@@Diabhork Racism should never be deemed political, racism is just always a bad thing. The fact that all of the Thalmor and any calling themselves part of the Aldmeri Domini have decided to be racist shits who hate all races of men doesn't give a political or moral excuse for the Nords or other races of men to be racist against all Elves/Mer.
@@fanamatakecick97 I'll have you know telvanni is the most accepting of all the great houses. Mage prodigy of all races have been among its' members. And they're just as crazy as the rest of the house. not just mages Anyone who risks their lives in a enough times will be accepted.
Fun Fact: I was building lakeview manor and I needed to go back and forth to it from Falkreath. One time, a dragon attacked Falkreath and Dengeir, being the absolute chad he is, climbed on he dragon and killed it.
Who else thinks idgrod ravencrone is underrated? she cares about the fire that happened in morthal and wants you to get to the bottom of it. She also helps you distract the guards at Elenwens party.
Her distraction at the Embassy party is the best one. She even tells you before hand that she is there to spy on the Thalmor. She isn’t the “weird physic” as many think. Sharp as a tack.
I love that Idgrod wants you to find out the truth about the fire, and doesn't react until you have concrete evidence. She is, no doubt, one of the most honest Jarls.
Jarl Ballin should be high king. Understands the importance of the Empire staying in power as it’s the only hope mankind has against the Thalmor, he hates the Thalmor and allows Talos worship in his city regardless of what the Empire or Thalmor say, as he hasn’t removed the shrine of Talos, or incarcerated Heimskr or the Gray Manes. He genuinely cares about the people of Whiterun, and even all of Skyrim, he listens to the people. He remains neutral in the war until Ulfric decides to attack. While Vignar and Brunwulf are great Jarls, Jarl Ballin always believed in you, and is always there to help. He is the reason I started to either side with the Empire or remain neutral in the civil war, because I felt bad for kicking him out of Whiterun when I was a Stormcloak.
dude i've never done a full stormcloak playthrough because Balgruuf"s "I thought you were better than this" line hit hard after all he'd done for me, walked through Whiterun to see the carnage I'd helped cause and reloaded that save to go join the Empire again
This comment kinda makes me want to start a new run just to pal around with Jarl Ballin again. Bethesda made a great decision placing him as the first Jarl in your main path.
Balgruuf isn't all that great, he neglects his children allowing them to become spoiled brats, has affairs, is indecisive and let's war arrive on his doorstep before acting, leaves a Daedric Artifact in his basement which leads to members of his family and court coming under the influence of melphala and also allows the Thalmor to kidnap citizens.
tbh blame the blind ass guards that can’t see bloodstains on the floor, abandoned house and necromancy patterns. Ulfric is busy with the civil war I guess
@@goblez5900To be fair, they didn’t know it was a necromancy cult at the time, and she was straight up about to send a battalion before she got talked down by Falk. Not really comparable.
Aside from the obvious reasons Balgruuf is my favorite, this one moment when playing solidified his position as best ever to me. Hear me out, I’m playing my super modded Skyrim, dragons are really tough and one is attacking whiterun. It’s taking in game hours to whittle this guy down to where he lands since I’m mainly a 1H character with just fire bolt, flame atronach, Illia, and Lydia as ranged damage. He lands….last mistake Out of nowhere JARL BALLIN COMES CHARGING IN and a bunch of the whiterun guards and they start laying into this dragon. Maybe it was AI Overhauls package that had him outside but that was the first time I ever saw a Jarl lead the charge against a dragon out of nowhere. Best Jarl ever, fighting with his men, staring into the jaws of death and slapping it with a sword. He truly won’t stand idly by while a dragon burns his hold and slaughters his people 😌 Jarl Ballin for High King
I like Ulfric mainly cuz he's a "Warrior prince" (both a Leader/Ruler and have some form of strength in battle) but a Jarl who fights for his people on top of being a great Jarl takes the cake as number 1
Ok if I witnessed that I'd prob like him more than Brunwulf. Nothing really left to say after Sñr Jarl charges out of the mists of dragon smoke to whoopass👍
Maven Black Briar is by far the most corrupt, most influential, and powerful Jarl/Politician in the entire game. Not only does she have her own mercenary personal guards with the Thieves guild in her pocket which she can use as agents. She can summon the dark brotherhood to do not nice things to anyone whenever she wants, knows everything, revered by the Thalmor, and lastly has the Empire in her pocket basically she is untouchable.
If you become a part of the Dark Brotherhood, you can technically never send anyone out to see her. Though just because she knows Astrid in general no body can boss the guild around. Say the DB is destroyed I'm almost certain that either Baybet or Cicero would just kill her because they find her annoying.
and gets to live solely because she is essential. I wish there was a system in place to have certain jarls replaced if killed. Maven doesn't deserve to be jarl but I do side with the imperials.
Makes you really wish you could put her in her place as some bitch who's past her prime and has other people do her dirty work because she lacks the guts. I'm the god damn Dragonborn. What are you gonna do to me, Maven? Yell at me? Act like you can wave the Brotherhood over my head? I kill Brotherhood assassins for fun. Thieves try to mug me and give *me* their money. I could actually go and destroy the brotherhood right *now,* Maven. I could steamroll them if I want, but I love Cicero, Festus, Veezara and Nazir. All of the people you have in your pocket, I'm leading. All of the people you have in your pocket that I *don't* lead, I can shout into pieces and get to their families, too. I have no qualms about taking your children out of the equation. I have no qualms about dismantling the Thieves Guild if you try to turn them against me successfully. I have no qualms about burning down everything you love as I watch your old, black tears fizzle out over the fire of the rubble that's no longer recognizable as the Black-Briar Manor. I have no qualms about dealing with every single one of your contacts, including those even vaguely related to you in any way. I'm the fucking Dragonborn. I'm legendary. This world is mine until the next Kalpic cycle. The dragons are mine until the next Kalpic cycle. The heads of the legendary Dragonpriests are mine until the next Kalpic cycle. In the grand scheme of things, you have nothing, Maven. And I have everything.
@@nutcrackit7396 idk about "doesn't deserve it" bc really, who else in riften has the authority to take the job? Not saying she's great but if anyone was gonna be the imperial replacement, it's her She even says it herself "I've always been in charge around here, the title is merely a formality"
I agree where Elisif is concerned, with two caveats: 1) I don't think Elisif's love of luxuries and fine dresses are necessarily a bad thing; even during the Civil War it's never hinted that Solitude is strapped for cash in any way, so it's a harmless aspect of her character and really just speaks to the fact that she's lived up until now a life that has gotten her used to a certain amount of comfort and spending freedom. 2) I do believe that with some years of experience behind her (and perhaps a very competent Dragonborn Thane?) she has the potential to be a good ruler. It was her instinct to send a detachment to the mines to investigate a disturbance that was frightening her subjects, after all, a very Balgruuf-like move, and the only difference between them is that she, being insecure in her decisions, bowed to her Steward's caution instead of sticking to her guns like Balgruuf did when his steward advised caution. She just needs to grow into it.
I think your points are solid, but I will say that I don’t think sending a legion to investigate “strange noises” is the best response. Sure, it turned out to be something really bad, but based off of her information her steward and thanes had the correct response, which we ended up siding with. Love you! ❤️
@@masterneloth i'm not sure i agree, Falk tells you that there has been reports of strange ligths and noises, aswell as people going missing and this is going on in wolfskull cave, a place that got it's name because it was Potema the wolf queens ritual site for necromancy, Falk's original plan of "letting it go" is negligent at best and incompetent at worst, i would claim that with what has been reported and the history of the location, it is slightly extreme but a better response to send a legion to the cave than "letting it go"
@@masterneloth It's not just strange noises. It's travelers disappearing without a trace, strange lights and it's coming from a cave where a 500-year-long dead evil queen practised necromancy. In a world where magic exists and is known to the common folk, strange occurances must always be checked with caution. Sure, maybe an entire legion right away might be a bit too far, but sending at the very least a scouting party, even if it's to put the people at ease is the right decision.
I also think Elisif is still dealing with some trauma. She witness her husband get murdered in front of her and his killer escape. So the indulgence and mild carelessness is probably a symptom of her grief. I believe that if she gets the support she needs she could become a better Jarl.
@@RainintheBrain he wasn’t murdered and ulfric aint a killer. Her husband died in a fair duel he lost cuz he couldn’t shout with all the thalmor d**k in his mouth
I think Siddgeir should be the last on the list. While I do agree that Laila is nothing more than a puppet and a coward for preparing a carriage in the event of a dragon attack, she at least has the guts to admit that losing Riftin was her fault if she goes into exile whereas other Jarls blame everyone except themselves. Siddgeir is an absolutely incompetent sorry excuse of a Nord who does literally nothing but eats, drinks, and farts and consorts with bandits, only killing them off when they stopped paying him. It’s only bc his steward is competent that Falkreath hasn’t been burned to the ground. His uncle Dengeir is a paranoid loon but at least he cares about the people, Siddgeir is a crook who has no right being on the throne.
Is it really paranoia if people are actually out to get you? Dengeir Suspecting the smith was an imperial spy was pretty out there, but the members of his court did force him into an early retirement, and none of the people in the town seemed to care. That kind of thing would make anyone cautious of who they trust.
@@TruekingoftheLeinstermen Yeah, sometimes I wish there could be better solutions. I do like Falkreath but this Jarl? At least he let his Steward who is competent doing the job and doesn't try it himself. I guess if he would really rule Falkreath would be worse
Its a shame Korir is such a pathetic joke. Imagine if there was a fun quest where the college and the player help save his son and he's like "Oh Talos, I was so wrong. I am sorry." And then we see him use the college's magical power to start rebuilding his city. Maybe have them conjure a huge magical unmelting ice block where the old city used to be, then build over it? That'd be rad.
Lets cut Korir some slack. He was 100% right about the college being to blame for the fall of winterhold. While not conscious effort by the college they are way to carefree in the practice of magic.
@@rayzuke1232 It is also heavily hinted at that, that the college probably was responsible for the collapse. So I mean the dude isn't wrong about being pissed off.
I wish someone would make a mod that made jarls really unique Like solitude jarls would wear imperial jewelry an fine clothes while windhelm would have fine nord clothes clad in fine fur an rune jewelry an markarth with dwemer finery would be cool
on a side note: i wish someone would make a mod where we can banish maven black briar and her entourage of crotch goblins to oblivion. then have them be replaced by people who arent assholes.
there really should have been a "destroy the thieves guild" quest where you just erode maven's power and take her out, then weed out the thieve's guild. and not necessarily kill them all either, you could have some get away and also imprison some too. it would have been so much fun.
@@stoopidapples1596 I wanna win the war Empire side just to become leader of both Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood, Thrane of Riften and take the Jarl title from Maven and strip her of all her power. I want her to have a taste of real power and then be fully starved. Banish her to Ivarstead.
You started at #17 and I was so confused because there are only 9 holds. But then I remembered Skyrim's civil war actually has a quest line that changes who the jarls are. That's how badly the civil war was handled in this game. It's the main conflict of the story (excluding the actual main quest), and I actually forgot about it. What's worse is that data miners and modders have found an entire game's worth of civil war content that was cut during development. Skyrim was supposed to be a war game, and Bethesda gutted it, threw it in the trash, and replaced its defiled carcass with a handful of fort battles and called it a day. And to add insult to injury, they've never done anything more with it in the 12 years since the game's initial release. Anniversary Edition could've been an absolute show-stopper if it came with the fabled "Moot DLC," that restored cut Civil War content and actually ended with a new High King taking the throne, but no. Instead we got _fishing_ and a bunch of stuff other people made. After all, they had to add human npcs to Fallout 76 to appease Fallout fans, even though they're long gone from that dumpster of a game.
That’s a damn shame. I’m naively hoping they won’t have to make any sacrifices like this for elder scrolls 6, considering the amount of time they’ve had…
They do have a Mod for the civil war which opens up the other battles you can do. I’ve liberated DawnStar,Winter-hold, defend Falkreath twice and Did the Siege of Riften. They added the Dialogs of the Jarls exchanging words for one another.
I think people misjudge Laila Lawgiver. While she officially supports the Stormcloaks, she's very conscious about the damage the civil war does. More, she's highly skeptical of Ulfric: " Between you and I, I think his motivations are a bit more self-serving. He uses this holy war as leverage in order to pursue the throne. If he were to be crowned High King, I'm not so certain it would be the golden age his followers expect." She also doesn't present the Stormcloak attitude towards the White Gold Concordat as fact, simply presenting it as the interpretation of the Stormcloaks.
While I do agree that Laila is at least aware of Ulfric’s personal failings, her own lack of self awareness to the problems of her own city are just too much for me. And the fact that she has no problem openly trusting Maven BB just really seals her stupidity for me. Honestly I would’ve loved to see the look on her face when she finds out it’s Maven who replaces her if she gets deposed
While she has her character, that Jarl really let another bitch runs her city. Whatever her opinions on the war would literally be invalid, because she's basically a Jarl in name only.
yeah i always got the impression that she wasn't entirely incompetent. she does sound stupid and indecisive when talking to her court like when her steward assures her there is no skooma problem in the city and her seemingly believing this but when the player talks to her about it she immediately confirms that shes aware of Sarthis but unable to get rid of him with her own guards. if the player gets rid of the skooma operation shes open to making the player thane if they buy property and help the people, maybe looking for honest allies in the city. interestingly her siding with the Stormcloaks despite clearly having reservations against Ulfric could be a play to separate Maven from her imperial and thalmor connections while getting support from the Snow-Shods. if Unmid Snow-Shod is telling the truth there have already been multiple attempts on Lailas life, having jarls assassinated doesn't sound like the empire, if so why not the head of the snake itself and go for ulfric and the thalmor would only want maven on the throne if the stormcloaks lose the war so it has to be maven who sent goons either to actually try killing her or intimidate her. could be tied to the angry note maven has for the dark brotherhood. also having a scatterbrained court wizard could be a way of removing possible enemies in the court. an entirely lucid court wizard could be an ally or it could be an enemy, Wylandriah is completely harmless as long as the spiders she misplaces aren't venomous. trying to have her son framed as cursed or insane a way of saving him from being exiled or worse as a traitor. i like to make up stuff like this to think she's playing 4D chess trying to navigate the intricate cutthroat clusterfuck that is Riften politics being careful not to overreach and remove the illusion of power. skyrim has enough characters whose shtick is being incompetent idiots.
