Whiterun isn't a stormcloak city, and only a few of the elves in windhelm's gray quarter are from good houses. The majority are refugees from a home that was destroyed.

Also the storm cloaks are racist and will allow bandits to kill any non-nords while will come to the rescue of nords.

Then you'll have to get it remade. Because the mede empire sure doesn't have it together.

I believe in the Empire 110%, even though my character is a proud Nord. He hates the Thalmor more than anything in the world, but he is very unracist. He was raised by a Khajiit trader, an old Breton mage, a Dunmer mercenary, and a Redguard ex-soldier turned mercenary (long story). He is a devote worshipper of Talos and a true Nord. He followed Hadvar into the keep, and fought alongside him during the war. Although he has respect for the beliefs of the Stormcloaks, he doesn't see what they do as justice or rightesnous. Ulfric is excessivly racist and a Nordic suprmecist. The Empire only listens to the Thalmor because they have too, if they didn't sign teh treaty the Empire would have been destroyed. I believe they gave up Hammerfell because they knew they had the highset chance of driving out the Thalmor. They didn't want to bannish Talos worship, but they had to. The Empire hate the Thalmor, Tullius himself said he doesn't like them.

When it comes down to the wellfdare of the entire Empire, including Skyrim, the Legion is your best bet. The Stormcloaks may fight for Nord freedom and independence, but they also fight against the Empire that their Divine Hero created. I believe Talos would understand not worshipping for a short time if it meant the downfall of the Aldmeri Dominion, the very enemy he fought when he conquered Tamriel himself.

The Mede dynasty no.
But

Tiber Septim(Talos) was also a powermad deceiver and a backstabber. He betrayed two of his friends, had the heart ripped out of one, and used it to power a giant stompy robot so he could conquer Tamriel. The guy was quite similar to Ulfric. He achieved heaven through violence. Mede doesn't understand the empire. He'd sacrifice everything so long as he could keep his precious imperial city.



Really? Try attacking one in windhelm or riften or winterhold, see what happens.

Not if you

True and in Truth I don't like them at all, but the fact that certain event don't happen until you actually Join them is at least a slight indicator that this is an idea that may be canon

Ulfric goes to Sovngarde when he dies which means if he did go there, it must have been one hell of a fight, and his spirit is very strong.

And also means he wasn't necessarily a good guy, he's simply an epic fighter who died in a very epic battle and fought in an epic way.

Btw, I support Stormcloak, not Ulfric. That guy (what was his name again? Gramlan?) Asked me to swear loyalty to Ulfric. Well, I agreed because I think it's pretty much the same anyway: if the leader died, someone else will take the position, and I won't suddenly go to Sovngarde along with him.

Besides, the people of Windhelm are not exactly racist. I believe that in Windhelm, a mer told me that she gets a better treatment from townsfolk because she could prove her worth. I believe she's a meat seller or something.

Oh, and come on. Perhaps the Empire is trying to recover to fight Thalmor for another day, but in Markarth, a Thalmor ambassador acts all high and mighty, and says: "The Empire exists because we allow it to"

I quickly sided with the Stormcloaks. For me, the Empire is just a crumbling rubble of its former glory. And I doubt with Thalmor ambassador everywhere and Thalmor Justicar roamig the wilds the Empire could pull itself together enough to fight Thalmor again. The Thalmor will surely find out what the Empire is doing and suppress its power. The Stormcloaks, however, would have none of that, and will stand a better chance should they succeed and united all of Skyrim.

And I like Talos anyway. Better than that Akatosh or something.

Not to mention that the Jarls who most support the Empire are corrupt as hell. The Jarl of Falkreath is spoiled and corrupt since he makes deals with bandits, makes his steward do all his work, and makes you do tasks like bring him expensive ale since he says "Being Jarl is great. You get so many benefits but don't have to do anything." Not to mention the Black-Briars support the Empire and will essentially legally run Riften if you help the Legion which is bad by itself if you're a do-gooder. The Battle-borns aren't better since they act all mockingly to the Grey-manes even though they lost a son and the Battle-borns know the son was taken by the thalmor to be tortured and killed. In addition, if you do the thieves guild quests, you do a task for a the leader of the Battle-borns to help a murderer get free by changing his identity. Does that seem like someone good? Now take a look at the Grey-manes, one of the more friendly people in Whiterun.

