Just wondering. I was making my first ever pure warrior character just now, and I was thinking to myself.. well if Unrelenting force can knockdown horses, giants, tear people apart etc.... what stops it from blowing off a rag.

Is it because he is like gagged so he cant utter the syllables to form the shout? It didn't seem like he was gagged in the game, because the cloth appears to be like a blindfold but around his mouth, simply covering it. And when he tries to speak it just says (muffled grunt), so isn't he technically speaking under the cloth?

It made the imperials feel safe since... well you know his thu'um is powerful enough to shout a man to pieces.

I like to think something was shoved in his mouth and the wrap to stop from spitting it out. So he can grunt but not actually form the words needed to shout

Sounds reasonable, plus its a cool way to show off that they took precautions against someone with the voice.

They forced him to eat peanut butter before gagging him

That's actually not true. Ulfric himself said that he disabled Torryg, but hit was his sword that killed him.

He needs to open his mouth in order to do that.

Well you let someone gag you and see how well you can talk. The Thrum is using your voice, so if you cannot talk properly, no shouting either.

Like others have said, he was probably gagged, before having that piece of cloth wrapped around his mouth.

Pretty much, they did not want him to use the Storm shout indoors, which happens every time I fight him.

But as you could see he could not talk when he was gagged, therefor could not shout. And I do remember him grunting.

You must be on PC as he only has Unrelenting Force and Disarm.

Here is what I think is interesting. If you look at the way his hands are bound in front of him, he could have easily reached up and pulled the gag down enough to shout! So why didn't he?

No clue.

Basically this. A thu'um is, to those with the Voice, just a word in another language.

I put that down to Bethesda not wanting to make a new animation that would only be used for a few minutes

That said, it's also known that he hardly put up a fight when the Empire captured him. So the question is still valid, I suppose.

Someone once suggested that maybe his hands were also bound to his waist. Sort of how modern criminals are chained up. Of course this is merely speculation.

What are you talking about, Ulfric doesn't know Storm Call.

When this same question came up on the UESP boards a couple of weeks ago, I did just that. Here was my reply:


Source: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Pocket_Guide_to_the_Empire,_1st_Edition/Skyrim

I doubt they'd bother being gagged if it wasn't effective.

It's why I was confused when it happened, but I chalked it up as a glitch, it started raining indoors after I heard a shout, with some thunder sounds. But it was for a brief moment.

mods?

I'm on the Ps3, so no. Granted this -is- the Ps3 we're talking about, lots of bugs. I mean I've seen the Penitus Oculatus standing in the middle of Riften on a dying save.

Edit: I want to know how they got the gag, willingly on Ulfric. We know he surrendered, but still.

Also Ulfric is a novice in his use of the Thu'um at best. Remember, he only spent a short time with the Greybeards, Argenir himself says it takes non-Dragonborns years if not decades to learn a single shout. The reason the Greybeards are so powerful, is cause they dedicated their entire lives to the "Way of the Voice."

Easy, they overpowered him.

I agree, even with Ulfrics novice use of the Thu'um (he can only use Unrelenting force and Disarm), he would not stand much of a chance when overwhelmed by a large military contingent...

As much as I dislike Ulfric, we could only speculate. We don't know if a struggle occurred, or if he just voluntarily accepted.

It would have been cool to see Ulfric try to use his voice against the dragon.