Who did you side with

No one yet.... probably with the stormcloaks eventually when I get round to those quests.

Those imperial bastards tried lumping my head off in the beginning.... I don't forgive easily :swear:

My current character sided with the Stormcloaks. Might go Imperial in the future.

would be cool if you could also side with no one or the dragons, become a dragon and rule skyrim... i think fallout new vegas had some more options which i thought was nice

I went to Windhelm to join the Stormcloaks but when I realized they were noting but hardcoe nationalists with a grudge towards everyone except Nords I marched directly to solitude and signed up for the legion!

Yeah, but at least there are options this time.

In Oblvion it would have been nice to pick either The Blades or the Mythic Dawn. As it is Skyrim is an improvement in terms of choice

I chose stormcloaks for my first play through. The imperials sentencing an innocent to die in the beginning, the falmer seem like douches, and the empire bending it's knee to the falmer and all the stories about the empire crumbling since oblivion plus I'm a nord made it a pretty easy decision. I'll play an elf next round and probably join the empire just to see if they help skyrim at all.

I sided with the imperial legion, the strormcloaks seem to be taking advantage of the situation for their own gains rather than protecting their own lands like the empire.

Why should the Empire bow to a degenerate, blind race of elves living underground?

This is a decision I really wish Bethesda hadn't made regarding the char-gen stage of the game. I can't see any reason - from a roleplaying perspective, at any rate - why anyone would go with the Imperial over Ralof at the start or why they would join up with the Legion over the Stormcloaks if they choose to get involved at all. My orc warrior that I always use as my first character in a new RPG always joins up with or affiliates himself with the legion/army in any way that he can, but this time around I just couldn't bring myself to do that after having been seconds from being beheaded at their hands.

Dont forget that this game is about a war within a bigger war

The Thalmor are very crafty, and they hope the Empire will weaken itself further so that they can swoop in and destroy their last remaining opposition for good.

The Empire needs to be strong...no single nation can take on the Aldmeri dominion alone...

Skyrim is already weak and will become weaker if ruled by a racist like Ulfric

Chose the Imperials. Anyone would have chosen to escape Helgen with Rolof at the beginning, makes little sense to go with the guy that signed your death warrant. (Despite him simply doing his job) But I think it gets clearer when you play the game that the Imperial Legion is the more stable and better choice for Skyrim's long term future. Ulfrik is a racist bastard concerned with his own power more then anything else. Only a nationalistic and traditional Nord would go join the Stormcloaks really.

Haven't committed to either side yet. Seconds from getting your head lopped off is pretty unforgiveable, however it was an abritrary decision made by a moody tart with a superiority complex... I'm over it - and she did get carved up a few mins later anyway...

As Argonian I chose to join the Imperials along with the other Argonians RP-wise. The initial encounter was an unfortunate one, being found sneaking near Ulfric and others, but I've carefully estimated both sides and Imperials are far better than Stormcloaks. In my opinion, people who join Stormcloaks have problem with authority, or are into crime, or are short-sighted and use arguments such as "omg they forbade the worship of Talos". That preacher of Talos in Whiterun is so repulsive to me that I'm gonna kill him anyway. Compared to Nord petty squabbles, Imperials are far smarter, tactical, and overall represent a more advanced civilization. Nords are about drinks and brawls and boasting and envy. Helping Stormcloaks is like helping Libyan rebels - under false pretense all you're really doing in reality is helping a gang of criminals come to power and make the situation worse - but since people like to be righteous they will invent stuff like "freedom" and "independence" and that will transform the criminal into a nobleman in their minds.

I am planning to assassinate Stormcloak supporters in Imperial cities first, and confiscating their property (stealing their belongings). This will increase the variety without making me a thief. Then onward to crush the rebellion. In blood.



(PS: To clarify what I meant by "shortsighted". The player was caught snooping around near a horse thief and Ulfric along with other rebels. That made one Imperial want to execute him. Bad judgment, but it's one person, and consider the circumstances. The other Imperial did not want to execute the player. Being anti-Imperial based on one encounter in the entire Empire is shortsighted, but even more so, why and how would that justify joining Stormcloak bandits, them being worse? If player was in Imperial camp in the beginning, asking for directions to some town, and Stormcloaks attacked, the player would get an arrow in the back. At least Imperials have chain of command. Bethesda on purpose avoided obviously-black-and-white characterization in the beginning so that player can make a choice in a way that fits his personality. Some players will be "omg you almost killed me, die die, you and all your race", while other players will be "I have to find out what's going on here, and who are really the good and bad guys, or both are bad and it's better to be neutral".)

I went Imperial. I know they tried to kill me, but Ulfric just feels like racist [censored]. And it's not like the Imperials are mean.
it was actually an old man in Windhelm who convinced me to go Imperial. Can't remember his name though.

