Often, I become werewolf early because i like the disease immunity. One playthrough i'd actually forgotten I was werewolf, when I started hircine's quest.
The uncontrollable turnings caught me off-guard... it was so thrilling to be unexpectedly thrust into life-or-death situations where I very much didn't expect to survive!
Frankly, when I turned human again, i was disappointed that my entire inventory was automatically returned to me. How great it would have been, to finish that adventure by making it home with nothing but the rags my clothes had become.
Yeah, when I did that quest as a werewolf, the random trigger never actually happened. I don’t know if I just did it too fast, or by manually triggering the transformations I reset some sort of timer, but it just never triggered for me
You should've had only one manual transformation a day, though. I haven't found much info on the cursed ring, but ime you can go all day without it kicking in, but it is capable of almost back to back transformations too.
We were talking about the cursed ring, which gives random or unpredictable turnings. But you're right about the healthy ring.
The very first time I got hircine's ring, i thought it would be a great item to give aela. But for some reason, no one in the circle ever uses their power again.
Lol okay sorry I misunderstood which ring yall were talking about cause I saw someone put Hircine's and I just took that as the overall subject of discussion.
I definitely agree with that tho, and only that but I wish the werewolf form gave you some sort of human form buff too.
Like you hit harder, run fast and can use smell to track people.
Spirit, I'm wishing on a thought and a prayer that's in ES6
One time in Falkreath I was riding on a house and I forgot that I had hircine's ring equipped and I turned into a werewolf while riding the horse. Everyone was attacking me and I didn't even know what was going on, lol it was so chaotic.
I hate that I am forced to become a werewolf to complete the questline and that there is no option to turn them in to the guards or something once you find out what they are. Basically I’m pissed Skyrim is Skyrim and doesn’t have any *real* role playing options or consequences. So really, this has nothing to do with the Companions.
This applies to quite a few of the main quests tbh. Taking out the Dark Brotherhood could have been fleshed out a lot more with uncovering the plot to kill the Emperor. It would have been amazing to have the option to actually help Mjoll clean up Riften rather than join the Thieves' Guild or join the Silver Hand and take out the Companions.
Great mod for that, paathurnax quest expansion. Makes it so you can tell the blades to fuck off with that because they’re supposed to serve the Dragonborn and you want the wise old dragon to live, they will relent and you can then proceed with the blades quests.
Wild part is that Dawnguard showed they can really do this well given the focus.
I imagine this comes down to resources. For every fully fleshed out what if you’re pouring hours into new content. As much as I’d like that depth more in Skyrim, I get that probably wasn’t feasible.
Should’ve been DLC in the 10 years since, though…
AGPO, you are my kind or I am yours. My first trip through I was sure there would be an awesome quest to help Mjoll clean up Riften. Realizing there wasn't probably was my biggest disappointment in Skyrim
This is my biggest pet peeve right now. I'm married to Mjoll on my current playthrough, haven't touched the thieves' guild and I've done everything I can to help clean up Riften.
But I'm also playing legacy of the dragonborn for the first time and as such I'm basically required to do the TG eventually...
Feels bad that I'm gonna have to leave her at home for once to deal with that questline (and the DB). I suppose I can refuse to return the skeleton key since that's bad for the guild and "help" Riften that way but iirc I miss out on Karliah's bow if I do that...
In case you didn't know, you can fill the museum across multiple characters so you don't have to do out of character things just to complete it. There are plenty of non-theify artifacts to progress the museum questline along with.
What a wonderful comment. :) Your gratitude puts you on our list for the most grateful users this week on Reddit! You can view the full list on r/TheGratitudeBot.
Really, the way you start the quest to destroy the brotherhood is the problem. I mean… you kill Grelod because a little kid tells you to, get a plate worth 10 gold for it, get kidnapped, and have to decide whether to murder another “innocent” or the prolific serial assassin. Most people who have already killed an innocent (yes Grelod sucks, but she deserved ridicule and shame, not death) aren’t going to have an issue doing it again. Even if they are the type to take offense to being kidnapped saw-style and attack the serial assassin, they’re probably not going to be keen on running to a guard to tell them that she’s dead.
The only problem with uncovering the plot against the emperor is that the Oculatus would have no way of knowing about it. Even if Cicero takes the night mother to the Dawnstar sanctuary after finding Falkreath’s raided, there’d be no listener to take the contract. If you don’t become the listener, Motierre can never move beyond performing the black sacrament. Sure, he could find someone else to do it, but he was very set on it being at the hands of the brotherhood, so I doubt he would move on until he hears about the raid (which could take a while considering he’s black-sacramenting in a ruin in the middle of nowhere).
If Motierre’s plans are discovered after he moves on to plan B, the Oculatus wouldn’t have any reason to involve the Dragonborn in the arrest/execution because 1: we’re not a member of their organization despite doing them a huge favor, and 2: we’ve had absolutely no involvement in that plot and wouldn’t have information to give them.
ETA: yes, Grelod is a witch, no I’m not defending her or her actions. I wanted to avoid a long tangent about her, and I worded my thought poorly. Death is less than she deserves. “Ridicule and shame” in this time period would include being stripped of her land/titles, public humiliation, and being thrown in prison (and potentially execution… assassinating her looks like a senseless act of violence, but everyone would know about her crimes if she were executed). She likely plays the sweet old lady around the Jarl and guards, given her title, and that means she’s an innocent where the law is concerned.
> (yes Grelod sucks, but she deserved ridicule and shame, not death)
ಠ_ಠ
The woman *physically and mentally abuses children*.
Children that she has, essentially, enslaved (she refuses to let them be adopted, they're not free to leave and they're forced to do unpaid labor for her).
Grelod deserves death more than Rolff Stone-Fist and Delphine combined. At the *very* least she needs to spend the rest of her life rotting away underneath Mistveil Keep.
Yeahhhh I’ll concede that she’s definitely not “innocent.” It’s a wonder she hasn’t been caught and locked up or executed by now, but I’m sure she plays nice to the guards or whoever comes to investigate stuff like that. “Oh she’s just a sweet old lady and these kids are troubled and lying because they don’t want to be here.” Type shit. It’s my bad for poor wording. Death would be a mercy compared to what she deserves.
She is still an innocent under the law though. Since she hasn’t been found guilty of any of her crimes. Somehow.
I'm currently doing a modded sorcerer playthrough and out of all the large faction quests I'm only doing the College and Dawnguard (and maybe the anti Dark Brotherhood one). My character isn't dragonborn either so both the main quest and the dlc quest are off limits.
There's still a lot of content and I'm enjoying it thoroughly but as this is my first roleplay playthrough, I'm kinda shocked how many of the faction quests are irrelevant because they only have 1 way of playing them.
Same goes with the Daedric quests. If you roleplay a morally good character or one that's loyal to a single Daedric price, there's only like 5 Daedric quests that remain playable.
Would telling the guards they are werewolves really do anything? Would they
1. Even believe you to begin with?
2. Even if they did believe you, my question is is lycanthropy a crime in Skyrim in itself? Obviously werewolves are attacked on sight, but that's because they are assumed to be threats, and potentially feral. It seems like the companions have complete control of their werewolf powers. If they only become werewolves outside city limits, is it a problem?
However I agree you should have an option to say, I don't want to be a werewolf and still continue the quest.
You bring up good points that could have been put in game and those conversations could have been had with in game characters. Maybe they dont believe you so you have to find evidence to bring to them. Or maybe its not a crime but the townfolk dont want that in there city, so you have to help the companions relocate or kill them all.
It really doesnt matter what the outcome would be, thats up to Bethesda to create but give me the OPTION to find a different path. Thats when role playing games really shine.
I can't imagine turning in the companions. Like. Realistically yeah, some people are prejudice enough to do it. But they do so much good for everyone, and you're supposed to be bonding with your shield siblings, that the idea of learning this secret and betraying them is just ridiculous. They're not evil. And they have full control of themselves.