@@Slender_Man_186 Except, of course, Ulfric himself admits as much in Sovngard. At that point, faced directly with Alduin, he admits having his priorities completely wrong. More, there are sources suggesting that the High King was very much open to the idea of secession - so why did Ulfric kill him, rather than convincing him? Answer: Because secession was only a secondary goal for him.
Honestly I’ve always sided with the Empire as I couldn’t bring myself to betray the Ballin Lord, if your willing to trap a dang dragon in your castle you have more than done enough to earn your place as Jarl in my eyes, honestly he seems like a stellar example as to what every Nord should be at heart.
Glad you put Brunwulf at his deserved spot, he’s one of the most underrated and sympathetic characters in the game to me. Couldn’t remember half the characters on this list after having played this game for so long, yet for such a minor character he really stood out for his mature, pragmatic and unbiased views
He’s anything but mature, if you disagree with him he refuses to talk to you entirely. And he’s very obviously biased against Ulfric, his arguments don’t even make sense. There are no more Dark Elf Refugees because the Red year was 200 years ago, the Khajiit Caravans are skooma dealing criminals that none of the other cities support in any way, and the Argonians invaded Morrowind (which to be fair is because the Dark Elves enslaved the Argonians for centuries).
The first time I finally did the civil was quest (I couldn’t bring myself to do it before bc I didn’t agree with either side and they make you swear an OATH!) and ulfric was dead, I didn’t come back to windhelm for a long while, but when I did, and I saw him on the throne, I genuinely started crying, I was so happy!!
@@Slender_Man_186The Khajiit caravans also contain Aldmeri Dominion spies, some of which will carry letters requesting the assassination of Malborn if he is saved at the conclusion of the Thalmor Embassy quest. Also it's worth noting Brunwulf does absolutely NOTHING if elevated to Jarl. But oh "it will take time to change the attitudes of the nords". Almost like Ulfric held his policies for a reason and Naive Brunwulf discovers why things remain the way they are when he becomes the new leader.
I do feel a little bad for Elisif, but I kinda like her because she does at least have enough self awareness to know how very much out of her element she is and entrusts genuinely competent people like Falk and Tullius to give her leadership advice. She's trying to do her best and does seem to love her city and the people in it. Jarl Laila of Riften is absolutely deserving of bottom tier jarl. Sure, we can hate Maven all we want, but just as Maven says if/when she becomes jarl, she was always in charge from the beginning anyway. Gotta at least respect her drive and resourcefulness.
I like the dude too but I don't think he deserves the #1 spot. He has noble plans but he didn't get to the point of doing them. Bulgruuf on the other hand had people researching and working on the dragon problem from day one. He kept his people out of the civilwar as long as possible because he knew it was meant to pull the people apart. And as soon as he realized your character was the help he needed he gave you as much of a leg up as he could.
@@Kanelle88I think he didn't get to do those things because the civil war ends with him ascending the throne. He just gained the throne out of NOWHERE and already has a plan of attack day one. I'm not sure if I'd make him number 1 either, but I feel you're not really being fair to Brunwulf here
@@warmfuzzyvoid Actions speak louder then words. Brunwulf is pretty high on the list but he still didn't get the chance to enact anything he had on that grand list he had. Bulgruuf however acted in a way that saved the whole of Skyrim not just a few people from misaligned groups. Bulgruuf should definitely be number one on the list.
Skald is an instant bottom tier for me because of this dialogue between him and his servant: Bulfrek: "Skald, if you don't mind, sir, I have a request." Skald: "You, have a request of me, Bulfrek? [laughter] This should be interesting." Bulfrek: "Well, I was thinking, sir, with the war going on and all. Maybe, I could enlist? Fight the Imperials?" Skald: "A servant? Enlisting in the Stormcloaks? [laughter] Ah, Bulfrek, that's why I like having you about. You're always good for a laugh." Bulfrek: "Uh, yes sir. That's me. Your oafish servant." If you want to know what a man's like, look at how he treats his inferiors.
Fun fact: you can remove the entire silver bloods presence from markarth Do forsworn conspiracy, thonars wife will die Side with madanach in the mines, and they will kill thonar silverblood when u escape In season unending, give markarth to the stormcloaks, then join the imperial legion and retake markarth to kick thongvor out of markarth
I love Ulfric. I don't _agree_ with him, but he has cool lore, understandable motivations, and decent voice acting. The Stormcloaks, as much of a meme as it is to hate them, definitely have an iconic appearance that I enjoy, and some fun quests. That said, he's a pretty mediocre jarl.
Despite his flaws he's a really charismatic guy, whenever I'm in his palace and overhear his speech to Galmar about why he fights, I get a huge urge to go masscure a bunch of legioners and thalmor.
@@allhandsondik7803 everytime I choose imperial side, I choose because Balgruff(I respect and admire him, and until a short time ago, I never installed mods that change story or add story things, like imperial winning and starting a war against the thalmors), but only because of him, because I hate Markaath, and some imperial person and as a people of good, I hate the Thalmor with all my heart. And this hate and the charism of ulfric, is the only thing that makes me side with stormcloaks. For me,it would be best if Dragonborn takes the war against the two, and becames the high king, putting as jarls the people he trust and knows that is capable
@@luiztutume2325 same, Balgruuf is a big reason for why I side Imperial, also Rikke, think she's easily the most sane person of the 4 big leaders of the Civil War. The Thalmor do suck, but thats why I go imperial, if Skyrim would unify with the empire, there'd be a strong case for the Empire to kick the Thalmors ass. Plus Tulius is easily the more competent general. Man went into skyrim without any knowledge of it, and within 3 months had Ulfric ready to be executed.
Igrod is my favorite jarl and TBH I haaaate playing the Stormcloak questline because I don't want to replace her. She cares so much about Morthal! She sides with the Empire because it's good for Morthal! Also having her be the distraction during Diplomatic Immunity is hilarious. Old ladies can get away with everything, indeed!
I used to dislike jarl Korir too, but one day a dragon was attacking winterhold, and korir started defending the city and attacking the dragon with his bare hands, ever since that day I’ve had respect for him.
I wish there was a mod that makes balgruff go out for a drink in the bannered mare. I think you could add on this by getting him to sit down with generic dialogue like ‘yes?’. Wait long enough and you could have Iraleth come in and make them have their normal conversation in the pub.
Actually he tried to figure out what was wrong with his youngest son but the kid was refusing to talk to him. He only resorts to outside help once he realized he was getting nowhere. Him not writing it off as a phase and getting help is a sign of a good father actually. And you have to remember this is a daedra influenced problem... it's not exactly fair to judge it without taking that in account.
How dare you forget about Hrongar! He had code written for him to be a Jarl and if Ballin dies outside the civil war (through console commands) he will actually replace him. This is because Ballin was supposed to get murered during the whispering door daedeic quest.
Honestly I feel like he should've become Jarl if the player sided with the Stormcloaks. After all, Balgruuf was neutral in the war, but too deep in with the imperials to not side with them eventually. Hrongar on the other hand is just his brother, who's easily the most Nordic Nord who ever Norded in that keep. It could've just been a political power swap, I mean that shit happened all the time back in the day.
@@magicrainbowkitties1023 He would need to have a major change of heart to be a stormcloak jarl. His lines indicate that he wants to be out fighting the Stormcloaks and he even tries to convince Proventus to advise Balgruuf to do just that.
over the decade I've been playing skyrim, the one questline i NEVER completed was the civil war. even as an 11 year i disliked all of the political figures, like i hate having to talk to ulfric. i just couldn't possibly see either side as a viable choice lmao. but despite my years of gameplay with consistent political tension, you know who was always there for me? jarl balgruuf 🖤 forever a homie
yeah completely agree. a lot of people side imperial because they see it as the best hope to defeat the thalmor, but I think they miss the point that regardless of what side you choose, the war occuring will help the thalmor, causing more instability in the region and breaking apart the empire.
If you sided the Imperials and exiled Laila... I felt Saerlund should be the new Jarl instead of Maven. It would be poetic justice for Laila and Harrald Law Giver to disown him, and then get replaced by him.
I feel that, while she hypothetically has the ability to lead competently, Maven is the worst because she actively hurts her people for her own personal greed. Whereas other Jarls are bad for their people because of their incompetence, such as Skald or Korir, Maven is unique in that she very actively disdains her subjects, and makes life miserable for them. Even Thongvor, the most similar to Maven, though extremely arrogant and cruel, wants to keep the Forsworn from regaining control. Maven, however, has no interest in keeping her people safe from the organized crime that pervades Riften, as in fact directly involved, and has those who defy her assassinated by The Dark Brotherhood. Not only do I think Maven is worse for Riften, but her being Jarl directly damages Skyrim as a whole. Even before she is Jarl, she has people ruined for ultimately miniscule things like competing with her business, or breaking a business partnership. If Maven becomes Jarl, the power she gains will just allow her to become more tyrannical and damage the entire nation of Skyrim like no other Jarl.
Tier 1: 1. Vignar (classy guy) 2. Brunwulf (classy guy) 3. Balgruuf (classy guy, his son is a trainwreck) 4. Ulfric (hyper-competent, too narrowly focused) Tier 2: 5. Brina (classy lady) 6. Sorli (I find her wholesome) 7. Dengeir (good guy passed his prime, I hope to get this Jarlship when he dies because Siddgeir is awful) Tier 3: 8. Elisif (She's dumb but she has good instincts) 9. Kralder (he's a dork) 10. Korir (he's a dork) 11. Skald (he's a dork) 12. Idgrod (she's creepy and entitled, I hate her as a person) Tier 4: 13. Igmund (he isn't on the ball even when terrible problems are staring him in the face) 14. Thongvor (he sucks but at least he isn't ignoring the Forsworn problem) 15. Laila (a dumbass abdicating responsibility to mostly bad people) Tier 5: 16. Siddgeir (corrupt degenerate) 17. Maven (she's an evil witch, she's destroying the economy of the Rift, she has terrible children, her head should be on a pike)
13:15 Rich and influential woman whose husband can become Jarl in case of her death that's right about a corner considering her age. If we assume the worst I think he just seized an opportunity to live a chill life by her side and claim her everything when she goes six feet under.
And to think, I thought Laila was someone good. I even held back doing the civil war quest so if I had to choose who lead Riften, she would still be in charge.
Igmund is in my top 5. For some reason i respected him not being especially welcome to the player at first, only later changing his attitude. He also probably has to delicately manage many things in his hold: the forsworn, the Silver-Bloods, the White-Gold concordat, the Reach being liberated by Ulfric, and the civil war
Another thing about Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak is that he's very naive when it comes to his troops' strength. See, if you side with the Stormcloak and win The War, he'd say that he'll be planning to attack the Aldmeri Dominion's home province. Summerset Isles--home to some of the most powerful mages in the realm other than Morrowind and Hammerfell. Considering modern Nords have abandoned the "Clever-Craft", assaulting The Isles would no doubt be a suicide mission. Not to mention, 3 Daedric Princes tried to take over Summerset Isles before and failed. The Nords, or any single province really, would stand even less chance against them.
To add onto this in a different way, there's a note in fort neugrad thatll change if you went stormcloak, the author going from bandit leader to the fort's (stormcloak) commander. Roughly put, the bandit leader remarks that an avalanche or w/e blocked off pale pass & the legion hasnt been using it as a result. The stormcloak on the other hand notes that a huge number of legionaires are gathering beyond the border, enough to make him blackpilled & say their victory was for nothing. I wouldnt even go that far for saying ulfric's shortsighted tho. Dude couldve just asked torygg to secede & had he declined (prolly wouldnt with how he respected ulfric & his clout), *then* challenge him to a duel. I hate how badly skyrim falls apart when you look into the writings' details, the civil war aint as bad as the college of winterhold in that regard tho 💀
@@MB-dk6hk they were also well versed in magic back then, vs skyrim's era where their only magic institutions are the crumbling (figuratively & literally) college & high hrothgar, "full" of isolationist monks. Redguards are better *warriors* than the nords, but even their victory against the thalmor came from the backing of *many* defected legionaires
They are speaking of attacking the elves, wich you can do in haarfingar, not conquering the summerset islands… And a 12yo untrained nord girl is a better fighter then an elven prince that trained all his life and has the best equipment and top magic education… Also troop power is silly, war in the tes has nothing to do with troop strength and that stuff, its all about the divine favor.
@@mfspectacular Of course. I expect a stalemate. During which many elves will be killed and many Nords will march to Sovngarde. At least until the Empire gets off its ass and finishes what it started. Just because there is a civil war doesn't mean they can't work together in the future. If you really want my overall understanding as to why Nords are great elf killers, I'll explain it. It's definitely more than them having magic to rival the elves'.
A lot of people have mentioned that in my videos but I have never found any evidence to support that. The Argonians and Dark Elves seem to be rather neutral with each other.
Fun fact about Windhelm. The dark elves were able to move in to Windhelm after the eruption of red mountain, and nords were kicked out of the grey quarter so the elves could live there. the elves made it the dump it is, and argonians and dark elves have a rough history, so letting them stay together would end in violence.
They get along well enough in Riften. Plus the idea that the poor black refugees are the only reason part of a city became a slum has some bad implications. Windhelm is obviously meant to come off as a racist place. That's why it's the only city where people are segregated according to race, whereas Dark Elves, Argonians, and everyone else live without restrictions in every other city. There's even cut content where the guards have colorful things to say, depending on your race.
