Blades or Greybeards?

[Sirocco]

What bugs me is that I dont feel important storywise. Its like their existance would be justified without me.
I understand that even if I murder the beard dragon the greybeards can still meditate and have karaoke parties without a mic on top of their mountain, but if I say "screw you" to the blades, than there are no blades anymore. Unless of course Im right (which I always am by the way), and it is just an imperial agency trying to take adventage of the saviour of the races of tamriel. Current evidences and the poor design of this part of the story indicates that I am right.

[rcbecker123]

There are still blades just only two of them. They will never grow in numbers without your help. The problem with the blades is they have been hiding for so long they have become isolationist. Similar to the grey beards but they wont live to be 800 years old so they will die out over time.

[Travalanche]

Definitely The Blades, being a pacifist like the Greybeard's get's you nowhere and the Blades are sworn to protect you with their lives.

So yeah, use the Greybeards for attaining the shouts and then pull an Ulfric on them+1 by killing the Dragon as well to show them you mean business and start recruiting your own secret service.

Really though in gameplay terms neither faction is that helpful after they do their parts because your basically Achilles by endgame and just wreck face.

[Archer]

The problem with the Blades, as has been said frequently, is that while they are supposed to serve the Dragonborn, they do no such thing. Instead, they give you a foolish ultimatum that consists of killing the one being that has helped you more in your quest.
Even coming from a pragmatic view, the Greybeards (specifically Parthurnax) are of much greater use than a broken and disbanded dragon slayer group. Immortal, friendly dragons trumps two old geezers in a ruined fort any day.

[Derp53]

The problem with the Blades, as has been said frequently, is that while they are supposed to serve the Dragonborn, they do no such thing. Instead, they give you a foolish ultimatum that consists of killing the one being that has helped you more in your quest.
Even coming from a pragmatic view, the Greybeards (specifically Parthurnax) are of much greater use than a broken and disbanded dragon slayer group. Immortal, friendly dragons trumps two old geezers in a ruined fort any day.

Gotta agree with this, even if we share a mutual dislike of the thalmor, it's not worth killing paarthurnax at the expense of the alienating the Greybeards considering they help you a lot more than the Blades do.

[rcbecker123]

Unless you want to play hunt the dragons. They have little use beyond getting some nice swords and armor. As for a bed I dont need one.

[Spark]

Okay so i recently finished the main quest and... well, I had my doubts about the greybeards, but eventually it became clear to me that arngeir is just kind of impulsive, but the other greybeards are just as wise as their reputation suggests. i'm definitely not killing paarthy just because some obnoxious innkeeper tells me to. I don't find the plot point to be bad, though; the blades are acknowledged to be rash and irresponsible by the greybeards, and the Angeir is clearly not perfect (such as claiming the College of Winterhold is full of blasphemers when Tsun himself approves of it, or getting told off by Master Wulfgar). The whole point is that nobody is perfect; they all have their pros and cons.

[warlord714]

With my four previous characters I've stuck with the Greybeards. It was really not for practical reasons but ideological ones. Delphine and Esbern are beyond stupid. So Paarthurnax must die because he did some bad stuff ages before? Um, what?! He may have been Alduin's second-in-command, but he rebelled and was perhaps the only reason why the ancient Nords prevailed the first time. If he had been loyal to humanity and then joined Alduin, he would have been reviled. So why can't going the other direction make him revered? When it comes to the game itself, either group could be done without. To remind myself of where certain Words of Power are located, I just use the UESP. No need to wait for the Greybeards to tell me where to go. And as for the Blades, the only cool thing about them is that they use Sky Haven Temple as a base. It's the only Akaviri-designed structure in the game, and could be pretty cool to use for housing. If memory serves, the dragon hunts were lame. You get to recruit certain people into the Blades, and they stay at the Temple. They are given default Blades armor (largely unimpressive) even if you had initially given them nice gear. To my knowledge, there's no way to change it once they're inducted. On top of that, they simply meet you at the dragon's location and then return home once it's been slain. If they just started following you from the Temple, then you could ignore the dragon and go to other places with an extra follower in tow. That would be pretty cool, but it just isn't like that. Sigh. Sorry for the rant, but I really find it pretty disappointing.

[rcbecker123]

That seems to be the concenous with most people. All in all it stinks not a good choice either way.

[warlord714]

I agree with some of the other users that neither choice makes that much of a difference in terms of gameplay. I sided with the Blades only once just to experience that facet of the game, and never again. I personally find Esbern and Delphine (especially the latter) to be more brash and impulsive than most teenagers. They are dogmatic extremists that are slaves to an overly narrow view of justice. Because Paarthurnax was ONCE Alduin's most trusted companion who accepted his leadership, he deserves to die. It doesn't matter that he defied his superior (as well as his own nature) and helped OVERTHROW him. It doesn't matter that for centuries he has maintained his loyalty to humanity and his defiance of his own nature. The Blades also don't care about his willingness to ONCE AGAIN thwart the World-Eater's plot by aiding the Dragonborn just as he aided the ancient Nords. I honestly feel that the devs could have omitted the Blades from the plot ENTIRELY without hurting the flow of the story. The player goes to Ustengrav, the horn is actually there rather than Delphine's stupid note, and so Arngeir grants the player access to the Throat Of The World and to Paarthy. The player could have learned about the Dragon Wall from someone other than Esbern, so the whole subplot to find him in the Ratway could've been avoided. So joining the Blades allows you to recruit people to assist you in dragon hunts. You're Dovahkiin!! You don't need a posse of wannabes to help you slay a dragon!! Yeah, sorry for the ramble but I really do find the Blades to be insufferable.

