Skyrim continues to be one of the most popular video games in modern history. More than a decade after its release, fans are still exploring the wintery province of Tamriel. Its main protagonist the Dragonborn, or Dovahkiin in the dragon's tongue, is a blank slate that players have been able to paint a myriad of adventures onto over the years. One thing that's remained constant, though, is that many fans have wanted to see a version of the Dragonborn make their way into other games. More specifically, there had been rumors swirling that the Skyrim protagonist would appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Fan theories about Smash Ultimate have been running wild since its inception. Crossover characters have become the norm for many fighting franchises like Tekken and Mortal Kombat. Smash tends to sit at the top of the absurdity as a game where Cloud from FF7 can battle Steve from Minecraft and Ryu from Street Fighter all at the same time. This led to rumors about the Skyrim main character making an appearance as a Western-style swordfighter against the plethora of JRPG ones. But rumors about the Dragonborn and Dante from Devil May Cry coming to Smash were quashed when Mii costumes for each were revealed alongside Kazuya. Still, it has gotten some fans dreaming up how the Dragonborn could appear in other fighting games.
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Crossover characters have been a staple of fighting games for years. In recent memory, though, they have become more prevalent and surprising. There are plenty of interesting options for the Dragonborn to make an appearance. The easiest to imagine is in the Soul Calibur series. The franchise focuses on intense and strategic weapon battles in 3D arenas. The series has already had its fair share of crossovers like Altair from Assassin's Creed and more recently Geralt from The Witcher. The Dovahkiin could be introduced in a later series in much the same way as Geralt.
While narrowing down the huge amount of combat options the Dragonborn has access to could be daunting, the mechanic unique to Skyrim holds the most potential. Translating some of Skyrim's powerful Shouts into the Soul Calibur format could be quite engaging. It's likely that if the Skyrim protagonist appears in other games it would be wearing the iconic iron armor set, which is ironically one of the weakest. Based on that archetype, the Dragonborn could wield a sword and shield with a bow and arrow as a projectile option while including some of the various Shouts like Unrelenting Force. Although balancing the Dragonborn for fighting games could be a challenge, it's not impossible.
Narrowing down the available moves for a fighting game from Skyrim's daunting amount of spells, Shouts, and other techniques would be even more important in a more traditional fighter like Mortal Kombat. Although MK11 is done with DLC, imagining the Dragonborn fighting against the various Kombatants is interesting. Utilizing the variety of weapons available to the Dragonborn could be an emphasis in a crossover with MK where the customizable move sets are still available. And while Skyrim doesn't include much explicit gore, the game is rated Mature. As such, it's not hard to picture theatric fatalities like using Unrelenting Force to shred Scorpion, or calling down a dragon to take a bite out of Shao Kahn. Overall, it's unlikely that players will get to see the Dragonborn in a fighting game soon, though it could easily become a legendary crossover if it happened.
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The fun part of imagining the Dragonborn in fighting games comes from just how broad those abilities could potentially be. The bar for crazy moves in fighters like Smash and the others is already fairly high. Fighting game players are already living in an era where there are multiple ways to have Street Fighter characters fight Tekken characters and so on and so forth. So a landscape where the Dragonborn can use a multitude of spells and Shouts to dominate whatever version of the battlefield they occupy is enticing to a lot of players.
A decade ago, it might have been difficult to imagine a customizable character like the Dragonborn making their way into a fighting game. Players have access to both close-quarters combat options and long-distance magic and weapons in Skyrim so transitioning into the fighting game format would be daunting. But with characters based almost entirely on the variety of weaponry they have access to like Simon/Richter from Castlevania in Smash Ultimate have shown how creative developers can get with characters that might not fit a normal fighters' archetype. That same kind of adaptation could serve the Dragonborn well.
Smash Ultimate would have been the likely best fit for the Dragonborn. Such a wide array of possible moves for the Dovahkiin would have fit well into the wild Smash landscape. Changing Shouts on the fly like Hero from Dragon Quest can switch moves would have made for an interesting mechanic. Fire Emblem's Byleth had a mechanic that could also translate for the Dragonborn, where different inputs would make use of various weapons from Skyrim. Even Skyrim's alchemy system could be put to use to allow the Dragonborn to temporarily buff different combat aspects.
While it's now confirmed that the Dovahkiin won't be making an appearance in Smash Ultimate, that doesn't mean the iconic character can't make an appearance elsewhere. The fighting game community has largely come to embrace the number of crossover characters lately. Such a popular character with a wide array of different abilities and combat options would likely be a welcome addition to any fighters' rosters. Skyrim is easily one of the most influential games of the decade, and with how far away Elder Scrolls 6 is the Dragonborn isn't likely to fade in popularity any time soon. With new fighting game IPs in the works as this past generation of fighters' DLC comes to a close, the idea of seeing the Dragonborn making an appearance alongside classic fighters is something many fans are likely still holding out hope for.
Skyrim is available now on PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
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