Having played through the main quest for the first time just now (mind you I've been devoting all my time to exploring and going through other faction quests) I'm now at a stand still debating whether or not to follow the command of Esbern and Delphine to kill Parthurrnax. I've spoken with Arngier about the dilemna, and it's interesting to hear what he had to say, but now I need to make the choice on whether not to kill Parthurrnax. Initially, it seems that Parthurrnax (despite what the Blades strongly try to dissuade me from believing) has redeemed himself twice over by teaching the Nords the thu'um, as well as granting me the knowledge necessary to kill Alduin once and for all. In addition to that, after having witnessed the end scene with Parthurrnax flying away with a contingent of dragons saying he will teach them the way of the voice, I have to wonder if Nirn would be better with Parthurrnax to guide them and teach them pacificim rather than have him killed and risk having the rest of the dragons continue to ravage the lands. It might just be me, but it seems like Esbern and Delphine (especially Delphine) have an unwarranted bias against Parthurrnax, saying that he has to die for his crimes, if we don't kill him he'll betray us etc. Personally I'm wondering if it might just be worth killing Parthurrnax just to say I did, or if it would be morally good and beneficial to Tamriel if he is left alive. I'd like to hear what the rest of you have done with the matter, and what you think is the best course of action in a situation such as this.

Don't kill Paarthurnax if ya don't want to.

In fact, hit both Esbern and Delphine in the head and remind them that they serve you and they cannot just order you around.

This is sorta in the wrong thread. It contains a few spoilers.

Dragons by their nature are vicious creatures and should be killed however because of what Parthurrnax did for Nirn I spared him.

i see you mention the blades, could you tell me their location? im stuck with two posers who dont even know the history of the blades (the biggest mistake is trying to order me, their lord and master, around, to do horrble thigns to a friend no less, i ignored them), i would like to meet the real blades

Um. They ARE the real blades now.... what you see is what you get.

I also chose not to kill my bloodkin, as much as I wanted to do the blades quest's I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Screw those ass backwards redneck dovah haters!

I don't know why you can't just not kill him and say you did. It's not like Esbern and Delphine will ever have proof of his demise one way or the other. Paarthunax never leaves the peak of the Throat of the World, and non-dragonborn can't reach the peak without shouting.

I plan on saving, killing him for the PS3 trophy (i think theres one...) and then reloading and pretending it never happened.
I like him, I dont want to kill him. The End.

I did get a feeling that the Blades wern't doing so much protecting of the Dragonborn as they were telling me to "go kill this dragon because he killed men thousands of years ago!"

so everyone is talking about that senile old man [censored]y old crone combo, eh? very dissapointing, i wanted them both to die and be condemend to horror upon horror in the realm of oblivion (i forgot which one but one gets mroe horrible every second, i would like them to rot there if possible). they go aganst every code of the order they pretend to be a part of

This.

Read the stickies, post in appropriate sections, and fus roh dah Esbern off the mountain.

It's not a dilemma. Tell Delphine and Esbern to go jump off the cliff at their sky temple.

I think that the blades are just really good at holding onto a grudge on a thousand year old war that they had no part of and they weren't even born and thay have never met the dragon and they don't know awesome he is and that he should definitely live.

So sorry guys! I wasn't aware that threads containing spoilers shouldn't be posted in the General Section! Could a forum moderator perhaps move this thread over to its appropriate location?

It's been moved already, Klous99.

You should kill him, but not for the blades' stupid reasoning. Who cares if he killed some Nords ages ago? What really matters is that Paarthurnax the most dangerous and powerful dragon next to Alduin. Letting Paarthurnax live is too risky.

This. Trying to set this up as a moral dilemma is really stupid on Bethesda's part - leave that crap to Bioware.

ROFL!!! Thank you.... while I disagree about killing him, I do most CERTAINLY agree about leaving that sort of silliness to other game companies!

Since Bethesda just had to set up opposing factions for this one and force you to pick sides - your character should be choosing sides sooner, and the questline should have diverged, with your player approaching the same ultimate goal from different angles. The way it was handled was ludicrous - with the Greybeards on one side saying do what we say or we don't play....wait, it's our duty to teach you even though we strongly suspect you're gonna bump off our leader because we didn't properly indoctrinate you, and the blades saying kill Parthanaax to avenge our long-dead brothers we don't know or we won't talk to you. I'd like to know what the writer was smoking.

Heh.... I'm not playing Beth's game here. I'm playing MY game. And petty civil war has no place in it. I did as I said run two early toons through major portions of both civil war faction questlines. I don't need to do it again, and I WON'T do it again. Nor will I ever advance the MQ again past the point of getting shouts opened up. That's what's wonderful about games like this one....

....as opposed to WoW - where the remade world of the Cataclysm is a fact of life, and NOTHING (outside of private servers - and I simply will not go there for any number of very good reasons) will change it.

The Blades are punks. Paarthurnax's help was integral to defeating Alduin, whereas they really didn't do a whole lot. He doesn't deserve to die.


Two things. One, Paarthurnax is powerful, but he is not immediately dangerous unless he has a change of heart. He will never be even comparable to the threat Alduin poses. Alduin is the World Eater. It's his destiny to bring about the end times. Second, by that logic we should be killing everyone that's not a peasant. Everyone with an abundance of power has the potential to abuse it and bring about terrible things.

Edit:


I agree with this. Didn't feel much emotional pull between the two sides. When the time to pick sides came, I felt like the Blades were just damn idiots, their moral ground was not strong enough from any angle. It really just felt like one way was good, the other was bad/wrong, rather than feeling like both sides had good and bad points.

Paar is Better then 2 elderly people who are glory seeking [censored] heads!!!

But that's the beauty of blurring reality and a game world , this kind of moral situation presents itself every day i the real world.Do I go to work and actually tell Bob ,"Yes Bob , I actually hate you , and no, those silent commando farts you let off in the lunchroom ARE being talked about and noticed you dirty bastard." Or , do I just go to work do what I gotta do and go home no fuss?the letdown here is the part where you can't sit these parties down and explain yourself , and maybe have dialogue with Delpjhine that once and for all cements your place as the REAL leader or whatever ambiguous role they meant for you to play in this "organization".Esbern is much easier , if there was a way to get Delphine to see yuour point of view and have a chance to persuade her , he'd just follow.Esbern's especially good at towing the line.

You have to remember Delphine was not a leader when the S.H.T.F. she was a soldier following orders from a leader.Read the book The Downfall of the Blades , it'll give you insight into their organizations' command structure.Basically she's a very good and loyal soldier towing the last line any surviving blades leader might have left her as the blades only let certain people know certain things necessary to get the job done.But yeah having no option to yell at anyone doesn't make you feel especially "dragonborn" now does it.So introduce a moal choice to the player , then have just one hard line to follow either way , I smell deadline problems....