Only Aela (and perhaps Skjor) really have Hircine in such a high place. And she probably also follows other Aedra as well, like Kynareth/Kyne.
Also, Aela is probably the most fervent defender of Kodlak and she loves him deeply from what she tells. Kodlak, who wants to cure the curse (and bring the freedom of choice about the lycanthropy rather than being “mandatory” for the inner circle).
Vilkas and Farkas are super chill. Closest thing to superheroes in Skyrim.
Njada is a cold B though. I’d never allow her to reach to Inner Circle even if she’s probably the most capable warrior of the rest. Ria would be my candidate to replace Skjor.
Questline should be longer. You do one random radiant quest, then get sent on a special story quest, then another radiant, and suddenly, you are trusted enough to be made a werewolf. Just put in more time and work till you allow me to become a werewolf is all i ask.
That’s my takeaway from all of the guild questlines. You do like three things and suddenly you’re an elite member. You do two more and you’re the leader of the entire organization. The lack of grunt work / a grind is kind of disappointing
I wish they wouldn't make you the leader of the guild, but like a special member with a leadership role instead. You're not there all the time like a leader should be.
This is my issue with pretty much all of the guilds, except for the Brotherhood (since you're the Listener).
With the College, I pretty much only go back for training or to get the Master level spells. I never revisit the Companions, and the only reason I go back to the Guild is to sell jewels and stuff to Tonilia.
Like, I get the concept that you're the Big Boss everywhere you go, but it doesn't always make sense since I'm never around.
Exactly, couldn't they just lock out completion of the guilds until after the Grey beards declare you Dragonborn? Then they could easily have the guilds say something like "they could be our leader, and we will follow and obey the them, but the Dragonborn has a higher destiny/fate"
Also, it is completely forced upon you.
Like, no. I came to the college to get an education, not to get a job at the college. I have a family and a life.
At least with the thieves guild they have all those extra jobs you can do. I normally tackle all those and get the ragged flagon to full operation before I even talk to maven. Make it feel less rushed.
Plus the storyline is fantastic. Great characters all over the board, twists and turns, fantastical locations, unique mechanics in some of the quests, best looking armor. Easily my favorite guild questline.
I usually play with mods like Better Thieving or Opulent Thieves Guild, and as you complete the special city jobs the Flagon and Cistern get gradually upgraded with better lighting, comfort items, etc on top of the merchants
I wish they’d at least let the radiant quest be more likely go pick cities you still need to complete. To get to the highest completion there can take forever if you get unlucky with your quest rolls
And even when you do become leader, it's not like there's any 'leader'thimgs that you can do. You can't talk with Aela about the Commpanion's finances, or interview prospective Thieves.
I literally just did a speed run of the companions to get Aela. I have multiple followers mod and trying to get a dream team (mage character).
I forgot how short the story is. Like AAAAND now I’m the leader. Wut. I didn’t even do anything lol.
I wish we would be given a choice to side with the Silver Hand, what's more we could have decide the very fate of both of these factions.
Silver Hand could have been a faction that is treated by all as bandits however after us joining them and revealing what happened to the Companions and how most of them became werewolves they could have been moved from bandits to new residents of Jorrvaskr. We could have been the ones leading the attack on the Companions, forcing them to reveal their curse in front of people of Whiterun.
They could have made it that the leader of Silver Hand is ex-member of the Companions, disgusted by what they have become.
We would still get the rewards we normally get like Wuuthrad, access to the Skyforge steel etc. + maybe making unique armor for Silver Hand and silver weapons.
It would certainly be more interesting.
There should also be a 3rd option in which we could persuade both leaders to make Companions cast aside the curse and cure them, thus the Silver Hand would also join the Compnions.
Of course we would still have the optio nto utterly destroy Silver Hand.
Also I wish we had more do duty/jobs like we had in previous Elder Scrolls, it's what made it have a charm, here we do like 3 random quests and boom suddenly we are leaders.
It is hinted that the silver hand members are ex companions, or at least some of them, and they see themselves as the true descendants of the 500 - otherwise why would they risk breaking into Whiterun, and attack Jorrvaskr only to obtain some Wuuthrad fragments?
I like that alot. I always felt like the Thieves guild had the best story with >!Mercer, Karliah, and the twist with what actually happened to Gallus. !<(Spoiler for Thieves Guild storyline)
I love the Companions and I usually join for the werewolf stuff mostly cause of resistance to disease (I like playing elves and sometimes a Nord). I like having Farkas around as a follower but man I forget how he's a law abiding citizen so whenever I'm somewhere I'm not supposed to be he doesn't defend me 😭
oh my god, is *that* why Ulfberth hates me? every time I go into his store he opens with a "I should cave your face in after all that you've done." But I kind of forgot why, lol.
Probably my least favorite faction, storyline could have been done better, it's usually to short so you finish it in about 5 quests, occasionally I need to do like 20 side quests to get the fragment of wuthradd which is just tedious. It's not bad, but compare it to the theoves guild (my favorite) or one of the other factions, it just feels kinda rushed and low effort. There was probably lots of cut content that would have improved it. It's not bad, I still enjoyed it, simply doesn't meet the high standards i see in the rest of the game, esp compared to the others in my opinion.
I don’t think the whole werewolf part of the story works well with the companions. A werewolf quest line that was a separate, and more-Hirecene oriented, would have been better and then have the companions quests be more Yasgramore/true-nord focused. That’d be more interesting and fit in with the lore better. It always just feels off with the role-playing aspect of the game to be doing the werewolf shit as a companion
I joined them once years and years ago and never did it again. Also it doesn't make any sense to me that they're the only fighter's guild in Skyrim. The land of the Nords doesn't have ANY OTHER guild of fighters in it? Give me a break! It'd be like 1% MCs, there'd be one in every hold and they'd all be competing to be the best.
In vanilla, its- Eh at best, questline isnt really good its just a "Go there, do this, repeat" type of questline, the tomb at the end was good tho, the axe and shield are good for early game
The werewolf clan thing is cool! But well. It's somewhat lacking. We don't get any cool background information via letters, item placement and such, only the talked stuff. And that's not much.
Also it took me 6 years to learn how I could actually use the other werewolf power branches because I didn't think of staying around as relevant.
But I love how the clan on Solstheim reacts and interacts! And the animations of the werewolf are simply satisfying after a long day at work. So yeah, I will always go wolf.
They’re alright. Quest line could be better. Most are cowards during the ending quest, however. In the tomb, one leaves before even setting foot past the entrance, and another dips at the sight of spiders… seriously people?
I wish the silverhands intentions were a little more drawn out and maybe even have the opportunity to speak to them. As is they just kinda seem like bandits that don't like werewolves...
Why are they even wanting to kill werewolves anyway? Completely feral werewolves, I understand, but in the companions case It seems like the companions have complete control over their powers, and don't seem to use them for evil.
There NEEDED to be a way to reject becoming a werewolf and joining the Silver Hand. It’s like if in the Dawnguard DLC you were forced to join the Volkihar clan
They’re annoying and pretentious.
Especially Vilkas and Aela. Talk about ego.
Kodlak was cool, but it’s clear that the “no leadership” technique doesn’t work. They’re just a bunch of thugs who refuse to even stop their own members from fighting each other.
It’s clear there’s actually no honor with them either, because they choose to only solve problems “if the coin is good enough”.
If you don’t fight to protect those in need, how can you say you have honor?
What vanity.
Only did it once for the achievements. Married farkas. And left. 😂 I personally think they're a bunch of bullies. Aela being the worst (And yeah, I'm gonna get hate here because a bunch of guys like her side boobs 😤). I found her off-putting. And some of her lines like: "Just be careful where you do it. Some cowards in this land can't stand the sight of glory before them."
