For blood on the ice, the Dragonborn would actually not complete the quest. Not because of his morals or anything, but because it would glitch out and forever leave the Dragonborn feeling incomplete
My favorite mod is "the Parthuurnax dilemma". Basically lets you put Delphine in her place - remind her YOU are the dragonborn, and that she serves you, not the other way around.
yeah I like that mod but the voicing issue needs to be addressed. Theres plenty of samples of Delphine and Esberns voices, they could use AI to fix it.
@@ChaotiX1There’s actually way better alternatives out there than “The Parthuurnax Dilemma” that use newer AI voices and even spliced vanilla dialogue.
@@ChaotiX1the jayserpa one, as the other person mentioned, is much, MUCH better. On top of adding the option to shut Delphine tf down, it also delivers the issue in a way that is much less black and white. All characters deliver way more convincing arguments for why it might be wise to kill paarthurnax. And it's all voiced. Everything Jay does is very good, recommend installing his collection Gate to Sovngarde.
I really like that idea, however that scene was kinda inserted into the story of the witcher 3 and the events of the second game have little impact on 3. I would hope es6 follows suit and is far removed from Skyrim, only addressing events that affect tamrial as a whole
'You're too young to remember the Dragonborn, used the bend will shout on some dragons and told both the imperials and stormcloaks to use them as mounts and destroyed the aldmeri dominion' - Neloth on Elder Scrolls VI probably
@@MellowDarkflowerMy headcanon ending is that the Dragonborn uses the Blades as the core of founding his own faction in the civil war, and through charisma, religious zeal and pure badassery, convinces huge numbers of troops to desert from both the Stormcloaks and the Legion in Skyrim, being proclaimed Talos reborn and the true heir to Tiber Septim. He then defeats or persuasion checks the remaining jarls and generals (maybe both Tullius and Ulfric) into supporting him and then seizes the Imperial City. And yes, the Dragonborn then uses dragons to burn the Aldmeri Dominion to cinders. I'd be quite happy if that happened (or was implied in books and dialogue in-game) and then the Dragonborn "disappeared" off on another adventure (like the Nerevar) by the time of TES6, and the Dragonborn's child sat on the Ruby Throne (one of the adopted children from Hearthfire) so they didn't even have to commit to a race for the Dragonborn.
I think the civil war would stop naturally, why ? A dragonborn have have come, nords would follow him as he is “heir” of Talos, and imperials would see this as a opportunity to peace, and Skyrim. I think with the dragonborn, the empire would restore greatness, as he is one race of men(nord), the thalmor would be crushed in the continent by this new empire.
Delphine forgets herself, the Blades exist to serve the Dragonborn, not the other way around, that was what their vary organization was built to do. Delphine seems to believe the Dragonborn should serve the blades and that the blades hold a more important position then the dragonborn does and that she can give orders to the dragonborn. I tend to ignore them after i've gotten all I need from them, because without the dragonborn the blades will fall yet again, but the dragonborn remains.
I mean, yes, but also no. The Blades, by that point, had long since learned how to act without the Dragonborn, for their own ends. They were using the Dragonborn as a figure head, and Delphine specifically to fight the elves. The Dragonborn and the organization were simply a means to an end for her. I'm thinking the quest, and Delphine herself, was some sort of metaphor for game development corporations.
Honestly Hircine is one of the more chill Daedra, if you have a successful hunt in his honor, awesome; if you're the quarry and successfully evade his hunt he'll reward you as well
That’s the only one I think he missed on why would the dragon born help a thief and murderer break out of jail and restore himself if the dragon born is a noble warrior makes no sense and just bc you help hircine dispose of the guy doesn’t mean he has your soul like becoming a werewolf does so
@zebrachair2264 You don't help Sinding escape though. You go aftee the white elk and try to get Sinding cured. Tgen he just goes wolf mode and breaks himself out. Makes total sense for a good guy to do this.
If they ever do establish a canon for what the Dragonborn did or didn't do, I really hope they make them a more interesting character than just "they were a good boy who always did the right thing".
Interesting???.... your not being very specific. Interesting to you? Interesting to...a specific majority? Interesting romantically? Sexually? Intellectually?... he's got a BIG...PEN- SMILE... what kind of interesting?
Actually, that's not a terrible idea. Play up how the playerbase act with the Dovahkiin: Have him be a dumb, dangerous, power-hungry and aggressive caveman, but one with a heart of gold. And, as a requirement, he ratted out the Blades to Elenwen for the mere suggestion of turning on Paarthurnax.
Well we don’t have a clear idea of who they are besides they kill Alduin which suggests they are good. Since that’s all we have we’ve gotta assume that they are generally good.
The Molag Bal quest is a little more complicated than just "he wouldn't do it", as the Dragonborn wouldn't know it's a Daedric quest at the start, merely thinking they're helping a Vigilant of Stendarr investigate a haunted house. Then they'd get trapped in there and be forced to kill the vigilant to escape (even if the vigilant attacks them first). So, there isn't really a way of getting out of that quest without blood on their hands.
Yeah, out of all quests this is the one that annoyed me the most. In my headcanon, after Molag Bal forced them to kill the Vigilant in self defense, the Dragonborn freed the priest of Boethiah and sided with him, helped him to quench Molag Bal's power once again. Even if Boethiah's quest in this game is one of the most evil, there is a reason the Dunmer worship them as one of the good guys. It's because, out of their domain of rebeldom, independence and the fight against tyranny, good consequences may arise, even if (unbeknownst to the Dunmer) Boethiah does not really care about consequences and just enjoys the conflict for it's own sake and is still definitely firmly evil (but not capital EVIL like Molag Bal)
My personal solution was to free and then kill the priest of Boethiah. This fails the quest. I'd say that killing a deadra worshipper doesn't count as being evil, at least in this case.
Excpet there's some people you can talk to in Dragon's Bridge who know the Boethiah cultist and consider him a friend. That one particular cultist happens to also be one of the few genuinely good ones @erenust
The azura quest isn't so simple either considering the only real use for a black soul gem is to trap the souls of intelligent beings and condemn their souls to the soul carn forever
The main quest leads the Dragonborn to the negotiation table, so I imagine he'd be neutral. After being told the peace wouldn't last, I'd like to think he'd say whoever breaks the ceasefire first is going to see him in the opposing army. That would give Ulfric and Tullius pause. He would join the Companions, and probably get himself cured by the end of things. He'd probably join the College to learn more about magic, and how to defend himself against it, but would still use his sword or bow to actually fight. The Brotherhood would be destroyed, because the Dragonborn is not easily cowed by some woman who managed to kidnap him while he slept. Harkon and Miraak both die, bringing him more power and glory.
@@Milkster86 I remember a mod about that, actually. While Miraak is obviously a victim of Herma Mora, I don't remember if he really has any redeemable qualities to make him worth saving. He's basically the dark side of a dragonborn. someone who wants to rule the world, and subject everyone to his authority. Probably throw in some destruction of things he doesn't like as well. What would the dragonborn do? Take him to Arngeir to learn the Way of the Voice?
I honestly think he'd be more concerned with destroying the Thalmor. I don't think he'd concern himself too much with the civil War, other than somebody breaking the peace treaty. Which most likely means he'd probably kill ulfric stormcloak, for breaking said treaty. General tullius is an honorable man, and a man of his word. Ulfric stormcloak is hard-headed, hot blooded, and just out for blood, regardless of the consequences.
The funny thing is, is the original plans for Miraak, we're for him to betray hermas more a completely, and side with the dragonborn, that's becoming a follower and companion. The combined power of the first and last dragonborn were meant to defeat the Thalmor once and for all, as the Thalmor represents a threat to literally all of existence.
The Civil War and the Dark Brotherhood both have "backdoors" on how they would still get completed even without the Dragonborn. Note that, with the Dark Brotherhood, even if you destroy them, the Night Mother is still around, along with Cicero and Babette. Babette might become the new Listener, or they'll assassinate the Emperor in revenge - one way or another, we still have either Babette or Cicero taking down the Emperor on his own boat, even if the Dragonborn slaughtered them all.
Yeah I definitely gotta agree with you on the Dark Brotherhood killing the emperor regardless of whether or not the Dragonborn joins them. I feel like the faction questlines (Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, College of Winterhold, and Companions) are canonically done by different people, but because this is a video game the player is able to fulfill those events. However, I do think that the Dawnguard questline is still done by the dragonborn because of the scope of the quests, and how it involves the use of Elder Scrolls.
@@drakejoshofficialyoutubech5569 If the Dragonborn doesnt join the Thieves Guild. Who do you think rebuilds it/does it in his place? I can see it being Brynjolf & Karliah. With Brynjolf remaining as the new Guild Master. While Karliah handles the Nightingale aspect/side of the Guild
In past TES games, Bethesda has established that every non-mutually exclusive quest does happen. It’s just somebody else that does it. So likely, in TES6, we’ll find out that somebody else came along and restored the dark brotherhood, especially because they’re one of the most popular factions and their Skyrim quest had such major implications for the lore
And it’s also canon that the thieves guild returns to its former glory, even if you kill them all. It doesn’t matter if you move your hand or not in the major plots of the game, it happens independently, even the daedric quests. I usually like to think that I’m a Dragonborn not committed to save the world without sacrifices. Namira and Boethia for example are DQs that take your ethics and beliefs to their extremes but in the end you’re in the top and in possession of artifacts that now you can safeguard from true evil people. The Daedric lords always remind us that we are not their only pawn, and I couldn’t imagine the possibilities if it was other than ourselves there collecting the artifacts. They can’t claim our soul to any plane of oblivion cause we are too strong and a fraction of Akatosh, so it’s fair game after all. The DB and the TG are other examples. You can take control and kill them all so they will be represented and feared in your figure. We don’t know about how much impact it would make in Tamriel with people knowing they’re gone so they are basically needed, and who’s their best reflection? The civil war would be the tricky one but in the end he would follow the past emperors, align with the imperials and become the last emperor of Tamriel.
You're right that Bethesda deliberately designs their game around leaving player choice open. One thing they also did, especially in Morrowind, is set up conflicting accounts of historical events with no clear answer (with conflicting stories in lore books about Almsivi and the Nerevarine prophecies for example).
Dragon breaks are the solution they created to make all their lore variants possible at the same time. This is why you have multiple variants of one god existing at the same time
For Azura's Star the good ending for it is returning it to it's proper place, as it becomes the black star and can infinitely trap human souls in it if you give it to the wizard. As a Nord warrior, depriving the souls of the chance as Sovangarde is probably a big no. In lore the black star is only able to contain black souls. Black souls are those of sentient, humanoid beings, such as Men, Mer, Argonians, Khajiit, and Dremora, whereas white souls are those of animals and certain lesser Daedra. Therefore the good option is returning Azura's Star to its rightful owner. The reason it's able to still capture white souls is likely an oversight by Bethesda.
For my Dragonborn, I chose as neutral an option as I could in a somewhat roundabout way. I had the wizard fix the star so that Azura would not torment others with it in the future, but I then locked it safely away at home and refused to use it for any purpose, thereby not trapping any human souls. Not sure if that counts, but it’s a back door I found for myself.
The Dragonborn would not know that until much later in his life when he fights an army of vampires. Therefore per the video’s logic, he would still go for the black star
I feel like making the black star is not really smart choice lore wise, like necromancers could use the star for grand works of evil and especially with the star now being out of the Azusa’s control it can only lead to disaster down the line
Every hero you play disapear never to be seen again: 1. The Eternal Champion (Arena) or the agent (Daggerfall) are normies (dead) 2. The Nerevarine sailed to Akavir and is probebly still alive 4E 201 because the Nerevarine can not age and is a one man army (killed gods) 3. The Hero of Kavatch turned into a god after defeating 2 gods 4. The Dragonborn killed a god and is now more or less part of Apocrypha
Also, assuming that the Dragonborn had already met Serana by the time they get to the Molag Bal quest, there's no way that they would side with Molag Bal. They would have known what Molag Bal did to Serana, and siding with the Daedric prince would just be a huge middle finger to their friendship.
Well Serana offered herself to Molag Bal while being fully aware what it would take to become a vampire and she stayed a vampire for centuries, which indicate no hatred toward Molag Bal. I think she is more neutral to Molag Bal than anything else, just a god she had a accord with to gain immortality
@@akirawiskizofrene She was being forced by Harkon, also she definitely hates Molag Bal. Serana did not want to do it she was just forced by her power hungry terrible father and her mother
@@akirawiskizofrenefor one, she was in a cult. and for another she was manipulated by her parents to do it most likely. and she talks about “running around these parts of the castle as a little vampire girl” so she was obviously young. Bro is acting like she consented to rape.
Interesting video! One thing that strucks me when I think about a canon dragonborn are the shout locations. In my latest playthrough of Skyrim I attempted to make a "semi-canon" Dragonborn, one that made sense to the lore but was also interesting for me as a player, so I created him as a nord that is loyal to the Graybeards and follows the Way of the Voice, so what made sense to me as a goal to the character was to collect ALL of the shouts (more as a way to know the voice rather than a power seeking) and this is where things got weird. You HAVE to complete the guild quests in order to have access to all of the shouts, the only exception is the Dark Brotherhood (you can decimate them and still get their shout inside the hideout). So Bethesda kinda hints heavily on the idead that the Dragonborn was the master of all the three main guilds (companions, thieves and mages).
Not sure that the Dragonborn would even tolerate Eola seeing as she suggests the Dragonborn might be a cannibal himself when they first meet. So I think the speech option that causes Eola to become hostile is the most likely choice for the Dragonborn to make.
I believe there’s a concept within the Elder Scrolls meta lore that says “If the main character didn’t do a task, then the task would’ve been done cononically by an unnamed character”. Essentially a way of saying that the Dragonborn doesn’t have to be the leader of every guild or champion to every Daedric Prince in a single playthrough to be considered canon. This means that the Emperor always dies, the Archmage always gets killed in the College of Winterhold and a thief becomes Nocturnal’s new champion. However Bethesda will always come up with a canon ending that fits the optimistic profile of their protag for the next game. I’m not sure about the total legitimacy but it does make a good theory. The guys at FudgeMuppet have made a few good videos about this concept, which I believe may be called “Dragonbreaks”.
I always thought that Black Star is the evil choice. It's basically turned into torture device for the humanoid soul trapped there. They get sent to soul cairn and wander aimlessly for eternity. But if Dragonborn used it for out of necessity for punishing great evil (which is not happening in game lore), it would be make sense more and make it a much more relevant artifact. Afaik, the lesser soul in normal soul gem/Azura star doesn't get transferred into any realm of restlessness like soul cairn.
It is. The video maker is interpreting it for all the necromancers out there. And on a pure gameplay standpoint the dark star is "better". Since people, elves, and beast folk are the most numerous foes in Tamriel. What people forget is there is only one Asura Star in the game. If you want to stockpile people souls you still have to make black soul gems by the dozen. Jokes on them I guess.
Not so sure about lesser souls trapped in black soul gems avoiding the soul cairn. You find arvak in there and I'm pretty sure I've seen the souls of cows in the soul cairn too! It might be uncommon, as wasting black soul gems/black star on lesser souls is stupid, but arvak is evidence enough that it happens.
