Is there any way to avoid receiving the "Kill Paarthurnax" quest? I really want to stay on good terms with both the Grey Beards and the Blades if possible.

It's optional. Just receive it but don't do it.

Downside is that the Blades will give you the cold shoulder.

Whats the upside?

the upside is youre not a dirty good-dragon murderer

I meant to killing him.

Extra blades quest.

Yea but then the Greybeards hate your guts. If you don't kill Paarthurnax the Blades will hate your guts instead.

What have the Blades ever done for you anyways? Drag you from one place to another, send you on a suicide mission to the Thalmor embassy, then send you to learn of the power you need to end things before telling you to kill the Dragon who helped you obtain it?

Screw them. If they want to play the pride card, they can deal with Paarthurnax themselves. I'd much rather ally myself with those who actually understand the way things work in the world, that there comes a time for allegiances to change. They can take their "sworn duty" and stuff it.

Some way to treat the man who is the very reason they still exist in the first place.

You've got dragon blood running through your veins, don't betray your kin.

Screw the Blades.

Besides, Paarth knows how to party, you'll find out what I mean later on up there on that mountain top.

I agree with you here. The Blades are worthless now and Paarthurnax actually helps you defeat the other dragons. I love him and wouldn't want to kill him off for a couple of crappy Blades quests. He is an awesome old soul and I like the conversations you had with him.

Cannot switch mediations.

Kill Paarthurnax=Do extra stuff for the Blades, Greybeards hate you.

Spare Paarthurnax=Do extra stuff with the Greybeards, Blades hate you.

Ok so long story short, you can't avoid the quest, am I right?

I read some people suggesting recruiting for the Blades before a certain point in the main quest to avoid this problem, but they just meant you can't recruit after this and you get the quest anyway?

It's going to irritate me if there's no way to fail the quest by blowing them off. My character certainly won't recruit for a genocidal cult that's a poor shadow of the Blades of the past TES games.

I think I may investigate making a mod to verbally dress-down the Blades into submission for their brash hubris once the CK comes out.

Of course, no voice work for the dialogue, but the "Voiceless Dialogue Breaks Immersion" crowd can go drink milk.

well im just glad i didnt know you could recruit people into the blades..theres just the two of them still haha. Its just a shame you cant kick them out of that place with alduins wall and have it as a base for yourself and recruit people to join you.

I really dont understand all the hate for the Blades, I think the Greybeards are much worse:

first off all, They do NOTHING, they just sit their on that big mountain, give a [censored] what's happening to the country and people in Skyrim. They just let things happen even if Alduin destroys the World, they don't care, if it's destined, so be it...BS! Furthermore they knew about the Shout Dragonsrend all along, but do they tell you? Just after heavily asking and insisting on your side they confirm it exists...

As an Imperial, I'm really pissed at them, that they taught Ulfric Stormcloak the Thu'um. They pretend to have a policy of peace and and not interfere with worldly matters, but they give him the power that ended up murdering the High King. Good Job! (You may see this different as a Stormcloak )

At last Argneir liead to me about the Blades, saying the NEVER trully intended to protect the dragonborn/emperor, and are just a bunch of selfish, power hungry Dragon Slayers. That's an insult to the memory of my former Blade Companions like Caius Cosades and will get him his throat cut once this is all over.

I really dont want to kill Paarthurnax, but for the Greybeards I'm not so sure...

Imagine that you used to work for Tomás de Torquemada during the Spanish Inquisition. When you discovered what he was truly about you couldn't stomach it and vowed to stop him. After his removal, you truly regretted your mistaken trust so deeply that you devoted much of your life to education to make sure that such a thing never happens again. Imagine that one day these two seventh day adventist kooks who think they know the 'truth' show up and demand your execution and to burn all your progress for your involvement so long ago as if it were all your fault. The real reason they hate you is for turning your life around. These people are Delphine and Esbern.

They taught Ulfric how to use the Thu'um.... a prime case for their reasoning for silent contemplation and study on High Hrothgar, separate from the world. They slipped up on their philosophy and as a result a petulant power-lustful man armed with the Thu'um is loosed on Skyrim.

And the Blades don't protect the Dragonborn, they manipulate the Dragonborn. They cut off all support until you do their dirty work against a person who Nenina so perfectly describes. They have an agenda that is reckless and myopic. I'd be willing to bet septims to bottlecaps that if Tiber Septim had found himself at odds with the Blades' agenda, they'd bail on him too.

Delphine and Esbern seem to put on horse blinders and focus only on all the atrocities that Paarthunax seemingly committed, completely disregarding as irrelevant the fact that Paarthunax was the core instigator in empowering the ancient Nords to fight off Alduin and all his followers in the first place. He suffers his penance every day after.

The Blades need to be put in their place. Badly. If they continue with their recklessness then perhaps their place is only in the annals of history.

Cool explanation.

