Well let me firstly say that I enjoy Skyrim, it has it's faults and little issues which irritate me (mainly story depth related,) but overall it's very well done game which I am thoroughly enjoying. However, after starting a number of characters and having to go through the prologue multiple times, one thing is really bugging me.
Seems to me Bethesda failed the evil overlord test.

The no 1 rule of the evil overlord list should be:
After years of fighting the rebels and finally capturing the rebel leader with much bloodshed and death, I will execute him FIRST, before any random, unimportant hirelings. Problem solved.

It's a small thing admittedly, but everytime I see that anonymous stormcloak being dragged to the block while Ulfric watches I cringe.

PS I tried to link to the wikipedia page to explain about the Overlords list for those who have never heard of it but it wouldn't allow me to. Apologies

Well, if you progress further into the MQ, you come across proof that

I thought Evil Overlord rule number 1 was: "I will not have helmets that obscure the faces of my henchmen." Ulfric did not follow this rule.

I thought an evil overlord would trap his captive in some impossibly complicated death device, explain all his evil plans to him and then leave in good faith that the deathtrap would do its work.


Or maybe that is just for Batman villains

The thing is, mister non evil overlord random dude asks for it.

He specifically says something like "Sod those whiney ***es, do me first and I will show you how a real Nord dies" And he does do that pretty nicely.

The question why you are next in line and not Ulfric? I don′t know.

No... that's Dr. Evil. And only for Austin Powers.Because the Redguard Captain [censored] has an irrational hatred of heroes and Player Characters.

Yeah, to be honest it's such a small thing - but it does bug me specially as every time I start a new character (which is a lot ) I have to watch the execution again. And every time I wonder what the hell is Tulluis thinking? You got the rebel in your clutches and you don't execute him first? Having said that if evil overlords really stuck to the rules there wouldn't be any hero's left alive in any story.

I always thought Overlord To Do List #1 was : Mandatory advanced marksman training for all henchmen.
Followed shortly by : Name tags for all henchmen containing first & last name.

As far as Ulfric is concerned, I really think executing him is the wrong thing to do. He's already stirred up a rebellion against the Empire, killing him would just make him a martyr for the stormcloaks. He should have been taken back to Solitude and put on trail to discredit and humiliate him in front of his people - then kill him.

There is no black and white. You have to pick sides in this game.

I don't agree, why would they? For all we know at that moment we're all gonna have our heads cut off, so who gives a crap in what order? No one expects the thing will be interrupted, by say, demonic dragon lost in time that decided to go on an imperial swedish table.

Wait... she's a Redguard? I can't tell the difference of the man races in Skyrim. At all. The first TES game this occurs to me.

Anyway, her Legions of Terror don't wear clear plexiglass visors at all. That's better than face-concealing masks, though.

I spent a lot of time wondering why they took Ulfric to Helgen. I would think that either you kill him in the field or you take him to a major city as a show of power.

I assume that there was some intelligence we are not privy to. Maybe the leader in the field that captured him was like "holy crap, Ulfic! What do I do? Better take him back and ask the Captain"

Or perhaps the leader at Helgen received word from on high "Kill him before its too late" and then wanted to sort of lord over the moment as a true middle manager may do.

It just seems to me that trying to kill Ulfric at Helgen was a mistake.