So I was greatly disappointed by the end of the Companions questline. And thus I have some thoughts as to how it could be improved with a continuation, one that would really do the plot idea some justice. This would all take place once the player is the Harbinger of the Champions, and it would centre around two quest lines.

It would be a choice, essentially.

The player would be presented with it and one of two mini-campaigns would spiral out from that point...

The Reclamation of Glory

The player chooses to cure the Champions of lycanthropy. The witch heads would probably be involved, along with other means, and possibly a fight with Hircine. The end result would be actually battling Hircine on this plane for the right to a certain item which would be a key to the last part of the cure. As part of this questline (and perhaps via some magical items acquired from certain Magi groups), Hircine would be forced to retract all forms of lycanthropy from Skyrim.

A statue would be erected near the lodge in their honour, of the Companions in their human form.

The Redemption of Wolves

In this version, the player chooses to see lycanthropy as a gift, but Hircine's handling of it as a curse. So a campaign is organised to petition Hircine to remove the bloodlust, something that won't be easy, and would require a confrontation with Hircine himself. Following this, the players would seek the blessing of Ysgramor to continue as wolves.

These two things would bring about the following for the player:

- A new white wolf skin.
- The ability to toggle on/off the beast form whenever they desire it.

However, Ysgramor's blessing would not come easily, and would likely involve some quest of its own. Basically, confronting Hircine removes the bloodlust, then seeking Ysgramor's blessing awards players with the white wolf skin.

Once this has been done, the Companions come before the Jarl of Whiterun to 'out' themselves as the lupine champions of Ysgramor. And the Jarl would give them his blessing to remain in wolf form unhindered by his guards whilst in Whiterun, and he'll send word that the White Wolves of Whiterun would only have swords risen against them if they wished to receive the ire of Whiterun as a whole.

The end result of this questline would be that players could use their new wolf form in Whiterun and people would treat tehm as if they weren't shifted. And after a period of time, all civilised settlements wouldn't attack them. Say... a month in-game?

Following on from there.

After this, the player would open the doors of the Companions to new recruits. A procedural system would be used to have new recruits show up which the player could then interview. If the player is pleased by them, then they can be accepted as trainees, and eventually companions. If the player chose to retain their lycanthropy, then recruits can also eventually receive the gift as well, to become one of the White Wolves of Whiterun.

Another functional element that would be nice is if the follower system were changed to allow up to three people to follow the player, and so that when the player shifted, anyone who'd been given the gift would shift with them. Imagine charging your foes as a pack of white werewolves. That would be something, wouldn't it?

This, of course, would require some effort to do, and probably quite a bit of voice acting. I'll just leave this here to see what people think of it.