Poll: Skyrim- Who did you side with and why?

[remnant_phoenix]

I went with the Imperials, because they have the best chance of stopping the Thalmor. They're the lesser of two evils. I'm disappointed there was no "Wild Card" option to take over Skyrim yourself though.

Even though we never see it in game, I like to think that, considering how powerful you are in the end-game, you could with either side, but then usurp leadership and declare yourself the new Dragon Emperor, founding a new Imperial bloodline, just like Talos/Tiber Septim did so long ago.

Maybe they'll make some DLC for it. : )

 

[RagTagBand]

Thus far (30 hours in) I've stayed fairly neutral in action (hacking apart stormcloaks and Imperials all the same if they're in my way) But i'm HEAVILY leaning towards siding with the Empire. I'm not under the impression they're perfect but I've yet to meet a non-**** Stormcloak.

One stormcloak loudly proclaimed that I was a bastard for being an Imperial (I have not sided with either yet, I simply am part of the Imperial Race) and then accused me of being a Spy for the Empire...and this is pretty representative of the Stormcloaks. Xenophobic, Preachy, knee-jerk, nationalistic pricks.

The Empire has sided with the Thalmor, whom hate me for numerous reasons, but the empire has a lot of bullshit politics to consider...something that the stormcloaks don't have to consider at all. Yes I was almost executed by "The Empire" but I, personally, don't blame the empire for it. There were TWO imperials that were aware of me not being on the list and one of them didn't want to see me executed...I'm to blame the whole empire because of one **** general? I think not.

So, right now, I'm siding with the Empire.

 

[Preston_r]

Playing through on my DE wizard I chose neutral, but didn't get very far.

On my Khajiit archer sneak I went Stormcloak, and after realizing what racist dummies the Nords are I have decided on a plan.

When everything is said and done, when Alduin is dead, and Ulfric is High King, when the barrows have been cleared and everything else is all wrapped up, I will make my move.

The Thane of all the Jarls, Stormblade, Dovakhim, Arch-Mage, etc etc, and his dunmer wife will walk up to Ulfric and challenge him for the throne of Skyrim.

A true Nord at heart, he has been called, the hero of the people. The savior of Skyrim, how can the Jarls not elect me high-king? Because I am khajiit?

And under my rule a new empire will be born, an empire for all races, equal and free, and the Aldmeri shall tremble as the Dovakhim rides forth to slaughter them.

 

[BlackStar42]

I went with the Imperials, because they have the best chance of stopping the Thalmor. They're the lesser of two evils. I'm disappointed there was no "Wild Card" option to take over Skyrim yourself though.

Even though we never see it in game, I like to think that, considering how powerful you are in the end-game, you could with either side, but then usurp leadership and declare yourself the new Dragon Emperor, founding a new Imperial bloodline, just like Talos/Tiber Septim did so long ago.

Maybe they'll make some DLC for it. : )

That would actually work with the lore as well, considering you are the Dragonborn and everything.

Bethesda, if you're reading this, GET TO FUCKING WORK ALREADY!

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Imperials.
I like the Roman Empire.
All the organization...
The legions...
Good times...
And then they lost their old values when they started worshipping a single god and the empire started to crumble...

Umm... No. The Roman Empire fell because they overextending themselves in their conquests and were unable to control it all. The fall of the Roman Empire had nothing to do with the conversion from their former nationalistic/pagan religion to Roman Catholicism. If anything, the conversion made the Roman Empire more united than it was before the conversion.

Maybe you're just making a joke, or maybe you're just pointing out a correlation between the two things. Either way, I had to respond and ask that you not post misleading things about history. We have enough of that crap on the rest of the internet.

I'm not joking, that's how I view things.
Other religions started being alienated after that whereas before people were allowed to have different religions.

 

[JCBFGD]

I was torn for a little while. Both sides seemed to have equally good points, and equally bad flaws. Until I realised that the Empire was actually very weak, and truly run by the Thalmor. Since the Thalmor are some pretty evil bastards, I decided that the Stormcloak were a better choice for Skyrim, although not by much.

 

[tjcross]

imperial.
first: i HATE ulfrics voice it makes him sound like an evil douchbag trying to look good
second: racism ulfrics wants all elves gone and encourages treating elves like shit in his own hold
Third: most of the imperials hate the thalmor but can't do anything untill the empire is more powerful
forth: most things the empire is blamed for is the fault of the thalmor
fifth: while listening to their battle tactics they sound quite evil

 

[chuckman1]

I went with the empire because when I went to join the stormcloaks I realized how racist they were and said fuck this, I'm going to the imperials.

