In My Time of Need, Saadia is lying Options

[Destri Melarg]

I haven’t seen this debated here before, so please allow me to get the ball rolling. Here are a few reasons why I believe that Saadia is a liar:


First, let’s ignore the fact that when you blow her cover her first instinct is to draw you into a private area and pull a knife on you. That could have been the case even if she was telling the truth.

Saadia claims that she is being hunted by Kematu’s band of mercenaries for speaking out against the Aldmeri Dominion. We must ask ourselves when exactly did this ‘speaking out’ occur? The events in Skyrim take place a full twenty years after the signing of the Second Treaty of Stros M’Kai. If we are to assume that she has not been hiding at the Bannered Mare for the last twenty years, then she made her comments against the Dominion after the elves had already left Hammerfell. There would be no reason for her to have to flee in fear of a Thalmor reprisal.

On the other hand, let’s assume that she spoke out during the heat of the Great War when parts of southern Hammerfell were occupied by Thalmor forces and therefore dangerous to any with the courage to speak. Why then didn’t she simply return to the protection of her noble family after the Treaty was signed? Once the elves were gone Hammerfell would have been the safest place in Tamriel for her, yet she chose to remain in hiding for a full twenty years after the elves had left her homeland. Why?

Saadia claims that Kematu and his men are mercenaries hired by the Aldmeri Dominion to silence her. Let’s take a look at that, shall we? The Thalmor rose to prominence in the aftermath of the Oblivion Crisis. In their nearly two hundred year history we have ample evidence of the lengths to which they will go to silence a dissident:

Rynandor the Bold was exiled by the Thalmor shortly after the Oblivion Crisis because he was critical of Thalmor claims that they were responsible for repelling the daedra. He then met with a violent end at Thalmor hands shortly after his departure. Lathenil of Sunhold was assassinated soon after bankrupting himself to see that copies of his book, Rising Threat, were distributed throughout the Empire. And Hadrik Oaken-Shield's journal details his dealings with the Thalmor . It is not contracted mercenaries he fears, it is Thalmor Justiciars.

Thalmor xenophobia would not allow them to trust the job of eliminating an enemy to one of the ‘lesser races.‘ It is highly unlikely that they would pay the expense of sustaining a band of Redguard mercenaries to search for a single Redguard woman throughout the holds of Skyrim. Especially when you consider that their own agents are already in place and, unlike Kematu’s group who can’t even get inside Whiterun, they are able to move (and even make arrests) with impunity. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that any Redguard, no matter how far he has fallen, would enter into a contract with the race that virtually obliterated most of southern Hammerfell.

Are we all so conditioned to jump to the aid of this 'damsel in distress' that we are willing to swallow any c0ck-and-bull story that she throws our way? Or are we suspiciousl of Kematu because he has chosen to camp at a place called Swindler's Den?

This post has been edited by Destri Melarg: Feb 6 2013, 10:24 AM

[SubRosa]

There is not supposed to be a clear-cut right or wrong to this quest. We are never supposed to know who is really right, and who is really wrong. So I think if you are really concerned about that the only thing to do is to just ignore this quest and let the gods sort it all out in the end. Saadia is indeed lying. But so is Kematu and his band of rogues. There is no way for the player to ever learn the truth.

Klaatu Kematu claims he is working for the resistance. The resistance to what? As you pointed out, the war ended twenty years earlier. That is like someone claiming to belong to the Maquis in the 60's. Or me saying I am a member of the Continental Army, fighting British tyranny in the Colonies.

They claim that Saadia betrayed a city to the Thalmor. Look at her. How old is she? 20 or 25 at the most? She would have been a newborn during the war. Are we to believe that she crawled from her crib when her mother was not looking, did her dastardly business, then sneaked back in while no one was the wiser? Or maybe she plopped out of mommies womb, betrayed a city, then slid back up, reattached her umbilical cord, and hid out for a few more months before being born?

Then of course we have Klaatu Kematu and his band of cutthroats. These are the guys who claim to be moral and upright, yet are living with bandits? That is like a group of U.S. Marshals going to spend the night at a crackhouse. Yeah, right, I can so see that. They could have picked anywhere in Skyrim to camp, but naturally they went straight for a bandit hideout. There is an old saying about water seeking its level, and Klaatu Kematu found his at Swindler's Den.

These guys are not allowed in Whiterun. Why? All anyone has to do is say you have news of a dragon attack, and they will let you in. You could be walking around with a skull on your robe and a zombie carrying your luggage, and the guards will not even bat an eye. The only people they wont let in well known drug dealers like the Khajiit caravaneers. So they guys must have really worked hard to get on the bad side of the Whiterun guards.

Speaking of which, one of them is already in the Whiterun jail. He will tell you that his comrades have abandoned him, as that is there way. No band of brothers here. They could easily give someone some gold to go into the city to pay off his bounty and get him freed. But no, there is no sense of loyalty among these guys at all. Whoever falls behind, is left behind, and good riddance. It is every man for himself among them. This makes it hard for me to believe that they are in anything but bandits themselves.

Fianlly, it takes what, twelve of them to hunt down one lone woman? And those odds are not good enough for them, since they try to recruit you to take on Saadia for them. Talk about a overflowing font of courage there! Papa Thorson and Dog Champan would be laughing their asses off to hear that.

To wrap up the wall of text, I honestly do not know if we should put down the extreme stupidity of both Saadia and Klaatu Kematu's stories to the idiots who do the writing at Bethesda (I am convinced that they have a room filled with chimps chained to keyboards), or if we should actually try to take all of this seriously. If we are to take it seriously, then we are faced with one lying woman being hunted by a pack of lying, cowardly bandits. All there is to do is pick your lying side, and win. Personally, I do not like 12 to 1 odds, and so all my characters have sided with Saadia so far. Also those Redguard A-Holes harassing women throughout Skyrim really tick me off. Revansch used to kill them on the spot.

You will have to excuse me now, I am on my way to capture an escaped Tory who betrayed Charlestown to the British redcoats. Btw, you can help our cause to free the Colonies from the King's tyranny if you want. The government has seized an important shipment of arms and gold bullion that was on the way to us. We only need a little money to clear out the paperwork and get it back to the Continental Army. Just mail your check or money order to the Bank of Nigeria. Give us just $500 now, and I guarantee you that you will be reimbursed with 10 times that amount after we get the gold.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Feb 6 2013, 04:21 PM