When the game was new, and I played through for the first time, I really *really* hoped that they would make an expansion where you got to crush the Aldmeri Dominion.
@@StillLivinginthewoods Agree. I had an idea about ES6 regarding that. The Dovakin ends up taking over the Stormcloaks and they win. Then he rallies most of the north behind him riding a dragon (Morrowind, Oricisium, Daggerfall) and comes to Hammerfall to help them in a new fight against the Dominion. Due to the death of the Emperor in Skyrim (see Dark Brotherhood quest), the Dominion invaded both Cyrodil and Hammerfall kicking off another great war. The Empire was about to be totally defeated when Alyssa's spirit rose up and rallied Cyrodil to revolt in a great uprising. There are three factions: Empire, New Empire/Stormcloaks under the Dovakin, and the Dominion. Game would be set in Hammerfall but would take you into Cyrodil and Summerset Isles as well.
This is such a refreshing take, I'm glad you made this. The idea of Hammerfell & Skyrim having an alliance to war against the Thalmor sounds beyond epic, maybe a storyline in which the Stormcloaks win and convince even the Argonians that if they truly want isolationism too they'd have to get rid of the Thalmor.
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953 The argonians will never work for ulfric because he band them for Living insaide the city (windhelm) Ulfrice dosen't care about outsaiders Ulfrice is only going for nords
I’ve been contemplating the idea of an independent Skyrim joining forces with Hammerfell for years now. The Nords and Redguards both understand the existential threat the Aldmeri Dominion is to all Humans on Tamriel. Banning The Worship of Talos was just the beginning of the Thalmor’s Genocidal ambitions. Look at the ethnic cleansing that is taking place in Valenwood for example, and that’s an Elven Province. There is no reason to think they wouldn’t do the same against a non Mer race.
The Empire should've been in full strength by the time of the Great War because the Oblivion Crisis was 200 years ago and the Empire had 171 years to recover and many generations of humans were born to strengthen the Imperial Legions so they cannot say that the Empire is weak when they weren't even born yet.
@@Super50ldier I know I am two years late, but isn't also said that elves recovery was much worse than that of a human? Elves age slower and give birth to less babies than mankind.
I think the dunmer can recognize the threat also, I main a dark elf and I'm very well aware that the thalmor won't stop at Talos, the reclamations are next.
I never actually noticed that! Thalmor Agents don’t appear in Stormcloak controlled areas. Probably because they legally can’t Or because they’ve already been offed by Patrolling Rebels. XD That is such a cool detail!
the thalmor are not just anyone, 3 thalmor mages count as 30 soldiers Not to mention that some of these wizards have powerful spells like storm atronatch
@@defalt_6427 I mean, yeah. But those 3 Thalmor agents are often the bulk of what you see traveling around. If 3 thalmor is equal to 30 soldiers, what about 30+ soldiers in their own home turf? I think the most thalmor I’ve seen traveling together is 4, and I could be wrong about that.
there are just over 30 soldiers in a fort I don't know if I mentioned this, but one of these thalmor guards can summon storm atronatchs, each of which takes care of 6 soldiers. In the lore it is difficult to compare these beings with humans so they are probably stronger or more resistant in the lore than in the game.
@@defalt_6427 Well if we’re talking lore, humans have overcome elves plenty of time, sometimes with magic of their own. Sure that may not apply exactly here, but it’s hardly impossible. Especially if they just get archered before a fight even starts.
Right or wrong, he made his choice, and he chose comfort and power over honour and freedom, noble a man he may be, he let his anger and hatred of Ulfric get the better of him, great men make great decisions, and great mistakes.
@@james739123 Honor? Oathbreaker Ulfric, who has sent out assassins against Balgruuf and has his men engage in combat with Whiterun's own forces before it even picks a side, makes the Stormcloaks ''honorable''? Ulfric is the agressor, only a moron sides with the agressor.
Yeah, but a son can choose his own path. I think nords gain independence but the dragonborn unite the words with hammerfell to assist each other and save the empire's backside against the dominion. Let's not forget the empire is not innocent in their colonization of sovereign regions.
Anytime I play through as an Orc, I always join the Stormcloaks because either a. Having the Empire trying to execute me immediately had my Orc ready to join the Stormcloaks (Congrats, you radicalized him) b. Knows the Thalmor persecute and punish anyone who worships Daedra, so that means its a matter of time before Malacath is outlawed. If the Empire was willing to ban Talos, then Malacath is not that far away. c. If the Empire allows Thalmor to drag away Nords in the middle of the night to get tortured and interrogated, then the same will happen to Orcs. d. If my Orc becomes best bros with Ulfric and Galmar, then cutting a deal of leaving strongholds alone and have a cooperation deal in place for invasions then that is a best case scenario.
Ha you think Ulfric would be fine with an orc on his lands. It'll be exactly how it always is with the orcs and men they get back stabbed and end up losing their home. Great roleplaying tho and an understandable reason character wise.
@@powersurge_beast even if he respects there strength he also is a king and has to rule his people. And Nords just don't trust elves especially orcs since every race hates them for one reason or another.
You've just inspired and full on Stormcloak anti-Thalomor play through. I haven't completed the main storyline since 2012. I'm going to do a two-handed build (i've never done before) with Wuuthrad. By my right, Ulfric will be high king. And the eleves will slink back into the hole the came from
Heavy Armour/Two-Handed was my build during my first ever playthrough. It was super fun. And since I was going with the Stormcloaks I decided to be as anti-mage as possible. Damage magicka potions galore, and magic resistance on my armour. And odd setup for an argonian maybe that was part of the appeal
Hammerfell and Skyrim's situations are very different. Hammerfell simply didn't stop fighting when the White-Gold Concordant were signed, the Empire officially cutting ties with the province so as to not provoke the Thalmor. The Thalmor agreed to the Concordant in the first place because... well, it's complex but the short version is that while they had the upper hand in the war they didn't have the men to continue it after losing the Imperial city. Hammerfell was less of a threat than the Empire in whole, but the entire point of the peace was to give them time to recuperate so they could finish off the Empire. Burning more men and resources in Hammerfell, which wasn't even strategically important to them, wasn't worth the cost. So they just stopped attacking. Crucially; Hammerfell didn't push back against the Dominion. They're well aware they couldn't actually fight them on their own or they would've kept pushing into their territory. Instead, once there were no longer Thalmor in Hammerfell, they stopped too. Skyrim is now doing to the Empire what Hammerfell was doing to the Dominion. And assuming they win they'll be put in the same position Hammerfell was; unable to actually fight the Thalmor. The best case scenario in repelling the Thalmor's future attack would be joining Hammerfell and the Empire against the Thalmor. Assuming the Empire even survives to fight in the first place. With the Summerset Isles, Valenwood, and Elswyr already gone; Hammerfell and Skyrim now striking out on their own; and Morrowind being a husk of itself, High Rock and Black Marsh (especially so with the Argonians) might not see much reason to stay with Cyrodil. Saying that Hammerfell held off the Dominion isn't really accurate to the political realties of the situation. Comparing it further to Skyrim's situation is pretty much being completely blind to the state of affairs.
@@moonblaze2713Hammerfell beat the Aldmeri Dominion out of Hammerfell, they cut off their supplies and isolated them, largely because Skyrims entry into the war cut off support for the Hammerfell campaign. Yes, Redguards are not racially blessed as the Nords are in the lore to take on Altmer in a confrontational battle, but they are the most skilled in combat and used that skill to pick apart the Aldmeri Dominion in Hammerfell until they could take them on directly. As it is said in Saadia’s quest, the war against the Aldmeri Dominion is still going strong in Hammerfell.
@@danielr.golightly38 The redguards are arguably the most savage & most experienced at fighting the elves, & they really hate the Thalmor. They are extremely EXTREMELY racist against elves, due to their history of constantly fighting them. That being said, Hammerfell only survived the Thalmor invasion because of the rogue Imperial Legion (a legion, no longer THE Legion) staying & holding them off.
There needs to be a mod like this. You can unite all of Skyrim together against the Thalmor. Building armies out of bandits, the Foresworn, all of the side factions like Dark Brotherhood, College of Winter, Thieves Guild, Companions etc. all to aid in the effort.
@@theradiantdehd3997 technically they have all the same rights, its just that the dunmer refuse to pay taxes while living in other peoples cities, the khajit have brought drug trafficking, the argonians also brought drug trafficking and care about their own race the most (egg brother and such terms), the altmer want to turn into a cosmic soup of corpses to become the original gods, the redguards are respected, the wood elves sell meat and are good hunters.
I absolutely agree bro. I’ve been thinking this for years. There’s no reason that Skyrim shouldn’t be independent. The Empire doesn’t actually care about Skyrim, her customs, or her people. The Empire just wants Skyrim and the Nords so that they have more bodies to throw at the Dominion when war time comes. Ironically enough, I am sure that if the Empire simply said to the Nords, “Hey we’re gonna withdraw our troops and grant you your independence so we can send our Legion home and help bolster Cyrodiil’s defenses for the next war. All we ask is that when the next war does break out, you help us fight the Thalmor” then the Nords would agree. Because while I’m sure many of them despise the Empire, I’m certain that they hate elves more, and I know they’d rather help out the Empire than watch Cyrodiil fall to the elves. Plus the Nords love to fight so it’s a win win. But the Empire won’t do that because it’s not about what’s logical or what’s fair to them. They’re an EMPIRE, and they want to maintain their control. They want all possible nations to fly their banner, as Imperialist countries often do. It’s for this reason that the Stormcloaks absolutely must win and break Skyrim free from the Empire’s grasp. I think if an independent Skyrim formed a sort of “anti-Thalmor coalition” with Hammerfell then they stand a high chance of beating the Thalmor, as Nords and Redguards are the greatest warriors in Tamriel. I think you have the most reasonable take and approach to this. I feel that most people don’t think beyond surface level on this topic, they just see how nice Balgruuf is or they see some Nords bullying some Dunmer in Windhelm so they immediately say, “No the Stormcloaks are bad and racist! The Empire is obviously the correct choice! They’re the good guys!”
@@dutchpatriot17 "The imperials can't even defeat Stormcloak militia. An imperial Skyrim is objectively weaker than an independent one." Your argument is null and void if someone can just swap the words around, and it holds just as true. Though you get extra points for using the word 'objective', clearly that makes your point more valid.
@@hatncloak45 No, you can't just swap words around, because what you're stating is a falsehood. The best that the Stormcloaks have to offer are getting massacred by the worst the Empire has to offer. This is all supported by the lore of the game. Speak to Rikke, listen to Galmar and Ulfric. You'd know these facts if you paid attention while playing.
@@Mauricio.23 ''For no reason'' Elves tend towards evil in this setting. Look at Thalmor, look at the Dwemer enslaving Falmer, look at the Dunmer enslaving Argonians, look at the Ayleids enslaving imperials. If it was up to the Thalmor all humans would be slaves, and Elven superiority is held by all Elven tribes. There's a reason for the Nords not to trust elves. Use Wuuthrad.
@@Mauricio.23”no reason”. My brother in Talos, the Thalmor literally want to destroy the world and have been committing genocide in occupied territories. Calling the Nords racist and evil in a world where the Thalmor exist is ridiculous. The Stormcloaks are like your racist uncle Dale. The Thalmor are like the Nazis.
I play as a Khajiit who was born and raised in Skyrim by her adoptive Nord parents, and she lived in Windhelm. I also play as a Stormcloak, and my character deeply worships the Nine Divines. She also hates the Thalmor with a burning passion. Loved your video! 💙
That makes literally no sense. The khajiit caravans aren't even allowed in the cities because "the nords don't like khajiit, so we have to stay outside the walls." If a khajiit lives in windhelm he/she would be subject to just as much hate as the argonians and khajiit caravans while being paid a fraction of the money for the same job that a nord would do. The nords of windhelm hate them so much that they would throw them all back to their provences if given the chance, and Ulfric would do nothing about it.
As a side note: i love how confidently wrong the Thalmor are by guessing that "whoever sent the dragons might have an interest in the war" No...Alduin would gladly rule over you, too, Thalmor agents
I mean look at the end. Ulfric gives a passionate speech about rebuilding their country to a glorious state so the gods will approve. And the imperial it's just "I am doubling your pay" That's how they got they go them to cheer. I despise the empire
Only the Empire can beat the Thalmor, but it needs to be a reformed Empire. Hammerfell, Skyrim, and all the other regions will need to liberate and reunite.
That imperial general says otherwise he says the empire are getting ready for round 2 and the fact that the army is restored a fair bit makes your statement useless
@@Gizz101I’m talking about the Stormcloaks obviously. Their motto is “Skyrim is for the Nords.” Surely, you can see how that would have a racist subtext.
Not to mention the segregation, such as the grey quarter and the argonians being told to suck icicles on the docks. A bit of racism in fantasy settings is common but they’re definitely taking it a step further with their need to be belligerent. I am a Nord fan and wish that I could have spared Ulfric, but I do support the idea of the unified empire- as once the thalmor are dealt with, Talos worship can be reinstated from a place of political strength.
I have hypothesized numerous ways the Thalmor could try to attack Skyrim, and they are not good. 1) if the Thalmor try to land march through Cyrodiil, some Imperials will see this as a provocation and could attack the army, starting the second great war, meanwhile, Skyrim and Hammerfell could see this as an opportunity to gather their two armies and trap the Thalmor in a pincer manoeuvre, a war on three fronts is definitely not going to bode well for the Thalmor. 2) They gather a fleet of ships and go around the east coast, again they'll run the risk of dealing with Hammerfell, whom are noted for their skills as sailors, so they won't be getting supplies from Hammerfell to restock on the journey to Skyrim, then there's High-Rock whom it's hard to say if they'll allow the Thalmor to dock their ships and regain supplies, some might help but High-Rock is known for its kingdoms been devised in their beliefs so some might welcome them while others might want to take a shot at driving them out, it's hard to tell. 3) The set sail to the west coast, then they have to deal with Black-Marsh and Morrowind, the Argonians are not usually happy with outsiders making demands and if the Thalmor tread on the wrong tails so to speak, they could wind up pissing of the Hisst and we'd have another incident of super-tree-sap Argonians tearing what is supposed to be a superior force been torn to shreds, and even if they get past them to Morrowind, the Dark Elfs under the rule of the "Good Daedra" could suspect treachery, much like High-Rock, some might welcome them in, but given the more cut-throat nature of the Dark Elfs, some of the high ranking members of the Thalmor could find a Morag Tong blade in their backs, the best way they could work around this is by offering to help the Dark Elfs enslave the Argonians again, but that's just going to divert resources away from their plan to invalid Skyrim, giving them more time to prepare.
if it weren't for the loose ties to valenwood and elsweir they lack the manpower for another direct war, one altmer loss on their side counts for 100 lost on their enemies side. they can only operate in the shadows. plus they have to worry about pirates, sea monsters and the maomer, and almost taking a lap around Tamriel multiplies those threats ten times over.
If the entire Aldmeri force attacked with all their might, it would still be no use. They must have magic shit of another level, a thalmor mage can summon atronatch storm, each of them must be worth 10 soldiers Not to mention the warriors, the thalmor are naturally taller and consequently even stronger than most races, even the warriors must be very strong. they can take a lot of unique artists, and maybe even partner with the dremora. the empire is weak, so we have little strength, the thalmors were causing a skyrim war to spread and it would work if the dragonborn didn't join one of the sides, aldmeri are stable and very well structured so they must be another level of power. However, if everyone really got together we would probably win, Magnus' staff and the school, the dark brotherhood, the companions and even the dawnguard.
@@defalt_6427Your correct that the High Elves are on an entire different level of magic if your speaking about within the lore. In the lore they’re really the only ones that can use magic willy-nilly like in the game. Nords can only use magic by speaking or “spelling”, Cyrodilians can only do so by dancing (Think Avatar Last Airbender), and the Bretons have to use hand signs (think Naruto or Witcher). Still Nords aren’t weak in their use of magic, if I had to put what I remember reading about them into a picture, then Nords are like artillery when they use magic, where Altmer are like Gatling guns of top tier ammo. And the High Elves have been the most advanced in science and magic for a few millennia now. However no race does war better than the Nords. But your wrong about the Altmer strength, the only Elves that have noticeable strength are the Orcs. Elves are not a physically strong race. The Altmer have height but not the meat like the Nords do. As the physically strongest race goes, that is Nords in base and Orcs when using their berserk ability. Nords are tall and muscular. And the Altmer do give off a air of stability, but remember they’re a Nazi-like authoritarian government, that has more or less kept power by suppressing its people, and it’s partners people. If they lose face it would probably lead to civil war back in the Aldmeri Dominion. As for a direct conflict the elder races (Altmer and Nords) are the most powerful in the lore. It’s not anyone’s surprise that the High Elves kicked Redguard and Imperial ass until the Nords came down from Skyrim and beat them back. This is also what is important to realize, that not only are the Imperials not keeping the Thalmor out of Skyrim they also didn’t keep them out of Cyrodil, that was done by Nord blood. By the time Skyrim entered the battle the Imperials were practically beaten. And where the Aldmeri Dominion basically uprooted the Imperials out of their fortresses and cities then planted themselves in them, the Nords did the exact same thing to the Aldmeri Dominion when they went on the offensive. The race that was powerful enough to beat the Imperials out of their homes and defensive strongholds, then got beaten just the same way by the Nords. Like I say, the Nords do war. The Thalmor have every reason to fear a strong Skyrim.
It would be pretty great if Tulis and Ulfric were in league and the civil war was just them playing the Thalmor. Any time a battle was supposed to play out really the soldiers would just be drinking together and then they report losses back to The Empire and as such the Thalmor while they prepare Skyrim to fight them once more. The Thalmor can't do anything then they're pretty stuck letting it play out as they slowly lose influence in Skyrim while believing they're gaining it.
This video and the video " the secret plan of the thalmor" from fudgemuppet is all the information that is needed to see that the stormcloak victory is necessary.
@@Coldnoah Nice projection. Did you have an argument or a refutation of any kind? A smartarse comment like your last one and you're gone. Makes no difference to me.