Azura's plane is pretty chill tbh, since she wants everything in her realm to be as beautiful as possible you'd be doing the animals a favor by soul trapping them, they'd be eternally taken care of
If I remember correctly there's a bug that makes the dark version of the star able to absorb both types of souls, so gameplay wise the "good option" is nothing but a loss
I think it's only an option if the guy in the temple comes up and asks to come with you to the tree. You then have to take his advice from there. I had several playthroughs before he came up to me at all. Years after my first one.
Only two I disagree with Meridia and Malacath. Meridia's quest touches on an evil necromancer tormenting the souls of the warrior dead and as a Nord warrior such an act would likely supersede the Dragonborn's distaste of the Daedra if only to free the souls of the dead from torment. Second with Malacath the orcs though servants of a Daedra are involved in what would clearly be a war with the giants and as such might be too much of a chance for greater glory and fame than a true Nord warrior might be willing to skip past.
And Azura's Star the good ending for it is returning it to it's proper place, as it becomes the black star and can infinitely trap human souls in it if you give it to the wizard. As a Nord warrior, depriving the souls of the chance as Sovangarde is probably a big no.
Honestly I don't remember whether the Nord warrior pictured helped Azura or not from the video. But if he didn't then yeah, any chance to allow honorable souls a chance at Sovangarde would be completely in character and thus he would probably help Azura. So I agree with you entirely.@@SebasTian58323
@@SebasTian58323 Definitely what i was thinking. Given the close-knit history Skyrim and Morrowind have, and seeing the parallels/similarities between the Neravarine and the Dovahkiin, serving Azura would only strengthen this connection further I encourage you to read “The Disaster at Red Mountain” and “The War on the First Council.” Both have recollection of the Chimer and Dwemer uniting and defeating the Nord invaders, of whom were initially tearing through them with the power of Thu’um. Told from the Nord and Chimer perspectives, respectively
What the video seemed to imply was that Daedra are inherently evil, while the Aedra are not/the opposite. This is patently false. The Daedra are generally identical kin to the Aedra, save that they declined to help create Mundus and thus didn't become weakened and less conscious. Thus, the idea that LDB would oppose Daedra or aid Aedra by default is just nonsense.
@@VelaiciaCreatorMiraak was also exposed to Mora's influence over a far longer period. I'd like to think the Dragonborn's fate with Mora depends on if they pursued and used the other Black books that weren't necessary to stopping Miraak.
@@VelaiciaCreator Miraak did have a choice, when Vahlok and the Dragons came to destroy him, he turned to Mora and entered Apocrypha to survive, instead of allowing himself to die and go to Sovngarde. At the end of the DLC you leave Apocrypha and Neloth tells you, that no signs of permanent Mora influence are on you. From there on simply never give in to Mora ever again.
you can kill both madanach and the silver bloods at the end of Cihdna mine. You have to escape with madanach and right when you’re leaving into markarth you kill madanach so then the silver blood guy rewards you as if you sided with him and then the forsworn still cut him & the guards down, then you kill the forsworn too. Perfect end to that quest as you get to deal with everyone and still get both the rewards (armor & ring)
I sometimes wonder if the developers had even considered Delphine would go on to be so universally hated to the point I wouldn't be surprised if the complete collapse of the blades becomes canon.
Well, ridding yourself of the Werewolf curse is logical at this step. But the problem is that the curse is not just randomly happening to you, you must willingly go to the Underforge and let Skjor do this to you. Now you can play a really dumb Dragonborn, who does not really understand what this implies and only just understands that now he is cursed afterwards and then has to find a cure to lift this curse again but to me getting yourself infected with Lycanthropy willingly is the un-Dragonborn-y thing to begin with.
@@MaxurasYou could roleplay a Dragonborn that felt pressured into doing this. Both Aela and Skjor are trusted authority figures for the Dragonborn. That may be hard to believe after slaying Alduin but in general I feel it makes sense to do your Guild Quests before slaying Alduin so you can tell Tsun who you are the leader of.
_Kodlak Whitemane:_ "We werewolves cannot go to Soverngard. We are cursed forver to hunt endlessly along Hiricine for all eternity!" _The Dragonborn, who just got back from Soverngard after defeating Alduin:_ 😏
I would say that the Dragonborn helped the Empire, but only after the mission at the Thalmor Embassy where he learned that the Thalmor had been fanning the flames of war to keep the Empire and Skyrim weak. But after the conflict is over and the Empire can focus on preparing for a second war, he would leave the Empire to deal with his other, more pressing matters. Like swiping all the Daedric artifacts he can get his grubby mitts on.
I couldn't kill Paarthurnax. It just didn't make any sense. I'm supposed to accept that thousands of years helping humanity is worth nothing? No. I refuse. I'm the dragonborn. The blades belong to me. I'm immortal. I'll just wait for Esbern and Delphine to die and then I'll take over the blades with my main man Paarthurnax. Probably combine the blades and greybeards. It'll be a grand time.
Honestly, if I had the option I'd just straight-up kick Delphine out of Sky Haven. She's just a bossy, self-important bitch who doesn't know her place and thinks she's a bigger deal than she really is.
@@johnrocks7784 I ... well shit. From a roleplaying perspective, I can totally see your logic there. If I had to convince my grandfather not to kill him, I think that would be his unwavering answer as well. There are no exceptions. I can respect that. However, only a sith deals in absolutes. I will do what I must. I shall defend Naxy to my dying breath.
@@johnrocks7784yeah, I don't even care about the morality of kill Parthy, but you know, a dragon soul is a dragon soul, and shouts don't unlock themselves.
Great video honestly The only thing i disagree with is the malacath quest, i think the dovakhin would help the orcs through their hardship but not accept Volendrung as a reward, it might seem evil to help restore malacaths shrine but i think letting the orc clan suffer is something a hero would'nt do
I personally think the only quests that the Dragonborn would really get involved in would be the Main Quest Line (without killing Paarturnax), the Dawnguard where he sides with the Dawnguard, and the Dragonborn quest. I also think he would kill every single Thalmor that he would come across, since I think he went to Skyrim to get rid of the Thalmor to begin with. I also think that the Dragonborn would in fact read the Oghma Infinium however, since you have to go to Septimus Signas to know where the Elder Scroll is. All of the other questlines such as the Companions, College of Winterhold, Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood would end up being done by other people, and not the Dragonborn. maybe he would become the Harbinger of the Companions and the Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold, but it could also be someone else that would end up doing that. I think someone else would also become the master of both the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood, like that Khajiit or Argonian stealth archer that ya'll like to meme about. As for Daedric Quests, I think the only ones the Dragonborn would do, would be the one for the Oghma Infinium (like mentioned), the Dawnstar Nightmare Plague (without killing that priest of Mara) and the one for Clavicus Vile (he would keep Barbas as a companion though), while all of the other Daedric Quests would end up being done by other people. As for all of the other quests that could be possibly completed, I think those would probably be done by others, and not the Dragonborn. I also agree on the Dragonborn not getting involved with the Civil War and being neutral, despite how fucked the Empire is anyways. Killing Nazeem would definitely be something that the Dragonborn would do, since everyone does it.
Sheogorath's quest in Skyrim all but confirms that the Oblivion protagonist did the Thieves' Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines as well as the Shivering Isles expansion. He talks about how he "was there for that whole sordid affair" with "butterflies, a fox, a severed head [...]" alluding to a few key moments from those three major questlines. Lucien Lachance's ghost and the last names of a few characters in the Skyrim version also basically confirms the Dark Brotherhood questline from Oblivion happened even if it doesn't directly confirm the Oblivion protagonist did it. The point being that there's still some ambiguity as to the morality of past Bethesda protagonists too. I mean, there's what I just cited but there's also literally no mention of Jyggalag anywhere in Skyrim other than books that already existed before the 4th Era, so despite what I said it's even technically questionable if Shivering Isles happened.
I also think the dragonborn would remain neutral in the Civil War. The fact that the main quest line has a quest to bring a temporary truce almost confirms this imo.
As ideal as the truce outcome sounds, I have a bad feeling that the empire is going to wind up destabilized to the extent of the civil war being pointless and the Dominion taking advantage of the chaos to seize large portions of Tamriel, possibly leading into the next game.
Another point about not killing paarthurnax: the Dragonborn and Delphine are centuries removed from the crimes of paarthurnax, so you could argue that killing him would be considered petty, despite the history of the blades.
This put so much into perspective for me, especially the stuff about the Civil War, and the Saadia vs Alik'r conundrum(s). Thank you for such a great video!
For the Ebony Blade, I typically remove it from Dragonsreach because of the influence it has on the people there, especially the children. If there was an option in the game to talk to the jarl to tell him what has been going on, I would have taken that option. The dark influence of Mephala on the jarl’s son is a dark cloud on the horizon. Thinking of the repercussions, it would be best to get that weapon out of Whiterun ASAP. Seriously. Throw that monstrosity into the Sea of Ghosts where it is away from people, and therefore less likely to cause harm.
Not necessarily. They’re the Dragonborn, not an actual dragon, so they might not have the same drive to dominate an actual dragon would, and as someone specifically chosen by an Aedra to be their champion, even if they were driven to dominate, they tend to at least start out tending to be good, I’d guess. Of course, they could end up as a daedra worshipping vampire lord leading the dark brotherhood or whatever but that might require a lot of things going sideways and wrong for them first.
@@Mkrause762 Parthurnaax tells the Dragonborn that dragons were made to dominate and since Dragonborn is essentially a dragon in a human body it would make sense for him/her to have a desire to be dominant aka the most Powerful guy around, so if there were to be a guy more powerful than him/her they would just develop there power until they are the strongest being around. That is how domination works after all
Consider also that just learning a word of power you have to take its meaning into your being fire=passion Dragonrend=the fear and hate of dragons that the ancient nord's poured into creating that shout.
I feel the dragonborn would do the Merida quest and Malacath quest. He would be helping people, so he would have his own motivations. Companions quest is more up in the air.
For meridia's quest, i personally think it'd be possible the Dragonborn would hear about a necromancer being the culprit, at least decide to "agree" to investigate and see what is going on in the subtext, then when he sees what it is, actively decide to go all in, especially since if i recall, the necromancer was one of two (the other being the redguard what's her name in the nord crypt) who for one reason or another planned to basically destroy or overrun Skyrim with an undead army. Which the Dragonborn would definitely have both a moral want and a vested interest in preventing. For the Companions, I'd wager he'd join and rise fully through the ranks on the note of how he hears kodlak is trying to find a way to cure it, understanding that there could be a way to, so not thinking too much of it. With his suspicion obviously (for us as players at least) coming true later in the questline by way of the magic of the glenmoril coven of witches. To follow that up, I'd wager hircine's quest would depend on what the companion stance is. If he doesn't become a werewolf in it, definitely sinding during hircine's quest. If he does however, I'd wager it'd depend how much control he has gained over the transformation. Afterall, we know the player loses control completely and rampages upon the first transformation. And while aela says following that the Dragonborn gained control, do we truly know to what actual extent? Obviously complete control in terms of gameplay mechanics, but lore wise? How do we know for sure that lore wise and canon wise he/she has that much control? If the Dragonborn has any amount of a tenous control over the transformation, I'd see a perfectly valid reason to side with hircine for the purified ring to help control the transformations so he doesn't end up in sinding's predicament. Even if he empathizes with sinding. The moral argument of "this person did this, they already did the act, I'm at potential risk of it if i don't prevent it, justice for the deceased girl would be obtained if i did this, and i will get what I need to keep myself from making a similar mistake ". Add points if one thinks the Dragonborn would still blame sinding for some reason, such as if he hadn't stolen the ring, but perhaps either sought a different way to control his transformations, or at the very least got the ring legitimately through hircine's favor, he wouldn't have ended up with the cursed version of the ring that caused what he did, thus him still being to blame and an irredeemable murderer through and through. Depending on the view or mindset that could go either way. Lastly, I'd like to mention the quest regarding wolfskull cave and afterward potema septim. While not involving choices, the Dragonborn would do that for rather obvious reasons. Saving innocent lives. And Skyrim as a whole.
I assume it's gonna be irrelevant which side you pick because as soon as Pale Pass is cleared of the avalanche that Alduin caused, the Empire will send an entire Legion of Legionarres who will retake control of the province. And I say that even as I wholeheartedly support the Stormcloaks on every playthrough... they have no hope against true Imperial Legionarres.
The Thalmor are literally working to destroy the world. They are systematically destroying the earth bones to bring about the end to the current era. Skyrim's Throat of the World is just one of those towers. Considering that the Last Dragonborn took Miraak's place, the Greybeards would be what stands between them and the destruction of that mountain.
@@charleswest782why would you support the stormcloaks if you arent a nord? They would try to throw you out the second the war is over. “Skyrim is for the nords!” And ulfric is a cheater
@@charleswest782they can't do that. Tullius isn't just cut-off because of the avalanche, but also because the Empire's legions are holed up in forts along the border with the Aldmeri Dominion. As both Imperials and Thalmor representatives you meet seem to think a new Great War is just about to erupt I doubt the E.pire is in any position to send Legions into Skyrim to curb the rebellion. If I had to.guess what they'll do is have the Skyrim Civil War be the spark that re-ignites the Great War, and the matter of who has won in Skyrim just won't be addressed as wherever the game takes place in will just have more important things to worry about.
the thalmor wouldnt be able to invade skyrim as it would be impossible to sail to skyrim or march armies across cyrodill/hammerfell. the thalmor wouldnt waste resources and leave themselves exposed to an empire attack or more likely, a sea elf invasion
I first thought this was a poll or popularity-based vid on the majority of the fandoms choices, but I do appreciate the amount of research you put into this vid. 👍🏾
While i would never encourage the murder of Parthurnax. Something i think people over look is that when the Dragonborn absorbes a new shout, it becomes part of them. So after aquirering Dragonrend, a shout made from hatred for all dovahs and designed to force them to comprehend mortality. Which im sure is quite literally the most horrible and traumatic thing that can happen to a dovah. While i still cant say yea or nea i personally think the Dragonborn would now posses the willingness to kill Parthurnax.
But since the drsgonborn has dragon blood he's kind of a dragon maybe he does like paarthurnax and overcomes that hatred with meditation and discipline etc
The dragon born probably wouldnt know about meridias past given their seeming lack of knowledge of anything about skyrim or mythology (judging by their dialogue options) as such being told that theres an evil necromancer who when u go through the dungeon has seemingly mutilated tens if not hundreds of soldiers and presumably innocent individuals and raised an army of the undead, killing him would be the logical choice. Whether the dragonborn then takes dawnbreaker which spreads meridias influence or not can be debated but your reasons for why the dragonborn wouldnt do the quest is based on knowledge its unlikely the dragon born would have.