[awkwarddragon]

I much prefer the Greybeards over the Blades.

Throughout the main quest, the Greybeards aid the Dragonborn more than the Blades. Granted, the Blades help the Dragonborn find Alduin's Wall and the Shout needed, but from there, they're pretty much an afterthought. The Greybeards, on the other hand, help the Dragonborn hone their abilities and guide them to Paarthurnax, who in the end plays a bigger role in the Dragonborn's story. That and Delphine is just a husk of what a true Blade should be. She's selfish, disrespectful, and regards the Dragonborn with such apathy that I'm surprised she even considers you "the ultimate dragonslayer." Esbern is fine, but he follows Delphine like a dog following his owner.

So, yeah. Greybeards over Blades any day.

EDIT: Forgot a word.

[SeaGtGruff]

I sided with the Greybeards as well, because I couldn't see killing the dragon. I still visit the Blades, probably more than I visit the Greybeards, but of course they just keep telling me to kill the dragon. Maybe one day I'll do it, just to try that route and see how it goes, then restore my game to undo the dirty deed.

[Mookie]

In Tamriel, history lives. Nothing is ever dead and buried, or forgotten.
I know my current dragonborn will not kill Parthanax, but I think I can understand Delphine, and I won't throw her to the Thalmor.

[Cassandra]

I was excited to see the Blades, after Oblivion. But ah, Delphine! I don't like her much. And I really don't want to kill Paarthurnax; he's so nice.

So Greybeards are best.

[OnikaraStar]

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

Spoiler:

All this mod does is add a small bit of dialogue with the Blades. You let Delphine know she has no business trying to tell the Dragonborn what to do and threaten her. She backs down and gives up on trying to get you to kill Paarthurnax.

I always use this mod. Paarthurnax helps the DB more than the Blades do and they want to kill the guy just because he’s a dragon. Plus, he’s voiced by Charles Martinet! Just because of that I’ll spare him every time! lol!

[AutismFanaticism]

Not to digress, but who in the world is Charles Martinet? And is he French? That could be a French or an English name, so it's confusing...

[Unionhack]

Easy, there's no sarcasm font on the internet. Let's all be nice.

Charles Martinet is Paarthurnax's voice actor. He's also know for his prominent role as Mario's voice for the past, like, 30 years.

[BetaB17]

Please be civil while on the forums.

And also please do not try to aggrivate the situation. Hit report or notify a Moderator to deal with it

To be frank. Not even I knew who Martinet was, but then again, names have never been my specialty, especially that of VAs or actors.

[Epona]

Greybeards.
The Blades are really hard to like in Skyrim, imho. I liked them in Oblivion, but they're pretty useless in Skyrim, and Delphine gets very aggravating on top of that. Esbern is just... kind of there.

[Nir]

I much prefer the Greybeards over the Blades.

Throughout the main quest, the Greybeards aid the Dragonborn more than the Blades. Granted, the Blades help the Dragonborn find Alduin's Wall and the Shout needed, but from there, they're pretty much an afterthought. The Greybeards, on the other hand, help the Dragonborn hone their abilities and guide them to Paarthurnax, who in the end plays a bigger role in the Dragonborn's story. That and Delphine is just a husk of what a true Blade should be. She's selfish, disrespectful, and regards the Dragonborn with such apathy that I'm surprised she even considers you "the ultimate dragonslayer." Esbern is fine, but he follows Delphine like a dog following his owner.

So, yeah. Greybeards over Blades any day.

My exact sentiments. In terms of narrative, the Greybeards do more for the Last Dragonborn than the Blades. While it's fair to say the Blades did aid the LDB during the main quest, the point immediately falls apart when Delphine has the nerve to boss around the LDB and act like a hot-shot. Esbern is fine, but it's obvious he falls under Delphine's thumb. It's a shame Bethesda didn't flesh out the remaining Blades. They would've - no, could've - been valuable allies for the LDB, other than the Greybeards and some player chosen factions. It's a shame their characterization has been simplified to "We kill dragons now, lol".

[Shadowscale]

Lost all respect for the blades in Skyrim after they asked me to murder based Paarthurnax.

[MidbossVyers]

As many people say the bothersome cliche "what would Jesus do", I tend to fall back on "what would Cao Cao do". I don't kill Paarthurnax because he is a valuable ally. The **** do I care who he did or did not kill in the past? It's a decision of pragmatism, not morality:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFMMVUGewho
Now, what about all the people that Paarthurnax killed? Do they deserve justice? Will their restless souls haunt me for not giving them justice? No, of course not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u6v3s8-kcY
If they keep insisting on it, I'll just give them a permanent vacation to the Soul Cairn.

[jititu71]

The main quest would have been better without either of them.

[mistryzop]

I get the feeling that the Blades vs Greybeards is the same thing as Empire vs Stormcloak. But that's just me.

[MidbossVyers]

LOL, imagine avenging people that you don't know; [&@%!] the Blades' "justice".