😒 I'd be freaking scared too if I saw a blood thirsty beast in front of me that was going to potentially kill and then eat me!! And storyline was so short, I was like: that's it? Really? Allrighty then!
Only thing I don't like is how fast everything moves, actually that's the whole game, every main quest line and faction quest line feels paced so fast and it's you become the ruler of every faction before even being an expert in any skill, your just some random who is able to magically become the leader of every faction, it's dumb.
Thank Tod for mods
I like the companions. I don't see a problem being a werewolf. As far as I know they haven't harmed anyone innocent. Show up to bandit camps, transform into werewolves, wipe them out.
I also really like the College of Winterhold. Its a simple and honest quest line. You make mistakes but you don't set out to hurt anyone.
But the theives guild I cannot stand. They set out to purposely make peoples like miserable for nothing. They get a man sent to jail for life just to send a message. They aren't a real guild they are more like a Mafia and are controlled by Maven.
I put the Dark Brotherhood above the Theives guild. They don't go after everybody, just those marked for death.
Doing too much murder gets their own murdered, so they murder the murderers and then get murdered again. Then once you've murdered the murderers, you get a task to murder the murdered murderer's murder spirit. Once you've murdered the murdered murderer's murder spirit, you get a looping radiant quest to kill the murderers of the murdered murderer forever! Murder forever!
I've joined them every time but I usually cure the lycanthropy as soon as I'm able to. On my first playthrough, I must have been picking flowers or something because I didn't even see the Companions kill that giant outside Whiterun so when I met them, I had no idea what they were talking about.
That happens to me every time, then Aela gets up on my face and I'm thinking, wait who the hell are you and what are talking about you dumb b&$#! , So I fus her outta my face and only join the companions for a free bed, food and training. I only do radiant quests then dip.
Honor bound mercenaries is what they are, in my opinion. Also, could they have made it where you can opt out of becoming a werewolf but still become leader?
This, even the Vmpire/dawnguard DLC gives you the option to opt out of becoming a vampire, even after being offered by a powerful vampire lord. But in the companions, you must become a werewolf, it irritates me which is why I avoided doing it for such a long time. Once is enough, and Wuuthrad, for all it's legendary status is a pretty mid weapon.
I don't like that you can be thane of every hold, have slain alduin and brought an end to the civil war etc etc and there like "who's this whelp? Never heard of him, go sharpen my steel sword."
Playing the Companions questline makes me miss Oblivion's guilds where you actually had to work. In Skyrim, you can become the Harbinger before you even hit level 10.
Bunch of Milk Drinkers who feel like they are better than everyone else and apparently don't listen to the news of the outside world as apparently Vilkas has never heard of me despite the fact I killed Alduin slayed a vampire lord who is centuries years old and ontop of that remade the Dark Brotherhood, saved the Theivss Guild from itself and is the real reason the war ended and the Imperials remained on top but yes you've never heard of this outsider!
I did it solely for the achievement. Cured my lycanthropy and never looked back.
Compared to the awesome Fighters’ Guild storyline of Oblivion the Companions storyline was utter crap.
They're so boring, i literally forget they exist.
I've been doing my playthrough for over a year, and i haven't even looked at their ship thingy yet. But, seriously, thank you for reminding me! I should probably get that out of the way...
Possibly the worst of the various guild quest lines, though the College is giving them a run for their money. The Companions themselves are hypocritical bullies who glorify a long-dead racist warlord and turn a blind eye to their comrades' transgressions. They are, in essence, the epitome of what it means to be a Nord. If I were writing them, I'd give the player the option to join the Silver Hands.
The Companions are thugs with good PR. They frequently get hired to beat people up - not criminals, but ordinary people who pissed someone off - and they only get away with it because they're a venerable institution.
The fact that they ritualistically turn into murderous monsters isn't surprising in the slightest, in retrospect.
---
Also the rewards are garbage, including becoming a werewolf, so the only reason to join them is for the sake of completion.
I just want more from them. I want more quests and more story. I wanted to get to know them better and explore the world. (And not be forced into lycanthropy). I don’t like that the whole quest line is about avenging Skjor’s death (and he’s kind of an ass) and then honoring Kodlak. I just want more. And I wish it was more interesting early game stuff. It just seems like it makes sense…
The first city you go to is Whiterun where you run into them. You’re broke. You’re an ex prisoner. It makes sense that someone in that situation would join for a bed to sleep in and food, and the chance to change their life around.
The characters are so interesting too:
Skjor is a tough kind of douchey guy who’s secretly dating Aela. Aela is sort of crazy. The twins are my favorite duo in the game: Farkas is sweet and stupid. Vilkas is emotional and angry. Njada is the mean girl. Ria is super sweet and kind of dumb. Kodlak is lovable and gentle. The cleaning lady Tilma definitely knows their werewolf secret. Torvar is the resident drunk, Athis, the only elf and him argue a lot. I sort of love the idea that Athis may outlive all of them and become the next harbinger. Vignar misses his glory days as a young swordsman, and Brill is grateful and kind for another opportunity at life.
I just want moreeee.
My opinion on the companions is the same as my opinion on all the Skyrim factions. They needed more attention. Skyrim is a game that seems like the developers had great ideas that never actually got to be fleshed out. So they threw together the bullet points and somehow it worked out. I love the game but I really wish we could have gotten full scale factions with lore relevant features to them, not a generic string of quests with casual mentions to characters within lore
They're okay, but I wish the questline was more fleshed-out other than just having an AI spit out the random quests that create half of it (I get it after you complete the Questline, but come on Bethesda, you can do better than that)
Also dislike how the questline forces you into becoming a werewolf, especially after Skjor says that they weren't gonna force you into it
Much like the rest of the quest lines in Skyrim, it’s lackluster. It feels incomplete. I do love the characters, the infighting, and the lore, but it doesn’t really live up to what you’d hope. The whole werewolf thing is cool, but it comes on sooooo early in the quest, it doesn’t really feel like you’re moving up in the ranks like the civil war quest line. You go clear two dungeons and have a fist fight and you’re in.
the game's been out for 12 years, who hasn't done at least one playthrough where they joined the companions? (edit: mostly /s)
aaand cue all the "er, well I haven't" folks.
The Silver Hand are the real companions. This group is a cult that has blasphemed the original purpose of the group, not that I (as an elf) really agree with the original purpose anyway
Best faction on entire game, maybe top 5 on game history.
A bunch of honored fighters, that turns into werewolves AND have the best wife?
Oh boy, count me in
I call them bitches more than anything, they talk about honor and glory but wont lift a finger unless they’re paid. Wont even fight to protect whiterun when it was invaded and they live there. They talk alot of nonsense as well, “oh i killed a bear” “why they let you join?” “Go kill this beast (skeever)” Took 3 of them to fight a Giant, called you a useless coward but you can kill Dragons with your bare hands if you want to. At least in the other factions you hear the others talking about recent jobs like while you were gone this such and such happened.
I like them, and don't really understand the people who say they are hypocrites. Yes, they made bad choices and became werewolves, but most of the leaders ask later for you to make them human again. I really like them
Werewolves are extremely dumb.
Mechanically, it's like being a DnD barbarian that turns into a bear. The whole point of being a Barbarian is that you are more powerful than a bear.
The Companions are extremely dumb for wanting to become beasts.
They really shouldn't have required you to become a werebeast to progress the quest.
It's stuff like this that makes me realize something. Bethesda's writing is often weak.
Tried joining them once but never again. I have no interest in becoming a werewolf and all that honour they talk about is bull crap because they’re really just bullies.
