I was recently thinking about how to become Emperor, and I came up with the perfect scheme (hopefully).

It would easier as an elf because of the long life-span they have but it's not necessary.

The first step in my grand scheme would be to complete the civil war quests for the empire, making sure to keep the Jagged Crown by reverse-pickpocketing onto Hadvar. Now that Skyrim has been reunited, become Thane in all the Holds, specifically Solitude. After helping Elisif she makes the remarks which normally indicate that she is available for marriage, however this is not the case. So let's assume that you can marry Elisif, and the Dragonborn does so. Here's where the extended life-span comes in handy because you want to outlive Elisif (alternatively you could assassinate her). With Elisif dead, Skyrim no longer has a High King/High Queen, and this is when you declare yourself High King using the Jagged Crown, your title of Thane and the right of Dragonborn to legitimize your claim. I'm also not entirely sure how Skyrim's succession laws work, can only Nords be the High King? Anyway as High King you now need to assassinate the Emperor, by completing the Dark Brotherhood questline. As the High King you already have a position on the Elder Council and you can use this along with your status as the only known Dragonborn and the assistance of the Blades, to become Emperor (assuming Titus Mede II has no heirs). If your claim is not recognized then march on the already weakened Imperial City and become Emperor by force.

So that's my plan to become Emperor, what do you guys think?

Sounds interesting. I would never do it though. I have no interest in seeing my characters turn into bureaucrats.

Hmm...

• Is the Moot reluctant to name Balgruuf as High King? Bend Will.
• Are the Thalmor still giving the Empire a hard time? Bend Will.
• Is the Elder Council reluctant to hand over the throne to the Last Dragonborn? Bend Will.
• Are the rest of the provinces reluctant to re-join the Empire? Bend Will.

Tamriel is united, once again. And if someone thinks to rebel? Bend Will

Bend Will- the ultimate diplomatic weapon.

Until an assassin who isn't effected slips some poison into your wine or dinner or even in your sleep.

Bend willing everything most likely won't work, we know there are people Bend Will doesn't work on and in most cases these people have a high willpower like a sorcerer aka Neloth. Now this is Nirn, there are hundreds or thousands of powerful sorcerers in Summerset alone and you can't expect to bend EVERY single thing that lives, that would take way to long and all you'll end up with is mindless slaves who have no freedom. That isn't creating a nation, it's tyranny.

What people propose with Bend Will is essentially the goal of the Templars in the Assassin's creed who failed even when they got hold of the apple of Eden.

Does Cider disagree? Bend Will

Ah, good times

Plus you have the whole thing where that doesn't last long, Miraak had to use holy objects to increase the effect of Bend Will.

We'll find holy stones, don't worry

You can shout all you like but without Talos/Reman powers of CHIM you will never Bend Will of an entire continent.

Reman didn't have CHIM, he didn't need it he was just the greatest bad-ass to live

Tiber didn't have bend will and he conquered Tamriel before he achieved CHIM, how? Because he was smart, he knew how to play people and he did it so well, he was like Lorkhan, the ultimate trickster.

I don't care, I will mod Bend Will and make it stronger -and if you haven't realized by now that I was joking all along, you never will

I wonder if in future TES games we'll have some background lore on the Dragonborn proclaiming himself the rebirth of Talos, and marching on the Imperial City starting a new line of dragonborn emperors.

Bethesda would probably not want to funnel the player character into such a role, but if its set in Thalmor territory then actually getting information about the outside world would be difficult, and it would be the same thing as hearing about chocolate rations or boot production increasing.

Cider, life of the party

If you have the power to take the Imperial City by force, why not skip all the rest and start with that move. Save you half a lifetime married to Elisif, and worrying about all the variables that are already too far out of your control, such as...

- whether or not Elisif will marry you in the first place

- whether being a Thane has any influence on a Moot

- whether an Elf can, in fact, be mooted in.

- whether the Jagged Crown will matter as a symbol after the civil war

- whether the Mede dynasty has any heirs (you can bet there would be uncles, nephews, brothers, etc in spades before they started looking for Imperial claims outside the realm)

"Weakened Imperial City"

Uh, despite that we can assume that the skyrim legion is a fraction of the Legion's true strength like Tulius said then you'd have a hard time even if the stormcloaks win their numbers wouldn't be enough to march on Cyrodiil and try to take it.

Exactly. If there was enough strength in Skyrim to challenge the seat of the Empire, the war would probably be fought in Cyrodil, rather than Skyrim in the first place.