Siding with Azura makes her beholden to you, not the other way around. Would totally side with her (perhaps because of past Morrowind experience?). Agree on sparing Silas, although I'd probably have just quit and insisted he just display the shards, rather than participate in reforging the blade (which means abandoning the quest, which I have done in-game). On Mephala, I absolutely would get that door open to try to stop the evil thing preying on children, but yeah, no way would the quest move beyond that. I usually cleanse Meridia's temple as I didn't remember Knights of the Nine, but in the moment it also seems the thing to do, defeating a necromancer. In the Malacath quest, I think I would abandon the quest at the point where the chief asks me to help him. Prior to that, I'm just helping out, but at that point, it's the chief's job, not mine. As the reward is Valendrung, I might go through and then insist the chief do his job, watch him killed and have no choice but to kill the giant myself and then return and end up with the reward. Agree on Kynareth's, although that was news to me as I have never encountered Maurice ever on any of scores of playthroughs, so was never aware of that option. On Mages' Guild, I agree, but I think possibly the future storytellers would leave that bit out (Nords disdain magic, after all). On the Companions, probably correct, but the storyteller, like most people, doesn't know the inner circle are werewolves, so it may be reported that he assumed leadership. (Also, I accept the theory of the Player throughout all the Elder Scrolls titles as the Shezzarine, so puts another interesting angle on discussions about Sovngard.) I always side with Sadia, but I also always got a completely different story from both sides than what you mention, having nothing to do with the Thalmor at all. It's like we played an entirely different game in that regard. Bizarre. 100% agree with everything else. I generally side with Stormcloaks for a number of reasons, despite Ulfric being a racist a-hole who's being manipulated. Mostly related to Talos-worship, technically under the laws of Skyrim he's rightful high king, like it or not, and hatred of Thalmor.
I'm curious what story you got from Kematu and Saadia. Because in all the playthroughs I've done (and I have over a thousand hours in just under 2 years), Saadia says that she's a Redguard noblewoman pursued by the Thalmor because she spoke up against them and they have hired Alik'ir assassins to go after her. Kematu, the leader of these Alik'ir warriors, on the other hand says that Saadia sold out a city to the Thalmor during the war and the leaders of the rebellion against the Thalmor want to put her on trial. The argument of who's correct rages just as hard as the Empire versus the Stormcloaks argument, and considering all of the facts I usually side with Kematu as he's an Alik'ir warrior who are known for being honorable and hating the Thalmor and I find it unlikely that a group of 20-30 of them as traitors are chasing one woman across mountains and her going into a land under Thalmor influence when she could just as easily go home due to the peace treaty and her people hating the Thalmor. Just doesn't add up to me. I agree with your reasons of siding with the Stormcloaks and I'd also like to add that they could've handled the Markarth Incident better, which ostracized Ulfric from the Empire, and was one of the main reasons for his war.
If the dragonborn does not become a werewolf, Kodlak would have never entered sovngarde. According to Kodlak's journal, he had a dream that a stranger(dragonborn) would fight with him to defeat the beast thus curing lycanthropy and leading his spirit to sovngarde. So even without the dragonborn knowing, his destiny is to save Kodlak and the companions from spiritual damnation in hircine's realm.
Bethesda has made it clear that all of the factions quest lines in the previous games are done by someone. There’s no major choice for the thieves guild or the college so there’s going to be a new arch mage and the Sygic monks have made themselves known again and A new thieves guild master with nocturnal backing them once again. However, dark brotherhood and companions have two different endings technically. I doubt the companions will be reference ever again other than Books so that one doesn’t matter much but to keep the dark brotherhood around I think they’re going to go with the new listener resurrecting the dark brotherhood from the ashes.
It's highly unrealistic for one person to be simultaneously the leaders of very different guilds even if its a game mechanic. People forget that the things you can do in game might not actually be as accurate as in game lore.
@@jamesmccloud7535it can happens if they are all hapening in different timelines, which considering the lore it will be the canon explaination once the dragonbreak ends(If it ends tbh)
I think the DB would side with the imperials just because he would realize that the empire has a better chance at beating the thalmor than the stormcloaks. The DB would also do all of the daedric princes’ missions just to get enough power to beat Alduin, he would realize that saving the world needs sacrifices and what’s a few lives compared to the entire world and beyond?(which also means barbus also gets killed) He would also become a vampire lord to become immortal since he knows Alduin will come back so he needs to live long and get stronger to beat Alduin again(also the trailer pretty much confirms that the DB does become a vampire lord).
Why does this comment only have 3 likes? Great thought process, I love the vampire immortality part. The only issue I see is, I dint think the DB would kill barbus. He has other weapons he could wield. I don't think killing a talking dog is worth it.
@@braedenhoskins8585 Thank you! Yeah, I’m starting to think he wouldn’t kill Barbus cause then he runs the risk of letting Clavicus Vile go free, which would be worse.
I think they are going to have all the quest lines be completed by their “champion” and that doesn’t have to be the dragonborn. Like the listener or the arch mage etc.
It’s awesome you’re still making Skyrim content man! I haven’t played much of it lately, as I did a full playthrough 3 months back, and have been trying to take more time off games… But I always love Skyrim content! Keep it up till ES6 bro
we *ALL* know it was a redheaded Nord named Griagori Varalx with blue eyes that , started the DragonBorn Gallery (DragonBorn Legacy Mod) with a High Elf in Solitude. He rebuilt Helgan (rebuild Helgan Mod), rebuilt the keep ov Stendar (stendar Rising Mod), and after resetting his skills for the 200th time fought his first dragon then became an argonian through ~ showracemenue and finally started the main quest when all other quest markers where empty.
My biggest thing for allowing Saadia to live is that her remains end up in the Whiterun catacombs once the quest is over and you side with the Alik’r. This happens despite being promised that she would be given a fair trial back in her homeland, which means we were lied to by the Alik’r. I don’t think she was telling the truth, but that doesn’t mean the Alik’r were. Plus hating the Thalmor is one of the coldest takes you can have in skyrim, and when you’re trying to convince someone to save you, that’s a pretty solid way to go about things.
it is canonical fact that the events of the shivering isle dlc from oblivion did happen so its also a fact that the hero of kvatch is not only 'a' mad man...hes now THE madman, the sheogorath you meet in skyrim IS the hero of kvatch having mantled sheogorath and become the mad god himself after freeing jigalag from the endless cycle of the greymarch
I disagree with 2 things: -First, the Azura quest. Even if you believe the Dragonborn isn't a full on good guy, he most certainly wouldn't be evil enough to soul trap people, removing the part where the black star is a better reward. From there the first possibility is to go full on "the dragonborn doesn't assiciate with daedra" and he doesn't even do the quest to begin with, but it's kinda uninteresting and goes for nearly every daedra quest. From there, it essentially boils down to wether he went to the soul cairn before doing that quest. If he didn't, there's indeed a good case for him siding with Nelacar, but if he did, he probably wouldn't touch a black soul gem and therefore wouldn't trust Nelacar, and would side with Azura or, and that's another possibility, just choose not to fix the star, think about it, once the "threat" Malyn Varen represent is dealt with, why would the Dragonborn want to fix the star, especially after going to the soul cairn and seeing what soul trapping involve ? -Second, the Meridia quest. I do see your point, but there are 2 important things to consider. Meridia doesn't ask the Dragonborn to do anything evil, it's actually just taking care of an evil necromancer, something pretty good. Also there's what would fit the Dragonborn, where at the end he has the option of pretty much giving Meridia the middle finger and saying "Imma keep the cool sword but you gonna need another sucker for the whole being you champion shtick". Basically, I believe the dragonborn would kill Malkoran, keep Dawnbreaker and tell Meridia to go f*ck herself.
18:59 Honestly if they had given another year to just finishing and giving a proper ending to each faction and major side quest (like forsworn conspiracy) it would have made vanilla Skyrim 1000% times better. Or release a mod that does, they easily could at this point
Whilst this list gets everything morally correct, I think there’s an argument that ultimately as a sell-sword, the Dragonborn would agree to complete the daedric quests that would grant him the power to defeat Alvin, within moral reason. Let’s also not forget, that ultimately at the end of the Dragonborne DLC, he ultimately is tempted by knowledge and falls for Hermaeus Mora’s switcheroo and replaces Miraak as his puppet. The Dragonborn’s dragon blood lusts for power just like all dragons in the end.
Ironically, in my very first everything character, I dropped the ebony blade in the ocean the furthest north I could go before the game put up invisible walls to keep me contained. I just swam all the way out there and dropped it in the ocean.
You forgot the most integral decision...Faendal or Sven? Now, obviously you choose the homie Faendal as he gives you basically free archery training. But who knows, maybe the Dragonborn chose Sven, or maybe even threw them both under and took Camilla for himself.
The forsworn are daedra worshipers. I don’t think the Dragonborn you’ve been describing would side with them… or if he did he’d betray them and kill them all on the way out.
I hope they do a mass effect 2 / 3 dlc way of things for ES6. Basically you can choose what your character did for key moments in the story. Maybe the dragonborn DID choose a side in the civil war. Maybe they refused to side with paarthunax maybe they were leader of the college, darkbrotherhood, and companions, but not the thieves guild. Maybe they became a vampire and blotted out the sun.
I like how you picked being in the Dark Brotherhood as an example of evil in Oblivion yet not the Morag Tong in Morrowind, as of course that is legally acceptable murder and the Neravarine performing writs of executions fits their heroic legacy. Your main flaw with a lot of these choices is meta knowledge, the Dragonborne wouldn't know the outcomes or "best rewards" etc.. and is very unlikely to know things like those said for Meridia or knowing how the Redguards politcs works. Especially if going with the idea of being a Nord Warrior them "winging it" would likely be the main solution to most choices.
I disagree with one of those and it's regarding the Redguards. Assuming the Dragonborn lives on Nirn, he probably has some idea of the active guerilla warzone literally right next door to his homeland, especially since it's relatively common knowledge the fighters there are the wink-wink nudge-nudge sort of disowned.
I always got the impression that the dragonborn was only semi-heroic, and that the large amount of potentially evil ways to grab more power were reflective of an implied character. I think I remember there being several times where it is said that the nature of the Dragonborn, like those of dragons, is to seek power and domination, but that (unlike with Alduin), this is not necessarily a bad thing, since they do so as part of the divine natural order. The power fantasy element of the game is a direct part of the character, so I think that the Dragonborn would probably choose many of the more evil-seeming options at least in a lot of the Daedric quests, but would choose the heroic/good side in the larger conflicts and questlines, however that would manifest. I also don't get the impression that the "canon" dragonborn would start out as a scholar who knows the full story and metaphysics of all the entities at play. The franchise in general seems to have a theme of terrible but powerful people doing awful things but in the process leaving the world a better place, at least temporarily. This is true arguably of the Tribunal, and of Tiber Septim, and to an extent both the Empire and Stormcloak factions in-game.
There's a reason for why none of the companions, thieves or any other guild call you "Dragonborn" in their quest. You are living as a different legend there, the events in skyrim weren't just milded by one hero, there was the Dragonborn that did the "main quest", but there also happened to exist other legends coexisting at the same or different times from the main events. Think about it as Desmond from Assassin's Creeds, there were different heroes, you just have the opportunity to walk on their shoes as a player.
Let's not forget that the Sheogorath we see in Skyrim is actually the Hero of Kvatch. Ole' Uncle Sheo mentions a bunch of events that occur in Oblivion and even mentions that the name "Sheogorath" is passed down to him, which is exactly what happens to the Hero of Kvatch in the end of the Shivering Isles DLC in Oblivion. Also, I think that the Dragonborn could reasonably complete the entire Companions questline, even curing himself along with Farkas and Vilkas of their lycanthropy. After all, we actually do get to see Kodlak Whitemane in Sovngarde if the entire questline is completed before the final battle against Alduin.
Surprised you didn't mention the main/side quests for Hurmeus Mora and the black books. They are very grey and don't have many of any evil choices (only consequences) I fell the DB would at least persue knowledge.
you forgot Hermaeus Mora quest and Oghma Infinium and Dragonborn dlc the Dragonborn will have a complicated relationship with Hermaeus Mora Daedra Prince of Forbidden Knowledge.
@yungcorvax4955 please explai Freedom of skyrim. Would still become an ally of imperial agaisnt thalmor. If it's about the darkelves treatment. They are safe and fed and the worst argument used is their not in the best housing district and rarely disrespected.
@@iko20101 No they are not better united under the empire. The empire ceded land in Hammerfell to the Thalmor after the Great War and forced the redguards to secede as they continued fighting the Thalmor in response to this. Nords are forced to suppress their worshipping of Talos because of the terms agreed to by the emperor. (Mind you the Redguards and the Nords are the finest warriors within the Imperial Legion) The Thalmor freely roam within Skyrim committing genocide to any person found to be a worshipper of Talos. The Thalmor only operate in Imperial controlled territory within Skryim. A governments job is to protect it's citizens yet they are openly allowing these things to happen. That's not unity. That's being a puppet to your masters out of fear. An independent Skyrim free from the political pulling of the empire, but still allying with them against the Thalmor is best case scenario. The White Gold Concordat would be null and void to Skyrim if they were no longer part of the empire, thus allowing Skyrim and the Empire to regain their strength.
fun fact, you can recruit new blades members in the very beginning of the sky haven temple quest, after esbern has read the wall, you can talk to delphine to look for recruits, same with esbern's dragon infusion potion
For the my time in need quest. The one flaw with the DB siding with Kamatu. Is the assumption that Dovahkin, knows Sadia is a Aldmeri collaborator. Which they wouldn't know usless they were redgauard, A geopolitical scholar or a Ex Dominion Soldier. And assuming the canon dragonborn is a nord and a warrior. I find that very unlikely.
It is possible that they are a geopolitical scholar, or at the very least are well versed in geopolitics. It may be unlikely, but it is still very possible
The rule is that where the game takes is also home to the main character. Skyrim the hero is a Nord while in Oblivion the main charavcter is an Imperial and so on.
I don't think it matters if the Dragonborn did the guilds or not, if the Dragonborn didn't join the DB the rumors were spread by the Thalmor to discredit him. If he did, then its that simple he did. I doubt that conically the Dragonborn killed Grelod or even spoke to Aventus Arentino because there is most likely going to be a Dark Brotherhood in future games so it wouldn't make sense for them to have been eliminated. It was likely a third party who Because the Listener and killed Titus Mede II. The same thing for the Thieves Guild, it was someone else and the Thalmor spread rumors for it having been the Dragonborn. I believe that the Dragonborn did Dawnguard, Companions, and the Collage of Winterhold. For Dawnguard and Collage of Winterhold it's because there are Dragons in both or those questlines not to mention the fact that in Dawnguard you have to obtain The Elder Scroll (Dragon). For CoW you have to fight an undead Dragon in Labarynthian but the Dragonborn did not become the Arch-Mage instead Tolfdir took that position. For companions I believe the Dragonborn joined and went through everything only to cure himself of Lycanthropy at the end and the Dragonborn refused the position of Harbinger and Vilkas was given that honor.
really good video, i do have few disagreements though, i think that the dragonborn would be willing to help the orcs and malacath, as it is their patron god and initially all you do is gather ingredients and then roped into doing more and more to help the tribe, the dragonborn isnt doing the bidding for malacath then in that sense, i can see the dragonborn also being really on either side of both meridia and the companions, clearing a dungeon of an evil necromancer makes sense to me and ascending the ranks of an anciant warrior organisation make sense to me, and the last is the dark brotherhood, in order to destroy the dark brotherhood the dragonborn must take up arentino mission to kill grelod, and im not neccasarily convinced that the dragonborn would kill the old woman, after all it would seem if she was so deserving of justice the city gaurds would do something well before the dragonborn is called too, rather than doing the whims of a murderous child
Something I’ve noticed is no one talks about it much probably because it’s not said on the quest or really anywhere else, but you can when told to kill parthurnaax inform the greybeards about this, if you do so, you will complete the quest, this still gives you access to the blades and parthurnaax.
