Imperials or Stormcloaks, what one?

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Jurgarik Greycloak

Techno master of Tamriel.
I tried both parties, and I think both are equally bad or at least morally grey in their own way. Right now my neighbor is playing Skyrim for the first time and I'm curious about what she will choose. We've had completely different thoughts about the Thieves' Guild, for example. I was expecting her to like it (because I liked it a lot) because she was excited when I told her about them, but right now she hates it and complains about their quests all the time.

I can somewhat emphasize with this as I liked Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood better from Oblivion, where I felt that quests for each of these factions were better made for them. For example, Thieves Guild in Skyrim is more like, "the mob" or "mafia" rather than a legitimate Thieves Guild. Dark Brotherhood was alright I guess however I think the tie in with the Empire was too strong and it felt more like I was playing as a hired gun rather than as an assassin/cultist. If that makes any sense.

I will agree somewhat, but I also wish there was more. We have some treasures with the TG, but what if there was a Treasure Hunter's Guild or something like that? And I am not talking about mods.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
Ancano here, wanted to remind everyone about the Thalmor Summer Fundraising Program. Help make the Dominion Great again! Now accepting former/unused Talos coins, amulets, rings, shrines, masks, anything of value that we can mel- I.. I mean liberate and help advance our agenda in Skyrim. Please donate such items to the Thalmor Embassy. All participates receive one free pass to this year's Thalmor Halloween block-party at the Embassy.
Count me in Anci! I'll be there with bells on (as usual). Luv Den.
 

poltergoose

New Member
And why should I pick one over the other? So far neither have shown me that one is better or worse than the other, they both have their bad and good qualities. Many say Stormcloaks because the name sounds cool, but I want to side for a reason, not the name.

I'm a male Khajiit (Destruction mage)

Please help me D:

EDIT: I really want to keep being a mage so does one of them have classes or can I just stay been a mage.

I only started playing 4 days ago and i have never played any other TES.
There areen't any real reasons to join any side other than oppinions on the side's reasons for fighting and stuff.
The Imperials are really kind in truth. they are the "good guys" in my eyes. The only flaw is something that only affects Nords- they signed a treaty that banned the worship of Talos (an "untrue" god in the eyes of Elves) to save the Empire from obliteration.
The Stomcloaks- well, the Cause is true but Ulfric is not. He doesn't really care about liberating Skyrim, or Talos, or anything. He just wants to be High King. This is what I gathered from characters- I even got hints of it from people who REVERE the guy.

So yeah. It all comes down to: Do you want to be red or blue? ;)
OH, and one more thing that doesn't really affect a mage character anyways: If you join the Imperials you can get Ulfric's Clothes, but if you join Stormcloaks you can get general Tullius' Light Armor.
Ulfric is actually a Thalmor agent too. Given that I guess the "right" side is the Imperials but I can never join them in vanilla Skyrim because they try to kill the player in the beginning and that pisses me off.
 

Ancano

High Justiciar
And why should I pick one over the other? So far neither have shown me that one is better or worse than the other, they both have their bad and good qualities. Many say Stormcloaks because the name sounds cool, but I want to side for a reason, not the name.

I'm a male Khajiit (Destruction mage)

Please help me D:

EDIT: I really want to keep being a mage so does one of them have classes or can I just stay been a mage.

I only started playing 4 days ago and i have never played any other TES.
There areen't any real reasons to join any side other than oppinions on the side's reasons for fighting and stuff.
The Imperials are really kind in truth. they are the "good guys" in my eyes. The only flaw is something that only affects Nords- they signed a treaty that banned the worship of Talos (an "untrue" god in the eyes of Elves) to save the Empire from obliteration.
The Stomcloaks- well, the Cause is true but Ulfric is not. He doesn't really care about liberating Skyrim, or Talos, or anything. He just wants to be High King. This is what I gathered from characters- I even got hints of it from people who REVERE the guy.

