The Crown of Shornhelm - Who to choose? [Spoilers]

Curragraigue · February 2015

I didn't like Dorell's reaction regarding his spell bound son and I didn't like Tamrith's response regarding her sister so tough choice. I went with Tamrith in the end because I let her sister live and I thought she at least had a brain and could help with the ruling of the kingdom.

cyclonus11 · February 2015

Curragraigue wrote: »

I didn't like Dorell's reaction regarding his spell bound son and I didn't like Tamrith's response regarding her sister so tough choice. I went with Tamrith in the end because I let her sister live and I thought she at least had a brain and could help with the ruling of the kingdom.

Same. Though in the throne room when I had to make the choice, the sisters were standing next to each other - so there must have come to some sort of agreement.

wraith808 · March 2015

GeeYouWhy wrote: »

All red text quest decisions are meaningless.

Tell that to the Mage Guild quest.

wraith808 · March 2015

High_Marshal wrote: »

I chose Tamrith. As a vampire, I thought she was an idiot for placed her faith in the gods as blindly as she did since as a vampire, I know just how willing they are to actually do anything to help any of us even if you are their priest.

However Dorell was a rigid, unbending buthead who had his own son arrested for treason even after I proved that he was under a spell that I broke him from. Anyone who was willing to do that to his own son should not be king.

Tamrith was a rigid unbending butthead who wanted to kill her sister over something she didn't choose before she had a chance to try to prove herself. Both of them were buttheads, which was why this situation got as bad as it did to begin with.

Woolenthreads · March 2015

Woolenthreads wrote: »

Whisper292 wrote: »

Frankly, I wish we should have saved Verandis Ravenwatch and had him rule, but alas, that wasn't an option. In the end, I picked Tamrith. While I think she was young and inexperienced, her concern was more for her people than Dorell's. She also has her sister to offer military counsel.

You mean her Vampire Sister that she's not sure she trusts? . I chose Dorell because it's the middle of a war and DC needs Soldiers if it's to win.

It comes down to character "roleplaying" for me. My only VR character made it out of EP and into DC and I believe that that character, a Templar "Healer", who I feel is more likely to choose "Right", "Freedon of Choice" and "Healing" would be more likely to choose Eselde, because she conveys more of a sense of those qualities (I'm not saying she has those qualities).

crashen17b14_ESO · March 2015

The way I saw it, Dorell imprisoned his son not because he wanted to, or because he is an unbending ***, but because he had to set an example, that corruption and treason, no matter the cause, would not be tolerated, even at the highest levels. He did it to show that even his son (or even a king) is not above the law. Maybe if Dorell was someone less important, he would have made a different choice, but as someone with all eyes on him, he needed to show he was a fair and impartial leader.

I also actually think his deal with the smugglers was a positive thing. First, it shows that he is NOT a complete unbending butthead. He is pragmatic enough to know that crimes will be committed, and he can't stop thievery and smuggling, no matter how harsh or extreme or brutal he may be. So he chooses to create a peaceful understanding, yeah they smuggle contraband, but it keeps them from murdering his guards or causing conflict to spill into the streets.

Beyond all that, I think his history and rule of Northpoint was a major factor in me choosing him. Northpoint, despite it's rather anticlimactic end in the zone, is a vital trade/shipping/travel hub for the region, and the fact that he can successfully manage both the economic and martial needs of the city bodes well for him responsibly ruling Rivenspire.

All in all, Rivenspire needed a strong leader that would set things straight in the region, put down any threats, be they vampire, bandit, imperial or any other hoopla, and still be able to contribute to the greater war with the other two alliances and imperials.

In another time, if High Rock, Hammerfell, and Wrothgar wasn't faced with a massive world war? Tamrith would be a good leader to rebuild and heal. But right now Rivenspire needed a strong military leader who could do what was necessary, not what was nice.

JJSerrault · October 2015

crashen17b14_ESO wrote: »

The way I saw it, Dorell imprisoned his son not because he wanted to, or because he is an unbending ***, but because he had to set an example, that corruption and treason, no matter the cause, would not be tolerated, even at the highest levels. He did it to show that even his son (or even a king) is not above the law. Maybe if Dorell was someone less important, he would have made a different choice, but as someone with all eyes on him, he needed to show he was a fair and impartial leader.

I also actually think his deal with the smugglers was a positive thing. First, it shows that he is NOT a complete unbending butthead. He is pragmatic enough to know that crimes will be committed, and he can't stop thievery and smuggling, no matter how harsh or extreme or brutal he may be. So he chooses to create a peaceful understanding, yeah they smuggle contraband, but it keeps them from murdering his guards or causing conflict to spill into the streets.

