Before I begin, for Gods' sake, people, don't let this turn into another argument thread. You know who you are, you repeat-offenders, despite warnings from Mods. Keep the petty arguments out, just tell me what you think of my take on the Civil War.

On my first playthrough of Skyrim, I decided to join the stormcloaks, because the Empire tried to kill me. I went through the entire Civil War, dead set on "Skyrim's for the Nords!" Eventually, me and Ulfric found ourselves in Solitude. We fought through the Imperial forces until we reached Tullius and Legate Rikke. Galmor Stone-Fist was busy with other Imperials, and I took on Rikke, while Tullius and Ulfric duked it out. When Ulfric overpowered Tullius, he stood over his adversary, who said "Ulfric you fool! We need Skyrim as much as Skyrim needs the Empire! We need to prepare for the Thalmor! There will be another war!" I stopped fighting then, and I cast a calm spell on Rikke.

I walked to Ulfric, waiting to see his response. And I was shocked to hear "That is a problem for another day..." As he went to kill Tullius, I stepped in and blocked the blow, but Galmor tackled me and Ulfric killed Tullius. I remember saying aloud to a friend who was with me that day "I think I helped the wrong one..."

So on my next playthrough, a whole year later, I went Imperial... and Dark Brotherhood (that is relevant). Again I went through the ranks, and through my conversations with Tullius, I could see that he had a good heart about Skyrim, and wanted to help its people, and Cyrodiil. I was close to finishing, when I did the entire Dark Brotherhood questline. SPOILER: When I assassinated the Emperor, I realized from Motierre, that the Empire was better without the false Mede Emperors, who surrendered with ease to the Thalmor, and (supposedly) have taken bribes of coin and false pretences. He was corrupted, to an extent. While he led humanity through the Great War, he bowed to the Thalmor to save his own skin (and his half-empire). He was the one who plunged Skyrim into chaos, not Ulfric. He aggravated Ulfric and half of Skyrim by selling Skyrim and Talos to the Thalmor. While Talos was not held in as high a regard as he was in Cyrodiil, he was the chief deity of Skyrim, the Human God.

But Tullius is not corrupt. Tullius believes in the Empire, the Empire before the Dominion, which was powerful, united, equal. He still fights for that, he fights for freedom from the Thalmor, as does Ulfric. Ulfric, however, is putting Cyrodiil in danger by splitting with the Empire, while Tullius is endangering Skyrim by letting the Thalmor act freely within it.

As for my personal stand on the war.

I believe in Tullius, not the Empire. The Empire is corrupted, crippled and a thing of the past. Tullius holds on to the belief of a united Tamriel, a stronger Tamriel. With this dream, he could defeat the Thalmor. Ulfric cares for Skyrim and her people, for his people. He wants the Thalmor out now, while Tullius wants to slowly prepare for the next war.

Ulfric is too eager to aggravate the Thalmor, while Tullius is being too cautious and letting their grip on Tamriel tighten.

Ultimately, I have to say that I would follow Tullius, but I would be lying to myself if I said I was Pro-Empire at heart. If only Tullius and Ulfric could see eye-to-eye. Together, they could defeat the Thalmor.

I think Tullius and the Skyrim Legion are good, as are the Stormcloaks. It has been proven that a province can last on its own, just look at Hammerfell. While damaged by the war, the resistance is still strong. But cannot last without help from the Legion and the Stormcloaks.

So ultimately, I'm balanced between the two, but I would have to say that Tullius is the more admirable leader to me.

"For 100,000 years, Mankind has always known war. And if we do not doom ourselves in a war tomorrow, we will war for another 100,000 years."

Indeed. It is for this reason you should welcome your Elven masters and do away with barbaric savages taking charge for another era.

Tullius is as personally unpleasant as any Thalmor I've ever met, and a vicious bastard who cares absolutely nothing for the people of Skyrim, only maintaining Imperial hegemony. He's one of the main reasons I've come to side with the Stormcloaks, because I absolutely do not trust him to manage Skyrim's affairs, or any coming war with the Dominion.

A fair point, I suppose it's how you read the characters (and their enemies). I believe Tullius is the better leader and tactician, while Ulfric's power is in his voice, and his ability to inspire and command.

