Companions: just brawled a man in town and literally they told you to retrieve a legendary weapon fragment. Dark brotherhood: confident enough to kidnap you, not knowing what you can or will do. College of winterhold: makes you archmage even if the only spell you ever cast is 1 lesser ward while drinking a bunch of magicka potions. Thieves guild: actually got good storyline and made you guildmaster and 1 of the nightingales. Dawnguard: the only faction that didn't make you a leader, not even a title, just a regular member, even tho you're the one going outside doing all the fieldwork while they defend a fort that only get attacked once.

The Thieves Guild is absolutly top tier for me, one of the best questline in the entire game.

Arnbjorn is a pretty cool member of the Dark Brotherhood. He’s a former member of the Companions, and was talented and trusted enough to make it into the inner circle. But due to his extreme killing methods, he was asked to step down and leave the Companions.

I’d say most of the factions feel incomplete or lazy writing, I think dawnguard is the best out of all. I’m not saying that those factions are bad, just that they could’ve been a lot better.

For anyone who likes the Companions a lot, I highly recommend a mod called Enhanced Skyrim Factions - Companions Guild. It adds a lot more depth to the questline, gives you certain requirements to join, more radiant quests between the major quests of the line so you're not becoming Harbinger the same day you joined (tweak this in the settings so it's not too padded), and most importantly, it lets you spar with the other members and keeps track of your record. They're no pushovers in sparring either; Skjor especially is a BEAST.

Honestly, the Dawnguard are the best for me personally, BAR NONE. Not just cause of their concept and story significance in their respective DLC mind you, but because they actually feel like an organic part of the world 1.While, Gunmar and Calene are mandatory, Florentius is completely optional and he can be completely exempt from the main story of the DLC if you choose not to do his side quest 2. If you become a vampire they'll actually make remarks on it and , although they don't kill you , they tell you to get out due to sympathy 3. You'll actually see Dawnguard recruits walking around, refilling caches and even , on occasion, fighting vampires randomly out in the world 4. And this one is BY FAR the most important, YOU'RE NOT THE CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE, FINALLY!!!! Hell, The Dragonborn isn't even really the main character in the story, that title goes to Serana. The whole DLC basically revolves around her , her family drama and how it all connects to a millennias long grudge against Auriel/Akatosh Your player character is basically just the super loyal best friend/simp for the vast majority of the story And you're not just sort of given leadership of the Dawnguard either. Isran stays leader from start to finish, he just learns to genuenly trust you once the story is over. And, sure, while you can become the lord of Volkihar Keep if you side with the vampires, it feels somewhat earned as the vampires have a "might makes right" mentality either way what with them constantly backstabbing each other

I just found out you can kill Astrid in the shake when she kidnaps you, and trigger a quest to kill all brotherhood members instead of join. I think thats super interesting, and kind of an easter egg considering Ive owned the game 3 times, across 2 consoles, over the last 10 years, and never discovered it on my own

I wish the companions were werebears rather than werewolves. They are from Skyrim and books throughout the elder scrolls talk about the men of Skyrim turning into bears. That would have felt more uniquely Skyrim. Though I do like werewolves. I think maybe they should have made it that only nords would turn into bears rather than wolves. So if you built a nord character it would surprise you. Haha! Or just if you maxed out the size of the character in character creator. That could be funny. Making a Beorn build would be fun. Tall dude with a leveled up enchanted woodsman’s axe that doesn’t eat meat and turns into a bear. The hearth fire homestead is a lot like Beorn’s home in the hobbit.

The Companions are the most disappointing to me because they feel like they should be these honorable warriors but they're just Werewolves and they let you join the inner circle like immediately and areola is annoying Farkas is cool but that's about it

I loathe the Bard's college. I'm offended just by the fact that Bethesda had the Gull to call that charade a faction. You get 0 skills, 0 perks, 0 followers. You can't play instruments and generally it's just a waste of time. Definitely the worst faction (it can barely called that) in my opinion

i think the thieves guild is the best main game faction. i like how you actually have to earn becoming the guildmaster. becoming the archmage/harbinger is very forced.

