Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-1600847-20161103125247/@comment-30317136-20161126112345

Blademaster Jauffre wrote: Which brings us back to what I originally said: Ulfric depends on quantity when his supply starts to run out, he will lose miserably.

This thane is a Stormcloak sympathizer.

''Many condemn the Stormcloaks, but I refuse. There is honor in fighting for what you believe. -''Thane Bryling

And then we have someone who is the direct opposite of Bryling, Erikur but you choose to ignore him because he doesn't fit with your examples. This is what we call cherry picking.

I don't claim something is right or wrong based on words, rather the reliability of said words. You on the other hand would go along and say that Mer are superior to man! because the Thalmor say so. There is another possibility that everyone ignores, regardless if they support Stormcloaks or Imperials like yourself...

Ulfric might be under control via mental suggestions by extremely powerful Archmages. The games greatly downplayed the strength of magic, especially magic wield by really powerful mages such as Zurin Arctus who can be viewed as an asset equivalent to the Thu'um wield by the Dragonborn. -> High-end Tactical weapon/ Low-Mid level Strategic assets.

I am not saying he is being completely controlled but rather having mental suggestions placed in his mind which led Ulfric to think the way he did. I always find it hard to believe that the Thalmor would let Ulfric leave without doing anything to him but they cannot do it too obvious. So the next best thing is to play psychological warfare plus mental suggestions through magic. Ulfric may already blamed the Empire for the excessive loss of Nord lives but using a Mage who has as much skill as a Psijic Mage in psionic or telepathic magic to plant suggestions to aggravate the negative feelings Ulfric already felt seems more like a possibility than allowing Ulfric leave.

Either that, or the Thalmor might have threatened Ulfric during his imprisonment that they'll torture him till death unless he cooperates with them which he agreed. That will actually make Niranye most likely a Thalmor agent disguised as a merchant and fence.

Niranye's vague background fits the bill as it leaves a near blank slate.