The College of Winterhold

Like that of the Companions, the College of Winterhold questline is best examined as a single unit.  The primary difference between the two is that the College questline is far less morally complex than its more warrior-oriented counterpart.  Because this blog is not meant to be a detailed walkthrough, the lack of a sufficient summary may frustrate those not familiar with the plot; I would direct those readers who have not yet played this questline to the wikis for more a more detailed synopsis.

Of the four moral dilemmas I encountered in the questline, I believe three were unintentional and I decided the sole intentional one long before it officially started.  The intentional dilemma involved Ancano, the Thalmor agent at the College, which explains the ease with which I decided it.  As I had vowed to kill any Thalmor I encountered, the only question for me was that of opportunity.  If I killed him in public, I’d be arrested.  If I assassinated him in private, I might fail the quest and prevent the Archmage from ever getting the Eye of Magnus under control.  I therefore had to bide my time.  Fortunately, I was forced to kill him in the climactic conclusion, so not only did I get to kill a high-ranking Thalmor, but any moral question about killing him was rendered moot by Ancano’s own actions.  The other three dilemmas were more subtle.

The quest called Hitting the Books required me to retrieve several important tomes stolen by a former member of the College.  It quickly became apparent that he had been captured by rogue mages in Fellglow Keep. As I made my through the keep, I found that these mages had not only captured several vampires, but were apparently torturing, dissecting, and experimenting on them -- even caging them and using them for target practice. I am no fan of vampires (see Laid to Rest), but these mages were completely out of line -- not even vampires deserved to be treated like that. When I released one of the vampires, she ran into the next room, attacked the mages there, and was quickly defeated. In one of my more morally questionable decisions, I released the remaining vampires one at a time; they each met the same fate, at which point I was able to easily kill the wounded mages.  By releasing them one at a time, I had given each of them a slim chance at freedom, but to be honest, I did not relish the thought of vengeful vampires running loose throughout Skyrim.  I also decided to kill the "target practice" vampire out of mercy because there was no way to open her cage; leaving her there seemed crueler.

Of course, the one I encountered said, "What do you want, meat," which made my decision a little easier.

At the conclusion of Hitting the Books – a quest in which I had to fight my way through several murderous enemy mages – I encountered the enigmatic Caller, who was in possession of the book I needed.  I successfully Persuaded her to let me take the book and was about to be on my way when a thought occurred: this woman, whose minions not only desecrated a Divine shrine and killed one of the members of the College (Orthorn) while attempting to destroy me, but also were doing vivisections on vampires, was clearly up to no good.  Despite the fact that she was letting me walk away, I felt I had a certain responsibility to eliminate her before she could finish whatever nefarious project she was working on.  Because she was a powerful mage, it was not an easy battle, but I am comfortable with my decision.

Later, during Revealing the Unseen, after I figured out how to control the Dwemer mechanism and displayed the map of Skyrim on the wall, Paratus indicated that he would report my findings to the Synod Council and shut the College down before we could find the Staff of Magnus.  I am ashamed to say that I briefly considered killing him.  I was afraid that his next move would be disastrous, not only to the quest, but also to Tamriel in general, as we were clearly dealing with an extraordinarily powerful artifact.  I could not, however, justify murder, even if it meant disaster for the College.  Fortunately, Paratus's report (if he ever made it) had no effect on the quest; it remains to be seen if there will be any post-quest ramifications.