Can you do a video on every armor, skill, weapon, enchantment, spell, standing stone, power, and shouts the Dragonborn would take? Not just vanilla, as I don't believe the base game truly captures his true power level, but using all existing mods across the board to make the ultimate "canon" Dragonborn according to the lore? There are a couple videos like this, but I always felt like there was something missing when I made the build. I ended up adding more. What I ended up discovering is that the game is *very* satisfying when you lean into the power fantasy of making your Dragonborn feel like a viltrumite in the universe. It's the only build I can play now. For example I use the following mods: The Ultimate Gear Of The Dragonborn - Deluxe Edition - Xbox Modular Clothing System - 1.0.0 - 512 Edition Immortal Dragonborn [XB1] Forceful Tongue - Shouts Overhaul V3.09.1 Shoutcraft [XB1] Truly Absorb Dragon Souls - Heavy By AdventurerX Ordinator - Perks Of Skyrim [XB1] Odin - Skyrim Magic Overhaul [XB1] KittyTail Spells AiO Summermyst - Enchantments Of Skyrim [XB1] My build based on the armor mods looks like this: *All light armor Helm of the Dragonborn Curiass of the Dragonborn Boots of the Dragonborn Gauntlets of the Dragonborn Smuggler's Armlets Black Fur Neckpiece Amulet of the Dragonborn Shield of the Dragonborn Sword of the Dragonborn Auriel’s Bow Shouts: Unrelenting Force Aura Whisper Become Ethereal Slow Time Disarm Fire Breath Dragonrend Storm Call Dragon Aspect Bend Will Spells are Destruction, Alteration, Conjuration and Restoration with a preference for shock, flesh spells, summoning, and healing magic.
Game: Kill Paarthurnax or lose access to the Blades. Me: Downloads "The Paarthurnax Dilemma" and tells both Esbern and Delphine that they work for ME, not their past grudges, with the power of my Thu'um.
This will always be my head canon for how that whole situation ends. The Blades literally serve the Dragonborn, so why in Oblivion would the Dragonborn go settling a score from centuries gone by that NONE of them (besides Paarthurnax) was around to witness, simply because Delphine said "dragon bad"? It's high-time the Blades understood their place in the pecking order.
I think the only way that you get the quest to destroy the Dark Brotherhood is if you go through Aventus's quest and kill Grelod, which by your rules the Dragonborn wouldn't do. So canon is that the Dark Brotherhood remains intact. My running theory is that for each of the factions there arises someone to take the questline and become the next Listener or the next Archmage in the Dragonborn's place
Dragonborn would probably become a werewolf and then get cured because how could he not help kodlak the cool old nord warrior, without the Dragonborn’s help he’d be doomed to hircines realm
Considering the Imperials tried to cut his innocent head off, I imagine the Dragonborn, if they ever took sides in the Civil War, would fight the Imperials. The Dragonborn would absolutely help Meridia. You’re simply letting your bias blind you to the point you don’t know you’re talking about. Also, given the implication of trapping souls in black gems, he would also side with Azura. As for the Companions, he probably does become a werewolf… and the cures himself at the end.
I think it's worth noting that the game elder scrolls: legends has a card called "young dragonborn" which, at the moment, is the closest thing we have to a reference to the dragonborn in a game that isn't skyrim. And there the dragonborn is a nord woman instead of a nord man, she's dressed exactly the same as the dragonborn in skyrim promotional material.
@@migzy4704 true. There can be more than one. But most of all the dragonborns we know about, very few have ever had the opportunity to kill a dragon and learn the thu'um, and that's what the card's mechanics revolve around. So either she's the last dragonborn, or an unknown dragonborn between Miraak and St. Alessia. Also it was added in the heroes of skyrim expansion which was filled with characters that were in skyrim like Aela the huntress, Ulric Stormcloaks, Ancano, J'zargo, cauldron keeper (which is clearly Arcadia), Jarl Balgruuf, Legate Rikke, Lydia, Brynjolf, Companion Harbinger (which is definitely kodlak whitemane), Emperor Titus Mede II, Innkeeper Delphine, Alduin, and Paarthurnax. So next to those cards it would be odd to assume this card is referring to a character that lived in the merethic or first eras.
My Dragonborn always knows that Skyrim is for the Nords, and as such, the High King is always our boy Ulfric Stormcloak. He was with us in the beginning, and so I'm always with him until the end. There's also some key dialogue during the Stormcloak missions that makes it clear that the enemy is the Aldmeri Dominion and not the different species that inhabit the lands.
Honestly, I think with how intune with Alatosh the dragonborn is, he would likely support the empire, and eventually rally them against the Thalmor and found a new dynasty eventually after the events of Skyrim
That's assuming the Dragonborn even wants to be an Emperor. They could just as easily see the Empire as a shell of it's former self that died with the Septim dynasty, so they'd start a new kingdom in their home of Skyrim. Plus the Dragonborn has basically no chance of taking over the Empire if they don't assassinate Titus Mede, at least not without sparking a gargantuan Civil War. They have no clout in Cyrodiil and High Rock, whereas they're the hero of Skyrim. I doubt they'd really want to be any kind of ruler regardless.
As a relatively new player, I feel like a lot of fans seem to form their idea of the canonical Dragonborn based on trailers and cover art that I never encountered. The notion that he must be a male Nord who favors steel or daedric armour never occurred to me, just playing through the game.
In Elder Scrolls 6, i think will happen just like in "the warp of the west", all the events will be canon, both stormcloaks and the empire will "win" the civil war, the dark brotherhood will kill the emperor and will also be destroyed, and so on, but the thing that i'm like 90% sure is the dragonborn vanishing in some way, shape or form, even after only 200 years we hear little from the oblivion crisis and even less from the hero of kvatch, that's why i'm almost sure we will hear very little from the dragonborn on the next elder scrolls. The other 10% is bethesda defining some canons and a more impactful presence from the prior protagonists onto the game
15:17 for Meridia’s quest, I think there are some other factors in it that might change the outcome here. First is how much knowledge about Meridia can the Dragonborn learn? I don’t think that the Dragonborn could learn about her old champion and all that, so he wouldn’t have your bias from Oblivion. Second is the Beacon. It shows up randomly after you hit a certain level, and once picked up has her shouting at you to heed her command. Either the Dragonborn is irritated by it and refuses, or he’s worried about consequences of failure to obey and goes. Sadly I think the latter is more likely than the former and so he’d help cleanse her temple.
In the case of Meredia your Oblivion bias is showing but also I have to disagree for a very simple reason the Dragonborn is not going to have the knowledge about Meridia to decide not to help her also not doing this quest allows a dangerous necromancer to raise an army of the dead from the fallen of the Civil War which is argueably an extremely evil act. Also again a good number of the decisions are based on assuming the Dovahkiin is a Nord, for Daedric quests a Dunmer or a Khajiit who worship Azura as one of their patron dieties would 100% side with Azura as she is their goddess, also in the case of Namira a Bosmer would have zero qualms against cannabilism as its part of their religion, the meat mandate of the Green Pact is one of the core teachings of Bosmer faith, also personal bias the reward is better with Eola then not as the other you don't get anything from siding with the priest though if I'm honest the Dovahkiin likely would stop with having gotten Eola out of the crypt and not bothering to help her with the Draugr out of being creeped out by her. So yeah I don't even think it would progress beyond that. As for the case of Mehrunes Razor I don't even think the Dragonborn would seek out the fragments they'd realize that what's his name (I've played Skyrim for thousands of hours but I can often forget the names of NPCs if they aren't memorable) is nuts and refuse to collect the Razor fragments so that outright negates things. I do agree on Erandur along with Clavicus Vile, Sanguine and Sheogorath, especially Erandur as the Skull of Corruption is shit and Erandur as a follower is more useful then it especially as he is one of the few followers who is essential and if you don't kill him he reverts to staying so because of how NPCs work which I know from my own modding experiance if you have an NPC flagged as essential they'll generally stay that way. In the case of Sinding though I'm going to have to side with Hircine as Sinding is 100% a criminal both a thief and a child murderer make the case you will about him not having control over his transformations my response is that if you have that problem DON'T live with the rest of society live as hermit in some cabin in the woods both for your own safety and that of others. By going into Falkreath and working there as a laberor Sinding was endangering others, the fact that he also escapes prison after you take the ring from him and he basically tricks you into taking it is also another reason to kill him, if he had good intentions he'd have stayed in prison and faced justice, he obviously doesn't. But also I'm going to have disagree with the core arguements as it kind of negates player choice and we simply don't know for certain also there are established facts that being that all of the events of Skyrim's major quest both the main story and all the joinable factions do 100% occur, Titus Mede's assasination is canon, as is the restoration of the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood; whether ther Dovahkiin is responsible for either is not certain but they do happen. Anyway I've got my disagreements but really there is no right or wrong decision when playing Skyrim other then telling people how to play it, its a game you can play at your own pace and however you want much like Oblivion and Morrowind the difference is that while their stories are set in stone Skyrim hasn't fully been apart from that certain events are going to happen regardless.
I hate the skyrim blades as much as the next guy.... but Paarthurnax is essentially the "Heinrich Himmler" to Alduin's "Adolph Hitler." He redeemed himself, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to die for what he did. I know that's an unpopular opinion, but with the context of all the horrible things he did, I can't just let him go free
I honestly think this is mostly spot on. They would reside mainly in High Hrothgar with the Greybeards, learning more on The Way of The Voice but would also venture throughout Skyrim helping people and finding more words of power. With the civil war, the Dragonborn would stay out of it until one side took it too far(and thatd likely be the stormcloaks) and join the opposing army in a bid to protect innocent people. Eventually joining the Dawnguard against the growing vampire threat and curing Serana of her vampirism. Once the remaining Vampires, Dragons that sided with Alduin or attack villages, and other issues that can cause cataclysmic harm to the people are dealt with theyd eventually leave the Greybeards to start a family to continue their bloodline in case their future descendents needed a new Dovahkiin to rise and protect the people.
I don't think it's right to assume that the Dragonborn would even be involved in most of these quests. A Nord Warrior becoming the Archmage because... the old Archmage died and they played a role in avenging them and saving the college? Surely the Archmage should actually have some sort of scholarly or pedagogical tendencies-the only reason you can become the Archmage is because the faction quests were all designed incredibly lazily.
My greatest fear is ES6 coming around and finding out that the dragonborn canonically killed Paarthurnax
STOP!
No fucking way they would. There'd be riots.
They can't do that because it violates the point in making it a players choice
@gtrb5628 Tbf It wasn't really a choice, you couldn't finish the quest without killing him
@@waszmoscaiden1242 true but if you complete the main quest before doing it you could argue that it's not canon
For blood on the ice, the Dragonborn would actually not complete the quest. Not because of his morals or anything, but because it would glitch out and forever leave the Dragonborn feeling incomplete
Nice
Oh, so that is a thing that happens? I thought I just messed up, but I guess I now have this strange amulet in my inventory forever.
Mine glitched after I sold the amulet...it stayed in my inventory, I got the gold, and could keep selling it
Nahhh fr, finishing that quest was a nightmare
When you achieve CHIM and get pissed off because of the bugs.
My favorite mod is "the Parthuurnax dilemma". Basically lets you put Delphine in her place - remind her YOU are the dragonborn, and that she serves you, not the other way around.
yeah I like that mod but the voicing issue needs to be addressed. Theres plenty of samples of Delphine and Esberns voices, they could use AI to fix it.
@@ChaotiX1There’s actually way better alternatives out there than “The Parthuurnax Dilemma” that use newer AI voices and even spliced vanilla dialogue.
@@AttakusZakus can you name some of these alternatives? I would love a few options, as I looked high and low for any at all and came up empty handed.
@@ChaotiX1 One is “Paarthurnax - Quest Expansion” by jayserpa.
@@ChaotiX1the jayserpa one, as the other person mentioned, is much, MUCH better. On top of adding the option to shut Delphine tf down, it also delivers the issue in a way that is much less black and white. All characters deliver way more convincing arguments for why it might be wise to kill paarthurnax. And it's all voiced. Everything Jay does is very good, recommend installing his collection Gate to Sovngarde.
Imagine the ES6 pulls a Witcher and asks you what your previous actions were in previous games.
That’s would be great, and perhaps if you already had Skyrim installed on the same console it could read your save data.
Like mass effect
I really like that idea, however that scene was kinda inserted into the story of the witcher 3 and the events of the second game have little impact on 3. I would hope es6 follows suit and is far removed from Skyrim, only addressing events that affect tamrial as a whole
@dutchalfred553 the problem with that is that I would have too many different saves with different choices
@@dutchalfred553sort of like minecraft story mode did with s2
'You're too young to remember the Dragonborn, used the bend will shout on some dragons and told both the imperials and stormcloaks to use them as mounts and destroyed the aldmeri dominion' - Neloth on Elder Scrolls VI probably
Would this be before or after the Dragonborn had legitimate claim to become Emperor due to his Dragon blood?
@@MellowDarkflowerMy headcanon ending is that the Dragonborn uses the Blades as the core of founding his own faction in the civil war, and through charisma, religious zeal and pure badassery, convinces huge numbers of troops to desert from both the Stormcloaks and the Legion in Skyrim, being proclaimed Talos reborn and the true heir to Tiber Septim.
He then defeats or persuasion checks the remaining jarls and generals (maybe both Tullius and Ulfric) into supporting him and then seizes the Imperial City.
And yes, the Dragonborn then uses dragons to burn the Aldmeri Dominion to cinders.
I'd be quite happy if that happened (or was implied in books and dialogue in-game) and then the Dragonborn "disappeared" off on another adventure (like the Nerevar) by the time of TES6, and the Dragonborn's child sat on the Ruby Throne (one of the adopted children from Hearthfire) so they didn't even have to commit to a race for the Dragonborn.
I think the civil war would stop naturally, why ? A dragonborn have have come, nords would follow him as he is “heir” of Talos, and imperials would see this as a opportunity to peace, and Skyrim. I think with the dragonborn, the empire would restore greatness, as he is one race of men(nord), the thalmor would be crushed in the continent by this new empire.
@@antiochus87that's honestly a really cool idea. I might do something like that in the story I'm writing on about the Dragonborn.
@@MellowDarkflowerthe main issue is can the dragon blood be passed on, as their title is "the last" dragonborn
Delphine forgets herself, the Blades exist to serve the Dragonborn, not the other way around, that was what their vary organization was built to do.
Delphine seems to believe the Dragonborn should serve the blades and that the blades hold a more important position then the dragonborn does and that she can give orders to the dragonborn.
I tend to ignore them after i've gotten all I need from them, because without the dragonborn the blades will fall yet again, but the dragonborn remains.
Delphine is a Blade, but Dragonborn is eternal
*Doom E1M1 intensifies*
I mean, yes, but also no. The Blades, by that point, had long since learned how to act without the Dragonborn, for their own ends. They were using the Dragonborn as a figure head, and Delphine specifically to fight the elves. The Dragonborn and the organization were simply a means to an end for her.