I wash my hands of the Blades as soon as possible. To avoid getting the "Kill Paarthanax" quest...
- Once you get the assignment from the Blades to speak to the Greybeards about the Dragonrend shout, that's the last time I visit Sky Haven temple. You won't see them again unless...
- When you do the "Season Unending" quest, make sure you leave the room before either Esbern or Delphine have a chance to talk to you. I'd position myself just down the corridor so you can hear the post-meeting discussion, but not within range so either of them can initiate conversation with you. You can still learn about Odahviing from Paarthanax. A way around having to deal with that quest is to finish the Civil War quest line. Personally, I like to actually do this quest, because I can make Tullius squirm But that's another story.

But the biggest issue here, is Bethesda really didn't wire in a way to 'fail' the "Kill Paarthanax" quest. We should be able to, as has been voiced in a few threads here already. Can't wait for the CK, a bunch of this stuff will be fixed faster than you can say "Fus RO DAH!"

>,> snow leopard+milk =happy man eating predator.But honestly the milk comment made me grin-its sad that the blades are a bunch of what my xbox friends would say butthurt crybabys who cant see past old feuds and mistakes and not see the redemption that paarth has more then earned

I'm a Legate myself, that doesn't change the fact that the greybeards were training Ulfric to be a greybeard... If you ask Ulfric he says that he was training to be a greybeard but he left, tried to uphold the way of the voice but he didn't cause he's a scumbag.
And as other people have stated the blades are just a shadow of their former self.

This is truly the first time in my gaming experience i got actually p!$$ed off.Out of the two parties that stay true to their words as you experience them, it's good ol paarth and the beards.Yes , the beards made a mistake with ullfric but they didn't go into that arrangement with the intention of arming this guy to kill people."Training to be a greybeard" isn't exactly training to be a killing machine that actively goes out seeking conflict.Their withdrawn disposition at the point you meet them strikes me as a result of this mistake and has bolstered their resolve to remain disconnected.You get a sense of their urgency while discussing the use of dragonrend , and their hope you might ind another way as it's the only time you experience the leader guy get upset and raise his voice slightly.And tbh, by my estimation there's no real "leader" of the greybeards, he just either has more control over his powers , or is less powerful than the others so is the default spokesman.

The Blades.Hmmmm well Delphine doesn't strike me as a leader type , although I've never played the other games.She strikes me as the lucky one that survived and is basing her decisions off of limited knowledge she was allowed to have as a subordinate in the Blades.To understand more fully what I'm saying , read the book in her secret room ise and fall of the blades.In it there's alot of mention of sureme secrecy , no one member knowing everything , just enough to mesh with the rest and get the job done.To Delphines' credit, I'd have to respect her devotion to her rder and her cuse , as she understands it.Remember, Delphine was a soldier given just enough knowledge to do the job she was tasked with then the carpet was pulled from under her.Even after all this , it's perplexing they say their main purpose for being is to serve the dragonborn , then do a complete reversal and say some stupid inane crap like if you don't do what we say you can just GTFO.I'm chalking this up to writers' block and a timeline to release a finished game because that's exactly what it feels like.

The Game.Well I freakin love the game enough to waste finger skin discussing it so here we are.But the possible biggest irk with the game I have have is you're running around with all this knowledge and personal experience and have absolutely no way to tell these people what paarthurnax ends up telling you, and this is just one example.There's no option to alter peoples' perceptions of you in the game allowing you to explain your decisions and actions whatsoever.What is , is.Like one poster said he'd like the opportunity to give Delphine a good dressing down about her tunnel-vision, this isn't an open world when the most powerful being that exists in the world can't even explain his own damn decisions.Basically it boils down to this , when ou talk to Delphine you must remember you're talking to a dedicated soldier that is STILL after all this time and danger , following her last orders and what HER leaders told her what was expected of her.Only now she's thrust into the spot of being that leader.My only hope in this regard is whoever the writers are for this part, are aware of these shortcomings and have something coming to evolve her into a more rational thinker and true leader , not just a rabid soldier for her cause.

In the midst of all this , and being my first TES game , my frst character I ran headlon into the main quest line and forced my way to the finish line.I didn't do this as some kind of min-maxer or whatever you call it , it truy was an enthralling experience that kept me gripped to my computer for almost ten hours straight at that point.I emerged victorious after killing Alduin and going to THE LAND OF THE FREAKING DEAD AND RETURNING , and my first greeting in Whiterun is some inane comment about a GD sweetroll??SERIOUSLY??In all fariness to the creators , they've definitely created an awesome world to romp around in and there is just a massive of detail.BUT that detail is things like freaking ANTS crawling on stuff?How about detail like being treated as the savior of the world after an entire town watches you ride off on a freakin NAMED DRAGON and return!Maybe I had delusions of granduer , but I'm pretty sure the game itself really primes you to be the ultimate hero in the story and you start getting that feeling like , omg when I get back from this it's gonna be just amazing.And it's not.

Well.. the "drink milk" is in reference to the insult "Milk-drinker" (instead of mead-drinker) used in the game...