While I understand and respect this opinion and type of approach, if you can understand italian, I would like to suggest you to give the video "empire or stormcloack?" (it's the first that will pop up) from Ykir (here on UA-cam) a watch. Because i think it's interesting how he points out that living on your knees for a bit in order to stand tall once again later is a better choice than die on your feet (and so letting the world be worse without you, philosophically speaking)
My favorite race is high elf elf yet I still choose the storm cloaks I like to role play that my character was banished from the Somerset isles and wants revenge
The Thalmor are quite plainly just knife-eared nazis. Their war tactics are the same, inane racism the same, and so on. How they took power over the Altmer is analogous as well.
The Stormcloaks don't try to kill you, they look cooler, have a better vibe (charging a fortress with 10 guys as the 'mighty legion' is weird), and have the best dialogue in the goddamn game at the end of the questline.
It's important to remember that Ulfric himself is only considered an "asset" so long as the war remains a stalemate. He is NOT allied with the Thalmor nor is he helping them as some simperials seem to believe. Also, I didn't know that Elisif openly supports the Thalmor. All the more reason to side with Ulfric Chadcloak every playthrough.
@@dutchpatriot17we do and it shows your as much a pawn as we are and if either side won it would be bad for the dominion you clearly haven’t read it yourself
While I agree with some of the stuff stated I believe that the Stormcloaks are largely missing the point. So for starters the Empire actually defeats the Thalmor at the Battle of the Red Ring where they hang the general Lord Nariffin on the White Gold Tower. They, however, have a decimated army that could not sustain further conflicts with the Thalmor at that time. Titus II signs the treaty, which is just the same ultimatum that was given to him on the 30th of Frostfall. This included large sums of tribute, southern hammerfell, and the outlawing of Talos worship. During the closing of the Great War the Reachmen, who had ruled themselves successfully for two years, we under threat from Ulfric as he led a band of militia men to recapture the city for Skyrim. Ulfric used the Thu’um to achieve this victory and would commit several war crimes in the city. The ex Jarl of the reach would try to return to his place as jarl but Ulfric would only accept this if he allowed free worship of Talos in his hold. The Jarl would accept and so would the Imperials who were with him, hoping that the Thalmor would not know that they were allowing Talos worship in Skyrim. The Thalmor would figure out, however, and would arrest Ulfric after the incident. Ulfric would “escape” custody and return to Windhelm to take his place as Jarl. The High King of Skyrim, Istlod, had died after Ulfrics return and a moot was held as a formality with the rise of High King Torygg. Ulfric would use the moot to argue for Skyrim’s independance. Some time after Torygg rose to High King Ulfric would return to Solitude yet again but this time to challenge the boy king for his throne. Torygg respect for Ulfric, as he was a hero of the Great War, and most likely would have listened to him had Ulfric came with good intentions. Ulfric would challenge Torygg for his throne and would use the Thu’um as his means to kill him. Ulfric would flee the city and the civil war would begin. The Thalmor have no interest in either side winning. The Imperials winning would be a huge threat to Aldmeri power on the continent and would allow them to build up and pose a threat in the next war. The Thalmor would rather have the province divided as this would make a easy victory for the Dominion. To move onto Hammerfell its important to note the factors which were at play during their conflict. The Dominon armies like stated before had been destroyed at the Battle of the Red Ring. The Redguards were also let go from the Legion to return to their homeland and defend it which gave Hammerfell battle hardend soliders to fight. Hammerfell also has access to Stone Wizards and Cannons which are two things Skyrim would lack. Skyrim is also a very weak province by itself. Most of its population are dumb farmers who aren’t well trained. Skyrim is also lacking in food production and in industry as well which are two things they gain from being in the Empire. Especially since they have, by this point, been in the empire for close to 634 years. The Thalmor also have a much stronger military now which would be able to defeat a newly independant Skyrim. One quick point you mentioned in the video about the Imperial soldiers. To quote the star wars movies, what they are saying it true from a certain point of view. The Empire is the sheild that is guarding mankind from being overran by the elves. While yes Justiciars are in Skyrim, that is the effect of losing a war, they are not able to have total authority in the Empire. We know at the very start of the game Tullius refuses to give Ulfric to the Thalmor at the gates. In Diplomatic Immunity you can have Tullius write a letter for Thoralds release which the Thalmor cannot refuse. Onto the Empire being dead thats not entirely true. Morrowind is both a part of the Empire and isn’t a part of the Empire. Specifically House Redorans land is more so part of the Empire, though its not all that valuble. Red Mountain decimated the province so its not that useful. Black Marsh isn’t either since the only trade it actually has is eldrich god tree sap, and dock workers. The only really important province its lost has been Hammerfell and possibly Summerset, though the elves have always hated mankind. Speaking of Mankind, my last point. Mankind is protected by the 9th divine, Talos. Mankind cannot be destroyed without Talos losing divinity. The Empire is also protected by Talos since he is, even though its highly complicated, the founder of the Empire. Dividing the nations of man would only destroy any hope of victory against the threat that is the Thalmor. Other than that it was nice to see a video that isn’t the same lame stormcloak arguments, the video was based and chadpilled, though knowing the lore I would have to disagree. Sorry for the long reply though, elder scrolls is just that epic.
@@Dan-qq6hy well thats all depending on the goal of your character. Different outlooks on where you want Tamriel to be can influence your decision. If we are talking purely based on who could defeat the Thalmor then the Empire. The Empire just has far more resources, more experienced soldiers, better generals, and the infastructure to make final victory possible. The Empire would be far more prepared in a hypothetical Second Great War than they were in the first one which would make much of the early losses in the first war minimized in the second. The Empire did much better after they were organized which aided them at the Battle of the Red Ring. The Stormcloaks could only be a viable choice if Ulfric helps the Dragonborn take the Imperial throne. Bethesda seems hesitant to allow previous main characters a chance to be important after their story is over so this is unlikely however not impossible. Also its possible that the Empire is taken over by the Dragonborn if he joins the Legion as well. With the backing of the army he could easily do this even if Titus Mede II has a viable heir. So overall I do believe the Empire has a better chance at defeating the Thalmor on their own than that of an independant Skyrim ruled by Ulfric.
Neither is the correct choice. As the other individual states in the thread, the decision lies with the Dragonborn. The only reason you as the player exists, is to make a decision regarding Alduin, it's more likely that you would foster a temporary treaty for it like you do in the game if you progress the main quest far enough. After that it just stays a stalemate. It's safe to assume that in actual lore, the Dragonborn stops Alduin, considering there's a new Elder Scrolls game on the way, supposedly. If that's the only continuity of lore for the next game, it's safe to assume that your main bad guy is the Aldemeri Dominion. Which means they took Skyrim while it was still under a civil war for however long.
i always thought it was obvious to fight against the machine, but i dont recall most of it because skyrim came out a decade ago. I have thought about playing it in VR with mods but that thought came around American Thanksgiving and Christmas when all the VR headset were sold out. And i never thought about buying one after, but if Im to revisit skyrim its going to have to be in VR with Mods or no revisiting at all lol.
The game seems like it’s set up to push you into the stormcloaks from the very beginning. Almost like joining the empire was something you did on another play through just to check it out. I feel like BGS is afraid to have the stormcloaks win in todays (real world) political climate and pushed off TES6, and promoted starfail, in hopes that the world would normalize by the time TES6 came out.
Because the Aldmeri Dominion still wants to rule all of Tamriel, and a united Empire is stronger against the threat than a bunch of smaller weaker states. Considering the Altmers almost took the Imperial City with all of the empire’s provinces fighting together, what chance do they have on their own? It’s why the Thalmor secretly want the Civil War to continue as long as possible, to weaken both sides.
@@lincolndunford6693 then why are they losing so much? Even Hammerfell ditched them and were able to keep the thalmor off of their backs. The stormcloaks are superior and so are the redguards.
If Hammerfell can defend against the Thalmor Skyrim can. Skyrim has such strong warriors they literally have erased an entire race, Skyrim is such a defendable country too, there's only 1 way in through the mountains. The Stormcloaks can literally 300 Leonidas that shit with Ulfrics shouts alone 😂. Empires rise and fall, eso shows us the empire was on its knees. It happens. In real world direct comparisons are America and British Empire, or Greeks and Egyptians, or Roman Empire and Barbaric Germanians. Am important factor I see, is Ulfric is like Trump. Yes. Trump. The people used to hate it, but now we need him.
And people are all the time misunderstanding what is meant by "direct conract." The dossier itself gives the Thalmor presence at Helgen as an example of "direct contact," when an exception to their rule had to be made. They weren't speaking directly with Ulfric in a sneaky, secret rendezvous. No, "direct contact" was their intervening directly in a matter that concerned him. And that intervention is most likely the reason Ulfric _wasn't_ the first to the chopping block, which is what would have made the most sense in normal circumstances. Convention would have it that the leader would be dealt with first, to demoralize his or her remaining followers before they met the same fate. I would guess the Thalmor bent bent Tullius' ear and convinced him to do it in reverse. They probably told him that executing Ulfric outright would make him a martyr, whereas forcing him to watch his supporters fall, one by one, would break him and end the rebellion for good (all the while buying them time to devise and enact a scheme whereby Ulfric could escape to live and fight another day... a scheme that, conveniently, wasn't needed).
I have said this on different videos and I'll say it here too. By the end of the main storyline the dragonborn is essentially a demigod wielding immense power and daedric artifacts, Parthunaax, your ally, is the new defacto lord of the dragons. So if a liberated independent Skyrim were to get into open war with the Aldmeri Dominion, they'd have the Dragonborn on their side, it stands to reason the Dragonborn through Parthunaax could bring the dragons to bear on those witch-elves, he can count on Odaviing and Durnehviir and push come to shove just bend the will of dragons to fight for him, though I doubt it would come to that. Then you have nine holds worth of hardened Nords willing to win or die and go to Sovngarde because losing isn't an option. Also you can factor in the companions. Then you have Hammerfell who have been subjected to the Dominions bullshit for years, gnawing at their borders. A humbled Cyrodiil would side with Skyrim because it's in their best interests due to the common enemy, their legions, however depleted would help some. High Rock would probably also be willing to help out because Bretons are ultimately men and the Dominion would seek to subjugate them. You made an extremely good point about House Redoran and what's left of Morrowind, I could see them helping. Black Marsh is doing whatever the fuck. All in all, the Dominion is screwed.
Oh and Master Neloth, a Telvanni wizard with centuries of experience and power, with some hefty political weight would also probably be in your corner too
:) Good Video, Your right on most all of the major parts of that fight and taking sides. Fighting on the Empires side is wanting the Thalmor to control Skyrim, Fighting on the Stormcloak side is wanting Nords in control of Skyrim, Nords (whether you agree with/like Ulfric or not).
I’m 3 years late but I’m currently playing Skyrim again after 12 years.. I was going to go empire because I always do but this video had a very fair point and changed my mind
Ulfric didn't use the Voice to gain an advantage over Torygg, he did it to humiliate him, show his own power and show his mastery of an ancient and revered Nordic power. It was symbolic. There was no way Ulfric could lose a simple sword fight anyway, Ulfric is a hardened war-veteran, Torygg has never seen battle, everyone sees him as weak and Proventus calls him a "boy", he inspired no love nor respect.
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953 I'm not sure he was "put there" by the Empire, it was just convenient to keep him in charge. Ulfric in one of his dialogues says that Torygg's father "may have been a High-King, but not Torygg" so it seems to be a case of the heir not being up to the task, and Ulfric fixed that the old fashioned way, by proposing a duel to legally oust him and replace him with a strong leader. And this genuinely isn't some lust for power, there isn't any other candidate to the throne or suitable potential candidate, no one else wants it except Elisif who doesn't count for obvious issues and whose entire claim rests on the Empire wanting to keep a puppet in charge.
I think the one thing people who think of the empire as the better option tend to pay attention to is the future. The idea that if Skyrim is under imperial control, then the empire can regrow its strength and take on the Thalmor when the second Great War happens. The problem with this though is that they fail to notice two critical things. For one the Thalmor have already infiltrated every layer of the empire and are watching their every movements. The second thing they forget is that the empire would’ve lost the Great War had it not been for the White Gold Concordat. The empire quit while they were ahead. The Empire recognized that had the war continued they would eventually be overwhelmed so they called the Thalmor’s bluff. While it appeared that they had the overall upper hand it was only momentarily, mind you the empire also had help from Skyrim at the time. At the moment the empire has all cards stacked against them. Winning the war for them doesn’t change that.
And yet the Empire probably could have won the war, or at least gotten better terms, if they hadn't thrown the gauntlet so quickly. The only reason the Thalmor bent down and let them instead of a full takeover is that they lost their secret weapon, the weapon which was the only reason they could win in the first place. An artifact of Vermina if I recall correctly that let them see the future.
I'd rather believe in the Empire for reasons such as: better trade & resources / manpower. Sure maybe the Stormcloak controlled Skyrim is.. somehow stronger but it's really unrealistic if you look at it long enough. Yes, they'd be able to defend themselves, but they couldn't really *attack* the dominion if they wanted to, they simply don't have numbers enough for it, just like Hammerfell. Another thing is their trade. It's not often mentioned in game but it's easy to see that Skyrim must rely at least half on trade, because they don't seem to produce much other than alcohol. Their farms are all the size of my backyard garden, their mines don't seem to produce all that much & what they do produce, mostly just goes straight to their own towns. This on top of the fact that the Stormcloaks & their leaders are extremely toxic to any non-nords, & especially so for beast races & elves, & that is absolutely terrible for trade, you'll either be heavily marked up or just have no trade because nobody wants to trade with you, & no other established place would really care it seems like. In the words of Alvor, the Empire brought trade, & trade is good for Skyrim.
*See video title* *See name of uploader of said video* Yeah, it checks out. Watched the video. Your reasoning is solid, and though I had my own reasons why to not join the Empire, you gave a solid reason as to why joining the Stormcloaks would be preferable.
1• @07:05 The dossier does actually tacitly imply Ulfric cooperated with the Thalmor. It says contact was established after the war and that he only became uncooperative after the markarth incident. To “become uncooperative” you have to be cooperative to begin with. There’s just over a year between the end of the war and the markarth incident, during which time it’s very possible he cooperated with them. 2: @08:24 Yeah in other words they want the war - Ulfric started - to continue indefinitely. Because Ulfric started a war that aids them… that isn’t the point you think it is. Why? Because it distracts the Empire, as tullius says. All of the Thalmor’s actions we see are geared towards undermining the Empire - that’s their focus because it’s their biggest threat. Not the stormcloaks - hence why the thalmor had to send aid to the stormcloaks, yet despite that, and despite the majority of the legion being massed on the dominion border, and despite the legion that is in Skyrim being cut off and weakened, Ulfric *still* essentially lost at the start of the game. He failed to defeat a weakened, fraction of imperial power while buffed by Dominion aid and without the random luck of Alduin, would have died. But I digress, If the war ends, whoever wins, the Empire turns its attention back to the Thalmor. That’s why the war benefits them. As stated by Delphine and Tullius. But while the Thalmor don’t want either side to win, The two sides are not equivalent in the Thalmor’s eyes. One scenario results in the Empire remaining united with access to larger resources and man power necessary to fight. The other results in the mannish political landscape becoming very fractured and disunited. One of those scenarios is clearly less beneficial than the other. 3• @09:31 “The Thalmor failed to conquer Hammerfell and had to resort to scheming to achieve their goals” Which is also what happened with the Empire. L discount your point. The Thalmor were only successful due to the Orb Of Vaermina - a Daedric Scrying orb that allowed them to see all imperial troop movements. Once they lost this artifact, they lost the entirety of their Cyrodiilic force to the Legion in a single battle, Red Ring. They failed to conquer Cyrodiil, and thus had to resort to scheming to achieve their own ends. Which is what the WGC, is, and what Ulfric is playing into. Hammerfell actually achieved less than what the Empire did. The Empire destroyed the dominion armies and signed a treaty. Hammerfell only fought them to a stalemate and signed a treaty. Hammerfell also only achieved what it did *because* of the Empire. The Empire’s destruction of Aldmeri Armies meant the thalmor had far less reinforcements to send to Hammerfell. And the core of Hammerfell’s armies were actually made of discharged Legionaries because Legate Decianus refused to abandon Hammerfell. Without the Empire, Hammerfell like would have fallen - and so to would Skyrim. So this actually shows why the Empire is necessary. 4• @10:20 The quote isn’t dumb. You’re just missing the nuance of what’s being said. The level at which the Dominion can be in Skyrim is subject to gradation. There are levels to it. Yes they’re technically already in Skyrim enforcing the Talos ban. They are *not* however, marching across Skyrim with armies of elves slaughtering every man woman and child they see with impunity simply for being mannish. That is what the legion is talking about - and it is a true statement, without the Empire, that very likely would be happening. Especially given what happened in the War. It was only by the Empire working together the dominion were stopped. Additionally, as you yourself state at the start of the video, the reason the Talos ban is actually being enforced is because of Ulfric’s actions drawing the dominion’s attention. The Empire didn’t actually enforce the ban initially, and even now still try and get out of it, Alvor, Ondolemar and Igmund talk about this and we even see it. Ondolemar has to get the player’s help to arrest a Talos worshipper because the Imperial jarl refuses to help. It’s only because of Ulfric the ban is affecting people in real terms. Hence why the thakmor say “Markarth particularly served their strategic interests” 5• @11:07 This isn’t true. If Ulfric wins the thalmor don’t leave. Northwatch keep stays. The Embassy stays. The HQ stays. And you can still get attacked by Thalmor agents in the wild. The only difference is they no longer have stormcloak prisoners. So Bethesda changed those patrols on the event Ulfric wins and chose to keep them. Ulfric even talks about this in his speech at solitude. Stating he’s more worried about the thalmor targeting Skyrim. Not less. This shouldn’t be surprising, Morrowind - who not only didn’t sign the WGC, but didn’t even fight in the war - also has thalmor agents kidnapping and torturing people. The WGC isn’t what enables the thalmor. The simple truth is that the Thalmor are *very* capable and can operate where they want and it’s unlikely Ulfric can do much to stop that. And that the WGC was masterfully and insidiously crafted to deflect the anger of Men away from the Thalmor and onto each other. If anything the treaty allows the Empire to have at least *some* oversight as it’s crafted within an official political framework. Meaning the dominion also had obligation it has to meet if it wants to save face. We see this oversight with my earlier example regarding the Imperial Jarl, and the fact that when saving Thorald, if you get Tullius to send a letter, the Dominion *have* to listen to him. If your enemy is going to do something regardless, it makes sense to have them do it in an official capacity where it’s easier to watch. Especially if you’re in no position to fight as was the case immediately after the great war. 6• @11:57 A. Again; The Empire literally didn’t enforce the ban. They tried to do something, Ulfric’s agitating and inability to keep quiet made that impossible and exacerbated the situation for everyone. B. They still do, as my above points regarding Igmund and tullius show. 7• “Ondolemar says himself the thalmor intend to prove the superiority of mer over man 1 century at a time”. This is exactly why the Empire needs to win. The thalmor are insidious, calculating, subtle and far sighted. They are counting on Ulfric and his pride to be desperate to get emotional, tackle the problem head on without a strategy and play into their hands. Hence why they say they want his war to continue indefinitely. The Empire strategise, they can play subtle long term political games which is what they tried to do with the WGC. The point was to placate the thalmor. “Yeah sure we’ll ban Talos” *mouths to skyrim no we aren’t* and Ulfric made that impossible. 8• Elisif is playing politics. She has to agree with the thalmor, as she’s imperial aligned. That’s the point of feigning peace, and if Ulfric had gone along, the Talos ban would not be getting enforced. It’s a bit like a court battle, sometimes to best serve your interests, you have to shut your mouth and say things you don’t mean. Politics is as much the language of what’s not said as what is. Ulfric does not understand this, and as a result, Skyrim is suffering a lot more from the ban than it otherwise would be. 9• @13:34 “a woman should never be in charge of a country” I have no words, but it colours the rest of your points and you’ve lost credibility. 10• 15:01 Winterhold is stormcloak controlled so not sure what your point here is. He also remains there in the event Ulfric wins. So does Valmar. This has nothing to do with the Empire. 11• @15:59 No, as point 5 and 10 show. Literally very little changes if Ulfric wins other than the colour of the flags. 12• @16:10 The player can wipe out anyone. You can make this point about anyone: “Stormcloaks can be easily defeated by the player. As can Galmar, and ukfric and all the Rebel leadership. With them wiped out, the Empire is no longer distracted, and can continue to mass its legions on the dominion border as it has been trying to do”. 13• Northwatch keep is not their only stronghold. They can still have the embassy and solitude HQ. Their agents also still attack you in the wild. You can wipe out Northwatch keep while aligning with the Empire too. 14• @18:37 Ever since daggerfall high rock has not been full of petty squabbles. The Warp in the west not only changed that, but made it so it never happened. If High Rock is useless, why did Ulfric ask them for help and get ignored? lol 15• Not sure why the Empire being different is relevant, It’s still the greatest hope at beating the dominion. The Empire disintegrated after the oblivion crisis. Titus Mede I then reunited all the mannish realms. And it stayed that way for nearly 200 years until the great war. I’ll post the last point separately.
