Which replacement Jarls are better Stormcloaks vs Imperials?

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This is a different idea on how to choose Imperials vs Stormcloaks that no one has mentioned in any video. Who does the Jarl of the hold get replaced by when the Stormclocaks vs Imperials win?

Whiterun Hold - Balgruuf gets replaced by Vignor Gray-mane. TO me this is rather neutral, they both seem like ok people in the game, not inherently evil, and may even look out for what's good for Whiterun. I guess the big losers if Vignor Gray-mane gets to be Jarl would be the leader of Whiterun city guard and the Battle-born's. And if the Imperials win the Battle of Whiterun, Heimskr gets imprisoned, even though we all hate Heimskr. Neutral 0 for Imperials.

Riften - Jarl Laila Law-Giver gets replaced by Maven Black Briar. Maven Black Briar comes off as completely power hungry, corrupt, likes to be treated as if she's above the law. I don't think she has the best interests of the citizens in Riften in mind if she obtains power, you can particularly note this from some of the lines of dialogue when she takes the throne. She believes in Nepotism and hire's other Black-briar's to fulfill court duty's. While Jarl Laila-Law Giver may be somewhat of a puppet for Maven Black Briar, there is absolutely no checks and balances in place if Maven Black Briar takes the throne. -1 Imperials
Windhelm - Jarl Ulfric gets replaced by Brun-Wulf Free Winter - This is also somewhat neutral. I guess the biggest winners in this case would be the Dark Elfs and Argonians in Windhelm. Depends on how you look at it, it's positive to neutral, perhaps +1 Imperials to 0 for either side.

Falkreath - Sidgeir gets replaced by Dengeir. Dengeir seems to be a lot less corrupt of a Jarl than Sidgeir. Sidgeir allows you to purchase Lakeview Manor after you assassinate some Orc bandits who quit giving his cut of the deal on some raids they had been doing in his hold. That's pretty corrupt. The guy seems to lavish more in his luxuries from being a Jarl rather than care about his Hold. Dengeir wants the position back and may have the best interests of Falkreath in mind. -1 Imperials.

Markarth - Thongvor Silver-Blood takes place as acting Jarl. Perhaps he's corrupt since the Silver-Bloods are like the Black-briar's of Markarth. The scene in the village Karthwasten where the Silver-bloods by force want to take the last independent Silver mine in Markarth by force, threat and ransom. Also their prison Cidhna mine is notoriously brutal. Igmund doesn't come off as an inherently bad person beyond supporting the empire, allowing the Thalmor into his city and arresting citizenry like Ogmund for worshipping Talos, and he was behind the Markarth incident where the Stormcloaks fulfilled their end of the bargain which was to drive out the Forsworn from Markarth so that Igmund and his family could reclaim the reach. +1 Imperials to a neutral 0 depending on how you look at it I guess but I'm leaning towards neutral.

Dawnstar - Based on my readings on these two potential Jarls seems most of the Pale are tired of Skald the Elder and would prefer his Imperial supporting replacement. He more cares about how the Civil war turns out than how things turns out for the citizens of The Pale. +1 Imperials since the citizenry seems to support his replacement.

Winterhold - The difference between the two Jarls in this case is one is friendly to the college, and the current Jarl, Konir, who supports the Stormcloaks is hostile to the college and wants them banned. I personally like the College of WInterhold and it's professors and students. The friendly Jarl just gets blown off by Savos Aren though whenever he invites him to dinner with him and the citizens are largely neutral on one over the other, I suppose the College members wouldn't care to have themselves banned though. +1 Imperials, perhaps 0 since no one seems to care either way though.

Morthal - Neither Jarl seems popular with the citizenry Ravencrone isn't liked by the citizenry but neither is Sorli the builder. This is a neutral 0 from what I can tell.

Pessimistically it's 2 reakky bad Jarls from the Imperials for some mildy good and neutral Jarls, the only Jarl the Skyrim citizens seem to like that gets replaced is the one in Dawnstar. WIth all this in mind, and the two really plopsty Jarls in Falkreath and Riften that seem to be worse than the Jarl in Dawnstar I'm still leaning towards Stormcloaks but what do others think?
 

