User blog:PsijicThief/Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim

'Fair warning, there are to be some spoilers in this blog. If, for whatever reason, you have not completed the Dark Brotherhood quest chain, you have been warned.'

I was going over some threads recently and came to realization that many people seem to not understand how side quests and faction quests work in regards to the next chapter of the series. I understand that probably a third, if not half, of the current TES fans are Skyrim Starters, so allow me to use the Dark Brotherhood as an example - also this will allow me to air some theories I have.

In the primary Dark Brotherhood quest line you are offered an initial choice of killing one of three captured victims after you are taken away by Astrid in your sleep. She offers you the option of killing one of them to make up for the death you stole (Grelod the Kind) and in turn allows you to join the Dark Brotherhood. As you progress through the chain you begin to see that Astrid hasn't been quite living up to the old ways of the Brotherhood, and feels threatened when Cicero makes an appearance with the Night Mother. Cicero promises to return the Dark Brotherhood to it's former glory and ensure that a