they should make you go to collage before coming the jarl.

The main reason why I don't live in Hjerim. I love the house and all its displays, but Windhelm isn't appealing to me.

That hardly seems reasonable, considering you can become head of the College itself and never hardly go there at all.

So to become a Jarl in Skyrim you go to the collage in Winterhold.
You realise the Jarls are Nord and they don't like magic.

Who says you have to take on the responsibilities of being a jarl. There have been tons of rulers who could care less about there actual duties and just made their workers do everything while they had fun. Just look at the jarl in charge of falkreath he just sits around and drinks mead while the thanes do all the work, now instead of just sitting around drinking mead your hunting dragons and exploring. Also skyrim is a video game so it doesn't have to be realistic at all.

Holding a position of poltiical power in Skyrim really only makes sense for a Nord. I wouldn't mind race-dependent rewards, but a lot of people would complain that their lizard or cat couldn't become king of Skyrim.

I'd love to do that, but I don't see how it would be possible. All of the Holds are already taken, and there is no free lands in Skyrim to make a new one. If they made an expansion pack or even DLC about managing your own hold in a realistic and non-repetitive way, i'd be so excited. I'd love to take my melita out for a stroll to see the beautiful countryside, and if we run into any of the traitorous Stormcloaks, well, I think they should ensure we don't meet.

The only thing I've seen that is sort of like the OP's idea and that sparked my interest involved Helgen. Seeing as how it's basically destroyed at the beginning of the game, and remains vacant throughout (except for being taken over by bandits), suggestions were made about having a storyline where it was rebuilt/restored and then the Dragonborn was put in charge of it.

I can see it as something to flesh out the CW war storyline, given its location. If you played for the Stormcloaks, it looks like it would be natural for them to restore the city because it could serve as a first line of defense in the event of any future military incursions from Cyrodiil. If you played for the Imperials, well, it's an Imperial stronghold and you'd think they'd want to restore it and put a garrison there.

But then I ask myself, what would being "in charge of it" entail, and as discussed previously in the thread the kind of administrative duties involved don't really lend themselves to this type of game IMO. Unless you want to play a character who spends a good deal of his/her time micromanaging a bunch of other people and their activities, which frankly doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me. If you wanted to take over those duties and then go out adventuring all the time anyway, your PC would be a terrible choice for running the place.

Windhelm is my 2nd favorite city (the favorite is Whiterun, better weather there). I'm not too fond of the snow and ice (of course, the weather and climate is symbolic, surely there are seasons even though they're not shown in the game, and perhaps Windhelm has beautiful summers), but I really like the architecture and city plan. It feels like a true medieval city, where narrow alleys suddenly open up into market places (and had Windhelm been a real medieval, European city, there would of course have been a gothic cathedral where Candlehearth Hall are).

Back on topic: No, I don't think being a jarl is such a great idea, just because it would keep you from adventuring. But being able to hand out jobs when you're head of something (Lyn's idea is excellent), and being acknowledge for what you are (by your guildmembers and in some cases, like when you're Harbinger, by jarls and their stewards and housecarls - NOT by guards whispering "Hail Sithis"!) would be great.

I really hoped the DLC was going to be about this, I mean you are the Dragon Born. I think becoming Jarl is the first thing that should happen followed by becoming emperor and then defeating the Thalmor. However we have be a vampire and break the lore and not follow the great story that the main quest had.
I really wanted to see the moot and have a DLC based on the Thalmor invasion.

I hope that they do something along the lines of this with Helgen, as it seems somewhat of a missed opportunity and would close out the CW quest line a lot better than is currently in place (in my opinion at least). I've always thought that something along the lines of how the colony worked in Morrowind's Bloodmoon expansion. Not like for like persay, but a decent starting point without the need for the day-to-day administration stuff.

Considering you're the dragonborn and the dragon blood flows through you, you probably have more of a claim to the throne than titus mead..just saying. Also, there are plenty of holds you could have; you could take one of the holds which was on the losing side of the civil war. As a jarl, you wouln't have to sit in the hold all day. You would have advisors, captains, and officers to issue orders to..you could do what you want as long as you issue those orders. As to the race thing, I understand you'd probably have to be a nord, but since you save skyrim and all...i don't think many people would mind..unless you're a lizard or cat..