Wildroses

Well-Known Member
One of the most awkward things about the Jarls is that no matter which side you pick, you're going to get some stinkers and throw out some nice people.

The Black-Briar's and the Silver-Bloods basically make both sides very unappealing to me. I can't stand the thought of either family in power, but the only way to keep both out is to not do the main quest or Civil War quests. Even if you refuse to get involved with the Civil War (which I normally do) one or the other will always end up in power after Season Unending. My first playthrough I didn't realise the Jarls would change with the Holds, so when Arngier said the Black-Briars and Silver-Bloods were taking over I was struck dumb with horror.

Having said that, someone who made a stupid promise he knew would break the terms of a peace treaty to get his Hold back which he then broke isn't that great a Jarl, in my opinion. Igmund's whole strategy for trying to keep his promise to Ulfric to allow Talos worship was: "hoping the elves wouldn't find out." Yeah, great political nous there, Igmund. Either you are a dishonourable man who made a promise he knew he couldn't keep for personal gain in which case you are a bad Jarl, or you are complete moron for not seeing you were making a promise which was impossible for you to keep in which case you are a bad Jarl. I still prefer him to the Silver-Bloods though, but that's like saying I'd prefer Braith over Nazeem, or Cicero over Astrid. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

I prefer Balgruuf for Whiterun as I have this complicated head canon about his brother, niece and nephews whom I adore as characters so I tend to avoid ousting him as Jarl so these imaginary people I think are related to him (one of whom isn't even in the game and another of which is as an obscure NPC as you can get) don't get upset.

I also don't like ousting the Ravencrone family from Morthal, even if they aren't very popular with the citizens. They all just have so much more character than that insipid family in Stonehills.

So I tend to prefer the Imperials because of Whiterun and Morthal, but it really sticks in my craw that I have to put Maven on the throne and Ulfric always asks for Markarth in Season Undending.
 

hershangames

Well-Known Member
That is a really interesting point! I only barely tried the civil war questline(did a couple missions but got distracted with the DB questline instead), but I choose Imperials because they keep the original jarl of Whitwrun(I think it's Balgruf the Great?), who seems to be one of the few who actually care about the citizens.


sent by the almighty Hershan from tapatalk
 

Rimfaxe96

Well-Known Member
My perfect set of Jarls would be:

Dawnstar: Brina Merilis, because she isn't about to use the whole population as cannon fodder. If it were for Skald the only citizen left would be his servant Bulfrek.

Falkreath: Dengeir of Stuhn. He might be a Stormcloak supporter, but Siddgeir is little more than a brat whose allegiance would change the moment the Stormcloaks would be 'in fashion'. Plus Stuhn won't risk his people, unlike Siddgeir.

Markarth: Igmund 'cause he won't try to establish slavery anytime soon. Plus he seems to keep an eye out for the Thalmor's movements, unlike Thongvor whose only concern is wealth, no matter what.

Morthal: Idgrod because she's an awesome old lady mystic. One of the most free-minded people in the whole game, now that I think of it.

Riften: Maven. Yes, she's a b!tch, but she has absolute control over the place. She also held absolute control when Laila was Jarl, so it's not much of a choice - but I guess what I mean to say is that having a smart and cunning leader is better than someone whose only use is keeping the throne warm. Judging from her dialogue in Diplimatic Immunity she's even on eye-level to the local Thalmor, and that's something not even Tullius can say for himself...!

Solitude: Elisif all the way. Of course she's the only option, but the game files show that if she died in some questline from Boethiah Erikur would have become Jarl and I can't stand that gold digger. He and the Silver-Bloods could jump off the Throat of the World for all I care.

Whiterun: Balgruuf because as everyone knows he's the most nord-like awesome Jarl. Ballin' and getting sh!t done, no need for long explanations.

Windhelm: Brunwulf because Ulfric is a fool.