The Thieves guild is probably my favorite. I just love how you help build the whole guild back up. It feels like you being a part of the faction really had an impact. I love the little ceremony where they name you Guild Master and the master thief armor set.

Thieves guild has a lot of lore and story that is not told directly with npcs, but if you go around, read notes, books, and look at every corner or their base, you will find stuff like a love story of several people and the death threats to another, the possibility of genital mutilation, the long lost hair to the noble family, the super convict, the young girl that lost her whole family then got adopted just to get raped some time later and many more

I always liked the Thieve's Guild because it kind of introduces you to a different way of play than just slaughtering Draugrs in dusty old ruins. And it is also definitely the most "actual RPG" faction of Skyrim's factions. In order to do their side missions, you need to actually be able to steal, sneak, and pickpocket instead of just being able to bash everything with an axe. And there is an actual sense of progression, you start out as just a talented prospect (unlike a certain College that starts out with you getting an email from an elusive and ancient magical organization even though you used lesser ward once). The only issue with it is that there is no option to kill them off, which I think is a necessary inclusion for a Thieve's Guild.

My friend: what inspired you to join the dark brotherhood Me : muneh and they have a cool horse Also the blades are a joke for a faction

lore wise the dark brotherhood and the imperial factions together become even more interesting seeing as traditionally throughout tamriels history the emperor has been dragonborn also tullius is criminally slept on man is a lethally effective military tactician

The Companions suck in my opinion. If I join a viking warrior faction, I don't expect to be forced to be a werewolf over half the questline. Thieves Guild is much better in my opinion.

I love werewolves but I think the companions are just the worst. sure it’s fun being werewolf but the mechanics could have been better.

I like playing as a mage, so for me the greatest disappointment was the Mage's College. Like other factions, there was so much potential missed. And an aside to Bethesda, you don't have to make the player the leader, it worked well for Dawnguard. Higher rank, yes, and maybe a long progression based on your skilltree to leader. Becoming the leader of factions was pretty cool in Oblivion, but a bit passé in Skyrim. I got bored with the Companions. Dark Brotherhood didn't interest me, and Cicero annoyed the crap out of me. Thieves guild was interesting for the quest (loved that part), but I wasn't that enamoured with stealing stuff or becoming the leader. Bards college just reeked of Missed Opportunity, it could have been sooo good, but only felt like a placeholder.

Here are my factions list based on thier power that player can join: - Imperial Legion, - Stormcloaks, - Thieves guild (those guys are the best flesh out faction in the entire game), - College of Winterhold (they have the monopoly of excavation ancient ruins, enchanting, every court wizard is tied up to them, they are really underrated), - Dawnguard, - Volkihar Vampires (Solitude court wizard is tied up to them), - Dark Brotherhood, - The Companions - House Telvanni, - Daedric worshipers (they are strong, but too divided by the worship of the different daedric lord), - Thirsk Mead Hall Rieklings (those guys will come and help you in a need, even when you are fighting the bosses in Skyrim) - The Greybeards, - Thirsk Mead Hall Nords - The Blades (they are really weak at the beginning, but you can post them with some immortal followers), - Forsworn (only one camp is friendly towards you). * There are some new factions that came out with the latest Skyrim edition, but they really lack the voice acting so I will exclude them from the list. PS. Your list is really interesting, and my favorite factions would be Dawnguard, and House Telvanni (master Neloth is really well written character, and his quest rewards are fantastic).

The Companions are fun, but I wish we had an option to side with the Silver Hand and denounce lycanthopy

The fact that, in dragonborn, you can become part of house telvanni, makes any other faction equally inferior

I’ve always found the companions story and quest line boring and lacklustre. To me, it’s too short, doesn’t have a significant end point and no real unique quests, just a bunch of dungeon crawls. Kinda feels 3 identical side quests in a trench coat pretending to be a main story.

