The real problem with Miraak isn't that he's weak, it's that he's right

[ScrollsOfTamriel]

I've been thinking about this since my last playthrough and it's been bugging me. Everyone says Miraak is a disappointing final boss because his motivations don't make sense or whatever, but I think the actual issue is that the game never lets you seriously consider that he has a point.

Like, think about it. Miraak spent thousands of years as Hermaeus Mora's champion. He learned to bend the will of dragons. He has access to Black Books and Apocrypha. And then you show up, also blessed by a Daedric prince (sort of - Mora's obsessed with you too), also learning his Thu'um, also becoming dragonborn. From his perspective you're not the hero, you're the replacement. He's being phased out.

And the thing that gets me is that he's not entirely wrong about the Dragonborn being a tool. The Greybeards literally groom you. Paarthurnax has his own agenda. Delphine and Esbern manipulate you constantly. Even the main questline is kind of about being used by forces bigger than you. Miraak just has the honesty to say it out loud instead of pretending you have agency.

The DLC would hit so much harder if at any point before the final fight, someone acknowledged that yeah, Miraak's been corrupted by Mora, but also his skepticism about your whole destiny thing isn't baseless. Instead we just get "he's evil, go kill him" and a boss fight that's mechanically underwhelming.

Does anyone else feel like the Dragonborn DLC is actually more interesting when you stop treating Miraak as the villain and start treating him as a cautionary tale about what happens when you let a Daedra have too much interest in you?

 

[EbonyWarrior]

You're onto something here, but I think you're giving the writing more credit than it deserves. The DLC does acknowledge Miraak's point - just not in the way you want. Hermaeus Mora literally enslaves him at the end. That's the game saying "yeah, he was right to be paranoid about being used, and look what it got him." The cautionary tale is already there, it's just wrapped up in a boss fight instead of a dialogue tree.

Where I'd push back though: Miraak isn't really skeptical about your destiny in an interesting way. He's just bitter. He had the same deal Mora's offering you now, and he's mad someone else got it. That's not insight, that's jealousy. The actual manipulation of the Dragonborn - the Greybeards, Delphine, all of it - that's a way more interesting theme than "what if the evil dragon guy had a point," and the game kind of fumbles exploring it because everyone's too busy pointing you at the next quest marker.

If the DLC had let you actually refuse something - like tell the Greybeards no, or call out Delphine's BS without just doing her missions anyway - then Miraak's "you're a tool" speech would land harder. Instead you're basically railroaded into proving him right while fighting him anyway, which is awkward but not intentional in the way you're describing.

The real problem is that Skyrim's main quest doesn't trust you to have agency, so Miraak calling that out just feels like he's stating the obvious. In Morrowind you could actually become the tool or reject the whole thing. Here you just... do the quests.