Imperial vs Stormcloak - Who did you choose and why?

[Guest Vendayn]

My first character went Stormcloaks...why? Dunno, they seemed nicer than having the guy go around calling me "Prisoner". But every character since went with Imperials.

 

Ulfric seems like a douche, even his appearance is douche like. No offense to anyone that happens to resemble or sound like him Not to mention the letter/paper or whatever it is, you find in the embassy.

 

And Romans are awesome...probably my favorite era. And the Imperials resemble Romans a bit.

 

However, I do always follow Ulfric in the beginning...I like to kill that one female Imperial in the beginning of the prison. Along with the torturers.

[arthasmenethril]

I Chose Imperial mearly because i like the Romans and i played since morrowind and liked the Legion Quest from TES3 as i progressed the Main quest up to the Thalmor Embassy seems Ulfric was Captured during the Great War and Interrogated by Elenwen and the Thalmor consider him a dormant asset plus the way it seems to be leaning with the Death of the Emperor and the Return of the Dragonborn people would accept a Dragonborn to the Throne and maybe when War starts with the Thalmor again they will Rally behind the Dragonborn Emperor since the Previous emperor was a Dick to Hammerfell and Talos worship i can bet an Expansion for Skyrim revolving around the Great War V2

[Kain82]

My current character Ragnar Stormrage, is a Nord who comes from a fsmily who has always served the Empire. But after being captured and almost being executed by the Imperials. He has joined the Stormcloaks. I find Ulfric very charismatic and he has a commanding presence. And his voice also gave me a non-gay boner, lol.

[eluzivo]

Personally I choose sides depending on the role Im doing for each char, So far Im on my second run (and already planning a third), first one was a Redguard and I did the stormcloak side, at the time I found about the dominion documents on ulfric, I thought he was actually helping them on purpose, due to the "direct" confrontation part being able to be read as: if some of our other assets delivers the message he will comply. I began to doubt him, and SO whished to have a way of confronting him with the document, it would have been grat to be able to show him that it was not his fault and that the aldmer consider his doings an advantage, but was not possible, so I finished that route on their side, and it was still great, and actually found for myself that ulfric is not racist, but instead he just wants true nords ruling skyrim, and as no one else dared rise, he did.

 

then this new play Im doing, Im an evil Dark elf, not because of the dark elf, but the character began as good, and took the imperial side(and no, not good as in good person, but good as in, i will make you trust me. . . for now), but when I end the route, only the Inmortal will remain alive, wards, women, children, sickly, old, soldiers, and if possible even Jarls will fall to his sword or arrows or daggers, you get the idea, he is the Hail sithis the dread father type, but to the real extreme.

 

and Im already thinking about the third run xD

[Guest Kazuma]

Definitely depends upon the character. Nords just have to stay true to their countrymen with the stormcloaks though. It would be fun to play the evil thalmor once.

[nekomimimeido]

Don't mind me skipping all the posts, even though i don't mind spoilers that much.

 

As for me, initially I chose neither side. It's a pretty interesting conflict though. For once the Imperials actually had no right to invade and impose their laws on Skyrim. But on the other hand the Stormcloaks jumped the gun a bit for my taste. I'm not the one who grabs the sword and goes to war so fast.

But then again, the more i explore and the more i get to know about the conflict, that these narcissistic Thalmor elves basically moves the Empire's strings i get to understand the rebels. They are pretty much a manipulative, self-focused bunch who think they're superior to every other race. You could almost call them Nazis...

I'm not against the Empire itself, but i got myself into a battle with the Thalmor. Which is why i almost have to kill any justiciar troop i meet.

 

TL;DR Stormcloaks and Imperials can bash their heads, i hunt Thalmors!

[orhkorhk]

I was pretty conflicted from the get-go.

 

On one hand, you have an Empire that is no longer run by the Septim bloodline, which was the main reason I would side myself with the Empire in the first place. Then on the other hand, you have the rebels who fight for their freedom.

 

After playing through the Diplomatic Immunity quest, reading the various reports that the Thalmor have of the Empire and Stormcloaks, and taking a walk through Sovngarde and talking to former High King Torygg himself (the same man Ulfric killed to spark this entire conflict), I have come to a pretty conclusive decision and there is no doubt in my mind that for anyone who hates the Thalmor, who wants to side with the good guys, they would most certainly side with the Empire.

