Skyrim is fun and I enjoy it. Many hours of play. But some things just make me raise my eyebrows in a kinda 'wtf??' way.

The biggest one being a subject many times is to kill Paarthurnax or be denied/shunned by the Blades even though they are sworn to fight for the DragonBorn and you are the de facto leader. So yeah, Paarthurnax has done bad things because he and other Dragons had no other thought pattern in there minds to do so otherwise while under Alduin's influence. But whatever Paarthurnax has to pay! Even though he helps you fight Aldun! Meanwhile Odahviing gets off scott-free. Yeah, dont mind the fact that on the encounter with Odahviing he swoops in and grabs a helpless city guard in which he tosses 200 yards off the castle wall. Its all good with Odahviing though since he is willing to fly you up to Skuldafn on his back (something Paarthurnax could also do, but no option for that.). So Odahviing lives because he allows himself to be a flying transport in return to be set free, (aka Odahviing cut a deal to be set free and sold Aldun out.). Paarthurnax broke free of Alduns control durning the Great Dragon War and tought the Thu'um to mortals to help defeat Aldun and other evil dragons. Paarthurnax helps the Dragonborn in many ways during the game. Paarthurnax must die and Odahviing does not. THE END. stupid.

Olaf One Eye. He is a Draugr found in Dead Mens Respite (Draugr are men who once served Dragons and are not aloud into Sovngarde because of so.) And yet Olaf One Eye is also found in Sovngarde??? How could Olaf be made out to be a traitor, cheat, and liar. And have the quest for the Bards that uncovers all this and shows he is a Draugr yet he is also in Sovngard? Maybe there was a imposter Olaf One Eye? Or one good and one evil? stupid.

Companions and The Silver Hand. One group are Werewolves and the other are Werewolf hunters. The werewolf hunters are bad! Ok, I get the fact that the "Inner Circle" of the Companions are in full control of themselves in werewolf form. But they seem to be the only ones. Pretty much all of Skyrim view as werewolves as being bad. Because they are. You dont come across friendly NPC werewolves in the wild. The ones in cages in Silver Hand lairs will attack you if you set them free. You have a choice to kill Paarthurnax or not but no choice kill the Werewolf Companions? stupid.

Where is the moral ground here in Skyrim??? You have to kill one Dragon that has helped you and all of mankind and another one gets to live because he made a deal with you. You can lie, cheat, steal , and still get into Sovngarde. And werewolf hunters the bad guys.

These have been discussed to death here.

Paarthurnax being slain or not and the attitude of the Blades is just another example of very bad writing in another TES game. Nothing TES vets are not used to. But yeah, you are right, it makes no sense.

I don't recall finding Olaf One Eye in Sovengarde, but if you did that is his soul. His body is a Draugr back in Skyrim. It is possible that the stories of him being such a bad person are wrong. His presence in Sovengarde seems to prove this.

I would give anything to be able to join the Silver Hand and wipe out the Companion Inner Circle. Another example of Bethesda grabbing the player by the tongue and dragging them through a story they don't want to be a part of just so you can finish the only Warriors Guild faction in the game.

Obviously you haven't finished the Thieves Guild quests yet or you would have a lot more things to list that make no sense.

How about this one.

In the book "Skyrim's Rule," the book's author, Abdul-Mujib Ababneh, mentions that he has traveled through many of the provinces of Tamriel, and has noted the unique government styles that each province employs. Now, judging by the timeline of events of the Fourth Era, it seems most likely that his travels began around 4E 180 (since it's unlikely that one would be doing such travels during time of war), and seem to have ended a few years prior to the events of the game (which makes it about a twenty year span, which sounds like it might be about right, perhaps a little more than necessary). Now here's the part where it gets muddy. In the book, the author indicates that the King of Argonia still actively uses Shadowscale assassins to secretly eliminate threats (at least during the time of his visit there), yet the Dark Brotherhood questline strongly implies that the Shadowscale Order was long gone well before the year 4E 187 (it is mentioned in Cicero's Journal that they were considering re-opening the Shadowscale training facility in Archon).

Now how exactly did the entire population of Shadowscales get completely wiped out in that timeframe? Unless someone specifically hunted down each and every one of them (or they were all confined to a single sanctuary that was massacred, which seems doubtful), it is highly unlikely that they would all turn up dead within such a short timeframe. It's obviously a mid-development lore retcon, because it doesn't really make any sense at all, and leaves the timeline murky.

