Skyrim: Here’s What the Consequences of Killing Emperor Titus Mede II Are

Dark Brotherhood is famous for its interesting and engaging storylines, and Skyrim delivers one of the most exciting quests in the long history of the faction. You are tasked with killing Emperor Titus Mede II, and even though it seems like a huge thing, fans were left stunned when they saw the aftermath of the quest playing in front of their eyes. Due to that, we’ve decided to analyze the quest and its conclusion. Let’s see what happens after you kill Emperor Titus Mede II and what the following consequences are. 

Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim offers you a high-profile assassination with little reward 

During the middle portion of the Dark Brotherhood storyline in Skyrim, you are contacted by Amaund Motierre. Yes, a distant descendant of Francois Motierre from Oblivion who sold his mother to the Dark Brotherhood to fake his own death and escape the criminal underworld. Anyway, Amaund wants you to kill the emperor Titus Mede II. Considering that Dark Brotherhood has had a long stretch of bad luck in the last couple of decades, everybody is eager to jump on the opportunity to restore Dark Brotherhood’s glory in full. 

Down the line, you are betrayed by Astrid, your own leader. You discover you are the Night Mother’s Listener. You are targeted by a chief of Penitus Oculatus, the emperor’s secret service, and you are sent to impersonate an orc gourmet chef. It’s a brilliantly executed storyline filled with twists and turns, and even after everything seems lost and hopeless, you, as an agent of Sithis, will never give up. You are sent to board the Katariah, and well, to kill an empire. And you succeed. Emperor Titus Mede II lies dead, and you are ready to leave the Katariah and walk into a changed world. But nothing really happens. 

What happens when you kill Titus Mede II? 

You will notice that nothing in the world changed after you succeeded in killing the emperor. The whole ordeal is barely referenced. This is shocking because the most powerful man in the whole empire has been brutally assassinated in Skyrim in the middle of Skyrim’s civil war. 

Sure, here and there, an NPC will comment on it, mostly guards. Still, as time passes, even they will comment on it less and less until, eventually, no one remembers that you are possibly the greatest Dark Brotherhood agent in the last couple of centuries. You have single-handedly restored Dark Brotherhood to its former glory and eliminated many of the empire’s politicians, and NPCs barely comment on it. 

Despite being a huge event, there are no consequences for killing the emperor. Nothing major happens except the dialogue lines, and there is no impact on any future quests whatsoever. Even your Dark Brotherhood family will not comment on it after some time. 

The event might be referenced in the future game, but this seems unlikely as well. Bear in mind that assassinating emperor Titus Mede II is not exactly a canon thing since, at the start of the Dark Brotherhood storyline, you have the option to destroy the Dark Brotherhood completely by assassinating Astrid and colluding with Commander Maro.

This leads to Titus Mede II never being assassinated in the first place. So both choices are canon at the same time, and neither is. Due to this, Bethesda will most likely find a solution that works regardless of what you’ve chosen to do. It happened before, and it will happen again.  

The reward for killing the emperor is underwhelming as well 

So fine, no one wants to acknowledge in any significant way that you’ve just crippled the empire during the most significant crisis in the continent’s recent history, and people barely remember it after three in-game days. But surely, the monetary reward is worth it? 

Not really. You get a nice sum of gold for killing the emperor, 20,000 gold to be more exact, and while it’s a nice sum of money, you don’t get to keep it, well, at least if you plan on restoring the old Dawnstar Sanctuary. 

You see, after you pick up the gold from Volunruud, you can report to Nazir to discuss with him how to proceed regarding the fresh Dark Brotherhood start. He will ask you how much money Amaund pays you. You can lie to him about to sum or be honest with him. In both cases, you will get to keep the whole sum until he reminds you that Dark Brotherhood Dawnstar Sanctuary needs several upgrades that Delvin Mallory can provide.

You have 20,000 gold on you, but if you plan on purchasing all upgrades for Dawnstar Sanctuary, you will need 19,000 gold in total. This means that you get to keep only 1 000 gold. This seems like too small of a reward for assassinating the emperor. I mean, you get the newly refitted and equipped sanctuary, but considering that most players are using modded houses for their bases, it’s hardly worth the trouble. You also get to keep any rare loot you’ve found inside Katariah, but if you’re a higher level, those rewards can also be borderline trash.

In any case, killing the emperor is extremely underwhelming regarding the resolution of the quest (and rewards), and it changes absolutely nothing down the line. Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!