do i have to kill the first dragon in whiterun first before the battle of whiterun?

[sick_suck]

I want to help stormcloak but I don't want to betray Balgroof(I hope my spelling is right) since he is the first man who makes me a thane,so can I finish the civil war first and then begin the journey of killing dragons?

[Wet Water]

I don’t think you have to. I would assume if you kill him, you’d continue the quest from the new jarl. Though it is Bethesda we’re talking about...

[Master Talon]

yes you can do civil war before fighting the first dragon

[Eternie]

Yep you can do the civil war first without any shouts to help you, nor any dragons to assist or get in the way. ... or you can ignore the civil war totally.

You don't even have to do either you could spend the whole game ignoring the main quest and the civil war ... and actually be civil instead of waging war.

Playing Skyrim is doing whatever you want!

Of course something else to consider and this may be a spoiler for you. Whichever side you join Balgruuf the greater will side with the other faction. As you approach for the stormcloaks he will select imperials and send you back to Ulfric. Exactly the opposite if you support Tullius ... then Balgruuf will join the stormcloaks.

So if keeping to Balgruuf as a loyal thane is your goal then avoid the civil war!

[EJB9]

Actually, balgruuf sides with the imperials.

[Uncle64]

Are you not supposed to kill the first dragon?
Since you need to have access to those up on the mountain later in Civwar questline.

[Carl!!!!]

Without mods, Balgruuf won't send you back to Ulfric with his answer until the dragon problem has been dealt with, which does consist of going through bleak falls, retrieving the stone, and killing the dragon at the tower and being summoned by the greybeards.

Originally posted by Uncle64:

Are you not supposed to kill the first dragon?
Since you need to have access to those up on the mountain later in Civwar questline.

Also, for this, it's actually part of the main quest, where you need to get everybody to sign a temporary peace treaty to deal with the dragons, but only if the civil war questline hasn't been completed.

[Master Talon]

Originally posted by Dresden:

Without mods, Balgruuf won't send you back to Ulfric with his answer until the dragon problem has been dealt with, which does consist of going through bleak falls, retrieving the stone, and killing the dragon at the tower and being summoned by the greybeards.

Originally posted by Uncle64:

Are you not supposed to kill the first dragon?
Since you need to have access to those up on the mountain later in Civwar questline.

Also, for this, it's actually part of the main quest, where you need to get everybody to sign a temporary peace treaty to deal with the dragons, but only if the civil war questline hasn't been completed.

don't have to do the main questline to do the civil war questline same with the thieves guild you can still find Esbern without talking to Brenulf (forgot how to spell his name)

[gnewna]

In the vanilla game, yes, you will have to deal with the beginnings of the Main Quest up to and including fighting Mirmulnir at the Western Watchtower. I think Skyrim Unbound may allow you to complete the Civil War without ever touching the Main Quest, but this is from the most popular alt start mod:

If you somehow avoid all the guards and get into Dragonsreach without ever hearing about Helgen, the MQ will be force-started upon entering the main hall. Sorry, but this failsafe is required because it is not possible to advance the Civil War until Bleak Falls Barrow and Dragon Rising have been completed. Bethesda did not supply dialogue to allow for a Stormcloak takeover of Whiterun before starting the Main Quest.

So, assuming what you're hoping for is to complete the Civil War as a Stormcloak (or at least as far as taking over Whiterun) and THEN become Dragonborn, being made Thane by... is it Vignar who replaces Balgruuf? There just isn't dialogue for that.

With Skyrim Unbound, the entire MQ up to the beginning of the Way of the Voice is skipped and you become Thane of Whiterun by buying Breezehome for 10k septims (regardless of whether you ever do the Main Quest), so I suppose you could do that on a new save if you *really* wanted to avoid letting Balgruuf down. I'm not honestly sure how it handles the Civil War side of things, though, I would guess Balgruuf would still do his 'I'm super disappointed in you' speech, because there... probably isn't an alternative for that dialogue.

[Master Talon]

Originally posted by gnewna:

In the vanilla game, yes, you will have to deal with the beginnings of the Main Quest up to and including fighting Mirmulnir at the Western Watchtower. I think Skyrim Unbound may allow you to complete the Civil War without ever touching the Main Quest, but this is from the most popular alt start mod:

If you somehow avoid all the guards and get into Dragonsreach without ever hearing about Helgen, the MQ will be force-started upon entering the main hall. Sorry, but this failsafe is required because it is not possible to advance the Civil War until Bleak Falls Barrow and Dragon Rising have been completed. Bethesda did not supply dialogue to allow for a Stormcloak takeover of Whiterun before starting the Main Quest.

So, assuming what you're hoping for is to complete the Civil War as a Stormcloak (or at least as far as taking over Whiterun) and THEN become Dragonborn, being made Thane by... is it Vignar who replaces Balgruuf? There just isn't dialogue for that.

With Skyrim Unbound, the entire MQ up to the beginning of the Way of the Voice is skipped and you become Thane of Whiterun by buying Breezehome for 10k septims (regardless of whether you ever do the Main Quest), so I suppose you could do that on a new save if you *really* wanted to avoid letting Balgruuf down. I'm not honestly sure how it handles the Civil War side of things, though, I would guess Balgruuf would still do his 'I'm super disappointed in you' speech, because there... probably isn't an alternative for that dialogue.

forgot about the very start of the game lol my bad I meant once you get to whiterun and the guard lets you in then you can start the Civil war questline

[gnewna]

You have to complete Dragon Rising before Balgruuf will finish the conversation with you about Ulfric's message (or Tullius's message if you're on that side).

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Message_to_Whiterun_(Stormcloaks)

When you speak to Jarl Balgruuf, tell him you have a message from Ulfric. Balgruuf will take the axe, but whether or not the quest proceeds depends on if you've already finished Dragon Rising (and its prerequisite quests Before the Storm and Bleak Falls Barrow). If you've already done Dragon Rising then the quest will continue normally; otherwise Balgruuf will hold on to the axe and postpone making a decision about it until Dragon Rising is complete.

[Uncle64]

As I suspected Gnewna. You need to do the Dragon Rising quest.
There is also one good thing about it, you get enabled to unlock shouts to.

[Eternie]

So for the OP, if he wishes to side with the stormcloaks he cannot side with Jarl Balgruuf.
Or rather Balgruuf won't side with him.

So the choice is whether to go through the civil war at all. especially if he cannot avoid starting dragon rising.
I usually ignore it totally until the peace conference, and that way Balgruuf is still in charge of Whiterun the whole time.

[Vomit Heart]

You get blocked after a few quests you have to kill the 1st dragon.

[GLsimtam]

Yes, but only with mods. Never Talk To NPCs dabbles with both things (1) convincing Balgruuf to side with Stormcloaks (2) the main quest after civil war thingy.