The Blades were killed by Thalmor. Don't tell me you're just letting that be, just because two are left. What's the problem with rebuilding them? You're just as willing to let Paarthunax rebuild his dragonkin. Every faction in this game is somewhat in shambles or lacking inspiration. It's up to you to rebuild them or not. You can't just single out any one because of it's current weakness. You could that with every single one of them.

If you're thinking she treats you like a lapdog, you're just being insecure. She has a mission. She doesn't deviate from it. Contrary to popular belief, her mission isn't kissing your ass. It's protecting your ass, and killing dragons. It's your fault if you want to "meditate" with dragons and be all "he's so nice. I forgive him", even though it's not your right to forgive. You're not one of his victims.

You want to talk about hypocrites. You have a lot of hatred for an old war veteran, whose order has sacrificed more against the Thalmor than either the Empire or Cloaks, but none for a tyrant who, if he really felt remorse, would have jumped off high hrothgar and not flapped his wings. Instead, he sits around with a bunch of old men who do nothing for anyone. She's somehow the bad one, simply because she gives you a final "test" to kill a dragon?

edit: BTW, I'm just airing out another view. This shouldn't be simple for people.

What my point is, is that if it is sooo important to kill paarthunax then why dont they go up to the throat of the world and kill him?? They were dragon slayers before i was even born. They can kill loads of draugr, forsworn and probably more than a few thalmor why not a dragon??

My character is a high elf so she sides with the thalmors view even though she cant join them.

Eh - when telling you why Paarthurnax wasn't killed earlier when the blades were at full strength, they say that he was protected by the emperor (among others). So basically during Oblivion, all the blades were in direct violation of their oaths in that they actually tried to protect the emperor who was protecting Paarthurnax. If they come from a group that has been habitually breaking their oaths for hundreds / thousands of years, I don't see why I should take their oaths seriously. They're just trying to bully the person that they're supposed to be helping into doing their dirty work - I've got no respect for them.

I'm happy to see i'm not on my own in hating the blades in skyrim.

I stuck with the Blades, because Blades have the best one hand sword in the game "Drangonbane". This reward alone is enough to go kill Pathnx. End of story.

Almost every faction wants you to do their "dirty work". And if you want to talk about lapdog, you can't even join the Stormcloaks without reciting some cheesy oath to the death for Ulfric. It's one of the more castrating moments in this game. You're a hero/protagonist, verging on demigod status, and you have to say stupid crap like that? I'd love to meet people who get in a huff about Delphine, but join Stormcloaks.

For the sake of argument, let's replace Paarthurnax with Mehrunes Dagon. Dagon has tried to conquer/destroy the world on numerous occasions, and will always try to, but if - one day - he decides to fight his nature and goes meditating for a few thousand years, helping save the world in the process, would you give him mercy knowing full well that he will one day slip up and go back to being evil - and when he does - thousands of people will die? That is exactly the situation with Paarthurnax. He isn't cured. He isn't reformed. He still wants to go burninating the countryside but has been fighting it, but his fight was aided by the fact that he knew Alduin would return. Now that Alduin is gone, he's not chilling at the throat of the world anymore, as he triumphantly flew away at the end and proclaimed how he felt so young. It is inevitable that he will, one day, slip and go back to doing what dragons do.

He was sitting on the picket fence to see who the victor would be between Alduin and Dovakin. Then he would have ultimately submitted to the victor, knowing full well He ain't much of a dominant species.

Besides all this, the most obvious thing is that you don't give Max Von Sydow a voice role and make him the "villain". lol.. That dude is probably the most legendary cast member of the bunch. Definitely the most legendary Scandinavian actor at least. And he hardly ever plays bad guys. He's like the Swedish Obi-Wan. And you pick a dragon. Wth is that all about?

Greybeards=Dragon Priests?

Not sure about that. If you attack them, they just use the Thu'um or punch you.

Esbern is more of a mage than they are.

edit: That's a good question actually. I never thought about that. They're the closest living people to Dragon Priests, I guess? Not sure that's a good or bad thing... since, what does that say about our own characters?

The Blades have lost their way and are blinded more by vengeance then reason. Delphine seems care more about using the Dragonborne as a means to start The Blades again. Your just a puppet to her, not only does she treat you like crap but she does not trust you. She knows your the Dragonborn, she knows the Greybeards summoned you, she knows you were sent after the horn, yet she still asks for poof...wtf. And for some "magical" reason she managed to obtain the horn, which does not make sense.

They Greybeards on the other hand are willing to teach you to use your a ability but its up to you on how you wish to use it. Ulfric choose to use his as a means to knock the High King off his ass and kill him. They Greybeards could get involved with political conflicts, but what good would that do? If they all die in a conflict, there would be no more Greybeards left to teach the next set of Greybeards.