16• @18:57 “If Skyrim leaves it’s basically just Cyrodiil!! The Empire’s a joke!” Yes… this is why the rebellion is bad… the rebellion you’re It’s not just cyrodiil alone, it’s literally every province at that point. The rebellion would essentially completely fracture the mannish realms. “The rebellion is better because the empire will die if the rebellion i’m supporting succeeds” is certainly a take and a half. Skyrim isn't united in its hatred of the Empire. It's split about 50/50. So even if Ulfric wins, the province will remain very unhappy and will likely fracture further along lines of imperial loyalty. Which could inspire other such scenarios across the Empire leading the similar fracturing into smaller kingdoms (than the provinces we know along similar lines, destroying centuries old political structures and systems. Which is something the Thalmor can very much take advantage of and no doubt want. Yes, Skyrim would need to form an alliance. But for someone who says they understand politics, youmre overlooking what an enormous undertaking that is. It would involve the rebuilding of political structures, military doctrine, infrastructure etc. All in an extremely fractured environment where you’d have multiple people vying for power. Instead of nations having to get past disagreements with one power (The Empire) they’d have to all solve disagreements with each other. Which is a lot more complex. An alliance also doesn’t make sense to me as they’re weaker. It’s sovereign independent states being comparatively loosely aligned with nowhere near as much time to have developed the interoperability, infrastructure and systems the Empire has. Robert Baratheon sums up the problem pretty well in his 5 Vs 1 speech. An alliance of the mannish races is also what the Empire *is*. Destroying the Empire to essentially reform a weaker, less cohesive version of it is counter intuitive. Plus, Ulfric has also already tried But high rock already ignored him. Hammerfell still harbours a grudge due to the Bend’r Mahk war so an alliance with them is unlikely. And there’s a lot Tension between Ulfric and the Dunmer for obvious reasons. And an alliance born out of the destruction of the Empire massively weakens the strongest mannish realm, Cyrodiil. Which as a buffer between Skyrim and The Dominion, Skyrim should want to remain strong. So laughing about it being weak when you claim to want to beat the Thalmor is odd. Honestly seems like you just hate the Empire more than the Thalmor. It will also be hard to convince Cyrodiil to join an alliance when you’ve just waged war against them and killed their people… assuming they’re even in a state to join. And not having one of the strongest mannish realms on your side seems dumb. So an alliance is unlikely. Of course, you could argue that the Thalmor are such a large threat everyone would put aside their differences, but if that’s the case, why not skip the bloodshed, the wasteful destruction and rebuilding of centuries old political structures and just put aside the differences with the Empire at the start? Tullius states the majority of the Empire’s Army is massed on the dominion border and that the rebellion is a distraction. If not for the rebellion the Empire could have potentially been fighting the Dominion NOW. So why not put aside those differences, as everyone is going to have to do anyway, and make the WGC moot. It’s a peace treaty. If there’s no peace, it’s irrelevant. Regardless of what path is chosen, the races of men are going to have to learn to forgive each other, or they’re going to lose… so why not just start with that, start with the faction that already has 3 nations of men under it’s power, play the long game, and win.
Ulfric is a hero, the Stormcloaks are the objectively right choice. I have created a pretty long pdf about the issue, and if anyone wanted to share their discord to talk about it, I could convince anyone who is in the slightest bit honest that the Stormcloaks are right.
I dislike the Thalmor, and you’ve made compelling arguments, but there’s a few issues regarding the Stormcloaks and a few thoughts of my own on the matter. Stormcloaks put the nords first, and Skyrim has a diverse population that would backfire if they tried to oppress minorities in their lands and start executing random elves around the province, creating civil unrest. Even NPC’s in Windhelm complain who are nords. Furthermore, if you’ve done enough searching, the imperials are already massing legions across the southern mountains to reinforce general Tullius, so the devs have already a canon ending in mind for the civil war so even if the Stormcloaks win they’ll be too weak to stand against new fresh legions. Not only that, but the Empire’s tactic is to give into the demands of the Thalmor until such a time they can attack. That gives them time to rebuild and forge new alliances and remake old ones. Not only that, but the empire is the child of Talos, the patron divine of the Stormcloaks, and through indirect means he wouldn’t let his empire die. It’s weak but it can grow strong again. On another note, there are notable examples in real history of powerful and even terrifying female rulers of history from Hatshepsut of Egypt who expanded the Egyptian empire, Catherine the Great, Wu Zetian from ancient China, Theodora and many more. It’s best to know about such context before making sexist statements that women don’t belong in power. Women in history have held positions of power and were fearsome with their power to be remembered and respected in history. I acknowledge Elisif is naive but with good council and enough pressure from wise members of the court she would make better choices. Not to mention to hold onto her power she would have to find a suiter to produce a heir. Your arguments almost sold me by sounding objective but the comment on women in power when we have real world examples to the contrary revealed your inherit bias and greatly weakened your position. If Elisif were a Man you wouldn’t say such a thing. Glory to the Empire!
Talos said something else should take the Empire’s place in Morrowind. Elisif is there to be a puppet not rule in her own right. Also, your examples of good female rulers is exceptions proving the rule.
Not sure what politics you are relying on but you'd be much better off looking a military strategy, often used in politics. Ulfric is a puppet for the Dominion. Either directly or indirectly it does not matter. So siding with Ulfric is siding with the Aldmeri Dominion. Fighting the Empire, Skyrim's ally, will lead to a weakened Skyrim, through both loses and support. And when the Dominion choose to attack Skyrim once the Empire has been thrown out there will be no help the Nords and the Nords are finished. Divide and conquer is what the Aldmeri Dominion is doing. An old strategy but it still works.
After seeing majority of Skyrim fanbase being pro-Imperial oriented, it is so calming seeing sombedy openly taking the opposite attitude. Yes, that quote about Empire defending Skyrim from Dominion is such huge heap of crap Greybeards could build upon it a new monastery to be in even greater seclusion, and just blatant proof of of brain-dead Imperial propaganda. Also, another thing Empire-lovers tends to say often is that without the Empire, ununified Tamriel has no chance against Dominion. This seems to me like clear example of their messianic complex, because why the Oblivion couldn't independant parts of Tamriel cooperate as an alliance? In Second Era, part of Black Marsh, several Houses of Morrowind and kingdom of eastern Skyrim made an alliance called Ebonheart Pact, and with it, succesfully repelled Akaviri invasion and even stood their ground in Three Banner War (up untill that fool Tiber Septim had to sc*ew things up and conquer his Third Empire). Ebonheart Pact was supposed to become Tamriel Pact and its purpose was to assure independance of it's countries. The only reason they wanted to occupy Ruby Throne and put their member as new emperor was to make basically "a blocation" for a throne - making sure, that no true emperor ever takes that place and jeopardize independance of Tamriel's territorries. And again, I ask, why should not a Second Ebonheart Pact be formed, with Stormcloak Skyrim and independant Hammerfell, Morrowind and Black Marsh? The Empire is not needed (expecially Empire that is vassal to Dominion), the Pact suffice in its role more than enought, and there are no risk of misusage of its position to opress its citizens, something that all three Empires in past did.
The Empire does defend Skyrim from the Dominion, it's the only thing standing between the Dominion and world domination. Alliances are less stable and less effective militarily than a single state is. Especially one with a military as well trained as Cyrodiil's. Even the Ebonheart Pact that you are such a fanboy of, was barely standing. Not one province fully committed to it, and the tensions between the three races remained obvious throughout its existence. The Ebonheart Pact was also nowhere to be found when Tiber Septim showed up, and literally believed that Mannish races are unfit to rule. Neither Hammerfell, Black Marsh, nor Morrowind stands anything to gain from such an alliance. The Stormcloaks are weak and unpredictable - Hammerfell would gain nothing from allying with it. Morrowind and Black Marsh are still at war, and that's ignoring Ulfric's racist treatment of Argonians and Dunmer alike.
@@dutchpatriot17 Oh boy, what a moment. Chief white knight of the Empire calls me a fanboy, I should probably feel insulted if it wouldn't be so goddamn funny. And to top it of, you come out with that stupid would-be-argument "blah blah Stormcloak racist blah blah". Honestly, I really don't know if you are just troll, or if you are really such abysmally spineless lackey-minded person that feels so comfortable if dominated by some super strong power. Either way, you are not even worthy of respect, and that makes your "arguments" invalid in my eyes.
@@mausolus8466 In other words, you admit that you can't form a counterargument so you resort to ad hominems. Can't expect too much clear thinking from Stormcloaks now can we? Classic Stormcloak ignorance of the lore.
@@dutchpatriot17 *Replying to your big post on this video that cannot be replied too because of too many replies* The dossier doesn't say Ulfric is or ever was a *direct agent* . The language is intentionally ambiguous. You are being dishonest in your discussions by acting as though it says something it doesn't. You are the definition of a fanboy- not the people you called fanboys.
Let's not forget the start of Season Unending. The Empire INSIST on Elenwen being present at the negotiations, KNOWING how Ulfric would react. To quote Rikke when Ulfric protests "That didn't take long." Tullius intentionally brought someone whose presence alone was enough to cause conflict. The Empire needs Skyrim INFINITELY MORE than Skyrim needs the Empire. The Dragonborn's also an actual member of House Telvanni, which hopefully gives him even more influence in Morrowind in addition to being on good terms with Redoran.
Skyrim literally relies on the food and resources the Empire provides it. It is not self reliant. The Empire only needs Skyrim for its armies in preparation for the next war. Skyrim needs the Empire more than vice-versa in the literal sense of the term.
@@dutchpatriot17 So why doesn't Hammerfell need the Empire's food? Hammerfell's just as harsh an environment as Skyrim, if not even harsher, so why does Skyrim need them?
@@dutchpatriot17 So why can Hammerfell get the Empire's food without being forced to pander to the Thalmor like Cyrodiil? Why does only Skyrim have to stay part of the Empire to trade with them?
This was the final nail in the empire coffin I needed to take Ralof up on his offer! Thank you very much for this video! My only gripe with the Stormcloaks is that Ulfric knew that the High King would loose the duel because of Ulfric's voice, so it's a bit less honory than I'd like, but nobody's perfect. Death to the Empire!
The duel wasn't supposed to be fair, and it definitely respected Nordic traditional honor, the duel was just the only legal way to remove Torygg from power.
i never see people talk about this: If you do the dark brotherhood questline, it makes more sense to unite the empire because you learn that the nobles of the empire are not happy with how the Empire is running things. Skyrim leaving weakens EVERYONE when the nobles of the empire is already plotting to get rid of the Aldmeri Dominion.
It isn’t controversial he rightfully challenged torig, he just abused an old law saying no he could legally do what he did. Also no rules against the voice, same thing I tell the guards in the city when I hit it on acc😂
I think the Empire is overall better prepared to combat the Aldmeri Dominion as far as resources and manpower, yet the Skyrim seceding is more interesting especially since Hammerfell shares a border with Skyrim and was out in a similar situation as Skyrim. If Ulfric canonically wins the civil war, he could ally with Hammerfell since they share the same sentiments (self rule, beef with Empire and the Dominion). The Redguards actually have Pelinal levels of hate for elves lmao also Valenwood was forced into the Dominion so it's possible it could rebel. This would force the Dominion into war on at least four fronts; Cyrodiil, Skyrim, Hammerfell and Valenwood. A continent wide war in Tamriel storyline is lit af
The Bretons of high rock would more than likely seek and alliance aswell especially since Skyrim and high rock have done throughout the history probably the oldest alliance in Tamriel I think
And the Empire fighting a war in Skyrim, wasting a ton of resources fighting other men helps them how? The Nords would fight beside the Empire in another war, they'd probably even join it
Let's not forget if it comes to light that the Thalmor lied about restoring the moons to the sky, then at a minimum they may lose the khajiit as allies, and at worse then they'll be fighting a war on five fronts
@@anonymousanon6913 Indeed. It's more than likely that they did lie about it however since they know how significant the moons are to the khajiit and the thalmor rely heavily on subterfuge and lies. Only a theory on my part.
Walking through Skyrim you always see decay and loss around every corner. Sometimes it's just better to tear things down and start over instead of trying to delay the fall. Perhaps that's the reason why the stormcloak victory feels so grand and emotional compared to the imperial one.
I think that the Stormcloaks can win the Empire is pretty much crumbled people forget that when the septum Dynasty died with Martin septim the me Dynasty took its place this Empire currently belongs to the me Dynasty not the septum Dynasty the septum Dynasty is long past
Good points! The sad part is General Tullius know it too, but blindly thinks they still can deal with the Thalmor after they silence the "rebellion", meanwhile (as you mentioned too), the Thalmor has already built in deeply into the Empire, therefore impossible to defeat them.
For anyone just starting the video, his whole argument can be summed up as "the empire is slightly tolerant to the thalmor so we should side with the guy who is a thalmor asset" (and he makes a shitty comment about women being unfit to rule)
Your comment about women being unfit to rule is quite annoying, if I didn't hate the Thalmor so much I'd be inclined to side with the Empire just because of that. I acknowledge that men and women are different, but a ruler is measured by their ability to lead and their decisions. If someone has proven their ability to lead and make wise and virtuous decisions, then they are fit to rule, the gender is irrelevant.
Women make decisions differently than men, they are more privy to emotion, and are generally more indecisive. When in a position of power, you cannot let emotions dictate your actions. Doing so will lead to rash or just generally poor decisions. Indecision is worse, not being able to do what is necessary for your nation’s survival will undermine your leadership. Overall, men are generally better fit for leadership positions, they are simply made for that role. That is the reason why matriarchal societies never succeed, and why every successful society was built and run by men.
Just because Ulfric is an asset of the thalmor doesn't mean he's a thalmor agent. From behind the curtains, the thalmor are attempting to orchestrate the civil war to stretch both the empire and rebellion so thin that neither could pose a serious threat for the high elves, in the end. I believe Ulfric is sincere in his beliefs, but merely the warring with the empire being very convenient for the Thalmor. All throughout their consception, elite intelligence agencies (i.e. CIA, Mossad, MI6, etc) have used this strategy of funding/playing both sides to weaken a nation state in civil conflict in order to prime it for regime change.
female rulers are terrible as proven in real life, thats why nobody except you 3 and a few purple haired confused communists will be voting for spamala
Take a shot every time NordicWarrior says "Diplomatic Immunity". Jokes aside, this restored my hope in the Stormcloaks, and they'll have a new sword on their side in my next playthrough for sure.
One point I've noticed is how the Thalmor call the conflict "The First Great War." People didn't call World War 1 that until after World War 2 because they weren't expecting a second war. However, the Thalmor are clearly already expecting a second war in the future. So you have a growing Aldmari Dominion already planning for a second war and a shrinking empire that's thinks they can win if there's another war. Sorry to say this, but the elves are already five steps ahead of you. The only thing the elves really seem to fear is a Stormcloak victory.
