Blades (Skyrim)

The Blades are a joinable faction in after completing the main quest. After the Great War, the dragonslayers from Akavir, better known as the Emperor's protectorates, dissipated, disassembled, and went into hiding. Delphine, the last acting grandmaster, resides as the curator of Sleeping Giant Inn, where she awaits the emergence of a Dragonborn.

She discovers that one is searching for The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller and steals it, replacing it with a note, hoping to lure the Dragonborn to her. Succeeding, she convinces the Dragonborn to join her in spying on the Thalmor who she believes are responsible for the Dragon Crisis and the return of Alduin. As dragonslayers, the Blades have a strong interest in seeing the death of Alduin and his consorts.

Finding Esbern in Riften, the Dragonborn escorts he and Delphine to Sky Haven Temple. Together, they decipher the prophecy on Alduin's Wall and strive to defeat the World Eater.

At a certain point in the main storyline, the Dragonborn can bring three followers to Delphine, who inducts them into the faction. With these allies, several Radiant Quests can be completed, where Dragon Lairs are investigated and the dragons within, annihilated.

Background
The Blades were once an order of dragonslayers and used to be the Emperor's personal guard, as the events of illustrate. After Martin Septim 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, then delivered their severed heads to the Emperor Titus Mede II, demanding that the Blades be disbanded. The Empire refused the ultimatum 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 completing the quest to kill Paarthurnax, talk to Delphine and she will speak about restoring the Blades. She will ask the player to recruit three followers to join the Blades. Note that this is possible even if the player completes the main quest without killing Paarthurnax, which causes the quest to disappear from the menu, and then kills Paarthurnax after the ending. The Paarthurnax quest will reappear with talking to Delphine as its next objective.

The player may bring a maximum of three followers to Delphine to have them inducted into the Blades; they will receive Blades Armor. As more followers are recruited into the order, the temple slowly upgrades as people begin to populate the area. After recruiting all three Blades members, the player gains the opportunity to hunt dragons with a selectable party. Speak to Esbern to get the miscellaneous quest to hunt a dragon. Esbern can also give the Dragonborn the Dragonslayer's Blessing effect.

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

Generally it is a good idea to recruit individuals with existing talents in these disciplines in order to maximize their potential. The various Housecarls (Argis, Calder, Iona, Jordis, Lydia) all make excellent recruits if the player can stand to have their default armor replaced with Blades Armor. Correspondingly, stealthy 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 the Dragonborn has recruited three followers into the Blades, Delphine will tell him to speak to Esbern, who has been studying ancient Dragon burial grounds. He will occasionally give the player and the three Blades that were recruited a quest to hunt a dragon at the burial grounds. After the first such mission, the Dragonborn gains the option of giving Esbern a dragon bone and dragon scale in exchange for a potion that will give the user a permanent 25% resistance to damage inflicted by dragon melee attacks.

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

Recruits
Recruits will be moved to the Sky Haven Temple. They may be used 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. Same goes for followers, who live in hard-to-reach places like Erandur who lives in Nightcaller Temple — spawn place for Frost Trolls and Ice Wraiths.

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 recommended 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:
 * Onmund (Male Nord Sorcerer)
 * J'zargo (Male Khajiit Sorcerer)
 * Uthgerd the Unbroken (Female Nord Warrior)
 * Kharjo (Male Khajiit Warrior)
 * Borgakh the Steel Heart (Female Orc Warrior)
 * Ria (Female Imperial Warrior)
 * Vorstag (Male Nord Warrior)
 * Stenvar (Male Nord Warrior)
 * Torvar (Male Nord Warrior)
 * Athis (Male Dunmer Warrior)
 * Golldir (Male Nord Warrior)
 * Cosnach (Male Breton Warrior)
 * Jenassa (Female Dunmer Assassin)
 * Ogol (Male Orc Warrior)
 * Belrand (Male Nord Spellsword)
 * Ghorbash the Iron Hand (Male Orc Warrior)
 * Mjoll the Lioness (Female Nord Warrior)
 * Sven (Male Nord Warrior)
 * Erik the Slayer (Male Nord Warrior)
 * All Housecarls
 * Farkas (Male Nord Warrior)
 * Vilkas (Male Nord Warrior)
 * Aela the Huntress (Female Nord Warrior)
 * Faendal (Male Bosmer Archer)
 * Benor (Male Nord Warrior)
 * Brelyna Maryon (Female Dunmer Sorceress)
 * Marcurio (Male Imperial Mage)
 * Erandur (Male Dunmer Mage)
 * Aranea Ienith (Female Dunmer Battlemage)

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.
 * If the Dragonborn has quests for the College of Winterhold and recruits any of the mage apprentices (J'zargo, Onmund, or Brelyna Maryon) to the Blades, they will have their questline-related dialogue in place of the Blades dialogue. This persists through quest completion.

Bugs

 * Should the Dragonborn kill any of their three recruits, he 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 the player miscellaneous quests to go dragon hunting with fellow Blades members, but the quest will be impossible to complete if the dragons in these locations have already been killed and the Blades members will just become stuck there. They may be able to return after the dragon is killed as they are waiting for it to be killed.
 * If the player killed Paarthurnax, reloaded to before he was killed, and goes to Sky Haven Temple later, the game might still register it as a kill. If it does the Dragonborn can hunt with 3 blades to slaughter dragons and visit with Paarthurnax whenever he wants.

Exploit

 * It is possible for the Dragonborn to complete theBlades quests without having to kill Paarthunax. Once you have completed the main storyline quest: Alduin's Wall, immediately ask Delphine about the poor condition of the Blades. This will open the options necessary to continue the Blades storyline. from this point do not continue the Main quest-line until you have completed the Blades. ( But Delphine still will ban you when you have reached the point when you are requested to kill Paarthunax and you still refuse.)