*spoiler alert* So pissed at DB questline...

[Adam Warlock]

^^Thanks for the tip . I`ll save Civil War for the very last then if not for a 3rd character.

 

[Get Sm0ked]

No quest in Skyrim came close to arousing strong emotions in me until the Dark Brotherhood questline...I've played it two and a half times and each time my rage and sorrow is greater than before. On my first playthrough, when Maro first told me he'd destroy the Brotherhood, I didn't believe him. I figured I'd show up at the Sanctuary and everything would be alright. Everyone would be shaken up, like after the attack from Cicero, but no one would lie dead.

Man, was I ever wrong. When I discovered poor old Festus Krex, his arms raised to shield himself, transformed into a human pin-cushion by the arrows that pierced his body, I started hammering away on my mouse buttons out of anger. My character delivered power attack after power attack, but no matter how viciously I slew the Penitus Oculatus agents, my revenge could not bring back my wizard mentor from the dead.

And I'm not just roleplaying, mind you. I was seriously PISSED.

I ran inside the sanctuary, shivering at the thought of what I would find. Without waiting to listen to the coversation I heard coming from around the corner, I charged in, buchering the startled soldiers. My heart sank as I found the body of Gabriella. I'd never gotten to know her very well, but I'd hoped to see more character development in the future. Perhapse we could have become fast friends.

Worse was when I slew Arnbjorn's attackers AND HE DIED ANYWAY. I had been so close to saving one of my favorite Brothers of Darkness, and the game wouldn't allow for it. I reloaded save after save, saving him over and over, but he always died. But if I had been upset over the death of my werewolf friend, I was quaking with rage when I found the body of my absolute best friend, my favorite lizard, Veezara. I reanimated his corpse to fight the Sanctuarie's defilers one last time, but his mindless moaning only reminded me his soul had fled the empty shell of his body.

The smallest seed of hope was planted within me when I discovered Nazir and Babette had survived. The hope blossomed and I quivered with excitement as I eagerly ran to the location at which, I had discovered, Astrid waited to speak with me. But those hopes were cruely snatched away from me when I learned of my beloved leader's treachery. I wished the rat had been someone like Cicero, so I could truly enjoy killing the traitor. But it was Astrid. The truth crushed me.

I was disappointed when the only veangence I was allowed to deal out was to Maro. I wanted a quest to hunt down every last Penitus Oculatus agent and destroy them. I wanted to turn each one of them into a human pin-cushion as they had done to Festus. I wanted to put all of them in the Dawnstar Sanctuary torture room!

But it was not to be.

I love this questline. But I hate it even more.

lol dude, thisthread title had so much potential. When i saw it i was "Yes, finally someone who agrees with me!" but then i read it and you u issed -.-" because the family died.

R u joking!?!? The Skyrim DB was utter pl*ps compared to oblivion it shud have been dleeted as a quest line. The quest/contarcts were wayyy to boring and short all it was was kill someone -.-.

The DB questline in skyri seroiusly sucked...... hard

 

[Jersey Dagmar]

lol dude, thisthread title had so much potential. When i saw it i was "Yes, finally someone who agrees with me!" but then i read it and you u issed -.-" because the family died.

R u joking!?!? The Skyrim DB was utter pl*ps compared to oblivion it shud have been dleeted as a quest line. The quest/contarcts were wayyy to boring and short all it was was kill someone -.-.

The DB questline in skyri seroiusly sucked...... hard

I really hope English isn't your first language, because that's some horrible grammar. Nonetheless, while I do prefer Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood to Skyrim's. Both are good in their own ways. I felt the Skyrim Dark Brotherhood was like a continuation of the Oblivion one. After all, you do get Lucien as a Summons. And reading Cicero's journals let's you know that even after your character in Oblivion saved the Brotherhood, the Assassins still fell on difficult times.

 

[Mr1cammando]

^^Thanks for the tip . I`ll save Civil War for the very last then if not for a 3rd character.

When the Jarl asks you to help Farengar, you don't have to help him. At least, not in my expirence.

 

[Get Sm0ked]

I really hope English isn't your first language, because that's some horrible grammar. Nonetheless, while I do prefer Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood to Skyrim's. Both are good in their own ways. I felt the Skyrim Dark Brotherhood was like a continuation of the Oblivion one. After all, you do get Lucien as a Summons. And reading Cicero's journals let's you know that even after your character in Oblivion saved the Brotherhood, the Assassins still fell on difficult times.

English IS my first language XD

 

[Xivia4]

When the Jarl asks you to help Farengar, you don't have to help him. At least, not in my expirence.

