User blog comment:Thedoucheinthenorth/The Civil War - Why it is great/@comment-4692902-20121102005428

I believe The Milkman touched on this on his review of Skyrim, how morally grey conflicts are so dynamic.

I sided with the Imperials myself, for various resons, but the main ones are:

1. Ulfric's motives smack a bit too much of self service and this has costed Skyrim greatly in the way of resources and manpower. So basically, I see the war as rather pointless and a result of behind the scenes manipulation courtesy of the Dominions infamous agents, the Thalmor.

2. I do not doubt that Skyrim could defend against the Dominion if it tried, but I feel this would result in even more casualties stacked on top of those caused by the Great and Civil wars, so again, kinda pointless. And while Skyrim may defend itself successfully, the main goal I see in the big picture is get rid of the Dominion ASAP, because if I understand the lore correctly, the Dominion is not up to anything good, as in the end of the world really f^cking quickly if something isn't done. Not that the Empire would necessarily do something about it, but it has more resources and manpower at its disposal should it try something than say just Hammerfell and Skyrim, both of which have suffered quite a bit already, both from the Great War, Hammerfell due to the little skirmish it had with the Dominion, and Skyrim with it's lovely Civil War. The Empire has sustained heavy casualties too, but from just the Great War, and it still has High Rock with it, which if I recall has not been affected that badly by these events, also, it is populated by Bretons, just about the only race that can effectively stand up against magic users.

3. One of the reasons for joining the Stormcloaks is apparently for the preservation of Nord culture and practices but I don't really see that as a positive, because right now other than the banning of their patron deity I don't see the Empire doing anything against Nord practices, and I might use the heavily exhausted and fairly misunderstood topic of the treatment of the Dunmer, Argonians, and Khajiit. But I'm not, rather I would like to point out that the Reachmen are the real victims of Nords. If a person was to travel to the Reach it would not take him/her/it long to see the rather terrible treatment of the Reachmen, they are being worked to the bone, kept in poverty, and anyone of them owning property is clearly getting muscled out by the digusting Silver-Bloods, the fact that a member of that family becomes Jarl if you side with the Stormcloaks is another reason for my distaste with joining them. And I will go ahead and say I'm not supportive of the Forsworn nor their cause, as they have clearly degenerated to the point of being nothing more than bandits. Another thing that bugs me is for all the Nord's whining and downright bitching about the Empire and banning the public worship of Talos, they seem to have no trouble keeping the Reachmen from practicing their beliefs. As bloody as it was, from where I stand the Forsworn Uprising was more justified than the freaking Stormcloak rebellion.