Ok lets look at what we know, since the fall of the Septim line the Empire has fallen on hard times, the new Emperor is a man named Titus Mede who is a Colovian warlord who took the Imperial city by force, since then the worship of Talos (who was formally known as Tiber Septim, the founder of the Empire) has been outlawed and the Blades (who were agents of the former emperor and bodyguards to the Septim line (who were also Dragonborn)) are being hunted down and at the start of Skyrim your character (otherwise known as the Dragonborn) is captured and is about to be executed. Has nobody considered the fact that the reason you are being executed is because you are the Dragonborn and the ones performing the execution are under orders from the Empire? Titus Mede obviously has a grudge against the Dragonborn so has nobody considered that this time the Empire might very well be the enemy?

STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!

Nobody insults the Empire on my watch!

Yeah I've actually considered this. Though maybe more of a secondary antagonist. The "MAIN" antagonist seems to be more metaphysical.

They leave it up to as to the 'why' you're being executed. I personally never was good at 'pretend roleplaying' so I'm more into the "Just get me out of here so I can explore" crowd.

It's a possibility, but Titius is no longer emperor. Skyrim takes place about 150 years after the events of The Infernal City. Doubt he'd live that long.
My first character is about to be executed due to killing a necromancer with ties to a noble family.

Learn to use [censored] spoilers OMG

Exactly, and we don't know who is in charge during the events of Skyrim. It could be the Medes, or a completely different line of emperors. We'll have to wait for the Lord of Souls novel and Skyrim to find out more.

It's at best an assumption, I see no need for spoilers.

Alright....I am supporter of empire,but this.......This is not empire that I am supporting. I am joining DB & Stormcloacks
FOR THE EMPIRE!!!!!
(for the sithis!)

In that scenario the Emperor would be my enemy, not the Empire. The Empire is the only thing keeping the elves from destroying man all together.

I thought you could choose? They don't have to be enemies.

I see a theory and assumption, I do not see a need for spoiler tags

Or try at least. Doubt the races of man would go down very easily, and I have a feeling that the orcs won't be to happy about the non-corrupted elves going on a genocide without including them(if th mer deem the orcs as less worthy or something).

Yeah I am not sure that counts for Skyrim though and I am sure the only reason that it was the case in previous installments was more due to lazy writing than anything else.



Go cry somewhere else, this is mere speculation and not fact so I dont think spoiler tags are needed.

Lazy as in allowing people to make their own backstories. I think Todd have mentioned that they don't give you the backstory for that very reason several times.

Let me stop you right there... the new Emperor is NOT Titus Mede during Skyrim, and we know nothing of the empire 200 years after the Oblivion crisis. /thread.

(Seriously? Do any of you in this thread seriously think that an Imperial who was old enough to have sons and be a Colovian warlord 40 years after Oblivion would still be alive 160 years later in Skyrim??.....)

Imperials are scum! They want to enslave the entire population of nirn! To hell with them! GO BOSMER GO!

Also, as the saying goes, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Down with the rebels!

Might not be Titus Mede himself, but rather a Medeian dynasty that's still paranoid of its Dragonborn predecessors.

The empire is obviously outlawing Talos worship and hunting the Blades because they stand as a patriotic symbol for the Nords to be inspired by, they are propaganda efforts to demoralize Skyrim, make their culture feel less unique and give them less reason to become independent.

I really think Bethesda is heavily borrowing from the faction system of New Vegas here. In New Vegas the obvious people to get on the good side of would be the NCR, but you could also, eventually help the considerably more evil Legion.

I'm thinking that in Skyrim, the natural thing to do would be to help the rebels, but something will happen that will give you a chance to get on the empire's good side again and start working for them.

Well, here's food for thought- It seems like the stormcloaks are only a faction in the rebels, perhaps there are factions in the Imperials that are evil, but not all the Imperials are evil.

Okay, flamer, thanks for letting us know you're such a big fan and read the book, we're all very impressed. Regardless, that changes absolutely nothing here. Talos is still outlawed, and the Blades are being hunted down.

I'd agree, absolutely. I'm a loyalist in the sense that I realize that, in order to survive on Tamriel, humanity should be united. Sectarian violence only helps the Daedra and anything else hostile to their existence. The idea of an Empire with a direct alliance with the NINE ([censored] you, whoever outlawed worship of Talos) is the best way of keeping the Empire safe. What would have happened if the Oblivion crisis had happened with no Septims left?

This notion just made things a lot more interesting. We'll see if it turns out this way.