Absolutely. I think sparing Paarthanaax can be seen either as a calculated risk, or one you're not willing to take. I also applaud Bethesda for writing in consequences for going either way, and I think that's also where a lot of people have issues. It appears to me, too many view siding with Paarthanaax as a "lawful good" choice, and therefore the game should reward them for it. (I blame Bioware for encouraging this mentality.)

However, I still think the implementation was too shaky, and the MQ would have done better as a branching questline with the same ultimate goal.

Yeah, she's annoying. When she first told me to deal with him I laughed and never looked back. I see no reason to comply with her genocidal request, they think all dragons need to die. Not cool.

Maybe Astrid and the DB killed the emperor before the Dragonborn wiped them out. Or maybe it was another sanctuary based out of High Rock -- Solitude is reasonably close to the border, after all.

Or maybe the emperor simply died mysteriously on board his ship off the coast of Solitude for reasons future TES lore will never specify.

In any case, the death on an emperor is too big for future lore to simply ignore, so I think we can reasonably conclude it's canon.

Actually.. yeah, that's convincing. A death at least could be part of the lore. That would save time, if anything.. rather than constructing two different big outcomes like that (I'd applaud them if they did, but I don't really expect it).

I understand this reasoning as justification for killing Paarthurnax, but what about Odahviing? He's not even mentioned. Personally I thought the ultimatum to kill Paarthurnax felt forced, especially when it came down to "He's a dragon, and dragons are bad. K?" Meanwhile I have my personal dovah gangbanger to roll up whenever I need him to.

I found that part idiotic, too. I didn't WANT his service, but he ends up swearing it to me, anyway. I'd try killing him, except I suspect the game treats him like any summons.

Well, someone in Blades armor riding on the back of a red dragon looks cool. I think Delphine sees that.

Sorry, can't think of anything better.

I actually like Odahviing; it's more the contradiction in the Blades' reasoning that confounds me. I understand Paarthurnax was one of Alduin's homeboys or something back in the day, and he's like, really dangerous, or something, but even Odahviing references Paarthurnax's power and the situation (Odahviing says something like "I wish the old one luck in his journey" in dialogue at some point). So Odahviing is lore/story-relevant at some points but not others.

/shrug

Actually, my reasoning doesn't work at all. I think Delphine is disturbed that you have any friendships with dragons, Odah included.

It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. I mean, on one hand, Paarthurnax used to be Alduin's right hand a long time ago and they want me to kill him for whatever crimes he may have committed during that period. On the other, Odahviing was his right hand, very recently and they don't seem to care much about what he has done, which may or may not be any worse.

He also switched allegiances very, very easily. If anything, I actually trust Odahviing less than Paarthurnax, as he quite brazenly displays that he will switch sides the moment someone he perceives as stronger comes along.

She doesn't give you the Paarth quest until she hears about you and Odah, I think. It's probably more a fault of the writers for not explicitly talking about it.

No, I got the quest before I trapped the dragon.

Odahviing is one of those cases I believe where, you, the Dragonborn can trust them to be a self-interested psycho. Yes, he's a monster who only serves the strongest but you beat Alduin so he's going to serve you faithfully and be YOUR psycho.

If Delphine really is suppoed to be the fantasy version of a CIA spook, I imagine she'd trust him more than Paar but would eventually want to kill Odahviing too.

Probably after he'd helped you torch a bunch of Aldermerri Dominion cities.

(Yeah, she's a [censored]. She only wants you to ditch Big P after he's helped you all he can.)

Arngeir warns you that the Blades have never truly served the Dragonborn, which seems implausible -- until Delphine issues her ultimatum. So it seems Arngeir was right, and we're left to wonder what the agenda of the Blades really is.

That's a pretty interesting wrinkle in the overall plot of the Elder Scrolls, but the presentation of it was a bit flat.

