In Which Finds-The-Way Slays Alduin in Sovngarde

Finally getting back to catching up on my Finds-The-Way playthrough in Skyrim–which is actually now complete, but I still need to do the rest of the playthrough posts for it! In this one, she made it to Sovngarde and took out Alduin, as you do. Main difference this time through? Doing it as a member of the Dark Brotherhood.

Play by play

Play date: 8/3/2024
Session number in this run: 49
Picked up at the Dawnstar Sanctuary
Came outside and immediately spotted a dragon, which flew down and started strafing Dawnstar
Started taking potshots at it, but discovered that it killed Seren, Rustleif’s wife, noooooo 😢
Thought about rolling back from that, but decided to run with it
Boinged back to Lakeview to drop off stuff and prepare for going to Skuldafn
Sorry Lucia, Dragonmom has to go kill Alduin, can’t play right now, go back to bed
Dropped off assorted things that weren’t critical to carry, and grabbed a few duplicate clothing items to sell
Then boinged to Whiterun
Invested in Belethor’s shop, Arcadia’s Cauldron, and Warmaiden’s
Confirmed Elrindir was no longer cranky at me–but since this is an unmodded game, could not invest with him
Headed on into Dragonreach to talk to the Jarl
Started spotting commentary out of the guards about the Brotherhood, ha
Played through the convo with Balgruuf as per usual
Then boinged to High Hrothgar to get Arngeir to buy into the peace conference
Got him on board with that, then boinged to Solitude to try to talk to General Tullius–but didn’t have the option to tell him I had a message from the Greybeards
Boinged to Windhelm, but same problem with Ulfric
By then I was thinking ‘right, I’ve had this issue before’
So boinged back to Tullius and took the dialogue options that did not have me signing up to fight for the Empire
Then I had the correct dialogue option, and got him to agree to come to the peace conference
Boinged back to Windhelm and did the same with Ulfric
Then boinged to High Hrothgar to check in there, and saw Delphine and Esbern coming in to argue with Arngeir about their right to be there
So played through the peace conference as per previous playthroughs
This time, while talking to Esbern, actually triggered the Paarthurnax quest, oops–which I did not mean to do
Got Odahviing’s Shout from Esbern
So after the talks were over, went to talk to Arngeir to warn him that the Blades had demanded I kill Paarthurnax–but told him not to worry, I wasn’t going to do that
Tried to boing back to Whiterun–but actually landed at Whitewatch Tower because I clicked on the wrong thing on the map, oops
Blood dragon showed up, so helped the guards there kill it
Then rode around to enter Whiterun, and came in around midnight game time
So when I got to Dragonsreach, the Jarl was asleep
Decided not to wake him up, but didn’t want to bother to leave Dragonsreach to sleep somewhere, so I just waited for 8 hours
Intercepted Balgruuf as he came out of his quarters to get the Odahviing party started
Got Odahviing downed a bit quicker than usual just because of good deployments of Dragonrend
Then hopped on Odahviing to get to Skuldafn
Called up the Dremora lord or storm atronach to fight my way through exterior dragons and draugr
Mostly let the Dremora lord do the work for close up fights
Didn’t bother to kill every single draugr outside of the structures, I know I missed some
Made it to the portal finally and took out the dragon priest, then headed into Sovngarde
Actually nearly bumped into Alduin a couple of times in the fog, which was kinda hilarious
Went by the dead bard as per usual
But since this playthrough didn’t really include any other interesting NPCs, not much else before i got to Tsun
This time through I told him that it was by right of blood that I wanted into Shor’s hall, and that I listen for the Night Mother
Tsun otherwise gave me the fight challenge as per usual, and nearly kicked my ass, but got through that with liberal use of healing potions
Finally beat him down to the appropriate level of health to get him to yield, and proceeded with Sovngarde as per usual
BYE ALDUIN
Tsun still gave me the Shout to call a Hero of Sovngarde, and returned me to the Throat of the World
Played out the dragon epilogue as per previous playthroughs
Then boinged back to the Dawnstar Sanctuary to drop off a few things, including the Emperor’s robes–which of course looked like the female version when I put them on
Saved there until next time