Yes you do. Balgruuf won't allow you to continue the Civil War questline with the dragon still on the loose. He'll be too preoccupied. Not to mention you might break the Main Questline due to the Season Unending glitch.

 

[Xivia4]

I'm surprised at how tradition-bound you guys all seem. Why should the old ways be upheld?

Everything was going well until Cicero showed up. In fact, the Night Mother is truly to blame for all of the Dark Brotherhood's misfortunes.
Think about it:
- She drove poor Cicero insane by ignoring him. His loyalty to her later resulted in his attacking Astrid. (And me mercy-killing him to end his pitiful existence)
- Then, by proclaiming you Listener and undermining Astrid's leadership, she created discord in the family, and sowed the seeds of distrust that resulted in the destruction of the sanctuary.

The Night Mother didn't ignore Cicero it was him who ignored her. If he isn't the Listener then he isn't the Listener. Plain and simple. As for Astrid she was the one who undermined your authourity, the Night Mother, and the DB's traditions. As a matter of fact the Dragonborn doesn't even make a play for Astrid's role as the leader. You couldn't careless. She was paranoid and did a dumb thing.

 

[Soulfire]

I agree, I hated the Dark Brotherhood questline. It didn't actually surprise me how much death happened, given EVERYONE died in Oblivion's quest line. Funny how they give you the most welcoming and friendly family only to cut them all down in front of you.
(sigh) Also ironic how much we value their lives while slaughtering a lot of other people for it. I ended up just destroying the order myself, since I hate how the cause is so pointless. I don't like murdering innocents, and killing the emperor leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I wish there were another way apart from just killing them all.

 

[CaptMorgan72]

One of my characters is an Altmer that is a black ops agent with the Thalmor. Almost all Thalmor agents in Skyrim have no idea who he is. All but one, Ondolemar. He is the only one who knows. My Altmer does everything he can to keep the Empire and Stormcloaks at each other's throats so they will weaken and not be able to challenge the Thalmor. This includes killing both Imperial and Stormcloaks on the road, selling weapons to the Stormcloaks AND joining the Dark Brotherhood to anonymously kill Titus Mede II. You may have postponed Thalmor supremacy Titus, but now you're dead and the Empire has no leader.

 

[HappyFaceClown]

..You get to KILL, THE fluffING EMPEROR - What the fluff is your problem; and you killed poor Cicero the best companion ever! Oblivion take you.

^^ THIS.
killing Cicero is basically killing off the last remaining member of the "True" dark brotherhood, its disgraceful for someone who claims to respect them as much as you do.. Astrid wanted him dead cause she wanted to disregard the old codes, by being her pawn you basically spit on the night mother's grave.

 

[DrunkenMage]

I didn't like killing Titus Mede, he reminded me of Uriel in Oblivion about accepting his fate. I did end up killing the man who put out a contract on him, least my character agreed by telling Motierre that he had a message from an 'Honorable man'

 

[Daelon DuLac]

Oh... Cicero died. I listened to him whimper and beg on the floor before gutting him for his teachery.
Astrid? Never trusted the B*tch from the start.
Nazir? I'm keeping an eye on him. I think he's out for number one.

On the plus side - at least BlackRat has an approp

 

[Soulfire]

My gripe against the Dark Brotherhood is, what's the entire point of the questline? Just to follow the exploits of an organisation devoted to killing people, either for fun or whatever (Astrid) or for religion (Cicero), neither of which I approve of in the slightest. I don't really expect to walk into such a disparate organisation and expect a happy ending to it.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

My gripe against the Dark Brotherhood is, what's the entire point of the questline? Just to follow the exploits of an organisation devoted to killing people, either for fun or whatever (Astrid) or for religion (Cicero), neither of which I approve of in the slightest. I don't really expect to walk into such a disparate organisation and expect a happy ending to it.

Of course you are not required to do the questline at all. If you wanted, you could shut it down at the very geginning by killing Astrid. Personally, I kind of enjoyed it. It's profitable (to a degree) - you get to kill the Emperor - and there's an endless stream of contracts that you can always call on. My only limit is that I won't put in a torture chamber. All those screams and moans keep me up at night. Plus, some of the costume (notice I say "costume" and not armor) looks great with other things.

 

[Naginata]

I'm surprised at how tradition-bound you guys all seem. Why should the old ways be upheld?

Everything was going well until Cicero showed up. In fact, the Night Mother is truly to blame for all of the Dark Brotherhood's misfortunes.
Think about it:
- She drove poor Cicero insane by ignoring him. His loyalty to her later resulted in his attacking Astrid. (And me mercy-killing him to end his pitiful existence)
- Then, by proclaiming you Listener and undermining Astrid's leadership, she created discord in the family, and sowed the seeds of distrust that resulted in the destruction of the sanctuary.

