After the Oblivion crisis, the Blades dispersed and went into hiding. The Emperor is now protected by another body, and the Blades have been left to wander without purpose.
With the return of the Dragonborn, they have a purpose once more: to guide and protect Dovakhiin.

Here come game-specific spoilers, stop reading now if you don't want to know:


The first Blades veteran you meet is a tough woman named Delphine. She has some relevant information that she refuses to share with you until you prove yourself as Dragonborn first. Together with her (and perhaps Lydia, your follower appointed by the Jarl of Whiterun) you make your way to a Dragon Tomb and wait there until you see something incredible happen:

Seriously if you don't want anymore spoilers, stop reading here...

Alduin himself, in his dragon form, brings the dragon back to life. They speak to one another in the Language of Dragons, which is incomprehensible to you. Alduin detects your presence and mocks you for lack of understanding of the dragon tongue; he denounces your arrogance at using the name of Dova for yourself. He then flies off, leaving his fellow dragon to attack you and Delphine.

This dragon has a name, and he speaks to you: "Hear my Voice and despair!", "My master Alduin requires your death." This makes me wonder why Alduin doesn't stick around to make sure you're disposed of? In any case, you're lucky he doesn't stick around because this dragon alone is a handful. Green and brown dragons are weaker than bronze and red dragons by the way.

If you succesfully slay the dragon and absorb its soul, thereby killing it permanently so that it can never be revived, Delphine agrees to fess up:

It is only then that she reveals her true identity as one of the Blades, who have since long been forgotten by most. She is almost as clueless as you are regarding what she just witnessed, but she has a hunch that the Thalmor Government is somehow involved.

Subsequently, your next task is not a charge-and-slash assignment, but a covert operation. You must infiltrate the Thalmor embassy as a spy and mingle with the esteemed guests present at a party being held at the embassy. Delphine knows as insider who cannot afford to take major risks, but who can at least sneak you in. Your secret mission is to recover certain confidential files to prove Delphine's theory.

Dress in fancy clothes, take your forged invitation and blend in with the high-end crowd. These high-elves are notoriously haughty, as expected. Rub shoulders with a tipsy Redguard who doesn't quite feel at home either, but showed up for the booze. Let him have a drink on you and you've just made a new friend. If you ask him to make a little scene, he'll gladly oblige by loudly proposing a toast-- that's your chance to sneak into the kitchen along with the insider.

One of the cooks--a Khajiit-- promptly points out that guests are not allowed in the kitchen, but fortunately your guy happens to have some dirt on her: she's been licking moonsugar (which is commonly used as a spice in Elsewyr, the homeland of Khajiits, but is illegal in the rest of Tamriel).

As arranged, your gear has been secretly stored there for you to recover so hopefully you prepared everything you needed to be stealthy and make quick, silent kills...

While searching for the documents, you'll find a prisoner who has been subjected to torture and is all shaken up by the time you get to him. Free the poor man of his bonds, equip him with clothing, a shield, a weapon and he will not only follow you but share some useful information with you.

Find your way out after recovering the files, meet up with your companion if you have one and watch out for that humongous troll by the exit.

This is the first time I've been so motivated to finish the Main Quest in an Elder Scrolls game. It's just so mysterious and intriguing.
Who is right? The Greybeards? The Blades? I just can't figure out Akatosh's/Alduin's true motives!

There are some questions worth pondering:

The most confusing contradiction is that Alduin apparently wants you dead (as the dragon he revived said), yet according to the Greybeards he himself bestowed the power of Dragonborn upon you.

ALSO OF IMPORTANCE: During your conversation with Delphine, you confirm with her that you have "seen that black dragon before." She asks you where and you tell her that it was at your execution. Why would Alduin interrupt your beheading?

Furthermore, why would and how could the Thalmor government be involved in Alduin's doings? The dragons, as Delphine points out, are attacking indiscriminately so how do they benefit?

Alduin has some split personality issues

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to play...

Thanks for sharing

Why always the bloody High-Elves - they're always up to something

I really want to play as one this time round but I can understand why everyone thinks they're [censored]

I'm going to play one I think, will probably take the rp perspective of her wanting to prove that not all 'High' Elfs are the racial supremacists/evil [censored] bags that so many members of their own race portray them to be.

From what I know, the Thalmor want to die.

They want to :

1) Eradicate all humans

2) Destroy Talos

and by that they believe that they would be able to return to their previous "higher" state of existence. Then, the only thing left to do is to...die. Apparently their spirits would ascend or something. I am unsure about this, but this is what I understand about the lore. However, it is certain that the Thalmor want to kill all humans and destroy Talos.