Hm.. across four characters so far, the process is usually pretty similar. Escape is with Ralof, obviously - he is much more 'humane' than the imperial guy (and better characterized too). After that.. At the beginning, it looks like the stormcloaks are the way to go. Bu then you get to Windhelm, and see the Dunmer conditions. Worse yet, you go down to the docks and see the Argonian living conditions! Then... you get to Solitude, and see that things are better there; you learn that the 'honourable duel' was between Ulfric (who abused the Thu'um to boot - the Greybeards go out of their way to warn you that the Voice should never be used for personal gains - you as the player get a free pass only because you are a dragonborn. Even without that, do you think that is an honourable duel, if one can use a mystic voice - which is effectively magic) and a 20-something kid.
In the books you can learn that Ulfric completely slaughtered every reach-man, woman and child when retaking Markarth, which, by the way, lived the 2 years under the Reachmen rule in relative peacefulness. Moreover, a lot of the reachmen did surrender, and Ulfric slaughtered them regardless.
The stormcloaks use the term 'sons and daughters of Skyrim'... Well, talk to Legate Rikke, and hear what she has to say on that.
Another issue - yeah, the Stromcloaks use the banning of Talos as their rallying call (well.. besides "Skyrim for Nords only!!" which is pretty damning if you are of any other race that's not a Nord.. especially a Dunmer or Argonian), but the ban was in effect well before their movement, and it din't really matter, everyone had a personal Talos statue/altar at home anyway, nobody really cared. Now Ulfric started causing troubles, and the Thalmor sent their agents and death squads in Skyrim to see what's the fuss. Now you get all the problems with people being persecuted actively.

And, finally... It's painfully clear that the Empire is not in league with the Thalmor, and is trying to muster for a counterattack. Ulfric's moves are quite harming that, diverting resources. Indeed, in the Thalmor embassy you can find evidence that the Thalmor themselves actually approve of this rebellion, as it furthers their own goals.


So.... yeah. Based on that, I find it near-impossible to join Ulfric's side in any of my playthroughs, as there is too much against it just under the surface.

I wanted to side with the Thalmor actually.Time for a change in power balance.

None yet. I think of Stormcloaks for the what happened in the start.

Wasn't that book written by an Imperial, whose agenda would be to portray Ulfric in a bad light...

I'm going to side with Imperials, but I'll hold off on that. I only play one character in games - and if there's some excellent mods related to the war, I don't want to ruin the rp by having already beaten the Stormcloaks!

Stormcloaks,

Anyone who says Imperial is an idiot, they were going to kill you at the start of the game for no good reason.. :thumbsdown:

i chose the stormcloaks but every character i make from now on will be on the imperial side. just because i saw honor in general tullius and legate rikke, and ulfric stormcloak is the most power-hungry manipulative man ive ever seen in my life. Picture saddam hussein + osama bin laden + that crazy korean guy all wrapped in one crazy person who is sick enough to use the banning of talos worship to start a war, not because hes fighting for religion or freedom, hes just fighting for a throne, for power. I get the feeling that he doesnt even care about his people. I relish the day that i get to slit his throat, im gonna save right before i do it and rinse and repeat until i feel that crazy bastard got what he deserved.

Imperial,

since i think Tamriel need to be united for the "Big war" some where in the future involving whole Tamriel.. Tis is going to happen, im just sure of it..

I actually like the Empire at it's core most of all but I hate the Thalmor. And as it stands, the Empire are Thalmor puppets. So I went with Stormcloaks.

Empire for the next playthrough, when I'll roleplay a Thalmor sympathisant.

I originally set out to play a Nord who had spend a large portion of his life serving the legion in Cyrodill. His time served, he was returning home to Skyrim when he got caught up in the imperial ambush on the Stormcloaks. After his escape, I intended for him to join the Legion out of loyalty. The whole war, however, ended up falling to the side because of the abysmal way Bethesda portrayed it. Where are the skirmishes? In 60 hours of adventuring, I saw a single 2 on 2 fight between imperial guards and Stormcloaks. So the entire feeling of war kind of faded as I focused on the Dragon.

That being said, I've been hunting Thalmor left and right, and I believe my character would join the Legion to undermine the Thalmor's influence in Skyrim.

Now I'm trying to force myself back into the storyline, though, so I decided to roleplay my character thinking, "Its about time I met this Ulfric Stormcloak and sized him up for myself." So I went to Windhelm and met him. Got caught up in his entire speech about his goals and beliefs. While that was very enthralling (I'm a svcker for rallying speeches), I could not help but see a self-righteous, bolsterous bastard.

Still, I want to fight for the Nord.

So my character is utterly thorn right now.

But I still feel that the power of that storyline has been lost due to Beth's inability to portray a good story in their engines. They've got the adventuring down, but every single quest lacks that narrative power I need to really get into it. This isn't new though. Its always been this way for Elder Scrolls titles. I don't expect it to change so long as the team remains the same. I do still enjoy the game though!

Storm cloaks, next time the imperials.
However it really seems better if the SC take over in my opinion, and then the empire makes peace with them.