For Brenna it’s about more than just profit. Hadshe only been in on it for the money, she could have achieved that by working for (and later running) the Thieves Guild. UnlikeBron whose goal usually lies in material wealth itself, Brenna ismore about the journey to get there. For her, the prize at the endhardly compares to the thrill of the chase and the triumph of pullingoff a difficult heist. I can’t imagine that Bron would spend time orresources on an attempt to steal an Elder Scroll (”if you can’tfence it, what’s the point?”) just for bragging rights, but forBrenna that is just the kind of challenge she’s looking for.She applies the same approach to her Dark Brotherhood contracts –and the more special requirements the job has, the more appealing itusually is to her.

But there’s more to it than that. It’snot like Brenna just woke up one day and decided ”wow, I wouldreally like to pledge my soul to the Void and become an assassin working foran ancient murder cult.” I feel like the seeds for thatdevelopment were sown a long time ago, and joining the Brotherhoodmerely revealed what was there to begin with. Also, a part of Brenna’scharacter is that she is looking to belong, and Lucien’s littleintroduction just managed to hit all the right notes. The strangefamily dynamic, as dysfunctional and messed up as it is, fillsthat purpose at least partly. Unlike the other factions, Dark Brotherhoodis very ”ride or die”, and I imagine there’s a particular feelingof togetherness that arises from that mentality. Brenna genuinelygrows fond of the assortment of dangerous killers inhabiting theSanctuary… which of course makes the ending of the quest line evenharder for her.

Aside fom her need to connect andbelong, I do think that there’s something about Sithis that simplyresonates with Brenna. A part of her has always been drawn tothings that are forbidden, occult, or macabre, and the Brotherhood provided her means to freely explore those darker aspects of her nature. I realize that for a different kind ofcharacter the entire ”you were marked by Sithis the moment you wereborn to fulfill this destiny!” -conversation with the Night Mother could be easily brushed offwith ”uh-huh, whatever you say, creepy dead lady”, but to Brennait’s actually kind of revelatory. Mind you, Brenna doesn’t much carefor the oh-so-revered Unholy Matron after she let her faction pretty much eradicate itself – and even worse, let her be the instrument of itsdestruction. I don’t think she ever quite forgave the Night Mother(or herself, for that matter) for the Purification of the CheydinhalSanctuary. But yeah, even after everything she’s been through Brenna isstill loyal to the Brotherhood. Salty, definitely, but loyal.

Probably Whodunit? I’ve never played a murder mystery before where I was the murderer, lol. Also, it was a nice quest for Brenna since it just felt very much like her style - for once she got to be there right in the open, playing a role in a fancy dress. Making herself seem harmless, gaining trust, forming alliances, playing people against each other… and then killing them off, one by one.

It was certainly one of the more memorable quests. Sneaking back to the Imperial Prison to off Valen Dreth was another good one.

No, not really - after I created Laraniel I decided that three Skyrim characters would have to do. Currently Bron is a member of only one faction, and I fully intend to drag him into Dark Brotherhood matters (he kind of got tangled with them already anyway).

Besides, I’m genuinely interested in seeing what happens when you throw someone as dastardly as Bron into a situation like that. I mean, Brenna was basically made for it. Meirami (my potential candidate for TESO assassin) isn’t exactly shy about bloodshed either, and she has a bit of a reckless streak. Bron doesn’t quite have the typical personality/skillset for an assassin, but he initially calculates that it’s probably more useful to be on Brotherhood’s side than against them.

My in-universe reasons for his joining have to do with his rocky relationship with Maven and the rest of the Black-Briar clan. Her insinuations about having Dark Brotherhood connections and not being afraid to use them eventually leads Bron to consider that as a member of the said faction he’d probably be able to hear about (and perhaps even prevent) such course of action - preferably before he ends up with a dagger between his shoulder blades. And as it happens, he already has a standing invitation to join due to the incident with Grelod. “Oh, you got connections? Well, I got connections of my own. See how you like that.”

Still, knowing what DB was like in Oblivion I fully expect him to go NOPE at some point of the questline. It will be interesting to see how far the man can be pushed until the scales tip from “I don’t wanna piss these people off so I’ll just play along” to “you know what, scratch that - this is messed up and I cannot”. So, yeah, I doubt Bron will like any of it. I, however, look forward to the adventures of the Reluctant Assassin. :D

I imagined too hard and ended up illustrating some of these

I’m so sorry :’DD