In the end, Astrid was killed, as well as many of those loyal to her, and the Dark Brotherhood was bolstered by the death of the emperor and reorganized as the Night Mother saw fit.
Truly, the Night Mother is the most skilled assassin of all -- she managed to get the leader of an elite band of assassins killed as well as the emperor -- and she didn't lift a single finger.

I believe that the Night Mother is the Dark Brotherhood's worst enemy. She allowed and encouraged the Purification in Oblivion, knowing it would serve no purpose, and she engineered the sanctuary's destruction in Skyrim. Just as she killed her children to gain her status, she kills them still to keep the Brotherhood running as she likes it.
And I choose not to be a pawn in her games. True-Death to the Night Mother, I say! Let one with better programming skills than I create a mod that lets me sink her coffin into the Sea of Ghosts, or feed the fetid remains of her corpse to a pack of rabid saber-cats! I want revenge for my killed brothers and sisters!

Hmm. I never thought of it that way. You make a very good point.. she did manipulate the guild, led to its destruction, and did nothing to prevent the Purification of the guild in Cyrodiil and the attack on the guild in Skyrim. She blatantly ignored Cicero, not even giving him a hint as to who the Listener was. And then, she did nothing to stand in the way of the Guild's imminent destruction, even though it was later rebuilt as she pleased.

However, one has to ask, how much power does she REALLY have? Is she just an old corpse with excellent powers of manipulation? Should we really hate her, when we don't even know if she had the power to stop the Purification or attacks on the Guild? Maybe it was her fault it happened in the first place, but does she even have the power to step in the way?

 

[Daelon DuLac]

I'm surprised at how tradition-bound you guys all seem. Why should the old ways be upheld?

Everything was going well until Cicero showed up. In fact, the Night Mother is truly to blame for all of the Dark Brotherhood's misfortunes.
Think about it:
- She drove poor Cicero insane by ignoring him. His loyalty to her later resulted in his attacking Astrid. (And me mercy-killing him to end his pitiful existence)
- Then, by proclaiming you Listener and undermining Astrid's leadership, she created discord in the family, and sowed the seeds of distrust that resulted in the destruction of the sanctuary.

In the end, Astrid was killed, as well as many of those loyal to her, and the Dark Brotherhood was bolstered by the death of the emperor and reorganized as the Night Mother saw fit.
Truly, the Night Mother is the most skilled assassin of all -- she managed to get the leader of an elite band of assassins killed as well as the emperor -- and she didn't lift a single finger.

I believe that the Night Mother is the Dark Brotherhood's worst enemy. She allowed and encouraged the Purification in Oblivion, knowing it would serve no purpose, and she engineered the sanctuary's destruction in Skyrim. Just as she killed her children to gain her status, she kills them still to keep the Brotherhood running as she likes it.
And I choose not to be a pawn in her games. True-Death to the Night Mother, I say! Let one with better programming skills than I create a mod that lets me sink her coffin into the Sea of Ghosts, or feed the fetid remains of her corpse to a pack of rabid saber-cats! I want revenge for my killed brothers and sisters!

Hmm. I never thought of it that way. You make a very good point.. she did manipulate the guild, led to its destruction, and did nothing to prevent the Purification of the guild in Cyrodiil and the attack on the guild in Skyrim. She blatantly ignored Cicero, not even giving him a hint as to who the Listener was. And then, she did nothing to stand in the way of the Guild's imminent destruction, even though it was later rebuilt as she pleased.

However, one has to ask, how much power does she REALLY have? Is she just an old corpse with excellent powers of manipulation? Should we really hate her, when we don't even know if she had the power to stop the Purification or attacks on the Guild? Maybe it was her fault it happened in the first place, but does she even have the power to step in the way?

Ah... if only she was a marriable NPC...

 

[Naginata]

Ah... if only she was a marriable NPC...

Who?

 

[Daelon DuLac]

Ah... if only she was a marriable NPC...

Who?

Mama!

 

[Soulfire]

I really hate the Night Mother. Throughout the Dark Brotherhood in both the Oblivion and Skyrim variants, I've wanted to turn against her and the order itself, if only to save the friends I've made within it. Then I might try and find a way to turn them away from the path of murder...
But this is only a fleeting dream, anyway.

 

[ColleenG]

If it's any consolation, there will be 3 Penitus Oculatus agents in the tower across from Castle Dour in Solitude that will show up as enemies every time you use the blacksmith forge there. You can exact vengeance again and again and again.

And, for the most part, I agree with you. I believe this time, I won't do the quest. Too much bs for my tastes.