What Everyone Gets WRONG About the Stormcloaks

I've seen a lot of reviews dismiss and belittle the Stormcloaks and their cause unfairly, and I think they are missing a key aspect, which I try to explore in this video, hope you like it :)

TLDR; Overanalyzing Skyrim lol

I might make more videos like this in the future if you guys like it, please let me know what you think in the comments!

#Skyrim
#Stormcloak
#Stormcloaks
#Empire
#Imperial
#Debate

[williampenaaceituno]

I understand 3 languages, I watch dozens of videos on the subject and your analysis was the one that touched me the most, I'm a religious person, and now I understand why stormcloaks are so fearless, I finally understood the first scene when the redhead loses his head

[MotorcycleCheetah]

Something to consider; Deities in Elder Scrolls are unquestionably real. The blessings of the Aedra and Curses of the Daedra have been proven time and time again.

So, you could argue fighting based purely on religion, in this universe, is also logical. Who’s wrath would you rather face? The headsman? Or the man who dictates your very real soul?

[LoganLS]

I support the Stormcloaks very strongly on an ideological level. Traditionalist Warrior King who leads from the front wants to lower taxes, restore self governance, get rid of foreign influence, restore religious freedom, and crusade against nazis. Sign me up!

I support the Stormcloaks for personal reasons. The Empire tried to kill me and I'll have more influence in Ulfric's kingdom. Also Ralof is my boy, shame he can't be a companion.

I also support the Stormcloaks for governance reasons. I think on balance they have better Jarls and Ulfric is definitely a better monarch than Elisif.

And also support them because the Empire is just that pathetic. I do not trust them to stand up for what matters even a little bit. They have never missed an opportunity to cave to the Aldmeri Dominion. Their track record is absolutely abysmal and all their promises are hollow. I think the Empire is doomed as an institution and humanity will go down with it if they don't jump ship.

As for the Dark Elves, those people are hopeless. The Nords gave them a chunk of Windhelm at no cost. Then they turn it into a slum and complain how it isn't good enough. Then they fight the Argonians so the Argonians have to live outside. Brunwulf would probably be a better Jarl of Windhelm because Ulfric is pretty checked out and let's people govern themselves, normally a very good thing, and the minority populations in Windhelm require more meddling.

[MaxsontheCamper]

Clarification: About the point of the Thalmor journals, the Stormcloaks would likely have an issue based on pride if they did know the Thalmor were indirectly supplying aid, and would work to stop it. However, as I stated earlier, this is still an irrelevant and moot point since the average Stormcloak solider had no idea about the indirect aid. Thought it was worth clarifying anyways, I extrapolated too far there.

Honestly myself, I do not fully support either the Empire or the Stormcloaks, I think it’s a two sided issue. This video may seem like it is defending the Stormcloaks a lot, but that is only because the Stormcloaks are attacked a lot online unfairly, and I just want to show that in the Stormcloak rebellion, neither side is objectively better than the other.

Please let me know what you thought of this! I've seen so many anti-stormcloak reviews that I eventually got fed up and made this video lol, hopefully you guys enjoyed it. I will make more review/analysis videos in the future if you thought it was fun to watch, don't worry though I will ALWAYS make ninja io videos, I'm addicted to that game lol.

[stevenwilliams]

Most of time I side on stormcloaks but I do not think others is not all bad .

[briansanders]

4:40, This is literally my biggest reason for always going Stormcloak and fighting against the Empire. As a Christian, my faith legitimately forbids me from hiding my beliefs, so no amount of arguments from pro-Empire players about the lack of enforcement before the Markarth Incident is enough to convince me that secret worship was ever good enough.

[soupergirltech]

Finally, someone with common sense. I swear people is so shortsighted, even in nexus mods the amount of stormcloaks mods is minimal, the first time I aligned with the empire, after reading at the lore I will always align with the stormcloaks, it just makes sense.

Thus, to be honest the Dovah-Kiin will probably could almost delete the thalmor by itself, Ysgramor put Snow Elves to the brink of extinction, and you're gonna tell me NOBODY can standup to the pointy ear bastards? BS!

[cowgoy]

Another point missed is that the aldmeri dominion doesn't want the stormcloaks to WIN, they want the war to continue to weaken both the empire and skyrim, either side winning would be bad for them

[uptown_rider]

The Empire might have that cool Roman aesthetic, but the Stormcloaks are the good guys in the civil war. They fight to protect their own people, and preserve their homeland

[OPgamingstyle]

Something interesting about some of the in game dialogue and texts is that there is some evidence that implies the Empire is no longer recovering from the war against the Dominion. The great war was 3 decades ago and Tullius implies that The Empire is having to keep it's DEFENSES up at the border so it doesn't look weak to the dominion. He also states in season unending that The Empire is still strong enough to spare more troops to come to Skyrim if need be. So the Empire has recovered to the best it can and doesn't seem to be preparing to attack the dominion but rather to attempt to fend off another invasion. I think that the best chance at defeating the Dominion lies with allying with Hammerfell. Hammerfell already repelled the dominion and may be biding its time until it sees a good opportunity to strike. What better opportunity than a bunch of religious warriors who are wanting another fight anyways? After helping the Al'ikir the dragonborn has likely become somewhat of a friend to or at the very least may have earned themselves enough of a reputation that Hammerfell may be willing to help in the war effort. Also the Empire denounced Hammerfell as part of the terms of the Concordat so I doubt they will want to work with the Empire anytime soon. I feel like too many people look at the Stormcloaks as simply a band of racist rabble without looking into the lore or their capability. Imagine TWO people who can shout across the battlefield. One of them is basically a demigod and the other is strong enough to at least shout people into pieces. Are those two alone going to destroy the dominion? Probably not, but that would make for a fairly good trump card.

