On my first playthrough, I was sure I would be a stormcloak, but having a look at it, Ulfric is terrible and the Empire is what is needed to defeat the Thalmor. The Empire is getting weaker and the Thalmor are getting stronger. The Empire needs Skyrim (and Hammerfell) to remain/rejoin the Empire or at least come to an agreement to fight for them in the war, and find some secret way to betray the Thalmor when their troops are at their highest. If the Stormcloaks win, perhaps they could keep their land safe from the Thalmor, but they'll do nothing to fight it. The Thalmor will slowly gain power over the continually weakend empire until they can completely assimilate the Empire and kill off any remaining armies with ease.0 As dull as I find the Empire, they are good rulers and are the largest force besides the Thalmor and the only chance of fully defeating them. The whole civil war is terrible for either side, as it only weakens both Nords and Imperials, making the Dominion gain the upper hand more than ever.

I don't admire or even like Ulfric. The only reason I sided with the Stormcloaks was for my own purpose, I despise the legion greatly for them banning the worship of Talos and so I shall kill them all off. I don't agree with Ulfric's racism against elves, beast races and other men races but what can I do? Raid Solitude by myself?

Well, I pretty much won the Civil War battles singlehandedly so...

The Thalmor banned Talos worship, not the Empire which is the former's puppet regime. And as long as peasant degenerates like Ulfric keep mauling the Legion, the Thalmor gain more ground.
Furthermore, permitting racism against minorities to defend a tooth fairy is IMO the worst thing man can do. Of course that stems from my real-life beliefs (or lack thereof) but I oppose any kind of worship and indoctrination if it leads to discrimination of any group. Thus, I work against the Stormcloaks. I don't kill them on sight though, mind you, as I'm not a savage like they are.


(I currently consider myself a Thalmor supporter and play as an Altmer, but so far I'm keeping an open doors policy, being new to the series )

I can't just waltz in the place and kill all the guards that come at me then go "HERP DERP, I WIN!!!!" they'll just respawn.

Aye!

I have been holding off on joining a side for a long time because I wasn`t sure which side was the good side. I think of the imperials like the romans, they conquered and killed whoever didn`t swear obedience. Plus they wanted to freakin behead me when they didn`t even know my name or anything about me. So they kinda seem like pricks to me. Now Ulfric from what I`ve seen so far is doing what any countryman would do for his people. Again, I haven`t joined sides so I don`t know how he turns out the further you get into the story. All I know he killed the king in fair combat that was tradional for the nords. Also if you go to his castle before you join any side and just talk to him and listen to his conversations he has with the people in his throne room, he does seem like he is meant to be the underdog hero against the empire. So I am still undecided on which faction to join.

sigh seriously about the racism.... The freaking ELVES came to Skyrim for a freaking handout from the deceased king, Nords dont do handouts which pissed the Elves off. The Elves expected to come to Skyrim and have Skyrim conformed to their way of life, but wasnt expecting to conform to the way of life in Skyrim. Nords dont care about ANYBODY until u ahev proved ur worth, then ur just like every other person to them. Hell maybe if the Elves would quit complainign about 'why do i have to fight in this war? its not MY war so i dotn see i have any part of Skyrim's future, etc etc" and actually start contributing to the society like the other stormcloak towns and maybe help out in the war, then the Elves have turned themselves into wasted space in the eyes of the Nords to an actual person and then ull start getting reconized as a person. Now if ur a high elf....sry then ur screwed because not only does ulfric hate u but pretty much every other citizen of skyrim or soldier that faught in the war, but thats a given.

Point is Ulfric aint racist, he juist dosent deal with whiners and deadbeats who dotn contribute.why should he waste his time or resourses?

I think both sides are relatively even in this respect. You've got good appointments and bad appointments for Jarl on both sides. Like if you go Stormcloak, the Silver-Bloods take over Markarth in name as well as in position, and we know they aren't the most upstanding people. Plus, the previous Jarl of Riften barely rules the city or did anything to halt the Thieves Guild either, her steward was heavily involved with them. Now, in Falkreath, the Stormcloak candidate is an improvement, but you could say the same for the Imperial candidates of Winterhold and Windhelm through cooperation with the college and protecting the other races from discrimination.

As to the Battle-Borns, yeah, their patriarch is kind of a [censored]. But the children aren't so bad really. .

Edit: There's also Jarl Balgruff, who's a sensible Jarl and and is generally good to the player. I know a lot of people are ambivalent about deposing him, because he seems like a very traditionalist Nord as well and has treated the player kindly in the past, yet you take his city and exile him anyways for wanting to protect his Hold from siege and the horrors of war.

Nothing is black and white in this war my friend, all choices have positives and negatives as well as all people.

great points!

Would Free-Winter become Jarl of Windhelm if Ulfric becomes High King?

Edit: I think Vignar and Balgruuf are about even.

Which means if he did go there, it must have been one hell of a fight, and his spirit is very strong.

And also means he wasn't necessarily a good guy, he's simply an epic fighter who died in a very epic battle and fought in an epic way.

Btw, I support Stormcloak, not Ulfric. That guy (what was his name again? Gramlan?) Asked me to swear loyalty to Ulfric. Well, I agreed because I think it's pretty much the same anyway: if the leader died, someone else will take the position, and I won't suddenly go to Sovngarde along with him.

Besides, the people of Windhelm are not exactly racist. I believe that in Windhelm, a mer told me that she gets a better treatment from townsfolk because she could prove her worth. I believe she's a meat seller or something.

Oh, and come on. Perhaps the Empire is trying to recover to fight Thalmor for another day, but in Markarth, a Thalmor ambassador acts all high and mighty, and says: "The Empire exists because we allow it to"

I quickly sided with the Stormcloaks. For me, the Empire is just a crumbling rubble of its former glory. And I doubt with Thalmor ambassador everywhere and Thalmor Justicar roamig the wilds the Empire could pull itself together enough to fight Thalmor again. The Thalmor will surely find out what the Empire is doing and suppress its power. The Stormcloaks, however, would have none of that, and will stand a better chance should they succeed and united all of Skyrim.

And I like Talos anyway. Better than that Akatosh or something.

I think High King is still technically the Jarl of their hold, so unless Ulfric moves to Solitude it seems unlikely.

That would be correct. Ulfric would remain in Windhelm and Elisif in Solitude. Ulfric would be the high king now though, instead of just a jarl

You missed my point. I didn't say it was fabricated. You have to consider the nature of a document. This is presumably a report made by field agents to the home office. Even if they weren't Altmer (who pretty much re-define "self aggrandizement"), it's natural that you try to make screw-ups look better than they are and puff up any little advantage to something it's maybe not.

Tell me, do you apply Occam's Razor to politicians' speeches? Sales pitches? If so, I have some potions to sell you, only 500 septims apiece! Make love like a Khajiit!

ulfric would be high king if he lived long enough.

his general i could stomach, he doesn't pretend to be something he isn't

ulfric, he is really good at using his mouth. he should stick to what he knows.

without his general he is nothing more than an ingrown toe nail.

i followed ulfric so i could kill him if need be. it is more about sticking it to the thalmor than anything else.