@@chadnorris8257 A mixture of mob mentality and strain theory is the reason Riften has no troubles. We're comparing a city that dunmer have run to as refugees with the invasion of Black Marsh still in their memories, to a city where people run to for commerce. The dunmer in Riften likely don't have the same memories of argonians those in Windhelm do. Besides, if there's anyone Ulfric would actually be racist towards, it's the High Elves, which he appears to have no problems with at all. Inb4 "he was brainwashed" because was of very clear mind when discussing his hatred of Elenwyn during Season Unending "That Thalmor bitch!" As opposed to "That Altmer bitch!"
Elisif should get a slight pass on her relying on her court for most decisions. Her husband, the high king, who was in charge of Skyrim, died. And she was never really had any experience in the diplomatic ongoings. Running Solitude, let alone Skyrim, is an all new and unfamiliar task, not even talking into account the fact her husband was killed by Ulfric like less than a week prior to the start of the game, so she is still grieving, which clouds her judgement even more. And she really does care, at the start of the quest to stop Potema's resurrection, she is willing to send a group of soldiers to a cave that people keep hearing scary noises from, all because she cares. Honestly with Ulfric's absolute stupidity, he should be lower than her.
Brunwolf is #1 because he is kind? The guy is the example of a Jimmy Carter. Nice dude. Has no idea what he is doing, has the majority of his constituents hating him, and legit is an economic nightmare. He reminds me of someone that promises a buch of stuff, then realizes he can't do 90% of what he is saying, because of issues and other things people have been saying would be a problem the entire time.
Dont feel bad about copying Skyrim videos. Ive essentially been watching the same videos for almost 11 years. Its not so much the content but rather how creators like yourself interpret the content. Thats why I can watch a lore video from shoddycast and watch the same lore video by camelworks and still be entertained.
Uflric is a warhero, legend and a true nord. He understands the costs of his endeavour. He does the right thing by fighting for the Nords' right to practice their culture and religion.
I ended my first playthrough when I disappointed Daddy Balgruuf 😢 I didn’t understand what I was doing with the Stormcloaks I just wanted freedom of religion but ended up a racist with the earnest disapproval of my Jarl
I always side with Ulfric for the war, so I place him at the top, but the rest, IDK. I don't consider the Empire to be the enemy, I consider the Thalmor to be the true enemy.
The empire works for the thalmor tho. They know they help the elves with a continuous war in skyrim, yet they fight it. Also the empire aint legitimate
@@georgemurdock7670 true, and the Empire willingly allows the Thalmor to occupy areas they have control over considering how Thalmor patrols won't spawn in a hold controlled by the Stormcloaks. however, I'd say that's more of them being puppets rather than a full-on enemy. the Thalmor could change the conditions of the treaty at any second and the Empire will be forced to comply.
@@georgemurdock7670 the best outcome, in my opinion: Ulfric wins the war with our aid, the DBH does assassinate Titus Mede II which weakens the empire further but also means the Shadowscale Sanctuary in Black-Marsh could be reopened. we get Black-Marsh to ally with Skyrim in return for training Shadowscales for them. we also ally with Hammerfell who already have reasons to take down the Thalmor. we convince the weakened empire to join the alliance, threatening to attack Cyrodil from 3 of their borders if they don't comply. with almost all of Tamriel on our side we also get Morrowind to join as they won't be able to resist. we can then attack the Aldmeris Dominion starting with Elswyr, then Valenwood, which will take far longer. we can then attack Summerset, crushing them entirely.
@@lordreptilestormblade1749 sounds nice but complicated. My plan: the dovakiin, last dragonborn blood of akatosh wipes the floor with the imperial traitors in skyrim, takes a nord detachment south to cyrodiil, with the combined wrath of akatosh and lorkan he named by the greybeards ysmir or "talos" in the imperial pantheon conqueres the white gold tower and kills every last of those rebellious medes and coronates himself as true emperor, the rest of the imperials and redguards join his cause, he conqueres elsweyer and turns the jungle in valenwood into treeless plains, like once cyrodiils jungles where turned into treeless plains, cleanses it of the elves, his soldiers become the new population of it, as last act of the gods revenge against the dominions affront he sinks the summerset islands like once yakuda was sunken. He then disappears.
@@georgemurdock7670 cool idea. guessing you'll leave the neutral provinces (Black-Marsh and Morrowind) alone then? or do you also have plans for them (note: the Empire never truly took Black-Marsh, they merely agreed to joining them until the end of the Oblivion Crisis, when we Argonians counter-sieged Dagon, invading his realm instead of him invading us. we later took revenge against Morrowind at last)
While i love balgruuf and think he's deserving of high king title, i have to agree brunwulf is the best ruler He's one of the very few nords who isn't as stubborn as a stone.
Which could also be a weakness. He is far to susceptible to outside influence. If you speak to a lot of the citizens afterwards, they talk about how he is basically selling the city and its people out with his incompetence. Good guy, but an incompetent ruler.
@@danielw.8356 I wouldn't consider very many people in Windhelm to be exactly reliable in their evaluation. A good majority of the city were extremely loyal to Ulfric and a fair few despised the Dunmer. Naturally they would see Brunwulf trying to make amends as "selling out". It's all a matter of perspective.
@@timtaylor9298 The dunmer are legit the most racist people in Elder Scrolls. Even worse than the High Elves. Why wouldn't they be despised? They legit hate the argonians with a passion as well, more so than the Nords think argonians are weird. This is the problem with half of these issues, from these rankers. They think from a perspective of only Skyrim. And ignore all the other lore, and issues. Argonians living next to Dark Elves? It would be a blood bath. Argonians were only kicked out of the city when the Dunmer started to move in as refugees. Not to mention Windhelm took in the refuges DESPITE not needing too.
@@danielw.8356 And they paid for that racism. If you couldn't tell, most of the Dunmer in Windhelm would rather just be left alone. I do agree that putting the Argonians too close would be a bad idea but doesn't happen regardless of outcome.
I actually really like Maven Black-Briar, not necessarily as a Jarl but moreso as a villain. I like her in the same way I like Mr. House from Fallout: New Vegas if that makes any sense, they're absolutely not good people and they're entirely self-interested and ruthless businesspeople, but I think that's what makes them fun
I'm of the opinion that all of the Jarls are lacking, and deeply saddened that no mechanic was included for the Dragonborn to become the Jarl of one of the holds (or even the High King/Queen).
I would dispute Balgruf as he completely neglects the city walls during a civil war. Plus agreeing to trap a dragon in a wooden palace wasn't very smart 😅
Funny bit of trivia: During the quest "Season Unending", if you agree to give Markarth to the Stormcloaks, and join the Empire, you have to retake Markarth for the Empire. This results in Thongvor Silver-Blood going into exile with the rest of the Stormcloak Jarls; if you don't give Markarth to the Stormcloaks, Thongvor remains in Markarth. I think it's cool that you have this opportunity to oust this guy from Markarth, and he's not even the default Jarl for the city!
Dude, absolutely fantastic video. I'm a boot up Skyrim and make a fun character kinda guy myself, I had no fucking clue you could get new jarls based on following either civil war questline, you blew my mind.
Ulfric: Cares a lot about his Nord brothers and sisters Also Ulfric: Lets Sofie, an orphan of fallen Stormcloak soldier and Nord girl, be homeless without shelter in freezing cold Windhelm. Yeah right...
You could easily make the argument that Ulfric cares for the 'people of Skyrim' rather than just nords. The dark elves have been living in nord homes for 7-10 human generations and still claim the civil war isn't their fight. The argonian problem is more unforgivable, though. They were put there for both theirs and dunmer safety, and most argonians on the docks would temporarily be there, but the permanent dwellers should definitely be entitled to more than they already have for accommodation.
I think putting Argonians in the same city as Dunmer is a really bad idea. The Dunmer enslaved the Argonians for thousands of years, and now they're refugees because the Argonians invaded Morrowind and massacred thousands of them, even though they got rid of slavery. I doubt the Nords would take kindly to a bunch of other races fighting a race war in their city. The Argonians being underpaid by their employer is pretty bad for sure, but I don't think the Nords owe them a place in their city.
Its not theirs to fight, quite frankly the only person who should fight is Ulfric, hes the sole reason the war is happening. And his shortsightedness killed any chance at a unified skyrim rising against the Thalmor. Before he killed Torygg, Torygg assumed Ulfric wanted to talk and he was ready to not only listen, but probably help. But ulfirc doesn't think that far ahead. Ulfric started a pointless war and drags good men to their death against their own brothers, when some patience could've not only led to a unified nord rebellion, but a whole unified skyrim, each race taking up arms for their home. I'd also say after 7-10 generations, its their homes.
Ulfric doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He started the rebellion because he wanted to be king of Skyrim. Everything else is just propaganda to get people on his side.
@@allhandsondik7803 I certainly do believe Torygg would have given an audience, but by that point Solitude had already seen too much of the imperial high life to take anything Ulfric says seriously. Money talks, etc which even Balgruuf says kinda balanced out his feelings towards Torygg. Ulfric is a jarl, and like Torygg, is part of a noble lineage. But unlike Torygg, he served alongside his citizens and understands the needs of the commoners. He could have stayed at High Hrothgar and become a grey beard, but he refused to turn a blind eye to his people. And that's the thing about the civil war. If it was just Ulfric who wanted this to happen, he would have no support from the other holds, nor their people. He'd be forced to conscript, but has not shown need of this (at the very least outside of Eastmarch). Wars don't just happen because of one man. And this is the part where he shows no sympathy to the dark elves, as they've seen generations of nords who have been kind enough to let them live in their ancestor's homes despite becoming more and more desperate each generation. Yet seeing this suffering first hand isn't enough to turn their hearts. Furthermore, I'd definitely agree that after so long that Windhelm is their home, and they have as much claim as the nords, but they show no fighting spirit to defend it, which is the thing that really aggravates the nords. The nords believe Windhelm is the home of the dunmer, but the dunmer don't. They'd rather just sit and watch how it plays out, homes be damned. What's even more baffling is they've run from a province that was utterly ruined by Imperial corruption and influence before the eruption of Red Mountain. They have seen this very thing happening in Solitude before with House Hlaalu, a house that had been cast out from Morrowind's council because of their close ties to the Empire, and after the Oblivion Crisis demonstrated the Empire's willingness to gain control, but refusal to do good by its citizens.
I love your content, man! I just wanna say something lol. That little caption at 5:40 about Black-Briar's with possible incest... things like that sadly happened in the other provinces. Take Alinor for example... the whole idea of "Path to Alaxon" is quite literally to have the most "pure" and "perfect" Altmeri blood lol. But yeah I completely agree with all of your rankings! Especially regarding Elisif. Elisif is a pretty fair Jarl, it's just... she was thrown into that position and she really didn't want it. She relies heavily on her council members and from what I gather, she doesn't have her own opinions or say tbh, not saying she's 100% a pushover buuuuuut.... yanno what I mean? (actually you covered my exact same thoughts on that matter) I completely agree with you about Ulfric to an extent... I started to really think about what anyone would do in Ulfric's shoes, kinda thanks to Fudgemuppet, I think it was in a podcast they were doing. And like... the man was kidnapped, and tortured by the Thalmor and was fed a lie about the Legion (I can't remember the exact lie), which had him released right into an Imperial Ambush. To put salt to the wound, guess who was RIGHT at Helgen, speaking with Tulius? Elenwen. So, I mean... honestly? I thought about this myself and I'd honestly do the exact same thing. Especially since the Thalmor have been purposely lying to both sides, playing as a puppet master. Because I am 100% positive if Ulfric truly knew the Empire had such distaste of the Thalmor, and wanted to eliminate them just as much as he did, I'm sure he'd have some sort of change of action. I'm sure he'd still want Skyrim to be fully independent, but, in a more friendlier and respectful way rather than... well. Rebelling. But I do fully agree with you on the fact he's a wonderful General and Commander, he literally inspires his men left and right, and he'd rather be on the front lines. He would HAPPILY sacrifice himself to save his men if needed. But... when it comes to actually ruling, yeah he's terrible. But... I don't even think he's fully to blame for that, though. And... I'm sorry, but, I'm kinda not sorry for how the Dunmer are being treated. For MAAAAANY years most of the Great Houses treated everyone that was not Dunmer absolutely poorly, especially Argonians. So for once, they /finally/ have a taste of discrimination, racism, and the such. However, I think it could have been done in a short-termed way, just to show them "See, it's not fun being treated like this now, hmm? But, I think you get the picture..." and then yanno, treat them normally. AND NO PLEASE DO NOT think I reflect this ideology in real-life cultures and stuff. I just think the Dunmer kinda do deserve this little treatment for the YEEEEEARS of oppression they forced others upon. And there's nothing else to really add to your last options! I mean like... Jarl Ballin' is simply the best. Idgrod I completely agree with you that she's extremely wise, and reminds me a lot of Jarl Ballin'. And I really liked Brunwulf as well.
I looked up the Blackbriar incest theory, and it seems like developer oversight where him her husband is in some code but her son in another code. Meaning her grandkids would be marked as her kids as well, and it also meant he would sleep in her bed on rare occasions. Although I do think Maven, being a boy mom, would explain a lot of the nepotism and other issues in the family. It's definitely a fun theory lore wise and would make one of the most interesting families even more interesting. But it really feels like Bethesda cut a handful of npcs from the game during development but never proofread the coding for smaller details, which adds up considering the sheer amount of issues the game had at launch. Cut NPCs would also explain why so much of Skyrim feels underpopulated. But that might be due to the limitations of that generation of consoles and it being 2011
If you look into the lore it not a terrible thing that argonians are not allowed in the city because of the dark elf refugee as tensions would be crazy high bc of the argonian invasion of Morrowind after the oblivion crisis and they hate each other so ulfric had a ultimatum let one in and the other out or none in bc both would just not work
I actually love the fact that Brunwulf gives sanctuary to all the Stormcloak Jarls after the Civil War is over - especially since he supports the Empire - and he even lets Korir's family move into his old house!
