Cicero - Did you kill him or let him live?

[kalamadae]

I killed him the first time round but after completing the game once ive always let him live, hes a powerful ally and not just that hes an awesome character

[LobselVith66]

Lucien Lechance seems to think otherwise:

 

"I will kill this Jester if you so wish, but there is a disturbance in the void, this is not what our dread father desires."

"The Keeper is a sacred position within the Dark Brotherhood. Ask yourself: Do you trust the wisdom of our Lady?"

 

That's correct, the Spirit of Lucien Lachance advocates not killing Cicero. As Lachance says, "The Keeper is a sacred position within the Dark Brotherhood. Ask yourself - do you trust the wisdom of our Lady?"

 

In my first playthrough, I killed Cicero, but I spared Cicero in my canon run after happy_daiz mentioned that Cicero was an interesting companion. It felt like the right choice to make when I spared his life, especially given what Lachance said; Cicero may be insane, but he is loyal to the Night Mother.

[Stemin]

EDIT: In his 3rd journal, he says "This means the end of my contracts. I'll be lucky to lift a blade again."

 

Right. Because he was appointed Keeper and now his duties were to always guard and take care of the Night Mother. It has nothing to do with giving up killing.

[RighthandofSithis]

EDIT: In his 3rd journal, he says "This means the end of my contracts. I'll be lucky to lift a blade again."

 

Right. Because he was appointed Keeper and now his duties were to always guard and take care of the Night Mother. It has nothing to do with giving up killing.

 

Yes, but I feel its sort of implied that he is no longer permitted to kill.

 

I mean, I see no other reason for him to not kill the pretender(s).

[DashingKnight]

I killed him, because I didn't trust him.

[Stemin]

Yes, but I feel its sort of implied that he is no longer permitted to kill.

 

Well, I have to disagree. It's pretty much laid out in the journal. His sole duty would now be taking care of the Night Mother. He even had to fulfill his final contract before taking on his duties (the jester). He doesn't say anything about being forbidden to kill, in fact he says he would be lucky to lift a blade, implying that it isn't likely, but possible:

24th of Morning Star, 4E 189

It is a new year, and two months since the Night Mother first arrived here at the Cheydinhal Sanctuary, and still the Unholy Matron has not seen fit to speak to any one of us.

 

And so, Rasha has decided to revive an ancient Dark Brotherhood tradition - the appointing of a Keeper, a guardian whose sole duty is the safeguarding of the Night Mother's remains. The remaining members of the Black Hand will make their decision tomorrow.

 

25th of Morning Star, 4E 189

I have been chosen. By some incomprehensible twist of fate, the Black Hand has named me the Night Mother's Keeper. In all honesty, I am both incredibly honored and deeply saddened. This means the end of my contracts. I'll be lucky to lift a blade again. Thankfully, Rasha has promised me one final contract before I accept my new duties.

 

30th of Morning Star, 4E 189.

The jester lies dead. My final contract has been completed. Oh, how he laughed and laughed. Until he didn't.

 

3rd of First Seed, 4E 189

I have settled well into my new role as Keeper. It is my duty to not only keep the Night Mother's shrine clean, and the candles lit, but to tend to the body as well. The Night Mother's crypt was a consecrated place - shroud-kissed, absent of sunlight, and safe from the world above. Removed from there, the remains are subject to the filth and corruption of the living. The body is perfectly preserved, so the concern is not physical, but rather spiritual - the remains must be sanctified regularly, so that they may continue to serve as a conduit for the Night Mother's soul. Our Matron's eternal spirit may travel the Void freely, but it is through her own earthly remains that she communicates with the Listener.

 

And so, I wash the corpse weekly with the requisite oils, recite the ancient incantations, and personally see to the extermination of any insects or rodents. If the Night Mother does not speak, it will be because she chooses not to - not because she is unable. This is my responsibility. This is my vow.

 

12th of Mid Year, 4E 189

Months and months and months and no Listener. Why won't the Night Mother speak to me? I am worthy as Keeper, but not as Listener? I protect our Lady, keep her sanctified, but still she will not grace me with her voice?

 

4th of Sun's Height, 4E 189

So long since I worked my blade. So long since I saved a soul. But I am now Keeper. No longer a taker.

I think back fondly on my hours with the jester. His laughter, his screams, his pitiful cries. And then, as the end drew near, his laughter once more. Merry in death as well as life. I was honored to know him.

 

I mean, I see no other reason for him to not kill the pretender(s).

 

Unless he's just an insane, treacherous little bastard. The above passages about the jester certainly convinced me.

[RighthandofSithis]

Unless he's just an insane, treacherous little bastard. The above passages about the jester certainly convinced me.

 

I feel his insanity has very little do do with his ability to think clearly or recall events. He is very aware of his situation, and seems able to think very clearly.

 

Hes not attacking Astrid simply because he is insane, he knows what he is doing, and why.

[Stemin]

I feel his insanity has very little do do with his ability to think clearly or recall events. He is very aware of his situation, and seems able to think very clearly.

 

Hes not attacking Astrid simply because he is insane, he knows what he is doing, and why.

 

You're missing the point. Cicero clearly plotted against them before he even set foot in the Sanctuary. Again, from his journal:

30th of Sun's Dusk, 4E 200

I have written the letters. So polite. So official! To Astrid, in Skyrim. Her Sanctuary still stands. Still operates. But how? No Listener means no Black Sacrament, no Black Sacrament means no contracts. Her family can abandon the Old Ways, and still survive, still kill, but is that family still Brotherhood? Or something else? Something new. Something different. Something wrong?

 

Something wrong.

 

Still, we must go! Tomorrow, we set sail. Float on a boat through the moat called the sea her and me!

 

22nd of Evening Star, 4E 200

Sick sick sick of the rocking tossing rolling throwing upon the gray gray waves!

 

I've been reading of Skyrim, of the good days, the old days, of the Old Ways. There was another Sanctuary once. A Dawnstar Sanctuary. Good, ancient and strong. Blessed by Sithis. Cicero will go there! No need of Astrid!

 

The Mother and I will settle, and she will speak to me, finally, and we will build the Old Ways anew, together.

 

It could be argued that he broke tenets 2 and 3 long before breaking number 5.

 

Cicero is all or nothing. That's what it comes down to. Which again.. means if you put your loyalty into the Night Mother, then you might feel he's justified. I find it a reach to consider it justified that he has condemned Astrid and ignored her entire family based on what? Rumors? A letter from her?

 

Then again, if you prefer logic over a dead woman in a casket that allowed all her sanctuary's to be destroyed......

Edited October 25, 2012 by Stemin

[Luminesca]

Well I let him live. None of the other members were killed by him and since I knew that most of the members were gonna die I said why not. A potential follower and, as another poster said, a potential sacrifice to the Daedric Prince. And somebody has to keep the Night Mother oiled and preserved! If there was a significant consequence for letting him live and stay with the DB the choice would have been more interesting.

[billyro]

I never trusted him, his voice annoyed the crap out of me, and the way I went in to the Dawnstar sanctuary and cornered him... I knew he had to die.