I get why you put the Companions first. They're an awesome faction and a great representation of Skyrim's lore and core values. Sadly I felt they could've been a little bit more integrated in the game. They feel very disconnected from all the other events in the game (not unlike the college of Winterhold) and they could've been so much more. You probably also know that there was a great deal cut from their questline as well, and fudgemuppet made an interesting theory video on who the silver hand might actually have been. Although cut content isn't necessarily a companions problem, it's a Skyrim problem in general, haha. Maybe the extended cut will see to that.

You have no idea how much I want a version of Skyrim with all of the cut content. One day. Maybe... Just maybe...

Based on a concensus of how much content there is for the thieves guild, and the most played class i can think of- I fully believe the Dragon born was a Stealth archer that became the leader of the thieves guild.

The Thieves Guild, the College of Winterhold, the Civil War ... I love this game but pretty much no faction felt polished to me except for the ones in Dawnguard. I may or may not be salty about not becoming the queen of Skyrim. Also, I guess it's a controversial opinion but I dislike the Dark Brotherhood the most, especially having played Oblivion. It feels like a lazy rewriting to me. That said 1pt for Shadowmere.

Honestly, I think the Thieves guild is the most fleshed out faction and most fun one, they are definitely my favorite faction in the game

personally I would put the thieves guild above the civil war purely for the progression of the pub when you complete the main quest and the odd jobs and then the cool tie in with the smithy in raven rock is real cool too

Finally I found someone that agree with my opinion of Dawguard and Companions being the best guilds!!!

My first play through in Skyrim I turned around and killed Astrid since I wasn't letting anyone boss me around. I was shocked that the game actually let me kill her. It's one of the few real choices in the game and I bet most people don't even know it's a choice until they learn that they are allowed to kill her in that dirty shack later on.

Delphine can eat a brick. Agreed. Great list overall! Amazing that this game has stayed relevant beyond similarly-aged video games. I agree with a majority of the list, but would like to add a bit about the College of Winterhold: I believe it was a video by Camelworks about the Augur of Dunlain. It's a very long video (my attention span is usually for 30< videos), but 100% worth it. It would have made their faction a lot more interesting if they had given this character more depth. I would also down-rate a majority of the factions because of the repetitive theme: our leader died, we have it scripted to make you our leader with no solid follow-up or responsibilities, just a cool title and you cannot refuse, GG. I would have demanded Bryn lead the Thieves Guild, Tolfdir for the College, Nazir for the DB, and probably Vilkas for the Companions.

In Oblivion, most factions require you to get some experience in their field. Fighters guild, you do a lot of missions for combat and rescues. Dark Brotherhood, you have some pretty basic missions but plenty of them also become unique in the ways you can carry them out. Thieves Guild, you actually have to break into places and steal a certain amount of gold's worth in order to progress in the questline. Mages Guild and the College are roughly the same in terms of magic skill usage though. In Skyrim however, you do like two things at most before you're thrown into the narrative without any true practice with your skills. And like you said about the Civil War being an unfinished painting, I would honestly say that about the entire game. There's so much that could've been added and improved if they gave themselves another two years.

The Thieves Guild provides a whole game with its content honestly it has been my favorite and always seek them first since oblivion top tier the further you go the deeper it gets

imho, most of the thieves guild quest line felt underwhelming, but finished super strong. The tone of the encounter, the nightengale lore, the balance of the rewards, and even Nocturanal's animation (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/j56Fq5yTxLvPlmg.html) felt unique, fitting, and more personal than most daedric encounters in skyrim (typically "hey, I'm just here for your artifact"). And unlike most factions which feel empty after their main quest is done, the Thieves Guild follows up with a half-decent faction management radiant quest line that gives you the sense of growing a criminal enterprise. Besides what Longbrow said, one other reason I appreciate the Dawguard factions is the random hostile encounters. They're your faction's sworn enemy so killing them feels more thematic and personal than generic hostiles like raiders and falmer. I wish the Blades would let you force your will as DB to pardon Paarthurnax. Recruiting mercs to the Blades and summoning them for epic fights feels like something that should happen.

Always great to have a new Ranking! How about ranking all named Dragons?

PLEASE do a helmet tier list! Purely aesthetically based, so you can include hats and masks too!