Master Neloth, where would you put Councilor Morvayn in this list? He's not exactly a jarl, but he is the leader of Raven Rock which might as well be the capital of Solstheim, which in essence is a hold.
Video is already made lol, but I would say he is probably in the 5th to 6th range but idk cuz its been a while since I played the Dragonborn DLC properly.
Balgruuf and Brunwulf are my two tops but I also most agree that I am strangely fond of Igmumd. A lot of the story portrays him in a pretty negative light, but I always thought he was actually pretty chill for some reason. I also agree that he’s definitely been left in a pretty shitty situation.
I love ballin. on my 1st play through i was a stormcloack then when the time i knew stormcloacks attcking whiterun i gave the jagged crown to tullius. how could you betray that kind ballin and the 1st city i visited. i mean he respect us as the dragonborn morethan anyone else
I think thematically it’d make sense if the ulfric speech one was a banquet celebration him escaping his capture. With after that moment it being hard to find him because he went back into the fray. I think that’d make the city make more sense. As it is he is in town all the time and has like two people in his castle, and never listens to the people in his hold whatsoever. The situation in his hold would make so much more sense if he is trying to win the war and therefore away from his hold
This may sound dumb but I listen to this video regularly to fall asleep and I love your perspective on who's both at the bottom and the top and not just choosing who is most annoying and who is the coolest.
Ulfric is the only Jarl in skyrim to accept refugees from Morrowind. No other city has a grey quarter. So call Ulfric racist all you want. Hes the only Jarl to help the dunmir. And he keep Argonians outside the city walls because the dunmir are hateful and racist towards them and would cause social unrest. Morrowind and Black Marsh do not have good relations with eachother.
I married the Jarl of Solitude not knowing it was her husband that was killed by Ulfric whom I've been supporting in taking over the imperial legions and now I'm filled with guilt
3:44 STRONG disagree. Korir is one of my favorite, and I feel too many people misunderstand him by only looking at the surface of who he is. He literally hired Malur because he thought it would give him a connection to the College. This means that he put aside his hatred of the College for the good of his Hold. Sure, Malur isn't associated with the College, but no one knows this. Not even Jarl Kraldar, who supposedly talks with Archmage Aren occasionally, is aware that Malur is a fake and so he keeps Malur in a position of authority. I will agree that his attitude towards Elves isn't the best, which could put him lower on the list, but he definitely does not deserve to be rated this low. Hell, I genuinely think he is a better Jarl for Winterhold than Kraldar would be. EDIT: You say that Kraldar is optimistic, but I would label him more on the naive side, which is dangerous for a ruler. While it might be easier for the people to love Kraldar than Korir, we cannot forget that it is better for a ruler to be feared than loved (if they can't have both). Kraldar might be a better person than Korir, that is something I can concede, but that doesn't make him a better Jarl.
Considering the uploader's decision on Korir, I am surprised that he is lower than the Silver-Blood. According to the uploader, both characters are pretty much both racist, but Korir had a problem with the college and the Silver-Bloods made a deal with the foresworn and killed their own people, then blame you for it... I don't know why he put Korir lower on the list than the Silver-Blood. Still, I am happy to see this side of Korir, thank you for the information.
@@GratiaVOD I think it is also worth noting that Kraldar's plan for rebuilding Winterhold is to beg the Empire to do it while Korir wants to appeal to the tradition of the Hold to get the Nords to care about Winterhold again (and the surrounding Holds are tradition oriented Holds). Korir is often just looked at on the surface and dismissed, but I genuinely think that if you look at him in detail, and even look at the College in detail, you can easily start to understand him. His skepticism of the College is well warranted, yet he still tries to create a connection. He knows Winterhold lacks the resources, but he still tries to do something that could lead to others assisting in rebuilding. Genuinely think that the formation of a national militia and Korir's appeal to the traditional minded Nords has a better chance for turning Winterhold around than Kraldar's "Empire, please help me" stance. And you are correct, how the Silver-Bloods can be rated higher than Korir is an absolute mystery. The Silver-Bloods are just as corrupt as the Black-Briars but absolutely stupid in execution of their corruption.
Most information on Korir’s relationship with Malur is just speculative because they don’t talk to each other much. I just see Korir as whiney which is why he’s low. He doesn’t do anything and has no plans. And I don’t really see him “stepping his hatred aside” especially as he educates his son on why magic and elves are bad. Also fun fact about my video but I completely forgot about Kraldar until the last possible second so my defense for him isn’t solid cuz it was super rushed I still stand by my choice tho. The whole fear of loved idea also really just depends on circumstance, sometimes love is better than fear it’s just circumstantial.
Judging by your views on what makes good leadership (Being feared rather than loved or respected) you're not particularly to be trusted on these matters. Something tells me that if you were put in a position of power, you wouldn't be very good at it and as such unfit to discuss this at length. Not only is your rhetoric about leaders being best feared instead of loved and supported massively incorrect and insane, you're also extremely lenient when the fate of somebody's citizens and town lies in their hands. Korrir is not a good Jarl in any sense of the word, point blank period. Go back to LARPing as an intelligent human being.
@@SpaceEmperorGenos The fact that you jump on the "feared rather than loved" as being somehow inherently incorrect and LARPy in nature shows that you have never read 'The Prince' by Machiavelli. Either that or you just fail to actually understand it. Sure, a leader in a republic or democracy being feared by their people isn't good, and thus in the modern era this isn't necessarily the direction one should go in, but we are talking about a Jarl. Not only a Jarl, but a Jarl in a country that is in conflict with itself. That is the precise situation where the lessons from 'The Prince' are most applicable. Try actually reading a book on the subject before you try and judge people, otherwise you will just end up embarrassing yourself again.
Any racism is by most considered wrong becouse judging a person based of their looks is A) immature B) Very often turns the rasist violent to a person they haven't meet until 2 seconds ago. It can also be seen as a mental illness sence some subjects "cannot control themselves" in the presence of a person with different skin color/hair color/ eye color etc. Racism in Skyrim is the same and it's not like all the races other then human have been just pure evil like in some different universes.
With Winterhold, part of the problem is Savos Aren and his predecessors. Nobody wants to put away the hatchet and start the rebuilding. They gripe at each other or plainly ignore what is outside their front doors. Basically, Savos and the Jarl are 2 peas in a pod.
Bad: 17 - Maven (corrupt and evil) 16 - Thongvor (a Silver-Blood, enough said) 15 - Skald (incompetent and delusional) 14 - Siddgeir (selfish and corrupt) 13 - Igmund (goes along with the Thalmor and Siver-Bloods, broke his word) 12 - Korir (bitter and irresponsible) Mid: 11 - Sorli (selfish but competent) 10 - Laila (selfish but lawful) 9 - Elisif (weak but kind) 8 - Idgrod (somewhat absent but wise) Good: 7 - Brina (competent) 6 - Deingeir (dutiful) 5 - Kraldar (wise) 4 - Brunwulf (just) 3 - Vignar (honourable) 2 - Ulfric (heroic) 1 - Balgruuf (best ruler) I'm neutral on the civil war, but if pushed I would side with the Stormcloaks due to the Talos and Thalmor issues.
The Nords' hate for the Elves is actually super fair. A reason I say this is because Skyrims lore tells us that the Elves forced their way into skyrim, are funding both sides to keep the war going, banned Talos worship and pushed the Elven beliefs, and think they are supreme and the superior race. If this sounds familiar, thats because it is. This is exactly like the colonists from Britain and their relationship with the Natives of North America. The Brits offered forced into the land, funded tribes to attack one another, promised riches to deceive the people, pushed their Christianity on the Natives and stripped them of their religions, and thought they were superior. So, my point is, do you think the Native Americans were racist because they hated the colonists? If not, than the same applies to the Nords.
Also ulfric forces the argonians and dark elves to be separate due to racial tensions. And that dark elf who is getting bullied by the nords is far from perfect, she even refers to the argonians as lazy.
@@masterneloth Lol, also to be fair take what I say with a pinch of salt, I’ve just read from other discussions on the civil war subject. Enjoyed the vid bud.
Yeah, putting them together would cause so much problem to Ulfric, it would be like putting lgbt in a muslin area, lots of tensions. Besides, the Argonians were enslaved by the dark elves.
@@haengeltheknight1212 the argonians where created to be slaves by the hist. Treating them like lesser beings is okay because they are because thats what the hist wanted them to be
Going "HURRRR NORDS RACIST" is such a pleb-tier Reddit thing to insinuate. 90% of Tamrielic history is built on a foundation of genocide and racial cleansing: those poor oppressed dunmer regard slavery as their cultural birthright, the noble Imperial Legion is literally fighting to maintain their colonial status, Redguards despised the mer so much that they created a God of ethnic cleansing and used their hate-boner for elves to sink an entire continent. If you're trying to look at the history of Tamriel through a racial good/bad dichotomy, you're already going about it all wrong.
7:19. If the city is built in the mountainside, there is nowhere to run from this giant, flying beast. Plus, SINCE the whole city is stone, that means that all the dragon has to do is keep the fire going for a while and cook everyone ALIVE.
@@casualgamingauraous2345 I mean, on a list of bad daedra to worship, Sheo is still on that list. Personally though, as long as she's just offering him cabbage and yarn or whatever and not stabbing people for fun, I'm not judging.
Neloth: I promise I won't get political
Neloth after a few sujamma:
Neloth: I won't get political
Also Neloth: oppressing elves is a bad thing and jarls shouldn't do it
Honestly not very political in my mind
@@Diabhork Racism should never be deemed political, racism is just always a bad thing. The fact that all of the Thalmor and any calling themselves part of the Aldmeri Domini have decided to be racist shits who hate all races of men doesn't give a political or moral excuse for the Nords or other races of men to be racist against all Elves/Mer.
@@Diabhork
Apparently he only thinks it’s okay for elves to oppress others, instead
@@fanamatakecick97 I'll have you know telvanni is the most accepting of all the great houses. Mage prodigy of all races have been among its' members. And they're just as crazy as the rest of the house. not just mages Anyone who risks their lives in a enough times will be accepted.
Brunwulf says my favorite line in the entire game:
"There's no glory in war. It's just something they tell soldiers so they'll risk their lives."
Fax
That's a lie. You're telling me Gideon, Leonidas, or the 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment didn't achieve glory?
@@LoganLS0who even is that. Wait, who cares.
@@noiz1762 people who aren't gay care.
@@LoganLS0ok they earned glory….? And I could care less earning glory means nothing in the end.
Fun Fact: I was building lakeview manor and I needed to go back and forth to it from Falkreath. One time, a dragon attacked Falkreath and Dengeir, being the absolute chad he is, climbed on he dragon and killed it.
Bro I was playing last night and my follower Lucien Flavius, yes THAT lucien KILLED DENGEIR. I DONT EVEN KNOW WHY
@@seanmoran9383 plot reason probably, idk, or maybe he can kill other Stormcloak followers? Idk
What a beast, truly a man of the people
@@seanmoran9383hah love Lucien! One of my favorite companions.
Hah, absolute chad indeed.
Who else thinks idgrod ravencrone is underrated? she cares about the fire that happened in morthal and wants you to get to the bottom of it. She also helps you distract the guards at Elenwens party.
Igrod is the best. I love her.
She's hilarious. I would die for her
"Btw, Alva is a vampire and made Hroggar kill his family"
"Lol no way, she's useless."
"I have proof"
"That b*tch!"
Best Jarl in all of Skyrim.
Her distraction at the Embassy party is the best one. She even tells you before hand that she is there to spy on the Thalmor. She isn’t the “weird physic” as many think. Sharp as a tack.
I love that Idgrod wants you to find out the truth about the fire, and doesn't react until you have concrete evidence. She is, no doubt, one of the most honest Jarls.
Jarl Ballin should be high king. Understands the importance of the Empire staying in power as it’s the only hope mankind has against the Thalmor, he hates the Thalmor and allows Talos worship in his city regardless of what the Empire or Thalmor say, as he hasn’t removed the shrine of Talos, or incarcerated Heimskr or the Gray Manes. He genuinely cares about the people of Whiterun, and even all of Skyrim, he listens to the people. He remains neutral in the war until Ulfric decides to attack. While Vignar and Brunwulf are great Jarls, Jarl Ballin always believed in you, and is always there to help. He is the reason I started to either side with the Empire or remain neutral in the civil war, because I felt bad for kicking him out of Whiterun when I was a Stormcloak.
dude i've never done a full stormcloak playthrough because Balgruuf"s "I thought you were better than this" line hit hard after all he'd done for me, walked through Whiterun to see the carnage I'd helped cause and reloaded that save to go join the Empire again
@@spiderflame04 couldn't relate fuck them imperials Ulfric to good
We should start a Civil War to make him High King!!
This comment kinda makes me want to start a new run just to pal around with Jarl Ballin again. Bethesda made a great decision placing him as the first Jarl in your main path.
@@InvictusByz There HAS to be a Balgruuf companion mod!
Before watching I'm just gonna say Balgruuf deserves to be one rank higher than he is, because he's Ballin' Balgruuf.
roma invicta!
@@georgianultraimperialistor2934 Every time I pass 50 likes on a comment, something like this happens lmao
@@InvictusByz based
Balgruuf isn't all that great, he neglects his children allowing them to become spoiled brats, has affairs, is indecisive and let's war arrive on his doorstep before acting, leaves a Daedric Artifact in his basement which leads to members of his family and court coming under the influence of melphala and also allows the Thalmor to kidnap citizens.
He is a bit of a fool when it comes to his children, there is that.
Windhelm citizens: "Help, there's a serial killer on the loose!"
Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak: "Oh. Anyway, what are we having for dinner?"
tbh blame the blind ass guards that can’t see bloodstains on the floor, abandoned house and necromancy patterns. Ulfric is busy with the civil war I guess
he’s eating the imperial milk drinker for dinner
Haafingar Citizens: Help theres an ancient evil queen being resurrected by a cult of necromancers.
