Question 1: Who do you choose when playing or restarting the game? Which of two two you like the most and most important...why?

Question 2: Who of the two would win if it would came to a man to man battle?

Question 3: Which of the two do you favor in general?

Hmmm...difficult as I really like them both.

While Ralof is really nice to the player and the only one who risks his life by coming to get you after you are knocked down and everything turns to chaos. He does pretty much ditch you after telling you to go break your legs jumping off a tower into another building. However he meets up again of course.

Hadvar is a gentle bear of a man to me, he is also nice from the start believes you are innocent. He tells you that he wishes they didn't have torture rooms he leads you out of the fight. His voice is quite gentle as well and I think that he would never kill unless left with no choice. Don't like it when he shouts that he hopes you both go to hell if you run off with Ralof.

What is really sad is that here is two men who grew up together in the same village, now obliged to kill each other on sight.

Anyway, I voted 'tried them both' for the first question.

I think that Hadvar would win in a fight with Ralof.

I think that Ralof is the more interesting of the two, so I voted him in the last bit.

Hadvar, just so I can with sleep with Sigrid.

Ralof, Ralof, Ralof.

Basically a disguised Stormcloak vs Imperial thread. Anyhow, I can't stand Hadvar. His voice irritates me tremendously.

Thats your assumption.

Alas it will undoubtedly decline into one though.

She's spoken for, you know. Don't get any ideas.

Ralof
Ralof
Ralof
But now I use alternative Start.

Not any more.

Rude bastard.

Both, I love both of them, but I do prefer Hadvar, now with mods I can have both of them as followers at the same time!

Ralof for all. Hadvar beating Ralof? Dual axes. Enough said. Hadvar is a good dude or whatever, but I'm not trusting anyone in the same uniform as the guys who almost killed me. Ralof is a charming family man and the face of the common Skyrim man. Stormcloak or no, people can't deny they like the guy. How can they not?

Really you can't say you hate either one. But I feel no love for Hadvar. Ralof for life:

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/026/9/5/skyrim__ralof_of_riverwood_by_galagraphia-d4nobyu.jpg

Future arguments I expect others to take seriously, sadly.

He's a decent guy, he's the one who always gets me on my feet, and genuinely helps me escape Helgen. Unlike Hadvar. I know that he had to listen to his superior, but if my execution was unjust, he should have stood up for me. Instead he sends me to the block immediately. Ralof is a cool guy, he makes sure to help you no matter what your race, instead of just making a run for it. After all.. Ulfric is in danger, yet he signals you to follow him. Cool guy.

Personally, I don't actually blame him for sending me to the block, since he'd be risking his life or at least job by doing that. I blame the captain that we get to kill.

Ralof is an incredible amicable guy. I really like both guys, but don't forget that Hadvar is the one who takes you to the block.

If he felt strongly about it, he would have at least made an argument for letting me go. Not even a single line of debate from his end, just 'sorry, guess you're gonna die huh?' A true patriot would have stood up for me in some regard.

I prefer Hadvar, he's a cool guy. Sadly though I tend to always side with Ralof, because I feel like it makes more sense to fight your way through Imperial soldiers to escape than to fight your way through Stormcloaks. When I side with Hadvar I always think it's odd how so many Stormcloaks escaped and situated themselves so evenly throughout your escape route.

There's a good point. I don't side with Imperials often. Never really thought the distribution of Stormcloak enemies if you side with the Imperials. Take the last group of Stormcloaks, there's an awful lot of them. With the Imperials it makes sense, they're waiting for Tulius. I suppose they're waiting for Ulfric? But what the hell is he doing way back there?

Gameplay reasons.

I often wonder how Ulfric got out of there. I think that after shoving you out of the tower, Ralof and Ulfric head back down and out the door. After all, when you reach the burning building, grateful that you didn't break your legs or get impaled on a sharp piece of wood or metal, you can clearly see that Alduin is focused solely on Tullius and the battle mages that Tullius is ragin at and calling sissys. lol 'Bring the damn thing out of the sky NOW!!!'

Ulfie and all the other stormcloaks had plenty of time to slip out of the door of the tower and out the top gate of Helgen and into the woods. Why Ralof doesn't go with them is anyones guess. Instead he comes looking for me. What a sweetheart! But then maybe he feels bad about practically flinging me outta that tower. I like Ralof a lot, he is the more charismatic out of the two men you can follow to freedom.

I think that if I had been able to follow Ulfie and his group from start to finish of the intro and onto Windhelm, then you would most likely be talking to a Stormcloak right now. As it is, how the intro ends leaves me time to really get to know the whole civil war and make a more educated choice. Still...would have been fun to be able to follow Ulfie and have him tell me all about him and the civil war on the way to Windhelm. Would have been a good roleplay.

He probably did feel strongly about it, but these guys are killing people nearby that aren't even in uniform. Who's to say they wouldn't put a few mouthy seditious Legionnaires there on the block too?

Imperial supporters probably would argue a true patriot wouldn't go against their Empire. That's one thing that I admit is completely up to perspective.

If I choose to follow Hadvar now, I have a character who is collecting Stormcloak Officer Armor without touching the Civil War Questline.

EDIT added second spoiler

1: Tried both. Usually go with Hadvar just for the free smithing supplies.

2: Gotta give this one to Ralof. Hadvar seems like a nice guy but I got the distinct impression he wasn't terribly bright.

3: Ralof, though just barely. I'm not fond of the Stormcloaks but he seems to be a decent man.

Hadvar gets extra points just for not being as talkative as Ralof.

Hadvar: Looks like we're the only ones who made it. Was that really a dragon, the bringers of the End Times? We should keep moving. Come here, let's see if we can get those binds off.

Me: Thanks.

Ralof: Looks like we're the only ones who made it.

Me: Yeah. Now cut these binds.

Ralof: That thing was a dragon, no doubt.

Me: Uh-huh. Now...

Ralof: Like the children's stories and legends.

Me: Shut the [censored] up.

Ralof: The harbingers of the End Times.

Me: ....

Ralof: Come here, let's see if we can get those bindings off.

Me: Finally. Thank Talos.

B-but she's spoken for!