Stormcloaks or the Imperials?

[French Guards]

Which faction should I join and what are the benefits?

[fauxpas]

Whichever one you want; the in-game "benefits" are roughly equally nonexistant.


Personally if you value Honor and Tradition, you should join the Legion. After all Nords created the Empire all those long years ago so the restoration should start in Skyrim.


If you value Valor and Freedom, then the Stormcloaks are for you. Nords have always stood on thier own strength and these trying times are no exception, the Thalmor aren't the first mer that tried and ultimately failed to destroy the will of free men.



Both sides have valid points, and niether are perfect, but in the end, BOTH are good choices and history will smile on whichever side you lend your blade to.

[fauxpas]

Oh, and since its only a matter of time before someone tries to tell you that only an united Empire can stand against the Thalmor, just remember that Hammerfell has proven that lie.

[Falka]

Both sides are puppets of the Thalmor.

Ulfric Stormcloak is a Thalmor asset. You'll see his dossier when infriltating the Thalmor Embassy quest.

[fauxpas]

Originally posted by Falka:

Both sides are puppets of the Thalmor.

Ulfric Stormcloak is a Thalmor asset. You'll see his dossier when infriltating the Thalmor Embassy quest.

And here's another half truth; the dossier doesn't actually say what you think it does.

[Taiwan Number One]

The only interesting material reward would be the armor worn by the leader of the opposing side. Like Ulfric's? Join Empire. Like Tullis'? Join Stormcloak. Lords of the various holds are displaced when the rival faction takes over so if you, for example, dislike the Jarl of Dawnstar you could have him replaced with someone else by aiding the Legion, or remove the Jarl of Markarth by signing on with Ulfric. Also, the capital city(Solitude for Empire, Windhelm for Stormcloaks) gets damaged in the final battle.

If you're asking which side has the moral high ground, then I'd say Stormcloaks, but the Empire has its benefits as well. I would go into further detail, but Stormcloak vs Empire has been debated countless times on this forum already.

[↯Zindy⛦]

Join stormcloaks if you actually wanna actively fight the thalmor (if you really even care lore wise) and get stormcloak officer armor which looks decent. Imperial armor just looks really bad, even the penitus oculatus armor looks better then what you get at the end of the imperial quests.

Also many here seem to eventually bring about the topic of Ulfrics duel with the High King, personally I think the Kings death was for the better, regardless of Skyrim declaring independance peacefully or not the High King never had any interest in breaking away from the thalmor anyway, otherwise he would have done so earlier. But that's just my two cents on the subject.

[↯Zindy⛦]

Originally posted by Falka:

Both sides are puppets of the Thalmor.

Ulfric Stormcloak is a Thalmor asset. You'll see his dossier when infriltating the Thalmor Embassy quest.

the stormcloaks as a political entity actively oppose the thalmor and battle with them regularly, even if that were true, Ulfric doesn't really have the influence to do anything for them if he wanted.

Plus considering he was already headed (no pun intended) for the chopping block (while the thalmor themselves were present) There is more than enough reason for Ulfric and the thalmor to hate each other (at the very least be indifferent at best), and so that reasoning would be conflicting overall.

[Alkpaz]

Stormcloaks because you get a house after a quest and joining (blood on the ice).

[Carl!!!!]

For my current playthrough, I'm joinging the underdog stormcloaks. I spawned 2 imperial soldiers in a stormcloak camp, and they wiped everything out... plus, Balgruuf's kids are little ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥...

[Rush Knight]

Originally posted by Zindai:

Originally posted by Falka:

Both sides are puppets of the Thalmor.

Ulfric Stormcloak is a Thalmor asset. You'll see his dossier when infriltating the Thalmor Embassy quest.

the stormcloaks as a political entity actively oppose the thalmor and battle with them regularly, even if that were true, Ulfric doesn't really have the influence to do anything for them if he wanted.

This seems like a good time to remind the general audience that "asset" does not mean the same thing as "agent". Any internal conflict in the Empire is beneficial to the Dominion, so any figure in a position to instigate said conflict might be considered an asset, willing or otherwise. I'm not saying Ulfric's intentions are noble, but he isn't *knowingly* aiding the Thalmor.

[Ēarendel]

Both factions give the same quests, the difference is to join Stormcloaks you'll have to go to the north of Winterhold to kill Ice wraiths versus take a fortress with Imperials.

After that a siege attack battle on Whiterun (which is more fun) and on Solitude with Stormcloaks, with Imperials only sieging Windhelm.

I think General Tullius gives a one time random enchanted weapon that has a high chance of being a daedric fire sword early in the story, compared with Ulfric giving a daedric weapon at the end of the story. But I think your level here also comes into play.

[French Guards]

Thank you all for your responses! I think I will go with the Stormcloaks because my character is a Nord and I like the idea of getting a house.

[󠁳⁧⁧ svampen]

Originally posted by (UA)French Guards:

Which faction should I join and what are the benefits?

Stormcloaks without a doubt, they are all nords fighting for their country. imperials are just a bunch of invaders being controlled by the thalmor. + stormcloaks has cooler leader armor.