Someone wants to kill me (?)

[Huwusa]

I created a new character (female argonian, trying to turn her into a wizard) and started a new game. I'm currently level six and I completed just few quests - the one with Saadia, the Riverwood love triangle, the Bleak Falls Barrow quest, the dragon at the western watchtower. I didn't steal anything, nor did I kill anyone - except for bandits and draugr.
Then I started to walk from Whiterun to reach Winterhold, and an assassin from the Dark Brotherhood tries to kill me. He even carries a letter with the order ("the ritual has been made, she must die" or something like that).
The question is: what did I do to deserve this? D: I met another guy who tried to kill me some time later, too. Is there a way I can stop it, or do I just have to kill all the assassins?

[Opossum Peanut]

Even if you don't trigger the event, they can still pop up at random (before you encounter the questline).

[Huwusa]

Really? Then I just have to deal with them, I guess. Thank you for your answer!

[Bomb Bloke]

Joining or destroying the dark brotherhood puts a stop to it.

It's never explained why the assassination attempts started in the first place. They simply start popping up once your character hits level 5. Since they sometimes appear as Argonians or Khajiit - which you'll see hardly anywhere else, let alone in battle - I find myself missing them once they're gone for good.

[Ilja]

They start to appear randomly staring at level 5.

It is unclear if there was supposed to be some definite story behind this, or if they were to reflect your meddling to various matters during your journeys in Skyrim.

I don't mind thoug. My characters do not use black soul gems, except when ever one of these guys appears. It makes no difference: they are heading to Void any way, so I can just as well be sending them to Soul Cairn. Sithis will get them in the end.

Edit: And if he does not, then that is between him and Ideal Masters. ;)

[Zefnoly]

On my blue scaled male argonian mage character i got hunted 3 times by the darkbrotherhood. killed all 3 of the asassins (which all of them looked like the same khajiit ressurected) after the 3 time i got mad and killed the whole brotherhood with my bow and magic... havent seen any asassins since then

[Huwusa]

Ah, I got it! I was a bit confused about it, since the only assassin I met in my main game was the one sent by Elenwen after I completed the Diplomatic Immunity quest and I probably prevented any attack from the Dark Brotherhood when I killed all the members.

Zefnoly, I can relate! Although my first assassin was a Dunmer, actually. I hope this won't happen too often, at least!

[SevrinTiger]

I believe they are part of the radiant system, they appear at specific places just like the Alik'r and the faction patrols. I always asumed that it was being dragonborn that made my characters a target.

[Moonjunk]

I instantly joined the Dark Brotherhood so I never got hunted

[Zefnoly]

Originally posted by Lord Vlad:

I instantly joined the Dark Brotherhood so I never got hunted

Killing them also does the trick xD

[SpeedFreak1972]

indeed I just murder the whole sanctuary ... problem solved Really I don't see reason for my character to join them

[Zefnoly]

Originally posted by SpeedFreak1972:

indeed I just murder the whole sanctuary ... problem solved Really I don't see reason for my character to join them

My character is like a good guy (on the good side) i kill thieves and i kill assasins... And i raid barbarians to train my bow sneak skills and my magic

[mister_lobos]

why does everyone seem to classify the dark brotherhood as if they are evil??

technically what they do is very similar to what the dragonborn does, people ask you to kill a bunch of bandits and you do... people ask you to go raid a tomb of some valuable item and you slaughter everyone that gets in your way and take that item.

people 'hire' the dark brotherhood to kill someone and they do, usually just that one person as well... and yes those people are usually bad people.
obviously they are not the nicest people in the world, but they are also far from the worst. the stormcloaks at their camps fantasize about killing all the imperials, the imperials fantasize about killing more stormcloaks... are they all evil?


as for the original post.. technically, yes it's just a scripted event, i've never seen it happen more then maybe twice in one playthru. you will most likely get attacked by assassins once or twice, thugs once or twice, and cultists once at some point... and about 9 billion wandering wolves, bandits and necromancers.

for role playing reasons.. even if you never break any laws, pretty good chance someone would be jealous of you, upset that you didn't help them, or maybe even it's someone who was friends with those bandits you killed. bandits have friends too!

[Zefnoly]

Originally posted by mister_lobos:

why does everyone seem to classify the dark brotherhood as if they are evil??

technically what they do is very similar to what the dragonborn does, people ask you to kill a bunch of bandits and you do... people ask you to go raid a tomb of some valuable item and you slaughter everyone that gets in your way and take that item.

people 'hire' the dark brotherhood to kill someone and they do, usually just that one person as well... and yes those people are usually bad people.
obviously they are not the nicest people in the world, but they are also far from the worst. the stormcloaks at their camps fantasize about killing all the imperials, the imperials fantasize about killing more stormcloaks... are they all evil?


as for the original post.. technically, yes it's just a scripted event, i've never seen it happen more then maybe twice in one playthru. you will most likely get attacked by assassins once or twice, thugs once or twice, and cultists once at some point... and about 9 billion wandering wolves, bandits and necromancers.

for role playing reasons.. even if you never break any laws, pretty good chance someone would be jealous of you, upset that you didn't help them, or maybe even it's someone who was friends with those bandits you killed. bandits have friends too!

They was asked to kill me while i have never done anything wrong. So yes, in my opinion they are jerks...

[mister_lobos]

Originally posted by Zefnoly:

They was asked to kill me while i have never done anything wrong. So yes, in my opinion they are jerks...

wouldn't that make the person that asked them to kill you a jerk? and technically i bet you killed a bunch of bandits and even animals that never did anything wrong either. :P

[mpd1958]

OP, you will find all sorts of strange things happening to you. Assassins with a contract for your head, Thieves trying to rob you, Letters from a stranger, Thugs sent to punish you by someone you killed earlier in the game, etc... The ones that have me wondering are the random stranger on the road, in my case most often a Breton who just starts to attack for no reason at all. Haven't been able to figure that one out.