When I completed my previously published "Biography of the Last Dragonborn", I was left unsatisfied. As I explained in that book's introduction, getting the Last Dragonborn to sit down and tell me her complete and true story as she remembers it was more like herding sabre cats or performing dental surgery than scholarship. She was infinitely distracted, hardly able to sit still. Her wife suggested I ask questions while she works on her various projects or takes a walk, and finally there was progress. She required prompting at every turn, but at last I able to make sense of her many legendary accomplishments. Unfortunately, she was just as likely to talk about a giant camp she investigated, or a small cave she entered, as she was to tell of dragon fights or the civil war. There was little notion of time to her narrative; she would be talking about her first day in Falkreath and suddenly jump to a year later when she encountered Barbas the dog and promptly continue telling me about the Daedric Prince Clavicus Vile. Nor was the completeness of any particular account tied to it's overall importance. She could remember the exact location of every cave and ruin she passed in her journey, but when asked what the inside of Sky Haven Temple looked like or what Parthunax said to her in their first encounter she would shrug and say, "I don't really remember". Her scattered journal entries were useful for drawing a timeline of events but were equally lacking in details.
Who was the Last Dragonborn, really? Ten years after the biography it was still unclear to me. She is the central pivot of her narrative, but there is nothing in there about her, no details of her personal life, no notion of who she really was beyond her own words and accomplishments. The events of her life suggest a person both reckless and careful, pious and immoral, heroic and criminal, helpful and destructive. She was a mage, a fighter, a rogue. She was Archmage, Harbinger of the Companions, Thieves Guildmaster, member of the Dawnguard, master of the the Voice, aid to the Blades. There are even rumors that she was associated with the Dark Brotherhood and the death of Titus Mede II, though she declined to speak about it when asked. She somehow made the acquaintance of every Daedric Prince during her time wandering. Many of these stories are unbelievable and would be called farce if told by any other person. I simply took it on faith that, if she fought a dragon god, single-handedly turned the tide of a civil war, and won renown in every hold for many other accomplishments, then the rest was likely true too.
This is, ultimately, an unsatisfying conclusion. Five years after her sudden disappearance I felt I needed a better portrait of her. I wanted to know who she was personally, and I wanted to verify some of these lesser known accomplishments. So I trekked across Skyrim province to speak with the people who knew her best, the ordinary inhabitants. I interviewed shopkeepers, rogues, warriors, government employees, religious leaders, city guards, anyone who knew her and was willing to speak on their time with her. And as the paint slowly layered onto the canvas, I found her more mysterious and complicated than ever before, and paradoxically, more ordinary.
Herein you will find the collected interviews with minor editing. I at first attempted to place them in chronological order, but after realizing this was impossible I decided to order them as made whatever sense to me. My words are in bold for clarity. I am particularly grateful to her wife, daughter, and housecarl for their accounts, as they knew her better than anyone. I am also thankful for the assistance of the College of Winterhold in contacting interviewees and to the leadership of the holds for safe passage during my travels.
~Jantus Aquillarios, Cyrodiil, 231 4E