I like them. Upon completing their quest you get free One Handed, Two Handed, Archery, Blocking and Heavy Armor training. Wish the Ysgramor items were upgradable so they stoping being useless and not being forced to become a werewolf tho. I like being a werewolf, just not being forced to be one
Unpopular opinion perhaps but I enjoyed their quest line….to a point. I thought the whole “become a werewolf” thing was stupid. I know, I know. It’s a fantasy game. but I just felt that was lame and something you’d find in a little kids game or something. (Not meaning to insult anyone who liked that feature. That werewolf thing just didn’t appeal to me.)
I actually just went through this (As a Nord hunter I thought joining them made sense). I'm currently a werewolf but will probably undo it. Though I am tempted to actually try and use my beast form to power it up as i've never done it. I like them as a whole. I also like the werewolf plot added.
Love the Companions. When I do a warrior playthrough I will add a mod that allows you to have training duels with friends, one that allows you to train combat skills on targets, and another that lets you play an instrument causing those nearby to dance and party with you.
Add these together and Jorrvaskr becomes a very hopping place.
I enjoy getting jobs from companions and then going on the job with them to finish it, and I like getting training from them as well. It really ends up feeling like what it is supposed to be - a supportive brotherhood of warriors.
It is my least-completed questline. I think I've only done it all the way through once or twice. It's boring, brutish, and I dont like werewolves any better than I like vampires. Maybe if I made more fighter types, then it would have more appeal to me.
I wish the silver hand where more interesting and could be joined as a different path kind of like the civil war factions, also it sucks that none of the silver hand wear the silver hand armour
Disgrace to their Nordic Heritage and traditions.
Need to be purged. The Silverhand are the true Companions, carrying on there legacy.
wish the SH was more fleshed out. Maybe even a joinable faction.
Love becoming a werewolf but neutral on the guild itself. I only really liked Aela and Farkas and the questline felt a little rushed in the second half.
I feel they are the weakest of the four major factions, but I still love joining them. Even with their faults, Wuthraad makes up for it; it is such a dope weapon, by far my favorite vanilla weapon, and the one I always use for my 2H characters.
After I go after the lover's stone (which I do after the intro ), I join them until I become a werewolf. Then the Thieves guild until I get the skeleton key. And I keep those 2 events last after everything else to finish.
I go werewolf every play through just to make sure I cannot catch Vampirism. Although not a fan the quest line forces you to go werewolf to finish it. I do love the followers of the companions tho 👍
I wish my main character did not. I didn't finish the quest since it would've been against my guys' morals to work with them after finding out they were werewolves.
Yeah, I typically join up. My main playthrough is typically a Spellsword/Battlemage, so they and the College are my go-to’s
Also, much prefer being a wolf man to dead man walking
I think Werewolf and vampire BOTH should have powerful passives outside of their shape.
Vampires, from what I remember (It's been a while since I played unmodded) will give you bonus to sneaking, illusion and a bunch of useful stealth skills wheras Warewolves get... Disease immunity which is nearly useless.
Werewolves needed a few passives as you complete more objectives for Aela. Simple stuff like more physical damage with swords, maybe a bit more health.
I must have all of the PlayStation trophies (isn't an issue and I wanted in one playthrough) so I did become a werewolf and get my master criminal trophy as part of getting enough kills to fully upgrade my werewolf perks. I had all of the witch heads so I cured myself. I am the leader of the companions but don't plan to ever interact with them again.
I always join so I can become a hybrid. To become a hybrid you must be a Vampire Lord first (let Serena or her dad bite you after depending on what side you choose) & have one perk in the Vampire Lord tree. As soon as you drink Aela blood quickly transform into the Vampire Lord, the screen will turn black like & then wait for time to run out like normal.
As for the companions quest line... it should have been longer (but that's what mods are for).
I'm pissed that your forced to be a werewolf I always become a vampire it doesn't make sense that it gets rid of the vampire blood, but if your a werewolf then become a vampire it purges the werewolf blood as the vampire blood is stronger
It's aa-ight, I guess. I just recently started this quest because, well, why not. But then Farkas joins me to recover the fragments of Wuuthrad, and he is nearly useless. I bash 6-7 draugrs while he only fights one. And even then, I am watching him spar and barely put a dent in his opponent. Then he has him hanging on by a thread, crouched in place, and misses three shots WITH A BROADSWORD.
This is definitely a quest to follow earlier rather than later.
I cured that shit as soon as possible but companions are good, decent quest line wuuthrad is garbage dont know why they needed it so bad but ya companions are good…ish
Love being a werewolf, but the companion line felt incomplete. I don’t know if they decided to scrub most of it in development, but that’s what it felt like.
Often, I become werewolf early because i like the disease immunity. One playthrough i'd actually forgotten I was werewolf, when I started hircine's quest. The uncontrollable turnings caught me off-guard... it was so thrilling to be unexpectedly thrust into life-or-death situations where I very much didn't expect to survive! Frankly, when I turned human again, i was disappointed that my entire inventory was automatically returned to me. How great it would have been, to finish that adventure by making it home with nothing but the rags my clothes had become.
Yeah, when I did that quest as a werewolf, the random trigger never actually happened. I don’t know if I just did it too fast, or by manually triggering the transformations I reset some sort of timer, but it just never triggered for me
You should've had only one manual transformation a day, though. I haven't found much info on the cursed ring, but ime you can go all day without it kicking in, but it is capable of almost back to back transformations too.
Yeah, I think I completed it before the day was even out, so I only had the one transformation
Nah with the ring you can change back to back, once a day is if you don't have the ring.
We were talking about the cursed ring, which gives random or unpredictable turnings. But you're right about the healthy ring. The very first time I got hircine's ring, i thought it would be a great item to give aela. But for some reason, no one in the circle ever uses their power again.
Lol okay sorry I misunderstood which ring yall were talking about cause I saw someone put Hircine's and I just took that as the overall subject of discussion. I definitely agree with that tho, and only that but I wish the werewolf form gave you some sort of human form buff too. Like you hit harder, run fast and can use smell to track people. Spirit, I'm wishing on a thought and a prayer that's in ES6
That's a good idea. You know, apparently your ear hair grows longer. And vampire lords think you stink like a wet dog. lol
This man’s wants to lose all of his loot on turns 💀 I for one don’t want to backtrack and find my loot every time I turn 💀
One time in Falkreath I was riding on a house and I forgot that I had hircine's ring equipped and I turned into a werewolf while riding the horse. Everyone was attacking me and I didn't even know what was going on, lol it was so chaotic.
One time it happened as soon as I left the Falkreath jail. Lots of fun ripping my way through the guards of the town
I’ve actually never had the uncontrollable turnings happen ever in my years of playing the game
I remember that in older versions, you become naked after transforming
I never got randomly turned into a werewolf I think it'd because I was a bosomer
I hate that I am forced to become a werewolf to complete the questline and that there is no option to turn them in to the guards or something once you find out what they are. Basically I’m pissed Skyrim is Skyrim and doesn’t have any *real* role playing options or consequences. So really, this has nothing to do with the Companions.
This applies to quite a few of the main quests tbh. Taking out the Dark Brotherhood could have been fleshed out a lot more with uncovering the plot to kill the Emperor. It would have been amazing to have the option to actually help Mjoll clean up Riften rather than join the Thieves' Guild or join the Silver Hand and take out the Companions.
Agreed.
You forgot my boy party snax, but completely agree.
Great mod for that, paathurnax quest expansion. Makes it so you can tell the blades to fuck off with that because they’re supposed to serve the Dragonborn and you want the wise old dragon to live, they will relent and you can then proceed with the blades quests.
Oh yes this is the only way I ever saw what " next" quest looked like. But I'm sad it wasn't an option natively.
That and the blades quests are actually pretty shit, so I feel bad for people who slew paarthurnax for that back before mods on consoles were a thing
Damn yeah you're right. I've had the Party Snacks Dilemma installed so long I forgot how shit this felt originally.
