Are the Companions really better?

[Daelon DuLac]

Posing a query here for y'all's opinon:

Are the Companions really a better faction than the Dark Brotherhood or the Thieves Guild or the Dawnguard?

Hear me out: The Companions are basically mercenaries - they get paid to do jobs like murdering things (admittedly many of them are animals, vampires or other rif-raf), but it is still murder for hire. And they have no qualms about it and don't even try to hide or be sneaky about it. Plus they're werewolves for goodness sake that go on a murder spree unprecedented in recent Skyrim history that wipes out an entire faction (I believe we murder around 100 people on that little spree) for somewhat questionable motives (revenge, to instill fear, etc...).

Now the Dark Brotherhood murders people too, for pay, but at least they try to be quiet about it and, after all, they don't claim to be hero's of any kind.

The Thieves Guild, in general doesn't kill anybody if they can help it. Sure they rip people off and that's not nice, but are they really worse than the Companions?

As to the Dawnguard, I have always thought of them as thugs. While their motivation may be somewhat noble - eliminate the vampire threat - they seem to also do a whole lot of collateral damage and, if you don't support them, you're their enemy, even if you're not a vampire.

On a last note there's the Vigilan of Stendarr, another group using religion as a basis to persecute anybody that opposes their beliefs.

If you throw in all the other factions in the game, doesn't the morality get awfully murky? I've yet to be able to play a purely "good" character. You wouldn't have anything to do! What, I'm going to wander about picking flowers and giving change to beggars? I don't think so.

 

[sticky runes]

well the Companions respect strength in battle, which doesn't necessarily mean they see themselves as a bunch of do-gooders, although they do help a lot of people who are not strong enough to defend themselves and solve their own problems, these quests are more about gaining opportunities for victory rather then acts of kindness.

The Companions actually are against murdering some of their targets, like when they tell you to teach someone in town a lesson, they just want you to rough him or her up, not actually kill them or steal from them. And the Nordic way of life is supposed to be harsh, so we can't really judge the people of Skyrim the same way we would judge people in the real world. The Companions do let us kill criminals that have escaped from prison, but we don't actually get told what those criminals have done, so I assume they are murderers and rapists who don't deserve mercy.

As for being werewolves, they embrace their beast like nature as a way of improving their hunting and battle prowess. They keep their "gift" a secret from anyone outside the circle, and they probably feel that passing it on to anyone unworthy would end up creating a monster that needs to be hunted down (like the guy in Falkreath who killed the little girl)

 

[W'rkncacnter]

The difference is public perception/acceptance.

Ethically/morally they have some real issues (as do all the factions in Skyrim).

 

[raido KASAI]

Not that the Companions are morally/ethically ideal (who is for that matter?) but there are more of their quest lines that are designed to help than to do harm. The animal exterminations are helpful to common folk, the rescue missions where someone has been kidnapped and your duty is to save them and return them home safely helps that person and their family. Cleaning out bandit camps or eliminating a dangerous escaped criminal, both are helpful to society at large. And Ria even killed a bear today so what more do you want?

As far as them being werewolves, at the largest percentage of werewolves to the whole group, which is when you are a member of the Circle and neither of the 2 deaths in the Circle have occurred, half the members in Jorrvaskr are werewolves so there is never a majority. Of the ones that are, only 2 are really keen on the ability and don't consider it a curse and right after you become one, one of those two dies immediately. Of the others, two have completely given up transformation (Vilkas and Kodlak) and a third (Farkas) pretty much has as well except for the time you get trapped and he gets jumped. It's not like you have 10 out of 10 possible members who just go on a wild killing spree in full-on beast-mode every night after dinner.

As far as the Silver Hand / Companions conflict, I won't come out and say there is nothing wrong with the cycle of death and retaliation but neither side is innocent in the matter. The SH want the Companions dead because they want all werewolves dead and they assume that all Companions are werewolves and thus they want them all dead. Certain members of the Companions want members of the SH dead because the SH want them all dead so the best action is to kill before you are killed. I think there was a book about that.

Are the Companions all boy scouts and girl scouts? Of course not. Are they better than the DB or TG you encounter in Skyrim, I'd argue yes. None of the Companions betray their own family in their quest line. There is a basic level of honor and moral clarity in that. The other two groups can't say as much as betrayal of their "allies" is their whole quest line.

Of course no faction is as guilty of committing mass atrocities quite like those damn bards.