So yeah. It all comes down to: Do you want to be red or blue? ;)
OH, and one more thing that doesn't really affect a mage character anyways: If you join the Imperials you can get Ulfric's Clothes, but if you join Stormcloaks you can get general Tullius' Light Armor.
Ulfric is actually a Thalmor agent too. Given that I guess the "right" side is the Imperials but I can never join them in vanilla Skyrim because they try to kill the player in the beginning and that pisses me off.

Someone on here once gave us the idea that you actually may have deserved that axe, regardless of Ulfric's involvement. There's a couple videos on YouTube that also suggest this theory and attempt to expand on it. One clue is the fact that -you- have a DB contract against you from the very beginning of the game.
 
I just wanted to throw a crazy metaphor into this thread. I think the stormcloaks and the imperials are like the bloods and the crips of skyrim. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
 

Dr77k

Member
I side with the Stormcloaks because my ideals seam to line up with theirs. The reason Nords are stereotypical is because of past events caused by those races (at least that's how I see it). I'm not saying I support these stereotypes but I understand their view point. I could say more but you can just ask me questions if you wanna know about specific things.
 

JackOf Roses

New Member
It's really a tough call for me. I hate Ulfric's disdain for non-Nords, and I hate the Empire's banning of Talos worship. I like Ralof more than Hadvir, and Ulfric more than Tullius, but that's balanced by thinking that a Stormcloak victory would work to the advantage of the Thalmor. So it's pretty close. In the end, I usually go with the Imperials because I don't want to disappoint Balgruff. He seems like such a nice old guy. But I wish there were a line of dialog where I could tell Ulfric, "Dude, I'm sorry, I wish I could have been on your side."
 

Lewsean

Member
And why should I pick one over the other? So far neither have shown me that one is better or worse than the other, they both have their bad and good qualities. Many say Stormcloaks because the name sounds cool, but I want to side for a reason, not the name.

I'm a male Khajiit (Destruction mage)

Please help me D:

EDIT: I really want to keep being a mage so does one of them have classes or can I just stay been a mage.

I only started playing 4 days ago and i have never played any other TES.
There areen't any real reasons to join any side other than oppinions on the side's reasons for fighting and stuff.
The Imperials are really kind in truth. they are the "good guys" in my eyes. The only flaw is something that only affects Nords- they signed a treaty that banned the worship of Talos (an "untrue" god in the eyes of Elves) to save the Empire from obliteration.
The Stomcloaks- well, the Cause is true but Ulfric is not. He doesn't really care about liberating Skyrim, or Talos, or anything. He just wants to be High King. This is what I gathered from characters- I even got hints of it from people who REVERE the guy.

So yeah. It all comes down to: Do you want to be red or blue? ;)
OH, and one more thing that doesn't really affect a mage character anyways: If you join the Imperials you can get Ulfric's Clothes, but if you join Stormcloaks you can get general Tullius' Light Armor.
Ulfric is actually a Thalmor agent too. Given that I guess the "right" side is the Imperials but I can never join them in vanilla Skyrim because they try to kill the player in the beginning and that pisses me off.
No, he's an "asset", which is merely a tool to be used, willing or not, knowing or not.

I never understood why Ulfric gets hate for a Thalmor dossier, but the Empire gets a free pass for being a literal legal dog of the Thalmor :p? Why is Ulfric an asset, agent etc, but the Empire, which is de-facto subservient to the Thalmor isn't?
 

saintjuste

New Member
I've always sided with the Imperials. At first it was purely aesthetics, I love their armor, but as I played more I realized how much I dislike the way Stormcloaks treat other races. They're terrible to dark elves, even worse to Argonians. It's the gross self importance, I guess. Plus Ulfric is a murderer lol
 

KingOfDarkness

New Member
When I first met ULFRIC I didn't like him one bit because something seems off, and the barman in Windhelm didn't like him, seemed to be running the town quite bad...i think ULFRIC is all for himself and is telling the Nords what they want to hear.

I decided to let the Thalmor sit at the table (Im a high Elf) and suggested Winterhold for Markarth, since the jarl in riften seems to be doing well.

