I recently thought about if my long planned "headcannon" dragonborn playthrough (rushed through the MQ only once just in time for the Dragonborn DLC) is going to side with the Greybeards or the Blades, and I figured I would go with the latter because of the recruitment thing. This got me thinking about who to recruit, and what kinds of interresting dragonslayer group dynamics I could create that would be cool to play with.

Really, I am just very curious to hear how you went about recruiting followers for the blades? Did you go for the typical one mage, one ranger and one mage approach, or did you perhaps only recruit NPCs of your own race/gender etc...

I've never been able to bring myself to take "The Blades" seriously in this game. Delphine is a straight out lunatic and never shows the Dragonborn any kind of respect. The Greybeards are wary due to their adherence to The Way of the Voice. They're wary, but they also don't seek to manipulate your path. Delphine treats you like a fresh faced recruit from the start and gives you marching orders without bothering to even ask if you care to join this particular fight. She shows up to the Peace Accord in full regalia, as if they're a legitimate player in the game of politics.

When House Telvanni has a bigger presence, both in-game and according to the narrative, then your organization, you really shouldn't be trying to act like you're more then you are.

If it had been an option, I would have told the Thalmor right where to look to ferret them out. As it is, I interact with them as the narrative demands, and I leave them to their delusions in a crumbling ruin. When given the choice between choosing between a centuries old creature that has lived in seclusion and preaches meditation and wise handling of the language of pure magic vs a clearly unhinged woman whose war against the elves lead to a wagon cart full of heads and who wants to seize upon an ancient heritage she has zero training for and even less ability towards...

I'm going to side with the Dragon on this one.

What GC said.

As for me, none of my characters have ever recruited anyone into the Blades, oftentimes for no other reason than to ensure that Paarthurnax will not be threatened.

Sure, there's no chance the old dragon will end up dead if I recruit more Blades, but that's how I RP it.

I feel I should clarify:

When I said Delphine shows the Dragonborn no respect...it's not that I expect her to get down and kiss the very ground I walk on. But Delphine from the start is a very abrasive, demanding individual. This isn't really new to the Blades in Elder Scrolls games - we've always (save Arena, of course) worked through them and they've always pushy.

It's just that with Skyrim...the whole dynamic has changed. The Blades aren't the omnipresent hand of the Emperor any longer. Heck, the Emperor officially disowned them and my guess is he'd just as gleefully slaughter the remnants as the Thalmor seeing as how the Blades were at least the excuse the Dominion needed to go to war. It's not unjust to say the Blades are the reason the Great War happened.

So to be shoehorned into their service yet again with even less of a pretense...

Just like the Empire itself, the Blades are from a different era. Maybe it's just me balking against a system that's been in place since Daggerfall, but I don't WANT to be a member of the Blades - or the Empire - any longer.

I would generally play about halfway through the main questline, or up to the point where she allows you to recruit members to the blades, and ship 3 unwanted housecarls to her. If my character had a friendly demeanor then I wouldn't even bother myself with the questline; the Blades are a rather poorly implemented plot device, irrelevant to the main story. If Bethesda had wanted to reintroduce them in Skyrim, I believe they should have had their own questline, unaffiliated with the main questline and having arches unique to whether or not dragons had been reintroduced in full force throughout Skyrim (i.e., completing Dragon Rising).

I'm actually quite glad that not every NPC is automatically deferential to the Dragonborn.

However, one would expect Delphine to be a good deal nicer, given her vocation and the nature of the Dragonborn. If anyone should be cooperative with the Dovahkiin, one would think it would be Delphine; instead, she's a bossy little chit who seems to forget just where she really sits in relation to the Dragonborn.

Though it's her demand that the Dovahkiin kill Paarthurnax that is what really puts me off to her, and I RP every character to deny her demand and refuse to recruit for the Blades accordingly. Same goes for Esbern, and he owes the Dovahkiin a great deal more than Delphine, arguably.

Won't be any on this play through or ever again. Nil, zilch, zero, nada.

NONE

Having an absolute dislike for Delphine no matter what type of character I RP, I never send followers to her to recruit.

The one time I did that, I had Aela and Lydia join the Blades.

Iv'e never sided with the Blades.

I had one character do it, just to try it out. He was an Orc warrior who was seeking glory, so being a mighty Dragon slayer fit the bill. He didn't care much for anything else and had little regard for those old men on the mountain who had lived well past their prime.

He married Borgakh the Steel Heart and recruited her. He also added Mjoll the Lioness, Lydia and Uthgerd the Unbroken. So basically his criteria was any female who was a warrior and used heavy armor (since Blade armor is heavy).

It was a fun role-play and he wasn't so tied up with the Delphine/Grey Beard issue since he just didn't care about all that.

On one of my first playthroughs I pretty much did 3 random followers. Faendal... I think Farkas... and maybe Eric the Slayer. I thought you could recruit endlessly (as to actually rebuild an organization) or at least more people. And I thought it was essential for the MQ

Wow, honestly its been so long (I only did it once) I really dont remember who I sent to the Blades. Wont ever do it again either.

I've never sided with the Blades, They are lost and I really loved the Blades back in Oblivion since they seem so eager to lick the ground any Dragonborn walks on.

I hate Delpehine (Whatever her name is, tells me to kill a good dragon and then she'd glitch and kept saying the same thing. I killed her in my anger and became... lost to the Vampires.... and Mora)

My one character to side with the blades got rid of (recruited) Calder and Argis, for being pests every time I did a bit of decorating around the house. All my other housecarls behaved themselves or stayed out of the way, so for the third I settled on Roggi Knot-beard. Only my original, character sided with the blades, everyone else doing the main quest will side with the Greybeards.

My original character is a sneaky, amoral, imperial milk drinker, who did everything in the game he could. Betrayal of the Greybeards and murdering an ally seemed something he would do, all the others have a lot more honor, loyalty and respect for their friends. Delphine asking us to do that is no friend to the dragonborn. We went dragon hunting all of three times, they were a useless bunch at least on the Xbox 360, I have yet to give them an outing on the PC. My character needs no help killing dragons, now if they would go kill Falskaar bandits they would be more useful.

Sven/Faendal(don't remember), Lydia...*blank*. All I remember were those two :\

I might actually re-do that quest...A nice change of "the usual". I'll edit this post after a while. Can't exactly rush from Helgen to the blades quest on Legendary.

I placed Braith, Dagny, Frothar, and Britte in the blades. (I wish!)

Be sure to leave Braith unessential! I'd pay a good amount of septims to see her being "picked up" and thrown away by a dragon!

Oh yes! I'd use my dancing mod to dance on her dead, crumpled body

kharjo, jenessa, and the guy from the inn in markarth, not the beggar guy the other one, name escapes me.

Three characters who would have no problem with killing Delphine by my orders XD

I chose Lydia...

And then I forgot the second I walked out of the temple and spent a few months looking for her until I remembered.

I sent three morally challenged followers that were on my brigand's payroll to keep tabs on and, if push comes to shove, out number Delphine and the old man should they forget who their order serves. I used a mod to shout down her demands for Parthy's head.

Stenvar

Cosnach

Jenassa

Up there with the Brotherhood of Steel in Fallout 3 for the most useless and annoying major faction in a video game. Bethesda 'writers' sure love their "Good Guise."

If I did recruit it would probably be the Housecarls as I hate them watching my wife and I sleep, well except for Jordis, she can do whatever she wants to me and my wife while we 'sleep.' I'd also nominate J'Zargo just to get the smelly cat out of the College of Winterhold if you don't do the Boethiah quest.