(Well, i didn't intend to break it, and it probably broke in some other way than the book described.)


But seriously now: The dragons have stopped burning up and i cannot collect their souls any more. I went back to an old dragon hangout because i realised that while i could learn new words, they did not get unlocked. So i went to Mount Anthor, killed the dragon that was there (respawned?). But nothing happened.

I tried again at another place with another dragon and same results.

Bug?

You can only get souls from dragons that spawn at word walls once. If they respawn, you only get the loot, no soul. You should still be able to get dragon souls from random dragons 'out there'.

Aha.. ok, thanks.

strange - it happened to me at my second dragon encounter.
I killed the first dragen at the tower, went directly to riverwood, sold some stuff, left the store and the town was attacked by a dragon.
I didn't get a soul from it and it didn't burn.
Do I first have to climb High-Hrothgar?

Because - that definetly was a respawn. It was the second dragon I've met being somewhere completly different.

I'm not sure about this, but I think you have to deliver the killing blow in order to absorb the dragons soul. Could an NPC or companion be stealing your kills?

I remember one random dragon encounter where I'm sure Lydia got the last shot in, and I didn't get a soul from it, and a couple more where it was so chaotic I couldn't tell who finished it off and I didn't get a soul, but lately I've been watching this, and every time I get in the last shot (with a random dragon) I've been getting a soul.

I thought according to lore that they were gone for good if you absorbed the soul...

There's a known bug that prevents you from absorbing the souls from respawned dragons. Dragons also move dynamically so a dragon you've previously encountered could be encountered at a different place.