Cicero - Did you kill him or let him live?

[stabbykitteh]

Both... First time through the DB questline he died (because he is both creepy and annoying). Current character let him live - primarily because I bothered to read his journals and figured out who he really is ;)

[ClonePatrol]

I let him live every time. Cicero was pretty understandably pissed when he attacked Arnbjorn. The Dark Brotherhood under Astrid wasn't really the Dark Brotherhood anymore. As Keeper, Cicero was the most senior member of the Brotherhood when he arrived (not asking for much but a new home) and Astrid had pretty completely betrayed what the Brotherhood was supposed to be by that point. Cicero may have been a sort of traditionalist when it came to Dark Brotherhood policies, but he was hardly the only one there that was like that (Festus and Gabriella both were). Astrid and Arnbjorn would openly insult the Night Mother right in front of him and treat him terribly despite all he'd been through. Cicero attacked Astrid because she claimed higher authority than than the Night Mother, but the Night Mother wasn't exercising any real authority and neither was the Dragonborn (he received information on a single contract that would make them rich and influential again), an assassin should always know when to keep quiet.

 

With every character I've played thus far, I've always wanted to kill Astrid from the first time she mentioned the abandoning of The Five Tents, they are such basic and obvious rules that it's pretty stupid to get rid of them. Even if you don't actually intend to follow them, it's also a pretty stupid thing to admit that to people you want to trust you. They're not all that restrictive.

 

Tenet 1: Never dishonor the Night Mother. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

• You can't be a very good assassin or member of an assassins guild if you can't control yourself enough to not dishonor the Night Mother. It's not like she's a terribly ethical psuedo-dead woman, this tenet pretty much amounts to "watch your mouth". It's a good way to get rid of anyone who can't be trusted.

Tenet 2: Never betray the Dark Brotherhood or its secrets. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

• This one should be incredibly obvious, to abandon this tenet is to indicate you aren't actually loyal to the Dark Brotherhood and you aren't smart enough to keep that a secret. A betrayal from someone who openly refuses this tenet should be expected.

Tenet 3: Never disobey or refuse to carry out an order from a Dark Brotherhood superior. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

• This one should be obvious to anyone in an organization with a lateral structure, you follow the chain of command. With no Listener or Speakers until the Dragonborn came along and Astrid being the most senior member of the Brotherhood it doesn't make sense to get rid of this one. She still sort of kept it as long as she was considered at the top (making her word the law of the Brotherhood). It doesn't really make sense to get rid of when the Night Mother's Listener either wasn't around or hasn't made any demands of her and could fully legitimize her as a leader of the Dark Brotherhood by naming her a Speaker. If she wanted her own Sanctuary back largely the way it was she could have just asked for it, and the Listener and Cicero could have just taken the Night Mother to the Dawnstar Sanctuary.

Tenet 4: Never steal the possessions of a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

• This tenet... really Astrid? You can't be trusted to not steal the belongings of other members when they turn their back on you? Gotta wonder what she was stealing or planning to steal, skimming quite a bit from the payments for contracts I've always assumed. Gabrielle even mentions how unusual it is for her to allow anyone else to handle one when the Dragonborn is being sent to arrange a contract with Muiri.

Tenet 5: Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

• The reasons for not abandoning this one should also be pretty obvious. Aside from the fact that somebody can just be kicked out of the Dark Brotherhood before they're killed, if you aren't following the religious aspects of the order related to Sithis this one amounts to "don't get caught killing a Dark Brother or Dark Sister", as an assassin this should be a given for any kill the may bring a negative response on the killer.

[eltucu]

^^^ This.

 

No five tenets Astrid? Then die. You're not DB. Cicero was the only true Dark Brotherhood member before the Dragonborn showed up, so he deserved to live along those that followed the Dragonborn.

 

I played the role of the guy which his sole purpose was to bring back the DB that was once powerful in the 3rd era. So that kind of fanaticism that Cicero showed was exactly what he needed for the "reborn" DB. If not for Cicero, the DB would have ceased to exist right there.

