I side with the stormcloaks simply because I would like to see an independent Skyrim. But I still don't like Ulfric.

I usually side with the Imperials simply for liking them more. I haven't played as a Nord yet, and see no reason to join the Stormcloaks unless you're a close-minded, short-sighted, ignorant, racist Nord.

While Ulfric is a hero, he's also a fool. The Thalmor have a better shot at conquering Skyrim with the civil war about than they do if the Nords and Imperials worked together to weaken their influence in the north. Since we can all agree that Thalmor = bad guys, we can assume that the best course of action is for the Imperials to ride out their uneasy alliance and build strength until they can oppose them.

two is better then one isn't it? XD

Not if the two cause more problems together than seperated.

THIS, SO MUCH THIS

I have been saying this same thing for a while now thats why i stuck with the Stormcloaks... ( i still hope a DLC comes with the moot and we get to userp the throne and become HIGH KING KHAJIIT OF SKYRIM

Finished the 'main quest' at 490 hours, and sided with neither.

Ulfric is attempting to grab power for himself, and I doubt that ethnic cleansing would be far off once he did...Skyrim for the Nords sounds all very good, except that it's racially motivated rather than nationalist, and doesn't take into account that Skyrim's economy is propped up by Imperial business and imports. Nor does it take into account the wider strategic considerations of geo-politics...Ulfric either deals with the Empire after a split, or deals with the Thalmor, which means that he will be swapping on 'overlord' for another.

The Empire, on the other hand, is fettered by the terms of the concordant with the Aldmeri. Essentially, the Thalmor aren't 'monitoring' anything...they are actively running security-intel operations on a massive scale, no doubt with their finger in the pie militarily as well....and they are more than prepared to play both sides, of which there are severl items of evidence if you delve deep enough into the game, beyond the obvious. If the Emprie could ditch the Thalmor, they would be a lot more popular...one thing I am certain of though, and that is that there isn't a lot of sympathy for the Thalmor if you 'off them'...plus the fine is far less than the resale value of their booty.

The one factor that I found interesting is that neither side actively court our character...whether this was specifically left out, or was an oversight, I don't know. But one would think that just the political and popularity points to be scored for having a legendary hero openly supporting your cause would provide an immense boost.

The Stormcloaks are racist jerks, and the Imperials tried to chop my head off.

They BOTH Fail. Neither side gets the support of most of my characters.

Empire. Why? Because Ulfric is simply a xenophobic power-hungry mad man.

Also, anyone who wants to challenge my belief that Talos is a Divine is free to taste my steel.

Just the way they built skyrim, if you don't notice, noting happens unless you search it out. Not like in NV where the powers take interest in yo uand then seek you out and give you there sales pitch.

I disagree with that... Ulfric is weak... and his morals are questionable... All he thinks about is himself, exactly like a dictactor... he doesn't care if 10,000 of his men die as long as he becomes high king, he is racist and treats alot of people unfairly

Under the rule of Ulfric... lots of cats and elfs would be executed for no reason...

Ulfric sounds like a horrible leader, and not very intelligent... he is a weak nord in my opinion, because of his flaws... he is blinded by greed, power, and tradition... if it was up to him and he commanded everybody there would be a bloodbath and all nords could die

Getting deeper into the game i realise that it is better to side with the Imperials... because they seem smarter to me and have laws... and are open to concepts like magic

Most Nords you meet hate magic... one time i was watching a dragon vs stormcloak guards all of them died...

Stormcloaks because the Empire is corrupt.

I sided with the Stormcloaks because I was being attacked by the Empire from the getgo. If somebody attacks me, I take it personally.

I side with the Empire because aside from Ulfric's questionable character, I feel it is the safer long-term solution: it'd restore an alliance of three provinces with a proven military. I feel the Stormcloaks have too many uncertainties: who will be their allies? How will they war with a nation on the other side of Tamriel with a newly-antagonized former ally in between them? Are they planning on mending bridges with the remaining mannish nations or do they expect everyone will just fall in line behind them or do they think they can beat the Dominion without any outside help?

And I don't want to debate it here, I've done that plenty and I just want to state my opinion and thoughts.

Use the community poll, please. And Stormcloaks, because Talos is pretty much a big deal.

I sided with the Stormcloaks for one reason and one reason only:
I side with the underdog. Because I am one. I'm a poor fool with strange beliefs.

Seeing the little guy rise against the majority gives me a big 'ol boner :{P~

Well, considering that the empire decided to sentence me to death without knowing what I did and not to mention my name not being on the execution list, I think the Stormcloaks sounds more comforting if that's how the empire's justice system operates. I went to prison for murder in Whiterun when I decided to kill an Empire sympathizer, and my blood fuels itself with rage whenever I see a legion camp and I commence to murder them all (almost all if the camp contains an "Essential" NPC). Even though I'm an Imperial, I make my home in Skyrim and fight for its freedom. I'm a stormcloak, and will always be a stormcloak.

I think some people should realize that the vast majority of "Stormcloak racism and xenophobia" stems from two drunk peasants in Windhelm harping at a Dunmer woman and simple irrelevant hate towards Ulfric by his opponents and their friends/family/acquaintances.

