Hi,my fellow Dovah! Today after getting into Skyrim another time and putting in 10+ hours I was wondering what side you chose between the Imperials- A military army focused on ending the stormcloaks rebellion,but with the thalmor on their ass that's been made rather difficult,shady dealings,kidnappings,and executions play a big role in how you see them.Then we have the Stormcloaks - A nord party,fighting for the 'freedom of skyrim' but they have shown us they care little for the PEOPLE of skyrim,but only want skyrim to belong to nords.So they want the Imperials gone of course,and the Thalmor- A group of overlord beings who believe their magic is superior to all.
So between all this,who's side did you choose?
I went with the Stormcloaks because I saw their cause honorable. Also If anyone came up to me and told me (In a world were everyone has Hellenistic beliefs) I couldn't worship one god I would be pissed too! Worse than that if you did let them tell you that, then they might feel able to tell you how to run your life too.
This is one of many reasons people join the Stormcloaks. Because the Empire almost executed you. But tell me, do you think the Stormcloaks would have done it any differently? True that captain is cruel and downright deserved to die, however if you spent all of this time, effort and resources, sacrificing good men and women to a pointless conflict and you FINALLY capture the leader, wouldn’t you 1. want to kill him as quickly as possible before any rescue attempt could be made? 2. Capture anyone who supports him INCLUDING a somewhat shady person who happened to suspiciously be within the same area as him? 3. Just execute all of them instead of having to file weeks of paperwork just to have that person likely run off to support the enemy anyway? True the third point sounds cruel, but placing yourself in that position what would you do? Don’t deny, you would do ALL of the above.
I side with the Imperials because like it or not, the Empire is the only force in Tamriel that can resist the Thalmor.
Now I know what the Stormcloaks guys might say: "Once we free Skyrim, we are going to be the real Anti-Thalmor. We are Nords, we are warriors, etc etc".
But history taught us that separatism is not a solution to a common threat. Those who think the Stormcloaks are "liberating" Skyrim just don't see the bigger picture. The Thalmor do, however.
The Thalmor simply play a individual lute on each province controlled by the Empire to make them break off. This is called "Salami Tactics", a.k.a "Divide and Conquer". Wanna examples? Alright! Alinor? Take credits for what Martin Septim did. Valenwood? Organize a coup and take the Imperials supporters by surprise. Elsweyr? Use "dawn magic" to impress the Khajiits (we all know the moons are gripped to their religion). Hammerfell? Demands the Empire to cede sections of southern Hammerfell to the Thalmor as a condition of the peace treaty, so the Emperor will have to betray the Redguards - they'll never trust the Empire again. Skyrim? Use the Nords' religion (reverence to Talos in particular) to make them distrust the Empire and rise up against it.
So instead of "fighting the damn elves", Ulfric and Co. are simply dancing to their tune.