 

[Ddgafd]

I went with the Stormcloaks for no real reason. I just felt like I had to side with somebody, might as well be the natives. I was at a pretty high level at that point and I thought that the conflict had to be solved at some point.

 

[Smiley Face]

At first I was inclined to go with the Stormcloaks. You start off the game, and they look for all accounts like an unjustly oppressed people - they're overtaxed, religiously persecuted, and want independence from an unfeeling and bureaucratic empire that's screwing up left and right, all of which made them firmly in the right at first glance.

But dig a little deeper, and things are different. Most of the Stormcloak complaints are absurd - their complaint that their sons and daughters are dying in for an uncaring empire implies that those same people didn't volunteer for military service - and seeing as conscription is never, ever mentioned, I can only conclude that the Nords who did die fighting against the Thalmor actually had no problems with what they were doing. Their ridiculous racism doesn't make any damn sense, and wanting to expel all non-Nords from Skyrim is just the same sort of trampling on the lives and rights of minorities they claim to object to. Ulfric may give grand speeches, but looking beneath that, he's a populist, doing things that are stupid and wrong and getting away with it because he's idolized by the masses.

But the real kicker is this - BOTH sides want to wipe the floor with the Thalmor and restore all the liberties the White-Gold Concordat removed. The difference is how they want to go about it. The Stormcloaks short-sightedly, stupidly, and in a typical knee-jerk reaction, cry rebellion without considering this, and as such both weaken the overall anti-Thalmor forces, so that they can go to war RIGHT NOW... and then lose, because they lost against the Thalmor the first time because they weren't ready. The Imperials, on the other hand, are fine sitting through a few years of religious persecution if it lets them rebuild their strength to the point where they can win. The Stormcloak philosophy is bankrupt - in the end, it won't do anyone any good.

It's still amusing to walk into Windhelm, see all the Stormcloak supporters sitting at the table, with Ulfric's corpse lying in the middle.

 

[cahtush]

You're right, that fully explains the aversion towards the khaj...no, wait, it absolutely doesn't. It's just a bad excuse to be bigoted pricks. What, are the nords really such massive morons that they think five argonians being allowed to live inside the walls constitutes an invasion?

So, there is no reason whatsoever that the Nord may mistrust the other races after right next to them a whole country was taken over and they already offer places for refugees? Or could it even be for safety for both parties? (You can imagine how friendly those Dark Elfes would react if they meet Argonians)

It's actually both. You have no clue what 5 people are able to do. The Nord naturally mistrust the Argonians after they invaded Vvardenfell but they also care for the safety of both parties.

Ok, and what is with the Khajit thing? I never saw any Khajiit around this place, Khajiit overall are quite rare (there is the caravan which always resides outside of cities and some single Khajit scattered through Skyrim). I just read it up: There is not a single Khajiit NPC in the area that classifies as Windhelm.

Edit: Ok, even as someone who is not such an ace in the Elder Scrolls Lore it took me about 5 minutes to find the reason for eventual hostility and mistrust against Khajiit: They are a race that started worshipping the Thalmor as their saviours. Yeah, no reason whatsoever to mistrust them, with the all Thalmore beeing anti human thing going on...

About the dunmer, Ulfric and the stormcloaks forces them to live in a run down ghetto like the nazis did to the jews and the whole "skyrim for the nords" isint racist? Ulfric even refused to go down to the grey quaters to see the shape the place is in.

Oh for...

There is no violance towards Dark Elfes. There are several freakin High Elf merchant which worked herself to this position by proving her worth.

The Dark Elfes on the other hand are refugees, they are treated like all refugees over the course of history before a certain advancement is reached.

If you want to compare them to the ghettos of Nazi Germany you'd better read up on that matter. This is nothing compared to that, the Dark Elfes have even the possibility to work themselfes out of that position but they refuse so.

While its not as bad as the nazi ghettos by far, its still bad. The place is in horrible condition, almost no guard patrols, and Ulfric refused to even go down there or try to make the place better. The first time you enter windhelm a dunmer is harassed just for being a dunmer. And that the dunmer are treated like refugees have always been treated somehow makes it not racist?

 

[Platti]

Minor spoilers here.

Ulfric Stormcloak partook in the mass, wholesome slaughter of the previous occupants of Markarth. He also denied them their rights to worship their own gods, and now he's bitching about the Thalmor , the very Thalmor he in fact ended up helping during the war by giving away vital information during interrogation, which as a result could have ended the war in elven favor had it not already been won - but they didn't tell him that. So Ulfric is going about his merry business of inciting racial hatreds, prejudice and distrust for the other races when he is actually the one who sold everybody out. I don't side with hypocrites, cowards or morons for that matter, even in a video game.

