User blog comment:Cyrice1/Stormcloaks or Imperials/@comment-2086180-20120708212833

Empire all the way.

(This may be a bit long) Of course, the Stormcloaks seemed a good idea at first. Although only because I wanted revenge for the events at the beginning of the game. After the battle for Whiterun I found myself thinking:

Why?? ...and immediately restarted the game.

I can understand why people might join the Stormcloaks: maybe you genuinely believe they're right, or maybe you just instinctively chose them; because they hate the imperials, who you may well want revenge on; being human, you tend to support the one you see as the underdog; they are rebelling against the authority, a theme that's becoming increasingly popular IRL culture.

But I see it this way:

Ulfric perpetuates the idea that the Empire's claim on Skyrim is unjust, while that is untrue. Skyrim is and always has been part of the Empire. The Empire is the faction playing the defence role in this war, defending their land against Ulfric and his stormcloaks.

The Empire hates the Talmor as much as anyone. The "peace" they have is more of a truce until either sides gathers enough strength to launch an attack. Even Tullius, one of the people the Stormcloaks seem to hate most, second only to the Thalmor, has doubts about how long this "peace" will last.

Whilst the Stormcloaks are not wholly "racist", they do seem to have some heavy prejudices against many non-nords.

Ulfric has essentially broken oaths & abandoned commitments (imperial leagion/greybeards/way of the voice) and abused power (shouted at torygg, you can not sell this as a fair duel), all before he's even close to being crown high king. ''What a great leader! ''

The Stormcloaks love to call the Empire corrupt. They are right in some ways, for example the Black-Briar family in Riften. However the Stormcloaks have the support of the Silver-Blood family who not only bribe guards, cover up crimes, conspiracies, etc. but also use the closest thing to slave labour since, well... slave labour, to produce a large amount of their income.

Just some of my thoughts... Feel free to reply/flame/troll/whatever.