[fortie]

I kill him first chance I get. I despise that annoying little freak. I wish I could kill him more than once per game. Most annoying npc ever. :devil: :devil:

 

As a matter of fact, when I get to that point this time I plan to kill him and resurrect him just so I can kill him again. :devil:

 

 

You could use the command cheat resurrect and kill him over and over :P

[CuliacanMexico]

I let him live, but I may lead him to his death in boethiah's calling :thumbsup:

:woot: Thank you.

[AnkhAscendant]

I let Cicero live because he's the best character in Skyrim :P I chafed so much under Astrid's 'leadership', it was all so wrong... And when I saw her lying there at the end I was satisfied. All the other DB members who were still alive seemed to think I would feel saddened or regretful for her sacrifice and resist killing her... No, my Blade of Woe was going before she stopped talking...

 

This playthrough I'm going to see if Cicero is marryable. Dovahkiin, Cicero, and the Night Mother, happily ever after :P

[Inquart]

I probably couldn't have said it better myself than ClonePatrol already did, but I'd like to add some of my thoughts on the matter nonetheless.

 

It's my third playthrough and I did that quest last night, once again keeping Cicero alive. While I was going through abandoned Dawnstar Sanctuary I had a strong urge to kill him for some reason and it only get stronger when I finally stood over him, trying to rat his way out of the fight he knew he could not win; but then I realised that this bleeding coward, this little crazy man in funny outfit was in truth an embodiment of all the Dark Brotherhood stood for in the good old days, back in the 3rd Era. Astrid's little sect might have been the Dark Brotherhood once, but with the effective abandonment of the Five Tenets over the years it turned out to be something altogether different, somethig heretical, something...wrong.

 

When summoned, ghost of Lucien Lachance stated that Cicero's death wasn't something Sithis wanted - that there was "a disturbance in the Void". With the true extend of Astrid's heresy in mind and Lachance's words still ringing in my ears, I turned back and left the Dawnstar Sanctuary with Cicero still alive. His attack on Astrid was a bit foolish, he could have planned it better (if he'd planned it at all and it wasn't just his "eruption" in response to Astrid's contiuned lack of respect towards the Night Mother), but at the same time it was also a desperate and much needed act in defence of the old rules and the Dark Brotherhood itself. If the Dark Brotherhood wants ever to return to its former glory and achieve even greater power, it must be purified of heresy and led back into the Night Mother's cold embrace.

Edited October 26, 2012 by Inquart

[Misakichun]

honestly i don't like him very much, he talks too much and it's not good when you are sneaking to kill someone and sometimes when you order him to do something he will do it in the worst possible way :wallbash: , like : once i told him sneak and kill someone, but he stood and with screams went to kill that person :down: >:( but i let him live , because he attacked Astrid ( i really wanted to do that for so long) and he was the only truly loyal to the old ways and because when i read his journal , i found out he was once an assassin just like us , but the leader of the Cheidinhal sanctuary decided to make someone a keeper and he was selected :huh: at first he was so sad that he can't kill anymore but then the leader told him he can be ready for his last contract which was killing a jester .... you can read the rest in his journal :tongue:

so at first he was a normal person , and i pitted him so much :blush: , and because Lucian Lechance 's ghost told me not to kill him :laugh:

but he was the only one who accepted me as listener and respected me when no one else didn't :biggrin:

 

you know after i left him and didn't kill him i went back to the sanctuary with the ghost of Lucian Lechance , he always repeated that " a purification might just be the thing this sanctuary needs "

which means even Lucian knew there was something wrong with the sanctuary .

Edited September 11, 2012 by Misakichun

[landy8]

Let him live. Just for fun. :wink:

 

Besides, there are only two members of the DB that remain after the end of its questline (except the Listener, of course). So why not to increase the numbers of experienced assassins?

[MidbossVyers]

No reason to kill him. If you don't like him, just don't have him as a follower.