Elisif: Oh yeah? heres a couple more guards bro.
@@goblez5900to be fair, even the people that were near that cave didn’t know what was going on.
@@goblez5900To be fair, they didn’t know it was a necromancy cult at the time, and she was straight up about to send a battalion before she got talked down by Falk. Not really comparable.
Aside from the obvious reasons Balgruuf is my favorite, this one moment when playing solidified his position as best ever to me. Hear me out,
I’m playing my super modded Skyrim, dragons are really tough and one is attacking whiterun. It’s taking in game hours to whittle this guy down to where he lands since I’m mainly a 1H character with just fire bolt, flame atronach, Illia, and Lydia as ranged damage. He lands….last mistake
Out of nowhere JARL BALLIN COMES CHARGING IN and a bunch of the whiterun guards and they start laying into this dragon. Maybe it was AI Overhauls package that had him outside but that was the first time I ever saw a Jarl lead the charge against a dragon out of nowhere. Best Jarl ever, fighting with his men, staring into the jaws of death and slapping it with a sword. He truly won’t stand idly by while a dragon burns his hold and slaughters his people 😌
Jarl Ballin for High King
I like Ulfric mainly cuz he's a "Warrior prince" (both a Leader/Ruler and have some form of strength in battle)
but a Jarl who fights for his people on top of being a great Jarl takes the cake as number 1
That sounds like a dope, impactful moment
Any idea if there's a mod that could do that on xbox?
Ok if I witnessed that I'd prob like him more than Brunwulf.
Nothing really left to say after Sñr Jarl charges out of the mists of dragon smoke to whoopass👍
@@yep1486 still racisim and blindness to the dragon threat is really bad, also he spreads alot of propaganda
Maven Black Briar is by far the most corrupt, most influential, and powerful Jarl/Politician in the entire game. Not only does she have her own mercenary personal guards with the Thieves guild in her pocket which she can use as agents. She can summon the dark brotherhood to do not nice things to anyone whenever she wants, knows everything, revered by the Thalmor, and lastly has the Empire in her pocket basically she is untouchable.
If you become a part of the Dark Brotherhood, you can technically never send anyone out to see her. Though just because she knows Astrid in general no body can boss the guild around. Say the DB is destroyed I'm almost certain that either Baybet or Cicero would just kill her because they find her annoying.
and gets to live solely because she is essential. I wish there was a system in place to have certain jarls replaced if killed. Maven doesn't deserve to be jarl but I do side with the imperials.
Makes you really wish you could put her in her place as some bitch who's past her prime and has other people do her dirty work because she lacks the guts.
I'm the god damn Dragonborn. What are you gonna do to me, Maven? Yell at me? Act like you can wave the Brotherhood over my head? I kill Brotherhood assassins for fun. Thieves try to mug me and give *me* their money.
I could actually go and destroy the brotherhood right *now,* Maven. I could steamroll them if I want, but I love Cicero, Festus, Veezara and Nazir.
All of the people you have in your pocket, I'm leading. All of the people you have in your pocket that I *don't* lead, I can shout into pieces and get to their families, too.
I have no qualms about taking your children out of the equation.
I have no qualms about dismantling the Thieves Guild if you try to turn them against me successfully.
I have no qualms about burning down everything you love as I watch your old, black tears fizzle out over the fire of the rubble that's no longer recognizable as the Black-Briar Manor.
I have no qualms about dealing with every single one of your contacts, including those even vaguely related to you in any way.
I'm the fucking Dragonborn. I'm legendary. This world is mine until the next Kalpic cycle. The dragons are mine until the next Kalpic cycle. The heads of the legendary Dragonpriests are mine until the next Kalpic cycle.
In the grand scheme of things, you have nothing, Maven.
And I have everything.
@@nutcrackit7396 idk about "doesn't deserve it" bc really, who else in riften has the authority to take the job? Not saying she's great but if anyone was gonna be the imperial replacement, it's her
She even says it herself "I've always been in charge around here, the title is merely a formality"
I like to think the Dragonborn cuts ties with her after becoming the listener and leader of the thieves guild
I agree where Elisif is concerned, with two caveats:
1) I don't think Elisif's love of luxuries and fine dresses are necessarily a bad thing; even during the Civil War it's never hinted that Solitude is strapped for cash in any way, so it's a harmless aspect of her character and really just speaks to the fact that she's lived up until now a life that has gotten her used to a certain amount of comfort and spending freedom.
2) I do believe that with some years of experience behind her (and perhaps a very competent Dragonborn Thane?) she has the potential to be a good ruler. It was her instinct to send a detachment to the mines to investigate a disturbance that was frightening her subjects, after all, a very Balgruuf-like move, and the only difference between them is that she, being insecure in her decisions, bowed to her Steward's caution instead of sticking to her guns like Balgruuf did when his steward advised caution. She just needs to grow into it.
I think your points are solid, but I will say that I don’t think sending a legion to investigate “strange noises” is the best response. Sure, it turned out to be something really bad, but based off of her information her steward and thanes had the correct response, which we ended up siding with.
Love you! ❤️
@@masterneloth i'm not sure i agree, Falk tells you that there has been reports of strange ligths and noises, aswell as people going missing and this is going on in wolfskull cave, a place that got it's name because it was Potema the wolf queens ritual site for necromancy, Falk's original plan of "letting it go" is negligent at best and incompetent at worst, i would claim that with what has been reported and the history of the location, it is slightly extreme but a better response to send a legion to the cave than "letting it go"
@@masterneloth It's not just strange noises. It's travelers disappearing without a trace, strange lights and it's coming from a cave where a 500-year-long dead evil queen practised necromancy. In a world where magic exists and is known to the common folk, strange occurances must always be checked with caution. Sure, maybe an entire legion right away might be a bit too far, but sending at the very least a scouting party, even if it's to put the people at ease is the right decision.
I also think Elisif is still dealing with some trauma. She witness her husband get murdered in front of her and his killer escape. So the indulgence and mild carelessness is probably a symptom of her grief. I believe that if she gets the support she needs she could become a better Jarl.
@@RainintheBrain he wasn’t murdered and ulfric aint a killer. Her husband died in a fair duel he lost cuz he couldn’t shout with all the thalmor d**k in his mouth
I think Siddgeir should be the last on the list. While I do agree that Laila is nothing more than a puppet and a coward for preparing a carriage in the event of a dragon attack, she at least has the guts to admit that losing Riftin was her fault if she goes into exile whereas other Jarls blame everyone except themselves. Siddgeir is an absolutely incompetent sorry excuse of a Nord who does literally nothing but eats, drinks, and farts and consorts with bandits, only killing them off when they stopped paying him. It’s only bc his steward is competent that Falkreath hasn’t been burned to the ground. His uncle Dengeir is a paranoid loon but at least he cares about the people, Siddgeir is a crook who has no right being on the throne.
Is it really paranoia if people are actually out to get you? Dengeir Suspecting the smith was an imperial spy was pretty out there, but the members of his court did force him into an early retirement, and none of the people in the town seemed to care. That kind of thing would make anyone cautious of who they trust.
I wish you could over throw siddgeir as an imperial i fuckin hate him but i cant overthrow balgruuf
But he says the succulent meat line so give him credit for that.
@@TruekingoftheLeinstermen Yeah, sometimes I wish there could be better solutions. I do like Falkreath but this Jarl? At least he let his Steward who is competent doing the job and doesn't try it himself. I guess if he would really rule Falkreath would be worse
"I envy you, you know. To climb the 7,000 Steps again... I made the pilgrimage once, did you know that?"
ūff thats a yourney. If each step is 20cm thats 1,4 km up, the highest Ive ever managed to climb was 0,65 km.
Its a shame Korir is such a pathetic joke. Imagine if there was a fun quest where the college and the player help save his son and he's like "Oh Talos, I was so wrong. I am sorry." And then we see him use the college's magical power to start rebuilding his city. Maybe have them conjure a huge magical unmelting ice block where the old city used to be, then build over it? That'd be rad.
Moron doesn't understand that those mages could provide the best capital! and with the prices of houses nowadays? Pure profit!!!
Well to be fair that was suppose to be in the game. So you can't shit on the dude, because the devs didn't finish it.
Lets cut Korir some slack. He was 100% right about the college being to blame for the fall of winterhold. While not conscious effort by the college they are way to carefree in the practice of magic.
@@rayzuke1232 It is also heavily hinted at that, that the college probably was responsible for the collapse. So I mean the dude isn't wrong about being pissed off.
@@rayzuke1232 I feel that's debatable, they seem pretty reasonable to me. Can you elaborate on how you think they were to blame for the fall?
To be fair to Jarl Igrod, Aslfur could also just be really, really into GILFs.
I wish someone would make a mod that made jarls really unique Like solitude jarls would wear imperial jewelry an fine clothes while windhelm would have fine nord clothes clad in fine fur an rune jewelry an markarth with dwemer finery would be cool
on a side note: i wish someone would make a mod where we can banish maven black briar and her entourage of crotch goblins to oblivion. then have them be replaced by people who arent assholes.
I wish I could take Riften for the Empire and Maven didn't become Jarl
there really should have been a "destroy the thieves guild" quest where you just erode maven's power and take her out, then weed out the thieve's guild. and not necessarily kill them all either, you could have some get away and also imprison some too. it would have been so much fun.
@@stoopidapples1596 I wanna win the war Empire side just to become leader of both Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood, Thrane of Riften and take the Jarl title from Maven and strip her of all her power. I want her to have a taste of real power and then be fully starved. Banish her to Ivarstead.
I guess I'm the only one who likes Maven. Damn.
This quest mod A Better Tomorrow: Replace Maven looks promising. LikThere are 2 guys, very honorable sounding from the dialogue heard from
You started at #17 and I was so confused because there are only 9 holds.
But then I remembered Skyrim's civil war actually has a quest line that changes who the jarls are.
That's how badly the civil war was handled in this game. It's the main conflict of the story (excluding the actual main quest), and I actually forgot about it.
What's worse is that data miners and modders have found an entire game's worth of civil war content that was cut during development. Skyrim was supposed to be a war game, and Bethesda gutted it, threw it in the trash, and replaced its defiled carcass with a handful of fort battles and called it a day.
And to add insult to injury, they've never done anything more with it in the 12 years since the game's initial release. Anniversary Edition could've been an absolute show-stopper if it came with the fabled "Moot DLC," that restored cut Civil War content and actually ended with a new High King taking the throne, but no. Instead we got _fishing_ and a bunch of stuff other people made. After all, they had to add human npcs to Fallout 76 to appease Fallout fans, even though they're long gone from that dumpster of a game.
That’s a damn shame. I’m naively hoping they won’t have to make any sacrifices like this for elder scrolls 6, considering the amount of time they’ve had…
They do have a Mod for the civil war which opens up the other battles you can do. I’ve liberated DawnStar,Winter-hold, defend Falkreath twice and Did the Siege of Riften. They added the Dialogs of the Jarls exchanging words for one another.
@@pineapplek1g323 do give me the mod name please
@@pineapplek1g323 Yeah dude dick move to say the mod exits and not tell anyone what the mod is
if Skyrim let you actually talk to the people in the game, I can only ever see me waltzing into Riften and calling Maven an inbred cow
I think people misjudge Laila Lawgiver. While she officially supports the Stormcloaks, she's very conscious about the damage the civil war does. More, she's highly skeptical of Ulfric: " Between you and I, I think his motivations are a bit more self-serving. He uses this holy war as leverage in order to pursue the throne. If he were to be crowned High King, I'm not so certain it would be the golden age his followers expect."
She also doesn't present the Stormcloak attitude towards the White Gold Concordat as fact, simply presenting it as the interpretation of the Stormcloaks.
While I do agree that Laila is at least aware of Ulfric’s personal failings, her own lack of self awareness to the problems of her own city are just too much for me. And the fact that she has no problem openly trusting Maven BB just really seals her stupidity for me. Honestly I would’ve loved to see the look on her face when she finds out it’s Maven who replaces her if she gets deposed
While she has her character, that Jarl really let another bitch runs her city. Whatever her opinions on the war would literally be invalid, because she's basically a Jarl in name only.
That just kinda proves that she’s a bad judge of character, if Ulfric were truly self serving I don’t think he’d be let into Sovereigngard
yeah i always got the impression that she wasn't entirely incompetent. she does sound stupid and indecisive when talking to her court like when her steward assures her there is no skooma problem in the city and her seemingly believing this but when the player talks to her about it she immediately confirms that shes aware of Sarthis but unable to get rid of him with her own guards. if the player gets rid of the skooma operation shes open to making the player thane if they buy property and help the people, maybe looking for honest allies in the city.
interestingly her siding with the Stormcloaks despite clearly having reservations against Ulfric could be a play to separate Maven from her imperial and thalmor connections while getting support from the Snow-Shods. if Unmid Snow-Shod is telling the truth there have already been multiple attempts on Lailas life, having jarls assassinated doesn't sound like the empire, if so why not the head of the snake itself and go for ulfric and the thalmor would only want maven on the throne if the stormcloaks lose the war so it has to be maven who sent goons either to actually try killing her or intimidate her. could be tied to the angry note maven has for the dark brotherhood. also having a scatterbrained court wizard could be a way of removing possible enemies in the court. an entirely lucid court wizard could be an ally or it could be an enemy, Wylandriah is completely harmless as long as the spiders she misplaces aren't venomous. trying to have her son framed as cursed or insane a way of saving him from being exiled or worse as a traitor.
i like to make up stuff like this to think she's playing 4D chess trying to navigate the intricate cutthroat clusterfuck that is Riften politics being careful not to overreach and remove the illusion of power. skyrim has enough characters whose shtick is being incompetent idiots.
@@Slender_Man_186 Except, of course, Ulfric himself admits as much in Sovngard. At that point, faced directly with Alduin, he admits having his priorities completely wrong.
