An event that occured thousands of years ago. Delphine's ancestors were probably still swimming in a sack somewhere.

Think about an event 4 to 5 thousand years ago and wanting to exact justice. It's ridiculous.

Especially when the guilty party has expressed full understanding of the evil he has done and has made efforts to do good to atone for it.

I always wanted to tell the Blades to go jump of a cliff. Or that were not friends anymore. Or something. Lost all respect when they asked me to kill him.

*strokes the beards of the greybeards* I only like them because the let me do this!

Greybeards all the way.

Greybeards say: you are Dragonborn by the will of the gods. We will help you learn to use your power but what you do with it is up to you. As long as you choose to be our friend, we will always be here for you.

The Blades say: you are Dragonborn, great, here's a list of stuff you have to do for us now, because we say so. Oh, and if you don't follow orders we don't want anything more to do with you, so when we say "jump" you'd better say "how high" or else. If you choose to remain friends with people we don't like, we won't let you be our errand girl/boy any more.

In short, once you've proven yourself to the Greybeards they offer their help in return for nothing other than your continued good will and make no demands on you. The Blades demand your help at every turn, in return for which they don't do much aside from demanding even more of it. The Greybeards offer guidance, and the Blades demand compliance.

As for Delphine being Grandmaster - she's a self-appointed Grandmaster, and her main qualification is that there's nobody around to compete with her for the job or contest her having it. And what is she Grandmaster of, anyway? Herself and a cloudcuckoolander old wizard, because that's all the Blades amount to unless I go out and recruit for them.

IMO her attitude and dialogue make her seem like someone who resents the power and knowledge the Greybeards have, partly because it's something she doesn't have herself but primarily because they have it and won't do with it what SHE thinks they should. Then the Dragonborn comes along, and she manages to force her way into his/her business and seems to think she's finally got someone who has that power and will also take orders from her. WRONG.

Esbern's a cool old dude except when it comes to the Paarthurnax dilemma but Delphine? She rubs me the wrong way right from the start. The thing with Paarthy is just the last of many straws when it comes to her. I have about the same attitude towards her as she does towards me - as long as she's useful and cooperative in helping me meet my goals, fine, I will make use of her. But once that stops she can kiss her dreams of a Dragonborn errand girl goodbye.

Delphine is the de facto grandmaster, she was just an apprentice when the great war happened.

but didn't Paarthy betray your beloved overlord

The Greybeards. I don't like Delphine's attitude. Esbern seemed like a reasonable old guy, until he met up with Delphine again.

Since I don't have to pick one.

They're all milk drinkers! All hail Alduin!

The Ancient Nords thought he did. If not even they found it fit to kill Paarthurnax, in what [censored] up world does Delphine or anyone else?

Plus the entire "they dont do anything to help the conflict" is pure bull. You're going to force a pacifist to fight? Have people ever thought maybe that they follow The Way partially to PROTECT people? These guys make buildings shake by WHISPERING. Do you think their Voices are exactly per se, stable?

Besides they help out in every they can. They host Season Unending (against their own beliefs of peace ) , and well, you know... TRAIN YOU?

I don't care for either, but don't mind the Greybeards as much.

The Blades are more useless and obnoxious than the Vigilants of Stendarr.

Delphine and the lack of rationality/common sense surrounding her and her MQ quests are why I'll never support the Blades in their current setting.

Really? The thalmor are behind the dragons returning? Or she wants information on the return of dragons and hires someone to hire you to go to Bleak Falls Barrow? Can't leave the Sleeping Giant you know... total BS because she leaves it to go steal the horn from under your nose. She went into an equally dangerous place for the horn, somehow getting in the back way, but couldn't do the same for Bleak Falls Barrow? I have my suspicions she hired the bandits to steal the claw and when that failed...

Oh and after you turn in the stone, the guards run in screaming dragons and what does this Blade and sworn slayer of dragons do? You should follow her next time if you doubt me. She goes to the Bannered Mare for a drink. Don't tell me she didn't hear the guards yelling dragon. She was in the room with you when Irileth comes in for you and Farengar.