 

[Hildolfr]

I think, honestly, the Thieves Guild is probably the "best" guild. They don't murder, once they're healed they really only steal from people who are relatively well-off, and they don't seem to really want to hurt anybody. They're as greedy as possible, sure. But they border on treasure hunters to an extent. Not good people, no, but not bad people, either.

The Dark Brotherhood are fairly evil. No real way about it. They have you kill beggars with no qualms about it.

Dawnguard... Maybe I don't know enough about the Dawnguard, but they don't seem that awful. I never liked that they kept those people living in tents outside the castle, but it could be worse.

The Companions are glorified mercenaries. They're an exclusive group of mercenaries, but mercs nonetheless. I don't think they would murder anybody in cold blood, but they probably have no problem beating someone to an inch of their life to prove a point. Some of the newer members seem to border on thugs, really. I'm not even going to address the werewolf thing because they doesn't necessarily represent the Companions and what they stand for. But that's not so cool, either.

So, yeah, I agree with you. I don't think I could hold the Companions up and say, "Look at these noble warriors!" They are probably some of the kinder mercenaries, though. Simply because they're able to provide for themselves and aren't living in a cave.

 

[ColleenG]

You're only partly on your way to realizing everyone is flawed, and this is no reason to lose faith.

 

[Cherry]

I never really liked the Companions to be honest. To me, they always seemed like a bunch of thugs and mercenaries. It's too bad, there really isn't a good faction for an honorable knight-like character in Skyrim.

 

[Kalin of High Rock]

Dawnguard... Maybe I don't know enough about the Dawnguard, but they don't seem that awful. I never liked that they kept those people living in tents outside the castle, but it could be worse.

The Dawnguard are racist against people that eat people! Vampire persecution must end. Can't we get over ourselves and celebrate their culture? They just want to rule a sunless nightmare world where mortals are kept in pens as chattel destined to end up on a gore-pile. Is that so bad?

Sure, it hurts when they eat our family and friends. But can't we find solace in the knowledge that our loved ones were delicious?

 

[sticky runes]

What I'd like to know is where those silver Hand find all of the werewolves they've been killing and kept locked in cages, because in all the time I've spent playing Skyrim, I've only ever encountered one werewolf who was out in the wild and not a character related to any quest. Compare that to the number of vampires I've encountered even when staying away from Dawnguard, the Silver hand must be doing a bloody good job of keeping werewolf numbers down.

 

[Hildolfr]

What I'd like to know is where those silver Hand find all of the werewolves they've been killing and kept locked in cages, because in all the time I've spent playing Skyrim, I've only ever encountered one werewolf who was out in the wild and not a character related to any quest. Compare that to the number of vampires I've encountered even when staying away from Dawnguard, the Silver hand must be doing a bloody good job of keeping werewolf numbers down.

I think your average werewolf can avoid humans better than your average vampire. A werewolf goes and lives in the remote wild... lives off the land, hunts the local animals, fends off bigger predators. A vampire needs humans for sustenance. Plus I get the feeling the Silver Hand keeps werewolves around for a really long time. I wouldn't be surprised some of the ones we find are 20 or 30 years in captivity.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

What I'd like to know is where those silver Hand find all of the werewolves they've been killing and kept locked in cages, because in all the time I've spent playing Skyrim, I've only ever encountered one werewolf who was out in the wild and not a character related to any quest. Compare that to the number of vampires I've encountered even when staying away from Dawnguard, the Silver hand must be doing a bloody good job of keeping werewolf numbers down.

I run in to them all the time. Sometimes they're already were's and sometimes they transform in front of me (it's usually 2 together). I think we've got a whole lot more werewolves running around Skyrim than we think we do. Look for "fur coming out of their ears" and the ones that smell like they've been "bathing their dogs".

 

[raido KASAI]

What I'd like to know is where those silver Hand find all of the werewolves they've been killing and kept locked in cages, because in all the time I've spent playing Skyrim, I've only ever encountered one werewolf who was out in the wild and not a character related to any quest. Compare that to the number of vampires I've encountered even when staying away from Dawnguard, the Silver hand must be doing a bloody good job of keeping werewolf numbers down.

I think your average werewolf can avoid humans better than your average vampire. A werewolf goes and lives in the remote wild... lives off the land, hunts the local animals, fends off bigger predators. A vampire needs humans for sustenance. Plus I get the feeling the Silver Hand keeps werewolves around for a really long time. I wouldn't be surprised some of the ones we find are 20 or 30 years in captivity.

