User blog:Jacob Ravensgate/Elisif or Ulfric

Question
Jarl Elisif the Fair or Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak who is more fit to rule Skyrim?

Elisif the Fair
Elisif the Fair is the Jarl of Haafingar and the widow of High King Torygg, the last elected High King of Skyrim prior to the Stormcloak Rebellion. While Elisif is the head of court at her palace in Solitude, the majority of her courtly duties are handled by her steward, Falk Firebeard. Bolgeir Bearclaw serves as her Housecarl, while Bryling and Erikur serve as her Thanes. It was after Torygg's death, at the hand of Ulfric Stormcloak, that Elisif became the Jarl of Solitude, and following her assumption to power in Solitude, Elisif would work in close cooperation with the Third Empire against Ulfric Stormcloak and the Stormcloak Rebellion. The true reasons for Elisif's support of the Empire are debatable, but factors involved included the fact that her husband Torygg served under the Emperor (though Torygg's own loyalty is debatable), and the fact that Solitude serves as the base of Imperial military power in Skyrim at the time of the Stormcloak Rebellion. In turn, the Empire works closely with Jarl Elisif in its attempts to squash the Stormcloak Rebellion. This Imperial support, along with Elisif's marriage to the last High King, makes Elisif the most likely candidate for the position of monarch should the Empire succeed in ending the Stormcloak Rebellion. However, Elisif's lack of experience and total dependence on Imperial support, specifically with regards to General Tullius, seems to imply that, should she become High Queen, Elisif will be greatly under the control of the Empire. An outspoken supporter of the Empire, Elisif is a Jarl whose court views are to keep Skyrim as a province of the Empire of Tamriel. Viewing the Stormcloak Rebellion as a blight upon the face of Skyrim, Elisif gives no explicit indication of any dissatisfaction with the Empire. With regard to religious views, Elisif states that she does not worship Talos. However, she nonetheless asks the Dragonborn to deliver Torygg's War Horn to a Shrine of Talos so that her late husband might have the funerary rites which he would have wanted, High King Torygg having been a worshipper of Talos. As the White-Gold Concordat outlawed the worship of Talos in Skyrim at this time, one is left to make their own assumptions with regards to whether or not Elisif worships Talos in her private life.

Ulfric Stormcloak
Ulfric Stormcloak is the Jarl of Windhelm and leader of the Stormcloak rebellion. Ulfric Stormcloak is considered a hero by many for his part in quelling the Forsworn Uprising which subsequently earned him the nickname, the Bear of Markarth. As a veteran of the Great War, Ulfric resented the Empire's appeasement of the Aldmeri Dominion's oppressive demands and tried to force their hand in re-legitimizing free Talos worship. Though the Empire initially capitulated to Ulfric's demand during what is known as the Markarth Incident, the Empire was soon pressured by the Aldmeri Dominion to break their agreement with Ulfric and arrested him and his followers for breaking the terms of the White-Gold Concordat. He believes that Skyrim should free itself from the Empire which he sees as corrupted by the Aldmeri Dominion and too weak to protect its citizens. Some believe Ulfric to be a hero, while others label him an opportunist. His father Hoag, the Jarl of Windhelm, usually referred simply as "The Bear of Eastmarch," died during his incarceration. Ulfric, his only son, was forced to deliver his eulogy via a letter that he had smuggled out of prison. Leaving prison, Ulfric returned to Windhelm to find the city in mourning. The citizens were said to have been calling out for justice and war against the Aldmeri Dominion. Naturally, they sat Ulfric on the throne and he became Jarl. Much of Stormcloak doctrine stems from Ulfric's views that Skyrim should secede from what he considers a corrupt crumbling Empire; one that already is defeated by the Thalmor. After witnessing the deaths of an untold number of Nords who sacrificed themselves during The Great War, Ulfric considered the White-Gold Concordat treaty between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion to be a complete betrayal of the Empire's citizens. Ulfric also seeks to become the next High King, as he believes there has not been a "true" High King in Skyrim for generations, and that previous kings were puppets that were hand-picked by the Emperor. Some Nords feel that his opposition to the White-Gold Concordat and the banning of Talos worship in Skyrim is simply a facade for him to gain more supporters to gain his true goal of becoming High King of Skyrim.[15] However, asking Ulfric how he became Jarl of Eastmarch will reveal that he is very dedicated in following the ways of traditional Nord beliefs. He says that the throne he sits on is Ysgramor's and his father's, rather than his, and that he only hopes he can do both of them proud. Furthermore, Ulfric's dialogue with Galmar Stone-Fist reveals that he does not relish the lives that will be lost in his rebellion and is considerate of the Nord families who will lose loved ones in his civil war. Even so, Ulfric feels he must see his quest for Skyrim's independence to its final conclusion as he sees the Empire as an inept parasite that continues to bleed Skyrim dry to recoup their losses from the Great War that they chose to surrender in. He also sees the Empire as an obstacle which is preventing his people from ridding his homeland of Thalmor influence. In addition to his qualms about how the Empire's politics are affecting his homeland, he also resents the Empire for what he sees as unjustly criminalizing the Nord people for desiring to rule themselves and disregarding the sacrifices of all the soldiers who fought in the Great War by appeasing the oppressive demands of the Aldmeri Dominion. With several of his policies being nationalistic in tone, many non-Nord and some Nords consider Ulfric to be prejudiced. He is believed by some to have sequestered the Dunmer population in Windhelm to the slums of the Gray Quarter and the Argonians to the assemblage off the docks, issuing a decree forbidding the Argonians from living within the city's walls, contrary to his father Hoag's more "soft" policy,[19] however this hostile belief toward outsiders is shared by much of Windhelm's populace. Dialogue with Niranye—an Altmer who lives within the city—actually suggests that it is the Dunmer who chose to live in the Gray Quarter due to being "too proud and naive to understand the way things truly are. Similar comments are made by Belyn Hlaalu, a Dunmer who owns property in Windhelm. Pleas from Dunmer citizens often fall on deaf ears, leading them to believe he has nothing but disdain for them. Some even claim Ulfric refuses to send aid to the Khajiit caravans and non-Nord towns that have been raided by bandits. Dialogue shared between Ulfric and his steward Jorleif indicate, however, that he does not attend to the issues in his city because he is too preoccupied with the Stormcloak Rebellion and the greater issues of Skyrim to worry about them, saying it is the guards' jobs to deal with such issues.[22] He also allows non-Nords to live peacefully in Windhelm and own businesses, including Altmer and Imperials. He also allows a Dunmer, Belyn Hlaalu, to own a successful farm in the outskirts of the city, and employ an elderly Nord woman. Ulfric admits to having fallen from the Greybeards' strict teachings about using the Way of the Voice for anything other than the worship of Kynareth, however he still believes that his Thu'um should not be used lightly and rarely uses his training. He also still refers to Arngeir as "Master Arngeir," despite not training with them for a number of years

==Polls= Ulfric or Stormcloak Elisif Ulfric Neither

My Opinion
I'd have to go with Elisif. Ulfric I think would be a good military commander, but he's garbage when it comes to the day-to-day. Look at Windhelm: he's allowed the East Empire Company to be shut down, depriving his city of trade. He won't protect the Khajiit caravans, also depriving his city of trade. He's practically severed ties with Morrowind for no reason other than his bigotry. The city itself is falling to ruin, people are being murdered in the streets and the Argonians and Dunmer have been segregated from the human population. If Winhelm is any indication of how Ulfric runs things, it underscores how inept he is as a ruler.