skyrim war

Q: Who should I side with in the war?

A: There are reasons to side with either, and there are reasons to side against either. With some background information, one does emerge as the slightly better option.

Understanding the circumstance of the war is important to understanding the war. The Empire recently lost a war with the Aldmeri Dominion, and were forced to sign the White-Gold Concordant, the important part of which was the ban of Talos worship. This ban on Talos worship became the impetus for the Stormcloak rebellion. The stated reason for the Stormcloak rebellion is that their rights are being infringed by the Empire, their religion stamped out, and their culture assaulted. This isn't entirely false. The ban on Talos worship is indeed a direct attack on their religion by people who want it stamped out. They're not entirely wrong about this. However, they are wrong about who is doing it.

Talos worship was popular in the Empire prior to the war with the Aldmeri Dominion. It was practically the official religion, as he was considered a Divine and worship of the Nine Divines was popular. It was only after the Empire lost a war and the Dominion made them ban Talos worship that it became illegal. So in truth, the Aldmeri Dominion banned Talos worship, not the Empire. The Empire would happily go on indefinitely worshiping Talos if they could, so the Stormcloak's ire is misplaced.

So how does Talos worship become legal again? The Stormcloaks believe it is to secede from the Empire, kick out the foreigners, and establish a separate ethnostate. This seems like a shortcut to getting what they want, but there are two issues.
The first is that the Dominion already beat the Empire once. Without additional aid from allies, the Empire is likely to just lose again if they go for round 2 as they are. They would need allies from Skyrim, Hammerfell (who are also conducting their own separate campaign against the Dominion), and others to actually win. What is to stop the Dominion from simply winning round 2 as well, if the Empire receives no aid? Talos worship will be illegal everywhere if they are not opposed by a joint effort, and the Empire is already the largest banner to rally behind. What is to stop the Thalmor from simply moving on to Skyrim after they beat round 2 with the Empire?
The second issue is more long-term. The real perpetrators of these aggressive wars with neighbors is the Thalmor, a cabal within Altmer society that believes in a prophetic future in which the world is "reset" to a primordial state, where the Altmer will be reborn into their ancestral state to be closer to the gods. They are, in effect, religious zealots who have disdain for the world and seek to destroy it for religious prophecy. It's hard to reason with this type of person, and this type of person is unlikely to just get bored and move on. They are dedicated and zealous, and combined with the Altmer's natural intelligence, they don't mind waiting to get what they want. They are the dangerous combination of fanatical but calculating. If the Stormcloaks win and become a separate little entity, what is to stop the eventual victory of the Thalmor? The Nords will just be swept up along with everyone else in the eventual ragnorok if the Thalmor get what they want. It is essentially burying their head in the sand while a tornado approaches. They need to throw their lot in with whatever alliance arises to oppose the Thalmor, or else they just die later anyway.

This situation is best illustrated by the Thalmor dossier on Ulfric. The writers included a little nod to this above situation in the game itself. in the Thalmor Embassy, in a locked chest, there is paperwork on various assets and adversaries in SKyrim, and Ulfric is included. He is described as an "uncooperative asset", meaning he hates them and doesn't talk to them, but he's still inadvertently working in their best interest. To be more specific, he kills Thalmor he sees, but his overall rebellion is still beneficial to the Thalmor so they like that he exists. The Empire is the largest entity that opposes the Thalmor, and they like it when there are rebellions that weaken the Empire. The Thalmor sit by with popcorn and enjoy the show of the Empire fighting itself. If only ulfric knew this, he may be acting differently. Perhaps he does know and he is just seeking the throne and doesn't care, or perhaps he doesn't know and is just kind of blind to larger political climate, but either way, he is working against his people and in fact all the people on the planet.

But how do we know these things? The Empire opposing the Thalmor has been used several times as the basis of this article. How do we know that is the case? The answer is in-game dialogue by the Imperial leaders. Tulius, the general of the Imperial armies, even goes as far as to say they are "ignoring the real threat" while they're in skyrim. He's aware of the bigger picture, and resents wasting men, time, money, etc in SKyrim. Tulis's last words, his dying scene, he still has this to say:
Ulfric: "This is it for you. Any last words before I send you to Oblivion?"
Tullius: "You realize this is exactly what they wanted."
Galmar: "What who wanted?"
Tullius: "The Thalmor. They stirred up trouble here. Forced us to divert needed resources and throw away good soldiers quelling this rebellion."

So this is why the Empire is a slightly better choice than the Stormcloaks in the SKyrim civil war.



---------Part 2


It depends on the scale your character cares about.

Do the actions of a few stupid racists condemn the entire stormcloak movement in your eyes? Do the actions of some dumb Captain in some backwater not doing her job properly condemn the entire Empire in your eyes?

Larger scales, are you afraid that there are many imperial officers like this Captain, so there's a competency issue throughout the Empire? Are you afraid the actions of those bullies are not isolated to those individuals, and there might be negative repercussions throughout Skyrim for non-nords if they come to power?

Then larger still, what do we think about the overall war with the Thalmor? We know the Thalmor, more than anything else, wish the war to continue. Thus, a swift and decisive end is what the decent people of Cyrodil want, since it's the opposite of what the Thalmor want. But in favor of whom? Rallying behind the charismatic Stormcloak banner to fight off the Thalmor as in independent nation, or throwing in with what is already the largest banner opposing the thalmor? Which is more likely for success? Tulius makes his intention of fighting the Thalmor at a future date clear and he wants Skyrim in the empire to help, while Ulfric seems more concerned with just his region's immediate future.

Three different scales to look at, and three different sets of questions for your character to ask themselves. I think either decision can be justified, it's just a matter of priorities.

Personally, my character ended up siding with the empire after much deliberation. The Empire has issues and needs to be reformed in some ways, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it, and in the meantime, banding together to have a united front against the people who literally want to unravel the universe feels prudent for the time being. It's not out of love for the Empire particularly, but rather being united in the face of a superior enemy.