As I've grown up over the years, I've come to accept that there's a lot of nuance to life, and that it isn't exactly wise to mentally tear into somebody just because their failure to meet your standards gives you the mental gymnastics to brand them an idiot...
I mean, it was that kind of attitude
that lead into a three month abusive relationship for me...
And all because she didn't know,
nor cared to help me find out, that I had ADHD...
But oh, do I totally understand just how much easier it would be if I just did and be done with it!
If the title wasn't a big enough indicator, here's the thing:
I was watching Skyrim videos and stumbled across TheEpicNate315,
who had a video about five plot holes in Skyrim that made no damn sense...
...and to be honest, it pissed me off... at first...
Because the reality of the matter is that the one that stuck out to me did make sense...
But remember kiddies - nuance.
Whether I liked it or not, there was a possibility (no matter how unlikely I thought it might be) that this individual either didn't play or watch any walk-throughs regarding Skyrim's predecessor - Oblivion.
So which of the five plot-holes do I essentially have a bug in my ass about?
Basically, TheEpicNate said that it doesn't make any sense
that The Dark Brotherhood would recruit you if you already have a contract against you...
Here's the kicker though: it does make sense.
While all of this can be chalked up to an obedience game for Astrid at the end of it all...
and I could be wasting my time due to Elder Scroll's natural ambiguity,
Astrid's general "fuck you",
and nobody able say anything about it prior to the Dragonborn being revealed as the Listener...
I feel it is important to be enlightened on the spirit and parallels with the Dark Brotherhood prior to Skyrim. Astrid may be an idiot for following her very specific idea of what the Dark Brotherhood looks like, but there are details that she (intentionally or not) follow through with that can be traced back to Oblivion.
"Actually, Lucien did not try to recruit me. Not at first. He tried to
kill me. My father wanted me dead, and he hired the Dark Brotherhood to
do it. I escaped from Lucien, and paid my father back for his
treachery. Lucien came to me again that night with an offer I just
couldn't refuse."
Basically, there's a consistent theme of the value in souls. Yes, even over gold.
Whether Astrid is doing this as some kind of power-play, or it's one of the rules she's cherry-picked into following as the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, there seems to be a general implication that implies what happened in Oblivion applies to Skyrim.
Now, while there isn't any definitive proof that Astrid cares about blood-price when she recruits you, the ambiguity of the game leaves it open as a possibility, and the laws established in the previous game cement this idea even further. Top this off with your proof of value not only in killing Grelod, but every Dark Brotherhood assassin that's come after prior to starting the quest.
picking it apart down to the last annoying details, on top of what I mentioned already.
As I've said before, I chalk this up not to stupidity, but criminal neglect of details. I checked his channel, and while most of his videos are about Skyrim or Fallout, I was under the impression that he would know better but didn't meet the mark. I mean, Camelworks was able to go in between games that are directly correlated with each other, I don't see how this would be a problem for TheEpicNate, who has done tons of videos on Skyrim.
At the end of the day, I suppose it's kind of funny...
So, I have this weird thing of listening to videos while I'm working...
If and when work will actually let me do such a thing.
Among the the plethora of videos in that collection were a few created by Camelworks in his Elder Scrolls Detective series, including Did Emperor Titus Mede II ASSASSINATE HIMSELF?
On a side note, while I like the commentary that he presents, I'm afraid I find his introduction a little too annoying for my tastes, and thus recommend you fast-forward a minute to skip it.
Getting back on topic, I had a bit of an epiphany in the form of two questions:
Why would Titus Mede II go through the trouble of getting Goldbrand?
More importantly, what did Titus Mede II give up to get it?
This all might be silly, but take into context what Goldbrand actually is: a Daedric artifact.
As far as I know, just about every Elder Scrolls game where Daedric artifacts are acquirable items (especially during and after Oblivion), the Daedra that are correlated with them sends the player character on some kind of quest: my point is, Daedra just don't give up the artifacts without some degree of compensation.
Now, the first question can be easily answered: by virtue of it being a Daedric artifact and how powerful they are in the Elder Scrolls universe, then it's no wonder why Titus Mede II would want that kind of power at his disposal when trying to take back a city (see Battle of the Red Ring), but you can't expect me to believe that a Daedra would care about the affairs of mortals, much less politics.
The answer to the second question came to me when I was watching the video you see above:
I believe that the manner in which Titus Mede II assassinated himself was part of the deal that he made with Boethia to get Goldbrand.
On a moral level, as the video explains, I get why he would do this, but don't you think it's kind of odd that Titus Mede II (ironically) would do all of the very things that define who Boethiahis - the Daedra of (and I quote), "deceit, conspiracy, treachery, and sedition."?
As far as I know of Boethiah, (as a Daedra) doesn't care about mortals or what happens to them, but rather action (read Boethiah's Proving). So, at the very least, the underhanded-ness that Titus Mede II did later on would, at the very least, be amusing to her, because anyone in game were none the wiser.
I imagine that the deal Titus Mede II made with Boethia was something akin to getting Goldbrand right then and there on the condition of his own soul, unless a conspiracy was part of the deal itself. To kill two birds with one stone (giving the Empire a chance to be saved and winning Boethia's favor) he had himself executed in the following manner.
To quote, "After informing the Emperor of Lord Naarifin's plan, the companions went to the Imperial City Arena,
posing as gladiators in order to infiltrate the city. After their
infiltration, they went through crypts until they reached the White-Gold Tower.
Inside Lord Naarifin's study, they learned that Lord Naarifin had used
the Orb of Vearmina to track the Imperial army. Lord Naarifin and Reive,
however, arrived at the study and the companions had to fight them.
Reive had been granted Goldbrand by Boethiah to destroy the companions."
Assuming this is true, that would mean that this theory crumbles into pieces.
Instead of making a deal with Boethia himself, chances are that The Forgotten Hero actually got their hands on Goldbrand through Reive, and it was one Daedra to another before it fell into the hands of mortals.
Nevertheless, I wanted to talk about it because the ambiguity of the theory kind of made sense to what makes Elder Scrolls interesting. Rather than outright saying that Titus Mede II had set up an assassination against himself, I feel like they should have done the same thing here. That way, it would be up the fans to talk over what Titus Mede II actually did and what that actually says about his character.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
We can all help prevent suicide. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and
confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis
resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for
professionals in the United States.
1-800-273-8255
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