Finally, someone on youtube with a brain. Great video, lad. I have been considering making a similar video for about 6 or so years now, maybe I will yet. I have a number of points that are strong arguments for the Stormcloak cause that were not touched on by you. Anyway, thanks again friend!
NordicWarriorGaming. There are two books in Skyrim wherein the dark elves prove that they are extremely racist. One is in the college of Winterhold and I think the other one is in Dragon's Reach. Acerthorn has a 2hr+ video discussing why the Stormcloaks are no racist and you should side with them. In it he redundantly proves that the dark elves are racist and the Argonians too.
New to Elder Scrolls? Everyone is racist in the Elder Scrolls. Racism is the belief one race is better than another. And in a fantasy world where there are literally races better at something than others, Bethesda just decided to lean into that. Like from the beginning. As racism goes in the Elder Scrolls. Dunmer are the worst, and Nords are the least. And I’ll watch that video you mentioned because I’ve been waiting for someone to point out the actual situation in Windhelm. It’s not that the Dunmer don’t have the funds to clean up their part of the city, it’s that the N’Wah won’t do the work like good White Apes should. It’s like one of those books points out, the situation is about labour. Even if you look at from a equal opportunity point of view, Windhelm has the most diverse businesses measured by race. Three High Elves, Three Dark Elves, Six Nords. If you realize that it’s really Suvaris Atheron who runs clan Shatter-Shields shipping business, then it’s four Dunmer and five Nords. Which Solitude can’t even compare to. I’m ignoring the farmers because they’re a little away from the city, and the East Empire is technically owned by the Emperor so I’m ignoring it completely. And where as the Argonians aren’t allowed in the in the city, which I personally believe Suvaris is influencing Shatter-Shield, who let’s face it is very influenceable, to influence the rest of Windhelm, they are still given housing and honourable means to support themselves. Not trying to cherry-pick it here, their situation still sucks. But where the Argonians of Windhelm have that the Argonians of Solitude are allowed in but aren’t given housing and have to depend on piracy to get by. As I have said in other forums. It’s not that Windhelm is more racist than Solitude, quiet the opposite after all it is the city of emancipation that when ruling Skyrim fought against slavery, but it’s just that Windhelm is more forthright and honest about it while Solitude is more polite and wears a veil about itself.
@@danielr.golightly38 Who is the Imperial spy in Windhelm? NordicWarriorGaming has a video titled (Rolff Stone-Fist is right. You should watch that video too. Acerthorn defends the Stormcloaks, but doesn't see this point until later in his 2 hr video titled The Stormcloaks are not racist.
@@danielr.golightly38 I think Altmers are actually more racist than Dunmers, their ultimate goal is to wipe out every other race, while Dunmers just really don't like n'wahs and want do keep some slaves (still racist as fuck but not that genocidal)
The Thalmor cannot invade Skyrim therefore, they are using the Empire and the WGC as a doorway to set up a large enough occupation to overthrow Skyrims leadership.
@@Saber23 Yes they are. To quote: "Our forces are stretched thin enough as it is, and I have better missions - better agents - to assign them to." From Elenwen's Thalmor Orders, as retrieved from a dead Justiciar at the Shrine of Talos near Lake Illanalta.
Tullius is singlehandedly responsible for more people not supporting the stormcloaks. Other than all the war casualties in general obviously, having to not alive anymore Tullius is the only part that hurts in a stormcloak victory. The avatar of Talos said it himself in Morrowind - the empire is getting old and maybe it's time for something new. That was over 200 years ago and nothing's changed. The decline of the empire is one of the main focal points of the entire series. The Medes did the best they could to hold it together but it's done. The empire will never actually end, it CAN'T sheerly because its iconography is inseparably tied to the series itself, but something has to change. A stormcloak victory may be what's necessary for the empire to realize the gravity of the situation and sort itself out. An independent Skyrim + Hammerfell (and probably High Rock) + reorganized Cyrodiil alliance is probably the best bet for surviving the next war. Atmorans annihilated the snow elves, nords saved the empire once already in the great war, and with the way this garbage kalpa is going it looks like they're going to have to do both of those things again soon. Shor is watching.
The change Wulf predicted already occured with the end of the Septims and rise of the Medes. It took the Atmorans hundreds of years to beat the Falmer, and they really did not do that much during the Great War.
i think The next elder scroll will set place in hammerfell, where us as the MC will be the one who helped and drove all the Aldmeri dominion army. The antagonist might prolly be someone like Ancano, where the thalmor found an ancient dwemer technology or ancient magic artefact to rule over Hammerffell
I wonder if it will have anything to do with the Eye of Magnus. We don't get to see what the Eye really does and it's potentially a very powerful weapon the Dominion could use. Maybe the Dominion take put the Psijic Order somehow and take the Eye.
I do believe the storm cloaks should win the civil war as well, but I think it will also become official lore for future Elder Scrolls projects. It is very obvious from past elder scrolls games and lore leading up to elder scrolls 6 that there will be a second Great War. And like you said if the Empire wins it would cause less conflict with the Thalmor. Which from a story and plot standpoint wouldn’t make sense in a lead up to the second Great War. I do not believe this second Great War will be in ES6 but in ES7. A main reason I believe this is because like you said in your video the only providences left of the Empire besides Cyradill is Skyrim and High-Rock. And say the storm cloaks win the only Providence left would be High Rock. Which leads to ES6, which takes place in Hammerfell and HIGH- ROCK. ES6 in my opinion will be very similar to Skyrim which has a main plot but is dominated by a subliminally plot like the civil war involving the Empire/ Thalmor and whatever faction opposing them. ES6 will not be the Great War Bc with how large of a scale the Great War would be we don’t exactly have the right technology just yet to meet the demands of what people would want from the Second Great War. But instead ES6 will focus on in my opinion, Hammerfell and it’s relationship with the Empire (since the Empire abandoned them) and a “Civil War” aspect in High rock. Eventually leading Hammerfell to convince High-Rock of leaving the Empire. Thus leaving only Cryidil left of the Emire and how poetic would it be for that to be one of the first casualties/ battles of the second Great War in ES7.
I'm almost done with my Argonian rogue playthrough that sided with the Imperials but this is encouraging me to lead my Werewolf warrior Breton character playthrough that's siding with the Stormcloaks
As a redguard im choosing stormcloak once again. Been looking into alot of the lore based around the civil war and never knew the empire basically gave my homeland away to the elves (if im correct) so as a redguard why would I side with them? I always hated that bastard ancano and based on a rp perspective im the dragonborn so I can wipe out some thalmor no problem to assist the true sons of skyrim. Not too keen on the dominion yet but thats another topic. With the help of all the independent nations like hammerfell for example and the allies we made in solstheim I think skyrim will be in good hands with ulfric and the dragonborn at the helm.
the argument of his challenge to toryg , ulfric formally challenged toryg and toryg accepted, using the ancient nord hero thuum which is ulfrics own spirits vital essence, which in a nordic custom is not cheating to me, he defeats toryg, this is fair to me by skyrim law, but if it wasnt, i argue that the laws needed to be broken, under toryg and the new thalmor\empire conglomerate empire , countless nord families are being destroyed and brutally murdered simply for being nords and worshipping talos, both for their religion and race, because talos worship is the nord way, nord tradition, if you want to follow in your nord ancestors you worship talos, being subject to imprisonment torture and execution , empire loyalists expect me to allow my families to be killed and have faith they will betray their masters one day? empire loyalists argue that the stormcloaks help the thalmor by taking out the empire, because the thalmor will now only have to deal with the stormcloaks, but i could argue the very same thing 1000 years earlier that the empire shouldnt be fighting the aldmeri dominion because the other two factions will gain from that and become too strong from that, its the same reasoning, and it proves the empire loyalists hypocrites. the empire loyalist will suggest a solution that we accept the thalmor empire watch our families die, hope the empire will betray their masters one day . i say, with the spirit of skyrim, i do not need a lesser tyranny to take out a greater tyranny for me, skyrim belongs to the nords, with righteous claim for we the brave spirit of skyrim if we find our selves without allies without the empire against the thalmor alone in this fight, it will not stop me. a stormcloak skyrim is a greater nation of righteous rule, we will not dip our tongues in honey drink milk and lick the behind of a weaker empire of tyranny for its help. alone or together i fight for the families and freedom skyrim and her people .
Most imperials say the stormcloaks are Nazies, i don't know but fighting for independence doesn't seem racist to me but stoping people from warshiping there religion and destroying there culture because it is "not Civilised" doesn't put them in the best position to say that
They have a lot in common if you think about it. Both groups were on the losing side of a "Great War" which ended with having an unfair treaty imposed upon them. They came home, and instead of being able to move on and process their traumas, they find the home they fought for corrupt, impoverished, decadent, and run by soft individuals who managed to profit off of the war.
@@ailius1520That's no excuse for the monstrous things they did, nor does it undo the legacy of wretchedness and pain they left for the planet and the human race as a whole.
NordicWarriorGaming. General Tullius is naught but a footstool for Elisif and Elenwen. He is a puppet of the Thalmor. Ulfric Stormcloak is dead right. All hail the Stormcloaks, the true sons and daughters of Skyrim!
The funniest part is seeing people get wound up in the comments despite being unable to provide a single counter argument, or example that proves me wrong lol. But hey we are dealing with normies after all.
Even without Skyrim, the Empire would still have plenty of Nords to support and fight for it. Sounds crazy, I know, but just hear me out.. During the American revolution, the attitude that the colonists had regarding the war was nearly even. 1/3 supported gaining independence. 1/3 remained loyal to the crown. While the remaining third were neutral, not caring one way or the other. After the war, those loyal to Great Britain fled and went to places still part of the empire: Canada, the Bahamas, etc. In Skyrim, it would essentially be the same. Half the population supported the Stormcloaks, while the other half remained loyal to the Empire. In the event of a Stormcloak victory, there would be a mass exodus of Nords loyal to the Empire. We’re talking thousands upon thousands- if not more! These Nords would naturally resent the Stormcloaks, but they’d especially hate the Thalmor, who were arguably the root of their troubles. Meaning that even though the Empire loses Skyrim, they at least have an entire population of Nords fanatical and out for blood to fight for them. So in the long run, the Thalmor would be encircled by enemies: Skyrim, Hammerfell, and, of course, what’s left of the Empire. In short, they’re screwed.
Being part of a proud race, with ties to your homeland, doesn’t necessarily mean every Nord will stay. Even proud people would be bound take flight, if they were in fear for either theirs or their loved one’s lives. If either of you would like, I’m willing to give examples in history where that sort of thing actually happened…
I don't even drink. I'd love to have a beer with you bro. We are two dudes who love Boxing and Skyrim. Bet we could have endless conversations that no one would know what were talking about 😂
What bothers me about the Empire is it's army is massive yet it was destroyed by the Thalmor on their own land. You also have to worry about keeping the Oblivion gate closed because no one of Dragon blood has the amulet of kings. The Dragonborn will become the new Emperor likely and it'd like to have Ulfric as High King beside me. All of Skyrim will be with you.
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953 Always feel like the Dragonborn will become high king when the moot meets as he has so much credibility behind him. Possibly leading to Emperor. The Dragon Blood gives you a claim. I always believe as soon as I came to power I would bring the Jarl back to Whiterun
when Martin septim became an Avatar of Akatosh he closed all the gates to Obilvion and restored the Barriers fully meaning Akatosh is at his Strongest and maintains the barrier rather then having the septims do it. some Deadra do get though and Artifact but less so then before it also may explain why some deadra are forggoten about as their hold over Nirn deminises. but yea Dragoborn will likely be Emperor again seeing how it will sate his/her will to Dominate like all dov.
Ulfric Stormcloak Hero or Villain? Full Character Profile - ua-cam.com/video/MGoq2G2twzg/v-deo.html
I'm a simple Skyrim player: If I see the Thalmor, we're fighting.
Same here.
even though I fight for the empire, there tend to be a lot dead Thalmor when I come across them. by pure coincidence.
I'm a simple skyrim player if i see a creature breathing we're fighting
When the game was new, and I played through for the first time, I really *really* hoped that they would make an expansion where you got to crush the Aldmeri Dominion.
@@StillLivinginthewoods Agree. I had an idea about ES6 regarding that. The Dovakin ends up taking over the Stormcloaks and they win. Then he rallies most of the north behind him riding a dragon (Morrowind, Oricisium, Daggerfall) and comes to Hammerfall to help them in a new fight against the Dominion. Due to the death of the Emperor in Skyrim (see Dark Brotherhood quest), the Dominion invaded both Cyrodil and Hammerfall kicking off another great war. The Empire was about to be totally defeated when Alyssa's spirit rose up and rallied Cyrodil to revolt in a great uprising. There are three factions: Empire, New Empire/Stormcloaks under the Dovakin, and the Dominion. Game would be set in Hammerfall but would take you into Cyrodil and Summerset Isles as well.
This is such a refreshing take, I'm glad you made this. The idea of Hammerfell & Skyrim having an alliance to war against the Thalmor sounds beyond epic, maybe a storyline in which the Stormcloaks win and convince even the Argonians that if they truly want isolationism too they'd have to get rid of the Thalmor.
Good idea. The Argonians would be a powerful ally.
High Rock would most likely join that alliengence
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953
The argonians will never work for ulfric because he band them for Living insaide the city (windhelm)
Ulfrice dosen't care about outsaiders
Ulfrice is only going for nords
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953 I don't think the Nords would want to ally themselves with Argonians
@@thebk247 High Rock was part of the Empire before and during the Great war and still is part of the Empire.
I’ve been contemplating the idea of an independent Skyrim joining forces with Hammerfell for years now. The Nords and Redguards both understand the existential threat the Aldmeri Dominion is to all Humans on Tamriel.
Banning The Worship of Talos was just the beginning of the Thalmor’s Genocidal ambitions. Look at the ethnic cleansing that is taking place in Valenwood for example, and that’s an Elven Province.
There is no reason to think they wouldn’t do the same against a non Mer race.
The Empire should've been in full strength by the time of the Great War because the Oblivion Crisis was 200 years ago and the Empire had 171 years to recover and many generations of humans were born to strengthen the Imperial Legions so they cannot say that the Empire is weak when they weren't even born yet.
@@Super50ldier I know I am two years late, but isn't also said that elves recovery was much worse than that of a human? Elves age slower and give birth to less babies than mankind.
@@TerribleScroll I see what you mean
I think the dunmer can recognize the threat also, I main a dark elf and I'm very well aware that the thalmor won't stop at Talos, the reclamations are next.
Sweedens and Arabians fighting against nazis would be beyong legendary.
I hope CODA makes this canon.
I never actually noticed that! Thalmor Agents don’t appear in Stormcloak controlled areas. Probably because they legally can’t Or because they’ve already been offed by Patrolling Rebels. XD That is such a cool detail!
Yeah the Stormcloak soldiers would attack them on sight. Where as the Imperials let them operate with impunity.
the thalmor are not just anyone, 3 thalmor mages count as 30 soldiers
Not to mention that some of these wizards have powerful spells like storm atronatch
@@defalt_6427 I mean, yeah. But those 3 Thalmor agents are often the bulk of what you see traveling around. If 3 thalmor is equal to 30 soldiers, what about 30+ soldiers in their own home turf?
I think the most thalmor I’ve seen traveling together is 4, and I could be wrong about that.
there are just over 30 soldiers in a fort
I don't know if I mentioned this, but one of these thalmor guards can summon storm atronatchs, each of which takes care of 6 soldiers.
In the lore it is difficult to compare these beings with humans so they are probably stronger or more resistant in the lore than in the game.
@@defalt_6427 Well if we’re talking lore, humans have overcome elves plenty of time, sometimes with magic of their own. Sure that may not apply exactly here, but it’s hardly impossible. Especially if they just get archered before a fight even starts.
The only that bothers me about joining the Stormcloaks is you have to fight Whiterun and run off the Jarl
Yeah I hated betraying Balgruuf. But much must be risked in war.
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953dishonorable
Right or wrong, he made his choice, and he chose comfort and power over honour and freedom, noble a man he may be, he let his anger and hatred of Ulfric get the better of him, great men make great decisions, and great mistakes.
@@james739123 Honor? Oathbreaker Ulfric, who has sent out assassins against Balgruuf and has his men engage in combat with Whiterun's own forces before it even picks a side, makes the Stormcloaks ''honorable''?
Ulfric is the agressor, only a moron sides with the agressor.
@@dutchpatriot17 and only an idiot ignores all facts present against their claims, lie all you like, no one with sense listens to you.
Thalmor: we have an empire. Ulfric: we have a Dragonborn
The Dragonborn is a Son of the Empire
Yeah, but a son can choose his own path. I think nords gain independence but the dragonborn unite the words with hammerfell to assist each other and save the empire's backside against the dominion. Let's not forget the empire is not innocent in their colonization of sovereign regions.
@@Yami1300nah fam homie slays empirical milk drinkers
The dragonborn is a mortal blessed with the Blood and soul of a dragon, not a god
@@Yami1300 Talos wasn't even an imperial, either he was a Nord or a Breton, read the lore
Anytime I play through as an Orc, I always join the Stormcloaks because either
a. Having the Empire trying to execute me immediately had my Orc ready to join the Stormcloaks (Congrats, you radicalized him)
b. Knows the Thalmor persecute and punish anyone who worships Daedra, so that means its a matter of time before Malacath is outlawed. If the Empire was willing to ban Talos, then Malacath is not that far away.
c. If the Empire allows Thalmor to drag away Nords in the middle of the night to get tortured and interrogated, then the same will happen to Orcs.
d. If my Orc becomes best bros with Ulfric and Galmar, then cutting a deal of leaving strongholds alone and have a cooperation deal in place for invasions then that is a best case scenario.
Great roleplaying
Ha you think Ulfric would be fine with an orc on his lands. It'll be exactly how it always is with the orcs and men they get back stabbed and end up losing their home.
