Nightingale Hall

Note: Thieves Guild questline spoilers ahead. If you have just started with the guild I suggest you skip this description. Also, if walls of text are not your thing I won't hold it against you.


Bron: I still don't like this.
Karliah: We've been over this already. This contract is strictly business.
Bron: Oh, yeah? Stealing a fancy vase and fencing it is business. Selling one's soul to a Daedric Prince in exchange for a sharp-looking getup and some vaguely defined ”powers” is something entirely different.
Karliah: I assure you, the edge we gain is worth the price.
Bron: Easy for you to say. You Dunmer are practically the children of Azura anyway. I, for one, was taught that clever Imperial boys and girls don't run with sharp objects, take sweetrolls from strangers, and that they especially do not meddle with Daedra.
Karliah: No offense, Bron, but you don't exactly strike me as a poster boy for the Imperial Cult.
Bron: Very observant of you. However, if I must deal with deities I do prefer the ones who don't hunt me down and feed on my face when I manage to upset them. No such luck with Daedra Lords.
Karliah: Nocturnal is not Molag Bal, you know. She doesn't harvest and enslave souls for the thrill of it.
Bron: Oh no, she just wants to bind our spirits to guard some hidden temple for all eternity. That's totally different.
Karliah: No need to get so prickly; I know what is at stake here. Still, there are worse fates.
Bron: Maybe I should try and take my chances with those...
Karliah: Really, Bron, what is your issue here?
Bron: I have two words for you: binding contract. In business you always leave a loophole in case something goes awry and you need to back down. I don't see one here. That is my issue.
Bron: Besides, I kind of like my soul. I've had it as long as I can remember. Sure, it's a bit shabby and frayed around the edges, but at least it's still mine.

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Nevermind Bron - he just gets cranky when he's forced to use his soul as a currency...
I really wish I would have been able to have a discussion like this in the game, though. Personally, the whole Nightingale thing made me all thrilled and amped up, but in roleplaying sense Bron would be far less inspired by the idea of striking the arrangement with Nocturnal. Not that he feels any special devotion towards the Nine (or the Eight, he really doesn't care) – it's more about the fact that while not necessarily malicious, even at best, Daedra tend to be unpredictable extremists. Ergo, they are not the best people to deal with if you have the tendency to shrink from your contracts every now and then.
Even more importantly, Bron isn't quite the type to tie himself down to, well, anything. Until that moment in Nightingale Hall he had at least a theoretical possibility to shake the dust of Riften off his feet whenever he would feel like it. Being the type of person to avoid all kinds of responsibilities in general, I can well picture my thief feeling more than just a bit cornered when Karliah starts to throw around words like ”oath”, ”binding terms” and ”guardian in life and death”.
In the light of all this, imagine Bron's face when it's Brynjolf's turn to offer him the position as a Guild Master... I mean come on, guys, poor dude just wanted to steal stuff.

I actually pondered for a while whether I should just walk away from the Trinity Restored quest for roleplaying reasons. In the end I decided that it was time for Bron to man up a little and take one for the team. After years of working solo and never staying in one place for long, he has actually grown to like the little guild in Riften. Plus he has a score to settle with Mercer – and I really wanted to get the Nightingale Armor. It's all badass and batman-ish.

Take a look at some details and painting process below:



^{Bron Martes © me
Karliah and Brynjolf © Bethesda
from the game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim}

For more fan art inspired by The Elder Scrolls take a look at here!

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