Thieves guild is the only one I enjoy playing thru over and over again

These videos have to be some of my favorite Skyrim content hands down.

I was so happy to see you out Companions at the top! I will always have a soft spot for them (especially Farkas), and I hate when they get last place in rankings.

A fully upgraded werewolf is insanely OP

Imagine playing a goody two shoes and being able to resist NOT pickpocketing everyone in the whole game 😭🤣🤣🤣 Man I wish I had that restraint

Only good thing about Namira (the Lady of Decay) is you can finish that Daedric quest, get Eola, the cannibal girl with the weird eye, stash the ring somewhere so people don't talk about your breath all the time...and then take her to the Boethiah Daedric quest (The Prince of Plots) and you have a perfect sacrificial character to stick to the Post of Superglue and stab her in the back...actually kind of poetic justice murdering the cannibal so you can get the Ebony Mail. To Namira fans...hey, you want Decay, me and my friend Boethiah have a speed run straight into Decayville. Good luck.

Thieves Guild is by far my favorite due to the fact that after the main stuff is done with the Guild you can continue to build it up and eventually make it a thriving underground lair.

Using Dawnbreaker as a Dawnguard member is _so_ satisfying.

Mage's College logic is really stupid. Yeah, sure, my 2 handed, heavy armor, barbaric orc who only knows a lesser ward, healing and fast healing, and flames is definitely an arch-mage material. They could have not killed Mirabelle and made her the arch-mage and maybe give us the chance to challenge her for the title but only using whatever magic we have, if we use weapons, even if enchanted, we disqualified or some shit.

Been playing Skyrim for years. Great video bro. I liked the way it was edited. Very SKYRIM feeling.

Delvin from Thieves Guild is one of my favorites and that one did it for me. That being said your lists are awesome!! Subscribed and liked 😁

I would be willing to give up the entirety of the Dawnguard DLC if it meant more disc space and time devoted to creating divergent questlines and opposing factions. Imagine if you were able to join the Silver Hand or Penitus Oculatus, or help Unmid and Mjoll root out and destroy the Thieves Guild? Hell, imagine if there was a branching path in the Thieves Guild where Mercer saw you moral flexibility and skill for thievery and offered to bring you in on his con? I dunno; I would just personally rather TES go back to doing factions the way Morrowind did it, forcing players to really pick sides instead of opting for the "do everything in a single playthrough" style of writing. That'll never happen, though; Todd and Emil are both too chickenshit to risk alienating the normie demo.

At every playthrough I have always immediately joined the Companions and the Dawnguard.

So glad to see back

I always love your opinions :)

Bards College - It basically includes just the burning of King Olaf, which is supposed to be a very important task and you are suddenly assigned to it even though you re the newest member College of Winterhold - Interesting concept, though as someone here said before, very unrealistic considering that you can become archmage without casting a single spell. Civil War - Can't play it without mods, extremely unrealistic considering you just free a couple of forts and then attack the other faction's major city and you basically won...not to mention that your troops respawn endlessly so it s basically impossible to lose a battle Thieves guild - Nothing to bitch about here, very well written, my 2nd favorite. Dark brotherhood - As much as I hate their philosophy, I must say it s pretty immersive, what I find it weird is that eventually even the guards will learn who you are but do nothing to stop you haha Dawnguard - My personal favorite, also you get the chance to discover the Forgotten Vale which is prob the most amazing location in the game. Also, Isran is too much of a chad to let you become the leader which just makes it funny if you ask me, because he s been like that since the beginning of the quest. Companions - It's too short, they could have added so much more, also it feels like Kodlak gains confidence in you too easily. Namira - Played it once a few years ago, don t remember much haha Volkihar - F*** vampires.

