I would be so happy if there were no such things as essential Characters and quest items.

The amount of items I have which would look great in my house is massive. From the Elder Scrolls to the Runed Lexicon.

And I'd love nothing more than to kill Delphine. And Maven...and Elenwen.

Maybe in the next game they will perfect Skyrim's http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Protected_NPCs technology.

I remember in Morrowind you'd get a warning if you struck an essential. After that you could kill them, at your own risk.

Yes I'd much prefer a message similar to the one you got in Morrowind when killing someone essential to the MQ. I also remember ring able to drop quest items. The Dwemer Puzzle Box looked nice on my bedside table