Saadia doesn't fight his accusations at all; she seemed pretty guilty to me.

Look in history for the answer to that. A person in their late teen's in that type of society is not like the late teen's of today. Boy's a young as 13 acted and were concidered advlt's,Girls were given away in marriage, it's not really until the 1900's that society decided that one wasn't an "advlt" until 18 or older.

If your "Lord" or "Lady" was a teen you still listen to what they said to do.

Because they don't actually give a good story on how the city was betrayed we don't know. A 13 yr old girl given in marriage to an old fart may have "betrayed" the city out of spite. ( and history say's their are girls even younger than that given in marriage) The betrayal could be as simple as running away from an arranged marriage, that brought together two great houses or kingdoms.( provences)

JMO that even a young teen could in one way or the other betray a city.

Well, it's obvious, for ak'lir forces are against the thalmor. Saadia is the real lair.

There's no truth in this quest. It's one of Beth's patented "make up your own mind - WITHOUT the relevant information" quests.

I'm partial to protect other women so most of my playthoughs side with her, It's all I can do with the information I have.

I did side with the guy once or twice, he doesn't seem like too bad a fellow. Even when she was paralyzed at the end of his side, he still promised she'd come to no harm on the way to Hammerfell. It sounded sincere.

Rationality and decision-making?

This is an outrage.

Kind of funny how Kematu says Saadia appeals to your "base need" and if you side with him he says "don't be fooled by a pretty face, you're too good for that". When like half of this thread took that bait lol.

White knight syndrome, Medusa would be proud.

That's only funny if you aren't dealing with it IRL.

I sided with Kematu on my playthrough. He seemed honest to me, and even the prisoner was speaking of matters of honor.

Hell, yeah! Medusa has a nice rack.

*rolls eyes* Medusa and her sisters also have multitudes of poisonous snakes for hair. All of which are poised to do what they do best.

Yeah, but what a way to go.

Um. Okay.... "Snakes. Very dangerous. YOU go first."

I love that line. I use it in Co-Op games all the time. "______. Very dangerous. You go first.".

Yeah. It's a "gotcha truism" with daughter and me (I think she's about your age). When one of us says that to the other one.... heh. It's a "THINK YOU STUPID BROAD" sort of thing....

This is the one reason why I started doubting my decision to protect her. Although let's say she's telling the truth and he is not. Just because I kill him doesn't mean they won't keep trying to find her. I dunno, I suppose that's why they have it as it is. So that no matter which path you choose, you can feel justified in your actions.

Kematu's words rang more true to me after I found him in Swindler's Den.

Yeah, it seems either path has justifications. After thinking about it, I couldn't square why these guys have one member in jail (with a smart aleky attitude) and the remainder are hanging out with rogues in a cave. Like Serethil said, not enough solid info given to determine the truth.

Oh, as to the redguard in jail - I believe the story is he got caught trying to sneak into town and his fellows left him, perhaps due to his ineptness.

kematu seems most trustworthy IMO
but search google and you will find people arguing either side

I agree with what haize said. Most people on the Saadia side are beta's who White Knight whenever something feminine winks at them. As a History major i can say for certainty that in the past something as simple as betraying a City, no matter the age, happened. I give kudos to Beth for sticking something like this in the game, adds alot more depth. This reminds me alot of the story of Agamemnon & Clytemnestra. She conspired with her lover (Might have been a Thalmor spy or the like if you apply this comparrison to the quest) to kill Agamemnon so they could Rule the Kingdom together (Which they did succeed in doing until their son killed them both). Wouldn't be hard to picture Saadia siding with the Thalmor for some unknown reward if she took control of the city for them (Pure conjecture but still not a bad idea). As for people apparently having Thalmor come after them for killing her, I can attest to being attacked by 2 Thalmor who yelled something revolving around an agent, but I did not have the subtitles on & have yet to have it happen on later toons, so I cannot say with 100% that it was related.

Interesting that killing her makes the Thalmor come after you. I did notice on one playthrough that they had come after me, but not on others. I do believe that was the playthrough that I killed her.


I'm going to kill her the next time I play. I love taking out Justiciars, especially if they attack me first.

I guess I don't fall for the pretty face anymore. I did my best to decide which was telling the truth, and ended up turning in the woman. Her story didn't match up, and her behavior seemed erratic for someone in the position that she was in.

I am pretty sure its settled that she's guilty, her story doesn't add up at all, and the various tidbits of dialogue when you play through it different ways all seem to point to her being the manipulative one. Turned her in on my good and bad characters, everyone hates the Thalmor

I defended Saadia and chopped Kematu's head clean off!

IF she is a Thalmor supporter, good on her! But I don't think she is. If she supported the Thalmor, why would she be in danger in an IMPERIAL city? They're pretty much a Thalmor puppet state.