Winterhold: Kraldar because Korir is almost more idiotic (and racist) than Ulfric.
 

jonathan90

well known member
If the imperials tried to cut off your head stuff em !!! "just my opinion" I like the thought of being a nord and going for stormcloaks .

general talius can face the wrath of my sword with his head !!!! nothing better then being a nord badass and kicking general talius and his armies asses.

so my opinion is jarls of stormcloaks own skyrim and it is there land.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
I like Balgruff, Sidgeir, Maven, Ravencrone, Igmund, Elisif and Brinna much better than any of the other Jarl choices so, it's pretty obvious that I go for civilization rather than violent weirdos and ignorant, xenophobic savages. In other words IMPERIALS ALL THE WAY!

Oh! I forgot. Brunwulf and Kraldar!

Frankly:

Balgruff - cool. Love the guy from the very beginning. Frankly, I find Vignar boring.

Sidgeir - sorry. Love this guy. He's corrupt and arrogant, but gotta love him anyway. Besides Dengeir is an annoying putz.

Maven - well... you all know how I feel about Maven It's true love. I don't mind Laila, but law-giver really isn't an appropriate name. How's about blind idiot or just plain ole dumb ****.

Idgrod Ravencrone - there's just something about that wacky old broad that I like. I mean, honestly, Sorli is a nice enough guy, but, honestly, I'd rather have a "seer" (or so she thinks) there.

Brinna - don't really need to explain. She has honor. Skald is just a wackjob.

Igmund - all the way on Igmund. There is no way that I would ever have a Silver-Blood on the throne. A bunch of thugs. I realize that I play morally corrupt characters, but these guys make my murderous thugs look like pansies.

Elisif - well. What's to say. It's Elisif. If I could marry anyone, it would be her. Beautiful, powerful, rich and dumb as a box of rocks. My kinda girl!

Brunwulf - again, y'all know how I feel about Ulfric. Everybody's better off with him dead. Brunwulf has honor and actually cares about ALL the residents of his hold, unlike Ulfric the jacka**.

Kraldar - meh... when it comes to Kraldar or Korir, who cares. At least Kraldar is on the right side.

:)
 
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DrunkenMage

Intoxicated Arch-Mage
Riften: Laila isn't a real ruler, her Court work for Maven basically. She openly speaks about fleeing the city in the event a Dragon should attack it, saying Riften's leader should be spared should the city fall. Though she isn't that bad of a person, she thinks Ulfric is self-serving and is power hungry for the throne.

Maven rules Riften no matter what.

Morthal: Sorli the Builder cares about herself, nothing for the people, or the Hold for that matter. She has her eyes set on gaining Riften.

Idgrod cares for her people, even if they dislike her. They only really dislike her because she allowed a wizard to live there and she's a mystic who is given visions by the Divines.

Falkreath: While I like Dengeir, he's possibly in poor health. Though he too thinks Ulfric is power-hungry and selfish.

Sidgeir is a complete tool, though the Hold is ruled mostly by his steward.

Dawnstar: Skald is perhaps the worst ruler one could get. Willing to sacrifice innocent men, women and children if he could to keep his throne. Has no plans for dragon attacks, nor any strategy should the war turn against him.

Brina cares for the citizens, has plans in the event of attack either by dragons or Stormcloak soldiers. She's even smart enough to use the Court Wizard to heal anyone who should get wounded.

Solitude: Remains the same.

Winterhold: Korir is content with blaming the Mages for the cold, yes he actually blames them for it being cold. Has no real desires other than gaining more authority over other Jarls.

Kralder has plans to rebuild Winterhold to glory and repair relationships with the College of Winterhold. That is a noble goal as the College is a great benefit to Skyrim, regardless what simple minded Nords feel about it.

Markarth: Igmund has his own faults, but he's fairly okay.

The Silver-Bloods when they take power plan to enslave the Forsworn and use them to dig up silver, although who is or isn't a Forsworn depends on if they dislike you or you ask questions. Enslavement for wealth would create a dependency on that labor.

Whiterun: Eh, both are okay. Though I've never really been too fond of Vignar personally.

Windhelm: Brunwulf is a winner for me. I like his views.

For politics the Stormcloaks only really have Ulfric to look towards, should he die the independent Skyrim looks like plops.
 
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