I'm thinking the quest, and Delphine herself, was some sort of metaphor for game development corporations.
The great part about Hircine's quest is that no matter what choice You make, He's still chill with You
Honestly Hircine is one of the more chill Daedra, if you have a successful hunt in his honor, awesome; if you're the quarry and successfully evade his hunt he'll reward you as well
@@EbikingViking992 "Tell everyone that when the day is out we shall have a wedding. Or a hanging. Either way, we're gonna have a lot of fun, huh?"
That’s the only one I think he missed on why would the dragon born help a thief and murderer break out of jail and restore himself if the dragon born is a noble warrior makes no sense and just bc you help hircine dispose of the guy doesn’t mean he has your soul like becoming a werewolf does so
@zebrachair2264 You don't help Sinding escape though. You go aftee the white elk and try to get Sinding cured. Tgen he just goes wolf mode and breaks himself out. Makes total sense for a good guy to do this.
@@EbikingViking992he’s the prince of the hunt. He blesses whoever comes out on top, hunter or hunted
If they ever do establish a canon for what the Dragonborn did or didn't do, I really hope they make them a more interesting character than just "they were a good boy who always did the right thing".
Interesting???.... your not being very specific. Interesting to you? Interesting to...a specific majority? Interesting romantically? Sexually? Intellectually?... he's got a BIG...PEN- SMILE... what kind of interesting?
Actually, that's not a terrible idea. Play up how the playerbase act with the Dovahkiin: Have him be a dumb, dangerous, power-hungry and aggressive caveman, but one with a heart of gold. And, as a requirement, he ratted out the Blades to Elenwen for the mere suggestion of turning on Paarthurnax.
Literally canonically takes the place of Miraak. A similar tragedy to the hero of Kvatch.
Yea i hope hes both a hero and is super ambitious and opportunistic. Like making a bid for the high kingship
Well we don’t have a clear idea of who they are besides they kill Alduin which suggests they are good. Since that’s all we have we’ve gotta assume that they are generally good.
The Molag Bal quest is a little more complicated than just "he wouldn't do it", as the Dragonborn wouldn't know it's a Daedric quest at the start, merely thinking they're helping a Vigilant of Stendarr investigate a haunted house. Then they'd get trapped in there and be forced to kill the vigilant to escape (even if the vigilant attacks them first). So, there isn't really a way of getting out of that quest without blood on their hands.
Yeah, out of all quests this is the one that annoyed me the most. In my headcanon, after Molag Bal forced them to kill the Vigilant in self defense, the Dragonborn freed the priest of Boethiah and sided with him, helped him to quench Molag Bal's power once again. Even if Boethiah's quest in this game is one of the most evil, there is a reason the Dunmer worship them as one of the good guys. It's because, out of their domain of rebeldom, independence and the fight against tyranny, good consequences may arise, even if (unbeknownst to the Dunmer) Boethiah does not really care about consequences and just enjoys the conflict for it's own sake and is still definitely firmly evil (but not capital EVIL like Molag Bal)
My personal solution was to free and then kill the priest of Boethiah. This fails the quest. I'd say that killing a deadra worshipper doesn't count as being evil, at least in this case.
Excpet there's some people you can talk to in Dragon's Bridge who know the Boethiah cultist and consider him a friend. That one particular cultist happens to also be one of the few genuinely good ones @erenust
The azura quest isn't so simple either considering the only real use for a black soul gem is to trap the souls of intelligent beings and condemn their souls to the soul carn forever
@@theenigma8494 yea idk if this guy pays attention to any of the lore when making these dumbass choices tbh. This video is kind of ass
The only canonical trait of the Dragonborn is that they were a stealth archer.
Over 10 playthrough and all ended up as stealth archers😂😂
I'm the gung ho time of guy
@@Shadow47829 Bet your Sneak and Archery skills are still 70+, even if you haven't perked into them at all. 😄
@@thefrozenyak5272 Bro where TF are the cameras there at 73 and 78???
Overrated+gay+no maidens+cringe
The main quest leads the Dragonborn to the negotiation table, so I imagine he'd be neutral. After being told the peace wouldn't last, I'd like to think he'd say whoever breaks the ceasefire first is going to see him in the opposing army. That would give Ulfric and Tullius pause.
He would join the Companions, and probably get himself cured by the end of things. He'd probably join the College to learn more about magic, and how to defend himself against it, but would still use his sword or bow to actually fight. The Brotherhood would be destroyed, because the Dragonborn is not easily cowed by some woman who managed to kidnap him while he slept.
Harkon and Miraak both die, bringing him more power and glory.
I personally chose to believe the dragon born would save miraak with the bend will shout.
@@Milkster86 I remember a mod about that, actually. While Miraak is obviously a victim of Herma Mora, I don't remember if he really has any redeemable qualities to make him worth saving. He's basically the dark side of a dragonborn. someone who wants to rule the world, and subject everyone to his authority. Probably throw in some destruction of things he doesn't like as well. What would the dragonborn do? Take him to Arngeir to learn the Way of the Voice?
The dragon born would not become werewolf because he doesnt know he can get cured
I honestly think he'd be more concerned with destroying the Thalmor. I don't think he'd concern himself too much with the civil War, other than somebody breaking the peace treaty. Which most likely means he'd probably kill ulfric stormcloak, for breaking said treaty. General tullius is an honorable man, and a man of his word. Ulfric stormcloak is hard-headed, hot blooded, and just out for blood, regardless of the consequences.
The funny thing is, is the original plans for Miraak, we're for him to betray hermas more a completely, and side with the dragonborn, that's becoming a follower and companion. The combined power of the first and last dragonborn were meant to defeat the Thalmor once and for all, as the Thalmor represents a threat to literally all of existence.
The Civil War and the Dark Brotherhood both have "backdoors" on how they would still get completed even without the Dragonborn. Note that, with the Dark Brotherhood, even if you destroy them, the Night Mother is still around, along with Cicero and Babette. Babette might become the new Listener, or they'll assassinate the Emperor in revenge - one way or another, we still have either Babette or Cicero taking down the Emperor on his own boat, even if the Dragonborn slaughtered them all.
Yeah I definitely gotta agree with you on the Dark Brotherhood killing the emperor regardless of whether or not the Dragonborn joins them.
I feel like the faction questlines (Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, College of Winterhold, and Companions) are canonically done by different people, but because this is a video game the player is able to fulfill those events.
However, I do think that the Dawnguard questline is still done by the dragonborn because of the scope of the quests, and how it involves the use of Elder Scrolls.
@@drakejoshofficialyoutubech5569 If the Dragonborn doesnt join the Thieves Guild. Who do you think rebuilds it/does it in his place? I can see it being Brynjolf & Karliah. With Brynjolf remaining as the new Guild Master. While Karliah handles the Nightingale aspect/side of the Guild
In past TES games, Bethesda has established that every non-mutually exclusive quest does happen. It’s just somebody else that does it. So likely, in TES6, we’ll find out that somebody else came along and restored the dark brotherhood, especially because they’re one of the most popular factions and their Skyrim quest had such major implications for the lore
And it’s also canon that the thieves guild returns to its former glory, even if you kill them all. It doesn’t matter if you move your hand or not in the major plots of the game, it happens independently, even the daedric quests. I usually like to think that I’m a Dragonborn not committed to save the world without sacrifices. Namira and Boethia for example are DQs that take your ethics and beliefs to their extremes but in the end you’re in the top and in possession of artifacts that now you can safeguard from true evil people. The Daedric lords always remind us that we are not their only pawn, and I couldn’t imagine the possibilities if it was other than ourselves there collecting the artifacts. They can’t claim our soul to any plane of oblivion cause we are too strong and a fraction of Akatosh, so it’s fair game after all.
The DB and the TG are other examples. You can take control and kill them all so they will be represented and feared in your figure. We don’t know about how much impact it would make in Tamriel with people knowing they’re gone so they are basically needed, and who’s their best reflection? The civil war would be the tricky one but in the end he would follow the past emperors, align with the imperials and become the last emperor of Tamriel.
You're right that Bethesda deliberately designs their game around leaving player choice open. One thing they also did, especially in Morrowind, is set up conflicting accounts of historical events with no clear answer (with conflicting stories in lore books about Almsivi and the Nerevarine prophecies for example).
Those different accounts are all canon due to the Dragon Breaks.
@@jamescooley8099 That's Hammerfall events
Dragon breaks are the solution they created to make all their lore variants possible at the same time. This is why you have multiple variants of one god existing at the same time
@@cime62
You mean Mannimarco? Wasn’t that the Middle Dawn?
@@jamescooley8099 I mean Auriel and Akatosh
For Azura's Star the good ending for it is returning it to it's proper place, as it becomes the black star and can infinitely trap human souls in it if you give it to the wizard. As a Nord warrior, depriving the souls of the chance as Sovangarde is probably a big no. In lore the black star is only able to contain black souls. Black souls are those of sentient, humanoid beings, such as Men, Mer, Argonians, Khajiit, and Dremora, whereas white souls are those of animals and certain lesser Daedra. Therefore the good option is returning Azura's Star to its rightful owner. The reason it's able to still capture white souls is likely an oversight by Bethesda.
For my Dragonborn, I chose as neutral an option as I could in a somewhat roundabout way. I had the wizard fix the star so that Azura would not torment others with it in the future, but I then locked it safely away at home and refused to use it for any purpose, thereby not trapping any human souls. Not sure if that counts, but it’s a back door I found for myself.
@@leetyrrell I'm not sure, since it'll eventually return to her eventually, she just didn't want to wait.
Animals are sentient. Do you mean sophonce?
@@MammothMorals sentient and sapient is what I meant, but really I just copied the part of the description from a wiki
@@SebasTian58323 sapience is more like the level of a gorilla or a dolphin. Sophont is human level or higher.
Restoring Azura's Star is the good choice. The black star enslaves sentient people in the soul cairn.
You can just choose not to use it to enslave people. But surely some people deserve it like that bastard Ancanno.
@@Vantud391 Some players have argued that per lore the Black Star should not be able to trap white souls, which would make chosing it even worse.
The Dragonborn would not know that until much later in his life when he fights an army of vampires. Therefore per the video’s logic, he would still go for the black star
@@zeroone8800it's not supposed to, that's a bug they it does. Hell, even the dude who gives you the thing says white souls can't enter
I feel like making the black star is not really smart choice lore wise, like necromancers could use the star for grand works of evil and especially with the star now being out of the Azusa’s control it can only lead to disaster down the line
I'm pretty sure the hero of kavatch is now lord sheogorath. Since the old one split in the dlc and you inherited his throne
Yeah that's true.
Every hero you play disapear never to be seen again:
1. The Eternal Champion (Arena) or the agent (Daggerfall) are normies (dead)
2. The Nerevarine sailed to Akavir and is probebly still alive 4E 201 because the Nerevarine can not age and is a one man army (killed gods)
3. The Hero of Kavatch turned into a god after defeating 2 gods
4. The Dragonborn killed a god and is now more or less part of Apocrypha
@@edelzocker8169 Wait, which god did the Dragonborn kill?
@@TheNotoriousDUDE Alduin?
@@edelzocker8169 Alduin isn't a god, he's just a particularly powerful dragon; maybe a demigod if you're generous.
Also, assuming that the Dragonborn had already met Serana by the time they get to the Molag Bal quest, there's no way that they would side with Molag Bal. They would have known what Molag Bal did to Serana, and siding with the Daedric prince would just be a huge middle finger to their friendship.
Well Serana offered herself to Molag Bal while being fully aware what it would take to become a vampire and she stayed a vampire for centuries, which indicate no hatred toward Molag Bal. I think she is more neutral to Molag Bal than anything else, just a god she had a accord with to gain immortality
@@akirawiskizofrene She was being forced by Harkon, also she definitely hates Molag Bal. Serana did not want to do it she was just forced by her power hungry terrible father and her mother
@@akirawiskizofreneThats how religious trauma works. She was raised that way. It's still atrocious and wrong
I think they would have followed him before meeting Serena
@@akirawiskizofrenefor one, she was in a cult. and for another she was manipulated by her parents to do it most likely. and she talks about “running around these parts of the castle as a little vampire girl” so she was obviously young. Bro is acting like she consented to rape.
Interesting video! One thing that strucks me when I think about a canon dragonborn are the shout locations. In my latest playthrough of Skyrim I attempted to make a "semi-canon" Dragonborn, one that made sense to the lore but was also interesting for me as a player, so I created him as a nord that is loyal to the Graybeards and follows the Way of the Voice, so what made sense to me as a goal to the character was to collect ALL of the shouts (more as a way to know the voice rather than a power seeking) and this is where things got weird. You HAVE to complete the guild quests in order to have access to all of the shouts, the only exception is the Dark Brotherhood (you can decimate them and still get their shout inside the hideout). So Bethesda kinda hints heavily on the idead that the Dragonborn was the master of all the three main guilds (companions, thieves and mages).
Not sure that the Dragonborn would even tolerate Eola seeing as she suggests the Dragonborn might be a cannibal himself when they first meet. So I think the speech option that causes Eola to become hostile is the most likely choice for the Dragonborn to make.
well, it depends if he joined the companions I'd say. at some point the dragonborn might be subjected to a certain bloodlust/powerlust
My dragonborn straight up disengaged dialogue and one shot her wwith a bow,=. Yes you can do that
_"Eating a human heart doesn't count! I was learning about its alchemical properties!"_
@@lucaseberhardt9198which also depends on joining the inner circle.
Na I think the dragonborn would string her along, so he could get to their sanctum and be able to slaughter all the other cannibals too, like I did.
I believe there’s a concept within the Elder Scrolls meta lore that says “If the main character didn’t do a task, then the task would’ve been done cononically by an unnamed character”. Essentially a way of saying that the Dragonborn doesn’t have to be the leader of every guild or champion to every Daedric Prince in a single playthrough to be considered canon. This means that the Emperor always dies, the Archmage always gets killed in the College of Winterhold and a thief becomes Nocturnal’s new champion. However Bethesda will always come up with a canon ending that fits the optimistic profile of their protag for the next game.
I’m not sure about the total legitimacy but it does make a good theory. The guys at FudgeMuppet have made a few good videos about this concept, which I believe may be called “Dragonbreaks”.
I always thought that Black Star is the evil choice. It's basically turned into torture device for the humanoid soul trapped there. They get sent to soul cairn and wander aimlessly for eternity.
But if Dragonborn used it for out of necessity for punishing great evil (which is not happening in game lore), it would be make sense more and make it a much more relevant artifact.
Afaik, the lesser soul in normal soul gem/Azura star doesn't get transferred into any realm of restlessness like soul cairn.
It is. The video maker is interpreting it for all the necromancers out there. And on a pure gameplay standpoint the dark star is "better". Since people, elves, and beast folk are the most numerous foes in Tamriel. What people forget is there is only one Asura Star in the game. If you want to stockpile people souls you still have to make black soul gems by the dozen. Jokes on them I guess.
Not so sure about lesser souls trapped in black soul gems avoiding the soul cairn. You find arvak in there and I'm pretty sure I've seen the souls of cows in the soul cairn too! It might be uncommon, as wasting black soul gems/black star on lesser souls is stupid, but arvak is evidence enough that it happens.