In the Thieves guild questline, I think it would be awesome if you were given the chance to rebuild the guild, just like the Dark Brotherhood. For example, before you meet Karliah, you have to do some minor quests for the guild members, which boosts the members' disposition towards yourself. Later, you can convince these members that Mercer is a traitor, and they decide to follow you in your new Sanctuary. Finally, Mercer stands alone and cornered, and then you can either fight him directly, or trap him so that Maven puts him in jail, or you can convince him to leave Skyrim once and for all. In the end, the Thieves guild becomes a cult organization, as it should always have been. About the College, it should have shown more of Ancano, the Thalmor and the Psijic Order. For example, Ancano could have challenged Savos in a fight, which would lead to the explosion that kills Savos, so to claim the College for himself (and the Thalmor). In the meantime, the Psijic Order protects you from the explosion and teleports you to their isle. While the College thinks you are dead, the Order trains you to become the next Arch-Mage, and defeat Ancano. They teach you unique spells, they give you magical artifacts, and when you are ready you return to Skyrim. You can choose to ally with the Synod, depending on the dialog choices you made before, and you can contact once again the Augur of Dunlain, to help you fight Ancano and the Thalmor.

The Stormcloak are Over the Imperials... Skyrim is the Nordic earth and some slave of the thalmor try to invade or "reconquire" loses lands ... and overall they made ourself prisoner and tried to kill the dragonborn at the beginning of every game

My top 2 would have to be Dawnguard and Thieves Guild honestly. Dark brotherhood and companions are decent. It’s just when even thinking about their counter parts in oblivion I get so disappointed.

Im also a goodie goodie .. its why i can hardly ever feel immersed playing the dark brotherhood quest line.. not to say its bad, but I’m a person where.. even in games my irl personal morals take me over.

*Skyrim Creatures Ranked Worst To Best Pls*

I like how the civil war factions are well developed morally and ethically. You can easily see good and bad sides to both. While Tullius definitely deserves a bit more lore, I think that the fact that Ulfric has so much more focus works well in establishing that the Stormcloaks are a cult of personality first and foremost, while the Empire does not appear to be. No one is praising the ground Tullius walks on or hosting a Titus Mede fanclub, but Stormcloaks and their sympathizers really act like Ulfric has never taken a foul shit in his life, and everything he's done since his Meadhall Putsch in Solitude is treated as some sort of stigmata straight from Akatosh.

I love the thieves guild and the dark brotherhood together especially because the earn lots of money plus half price bountys

I love the thieves guild. My main build is a nightingale after all, the other factions d9nt quite live up to the lore. The only one in the companions who does is vilkas, whom I've traveled with quite extensively and I can say confidently, he's the best base game 2h warrior as I had him with me once at northwatch keep, the dude literally just body bagged them with his starting kit. Shame you can't get karliah or brynjolf as a follower, the college has ONE passable follower and it's not J'zargo as much as I love him, the dark brotherhood questline is great imo, but the followers you get are TERRIBLE FOR A STEALTH BUILD. They literally shove me while lining up a shot with a bow and caused me to miss. EVERY. TIME. Anyway loved the video. Sorry for the paragraph lol.

Man the thieves guild is by far the most compelling in the game. Such a fun quest line that opens up 2 different factions (kinda) as well

Those were some tasty opinions Thank you my man

New video of the best skyrim tops? *YES very please*

There's a mod called Open Civil War that readds most of the cut content and turns some of it into a turn based game in regards to the Civil War. I agree though, so much was cut and its frustrating.

Of all the guilds, I dislike the Thieves Guild the most--and it's the one I want to like the most. But: 1. It feels sort of ridiculous when a warrior in full armor with no stealth skills at all wanders into town and Brynjolf immediately says, "Ah, laddie, you look like exactly the kind of person I'm looking for!" 2. Except that it turns out he's right, because most of the thieves' guild quests require no actual thief skills whatsoever, and said fighter can just bulldoze his way through. 3. The thieves' guild is incompetent enough to let someone empty out a vault full of treasure right under their noses, carrying it right out through the central headquarters of their guild. 4. And this is the organization to which I have to pledge my undying soul, KNOWING that almost all of the thieves who did so before me have wound up as insane ghosts haunting a tomb forever. 5. And what do I get for my immortal soul? ...a suit of armor. Not a great deal. In fact, it's such a BAD deal that the Daedra offering it expresses open surprise that we would actually accept it. It all just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's the one questline I almost never complete.