It's like the Budda priests, they stay out of conflicts and remain peaceful people, don't see anyone getting pissed at them for not getting involved in any conflicts or political matters.

Peroxide (yes I call him that) may have done wrong, but no one is perfect. He chose a different path, to teach mortals "The Way of the Voice" and to defeat his brethren. Maybe he has cravings now and then to do his evil deeds, but the fact is he is able to over come those feelings and not actually do it, should provide some justification that he is not what he once was.

The Blades only want this dragon dead is because they see him for what he once was, not what he is now. They want you to use your gift to give The Blades some sort of meaning again, to take back what was taken from them. Not once does Peroxide ask you to kill The Blades, even after all they did to his kind.

I understand Delphine is angry, but using the Dragonborn as a pawn for her means to rebuild The Blades shows they have lost their way and the faction will never be the same. Vengeance clouds ones judgment and the people around them are the ones who suffer the most.

Delphine also mentions if the Greybeards had it their way, the dragonborn would sit on a mountain top and talk to the sky or whatever. And that's a bad thing? Your faction once protected the Empire, so naturally the job came with beliving in the Nine Divines. Kynerth is one of the Nine and part of her domain is the sky. So.....meditating to Kynerath is bad but back stabbing people who helped the Draongborn and saved the world is good?

I refuse to play the game of chess with The Blades, its like playing with the Grim Reaper, you'll never win no matter how hard you try.

Well, the dragons describe Dovakin as a man with a soul of a dragon. I am not sure whether it's a blessing or a curse. Strictly speaking, in eastern culture Dragon was believed to be a deliverer of Power & Fortune, where as in the western culture, a dragon was the deliverer of all evil & natural disasters.

Of course, that's a bad thing. For one, it makes for a pretty weak game. All Delphine wants you to do is play the game.

Oh, you meant in reality. Buddhist meditation and all that. Yeah, to each their own. Whatever. Not a bad thing.

You get to recruit people to the Blades.

You are a dragon.

By doing things in the right order, you can get most of the rewards anyway. The Blades won't go hunting with you anymore, and I suppose Esbern won't offer that temporary blessing, while of course a dead Paarthy can't meditate with you.

He does truly memorable villains though- Leland Gaunt in Needful Things, Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon, Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Never Say Never Again, Vigo in Ghostbusters II and the video game... he may not do them often, but when he does, they're icons of Evil. I feel safer with the dragon.

I killed him because I didn't want to take any chances. I respected him, and did not enjoy ending his life, but I felt it had to be done. Also note that I did not do it for The Blades; I did it for humanity. Whether or not he had done what he did in the past, I still would have killed him. All dragons are evil at heart, and he would be the first one to tell you this. He is wise, and has incredible restraint. But I just could not take the chance.

Screw Esbern and Delphine I also had difficulties with this. After risking my life to reach Esbern in that rat hole, and helping Delphine so much, I felt anger when they asked me to kill Paarthurnax. I like the dragon and he helped me!

I only kill dragons that attack me first, or when I have no other choice (to learn new shouts for instance). I even try to sneak away from them from time to time. So killing Paarthurnax is a big 'no' for me.

I can do without the blades.

I don't know about all dragons being evil at heart. Akatosh may be a dragon himself. It's said that dragons are created in his image. His first children. He ended up turning his back on Alduin - but other dragons joined his side apparently. Paarthunax was not one of these at first, but it shows that others were capable. He's only alive because the greybeards are pacifists and remote - and they wouldn't do much of anything about any atrocity. Neither his or anyone else's. The Blades are simply average people who think something should be done. They're not the extremists.

Yeah, I was annoyed the game doesn't let you tell anyone off - EVER.

Here, I *LIKE* the Blades. I want to refound them and make them my posse.

It's just that Delphine is under the impression SHE'S in charge and I'm not.

That, my dear, will simply not do.

I bet there'll be a mod that adds in a telling off of Delphine. I really can't wait for the Creation Kit.

True. End the civil war by siding with the imperials or stormcloack? They don't even make the player Jarl of a taken city! Not to mention that people in town don't event seem to care their home has a new ruler or it has been conqurerd. What about the TG or the DB? Once the player becomes the top dog he still has to do some pretty useless and uninspired jobs rather than sending his lackeys. But the award for the most uninspired faction probably goes to the Companions. Become Harbringer in one week and still be sent to clear 'pests' problems in other people's basemants. Yay!

Chillrend at level 46+ is probably a better sword even when the enchantment is depleted. It has the highest base damage for a 1H sword.

To be fair, that's not anyone ORDERING you to do it. You're asking for work.

Plus, it's what the Companions do.

They're mercenaries and monster exterminators.

Besides it's a double edged sword. If the game was realistic, you'd have to stop adventuring and sit down to rule your hold.