Great roleplaying tho and an understandable reason character wise.
@@polo5760 if anyone would respect orc strength it's him. Perspective of anti imperialism may leave a mark too
@@powersurge_beast even if he respects there strength he also is a king and has to rule his people. And Nords just don't trust elves especially orcs since every race hates them for one reason or another.
@@polo5760 I feel that could change tbh
You've just inspired and full on Stormcloak anti-Thalomor play through. I haven't completed the main storyline since 2012. I'm going to do a two-handed build (i've never done before) with Wuuthrad. By my right, Ulfric will be high king. And the eleves will slink back into the hole the came from
Amen, that sounds pretty based. God Bless.
Heavy Armour/Two-Handed was my build during my first ever playthrough. It was super fun. And since I was going with the Stormcloaks I decided to be as anti-mage as possible. Damage magicka potions galore, and magic resistance on my armour. And odd setup for an argonian maybe that was part of the appeal
Ulfric I's the thalmors putter in a way, it says that in the book on ulfric in the thalmor embassy, look it up
@@Dis_guy-h1z What's the matter, somebody steal your sweetroll? Milk drinker...
I always do this play through and purge all thalmor I find
If Hammerfell can fend off the altmery, I dont see why Skyrim cant. The empirials are getting in the way if humanity has a chance to survive.
I agree. The Empire is holding Skyrim back.
Hammerfell and Skyrim's situations are very different. Hammerfell simply didn't stop fighting when the White-Gold Concordant were signed, the Empire officially cutting ties with the province so as to not provoke the Thalmor. The Thalmor agreed to the Concordant in the first place because... well, it's complex but the short version is that while they had the upper hand in the war they didn't have the men to continue it after losing the Imperial city. Hammerfell was less of a threat than the Empire in whole, but the entire point of the peace was to give them time to recuperate so they could finish off the Empire. Burning more men and resources in Hammerfell, which wasn't even strategically important to them, wasn't worth the cost. So they just stopped attacking. Crucially; Hammerfell didn't push back against the Dominion. They're well aware they couldn't actually fight them on their own or they would've kept pushing into their territory. Instead, once there were no longer Thalmor in Hammerfell, they stopped too.
Skyrim is now doing to the Empire what Hammerfell was doing to the Dominion. And assuming they win they'll be put in the same position Hammerfell was; unable to actually fight the Thalmor. The best case scenario in repelling the Thalmor's future attack would be joining Hammerfell and the Empire against the Thalmor. Assuming the Empire even survives to fight in the first place. With the Summerset Isles, Valenwood, and Elswyr already gone; Hammerfell and Skyrim now striking out on their own; and Morrowind being a husk of itself, High Rock and Black Marsh (especially so with the Argonians) might not see much reason to stay with Cyrodil.
Saying that Hammerfell held off the Dominion isn't really accurate to the political realties of the situation. Comparing it further to Skyrim's situation is pretty much being completely blind to the state of affairs.
They are not our enemy, but they did gave up very easily
@@moonblaze2713Hammerfell beat the Aldmeri Dominion out of Hammerfell, they cut off their supplies and isolated them, largely because Skyrims entry into the war cut off support for the Hammerfell campaign. Yes, Redguards are not racially blessed as the Nords are in the lore to take on Altmer in a confrontational battle, but they are the most skilled in combat and used that skill to pick apart the Aldmeri Dominion in Hammerfell until they could take them on directly. As it is said in Saadia’s quest, the war against the Aldmeri Dominion is still going strong in Hammerfell.
@@danielr.golightly38 The redguards are arguably the most savage & most experienced at fighting the elves, & they really hate the Thalmor. They are extremely EXTREMELY racist against elves, due to their history of constantly fighting them. That being said, Hammerfell only survived the Thalmor invasion because of the rogue Imperial Legion (a legion, no longer THE Legion) staying & holding them off.
I would liked the option to marry the queen of Skyrim unite the rebels and the empire and crush the thalmor and have a dragon born high king
Would have been an awesome feature.
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953 it would have
I’ll settle for being an aide to Ulfric to ensure that human rights are restored to Skyrim, and that those rights extend to all of the races.
There needs to be a mod like this. You can unite all of Skyrim together against the Thalmor. Building armies out of bandits, the Foresworn, all of the side factions like Dark Brotherhood, College of Winter, Thieves Guild, Companions etc. all to aid in the effort.
@@theradiantdehd3997 technically they have all the same rights, its just that the dunmer refuse to pay taxes while living in other peoples cities, the khajit have brought drug trafficking, the argonians also brought drug trafficking and care about their own race the most (egg brother and such terms), the altmer want to turn into a cosmic soup of corpses to become the original gods, the redguards are respected, the wood elves sell meat and are good hunters.
I absolutely agree bro. I’ve been thinking this for years. There’s no reason that Skyrim shouldn’t be independent. The Empire doesn’t actually care about Skyrim, her customs, or her people. The Empire just wants Skyrim and the Nords so that they have more bodies to throw at the Dominion when war time comes. Ironically enough, I am sure that if the Empire simply said to the Nords, “Hey we’re gonna withdraw our troops and grant you your independence so we can send our Legion home and help bolster Cyrodiil’s defenses for the next war. All we ask is that when the next war does break out, you help us fight the Thalmor” then the Nords would agree. Because while I’m sure many of them despise the Empire, I’m certain that they hate elves more, and I know they’d rather help out the Empire than watch Cyrodiil fall to the elves. Plus the Nords love to fight so it’s a win win. But the Empire won’t do that because it’s not about what’s logical or what’s fair to them. They’re an EMPIRE, and they want to maintain their control. They want all possible nations to fly their banner, as Imperialist countries often do. It’s for this reason that the Stormcloaks absolutely must win and break Skyrim free from the Empire’s grasp. I think if an independent Skyrim formed a sort of “anti-Thalmor coalition” with Hammerfell then they stand a high chance of beating the Thalmor, as Nords and Redguards are the greatest warriors in Tamriel. I think you have the most reasonable take and approach to this. I feel that most people don’t think beyond surface level on this topic, they just see how nice Balgruuf is or they see some Nords bullying some Dunmer in Windhelm so they immediately say, “No the Stormcloaks are bad and racist! The Empire is obviously the correct choice! They’re the good guys!”
Thanks. You are absolutely correct. God Bless.
Got it in 1 m'lad, glad to see more people with a good head on their shoulders.
The Stormcloaks can't even defeat Imperial militia. An independent Skyrim is objectively weaker than an Imperial one.
@@dutchpatriot17 "The imperials can't even defeat Stormcloak militia. An imperial Skyrim is objectively weaker than an independent one."
Your argument is null and void if someone can just swap the words around, and it holds just as true. Though you get extra points for using the word 'objective', clearly that makes your point more valid.
@@hatncloak45 No, you can't just swap words around, because what you're stating is a falsehood.
The best that the Stormcloaks have to offer are getting massacred by the worst the Empire has to offer. This is all supported by the lore of the game.
Speak to Rikke, listen to Galmar and Ulfric. You'd know these facts if you paid attention while playing.
Based. Skyrim belongs to the Nords!
Amen.
Yeah
@@Mauricio.23 ''For no reason'' Elves tend towards evil in this setting. Look at Thalmor, look at the Dwemer enslaving Falmer, look at the Dunmer enslaving Argonians, look at the Ayleids enslaving imperials. If it was up to the Thalmor all humans would be slaves, and Elven superiority is held by all Elven tribes. There's a reason for the Nords not to trust elves. Use Wuuthrad.
@@Mauricio.23”no reason”. My brother in Talos, the Thalmor literally want to destroy the world and have been committing genocide in occupied territories. Calling the Nords racist and evil in a world where the Thalmor exist is ridiculous. The Stormcloaks are like your racist uncle Dale. The Thalmor are like the Nazis.
@@excalligator5529hehe my brother in talos good one 😂
I play as a Khajiit who was born and raised in Skyrim by her adoptive Nord parents, and she lived in Windhelm. I also play as a Stormcloak, and my character deeply worships the Nine Divines. She also hates the Thalmor with a burning passion. Loved your video! 💙
Thanks I appreciate it. God Bless.
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953 You too! And you’re welcome!
Yeah kinda same. My Khajiit was raised by both nord parents in Cyrodil. I just think "fuck the nazi thalmors"
That makes literally no sense. The khajiit caravans aren't even allowed in the cities because "the nords don't like khajiit, so we have to stay outside the walls."
If a khajiit lives in windhelm he/she would be subject to just as much hate as the argonians and khajiit caravans while being paid a fraction of the money for the same job that a nord would do. The nords of windhelm hate them so much that they would throw them all back to their provences if given the chance, and Ulfric would do nothing about it.
@genialdragon4843 she is free to role lay however she wants dude, it's an RPG.
Skyrim belongs to the Nords!
Absolutely.
As a side note: i love how confidently wrong the Thalmor are by guessing that "whoever sent the dragons might have an interest in the war"
No...Alduin would gladly rule over you, too, Thalmor agents
I mean look at the end. Ulfric gives a passionate speech about rebuilding their country to a glorious state so the gods will approve. And the imperial it's just "I am doubling your pay" That's how they got they go them to cheer. I despise the empire
Then I say welcome to the good guys!
@@MotorcycleCheetah huh did they just confirm a stormcloak victory to be canon in the tarot cards, Looks like freedom wins
Yessss!!!! Yessss!!! Stormcloaks forever! All hail Ulfric! Long live Skyrim!
@@Kirasupporter1 No, they did not. Those cards are literally about a possible outcome, as its literal author declared.
@@dutchpatriot17 Cope and seethe.
Only the Empire can beat the Thalmor, but it needs to be a reformed Empire. Hammerfell, Skyrim, and all the other regions will need to liberate and reunite.
That imperial general says otherwise he says the empire are getting ready for round 2 and the fact that the army is restored a fair bit makes your statement useless
@@Gizz101In that case, why not just side with the empire instead of the nord racists?
@@thalloutboy who you talking bout?
@@Gizz101I’m talking about the Stormcloaks obviously. Their motto is “Skyrim is for the Nords.” Surely, you can see how that would have a racist subtext.
Not to mention the segregation, such as the grey quarter and the argonians being told to suck icicles on the docks.
A bit of racism in fantasy settings is common but they’re definitely taking it a step further with their need to be belligerent.
I am a Nord fan and wish that I could have spared Ulfric, but I do support the idea of the unified empire- as once the thalmor are dealt with, Talos worship can be reinstated from a place of political strength.
I have hypothesized numerous ways the Thalmor could try to attack Skyrim, and they are not good.
1) if the Thalmor try to land march through Cyrodiil, some Imperials will see this as a provocation and could attack the army, starting the second great war, meanwhile, Skyrim and Hammerfell could see this as an opportunity to gather their two armies and trap the Thalmor in a pincer manoeuvre, a war on three fronts is definitely not going to bode well for the Thalmor.
2) They gather a fleet of ships and go around the east coast, again they'll run the risk of dealing with Hammerfell, whom are noted for their skills as sailors, so they won't be getting supplies from Hammerfell to restock on the journey to Skyrim, then there's High-Rock whom it's hard to say if they'll allow the Thalmor to dock their ships and regain supplies, some might help but High-Rock is known for its kingdoms been devised in their beliefs so some might welcome them while others might want to take a shot at driving them out, it's hard to tell.
3) The set sail to the west coast, then they have to deal with Black-Marsh and Morrowind, the Argonians are not usually happy with outsiders making demands and if the Thalmor tread on the wrong tails so to speak, they could wind up pissing of the Hisst and we'd have another incident of super-tree-sap Argonians tearing what is supposed to be a superior force been torn to shreds, and even if they get past them to Morrowind, the Dark Elfs under the rule of the "Good Daedra" could suspect treachery, much like High-Rock, some might welcome them in, but given the more cut-throat nature of the Dark Elfs, some of the high ranking members of the Thalmor could find a Morag Tong blade in their backs, the best way they could work around this is by offering to help the Dark Elfs enslave the Argonians again, but that's just going to divert resources away from their plan to invalid Skyrim, giving them more time to prepare.
if it weren't for the loose ties to valenwood and elsweir they lack the manpower for another direct war, one altmer loss on their side counts for 100 lost on their enemies side. they can only operate in the shadows.
plus they have to worry about pirates, sea monsters and the maomer, and almost taking a lap around Tamriel multiplies those threats ten times over.
@@Ed_man_talking9 thank you
for what @@james739123 ?
If the entire Aldmeri force attacked with all their might, it would still be no use.
They must have magic shit of another level, a thalmor mage can summon atronatch storm, each of them must be worth 10 soldiers
Not to mention the warriors, the thalmor are naturally taller and consequently even stronger than most races, even the warriors must be very strong.
they can take a lot of unique artists, and maybe even partner with the dremora.
the empire is weak, so we have little strength, the thalmors were causing a skyrim war to spread and it would work if the dragonborn didn't join one of the sides, aldmeri are stable and very well structured so they must be another level of power.
However, if everyone really got together we would probably win, Magnus' staff and the school, the dark brotherhood, the companions and even the dawnguard.
@@defalt_6427Your correct that the High Elves are on an entire different level of magic if your speaking about within the lore. In the lore they’re really the only ones that can use magic willy-nilly like in the game. Nords can only use magic by speaking or “spelling”, Cyrodilians can only do so by dancing (Think Avatar Last Airbender), and the Bretons have to use hand signs (think Naruto or Witcher). Still Nords aren’t weak in their use of magic, if I had to put what I remember reading about them into a picture, then Nords are like artillery when they use magic, where Altmer are like Gatling guns of top tier ammo. And the High Elves have been the most advanced in science and magic for a few millennia now. However no race does war better than the Nords. But your wrong about the Altmer strength, the only Elves that have noticeable strength are the Orcs. Elves are not a physically strong race. The Altmer have height but not the meat like the Nords do. As the physically strongest race goes, that is Nords in base and Orcs when using their berserk ability. Nords are tall and muscular. And the Altmer do give off a air of stability, but remember they’re a Nazi-like authoritarian government, that has more or less kept power by suppressing its people, and it’s partners people. If they lose face it would probably lead to civil war back in the Aldmeri Dominion. As for a direct conflict the elder races (Altmer and Nords) are the most powerful in the lore. It’s not anyone’s surprise that the High Elves kicked Redguard and Imperial ass until the Nords came down from Skyrim and beat them back. This is also what is important to realize, that not only are the Imperials not keeping the Thalmor out of Skyrim they also didn’t keep them out of Cyrodil, that was done by Nord blood. By the time Skyrim entered the battle the Imperials were practically beaten. And where the Aldmeri Dominion basically uprooted the Imperials out of their fortresses and cities then planted themselves in them, the Nords did the exact same thing to the Aldmeri Dominion when they went on the offensive. The race that was powerful enough to beat the Imperials out of their homes and defensive strongholds, then got beaten just the same way by the Nords. Like I say, the Nords do war. The Thalmor have every reason to fear a strong Skyrim.
Build a wall. F the Empire. Make Skyrim Great Again!
@deraykrause4517 Stormcloak/Stonefist 4th Era! Cast your vote at the next moot, Jarls! I know who I'm voting for, do you?
In the words of The Hound "fuck the kingsguard, fuck the king." Or in this case the Emperor.
The empire is INVITING the Thalmor into Skyrim!!!
After the Markarth incident. There wasn't any Justicars in Skyrim before this.
It would be pretty great if Tulis and Ulfric were in league and the civil war was just them playing the Thalmor. Any time a battle was supposed to play out really the soldiers would just be drinking together and then they report losses back to The Empire and as such the Thalmor while they prepare Skyrim to fight them once more. The Thalmor can't do anything then they're pretty stuck letting it play out as they slowly lose influence in Skyrim while believing they're gaining it.
This video and the video " the secret plan of the thalmor" from fudgemuppet is all the information that is needed to see that the stormcloak victory is necessary.
The thing is as cool as that “secret plan” is it’s not actually canon it comes from sources that are essentially fan fiction
But, Elder Scrolls is also Fiction!
Dun, Dun, Duuuuuuunnn!
So you want the aldmeri to win
13:35 Okay, sexist side note. That was FRICKIN uncalled for!
Nope. It was a factual statement. Grow up.
@@Coldnoah Nice projection. Did you have an argument or a refutation of any kind? A smartarse comment like your last one and you're gone. Makes no difference to me.
yeah im a girl and got excited to finally see a video in support of stormcloaks, just to get to that part and be like damn lmao 🥲
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953if u look to history some of the greatest empires and kingdoms were run by women
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953 I disagree, margaret thatcher.
Like Emiliano Zapata once said
"I'd rather die on my feet that to live on my knees"
Yea!!!! Bb!!
While I understand and respect this opinion and type of approach, if you can understand italian, I would like to suggest you to give the video "empire or stormcloack?" (it's the first that will pop up) from Ykir (here on UA-cam) a watch. Because i think it's interesting how he points out that living on your knees for a bit in order to stand tall once again later is a better choice than die on your feet (and so letting the world be worse without you, philosophically speaking)
My favorite race is high elf elf yet I still choose the storm cloaks I like to role play that my character was banished from the Somerset isles and wants revenge
Interesting.
Das an interesting story!
Now that is something I haven't thought of yet
For Skyrim!
I happened to notice that the Thalmor have a lot in common with Nazis, I mean, they will literally have dialogue calling themselves the superior race
All races in elder scrolls think they're the best but the high elves and dark elves are the worst
The Thalmor are quite plainly just knife-eared nazis. Their war tactics are the same, inane racism the same, and so on. How they took power over the Altmer is analogous as well.
A more precise comparison would be the aldmeri dominion in general as the nazis and the thalmor as the SS. They even got the black uniforms
The stormcloaks aren't any better.
The Stormcloaks don't try to kill you, they look cooler, have a better vibe (charging a fortress with 10 guys as the 'mighty legion' is weird), and have the best dialogue in the goddamn game at the end of the questline.
It's important to remember that Ulfric himself is only considered an "asset" so long as the war remains a stalemate. He is NOT allied with the Thalmor nor is he helping them as some simperials seem to believe.