Surprise death of Seren in Dawnstar

Started off this session with a dragon attack on Dawnstar, the instant I came out of the Sanctuary–and in a move that smacked of the dragonbombing I’ve been getting in Kendeshel’s run, this attack actually resulted in the death of Seren, the wife of Rustleif the smith. 😢

I was not happy about this, but at least for the moment decided to let it stand. And I was all, sorry Rustleif, dunno if she had time to have that baby yet? But if she did, looks like you’re gonna have to teach the kid about their Redguard heritage all by yourself.

(Now mind you, I did actually retcon this decision later. More on this in a forthcoming post!)

The guards clued in I’m with the Brotherhood, lolol

I knew that the guards would start reacting to you if you played through the Brotherhood plot; the guards react to everything, after all. But this was the first time I actually saw it happen.

My German isn’t all that strong, but I’m pretty sure I got the line where the guard clued in I am in fact the Listener for the Brotherhood now–and he immediately backed off and shut up. LOL.

So being the Dragonborn doesn’t scare the guard forces, even though you are capable of Shouting dragons down out of the sky. But if you’re the Listener for the Brotherhood, and you killed the Emperor? Now the guards are scared of you.

(And this just underscores for me that the ending of the Dark Brotherhood plotline is not nearly as big a deal as it should be, as I wrote in In Which Finds-The-Way Assassinates the Emperor of Tamriel.)

Passing thought about the terms of the peace conference

It occurs to me this time through that it’s a trifle weird that when the peace conference dictates the changeover of who controls which hold, it automatically means whatever Jarl’s in charge of the impacted hold has to step down. There’s no allowing for giving the affected Jarls an opportunity to accept the change in power, or not.

Which seems a little unfair to me. I mean, for example, if Riften’s going to be given to the Empire, I should think that it would be at least polite to inform Laila Law-Giver of this. Especially given that she was not in the room when it was decided that Riften would be yanked out of her hands and given to Maven Black-Briar.

Really, it would make more narrative sense for all of the Jarls currently in power to show up for these peace talks. Elisif, Ulfric, and Balgruuf are already there. Why not Laila Law-Giver, Korir, Idgrod Ravencrone, Siddgeir, Skald, and Igmund?

Elisif arguably has the right to be there, as the wife of the now-deceased High King. And Ulfric obviously has to be there, as the commander of the Stormcloaks. Balgruuf’s in on it since the Dragonborn’s plan to catch a dragon requires the use of his palace, and he’s part of the initial impetus to get the peace talks going to begin with. So it makes sense for him to be there too.

Why not the other Jarls? These negotiations impact them just as much. Especially if their Holds are about to be yanked out from under them. Practically speaking, I suppose that those characters were left out of the scene just because it already had a lot of characters with dialogue, and adding in six more characters would have drawn out the proceedings too much. But I maintain that it would have made more narrative sense for word to be sent to every Jarl in Skyrim that these talks are going on–and that the various Jarls would want to show up in support of whichever side they’re on.

Which would also give them a chance to speak when the fates of their holds are being discussed. They’d have a chance to accept the terms of a change in power–and therefore maintain power themselves–or reject the change, and agree to stand down.

This would also maybe give a bit more credence to how Arngeir’s dialogue specifically identifies who will take over when the impacted Jarls step down. Because for reals, how the hell does Arngeir even know who the other power figures are? How does he know who Maven Black-Briar is? Or Thongvor Silver-Blood? The game’s narrative establishes how the Greybeards normally pay very little attention to the political affairs of the world, so it doesn’t seem likely to me that Arngeir just up and knows who would take over.

Especially given that those names are not mentioned once in the scene until he brings them up.

