I like tulius because he changes in the end, and ulfric only wants the throne and found a chance to get the throne so he took it and now is killing ppl and lieing to himself.

I prefer tullius ONLY because its on the side of the empire. I just cant stomach the thought of supporting a racist like ulfric. 9 times out of 10 my characters arent even nords, so meh. My favorite characters are khajiit so......we would support the thalmor anyways because of the lunar magic that supposedly was the doing of the thalmor.

I too do not know much about the military, however hiding behind a woman during war to me is a sign of weakness. Rikke showed me General materiel, not Tullius. The ranking should be switched around.

If we were guilty of something then shouldn't our names be on their execution list? Instead of putting our heads on the block for a good chopping shouldn't they taken us to the prisons to investigate? The captain had no remorse over executing an innocent person therefor to me the imperials are nothing but savages. It only makes Ulfric's theory even more believable of what he says about the empire.

General Tullius again showed me just how much of a [censored] he is by allowing someone who isn't even on the list to be executed. You can't help but to side with Ulfric no matter how power hungry he is.

You just contradicted yourself. You go off playing a Khajiit Thalmor supporter yet the Thalmors are more guilty of being racist then Ulfric. They views themselves as superior to man that eventually want to turn man into thralls slaves yet you dislike Ulfric because hes supposedly a racist to which he is not.

Edited because thats was uncalled for and sorry, can only smack forehead so many times before it hurts.

once and for all can someone please show me where ulfric is a. A racist and b. In it for just the sake of power. U know not having power so he can change things but just in it for the power.

Please pretty please show me.

That's what I want to know. Where do people get the notion that Ulfric is a racist? Because hes not giving away free homes to the Argonians and Dunmers? After so many charterers that I played on Skyrim not once did Ulfric mention anything derogatory about the other race.

Oh and how we focus so much about the lizard people and the dark elves... yet nobody wants to speak out for the cat people (Khajiit) which are prohibit from entering in ALL major cities in skyrim. If Ulfric is racist then so is everybody else in skyrim. It's safe to say that racism is quite normal.

Ulfric is just too barbaric for me. What is this war about? Is Ulfric using religion (Talos Worship) as another reason to rile up the Stormcloaks? Tradition is never worth warring over. War is never the correct answer.

After dealing with him, I came to the conclusion that I would have made a better High King of Skyrim. Clearly the man is an ego maniac, and power hungry to boot. Unfortunately, I don't have the option to become King, since all the Jarls thought very highly of me, but were hidebound to follow the Imperials to the grave, so aren't going to offer their support. Maybe I could coerce them?

Actually, war is a great answer when someone else starts one with you. But it must be a true war, not some stupid rules war. The only rule is to kill the enemy, any way you can. That's how a real war is fought. And since there are civilian people that support the warmongers fighting you, you have to bring the war to them as well, to let them know that assisting the fighters is the same thing as fighting themselves. Maybe they'll lose stomach and reign them in. But they will learn what a war is really all about. Holding yourself back when fighting is only going to assist in your own defeat.

How is Ulfric barbaric when the thalmor is walking around Skyrim killing people that they encounter with and openly admits of worshiping talos? The empire isn't doing jack crap about the problem.

I am not defending the empire, I am just showing my dislike of Ulfric. Which choice is best for the future? I don't know. I am on the edge right now. They both have things I like and don't like. I do like though that they didn't make one side an obvious choice.

As for Tullius, he seems just a generic meat head.

Also just a normal question here. Did Ulfric try to negotiate with Torygg? Just asking.

Nope. Ulfric just walked in and killed Torygg.

You missed a step or two. Like, challenged him to a duel and Torygg accepted.

On my initial playthrough, when I didn't even know I could join the imperial legion, I sided with Ulfric and the stormcloaks right away. He seemed like an honorable and just leader who should be claimed high king. But as I continued through the game I got more and more "conflicting" information about his character. First it was just a whisper, people claiming he was just in it for himself, which was easily brushed off, then his more racist tendencies came into light, and this from people who supported his leadership. Yes, he is respectful towards the Dragonborn if s/he joins his cause, but this would seem mere oppurtunism, or more selective racism. As I didn't discover Markarth before late into the game I didn't hear anything about his threatment of the Forsworn, other than Tullius' note about a certain massacre, which I at the time had no clear information about. However, he was finally revealed to be one hell of a hypocrite, screaming at the empire for outlawing worship of Talos, yet upholding the ban of the Forsworn's old gods, occupying their land and massacring everyone who revolts.