Also, I didn't know that Elisif openly supports the Thalmor. All the more reason to side with Ulfric Chadcloak every playthrough.
True. Elisif is a horrible, ignorant character who will lead Skyrim to its own destruction. She's a Thalmor puppet.
Ulfric's status as an asset has nothing to do with the civil war. How come you Stormcloaks always struggle to read the Dossier?
@@dutchpatriot17we do and it shows your as much a pawn as we are and if either side won it would be bad for the dominion you clearly haven’t read it yourself
Rebels are fun to join.
While I agree with some of the stuff stated I believe that the Stormcloaks are largely missing the point. So for starters the Empire actually defeats the Thalmor at the Battle of the Red Ring where they hang the general Lord Nariffin on the White Gold Tower. They, however, have a decimated army that could not sustain further conflicts with the Thalmor at that time. Titus II signs the treaty, which is just the same ultimatum that was given to him on the 30th of Frostfall. This included large sums of tribute, southern hammerfell, and the outlawing of Talos worship. During the closing of the Great War the Reachmen, who had ruled themselves successfully for two years, we under threat from Ulfric as he led a band of militia men to recapture the city for Skyrim. Ulfric used the Thu’um to achieve this victory and would commit several war crimes in the city. The ex Jarl of the reach would try to return to his place as jarl but Ulfric would only accept this if he allowed free worship of Talos in his hold. The Jarl would accept and so would the Imperials who were with him, hoping that the Thalmor would not know that they were allowing Talos worship in Skyrim. The Thalmor would figure out, however, and would arrest Ulfric after the incident. Ulfric would “escape” custody and return to Windhelm to take his place as Jarl. The High King of Skyrim, Istlod, had died after Ulfrics return and a moot was held as a formality with the rise of High King Torygg. Ulfric would use the moot to argue for Skyrim’s independance. Some time after Torygg rose to High King Ulfric would return to Solitude yet again but this time to challenge the boy king for his throne. Torygg respect for Ulfric, as he was a hero of the Great War, and most likely would have listened to him had Ulfric came with good intentions. Ulfric would challenge Torygg for his throne and would use the Thu’um as his means to kill him. Ulfric would flee the city and the civil war would begin. The Thalmor have no interest in either side winning. The Imperials winning would be a huge threat to Aldmeri power on the continent and would allow them to build up and pose a threat in the next war. The Thalmor would rather have the province divided as this would make a easy victory for the Dominion. To move onto Hammerfell its important to note the factors which were at play during their conflict. The Dominon armies like stated before had been destroyed at the Battle of the Red Ring. The Redguards were also let go from the Legion to return to their homeland and defend it which gave Hammerfell battle hardend soliders to fight. Hammerfell also has access to Stone Wizards and Cannons which are two things Skyrim would lack. Skyrim is also a very weak province by itself. Most of its population are dumb farmers who aren’t well trained. Skyrim is also lacking in food production and in industry as well which are two things they gain from being in the Empire. Especially since they have, by this point, been in the empire for close to 634 years. The Thalmor also have a much stronger military now which would be able to defeat a newly independant Skyrim. One quick point you mentioned in the video about the Imperial soldiers. To quote the star wars movies, what they are saying it true from a certain point of view. The Empire is the sheild that is guarding mankind from being overran by the elves. While yes Justiciars are in Skyrim, that is the effect of losing a war, they are not able to have total authority in the Empire. We know at the very start of the game Tullius refuses to give Ulfric to the Thalmor at the gates. In Diplomatic Immunity you can have Tullius write a letter for Thoralds release which the Thalmor cannot refuse. Onto the Empire being dead thats not entirely true. Morrowind is both a part of the Empire and isn’t a part of the Empire. Specifically House Redorans land is more so part of the Empire, though its not all that valuble. Red Mountain decimated the province so its not that useful. Black Marsh isn’t either since the only trade it actually has is eldrich god tree sap, and dock workers. The only really important province its lost has been Hammerfell and possibly Summerset, though the elves have always hated mankind. Speaking of Mankind, my last point. Mankind is protected by the 9th divine, Talos. Mankind cannot be destroyed without Talos losing divinity. The Empire is also protected by Talos since he is, even though its highly complicated, the founder of the Empire. Dividing the nations of man would only destroy any hope of victory against the threat that is the Thalmor. Other than that it was nice to see a video that isn’t the same lame stormcloak arguments, the video was based and chadpilled, though knowing the lore I would have to disagree. Sorry for the long reply though, elder scrolls is just that epic.
What would be the better choice to join then?
@@Dan-qq6hy well thats all depending on the goal of your character. Different outlooks on where you want Tamriel to be can influence your decision. If we are talking purely based on who could defeat the Thalmor then the Empire. The Empire just has far more resources, more experienced soldiers, better generals, and the infastructure to make final victory possible. The Empire would be far more prepared in a hypothetical Second Great War than they were in the first one which would make much of the early losses in the first war minimized in the second. The Empire did much better after they were organized which aided them at the Battle of the Red Ring. The Stormcloaks could only be a viable choice if Ulfric helps the Dragonborn take the Imperial throne. Bethesda seems hesitant to allow previous main characters a chance to be important after their story is over so this is unlikely however not impossible. Also its possible that the Empire is taken over by the Dragonborn if he joins the Legion as well. With the backing of the army he could easily do this even if Titus Mede II has a viable heir. So overall I do believe the Empire has a better chance at defeating the Thalmor on their own than that of an independant Skyrim ruled by Ulfric.
Neither is the correct choice. As the other individual states in the thread, the decision lies with the Dragonborn. The only reason you as the player exists, is to make a decision regarding Alduin, it's more likely that you would foster a temporary treaty for it like you do in the game if you progress the main quest far enough. After that it just stays a stalemate. It's safe to assume that in actual lore, the Dragonborn stops Alduin, considering there's a new Elder Scrolls game on the way, supposedly. If that's the only continuity of lore for the next game, it's safe to assume that your main bad guy is the Aldemeri Dominion. Which means they took Skyrim while it was still under a civil war for however long.
i always thought it was obvious to fight against the machine, but i dont recall most of it because skyrim came out a decade ago. I have thought about playing it in VR with mods but that thought came around American Thanksgiving and Christmas when all the VR headset were sold out. And i never thought about buying one after, but if Im to revisit skyrim its going to have to be in VR with Mods or no revisiting at all lol.
It doesn't matter who wins. The dragonborn is powerfull enough to defeat the entire thalmor army. At least my character is.
Good point.
This is a better point than most pro imperial posters.
The thing that concerns me I'd that there's material in game that implies that ulfric is brainwashed via torture so he's really working for them
Watch my video about Ulfric - ua-cam.com/video/MGoq2G2twzg/v-deo.html Him being brainwashed matters very little.
I don’t know why someone would want to betray the stormcloaks to join the imperials
The game seems like it’s set up to push you into the stormcloaks from the very beginning. Almost like joining the empire was something you did on another play through just to check it out. I feel like BGS is afraid to have the stormcloaks win in todays (real world) political climate and pushed off TES6, and promoted starfail, in hopes that the world would normalize by the time TES6 came out.
Because the imperials are simply superior.
Because the Aldmeri Dominion still wants to rule all of Tamriel, and a united Empire is stronger against the threat than a bunch of smaller weaker states. Considering the Altmers almost took the Imperial City with all of the empire’s provinces fighting together, what chance do they have on their own? It’s why the Thalmor secretly want the Civil War to continue as long as possible, to weaken both sides.
@@lincolndunford6693 then why are they losing so much? Even Hammerfell ditched them and were able to keep the thalmor off of their backs. The stormcloaks are superior and so are the redguards.
@@DaFreeze220 then why did hammerfell beat the thalmor when the empire couldn’t?
If Hammerfell can defend against the Thalmor Skyrim can. Skyrim has such strong warriors they literally have erased an entire race, Skyrim is such a defendable country too, there's only 1 way in through the mountains. The Stormcloaks can literally 300 Leonidas that shit with Ulfrics shouts alone 😂. Empires rise and fall, eso shows us the empire was on its knees. It happens. In real world direct comparisons are America and British Empire, or Greeks and Egyptians, or Roman Empire and Barbaric Germanians. Am important factor I see, is Ulfric is like Trump. Yes. Trump. The people used to hate it, but now we need him.
Good points. Empires are known to rise and fall.
Yikes about that sexist comment bruh 😅.. 13:52
Fr
Tnis makes the video feel satirical 😭😭
@@julienavarro6586
You say yikes like it doesn’t actually hold true
@@fanamatakecick97 It’s 2024, come on..
@@zenthossohtnez8331
The year doesn’t mean shit. That line of logic completely falls on its face
Stormcrown created the empire from fractured bones of nations. So can it be again.
Hard times create strong men. For Skyrim!
This was an awesome video and has for sure given me some food for thought, keep it up !
Thanks. God Bless.
Get all three phrases of Storm Call.
Camp outside the courtyard of the Thalmor embassy and Storm call.
lol.
Been there done that. Great minds think alike lol.
finally somebody if refering to the Dosier of Ulfric. you have a very valid argument.
Thanks.
And people are all the time misunderstanding what is meant by "direct conract." The dossier itself gives the Thalmor presence at Helgen as an example of "direct contact," when an exception to their rule had to be made.
They weren't speaking directly with Ulfric in a sneaky, secret rendezvous. No, "direct contact" was their intervening directly in a matter that concerned him. And that intervention is most likely the reason Ulfric _wasn't_ the first to the chopping block, which is what would have made the most sense in normal circumstances.
Convention would have it that the leader would be dealt with first, to demoralize his or her remaining followers before they met the same fate. I would guess the Thalmor bent bent Tullius' ear and convinced him to do it in reverse. They probably told him that executing Ulfric outright would make him a martyr, whereas forcing him to watch his supporters fall, one by one, would break him and end the rebellion for good (all the while buying them time to devise and enact a scheme whereby Ulfric could escape to live and fight another day... a scheme that, conveniently, wasn't needed).
I have said this on different videos and I'll say it here too. By the end of the main storyline the dragonborn is essentially a demigod wielding immense power and daedric artifacts, Parthunaax, your ally, is the new defacto lord of the dragons. So if a liberated independent Skyrim were to get into open war with the Aldmeri Dominion, they'd have the Dragonborn on their side, it stands to reason the Dragonborn through Parthunaax could bring the dragons to bear on those witch-elves, he can count on Odaviing and Durnehviir and push come to shove just bend the will of dragons to fight for him, though I doubt it would come to that. Then you have nine holds worth of hardened Nords willing to win or die and go to Sovngarde because losing isn't an option. Also you can factor in the companions.
Then you have Hammerfell who have been subjected to the Dominions bullshit for years, gnawing at their borders. A humbled Cyrodiil would side with Skyrim because it's in their best interests due to the common enemy, their legions, however depleted would help some. High Rock would probably also be willing to help out because Bretons are ultimately men and the Dominion would seek to subjugate them. You made an extremely good point about House Redoran and what's left of Morrowind, I could see them helping. Black Marsh is doing whatever the fuck.
All in all, the Dominion is screwed.
Oh and Master Neloth, a Telvanni wizard with centuries of experience and power, with some hefty political weight would also probably be in your corner too
Ulfric fights…because he Must.
:) Good Video, Your right on most all of the major parts of that fight and taking sides. Fighting on the Empires side is wanting the Thalmor to control Skyrim, Fighting on the Stormcloak side is wanting Nords in control of Skyrim, Nords (whether you agree with/like Ulfric or not).
Thanks. God Bless.
I’m 3 years late but I’m currently playing Skyrim again after 12 years.. I was going to go empire because I always do but this video had a very fair point and changed my mind
Glad to hear it. Nords Arise!
Ulfric didn't use the Voice to gain an advantage over Torygg, he did it to humiliate him, show his own power and show his mastery of an ancient and revered Nordic power. It was symbolic. There was no way Ulfric could lose a simple sword fight anyway, Ulfric is a hardened war-veteran, Torygg has never seen battle, everyone sees him as weak and Proventus calls him a "boy", he inspired no love nor respect.
Wery well said. Torygg was a figurehead put there by the Empire. Ulfric is a true Nord who wants to rule his own land.
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953 I'm not sure he was "put there" by the Empire, it was just convenient to keep him in charge. Ulfric in one of his dialogues says that Torygg's father "may have been a High-King, but not Torygg" so it seems to be a case of the heir not being up to the task, and Ulfric fixed that the old fashioned way, by proposing a duel to legally oust him and replace him with a strong leader. And this genuinely isn't some lust for power, there isn't any other candidate to the throne or suitable potential candidate, no one else wants it except Elisif who doesn't count for obvious issues and whose entire claim rests on the Empire wanting to keep a puppet in charge.
I think the one thing people who think of the empire as the better option tend to pay attention to is the future. The idea that if Skyrim is under imperial control, then the empire can regrow its strength and take on the Thalmor when the second Great War happens. The problem with this though is that they fail to notice two critical things. For one the Thalmor have already infiltrated every layer of the empire and are watching their every movements. The second thing they forget is that the empire would’ve lost the Great War had it not been for the White Gold Concordat. The empire quit while they were ahead. The Empire recognized that had the war continued they would eventually be overwhelmed so they called the Thalmor’s bluff. While it appeared that they had the overall upper hand it was only momentarily, mind you the empire also had help from Skyrim at the time. At the moment the empire has all cards stacked against them. Winning the war for them doesn’t change that.
Yep. The Empire is basically bringing Skyrim down with it.
And yet the Empire probably could have won the war, or at least gotten better terms, if they hadn't thrown the gauntlet so quickly. The only reason the Thalmor bent down and let them instead of a full takeover is that they lost their secret weapon, the weapon which was the only reason they could win in the first place. An artifact of Vermina if I recall correctly that let them see the future.
I'd rather believe in the Empire for reasons such as: better trade & resources / manpower.
Sure maybe the Stormcloak controlled Skyrim is.. somehow stronger but it's really unrealistic if you look at it long enough. Yes, they'd be able to defend themselves, but they couldn't really *attack* the dominion if they wanted to, they simply don't have numbers enough for it, just like Hammerfell. Another thing is their trade. It's not often mentioned in game but it's easy to see that Skyrim must rely at least half on trade, because they don't seem to produce much other than alcohol. Their farms are all the size of my backyard garden, their mines don't seem to produce all that much & what they do produce, mostly just goes straight to their own towns. This on top of the fact that the Stormcloaks & their leaders are extremely toxic to any non-nords, & especially so for beast races & elves, & that is absolutely terrible for trade, you'll either be heavily marked up or just have no trade because nobody wants to trade with you, & no other established place would really care it seems like. In the words of Alvor, the Empire brought trade, & trade is good for Skyrim.
@@arcticeagle342The farms are much larger in actual lore, it is confirmed that the game is scaled down massively for obvious reasons.
13:36 say sike right now
Exactly what I was thinking. He was making some interesting arguments until he brought up the kindergarten logic.
He is correct.
Was actually baffled by that. tf is he waffling about?
"Tell me who you're voting for without telling me who you're voting for" aahh statement.
Yeah, what the actual eff :|
Yeah because a woman leading a country always worked out so well :D thanks for the new "europeans" Miss Merkel 😂
*See video title*
*See name of uploader of said video*
Yeah, it checks out.
Watched the video. Your reasoning is solid, and though I had my own reasons why to not join the Empire, you gave a solid reason as to why joining the Stormcloaks would be preferable.
1• @07:05 The dossier does actually tacitly imply Ulfric cooperated with the Thalmor. It says contact was established after the war and that he only became uncooperative after the markarth incident. To “become uncooperative” you have to be cooperative to begin with. There’s just over a year between the end of the war and the markarth incident, during which time it’s very possible he cooperated with them.
2: @08:24 Yeah in other words they want the war - Ulfric started - to continue indefinitely. Because Ulfric started a war that aids them… that isn’t the point you think it is.
Why? Because it distracts the Empire, as tullius says. All of the Thalmor’s actions we see are geared towards undermining the Empire - that’s their focus because it’s their biggest threat. Not the stormcloaks - hence why the thalmor had to send aid to the stormcloaks, yet despite that, and despite the majority of the legion being massed on the dominion border, and despite the legion that is in Skyrim being cut off and weakened, Ulfric *still* essentially lost at the start of the game. He failed to defeat a weakened, fraction of imperial power while buffed by Dominion aid and without the random luck of Alduin, would have died.
But I digress, If the war ends, whoever wins, the Empire turns its attention back to the Thalmor. That’s why the war benefits them. As stated by Delphine and Tullius.
But while the Thalmor don’t want either side to win, The two sides are not equivalent in the Thalmor’s eyes. One scenario results in the Empire remaining united with access to larger resources and man power necessary to fight.
The other results in the mannish political landscape becoming very fractured and disunited. One of those scenarios is clearly less beneficial than the other.
3• @09:31 “The Thalmor failed to conquer Hammerfell and had to resort to scheming to achieve their goals”
Which is also what happened with the Empire. L discount your point.
The Thalmor were only successful due to the Orb Of Vaermina - a Daedric Scrying orb that allowed them to see all imperial troop movements. Once they lost this artifact, they lost the entirety of their Cyrodiilic force to the Legion in a single battle, Red Ring. They failed to conquer Cyrodiil, and thus had to resort to scheming to achieve their own ends. Which is what the WGC, is, and what Ulfric is playing into.
Hammerfell actually achieved less than what the Empire did. The Empire destroyed the dominion armies and signed a treaty. Hammerfell only fought them to a stalemate and signed a treaty.
Hammerfell also only achieved what it did *because* of the Empire. The Empire’s destruction of Aldmeri Armies meant the thalmor had far less reinforcements to send to Hammerfell. And the core of Hammerfell’s armies were actually made of discharged Legionaries because Legate Decianus refused to abandon Hammerfell. Without the Empire, Hammerfell like would have fallen - and so to would Skyrim. So this actually shows why the Empire is necessary.
