Besides you've got the elder scroll now, so who needs Pathnx to learn more shouts.

Few people said that the Blades give you good weapons and armour - they don't.

You find the weapons and armour in a long since forgotten temple, when YOU open it via the blood seal with YOUR blood.
All the Blades do, the whole game, is make your work harder to reach the same end.

The Thalmor embassy for example - what a Pointless quest.
Stealing the Horn - She took it to get your attention, not because you needed it.
Getting the dragon tablet - I'll never understand why it was paramount that I do that...

Esbern was a little interesting at times, but never useful. The whole Blades inclusion just seems like padding to be honest...

Not sure how any of that is padding. The Thalmor embassy is probably half or even most players' introduction to Thalmor. If these people are the main enemy, it's kind of imperative to interact with them somehow. Your other early opportunity is Winterhold, but not everyone is a mage. The dragon tablet is supposed to be the first piece in the mystery of why dragons are reappearing. Why is it padding to have story behind that? That's better than dragons just randomly appear for no reason.

Not really, not when the reasons for finding the tablet (unless you find it before going to whiterun) are absurd.

The Thalmor embassy didn't really further the story AT ALL. You just tell Delphine that they don't know squat - big whoop.
It had more to do with the Civil war then anything.

They did know squat though. It brought up Esbern, who they were suspicious of. You follow that trail. He's someone who studied the dovahkiin prophecies. Someone who knew what to make of Alduin, rather than just calling him some "big dragon" that attacked Helgen. It's unlikely that you were going to further the story any other way. Scholars of Elder Scrolls aren't exactly common. Not even Greybeards knew what was really happening. Paarthunax probably did, but he doesn't even talk to them.

All I'm saying is, they're not essential. There were other ways of reaching the same conclusions.

Kill a friend to take revenge on the lazy greybeards or be shunned by the Blades.

You can't win at all.

What way then? This is how Bethesda wrote it. Exactly what are possible plot element are you seeing that the authors themselves didn't?

Besides, like I said, scholars like him aren't common. If you read the Dragonborn book, for example, not even the writer of that book knew what to make of the prophecy. Esbern did (although no one believed him for years). The only other allies you have in the dragon story are the Greybeards, who are remote and uninformed about some things. That's their place in the story. I hope you're not suggesting they're the ones who should have lead your trail. Why would they know anything?

How hard was it to get "permission" to see Parthurnax?
You essentially just ask to go see him and the Greybeards go "oh...I suppose so" and show you how.

Parthurnax knew everything.

Sure, that's not how Bethesda wrote it. But they didn't do an awesome job of writing it anyway.

I guess, they wanted the greybeards to maintain their aura of mystery. Or something. "You'll open the way when you're ready". Kind of a commonly plot device when it comes to bearded old wiseman.

edit: Besides all that, it's never really "padding" to include the Blades in an Elder Scrolls game. They've been a staple since Arena. The Empire is also a staple btw. It kind of surprises me how many people want or think these two elements are unnecessary and on their way out of TES. Everyone's jumped on some Nord and Greybeard bandwagon, as if everything was suddenly going to be redefined on those terms. I think groups like the Blades are more like "beloved children" of the storywriters. They wouldn't use them so much if that wasn't the case.

Things can be cute and still be dangerous. Why do the two have to be independent? I admit he is a threat, but I will temper that by saying he has more charisma in his little claw then all the blades combined.

Another thing people tend to forget about Dragons in these games is that they are not hatched. Dragons are timeless creatures created by Akatosh. He wasn't born innocent then turned evil. He, like every other dragon, was created that way and then turned against it. The blades make a big to do about punishing Paarth for the crimes he once committed and say that even though he is now good, we should not pardon his past offenses. Normally this is true but in this case it's utter B.S. since Paarth initially had no choice in the matter. But lets put both sides likability aside for a moment and just look at just what they can offer the world in the long run...

The Blades are no longer an international military organization. They are two old veterans on the run. The purpose of the Blades is primarily to serve the Dragonborn, so they could over a great opportunity for the Dovakiin to begin to build up a force to resist the Thalmor. But, as previous posters have pointed out they have let their duties slide and now only seek to control the Dovakiin for their own purpose.

Paarth on the other hand is a significant threat by his own admission, but also is the greatest hope for stopping the Dragons short of genocide. If he is left alive he will go forth to attempt to teach his methods of controlling their lust for power. A benefit for the world that the blades cannot match.