Beyond all that, I think his history and rule of Northpoint was a major factor in me choosing him. Northpoint, despite it's rather anticlimactic end in the zone, is a vital trade/shipping/travel hub for the region, and the fact that he can successfully manage both the economic and martial needs of the city bodes well for him responsibly ruling Rivenspire.

All in all, Rivenspire needed a strong leader that would set things straight in the region, put down any threats, be they vampire, bandit, imperial or any other hoopla, and still be able to contribute to the greater war with the other two alliances and imperials.

In another time, if High Rock, Hammerfell, and Wrothgar wasn't faced with a massive world war? Tamrith would be a good leader to rebuild and heal. But right now Rivenspire needed a strong military leader who could do what was necessary, not what was nice.

That was a very insightful and deep analysis. Not all military oriented kings turned out to be tyrants, some of them really were just put tough front to maintain order for the safety of their people and military personels. I finally chose Dorell for his tough stature and wise decisions.

Thank you for your help.

nytwolf45 · September 2016

I choose Tamrith... because I'm a simple man.

Impera7 · September 2020

I'm sitting here in the throne room thinking about it, and i really liked reading your replies to this post.

Still, hard choice mates.

ectoplasmicninja · October 2020

I went with Dorell. Yes, charging his son with treason was rough given that Ellic was under Lleraya's magical influence, but the baron was correct in that Ellic was still in his right mind when he opened the gates for her in the first place. To say that was a bad decision is an understatement - her father and his army of vampires were ravaging the entire province, what did he expect? She said she was there to help, but Ellic is a grown man in charge of a city and not a child who should be swayed by a pretty face and an obvious lie.

Tamrith is...overly religious. Yes, the Aedra are real in Tamriel and they have true power, but every other line is a prayer. We were working alongside Gwendis at that point and yet when her sister became a vampire she was too blinded by her fervour to even give her a chance despite the fact that we were actual allies with other vampires who were not trying to eat us. She complains that Dorell is reckless yet as we ascended the Doomcrag she made the exact same decision as he did to ignore Verandis' advice and bring the troops up with us.

Neither is perfect. He's a brilliant strategist, she's a humanitarian, but they're both lacking where the other is strong. I thought it better in troubled times to have a harsh if decisive leader with a compassionate advisor to temper him than the other way around. Plus it's not like making Dorell king means Tamrith loses all her influence and ability to help the city.

jle30303 · November 2020

I chose Tamrith over Dorell, because right now what Rivenspire needs is not a military campaign of rousing up yet more troops to invade Cyrodiil with (to say nothing of the Covenant's expansionism into Pact and Dominion territory, such as the invasions of Stonefalls and the capture of the northern point of Auridon), but a time to actually recover and recuperate, and thus it needs no more army than is necessary to defend its *own* borders. The threat from within - Montclair and the Lightless Shard - has been repulsed, but barely, and the kingdom is in no shape to join in the conquest of Cyrodiil. Tamrith will be better at pulling the kingdom back together again, as more of a peacemaker and healer type.

Fortunately Dorell is not so blinkered that he can't accept this: at the beginning of the war, he might have been, but he too has learned things during the war. And seen how easily his son was swayed by the Montclairs: he really needs to sort his own family out, and preferably *not* by making his son's exile permanent, since that was a decision made in haste on a bad temper, and the son does have the valid excuse of having been overcome by a vampire's mind-domination power: which, at the time, Dorell had not seen and understood, but since then Dorell has experienced and witnessed it at first hand (and it was not even an ordinary vampiric domination, but magnified by the power of the Lightless Shard which could turn his own human army into raging bloodfiends without them even having been bitten by vampires - at least his son remained human!) and may understand his son's position better.

So, let Tamrith be in charge and put the kingdom back together again, while Dorell defends its borders and reconciles with his son.

Crazyprophet · February 2021

There's a lorebook near Northpoint that talks about the fact that the Dorell's have established a broad trade network that has effectively been benefiting the entire area. That swayed the balance for me - Dorell is pragmatic and ultimately would benefit the citizenry more with his firm grasp of both economic and military matters. Tamrith means well, but is ultimately not as experienced or savvy - the region needs a strong leader.

Furthermore I think Dorell does care about the people, just in a more distant way than Tamrith. He immediately arrests his son for letting Northpoint fall. He says afterward that he didn't want it to go that way - that he cares about his son. But the people needed justice. That says to me that he'd put his people's needs above his own, which is pretty cool.