Yeah, they can't get the Thalmor.

So they're going after someone equally evil.

You're probably right. When I talked to Delphine, Esbern was further back so he wasn't included in the conversation. But I just kind of liked his paranoid old man personality. It seemed kind of funny to me

Without the Dragonborn, the Blades are helpless. They're too afraid to recruit new Blades themselves, so they send the 10th Divine to do it for them. What a bunch of (censored)!

Well, it's not so much the Blades are helpless as they flat out don't exist. The Dragonborn, not Delphine, reforms them.

Assuming canonically, like me, you gave them a bunch of recruits before they dumped your ass--that means they will rebuild because of the Dragonborn.

Even if they got nasty over it.

(Ironically, your followers will still obey you so there's no problem there).

The Blades are sworn to "Protect and Guide" the Dragonborn, not serve him or her like Servants....they performed the same role for The Septim and Remen dynasties....

I find it funny how many seem to paint the Blades as the bad guys, heartless, don't care about poor Parthurnaax...

Parthurnaax is a sworn enemy to the Blades, he has beern their arch-nemesis for centuries. So when the Last of the Blades finally confirm where their hated enemy they have been hunting for centuries is...they are supposed to just be happy about it and not try and bring him to bear for the atrocities he has done?

Paarthurnaax didn't help man out of the goodness of his heart....he helped them because Kyne came to him and told him, we favor the humans either you help them, or perish with your Dragon friends, its your choice. Paarthurnaax looks so old, tattered, and beat up because he betrayed his brother Alduin and tried to usurp his throne...when Alduin trashed him and beat the stuffing out of him, Alduin let him go because afterall, Paarthurnaax was the 2nd Dragon and closest brother to Alduin....even at the Battle with him on the Throat of the World...Alduin offers Parthurnaax a chance to rejoin him...because after all Paarthurnaax has done...Alduin still cares for him.....its a brothers love.....

Paarthurnaax name means "Ambition Overlord Cruelty" He is ambitious allright...the the point of showing past treachery trying to backstab his own brother to try and take what he had for himself....don't kid yourself...Paarthurnaax didn't help humans out of the kindness o his heart...he helped them because he seen humans as a means to end...Alduin's fall and his eventual ascension.....Paarthurnaax is known as the "Old Wise One" among the dragons...he knew Alduin would be back, he also knew he would never be strong enough to defeat him....he already tried that once and lost....Paarthurnaax also knew about the prophecy of the Last Dragonborn.....so for an immortal being like Parthurnaax the "Old Wise One" patience is a virtue.

He has already waited 3,000 years...whats another 100-150 years waiting for the LDB to die so he can return to his old ways....you can't teach an old dog new tricks....Paarthurnaax if left alive WILL go back to his old ways...its only a matter of time because he "Can't help it" its in his nature.

You dangle a steak in front of a hungry dog and order him not to eat it, i don't care how well trained that dog is, eventually he won't be able to hold out any longer and will devour that steak with glee....Paarthurnaax is that dog...its only a matter of time because he can't help it....he is genetically, he is wired, he was made to dominate...with no Alduin and no LDB to worry about, Paarthurnaax will resume his old ways....just like Durnevir....Paarthurnaax will fight with other dragons and people for his own territory in the world...he will overcome some of the other dragons and spare their lives in return for their servitudue...and things will go from there.

Its clear that Paarthurnaax is just using the LDB, he is manipulating "all the bleeding hearts" into feeling sorry for him, and thinking he has repented....he acted merely to save himself and nothing more. He used Gormlaith, Hakon, and Felldir to do his dirty work...he manipulated the situation to put himself in a better position to profit later...why risk his own hide when he can throw human fodder at Alduin.... he patiently waited on the LDB who was fated to defeat him to bring his plan to fruition...patience is a vurtue for him...3,000 years was nothing for him....neither will be another 100 until the LDB is dead...and then its on....because Paarthurnaax can't help it....

The Blades are treated like garbage and its very unfair.....Look at what the Blades did for Tameriel....they warned the Emperor of the Thalmor, the Blades fought the Thalmor in the Shadows.....the Falnesti Incident and the Blue River Prison Breach hurt the Thalmor badly, and in doing so the Blades gained the lasting hatred of the Thalmor...the Blades laid down their lives and died to protect the Empire and the people of Tameriel, and what do they get in return? Treated like garbage because they want you to kill a Dragon that is not only a threat, but a weaseling, conniving, manipulating creature, but a creature that commited atrocities so horrible they can't even be spoken......but he is a good little dragon....right.....