I was talking about ulfric only sending soldiers to help out nords that are raided by bandits while leaving non-nords to die. I was not speaking of the actual gameplay.

Gameplay/story segregation, it's used alot it in Skyrim. Kinda like the beast races aren't allowed in Windhelm even though the Dragonborn can enter Windhelm even if s/he is a Argonian or Khajiit.

That is true that can happen still

All in all the op should still play through both sides and make the choice for himself/herself.

Edit: added "herself" just in case

Sup spoiler

side with the Stormcloaks if you want to watch the world burn

Same could be said for the Imperials considering who is in charge of some cities under Imperial control.

???

WARNING SPOILERS!!!!


The Imperials are supported by most of the corrupt nobles in Skyrim. You imperial supporters say the Thalmor need to be dealt with but how long will it take and how much damage will be done if these people are put in charge. For example, the Empire places Maven Black-Briar as Jarl of Riften if they control it. That is bad since she can now legally do whatever she wants to the city. While the Stormcloak supporting Jarl was influenced by her, at least she tried to do things to help the city like eliminate the drug trade. Do you honestly think Maven will do anything like that since she now legally owns that city.

Another example is Falkreath. The Jarl there is a spoiled, corrupt brat. He makes his steward do all the work, makes deals with bandits in order to get money, and essentially tells you "You should be a Jarl since you get so many benefits without having to do anything." I doubt the city will ever become anything as long as that spoiled twit is running the city. At least the last Jarl, though paranoid, seems to actually care about what happens to the city and wants to maintain it as healthy as possible.

Legion supporting families are also bad. Take the Battle-borns. When they are not hating people who don't like them and insulting the rivals over the lose of their son even though they know he is being tortured and killed by Thalmor. Not the mention the fact that the Battle-borns are willing to enlist the Thieves Guild to help a murderer get free by changing his identity and essentially allowing the Thieves Guild power in Whiterun. Aren't these people so good?

It's not the legions fault that the only people capable of holding the position of jarl are bad. Jarls are a hereditary position established by Nordic tradition and even when someone else is put into power they can't just choose from anybody. It has to be someone that has the ability, charisma and all that stuff to lead. There isn't really anyone better to choose from in those cities.

Edit:
I do believe that the addition of the [censored]s on the side of the legion was to counteract the racism and other downside of the stormcloaks

I love how you latch onto the only two bad Jarls allied to the Legion and point to the ONLY decent Jarl on the Stormcloak side.

Spoilers!

There we go, good post! I've gone over the same thing before, but people don't want to see that the ills of one faction are reciprocated by the other. For each Black-Briar you have a Silver-Blood, etc. It's pretty even in this war, it's your ideals and your perspective that will decide which side you choose, as good and bad deeds/representatives just can't be quantified in a simple manner.

Don't worry about which side will win in your calculations. Whichever side you choose will win, there's no other option. They have a Dragonborn on their side, an invincible warrior with the ability to summon storms and move faster than the eye can see, with only his voice. You're the new Talos of the world, it's almost certain that you'll end up forming or reforming the empire, anyway.

Honestly? I think that both sides has its problems. The Empire tends to do the right thing, but for the wrong reasons(because it's under immense pressure from the Thalmor).

The Stormcloaks are racists that don't mind murdering perfectly decent people just because they're not Nords, but they're doing it for the sake of their freedom.

So the empires littles are good, bigs are bad. Stormcloaks littles are bad, bigs are good. Just decide which you think is more important.

It's quite a simple to choose:
If you think Talos worshiping should be allowed, choose Stormcloaks.
If you accept the execution you saw on your first visit in Solitude, allow the Thalmor embasy working in Skyrim and accept all the Imperial laws then accept The Imperial Legion.

DEMOCRACY!!! LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!!

Yes but the Empire is about Democracy and rules, enforcement and punishment of breaking the rules

For those who say Ulfric is racist...there's a book that goes on about how dark elves in the Grey Quarter are corrupt and aren't adapting to Nordic customs as they are expected to, just following their own. Crime is supposedly rampart there too. I'm sure if you let some foreigners in and they screwed around with your city, paying no respect for the local laws and customs, you'd be pretty pissed too. Not that it makes me like Ulfric much more, but there's more to him then alot of people realize I think.