Given all of this, and how events play out, it’s little wonder that the Jarls that wind up exiled to either Windhelm or Solitude (depending on how you play your game) are super fucking salty to the Dragonborn from that point forward. Because there they are, going about their business and trying to keep their holds running, when suddenly SURPRISE! The Empire holds your territory now and you have to stop being Jarl! And move your entire family to Windhelm!

That’s a bit much to drop on a ruler without warning, is what I’m saying here.

Bit too slow avoiding the demands of the Blades this time

This time through the peace conference at High Hrothgar, I accidentally triggered the demand to kill Paarthurnax while talking to Esbern–which I had not meant to do, and I had not realized that Esbern could issue that demand as well as Delphine.

So I poked into this a little, and saw on the wiki that if you don’t kill Paarthurnax, the quest to do so just removes itself from your journal. I didn’t notice if this was the case before finishing Finds’ playthrough, though.

I did, however, talk to Arngeir after the conference was over and made a point of telling him that I was not killing Paarthurnax. Because nope, still not killing the dragon, Delphine and Esbern are just gonna have to live without me. (Besides, I only take killing orders from the Night Mother! Ahem. Er. Not that I said that out loud or anything.)

And speaking of the Blades being all stabby about Paarthurnax

And while I’m on the topic–let me also boggle that Esbern throws this at me right there in the council room, when Arngeir is presumably right there within earshot and able to hear what’s going on. It’s especially suspect after Esbern makes a big point of telling both the Imperial and Stormcloak contingents in the room what huge assholes they’re all being, and how they’re all blind to the danger of Alduin.

Following that up by demanding that the leader of the Greybeards be slain–while still in the same room as the Greybeards themselves–makes absolutely no narrative sense to me. I don’t buy that nobody else in the room heard what he said. And if anybody besides me heard it, then all hell should have broken loose.

Because number one, Esbern’s demanding that the leader of the Greybeards be killed, pretty much to the Greybeards’ faces.

Number two, Esbern’s doing this right after making a grand speech about how everybody in the room needs to get their shit together and focus on taking down Alduin.

And number three, throwing around the bombshell of “the Greybeards are themselves led by a dragon” should be a hell of a lot bigger a deal than the game allows it to be. If this reveal was made within earshot of the most powerful people in Skyrim, then Ulfric, Tullius, Balgruuf, and Elisif should have all flipped right the fuck out about this. The three Jarls are all people who grew up in a culture that explicitly reveres the Greybeards. I would think they’d have some thoughts about this.

Especially Ulfric, given that he is supposed to have trained with the Greybeards as a youth! (Which raises the real fun question of whether he already knew about Paarthurnax!)

If the game’s intent is to not allow Paarthurnax’s leadership of the Greybeards to be public knowledge, then neither Esbern nor Delphine should throw this demand at me while still in the council room. They’re not idiots. They’d have to know that demanding Paarthurnax’s death would take a shitload of attention off of where it needs to be–i.e., taking out Alduin.

But it’s also really fucking duplicitous of them to show up and be all we’re the only ones with the knowledge you need to take out the World-Eater… only to follow it up with an aside to the Dragonborn of and also, you have to kill Paarthurnax or we won’t serve you anymore, no pressure or anything!

I already had super strong opinions about all of this; I’ve been, without fail, on Team The Dragon Lives Goddammit ever since I started playing this game. But writing all this out for this post, I realize for the first time that yeah, this really is another thing in Skyrim that should be a much bigger deal than the game lets it be.

Because if the Greybeards have been hiding that they’re led by a dragon all this time, the revelation of that should have massive repercussions. To the tune of all of Skyrim needing to face whether they can respect the Greybeards anymore, and whether they can even continue to survive as an order.

And Delphine and Esbern declaring that Paarthurnax has to pay for his crimes needs pushback. Not only from the Dragonborn directly, but also from the other power figures in Skyrim. Two pissed-off Blades shouldn’t be the only people who get to make this call. Hell, I don’t even necessarily think the Dragonborn should make that call, even though the game definitely expects the Dragonborn to do so.

