Did you notice that the Thalmor were at Helgen?

It's in their interest to prolong the unrest in Skyrim so the Empire has to keep a lot of men away from the border
Unfortunately, the Dragonborn and Lorik ends up in the wrong cart. The road on which the cart is going at the beginning of the intro sequence leads to a closed gate to Cyrodil. At an intersection it takes a road back to Helgen. I think this is a hint that the execution is hastly organized by the imperials to prevent other 'external forces' to interfere with the war and save Ulfric (be them Stormcloacks or Thalmor agents)

SPOILER

No

The original post is "if Lokir was executed because he stole just one horse, why do we only have to pay 50 gold?"
2 other posts before your 2nd post here revolves only around that

As for "get rid of the unknown", I call crap

Because they managed to know who Lokir is: Lokir from Rorikstead. There must be some sort of identification beforehand.
Even if they don't know, getting rid of the unknown is not exactly the best course of action. Good if we're just another Stormcloak. Bad if we're actually Thalmor spy. Even worse if we're actually Imperial spy

Delaying execution to gain further confirmation is the best course of action. Scratch that, the best course of action is to interrogate the "unknown", because they have a torture room right there in the dungeons
Executing Ulfric should have been top priority, because Ulfric is well-known to be the root of the Stormcloaks. No Ulfric No Stormcloaks.
Besides, each and every prisoner has already been tied. Still armored, perhaps, but bare-handed. No amount of "reacting" will make matters any worse. They were in an Imperial controlled-area. Archers everywhere, guards in every gate

Tullius was too excited to have caught Ulfric and chance to put an end to the war before it even truly begun. A few heads here and there..

Why would you delay the execution? Who cares if you kill some random spy? The war is over, that's all that matters.

As for the difference in punishments that's purely gameplay. There are people in jail for muder that stay there for months or even years, you can pay of a genocide in a month... It's just gameplay.

"Because they managed to know who Lokir is: Lokir from Rorikstead. There must be some sort of identification beforehand."

He is from Skyrim, is a Nord, is a Theif(If he done it before) missing from his town. Its highly likely he was added to the suppision list long before he was caught.

But like i said, You were all caught at StormCloak Trap, so you must be Stormclaoks.. They are treating everyone as SC, they don't care if your a refugee or a theif.

Don't forget, the one guy walked forward to be 1st...
You can also look at it as...
Hey Ulfric.. watch as we kill all your followers. This is what you have done Ulfric!! muahahhaa!!

They really don't seem to care, and its pointed out in-game that it was hastly done. But ether way, you are all treated like SC, on-list or not.

Its a security messure that was done in real life as well, but the thing is you guys are making the imperials out to be evil for this when in fact the stormcloaks would do the same if they were in charge of skyrim.

I honeslty like Imperials. I get why they are killing all of us. Why they signed the treaty and why they are trying to take back there footholds.

I dislike stormcloaks... well mostly Ulfric for starting a fight with people who darn well will help save world. He picked a really bad time to start a fight..

Perhaps because if I were Tullius, by delaying the execution of some random unknown dude/gal, I can execute Ulfric much earlier? And perhaps I can end the war that day if I were to do that? I dunno, all this strategic decisions is making my head hurt

The guy was not killed first to give Ulfric psychological damage. The guy was literally asking for it
It was hastily done, but their priorities were very shaky

The focus of the thread was "why the hell was Lokir executed while we only have to pay 50 gold? For the same crime?". Was there even any talk about which one is more evil? Did someone focused on the Imperials rather than their decisions? I can't remember, really.

Off topic but I always laugh when the archers kill him and as he's falling to the ground his hands are magically unbound.

1: Its game logic, it doesn't always make sense
2: He stole a horse and attempted to illegally cross a protected border
3: He could've been a stormclock agent disguised as a thief but the imperials had no way of knowing
4: Again he was just caught in the crossfire it happens a lot.

the thing i find funny is Lokir would have probably survived if he had not tried to run when he did.

When you have number 1, there is really no point to make number 2 to 4

Tullius had no way of knowing a dragon would show up, nobody knew the Imperials were going to Helgen, if word had reached the Stormcloacks and if they wanted to stage a rescue attempt they would have spend at least a few days getting ready and a necessary amount of troops into the area.

Killing Ulfric first or last on a group of 10 people isn't going to cause a problem, it's a matter of minutes maybe an hour, nothing more. So there is no strategic advantage to killing anybody before the other, cruelty might have you kill all the soldiers before Ulfric just to make him suffer, but that's the only real reason to do anything in sequence.

Well the Dragonborn was going to be executed for just being there

The key to understand the whole rushed execution IS that Thalmor ambassador was present at Helgen. I bet she came to ask that Ulfric was given to them, the official excuse being that he's the direct responsible of violating the terms of the White Gold concordat etc, etc, etc...

Let me state again: they want him alive and causing trouble to keep the Empire busy. Tullius rushes the execurtion, they don't have time to make a formal request which the Empire, probably, cannot deny.

Maybe they didn't feel like talking about what he did with the horse after he stole it.

Good reason, but i'm pretty sure that the Empire has the ability to deny such a request. Ulfric violated a treaty with a foreign power by declaring civil war on his Emperor and the people he was sworn to protect. Still dragging out an execution would drag out the war, so Tullius did have good reason to rush the entire situation.

I can see no better reasons than he was a known Talos worshipper.

pay attention to 0:25 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeLUi_20Nrg

They assumed he was a Stormcloak spy.

As to how they knew his name? Well...I have no idea. They could've compiled a list, but it would have been sloppy work when they apparently miss Dragonborn and don't bother demanding his/her name.

As for Ulfric, remember that Stormcloak dude who walked forward in the middle of the priest's sermon? They decided to oblige him by skipping the last rites and proceed with the execution. Of course, after that, they should've gone after Ulfric, not us.

This.

The Imperials cannot justify their means...

Perhaps the dragonborn was arrested later, perhaps the guy was already on the list as a possible stormcloack supporter and being arrested around them made it clear, perhaps somebody else knew the guy and just added him to the list. Dozens of options doesn't have to be strange at all.

As for the execution order, it wouldn't have made a difference. It wasn't even relevant, yes calling you before Ufrlic seems weird but it's not like it would have made a difference if Alduin hadn't show his ugly face.

It might be as simple as they just *asked* his name during the arrest, before he realized he was going to be executed anyway. The Dragonborn was conveniently unconscious and couldn't answer.

valid point.

I mean, keep in mind the stormcloaks were beaten. Nothing could save them. Ulfric was going to die. Then, the last thing, the most outlandish thing anyone could have ever thought of, let alone anticipated, happened: a dragon showed up. No way they could plan for such a thing. This was going to be the end of the stormcloaks; they could take their time, switch up the order of execution, it didn't matter, because at the end of the day, Ulfric's head was going to be rolling around on the ground.

Until the dragon showed up.

also, the reason Lokir was on the list? He's "a damn dirty ape!"