Azura's plane is pretty chill tbh, since she wants everything in her realm to be as beautiful as possible you'd be doing the animals a favor by soul trapping them, they'd be eternally taken care of
If I remember correctly there's a bug that makes the dark version of the star able to absorb both types of souls, so gameplay wise the "good option" is nothing but a loss
@@Realgar-J Was it ever patched? If so what version of Skyrim was it last effective on? Asking for a friend in Minecraft of course.
I honestly had no Idea there was a way to save the Gildergreen without harming its mother tree.😅
I think it's only an option if the guy in the temple comes up and asks to come with you to the tree. You then have to take his advice from there. I had several playthroughs before he came up to me at all. Years after my first one.
You arent saving the gildergreen, you are replacing it with a new tree
To me is one of the most beautiful quests in the game with a deep meaning, the choice between trying to repair something or start new.
Only two I disagree with Meridia and Malacath. Meridia's quest touches on an evil necromancer tormenting the souls of the warrior dead and as a Nord warrior such an act would likely supersede the Dragonborn's distaste of the Daedra if only to free the souls of the dead from torment. Second with Malacath the orcs though servants of a Daedra are involved in what would clearly be a war with the giants and as such might be too much of a chance for greater glory and fame than a true Nord warrior might be willing to skip past.
And Azura's Star the good ending for it is returning it to it's proper place, as it becomes the black star and can infinitely trap human souls in it if you give it to the wizard. As a Nord warrior, depriving the souls of the chance as Sovangarde is probably a big no.
Honestly I don't remember whether the Nord warrior pictured helped Azura or not from the video. But if he didn't then yeah, any chance to allow honorable souls a chance at Sovangarde would be completely in character and thus he would probably help Azura. So I agree with you entirely.@@SebasTian58323
@@cstains5543 in the video, the Nord Dragonborn did indeed help the wizard guy, and the video even mentioned the black star as the reward. And thanks!
@@SebasTian58323
Definitely what i was thinking. Given the close-knit history Skyrim and Morrowind have, and seeing the parallels/similarities between the Neravarine and the Dovahkiin, serving Azura would only strengthen this connection further
I encourage you to read “The Disaster at Red Mountain” and “The War on the First Council.” Both have recollection of the Chimer and Dwemer uniting and defeating the Nord invaders, of whom were initially tearing through them with the power of Thu’um. Told from the Nord and Chimer perspectives, respectively
What the video seemed to imply was that Daedra are inherently evil, while the Aedra are not/the opposite. This is patently false. The Daedra are generally identical kin to the Aedra, save that they declined to help create Mundus and thus didn't become weakened and less conscious.
Thus, the idea that LDB would oppose Daedra or aid Aedra by default is just nonsense.
In the Dragonorn DLC, I think that the Dragonborn would avoid siding with Hermaus Mora after killing Miraak
It's not a matter of choice. Just the same as how those Seekers didn't have a choice in becoming that way. Miraak himself didn't have a choice.
@@VelaiciaCreatorMiraak did. He chose to be a servant because of his lust for power. Thing is he thought he could trick the god/ deadra of knowledge.
@@migzy4704 Is that not a trick in and of itself?
@@VelaiciaCreatorMiraak was also exposed to Mora's influence over a far longer period. I'd like to think the Dragonborn's fate with Mora depends on if they pursued and used the other Black books that weren't necessary to stopping Miraak.
@@VelaiciaCreator Miraak did have a choice, when Vahlok and the Dragons came to destroy him, he turned to Mora and entered Apocrypha to survive, instead of allowing himself to die and go to Sovngarde.
At the end of the DLC you leave Apocrypha and Neloth tells you, that no signs of permanent Mora influence are on you. From there on simply never give in to Mora ever again.
you can kill both madanach and the silver bloods at the end of Cihdna mine. You have to escape with madanach and right when you’re leaving into markarth you kill madanach so then the silver blood guy rewards you as if you sided with him and then the forsworn still cut him & the guards down, then you kill the forsworn too. Perfect end to that quest as you get to deal with everyone and still get both the rewards (armor & ring)
Wow didn't know definitely gonna do that next playthrough
Just so you know, after talking with Thonar, he walks onto α bridge around 70 feet above the rest of Markarth, and the Unrelenting Force shout exists.
I sometimes wonder if the developers had even considered Delphine would go on to be so universally hated to the point I wouldn't be surprised if the complete collapse of the blades becomes canon.
I feel like the dragonborn would complete the companions quest line to rid themselves of the werewolf curse
Well, ridding yourself of the Werewolf curse is logical at this step. But the problem is that the curse is not just randomly happening to you, you must willingly go to the Underforge and let Skjor do this to you. Now you can play a really dumb Dragonborn, who does not really understand what this implies and only just understands that now he is cursed afterwards and then has to find a cure to lift this curse again but to me getting yourself infected with Lycanthropy willingly is the un-Dragonborn-y thing to begin with.
@@Maxuras Yes, you would have to do it willingly. The Dragonborn would not willingly take on a curse.
@@MaxurasYou could roleplay a Dragonborn that felt pressured into doing this. Both Aela and Skjor are trusted authority figures for the Dragonborn. That may be hard to believe after slaying Alduin but in general I feel it makes sense to do your Guild Quests before slaying Alduin so you can tell Tsun who you are the leader of.
@@theentity1839you can see Kodlak in Sovngarde, you've right
_Kodlak Whitemane:_ "We werewolves cannot go to Soverngard. We are cursed forver to hunt endlessly along Hiricine for all eternity!"
_The Dragonborn, who just got back from Soverngard after defeating Alduin:_ 😏
Cringe.
I would say that the Dragonborn helped the Empire, but only after the mission at the Thalmor Embassy where he learned that the Thalmor had been fanning the flames of war to keep the Empire and Skyrim weak. But after the conflict is over and the Empire can focus on preparing for a second war, he would leave the Empire to deal with his other, more pressing matters.
Like swiping all the Daedric artifacts he can get his grubby mitts on.
"deadliest group of assassins on the continent"
*angry morag tong noises*
I couldn't kill Paarthurnax. It just didn't make any sense. I'm supposed to accept that thousands of years helping humanity is worth nothing? No. I refuse. I'm the dragonborn. The blades belong to me. I'm immortal. I'll just wait for Esbern and Delphine to die and then I'll take over the blades with my main man Paarthurnax. Probably combine the blades and greybeards. It'll be a grand time.
Once. For the achievement. I then reloaded the game and caused a dragon break. ;)
If you murder one man, then save the life of another, will society overlook the first ?
Honestly, if I had the option I'd just straight-up kick Delphine out of Sky Haven. She's just a bossy, self-important bitch who doesn't know her place and thinks she's a bigger deal than she really is.
@@johnrocks7784 I ... well shit. From a roleplaying perspective, I can totally see your logic there. If I had to convince my grandfather not to kill him, I think that would be his unwavering answer as well. There are no exceptions. I can respect that.
However, only a sith deals in absolutes. I will do what I must. I shall defend Naxy to my dying breath.
@@johnrocks7784yeah, I don't even care about the morality of kill Parthy, but you know, a dragon soul is a dragon soul, and shouts don't unlock themselves.
Great video honestly
The only thing i disagree with is the malacath quest, i think the dovakhin would help the orcs through their hardship but not accept Volendrung as a reward, it might seem evil to help restore malacaths shrine but i think letting the orc clan suffer is something a hero would'nt do
No chance he's a hero tho if I had shouts I'm Killin Elsif the fair and stealing solitude so atleaat my dragon born wasn't a hero
I personally think the only quests that the Dragonborn would really get involved in would be the Main Quest Line (without killing Paarturnax), the Dawnguard where he sides with the Dawnguard, and the Dragonborn quest. I also think he would kill every single Thalmor that he would come across, since I think he went to Skyrim to get rid of the Thalmor to begin with. I also think that the Dragonborn would in fact read the Oghma Infinium however, since you have to go to Septimus Signas to know where the Elder Scroll is. All of the other questlines such as the Companions, College of Winterhold, Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood would end up being done by other people, and not the Dragonborn. maybe he would become the Harbinger of the Companions and the Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold, but it could also be someone else that would end up doing that. I think someone else would also become the master of both the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood, like that Khajiit or Argonian stealth archer that ya'll like to meme about. As for Daedric Quests, I think the only ones the Dragonborn would do, would be the one for the Oghma Infinium (like mentioned), the Dawnstar Nightmare Plague (without killing that priest of Mara) and the one for Clavicus Vile (he would keep Barbas as a companion though), while all of the other Daedric Quests would end up being done by other people. As for all of the other quests that could be possibly completed, I think those would probably be done by others, and not the Dragonborn. I also agree on the Dragonborn not getting involved with the Civil War and being neutral, despite how fucked the Empire is anyways. Killing Nazeem would definitely be something that the Dragonborn would do, since everyone does it.
Sheogorath's quest in Skyrim all but confirms that the Oblivion protagonist did the Thieves' Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines as well as the Shivering Isles expansion.
He talks about how he "was there for that whole sordid affair" with "butterflies, a fox, a severed head [...]" alluding to a few key moments from those three major questlines. Lucien Lachance's ghost and the last names of a few characters in the Skyrim version also basically confirms the Dark Brotherhood questline from Oblivion happened even if it doesn't directly confirm the Oblivion protagonist did it.
The point being that there's still some ambiguity as to the morality of past Bethesda protagonists too. I mean, there's what I just cited but there's also literally no mention of Jyggalag anywhere in Skyrim other than books that already existed before the 4th Era, so despite what I said it's even technically questionable if Shivering Isles happened.
I also think the dragonborn would remain neutral in the Civil War. The fact that the main quest line has a quest to bring a temporary truce almost confirms this imo.
As a Stormcloak supporter I hope the truce becomes canon and both sides fight side by side against the thalmor.
As ideal as the truce outcome sounds, I have a bad feeling that the empire is going to wind up destabilized to the extent of the civil war being pointless and the Dominion taking advantage of the chaos to seize large portions of Tamriel, possibly leading into the next game.
First play through I refused to take a side
The Empire is the correct choice. The thalmer need to die, though. Also, the stormcloaks are racist
Another point about not killing paarthurnax: the Dragonborn and Delphine are centuries removed from the crimes of paarthurnax, so you could argue that killing him would be considered petty, despite the history of the blades.
This put so much into perspective for me, especially the stuff about the Civil War, and the Saadia vs Alik'r conundrum(s). Thank you for such a great video!
For the Ebony Blade, I typically remove it from Dragonsreach because of the influence it has on the people there, especially the children. If there was an option in the game to talk to the jarl to tell him what has been going on, I would have taken that option. The dark influence of Mephala on the jarl’s son is a dark cloud on the horizon. Thinking of the repercussions, it would be best to get that weapon out of Whiterun ASAP. Seriously. Throw that monstrosity into the Sea of Ghosts where it is away from people, and therefore less likely to cause harm.
I always thought that the dragonborns nature to dominate would cause him to only make decisions that benefit himself and give him more power
Not necessarily. They’re the Dragonborn, not an actual dragon, so they might not have the same drive to dominate an actual dragon would, and as someone specifically chosen by an Aedra to be their champion, even if they were driven to dominate, they tend to at least start out tending to be good, I’d guess. Of course, they could end up as a daedra worshipping vampire lord leading the dark brotherhood or whatever but that might require a lot of things going sideways and wrong for them first.
What nature to dominate?
@@Mkrause762 Parthurnaax tells the Dragonborn that dragons were made to dominate and since Dragonborn is essentially a dragon in a human body it would make sense for him/her to have a desire to be dominant aka the most Powerful guy around, so if there were to be a guy more powerful than him/her they would just develop there power until they are the strongest being around.
That is how domination works after all
@@Mkrause762 Dragons have an innate desire to dominate and every time cyrodil had a dragonborn emperor they tended to conquer their neighbors
Consider also that just learning a word of power you have to take its meaning into your being fire=passion Dragonrend=the fear and hate of dragons that the ancient nord's poured into creating that shout.
Maybe the true dragonborn is all the stealth archers we made along the way
I feel the dragonborn would do the Merida quest and Malacath quest. He would be helping people, so he would have his own motivations. Companions quest is more up in the air.
For meridia's quest, i personally think it'd be possible the Dragonborn would hear about a necromancer being the culprit, at least decide to "agree" to investigate and see what is going on in the subtext, then when he sees what it is, actively decide to go all in, especially since if i recall, the necromancer was one of two (the other being the redguard what's her name in the nord crypt) who for one reason or another planned to basically destroy or overrun Skyrim with an undead army. Which the Dragonborn would definitely have both a moral want and a vested interest in preventing. For the Companions, I'd wager he'd join and rise fully through the ranks on the note of how he hears kodlak is trying to find a way to cure it, understanding that there could be a way to, so not thinking too much of it. With his suspicion obviously (for us as players at least) coming true later in the questline by way of the magic of the glenmoril coven of witches. To follow that up, I'd wager hircine's quest would depend on what the companion stance is. If he doesn't become a werewolf in it, definitely sinding during hircine's quest. If he does however, I'd wager it'd depend how much control he has gained over the transformation. Afterall, we know the player loses control completely and rampages upon the first transformation. And while aela says following that the Dragonborn gained control, do we truly know to what actual extent? Obviously complete control in terms of gameplay mechanics, but lore wise? How do we know for sure that lore wise and canon wise he/she has that much control? If the Dragonborn has any amount of a tenous control over the transformation, I'd see a perfectly valid reason to side with hircine for the purified ring to help control the transformations so he doesn't end up in sinding's predicament. Even if he empathizes with sinding. The moral argument of "this person did this, they already did the act, I'm at potential risk of it if i don't prevent it, justice for the deceased girl would be obtained if i did this, and i will get what I need to keep myself from making a similar mistake ". Add points if one thinks the Dragonborn would still blame sinding for some reason, such as if he hadn't stolen the ring, but perhaps either sought a different way to control his transformations, or at the very least got the ring legitimately through hircine's favor, he wouldn't have ended up with the cursed version of the ring that caused what he did, thus him still being to blame and an irredeemable murderer through and through. Depending on the view or mindset that could go either way. Lastly, I'd like to mention the quest regarding wolfskull cave and afterward potema septim. While not involving choices, the Dragonborn would do that for rather obvious reasons. Saving innocent lives. And Skyrim as a whole.
You got it all backwards. Siding with Sinding is what gets you the Ring of Hircine. Siding with Hircine is what gets you the Savior’s Hide.
The way Bethesda supports player choice makes me think they'll have the Thalmor decimate Skyrim so it really didn't matter what side you chose.
I assume it's gonna be irrelevant which side you pick because as soon as Pale Pass is cleared of the avalanche that Alduin caused, the Empire will send an entire Legion of Legionarres who will retake control of the province. And I say that even as I wholeheartedly support the Stormcloaks on every playthrough... they have no hope against true Imperial Legionarres.
The Thalmor are literally working to destroy the world. They are systematically destroying the earth bones to bring about the end to the current era. Skyrim's Throat of the World is just one of those towers. Considering that the Last Dragonborn took Miraak's place, the Greybeards would be what stands between them and the destruction of that mountain.
