Just realized Paarthurnax never actually explains why he sided with Alduin in the first place

[RiftenWanderer]

I'm on my 3rd playthrough and I've always just accepted that he was like "yeah I helped destroy the world, my bad" but I actually sat down and listened to what he says about it and... he doesn't really? He talks about his nature and the whole "what is better - to be born good or overcome your evil nature" thing, which is great, but he never actually tells you WHY he chose to help Alduin conquer everything in the first place.

Like was he just following orders because that's what dragons do? Did he actually believe in Alduin's cause? Was he genuinely trying to end the world or was he just along for the ride? The game treats it like this huge moral weight - "do we kill this dragon who committed atrocities" - but I don't actually know what his deal was back then. He's had thousands of years to think about it and he just... doesn't explain.

Makes the whole Blades questline even weirder because Delphine and Esbern are acting like his past crimes are unforgivable but the game never actually tells us what those crimes meant to him. Did he regret them immediately? Did he have doubts the whole time? Was he brainwashed somehow?

Anyone else notice this or am I just overthinking a dragon's dialogue?

 

[ScrollsOfTamriel]

nah you're onto something. the game really does gloss over his actual motivations and just expects you to fill in the blanks yourself. his whole speech is about philosophy and nature, not about what he was actually thinking during the Dragon War. "what is better" is a great question but it's not an answer to "why did you do this."

i think the lore outside the game fills in a bit - dragons are inherently domineering and violent, and Alduin was literally their god-king, so there's an argument that Paarthurnax didn't have much choice. but that's not something the game itself explores with him. he never says "i had no choice" or "i was bound to follow him" or anything like that. he just accepts that he did it and moves on to the philosophy bit.

the blades questline becomes even more frustrating because of this. Delphine acts personally wronged by what dragons did, and Esbern has this whole historical grievance thing going, but when you actually talk to Paarthurnax about his role in all that? crickets. he's not defensive, not apologetic, just... detached about it. which could be read as him being genuinely enlightened past it, or could read as him not really engaging with what he did at all. the game lets both interpretations sit there awkwardly.