Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-72.74.78.209-20141019230536/@comment-58.111.67.254-20141207121954

If you want a fine example of why I dislike Ulfric, have a look at his city. It's in complete disrepair, segregated, and overrun with poverty, to the point that it's in contention with Rfiten for worst quality of life. The man is, in my opinion, honourable, trustworthy, and completly justified in his actions, both in the 'murder' of Toryg and rebelling against the empire, but he's a warrior, and has no idea how to manage his own city, let alone the entirety of Skyrim. If anyone knows how to manage a country, it's the Empire. You may not agree with their methods, but you also can't ignore their results, even in their current state of decline. Simply put, Ulfric is an excellent general, but a poor king. I like the guy, but if he were to rule as high king, the most likely outcome is disaster, especially given that we can see from his choices in the past that he's somewhat of an impulsive descision maker.

Furthermore, perpetuating the civil war is clearly an awful idea for Skyrim's more immediate future. Any remotly satifactory future for the people of the country hinge on a swift end to the war, in favour of literally either side. The empire has established infastructure, trade routes, and resources. Ulfric and the Stormcloaks have a handful of major cities. The empire can replenish their forces over time, the Stormcloaks are of a much more finite number. The best hope for a swift end to the civil war is an Empire victory over the Stormcloaks - a Stormcloak victory means decades of border skirmishes at best, and all out war at worst, and any continuing conflict will be exploited by the Thalmor to their favour. Anything that advances the Thalmor's plans or benefits them brings all races of Men one step closer to slavery, death, or much, much worse, Nords and Imperials alike. Even if the Stormcloaks were able to achieve a clean, mortal blow to the Empire, Ulfric's efforts in managing his own city and the conditions there indicate that rampant rascism, elitism, and poverty would be the norm, which will lead to the nation either splitting into a second Civil War over resources or racial hatred.

In the end, I really do like the guy on a personal level, but concern for the big picture leads me to believe supporting him is a mistake for Skyrim. Compared to the ultimate fate of it's people, relativly minor issues like being able to openly worship their gods must be given a lower priority.