It's just a gameplay mechanic. You even get an "assault" when you attack him because of that. And don't try to spin that into something because you also get assaults for attacking any non-hostile dragons, such as the ones that just fly overhead with no intention of landing. They didn't want people triggering an immediate fight with Paarthurnax when you have to fire-breath him, or if you accidentally hit him while fighting Alduin.

Except Dragonrend.

Well, this kind of things can happen when you have a criminal who live for Mileniums. Real life example, they are still trying to solve the crimes of Jack the Ripper. If the ripper was alive today and was apprehended, do you think the justice system will let him go, just because he was meditating and suppressing his will to strike again? Whats done is done my friend. Pathnx will have to face justice sooner or later.

Dragonbane can be obtained during the alduin's wall quest when you first get to sky haven, no need to kill paarthunax, once u go up the hall and reach the open room w/ alduin's wall look for the room to the left, on the table is Dragonbane

Does anyone else wonder why Alduin didn't kill Paarthurnax himself?

Well, Jack the Ripper wasn't born evil. He (or even she with some of the theories) was a human who indulged his darker side by killing people. Paarth was literally created to dominate mortals. Saying that he made is choice and now he has to deal with the consequences doesn't work because he didn't make that choice. But this brings up another problem. Who gets to say if he is guilty or innocent? The answer the game gives is the Dovakiin, but beyond that who had the authority to charge him with his crimes when he is more ancient then any government? Do the blades get to decide? And I use the term "blades" loosely here. The real blades were disbanded or destroyed after the Great War. What the Dovakiin meets are two former blades trying to keep the memory alive, so even if the blades have such an authority, the members you meet are far from credibly taking the mantle of their former organization.

But, as I said earlier, this is ultimately a choice for the player.


Same with the Blades armor. Its in the chest beside the table.

But in Faction vs Faction, there is no central Authority that determines who is right or wrong. It all boils down to what is right for the faction. It's a question of Blades or no Blades, as the Greybeards aren't a joinable faction (no perks given for favouring them).

What about if he helped avert a global nuclear war after his last kill, and again right before his capture, with a very long span of time in between without killing and while leading a group of well-respected, peaceful, anti-nuclear scientists, and has every intention of helping to prevent the "bad guys" from using nuclear arms, while letting the "good guys" do as they wish? Should he still be given the death penalty?

If you don't kill Paarthurnax, you can get/switch buffs for your shouts. I'm curious if you encounter more non-hostile dragons if you don't kill him.

Are they? Arngeir warns that they don't serve the Dragoborn, they use the Dragonborn.

Then again, that may be the old grudge talking.

In any case, I spare Paarthurnax too. The Graybeards may sit on their thumbs shouting to themselves all day... but the Blades are, as Arngeir puts it, "bloodthirsty", and the Blades' refusal to see Paarthurnax's atonement plainly shows it. They act but don't think. The Graybeards have the opposite problem: They think but don't act.

Dragons in general... If they just buzz about overhead... meh, let 'em be. It's only if they aggro on me or anyone else (well... 'cept Thalmor, but then the dracs usually then start aggroing on me next) that I put them down.

There won't be a single faction in this world, that will serve you when you serve no purpose for their cause.

I would love it if I could get the 2 so-called blades to follow me like a follower, I would go to the throat of the world and let parth watch me fus-ro-dah them off the top of it.

But he doesn't. The Greybeards are involved with Ulfric, who uses the shout malignly for his political ambitions.

paar says after alduin dies that he didn't feel happy over his death because they were still brothers, so maybe alduin felt that way about paar and didn't kill him because of that

I'd be willing to say they're not responsible for Ulfric, although I will say that their Way of the Voice doesn't seem to be effective with the only student of theirs you meet.

The Voice is worship
Follow the Inner path
Speak only in True Need

I'm pretty sure Torryg didn't qualify as "true need". He probably didn't stand a chance, even if Ulfric fought without the voice.

That said, I'd prefer not to see the Blades go if only because Bethesda needs to explore an Akavir setting. It'd be pretty lame to not trace some of their roots, if they didn't matter anymore. Even if Delphine/Esbern fail though, there's a probably a bunch of badass Samurai we haven't even heard about yet.