User blog comment:The Usual Thinker/Is Nordic Culture too violent to get anything done effectively without fighting over it?/@comment-30303790-20120507173435

Nordic culture is very violent to say the least, but even with that being said I don't think this culture is the root of all the problems in TES V. There is a great deal going on in Skyrim and Tamriel that makes things difficult, no matter the country, and we just get to experience these problems in one area.

The civil war certainly makes the Nords look overly violent, and you would think that the people could have just debated their way to an understanding, right? Well that is the nature of a civil war, seemingly understanding individuals fight amongst themselves because they cannot compromise their beliefs, with reasons varying from economics to religion. And this is not just true for the world of Skyrim, the American Civil War should have never happened if we believe that the reason for Skyrim's conflict was barbaric. In the case of the American Civil war, the South fought to defend slavery, something that by todays standards if far more barbaric than fighting for religion, as the Stormcloaks do. This is just one case from history, and if you look at European history there are hundreds of years of wars fought for far more seemingly trivial things that cannot even be justified (using that term sparingly) by economics, such as the U.S, South had. So I don't think that Skyrim's violent culture would have lead to a civil war any more so than other culture would have.