I think they do it because their last game Oblivion was so much about the Empire and its heroic deeds fighting against evil that they wanted to set the balance for Skyrim by pushing you a bit into liking the Stormcloaks while you still have all of your fond memories of the Empire from Oblivion.

My bosmer joined up with the legion after he was freed.It was all a misunderstanding anyway at the boarder. He knows the dominion will exterminate humanity if its not united to face them, so he's going to prepare for that. The altemer will most certianly betray the week and disorganized bosmer, he wants to prepare for it.

To me,I hadnt planned on making a decision untill I had the whole story. Once I had it, the choice was clear to me.

well the 1st time i went to windhelm and heard the 1st conversation ulfuric had i knew he was rascist so i went imperial!

soo i blame u if u missed that 1

the things is for me that the empire is now enforcing THALMOR regulation and law by outlawing talos worship and killing people based of their choices to worship a man.. who is the founder of the EMPIRE.

the thalmor elves even tell you that they will show you that the MER is greater than MEN.

ima redgaurd, the empires failed, it was important along time ago but now its just an oppressive regime with no real leadership anymore. Besides Shouldnt a Dragonborn be king!? i should be king.. ,

if i could i would slaughter both sides.

I don't want to read too much more because there are some spoilers here.

But my personal preference is for the Stormcloaks. Though I have not got far enough into the game to uncover much about the conflict. At this point in time I think I just like them. Cooler names and I liked teaming up with Ralof at the start.

I will probably side with them with my first character, a Nord, but will play through the Empire side with another character.

Because the Empire as a whole isnt racist I chose to go with it.

I mightve chosen differently if I rolled a Nord or another race

The Akaviri intervene. The Tsaesci use their weather magic to destroy the Thalmor fleet protecting Summerset Isle, leaving it completely open to an attack from the Empire, so the Thalmor attempt to sign another peace treaty with the Empire, on the Empire's terms.

But..but... Mighty Talos is a GOD I tell you. Why I can worship at his shrine and receive a Blessing of... "Time between shouts is reduced 0%" ?!?!?! What is this, the "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine" of Nirn? OK, I got nothin'.

Wow. That was subtle and totally tasteful. Well done... /golfclap


I had to re-make my first character, because after a later event in 'That Town' I realised I'd picked a side I didn't like.
Hadvar and Alvor put things in much more perspective when I sided with the Imperials from the get go.

Ahh, so I wasn't the only one XD

Yeah, the second time around on the other side felt so much more right and epic.

Except

Also ,lets not forget that a big part of the population si happy with the empire, that is why Ulfric have so much trouble getting support from the jarls.

My only concern would be escaping my execution, so I would follow whomever seemed most able to aid my escape. I absolutely would not side with either the Stormcloaks or the Imperials, not based on a brief, chance exposure to a handful of people. This is not some trivial picking of sides for shoolyard basketball.

Bethesda does not push you toward the Stormcloaks.

I followed Hadvar, cause i like him as a person. So i just befriended him but never took side. I kinda like Riverwood.

I chose Empire because the 'leader' is a chick.

The stormcloaks are the only ones with the balls to stand up for their beliefs. The empire took the low road and rolled over for the Dominion. They gave up belief in one of there gods because someone said they would kill them if they didn't. Anyone who will do something like that doesnt deserve to rule over anyone. Stormcloaks would rather die than give up what they believe in and that is what makes them the right choice. Granted Ulffric isn't the best guy but no one else was willing to step forward and make the hard decision to stand and fight.

Tullias Hates the thalmor with a passion, Because they outlawed Talos Worship, And later in the game You see how Badass The Current emperor is!

He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.

Ulfric has a crippling lack of foresight and perspective. He follows his heart, not his mind. He also has a problem taking "no" as an answer, and also has a troubling "with us or against us" mentality. He also mistakedly claims himself king. Elisif has claim to the throne... she does not claim the throne as hers already.

To quote Odin from the recent Thor movie... Ulfric is a vain cruel greedy boy.

Also... Near the Rift hold Imperial camp, I found a little curiousity... a Talos shrine, surrounded by imperial legion paraphenalia. In all likelihood, a secret shrine for the encampment out of sight of any visiting Thalmor jackboots. It seems that the Legion has as much regard for the Concordat as the Thalmor do for Imperial sovereignty.

I moved this to spoilers.

Interesting that the OP had an interpretation of being pushed to the Stormcloaks. I didn't feel pushed at all. I was annoyed that I got caught up and nearly executed because of the Stormcloaks when I had nothing to do with them. I was annoyed at the unthinking angry beauracracy of the the first Imperial [censored] who didn't want to hear anything about why I was accidentally caught in a round up. (And who, in stupid fashion, didn't behead the strong leader they had captured first and foremost.) I was grateful for the kindness of the Imperial dude who tried to speak on my behalf and who I followed out of the dragon riddled area. Thereafter, as I played the game, I never felt any pressure to join either, although I assumed i would have to pick one. If anything, once I got to Windhelm, playing a Dunmer character, I wanted to murder Ulfric, or at least some of his nordic dunmer mating compatriots. Starting with Rolff. That has made me rethink the Imperial side of things.