@@charleswest782why would you support the stormcloaks if you arent a nord? They would try to throw you out the second the war is over. “Skyrim is for the nords!” And ulfric is a cheater
@@charleswest782they can't do that. Tullius isn't just cut-off because of the avalanche, but also because the Empire's legions are holed up in forts along the border with the Aldmeri Dominion. As both Imperials and Thalmor representatives you meet seem to think a new Great War is just about to erupt I doubt the E.pire is in any position to send Legions into Skyrim to curb the rebellion. If I had to.guess what they'll do is have the Skyrim Civil War be the spark that re-ignites the Great War, and the matter of who has won in Skyrim just won't be addressed as wherever the game takes place in will just have more important things to worry about.
the thalmor wouldnt be able to invade skyrim as it would be impossible to sail to skyrim or march armies across cyrodill/hammerfell. the thalmor wouldnt waste resources and leave themselves exposed to an empire attack or more likely, a sea elf invasion
I first thought this was a poll or popularity-based vid on the majority of the fandoms choices, but I do appreciate the amount of research you put into this vid. 👍🏾
While i would never encourage the murder of Parthurnax. Something i think people over look is that when the Dragonborn absorbes a new shout, it becomes part of them. So after aquirering Dragonrend, a shout made from hatred for all dovahs and designed to force them to comprehend mortality. Which im sure is quite literally the most horrible and traumatic thing that can happen to a dovah. While i still cant say yea or nea i personally think the Dragonborn would now posses the willingness to kill Parthurnax.
But since the drsgonborn has dragon blood he's kind of a dragon maybe he does like paarthurnax and overcomes that hatred with meditation and discipline etc
@@Bardwellbarbell let's hope so
The dragon born probably wouldnt know about meridias past given their seeming lack of knowledge of anything about skyrim or mythology (judging by their dialogue options) as such being told that theres an evil necromancer who when u go through the dungeon has seemingly mutilated tens if not hundreds of soldiers and presumably innocent individuals and raised an army of the undead, killing him would be the logical choice.
Whether the dragonborn then takes dawnbreaker which spreads meridias influence or not can be debated but your reasons for why the dragonborn wouldnt do the quest is based on knowledge its unlikely the dragon born would have.
Siding with Azura makes her beholden to you, not the other way around. Would totally side with her (perhaps because of past Morrowind experience?).
Agree on sparing Silas, although I'd probably have just quit and insisted he just display the shards, rather than participate in reforging the blade (which means abandoning the quest, which I have done in-game).
On Mephala, I absolutely would get that door open to try to stop the evil thing preying on children, but yeah, no way would the quest move beyond that.
I usually cleanse Meridia's temple as I didn't remember Knights of the Nine, but in the moment it also seems the thing to do, defeating a necromancer.
In the Malacath quest, I think I would abandon the quest at the point where the chief asks me to help him. Prior to that, I'm just helping out, but at that point, it's the chief's job, not mine. As the reward is Valendrung, I might go through and then insist the chief do his job, watch him killed and have no choice but to kill the giant myself and then return and end up with the reward.
Agree on Kynareth's, although that was news to me as I have never encountered Maurice ever on any of scores of playthroughs, so was never aware of that option.
On Mages' Guild, I agree, but I think possibly the future storytellers would leave that bit out (Nords disdain magic, after all). On the Companions, probably correct, but the storyteller, like most people, doesn't know the inner circle are werewolves, so it may be reported that he assumed leadership. (Also, I accept the theory of the Player throughout all the Elder Scrolls titles as the Shezzarine, so puts another interesting angle on discussions about Sovngard.)
I always side with Sadia, but I also always got a completely different story from both sides than what you mention, having nothing to do with the Thalmor at all. It's like we played an entirely different game in that regard. Bizarre.
100% agree with everything else. I generally side with Stormcloaks for a number of reasons, despite Ulfric being a racist a-hole who's being manipulated. Mostly related to Talos-worship, technically under the laws of Skyrim he's rightful high king, like it or not, and hatred of Thalmor.
I'm curious what story you got from Kematu and Saadia. Because in all the playthroughs I've done (and I have over a thousand hours in just under 2 years), Saadia says that she's a Redguard noblewoman pursued by the Thalmor because she spoke up against them and they have hired Alik'ir assassins to go after her. Kematu, the leader of these Alik'ir warriors, on the other hand says that Saadia sold out a city to the Thalmor during the war and the leaders of the rebellion against the Thalmor want to put her on trial.
The argument of who's correct rages just as hard as the Empire versus the Stormcloaks argument, and considering all of the facts I usually side with Kematu as he's an Alik'ir warrior who are known for being honorable and hating the Thalmor and I find it unlikely that a group of 20-30 of them as traitors are chasing one woman across mountains and her going into a land under Thalmor influence when she could just as easily go home due to the peace treaty and her people hating the Thalmor. Just doesn't add up to me.
I agree with your reasons of siding with the Stormcloaks and I'd also like to add that they could've handled the Markarth Incident better, which ostracized Ulfric from the Empire, and was one of the main reasons for his war.
If the dragonborn does not become a werewolf, Kodlak would have never entered sovngarde. According to Kodlak's journal, he had a dream that a stranger(dragonborn) would fight with him to defeat the beast thus curing lycanthropy and leading his spirit to sovngarde.
So even without the dragonborn knowing, his destiny is to save Kodlak and the companions from spiritual damnation in hircine's realm.
Bethesda has made it clear that all of the factions quest lines in the previous games are done by someone. There’s no major choice for the thieves guild or the college so there’s going to be a new arch mage and the Sygic monks have made themselves known again and A new thieves guild master with nocturnal backing them once again. However, dark brotherhood and companions have two different endings technically. I doubt the companions will be reference ever again other than Books so that one doesn’t matter much but to keep the dark brotherhood around I think they’re going to go with the new listener resurrecting the dark brotherhood from the ashes.
It's highly unrealistic for one person to be simultaneously the leaders of very different guilds even if its a game mechanic. People forget that the things you can do in game might not actually be as accurate as in game lore.
@@jamesmccloud7535it can happens if they are all hapening in different timelines, which considering the lore it will be the canon explaination once the dragonbreak ends(If it ends tbh)
I think the DB would side with the imperials just because he would realize that the empire has a better chance at beating the thalmor than the stormcloaks. The DB would also do all of the daedric princes’ missions just to get enough power to beat Alduin, he would realize that saving the world needs sacrifices and what’s a few lives compared to the entire world and beyond?(which also means barbus also gets killed) He would also become a vampire lord to become immortal since he knows Alduin will come back so he needs to live long and get stronger to beat Alduin again(also the trailer pretty much confirms that the DB does become a vampire lord).
Why does this comment only have 3 likes? Great thought process, I love the vampire immortality part. The only issue I see is, I dint think the DB would kill barbus. He has other weapons he could wield. I don't think killing a talking dog is worth it.
@@braedenhoskins8585 Thank you! Yeah, I’m starting to think he wouldn’t kill Barbus cause then he runs the risk of letting Clavicus Vile go free, which would be worse.
I think they are going to have all the quest lines be completed by their “champion” and that doesn’t have to be the dragonborn. Like the listener or the arch mage etc.
It’s awesome you’re still making Skyrim content man! I haven’t played much of it lately, as I did a full playthrough 3 months back, and have been trying to take more time off games…
But I always love Skyrim content! Keep it up till ES6 bro
we *ALL* know it was a redheaded Nord named Griagori Varalx with blue eyes that , started the DragonBorn Gallery (DragonBorn Legacy Mod) with a High Elf in Solitude. He rebuilt Helgan (rebuild Helgan Mod), rebuilt the keep ov Stendar (stendar Rising Mod), and after resetting his skills for the 200th time fought his first dragon then became an argonian through ~ showracemenue and finally started the main quest when all other quest markers where empty.
My biggest thing for allowing Saadia to live is that her remains end up in the Whiterun catacombs once the quest is over and you side with the Alik’r.
This happens despite being promised that she would be given a fair trial back in her homeland, which means we were lied to by the Alik’r.
I don’t think she was telling the truth, but that doesn’t mean the Alik’r were. Plus hating the Thalmor is one of the coldest takes you can have in skyrim, and when you’re trying to convince someone to save you, that’s a pretty solid way to go about things.
it is canonical fact that the events of the shivering isle dlc from oblivion did happen so its also a fact that the hero of kvatch is not only 'a' mad man...hes now THE madman, the sheogorath you meet in skyrim IS the hero of kvatch having mantled sheogorath and become the mad god himself after freeing jigalag from the endless cycle of the greymarch
I disagree with 2 things:
-First, the Azura quest. Even if you believe the Dragonborn isn't a full on good guy, he most certainly wouldn't be evil enough to soul trap people, removing the part where the black star is a better reward. From there the first possibility is to go full on "the dragonborn doesn't assiciate with daedra" and he doesn't even do the quest to begin with, but it's kinda uninteresting and goes for nearly every daedra quest. From there, it essentially boils down to wether he went to the soul cairn before doing that quest. If he didn't, there's indeed a good case for him siding with Nelacar, but if he did, he probably wouldn't touch a black soul gem and therefore wouldn't trust Nelacar, and would side with Azura or, and that's another possibility, just choose not to fix the star, think about it, once the "threat" Malyn Varen represent is dealt with, why would the Dragonborn want to fix the star, especially after going to the soul cairn and seeing what soul trapping involve ?
-Second, the Meridia quest. I do see your point, but there are 2 important things to consider. Meridia doesn't ask the Dragonborn to do anything evil, it's actually just taking care of an evil necromancer, something pretty good. Also there's what would fit the Dragonborn, where at the end he has the option of pretty much giving Meridia the middle finger and saying "Imma keep the cool sword but you gonna need another sucker for the whole being you champion shtick". Basically, I believe the dragonborn would kill Malkoran, keep Dawnbreaker and tell Meridia to go f*ck herself.
18:59 Honestly if they had given another year to just finishing and giving a proper ending to each faction and major side quest (like forsworn conspiracy) it would have made vanilla Skyrim 1000% times better. Or release a mod that does, they easily could at this point
Whilst this list gets everything morally correct, I think there’s an argument that ultimately as a sell-sword, the Dragonborn would agree to complete the daedric quests that would grant him the power to defeat Alvin, within moral reason. Let’s also not forget, that ultimately at the end of the Dragonborne DLC, he ultimately is tempted by knowledge and falls for Hermaeus Mora’s switcheroo and replaces Miraak as his puppet. The Dragonborn’s dragon blood lusts for power just like all dragons in the end.
1:58 why does everyone say this. He has iron helm and boots, but his chest piece is scaled/studded leather armor
Ironically, in my very first everything character, I dropped the ebony blade in the ocean the furthest north I could go before the game put up invisible walls to keep me contained. I just swam all the way out there and dropped it in the ocean.
You forgot the most integral decision...Faendal or Sven? Now, obviously you choose the homie Faendal as he gives you basically free archery training. But who knows, maybe the Dragonborn chose Sven, or maybe even threw them both under and took Camilla for himself.
A part 2 covering DLC decisions would be awesome
The forsworn are daedra worshipers. I don’t think the Dragonborn you’ve been describing would side with them… or if he did he’d betray them and kill them all on the way out.
I hope they do a mass effect 2 / 3 dlc way of things for ES6. Basically you can choose what your character did for key moments in the story. Maybe the dragonborn DID choose a side in the civil war. Maybe they refused to side with paarthunax maybe they were leader of the college, darkbrotherhood, and companions, but not the thieves guild. Maybe they became a vampire and blotted out the sun.
I like how you picked being in the Dark Brotherhood as an example of evil in Oblivion yet not the Morag Tong in Morrowind, as of course that is legally acceptable murder and the Neravarine performing writs of executions fits their heroic legacy.
Your main flaw with a lot of these choices is meta knowledge, the Dragonborne wouldn't know the outcomes or "best rewards" etc.. and is very unlikely to know things like those said for Meridia or knowing how the Redguards politcs works. Especially if going with the idea of being a Nord Warrior them "winging it" would likely be the main solution to most choices.
I disagree with one of those and it's regarding the Redguards. Assuming the Dragonborn lives on Nirn, he probably has some idea of the active guerilla warzone literally right next door to his homeland, especially since it's relatively common knowledge the fighters there are the wink-wink nudge-nudge sort of disowned.
I always got the impression that the dragonborn was only semi-heroic, and that the large amount of potentially evil ways to grab more power were reflective of an implied character. I think I remember there being several times where it is said that the nature of the Dragonborn, like those of dragons, is to seek power and domination, but that (unlike with Alduin), this is not necessarily a bad thing, since they do so as part of the divine natural order. The power fantasy element of the game is a direct part of the character, so I think that the Dragonborn would probably choose many of the more evil-seeming options at least in a lot of the Daedric quests, but would choose the heroic/good side in the larger conflicts and questlines, however that would manifest. I also don't get the impression that the "canon" dragonborn would start out as a scholar who knows the full story and metaphysics of all the entities at play.
The franchise in general seems to have a theme of terrible but powerful people doing awful things but in the process leaving the world a better place, at least temporarily. This is true arguably of the Tribunal, and of Tiber Septim, and to an extent both the Empire and Stormcloak factions in-game.
So basically the "canon" Dragonborn is an ultimately indecisive sort of bland goody two-shoes? How incredibly Bethesda!
There's a reason for why none of the companions, thieves or any other guild call you "Dragonborn" in their quest.
You are living as a different legend there, the events in skyrim weren't just milded by one hero, there was the Dragonborn that did the "main quest", but there also happened to exist other legends coexisting at the same or different times from the main events. Think about it as Desmond from Assassin's Creeds, there were different heroes, you just have the opportunity to walk on their shoes as a player.
Let's not forget that the Sheogorath we see in Skyrim is actually the Hero of Kvatch. Ole' Uncle Sheo mentions a bunch of events that occur in Oblivion and even mentions that the name "Sheogorath" is passed down to him, which is exactly what happens to the Hero of Kvatch in the end of the Shivering Isles DLC in Oblivion.
Also, I think that the Dragonborn could reasonably complete the entire Companions questline, even curing himself along with Farkas and Vilkas of their lycanthropy. After all, we actually do get to see Kodlak Whitemane in Sovngarde if the entire questline is completed before the final battle against Alduin.
Surprised you didn't mention the main/side quests for Hurmeus Mora and the black books. They are very grey and don't have many of any evil choices (only consequences) I fell the DB would at least persue knowledge.
you forgot Hermaeus Mora quest and Oghma Infinium and Dragonborn dlc the Dragonborn will have a complicated relationship with Hermaeus Mora Daedra Prince of Forbidden Knowledge.
What we all want.
Stormcloak Victory.
Sparing paarthurnaux.
Curing Serana.
Retires to a life with serana of simple farming and fishing.
Most people don't want a Stormcloak victory because it is bad
@yungcorvax4955 please explai
Freedom of skyrim.
Would still become an ally of imperial agaisnt thalmor.
If it's about the darkelves treatment.
They are safe and fed and the worst argument used is their not in the best housing district and rarely disrespected.
@@JTL1776 They are better united and if you say anything else you are wrong
@@iko20101
Please Explain???