I dont have much information to be able to form an opinion... I guess its something you would do at the end after all the missions after being absorbed in the lore. But so far I would side with the imperials. My reason being ULFRIC is just a guy who wants power + Tiber Septim wasn't all that good - he did some pretty bad things to my homeland.
 
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Ja03021997

New Member
And why should I pick one over the other? So far neither have shown me that one is better or worse than the other, they both have their bad and good qualities. Many say Stormcloaks because the name sounds cool, but I want to side for a reason, not the name.

I'm a male Khajiit (Destruction mage)

Please help me D:

EDIT: I really want to keep being a mage so does one of them have classes or can I just stay been a mage.

I only started playing 4 days ago and i have never played any other TES.

Thinking about this with my serious hat on, when I first played this game when it was released I went straight to join the stormcloaks because I really liked the underdog...YES! Ulfric did kill the high king in a challenge and used the voice, but if I lot of people followed him in his message of Skyrim being ruined by the thalmor and the contract the imperials signed, then isnt their cause just. Nords are not stupid, most of them don't believe Ulfric would make a good King but they would rather have him be King, then be ruled by the Elves. #FreeNords #DeathToTheImperials

Also it doesn't matter what race you are or your chosen fighting style or preference.
Ulfric does ask you why you as an outsider would fight for the cause... you can then give him your answer.

Also remember that the imperials tried to✂️ head off just for crossing a border, and you being a Khajiit didn't matter to them so why should that deture you from joining the stormcloaks
 

Thiashan

New Member
I always chose the Stormcloaks because they didn't try to chop my head off at Helgen. I sided with the Imperials once for a build idea but I didn't enjoy it very much. Skyrim belongs to the people!
 
Both sides suck, but I think the Imperials suck slightly less. I personally like the Stormcloaks better for aesthetic reasons though. I love that pretty blue armor, and the general uniform looks awesome!
 

Plasma336

New Member
I always like to pick Stormcloak and say I will help the Dark elves and other races once I'm in good with Ulfric. Not an actual game mechanic but it gives me peace of mind.
 

Anarchist51

New Member
I was like you I really did not want to choose one side over the other. I finally went with the Stormcloaks up until I found out that the city my house was in was going to be attacked and then to make it even worse I did a for Ulfric and since my PC is an Elf, I forget which woman in Ulfric's court, when I tried to talk to her she called me a dog and acted snotty so I went down a few saves and restarted and joined the Empire. At least they were not jerks, or as bad of jerks. And they accepted my Non-Nord character. Plus I helped defend my home from being attacked. I rather enjoyed attacking Ulfric since he was a jerk.
 

Skyrimfan33

New Member
There areen't any real reasons to join any side other than oppinions on the side's reasons for fighting and stuff.
The Imperials are really kind in truth. they are the "good guys" in my eyes. The only flaw is something that only affects Nords- they signed a treaty that banned the worship of Talos (an "untrue" god in the eyes of Elves) to save the Empire from obliteration.
The Stomcloaks- well, the Cause is true but Ulfric is not. He doesn't really care about liberating Skyrim, or Talos, or anything. He just wants to be High King. This is what I gathered from characters- I even got hints of it from people who REVERE the guy.

So yeah. It all comes down to: Do you want to be red or blue? ;)
OH, and one more thing that doesn't really affect a mage character anyways: If you join the Imperials you can get Ulfric's Clothes, but if you join Stormcloaks you can get general Tullius' Light Armor.
Ulfric is actually a Thalmor agent too. Given that I guess the "right" side is the Imperials but I can never join them in vanilla Skyrim because they try to kill the player in the beginning and that pisses me off.

Someone on here once gave us the idea that you actually may have deserved that axe, regardless of Ulfric's involvement. There's a couple videos on YouTube that also suggest this theory and attempt to expand on it. One clue is the fact that -you- have a DB contract against you from the very beginning of the game.
Actually the imperials said that you weren't on the list then the guy beside said something like damm the imperials an there list but of you don't destroy the DB you will have contracts taken out on you
 

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