Throughout the Blades many years there have been countless failures and mistakes. They failed as both the Emperors bodyguards and as the spymasters they claim to be, and most of the leaders we see are old, infirmed, or incompetent.

Cauis Cossades from Morrowind is a skin a addict, and why the locals claim that he handles it better than even the Khajiit, it is still stated that his superiors are worried about his sugar addiction. And yet this is the man that the Nerevarine takes orders from.


Then in Oblivion we see the Blades as the personal guard to the Emperor, yet they fail to complete that task, even when moving through a supposedly secret passage. And then we move through the game to meet Jauffre, an old man. Now, I know that he is a skilled swordsman, and an expert blade(if there is such a thing) but that does not change the fact that he is an aging man. And no matter what skills he has it doesn't not change the fact that the life he has led is coming to a close.


After the oblivion crisis, then came the Great War. Where were the Blades then? 100 of them had been killed, their heads delivered to the Emperor, and the rest were being hunted down and exterminated. Not at all the legendary Dragonguard that they took influence from.


And of course in Skyrim there's the petulant, controlling Delphine, and the old lore master Esbern. Delphine may be a skilled woman, but she is not an effective leader. Her skills with speeches and leading men would fit better in the role of a slave master, as she wishes for complete control over her men. She is not the warrior that the Akaviri men used to be when the Blades originated, she is a spy, without many resources, running from the Justiciars with only an old man as backup. The only truly skilled member of the dying blades is the Dragonborn, and Delphine refuses to deal with him unless he agrees to kill the peaceful dragon Paarthurnax.


So, are the Blades really this special group of skilled soldiers and spies? More of a group who's reputation has protected them all these years. And now they have been hunted near exctinction, if they had the skills they claimed to have, they would have been able to protect themselves, but obviously they are not the skilled soldiers they'd like you to believe.

Caius Cossades' skooma addiction was a cover.

I don't think it was, because he even states to the Nerevarine that his superiors are worried about his sugar use.

Yes, yes they are master spies.
As said above Caius addiction is either a cover or mostly cover.
Without their failure at the begining there would be no game, and after assasination they are quite helpfull.
You are organization that for majority of time served as spy organization, you are suppose to spy on enemy, not kill them, and sudenly the guys you work for , work against you. They are not army, they are spies and secret agents.
And blades and Paathuranax argument only world if you complitly ignore their motives and reason for killing him.

Yeah I've never been sure on that; when he's recalled, he says

So either he's kidding or he is a genuine user. Either way, Caius Cosades never "blunders". He seems like he knows when he's doing. And the blades mostly seem to fail because they are often up against impossible odds--a small cadre of elite bodyguards can't expect to stop a big apocalypse cult or an army of high elves on their own. At least they're smart enough to always get the main character on their side

Well it just seems that they're portrayed to be the sortve "cream of the crop" when really they're surveillance guys at best.

The Mythic Dawn were just a small cult when they attacked the Emperor, the Blades should've been able to fight back.