Seriously, I did the Stormcloak line first, thinking "why should I help the Imperials when they tried to lop my head off?", though after attacking Whiterun and listening to what the Jarl had to say, my view of the Stormcloaks shifted. I play a Redguard and it struck me that the Stormcloaks, though they may have some right, are a bunch of racists douchebags who want Skyrim back for themselves just so they can continue long-dead traditions and get all non-Nordic races out of their nation. Seriously, at least the Empire makes the world a better place for everyone. If you talk to the people of Whiterun after the Stormcloak dictation, you discover that everyone, even the Nords, preferred the Empire too.

TL;DR, Stormcloaks are racist bastards who care about nothing but themselves.

I don't help the Imperials because they're essentially controlled by the Thalmor.


The Thalmor are powerful enough; they don't need Skyrim.



That being said, I don't like the Stormcloaks either. I just stayed out of it

Both sides are horrible and corrupt, honestly I'd rather not side with either.

Agreed. I'd rather unite the two in an alliance against the Thalmor, and go Thalmor-killing. Or, hell, just go Thalmor-killing:p

The Stormcloaks leave people who prove themselves alone. Witness Windhelm's Altmer population.

I'm not stupid. I know good and well that the only thing preventing the Thalmor from just annexing everything and continuing their policy of KILL ALL HUMANS is that the Empire is still strong enough to give them a run for their money if it gets a strong ruler and can quell its home problems. The Stormcloaks want freedom and that's fine but freedom for you means the doom of all men and a return to the days before St. Alessia got her blessings from Akatosh to hulksmash the Alyeids. It isn't about freedom or ideology its about survival so shut up and sit down Ulfric you can have your freedom after we're done buttbanging the Thalmor with our Imperial pencses.

I think the Imperials are good, but they are irredeemably corrupt to the point where their accomplishments are really moot. Their glory days, for better or worse, appear to be over

I may have sided with the Imperials if they weren't Thalmor tools. But they are, so Stormcloaks it is.

As soon as Argonia seceded from the Empire it went down the crapper

The Hist and us Argonians are just laughing as the rest of Tamriel burns in their wars

ok this is a kinda big spoiler and i dont know how to do the spoiler tags...


but i found it really interesting how, at the end of the stormcloaks questline, when you raid solitude and talk to Tallius at the end, he says that the rebellion is what the thalmor wanted all along - a way to svck imperial power with a rebellion and make them even weaker...

so needless to say after that I felt pretty bad about putting salt in the imperial wound...

We lack an option three.

Kill both sides and claim Skyrim for yourself.

So far, I have managed to stay neutral and not join either side. I started the quest to join the Stormcloaks, but have not had any interest in completing it after I saw the horrible conditions the Dunmer of Windhelm have to live in. They really are a bunch of racists.

I would like to join the Empire, but early on when I was planning on supporting the Stormcloaks, I slaughtered a whole camp of Imperial soldiers. Well... not the whole camp. The Captain was apparently an essential NPC, this would not die. So I used The Ritual to raise his army and left him there to kill his own soldiers.

Im pretty sure I will do jail time if I ever run into him again.

If you've read the book The Great War found within the game, you'll know that although the Thalmor has influence within the Empire, the Emperor is just bidding his time before inevitably the Empire again goes to war with the Aldmeri Dominion. Plus from what is gained from the book, seems like Medes is actually a competent ruler/war leader in his own right.

IMO i'll probably do a playthrough to join the Stormcloaks, but 'canonically', i'll be siding with the Empire. Their armour is pretty bad-ass too, the heavy version makes your character look bulkier than in iron/steel armour.

Both sides are horrid, but if you ganged up on me and forced me to choose there would be no hesitation on my part. I'd join the Imperials. I might not like what they've become, but I'll be damned if the Thalmor are allowed to rule the entire continent.
Ulfric sickened me the more I learned about him, especially when I talked to many of the Jarls who either supported him or who rose to power because of him. When your own side thinks you're a [censored] bag then that's pretty damning for me. Hell one even had nothing flattering to say about the man, but still supported him simply because he was the 'devil that he knew'.

idk, the talos monk (or is it priest) seems pretty happen about the stormcloaks taking over

i wanted to like the imperials. i really did... but i had trouble siding with someone who wanted to behead me. i dunno about u guys, but beheading is a dealbreaker. yes ulfric is an ass, but his cause is still fair enough. give the nords back their homeland. seems simple enough. ulfric will not live forever but this is probably the best/only chance the nords will have of getting back their land permanently. if the dragonborn and ulfric/stormcloaks cant do it, they never will...

You mean those guys who were going to execute multiple innocent people at the beginning of the game, as well as roam the land killing and robbing people?

I only want to get rid of the Thalmor lol even the Blades was killed by them. And we know for sure blades are the good guys

Even the Blades are pretty grey in this game as far morality goes.

reason i didn't go imperial is because of beheading, but not just that if your a criminal your a criminal you get beheaded, but turns out you weren't even on the list to die and they STILL wanted to kill you just for fun! ulfric on the other hand is a guy who walked up to the high king, challenged him to 1 on 1 combat, then let out a shout that tore his body apart.
so police who take innocents hostage and murder them?
or a man fighting for his country who has atleast the balls to challenge somebody 1 on 1 and win.

Neither side is beneficial for the land of Skyrim; the Imperials are mere puppets for the Thalmor and the Stormcloaks are fundamentally flawed.

If the Imperials take over, the Nordic people will suffer under an oppressive rule, and if the Stormcloaks drive out the Imperials, foreigners will be poorly treated due to the inherent racism of Skyrim's older populace.

What people fail to realize is that the Empire lost the war, even if in-game characters like to pretend otherwise. If the Empire doesn't enforce the terms of its agreement with the Dominion (of which it is effectively a vassal state) it risks getting curb-stomped. Obviously it's a crappy situation for everyone. The Nords are angry because they don't have religious freedom and the Empire has to stamp out worship of Talos in order to keep everyone under their protection safe. This isn't as simple as Nord versus Imperial (though of course many people on both sides see it that way): there are Empire-supporting Nords after all.

Whether it's OK to sacrifice the freedoms of a few for the good of the whole is right is an entirely different argument. All I'm saying is that it isn't as simple as "the evil empire versus the glorious rebels!" a la Star Wars. It's possible to support either side as a good character and remain morally consistent.

I like the Imperials more than the Stormcloaks, but each side has good and bad sides as they should have. The Talos decree is troubling, but it was necessary until the Empire can handle the troubles in the provinces. Most keep Talos in their hearts even though he is banned.

But I believe it is better to be united against the Aldmeri than divided and conquered easily one by one, which is why the rebellion plays right into the Thalmor's hands. Ulfric just wants to rule the Nords and doesn't give a damn about anything else, the Imperials could use some reform as well but they are doing what has to be done.

If you really believe that, the Empire isn't right for you either -- they denounced Hammerfell as part of the Empire in order to get the treaty with the Aldmeri through. Rather than staying united, the Empire is tearing itself apart.