I think it would make perfect sense for delphine to want parthrunax dead because the blades have been pretty decimated by the end of the oblivion crisis and the great war. The way I see it the tradition of gaurding the emperor began to die with martins death. Plus during the time the thalmor and the aldmeri dominion were rising I'm sure the tried to wipe out info on the blades. Asuming that they were successful (I haven't read much into what happened I the 200 year span seperating the games) I would guess that much of the blades traditions with the empire would be lost. In this situation it seems perfectly reasonable for them to resort their roots as only dragon slayers as they wouldent really feel ties to the old tradition.

It seems to be a running theme in all the questlines of groups forgetting their traditions. So I would say that delphine is not trying to rebuild the dragon guard, but what she believes is the blades were.

I think Arngeir is being slightly ill-informed and biased. For the most part the Blades HAVE faithfully served the Septim Dynasty. It's just he's trying to warn you against becoming a tool for outside forces.

His advice is good here but there's no option for you to put the Blades in their place.

Delphine is the Fantasy version of Edgar Ross from Red Dead Redemption.

From what I understood before the game came out, Alduin was a formless being like Sithis, but chose the form of a dragon. Korr: No matter what, Mede is dead. He will die aboard the Katariah. Either from old age, or perhaps an assassination. Done in true Beth style.

I really don't like Delphine at all. She even had the NERVE to say that if she was an enemy, I'd be dead already. WUT??? You are a rogue Blade, running an Inn. You've lost your touch woman. I doubt you'd be a match for Dovahkiin. I really wanted to sign up with the Blades too! I liked them in Oblivion. Shame. I guess I will have to honor Jauffre and Baurus in other ways.

Arngeir's statement had the opposite effect. It made me wonder what the Grey Beards' true agenda was, and I regarded their pro-dragon statements with no small amount of alarm. The Blades, to me, were pretty cut-and-dry. They're going after the dragons, and more than likely the Thalmor next.

I really liked the Greybeards because Arngeir gets all pissed off and gets stubborn and refuses to help you just like Esbern and Delphine, but a few seconds later he apologizes and understands it was wrong of him to act like that. That's one thing they have over the Blades. If Delphine wants to kill Paarthurnax because he helped Alduin a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, then I should kill Delphine and Esbern for being Akaviri invaders, enemies to Reman Cyrodiil.

I'd sooner eliminate all evidence of the existence of the Blades and found my own team before letting them boss me around.

It seems to me the whole purpose of the Dovakin in the game was to exterminate Dragons forever. Old Blades tried, but it didn't work as their soul needs to be abosorbed or they can be resurrected via a dragon like Alduin. So exterminate them withoiut prejudice or let them be. I do have to agree that Odahviing is a bit of a loop hole on the Developers part, but Dovakin is only human and potentially Odahviing is no where near as dangerous as Pathnx.

I think Delphine has a crappy attitude too especially after she finds out the player is dragonborn. Of course I don't like a lot of the writing in the game and think Delphine is just over the top rude. I mean, yes the Nords are definitely rude, but come on. If I could kill her, I would, lol.

So is every other Faction till you prove yourself. Actually with the TG there is still that Bartender that treats you like a newbie even when you are the guild master. I think people should just accept, it's reqmnt on Blades behalf for you to play a leadership role, rather than crying about it.

If you read my post, you'd see that I said I don't like a lot of the writing in the game. I don't understand your "it's reqmnt on Blades behalf for you to play a leadership role". What the heck does that mean? You don't play a leadership role in the blades. You're a pawn.

Which is at least part of the problem, Delphine assumes you'll blindly go along with her because she is, de facto, correct about Paarthurnax and his motives. Her monomania rivals Ahab's, only her White Whale is a 5,000-year old dragon who is not the same as he once was and really doesn't deserve summary execution. It's almost like she's been Pavlovianolly conditioned.

While my characters never kill Paarthurnax I do recognize the possibility he will 'go rogue', so to speak, but I think it's fairly unlikely. After all, it's been thousands of years since his last rampage and he's showing no signs of cracking, although I'll admit it's not easy to 'read' a dragon.