Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-15888551-20130823092654/@comment-98.26.195.58-20140119004427

Roughly a 50% ratio of incoherent, unsophisticated childlike nonsense to thought provoking lore discussion here. Not bad for a Wiki.

Esbern and Delphine's mistake is bitterness and short-sightedness. Their war with the entire race of Dov is, frankly, not nearly as important as the OTHER wars going on, namely against Alduin and also the Thalmor, they just THINK they're the only horse in the race (so to speak) when they're not.

Alduin is more meaningful in a lore sense than all the other dragons put together, and ultimately the only one which represents an existential threat to humanity and the future of Nirn. The rest will bow to whoever wields unchallenged control over the Dov. So if a "dragon defector" (such as Paarthurnax or Odahviing) wants to bow early to the Dovahkiin's superior strength and assist humanity in defeating the existential threat of Alduin, then I'm glad to have them. Better a live, useful turncoat than a dead, useless enemy.

What kind of a person looks at a defeated but still mighty foe who's willing to help and says "Nah, I'd rather kill you out of spite"? A really bitter and short-sighted person like Esbern and Delphine who's evidently never heard the expression "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".

Paarthurnax can answer for his bloody sins against humanity via a long campaign of helping us shred Alduin and the Thalmor. And the "Blades" (all two of them) don't like it, they can go the hell back to where they came from and pout about it.