But the Blades are not the upholders of justice in Skyrim. Neither is the Dragonborn. Where does the call of whether somebody who’s committed crimes against Skyrim and her people should be executed rest?

With the Jarls.

That kind of a decision, for my money, would need to be done by a full council of all the reigning Jarls. I.e., a Moot. Which would normally only convene for the choosing of a new High King or Queen, but this circumstance feels critical enough to me for an exception.

And I feel like that council should have the opportunity to speak directly with the dragon in question, so that they can learn why Paarthurnax has been in hiding all this time… and why the Greybeards have kept him a secret. The Blades could make their case. The Greybeards could make theirs. And the Dragonborn would no doubt also need to weigh in on the matter. If that Dragonborn is being played or written by me, then you of course know how I’d vote on the matter!

But ultimately, this is too big a call for one person to make alone.

I can see why Skyrim didn’t go in this direction, though. It’s not exactly the kind of thing that makes for an exciting scene to play through in an adventure game.

But I’d three thousand percent want to see this in a dramatic adaptation of the storyline.

And at some point, I may need to write it up as fic.

Still having issues with ESO muscle memory impacting my Skyrim

All throughout the exterior fights at Skuldafn, I kept running into muscle memory issues on the controls. When I got into it with the draugr deathlords, I kept hitting DPad-Left to wield my weapon like I do in ESO, or B or X to try to do attacks–and that’s not how it works in Skyrim!

So I really gotta be careful with that.

Or, alternately, figure out a way to remap controls in either ESO or Skyrim to make them more in agreement with one another. Not sure how I’m going to handle this yet.

Tsun: not a fan of the Dark Brotherhood

When I got to Tsun and had to tell him by what right I wanted entry into Shor’s hall, this time through I told him the right of blood–and that I Listen for the Night Mother. Just to see what he’d say.

Boy howdy, did he not like that! He got quite cold, informing me that he wasn’t going to offer me welcome, that Shor did not know me, and that maybe, eventually, I’d earn the right to walk those halls.

Finds was all “Yes, and? I’m an Argonian and a Shadowscale. My soul will return to the Void when I die, why should I give a fuck about Nord heaven?”

(I figure that Finds would normally be returning to the Hist upon her death, but she did pledge herself to the Brotherhood. So I guess Sithis gets dibs on her?)

Of course, at the end of the Sovngarde sequence, Tsun still gave me the Shout to call the Hero of Sovngarde. And didn’t seem any more grudging about it than usual. He must have been willing to grant that just based on watching my take down Alduin, I guess?

Achievements unlocked

Thu’um Master: For learning 20 Shouts, picked up when I got the Shout in Skuldafn
The Fallen: For completing that quest and trapping Odahviing in Whiterun
Dragonslayer: For completing that quest and killing Alduin in Sovngarde

Achievements count as of this post: 44.

Language commentary

Interesting terms observed:

