The Blades

[legoless]

Excuse my (unintended) condescending air, but I thought I'd clear up some of the lore speculation going on here.

The Dragonborns are people blessed with that power by the Gods. Uriel Septim was a dragonborn.

A dragonborn is a mortal with the soul of a dragon. Nothing to do with the Gods.

I read somewhere that the Blades are the remnants of an earlier organization dedicated to protecting the Dragonborn (As a group, not an individual). Somewhere down the line, a certain Dragonborn (Tiber or Reman, I forget which) rose to power, and the Blades became dedicated to protecting a single line of Dragonborn.

The Blades were originally a group of Akaviri "prisoners of war", who became Reman Cyrodiil's bodygaurd. They later pledged themselves to the Septim Empire to help Talos ascend to the throne. This is why they serve only the Septims. I'm not sure where the Dragonborn stuff came out of, but it was probably retconned in for Skyrim.

[OblivionDuruza]

Esbern is a former member of the Blades, I think he probably isn't a 'Blade' any more (in the old sense of the word). When the Septim Dynasty fell at the end of the 3rd Era, I would conject that the Blades were disbanded.

[JockoBeans]

Especially with the Lore from the Infernal City.

[magius241]

Especially with the Lore from the Infernal City.

Don't say such rot.

[loveshaze]

thank you for sharing, It is a great post.

[Haravikk]

One of the main characters is the last Blade. That's about the only Blades thing that's involved.

You didn't read the rest of the thread, did you? Unless there's been some big reveal that contradicts the previous mentions then, as already said, Esbern isn't the last, just one of the last remaining blades, stationed within the sanctuary in Skyrim at which Alduin's Wall is located.

The purpose of the Blades has never been directly to safeguard the emperor, but rather to safeguard the dragon-born, of which the Septim lineage was the most prominent. With the end of that line, it's likely that the Blades are greatly diminished, but if their sanctuary contains Alduin's Wall, then they have known of the return of dragons, and Alduin, for some time, so their primary mission remains the same; protect and aid the dragon-born in any way that they can. Obviously the difficulty for them is not knowing who is dragon-born anymore, but they may be able to trace the lineage of the player character, or some occurrence near the start of the game reveals the player character's latent ability to go around slurping down dragon souls.

[Haravikk]

Esbern is a Blade, who are not controlled by any government, instead, they serve the Septim Emperors, however, in Oblivion

Spoiler:

the last emperor died.

So who do the Blades serve? How many are there? Why are they helping?

As I mentioned in the Blades thread; the Blades do not serve the Emperor, they serve to protect the Dragonborn, which the entire Septim line happened to be. Their sanctuary in Skyrim is the location of Alduin's wall, foretelling the events leading up to (or possibly allowing) Alduin to return. So they know that dragons are coming back, and that Alduin is coming back, and that this is probably a very bad thing.

To this end they serve to protect and aid the Dragonborn. The only problem at the end of Oblivion is that with the Emperor dead, the Blades have to find another Dragonborn lineage, which presumably will somehow lead them to you, either that or the events that prevent your execution somehow prove your abilities to the Blades.

Esbern is described as one of the last remaining Blades, which implies that the Skyrim sanctuary may have more, though we've no idea yet how many, likely nothing approaching an army, requiring Skyrim's woes to be resolved before anyone can really act?

[Argonanza]

Merged The Blades with Esbern. As you were, civilians.

[Da_BossMaN69]

Aren't they more than just body-guards? They were basically the DELTA-FORCE of the Empire weren't they?

[Kavatch99]

They're the eyes and ears of the Empire, so yes.

[leftsock33]

Perhaps one single Blade living somewhere in the hills, like a Shaolin Monk. He or she may also provide some type of training.

[RatKiller]

If the blades are back, as a faction, I really hope they are more interesting and dynamic than they were in Oblivion.

[Da_BossMaN69]

They're the eyes and ears of the Empire, so yes.

But in a more military standpoint, like unknown blacks ops against political enemies/daedra/bandits/etc.

[-Dovahkiin-]

Sorry didn't take the time to read everything posted but aren't the blade's extinct? they got wiped out to the last man since their order was only to protect the Septim bloodline or something! so were does the blade's come into Skyrim if the septim bloodline has been wiped out for 200 year's.

[jokedst]

The Blades are not extinct. The voice in the teaser (Max von Sydow) is "Esbern", one of the last Blades.

According to GameInformer the Blades main mission is to protect the bloodline of the dragonborn in order to fulfill the prophecy on Alduin’s Wall.

I apparently can't post links to pages, but you can see more at gameinformer, sub-url "/p/skyrim_wall.aspx" for more info

[Shady Sam]

In skyrim you are with the last of the blades of Tamerial no Septims no blades Titus Mede didnt need like extreme protection

[Haravikk]

Is it really so much effort to read the thread, or at the very least the top two posts of this page?

Blades protect the dragonborn, Septims were a line of dragonborn, therefore the Blades' role was to act as bodyguards and intelligence agents, essentially looking out for any threats to the emperor, including big ones that may have threatened the empire as a whole.

This doesn't make them exclusive to the Septim lineage however, but during the Oblivion crisis there were no other known dragonborn. This means that with the emperor's death they're going to have been hurt somewhat as they're warriors without a purpose, but that doesn't mean they'll have been completely idle either, as they need to find a new dragonborn and learn what they can about the impending return of the dragons, and ultimately Alduin.

[OblivionDuruza]

While the Blades have protected other lines (Reman Dynasty for instance), that doesn't make me convinced that they serve to protect Dragonborns. I think it's more that they protect the wielders of Chim-el Adabal.

A link to some evidence would be more convincing though, but I just don't see the order being established to protect just any Dragonborn.

[-Dovahkiin-]

Is it really so much effort to read the thread, or at the very least the top two posts of this page?

Blades protect the dragonborn, Septims were a line of dragonborn, therefore the Blades' role was to act as bodyguards and intelligence agents, essentially looking out for any threats to the emperor, including big ones that may have threatened the empire as a whole.

This doesn't make them exclusive to the Septim lineage however, but during the Oblivion crisis there were no other known dragonborn. This means that with the emperor's death they're going to have been hurt somewhat as they're warriors without a purpose, but that doesn't mean they'll have been completely idle either, as they need to find a new dragonborn and learn what they can about the impending return of the dragons, and ultimately Alduin.

Sorry, im just confused, it seems Bethesda open's up a whole new lore or extension on each game to that of other thing's back in the other TES game's, i only thought The Blade's protected the septim bloodline, i heard absoultely nothing about Dragonborn's in Oblivion, id rather just ask the question then scope through the thread looking for an answer that might not be there.