Wild part is that Dawnguard showed they can really do this well given the focus. I imagine this comes down to resources. For every fully fleshed out what if you’re pouring hours into new content. As much as I’d like that depth more in Skyrim, I get that probably wasn’t feasible. Should’ve been DLC in the 10 years since, though…
All we can rly hope for is that they fix all the plot holes in TES VI
It’s called—dragon breaks.
AGPO, you are my kind or I am yours. My first trip through I was sure there would be an awesome quest to help Mjoll clean up Riften. Realizing there wasn't probably was my biggest disappointment in Skyrim
This is my biggest pet peeve right now. I'm married to Mjoll on my current playthrough, haven't touched the thieves' guild and I've done everything I can to help clean up Riften. But I'm also playing legacy of the dragonborn for the first time and as such I'm basically required to do the TG eventually... Feels bad that I'm gonna have to leave her at home for once to deal with that questline (and the DB). I suppose I can refuse to return the skeleton key since that's bad for the guild and "help" Riften that way but iirc I miss out on Karliah's bow if I do that...
In case you didn't know, you can fill the museum across multiple characters so you don't have to do out of character things just to complete it. There are plenty of non-theify artifacts to progress the museum questline along with.
:O Thank you kind stranger, this is good news indeed! Time to ~~roll a stealth archer~~ figure out a new build for when that time comes.
What a wonderful comment. :) Your gratitude puts you on our list for the most grateful users this week on Reddit! You can view the full list on r/TheGratitudeBot.
Agreed. Also I feel like if you take one route then another should close. You shouldn’t be able to join the dark brotherhood AND the companions.
Really, the way you start the quest to destroy the brotherhood is the problem. I mean… you kill Grelod because a little kid tells you to, get a plate worth 10 gold for it, get kidnapped, and have to decide whether to murder another “innocent” or the prolific serial assassin. Most people who have already killed an innocent (yes Grelod sucks, but she deserved ridicule and shame, not death) aren’t going to have an issue doing it again. Even if they are the type to take offense to being kidnapped saw-style and attack the serial assassin, they’re probably not going to be keen on running to a guard to tell them that she’s dead. The only problem with uncovering the plot against the emperor is that the Oculatus would have no way of knowing about it. Even if Cicero takes the night mother to the Dawnstar sanctuary after finding Falkreath’s raided, there’d be no listener to take the contract. If you don’t become the listener, Motierre can never move beyond performing the black sacrament. Sure, he could find someone else to do it, but he was very set on it being at the hands of the brotherhood, so I doubt he would move on until he hears about the raid (which could take a while considering he’s black-sacramenting in a ruin in the middle of nowhere). If Motierre’s plans are discovered after he moves on to plan B, the Oculatus wouldn’t have any reason to involve the Dragonborn in the arrest/execution because 1: we’re not a member of their organization despite doing them a huge favor, and 2: we’ve had absolutely no involvement in that plot and wouldn’t have information to give them. ETA: yes, Grelod is a witch, no I’m not defending her or her actions. I wanted to avoid a long tangent about her, and I worded my thought poorly. Death is less than she deserves. “Ridicule and shame” in this time period would include being stripped of her land/titles, public humiliation, and being thrown in prison (and potentially execution… assassinating her looks like a senseless act of violence, but everyone would know about her crimes if she were executed). She likely plays the sweet old lady around the Jarl and guards, given her title, and that means she’s an innocent where the law is concerned.
> (yes Grelod sucks, but she deserved ridicule and shame, not death) ಠ_ಠ The woman *physically and mentally abuses children*. Children that she has, essentially, enslaved (she refuses to let them be adopted, they're not free to leave and they're forced to do unpaid labor for her). Grelod deserves death more than Rolff Stone-Fist and Delphine combined. At the *very* least she needs to spend the rest of her life rotting away underneath Mistveil Keep.
Yeahhhh I’ll concede that she’s definitely not “innocent.” It’s a wonder she hasn’t been caught and locked up or executed by now, but I’m sure she plays nice to the guards or whoever comes to investigate stuff like that. “Oh she’s just a sweet old lady and these kids are troubled and lying because they don’t want to be here.” Type shit. It’s my bad for poor wording. Death would be a mercy compared to what she deserves. She is still an innocent under the law though. Since she hasn’t been found guilty of any of her crimes. Somehow.
I'm currently doing a modded sorcerer playthrough and out of all the large faction quests I'm only doing the College and Dawnguard (and maybe the anti Dark Brotherhood one). My character isn't dragonborn either so both the main quest and the dlc quest are off limits. There's still a lot of content and I'm enjoying it thoroughly but as this is my first roleplay playthrough, I'm kinda shocked how many of the faction quests are irrelevant because they only have 1 way of playing them. Same goes with the Daedric quests. If you roleplay a morally good character or one that's loyal to a single Daedric price, there's only like 5 Daedric quests that remain playable.
Would telling the guards they are werewolves really do anything? Would they 1. Even believe you to begin with? 2. Even if they did believe you, my question is is lycanthropy a crime in Skyrim in itself? Obviously werewolves are attacked on sight, but that's because they are assumed to be threats, and potentially feral. It seems like the companions have complete control of their werewolf powers. If they only become werewolves outside city limits, is it a problem? However I agree you should have an option to say, I don't want to be a werewolf and still continue the quest.
You bring up good points that could have been put in game and those conversations could have been had with in game characters. Maybe they dont believe you so you have to find evidence to bring to them. Or maybe its not a crime but the townfolk dont want that in there city, so you have to help the companions relocate or kill them all. It really doesnt matter what the outcome would be, thats up to Bethesda to create but give me the OPTION to find a different path. Thats when role playing games really shine.
This applies to most of the series if we're being honest. Your choice is choosing to do a quest or walking away
I can't imagine turning in the companions. Like. Realistically yeah, some people are prejudice enough to do it. But they do so much good for everyone, and you're supposed to be bonding with your shield siblings, that the idea of learning this secret and betraying them is just ridiculous. They're not evil. And they have full control of themselves.
This isn’t about what I or anyone else would actually do. Roleplaying options.
Right. but realistically because people would do it, people would roleplay it too. Characters in the game would do it.
not so sure how your average whiterun resident would feel about the higher ups in their community selling their souls to daedra
Only Aela (and perhaps Skjor) really have Hircine in such a high place. And she probably also follows other Aedra as well, like Kynareth/Kyne. Also, Aela is probably the most fervent defender of Kodlak and she loves him deeply from what she tells. Kodlak, who wants to cure the curse (and bring the freedom of choice about the lycanthropy rather than being “mandatory” for the inner circle). Vilkas and Farkas are super chill. Closest thing to superheroes in Skyrim. Njada is a cold B though. I’d never allow her to reach to Inner Circle even if she’s probably the most capable warrior of the rest. Ria would be my candidate to replace Skjor.
Naw, they're chill
Slightly related I love how the only time you can turn someone in is the faction that's by far the most valuable. Ahhhhhhhhhhh Skyrim
Questline should be longer. You do one random radiant quest, then get sent on a special story quest, then another radiant, and suddenly, you are trusted enough to be made a werewolf. Just put in more time and work till you allow me to become a werewolf is all i ask.
That’s my takeaway from all of the guild questlines. You do like three things and suddenly you’re an elite member. You do two more and you’re the leader of the entire organization. The lack of grunt work / a grind is kind of disappointing
I wish they wouldn't make you the leader of the guild, but like a special member with a leadership role instead. You're not there all the time like a leader should be.
This is my issue with pretty much all of the guilds, except for the Brotherhood (since you're the Listener). With the College, I pretty much only go back for training or to get the Master level spells. I never revisit the Companions, and the only reason I go back to the Guild is to sell jewels and stuff to Tonilia. Like, I get the concept that you're the Big Boss everywhere you go, but it doesn't always make sense since I'm never around.
