The most visible and well documented were the members who personally guarded the Emperor, still wearing the original Akaviri armor. Despite their numbers, they kept their secrecy. They reached their height late during the 3rd era under the rule of the Septim emprors. Their conquest of the dragons complete, they only sought to protect the Dragonborn, and through him, the Empire. It was through these years that their reach extended, and their order grew to become the Blades. They protected Reman with their lives, as well as his descendants, as the Reman Dynasty ushered in Tamriel's 2nd era. Fragments of from late 1st era texts refer to the warriors dropping to their knees saying 'we were not hunting' (or 'did not intend', author - rough translation), continuing 'we have been searching, for you.' But the end result is the same, that the remaining Dragonguard, upon hearing the voice of Reman Cyrodiil, knelt and swore their lives to him, their conqueror and savior. Reports differ widely on the nature of the battle at Pale Pass. 'Born with the soul of a dragon' is what his followers would say. Reman is one of the first documented, and widely accepted, of the mythic Dragonborn those anointed by Akatosh and Alessia themselves. It was Reman who united the human lands of Cyrodiil and defeated the Akaviri invaders. The Dragonguard cut a path through Skyrim, and it was not until they were stopped by Reman Cyrodiil during the battle at Pale Pass that the invasion came to an end. Invading from the north, the Dragonguard met not only dragons, but the men of Skyrim, who don't meet invasions with pitchers of mead. The Dragonguard would follow those that fled to Tamriel in the late 1st Era. Many from Tamriel have attempted to conquer it, most famously Emperor Uriel V and his Tenth Legion in 3E288 as documented in the Imperial dispatch 'Disaster at Ionith.' Dragons have long been legend in Akavir, and many believe that their brief appearance in Tamriel's history are those that escaped Akaviri, for it was there they were hunted and killed off by the Dragonguard. Many classic texts tell us of adventures to Akavir, known as the dragon lands of the east. But recent discoveries show it to be much more than that. It was there, just as they would do in Tamriel, that they protected rulers and their kingdom. One can trace the Blades back to the fiercest warriors of Akavir, the Dragonguard. Most associate the Blades with their ceremonial Akaviri armor and curved longswords. Even amongst their members, they kept much secret. They passed information carefully between their spies in every province, to their elite members that protected the Emperors.

In his proudest moments he said to me, 'You keep secrets like the Blades.' There are fewer that can pass down their stories, their origins and their downfall. There are many that still remember the Blades.

Map of tamriel 4th era