Nope, he was just keeping with traditions.

When you kill someone in the elder scrolls, you generally only get a lot of jail time. He could have only been executed for allowing the guy who killed the high king or at least that was the main factor in him getting the axe.

I'm aware of Legal Basics, I'm also aware that the ones in power get to decide what treason is, and get to change their minds when it's convenient to their own power. It's the way governments work, even those that have pretensions to rule of law.

I added to my post. It's the indirectly clause. I don't think you can say many people in Solitude indirectly acted against the High King by directly aiding Ulfric.

Hopefully, Erikur will get caught selling goods to the Stormcloaks like he's musing, and he'll also find his head on the block.

They don't say any of that, all he did was open the gate. He didn't kill anyone, my man. Its grasping at straws.

The other guard who had to have opened a gate could have. Elisif didn't order them to, at least I don't think she did. If so, how did Ulfric manage to get out of a city by himself if angry guards were chasing him? Some of the other guards would have seen him coming. If he went through that other door like you said in your edit, they wouldn't have called it a gate, and there's no one guarding that door anyway.

so are you....you are going by your own personal headcanon for the most part. They are also in the middle of it when you enter, they could have easily talked about it before hand, or for dramatic effect talked about ONLY the thing he was actually executed for.

Just thinking out loud here.

Another thing to consider is that they changed the guard routines following the events of that night. Before a single guard was sufficient but they installed two guards to ensure that a similar event wouldn't occur.

No, I'm going by what is actually said in the game. Nothing about murder is said in the game. How is this my headcanon?

edit: And call me crazy, but I think murder would be pretty dramatic.

Should the Empire have executed Roggvir?

No.

Worse.

In the Old days, treacherous heathens were given appropriate punishment for their crimes. Some were thrown into a pit, and then squashed with a 5 ton pillar. Others were given to Dragons for punishment at the Dragon's discretion. Some were sent to me for, correcting. Though I hear Ol' Rahgot had his own successful method of rehabilitating. Others were chained to the floating glaciers of the Sea of Ghosts. A few were sent to Otar... and subjected to his insane rants about the 9th era.

Dear Roggvir? Roggvir deserves his own punishment indeed, for decapitation is unfit for a snakes head such as his. Indeed, Roggvir reminds me of someone else whom has played apart in my current imprisonment. Valdar... Such wickedness, and he had the audacity to stay behind in some misguided interpretation of Atmoran honor. I would have swiftly punished him. But alas, this is barely a scratch on his true sin. It is one thing to aid in unlawful overthrow of authority. But given the current Nord's theo-political regime, their blasphemous, milk-drinking High-King deserved execution as well.

Roggvir deserves punishment, not for letting Ulfric escape. No. He has committed a far more treacherous sin. He, and every other modern-day Nord that worship their man-hero-deified Talos. Roggvir and the rest of his guilty brothers face their true punishment in Sovngarde, slave-pen of Shor the Snake. Overlord Alduin will decide his fate as he gets digested in Alduin's unforgiving belly of perpetual suffering, when he is ready to feast on their souls for their blasphemous beliefs. Only to then be erased from existence with the rest of the heretics, when Alduin devours the mortal realm, praise be!

Lord Hevnoraak, is roggvir even worthy to go to sovngarde?

well, even if you see him die, you never see him in Sovngarde. So either he got eaten by Alduin, or possibly never went to sovengarde. Of course, I guess it could just be a case of you never see him, but where would the fun in that be.

The man was likely in shock

Trick question, for Sovngarde is not all that it seems... Such is the way of Shor. Beware the Snake. For he is the one who tricks. Believe in the Dragon, Alduin praise be.

Considering the fact that the duel which Torygg agreed to was completely legal, no, Roggvir did nothing wrong, and he did not deserve execution.

Sybille Stentor admits that she and the rest of the court stood by while Torygg accepted the duel and did nothing to stop it, nor did they attempt to arrest Ulfric for threatening the king. So why are they not on the block for aiding and abetting in high treason?

While I agree that the duel was legal according to Skyrim customs, it was technically illegal in the Empire itself, as Torygg would be the Imperial Sovereign in Skyrim and killing him would constitute High Treason. I do suspect though, that the Empire stepping in has more to do with Torygg being killed by someone who was publicly anti-Empire, rather than him killing Torygg. Had Ulfric had no intentions of freeing Skyrim from the Empire, I think they wouldn't have stepped in. Not these days, when they have to watch the southern borders.

Not that that really matters, since being a traitor to the Empire is sort of a requirement of leading a rebellion against them(which really have made me wonder why people make such a big deal about Ulfric being a traitor in the past, given that that is only relevant if you're on the Empire's side to begin with, so it becomes a circular tautology). Him breaking a law meant to further secure the Empire's control in Skyrim is just one of those pesky things one would have to do to weaken the empire's presence in Skyrim.

On Roggvir's execution, I think it was meant to be an example. He would have been imprisoned for a few months already at this point for that crime. It was first after they failed to execute Ulfric at Helgen he was killed. The timing really only makes sense if he is executed as a warning to all traitors to the Empire.

At the end of the day, I don't think he should have been killed.

I'm actually surprised the poll is so close.

Executive discretion? Can't render the entire court inoperable because you killed them all. Besides, there's the matter of circumstance. Everyone seems to be of the opinion that it all happened pretty quickly, so they were probably in too much shock about what happened to be expected to act against Ulfric.

Roggvir however, seems to have known what Ulfric did when he let him through the gate. That indicates that he either understood what happened and acted against the High King anyway, or that he knew what was going to happen before it did, in which case he would be a co-conspirator.

And there's always the simple answer that the Empire enforces laws when it's in their better interests.

Like I said earlier, I don't agree with their decision. I understand why they do it though. Roggvir got screwed for the sake of the Empire seeming tough on crime and treason, even though I was pilfering pockets the entire time the execution was going on.

Of course there's no one guarding that door now. That was Roggvir's job, and now he's dead!

Lol, that actually made me laugh

He tried to make an unjust move just... So he did nothing wrong.

The High King accepted the duel and lost. Nothing illegal happened due to the Nordic Laws. The traitors would be the ones who wanted the gates closed and wanted Ulfric to be arrested...

I honestly love Roggvir for that as it he was brave enough to stand up for his Nordic beliefs instead of submitting to the Empire's wishes.

Thank you. All I wanted was an honest argument, not a civil war argument.

Aldis is actually with the Legion. He tells you, and in the misc. quest to find out more about the daughter of the alchemist in Solitude, having a Legion rank(I think Questor is enough, but I'm unsure, never did it at lower than Tribune) allows you to order him to tell you.

I stand corrected then.

so are ALL the guards. Being a guard in an imperial province basically makes you a member of the legion.