Keep up the good work

Thieves' guild is the best for me because it earns you more money not just through completing jobs but also robbing extra loot and fencing them, you establish several contacts along the way and thus growing the guild's influence, and they have a legit cool looking post quest armor set, one of the best in my opinion

Thieves Guild is 100% the best, yes the story stats off slow but by the 3rd or 4th quest the stakes are higher than ever and it's great! Also Nightengale armour...

The best part about the thieves guild is definitely the nightingale set. Also I never return the special lockpick whatever it’s called

The "Mountain grandpas" is what's getting me to subscribe bro that shit hits hard

I like how the dark brotherhood lets you upgrade the home base after the first gets destroyed, and also assassinating the emperor is a pretty sick quest so I’d have to say they’re my favorite

Thieves Guild so low in the ranking? How do you get to nighingales Set and uber Chillrend without completing it?... Indeed jobs are a pain in the *** but you need to manage all that stolen goods so you need some fences. The best factions imo is something like thieves or Dark Brotherhood (Sets, Windshear), Companions are a waste of time (skyforge stuff available at the mission 1) only need is if you want play as a dog or have Aela following you. I'm NOT a milk drinker!...

You can actually start the Dark Brotherhood questline earlier by going up the road from Whiterun to Dawnstar. There you'll find Cicero at the Loreius Farm raging about the "wagon wheel! Damnedest wagon wheel! It broke don't you see!!" It will start the quest, "The Delayed Burial". This happens just before you go and kill Grelod and includes special dialogue from Cicero when you officially join the Brotherhood on whether or not you helped him, ignored him, or reported him to the guard about his "illicitly placed box/coffin" in the cart itself. I always did this quest after I discovered it a few years ago because it actually gave me a reason to go and start the Brotherhood questline. That, and Cicero is just awesome XD.

Yay another video! Now make a ranked video ranked! hehe

In my *PERSONAL* opinion, I’ve found the Companions quest line very boring and- It just felt too repetitive at times. Going into a cave, killing a bunch of enemies and retrieving an item.

I like headcanoning that Shadowmere's a shadow mare & that you can hook her up with Frost, the Palomino with a pedigree to have a cool line of horses that are 1/2 finely bred 1/2 *demon* Edit: Frost's papers say he's a dude & Shadowmere is referred to with contrasting pronouns by different NPCs

Thieves guild seems to be the most beloved clan in skyrim, and it makes sense because they *easily* have the best questline. Also the fact you can go from guild member to nightingale is dope, with the nightingale blade being probably the best weapon given to you by a faction in the game and the coolest armor also coming from them

I think the thieves guild quest line makes the most sense. Every faction quest line is you becoming the leader after meeting these people a week earlier, or one of the top people basically, except for dawnguard. With the thieves guild the leader is corrupt, so you oust him. Granted, Brynyolf is more of a veteran, but he witnessed a lot of your potential throughout the quest line, so it makes sense, for the most part, that he could be humble and give the position to you and serve as a mentor basically.

even though kurt was a junkie, nirvana's still my favorite band and thus the thieves guild is in my opinion the best faction, ofc the sewer they live in is still horrendous

I always choose the Stormcloaks. Nothing to do with politics, history, or any of that. I just can never get my head around the Imperials trying to kill me in the beginning, without good cause, and then supporting them in the war.

One thing about the college of winterhold is the many secrets it has with the basement, like summoning demons, and a demon summoner and dead people

Dude your channel is so underrated!!

_But what about [INSERT MISSED FACTION]?_

Can someone list all the factions he mentioned for me?I'd appreciate that very much.

Yeah a new ranking! The weekend just got better

What I love about joining the Thieves Guild is once you complete the main questline, you get the Twilight Sepulcher. From there, instead of returning the Sepulcher to it's temple, keep it as it will replace your lockpicks, and because it's a quest item, it can NEVER break. This means you could have the most basic lockpicking skill/level and you can carelessly go nuts trying to find the sweet spot when picking locks. No more burning through lockpicks on high level locks trying to find the right spot. And something that wasn't mentioned as a somewhat awesome perk for joining the Companions is after you become a werewolf, the wolves in Skyrim leave you alone and will never attack you.

