User blog comment:Spritydove/Deeper Thought into the Civil War/@comment-5135631-20120707164515/@comment-1080767-20120714062809

@Thedoucheinthenorth You mentioned the state of Windhelm as not necessarily being a product of the Stormcloak rebellion and Skyrim fighting for its rightful High King. Moreover, you said that the extremity of their patriotism is justified. I disagree.

Windhelm is the way it is because of the people living there. Logically, you can blame the citizens of Eastmarch for their discrimination as it applies, and the Nords in Windhelm are generally supporters of Ulfric. Brunwulf Free-Winter often comments on how Ulfric disregards those not human in origin. He does turn a blind eye to their conditions, and he does fight nobly for his people - I must admire that of him - but he does so at the expense of so many others, and I don't believe that it's worth it anymore. I don't care if he's planning a war: he could at least have his steward do something about the disarray, especially after Blood on the Ice. He doesn't.

Now about Ulfric's claim to the throne. I agree that he does have one, but for what he did for it, I have lost much respect for him. He is a murderer. He is upset, but does he have to kill his king? Does that make him feel better, slaughtering his friend to show his strength and to take his crown? Perhaps he is entitled to the title of High King, but based on that incident alone, I can't say that he deserves it. There are also issues about conflicting with a Moot and how his means of combat were illegal, but I don't know how these things work, so I won't challenge those issues and I acknowledge that Ulfric may very well be in the right for those points. Regardless, Ulfric has gone too far; he has done awful things and he has wronged the ways of his people and manipulated tradition to supersede morality. I couldn't fight for that. As I believe I said before, I don't fight for the Nords, I fight for Skyrim.

What the Stormcloaks in general are doing is damaging to the lives of many. They are weakening themselves and the Empire by instigating a conflict, and the Aldmeri Dominion is free to sit back and watch. If the Stormcloaks are successful, Skyrim will be more legally protected province, and the Thalmor, the true antagonist to the Stormcloaks, are left unscathed. Perhaps the racism will end there as a temporary peace will settle, but the racism was just a manifestation of the patriotism mentioned earlier. Patriotism is a form of discrimination as well, oftentimes less valid than racism, and by trying to bring out its Nordic influence and calling that Skyrim we can derive racism itself.

I know this isn't going to change anyone's opinions, and I don't intend to - it's just that I radically disagree with some things being said.