Skyrim's 'dragon shouts' explained
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim director Todd Howard recently revealed one of the ginormous RPG's fresh, new mechanics to Game Informer -- he also inadvertently provided us with the name of our new speed metal band. They're called "dragon shouts," and they're extremely powerful enhancements to your other combat powers which you invoke by -- you guessed it -- shouting certain sets of three words from a long forgotten Draconic language that you and few others can comprehend. It's like Esperanto! It's exactly like Esperanto.
There's plenty of info about the lore of this ability in the Game Informer article, but the takeaway is this: Players will collect these power words by slaying dragons and absorbing their power, or by finding and deciphering ancient runes hidden in the depths of the deepest dungeons. So, yeah, Bethesda has basically put Pokémon in our Elder Scrolls. We are doomed once this bad boy comes out on Eleven the Eleventh of Eleven.