I chose to join Stormcloak exactly because it was almost game over for my neck, that, and Ralof is a good guy

I didn't take much offense at the racism the Nords imposed. After all, the Dominion consists of elves, and it's pretty acceptable to not like elves in general because of that

I was a bit shocked when I overheard Ulfric and Galmar's conversation, yes (he sounded more like a supervillain than a knight), but I've already decided: I'm a Nord, I can use Thu'um, and I'm gonna stay loyal to my brother Nords.

EDIT:
Say, this is getting interesting. You say the "leader" is a chick, and I get to see how badass the current Emperor is? Probably gonna stay away from Windhelm for quite some time then.

Chicks are always good.

im with the OP. i felt VERY pushed to go stormcloak

first off, lets look at the intro. ur on a carriage as a prisoner and a nord is talking to u. slightly biased.

u arrive and realize the empire has u captured for no reason at all. they dont even know y ur there. but they'll behead u anyway. awesome...

then alduin comes and decides beheading u would ruin the fun and im supposed to choose imperials or nords (u dont know they're stormcloak yet). anyone choosing to join the side of the guys that wanted to behead them did so under prior knowledge. i RP a character that doesnt know anything of past games or lore. theres no reasonable way people would choose imperials here.

they we get to riverwood with a bunch of proud nords who just wanna be free. cool... now im waiting for the imperial part of things to get me on their side after such a bug stormcloak push...

nope. whiterun with the nords and a giant debate. do i go with the money-hungry nords favoring the empire and getting rich, or do i go for the proud nords who follow tradition and go for stormcloaks. o and the empire kidnapped a child and took it to a thalmor base. cool... no imperial upsides yet...


at no point in the game, is there any time where the imperials are shown in a light that would make a player want to join them unless they had prior knowledge of lore. not liking ulfric is not a good reason to join the imperials. its a reason to not join the stormcloaks but its not a reason to join imperials at all. the enemy of my enemy is my friend is the ONLY thing that made people join the empire. thats it (i disregard prior knowledge of lore people since the game should not assume that).

I agree, actually, on my first play through, I picked the stormcloaks because of the impression your given about the empire. After trips to Windhelm and other Stormcloak heavy areas, I realized they are just racist bigots who aren't willing to accept change (i.e. other races in Skyrim), I was rather annoyed by this implication.

I also felt the strong Stormcloak push at the beginning of the game. However after I rolled a second character and followed Hadvar my opinion changed in a heart beat.

Prior to my second character I knew nothing of the Thalmor and the war. After learning about it and then further investigating I realized how short sighted Ulfric and his Stormcloaks are. The banning of Talos is nothing but a small burying of the hatchet until The Empire can strike back. Those that fail to see that, or call The Empire weak for it possess no foresight or ability to plan. It's evident that The Empire doesn't plan to stay under the treaty forever and when the war starts again Talos worship will be back.

Furthermore Ulfric is using the Talos ban as a tool to get more power. It's practically in your face the entire time. He has no real interest in being a good leader, he's a tyrant interested only in power. I highly suggest people read the book "The Bear of Markarth" His treatment of the Foresworn is nothing short of genocide, AGAINST HIS OWN PEOPLE. His "with us or against us" mentality made him and his men kill women and children who did not side with him when he attacked the Foresworn.

As mentioned in that book the people were very happy under Foresworn rule and it was largely a peaceful kingdom that actually applied for official Imperial recognition, until Ulfric and his marry band of bandits got there. That is exactly the same strategy he plans to use for Whiterun as well.

There is also the case of him killing the High King. If you talk to the aids in Solitude they'll tell you what happened. Everyone knew Ulfric was there, they all knew he came to ask for Skyrims independence (and by their own admission the old king likely would have supported the idea) however instead of going through normal diplomatic channels to get what he wanted (and likely he would have) he challenged the High King and shouted him to pieces.

That right there is a clear indication of what Ulfric wants. Power. Skyrim would likely have declared its independence from the Empire if Ulfric asked, but it wasn't enough to just be a Jarl, he wants to be the High King. Plain and simple. He's a greedy racist tyrant who is so focused on his own power he doesn't have the foresight to see the real enemy at the gates, the Thalmor. Even if he succeeds he will fall to the Thalmor and then he'll get a taste of his own racist bigotry.

Sure The Empire may have it's problems and corruption but that's nothing close to the problems the people of Skyrim will have under Ulfric.

Long live The Empire!!!

-edit- Autocorrect fails

At OP's spoiler box:
Playing a khajiit, I dont know what side to support. Ulfric and his Stormcloaks seem to be racist towards any non-Nords, but I effin' hate the Thalmor. Also I finished the DB questline, so I don't know if the Legion will take me in with open arms....

i dont get why people cry foul when they see ulfric wanted power. is it really fair for the king to be weaker than his subjects?

ulfric challenged him and won. end of story. he deserves the power he got.

and skyrim was a joke before ulfric. skyrim being accepted into the empire is silly. no respect for the nord traditions at all.

ulfric is not a bad leader. he is an old fashioned leader. there is a big difference and people need to realize that.