Paarthurnaax has many just eating out of his hand......the 1st time i played this game, I saw right through him...I knew exactly what he was up to.....be a detective...think about it...

What is Paarthurnaax's Motive? - Why would he want to kill his brother, a dragon no less - Answer is simple....power...wanting what his brother has...its simple.....Listen to Odhaving....him and the other dragons were already talking about rebelling against Alduin themselves.....the idea of rebelling and taking what someone else has is not a new idea......

Folks are free to save Paarthurnaax if they want to, but he is using you....he is manipulating everyone involved for his own benefit.....everything he has done up until this point has been just to save himself and bide his time for the LDB to do the dirty work that his "so called friends" Hakoh, Gormlaith, and Felldir couldn't.....

Read between the lines, Miiraak turned down Hakon and the others offer because he didn't want to be a pawn in Paarthurnaax's game....being a Dragon Preist, im sure he heard of Paarthurnaax's treachery towards his brother...in fact, Miraak probably met and spoke with Paarthurnaax many times and knew his true nature and intentions....why should Miraak kill Alduin for Parthurnaax to take over? Dragons are no different then humans over the years, plotting secret packs and coups to seize power....its never ending.

it is what it is....Parthurnaax is not a "good dragon" he is only using you to serve his own purposes.....nothing more....as a Blade, ending him closes the book on a dark chapter in history that needs closure....

This is why I think the dragon sidequest could have benefited from opening up into branching storylines. That moment when I say: "I don't have to prove anything to you" would have been perfect for this. Have the option to continue the quest through the greybeards. "I'll let you go but you'll come back, YOU HAVE TO!"... "No I don't" and then be able to complete the questline from a different perspective. Maybe something involving the dragonpriests, training to become a master of the voice and maybe getting a greybeard robe at the end. Most importantly, no pointless party.

Who knows, maybe even get the chance to go to the Thalmor Headquarters in Solitude and joining their cause and be able to complete the questline from their perspective and maybe even giving some depth to the Thalmor. Maybe I could have been sent to investigate the dragons that are intervening with their civil war agenda, sending me to capture a member of the Thieves guild, go get Esbern and then being sent to hunt down the last members of the Blades. I don't know, maybe New Vegas set the bar too high in terms of storytelling.

While I respect New Vegas' awesome freedom of choice, I wonder if it was really a benefit that you could join a bunch of [censored] slaving knuckleheads.

I agree with the first part of this about the Blades. I know they are not servants and I know they only want what's good. My issue with them is their disrespect with you when you refuse to do something they say. And I refuse cause I personally with Paarthurnaxx on this one.

Grrr. I still hate it when she says something like, "I took the horn, does that make me Dragonborn?" My reaction, "I guess Tiber Septim was not Dragonborn either because the Greybeards cannot tell if one is dragonborn, right?" *Stuck-up *

In this case helping and guiding are at odds. If the Dragonborn has been deceived into "friendship" with a "cool" dragon (who merely has played the game to place himself into the top position) and, being inebriated by his apparent omnipotence, is now selfishly placing himself and his misguided "friendship" above justice and the long-term safety of all man and mer, even demanding blind obedience from others (not in the game, but in some posted comments), it falls upon the Blades to still guide him as best they can.

Simply put: The Blades may not be the only ones with responsibilities and duties. The Dragonborn should consider what a unified horde of dragons could do under clever leadership, once his own short lifespan is over.

Assuming, of course, he considers humans more valuable than dragons.

I'm not going to trust the same idiots that failed at their prime directive, got slaughtered by the Thalmor and where the 'wisest' one I've seen in any of the games was a shirtless Skooma addict. No thanks.

I chose to side with Parthurnax myself. The blades are too rigid an organization for my tastes.

Odd question, should Bethesda have included an option for convincing them?

I wouldn't call it odd...and yes, by all means there should've been the option to persuade them.

The whole "You're either with us, or against us" deal really smacks of a phrase I heard a few years ago from a well known (real life) person who put alot of people off by using that term.

Just a random choice making decision they slapped in there to give you the feeling of it being less linear. Dragons were dead for a long ass time and they didn't even have one really make an appearance until Redguard. I didn't kill Paarthurnax because the Blades have always svcked.