[thewolf]

Great video, here are some arguments against the Empire from a more logistical point of veiw:

1: The Empire has failed in its duty to protect the safety of its citizens. Nords are taken by a foreign power, imprisoned, tortured, and executed. That foreign power can only operate in Skyrim freely where the Empire has control, and where it provides some degree of protection for their activities.

2: The Empire has failed to provide religious freedom, and while it doesn't clamp down as hard as the Thalmor does, it is complicit in the Thalmor doing so.

3: The Empire has turned to increasingly tyrannical means to keep control. For this I cite the torture chamber in Helgen and the executions the Imperials carry out, both in Solitude and the hideously indiscriminate executions at the start of the game. The Stormcloaks have far too much popular support. They are not brigands. They are the citizens of Skyrim, and it is those citizens the Imperial Legion is waging a war against.

Because of these first few point, the Empire has lost the legitimacy of rule. When systems of rule persecute their subjects and maintain control through tyrannical means, they need to be removed. Then there are the rest of my points:

4: The Empire conceded the WGC too easily. Whatever losses the Empire took, and they were severe, those losses were more than matched on the Thalmor side. The Thalmor presented itself as strong, but the Redguards of Hammerfell showed how much strength the Thalmor had lost, fending them off while isolated and alone. The Empire merely lost the will to fight.

5: Thanks to signing the peace-treaty, which was much nearer to a surrender, the Empire has now been infiltrated and is being sabotaged from within. The Thalmor have show to be far too good at espionage, and have far too much freedom of movement for the Empire to act without their knowledge. They have bypassed the Empire and are forming relationships with Skyrim's political players directly, as the party at the embassy shows, and have spies everywhere in Skyrim, as the events of the main questline demonstrate very clearly. The Empire is compromised.

6: The Empire has alienated Hammerfell by betraying them, but Hammerfell would likely ally with an independent Skyrim. The last thing the Dominion wants is an independent Skyrim joining forces with an independent Hammerfell. What would likely happen, is an alliance forming between the two, with Cyrodiil having little choice but to support them, or be left isolated against the Dominion. The Thalmor strategy relies on pitting their enemy against itself to weaken it, and they've been tremendously successful at that. When that strategy unravels, and their enemies unite, the Dominion is in serious trouble. That cannot happen with the Empire in control.

[DjangoFatt]

Ah this is what I've always pointed out to the imperial milk drinkers, they harp on and on about whats smart in the "long run" completely ignoring the after life aspect as well as the cultural aspect of what Nords are like, appeasing elven oppressors even in an elaborate plot to wage another war is completely out of their character lore wise, they're very direct and unyielding.

Another thing they point out is the supposed racism the stormcloaks "promote" when in reality Ulfric allows anyone willing to be loyal to a independent skyrim to enter his ranks, admittedly there are examples of stormcloak sympathizers being xenophobic/bigoted but they are the exception not the rule, proof they are welcoming to any race is when Galmar questions your dragonborn, if they aren't a nord you can accuse him of only desiring his kinfolk and his response reflects what I see throughout the faction, that he wants to be sure your loyalties lie with the cause and you're willing to do what must be done in pursuit of said cause. Plus fans of the empire ignore the very real racism/colonization the empire commits in the past, present and more than likely future, the very formation of the Empire was one forged mostly by bloodshed and imposing cyrodiilic dominance upon everyone, yes they're cosmopolitan by nature of having conquered tamriel, but don't fool yourself into thinking the imperials are "less racist" than the stormcloaks.

[Macach]

Anyone that thinks xenophobia/racism is an issue of the decision has not played Morrowind or oblivion where you get a clear examples of it under empire rule, and they must have had their eyes and ears closed at the very beginning when hadvar makes an assumption about whatever race you pick, and that racist imperial lady soldier seemingly out of entertainment screams "next the (insert race here)!" If the empire had their priorities straight they would have beheaded the REBEL LEADER FIRST not the random person they found and sentenced to death with no trial..PS if you follow Ralof at the beginning you get to kill the racist imperial lady who sentenced you with no trial, otherwise you never see her again.

[TheSuperQuail]

The Nords in Windhelm are so prejudiced against the Dark Elves because they aren't joining in with the stormcloak cause, presumably for their own religious regions. There's a lot of complexity under the surface if you go looking for it. Good video.

[gaminninja]

Beforehand I cited with the storm cloaks because the Empire tried to kill me now I always say that the storm cloaks because the Empire tried to kill me and I hate elves

[opossumking]

Not to mention that the aldmeri dominion is a bunch of subtropic islands and stuff, like, you want to start a land war in the frozen north you have to deal with skyrims two strongest generals, november and december

[robbstark]

One thing everyone points to is racism. But they must not know the lore because every single faction and race in TES are racist towards one person or another.

[preferredpronoun]

Sure there is an objective good side, Stormcloaks. The empire enforces thought crimes, no matter how good the intentions were you either stand on your principles or fall on them.

[Starfireprotocol]

No one side is inherently wrong, it’s simply down to who you see as a good fit for Skyrim.

[Jonas_æ]

Alternative solution:
The Empire withdraws from Skyrim. That way they are not wasting resources quelling the rebellion and can prepare for the war ahead.
The Thalmor are forced to leave the north since the Empire cannot diplomatically host their presence, and the locals are freed from persecution.
Skyrim can make ready for war while being unbeholden to the terms of imperial agreements with the Dominion.

When time for war arrives, the Empire can ally with both Skyrim and Hammerfell in exchange for recognised sovereignty.