 

Yes, the Empire. You're probably thinking, "What? Are you daft? The Empire is allied with the Thalmor through the White-Gold Concordat." And yes, that is true, but siding with the Stormcloaks because you get to attack the Thalmor on sight just means you aren't thinking deeper about this. The Empire is simply using this peace treaty to build themselves back up again. The Thalmor themselves have stated that they want this Civil War to go on for as long as possible, meaning that the Stormcloak rebellion isn't doing anything other than helping the Thalmor. Were it not for Ulfric and his uprising, the Thalmor would have a more difficult time dealing with the Empire.

 

And as for Ulfric who claims that he took Torygg's life fairly, Torygg himself seems to think otherwise. Keep in mind that Torygg was the one that fought Ulfric, so his opinion should matter over what Stormcloak supporters are telling you. Yes, Ulfric is a great speaker, but you can't deny that the only thing driving him is ambition. Should Ulfric succeed at his goal, he'll have nothing left to rule anyway because the Thalmor will just overrun them eventually. I'm aware that the Redguards drove back the Thalmor, but they didn't have to fight a Civil War, and they aren't divided amongst themselves. Ulfric effectively halves the equal advantages we have against the Thalmor.

 

What about Talos? Well, the current regime never intended to deny Talos worship. They're only doing this to keep up appearances- they have to if they ever want to build up strength again.

 

I'm done. tl;dr

[tgirlshayna]

It was easy for me, Stormcloaks. I greatly enjoyed playing the role of the Nerevarine in Morrowind. A role which was greatly reduced in Oblivion to that of being a pawn to preserve the Septim bloodline. However this is still an honorable, and enjoyable role to play, just far less glamorous than being "The One." In Skyrim, the royal bloodline has died with Martin at the end of the Oblivion Crisis. No more is the bloodline of the Dragon Prince. This brings an abrupt end the "devine" right to rule for Tamriel's leaders. This new course of the empire is evident in the religious persecution against Skyrim's founding peoples and their worship of Talos. The empire as it is now, is the game's representation of the system we have in the real world. Complete with all it's evils and controls. While I as an individual can do little to nothing to stop the controls imposed on me and others by governments and law enforcement agencies in real life. (Yeah I can vote, but choosing one side or the other of the same coin gets you the same deal no matter what.) So it was a natural choice for me to rebel against the representation of that same structure in Skyrim, and not only see that system destroyed, but to actually be the driving force of that destruction. Oh yeah, it felt F'n GREAT!!!! Just like being the Nerevarine again, and delivering the people from the powers of evil Ya gotta dig it

[gregathit]

While I did side with the Empire, I am secretly building an army of Nords to invade the Aldmeri Dominion.....I have killed every single Aldmeri soldier/representative in the game thus far. They went too far in trying to mess with Talos!!!!

 

Ah the joys of head cannoning.......

[Trykz]

My first play-through, I went with the Imperials..... at first.

 

I promptly changed my view of the whole thing after learning about "The Markarth Incident"

 

Trykz

[sbire]

i was on both sides.

for now i'll stick to the imperial side.

they are professionals, they have organisation and they look better.

 

 

[Ganen]

I chose empire, on moral grounds.

sure they forbid the worship of skyrim's main deity, but they didnt do it out of tyranny or opression, they did it to stop a full scale war they, including skyrim, were losing, and standing united on the next war is the only hope for Skyrim to get their Talos back anyway.

 

Ulfric is full of it, and their followers are just their fanboys or "honor" blind fools.

[TheoryoftheDead]

During my first play-through I sided with the stormcloaks, because I was playing as a Nord. During my second play-through I rolled with the Imperials because (Surprise, surprise!) I was playing as an Imperial.

 

Can't say I really liked either that much, I felt like a professional a-hole no matter which side I chose, what with the imperials trying to force their "imperialism" unto everyone, and the Stormcloaks having their "Skyrim for the nords!" policy.

 

Forevar neutral.

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

I recently made a new character for use on my laptop, and decided to have them pick Imperial at Helgen...

 

I'm realising that I don't really seem to *like* the Imperial side of the war & most of the people who seem to be urging me to be part of it. Few of them seem to be especially nice - though there are some welcome exceptions.

