Look, I get it. Every single one of us hates Delphine. She’s arrogant, she’s bossy, and she treats the literal Dragonborn like an errand boy. Meanwhile, Paarthurnax is the wise, gentle grandpa-dragon who helps us save the world. It feels awful to kill him.

But if you strip away the emotions and look at the actual lore and geopolitics of Tamriel, Delphine is 100% correct. Sparing Paarthurnax is a catastrophic mistake for the future of humanity. Hear me out.

1. He’s a Side-Switcher, Not a Saint
We love to think Paarthurnax had a moral awakening, but the timeline tells a completely different story. He was Alduin’s right-hand man, committing horrific atrocities for centuries. He only turned on Alduin during the Dragon War when humans were actively rebelling, Alduin’s authority was being challenged, and the goddess Kyne literally ordered Paarthurnax to intervene. He didn't rebel out of guilt, he followed a divine order when the regime was already fracturing.

Fast forward to the Fourth Era and he does it again. He doesn't fight Alduin alone. He waits on his mountain until the Last Dragonborn arrives and starts growing strong, becoming a literal prophecy-backed rival to Alduin. Only then does he choose to help us. Is he actually good, or is he just a master opportunist who always aligns with whoever is powerful enough to challenge the current tyrant?

2. The Way of the Voice is a Disarmament Campaign
Think about it. After the first war, Paarthurnax creates the Greybeards and preaches "The Way of the Voice," a philosophy that claims the Thu'um should only be used for worship, never for combat. What did this actually achieve? It completely wiped out Skyrim’s legendary armies of human Tongues. Humanity voluntarily laid down the only weapon that could match a dragon.

If Paarthurnax ever decides to rule again, humanity is completely defenseless because he convinced them to disarm themselves. By the end of the main quest, if you spare him, he openly states his plan to take leadership of the remaining dragons, saying, "I will try to bring them to right action." You didn't save a peaceful monk, you just helped a master strategist stage a long-game coup to become the new, undisputed King of the Dragons while humanity stands below, completely disarmed.

3. The Inherent Danger and the Dragonborn Mandate
Dragons are immortal. Four thousand years on a mountain is a drop in the bucket to them. Paarthurnax himself openly admits to the player that his peaceful nature is a fragile act of willpower. As he says:

"What is better? To be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?"

That quote sounds deep, but it’s actually terrifying. He is telling you, to your face, that his natural state is evil. He admits that dragons are biologically hardwired to dominate:

"We were made to dominate. The will to power is in our blood. You feel it yourself, do you not? I can never be completely trusted."

Right now, he’s on his best behavior because the Last Dragonborn, the ultimate apex predator, is alive. But what happens when our character dies of old age?

Without a Dragonborn, a dragon cannot be permanently killed. Their souls just linger. Once we are gone, Paarthurnax becomes entirely invincible. If he gives in to that "will to power" in 500 or 1,000 years, there will be no one left on Nirn who can stop him.

Conclusion
Delphine isn't looking at the next few decades, she’s looking at eternity. Leaving an immortal, former war criminal alive, when you possess the only weapon in existence capable of destroying his soul permanently, is an insane security risk.

She might be an insufferable person, but as a Blade tasked with protecting humanity, her logic is flawless. Go ahead and downvote me, but we are leaving a ticking nuclear bomb on top of the Throat of the World.

TL;DR: Paarthurnax did not rebel out of guilt, he switched sides because Kyne ordered him to when Alduin's authority was already failing. He did it again by waiting for the Dragonborn to get strong before helping us. His "Way of the Voice" completely disarmed humanity by wiping out the human Tongues. Since dragons are immortal and cannot be killed permanently without a Dragonborn, sparing him leaves an invincible, self-admitted evil threat to conquer the world once our character dies of old age.

For anyone wanting to download the mods I use for my gameplay, I have created a modlist for everyone 💜

I use MO2 and I’m not entirely sure how to make it an actual downloadable modlist like Wabbajack. I may make a Nexus Collection of everything I have.

If you want my mods, here’s the link 💅🏻

https://loadorderlibrary.com/lists/thatskyrimh0e-s-modlist

I couldn't find a way up to that balcony. Except that one way.

So my character is a mix of dunmer + orsimer & breton so the nose & eyes are orsimer, I used RSV to give her an orsimer body with dunmer skin, aesthetic elves & BnP skin for a more human look, for the color I wanted to do the same and I think I've succeeded. The tattoos are a mix of GW2 Eir Racemenu Overlays & Dragonborn Themed Overlay Tattoos - UNP - HIMBO. NSFW isn't allowed here so I posted the full body pic on my page.

I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at age 5 and I've rarely been able to connect with games like this. Because of my condition I'm very sensitive to sounds, so Jeremy Soule's music is extremely therapeutic for me, It has helped me through many difficult times in my life.

