So then who claimed it? Alduin himself? Also Alduin isn't Akatosh, or Akatosh isn't Alduin they are parts of each other. I think. They can exist next to each other.

My money is on Shor.

Energy seeks like energy, right? But it also seeks big energy, and Alduin died right next to Sovngarde, a big old soul magnet. He's been gorging himself on Shor-aligned souls for a while now, so it's possible his soul is more Shor-like than Akatosh-like at this point, which is why the Dovahkiin didn't absorb it.

I'm saying Akatosh hasn't fully formed from Alduin. Aka is the imago Dragon. Tall Papa, if you will.

Alduin was once cursed to eat himself (thus, his anemic size) but now his hunger's free; and I believe he will consume/conquer many worlds, before returning for Mundus. That enormous free-serpent, in the Thalmor agendas? Well, Dragonborn made it all possible.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NiceJobBreakingItHero. TES seems to like going that route, and it's even shadowed in the game ('Those who seek to save the world may hasten its end', paraphrased from Angeir).

I'm a fool for irony. We'll see (I hope).

Well then they'd probably consider him or her a selfish and abominable race-traitor and continue as before.

I always thought that the Blades were a bit skewed in their current state. They are so used to ordering people and things around that when the Aldmeri Dominion was not as weak as they had supposed it led to catastrophe. After that, they try to order the Dragonborn around even though they are, technically, under an oath to serve, and then basically betray that oath by denying the Dragonborn sanctuary if Paarthurnax is not killed.

How the mighty have fallen.

Yeah. The Blades kinda svck now. After the Dragonborn takes over things might get better though.

Doubt it. Its seems that, in future games, they'll be given the role of the faction that runs around hunting dragons. Pity, I was hoping I could make them into something more of a group to help stop anti-mundus or otherwise giant mystical disasters. Maybe that's less stable and obscure a job as hunting dragons, but I was really hoping more from the blades then...those two. You may as well call them the Dragon Hunters guild, not the Blades.

Well the blades didnt try to make you kill Odahviing. There might be more to that. Using dragons to kill elves sounds like a good idea to me.

I second this theory.

Oh thank goodness i though this was another "Ulfric=Talos/Tiber septim" Looney thread

I'd been reading this as confirming what Arngeir said about the Blades: that they had never truly served the Dragonborn.

But then, that leaves us with two revelations about the Blades:
1. They served the Dragonborn Emperor because he was Dragonborn, not because he was Emperor.
2. They don't really serve the Dragonborn.

Even then, though, it's breathtakingly stupid for the Blades to cut off contact with perhaps the most powerful mortal in the world, for not obeying their orders. Even if that is a big problem for them, it's not like they've got a lot of resources these days. The Blades have been sold out by the Empire in the White-Gold Concordat, just as Talos has. And come to think of it, Blades retirement is becoming a Talosian monk.

You would think the Blades would be more concerned with a second Talos than anyone. Apparently not.

I believe that was actually mentioned in Oblivion. I think it was Jauffre that said they serve the Dragonborn Emperor, not the Empire.

The Blades have been on the Thalmor's hit list well before the Concordat (Mede refused their initial demands, and was gifted with the heads of all Blades agents snooping around the Dominion). As far as I know, the Blades and Empire have had little direct involvement with each other since Martin's "death".

He said they served the Emperor personally, and were not an arm of the government. That's not really surprising, in some sort of aristocratic system connected to a bureaucracy; an aristocrat is likely to have personal retainers, as well as command of the state machinery. High ranking aristocrats tend to accumulate titles and wealth, and it's useful to them to have a variety of tools. It can be useful to keep the right hand from knowing what the left is doing.

The surprising part is that the important part to the Blades was the title of Dragonborn, and I don't recall Jauffre saying anything about that.

But again, given how abruptly the Blades drop the Dovahkiin if he doesn't agree to kill Paarthurnax, it looks like they're not really loyal to the Dragonborn. So what are they loyal to?

The theory in Skyrim seems to be that they aren't loyal to anything, just sworn to kill dragons. They have, in the past, appeared to be loyal to the Dragonborn, but only because the Dragonborn is useful for killing dragons.

Which is rather a svcky retcon.

Indeed. I really hope they've got something more interesting than that in mind. Or if not, will retcon the retcon.

They let Tiber fly all those dragons, over Cyrodiil and Hammerfell. Just saying...

They must all agree on favorite dragonborns, so they let them get away with anything.

Eh, maybe it's just because Delphine is kind of [censored]IN STOOPID. I didnt know you could unintentionally make a protaganist so hate-able.

I think Delphine's just kinda pissed and bitter and wants to take it out on an enemy. I mean the Thalmor basically ruined her life as a Blade, now she's a Dominion fugitive. Seeing as how the Dragons were the old enemies of the Blades when they were Reman's Dragonguard, she just wants a way to vent out the anger and pain.

Or it could be that the Blades alive at the time were smarter, either by giving their oaths allowance for Dragons that had themselves sworn to serve the Dragonborn or by putting them on a hit list for another day.

You notice, too, that she is very eager to have it all be the Thalmor's fault. It would have been so clean for her after thirty years of running to basically have one of her oaths as a Blade, even an oath that was technically redundant since the early 3rd Era, involve killing Thalmor. Then it winds up that the Thalmor are just as confused as anyone else.

And, of course, the Blades were already desperate for a purpose back when Martin transformed. With no Dragonborn to protect and no Dragons to kill, you have a bunch of people with too much dedication and nothing to be dedicated to. When the Dragons vanished, their purpose switched to becoming the personal eyes-and-ears to the Emperor. When you have neither, then you'll jump at the first that resurfaces. If the second comes back at the same time, well then it's all up to the individual Blades. The two you find in Skyrim are a crazy old man with a justifiable Alduin obsession and prophetic dreams and a bitter middle-aged woman who may not be the most sane.

Wouldn't also make sense though that now they have this powerful tool in their hands they would corrupt it and turn it upon the elves? I mean my dragonborn is a nord hating elf who fled to skyrim to help his kins men reclaim it from the corrupt empire. Wouldn't take much convincing on Delphine's part to focus my energy at driving out the Thalmor and becoming the next emperor of Tamerial, which would once more give their order a purpose. Though I understand the problem is not each of us played the same character, so thats why I revert back to the "Whether you are the only dragonborn, we do not know."

That right there leaves so much open for another god hero to step forward in my opinion. Especially after the blades watched you kill dragons like they were skeevers.