[Kraxon]

It even seems that Talos doesn't care if I am imperial or stormcloak. He cured my illnesses at his shrines even though I killed Ulfric, stole his clothes, entchanted his clothes - naming them 'clothes of the loser' - and then sold them to the boutique in solitude.

So I guess Talos did not really care about Ulfric or the stormcloaks.

 

I chose imperials, but I still tell all wandering talmor elves that I worship talos, so I can kill them and take their stuff. Talos doesn't mind one way or the other.

 

And the whole rebellion serves the talmor anyway since it weakens the empire. That talmores surely read their machiavelli.

[Guest Lady Luck]

this is my own based of thoughts stormcloaks and imperial

 

Storm cloak

 

where do i start ulfric that bastard who start the whole bs , i don't really trust him beside ralof hes real deal, between him and ralof, ralof fight for skyrim and other people who lived in there,ulfric that no good sob is selfish he claims to fight for the people " only for nords" and use excuses like " oh thalmor , banned talos from skyrim , oh i want to take this and that" STFU man seriously nobody banned talos worshipper [ i worship talos because hes the man , if thalmor bastard want me to stop worshipping him ill kill any high elf with a big mouth ] to begin with nords worship him anyway, he murdered toryyg for bullshit reason , he bullied the high king because he knows he got the shout , he wanted to use it but instead he uses his dull blade to kill the king [dont believe what ulfric says about a fair duel , it's not he is a professional lair], i unlock some truth behind stormcloak if you know whats good for you trust the imperial, nords join stormcloak why , they didnt like thalmor working with imperial thats why , stormcloak soldiers didn't fight the imperials they supposed to drive out aldermeri dominion and thalmor faction out from skyrim but u know fuck you ulfric he use again alot of excuses and drive the nords crazy alot of nords war hero didn't buy bullshit from ulfric they actually make him a laughing stock for windhelm " Are you serious what do you got ulfric soldiers without no goal , how can you win the war without moral or self respect " skyrim belongs to her people meaning nords and other race there's no sense of liberation on skyrim because nord lived there for ages and ulfric idk hes just racist overall , but i had to admit even hes a bastard on skyrim at least he got the balls to kill the high king.

 

my thoughts

" i regret joining the stormcloak but you guys had to admit solitude vs windhelm , windhelm is large man seriously the most badass place on skyrim with sovngarde titled hero who worked with ulfric thats his perk"

 

 

imperial

 

let me see where do i begin , so we can't really trust imperial too u know why the only person whos legit on imperial legion was general tullius. i have hard time to trust that stupid nord commender who think she fight for skyrim but actually a lapdog to jarl elisif who follow around like a dog, eventually get manipulated , imperial legion and his soldiers 1 out of 100 alot of them is backstabbing ,lairs , mugging citizens and use abuse of power, they think they are the law around here, imperials remember this you guys got cyroodiil so leave skyrim alone no point bothering the nords , but seriously stormcloak and imperials have common goal they both want thalmor and aldemeri dominion out from skyrim but u know damn you ulfric he spoil the shit and now thalmor has more advantage i don't want to spoil everything just want to make people realize about imperial legions.

 

my thoughts

 

" overall without tullius imperial legion is used by thalmor faction alot with their agenda because high elves races doesnt have that "enough" feel of taking somebody home , they already got morrowind and valenwood , isn't that enough dude u want skyrim too? , isn't that too much of a greed worst then being selfish at least ulfric didnt sold out his people , i feel bad for tullius he tried to be legit but people want take him down hes a cool guy to trust with, but you know imperial legions is the most professional faction that runs with a proper leader and proper rank , bad ass armor , for solitude has the most luxury home becoming a thane on that place it's worth the investment to join imperial"

 

 

overall both has good and bad, if you want to join either of them learn the history both faction first and thalmor faction they have connection with current quest. if me i dicide finally not to trust ulfric and join imperial instead.

 

 

 

by Talos and ysmir FUCK you aldemeri you cant banned our god and dont force us nords to worship you stupid god.

[gehrwing]

While neither the Empire nor the Stormcloaks are perfect, it's my opinion that it's far more preferable to have Skyrim under the Empire.

