User blog comment:Hippogriff12/The Scarcity of Racists in Skyrim/@comment-5302371-20120728161339/@comment-4588723-20120801032033

@TheEpicShot makes a circular argument in dismissing the lack of due process at the execution because the Imperials were in a rush. The operation was being rushed BECAUSE the Imperials weren’t giving the prisoners due process, it was a shoddy uncivilized railroading that had to be done and over with before the people in general heard what was being done to Ulfric and how, or they might have objected and the Empire’s support base in Skyrim severely compromised. Tullius was apparently hoping this cutting of corners would be justified by the end result. Ultimately, responsibility rests with the commanding officer, and he made several major blunders in the Helgen operation, not the least of which was allowing execution of a civilian (whom we have no evidence was “traveling with” the Stormcloaks) to serve his ambition.



Also, the parallel of Balgruuf’s to Roosevelt’s declared neutrality in WWII is pretty accurate, maybe more than intended. I have to point out that America, like Whiterun, was neutral in name only, and its government supported the Allies off the books long before Pearl Harbor. FDR practically said as much in “Fireside Chats” and other addresses, and the US frequently sent “relief aid” like food and raw materials for munitions to the UK, on the order of billions of today’s dollars, which is why Japan was pressured to attack American assets to distract them from the European Theater – and because the Axis actually thought they could cripple the US sufficiently to win the Eurasian war. That’s where they made their mistake. Similarly, although Whiterun has only one or two Legion uniforms in it at the beginning of the game, its support (including weapons) is in the Empire’s favor, which is why it’s a red-flagged hold on every single map in Skyrim. In the long view though, “neutral parties” are just delaying the inevitable. The real conflict isn’t Stormcloaks vs. Imperials, and all the commanders on both sides know it. The Civil War is just a prelude and the real dance will be between whoever wins and the Thalmor, to lift the Dominion’s oppression of men. Ulfric and Tullius are both impatient with Balgruuf because they know that the longer it takes to decide Skyrim’s relation to the Empire, the stronger the Thalmor grow.