More, there are sources suggesting that the High King was very much open to the idea of secession - so why did Ulfric kill him, rather than convincing him? Answer: Because secession was only a secondary goal for him.
Honestly I’ve always sided with the Empire as I couldn’t bring myself to betray the Ballin Lord, if your willing to trap a dang dragon in your castle you have more than done enough to earn your place as Jarl in my eyes, honestly he seems like a stellar example as to what every Nord should be at heart.
Honestly couldn't be farther off. He's what Nord's should avoid. Bravado and self righteousness without the principles and conviction to back it
To be fair his replacement does the same thing but doesn’t take bribes from the empire
Maven's family remind sme of the Borgia family, especially how Ingun seems to be so fascinated in poisons, just like Lucrezia Borgia.
Well at least the Borgias weren’t all utterly incompetent like the Black-Briars are. They were all insane sure, but not useless.
Glad you put Brunwulf at his deserved spot, he’s one of the most underrated and sympathetic characters in the game to me. Couldn’t remember half the characters on this list after having played this game for so long, yet for such a minor character he really stood out for his mature, pragmatic and unbiased views
He’s anything but mature, if you disagree with him he refuses to talk to you entirely. And he’s very obviously biased against Ulfric, his arguments don’t even make sense. There are no more Dark Elf Refugees because the Red year was 200 years ago, the Khajiit Caravans are skooma dealing criminals that none of the other cities support in any way, and the Argonians invaded Morrowind (which to be fair is because the Dark Elves enslaved the Argonians for centuries).
The first time I finally did the civil was quest (I couldn’t bring myself to do it before bc I didn’t agree with either side and they make you swear an OATH!) and ulfric was dead, I didn’t come back to windhelm for a long while, but when I did, and I saw him on the throne, I genuinely started crying, I was so happy!!
Brunwulf is a failure of a Nord. He should be sent packing down to Cyrodil with the rest of the Milk-Drinkers
@@Slender_Man_186The Khajiit caravans also contain Aldmeri Dominion spies, some of which will carry letters requesting the assassination of Malborn if he is saved at the conclusion of the Thalmor Embassy quest.
Also it's worth noting Brunwulf does absolutely NOTHING if elevated to Jarl. But oh "it will take time to change the attitudes of the nords".
Almost like Ulfric held his policies for a reason and Naive Brunwulf discovers why things remain the way they are when he becomes the new leader.
I do feel a little bad for Elisif, but I kinda like her because she does at least have enough self awareness to know how very much out of her element she is and entrusts genuinely competent people like Falk and Tullius to give her leadership advice. She's trying to do her best and does seem to love her city and the people in it.
Jarl Laila of Riften is absolutely deserving of bottom tier jarl. Sure, we can hate Maven all we want, but just as Maven says if/when she becomes jarl, she was always in charge from the beginning anyway. Gotta at least respect her drive and resourcefulness.
Mad respect for putting brunwulf on the no1 spot. Hes a true nord. Loves his own people and the foreigners.
What does loving foreigners have to do with being a true nord? lmfao
The "true" Nords of the past literally massacred the native populations lmfao
I love Brunwulf, just a down to earth guy that wants peace and prosperity. ✌️
I like the dude too but I don't think he deserves the #1 spot. He has noble plans but he didn't get to the point of doing them. Bulgruuf on the other hand had people researching and working on the dragon problem from day one. He kept his people out of the civilwar as long as possible because he knew it was meant to pull the people apart. And as soon as he realized your character was the help he needed he gave you as much of a leg up as he could.
@@Kanelle88I think he didn't get to do those things because the civil war ends with him ascending the throne. He just gained the throne out of NOWHERE and already has a plan of attack day one. I'm not sure if I'd make him number 1 either, but I feel you're not really being fair to Brunwulf here
@@warmfuzzyvoid Actions speak louder then words. Brunwulf is pretty high on the list but he still didn't get the chance to enact anything he had on that grand list he had. Bulgruuf however acted in a way that saved the whole of Skyrim not just a few people from misaligned groups. Bulgruuf should definitely be number one on the list.
Skald is an instant bottom tier for me because of this dialogue between him and his servant:
Bulfrek: "Skald, if you don't mind, sir, I have a request." Skald: "You, have a request of me, Bulfrek? [laughter] This should be interesting." Bulfrek: "Well, I was thinking, sir, with the war going on and all. Maybe, I could enlist? Fight the Imperials?" Skald: "A servant? Enlisting in the Stormcloaks? [laughter] Ah, Bulfrek, that's why I like having you about. You're always good for a laugh." Bulfrek: "Uh, yes sir. That's me. Your oafish servant."
If you want to know what a man's like, look at how he treats his inferiors.
Somethings wrong, a wizard from house telvanni actually making a tier list of the Jarls of Skyrim... by himself no less?
Fun fact: you can remove the entire silver bloods presence from markarth
Do forsworn conspiracy, thonars wife will die
Side with madanach in the mines, and they will kill thonar silverblood when u escape
In season unending, give markarth to the stormcloaks, then join the imperial legion and retake markarth to kick thongvor out of markarth
Can you do the same for maven. I hate her
I love Ulfric. I don't _agree_ with him, but he has cool lore, understandable motivations, and decent voice acting. The Stormcloaks, as much of a meme as it is to hate them, definitely have an iconic appearance that I enjoy, and some fun quests. That said, he's a pretty mediocre jarl.
Despite his flaws he's a really charismatic guy, whenever I'm in his palace and overhear his speech to Galmar about why he fights, I get a huge urge to go masscure a bunch of legioners and thalmor.
I do love his VA and Charisma, its what made me look past Ulfrics stupidity in my first playthrough
@@goatslayer3160 is your civic duty as a Skyrim player to kill all thalmor you see, even if you are a imperial solider, or a high elf
@@allhandsondik7803 everytime I choose imperial side, I choose because Balgruff(I respect and admire him, and until a short time ago, I never installed mods that change story or add story things, like imperial winning and starting a war against the thalmors), but only because of him, because I hate Markaath, and some imperial person and as a people of good, I hate the Thalmor with all my heart. And this hate and the charism of ulfric, is the only thing that makes me side with stormcloaks. For me,it would be best if Dragonborn takes the war against the two, and becames the high king, putting as jarls the people he trust and knows that is capable
@@luiztutume2325 same, Balgruuf is a big reason for why I side Imperial, also Rikke, think she's easily the most sane person of the 4 big leaders of the Civil War. The Thalmor do suck, but thats why I go imperial, if Skyrim would unify with the empire, there'd be a strong case for the Empire to kick the Thalmors ass. Plus Tulius is easily the more competent general. Man went into skyrim without any knowledge of it, and within 3 months had Ulfric ready to be executed.
Igrod is my favorite jarl and TBH I haaaate playing the Stormcloak questline because I don't want to replace her. She cares so much about Morthal! She sides with the Empire because it's good for Morthal! Also having her be the distraction during Diplomatic Immunity is hilarious. Old ladies can get away with everything, indeed!
I used to dislike jarl Korir too, but one day a dragon was attacking winterhold, and korir started defending the city and attacking the dragon with his bare hands, ever since that day I’ve had respect for him.
damn kung fu a dragon sounds fucking sick . A giga chad indeed
I wish there was a mod that makes balgruff go out for a drink in the bannered mare.
I think you could add on this by getting him to sit down with generic dialogue like ‘yes?’.
Wait long enough and you could have Iraleth come in and make them have their normal conversation in the pub.
Ai overhaul
Give him the ol' Delphine in a hood treatment.
"My Jarl! I didn't expect to see you here! What's happenin'??"
"Have you heard of the high elves?"
Should have dialogue where he buys a round of drinks for everyone, seems like something he'd do
Jarl Balgruuf has a lot of good things about him. The only downsides I see are his neglectful attitude towards his children.
Actually he tried to figure out what was wrong with his youngest son but the kid was refusing to talk to him. He only resorts to outside help once he realized he was getting nowhere. Him not writing it off as a phase and getting help is a sign of a good father actually. And you have to remember this is a daedra influenced problem... it's not exactly fair to judge it without taking that in account.
How dare you forget about Hrongar! He had code written for him to be a Jarl and if Ballin dies outside the civil war (through console commands) he will actually replace him. This is because Ballin was supposed to get murered during the whispering door daedeic quest.
Honestly I feel like he should've become Jarl if the player sided with the Stormcloaks. After all, Balgruuf was neutral in the war, but too deep in with the imperials to not side with them eventually. Hrongar on the other hand is just his brother, who's easily the most Nordic Nord who ever Norded in that keep. It could've just been a political power swap, I mean that shit happened all the time back in the day.
@@magicrainbowkitties1023 He would need to have a major change of heart to be a stormcloak jarl. His lines indicate that he wants to be out fighting the Stormcloaks and he even tries to convince Proventus to advise Balgruuf to do just that.
@@magicrainbowkitties1023 Hrongar is pro Imperial. He wants Balgruuf to stop being neutral, and join the Empire.
Adding cut content is not very good, technically Erikur would be there too if so
Elisif were about to be replaced to during Boethia quest.
over the decade I've been playing skyrim, the one questline i NEVER completed was the civil war. even as an 11 year i disliked all of the political figures, like i hate having to talk to ulfric. i just couldn't possibly see either side as a viable choice lmao. but despite my years of gameplay with consistent political tension, you know who was always there for me? jarl balgruuf 🖤 forever a homie
yeah completely agree. a lot of people side imperial because they see it as the best hope to defeat the thalmor, but I think they miss the point that regardless of what side you choose, the war occuring will help the thalmor, causing more instability in the region and breaking apart the empire.
If you sided the Imperials and exiled Laila... I felt Saerlund should be the new Jarl instead of Maven. It would be poetic justice for Laila and Harrald Law Giver to disown him, and then get replaced by him.
I feel that, while she hypothetically has the ability to lead competently, Maven is the worst because she actively hurts her people for her own personal greed.
Whereas other Jarls are bad for their people because of their incompetence, such as Skald or Korir, Maven is unique in that she very actively disdains her subjects, and makes life miserable for them.
Even Thongvor, the most similar to Maven, though extremely arrogant and cruel, wants to keep the Forsworn from regaining control.
Maven, however, has no interest in keeping her people safe from the organized crime that pervades Riften, as in fact directly involved, and has those who defy her assassinated by The Dark Brotherhood.
Not only do I think Maven is worse for Riften, but her being Jarl directly damages Skyrim as a whole. Even before she is Jarl, she has people ruined for ultimately miniscule things like competing with her business, or breaking a business partnership.
If Maven becomes Jarl, the power she gains will just allow her to become more tyrannical and damage the entire nation of Skyrim like no other Jarl.
Tier 1:
1. Vignar (classy guy)
2. Brunwulf (classy guy)
3. Balgruuf (classy guy, his son is a trainwreck)
4. Ulfric (hyper-competent, too narrowly focused)
Tier 2:
5. Brina (classy lady)
6. Sorli (I find her wholesome)
7. Dengeir (good guy passed his prime, I hope to get this Jarlship when he dies because Siddgeir is awful)
Tier 3:
8. Elisif (She's dumb but she has good instincts)
9. Kralder (he's a dork)
10. Korir (he's a dork)
11. Skald (he's a dork)
12. Idgrod (she's creepy and entitled, I hate her as a person)
Tier 4:
13. Igmund (he isn't on the ball even when terrible problems are staring him in the face)
14. Thongvor (he sucks but at least he isn't ignoring the Forsworn problem)
15. Laila (a dumbass abdicating responsibility to mostly bad people)
Tier 5:
16. Siddgeir (corrupt degenerate)
17. Maven (she's an evil witch, she's destroying the economy of the Rift, she has terrible children, her head should be on a pike)
Based list
Jarl Ballin' High King 2024!
13:15 Rich and influential woman whose husband can become Jarl in case of her death that's right about a corner considering her age. If we assume the worst I think he just seized an opportunity to live a chill life by her side and claim her everything when she goes six feet under.
Reasons to side with the imperials: the Jarls are much nicer
Also the Jarls that support the Imperials are more competent than the Stormcloak supporters except for Siddgeir.
@@kildawgnah they just control wealthier regions so they seem more competent.
“ran out of gameplay footage so here’s ulfric stormcloak eating bread” caught me so off guard😭
I like Skald's face when you're helicoptering around him. Totally deserves being bugged lol
Amazing original video idea I’ve never seen before, man! You’re very funny and I hope your channel gets the attention it deserves.
You are loved and cherished ❤️
And to think, I thought Laila was someone good. I even held back doing the civil war quest so if I had to choose who lead Riften, she would still be in charge.
She's got a good heart but is a dumbass.
Maven is a criminal mastermind but has a heart of stone
Plus Maven basically runs the city anyway
Igmund is in my top 5. For some reason i respected him not being especially welcome to the player at first, only later changing his attitude. He also probably has to delicately manage many things in his hold: the forsworn, the Silver-Bloods, the White-Gold concordat, the Reach being liberated by Ulfric, and the civil war
Another thing about Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak is that he's very naive when it comes to his troops' strength.
See, if you side with the Stormcloak and win The War, he'd say that he'll be planning to attack the Aldmeri Dominion's home province. Summerset Isles--home to some of the most powerful mages in the realm other than Morrowind and Hammerfell. Considering modern Nords have abandoned the "Clever-Craft", assaulting The Isles would no doubt be a suicide mission. Not to mention, 3 Daedric Princes tried to take over Summerset Isles before and failed. The Nords, or any single province really, would stand even less chance against them.
Nords do have experience wiping out an entire race of elves - such as Snow Elves.
