So far, I haven't been too terribly invested in the quests in the game, but this one kind of got me intrigued. I eventually sided with Kematu and allowed him to capture Saadia, but I was wondering what other people chose during this quest?

I helped Kematu. He struck me as being honorable and believable.

I always sided with Saadia. More XP that way. Although it can be pretty tough at early level.

Kematu. if you happent to kill Saadia he neither won't be happy about it nor angry because he lost a bounty. He will only regret not finishing his mission (which is bringing her back for a treason trial)

This fact struck me and convinced me he's probably the one telling the truth.

I sided with Saadia. I'm not so sure she's telling the truth, but I like the Hammerfell clothing and the curved swords. Curved. Swords.

I also hide in the shadows and Frenzy the random Alikir after they finish pestering Redguard women. More curved swords for my collection.

I usually side with Saadia
Not convinced either side is telling us the truth but innocent until proven guilty works for me

I've done it both ways based on how I think my character would Role-Play it. But, knowing what I know I do believe that Saadia is a fugitive and the so called assassins are exactly who they say they are. Just talking to the prisoner you can gather that they are more than just assassins. The fact that he does take her alive pretty much confirms his story.

It's too bad you can't find her dossier or something later on to prove it, but I am convinced that Saadia did betray her people to the AD.

As far as the results of the two options:

If you help Saadia you get to keep one cute NPC in town and two Redguards hang out by the front gate the rest of the game. You could say you get more experience also, but honestly a couple more sword swings in the long haul don't amount to much.

If you help Kematu then they are all gone, no cute NPC and no Redguards hanging out at the gate. Cleaner ending I guess.

I will always side with the pretty woman. Always. Afterwards I also enjoy sniping the two regduards lollygaggin by the whiterun gate and taking their scimitars.

This^, More XP and way more loot. You get paid the same by either party at the end but if you side with Kematu all you get is the reward money.

I must have some Duke Nukem blood in me but I must protect the cute redguard! Saadia must live while Kematu must die.

Kematu, the other woman seemed like a liar to me. I mean, lets say the woman was telling the truth, Kematu would have no reason to lie, but if Kematu was telling the truth, then the woman would have a reason to lie. And by Carol's paradox, that means Kematu must be telling the truth, unless there is other outside information we do not know about.

I helped Saadia, because it was very early in my first TES game and I was trying to get the folks in Whiterun to have a favorable opinion of me.

I side with Kematu. He is believeable. He's scary, but he's a good man.

Saadia won't tell you why they're after her. And when I did side with her the first time I played, I did'nt think she was innocent. She was too evasive.

She betrayed Hammerfell, when they are successful in their defense. That's wrong.

I definitely sided with the Kematu. I usually go for the damsels in distress, like Saadia...but I'm convinced she's lying and I didn't like that.

You guys already mentioned Kematu being more forthright, while Saadia seems evasive. I agree with all that, but it's really one person's word against another, and perhaps Kematu just has a higher Speech skill. I also saw other forums on this topic pointing out Hammerfall's history is more in line with what Kematu described, while trying to pickpocket Kematu shows he has official paperwork proving he's a legit agent. However, I think Saadia gave herself away in her 1st conversation with you. It's like she tripped over her own lies, as I recall it was kind of like this:


I noticed how she changed her story. She appears surprised that the bounty hunters are around, yet she tells you exactly where to find one of them and then precisely what to do. That's a huge credibility issue and I was actually expecting a dialogue option to call her out on it. So even without knowing a lot of other information, it looks like Saadia's own lines give you a huge clue as to whether she or Kematu is more trustworthy.

So far, I've always turned to woman in but I just created a new character and this one will be on her side. He's a Khajiit and Khajiits lworship the Thalmor...

Helped Saadia a few times, then realized that the Alik'r in front of the Whiterun gates are annoying, been helping Kematu ever since.

I helped and betrayed them both. Lured Saadia out to the stables, got my reward from Kematu, killed Kematu while she was still paralyzed, cast Calm on her when she rose to attack me, took advantage of her amnesia to accept her reward as well and killed her as she was walking back to Whiterun. Hehe. My toon's a complete opportunist. Ever since her DB initiation, she's adopted a mentality of, "When in doubt, kill everyone."

my main toon, the smart and good-natured Dragonborn, sided with Kematu. 1) Saadia didn't look very reliable to me, she was rather manipulative, telling a sob story about the big bad assassins coming after her. 2) Kematu had a whole gang with him, and still tried to settle things rather peacefully. If they really were cold-blooded assassins, they would've ambushed me instead of trying to talk to me. 3) The things Kematu said, and the way he said it, just gave me the feeling he was a honest dude trying to warn me about the deceiving type people.
Only one thing against Kematu: he hid inside a bandit cave. But hey, he's probably so desperate to catch Saadia he struck a little deal with them, so Saadia wouldn't hear a whisper about their HQ. And what better hideout than one that's already inhabited by folks most people want to evade? (on that subject, it made me sad when Esbern and Delphine put on their genocide act on that Forsworn camp at the entrance of the temple. I thought it'd be a much better hiding place with the ignoring Forsworn in front of it)

Anyway, my thalmor spy toon will side with Saadia. In the first place because she helped the Aldmeri Dominion, but most importantly because she's a beautiful girl. My playboy won't be able to leave her out and alone in the cold. ^^

Aside from the roleplaying aspect, I've got the impression Beth wanted us to take Saadia's side. That, or they didn't completely finish the quest. I mean, when you side with Saadia, some redguards stay at Whiterun's gate and others will roam Skyrim and question some random girls, but if you side with Kematu, the redguards will disappear from the gate, but Kematu and his gang will stay at their bandit hideout, standing there like dumb idiots. :/ It actually sounds more interesting to side with Saadia ...

LoL, that'll get you nothing but BIG TROUBLE in real life, MasterShogu, heheh...

Anyway, my opinon?
This.
Plus, she's clearly guilty - her story is nonsense in the face of the tenacity demonstrated by the Alik'r.
They put a continent-wide APB on her! That's not inexpensive...
She has seriously upset her entire home country.

You can get those Hammerfell warriors out of Whiterun if you kill them. I had my companion do it while I remained hidden. No harm, no foul.

I helped Kematu. Saadia seemed like she was lying to me.

I tricked Kematu saying I was gonna bring Saadia to him but at the last second I killed him and Saadia went back to her job.

Saadia prolly did something bad but she is leaving it behind and is living a nice and friendly life in Whiterun. Kematu has no need to follow her.

Also, if I am correct, doing it this way will keep those two warriors in Whiterun while also spawning the random warriors and redguard womans on the road. (I like keeping the two in Whiterun alive cause it is funny to watch them run around like headless chickens when the Stormcloak armies breaks into Whiterun)

Some very interesting responses! Glad I made the thread, it's definitely confirmed my choice to side with Kematu(at least with my current character!). I do agree, It almost feels like the quest was shortened a bit, like some of it got left on the chopping block. It's actually a moving enough quest that I wouldn't mind it being a major side-quest that takes quite a while to finish. Hmm, there's an idea! We need to get someone to make a mod that extends the quest!

I side with the Redguard warriors most of the time.

I've done the quest both ways now and I definitely prefer the choice that lets Saadia stay in the Bannered Mare. I'm not going to turn in anyone to any authorities, especially not "authorities" who hide out in a bandit lair.

But the two Redguards at Whiterun's gate are annoying me already now. I guess I'll have to frenzy them sometime and hope that they won't respawn.