In addition to that, werewolves aren't always tranformed. In non-wolf form, they can typically blend in with normal folk without being noticed. While vampires do have different forms, even in their most normal state, they look like vampires to some extent

 

[raido KASAI]

What I'd like to know is where those silver Hand find all of the werewolves they've been killing and kept locked in cages, because in all the time I've spent playing Skyrim, I've only ever encountered one werewolf who was out in the wild and not a character related to any quest. Compare that to the number of vampires I've encountered even when staying away from Dawnguard, the Silver hand must be doing a bloody good job of keeping werewolf numbers down.

I run in to them all the time. Sometimes they're already were's and sometimes they transform in front of me (it's usually 2 together). I think we've got a whole lot more werewolves running around Skyrim than we think we do. Look for "fur coming out of their ears" and the ones that smell like they've been "bathing their dogs".

The ones I typically see are the ones on the island in the middle of Ilinalta

 

[Daelon DuLac]

What I'd like to know is where those silver Hand find all of the werewolves they've been killing and kept locked in cages, because in all the time I've spent playing Skyrim, I've only ever encountered one werewolf who was out in the wild and not a character related to any quest. Compare that to the number of vampires I've encountered even when staying away from Dawnguard, the Silver hand must be doing a bloody good job of keeping werewolf numbers down.

I run in to them all the time. Sometimes they're already were's and sometimes they transform in front of me (it's usually 2 together). I think we've got a whole lot more werewolves running around Skyrim than we think we do. Look for "fur coming out of their ears" and the ones that smell like they've been "bathing their dogs".

The ones I typically see are the ones on the island in the middle of Ilinalta

There's an island in Ilinalta? Oh, right, there are a bunch of them. Which island? I've never run in to any on any island. Is it the one with the Fisherman or the Standing Stone? Just curious. I like to kill 'em for their human flesh and wolf hides.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

In 650 hours I never once come across a werewolf in the wilds outside of the Companion's quests. I've run across werebears a total of two times.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

In 650 hours I never once come across a werewolf in the wilds outside of the Companion's quests. I've run across werebears a total of two times.

Hmm... I must just be lucky then. I run in to werewolves, vampires, gargoyles and just about everything else you can think of constantly. I'll admit that I do run in to werebears on Solstheim as well, but not very often.

 

[raido KASAI]

I run in to them all the time. Sometimes they're already were's and sometimes they transform in front of me (it's usually 2 together). I think we've got a whole lot more werewolves running around Skyrim than we think we do. Look for "fur coming out of their ears" and the ones that smell like they've been "bathing their dogs".

The ones I typically see are the ones on the island in the middle of Ilinalta

There's an island in Ilinalta? Oh, right, there are a bunch of them. Which island? I've never run in to any on any island. Is it the one with the Fisherman or the Standing Stone? Just curious. I like to kill 'em for their human flesh and wolf hides.

If I remember correctly it's one of the smaller islands around the island that has the Lady Stone over on the western half of the lake.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

The ones I typically see are the ones on the island in the middle of Ilinalta

There's an island in Ilinalta? Oh, right, there are a bunch of them. Which island? I've never run in to any on any island. Is it the one with the Fisherman or the Standing Stone? Just curious. I like to kill 'em for their human flesh and wolf hides.

If I remember correctly it's one of the smaller islands around the island that has the Lady Stone over on the western half of the lake.

Hmm... I'll have to look for it. I need some more human flesh to experiment on and those dern villagers are just so hard to catch!

 

[raido KASAI]

There's an island in Ilinalta? Oh, right, there are a bunch of them. Which island? I've never run in to any on any island. Is it the one with the Fisherman or the Standing Stone? Just curious. I like to kill 'em for their human flesh and wolf hides.

If I remember correctly it's one of the smaller islands around the island that has the Lady Stone over on the western half of the lake.

Hmm... I'll have to look for it. I need some more human flesh to experiment on and those dern villagers are just so hard to catch!

I went to check on it. It actually was the island the Lady Stone is on. They weren't there when I checked but I may have killed them recently or they may just spawn there randomly. I've seen them there multiple times though

 

[sticky runes]

In 650 hours I never once come across a werewolf in the wilds outside of the Companion's quests. I've run across werebears a total of two times.

I get werebears quite a lot in the North West part of Solstheim, but I only fought one werewolf that wasn't in a Silverhand hideout or part of any quests, it was just some random dude wandering around and when I approached him he transformed and attacked me. It happened somewhere near Markarth.