Paarthurnax (Skyrim)

"What is better - to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?"

- Paarthurnax

Paarthurnax (called the Old One by other dragons), is the leader of the Greybeards and brother of Alduin. He helps the Dragonborn several times.

Background
Paarthurnax was Alduin's general during the First Dragon War, during which he betrayed Alduin and sided with the humans, ultimately being the main contributor to the uprising as he taught humans to use the Thu'um.

Elder Knowledge
After the Greybeards teach the Clear Skies shout to the Dragonborn, he or she uses it to approach the summit of the Throat of the World, seeking Paarthurnax for information on the location of an Elder Scroll.

Thu'um instruction
Paarthurnax is not surprised when the Dragonborn is confused over his form as a dragon. When asked why he is a dragon, he replies with "I am as my father Akatosh made me". He teaches the Dragonborn the Fire Breath shout and can help the Dragonborn to meditate on his shouts, giving them additional perks depending on the word chosen.

Battles with the Blades
After the Blades learn that Paarthurnax aided Alduin during the First Dragon Wars, they seek to kill him. If he is not killed, Paarthurnax appears to leave the Throat of the World in the Epilogue, intent on bringing the "Way of the Voice" to all Dovah. However, he can still be found perched on the mountain's Word Wall at any given time, and will still aid the Dragonborn in meditating on Shouts.

Meditation
Paarthurnax will guide the Dragonborn in meditating on words of power. Meditating on a word grants a perk related to that shout until the Dragonborn meditates on a different word. There are three choices:


 * "Fus" grants the "Force Without Effort" perk which increases the dragonborn's stagger resistance by 25% and causes the Dragonborn to stagger opponents 25% more. Note that this is for all forms of stagger, not just stagger relating to the Fus shout.
 * "Feim" grants the "Ethereal Spirit" perk to the Dragonborn, causing 25% faster health regeneration while ethereal. Note that the effect is only active while ethereal. No constant effect is added to the player's active effects listing.
 * "Yol" grants the "Fire Within" perk which increases damage done by flame breath by 25%.

Quests

 * The Throat of the World
 * Elder Knowledge
 * Paarthurnax (Quest)
 * Epilogue

Behind the scenes

 * His name means either "Ambition Overlord Cruelty" or "Ambition Tyranny Cruelty".
 * Paarthurnax is voiced by Charles Martinet, best known for his work as the voice of Mario, Luigi, and Wario in the Super Mario Bros. video game franchise.
 * Despite the fact that dragons are immortal, Paarthurnax shows clear signs of great age, including tattered skin on his wings and tail, broken and chipped horns and chin-spikes, dulled color in his skin and eyes and a lot of teeth missing. These could simply be Battle scars. He also has a unique roar. Paarthurnax is the only dragon not to be killed in the Great Dragon Wars, so this explains why he has aged and why other dragons have not. He is also technically the oldest living dragon.
 * When first speaking to him, the Dragonborn has the option to say "I wasn't expecting you to be a dragon!"
 * Sometimes, the two girls running around Rorikstead may say "I had a dream that there was a good dragon. He was old and grey but he wasn't scary."
 * He will not help you during the battle with Alduin at the Throat of the World, even if he's still there.
 * He says he is a child of Akatosh, in which a few books around Skyrim are read about Akatosh where many of them say that Alduin is annother name for Akatosh. This means that Alduin may actually be Paarthurnax's father, either physically or figuretively.

Bugs

 * When Dragonborn is told by the Blades that Paarthurnax should be slain, the player is sometimes unable to kill Paarthunax. When attempting to kill him, the player will merely see Paarthurnax's health bar gradually decrease to zero at which point it disappears, although during this entire process Paarthurnax seems oblivious. This glitch can be used to the players advantage to level virtually any combat or magic skill by repeatedly attacking Paarthurnax.
 * During the initial conversation, Paathunax's flying animation can lock up, resulting in a rapid flailing which ultimately results in his disappearance. Even with Paathunax gone, the conversation proceeds despite the dragon being too far away to hear (speech can be read if subtitles are enabled.)
 * Fix: Exit the conversation, and Paarthurnax will fly back down and land on the word wall he was sitting on before. Then initiate the conversation again.
 * When talking to Paarthurnax he might just circle up above in the air simply exit the conversation.
 * When you first encounter Paarthurnax be sure that you don't have a housecarl or Hirling with you because they will attempt to kill Paarthurnax. Although it is not likely that the fight will end in the death of your Partner or Paarthurnax it is very annoying.​
 * Sometimes, during the fight in which you verse Alduin for the first time, he can get stuck in the ground, and will not attack, although absorb damage. Restarting from the beginning of the fight should fix it, but a save halfway through the battle will not.