Dragons are a central part of Skyrim. The main quest revolves around the reappearance of dragons in Tamriel, the protagonist in Skyrim is the Dragonborn, someone who can absorb dragon souls to power up their Shouts. Meanwhile, players discover that the re-emergence of these ancient beasts comes from Alduin, the World-Eater.
Skyrim reinforces the importance of dragons by having them appear randomly but regularly as players explore the region. However, sometimes players may need more dragon souls than they have to unlock a new set of shouts, or perhaps players have just unlocked dragon armor in the Smithing tree but need more raw materials to make a suit of armor from bones and scales. Fortunately, there are a few ways for players to reliably summon dragons to fight.
Dragon Bounties
The quickest way to get a dragon-slaying job is to speak to the Jarl or steward of any given hold. Players can ask one of them for work, and they'll give players a job that involves a location within the same hold. The upside to this approach is that players get 500 gold as a reward for slaying each dragon, but the downside is that stewards may ask players to defeat bandits or perform other non-dragon quests instead.
Dragon Hunting
The Blades are a more reliable source of dragon-slaying quests. Once players complete the quest "Rebuilding the Blades," speak to Esbern in Sky Haven Temple to hear about the location of a dragon lair somewhere in Skyrim. Players can then travel to the lair and fight the dragon alongside any newly recruited Blades. The only catch is that Esbern will refuse to provide this quest if he's asked the Dragonborn to kill Paarthurnax, or if players have refused to kill Paarthurnax.
Dragon Burial Mounds
Scattered around the open world in Skyrim, players will stumble across many burial sights which housed the bones of dead dragons. On occasion, these burial mounds will burst open, with a dragon forming new scales and flesh, ready to do battle with the player.
Dragon Burial Mounds is a great way to combine the exploration of the open-world map, alongside an eagerness to hunt and kill any dragon that might make a decent lunch out of a small village.
Dragon Seekers
Another way to get a dragon-slaying quest is to speak to a Companion about jobs, and then suggest going out to slay a dragon. The Companions Farkas and Vilkas can both be sources of this quest, assuming they're alive and active Companions. However, players must first complete the main quest "Dragon Rising" (kill the dragon outside Whiterun), and the Companion quest "Glory of the Dead" (become the new leader of the Companions).
"Dragon Seekers" is the best way to spawn dragons in the game. While players have to complete a faction quest line to get access, Farkas and Vilkas will always be up for slaying a dragon no matter what choices players make during the Companions quest or any other quest. Also, the person players ask will become a temporary companion who will help kill the dragon and will complete the quest on the spot instead of having to head back to Whiterun.
One thing to keep in mind is that they can start these quests as many times as they like. If the quest chooses a location players have already visited, a new dragon will appear in that location. So instead of waiting for a dragon to appear, use one of these quests to get as many dragon bones or dragon souls as needed.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available now on PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.