The Black Hand: A question about lore

[wjHarnish]

Hey all, I have a question about The Black Hand in general lore, and I can't seem to find the answer anywhere I look.

Beyond this point the post is going to contain spoilers about the Dark Brotherhood across a few different games, so you've been warned.

As we know the Black Hand is composed of 5 members (10 if you count the Silencers to the Listener and the Four Speakers). A client prays to the Night Mother using the Black Sacrament, and the Night Mother relays the message to the Listener, and the Listener appoints a Speaker to meet with the contact. The Speaker then chooses an operative of the Dark Brotherhood to fulfill the contract. Still with me? Good. However, the Speaker has other duties such as recruiting potential assassins and running the various Sanctuaries (both of these things were stated in Oblivion).

Now, my question is this: If the Black Hand is only 5 members, how are the speakers to go all over Tamriel recruiting people, running sanctuaries, and meeting with contacts? That seems like a lot of work for a few people. I know that in the games they state over and over that there is just one Black Hand. However, would it make more sense that there would be one Black Hand/province? Otherwise each speaker is going to have to hoof it across all of Tamriel (or only two provinces each if they are organized better, but that still is a lot of area to cover).

What do you think?

[WillieSea]

From what I understood, the dark brotherhood had not made many inroads into Skyrim yet. So I would say you could make a new chapter if you like.

Remember the northern chapter had 'failed' but becomes the players base. And the southern chapter gets destroyed.

[wjHarnish]

Well, I didn't necessarily mean specifically Skyrim, but I didn't see a general lore section.

[Khettienna]

It would make logical sense for their to be a Hand in each province, however:

In Oblivion, when you become the Listener, the Night Mother gives you assignations in all provinces and not just Cyrodiil, and you are tasked with relaying those to your Speaker. This, to me, implies that there is only one Hand for the whole of Tamriel.

[WillieSea]

Or perhaps each chapter can work in all of Tamriel, you just have to take the job given to you by the night mother, no matter where the job is. And each chapter would have that understanding?

It seems to me if your 'god' tells you to do something, you do it no matter what, and the others respect that authority that your working in their territory.

[VanScythe]

To my understanding, there is only one hand in all of Tamriel. That the recruitment was so personal (face-to-face) in Oblivion/Skyrim was probably attributed to the simple fact that you were in the same province as they were. Example:

If you remember the members of the DB based in Skyrim, not all of them originated from there. It is unlikely that Astrid journeyed so far to recruit them, when the brotherhood's presence in Skyrim was so weak. More so that she sent word to another DB base to recruit them, or sent someone that was already there, such as her husband.

 

If you played the Morag Tong in Morrowind, you'll remember that you are assigned to kill a sect of the DB in a Daedric ruin. It was believed that the Night Mother herself was present (which she wasn't). Going along these lines of thought, you could probably assume that the hand can send groups (or individuals) across Tamriel to do the Night Mother's bidding for them, including recruitment. The Speaker may be in charge of recruitment, but it's never stated that they are required to do it face-to-face.