 

It's my belief that if the Stormcloaks were put into power, it's virtually assured that they'll execute policies and practices which are highly racist and discriminatory in an effort to force all non-Nords to leave. Just look at the way the Dunmer are treated in Windhelm. It`s not a stretch to imagine that situation extending to all of Skyrim and to all non-Nords if Ulfric was ruling. At least under the Empire, there is a diverse mix of people and cultures and as a general rule, the Empire tries to be inclusive.

 

I agree with some of the points orhkorhk made in his post. I think it`s clear the Empire has no intention of staying under the Aldmeri Dominion`s thumb forever and that the concessions under the White-Gold Concordat are a `necessary evil` designed to appease the Aldmeri Dominion and buy time until the Empire can increase its military strength to a level that`s sufficient to push out the Aldmeri Dominion completely.

 

As long as Ulfric and the Stormcloaks fight to divide Skyrim, they significantly reduce everyone's chances (including their own) of surviving when (not if!) the Aldmeri Dominion decides to make that decisive move to utterly crush the Empire and conquer all of Tamriel.

 

TLDR; Ulfric and the Stormcloaks are racist jerks who're too myopic and selfish to see that their fight for a "pure Nordland" will ultimately help the Aldmeri Dominion subjugate all the peoples of Tamriel, including the Nords.

[Guest Lady Luck]

While neither the Empire nor the Stormcloaks are perfect' date=' it's my opinion that it's far more preferable to have Skyrim under the Empire.

 

It's my belief that if the Stormcloaks were put into power, it's virtually assured that they'll execute policies and practices which are highly racist and discriminatory in an effort to force all non-Nords to leave. Just look at the way the Dunmer are treated in Windhelm. It`s not a stretch to imagine that situation extending to all of Skyrim and to all non-Nords if Ulfric was ruling. At least under the Empire, there is a diverse mix of people and cultures and as a general rule, the Empire tries to be inclusive.

 

I agree with some of the points orhkorhk made in his post. I think it`s clear the Empire has no intention of staying under the Aldmeri Dominion`s thumb forever and that the concessions under the White-Gold Concordat are a `necessary evil` designed to appease the Aldmeri Dominion and buy time until the Empire can increase its military strength to a level that`s sufficient to push out the Aldmeri Dominion completely.

 

As long as Ulfric and the Stormcloaks fight to divide Skyrim, they significantly reduce everyone's chances (including their own) of surviving when (not if!) the Aldmeri Dominion decides to make that decisive move to utterly crush the Empire and conquer all of Tamriel.

 

TLDR; Ulfric and the Stormcloaks are racist jerks who're too myopic and selfish to see that their fight for a "pure Nordland" will ultimately help the Aldmeri Dominion subjugate all the peoples of Tamriel, including the Nords.

 

basically that's the whole stormcloak bs to begin with they want to separate all argonians ,redguard , woodelf and urgh high elves it's clear what ulfric want skyrim Belong to "NORDS" and nobody will take it from "HIM" not the people of the nord , these idiots who praised ulfric as king is a big mistake , once he uses all these dumb nords that work for him for sake " * cough , cough * banning god worship " a big hint for you he manipulate you with his vision ulfric we all know got owned by his own lies i'm joining with the imperial for one thing general tullius he talk sense out of my head because his vision are more clear imperials is actually fighting for the "NORDS" to get rid of thalmor and aldemeri dominion.

 

windhelm are capital for racism , fake people and others who want to live get kicked out from the city they live in whiterun .

 

i feel pity for other nords who believe that loser hes not a hero , get over it hes just text book selfish person who take anything he wants without any regrets.

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

My Stormcloaks look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Imperial-allied guards look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I deliberately crafted my appearance overhaul for all the Stormcloak/Stormcloak-allied guards & soldiery to have a "heroic" style of appearance - they also tend to have a larger, stronger Nord-style bodyweight, and fairer hair colouring.

 

Many of my Imperial-allied guards look more thuggish, and tend toward a slightly lighter bodyweight & often with darker hair colouring - I was trying to indicate likely recruitment practices for local garrison troops, perhaps from among families with a recent dose of Imperial blood. They also "look the part" when in Imperial uniform, or around large numbers of Imperial soldiers (especially in Solitude!).

 

 

 

You be the judge.

[Guest]

I'm aware that the Redguards drove back the Thalmor' date=' but they didn't have to fight a Civil War, and they aren't divided amongst themselves. Ulfric effectively halves the equal advantages we have against the Thalmor.