4• @10:20 The quote isn’t dumb. You’re just missing the nuance of what’s being said.
The level at which the Dominion can be in Skyrim is subject to gradation. There are levels to it. Yes they’re technically already in Skyrim enforcing the Talos ban.
They are *not* however, marching across Skyrim with armies of elves slaughtering every man woman and child they see with impunity simply for being mannish. That is what the legion is talking about - and it is a true statement, without the Empire, that very likely would be happening. Especially given what happened in the War. It was only by the Empire working together the dominion were stopped.
Additionally, as you yourself state at the start of the video, the reason the Talos ban is actually being enforced is because of Ulfric’s actions drawing the dominion’s attention. The Empire didn’t actually enforce the ban initially, and even now still try and get out of it, Alvor, Ondolemar and Igmund talk about this and we even see it. Ondolemar has to get the player’s help to arrest a Talos worshipper because the Imperial jarl refuses to help. It’s only because of Ulfric the ban is affecting people in real terms. Hence why the thakmor say “Markarth particularly served their strategic interests”
5• @11:07 This isn’t true.
If Ulfric wins the thalmor don’t leave. Northwatch keep stays. The Embassy stays. The HQ stays. And you can still get attacked by Thalmor agents in the wild. The only difference is they no longer have stormcloak prisoners. So Bethesda changed those patrols on the event Ulfric wins and chose to keep them.
Ulfric even talks about this in his speech at solitude. Stating he’s more worried about the thalmor targeting Skyrim. Not less.
This shouldn’t be surprising, Morrowind - who not only didn’t sign the WGC, but didn’t even fight in the war - also has thalmor agents kidnapping and torturing people.
The WGC isn’t what enables the thalmor. The simple truth is that the Thalmor are *very* capable and can operate where they want and it’s unlikely Ulfric can do much to stop that. And that the WGC was masterfully and insidiously crafted to deflect the anger of Men away from the Thalmor and onto each other.
If anything the treaty allows the Empire to have at least *some* oversight as it’s crafted within an official political framework. Meaning the dominion also had obligation it has to meet if it wants to save face. We see this oversight with my earlier example regarding the Imperial Jarl, and the fact that when saving Thorald, if you get Tullius to send a letter, the Dominion *have* to listen to him.
If your enemy is going to do something regardless, it makes sense to have them do it in an official capacity where it’s easier to watch. Especially if you’re in no position to fight as was the case immediately after the great war.
6• @11:57
A. Again; The Empire literally didn’t enforce the ban. They tried to do something, Ulfric’s agitating and inability to keep quiet made that impossible and exacerbated the situation for everyone.
B. They still do, as my above points regarding Igmund and tullius show.
7• “Ondolemar says himself the thalmor intend to prove the superiority of mer over man 1 century at a time”.
This is exactly why the Empire needs to win. The thalmor are insidious, calculating, subtle and far sighted. They are counting on Ulfric and his pride to be desperate to get emotional, tackle the problem head on without a strategy and play into their hands. Hence why they say they want his war to continue indefinitely.
The Empire strategise, they can play subtle long term political games which is what they tried to do with the WGC. The point was to placate the thalmor. “Yeah sure we’ll ban Talos” *mouths to skyrim no we aren’t* and Ulfric made that impossible.
8• Elisif is playing politics. She has to agree with the thalmor, as she’s imperial aligned. That’s the point of feigning peace, and if Ulfric had gone along, the Talos ban would not be getting enforced. It’s a bit like a court battle, sometimes to best serve your interests, you have to shut your mouth and say things you don’t mean. Politics is as much the language of what’s not said as what is. Ulfric does not understand this, and as a result, Skyrim is suffering a lot more from the ban than it otherwise would be.
9• @13:34 “a woman should never be in charge of a country”
I have no words, but it colours the rest of your points and you’ve lost credibility.
10• 15:01 Winterhold is stormcloak controlled so not sure what your point here is. He also remains there in the event Ulfric wins.
So does Valmar. This has nothing to do with the Empire.
11• @15:59 No, as point 5 and 10 show. Literally very little changes if Ulfric wins other than the colour of the flags.
12• @16:10 The player can wipe out anyone. You can make this point about anyone:
“Stormcloaks can be easily defeated by the player. As can Galmar, and ukfric and all the Rebel leadership. With them wiped out, the Empire is no longer distracted, and can continue to mass its legions on the dominion border as it has been trying to do”.
13• Northwatch keep is not their only stronghold. They can still have the embassy and solitude HQ. Their agents also still attack you in the wild.
You can wipe out Northwatch keep while aligning with the Empire too.
14• @18:37 Ever since daggerfall high rock has not been full of petty squabbles. The Warp in the west not only changed that, but made it so it never happened.
If High Rock is useless, why did Ulfric ask them for help and get ignored? lol
15• Not sure why the Empire being different is relevant, It’s still the greatest hope at beating the dominion.
The Empire disintegrated after the oblivion crisis. Titus Mede I then reunited all the mannish realms. And it stayed that way for nearly 200 years until the great war.
I’ll post the last point separately.
16• @18:57 “If Skyrim leaves it’s basically just Cyrodiil!! The Empire’s a joke!”
Yes… this is why the rebellion is bad… the rebellion you’re
It’s not just cyrodiil alone, it’s literally every province at that point. The rebellion would essentially completely fracture the mannish realms.
“The rebellion is better because the empire will die if the rebellion i’m supporting succeeds” is certainly a take and a half.
Skyrim isn't united in its hatred of the Empire. It's split about 50/50. So even if Ulfric wins, the province will remain very unhappy and will likely fracture further along lines of imperial loyalty. Which could inspire other such scenarios across the Empire leading the similar fracturing into smaller kingdoms (than the provinces we know along similar lines, destroying centuries old political structures and systems. Which is something the Thalmor can very much take advantage of and no doubt want.
Yes, Skyrim would need to form an alliance. But for someone who says they understand politics, youmre overlooking what an enormous undertaking that is. It would involve the rebuilding of political structures, military doctrine, infrastructure etc. All in an extremely fractured environment where you’d have multiple people vying for power. Instead of nations having to get past disagreements with one power (The Empire) they’d have to all solve disagreements with each other. Which is a lot more complex.
An alliance also doesn’t make sense to me as they’re weaker. It’s sovereign independent states being comparatively loosely aligned with nowhere near as much time to have developed the interoperability, infrastructure and systems the Empire has.
Robert Baratheon sums up the problem pretty well in his 5 Vs 1 speech.
An alliance of the mannish races is also what the Empire *is*. Destroying the Empire to essentially reform a weaker, less cohesive version of it is counter intuitive.
Plus, Ulfric has also already tried But high rock already ignored him.
Hammerfell still harbours a grudge due to the Bend’r Mahk war so an alliance with them is unlikely.
And there’s a lot Tension between Ulfric and the Dunmer for obvious reasons.
And an alliance born out of the destruction of the Empire massively weakens the strongest mannish realm, Cyrodiil. Which as a buffer between Skyrim and The Dominion, Skyrim should want to remain strong. So laughing about it being weak when you claim to want to beat the Thalmor is odd. Honestly seems like you just hate the Empire more than the Thalmor.
It will also be hard to convince Cyrodiil to join an alliance when you’ve just waged war against them and killed their people… assuming they’re even in a state to join. And not having one of the strongest mannish realms on your side seems dumb.
So an alliance is unlikely. Of course, you could argue that the Thalmor are such a large threat everyone would put aside their differences, but if that’s the case, why not skip the bloodshed, the wasteful destruction and rebuilding of centuries old political structures and just put aside the differences with the Empire at the start?
Tullius states the majority of the Empire’s Army is massed on the dominion border and that the rebellion is a distraction. If not for the rebellion the Empire could have potentially been fighting the Dominion NOW. So why not put aside those differences, as everyone is going to have to do anyway, and make the WGC moot. It’s a peace treaty. If there’s no peace, it’s irrelevant.
Regardless of what path is chosen, the races of men are going to have to learn to forgive each other, or they’re going to lose… so why not just start with that, start with the faction that already has 3 nations of men under it’s power, play the long game, and win.
Wrong on all accounts. Embarrassing.
@@Cassie-Nova- Stay away from children.
Ulfric is a hero, the Stormcloaks are the objectively right choice. I have created a pretty long pdf about the issue, and if anyone wanted to share their discord to talk about it, I could convince anyone who is in the slightest bit honest that the Stormcloaks are right.
lainbot1987aod
Would be interesting to read.
I agree.
Ulfric is no hero, he is a murderer.
release it somewhere, I would like to read it
I would love to see it, add cojul
I dislike the Thalmor, and you’ve made compelling arguments, but there’s a few issues regarding the Stormcloaks and a few thoughts of my own on the matter.
Stormcloaks put the nords first, and Skyrim has a diverse population that would backfire if they tried to oppress minorities in their lands and start executing random elves around the province, creating civil unrest. Even NPC’s in Windhelm complain who are nords.
Furthermore, if you’ve done enough searching, the imperials are already massing legions across the southern mountains to reinforce general Tullius, so the devs have already a canon ending in mind for the civil war so even if the Stormcloaks win they’ll be too weak to stand against new fresh legions.
Not only that, but the Empire’s tactic is to give into the demands of the Thalmor until such a time they can attack. That gives them time to rebuild and forge new alliances and remake old ones.
Not only that, but the empire is the child of Talos, the patron divine of the Stormcloaks, and through indirect means he wouldn’t let his empire die. It’s weak but it can grow strong again.
On another note, there are notable examples in real history of powerful and even terrifying female rulers of history from Hatshepsut of Egypt who expanded the Egyptian empire, Catherine the Great, Wu Zetian from ancient China, Theodora and many more. It’s best to know about such context before making sexist statements that women don’t belong in power. Women in history have held positions of power and were fearsome with their power to be remembered and respected in history. I acknowledge Elisif is naive but with good council and enough pressure from wise members of the court she would make better choices. Not to mention to hold onto her power she would have to find a suiter to produce a heir. Your arguments almost sold me by sounding objective but the comment on women in power when we have real world examples to the contrary revealed your inherit bias and greatly weakened your position. If Elisif were a Man you wouldn’t say such a thing.
Glory to the Empire!
Couldn't agree more with your assessment.
Talos said something else should take the Empire’s place in Morrowind.
Elisif is there to be a puppet not rule in her own right. Also, your examples of good female rulers is exceptions proving the rule.
Not sure what politics you are relying on but you'd be much better off looking a military strategy, often used in politics.
Ulfric is a puppet for the Dominion. Either directly or indirectly it does not matter. So siding with Ulfric is siding with the Aldmeri Dominion. Fighting the Empire, Skyrim's ally, will lead to a weakened Skyrim, through both loses and support. And when the Dominion choose to attack Skyrim once the Empire has been thrown out there will be no help the Nords and the Nords are finished. Divide and conquer is what the Aldmeri Dominion is doing. An old strategy but it still works.
Nonsense.
Thalmor are just the gestapo with pointy ears.
Quite literally, in fact.
Looks like youre in the algorithm mate, well done! Great video!
Thanks. God Bless.
After seeing majority of Skyrim fanbase being pro-Imperial oriented, it is so calming seeing sombedy openly taking the opposite attitude. Yes, that quote about Empire defending Skyrim from Dominion is such huge heap of crap Greybeards could build upon it a new monastery to be in even greater seclusion, and just blatant proof of of brain-dead Imperial propaganda. Also, another thing Empire-lovers tends to say often is that without the Empire, ununified Tamriel has no chance against Dominion. This seems to me like clear example of their messianic complex, because why the Oblivion couldn't independant parts of Tamriel cooperate as an alliance? In Second Era, part of Black Marsh, several Houses of Morrowind and kingdom of eastern Skyrim made an alliance called Ebonheart Pact, and with it, succesfully repelled Akaviri invasion and even stood their ground in Three Banner War (up untill that fool Tiber Septim had to sc*ew things up and conquer his Third Empire). Ebonheart Pact was supposed to become Tamriel Pact and its purpose was to assure independance of it's countries. The only reason they wanted to occupy Ruby Throne and put their member as new emperor was to make basically "a blocation" for a throne - making sure, that no true emperor ever takes that place and jeopardize independance of Tamriel's territorries. And again, I ask, why should not a Second Ebonheart Pact be formed, with Stormcloak Skyrim and independant Hammerfell, Morrowind and Black Marsh? The Empire is not needed (expecially Empire that is vassal to Dominion), the Pact suffice in its role more than enought, and there are no risk of misusage of its position to opress its citizens, something that all three Empires in past did.
The Empire does defend Skyrim from the Dominion, it's the only thing standing between the Dominion and world domination. Alliances are less stable and less effective militarily than a single state is. Especially one with a military as well trained as Cyrodiil's.
Even the Ebonheart Pact that you are such a fanboy of, was barely standing. Not one province fully committed to it, and the tensions between the three races remained obvious throughout its existence. The Ebonheart Pact was also nowhere to be found when Tiber Septim showed up, and literally believed that Mannish races are unfit to rule.
Neither Hammerfell, Black Marsh, nor Morrowind stands anything to gain from such an alliance. The Stormcloaks are weak and unpredictable - Hammerfell would gain nothing from allying with it. Morrowind and Black Marsh are still at war, and that's ignoring Ulfric's racist treatment of Argonians and Dunmer alike.
@@dutchpatriot17 Oh boy, what a moment. Chief white knight of the Empire calls me a fanboy, I should probably feel insulted if it wouldn't be so goddamn funny. And to top it of, you come out with that stupid would-be-argument "blah blah Stormcloak racist blah blah".
Honestly, I really don't know if you are just troll, or if you are really such abysmally spineless lackey-minded person that feels so comfortable if dominated by some super strong power. Either way, you are not even worthy of respect, and that makes your "arguments" invalid in my eyes.
@@mausolus8466 In other words, you admit that you can't form a counterargument so you resort to ad hominems. Can't expect too much clear thinking from Stormcloaks now can we?
Classic Stormcloak ignorance of the lore.
@@dutchpatriot17 Hypocrite! Critticising me for something you do yourself. No, I'm just fed up arguing with you, it's waste of time. Always the same.
@@dutchpatriot17 *Replying to your big post on this video that cannot be replied too because of too many replies*
The dossier doesn't say Ulfric is or ever was a *direct agent* . The language is intentionally ambiguous. You are being dishonest in your discussions by acting as though it says something it doesn't. You are the definition of a fanboy- not the people you called fanboys.
Let's not forget the start of Season Unending. The Empire INSIST on Elenwen being present at the negotiations, KNOWING how Ulfric would react. To quote Rikke when Ulfric protests "That didn't take long." Tullius intentionally brought someone whose presence alone was enough to cause conflict.
The Empire needs Skyrim INFINITELY MORE than Skyrim needs the Empire.
The Dragonborn's also an actual member of House Telvanni, which hopefully gives him even more influence in Morrowind in addition to being on good terms with Redoran.
Skyrim literally relies on the food and resources the Empire provides it. It is not self reliant.
The Empire only needs Skyrim for its armies in preparation for the next war.
Skyrim needs the Empire more than vice-versa in the literal sense of the term.
@@dutchpatriot17 So why doesn't Hammerfell need the Empire's food? Hammerfell's just as harsh an environment as Skyrim, if not even harsher, so why does Skyrim need them?
@@briansanders8122 Who says Hammerfell does not need the Empire's food?
Your claim that Skyrim doesn't need the Empire is factually incorrect.
@@dutchpatriot17 So why can Hammerfell get the Empire's food without being forced to pander to the Thalmor like Cyrodiil? Why does only Skyrim have to stay part of the Empire to trade with them?
@@briansanders8122Hammerfell did not murder its High King and fight against the Empire.
If the stormcloaks werent supposed to win then the divines shouldnt have made the Dragonborn.
This was the final nail in the empire coffin I needed to take Ralof up on his offer! Thank you very much for this video! My only gripe with the Stormcloaks is that Ulfric knew that the High King would loose the duel because of Ulfric's voice, so it's a bit less honory than I'd like, but nobody's perfect. Death to the Empire!
The duel wasn't supposed to be fair, and it definitely respected Nordic traditional honor, the duel was just the only legal way to remove Torygg from power.
great video. Coming from someone who've watched tons of skyrim videos
Thank you bro. God Bless.
i never see people talk about this: If you do the dark brotherhood questline, it makes more sense to unite the empire because you learn that the nobles of the empire are not happy with how the Empire is running things. Skyrim leaving weakens EVERYONE when the nobles of the empire is already plotting to get rid of the Aldmeri Dominion.
@@ryankrenisky8252
Skyrim leaving strengthens Skyrim, actually. Get your head out of your ass and realize NO ONE NEEDS THE EMPIRE
MotherF'er, not everyone has to join the stormcloaks
So?
So?
It isn’t controversial he rightfully challenged torig, he just abused an old law saying no he could legally do what he did. Also no rules against the voice, same thing I tell the guards in the city when I hit it on acc😂
You are correct.
Great video, nice to see a different perspective
Thanks. God Bless.
Remember, if the dragonborn Joins stormcloaks, dragonborn can bring an army of dragons. The dragonborn can ride dragons.
I think the Empire is overall better prepared to combat the Aldmeri Dominion as far as resources and manpower, yet the Skyrim seceding is more interesting especially since Hammerfell shares a border with Skyrim and was out in a similar situation as Skyrim. If Ulfric canonically wins the civil war, he could ally with Hammerfell since they share the same sentiments (self rule, beef with Empire and the Dominion). The Redguards actually have Pelinal levels of hate for elves lmao also Valenwood was forced into the Dominion so it's possible it could rebel. This would force the Dominion into war on at least four fronts; Cyrodiil, Skyrim, Hammerfell and Valenwood. A continent wide war in Tamriel storyline is lit af
The Bretons of high rock would more than likely seek and alliance aswell especially since Skyrim and high rock have done throughout the history probably the oldest alliance in Tamriel I think
And the Empire fighting a war in Skyrim, wasting a ton of resources fighting other men helps them how?
