I just want to say, either Astrid is stupid and I don't pity her at all or there is just a really big loophole in the Dark Brotherhood questline. So we all know that she makes a deal with Commandor Maro selling you out and saving the Emperor's life. But my question is: Why would you make a deal with someone when you've killed their son? If they didn't know before it would be pretty obvious they would know now. I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting vengeance for that.
Yeah, she's a moron.
First, she thinks that (despite very compelling evidence to the contrary) the worship of Sithis and the reverence of the Night mother is all just old superstition and religion. She mistakenly believes that they had nothing to do with the success o the Dark Brotherhood.
Yes, in the Thalmor invasion of Cyrodiil the Dark Brotherhood got pretty much wiped out. But anyone with sense in their skull would have rallied around the Night Mother and killed more often as offerings to the Dread Father.
Astrid thinks she can do much better and completely tosses the Five Tenets and the "Old Ways".
Then as Op mentions,
after she has you kill Commander Maro's only son she then thinks he'll be open to cordial relations via a plan to sell out you, Cicero, and the Night Mother because she's afraid you'll usurp her authority? That's taking stupidity to a whole new realm...
Then once Maro's double-cross is all but done, you've almost single-handedly cleared the imperials out of the Sanctuary, she's burned to a crispy husk, and finally realizes that she was wrong from turning away from the "Old Ways", she feels it's somehow still her place to say who leads the Dark Brotherhood?
My character: "Woman, I lead the Dark Brotherhood well before now. You're just the last ignorant cow to realize it. When the night Mother named me 'Listener', I had already taken over. Your end was inevitable, and it was sealed once you betrayed your former Family."
Yes, she did do the right thing by offering herself as a sacrifice to appease Sithis. And yes, she knows he'll torment her for an eternity in the Void. But still... the woman is a freakin' moron.
lol