Olaf One-Eye's draugr has two glowing eyes, not just one.

Just sayin'.

There's a difference between 'stuff I don't like' and 'bad writing', and I think people get those mixed up around here an awful lot.

RE: Paarthurnax, yeah, it's been discussed to death. The Blades push you into a choice. Now, some people go with the Blades, and some people go with Paarthurnax, and some people understand where the Blades are coming from, and some people despise them for trying to give their characters an ultimatum, and so on. For the most part, I see people asking for more choices, and for more consequences for their choices, and yet with this quest, which has definite consequences for your choice (kill Paarthurnax, the Greybeards hate you and refuse to help you any longer, refuse to kill Paarthurnax, and the Blades turn their back on you--sorta--and etc), people get really pissed off.

I will never understand why people want to join the Silver Hand. Even if you believe being a werewolf in TES, even a werewolf completely under control, is automatically evil, why on Nirn would you want to join a bunch of torturing murderering fanatics that behave like only slightly better armed bandits? They have a dude named The Skinner for crying out loud. They stick werewolf heads on pikes, have torture chambers that certainly seem to contain bodies of people that aren't necessarily werewolves, have werewolves locked in cages (why would you do this if you just wanted to kill them?), and oh, are pretty much kill on sight towards absolutely everyone, if you've had the misfortune to bumble near their castle before joining the Companions.

The Vigilants specifically note that they hunt werewolves, and while they might be a bit Knight Templar about it, at least they aren't hanging around in bloodied, body-part decorated forts.

For that matter, all the Silver Hand succeeded in doing was bringing the full wrath of the Companions down on their heads, and killing the one guy who was pushing for a cure and ridding the Circle of lycanthropy. Um. Good job?

You can trap draugr's souls in regular soul gems. This means that the souls inside the draugr aren't the souls of the original owners of the bodies. That's why there are two Olaf.
And draugr aren't just men who once served dragons. There are examples that prove that the custom of trasforming death people in draugr is a common practice of the Nords.

Because you don't like how quests are designed doesn't mean they contain contradictions.

The Blades want Paarthurnax because he's public enemy number one to them, and you have access. Tell them to shove off. I think there's a 50-50 chance they are right about him, but they don't make a very good case.

The bards are lying about Olaf, isn't that obvious if you've done the quest line? Him being both a draugr and in Sovngarde could be an oversight, or there were two men with that name, similar to how there are several contenders for who could be the historical King Arthur.

The Silver Hand are thugs, but it would have been nice to be able to join them. They'd still be the "evil" option. Ever played the Witcher games? A major theme is that even though Geralt is a monster hunter, the real monsters he encounters are humans with their prejudices and greed. Similar idea here.

Plus draugr souls are either grand or greater (can't recall right now) whereas human souls are always black souls - which means they can't be exactly the same, uh, person? as the one they used to be when they were alive. I hope this makes sense.

As for Silver Hands, I agree that they are little more than glorified bandits. Some bandits have actually given me harder time than Silver Hands, so they're not even that badass. Maybe people who say they would like to join them mean they should have been made into a proper faction, like a counterpart to Companions? Then it would sort of mirror the Dawnguard story... in any case, I have wondered about the "what ifs" a few times and it seems to me like they're one of the loose ends in the game. Potential that could have been developed more fully. I've also had similar thoughts about the Foresworn, actually.

Also, it's a bit funny if you do the Companions questline as one of the elven races. After completing all quests I came across some background info on wikia and found out that the original Companions fought against elves; I know it's changed since then and Athis is the best proof for it, but it makes me wonder what Ysgamor would think to see my Dunmer become the Harbinger and wield a weapon "especially deadly to elves"

Except both Olafs recognize the bard. The one in Sovngarde wishes to join him in drink after Alduin's defeat, and bury the hatchet.

This. They made them into this for the Companion questline, but it would have been nice to have them as a legit faction and not so obviously "These Guys Are Bad".

I did refuse to be a WW once. I went into the Underforge, saw Aela in WW form, was asked to join and I said no. And what happens? I leave and my favorite archery trainer remains a WW in the Underforge forever. Well at least I could say no, ... unlike what happens to you in the Thieves Guild.