Listener

the listener is the lead brotherhood member. he/she visits the night mother and takes orders from her. to do this you need to have completed 'honor thy mother'. as a listener you earn 200 gold a week by visiting the night mother and telling Arquen who to kill. don't bother trying to kill the target yourself as they are always outside of cyrodil.

as the leading member of of the black hand you gain control of the dark brotherhood and can recruit a companion. the listener you serve is lucien lachance until he is killed by the black hand in a misunderstanding. the first was molag bal, the daedric prince.

the other listeners keep other members in line by using the wrath of sithis. the listener in the past was usually a vampire as people were already intimidated by them. the listener also visits the night mother for assassination contracts.

the listeners commad everything in the dark brotherhood and the black hand. they choose who to promote, who to recruit and how.

it is presumed each branch has it's own listener to complate more contracts quicker. the night mother is the only authority higher than listener