Maybe this somehow resolves in a way that I'm not yet aware of, but I had to stop playing for the moment because I'm pretty frustrated by Bethesda forcing me to make a totally moronic choice to advance the storyline, and have allowed no room in their writing to make the far more obvious choice.

I have trapped Odahviing in Dragonsreach. He tells me that I need to get to Skuldafn, which is only accessible by air. He wants me to release him so he can fly me there.

This seems like it would be a rather bone-headed move, as this dragon is a devout follower of Alduin and it will probably backfire on me. It is even apparent in the written dialogue that my player character does not trust him.

Meanwhile, the Blades want me to kill Paarthanax, because they don't trust him. I'm not going to, because I do trust him.

So the obvious first thing to pop into my head here is that I should just visit Paarthanax and ask him if he can fly me to Skuldafn instead. Paarthanax has been helping me this whole time and even helped fight Alduin. I see no reason at all why he would refuse.

But I can't even talk to him about it. There is no dialogue or story tree to allow for this option. I can't be the only one thinking that this is the most obvious direction to take the story. What's the deal?

Paathurnax is a busy dragon. Why not accept Odahviing? You overpowered him. You can just fight him again if he tries anything.

Odahviing won't turn on you, after the main quest you can even

You don't even have to kill Paarthunax. In fact, I tried killing him but for some reason after his health went down to zero, he just stood there and after a few more swings at his face he didn't die and I just gave up. You don't need the Blade's help anyway

Did you try to kill him after doing the MQ? Because he becomes unkillable after the MQ.

Odahviing says that people are beginning to doubt Alduin's Thu'um as the strongest, but that none are yet willing to openly defy him. He also states that it is an apt phrase to inquire where Alduin is hiding, which illustrates that Odahviing does not hold Alduin in respect anymore. You are wary of him, yes, but Skuldafn might not be known to Paarthurnax as he rebelled against Alduin, and in the course of the Dragon War Alduin may have moved the portal.

you have to use dragonrend on him

i wish you could kill the blades instead, i like paarthunax

Sitting up there on his mountain meditating?


Right, but at this point in the storyline, obstensibly I don't know that (the lack of internet forums within Skyrim and all...), and my character has far more reason to trust Paarthanax than Odahviing.
I don't know, it just seems like shoddy writing.

Oh I see, you're talking about from your character's perspective. My mistake. Well as far as rationale your character could decide that it's his only opportunity and that he'll have to take the chance. Although you're right, I don't see why Paarthurnax couldn't take you. My character has a good sense of character, so he could tell Odahviing was trustworthy.

Shoddy writing? Paarthurnax would have told you directly instead of putting Whiterun in danger if he knew the portal was at Skuldafn, let alone if he knew where Skuldafn was. The entire plan to use Dragonhold to lock Odahviing down was required because information was needed, and in the end there was little choice. Odahviing bowed to the strength of your Thu'um and let it be known he didn't hold Alduin in high regard anymore due to his cowardly retreat.

Yeah I did use dragonrend on him... but I agree with you about the blades. I was disappointed with Esbern too, with what Beth was saying, I thought he would be some complete bad ass but he wasn't what they hyped him up to be

Yes, and now I have the information because he's told me.

I guess the joke's on me for assuming that when the game asks a question like, "are you going to set Odahviing free and accept his proposal to fly you around?" that I actually had any choice in the answer.

There are also House Hlaalu and Telvanni contacts who may be able to hook you up with a tome for levitate...

Well thats bs. I waited to the end of the MQ to kill him because I knew there would be some dialogue afterwards and yes, there was. I killed him afterwards because he isnt doing anything and cant benefit me anymore so just killed him to continue with the blades

This. Stop giving me choices if you're not going to bother to program in events for both choices, Bethesda. Pseudo choice is pseudo.

It is a choise, the question is simply "do you want to continue MQ now or later?"

+1, Who do the blades think they are! , ordering the Dragonborn to commit genocide against the very creatures, he shares a soul with, whether their good or bad,

lol, i really want to kill Delphine, i mean there's only 2 of them, and their outlaws basically, i'm not killing that Dragon either!!, they can shove their help!!.

The Blades did so much good, where invaluable to the Empire, faught the Thalmor before anyone else and ultimately battled them to the death at their ancient strongholds; now trying to rebuild and fight the Dragon threat and save people's lives. Paarthurnax is a former war-criminal who now sits on a cloud and rarely transendents to speak to the four hermits whom he apparently "leads". Even if I wasn't automatically biased towards anything connected to Akavir I would know who is right.

Esbern was already far too one-dimensional and annoying that when he asked me to kill Paarthurnax I had just about had enough of him, so I tried to kill him, but of course I couldn't... He eventually ended up being completely irrelevant anyway, so I don't see why they couldn't let me kill him right then.

What?? How did I kill after main quest him then?
Get your facts straight dude.
But I didn't get any reward, as usual...

They failed the Empire, they failed to protect the septim line, and they lost against the Aldmeri dominion, they are in no position to be giving out orders acting like their the Dark Brotherhood, and those hermits make much more sense to me,

Without Paathunax's help, you can't stop Aldiun and i bet plenty of blades were former criminals, the 2 player characters from Morrowind and Oblivion for a start, and if your biased, you can't know who is right, due the fact you've admitted you're biased.

It was Delphine that told me to kill him at the end of the peace meeting, the Imperials and Stormcloaks didn't even know who they were, the way she spoke to me,i wanted to stick my sword right in her guts lol.

Yes, the whole Odahviing thing was hilariously poorly written. "Okay, I don't know if I should trust you. In fact, I know I shouldn't trust you. <(possibly lengthy) pause> Okay, I guess I'll trust you even though I can't find any evidence that you're trustworthy. Now let me ride you to some unknown destination. You won't drop me, right? There won't be a massive ambush on the other end either, right? Great! I'm now also very excited to see the world "the way only a Dovah can"! "

what will the blades do if I don't kill him? Will I miss out on any quest for choosing not to do the deed?

You can recruit people to the cause, and fight dragons if you do kill Parthanax. As far as people having trouble killing him, I had that issue too, and it seemed to stem from killing him without him taking off. I discovered that if I used weak attacks (like fire shout/flames magic ability) until he finally takes off, then fight him like normal, I could kill him.