An assassin tried to kill me once when I was heading to Whiterun tell the Jarl that Alvor from Rivewood requests help.

I heard that they're just random encounters, not scripted events.

How many brigands, bandits and other muckety-muks had you killed by then hmmmm?!?

Personally, I would have a harder time RPing a good character in this game with all the killing that it makes you do. I'm suprised that everyone from Solitude to Riften and all the areas in between aren't ankle deep in blood, with all the man, beast, and dragon that my character has ripped to shreds.


I liked both, but I also agree that Oblivion's DB was a more interesting quest line. When I think of the coolest questline in Skyrim though, it's aaaallll about the Thieves' Guild!

Just a quick warning for anyone planning to destroy the Dark Brotherhood: Kill the first Dark Brotherhood member you meet, when you meet her.

If you don't, you're in and you're in for good.



That's my plan; my character's intending to destroying the Dark Brotherhood from the inside, by rising up in the ranks and preventing the Brotherhood from getting anymore contracts once she becomes Listener(I don't know what happens in the quests after you join, but I pretty much guarantee that's what's going to happen; you always end up leader of the faction, after all).

DO the questline, it is easily the best in the game.

There are contracts given with no real indication as to why they are being carried out. There are also contracts where the person asking for the contract is clearly wacko and the people being offed are clearly innocents. You have to play a character "ok" with this or it's going to be frustrating. I agree though that it's better to be unconcerned about the ethics than it is to be truely evil.

What's with these people who say "I have an assassin character but I don't want it to kill people"? WTF?

It's the same as saying you've created a thief character but don't like the idea of stealing things.

You kill for the glory of the Dread Father, Sithis. Morals are the last of your worries.

You can side against the DB at first chance (being wholly good) or go through with the DB quests (being at least moderately evil or at least apathetic)

It's definitely possible, but it's not an assassin's guild that kills only people who deserve to die. So it's pretty much up to you.

What are you talking about, It was easily a lot better than Oblivion's. The climix was OMG awesome.

Read the notes on each assasin and you'll find clues as to whom sent them. Only one note doesn't hint at the contractor, but that one is related to another note you find in someone's house in Riftin area.

Just tell me, ive had them all say "kill the poor fool"

I think that would be counted as posting spoliers, as one note disappears from inventory after the completion of a certain quest.

A killer with a feel for guilt is a danger to himself and others.

Don't join them if you're not there for the money. I've joined them for another reason but I don't want to spoil anything though.

If you're concerned about morals, don't even bother with the Dark Brotherhood. Some DB victims seem innocent, some definitely had it coming, but you're going to get your hands dirty no matter what.

have you actually played OB? the DB in skyrim takes no time to complete, you make no friends, you do no interesting work..

OB's questline had more content, and the quests themselves were more interesting. 'whodunit' had more role-playing involved than the entire Skyrim:DB questline.


meh, to each their own.

Okay. You're a Khajiit hunter/ASSASSIN type but not evil. So you only assassinate bad people? How do you know?

Granted the DB is pretty much packed with a bunch of sickos IMHO, the way you survive this is to compartmentalize. You know, think of them as family. Like the mob, except less organized. If it makes you feel better do little things like give candy to the kids, give spare change to beggars in towns because good deeds add up. Do good things for the citizenry. Then when you are given a contract, by your guildmaster you are the sword. If it were not for the person performing the ritual you would not have received the contract to kill them, right? Hence the person who performed the ritual is the killer. See? You have to think like a moral relativist to go through this.

Then if you need your conscience eased do something for one of the temples. Chances are though, that about 50% of the people you get a contract to kill have killed or have had someone killed. So again it's a flip of a coin.


Sometimes you will be caught. Pay the fine. Your fee usually will cover it. You don't want to raise your bounty higher by resisting. If you're short you can run away. I escaped one once and it turned into a charlie foxtrot because I made the wrong turn and ended up almost cornered, but use your whirlwind to sprint past the wall of guards in front of you. If you want to escape never sheath your weapon. If you don't want to raise your bounty do not fight back.

Some people don't like the Dark Brotherhood because you kill for profit. What do you think YOU are doing then? Every two seconds you are asked to kill somebody here or there or up there. Down below too. To get into the Thieves' Guild you must kill people in the Ratway as a challenge if you fail the first trial. In the Companions you have to kill some people. You have to kill for the Imperials/Stormcloaks. Half the quests involve killing and you never show any remorse or guilt. I know I don't, I never felt any regret towards killing the guys holed up in Dungeon # 23. Somehow a guild dedicated to it though it changes everything? I just go by this philosophy "If someone wanted you dead, you weren't that nice of a person anyway." Nobody is going to hire a contract on somebody because they work at a soup kitchen. The only remotely innocent person I can think of is Lurbuk the Bard.

There's money involved too. Narfi is in debt but, really, that's hardly something to kill a person over. Nilsine Shatter-shield kicked out Muiri but I don't think even she will like the grizzly harvest she sews.

Bethesda did a halfway decent job making the bad guys bad.

How was Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood anyway?

Oblivion was pretty good. It's best quest was only halfway through the guild, unfortunately. If you ever read Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" you would love it. All the dialogue, all the choices....yum! Also almost everyone in Oblivion wasn't innocent that you killed. Your initiation target seemed innocent, being a helpless old man, but you find out he was a rapist and a killer.

Only 2 things bugged me about the contracts you take.

One of the first ones, I couldnt understand why anyone would want him do die, he just hung around his house all day and never bugged anyone.
The other was one for a vampire. Couldn't find any vampire dust anywhere, so he couldn't be a vampire. This one made me suspicious, thus leading me to spare someone Astrid wanted me to kill.

err, who are you talking about? Also for the vampire, he is a vampire. If it's Hern you are refering to. His face screams vampire.

an oblivion

So this is normal for the game? I was wondering for days what I did wrong. LOL This game svcks you into it. Like mind control.
First Bethesda game I've played.

This. After 4 attacks on this PC, I destroyed the DB. PItiful reward for that, but it is what it is. Now on my second PC, I play a Khajit who has no issue killing. He's a cat afterall.