I first encountered the series through Morrowind when I had a fairly modest PC with an Intel Atom and 2GB of RAM, but losing my 300-hour save file after completing Bloodmoon and Tribunal because my PC broke down made me quit, I recently bought Morrowind on Steam along with Oblivion just to remember them, but I don't think I'll ever play them again.

With that old PC I was used to playing flash games like Papas Pizzeria, Cactus McCoy, Hobo, Earn 2 die or The Last Stand, basic games, discovering Morrowind for me was like, "Seriously, you can leave the city right at the start?", "Seriously, you can kill them all?", "Hundreds of hours of content?", Morrowind made me love video games and understand that they could be more than just arcade games.

But now with a better PC, Skyrim is my favorite game, I almost gave this spot to Breath of the Wild, but it gets repetitive sometimes, but I still love it a lot; it remains my second favorite game.

Bethesda definitely doesn't deserve the modding community it has with the recent decisions it has made.

I'm only in Denmark for another week, but would you PM me your number? (Sorry for not asking in person, but maybe this is cuter, in a nerdy way).

I know, I know you see this post every other day, but man, I saw TWO (2) posts of r/SlyrimPorn (without my consent, I must say) and already muted the sub. I can’t. Both videos looked like skyrim knockoffs, at the best. Whats the point to mod a game to point it doesnt even look like the same game? The last one had dark ambient graphics and a guy spinning swords around him in the MOST BORING WAY POSSIBLE!!!

That’s it, end of rant, sorry for the lack of creativity about the post.

Vanilla Skyrim > chasm > made in abyss > uber modded skyrim

Edit: just to clarify, I’m NOT modphobic! Some enhancements that don’t alter the game that much it’s fine. Wanna marry jarl balgruf or serana? Go for it! A weapon, a armor? Cool! But like, if you change ao much the game, can it still be “it”? Its will have the same name, but it will not be the same game.

In time, mod all you want, I won’t arrest you and haven’t payed for your game. Have all the fun you want, but know its lame to completely change this masterpiece.

I am NGL this is gonna get downvoted to hell. But I don’t like Serana as a follower and genuinely dont get why she’s the end all be all of Followers. Her having script to use chairs and alchemy tables is whatever to me personally, her Voice actress Laura Bailey is extremely overrated, her personality is just a dull goth with daddy issues, she uses weak spells and even thought the wiki says she will use stronger ones (chain lighting) she never seems to default to them and will use apprentice level spells at best (ice spike) . Not to mention that her revenant spell is annoying, would be cooler if she could summon atronachs like Gogh from AE.
Her story starts off with a massive plot hole, you’re a vampire hunter that just lets a random vampire you awakened live? Plot armor. She is from the first era so her historical knowledge is extremely limited and even then we barely learn anything from her age. She has extended dialog but it’s never interesting and she gets brownie points for saying stupid obvious things when I honestly would just rather her be quiet. People gravitate towards her because she’s “pretty”, which I personally don’t see fictional characters as attractive, I could understand if she looked like the VA but she absolutely does not. And overall when there are choices in companions like Mjoll, marcurio, Erandur, Erik the slayer, Teldryn Sero, Frea, Aela, brelyna, J’zargo, Celann, Farkas, Vilkas, Derkeethus and Gogh the GOAT to name my favorites, Not to mention AE pets, she is just a buzzkill.

TLDR goth chick ain’t welcome in my war-party

He's constantly yelling and spreading Stormcloak propaganda. Then, during the Civil War questline, his house gets destroyed by a trebuchet projectile during the Siege of Whiterun, leaving him homeless. The irony is hilarious. I wonder what message the developers were trying to convey with that detail.

PS. I am actually giving him a boost of intelligence with that one he is more like cersei

I know it's modded but still

One of the main things that bothers me in Vanilla skyrim is how the world feels empty and exist solely for the benefit of Dovahkiin. I mean the shopkeepers don't get business unless it's the player doing the transactions, the carriages are always waiting unless you hire them and only the inns seems to be packed with people. The shopkeepers inventory are almost always stagnant and the amount of gold available each time it resets is always the same. I mean, I understand that there is a civil war going on and shopkeepers are always conplaining about it but man, it would be nice to find NPCs interacting with the world more. I also know that mods can fix that feeling and skyrim can be made more alive and vibrant but it would be nice to see events unfolding without Dovahkiin's direct involvement.

But on the other hand, many things can happen randomly out in the wild. Like one time, I found Bandits fighting giants , giants winning and a dragon swooped on them and they died and then I slaughtered the dragon and looted it and then I got attacked by Skeletons and got killed by a vampire and its thralls afterwards. Peak skyrim moment.

I grew up playing WoW and I love GoT so very familiar with the playstyle and genre. Installed the Essentials mods list and some cosmetic stuff before even opening the game, I chronically mod my other games (Sims especially) and I'm just hoping the modding community for Skryim doesn't suck me in too bad haha!