But sitting in the palace all day is what a Jarl does, lol.

Also I don't think it's even as simple as just being a Nord, the Jarls are royalty, basically they are kings/queens of their own territories, and there are people who have an accepted right to sit on a throne and some who don't. That this has something to do with the bloodlines involved seems pretty clear, given that the position of Jarl is normally passed on by right of succession just like the position of High King/Queen. When there is a vacancy, the person who fills it probably has to be from one of the established royal or noble bloodlines, not just someone who is popular or on the "right" side of the political spectrum.

I would hardly describe the Grey-manes as nobles...established yes, but definitely not noble. Also, sitting in a palace all day is what Jarls tend to do...not all Jarls have to do it. It just so happens they're all lazy.

I think the Grey-Manes are most likely a clan that is considered to be part of whatever passes for the aristocracy in Skyrim, yes. We're not talking about a wealthy country where royals and nobles typically have lives of high pomp and opulence, except maybe in relatively well-off cities like Markarth or Solitude. Just because a guy works as a blacksmith and his family is not rolling in gold doesn't mean they aren't part of a bloodline that qualifies them to hold a position of power if need be.

What I'm saying is that it's unlikely that just any old Nord would be pulled off the street to become a Jarl, regardless of his/her accomplishments or popularity. There are clans that are "old" and well-established and can probably trace their line back to Ysgramor or whatever the criteria is for determining who is "allowed" to ascend to the throne. I think bloodlines matter, if they didn't then you wouldn't have thrones being passed from parent to child as the natural order of things.

If you become Jarl of anywhere it should be Whiterun, its the only one involved in both sides, also i hate the Jarl and his replacement is older than Paathurnax -yes this is an exxageration- and will probably keel over about 5 days into the job.

...but not by much!

I mean..Talos did it..who was dragon born..just like you are in the game

The only way I could see this working would be if

1. If we got new landmass. I hardly believe that any of the jarls would give up some of their land so that you can start a new hold, so if we want to rule something, it has to be either on a new land, like an island, or in the mountains close to Skyrim's borders. If Dawnguard is set in Solstheim as some speculation say, I guess that maybe it could be united with Skyrim and that we would be appointed jarl of it.

2. If the player had already done the main quest. I don't see why a non-noble, even if he/she was a nord, would be appointed to become jarl. If the player had done the main quest however, the player would be known as dovahkiin, and as a living legend of nord mythology, it would be quite understandable if the dovahkiin was given a hold.

*whispers*
Or we could marry a jarl. Get the status, not the job (or anyone else from one of the noble families)

Jarl? Screw that. I want to be High King!

Okay I have two suggestions for the idea of becoming a Jarl:

1. There was an interesting quest in Markarth where you become involved in a mystery involving the Forsworn and eventually unravel the truth escaping from Cidhna Mine with their leader Madanach. I was really interested in becoming a part of the Forsworn and seeking revenge on the Silver-Bloods. Since, the Silver-Bloods basically own Markarth and the Reach, I think it would have been a cool side adventure to become an agent of the Forsworn by some initiation process, work your way through the ranks of warriors, and then, with Madanach dying in some cruel twist of fate, end up leading the Forsworn to victory and power.

2. The Dwemer ruins are absolutely teeming with machines and snow elves, but with a little renovation and expansion, I think they would provide an excellent basis for a tenth hold. I mean, if you were to connect each of the ancient Dwemer cities to one another, you would basically have access to all other holds, since the ruins are found all across Skyrim. Also, there's one specific place deep underground called Blackreach that blew my mind - I'd love to build a city and a government in there. All you'd need to do is take a crack team of warriors to clean out the baddies.

This is the sort of logic that ends up with dead bodies and bloody journals being strwen around the place.... day 1, we have strong warriros. day 2, they're all dead and we've been enslaved. day 3, i tried to escape and now we're dead.
Not saying i haven't thought the same thing, but after finding that many dead people i was mysteriously convinced that living up top was best... until i found a certain lighthouse!