The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a beautiful game that allows for near-complete freedom in how you have your story play out.

Everyone’s playthrough of Skyrim is different but I think something we all have in common is we’re all best-friends with Paarthurnax, if you choose to kill him I don’t think we can be friends.

It’s why the Blades are such a fun faction to involve yourself with, as at first glance they’re pretty damn cool. Their whole purpose is slaying dragons which is what you’ve been doing for a good chunk of the game, why wouldn’t you want to hang out with them?

Then they tell you to murder Paarthurnax, the friendly dragon that helped you start your adventure and suddenly it’s like that bit in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2. where we all slowly turn to the Blades and say…”what?..”

Defying them prevents you from advancing their quest further but if you want to stick with the Blades but not murder the chillest dragon you’ll ever meet here’s how.

The wiki page has a handy guide that’ll tell you everything you need to know but the gist of it is to advance the game as normal but use console commands to make it think Paarthurnax has been slain.

He’ll be fine sitting at the top of his mountain but the Blades will think you’ve done your job and let you keep hanging out with them, win-win.

Personally, I’d rather just slay them all for even daring to insinuate Paarthurnax needs to die, but if you want to see the other half of the story this is how you do it with a clean conscience.

Having fun in a game is one thing, but being able to look at yourself in the mirror afterwards is another, do the right thing and save our scaly boy.