To add onto this in a different way, there's a note in fort neugrad thatll change if you went stormcloak, the author going from bandit leader to the fort's (stormcloak) commander. Roughly put, the bandit leader remarks that an avalanche or w/e blocked off pale pass & the legion hasnt been using it as a result. The stormcloak on the other hand notes that a huge number of legionaires are gathering beyond the border, enough to make him blackpilled & say their victory was for nothing. I wouldnt even go that far for saying ulfric's shortsighted tho. Dude couldve just asked torygg to secede & had he declined (prolly wouldnt with how he respected ulfric & his clout), *then* challenge him to a duel. I hate how badly skyrim falls apart when you look into the writings' details, the civil war aint as bad as the college of winterhold in that regard tho 💀
@@MB-dk6hk they were also well versed in magic back then, vs skyrim's era where their only magic institutions are the crumbling (figuratively & literally) college & high hrothgar, "full" of isolationist monks. Redguards are better *warriors* than the nords, but even their victory against the thalmor came from the backing of *many* defected legionaires
They are speaking of attacking the elves, wich you can do in haarfingar, not conquering the summerset islands…
And a 12yo untrained nord girl is a better fighter then an elven prince that trained all his life and has the best equipment and top magic education…
Also troop power is silly, war in the tes has nothing to do with troop strength and that stuff, its all about the divine favor.
@@mfspectacular Of course. I expect a stalemate. During which many elves will be killed and many Nords will march to Sovngarde. At least until the Empire gets off its ass and finishes what it started. Just because there is a civil war doesn't mean they can't work together in the future.
If you really want my overall understanding as to why Nords are great elf killers, I'll explain it. It's definitely more than them having magic to rival the elves'.
In fairness to Ulfric, he only forces the Argonians to live on the docks because they kept attacking the Dunmer in the streets.
A lot of people have mentioned that in my videos but I have never found any evidence to support that. The Argonians and Dark Elves seem to be rather neutral with each other.
@@masterneloth Oh, nevermind then. I probably heard it from someone else I guess.
I enjoyed encountering this video. Gaining your perspective and knowledge on each of the jarls really opens up my mind to role playing ideas
Fun fact about Windhelm. The dark elves were able to move in to Windhelm after the eruption of red mountain, and nords were kicked out of the grey quarter so the elves could live there. the elves made it the dump it is, and argonians and dark elves have a rough history, so letting them stay together would end in violence.
the argonians invaded morrowind, why would you put them together
@@ihaveacookie4226 windhelms own fighting arena 😌
Solves all immigration problems
Exactly! Thank you!
They get along well enough in Riften. Plus the idea that the poor black refugees are the only reason part of a city became a slum has some bad implications. Windhelm is obviously meant to come off as a racist place. That's why it's the only city where people are segregated according to race, whereas Dark Elves, Argonians, and everyone else live without restrictions in every other city. There's even cut content where the guards have colorful things to say, depending on your race.
@@chadnorris8257
A mixture of mob mentality and strain theory is the reason Riften has no troubles. We're comparing a city that dunmer have run to as refugees with the invasion of Black Marsh still in their memories, to a city where people run to for commerce. The dunmer in Riften likely don't have the same memories of argonians those in Windhelm do.
Besides, if there's anyone Ulfric would actually be racist towards, it's the High Elves, which he appears to have no problems with at all. Inb4 "he was brainwashed" because was of very clear mind when discussing his hatred of Elenwyn during Season Unending "That Thalmor bitch!" As opposed to "That Altmer bitch!"
Elisif should get a slight pass on her relying on her court for most decisions. Her husband, the high king, who was in charge of Skyrim, died. And she was never really had any experience in the diplomatic ongoings. Running Solitude, let alone Skyrim, is an all new and unfamiliar task, not even talking into account the fact her husband was killed by Ulfric like less than a week prior to the start of the game, so she is still grieving, which clouds her judgement even more. And she really does care, at the start of the quest to stop Potema's resurrection, she is willing to send a group of soldiers to a cave that people keep hearing scary noises from, all because she cares. Honestly with Ulfric's absolute stupidity, he should be lower than her.
Brunwolf is #1 because he is kind? The guy is the example of a Jimmy Carter. Nice dude. Has no idea what he is doing, has the majority of his constituents hating him, and legit is an economic nightmare. He reminds me of someone that promises a buch of stuff, then realizes he can't do 90% of what he is saying, because of issues and other things people have been saying would be a problem the entire time.
This was really entertaining, I'll subscribe. Keep em coming
Dont feel bad about copying Skyrim videos. Ive essentially been watching the same videos for almost 11 years. Its not so much the content but rather how creators like yourself interpret the content. Thats why I can watch a lore video from shoddycast and watch the same lore video by camelworks and still be entertained.
Korir instead of rebuilding winterhold, just sits there and complains about it’s state
Great to see another elder scrolls channel, subbed, all the best.
Uflric is a warhero, legend and a true nord. He understands the costs of his endeavour. He does the right thing by fighting for the Nords' right to practice their culture and religion.
I wish there was a quest to help repair windhelm and make it a better place.
I ended my first playthrough when I disappointed Daddy Balgruuf 😢 I didn’t understand what I was doing with the Stormcloaks I just wanted freedom of religion but ended up a racist with the earnest disapproval of my Jarl
I always side with Ulfric for the war, so I place him at the top, but the rest, IDK. I don't consider the Empire to be the enemy, I consider the Thalmor to be the true enemy.
The empire works for the thalmor tho. They know they help the elves with a continuous war in skyrim, yet they fight it. Also the empire aint legitimate
@@georgemurdock7670 true, and the Empire willingly allows the Thalmor to occupy areas they have control over considering how Thalmor patrols won't spawn in a hold controlled by the Stormcloaks. however, I'd say that's more of them being puppets rather than a full-on enemy. the Thalmor could change the conditions of the treaty at any second and the Empire will be forced to comply.
@@georgemurdock7670 the best outcome, in my opinion: Ulfric wins the war with our aid, the DBH does assassinate Titus Mede II which weakens the empire further but also means the Shadowscale Sanctuary in Black-Marsh could be reopened. we get Black-Marsh to ally with Skyrim in return for training Shadowscales for them. we also ally with Hammerfell who already have reasons to take down the Thalmor. we convince the weakened empire to join the alliance, threatening to attack Cyrodil from 3 of their borders if they don't comply. with almost all of Tamriel on our side we also get Morrowind to join as they won't be able to resist. we can then attack the Aldmeris Dominion starting with Elswyr, then Valenwood, which will take far longer. we can then attack Summerset, crushing them entirely.
@@lordreptilestormblade1749 sounds nice but complicated. My plan: the dovakiin, last dragonborn blood of akatosh wipes the floor with the imperial traitors in skyrim, takes a nord detachment south to cyrodiil, with the combined wrath of akatosh and lorkan he named by the greybeards ysmir or "talos" in the imperial pantheon conqueres the white gold tower and kills every last of those rebellious medes and coronates himself as true emperor, the rest of the imperials and redguards join his cause, he conqueres elsweyer and turns the jungle in valenwood into treeless plains, like once cyrodiils jungles where turned into treeless plains, cleanses it of the elves, his soldiers become the new population of it, as last act of the gods revenge against the dominions affront he sinks the summerset islands like once yakuda was sunken. He then disappears.
@@georgemurdock7670 cool idea. guessing you'll leave the neutral provinces (Black-Marsh and Morrowind) alone then? or do you also have plans for them (note: the Empire never truly took Black-Marsh, they merely agreed to joining them until the end of the Oblivion Crisis, when we Argonians counter-sieged Dagon, invading his realm instead of him invading us. we later took revenge against Morrowind at last)
I’ve started playing again because of you and Longbrow. I’ve been playing this game for 11 years and haven’t had as much fun until now lol.
i really enjoyed this totally original content and am so glad to know you did not copy it at all from anyone else :)
While i love balgruuf and think he's deserving of high king title, i have to agree brunwulf is the best ruler
He's one of the very few nords who isn't as stubborn as a stone.
Which could also be a weakness. He is far to susceptible to outside influence. If you speak to a lot of the citizens afterwards, they talk about how he is basically selling the city and its people out with his incompetence. Good guy, but an incompetent ruler.
@@danielw.8356 I wouldn't consider very many people in Windhelm to be exactly reliable in their evaluation. A good majority of the city were extremely loyal to Ulfric and a fair few despised the Dunmer. Naturally they would see Brunwulf trying to make amends as "selling out". It's all a matter of perspective.
@@timtaylor9298 The dunmer are legit the most racist people in Elder Scrolls. Even worse than the High Elves. Why wouldn't they be despised? They legit hate the argonians with a passion as well, more so than the Nords think argonians are weird.
This is the problem with half of these issues, from these rankers. They think from a perspective of only Skyrim. And ignore all the other lore, and issues. Argonians living next to Dark Elves? It would be a blood bath. Argonians were only kicked out of the city when the Dunmer started to move in as refugees. Not to mention Windhelm took in the refuges DESPITE not needing too.
@@danielw.8356 And they paid for that racism. If you couldn't tell, most of the Dunmer in Windhelm would rather just be left alone. I do agree that putting the Argonians too close would be a bad idea but doesn't happen regardless of outcome.
@@timtaylor9298 Yeah a big mountain erupted because it hated racists. Sound logic.
Sorli the Builder having an Argonian house carl despite being a stormcloak jarl was always interesting to me.
I actually really like Maven Black-Briar, not necessarily as a Jarl but moreso as a villain. I like her in the same way I like Mr. House from Fallout: New Vegas if that makes any sense, they're absolutely not good people and they're entirely self-interested and ruthless businesspeople, but I think that's what makes them fun
But you can go against House but not against Maven
I'm of the opinion that all of the Jarls are lacking, and deeply saddened that no mechanic was included for the Dragonborn to become the Jarl of one of the holds (or even the High King/Queen).
The dragonborn can become emperor for he is the only one with a claim to the throne
I would dispute Balgruf as he completely neglects the city walls during a civil war.
Plus agreeing to trap a dragon in a wooden palace wasn't very smart 😅
Funny bit of trivia: During the quest "Season Unending", if you agree to give Markarth to the Stormcloaks, and join the Empire, you have to retake Markarth for the Empire. This results in Thongvor Silver-Blood going into exile with the rest of the Stormcloak Jarls; if you don't give Markarth to the Stormcloaks, Thongvor remains in Markarth. I think it's cool that you have this opportunity to oust this guy from Markarth, and he's not even the default Jarl for the city!
And Ondolemar will die if you do this, so that's a plus.
Dude, absolutely fantastic video. I'm a boot up Skyrim and make a fun character kinda guy myself, I had no fucking clue you could get new jarls based on following either civil war questline, you blew my mind.
The hours weren't for nothing. You made my day and most likely many others better with your video. Thank you for the hard work.
Ulfric: Cares a lot about his Nord brothers and sisters
Also Ulfric: Lets Sofie, an orphan of fallen Stormcloak soldier and Nord girl, be homeless without shelter in freezing cold Windhelm.
Yeah right...
🎶All my Jarls a-a-all my jarls.
You could easily make the argument that Ulfric cares for the 'people of Skyrim' rather than just nords.
The dark elves have been living in nord homes for 7-10 human generations and still claim the civil war isn't their fight.
The argonian problem is more unforgivable, though. They were put there for both theirs and dunmer safety, and most argonians on the docks would temporarily be there, but the permanent dwellers should definitely be entitled to more than they already have for accommodation.
I think putting Argonians in the same city as Dunmer is a really bad idea. The Dunmer enslaved the Argonians for thousands of years, and now they're refugees because the Argonians invaded Morrowind and massacred thousands of them, even though they got rid of slavery. I doubt the Nords would take kindly to a bunch of other races fighting a race war in their city. The Argonians being underpaid by their employer is pretty bad for sure, but I don't think the Nords owe them a place in their city.
Its not theirs to fight, quite frankly the only person who should fight is Ulfric, hes the sole reason the war is happening. And his shortsightedness killed any chance at a unified skyrim rising against the Thalmor. Before he killed Torygg, Torygg assumed Ulfric wanted to talk and he was ready to not only listen, but probably help. But ulfirc doesn't think that far ahead. Ulfric started a pointless war and drags good men to their death against their own brothers, when some patience could've not only led to a unified nord rebellion, but a whole unified skyrim, each race taking up arms for their home. I'd also say after 7-10 generations, its their homes.
Ulfric doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He started the rebellion because he wanted to be king of Skyrim. Everything else is just propaganda to get people on his side.
@@allhandsondik7803
I certainly do believe Torygg would have given an audience, but by that point Solitude had already seen too much of the imperial high life to take anything Ulfric says seriously. Money talks, etc which even Balgruuf says kinda balanced out his feelings towards Torygg.
Ulfric is a jarl, and like Torygg, is part of a noble lineage. But unlike Torygg, he served alongside his citizens and understands the needs of the commoners. He could have stayed at High Hrothgar and become a grey beard, but he refused to turn a blind eye to his people. And that's the thing about the civil war. If it was just Ulfric who wanted this to happen, he would have no support from the other holds, nor their people. He'd be forced to conscript, but has not shown need of this (at the very least outside of Eastmarch). Wars don't just happen because of one man.
And this is the part where he shows no sympathy to the dark elves, as they've seen generations of nords who have been kind enough to let them live in their ancestor's homes despite becoming more and more desperate each generation. Yet seeing this suffering first hand isn't enough to turn their hearts. Furthermore, I'd definitely agree that after so long that Windhelm is their home, and they have as much claim as the nords, but they show no fighting spirit to defend it, which is the thing that really aggravates the nords. The nords believe Windhelm is the home of the dunmer, but the dunmer don't. They'd rather just sit and watch how it plays out, homes be damned.
What's even more baffling is they've run from a province that was utterly ruined by Imperial corruption and influence before the eruption of Red Mountain. They have seen this very thing happening in Solitude before with House Hlaalu, a house that had been cast out from Morrowind's council because of their close ties to the Empire, and after the Oblivion Crisis demonstrated the Empire's willingness to gain control, but refusal to do good by its citizens.