Furthermore if you don't take sides he will continuigly threaten to throw you in jail for taking up his time, which I discovered on a later playthrough. A very interesting character mind you, much more interesting than Tullius, but not really a good guy.

Tullius on the other hand seems to be a honorable man. Rather bland, and really just a bureaucrat, who you don't even get to spend that much time with. He's just another part of the empirical machine, and acts only as your superior officer, threats you fairly, but with cold detachment. Ulfric on the other hand will consider you a friend and continue you bestow rather pointless, but more or less honorable nicknames upon you and will include you in his final speech, but that really doesn't excuse his actions.

It was really somehwhere between total surprise attack and Torygg knowing full well what Ulfric came to do. He asked for an audience with Torygg without revealing his intentions and then challenged him in front of his whole court.

How else are you supposed to gain an audience with the High King?

Moots can only be convened upon the high king's death, so the issue can't really be skirted around there again. Torygg already knew Ulfric's intentions for years and never once even hinted to him that he agreed. If Ulfric had directly brought up the point of secession and Torygg was against it, Ulfric would've been executed on the spot for treason.

I'll never understand this. Besides the fact that Ulfric is being conveniently scapegoated for the Markarth Incident isn't it obvious that- no matter what happened back then- imperial Nords are just as anti-Forsworn and are the ones enforcing Nord supremacy over them? No one ever talks to Jarl Igmund, I take it.

He says he's a busy man, you take that to mean he'll throw you in prison? What am I missing?

Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call the Nords in Markarth loyal Imperial subjects. Thonar himself had . Really, Igmund and the greedy Silver-Bloods get all the blame for the Markarth incident, unless you have a problem with Ulfric being involved with it period.
Thank you.

To hell with both, I will rule the empire as the emperor with both ulfric manchild and tullius dead on a pike infront of my throne. But seeing that I have to pick one cause bethesda wont give me that choice I will go with tullius mainly cause I hate ulfric with a passion.

I don't, since I take The Bear of Markarth with a heavy dose of salt, and have a fond spot in my heart for miserable bastards who get the job done (see avatar). The thing is, when you side with the empire in Skyrim, you're siding with imperial Nords, but people attribute all sorts of things to Stormcloaks that are equally true of the imperial Nords. Xenophobia being one, putting Forsworn out of their misery another. I'm confused by this.

Nords will be Nords. One may be ruled by an entirely different entity, but they both have the same ideas about Skyrim, just different ways of going about them.

I haven't seen much differentiation between 'Imperial Nords' and 'true Nords' save that one is loyal to the Empire and the other to Ulfric, as well as their respective ideals.

Then stop seeing her as a woman. Seriously, she's in the military, it's an organization which focuses heavily on hierarchy, it just so happens that the one under Tullius is a woman. She's SUPPOSED to be protecting Tullius. Boo-hoo.

Ulfric Stormcloak

Why:

For starters he didn't stand back and almost have me executed, that is kind of big in my book.

I like the other answers provided by others but let me offer my own in addition so as not to recap what has already been said.
Tullius knows the the war is what the Thalmor want, he knows that the empire is nothing more than a shell used by the Thalmor and yet he fights to preserve it and works with a group of people that genocided their own people as they took power. Not only that but the Thalmor will genocide more and Tullius even says the civil war was what they wanted right before he dies. Never once did he stop and think about the ramifications of his actions or showed himself to be noble in nature. Even when we want to get an innocent man out of a Thalmor prison he says he, the general in charge of Skyrim, can't do it because it would case a diplomatic situation. How pathetic is that?

Sure Ulfric has his downsides but honestly if they didn't put those in then no one would side with the empire during the civil war. Plus I can't recall anything Ulfric does toward minorities in game that isn't hinted at by other characters. Sure I'm not Xenophobe but when you consider that if Ulfric truly doesn't like other races besides the Nords letting the Dark Elves stay in his city becomes all the nobler.

Plus Ulfric is nice to the Dragonborn and shows him the level of respect he deserves even if he is strongly hinting that it is for political reasons.

For those reasons I side with Ulfric over Tullius any day.

Neither Jarl Balgruuf is the best Yarl and leader in Skyrim.

Tullius is a military man stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. He's there to do his job, and he treats you based on your merit rather than DRAGONBORN HURR. I find him much more palatable than Ulfric.

Tullius wears a skirt so .....(lol)

Actually i can't decide w/c of them i like more., although i can't seem to get over how Tullius wanted to chop my head off :S