The Paarthurnax Dilemma mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

Disappointed with how ruthless and unforgiving the Blades were at the end of the main quest? Felt like you should have been able to put your foot down and make them see reason? Well now you can!

This mod is a simple, yet badly needed modification to the post-MQ quest the Blades give you to kill Paarthurnax.

Approach the quest as usual. Listen to the Greybeards and Paarthurnax.

Should you decide to spare his life, return to Delphine or Esbern and explain it to them. You may have to be a bit forceful in the process. They may not like what you're telling them, but they're supposed to be there to serve the Dragonborn, right?

Should you choose to go through with slaying him, he will not be alone. Paarthurnax told you he was going to try and teach others the Way of the Voice, and he'll have his first group of students listening intently. Or, well, whatever dragons do when they're perched on rocks looking at each other.

Are you a ruthless savage like your Blade companions, or will you show compassion and forgiveness the Blades don't appear to be capable of anymore? Make your choice, Dragonborn!

Installation Requirements

Skyrim Special Edition 1.6.1130 or greater.
Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch 4.3.0 or greater.

You will need to turn on subtitles to see the text for Delphine and Esbern's dialogue additions.

Alternately, download and use Fuz Ro D-oh - Silent Voice to see subtitles only on those NPCs with no voiced audio. This requires SKSE64.

DO NOT extract the contents of the BSA file into your Data folder as loose files, or let your mod manager perform an equivalent function on the contents of the file. Doing so will cause things to load in the wrong order and break the game. Skyrim is intended to load a BSA alongside it's ESM/ESP file. Circumventing this causes issues which I will not provide support for. If you insist on going against this advice, you will receive no support for the problems you generate as a result of this.

Installation - Wrye Bash BAIN

Drop the archive into your Skyrim Special Edition Mods\Bash Installers folder, then install as usual.
Make sure the mod is active in the Wrye Bash mods tab.

Installation - Manual

Drop the The Paarthurnax Dilemma.esp and The Paarthurnax Dilemma.bsa files into your Data folder.
Activate the mod using whatever management tool suits you.

Uninstall

Don't do that. Uninstalling the mod will break things beyond repair. If you insist on ignoring this, you will get no help with trying to undo the damage that will be done.

Compatibility

Mods which alter the following quests will not be compatible without a patch:

MQPaarthurnax - Paarthurnax
FreeformHighHrothgarA - The Words of Power
DialogueHighHrothgar
MQ306
MQ301 - The Fallen

Mods which edit the following scripts will not be compatible unless patched:

QF_MQPaarthurnax_0003FA16.psc
QF_MQ301_00044C56.psc
QF_MQ305_00046EF2.psc

Credits

Madcat221 - For coming up with some good lore based solutions for dialogue, dragon names, and other helpful suggestions.

Disclaimer

This mod is not made, guaranteed, or supported by Microsoft, Zenimax, Bethesda Game Studios, or any of their affiliates.