so... accepting that sometims I get really RP about my games, particularly the ones designed for it... I have a question for those of you who also tend to read between the lines of stories we're given in the game.

**major spoilers in the MQ chain**

As I understand it the Blades serve the Dragonborn.

Previously, of course, the dragonborn was also the Emperor and the Blades were his personal guard... and now things are all goofed up and the Dragonborn isn't politically inclined and the Blades are a middle aged woman with a bad attitude and a paranoid bookworm that managed to be more paranoid than active for the past few years.

Where is the story line that allows me to tell my mouthy soldier to buck up and do as she's told or step the hell out of my Temple at the top of the mountain and go try to end Paarthurnax her own self?

If the Blades are mine and they refuse to serve me, well... they can go serve someone else and not hinder my rebuilding the Blades the way I want them, right?

Just a thought. Rip and roar at me if you need to... I just kinda figure I shouldn't have to murder my friend and most powerful ally just 'cause someone who is supposed to serve me said I had to or she was gonna take my cake away.

There's a reason the Blades are sending you. The Greybeards consider you part of their cult, and thus won't hinder your getting to Paarthanaax.

Of course the Blades aren't politically inclined anymore. The Empire betrayed them to the Thalmor, remember? They're returning to their original purpose as dragon-hunters, and Paarthanaax is one they've been hunting for some time. He's even mentioned in the Annals of the Dragonguard. As for regarding Paarthanaax as your friend....it's your prerogative, but I regard him and the propaganda about him with a great deal of suspicion. I'm not one to be impressed with eloquent speech. After putting bits togetther from different sources, the Greybeards strike me as being a dragon cult, themselves.

Yep. It's a quandry for those who do RP (well, it's a quandry for those who don't, as well - see some of the other threads the last couple of weeks....) It's pretty hard to get past the lack of ability to immerse by actually kicking Delphine's booty OUT of the Temple, etc.

I finished the MQ on one toon. That's it. I'm just playing sellswords and the occasional gallowsglass on the rest of them.

You never get to tell people what to do in a Tes game, you get quests and you do therm or don't. I agree with your post but depth in player choice and player power to affect change are really limited and have always been. It's just a real bummer the way they implemented this.

Now into the Rp side of things. Did you ever consider that Paarth is using you to eliminate his brother so he can lead the dragons that side with him and his incredibly powerful dragon cult (aka greybeards) and dominate again? A dragonborn is they only one who can kill Alduin, and Paarth has had a long time to plan and plot! Choosing his side may mean dragon domination over man again!

I suppose there's always the chance that Paarthurnax has his own agenda, and there's also a chance that the Way of the Voice is a new squishy method for worshiping dragons as cultists. I give credit to the Graybeards with Paarthurnax as a leader for allowing the Dragonborn to make his/her own choices and for not making demands, however.

The Blades WERE dragonslayers and then they were protectors of the Dragonborn who also happened to be the Emperor... and then the Emperor was no longer Dragonborn and the Blades were disbanded and then they were hunted nearly to extinction.

My point is that if they're all fired up to rebuild the Blades then Delphine and Esbern need also to be willing to be led by the Dragonborn, and this dragonborn is unwilling to kill the only dragon willing to put his life where his ideals rest in fighting Alduin just because he used to do bad things once in a time and place she's never seen and has nothing to do with. Today the Nords benefit from any strength they can find, and Paarthurnax's teachings of the shouts go a long way towards bolstering that strength.

I mean... ultimately... what we know about our destiny as the Dragonborn is that we're there to fight all of Skyrim's foes... and whether you're an Imperial all the way or you're Stormcloak and willing to see Sovngarde to prove it... we are about to have more foes than we've had in a really long time because both sides are tired of interference from the Aldmeri Dominion and are about to do something about it.

I'd like my Dragonborn to sit about on my hard drive knowing in my mind that her future is one of leading the new Blades against dragons who refuse to leave humans alone and against armies on far away shores who threaten Skyrim's future. It's better than figuring she's going to spend the rest of her life kicking about here and there aimlessly saving everyone from anything until she's dead and there are 1000 songs by 999 bards who are all really unclear exactly what she did.

It was a bad design choice on Beth's part because the Blades are suppose to be obligated to serve the Dragonborn regardless of what somebody did in the past. By that same though process the Blades shouldn't have accepted Martin as Emperor because he used to be a Sanguine Worshiper, not that the blades care about the daedric but the thought process remains the same.