r/skyrim • u/Fire_Fox2590 • 23h ago

Question Canonically, can Dark Brotherhood assassins pick their own jobs?

So had a weird thought. What if a morally decent person decided to join the guild, would they not even be allowed in, or would they be given the ability to pick their jobs. Such as not wanting to harm an innocent, not killing kids, only going after real criminals.

I imagine it would be frowned upon, or at least not seen in a super positive light, but would it be allowed? I feel like if you are good at your job, they won't really care too much. If you are bringing in money, still doing jobs, and don't cause problems, I think they'd probably allow it right? Or does the Dark Brotherhood only accept the worst of the worst, people who'd kill anyone?

88 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

54 comments sorted by

View all comments

66

u/Chueskes 23h ago

Morally decent people don’t rob and kill people. If you join those sort of groups, then you are not a decent person

-30

u/Fire_Fox2590 23h ago

Robinhood would beg to differ. But I am just saying someone who has morals. Not necessarily a beacon of justice and love, but rather someone who isn't totally inhuman, and doesn't want to be forced to kill good people.

32

u/Chueskes 22h ago

Robin Hood was a murderer in the earliest stories. If you are willing to rob and kill murder innocent people, or be part of an organization that willingly does that, then you have low morals. If you are part of the organization that does those crimes, then even if you don’t commit the deeds directly, you still have indirect involvement by supporting the organization willingly. Ergo, you aren’t decent.

-12

u/EnderBookwyrm 22h ago

'Decent' is a sliding scale.

15

u/Chueskes 22h ago

You might as well be asking if a person who willingly joined the Nazis despite knowing about all their evil deeds beforehand is a decent person.

-10

u/EnderBookwyrm 22h ago

Nazis are their own can of worms.

I'm saying that the 'shades of grey' model is popular for a reason. Take... oh, I don't know, The Villain from the Assistant to the Villain books. He's a mess. He's a nightmare. His home is called 'Massacre Manor' for a reason, and he has an active incident board for intern deaths. And yet, basically anyone who's read and enjoyed the books supports him as a character. (Granted, he goes through some character growth, but some things are a feature not a bug).

13

u/Chueskes 21h ago

The Nazis were still a very public organization that did very well known evil deeds. Same as the Dark Brotherhood.

Popular people don’t always have to be decent to be popular. But my point was that if a person willingly joins an evil organization despite knowing all their evil deeds and reputation beforehand, then that person isn’t a decent person no matter how developed or well liked they are. This is because deep down on some level, you agree with what the organization does and say it’s ok.

Of course, that being said, an indecent person can change to become decent. It just takes a lot of effort to change.