She didn't put me on a path I wasn't already on. She really is the last blade. I don't recruit for her and I seriously doubt her and Esburn are young enough to make their own members.

But the Grey Beards. I like them. I will always take their side, sitting atop their mountain and watching the world fight below over petty things.

Just saying, there's a mod for that.

And I love it, the ability to tell her to shut up.

The Greybeards need to stop being Hippies on Hrothgar, and follow Kyne.

The Blades IMO would kill the Dragonborn because the Dragonborn has Dragonblood and is no longer needed by the Blades.

If Delphine and Esbern want him dead so badly I'll sit down with a drink and some popcorn and watch them fight him on their own.

That should have been an option... I think I'll do that this time actually.

M'aiq did that with Esbern.

Esbern versus Paarthurnax. Esbern actually won. O_o

I have Deadly Dragons installed so the odds are against him If I remember to do it whenever I finally get around to advancing the MQ. So so much better then being attacked every 5 seconds by dragons as weak as bandits like vanilla. Still can't go 5 feet without bears, wolves or sabercats though.

I'll take your word on that and that's friggin hilarious. People who defend her say that she doesn't help then because she doesn't want to blow her cover but that's B.S. for several reasons.

I agree with everything you say about the Blades yet dislike the Greybeards for sitting all high and mighty on the Throat so I voted that they're all milk drinkers....I slay Paarth after Delphines quest goes away and leave both groups behind forever

She does indeed hang out in the Bannered Mare after leaving Dragonsreach. I've seen her there when returning to my rented room for the night after killing that first dragon.

The reason the GBs stay on HH is because they've sworn themselves to follow the example of their founder, who chose a life of relative non-intervention in the civil and political conflicts of the world while pursuing a more spiritual path. They are doing what they are supposed to do and are sworn to do as Greybeards.

The Blades, on the other hand, were sworn to serve those who are Dragonborn, that is the origin of their service to the Emperor and Empire - it wasn't the Emperor they were sworn to originally so much as the Dragonborns who just happened to be rulers of the Cyrodiilic Empires. Unlike the Greybeards, the remaining Blades are NOT following the path they were sworn to follow IMO. They can talk about their historical affiliation and service to the Dragonborns of the past, but in reality what they want is another recruit who happens to be blessed with extra special powers that they find useful for their own agenda.

The Greybeards follow the Way of the Voice that speaks of staying silent unless in times of great need....what need is greater to shout at then the return of Alduin and likely end of the world? This is 1 of the reasons why I can't reason with their way...ditto goes for Paarthurnax who was there when Alduin returned, they all sat idly by (likely frozen with fear) as Alduin returned and burned down a nearby settlement.

I agree completely about the Blades and I too feel like Delphine wants to manipulate us into being the big gun that serves her.

Not much of a Greybeard fan, but the self-proclaimed Grandmaster lost it for The Blades. She was very difficult to work with in the beginning, got a little bit better in the middle of the MQ, but totally lost it at the end. I honestly not sure what The Blad... err Dragon Slayers true intentions are with the LDB, but something tells me she over stepped the bounds of the Order. Should have killed my characters as soon as they stepped into your inn, Delphine.

Still despite their apparent belief that perhaps the kalpa and the world are meant to end they still help you in your quest to defeat Alduin without you needing to force them to and actually treat you with respect.

The "Blades" on the other hand just treat you like their pet [censored].

Eh, I respect the history of the Blades, I quite like Esbern, and I even rebuild the blades with new members, but I wont kill Paarthurnax for them. I (as a character) agree with a lot of the Way of the Voice tenants, but I don't care for the Greybeard's aloofness towards the rest of the world. Paarthurnax, of course, is the bomb.

Again, she should have killed my PCs as soon as she knew they were Dragonborn. Is the Dragonborn a mortal with a soul of a dragon, thus a "dragon"?