Companions-Silver Hand-Wuuthrad??

[SpikeSpeigel]

May be spoilers present...



Why does the Silver Hand want Wuuthrad? And do they deserve it more than the Companions?

I guess we can be pretty sure there were no werewolves among the original 500 Companions for which the Companions are named...

Are the Silver Hand in a better position to assume Ysgramor's legacy? Otherwise, why would they care about Wuuthrad?

If the questline (from the Silver Hand point of view) is only about revenge or cleansing Tamriel of Lycanthropes, then (again), why do they risk their necks to get Wuuthrad?

Hopefully this hasn't been covered in a previous thread...

[Mr.Argonian]

I thought of it as spite. If the Companions want it, the Silver Hand will try to take it first.

[SpikeSpeigel]

I thought of it the same way at first too. But, when I think about the fact that Wuuthrad is geared against elves, it makes me wonder if the Silver Hand are not the "purists" of the two factions. (for lack of a better term).

What I'm getting at is although Wuuthrad may have been some how passed down to the current Companions, maybe the Silver Hand sees the Companions of having gone "astray" with the Lycanthropy stuff. And maybe rightly so...

How are the Silver Hand in the wrong on this issue?

[Finn Wolfshorn]

They're wrong because they aren't actually doing anything with it; if we had, say, Silver Hand members fighting Thalmor justiciars as a random world event there might be something to your idea, but as things are they're just keeping the fragments from the Companions because they know how important Wuuthrad is to them... and maybe also because they lack the craft/knowledge to reforge it themselves.

(That's not saying that your view of the Silver Hand couldn't be interesting as the basis of a playthrough, although on PC only as it would require heavy use of the console - or actually it would be a great idea for a mod if we could join the Silver Hand and fight the Companions for Ysgramor's legacy; there are mods out there that let us join the Forsworn or the Thalmor, so I'm sure it would be doable.)

[Crusader's Amour]

The Silver Hand seems to be just a group of bandits who really hate werewolves. They act exactly like regular bandits, attacking you for no reason even if you're not allied with the Companions and never have been. If you've got a radiant anti-Hand quest that sends you to Treva's Watch and haven't done Infiltration yet, they're just slotted in as the thugs who kicked Stalleo out of his fort; that's how much they are like common vagabonds.

[SpikeSpeigel]

See, I ask the question because they are not outright evil. On one hand, they behave as normal bandits in-game. On the other they have an agenda: to rid Tamriel of Werewolves.

The non-Companion werewolves are certainly a threat to Skyrim. The Companions quests never send you to save anyone from a werewolf. Maybe the Silver Hand ARE performing a service. While Companion members are simply seeking for more power via lycanthropy.

As with a lot of Bethy stuff there are two sides to the story.

But, there really is no further reasoning for them to take Wuuthrad??

[LordAshton]

most likely taking Wuuthrad was a personal attack on the honor of the Companions. OR they just thought they would take something.

[Yaije]

The silverhand know the companions have werewolves in their ranks and that the companions want these shards. Shards = werewolf bait to them as far as I'm aware.

[Hrolf Alfblod]

Personally, I think this is an interesting idea. Why couldn't the Silver Hand be a lost splinter cell who, after much time, has come back to restore glory to the Companions? It's happened before, with Kyrnil Long-Nose. Perhaps members of the Companions left, after Terrfyg made a deal with the Witches of Glenmoil, to return and destroy what he created. I'm sure this isn't the case, but it could be.

[Finn Wolfshorn]

Actually, Spike, you may be onto something the more I think about it, and maybe the enchantment (special damage against elves) is the key. Although the Companions are nominally neutral in the Civil War, they have strong ties to the Stormcloaks via their involvement with the Grey-Mane clan (Vignar and Eorlund); and I bet Ulfric would love to get a weapon like that in his hands, especially considering the mythic prestige attached to it. On the other hand, both the Thalmor and the Empire would be interested in securing the fragments of Wuuthrad themselves - the Thalmor in order to prevent it from ever being reforged and used against them, the Empire maybe in compliance with Thalmor orders or, on the contrary, planning to use it in a future retaliatory strike against the Dominion.

Now I think we can rule the Thalmor out as the brains behind the Silver Hand because they'd be much more likely to send their own elite troops after the fragments than recruit a bunch of rag-tag mercenaries; but the Empire might be reluctant to alienate the people of Skyrim any further by acting openly against the oldest and most respected guild of the country and therefore prefer a more covert approach. And you know who I could see financing the Hand's operations on behalf of the Empire? Yeah, "Olfrid, patron of the great Clan Battle-Born, a name I'm sure you know well"; I bet he'd love to spite Vignar and keep Eorlund from reforging Ysgramor's axe, don't you?

(Mind you, I'm not talking about stories that are but stories that might have been, tales we can spin from what the game gives us about the Companions and the Hand.)

[DikaSmausha]

Why that theory could have some evidence, I think they just took it out of spite.

[Raynil dralas]

The silver hand are seeking wuuthrad because like much of skyrims quests its just plain lazy story telling full of gaping holes and sans any real logic and substance....

[The SheoDovah]

The Silver Hand are aware of what Wuuthrad means to the companions. By keeping the fragments hidden, they hope to demoralise the Companions and lure them into a trap. We see this in Proving Honour. But the Silver Hand made a big mistake. They attacked the Companions in Whiterun and did not steal Wuuthrad.(If i remember correctly). They had just gained the wrath of Skyrim's most honoured warriors and we all know what happened to the Silver Hand afterwards.

On an unrelated note, the Silver Hands sounds like something that should be opposing the Dark Brotherhood.

Anyway, back to the topic, The Silver hand were barely had any character and just exist for the purpose of giving us an enemy for the Companions very short questline.

[Raynil dralas]

I honestly think the developers finished the quest line and thought "oh bugger we forgot to add an antagonist for these quests!" then one turned and said "sod it, we have the restaurant booked for 7pm lets just rename some bandits and give em silver weapons"

[LordAshton]

I honestly think the developers finished the quest line and thought "oh bugger we forgot to add an antagonist for these quests!" then one turned and said "sod it, we have the restaurant booked for 7pm lets just rename some bandits and give em silver weapons"

This is likely it. I felt the Companions quests were the most underdeveloped of the guild quests.

[Crusader's Amour]

They attacked the Companions in Whiterun and did not steal Wuuthrad.(If i remember correctly).

They do steal Wuuthrad during the attack on Whiterun - the player character and Vilkas have to go and get it back from Driftshade Refuge right afterwards.