The Way of the Voice/A Blade in the Dark (Katnys)

After the rush of consuming the dragon’s soul and letting out her first shout, Katnys needed some answers, but she was eager to get to Windhelm to continue her personal war against the Empire.  This “dragonborn” stuff seemed like a lot of Nord nonsense that would only distract her from her mission, but she couldn’t deny what was happening to her.  

In the midst of this internal debate, a new thought dawned on Katnys: if she was going to take on the Empire, she would need all of the power she could muster.  She had a dedicated, like-minded follower in Jenassa, and was earning friends wherever she went, but what if all of that wasn’t enough?  Her skills, her allies, and her rage were strong, but could they alone make the Empire pay for its treachery?  Perhaps this “dovahkiin” business could provide the means for the destruction of the Empire.

With these thoughts in mind, Katnys and Jenassa reported back to Balgruuf, followed his directions to Ivarstead, and then climbed the 7000 steps to High Hrothgar.  While the Greybeards and their monastery were impressive enough, Katnys could never quite take their pious detachment seriously, and just wanted to get on with it.  After all, here was this group of men who possessed immense power, but remained secluded and aloof from the world around them.  Their homeland was under attack by both the Legion and the dragons, but they just wanted to meditate on their mountaintop.  Katnys resolved to jump through their hoops, learn what she needed to learn, and move on.

It therefore came as a profound disappointment when she found Delphine’s note instead of the Horn.  Once again, she would be forced to delay her trip to Windhelm and go down yet another rabbit hole.  As it turned out, however, she didn’t mind this detour quite so much.  Like Katnys, Delphine was a woman of guile and action, so following her to Kynesgrove seemed less pointless than delving into the Greybeards’ dusty dungeons.  Sure, Delphine tended to go on about the Dragonborn and all that, but if what she was saying about the Blades was true, then Katnys needed to be a part of that for two reasons: 1.) a cadre of dragonslayers would be a valuable tool, and 2.) if the Blades had, indeed, protected the Emperor before the Great War, Katnys needed to keep them from returning to that role.

All plotting aside, the encounter with Sahloknir and Alduin at Kynesgrove unsettled Katnys.  Once the shock of seeing Alduin again wore off, she had to wrap her mind around a few disconcerting facts:

• Alduin was raising dragons from the dead with his Thu’um, while Katnys could barely push people around with hers.  Had she bitten off more than she could chew?
• If Delphine was to be believed, the Thalmor were behind all of this, and now Katnys would have to infiltrate the Thalmor Embassy.  Ambushing a small group of Justiciars is one thing, but this might be more than she could handle.
• A few days ago, Katnys was a lone Dunmer just trying to spill some Imperial blood in memory of her sister. She now found herself in the middle of a civil war, a political conspiracy, and some kind of crazy prophesy – none of which she had in mind when she and Prym left Hammerfell.

Hammerfell.  It was that last thought that drove her back to Whiterun.  After returning the Horn to the Greybeards and enduring their pompous (though admittedly impressive) Dovahkiin ceremony, Katnys decided to return to Whiterun to talk to the Redguards she had seen hanging around the front gate.  Before, she had been in too much of a hurry to speak with them, but now that she needed some time to think, a conversation with some Alik’r warriors might help her regain her footing.

Rules of Engagement for Katnyss

Since my goal this time was to play with moral agency from an alternate moral profile, I thought it best to lay out some ground rules at the start, just as I did with Lothar.  Instead of recreating the exhaustive list from the corresponding first playthough post, allow me to point out those areas in which Katnyss’s moral composition differs from Lothar’s.

As a Nord Legionnaire, Lothar usually thinks more about principles than about people, the big picture more than the immediate situation.  He sided with the Empire because he believed a united Empire was the best defense against the Dominion, even though the ban on Talos worship was an egregious offense.  He spared Paarthurnax because the dragon had done the right thing in helping Lothar to overcome Alduin, his brother and former leader.  He destroyed the Dark Brotherhood because they wanted him to kill potentially innocent people solely on their command.  He joined the Thieves’ Guild in order to create a more stable and unified Skyrim.  While not all of his actions are laudable, nor all of his rationalizations convincing, he tends to consider his actions in an abstract, impersonal manner (which action is more just?) rather than a concrete, personal one (which action is best for me and those for whom I care?)

Katnyss, on the other hand, considers the world in terms of relationship rather than principle.  The rightness or wrongness of an action depends mostly on how it affects those around her; abstractions are useless at best, dangerous at worst.  The primary moral obligation of a person is to those with whom she is connected: family, friends, allies.  People outside of these relationships are secondary or tertiary considerations, if at all.  An action is right if it benefits her “tribe,” wrong if it hurts them, and morally neutral if it doesn’t affect them.