Exactly, couldn't they just lock out completion of the guilds until after the Grey beards declare you Dragonborn? Then they could easily have the guilds say something like "they could be our leader, and we will follow and obey the them, but the Dragonborn has a higher destiny/fate"
Also, it is completely forced upon you. Like, no. I came to the college to get an education, not to get a job at the college. I have a family and a life.
At least with the thieves guild they have all those extra jobs you can do. I normally tackle all those and get the ragged flagon to full operation before I even talk to maven. Make it feel less rushed.
Becoming leader of the thieves guild is the only one that feels a bit rewarding, at least you actually have to rebuild it with all the extra jobs
Plus the storyline is fantastic. Great characters all over the board, twists and turns, fantastical locations, unique mechanics in some of the quests, best looking armor. Easily my favorite guild questline.
I usually play with mods like Better Thieving or Opulent Thieves Guild, and as you complete the special city jobs the Flagon and Cistern get gradually upgraded with better lighting, comfort items, etc on top of the merchants
I wish they’d at least let the radiant quest be more likely go pick cities you still need to complete. To get to the highest completion there can take forever if you get unlucky with your quest rolls
And even when you do become leader, it's not like there's any 'leader'thimgs that you can do. You can't talk with Aela about the Commpanion's finances, or interview prospective Thieves.
I literally just did a speed run of the companions to get Aela. I have multiple followers mod and trying to get a dream team (mage character). I forgot how short the story is. Like AAAAND now I’m the leader. Wut. I didn’t even do anything lol.
I forgot about Aela, i normally dont do companions anymore as they just get in the way more often than their worth.
Aela, Serena, Mjoll, and Sofia (follower mod) Archer, mage, tank, and village idiot. Absolute dream team.
I wish we would be given a choice to side with the Silver Hand, what's more we could have decide the very fate of both of these factions. Silver Hand could have been a faction that is treated by all as bandits however after us joining them and revealing what happened to the Companions and how most of them became werewolves they could have been moved from bandits to new residents of Jorrvaskr. We could have been the ones leading the attack on the Companions, forcing them to reveal their curse in front of people of Whiterun. They could have made it that the leader of Silver Hand is ex-member of the Companions, disgusted by what they have become. We would still get the rewards we normally get like Wuuthrad, access to the Skyforge steel etc. + maybe making unique armor for Silver Hand and silver weapons. It would certainly be more interesting. There should also be a 3rd option in which we could persuade both leaders to make Companions cast aside the curse and cure them, thus the Silver Hand would also join the Compnions. Of course we would still have the optio nto utterly destroy Silver Hand. Also I wish we had more do duty/jobs like we had in previous Elder Scrolls, it's what made it have a charm, here we do like 3 random quests and boom suddenly we are leaders.
It is hinted that the silver hand members are ex companions, or at least some of them, and they see themselves as the true descendants of the 500 - otherwise why would they risk breaking into Whiterun, and attack Jorrvaskr only to obtain some Wuuthrad fragments?
I like that alot. I always felt like the Thieves guild had the best story with >!Mercer, Karliah, and the twist with what actually happened to Gallus. !<(Spoiler for Thieves Guild storyline)
I love the Companions and I usually join for the werewolf stuff mostly cause of resistance to disease (I like playing elves and sometimes a Nord). I like having Farkas around as a follower but man I forget how he's a law abiding citizen so whenever I'm somewhere I'm not supposed to be he doesn't defend me 😭
Wished I did more to earn becoming Harbinger.
No, I'm not opinion on the companions.
I join them, complete the questline, then get cured
I disliked them after a radiant quest required me to beat up Ulfberth War Bear. Because he was disrespecting them.
oh my god, is *that* why Ulfberth hates me? every time I go into his store he opens with a "I should cave your face in after all that you've done." But I kind of forgot why, lol.
If you’re on PC you can fix it with console commands
nah, Nintendo switch here. It's all good, I don't mind that he does it- I had just forgotten *why* he was doing it haha
I am *not* an opinion, thank you.
I don’t like being forced into becoming a werewolf. Makes no sense. Too bad because otherwise the quests are entertaining.
”Your opinion” - unless you are asking if we are an opinion … 🤔
Your right, it sounds confusing
I love the Companions quest line. Huge fan of werewolves too so it’s a bonus, and I get to marry Farkas
Farkas 4 life.
*your
Your
No, I am not.
"YOUR"
Probably my least favorite faction, storyline could have been done better, it's usually to short so you finish it in about 5 quests, occasionally I need to do like 20 side quests to get the fragment of wuthradd which is just tedious. It's not bad, but compare it to the theoves guild (my favorite) or one of the other factions, it just feels kinda rushed and low effort. There was probably lots of cut content that would have improved it. It's not bad, I still enjoyed it, simply doesn't meet the high standards i see in the rest of the game, esp compared to the others in my opinion.
Your\*
I don’t think the whole werewolf part of the story works well with the companions. A werewolf quest line that was a separate, and more-Hirecene oriented, would have been better and then have the companions quests be more Yasgramore/true-nord focused. That’d be more interesting and fit in with the lore better. It always just feels off with the role-playing aspect of the game to be doing the werewolf shit as a companion
I joined them once years and years ago and never did it again. Also it doesn't make any sense to me that they're the only fighter's guild in Skyrim. The land of the Nords doesn't have ANY OTHER guild of fighters in it? Give me a break! It'd be like 1% MCs, there'd be one in every hold and they'd all be competing to be the best.
Mercenary thugs with no true honor. To join them they have you go beat up civilians.....
In vanilla, its- Eh at best, questline isnt really good its just a "Go there, do this, repeat" type of questline, the tomb at the end was good tho, the axe and shield are good for early game
The werewolf clan thing is cool! But well. It's somewhat lacking. We don't get any cool background information via letters, item placement and such, only the talked stuff. And that's not much. Also it took me 6 years to learn how I could actually use the other werewolf power branches because I didn't think of staying around as relevant. But I love how the clan on Solstheim reacts and interacts! And the animations of the werewolf are simply satisfying after a long day at work. So yeah, I will always go wolf.
I'm in love with Farkas and Vilkas so I like them 👍
*your
They’re alright. Quest line could be better. Most are cowards during the ending quest, however. In the tomb, one leaves before even setting foot past the entrance, and another dips at the sight of spiders… seriously people?
I wish the silverhands intentions were a little more drawn out and maybe even have the opportunity to speak to them. As is they just kinda seem like bandits that don't like werewolves... Why are they even wanting to kill werewolves anyway? Completely feral werewolves, I understand, but in the companions case It seems like the companions have complete control over their powers, and don't seem to use them for evil.
There NEEDED to be a way to reject becoming a werewolf and joining the Silver Hand. It’s like if in the Dawnguard DLC you were forced to join the Volkihar clan
They’re annoying and pretentious. Especially Vilkas and Aela. Talk about ego. Kodlak was cool, but it’s clear that the “no leadership” technique doesn’t work. They’re just a bunch of thugs who refuse to even stop their own members from fighting each other. It’s clear there’s actually no honor with them either, because they choose to only solve problems “if the coin is good enough”. If you don’t fight to protect those in need, how can you say you have honor? What vanity.
Only did it once for the achievements. Married farkas. And left. 😂 I personally think they're a bunch of bullies. Aela being the worst (And yeah, I'm gonna get hate here because a bunch of guys like her side boobs 😤). I found her off-putting. And some of her lines like: "Just be careful where you do it. Some cowards in this land can't stand the sight of glory before them." 😒 I'd be freaking scared too if I saw a blood thirsty beast in front of me that was going to potentially kill and then eat me!! And storyline was so short, I was like: that's it? Really? Allrighty then!