In terms of strategic ability, they seem to be about even. In terms of charisma and inspiring loyalty, not to mention having a sense of common decency, Ulfric ranks quite a bit ahead.

I always admired Tullius because he still believes in the Empire and so do I.

Even though the Empire is corrupt and a shadow of their formal selves, they still have a chance to become the top superpower by granting the power to the citizens of the Empire, having the Empire run by the people, with a Emperor/Empress as their head-of-state, but not as much power as the people.

Now, what I would like is that Tullius should become the lead general in the Imperial Legion of Tamriel and destroy the Aldmeri Dominion for once and for all.

You seem to be letting personal preference govern your response. Need I remind you that Ulfric didn't care about the Thalmor, only killing Tullius. Tullius was not the bad guy, Elewen is.

You somewhat have a point, but I believe that Tullius has respect towards everyone, he evens learns to respect the Nordic ways of life at the end of the Civil War, if you were to side with the Empire, even though he won't understand much of it since he isn't a Nord.

Not as long as I draw breath. I will never allow the Dominion to fall. Get rid of the Thalmor, but nothing more.

Ulfric just wasn't interested in debating with Tullius on the subject. Immediately after taking Solitude, he vows to take the fight to the Thalmor

But we don't know if he would actually do it, he has no allies and the Dominion is all the way on the other side of Tamriel.

To me, he seemed more interested in fortifying Skyrim and digging in, waiting for the next war and just keeping the Dominion out.

That's what the Empire would do too, except spread over multiple provinces. It's probably a necessity. Either way, I don't think that Tullius is any sort of truly better answer than Ulfric.

Except Tulius mentions at the end of the civil war that plans are set in motion to launch a attack on the dominion.

Ulfric says the same thing, so...

I'd trust the empire more since both sides (empire and thalmor) have stated a second great war is going to start, course that is me.

Tullius annoys me because he can't go three sentences without insulting Nordic culture, especially it's politics. Which I find hypocritical, since history(both ancient and post Oblivion crisis) have shown that Cyrodiil's Counts are just as rebellious and disorderly as Skyrim's Jarls.

I think you are confusing an Empire with a democracy. Empires have NEVER been about what the people want, instead being about what the Emperor/Empress and the high ranking nobles want. Considering the way the Empire has treated other provinces recently, I highly doubt the nobles care about anything except Cyrodiil and themselves.

I wouldn't say never. Athens was imperialistic as you could be, while still fostering a democratic people.

But that's besides the point. On topic, I'm still undecided.

Same can be said for kingdoms, all the kings care about are themselves and their power according to your logic.

High Rock never has any problems with the Empire and is never treated any differently. Skyrim has to be treated differently, because it is chaotic right now.

I eavesdropped on a conversation between Ulfric and Galmar regarding to make High Rock an ally and one of them stated that they never had any problems with the Empire and wouldn't even help Skyrim to win its independence.

A problem Imperial supporters don't see is Thalmor influence. Imperial supporters only focus on the unknowns after a Stormcloak victory but there are unknowns to an Imperial victory as well. We already know that Maven Black-Briar, Erikur, and Siddgeir support them and they're in influential positions. Do you really know if the Thalmor don't already have members of the Elder Council in their pocket? For all you know, the entire Elder Council could be at least friendly to the Thalmor and wouldn't want a war with them.

Also, do you really think there won't be another civil war in the future. We already know that some Stormcloak supporters are waiting for someone else to take up the reigns of rebellion. In fact, Tullius even fears this could happen when he says he hopes Ulfric doesn't become a martyr. For all you know, another leader could rise up and start another Civil War with or without the Thalmor interfering.

The Emperor is in charge of the Elder Council (If you did not kill him during the Dark Brotherhood quest-line) and I know Titus dislikes the Thalmor.

Tullius also mentions that High Rock won't send any reinforcements to the Legion in Skyrim as well. This means that High Rock is simply being opportunistic and not willing to support a side that could wind up losing and cause repercussions for High Rock by the winner.

Also we don't really know more about High Rock's current situation.

Very true, since it isn't High Rock's fight, but if the civil war were to break into High Rock as well, the Bretons would have no choice but to get involved.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Elder_Council

More research into the Elder Council.