Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-26213507-20150715194939/@comment-24075086-20150808181925

Shigeru Thalmor Slayer wrote: Phantasys wrote: WrathOfHircine wrote: Phantasys wrote: The Stormcloaks are better in my opinion because they're actually willing to fight the Thalmor...now if only the empire would stop being the Thalmor's attack dogs. The Empire is recovering after the great war, they also signed a peace treaty because they were going to lose the war... That treaty was an outrage...plain and simple. They basically agreed to all the Aldmeri demands made before the war...wtf was even the point of fighting if you're not even going to barter at all. A street drunk could've gotten a better deal out of the dominion with the position the empire was in. It would be worse if the Emperor had accepted the ultimatun. Quoting the book Great War "Critics have pointed out that the Concordat is almost identical to the ultimatum the Emperor rejected five years earlier. However, there is a great difference between agreeing to such terms under the mere threat of war, and agreeing to them at the end of a long and destructive war. No part of the Empire would have accepted these terms in 4E 171, dictated by the Thalmor at swords-point. Titus II would have faced civil war. By 4E 175, most of the Empire welcomed peace at almost any price."

What other explanation is there lorewise? You can't just claim "because bethesda" when you don't have an explanation. Otherwise I can just say the only reason the imperials didn't kill you on sight (what they would logically do as they remember you for the chopping block) was because bethesda didn't want to deny entry into the faction. If you escape Helgen with Hadvar, he will say that you already earned your pardon but tell you to avoid complications with the Empire. Tullius said that your arrest was a terrible misunderstanding. First of all all of the empire desperate for peace at any cost isn't true as Cicero's journals clearly state riots broke out even decades after the fighting and they were severe enough to leave state capitals (like Cheydinhal) a ruin. The Redguards alone managed to fight the Thalmor off and get a better treaty out of them. Surely if the emperor gave even the slightest of fucks about his people he could've done the same.

Once again all that can be said it was written in to appease imperial fans. One lowly soldier that can't even convince a captain to spare someone innocent suddenly has the authority to pardon someone? That wouldn't even happen in a fanfiction! With general Tullius not giving a fuck at your execution and suddenly doing a 180 after the fact...yeah...because bethesda.