@@iko20101 No they are not better united under the empire. The empire ceded land in Hammerfell to the Thalmor after the Great War and forced the redguards to secede as they continued fighting the Thalmor in response to this. Nords are forced to suppress their worshipping of Talos because of the terms agreed to by the emperor. (Mind you the Redguards and the Nords are the finest warriors within the Imperial Legion) The Thalmor freely roam within Skyrim committing genocide to any person found to be a worshipper of Talos. The Thalmor only operate in Imperial controlled territory within Skryim. A governments job is to protect it's citizens yet they are openly allowing these things to happen. That's not unity. That's being a puppet to your masters out of fear. An independent Skyrim free from the political pulling of the empire, but still allying with them against the Thalmor is best case scenario. The White Gold Concordat would be null and void to Skyrim if they were no longer part of the empire, thus allowing Skyrim and the Empire to regain their strength.
fun fact, you can recruit new blades members in the very beginning of the sky haven temple quest, after esbern has read the wall, you can talk to delphine to look for recruits, same with esbern's dragon infusion potion
For the my time in need quest. The one flaw with the DB siding with Kamatu. Is the assumption that Dovahkin, knows Sadia is a Aldmeri collaborator.
Which they wouldn't know usless they were redgauard, A geopolitical scholar or a Ex Dominion Soldier.
And assuming the canon dragonborn is a nord and a warrior. I find that very unlikely.
It is possible that they are a geopolitical scholar, or at the very least are well versed in geopolitics. It may be unlikely, but it is still very possible
Tbh I think that depending on the race of the Dragonborn in canon could effect the outcome of each of these events
The rule is that where the game takes is also home to the main character. Skyrim the hero is a Nord while in Oblivion the main charavcter is an Imperial and so on.
"Revered by subsequent generations as saviours. Not as thieves, murderers or *mad men*."
Sheogorath knows your location.
I don't think it matters if the Dragonborn did the guilds or not, if the Dragonborn didn't join the DB the rumors were spread by the Thalmor to discredit him. If he did, then its that simple he did. I doubt that conically the Dragonborn killed Grelod or even spoke to Aventus Arentino because there is most likely going to be a Dark Brotherhood in future games so it wouldn't make sense for them to have been eliminated. It was likely a third party who Because the Listener and killed Titus Mede II. The same thing for the Thieves Guild, it was someone else and the Thalmor spread rumors for it having been the Dragonborn.
I believe that the Dragonborn did Dawnguard, Companions, and the Collage of Winterhold.
For Dawnguard and Collage of Winterhold it's because there are Dragons in both or those questlines not to mention the fact that in Dawnguard you have to obtain The Elder Scroll (Dragon).
For CoW you have to fight an undead Dragon in Labarynthian but the Dragonborn did not become the Arch-Mage instead Tolfdir took that position.
For companions I believe the Dragonborn joined and went through everything only to cure himself of Lycanthropy at the end and the Dragonborn refused the position of Harbinger and Vilkas was given that honor.
There's one wrinkle regarding the Thieves' Guild in particular. WE know how to skip joining them to continue the main story. The Dragonborn doesn't.
Its been 4 month men we missed you
really good video, i do have few disagreements though, i think that the dragonborn would be willing to help the orcs and malacath, as it is their patron god and initially all you do is gather ingredients and then roped into doing more and more to help the tribe, the dragonborn isnt doing the bidding for malacath then in that sense, i can see the dragonborn also being really on either side of both meridia and the companions, clearing a dungeon of an evil necromancer makes sense to me and ascending the ranks of an anciant warrior organisation make sense to me, and the last is the dark brotherhood, in order to destroy the dark brotherhood the dragonborn must take up arentino mission to kill grelod, and im not neccasarily convinced that the dragonborn would kill the old woman, after all it would seem if she was so deserving of justice the city gaurds would do something well before the dragonborn is called too, rather than doing the whims of a murderous child
Glad you did this one and there is a mod that flushes out the anti-assassins guild more and it's really good
If we're talking about the same mod, I installed it and still ended up with only 3000 septims after destroying the brotherhood.
Something I’ve noticed is no one talks about it much probably because it’s not said on the quest or really anywhere else, but you can when told to kill parthurnaax inform the greybeards about this, if you do so, you will complete the quest, this still gives you access to the blades and parthurnaax.
Can you do a video on every armor, skill, weapon, enchantment, spell, standing stone, power, and shouts the Dragonborn would take? Not just vanilla, as I don't believe the base game truly captures his true power level, but using all existing mods across the board to make the ultimate "canon" Dragonborn according to the lore? There are a couple videos like this, but I always felt like there was something missing when I made the build. I ended up adding more. What I ended up discovering is that the game is *very* satisfying when you lean into the power fantasy of making your Dragonborn feel like a viltrumite in the universe. It's the only build I can play now.
For example I use the following mods:
The Ultimate Gear Of The Dragonborn - Deluxe Edition - Xbox
Modular Clothing System - 1.0.0 - 512 Edition
Immortal Dragonborn [XB1]
Forceful Tongue - Shouts Overhaul V3.09.1
Shoutcraft
[XB1] Truly Absorb Dragon Souls - Heavy By AdventurerX
Ordinator - Perks Of Skyrim [XB1]
Odin - Skyrim Magic Overhaul [XB1]
KittyTail Spells AiO
Summermyst - Enchantments Of Skyrim [XB1]
My build based on the armor mods looks like this:
*All light armor
Helm of the Dragonborn
Curiass of the Dragonborn
Boots of the Dragonborn
Gauntlets of the Dragonborn
Smuggler's Armlets
Black Fur Neckpiece
Amulet of the Dragonborn
Shield of the Dragonborn
Sword of the Dragonborn
Auriel’s Bow
Shouts:
Unrelenting Force
Aura Whisper
Become Ethereal
Slow Time
Disarm
Fire Breath
Dragonrend
Storm Call
Dragon Aspect
Bend Will
Spells are Destruction, Alteration, Conjuration and Restoration with a preference for shock, flesh spells, summoning, and healing magic.
Game: Kill Paarthurnax or lose access to the Blades.
Me: Downloads "The Paarthurnax Dilemma" and tells both Esbern and Delphine that they work for ME, not their past grudges, with the power of my Thu'um.
This will always be my head canon for how that whole situation ends. The Blades literally serve the Dragonborn, so why in Oblivion would the Dragonborn go settling a score from centuries gone by that NONE of them (besides Paarthurnax) was around to witness, simply because Delphine said "dragon bad"? It's high-time the Blades understood their place in the pecking order.
I think the only way that you get the quest to destroy the Dark Brotherhood is if you go through Aventus's quest and kill Grelod, which by your rules the Dragonborn wouldn't do. So canon is that the Dark Brotherhood remains intact.
My running theory is that for each of the factions there arises someone to take the questline and become the next Listener or the next Archmage in the Dragonborn's place
let's resolve the stormcloak vs empire by letting player discuss who has the best looking armor
Dragonborn would probably become a werewolf and then get cured because how could he not help kodlak the cool old nord warrior, without the Dragonborn’s help he’d be doomed to hircines realm
Nope. The Dragonborn would not willingly take on a curse, no exceptions.
@spankyjeffro5320 Out of heroics, they would. The Dragonborn would also be confident that they could lift the curse.
Considering the Imperials tried to cut his innocent head off, I imagine the Dragonborn, if they ever took sides in the Civil War, would fight the Imperials.
The Dragonborn would absolutely help Meridia. You’re simply letting your bias blind you to the point you don’t know you’re talking about.
Also, given the implication of trapping souls in black gems, he would also side with Azura.
As for the Companions, he probably does become a werewolf… and the cures himself at the end.
There's always the scary possibility of dying as a werewolf and missing out on sovenguard
I think it's worth noting that the game elder scrolls: legends has a card called "young dragonborn" which, at the moment, is the closest thing we have to a reference to the dragonborn in a game that isn't skyrim. And there the dragonborn is a nord woman instead of a nord man, she's dressed exactly the same as the dragonborn in skyrim promotional material.
Well the game does mention there can be more than one dragon born except the one in Skyrim is the only one that was revealed to the grey beards.
@@migzy4704 true. There can be more than one. But most of all the dragonborns we know about, very few have ever had the opportunity to kill a dragon and learn the thu'um, and that's what the card's mechanics revolve around. So either she's the last dragonborn, or an unknown dragonborn between Miraak and St. Alessia. Also it was added in the heroes of skyrim expansion which was filled with characters that were in skyrim like Aela the huntress, Ulric Stormcloaks, Ancano, J'zargo, cauldron keeper (which is clearly Arcadia), Jarl Balgruuf, Legate Rikke, Lydia, Brynjolf, Companion Harbinger (which is definitely kodlak whitemane), Emperor Titus Mede II, Innkeeper Delphine, Alduin, and Paarthurnax. So next to those cards it would be odd to assume this card is referring to a character that lived in the merethic or first eras.
My Dragonborn always knows that Skyrim is for the Nords, and as such, the High King is always our boy Ulfric Stormcloak. He was with us in the beginning, and so I'm always with him until the end. There's also some key dialogue during the Stormcloak missions that makes it clear that the enemy is the Aldmeri Dominion and not the different species that inhabit the lands.
Honestly, I think with how intune with Alatosh the dragonborn is, he would likely support the empire, and eventually rally them against the Thalmor and found a new dynasty eventually after the events of Skyrim
That's assuming the Dragonborn even wants to be an Emperor. They could just as easily see the Empire as a shell of it's former self that died with the Septim dynasty, so they'd start a new kingdom in their home of Skyrim. Plus the Dragonborn has basically no chance of taking over the Empire if they don't assassinate Titus Mede, at least not without sparking a gargantuan Civil War. They have no clout in Cyrodiil and High Rock, whereas they're the hero of Skyrim. I doubt they'd really want to be any kind of ruler regardless.
As a relatively new player, I feel like a lot of fans seem to form their idea of the canonical Dragonborn based on trailers and cover art that I never encountered. The notion that he must be a male Nord who favors steel or daedric armour never occurred to me, just playing through the game.
In Elder Scrolls 6, i think will happen just like in "the warp of the west", all the events will be canon, both stormcloaks and the empire will "win" the civil war, the dark brotherhood will kill the emperor and will also be destroyed, and so on, but the thing that i'm like 90% sure is the dragonborn vanishing in some way, shape or form, even after only 200 years we hear little from the oblivion crisis and even less from the hero of kvatch, that's why i'm almost sure we will hear very little from the dragonborn on the next elder scrolls. The other 10% is bethesda defining some canons and a more impactful presence from the prior protagonists onto the game
15:17 for Meridia’s quest, I think there are some other factors in it that might change the outcome here. First is how much knowledge about Meridia can the Dragonborn learn? I don’t think that the Dragonborn could learn about her old champion and all that, so he wouldn’t have your bias from Oblivion. Second is the Beacon. It shows up randomly after you hit a certain level, and once picked up has her shouting at you to heed her command. Either the Dragonborn is irritated by it and refuses, or he’s worried about consequences of failure to obey and goes. Sadly I think the latter is more likely than the former and so he’d help cleanse her temple.
In the case of Meredia your Oblivion bias is showing but also I have to disagree for a very simple reason the Dragonborn is not going to have the knowledge about Meridia to decide not to help her also not doing this quest allows a dangerous necromancer to raise an army of the dead from the fallen of the Civil War which is argueably an extremely evil act. Also again a good number of the decisions are based on assuming the Dovahkiin is a Nord, for Daedric quests a Dunmer or a Khajiit who worship Azura as one of their patron dieties would 100% side with Azura as she is their goddess, also in the case of Namira a Bosmer would have zero qualms against cannabilism as its part of their religion, the meat mandate of the Green Pact is one of the core teachings of Bosmer faith, also personal bias the reward is better with Eola then not as the other you don't get anything from siding with the priest though if I'm honest the Dovahkiin likely would stop with having gotten Eola out of the crypt and not bothering to help her with the Draugr out of being creeped out by her. So yeah I don't even think it would progress beyond that. As for the case of Mehrunes Razor I don't even think the Dragonborn would seek out the fragments they'd realize that what's his name (I've played Skyrim for thousands of hours but I can often forget the names of NPCs if they aren't memorable) is nuts and refuse to collect the Razor fragments so that outright negates things. I do agree on Erandur along with Clavicus Vile, Sanguine and Sheogorath, especially Erandur as the Skull of Corruption is shit and Erandur as a follower is more useful then it especially as he is one of the few followers who is essential and if you don't kill him he reverts to staying so because of how NPCs work which I know from my own modding experiance if you have an NPC flagged as essential they'll generally stay that way.
In the case of Sinding though I'm going to have to side with Hircine as Sinding is 100% a criminal both a thief and a child murderer make the case you will about him not having control over his transformations my response is that if you have that problem DON'T live with the rest of society live as hermit in some cabin in the woods both for your own safety and that of others. By going into Falkreath and working there as a laberor Sinding was endangering others, the fact that he also escapes prison after you take the ring from him and he basically tricks you into taking it is also another reason to kill him, if he had good intentions he'd have stayed in prison and faced justice, he obviously doesn't.
But also I'm going to have disagree with the core arguements as it kind of negates player choice and we simply don't know for certain also there are established facts that being that all of the events of Skyrim's major quest both the main story and all the joinable factions do 100% occur, Titus Mede's assasination is canon, as is the restoration of the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood; whether ther Dovahkiin is responsible for either is not certain but they do happen.
Anyway I've got my disagreements but really there is no right or wrong decision when playing Skyrim other then telling people how to play it, its a game you can play at your own pace and however you want much like Oblivion and Morrowind the difference is that while their stories are set in stone Skyrim hasn't fully been apart from that certain events are going to happen regardless.
I never knew there was an alternate ending to the Blessings of Nature. I thought stabbing the tree was the only option lol
I hate the skyrim blades as much as the next guy.... but Paarthurnax is essentially the "Heinrich Himmler" to Alduin's "Adolph Hitler." He redeemed himself, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to die for what he did. I know that's an unpopular opinion, but with the context of all the horrible things he did, I can't just let him go free
So you don't believe in second chances?
Jeez that painting analogy at the first 20 seconds goes hard af
I aided every quest i can find tbh, not caring which side im on , just finishing quests to see the outcome of pleasing a daedra.
I honestly think this is mostly spot on. They would reside mainly in High Hrothgar with the Greybeards, learning more on The Way of The Voice but would also venture throughout Skyrim helping people and finding more words of power. With the civil war, the Dragonborn would stay out of it until one side took it too far(and thatd likely be the stormcloaks) and join the opposing army in a bid to protect innocent people. Eventually joining the Dawnguard against the growing vampire threat and curing Serana of her vampirism. Once the remaining Vampires, Dragons that sided with Alduin or attack villages, and other issues that can cause cataclysmic harm to the people are dealt with theyd eventually leave the Greybeards to start a family to continue their bloodline in case their future descendents needed a new Dovahkiin to rise and protect the people.
I don't think it's right to assume that the Dragonborn would even be involved in most of these quests. A Nord Warrior becoming the Archmage because... the old Archmage died and they played a role in avenging them and saving the college? Surely the Archmage should actually have some sort of scholarly or pedagogical tendencies-the only reason you can become the Archmage is because the faction quests were all designed incredibly lazily.