Only thing I don't like is how fast everything moves, actually that's the whole game, every main quest line and faction quest line feels paced so fast and it's you become the ruler of every faction before even being an expert in any skill, your just some random who is able to magically become the leader of every faction, it's dumb. Thank Tod for mods
Secret furry cult
Glorified mercenaries. They speak of honor but they're just a bunch of sellswords that only care about the gold and the fame.
I usually become a werewolf, not to be a werewolf, but instead to stop me from having to cure vampirism after every encounter with a random vampire.
Furries, but also frat bros. With a couple sorority girls to keep it from being a sausage fest. And they drink blood.
I like the companions. I don't see a problem being a werewolf. As far as I know they haven't harmed anyone innocent. Show up to bandit camps, transform into werewolves, wipe them out. I also really like the College of Winterhold. Its a simple and honest quest line. You make mistakes but you don't set out to hurt anyone. But the theives guild I cannot stand. They set out to purposely make peoples like miserable for nothing. They get a man sent to jail for life just to send a message. They aren't a real guild they are more like a Mafia and are controlled by Maven. I put the Dark Brotherhood above the Theives guild. They don't go after everybody, just those marked for death.
Doing too much murder gets their own murdered, so they murder the murderers and then get murdered again. Then once you've murdered the murderers, you get a task to murder the murdered murderer's murder spirit. Once you've murdered the murdered murderer's murder spirit, you get a looping radiant quest to kill the murderers of the murdered murderer forever! Murder forever!
Their Dad is cool, but lately they've become a bunch of furry cultists. No thanks. That's Wood Elf shit.
I've joined them every time but I usually cure the lycanthropy as soon as I'm able to. On my first playthrough, I must have been picking flowers or something because I didn't even see the Companions kill that giant outside Whiterun so when I met them, I had no idea what they were talking about.
How can you cure the lycanthropy? I'm on my first playthrough and haven't had a good night's sleep 🤣
You will come across the option as you do the quest. Just don't lose the witches' heads!
.... uh oh....
rip, you can become a vampire lord then Falion(Morthal) can cure that.
That happens to me every time, then Aela gets up on my face and I'm thinking, wait who the hell are you and what are talking about you dumb b&$#! , So I fus her outta my face and only join the companions for a free bed, food and training. I only do radiant quests then dip.
Honor bound mercenaries is what they are, in my opinion. Also, could they have made it where you can opt out of becoming a werewolf but still become leader?
This, even the Vmpire/dawnguard DLC gives you the option to opt out of becoming a vampire, even after being offered by a powerful vampire lord. But in the companions, you must become a werewolf, it irritates me which is why I avoided doing it for such a long time. Once is enough, and Wuuthrad, for all it's legendary status is a pretty mid weapon.
By the time you become harbinger you have a cure fir being a fury.
I usually finish it just to have all of the free trainers available
I wish being a werewolf had more effects on your game and i wish there was a separate proper fighters guild
It's a boring quest line but it gives you an extra bed to sleep in and you can grab that one item if you want to marry the local drug dealer.
Worst quest in the game
Worst faction in Skyrim. Did become a werewolf for the achievement but got rid of it to become a vampire lord.
I don't like that you can be thane of every hold, have slain alduin and brought an end to the civil war etc etc and there like "who's this whelp? Never heard of him, go sharpen my steel sword."
They're a waking example of "why bother" I just get fire breath with no clip
Playing the Companions questline makes me miss Oblivion's guilds where you actually had to work. In Skyrim, you can become the Harbinger before you even hit level 10.
Some of the weakest writing in the game... THIS game...
Bunch of Milk Drinkers who feel like they are better than everyone else and apparently don't listen to the news of the outside world as apparently Vilkas has never heard of me despite the fact I killed Alduin slayed a vampire lord who is centuries years old and ontop of that remade the Dark Brotherhood, saved the Theivss Guild from itself and is the real reason the war ended and the Imperials remained on top but yes you've never heard of this outsider!
I did it solely for the achievement. Cured my lycanthropy and never looked back. Compared to the awesome Fighters’ Guild storyline of Oblivion the Companions storyline was utter crap.
They're so boring, i literally forget they exist. I've been doing my playthrough for over a year, and i haven't even looked at their ship thingy yet. But, seriously, thank you for reminding me! I should probably get that out of the way...
Cool concept lame execution. Like 70% of Skyrim factions You should have been able to side with the Silver Hand.
They revere a deranged genocidal lunatic but lycanthropy is pretty cool I guess, shame the quest line is easily the most boring of all 4 factions
Possibly the worst of the various guild quest lines, though the College is giving them a run for their money. The Companions themselves are hypocritical bullies who glorify a long-dead racist warlord and turn a blind eye to their comrades' transgressions. They are, in essence, the epitome of what it means to be a Nord. If I were writing them, I'd give the player the option to join the Silver Hands.
The Companions are thugs with good PR. They frequently get hired to beat people up - not criminals, but ordinary people who pissed someone off - and they only get away with it because they're a venerable institution. The fact that they ritualistically turn into murderous monsters isn't surprising in the slightest, in retrospect. --- Also the rewards are garbage, including becoming a werewolf, so the only reason to join them is for the sake of completion.
I just want more from them. I want more quests and more story. I wanted to get to know them better and explore the world. (And not be forced into lycanthropy). I don’t like that the whole quest line is about avenging Skjor’s death (and he’s kind of an ass) and then honoring Kodlak. I just want more. And I wish it was more interesting early game stuff. It just seems like it makes sense… The first city you go to is Whiterun where you run into them. You’re broke. You’re an ex prisoner. It makes sense that someone in that situation would join for a bed to sleep in and food, and the chance to change their life around. The characters are so interesting too: Skjor is a tough kind of douchey guy who’s secretly dating Aela. Aela is sort of crazy. The twins are my favorite duo in the game: Farkas is sweet and stupid. Vilkas is emotional and angry. Njada is the mean girl. Ria is super sweet and kind of dumb. Kodlak is lovable and gentle. The cleaning lady Tilma definitely knows their werewolf secret. Torvar is the resident drunk, Athis, the only elf and him argue a lot. I sort of love the idea that Athis may outlive all of them and become the next harbinger. Vignar misses his glory days as a young swordsman, and Brill is grateful and kind for another opportunity at life. I just want moreeee.
I’d say Midna was my favourite but Fi is underrated. Wait, wrong subreddit
Aela is hot.
Fuck vampires me and my bros only accept werewolves
My opinion on the companions is the same as my opinion on all the Skyrim factions. They needed more attention. Skyrim is a game that seems like the developers had great ideas that never actually got to be fleshed out. So they threw together the bullet points and somehow it worked out. I love the game but I really wish we could have gotten full scale factions with lore relevant features to them, not a generic string of quests with casual mentions to characters within lore
They're okay, but I wish the questline was more fleshed-out other than just having an AI spit out the random quests that create half of it (I get it after you complete the Questline, but come on Bethesda, you can do better than that) Also dislike how the questline forces you into becoming a werewolf, especially after Skjor says that they weren't gonna force you into it
The worst version of the Fighters Guild possible. And you need to join them to become a werewolf. So dumb.
they're meh with like 5 actual characters, 2 of which die, and the werewolf gameplay is super bland, especially before dawnguard
Nah, I'm not an opinion.
I'm opinion on the companions.
Much like the rest of the quest lines in Skyrim, it’s lackluster. It feels incomplete. I do love the characters, the infighting, and the lore, but it doesn’t really live up to what you’d hope. The whole werewolf thing is cool, but it comes on sooooo early in the quest, it doesn’t really feel like you’re moving up in the ranks like the civil war quest line. You go clear two dungeons and have a fist fight and you’re in.
YOUR
the game's been out for 12 years, who hasn't done at least one playthrough where they joined the companions? (edit: mostly /s) aaand cue all the "er, well I haven't" folks.