Nords have always had a problem with Mer (of all kinds, as they've been fighting with them since Nords first came to Tamriel. And it wasn't even the Nords who started this back and forth either) and with the Civil War going on you cannot seriously blame any Nord who supports the Stormcloaks for being hostile towards mer (throw in the downright deplorable condition of the Dunmer people and the natural distrust in any mer from the Dominion and its several times worse) and those who aren't right along with them in defying the Empire.

People should also remember that the Dunmer were not so different back in Morrowind, and that the Altmer are just the same as well.

I go judging by my characters interpretations of Skyrim.
My Warrior: Ranulf Iron-Brand is a proud Nord that served in the Imperial Legion as both a foot-soldier and a blacksmith. He -was- born in Skyrim, but he left when he was still just a child as his father was also in the Legion when he was young, and did the same things he rose to in the Legion. After the whole Aldmeri Dominion thing, he left the Legion and decided to journey back to his ancestral home of Skyrim. Crosses the border, gets caught. We all know the basic story from there.

Personally, he went for the Stormcloaks as it all comes from your own personal perception on what set of ideals best suits your own. Imperials or Stormcloaks.
Due to Ranulf's hatred for the High Elves, he rose up to fight for Skyrim's independence. Why? Because he thought it was right.

I've not tried to do the Imperial Questline yet. But I'm looking forward.
Until then though. Glory to the true sons of Skyrim!

This is the one of the most overkilled topics.

Stormcloaks because the Imperials were about to chop my head off before that dragon attacked.

While officially I haven't picked a side, I do help Stormcloak patrols disappear and such. So Empire, because I play an Argonian, and I gotz tah do whats best for mah peoplez, and Ulfric being in charge is not good at all for anyone who isn't a Nord. Racial discrimination aside, even if the Empire have their issues, the REAL enemy is the Aldmeri Dominion, and a strong united Empire stands a much better chance against them than a crippled Empire and a new little rebel army.

STORMCLOAKS! because I would like to be Nordic first, causei like Nords and it has nothing to do with trailers prior to 11 1111 influencing it .

I'm leaning towards the empire, the only thing holding me back is the feeling that i'd be betraying folks like roluf and gurder and those great folks in riverwood that took me in.
Apart from the genral distrust of kajits that everyone seems to have, the empire stands for eqality for all races. The nords arn't exactly racist but they certainly have a superiority thing going on in regards to the other races.
I don't habour resentment against the empire for trying to execute me, i habour resentment at the [censored] that said do it even if his names not on the list, i'm not going to hold a whole culture responsible for the actions of one jumped up luitenent.
Ulfric is unstable and his luitenants bloodthristy, seemingly out for war for the sake of it. I'd be behind the stormcloaks if they weren't running the show but with them in charge you know damn well it's going to end in tears down the road.
The banning of Talos worship does not sit right with me, but we must remember the empire let it go on quietly untill Ulfric drew attention to it and that got the thalmor involved and the concordant was signed to stop the war, stop the bloodshed, to save lives.
In time, when the empire had regained the strength to defeat the elves they would have been able to worship him openly again but Ulfric screwed it all up.
With the empire the nords don't lose anything, they keep their Jarls and old ways and everything stays the same as it has for centuries, only the nations arn't divided, and the empire, with the strength of the nords can defeat the elves.

Stormcloaks because Skyrim deserves to be free from the Empire and most of my characters are Talos worshipers.

The Civil war isn't about "Good guys" or "Bad guys". Its very morally grey in that sense, For example ulfric stormcloak might be fighting against the empire and by extension the aldmeri dominion, But the empire is one of the largest forces blocking the advance of the dominions influence into other parts of tamriel. Not to mention you can't really judge a faction on its constituency, good and bad people fight for BOTH sides, Hadvar and Ralof are both good people in the sense their friendly to the player character and work to prevent his untimely death. However...Then you look at say ulfric stormcloak, He carries the veener of a career politican, Someone who talks alot but says very little, Not to mention he's originally cold to the player character if he isn't a nord, that and he forces the dark elves in windhelm to live in the slums of his city.


But some view him and the stormcloaks by extension as "Good" because "Hey dudes, Like that imperial totally tried to kill me! Sturm cluks 4 life." When really, What it illustrated was that there were bad people on both side, The imperial captain that orders your death despite you not being set for execution isn't a very nice person, However then you go to riften and see the son of a jarl all but disowned for speaking some minute sympathies towards the empire and he's a much more sympathetic figure. In the end, I chose the empire, Not at first of course, Heavens no. I traveled around skyrim, Saw what each faction professed themselves to be and what the other factions thought of them. After a while i began to see that the stormcloaks are much like a petulant child, They don't realize that the imperial legion is currently drastically lowered in number and power, They accepted the white-gold concordat in the hopes of marshalling their forces and striking back at the dominion en masse. The stormcloaks simply wish to have things their way despite the bigger plan at work. Im of course generalizing a tad but i found the imperials to be secretely noble in a sense, All common knoweldge of fiction would tell you that the imperialistic faction fighting against the head-strong rebels fighting for their homeland would be less sympathetic, But their not atall. Once i finally actually talked to general tullius, He seemed to be an earnest and hard-working person who really wants nothing more then to quell the rebellion the legion can focus on fighting the bigger threat. Ulfric however abuses the voice (( Which he learned from the greybeards, A group dedicated to studying the voice as a form of monastic pacifism.)) To kill king torryg and make a petty grab for the throne. So in ending.


For the empire!