Versprechungen: Promises (which Belethor refuses to make about whether I’ll get anything back on my investment with him)
Bürgern: Citizens
Hineinspazieren: Walk in (used by Tullius when he bitches about his men letting random people walk into their headquarters)
Dummköpfe: Fools (used by Ulfric when he remarks on who dares to approach a Jarl without summons)
Helden: Heroes (also used by Ulfric when he remarks on who dares to approach a Jarl without summons)
Autmerksamkeit: Attention
Schwätzchen: Chat
Gefängniswärtern: Prison guards
Friedensverhandlungen: Peace negotiations
Waffenstillstand: Armistice
Rekruten: Recruits
Weltenfresser: World-Eater
Mit eingezogenem Schwanz: With his tail between his legs (used by Ulfric to describe Tullius leaving Skyrim)
Grundfesten: Foundations
Weißgoldkonkordat: White-Gold Concordat
Thalmor-Schlange: Thalmor serpent (used by Ulfric to describe Elenwen at the peace conference)
Unrechtmäßigen Herrschaftsanspruch: Unlawful claim to power (used by Ulfric to describe the Empire’s presence in Skyrim)
Sicherzustellen: To ensure (used by Tullius to describe ensuring the communication lines between Skyrim and Cyrodiil)
Entschädigung: Compensation (as demanded by Tullius for the massacre at Karthwasten)
Massaker: Massacre
Streitmächten: (Armed) forces (used by Arngeir in summarizing the terms on the table, and specifically Ulfric’s forces turning over Markarth)
Ein schwerwiegenderes: A serious one (i.e.,a serious problem, used by Esbern when he reveals to the Dragonborn that he knows the Greybeards are led by a dragon)
Höchstwahrscheinlich: Most likely, in all probability
Geflügelter Schneejäger: Winged Snow-Hunter, i.e., Odahviing
Blutrünstige Barbaren!: Bloodthirsty barbarians! (What Arngeir says about the Blades if you tell him they’ve insisted you kill Paarthurnax)
Zwickmühle: Dilemma, impasse
Neid: Envy (what Odahviing says you’ll have of the dov once you’ve flown the skies of Keizaal)
Diamantenklaue: Diamond Claw
Sturmruf: Storm Call (the Shout)
Drachenpriesterstab: Dragon Priest Staff
Drachensiegel: Dragon Seal
Der Hort des Weltenfressers: The World-Eater’s Eyrie (the quest in the game)
Seelenfalle: Soul-snare (lit. “soul trap”, used in this case by Tsun to describe Alduin’s actions in Sovngarde)
Gormlaith der Furchtlose: Gormlaith the Fearless
Hakon der Kühne: Hakon the Bold
Felldir der Alte: Felldir the Old
Gormlaith Golden-Griff: Gormlaith Golden-Hilt
Ruf der Tapferkeit: Call of Valor (the Shout)
Der Älteste: The Eldest (what Paarthurnax calls Alduin)
Kaiserrobe: Emperor’s Robes
Flinkfingerhandschuhe: Tumblerbane Gloves (lit. “nimble-fingered gloves”)

At the peace conference at High Hrothgar, Ulfric calls Elenwen “Thalmor-Schlange”, i.e., “Thalmor serpent”. As opposed to what he says in English, which is “Thalmor bitch”. I’ve commented before in this playthrough about how the pejorative use of “bitch” in English just may not translate over to German well, and I think that is likely in play here.

I noted during the peace talks that Elisif’s name was delivered with an accent on the middle syllable in the German dialogue. I’d somehow managed to miss this before, maybe because there isn’t much dialogue prior to this point in the story wherein Elisif is directly named? I can’t think of a single instance where this is the case.

I’m not a fan of Odahviing’s voice in German, unfortunately. His actor made him sound more like an old man than anything else. He didn’t have the same sort of deep rumbly resonance as other dragon voices, even in this playthrough–never mind the English ones. So that struck me as a really odd performance decision.

In his lines to the Dragonborn, Tsun mentions the “soul-snare” laid by Alduin. In German, this is translated to “Seelenfalle”–which, I noted with interest, is the same term used for translating the name of the Soul Trap spell.

When you talk to Ysgramor in Shor’s Hall, he gives you this line in German:

Doch drei erwarten Euer Wort, um mit wildem Ungestüm den gefährlichen Feind zu bekämpfen.

This is not a direct translation of the line he has in English. A rough translation of this would be:

But three await your word, with wild impetuosity to fight the dangerous enemy.

Compare to the original English line:

But three await your word to loose their fury upon the perilous foe.

And I gotta say, I kinda like the nuance the German version of the line adds, giving more of an idea of the three ancient heroes seriously chomping at the bit to get at Alduin.

I somehow never managed to notice though that Gormlaith has a surname attached to her in Sovngarde: Golden-Hilt! Which in German is translated to “Golden-Griff”.

Next time

Finds-The-Way’s next post will feature a push to get the last two Stones of Barenziah, by running Ansilvund and stealing Frost! And then going after the crown to put all the stones into.