are stormcloaks also bad guys?

[Geek Ultra]

so i joined the stormcloaks, but after reaching the Reach quests, i learned that they drove the forsworns away from their home.

it seems the empire and the stormcloaks are both evil in their own ways. can someone confirm if i understood the story so far WITHOUT spoiling the story? thanks!

i also learned that a Nord created the empire but the empire turned its back the the Nords' way of living? the story is interesting, tbh but as a newcomer to the ES franchise im somehow confused.

[Anyammis]

stormcloacks are racist

[sansee]

The empire reminds me of a totalitarian fascistic regime, and the elves are also arrogant racists themselves, so no side is all bad or all good... there's always some grey areas too.

Choose your poison.

[Neo]

The empire is weak now and nothing like how the empire was when Tiber Septim created it. They mistreat the nords by outlawing the worship of Talos and bow to the whims of the thalmor.

The forsworn are degenerate foul dark magic users who act like bandits.

So join the stormcloaks and free skyrim! All hail high king Ulfric!

[OldMemes.biz]

::eyeroll::

low tier bait thread

[theo]

What do you mean also, they're the only bad guys

[RhinoRobb]

I have been struggling between the two and I want to help one and then take over Skyrim for myself become King or Queen (depending on your character)and marry the Queen or King of the Elves to join both nations. Creating one land and then bringing in other lands into the kingdom. That would be my grand ending.

[Luminary]

The storm cloaks are good guys, if you are a nord, or if you are willing to fight for them. But otherwise you are less than they are.

There are people like that in the world, who would absolutley think of themselves as good people, but many others wouldn't. you decide.

it's a game, be both of them or neither of them or kill both, enjoy...

[Madao]

The Stormcloaks are literally a thalmor asset, even if they don't realise it. All their war of "independence" is doing is making the Empire weaker so the Thalmor can walk all over it.
Prior to their little uprising, while it was officially outlawed, nobody was enforcing the Thalos worship ban. It's only after Ulfric got it into his head he wanted to be High King, that things went haywire. Make no mistake, this war is not about Skyrim's independence but Ulfric wanting to be High King. Torryg was on board with going for Skyrim's independence. He says as much when you meet him in sovngard. the problem is, what Ulfric wanted is to have Skyrim for himself. he doesn't give a ♥♥♥♥ about Thalos, the Empire, the Thalmor or the Nords. All he cares about is being High King. He's an opportunist and scum.

The Stormcloak soldiers themselves not much better than the common bandits. You meet an imperial patrol, they'll greet you and tell you to head to solitude, if you're interested in joining. Only when they're escorting a prisoner, they may draw weapons on you.

If you meet a Stormcloak patrol, just being near them is enough for them to draw weapons and attack you. You could just be standing there and if you're in the path they're supposed to take they will tell you to leave or attack you.

Or in the Helgen sequence. when Alduin attacks, the imperials immediately switch gears and prioritise protecting the civilians, ignoring they literally have ulfric at their mercy.
meanwhile the stormcloaks just use the confusion to run and leave anyone behind to their death.

Now is the Empire any better? That's debatable. it does have good and bad sides to it. though, what you have to consider is that the war with the thalmor and aldmeri dominion never really ended. The empire was just silently preparing to have a go at them again.
Now this civil war is eating up ressources and manpower that should have gone to kick the Thalmor butts.

tl;dr: Ulfric is an opportunistic clown and tricked the idiot part of the Skyrim population into murdering themselves for his ideals. Stormcloaks are lame and barely better than common bandits.

[Straw Man]

I think the game presents the Empire as the pragmatic choice. Yeah the leadership is lazy, dumb, and completely corrupt, but breaking up what's left of the human alliance would definitely play into the Thalmor's hands.

However people seem forget the Thalmor are completely unaware about the player being a literal fire breathing dragon god, who could easily lead the Nords into a new Tiber Septim-style campaign to cut the Elves down to size.

Thus I don't even consider siding with the lame empire in any of my recent games.

[Morder07]

There's no such thing as good guys in Tamriel. Everyone genocided everyone when they had opportunity. Look what dwemers did with falmers. But I think that Empire is better choice for the people of Skyrim, otherwise Thalmor will destroy them.

[Good Night Owl]

Originally posted by reid:

stormcloacks are racist

So are the imperials and Thalmor :/

The war in Skyrim is basically 'pick your favorite hypocrite'

[FauxFurry]

The optimal resolution to the Civil War is an armistice. To open up that option, advance the main plot far enough that one proposes capturing a dragon in Dragon's Reach.

[Valden21]

Whether the founder of the Empire was a Nord is up to debate, as there's two different versions of his rise to power. While both agree that the founder was Tiber Septim, the differences between the two versions are his origin. The Empire's official version says that Tiber Septim was born in Atmora, but grew up in Skyrim. In that version, his name had always been Tiber Septim. In the apocryphal version, Tiber Septim used to be a Nord warrior by the name of Hjatli Early-Beard, and he only took the name of Tiber Septim after he began his unification campaign.

But here's the thing: Imperials, Bretons, and Nords are all descended from the same group of humans, the Nedes. One of the possible origins of the Nedes is Atmora, and it's acknowledged fact in the setting that humans from Atmora had been coming to Tamriel for a really long time. Ysgramor himself was Atmoran. In the end, whether Tiber Septim was Nord or Atmoran, it's just two different sides of the same coin. Butt there are Stormcloaks who refuse to see that.

When I started my first playthrough, I was seriously considering joining the Stormcloaks. However, one thing during the prologue changed my mind. During Alduin's attack on Helgen, you distinctly hear General Tullius shout "Guards! Get the townspeople to safety!". But Ulfric and his followers just run for it. That immediately changed me from pro-Stormcloak to pro-Empire. Since then, everything I've seen from the Stormcloaks has just reinforced my decision. Their racism in how they treat non-Nords, their willful ignorance in worshipping Talos yet fighting the Empire he founded, their hypocrisy in proclaiming that they're fighting for Skyrim's traditional values yet blindly follow a guy who violated those same values. The two final nails in that coffin were pounded in by my first visit to Windhelm.

[uremytoyᶠᵘᶜᵏᵧₒᵤ]

Originally posted by reid:

stormcloacks are racist

thats good isnt it?

[FauxFurry]

Originally posted by 76561198066639490:

Originally posted by reid:

stormcloacks are racist

thats good isnt it?

Well, it does certainly make things more interesting when a non-Nord leads the Stormcloaks to victory. The StormBlade becomes the proof that their belief in Nord superiority is not based in absolute fact.