Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-209.7.3.188-20160303204000/@comment-26863727-20160304013604

Ottoman Hold wrote: I've been through a ton of these discussions, and my opinion remains the same.

I side with The Empire. Although the Stormcloaks fight for "freedom", they are fighting the wrong people. Ulfric wants power, and took it out on The Empire. They chose the wrong people to fight. The Empire had every right to fight them back and such. So yeah, I side with The Empire. If Ulfric attacked the Dominion directly he would not have much support, but by first gaining the loyalty of the Nords first in this manner he can obtain the power necessary to fight the Elves.

People are always calling the Nords racist for disliking the Dunmer, but that word does not mean what they think it means. To be racist is to say "I am better than you because I am a X and you are a Y". The hate between (yes, BETWEEN) the Nords and Dunmer goes back to when the Dunmer killed Lorkhan and refused to return his heart, and the Nords fought to take it back. Is it necessarily okay, no, but I must point out that the Dunmer don't like Nords either. The Nords aren't "I don't like you either" guy from Star Wars, is all I'm saying.

The Empire very conceivably could have won against the Dominion, or at least negotiated way better terms. This is one reason the Nords are very upset, another is the whole Talos thing everyone knows about.

Ulfric wants to do what's best for his people, but would you really not do the same?

A side note to those who claim the Stormcloaks only beat a tiny amount of the Legion, that's ridiculous. If that was the case, then whoever the Imperial commander-in-chief of the Empire is is either A) an idiot or B) unable to send those troops because they don't exist. Sure, there's the southern border guard, but is that really a priority over the GIANT REBELLION in the backyard?!

Some say the Nords would be easily crushed by the Dominion without the "protection" of the Imps, but they're the whole reason any Thalmor are there in the first place! Let's look at Hammerfell for a moment. Don't wear armor, use swords wholly devoted to cutting. And let's look at the Dominion troops. The Altmer are too racist(that's a proper use of the term) to let the Khajiit or Bosmer fight, only using them as assassins and servants, not even using the best archers on the planet in their army. The average Altmer fighter wears a type of plate armor and is equipped with versatile weaponry, as well as being versed in magic. The most powerful magic users in their army use only magic and no armor. The Dominion lost to Hammerfell, once it was unburdened by Mede's crap leadership. Now look at the Stormcloaks. Regardless of what stats say, that armor would be way superior to the Imperial light armor(which is the most common in this time period) in real life, there's even what may be a scale mail jerkin between the chain mail and quilted leather, which can be seen around the armpits. Often, they use greatswords, warhammers, battleaxes, or a shield and waraxe, mace, or sword. These weapons are steel(the ones spawned for battles use steel, not iron). Likely the regular spawns continuing to use iron after you reach level 2 is a glitch or oversight. Now, it's not canon that say, an Elven sword is automatically better than a Steel one, it all depends on how good the smith was. Magic-users among Stormcloaks are exceptionaly rare, if they exist at all. The Stormcloaks are clearly better equipped to fight enemies in plate. The Stormcloaks could take on the Dominion.