Mul klo riik

I was wondering the same thing, and came to the very same conclusion as Mirkrilaar stated. However, I do wonder why this language is gender specific, (rek vs rok)
If the dov have no gender, why would they care for such details? Does anybody recall dragons ever saying a third person singular? Humans I remember Einarth saying, "Rok/Rek los dovahkiin, strundu'ul." But does anyone remember Paarthurnax, Odahviing, Alduin, etc?

Well yeah i remember the main dragons of the game

and dragons can be females mentally, but their kopraane, their bodies aren't different

Excellent question, Mul! Now I'm no paarthurnax, but here's what I found. These are from Skyrim via hiith's excellent Analysis on the Syntactic Implications of Canon.

"Alduin believes that he will prevail, with good reason. Rok mul."

"Indeed, you saw more clearly than I - certainly more clearly than Alduin. Rok funta koraav."

There are no instances of rek anywhere in dragon dialogue. In this light, rok is the only pronoun ever used to refer to other dragons. I think rek might be a back formation wisely made by Akatosh, in order to help dov understand the concept of gender - which is present in the deities of Aetherius and Oblivion as well as mortals. Either that or Bethesda's anglocentrism, anyway.

Edit: What do you mean by mentally female, BoDuSil?

Freymulaar, you know how humans can be transgender, right? I would believe it's kiiinda like that.

You're correct. Of course we shouldn't claim to know everything about dragonkind based on the few examples we have observed. And I would surely love to know more about how they identify themselves.

Which brings out the question: how could we even know if a dragon considered itself as being of a 'gender'? What actions and words would be enough to tell?

DovahKiinZaan

It's funny how we're calling them weak, when still, if you have a girlfriend they control you.

Skyrim nerds always get all the girls.

Mirkrilaar

I didn't mean it offensively, I just merely mean that in culture usually. The males are dominant. This goes with español too.

Some true with Spanish, but if you think about it, words like 'un vestido' which means dress is masculine, the only certain male words are words from hundreds of years back, such as Un perro

Mirkrilaar

I didn't mean it offensively, I just merely mean that in culture usually. The males are dominant. This goes with español too.

Some true with Spanish, but if you think about it, words like 'un vestido' which means dress is masculine, the only certain male words are words from hundreds of years back, such as Un perro

Mul klo riik

I was wondering the same thing, and came to the very same conclusion as Mirkrilaar stated. However, I do wonder why this language is gender specific, (rek vs rok)
If the dov have no gender, why would they care for such details? Does anybody recall dragons ever saying a third person singular? Humans I remember Einarth saying, "Rok/Rek los dovahkiin, strundu'ul." But does anyone remember Paarthurnax, Odahviing, Alduin, etc?

Was that the dialouge, rok/rek?

The thing is, Akatosh is supposed to be the father of all dragons.  They don't reproduce, but they can be resurrected like Alduin does to create "more."  As dov, though, the dovahkiin can be male or female, which means that being dov does not exclude femininity.  I've been wishing there was a version of the main theme with "naal ek ziin los vahrin."   Check out the artwork of "Lady Dovahkiin" by Noiry, which is a feminine representation of the iconic dovahkiin.  It's still powerful.

I think there's two key questions here: First, if femininity has been associated with weakness as some mentioned earlier, who was doing the associating? (Considering also that in some cultures matriarchies instead of patriarchies are the norm - including killer whales despite their gendered size differences, which are arguably the scariest predators in existence.) Secondly, why is adding an additional representation (femininity) to strength viewed as a threat when there has been no call to remove the single representation (masculinity)? I wouldn't label Jade's comment as feminazi-ism, but a call for her own strength to be recognized.  Accept this, or suffer the fate of Ragnar the Red!   

Well to be blunt dragons are somewhat magical in some ways so they can be a non gender but if they need to reproduce one could become a female to lay said eggs anything is possible.

@DJbrony Skyrim's dragons do not mate, lay eggs, or hatch. They are timeless.

I think that Akatosh being the "Father of all Dragons" doesnt necessarily define the gender like you were saying. Its kind of like how Skyrim is the Fatherland, that doesnt make the region male, its just metaphorical.

Odveig
@Jade Stereotypically, masculinity connotes strength, courage, all that shit. Femininity was near opposite, weakness, "damsel in distress". This was also not set in a time of feminaz-*cough* rabid feminism.

I would have gone with "more imtimidating sounding," but I'm not sure if that's a rabbit hole I especially want to jump down right now. That aside, I think dragons make more sense being genderless. They're supposed to kind of be the be-all, mystic end-all apocalypse-inducing things in Skyrim, and giving them lifespans/reproductive assets kind of makes them a lot more like really, really big and scaly Falmer or frost trolls than . . . be-all, mystic end-all apocalypse-inducing things.

Mul klo riik

Does anybody recall dragons ever saying a third person singular? Humans I remember Einarth saying, "Rok/Rek los dovahkiin, strundu'ul." But does anyone remember Paarthurnax, Odahviing, Alduin, etc?

I don't think I ever have, though I only remember the dovahzul that's part of the main story. I do know the Dovahkiin Song refers to the Dragonborn as a dude (naal ok zin los vahriin; ol fin Dovahkiin komeyt ok rein) but I'm pretty sure that was also written by humans.