In my opinion the dark brotherhood was probably the best faction depending on your playstyle, but I also join all the factions every play through

The companions are literally my least favorite faction. But I get it, it's all opinion.

I am very glad that many people love J’zargo as much as I do

Discovered your videos today and now I play them in the background while playing Skyrim. Useless information is the basis of my existence.

Hmm

Hmmm

I get around the moral dilemma of playing as an evil character but still being able to play the morally evil guilds by playing as a evil character with a redemption arc who becomes a hero. Like my backstory to be I was a mercenary hunting down a certain horse theif from Rorikstead when I got caught in the ambush. As an evil character early game I can join the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild and complete those storylines. Then around the time of starting the Main Quest and finding out I'm the Dovakin start having a more neutral role, joining the Companions who I feel is a morally neutral Guild. Yes you do some good acts of heroism but you become a Werewolf even if just temporary and might have to beat up some morally good characters. Then by end game I complete the Main Quest saving the World. Join either the Stormcloaks or Imperials to end the War and bring peace and join the Dawngaurd to slay Vampires becoming a hero and redeeming my evil past.

I just realised your house never had a pet bee in a jar... that lil guy gives hours of extra content

My ranking of the factions that actually matter: 6. Companions The Companions are just really boring. Yeah they're werewolves but they never actually transform in combat outside of Farkas or Vilkas saving you, I can't even remember which one did it. I like the narrative of you and Aela going on a secret Silver Hand purge, but that faction isn't fleshed out at all. I like the theory that they're a splinter group that stays true to Ysgramor's beliefs but that's never actually stated in game. My favourite part of the whole story actually comes after it's already over when Farkas and Vilkas decide to cure their lycanthropy and leave Aela as the last werewolf in the Companions. The majority of the story is just really bland with bland characters to accompany it. I do love that when you beat it you can choose any member as a follower. I did the Companions first and assumed this would be standard, I went through the Dark Brotherhood looking forward to brining all the likeable characters with me, and you know how that turned out... 5. Civil War Factions Has a great start with the Jagged Crown quest and the battle for Whiterun but then devolves into attacking towers over and over again. Don't get me wrong I like fighting but I could just go to a bandit camp to do that. I do like how you actually rise through the ranks with promotions and the final capital siege battle is great. 4. College of Winterhold Definitely the coolest location. The story and quests are bland for the most part. The only parts that stand out to me are going to the Midden and the Labyrinthian one, which is arguably the best quest in the entire game. I also really liked the first quest where you have a Hogwarts style magic lesson, I would have preferred more of that and less errand running. 3. Dawnguard/Volkihar Vampires Best questline out of the factions, definitely feels like it got special treatment since it was dlc. Serana is a great character, Harkan is a fun comically evil villain, every other faction member besides the guy with Pa's axe feels samey, and even that guy becomes a generic member after you walk up with him. Oh yeah the big guy and dwarvern nerd you recruit are cool, I completely forgot about them and had to edit this part in. I was really disappointed when I played the other faction and realised it's exactly the same past the first quest. 2. Thieves Guild Amazing storyline, radiant quests that actually lead to something, loveable characters like Brynjolf, Delvin, Vex, Sapphire and that guy you find naked in the Thalmor Embassy 1. Dark Brotherhood Best storyline by far (minus the Thieves Guild's which is pretty close), best side quests by far, has the most iconic characters by far.

Hmmmm

one of my favorite things about my most recent playthrough is to become a member of the companions and get to the point where i'm a werewolf, then join the cult of namira, do that one quest, and then eat all of the members of the coven as a werewolf. when i did it, everyone just kind of sat there, unbothered.

Talk to Delvin and Vex and they'll give you little Thieves Guild Quests. Complete 5 of these quests in each hold (not including The Rift or Raven Rock) and you get a special request and you grow the Guild stronger and you'll grow The Ratway as well.

Stormcloaks are like the anarchists irl which have no plan if they win