For those of us who went with Hadvar we met his uncle who is a Blacksmith. Quite a few of advantages there. Those who went with Ralof met a Woman who owns a mill.......what is the advantage there? She should have been a fletcher or something it's unfair on the player who picked Ralof is it not?

Not really. The only benefit is that you if you do with Hadvar it's eaiser to join the Empire in the war versus going with Rolaf to make it eaiser to join the Storm Cloaks. Other than that there isn't any real advantage, as neither one really gives you anything substantial. You can still use the Blacksmith even if you don't go with Hadvar.

There's no difference at all, apart from some dialogue which is simply recycled anyway.

You can still take the blacksmiths quests.

I think there kind of is. I went with Hadvar anyway though so I don't mind

If you go with Ralof you get a key to the house.If you go with Hadvar you don't.
This means you can get into Ralof's sisters house,I forget her name, anytime you want.
Alvor locks his house at night so you can't get in,even when you are allready in his wife tells you to get out at night.

Seems to me that the advantage would be going with Ralof.

I got a key.

There isn't, trust me. Even the sleeping bonus goes away after a few nights. You'll find most things in this game are recycled, like the how the civil war is exactly the same on both sides. How the tutorial section is exactly the same for both Ralof and Hadvar.

Good point

So?

Does it really matter in which house you sleep? I don't see any difference. You get to stay at the house and get a key at either house, I know because I've done both.

I don't recall getting a key to Alvor's place, but I've only done it a few times. And really, it is no big deal as I don't stay at either place. Never have.

The only advantage, if you can call it that, that I can see from going with Hadvar is when you do the smithing "quest" (which you can do no matter who you go with or with other blacksmiths if you don't do it in Riverwood) you can then take the steel and iron ingots by the workbench for free. If you go with Ralof it is stealing to take them.

But really, if you call that an "advantage" your standards are pretty low.

I didn't know about the ingots, that is a slight advantage but not one worth worrying about. I pesonally would have made advantages to both so that it gives you an incentive to try both as well as making significant differences in both sides of the war so that you have an incentive to replay it. The way it is now, there really is no incentive to replay anything. That's sad.

Yeah and with 1.5 you have a ton of advantage. You'll increase your smithing skill by a ton and your level as well.
Clearly, level balancing in 1.5 was not something they wanted to add.

That has nothing to do with Hadvar or Ralof. You can use the blacksmith no matter which one you choose.

This.
Same thing. You get some free stuff from their inventory which is completely random, and you're friendly with both families no matter who you return with, aka you can trade with Alvor if you go with Ralof.