The moral behind Skyrim's two factions

[JayElleBee]

Personally? I chose the Stormcloaks purely on aesthetics. I agree that the Imperials are probably the logical option, but man I just hate that stupid Roman aesthetic they have going on. So, I sided with Ulfric because woo, bearskins.

 

[Therumancer]

Yes, ANOTHER SKYRIM THREAD. Get over it, or join in. It's an awesome game, it deserves to be discussed. You like games without substance? Then fuck off.

Anyway, I was listening to the Sovngarde Song by Gavin Dunn. And just from reading the lyrics you could tell he played Stormcloak and that the song was from their angle. Now, don't get me wrong, the song itself is fucking awesome. I mean, it's almost as inspiring as Age of the Dragon, but I'm on the side of the Legion. This makes me love the song for it's epicness and power, but hate it for being supportive to fictional racists who don't see the big picture(and Ulfric is just a power-hungry idiot). I will still listen to it for a long time to come, but I can't help but be a little mad somewhere in the back of my head...

The point of this thread, was to see WHY you support the faction you've chosen. It's not a "are you legion or stormcloak" thread. It's a thread about the moral grey area that these both inhabit. From trailers I always thought they would make the war really black and white, but they did pull something amazing off with it. There really is no right answer.

Discuss your morals.

Well, I think it's fairly black and white in a big picture sense. You could argue shades of gray if there wasn't any kind of defined threat or crisis on the horizon, but there is... The Thalmor. The Empire underestimated them and wound up having to sign a bad pact to end a losing war, and it's made entirely clear that The Thalmor plan to build strength and smash The Empire once and for all. In this regard all of the whole "Skyrim Independence" stuff seems utterly stupid because it pretty much means that The Thalmor are going to have an even easier time of it, and when you consider that things like the ban of Talos worship are listed as reasons for the war, the whole issue of who is really responsible for that comes up. Skyrim isn't going to fight The Thalmor alone, the only hope is siding with and building up The Empire.

Add to it the undercurrents of racism, combined with Ulfric being a power hungry twat largely motivated by establishing a personal dynasty when you get down to it, it's a pretty clear cut situation.

To me I think there was a sort of recurring message involved in the storyline, that the good guys aren't always who you wind up liking, and the right thing, is not always the good thing right at the moment. See, I think the situation in Skyrim would have been very black and white if it wasn't for the execution scene at the beginning of the game. I think they carefully set up the beginning of the game to create some Stormcloak sympathy and dislike of The Legion because if they didn't, everyone would have rapidly come to the conclusion Stormcloaks were morons and we'd never even have these discussions.

It's sort of like another later situation where your given the choice of killing a Dragon or The Blades. The Dragon is made out to be a really nice guy as far as your personal experiences are concerned, and The Blades... well they annoy you a bit, but are also very directly acting for the greater good. If you read the lore and the backstory the right answer is flat out, the Dragon must die. The prophecies tell you so (which is why The Blades have been Dragon hunters) and have been right so far, and disregarding them leads to very bad crap. What's more you've got this whole problem with The Thalmor, and while they were on the losing end The Blades are really one of the only forces that wound up being effective, and you've been building them back up. In the best case scenario our Dragon buddy and the Greybeards are pretty much going to continue to sit on their thumbs in the big picture due to their respective attitudes of non-interferance, neither are exactly going to be going to war with The Thalmor directly. As a result, you might hate yourself for doing what you have to do, but there is no question... siding with the Blades is the right desician.

In Skyrim pretty much every choice you make seems to involve the same basic message, what the game leads you to want to do initially, is the wrong desician in the big picture.

I'll also say that since most gamers tend to be short sighted with a very liberal morality, I think Bethesda is F@cking with people intentionally. One thing you'll notice is that the majority of people do seem to side with The Stormcloaks and let a certain dragon live, and explain why they did this. Bethesda is pretty fond of using the next game in their series to tell you all about how things went to Sh@t in where ever their last game was set. Come the next Elder Scrolls game, or perhaps even "Elder Scrolls Online" if they do a lot of lore for it, I imagine they are going to pretty much build it around the desicians they knew most people were going to make and then basically show how this turned everything to rancid crap. Most people going "wow, I didn't think that would happen" while a comparitive few that thought it through will be banging their head going "and.. this... is... why... I... didn't... make... that... choice".

I truthfully suspect that when the game expands "sided with Stormcloaks, let dragon live" will be the canon desicians.

 

[shrimpcel]

I'll also say that since most gamers tend to be short sighted with a very liberal morality, I think Bethesda is F@cking with people intentionally.

I'm sorry, what kind of far-fetched statement is that?

OT: The Imperials have attempted to execute the player character, for no good reason.
A Nord character (which I assume to be the canon Dovahkiin) would join a pro-Nord movement.

These two are good enough reasons for siding with the Stormcloaks in the beginning, which is how you should proceed if you're roleplaying your character. Of course, there's always the option to change your mind later, but based solely on this your support should go to the Stormcloaks. Of course, if you play a non-Nord character the argument becomes weaker.

As for a greater vision of things:

Racism: yes, but on both sides.
Thalmor: the Redguards pushed them out, why not the Nords? Alternatively, a High Elf character might even be sympathetic to the Thalmor.
Keeping a united empire: not needed to deal with the Thalmor threat, as stated above. Otherwise, is there any reason to keep the empire together?

 

[Emiscary]

What moral? I backed the Storm Cloaks purely to spite General Tullius.

That sanctimonious prick sentenced me to death without trial and then had the balls to ***** to me about "favoritism" during the peace summit at High Hrothgar.

Which is why I slaughtered his army, kicked in the door to his fort, paralyzed him, and then Soul-Tore his right hand woman and had her cut him to ribbons before running him through with the Ebony Blade and feeding her soul to the Mace of Molag Bal.

And I STILL wish they had let me soul trap his balding ass beforehand.

My Dragonborn is exactly as afraid of the Thalmor as he is of anything else: not.