@@alaskamark4562
Definitely agree. I just think the argonians could be given something better than what they have for accommodation.
jarl ballin is the only reason i’ve only done one stormcloak play through
I love your content, man! I just wanna say something lol. That little caption at 5:40 about Black-Briar's with possible incest... things like that sadly happened in the other provinces. Take Alinor for example... the whole idea of "Path to Alaxon" is quite literally to have the most "pure" and "perfect" Altmeri blood lol.
But yeah I completely agree with all of your rankings! Especially regarding Elisif. Elisif is a pretty fair Jarl, it's just... she was thrown into that position and she really didn't want it. She relies heavily on her council members and from what I gather, she doesn't have her own opinions or say tbh, not saying she's 100% a pushover buuuuuut.... yanno what I mean? (actually you covered my exact same thoughts on that matter)
I completely agree with you about Ulfric to an extent... I started to really think about what anyone would do in Ulfric's shoes, kinda thanks to Fudgemuppet, I think it was in a podcast they were doing. And like... the man was kidnapped, and tortured by the Thalmor and was fed a lie about the Legion (I can't remember the exact lie), which had him released right into an Imperial Ambush. To put salt to the wound, guess who was RIGHT at Helgen, speaking with Tulius? Elenwen. So, I mean... honestly? I thought about this myself and I'd honestly do the exact same thing. Especially since the Thalmor have been purposely lying to both sides, playing as a puppet master. Because I am 100% positive if Ulfric truly knew the Empire had such distaste of the Thalmor, and wanted to eliminate them just as much as he did, I'm sure he'd have some sort of change of action. I'm sure he'd still want Skyrim to be fully independent, but, in a more friendlier and respectful way rather than... well. Rebelling. But I do fully agree with you on the fact he's a wonderful General and Commander, he literally inspires his men left and right, and he'd rather be on the front lines. He would HAPPILY sacrifice himself to save his men if needed. But... when it comes to actually ruling, yeah he's terrible. But... I don't even think he's fully to blame for that, though. And... I'm sorry, but, I'm kinda not sorry for how the Dunmer are being treated. For MAAAAANY years most of the Great Houses treated everyone that was not Dunmer absolutely poorly, especially Argonians. So for once, they /finally/ have a taste of discrimination, racism, and the such. However, I think it could have been done in a short-termed way, just to show them "See, it's not fun being treated like this now, hmm? But, I think you get the picture..." and then yanno, treat them normally. AND NO PLEASE DO NOT think I reflect this ideology in real-life cultures and stuff. I just think the Dunmer kinda do deserve this little treatment for the YEEEEEARS of oppression they forced others upon.
And there's nothing else to really add to your last options! I mean like... Jarl Ballin' is simply the best. Idgrod I completely agree with you that she's extremely wise, and reminds me a lot of Jarl Ballin'. And I really liked Brunwulf as well.
I looked up the Blackbriar incest theory, and it seems like developer oversight where him her husband is in some code but her son in another code. Meaning her grandkids would be marked as her kids as well, and it also meant he would sleep in her bed on rare occasions.
Although I do think Maven, being a boy mom, would explain a lot of the nepotism and other issues in the family. It's definitely a fun theory lore wise and would make one of the most interesting families even more interesting.
But it really feels like Bethesda cut a handful of npcs from the game during development but never proofread the coding for smaller details, which adds up considering the sheer amount of issues the game had at launch. Cut NPCs would also explain why so much of Skyrim feels underpopulated.
But that might be due to the limitations of that generation of consoles and it being 2011
If you look into the lore it not a terrible thing that argonians are not allowed in the city because of the dark elf refugee as tensions would be crazy high bc of the argonian invasion of Morrowind after the oblivion crisis and they hate each other so ulfric had a ultimatum let one in and the other out or none in bc both would just not work
Go to Riften and you will see your wrong
I actually love the fact that Brunwulf gives sanctuary to all the Stormcloak Jarls after the Civil War is over - especially since he supports the Empire - and he even lets Korir's family move into his old house!
Master Neloth, where would you put Councilor Morvayn in this list? He's not exactly a jarl, but he is the leader of Raven Rock which might as well be the capital of Solstheim, which in essence is a hold.
Video is already made lol, but I would say he is probably in the 5th to 6th range but idk cuz its been a while since I played the Dragonborn DLC properly.
Balgruuf and Brunwulf are my two tops but I also most agree that I am strangely fond of Igmumd. A lot of the story portrays him in a pretty negative light, but I always thought he was actually pretty chill for some reason. I also agree that he’s definitely been left in a pretty shitty situation.
I love ballin. on my 1st play through i was a stormcloack then when the time i knew stormcloacks attcking whiterun i gave the jagged crown to tullius. how could you betray that kind ballin and the 1st city i visited. i mean he respect us as the dragonborn morethan anyone else
If only we could give the crown to ballin
I think thematically it’d make sense if the ulfric speech one was a banquet celebration him escaping his capture. With after that moment it being hard to find him because he went back into the fray. I think that’d make the city make more sense. As it is he is in town all the time and has like two people in his castle, and never listens to the people in his hold whatsoever. The situation in his hold would make so much more sense if he is trying to win the war and therefore away from his hold
I swear to god if jarl ballin ain’t #1
Edit: I’m gonna rage
This may sound dumb but I listen to this video regularly to fall asleep and I love your perspective on who's both at the bottom and the top and not just choosing who is most annoying and who is the coolest.
Ulfric is the only Jarl in skyrim to accept refugees from Morrowind. No other city has a grey quarter. So call Ulfric racist all you want. Hes the only Jarl to help the dunmir.
And he keep Argonians outside the city walls because the dunmir are hateful and racist towards them and would cause social unrest. Morrowind and Black Marsh do not have good relations with eachother.
I married the Jarl of Solitude not knowing it was her husband that was killed by Ulfric whom I've been supporting in taking over the imperial legions and now I'm filled with guilt
Hating the elves isn’t racist, it’s tactical
Thanks for this... this insight will help me in the negotiation process during the season unending quest
3:44
STRONG disagree. Korir is one of my favorite, and I feel too many people misunderstand him by only looking at the surface of who he is. He literally hired Malur because he thought it would give him a connection to the College. This means that he put aside his hatred of the College for the good of his Hold. Sure, Malur isn't associated with the College, but no one knows this. Not even Jarl Kraldar, who supposedly talks with Archmage Aren occasionally, is aware that Malur is a fake and so he keeps Malur in a position of authority. I will agree that his attitude towards Elves isn't the best, which could put him lower on the list, but he definitely does not deserve to be rated this low. Hell, I genuinely think he is a better Jarl for Winterhold than Kraldar would be.
EDIT: You say that Kraldar is optimistic, but I would label him more on the naive side, which is dangerous for a ruler. While it might be easier for the people to love Kraldar than Korir, we cannot forget that it is better for a ruler to be feared than loved (if they can't have both). Kraldar might be a better person than Korir, that is something I can concede, but that doesn't make him a better Jarl.
Considering the uploader's decision on Korir, I am surprised that he is lower than the Silver-Blood. According to the uploader, both characters are pretty much both racist, but Korir had a problem with the college and the Silver-Bloods made a deal with the foresworn and killed their own people, then blame you for it... I don't know why he put Korir lower on the list than the Silver-Blood.
Still, I am happy to see this side of Korir, thank you for the information.
@@GratiaVOD
I think it is also worth noting that Kraldar's plan for rebuilding Winterhold is to beg the Empire to do it while Korir wants to appeal to the tradition of the Hold to get the Nords to care about Winterhold again (and the surrounding Holds are tradition oriented Holds).
Korir is often just looked at on the surface and dismissed, but I genuinely think that if you look at him in detail, and even look at the College in detail, you can easily start to understand him. His skepticism of the College is well warranted, yet he still tries to create a connection. He knows Winterhold lacks the resources, but he still tries to do something that could lead to others assisting in rebuilding.
Genuinely think that the formation of a national militia and Korir's appeal to the traditional minded Nords has a better chance for turning Winterhold around than Kraldar's "Empire, please help me" stance.
And you are correct, how the Silver-Bloods can be rated higher than Korir is an absolute mystery. The Silver-Bloods are just as corrupt as the Black-Briars but absolutely stupid in execution of their corruption.
Most information on Korir’s relationship with Malur is just speculative because they don’t talk to each other much. I just see Korir as whiney which is why he’s low. He doesn’t do anything and has no plans. And I don’t really see him “stepping his hatred aside” especially as he educates his son on why magic and elves are bad.
Also fun fact about my video but I completely forgot about Kraldar until the last possible second so my defense for him isn’t solid cuz it was super rushed I still stand by my choice tho. The whole fear of loved idea also really just depends on circumstance, sometimes love is better than fear it’s just circumstantial.
Judging by your views on what makes good leadership (Being feared rather than loved or respected) you're not particularly to be trusted on these matters.
Something tells me that if you were put in a position of power, you wouldn't be very good at it and as such unfit to discuss this at length.
Not only is your rhetoric about leaders being best feared instead of loved and supported massively incorrect and insane, you're also extremely lenient when the fate of somebody's citizens and town lies in their hands. Korrir is not a good Jarl in any sense of the word, point blank period.
Go back to LARPing as an intelligent human being.
@@SpaceEmperorGenos
The fact that you jump on the "feared rather than loved" as being somehow inherently incorrect and LARPy in nature shows that you have never read 'The Prince' by Machiavelli. Either that or you just fail to actually understand it.
Sure, a leader in a republic or democracy being feared by their people isn't good, and thus in the modern era this isn't necessarily the direction one should go in, but we are talking about a Jarl. Not only a Jarl, but a Jarl in a country that is in conflict with itself. That is the precise situation where the lessons from 'The Prince' are most applicable.
Try actually reading a book on the subject before you try and judge people, otherwise you will just end up embarrassing yourself again.
Jarl ballin is epic, he is the one person I cannot skip when playing new playthrough.
What’s so bad about Skyrim racism
Any racism is by most considered wrong becouse judging a person based of their looks is
A) immature
B) Very often turns the rasist violent to a person they haven't meet until 2 seconds ago.
It can also be seen as a mental illness sence some subjects "cannot control themselves" in the presence of a person with different skin color/hair color/ eye color etc. Racism in Skyrim is the same and it's not like all the races other then human have been just pure evil like in some different universes.
With Winterhold, part of the problem is Savos Aren and his predecessors. Nobody wants to put away the hatchet and start the rebuilding. They gripe at each other or plainly ignore what is outside their front doors. Basically, Savos and the Jarl are 2 peas in a pod.
Being a racist in elder scrolls is a good thing.
only in elder scrolls 🫣
Bad:
17 - Maven (corrupt and evil)
16 - Thongvor (a Silver-Blood, enough said)
15 - Skald (incompetent and delusional)
14 - Siddgeir (selfish and corrupt)
13 - Igmund (goes along with the Thalmor and Siver-Bloods, broke his word)
12 - Korir (bitter and irresponsible)
Mid:
11 - Sorli (selfish but competent)
10 - Laila (selfish but lawful)
9 - Elisif (weak but kind)
8 - Idgrod (somewhat absent but wise)
Good:
7 - Brina (competent)
6 - Deingeir (dutiful)
5 - Kraldar (wise)
4 - Brunwulf (just)
3 - Vignar (honourable)
2 - Ulfric (heroic)
1 - Balgruuf (best ruler)
I'm neutral on the civil war, but if pushed I would side with the Stormcloaks due to the Talos and Thalmor issues.
The Nords' hate for the Elves is actually super fair. A reason I say this is because Skyrims lore tells us that the Elves forced their way into skyrim, are funding both sides to keep the war going, banned Talos worship and pushed the Elven beliefs, and think they are supreme and the superior race. If this sounds familiar, thats because it is. This is exactly like the colonists from Britain and their relationship with the Natives of North America. The Brits offered forced into the land, funded tribes to attack one another, promised riches to deceive the people, pushed their Christianity on the Natives and stripped them of their religions, and thought they were superior. So, my point is, do you think the Native Americans were racist because they hated the colonists? If not, than the same applies to the Nords.
I actually love siddgeir. For no reason at all but he's always stuck out to me
For me baalgruuf and free-winter are both on the same level ngl
you subverted my expectations by putting jarl ballin' on 2. not bad
Also ulfric forces the argonians and dark elves to be separate due to racial tensions. And that dark elf who is getting bullied by the nords is far from perfect, she even refers to the argonians as lazy.
I never read anything about Ulfric “separating” the races. Also not every Dark Elf is perfect, she is the personification of a fast food manager.
@@masterneloth Lol, also to be fair take what I say with a pinch of salt, I’ve just read from other discussions on the civil war subject. Enjoyed the vid bud.
Yeah, putting them together would cause so much problem to Ulfric, it would be like putting lgbt in a muslin area, lots of tensions. Besides, the Argonians were enslaved by the dark elves.
@@haengeltheknight1212 the argonians where created to be slaves by the hist. Treating them like lesser beings is okay because they are because thats what the hist wanted them to be
Going "HURRRR NORDS RACIST" is such a pleb-tier Reddit thing to insinuate. 90% of Tamrielic history is built on a foundation of genocide and racial cleansing: those poor oppressed dunmer regard slavery as their cultural birthright, the noble Imperial Legion is literally fighting to maintain their colonial status, Redguards despised the mer so much that they created a God of ethnic cleansing and used their hate-boner for elves to sink an entire continent. If you're trying to look at the history of Tamriel through a racial good/bad dichotomy, you're already going about it all wrong.
7:19. If the city is built in the mountainside, there is nowhere to run from this giant, flying beast. Plus, SINCE the whole city is stone, that means that all the dragon has to do is keep the fire going for a while and cook everyone ALIVE.
Do you know why they call him Skald the elder? It's because he's old. Also Jarl of morthal worships Sheogorath.
I mean..there’s worse Daedra to worship..at least it’s that one.
@@casualgamingauraous2345 I mean, on a list of bad daedra to worship, Sheo is still on that list.
Personally though, as long as she's just offering him cabbage and yarn or whatever and not stabbing people for fun, I'm not judging.