Blades (Skyrim)

The Blades are a joinable faction in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim after completing the main quest.

Background
The Blades used to be the Emperor's personal guards, as the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion illustrate. After Martin sacrificed himself during the Oblivion Crisis, the Blades were left without a purpose.

Before the events of Skyrim, the Blades, still waiting for the next Dragonborn to protect, believed that the Thalmor posed a great threat to the Empire so they began to spy on the Aldmeri Dominion. However, the Thalmor learned of this and executed every Blade spy in all of the Summerset Isles and Valenwood and delivered their severed heads to the Emperor, demanding that the Blades must be disbanded and many more terms. The Empire refused and the Great War began.

For years, the Blades confidently fought an underground war against the Thalmor. As Delphine says, "We thought we were more than a match for them; we were wrong." The Thalmor defeated the Blades and decimated their ancient order, sending the few surviving Blades into hiding.

Interactions
After reaching Sky Haven Temple, talk to Delphine and she will speak about restoring the Blades. She will ask you to recruit three followers to join the Blades.

The player may bring followers to Delphine to have them inducted into the Blades; they will receive Blades Armor. As you recruit more followers into the order, the temple slowly upgrades as more people populate the area. After recruiting three Blades members, you gain the option to hunt dragons. You can speak to Esbern to get the miscellaneous quest to hunt a dragon. Esbern can also give you the Dragonslayer's Blessing effect.

Members inducted into the Blades may still be followers. Bladehood is more beneficial for some than others. Take into account all Blade Armor is heavy armor.

Generally it is a good idea to recruit NPCs with existing talents in these disciplines so as to maximize their potential. The various Housecarls (Argis, Calder, Iona, Jordis, Lydia) all make excellent recruits if you can stand to part with them. Correspondingly, sneaky followers such as Dark Brotherhood Initiates are generally not the best to recruit. However, at least one good archery follower is recommended as much dragon fighting is done with a bow and arrow.

Once you've recruited three followers into the Blades, she will tell you to speak to Esbern, who has been studying ancient dragon burial grounds. He will occasionally give you and the three Blades you recruited a quest to hunt a dragon at the burial grounds. After the first such mission, you gain the option of giving Esbern a dragon bone and dragon scale in exchange for a potion that will give you a permanent 25% resistance to damage inflicted by dragon melee attacks.

Recruits

 * Recruits will be moved to the Sky Haven Temple. You may then use them as followers at any time. This can be useful for followers like Kharjo who wander around Skyrim and do not stay in a fixed position, when not following the Dragonborn.
 * The player can invite up to three Followers to the Blades. Once the last recruit is accepted by Delphine, the Dragonborn will receive a Miscellaneous Quest from Esbern that requires him/her to kill a Dragon, using the help of other Blades. It should be noted that most, although not all Followers can be recruited to the Blades.
 * It is recomended for recruits to have a solid Heavy Armor skill, as well as One-handed and Block skills during fights. It is also wise to choose recruits with a high Archery or Destruction level, allowing them to effectively attack flying dragons. Potential recruits that possess such skills are listed below:
 * 1) Onmund (Male Nord Sorcerer)
 * 2) J'zargo (Male Khajiit Sorcerer)
 * 3) Uthgerd the Unbroken (Female Nord Warrior)
 * 4) Kharjo (Male Khajiit Warrior)
 * 5) Borgakh the Steel Heart (Female Orc Warrior)
 * 6) Ria (Female Imperial Warrior)
 * 7) Vorstag (Male Nord Warrior)
 * 8) Torvar (Male Nord Warrior)
 * 9) Athis (Male Dunmer Warrior)
 * 10) Golldir (Male Nord Warrior)
 * 11) Cosnach (Male Breton Warrior)
 * 12) Ogol (Male Orc Warrior)
 * 13) Ghorbash the Iron Hand (Male Orc Warrior)
 * 14) Mjoll the Lioness (Female Nord Warrior)
 * 15) Sven (Male Nord Warrior)
 * 16) Erik the Slayer (Male Nord Warrior)
 * 17) All Housecarls
 * 18) Farkas (Male Nord Warrior)
 * 19) Vilkas (Male Nord Warrior)
 * 20) Aela the Huntress (Female Nord Warrior)
 * 21) Faendal (Male Bosmer Archer)
 * 22) Benor (Male Nord Warrior)
 * 23) Both Dark Brotherhood Initiates

Bugs

 * Should you kill any of your three recruits, you will not be able to replace them. Whether they can be replaced upon being killed by a dragon or not is unknown.
 * Esbern will give you miscellaneous quests to go dragon hunt with your fellow Blades members once you have chosen them all, but the quest will be impossible to complete if you already killed the dragons in those locations, and the Blades members will just be stuck there .They may be able to return after the dragon is killed as they are waiting for it to be killed and the dragons respawn there.
 * Delphine will attack you if you have a high bounty in Whiterun, just as the guards do. (The same applies with Esbern with a high bounty in The Rift.)

Trivia

 * Upon recruiting Mjoll the Lioness, Aerin will also be moved to the Sky Haven Temple. While he doesn't become a Blade, he does wander around the temple. His dialogue is unchanged.

Quests
Quests involving the Blades include:
 * Bleak Falls Barrow
 * The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller
 * A Blade in the Dark
 * Diplomatic Immunity
 * A Cornered Rat
 * Alduin's Wall
 * Season Unending
 * Paarthurnax

Members

 * Delphine
 * Esbern
 * The Dragonborn (If Paarthurnax is completed by the end of the main quest)
 * Three Followers of your choosing