Consider the example of Lothar’s relationship with Uthgerd the Unbroken.  During a quest, Lothar accidentally killed an innocent Stormcloak in the midst of a larger battle.  Because I received a bounty, I know Uthgerd ratted on me.  Using Lothar’s profile, however, I had to admit that I admired her adherence to the law, and dealt appropriately with the bounty.  Were Katnyss to find herself in a similar situation, she would see Uthgerd as a traitor who reneged on her obligation to support, protect, and care for her friend.  Uthgerd should have valued her loyalty to Katnyss above her belief in the rule of law.

This difference of worldview has profound implications for the game.  Her parents, loyal to the Nords who took them in, put themselves on the line for the sake of the Empire to which Skyrim belonged.  The Empire, however, abandoned them to the Thalmor.  The Empire failed her again when she lived in the Cyrodillian orphanage, allowing her to be neglected and abused by those who were supposed to be caring for her and her sister.  Then the Empire killed her sister.  The Empire, therefore, must be destroyed, along with the Thalmor they apparently serve.

There is more to this moral profile than revenge, however.  Valuing relationships over principles has led Katnyss to form very strong attachments to certain factions and followers.  It also provides a lens through which she judges the NPCs she encounters, even if they have no significant attachment to her.  I’ll elaborate on these aspects as they come up.  All of the other rules for Katnyss’s decision-making follow from this prioritizing of personal connection.  When she steals and from whom, how she decides which quests to take, and how she understands her role as Dovahkiin will originate from this moral profile.

The Main Quest: Finale

Special thanks to Kurt Kuhlmann for pointing out some factual errors in an earlier version of this post!

After Paarthurnax, the Main Quest provides very few opportunities for moral agency.  Capturing Odahviing, travelling to Skuldafn, visiting Sovngarde, and defeating Alduin are all dramatic and engaging quests, but they present no significant moral quandaries.  There are, however, some events that bear further examination.

The latter part of the Main Quest reveals that not all of the dragons share Alduin's views. During The Fallen, I learned the shout that summons Odahviing, thus providing me another opportunity to converse with a dragon.  Odahviing is an active ally of Alduin, but when we captured him, he agreed to help me track down the World-Eater in exchange for his own freedom.  Because of his dialogue, Odahviing comes off as an opportunist who betrays Alduin not on principle, but on the likelihood that the Dovahkiin will defeat him:

 
Once Alduin is defeated, Odahviing pledges to aid the Dragonborn whenever he calls; he is not, however, another Paarthurnax, who promises to teach the pacifist Way of the Voice to all of the dragons he can convince.

He might actually succeed, as Paarthurnax and Odahviing are not the only non-hostile dragons in the game.  Until Skuldafn, I had never encountered a non-NPC dragon that did not attack the moment it detected me (or anyone else for that matter).  At Skuldafn, however, I ran into a dragon who, despite being perched directly above the portal to Sovngarde and witnessing my defeat of his comrades, did not attack.  He watched me closely, but made no aggressive moves at all.  Given my experience with Paarthurnax and Odahviing, I decided to hold back, and it began to dawn on me that all of the dragons (not just the named ones) might be morally complex creatures who are as apt to choose "the high road" as their mortal counterparts.  Perhaps this moral range explains why, at the Throat of the World, dragons can be seen celebrating the World-Eater's fall. 

As it turns out, the complicated moral tableau presented at the portal to Sovngarde was reflected on the other side as well.  While the scenes inside the Hall of Valor are interesting from a cultural perspective (of course Nords brawl in Heaven!), the encounters before I met Tsun were the most enlightening:

• Kodlak: It was satisfying to see Kodlak in his beloved Sovngarde.  Even though he had assured me that the purification was successful, I was happy to see the results for myself.

• Torygg: The High King's dialogue suggests that the popular story that Ulfric "shouted him to pieces" is closer to the truth than Ulfric's account, but I'm not sure if this is an important distinction.

• Ulfric: This was by far the most substantial encounter in Sovngarde.  First, it appears that Ulfric's ascent to the Nord Paradise has erased any animosity he might harbor for the man who killed him in battle.  Second, Ulfric expresses a profound and sincere regret for his part in Skyrim's strife.  He stops short of saying that he was wrong, but his sadness is undeniable.  I suspect that, if he had the opportunity to  do it all again, he would probably try harder to convince Torygg of the need for secession, rather than kill him.  This conversation confirmed both my decision to support the Empire and my respect for Jarl Ulfric.

As for the final battle with Alduin, there is little of moral significance to examine, with the possible exception of the emphasis on unified effort.  In order to defeat the World-Eater, I had to join forces with the heroes of old -- perhaps an object lesson on the necessity of community.  Now that I think about it, that may be the best moral for a war-torn Skyrim after all.