Storylines

Main Story

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim follows the Dragonborn. The Dragonborn is a mythical man, elf, or beast who is said to be the only one who can kill a dragon for good by consuming its soul. The main storyline follows the Dragonborn's adventures to slay the dragon known as Alduin (or the World Eater). Alduin is a dragon from myth who is said to be the bringer of the end times. The Dragonborn must go through many trials and tribulations to find and finally kill Alduin, They are the only one who can stop him, though they don't know it yet.

Factions

Skyrim brings many different factions that the Dragonborn can join. The Companions are one of these factions. They pride themselves on their fighting prowess. You join their ranks and find out that a group known as the Silver Hand is hunting them down because the Companions are werewolves. As you go through the quests, you are searching for pieces of an ancient battleaxe that was owned by the founder of the Companions. As you look for these fragments, the Silver Hand are trying to hunt you down, leading to many battles with them. The College of Winterhold is a school for learning magic. You start there as a student and eventually move up to become the Archmage. The Thieves’ Guild is a faction of thieves that you can join. In the Thieves’ Guild, you eventually find out that someone has been stealing from their vault and you go out to find the culprit. The Dark Brotherhood is a faction of hired assassins that you can join that follows a set of rules known as the Five Tenets. The Stormcloaks and Imperials are two factions that you can join as the Dragonborn, however you can only join one of them. This is because each of them is on a different side of a civil war happening in Skyrim. The Stormcloaks are led by Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak of Windhelm. The Imperials are led by General Tullius of the Imperial Army from Cyrodiil. Ulfric Stormcloak wants to be the High King of Skyrim and get out from the rule of Cyrodiil. The Imperials believe that the wife of the old High King should be High Queen and want to keep Skyrim under their control (sort of). The Imperials are being puppeted by a group known as the Thalmor from the Aldmeri Dominion.

DLC

Skyrim has 3 different DLCs released for it. Two of which bring different storylines. The Dawnguard DLC lets you join a group known as the Dawnguard. They are vampire hunters who wish to rid the world of vampires (obviously). After progressing through the story some more you can join the Volkihar Vampires who are an ancient group of vampires with special powers. The Dragonborn DLC brings the Dragonborn to the island of Solstheim where you are tasked with defeating the first Dragonborn named Miraak.