I want to go through all the stormcloak camps and wipe them out, but every one of them has an essential commander. Is it possible Bethesda has plans for them in some future DLC? Or do you think it's just an oversight, and surely they don't need those 10-20 commanders all over Skyrim as part of some huge quest and that it is "safe" to set them as unessential.

Would be great if a Bethesda employee would respond lol! But I doubt it

Because they are the good guys DuG!H! really I think it just for show and well they don't want the player ending the war without them taking quest for the war otherwise it would be a waste of quests that my guess.

I really wish I could kill them...

Hm... not sure. I ran into the same issue wiping out the Imperial Whiterun Camp.

I Know its a Shame

He just started telling me to leave when he got up. XD

I've tried killing those barbarian stormcloak commanders countless times. Filthy, hide-wearing brutes, the lot of them. I don't even see why the'yre still around, seeing as I've mercilessly crushed their pathetic insurrection and brought Skyrim back into the security and prosperity of the Empire.

I just wish they'd go back to farming potatoes or something, or even better, that we could send their heads to adorn the Imperial City's walls alongside Ulfric's.