepts his offer. Gundmare holds on to the dragon who files away Alduin’s hideout.
The dragon drops Gundmare in a dark forest where a path appears in front of him and he flies away. Gundmare assumes he needs to follow the path and he does, until he comes face to face with a weird creature who floats in the air and speaks in a weird language. Gundmare tries to attack him in melee, but his strikes are not really effective. He then decides to use his magic to defeat him and he’s that much better off. Gundmare notices that his opponent is attacking with a pattern, so he decides to hide behind trees and attack right when the time is right, which makes a comically underwhelming fight that Gundmare finally wins. Once the weid creature is defeated, a portal appears in the forest and after a quick deliberation, Gundmare is pretty sure that he needs to enter it.
Once Gundmare enters the portal and gets to the other side, he can’t see anything in front of him, as a dark mist obstructs his vision. He wanders around, tying to understand where he is when he is attacked by Alduin who grabs him and flies him in the ai. Gundmare tries to break himself free but he realises that he would fall to his death. Alduin is then attacked by Paarthunax who then grabs Gundmare in the air and takes him to the ground. Gundmae asks him what the hell is happening and Paarthurnax says he’s in Sovngarde, which is basically the afterlife. Paathurnax dissipates the mist and tells Gundmare to head in the gigantic building, not far away, the Hall of Valor, where he will get the necessary help to defeat Alduin. Alduin comes charging back and Paarthurnax covers Gundmare who runs in the Hall of Valor.
Inside, Gundmare takes a good look at so many statues when three of them start to move. Gundmare is then introduced to basically three copies of himself, named Gormlaith, Hakon and Felldir, his ancestors who welcome him to the Hall of Valor. They tell him that they all defeated Alduin in their time and they better not waste any time. Gundmare thinks this is surreal and he heads outside with his ancestors.
Gundmare charges and he uses his newly learned shout to down Alduin, although he has more than one trick up his sleeve. He makes the mist appear again, making Gundmare and his ancestors unable to see him. Gormlaith uses a shout to dissipate the mist and he disintegrates and Gundmare charges Alduin who tries to kill him with his claws and his fire. The battle goes on for quite some time and Gundmare’s ancestor all disintegrate after dissipating the mist. Alduin tries to fly away again, but Gundmare pins him down again. He gets on top of him and he pierces both of his eyes. Alduin shakes him off and he tries to fight him wihth whatever he has left, but Gundmare does a leap of faith and cuts Alduin’s throat who screams to his death. Alduin’s body disintegrates and Gundmare painfully absorbs his soul before he is submerged by a bright light and he closes his eyes. When Gundmare opens his eyes again, he is standing on the Throat of the World and he drops down on his knees, exhausted. In the background, many dragons fall out of the sky and on the ground, dead. Gundmare has done it, he is the Dragonslayer and he has saved Skyrim.
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