So a friend and I were discussing recently exactly what the relationship of the Empire was with the Blades following the White Gold Concordat in the Imperial City, where the Blades as an organization were 'disbanded'.

There is a problem with this, however. Although the Aldmeri Dominion demanded it as a provision of their treaty with the Empire, the Blades were the Empire's to disband. After all, they were, as Jauffre tells us, not an arm of the government. Rather, they were a military order whose loyalties belonged solely to the Septim Emperors and their nearest kin.

So what are we to say about how their relationship changed following the Concordat?

My favorite explanation is that the Empire simply ceased all ties with the Blades and refused to acknowledge the order's existence under law. This would deprive the order of any protections from the Thalmor (who now had free access to the Empire's lands) they might have otherwise received from Imperial officials. It also puts the Empire in an interesting position of not being directly antagonistic to the Blades, but not really helping them at all either. A sort of "silent betrayal".

Another possible explanation would be an "Order 66" sort of move where the Blades were outlawed and the Empire actively aided the Thalmor in hunting down the Blades. While I'm not as fond of this outcome, it does have credence, given that the Blades were simply a militant arm of the Order of Talos, the worship of whom was outlawed, an action that contains entirely different connotations to simple disbandment. Then again, although Talos worship is outlawed in Skyrim, the Empire's enforcement of such is incredibly lackluster, as judged by the events at Markarth prior to the civil war.

I'd like your opinions on the matter. Do you prefer either of those explanations? Or do you have a different one?