Black Hand

The Black Hand is the ruling body of the Dark Brotherhood. It is made up of five members: four Speakers (Index, middle, ring and little fingers) and a Listener (Thumb).

Structure
"Four fingers and a thumb, as it were."

- Lucien Lachance The Listener hears the commands of the Night Mother and the Speakers enact her will. Each Speaker in turn has a Silencer &mdash; a private assassin specifically empowered to do the will of his or her Speaker.

Roles of Silencers
"Does not every finger have a nail, a claw, a talon? Every Speaker has such a nail, These are the Silencers."

- Lucien Lachance

The Silencers are the personal assassins to the members of the Black Hand. Each Speaker (although apparently not the Listener) is entitled to a personal assistant that will eliminate any target they see fit. These very experienced assassins qualify as members of the Black Hand itself, but their existence is kept a secret to the rest of the Brotherhood. As Lachance says they are the nails to each finger.

According to Lucien Lachance, the Silencers are above the laws of the Dark Brotherhood, and are largely allowed to operate as they see fit.

Initiation
This faction can only be joined after the Dark Brotherhood quest: The Purification.

Behind the scenes
The Black Hand is a reference to the criminal extortion racket, known as the Black Hand, in New York and Chicago in the early twentieth century.