Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-26213507-20150715194939/@comment-1600847-20150808100759

Phantasys wrote: The empire must've not cared enough to ever get to letting him join...the stormcloaks must've signed him up right away. After all if the DB joins before he's even known as the DB there's no reason for them to deny anyone else.

I've heard this argument multiple times. Even the most ardent Stormcloak supporters agree it's because if Bethesda had denied you entry to a faction unless you were a Nord, players would have lost their shit :P