UESP Forums

Who do you stay with?

Does it matter? They are both pretty useless. Greybeards provide word walls which you should have found a few just randomly exploring playing treasure hunter. Blades provide dragon lairs which is your job to kill the things guarding them, so they do not work out either.

For the PC version there is a way to keep both happy. Head over to the Steam Workshop and pick up a mod called The Paarthurnax Dilemma.

True but they do tell you the location of every shout untill there are no more left to find. DLC aside due to techincal reasons. I disagree as the Greybeards are a part of TES lore and they have trained Talos himself. Without them, we would not have developed our Thu'um. Yes, the excution is flawed but they did train the Dovahkiin and through them, we discover Parthy. Without them, chances are, we would attack him on sight due to him being another dragon if we decided to go to the throat of the world.

Or prehaps i could roleplay that they are helping me.

Anyway, the Blades should have been an optional faction and an optional part of the main quest. There is no real reason for the Dovahkiin to help them whereas the Greybeards are the Greybeards.

Actually they do as they need Parthy in order to learn how to defeat Alduin and he is the head of the Greybeards. Without them, they would not have learnt that an elder scroll was required to learn Dragonrend.

But by mentioning it, he informs the Dovahkiin that there is a shout that can render Alduin mortal. Without it, they would have lost but we're getting off topic now.

Greybeards. I don't agree with the philosophy they have to just "let everything happen" (after all, you are the Dragonborn - there was a reason you were born as such), but otherwise I can admire their dedication to learn The Voice. They also help you, and admire your natural affinity to learn shouts. Plus, Parthy is really cool.

As for the Blades? Screw them. I hate Delphine with a passion. Esbern is alright, but Delphine is stuck-up and bossy, and frankly if given the option I would have loved to soul trap her and send her to the Soul Cairn. >___> Or atleast soul trap her into some useless weapon, like a wooden sword, and name it "Delphine's Woe" LOL.

But as I said, I REALLY hate her. You're the Dragonborn, and the Blades are meant to help YOU. Instead, Delphine becomes the de facto leader and bosses you around. Like, what the hell? Plus, she drags you into the whole Thalmor thing because of her own hatred and paranoia. Honestly, using any kind of logic, how and *why* would the Thalmor be involved with the dragons at all? For a Blade, she seemed to be a pretty crappy one. Not to mention of you do their "request" you're basically kicked out until you fulfill it. I really, REALLY wish Bethesda would have let you make an "official" decision and be able to kill her. :/

Or even better yet, kick her out. I'm all for the whole Dragon slaying thing - within reason.
ex: The Dragons that won't preform and try to become peaceful, but instead go on killing. It would have been cool being an elite warrior band, determined to destroy "bad" dragons, and recovering lost artifacts and knowledge.

That said Blades are basically useless. They're meant to serve the Dragonborn emperors, which are no more, and you're also the last Dragonborn. They were cool in Morrowind and Oblivion, but they're now obsolete v__v If anything, after the Dragonborn is dead and gone, they'd probably be some other kind of mercenary group, and probably end up messing stuff up between the Thalmor even more. As long as people can be trained to take down dragons, since they seem to still be around quite a bit after the main questline, the Blades aren't really even needed.

On the flipside, the Greybeards just sort of do their own thing, and study. -shrugs- People can come to them to try to learn the voice (for example, Ulfric), and they're willing to take them in and teach them a very specialized skill. Granted it would take a long time for a normal person, but in comparison, Blades are just warriors.

Greybeards, hey they have helped more than hindered. So that is why I am going with them. They are not out starting wars, and allowed peace talks at the temple so their minds are in the right place.

In the 4th Era, the role of Dragonborn reverts back to being the ultimate dragonslayer and needing shouts is main priority. They could be very [&@%!] in combat but the power of the voice would be their most powerful asset. Without the shouts, the Dovahkiin would have fallen to Alduin.

Oh guys, after Imperial vs Stormcloaks, we have to decide Blades or Greybeards?

Paarthurnaux stays at the top of the throat of the world for his and everyone else's protection. He struggles to defy his nature every day. And most people do use the shouts for dragon battles at some point.

If you would have not met Parthy, how would you have ever known to use an Elder Scroll? Somehow, I doubt the idea to find an Elder Scroll and use it to look back into the past to see Dragonrend shout in action would have ever popped into your mind.

And it is only usuable at the throat of the world. If we did get the idea on our own, we wouldn't have a clue of where to use it.