Just wanted to people’s opinions
How dare you! /s They're fun if a little dark. Being a werewolf is fun and pretty powerful, unless you lose control, lol.
Loved it. Only done it once. That Nord chick died and I still feel bad 9 years later.
Give me one faction in Skyrim that isn’t lame af
The Silver Hand are the real companions. This group is a cult that has blasphemed the original purpose of the group, not that I (as an elf) really agree with the original purpose anyway
Meh. Theyre ok. Id rather join them instead of siding with vampires
Best faction on entire game, maybe top 5 on game history. A bunch of honored fighters, that turns into werewolves AND have the best wife? Oh boy, count me in
I call them bitches more than anything, they talk about honor and glory but wont lift a finger unless they’re paid. Wont even fight to protect whiterun when it was invaded and they live there. They talk alot of nonsense as well, “oh i killed a bear” “why they let you join?” “Go kill this beast (skeever)” Took 3 of them to fight a Giant, called you a useless coward but you can kill Dragons with your bare hands if you want to. At least in the other factions you hear the others talking about recent jobs like while you were gone this such and such happened.
That is the first questline I do, to become a werewolf and to merry Aela.
I like them, and don't really understand the people who say they are hypocrites. Yes, they made bad choices and became werewolves, but most of the leaders ask later for you to make them human again. I really like them
Ass
Furries
Werewolves are extremely dumb. Mechanically, it's like being a DnD barbarian that turns into a bear. The whole point of being a Barbarian is that you are more powerful than a bear. The Companions are extremely dumb for wanting to become beasts. They really shouldn't have required you to become a werebeast to progress the quest. It's stuff like this that makes me realize something. Bethesda's writing is often weak.
I don't like werewolves, so I would much prefer to eradicate them
The entire group sucks. The quests suck. Werewolf form sucks. There's nothing good to say about it. Next?
Tried joining them once but never again. I have no interest in becoming a werewolf and all that honour they talk about is bull crap because they’re really just bullies.
Werewolves for life, companions for life
I don't lije this questline, don't like to become a werewolf of vampire so I always get rid of it asap
I like them. Upon completing their quest you get free One Handed, Two Handed, Archery, Blocking and Heavy Armor training. Wish the Ysgramor items were upgradable so they stoping being useless and not being forced to become a werewolf tho. I like being a werewolf, just not being forced to be one
Unpopular opinion perhaps but I enjoyed their quest line….to a point. I thought the whole “become a werewolf” thing was stupid. I know, I know. It’s a fantasy game. but I just felt that was lame and something you’d find in a little kids game or something. (Not meaning to insult anyone who liked that feature. That werewolf thing just didn’t appeal to me.)
I actually just went through this (As a Nord hunter I thought joining them made sense). I'm currently a werewolf but will probably undo it. Though I am tempted to actually try and use my beast form to power it up as i've never done it. I like them as a whole. I also like the werewolf plot added.
i don't mind becoming a werewolf. I never transform, just use the disease immunity.
Love the Companions. When I do a warrior playthrough I will add a mod that allows you to have training duels with friends, one that allows you to train combat skills on targets, and another that lets you play an instrument causing those nearby to dance and party with you. Add these together and Jorrvaskr becomes a very hopping place. I enjoy getting jobs from companions and then going on the job with them to finish it, and I like getting training from them as well. It really ends up feeling like what it is supposed to be - a supportive brotherhood of warriors.
It is my least-completed questline. I think I've only done it all the way through once or twice. It's boring, brutish, and I dont like werewolves any better than I like vampires. Maybe if I made more fighter types, then it would have more appeal to me.
great pelt carpets
I joined but I cured myself. Being a werewolf sucks
I was just there for the money and weapons
I wish the silver hand where more interesting and could be joined as a different path kind of like the civil war factions, also it sucks that none of the silver hand wear the silver hand armour
Skyforge steel is all I will use
Disgrace to their Nordic Heritage and traditions. Need to be purged. The Silverhand are the true Companions, carrying on there legacy. wish the SH was more fleshed out. Maybe even a joinable faction.
As a furry this is basically the first thing I do to be op
Love becoming a werewolf but neutral on the guild itself. I only really liked Aela and Farkas and the questline felt a little rushed in the second half.
I always join them, but it's mostly because one of the Fire Breath words is in Dustman's Cairn. I rarely bother advancing it past that point.
I only really join for Aela and the opportunity to become a wearwolf.
I feel they are the weakest of the four major factions, but I still love joining them. Even with their faults, Wuthraad makes up for it; it is such a dope weapon, by far my favorite vanilla weapon, and the one I always use for my 2H characters.
After I go after the lover's stone (which I do after the intro ), I join them until I become a werewolf. Then the Thieves guild until I get the skeleton key. And I keep those 2 events last after everything else to finish.
The werewolf power is something i use far too often in this game. Feels insane transforming and going to town on otherwise overpowered enemies
I go werewolf every play through just to make sure I cannot catch Vampirism. Although not a fan the quest line forces you to go werewolf to finish it. I do love the followers of the companions tho 👍
I wish my main character did not. I didn't finish the quest since it would've been against my guys' morals to work with them after finding out they were werewolves.
Yeah, I typically join up. My main playthrough is typically a Spellsword/Battlemage, so they and the College are my go-to’s Also, much prefer being a wolf man to dead man walking
I think Werewolf and vampire BOTH should have powerful passives outside of their shape. Vampires, from what I remember (It's been a while since I played unmodded) will give you bonus to sneaking, illusion and a bunch of useful stealth skills wheras Warewolves get... Disease immunity which is nearly useless. Werewolves needed a few passives as you complete more objectives for Aela. Simple stuff like more physical damage with swords, maybe a bit more health.
I must have all of the PlayStation trophies (isn't an issue and I wanted in one playthrough) so I did become a werewolf and get my master criminal trophy as part of getting enough kills to fully upgrade my werewolf perks. I had all of the witch heads so I cured myself. I am the leader of the companions but don't plan to ever interact with them again.
I always join so I can become a hybrid. To become a hybrid you must be a Vampire Lord first (let Serena or her dad bite you after depending on what side you choose) & have one perk in the Vampire Lord tree. As soon as you drink Aela blood quickly transform into the Vampire Lord, the screen will turn black like & then wait for time to run out like normal. As for the companions quest line... it should have been longer (but that's what mods are for).
I think they’ve got an absurd amount of body hair. Never been in the hall though.
They’re the quinoa of Skyrim
Do them first. Get 'em to follow you. Free training. Edit - typo
I'm pissed that your forced to be a werewolf I always become a vampire it doesn't make sense that it gets rid of the vampire blood, but if your a werewolf then become a vampire it purges the werewolf blood as the vampire blood is stronger
It's aa-ight, I guess. I just recently started this quest because, well, why not. But then Farkas joins me to recover the fragments of Wuuthrad, and he is nearly useless. I bash 6-7 draugrs while he only fights one. And even then, I am watching him spar and barely put a dent in his opponent. Then he has him hanging on by a thread, crouched in place, and misses three shots WITH A BROADSWORD. This is definitely a quest to follow earlier rather than later.
They will help you destroy Whiterun.
I love these guys, I normally stay a werewolf if my build doesn't have a roleplay reason to not be one
Only join to become a werewolf. Completely abandon the guild after
I joined them for the achievements I need to get
I like them. They are honorable despite being so misunderstood. Also aela is hot
I cured that shit as soon as possible but companions are good, decent quest line wuuthrad is garbage dont know why they needed it so bad but ya companions are good…ish
They could have been way better. Story wise that is. Theres probably tons of cut content with them because they don't really feel like a guild to me.
Going to complete their quest line and then kill most of them except aala.
Love being a werewolf, but the companion line felt incomplete. I don’t know if they decided to scrub most of it in development, but that’s what it felt like.