The Nords would fight beside the Empire in another war, they'd probably even join it
Let's not forget if it comes to light that the Thalmor lied about restoring the moons to the sky, then at a minimum they may lose the khajiit as allies, and at worse then they'll be fighting a war on five fronts
@@BarefootHippie Lore hasn't confirmed or denied them having done that.
@@anonymousanon6913 Indeed. It's more than likely that they did lie about it however since they know how significant the moons are to the khajiit and the thalmor rely heavily on subterfuge and lies. Only a theory on my part.
Walking through Skyrim you always see decay and loss around every corner. Sometimes it's just better to tear things down and start over instead of trying to delay the fall. Perhaps that's the reason why the stormcloak victory feels so grand and emotional compared to the imperial one.
Good point. The empire is dying and basically dragging Skyrim down with it. A Stormcloak victory will renew it and the land will be inspired again.
I think that the Stormcloaks can win the Empire is pretty much crumbled people forget that when the septum Dynasty died with Martin septim the me Dynasty took its place this Empire currently belongs to the me Dynasty not the septum Dynasty the septum Dynasty is long past
The septum is the nose piercing goth chicks wear
Mede Dynasty not Me, also this new Empire Mirrors the old Empire Complete with racism and Imperilism from the old one, plus their cowards.
I never really seen it that way you got a good point
Good points! The sad part is General Tullius know it too, but blindly thinks they still can deal with the Thalmor after they silence the "rebellion", meanwhile (as you mentioned too), the Thalmor has already built in deeply into the Empire, therefore impossible to defeat them.
For anyone just starting the video, his whole argument can be summed up as "the empire is slightly tolerant to the thalmor so we should side with the guy who is a thalmor asset" (and he makes a shitty comment about women being unfit to rule)
Just because the thalmor see him as an asset doesnt mean he is on their side
Dumbest comment I have ever read.
Your comment about women being unfit to rule is quite annoying, if I didn't hate the Thalmor so much I'd be inclined to side with the Empire just because of that. I acknowledge that men and women are different, but a ruler is measured by their ability to lead and their decisions. If someone has proven their ability to lead and make wise and virtuous decisions, then they are fit to rule, the gender is irrelevant.
Germany. *Mic drop*
Spastic emotions do not belong in the drivers seat.
Women make decisions differently than men, they are more privy to emotion, and are generally more indecisive. When in a position of power, you cannot let emotions dictate your actions. Doing so will lead to rash or just generally poor decisions. Indecision is worse, not being able to do what is necessary for your nation’s survival will undermine your leadership. Overall, men are generally better fit for leadership positions, they are simply made for that role. That is the reason why matriarchal societies never succeed, and why every successful society was built and run by men.
He’s right chill
Cope.
Me after 1 sip of black-briar
?
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953 It's a joke about alcohol making one reveal what they really think, that they would generally hide
@@dwight3555 Got it.
Just because Ulfric is an asset of the thalmor doesn't mean he's a thalmor agent. From behind the curtains, the thalmor are attempting to orchestrate the civil war to stretch both the empire and rebellion so thin that neither could pose a serious threat for the high elves, in the end. I believe Ulfric is sincere in his beliefs, but merely the warring with the empire being very convenient for the Thalmor. All throughout their consception, elite intelligence agencies (i.e. CIA, Mossad, MI6, etc) have used this strategy of funding/playing both sides to weaken a nation state in civil conflict in order to prime it for regime change.
“Elisif is a woman and a woman shouldn’t be in charge of a kingdom”
Is this video satire?
It was probably just a joke lmfao
female rulers are terrible as proven in real life, thats why nobody except you 3 and a few purple haired confused communists will be voting for spamala
Uh based
@@esteryrose simp
You have a problem with basic logic.
Take a shot every time NordicWarrior says "Diplomatic Immunity".
Jokes aside, this restored my hope in the Stormcloaks, and they'll have a new sword on their side in my next playthrough for sure.
One point I've noticed is how the Thalmor call the conflict "The First Great War." People didn't call World War 1 that until after World War 2 because they weren't expecting a second war. However, the Thalmor are clearly already expecting a second war in the future. So you have a growing Aldmari Dominion already planning for a second war and a shrinking empire that's thinks they can win if there's another war. Sorry to say this, but the elves are already five steps ahead of you. The only thing the elves really seem to fear is a Stormcloak victory.
True. A Stormcloak victory completely thwarts the Thalmor's plans for Skyrim.
Finally, someone on youtube with a brain. Great video, lad. I have been considering making a similar video for about 6 or so years now, maybe I will yet. I have a number of points that are strong arguments for the Stormcloak cause that were not touched on by you. Anyway, thanks again friend!
Thanks, Let me know if you make the video and I will watch it. God Bless.
I once made a high elven stormcloak, and went around murdering every Thalmor I could get my hands on. Good times.
NordicWarriorGaming. There are two books in Skyrim wherein the dark elves prove that they are extremely racist. One is in the college of Winterhold and I think the other one is in Dragon's Reach. Acerthorn has a 2hr+ video discussing why the Stormcloaks are no racist and you should side with them. In it he redundantly proves that the dark elves are racist and the Argonians too.
New to Elder Scrolls? Everyone is racist in the Elder Scrolls. Racism is the belief one race is better than another. And in a fantasy world where there are literally races better at something than others, Bethesda just decided to lean into that. Like from the beginning. As racism goes in the Elder Scrolls. Dunmer are the worst, and Nords are the least. And I’ll watch that video you mentioned because I’ve been waiting for someone to point out the actual situation in Windhelm. It’s not that the Dunmer don’t have the funds to clean up their part of the city, it’s that the N’Wah won’t do the work like good White Apes should. It’s like one of those books points out, the situation is about labour. Even if you look at from a equal opportunity point of view, Windhelm has the most diverse businesses measured by race. Three High Elves, Three Dark Elves, Six Nords. If you realize that it’s really Suvaris Atheron who runs clan Shatter-Shields shipping business, then it’s four Dunmer and five Nords. Which Solitude can’t even compare to. I’m ignoring the farmers because they’re a little away from the city, and the East Empire is technically owned by the Emperor so I’m ignoring it completely. And where as the Argonians aren’t allowed in the in the city, which I personally believe Suvaris is influencing Shatter-Shield, who let’s face it is very influenceable, to influence the rest of Windhelm, they are still given housing and honourable means to support themselves. Not trying to cherry-pick it here, their situation still sucks. But where the Argonians of Windhelm have that the Argonians of Solitude are allowed in but aren’t given housing and have to depend on piracy to get by. As I have said in other forums. It’s not that Windhelm is more racist than Solitude, quiet the opposite after all it is the city of emancipation that when ruling Skyrim fought against slavery, but it’s just that Windhelm is more forthright and honest about it while Solitude is more polite and wears a veil about itself.
@@danielr.golightly38 Who is the Imperial spy in Windhelm? NordicWarriorGaming has a video titled (Rolff Stone-Fist is right. You should watch that video too. Acerthorn defends the Stormcloaks, but doesn't see this point until later in his 2 hr video titled The Stormcloaks are not racist.
@@danielr.golightly38 I think Altmers are actually more racist than Dunmers, their ultimate goal is to wipe out every other race, while Dunmers just really don't like n'wahs and want do keep some slaves (still racist as fuck but not that genocidal)
The Thalmor cannot invade Skyrim therefore, they are using the Empire and the WGC as a doorway to set up a large enough occupation to overthrow Skyrims leadership.
True invading Skyrim would be like Napoleon trying to invade Russia it wouldn’t go well
No they aren't. They're literally understaffed as is.
@@dutchpatriot17 who the Thalmor? No bro they aren’t
@@Saber23 Yes they are. To quote:
"Our forces are stretched thin enough as it is, and I have better missions - better agents - to assign them to."
From Elenwen's Thalmor Orders, as retrieved from a dead Justiciar at the Shrine of Talos near Lake Illanalta.
@@Saber23 Also, Skyrim is nothing like Russia. It's more like Sweden, or Norway.
Tullius is singlehandedly responsible for more people not supporting the stormcloaks. Other than all the war casualties in general obviously, having to not alive anymore Tullius is the only part that hurts in a stormcloak victory.
The avatar of Talos said it himself in Morrowind - the empire is getting old and maybe it's time for something new. That was over 200 years ago and nothing's changed. The decline of the empire is one of the main focal points of the entire series. The Medes did the best they could to hold it together but it's done. The empire will never actually end, it CAN'T sheerly because its iconography is inseparably tied to the series itself, but something has to change. A stormcloak victory may be what's necessary for the empire to realize the gravity of the situation and sort itself out. An independent Skyrim + Hammerfell (and probably High Rock) + reorganized Cyrodiil alliance is probably the best bet for surviving the next war. Atmorans annihilated the snow elves, nords saved the empire once already in the great war, and with the way this garbage kalpa is going it looks like they're going to have to do both of those things again soon. Shor is watching.
The change Wulf predicted already occured with the end of the Septims and rise of the Medes.
It took the Atmorans hundreds of years to beat the Falmer, and they really did not do that much during the Great War.
i think The next elder scroll will set place in hammerfell, where us as the MC will be the one who helped and drove all the Aldmeri dominion army. The antagonist might prolly be someone like Ancano, where the thalmor found an ancient dwemer technology or ancient magic artefact to rule over Hammerffell
I wonder if it will have anything to do with the Eye of Magnus. We don't get to see what the Eye really does and it's potentially a very powerful weapon the Dominion could use. Maybe the Dominion take put the Psijic Order somehow and take the Eye.
You have convinced me about siding with the stormcloaks. Your arguments make sense, thank you.
Glad to hear it.
Stormcloaks are blue. The end.
^ LMAO 100% this right here
I like red more that’s why when when I joined the stormcloaks I believed in them 😂
I like red, but all the lame factions took it as their sigil.
I do believe the storm cloaks should win the civil war as well, but I think it will also become official lore for future Elder Scrolls projects. It is very obvious from past elder scrolls games and lore leading up to elder scrolls 6 that there will be a second Great War. And like you said if the Empire wins it would cause less conflict with the Thalmor. Which from a story and plot standpoint wouldn’t make sense in a lead up to the second Great War. I do not believe this second Great War will be in ES6 but in ES7. A main reason I believe this is because like you said in your video the only providences left of the Empire besides Cyradill is Skyrim and High-Rock. And say the storm cloaks win the only Providence left would be High Rock. Which leads to ES6, which takes place in Hammerfell and HIGH- ROCK. ES6 in my opinion will be very similar to Skyrim which has a main plot but is dominated by a subliminally plot like the civil war involving the Empire/ Thalmor and whatever faction opposing them. ES6 will not be the Great War Bc with how large of a scale the Great War would be we don’t exactly have the right technology just yet to meet the demands of what people would want from the Second Great War. But instead ES6 will focus on in my opinion, Hammerfell and it’s relationship with the Empire (since the Empire abandoned them) and a “Civil War” aspect in High rock. Eventually leading Hammerfell to convince High-Rock of leaving the Empire. Thus leaving only Cryidil left of the Emire and how poetic would it be for that to be one of the first casualties/ battles of the second Great War in ES7.
I'm almost done with my Argonian rogue playthrough that sided with the Imperials but this is encouraging me to lead my Werewolf warrior Breton character playthrough that's siding with the Stormcloaks
I totally agree, well analyzed. Almost as well as I could have said it myself.
Thanks. God Bless.
As a redguard im choosing stormcloak once again. Been looking into alot of the lore based around the civil war and never knew the empire basically gave my homeland away to the elves (if im correct) so as a redguard why would I side with them? I always hated that bastard ancano and based on a rp perspective im the dragonborn so I can wipe out some thalmor no problem to assist the true sons of skyrim. Not too keen on the dominion yet but thats another topic. With the help of all the independent nations like hammerfell for example and the allies we made in solstheim I think skyrim will be in good hands with ulfric and the dragonborn at the helm.
Also being the arch mage and having support of the college, after ancanos actions they will most definitely side with me and help my cause if need be
"Elisif is a woman" is all the reason I needed to support the Stormcloaks. Good man.
No but really, this is a great video.
Thanks. God Bless.
the argument of his challenge to toryg , ulfric formally challenged toryg and toryg accepted, using the ancient nord hero thuum which is ulfrics own spirits vital essence, which in a nordic custom is not cheating to me, he defeats toryg, this is fair to me by skyrim law, but if it wasnt, i argue that the laws needed to be broken, under toryg and the new thalmor\empire conglomerate empire , countless nord families are being destroyed and brutally murdered simply for being nords and worshipping talos, both for their religion and race, because talos worship is the nord way, nord tradition, if you want to follow in your nord ancestors you worship talos, being subject to imprisonment torture and execution , empire loyalists expect me to allow my families to be killed and have faith they will betray their masters one day? empire loyalists argue that the stormcloaks help the thalmor by taking out the empire, because the thalmor will now only have to deal with the stormcloaks, but i could argue the very same thing 1000 years earlier that the empire shouldnt be fighting the aldmeri dominion because the other two factions will gain from that and become too strong from that, its the same reasoning, and it proves the empire loyalists hypocrites. the empire loyalist will suggest a solution that we accept the thalmor empire watch our families die, hope the empire will betray their masters one day . i say, with the spirit of skyrim, i do not need a lesser tyranny to take out a greater tyranny for me, skyrim belongs to the nords, with righteous claim for we the brave spirit of skyrim if we find our selves without allies without the empire against the thalmor alone in this fight, it will not stop me. a stormcloak skyrim is a greater nation of righteous rule, we will not dip our tongues in honey drink milk and lick the behind of a weaker empire of tyranny for its help. alone or together i fight for the families and freedom skyrim and her people .
fully agree on every point, well done.
The Emperor is every bit, if not more, an asset of the Thalmor.
Most imperials say the stormcloaks are Nazies, i don't know but fighting for independence doesn't seem racist to me but stoping people from warshiping there religion and destroying there culture because it is "not Civilised" doesn't put them in the best position to say that
They have a lot in common if you think about it. Both groups were on the losing side of a "Great War" which ended with having an unfair treaty imposed upon them. They came home, and instead of being able to move on and process their traumas, they find the home they fought for corrupt, impoverished, decadent, and run by soft individuals who managed to profit off of the war.
@@ailius1520That's no excuse for the monstrous things they did, nor does it undo the legacy of wretchedness and pain they left for the planet and the human race as a whole.
It's because they're blond white people. That's literally it
NordicWarriorGaming. General Tullius is naught but a footstool for Elisif and Elenwen. He is a puppet of the Thalmor. Ulfric Stormcloak is dead right. All hail the Stormcloaks, the true sons and daughters of Skyrim!
What gear set are you using?, looks awesome!
Thanks. Its Nordic carved armour with a mod that turns it black and the Konahrik mask.
I heard your ass smiling after you said “a woman shouldn’t be in charge of a country” 😂😂😂
;)
The funniest part is seeing people get wound up in the comments despite being unable to provide a single counter argument, or example that proves me wrong lol. But hey we are dealing with normies after all.
Even without Skyrim, the Empire would still have plenty of Nords to support and fight for it. Sounds crazy, I know, but just hear me out..
During the American revolution, the attitude that the colonists had regarding the war was nearly even. 1/3 supported gaining independence. 1/3 remained loyal to the crown. While the remaining third were neutral, not caring one way or the other. After the war, those loyal to Great Britain fled and went to places still part of the empire: Canada, the Bahamas, etc. In Skyrim, it would essentially be the same. Half the population supported the Stormcloaks, while the other half remained loyal to the Empire.
In the event of a Stormcloak victory, there would be a mass exodus of Nords loyal to the Empire. We’re talking thousands upon thousands- if not more! These Nords would naturally resent the Stormcloaks, but they’d especially hate the Thalmor, who were arguably the root of their troubles. Meaning that even though the Empire loses Skyrim, they at least have an entire population of Nords fanatical and out for blood to fight for them.
So in the long run, the Thalmor would be encircled by enemies: Skyrim, Hammerfell, and, of course, what’s left of the Empire. In short, they’re screwed.
50% of the cities supported the Empire not 50% of the population and in Skyrim people lived there for Generations mostly won't leave.
@@viniciusmartins8733add to that, nords are proud of their land. Suggesting a mass exodus shall skyrim become independent is delusional
Being part of a proud race, with ties to your homeland, doesn’t necessarily mean every Nord will stay. Even proud people would be bound take flight, if they were in fear for either theirs or their loved one’s lives.
If either of you would like, I’m willing to give examples in history where that sort of thing actually happened…
I don't even drink. I'd love to have a beer with you bro. We are two dudes who love Boxing and Skyrim. Bet we could have endless conversations that no one would know what were talking about 😂
Yeah man that would be awesome. Deep conversations about the sweet science and the ethics and lore of the elder scrolls LOL. God Bless.
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953 sounds too awesome bro! Love all the content man! 👍 God Bless from the USA 🇺🇸 my spiritual reincarnation 🙏✝️🙏
What bothers me about the Empire is it's army is massive yet it was destroyed by the Thalmor on their own land. You also have to worry about keeping the Oblivion gate closed because no one of Dragon blood has the amulet of kings. The Dragonborn will become the new Emperor likely and it'd like to have Ulfric as High King beside me. All of Skyrim will be with you.
Pretty much, the Dragonborn could lead the whole of Tamriel and the Nords can rule their own land.
@@nordicwarriorgaming4953 Always feel like the Dragonborn will become high king when the moot meets as he has so much credibility behind him. Possibly leading to Emperor. The Dragon Blood gives you a claim. I always believe as soon as I came to power I would bring the Jarl back to Whiterun
@@sirsir9665nope, Ulfric takes all the power
when Martin septim became an Avatar of Akatosh he closed all the gates to Obilvion and restored the Barriers fully meaning Akatosh is at his Strongest and maintains the barrier rather then having the septims do it.
some Deadra do get though and Artifact but less so then before it also may explain why some deadra are forggoten about as their hold over Nirn deminises.
but yea Dragoborn will likely be Emperor again seeing how it will sate his/her will to Dominate like all dov.
The amulet of kings was destroyed at the end of Oblivion.