If Saadia (or whatever she calls herself these days) would make herself available for marriage after you help her, and I was playing a character that would find her attractive, then I would at least have a motive for helping her. Sadly, without a mod you can't.

Course if she is a Noble woman maybe she doesn't want to marry a dirty old Nord. Course if that is true then why is she willing to clean up after him at the tavern?

One part about Iman's (real name) story is that she said the Thalmor are after her. Tell me why, the Thalmor, would send Alik'r mercenaries after someone? The Alik'r hate the Thalmor do they not? Iman says that they are really assassin only after gold. Again, why would their leader say it would be good to get home when you agree to help him? If he was a roaming assassin looking for the next mark why would he care about home or anything like that? That sounds a lot more like someone who has been sent away from home on a mission and wants to finish it up so they can get back ... home.

Amazon Queen is right in saying there is no proof of either one's case. But in this situation, where if I am going to be the person to make the call, based on what I know I believe the Alik'r.

Well, in my game he was still in Swindler's Den after I turned Saadia/Iman over to him. Soooo... I'm sure the devs just left him there so we can get the clothes and swords if we want them - I'm just being difficult.

I am curious, has anyone attacked and killed Kematu after he paralysis Saadia? If so I wonder if she just lays there forever or does she eventually get up and thanks you, or curses you.

On the whole, Kematu is either more straightforward or more charming depending on whether he's lying or not.

I did side with Saadia on one playthrough but only after luring her to the stables then killing Kematu so I could just be all "IT WAS A RUSE YOU BIG DUMB IDIOT."

She's a bit miffed that you led her into the trap, but still rewards you.

Oh, I know, but nowadays cop uniforms (especially fake badges) are hard to get. I'm just saying that I wouldn't base their credibility on clothes alone - I know you're not. I've got plenty of Thalmor robes, boots, and gloves.

Only got Kematu's word shes going to get a trial and the Alik'r don't appear to respect Skyrims laws
They are wearing ordinary Alik'r garb, nothing official about it. Alik'r are natives of a region, not an organisation

Kill Saadia and Kematu gets a bit upset with you. For someone that wants Saadia dead that sure is a strange reaction.
They got kicked out of the city for searching for a criminal. People got uneasy and one jarl said you're out. Or have you not noticed that the nords are a bit suspicious of outsiders? Especially a decent sized armed force.

You can go ahead and list these laws they aren't respecting if you want.


So what do you suggest Kematu is then? It's apparently terrible enough to warrant murdering him and his entire contingent.

I helped Saadia, and then killed her to power the Ebony Blade.

It's fun to watch them run around like headless chickens when I have the Imperials or Stormcloaks attack Whiterun!

As an Altmer, I side with Saadia.

As anything else, I turn her over to Kematu.

Yeah I told Kematu that I'll bring her out to the stables. I didn't want to get attacked by his whole squad so I thought that would be the best way to get him on his own lol.... Then I killed him. Saadia went back to work. I didn't really care about who's lying. 20-30 guys against one woman? Not while i'm around.

Kematu has no documents or anything else showing him to have any official status or anything to indicate that Saadia/Iman is a wanted criminal in Hammerfall. Again we only have his word.

I doubt that sneaking over city walls or kidnapping people are legal in Skyrim.

I don't know if Kematu is acting on behalf of the Hammerfall government, a political faction within Hammerfall, the Thalmor or someone else. As I keep pointing out theres no evidence.

If it was an option I'd consider turning the lot of them over to the local authorities to deal with. It isn't and since I'm not happy about turning Saadia over to him and hes obviously not going to give up I side with Saadia. Presumption of innocence, a basic principle of British and US law.

Who exactly did they kidnap?



Presumption of innocence works both ways. You're assuming Kematu is guilty without evidence too.

They are trying to kidnap Saadia.
I'm preventing him kidnapping Saadia in the only way the quest allows.

And that right there is the assumption.

You have no evidence that it is a kidnapping. They may very well be who they say they are. A group of lawmen tracking a fugitive from their homeland.

If you are wrong in siding with saadia, you just killed 20-30 officials from Redguard.

I didn't like Kematu, but I was at a fairly low level, facing him and his minions would prove a difficult challenge. So I just sided with him. I kind of feel bad.

I just started playing a Redguard and I believe I am going to have to do a lot more research before doing this quests as I believe he would know more about who to believe ... or he might just think Saadia's hot. We'll see.

I sided with Saadia, then married her. She makes a great wife xD

Does she have all the dialog needed if you just add her to the faction, or did you use a full blown mod to do it?

If they are officials from Hammerfall they have no jurisdiction.
Have they been to see Ellisif, Tullius, Ulric or Baalgruuf? No, they are sneaking around, bribing private citizens to help kidnap her. I thought you were in favour of Skyrim being a soveriegn state.

Taking a presumption of innocence, the player may simply want to neutralize the situation. But if you do nothing the situation cannot be neutralized because Kematu will remain active in his pursuit of Saadia.
Saadia is passive and is not actively engaged in anything. Kematu is actively hunting her and is willing to go to some lengths to obtain her against her will.
If the player just wants this situation neutralized, then it's Kematu who has to go.

I take the view that both are lying, or at least withholding relevant information. If I don't trust either of them, I'm going to take out the side that is actively seeking to impose their wishes on others (who may be innocent). Saadia isn't asking for trouble, but Kematu, by taking on the role of an aggressor, coming into the province armed and intending to use force at some point, is putting himself in the line of fire so to speak.

And really, if he is law enforcement and his authority doesn't extend to Skyrim, or he cannot get the equivalent of extradition, then what he is doing will still be kidnapping. The shadiness of how he is going about apprehending Saadia indicates that he has no legal authority.

Please point out where it's explicitly stated that they haven't contacted any of these people.

Well if they did, I assume they were turned down since they are holed up in a bandit cave getting a stranger to trick Saadia to come out of Whiterun. Turned down still equals no authority, which equals kidnapping to me.

If you're truly neutral you'll let the whiterun guards handle the issue like they already are. You don't know the actual circumstances of what happened. Since it's impossible in the game to know, siding with either side is making an assumption of guilt. Saying it's ok because Kematu is making the claim is your way of justifying the possible murder of 20-30 people.


Do they have imperial authority? This is a claim you cannot substantiate or disprove.