Sure, the Empire may be "puppets" to the Thalmor, but they wont be for very long by the sounds of it. They just found themselves in a very difficult position and had to make understandable sacrifices in order to survive.

 

[tjcross]

Stormcloaks the whole way.

Whether you think that a straightforward attitude is a good one to have ( I do), I think everyone can agree that he a fucking badass.

I find Ulfric to be the better leader.

I think a Skyrim and Hammerfell united against the Thalmor stands a better hope than a broken, unpopular Empire lying to themselves that they will one day be strong enough.

The Empire allows foreign agents to roam their lands, capture their people, torture, and kill them.

The Empire tried to cut off my head.

Vikings > Romans

ULFRIC'S VOICE. Yee gods, its like a Scandinavian Morgan Freeman who only talks about honor, freedom, and fighting.

I'm going to sneak up behind you, steal this answer, and use it as my own. Good luck stopping me. I have 100 ranks in both Sneak and Pickpocket.

i'm going to sneak up behind you and Stab you in the back and burning this answer try to stop me i have 100 in sneak x30 sneak attack damage a deadric dagger and both invisability and muffling shoes.

NOW TO THE ACTUAL POINT
1)ulfics voice actually pissed me off a great deal
2)by dividing the empire the thalmor are one step closer to completely taking over
3)the stormcloaks can shove a greatsword up their racist asses
4)ONE imperial decided to execute the dovahkin and ONE tried to stop it and would have made sure the body was buried in the players native land not the fault of the entire empire that one gereral is a grade-a douche nozzle
5)despite the thalmor contract atleast 3 imperials still worship talos
6)the starting imperial helps you survive the destruction of helgen what does the stormcloak do? 2 things jack and shit

 

[dvd_72]

If the empire collapsed there would be nothing stopping the Thalmor from slaughtering many many people before the rest of the world would be able to unite against them. You think having Thalmor agents capturing and torturing people now is bad? Wait till you see what happens if Ulfric wins!

I'm firm in my belief that once the Empire begins its war against the Thalmor again that the hardly enforced ban on Talos worship will end.

So.... yea, Imperials

 

[Slash Dementia]

I sided with the Stormcloaks on my first play of the main quest simply because my character was a Nord. I played a second time, but made an Imperial character and sided with the Empire. I really didn't see much interest in either cause. Both sides seemed equally meh and they both had their downsides and I couldn't come to care for either cause.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

So far I plan to pick neither side seeing as not only am I a Khajiit and a member of the Thieves Guild, but I'm with the Dark Brotherhood. And the mission I'm currently doing for the DB is....

Spoiler

You know, murdering the Emperor and all that.

So I don't think I will be with that side, and every Stormcloak I've encountered has been a dick to my character, but then again, it probably doesn't help that I try to pickpocket them and when I do get caught I have to kill them.

Moral of this story, learn to pickpocket better.

In all seriousness, I don't really care for the Stormcloaks. Maybe when I do another playthrough with a Nord I will, but not this one.

 

[castlewise]

As a Kajhit I couldn't see myself fighting for the Stormcloaks. All that Skyrim for the Nords stuff was annoying.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

Imperials.
I like the Roman Empire.
All the organization...
The legions...
Good times...
And then they lost their old values when they started worshipping a single god and the empire started to crumble...

Umm... No. The Roman Empire fell because they overextending themselves in their conquests and were unable to control it all. The fall of the Roman Empire had nothing to do with the conversion from their former nationalistic/pagan religion to Roman Catholicism. If anything, the conversion made the Roman Empire more united than it was before the conversion.

Maybe you're just making a joke, or maybe you're just pointing out a correlation between the two things. Either way, I had to respond and ask that you not post misleading things about history. We have enough of that crap on the rest of the internet.

I'm not joking, that's how I view things.
Other religions started being alienated after that whereas before people were allowed to have different religions.

It's not about a "view," it's about historical FACT. The Roman Catholic religion was not in a significant factor in Rome's fall.

But hey, what do I know, I'm only a history teacher.

 

[DannyJBeckett]

I went with the Imperials, partly out of nostalgia from Oblivion, but mostly because the Stormcloaks are a punch of racist fucks who are only in it for the power.

Also, the Thalmor had secretly backed the Stormcloaks in order to weaken the Empire further so they could big-up their own power, so getting the victory for the Empire will scupper the Thalmor's plans and restore faith in the Old Empire.