Why was the Legion going to execute him for stealing a horse while when the dragonborn steals a horse, he only gets a bounty of... 50 gold? umm..

Because Tullius was in a head-shortening mood.

Because there was a female Legion captain there

Endless possibilities really, depending on how creative you want to get.

1. He's a repeat offender to the point where he has a reputation.
2. The horse he stole belonged to some noble with connections.
3. He was arrested, and escaped, so he's bothersome.
4. They assume he's Stormcloak related, and no loss there.

Really there's nothing suggesting he was being executed specifically and solely as punishment for stealing a horse.

Probably for the same reason they were going to execute you. Wrong place, wrong time.

Your name was not on the list, and you go to the block before Ulfric Stormcloak.
There's nothing suggesting that no matter what crime, you all were going to the block anyway

This.

You were rounded up with everyone else in that ambush. Including Lokir. That was good enough. Just being in the same area with the Stormcloaks was good enough. The better question would be why his name is on the list. When was the list compiled?

That's a very good question

And why is it that only 4 of us was listed? I don't hear people from other caravan listed?

It'd be this.

Gotta execute someone

Maybe so they can execute Ulfic along with common criminals

Its because he was really a thalmor spy trying to undermine the stormcloak cause and kill ulfric and to unleash the third numidium to just destroy nordic culture for those devil worshipping imperials who want to enslave everyone! LONG LIVE ULF- Ok no...Its because in most cultures stealing a horse was punishable by death, especially in nordic.

Flawed argument, dude; why doesn't the Dragonborn receive the same punishment? That's the main point of this thread I think.

But unlike the player, his name *was* on the list.

Why was it on the list?

Because there was no way to be sure that the Dragonborn wasn't just a secret agent for the stormcloaks or a reinforcement, really its not that bloody hard to figure out. >.>

He was trying to cross the border, as he mentioned. Further, the reason his name was on the list is primarily due to him being known in the area. Just as it says, "You were trying to cross the border, right?"
Perhaps you were crossing INTO Skyrim, and hence they wouldn't know anything of you previously.

Or, perhaps you simply materialized out of thin air close to an ambush between two rival gangs with no affiliation to either one.

Because DUDE, even after you were established to be THE Dragonborn, guards still say "Gotta thinking, maybe I am the Dragonborn"
It's not that bloody hard to see that your argument is flawed. Nobody knows who the Dragonborn is up until much later in the game, and by the time you may very well have killed thousands of Aldmeri soldiers, Thalmor Agents, Thalmor Justiciars, and steal thousands of horses. What have you

And here assaulting the Jarl only means a few days of prison sentence

I am assuming Cider! is simply referring to the character as Dragonborn, not suggesting people know we are the Dragonborn, i.e. there's no way to be sure we (the character) were Stormcloak reinforcements.

Because General Tullius and the rest of the imperials are murderous bastards. DOWN WITH THE IMPERIALS!

We are discussing about the executions at the beginning of the game, BEFORE the dragons came in. Most nords just thought the dragonborns were another legend fading into a myth and another thing the player character is unknown by both the legion and the local population but since they were caught in the middle of both a battle and the player character trying to flee from the conflct and pass the border the troopers probably assumed he/she was a stormcloak soldier or something. Then to be sure to be safe that the player character wasn't a stormcloak agent they decided to execute him/her, trust me if the stormcloaks were in charge and were lining up imperials to kill they wouldn't have given a second thought on executing you.

Agreed, we know that.


Disagree, we don't know that.


Agreed, we know that.

Speculation.... irrelevant.

Also Lokir rode the horse he stole pass the border so the imperials still had a reason to execute him because he could've been a stormcloak spy trying to pass the border to rile up the nords in cyrodiil who still honor the classic nord beliefs and claim they are under threat, as well other propaganda and lies the stormcloaks spread amongst the nords.

Honestly.. when i Played it...

I was thinking why they didn't off Ulfric from start...
Then I remembered the one guy steps forward during preist talking...
Then I'm picked out, I was thinking about the B-word of Imperial and giving her evil glares.. so when she called me next to block.. I was like. Opps. Maybe i shouldn't have stuck my tounge out at her.

I was thinking why they didn't off Ulfric from start...
Which bring me back to this..
If they had killed him, the others would have likely fought back instantly. So saving leader for last insures some level of control.

As for not being on list, (Wrong place, wrong time fits)
And fact, they have Ulfric and a Unknown. Get rid of unknown element, and procede as planned.

As for Horse theif.. he claims to be not a rebel, (as they call all "of us" so it seems they don't care he is a horse theif or you a random person corssing border. You where there at Trap for Storm Claoks, so you must be a Storm Cloak.

Why risk letting "1" Stormcloak go, and have them spread word of Ulfric death to promote more reason to fight the Empire.

Yes finally someone gets it! Thank you yuffie, you have enough intelligence to see that.

Maybe he couldnt pay the 50 gold bounty. I think the majority of people live day to day and dont have as much as 50 gold, which isnt suprising if you see how much a bottle of mead or some food costs lol