My Altmer's just a bit of a loner - raised in Cyrodil by a Nord, so he doesn't really fit in with or follow typical Altmer culture

Sounds good

Interesting point. Indeed according to lore, the Altmer despise Lorkhan for tricking the Eight Divine into sacrificing themselves to create mundus. The High Elves blame Lorkhan for severing them from the spirit plane and making them mortal. It's like their version of our "Original Sin" story. So perhaps you're right and the Altmer want Akatosh to "eat" the world as they know it.

However, the High Elves at the Thalmor embassy seemed more concerned with real-world politics. I think we need to somehow tie the ongoing war to the reappearance of dragons to figure it out.

Some Aldmer believe in the ancient tales of lore. Legends say the elven race was born out of the aedra trapped into the mortal plane by Lorkhan, the creator. By destroying the world, these fanatics think they will regain their immortal status and power. Look into the lore forum for better and more precise info.

What I'm about to post might be a bit weird because I didn't read everything in your original post because I didn't want to be spoiled too much, so sorry if I look as though I'm disregarding what you might have posted.

Well, I guess that the re-appearance of Dragons heralds the return of Alduin and him "eating" the world, and with that the Thalmor's eventual victory in terms of their ascendance. Thus, I guess the return of dragons might be tied with the war with the Thalmor because the dragons might mean the Thalmor's victory. The Thalmor might see the Dragons as a means of escaping the stalemate against the Empire; their enemies' apocalypse happens to be their salvation.

I'm not sure if the Thalmor might actually be helping the Dragons though, as in actually being dragon cultists or something like the Mythic Dawn.

I'm still trying to figure it all out. The Imperials/Empire are persecuting Stormcloaks. The Stormcloaks are denouncing the Empire and the High Elves, and all the Nord Jarls that have caved in and are "selling out."

It is both a political power struggle and a theological war-- the Stormcloaks continue to revere the Ninth Deity, Talos, whereas the High Elves probably disagree with this religious view since Talos was Man who became a God or Demi-God, and is therefore not a true Aedra (which means "our ancestors" in Aldmeri).

Wonder how the Legion (which I will join) will feel about me interfering in Thalmor business if they find out. Maybe Tullius will be happy that we finally find some dirt on them so we can unite Tamriel against them

Agreed on the latter part - the dynamic between the Stormcloaks and the Imperials is a shade of grey though at the moment

I want to find that out and judge it for myself I think

To me it seems like Alduin is testing us for some reason. I can't figure out why before playing as expected.

We'll all see 11/11/11

Very interesting! My Altmer going to have a real crisis of character after that.

Maybe Auri-El (The Mer version of Akatosh and possibly the first version ((since mer have been around longer)) Promised the Thalmor that Mer would be the only race in the reset world, if they aid Alduin in doing it. The elves beleive they are Auri-Els direct decendents (indeed, he helped them push back Lokharn's army)) so perhaps he is trying to protect his children by encouraging them to side with his other aspect, Alduin

Is there an option to charge in and slay the Altmer scum in the name of the Empire?

Not to put a damper on things, but with my 2nd run being an Altmer Necromancer, I WANT to join the Thalmer and should be able to, otherwise I'll be annoyed.

Im not sure about the war issue, but maybe Alduin is testing you and he wants to wait until you are at a high level of power then he will engage in a 1 v 1 fight against you to prove just how strong and mighty he is. but who knows, maybe he just as issues with what he wants to do with you

On the issue of Alduin interrupting your execution, is it ever made expressedly clear he was seeking you the Dragonborn precisely? You do have the soul of a dragon, it may be he simply can't distinguish between you and dragons (recognizing you as you while waking the dragon I suspect could be chalked up to him having a visual on there not being yet another dragon nearby). He might've just decided to head for a dragon soul, then realized when he got near that there was no dragon here, only the Dovahkiin, and legged (well, winged) it. Could be he, for some reason, fears to engage you personally, or maybe is just doing the god thing and thinks you beneath his notice and thus leaves to the goon to handle. My thoughts on the matter, anyway, but I've not seen the leaked intro myself so I don't really know if this is at all plausible.

Also, an excuse to put on fancy clothes? Awesome.

Like sheogorath and every human in real life.Akotosh has 2 sides a normal side and like everyone in this world also has a demented dark side and is capable of great evil.I think akatosh want's the cycle to end like jyggalag wanted to stop becoming sheogorath.