Dragonborn (lore)

Dragonborn, or DOVahKiiN (in Dragon language), is the player character in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

In the Teaser Trailer Esbern mentions the reawakening of the dragons. Immediately after, he mentions that they fear the one they call "DOVahKiiN" — Dragonborn. Dragonborn, in the Dragon language, is actually a combination of two words — Dovah, meaning "Dragon", and "kiin", meaning "child". As mentioned during the The Fallen quest, dragon names actually consist of three one-syllable words (as seen in for example Alduin). In this case, Dovahkiin consists of the words "dov", which refers to the dragons as a kind, "ah", meaning slayer, and "kiin" meaning child. The hero of the Skyrim game is an example of a Dragonborn.

In Previous Games
The Septim Bloodline (Descendants of the legendary Tiber Septim) are all believed to have been "Dragonborn", and most of these were of the Imperial race, however, Dragonborn can be of any race, as the abilities and title are given by the Nine Divines to favoured subjects.

In the Elder Scrolls universe, the term Dragonborn has been used to refer to the descendants of Emperor Tiber Septim, member of the Septim Dynasty of Tamriel. It also may refer to the Nerevarine, the Player Character from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, who is referred to as "Dragon-born" in the Lost Prophecy. The issues were later cleared up by Game Developer Todd Howard who stated that the "Dragonborn" of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are different from those in previous games.