[/quote']

Not sure if anyone said it already but the Redguards had a civil war but as soon as the Thalmor invaded Hammerfell they stopped being asshats,reunited and kicked those nazi-elves out of their territory.

 

I wish the Nords would be smart enough to realize that killing each other won't serve any purpose.

[supershutze]

I always choose stormcloak. At least at the start of them game you get the key to the house. Chosing imperial never felt right. And you don't recieve a key to the uncles house. Plus why would you join a side who would want to kill you Rather then let you live ??

 

Because they are pragmatists: The Empire wants to put this rebellion down as quickly as possible, and if a few innocent people should die in the process then so be it, it would save more lives in the long run.

I always choose Imperials. I tried Stormcloaks once, but ended up wanting to kill them all because of all the racist bigots that compose them and most of their supporters.

I choose Empire, but attack Thalmor patrols wherever possible.

 

The Empire signed the treaty because it needed the time to regroup and rebuild. But so did the Thalmor. The Thalmor lost too many soldiers in the war. If you consider the birth rate among elves, you must realize that they cannot win a war of attrition: Humans multiply like rabbits in comparison, every 10-15 years the Empire could completely rebuild it's legions, but the Thalmor cannot. This is why the Thalmor support the uprising in Skyrim: they want to divide and weaken the Empire as much as possible before the next war, because they know that victory is impossible otherwise.

[leddis3]

The main problem with the Stormcloaks is, like Caesar's Legion, they're run by a cult of personality and, again like Caesar's Legion, that personality is a tin pot asshat of the highest order with no plan beyond "lol conquer everything I see."

 

Sure, he talks of great things and is charismatic but that's basically all he has.

Not to mention that Ulfric is just a Thalmor proxy anyway. The Empire has it's problems sure, but if it's a choice between the flawed Empire and pure shit, I'm choosing the Empire every time.

[Kamen Rider Kuuga]

Empire, now and forever. If I ever start a new game, I will never support Ulfric; he's a manipulator, using the anger of the common man to build his own power while spouting nonsense about honor and all that bullshit. These fools think that they somehow have a righteous fury because the Empire banned Talos worship; they don't for a moment realize that this too surely stuck in the side of many in the Empire. Tiber Septium was their founder, the last of his line, who was not a Nord, died to save ALL OF NIRN from Dagon; being unable to worship Talos is a deep wound.

 

But it was needed. If the Empire didn't give up Talos, the Thalmor would have kept on going, regardless of how badly they were beaten in the retaking of the Imperial City. At that point, Ulfric and his brainwashed masses wouldn't be having their little rebellion; they would be slaves of the Thalmor, or worse, Nords would have been wiped out. The Empire gave something so dear to protect places like Skyrim! They blather on about honor; pretty high and mighty from the people who survived the war because the Empire sacrificed the worship of their founder to let assholes like Ulfric live.

 

At the end of the day, the Stormcloaks are simply blind to reality; they live on anger and frustration, something Ulfric uses to mold the people into an army for his own glory. Instead of fighting the Empire and dancing to the machinations of the mer, they should be trying to strengthen it, so that one day they can strike back at the Dominion and finally reinstate Talos worship.

[brownie1276]

Kinda off-topic, but you know what would be pretty epic...being able to play the Thalmor, you could sow dissent and attack both sides lol But on a serious note on my current play through I play a Bosmer, and I feel zero empathy for either side. They are humans doing the thing that there best at...killing each other, if I had my way, I'd bring an ALdmeri Dominion army up from the Summerset Isles and retake Skyrim back for its rightful owners.....MER (remember it was our land 1st)

[leddis3]

Kinda off-topic' date=' but you know what would be pretty epic...being able to play the Thalmor, you could sow dissent and attack both sides lol But on a serious note on my current play through I play a Bosmer, and I feel zero empathy for either side. They are humans doing the thing that there best at...killing each other, if I had my way, I'd bring an ALdmeri Dominion army up from the Summerset Isles and retake Skyrim back for its rightful owners.....MER (remember it was our land 1st)

[/quote']

 

I did get pretty irritated that my High Elf (Altmer and Bretons > all others. Fact.) didn't even have the option to join the Thalmor.

I mean hell, Thalmor patrols still call her a Talos worshipper. What? Huh? I'd worship a human why?