User blog comment:Spritydove/Deeper Thought into the Civil War/@comment-5135631-20120707164216/@comment-5135631-20120711221137

How different is a shout from magic? No one would have cared if he used magic. Jurgen used the voice without restraint a lot of the time, Ulfric admits he has fallen from the strict teachings, but he still believes the voice shouldn't be used lightly and doesn't use his training a lot. Does this mean when a priest of Mara makes a mistake in raising a child, Mara smites them or destroys their house, even though they only make a mistake. Ulfric doesn't deserve a catastrophe like Jurgen because Jurgen used the voice without care. Are all bandits punished by Jygalagg? Are the callous and the cruel punished by Mara? Are the cowardly punished by Talos? It's up to men to decide the fates of men, they can follow Aedric teachings, but since the Aedra and Daedra have less influence of Nirn than at the time of Red Mountain, the law has to be ultimately created by mortals.

Maybe Kynareth also might recognise that Ulfric's motivation for killing Torygg with the voice was to accomplish an end. Use Shout rather than Steel = Imperial court taking him more seriously. He could have probably killed Torygg with Steel, he has more experience on the battlefield from what we know has received the same if not more military training. It wouldn't matter how he killed Torygg a whole lot because at the end of the day, whether he killed with a butter knife or a shout, the Empire would have still called it murder.

In this case, a shout is necessary because it kills him and shows everyone how powerful he is. That may sound like the sign of a dick, but ultimately it means more people join him as a result of awe, fear, admiration and respect, and since Ulfric had no idea that Torygg respected him, and the level of trauma and stress Ulfric was going through at the time, killing Torygg was unfortunate, but necessary. Ulfric killing Torygg in that way would probably show the Thalmor he is not to be pushed around too, which is his real goal with the war.

Ulfric understands he has pissed off his critics by using the voice when the Greybeards don't see it necessary, but at the end of the day, if everyone lived like the Greybeards, nothing would get done and Skyrim would burn under Alduin's flame. Ulfric may have quitted the Greybeards, but that doesn't mean he is evil. He gave up one righteous way of life for another righteous way of life, he gave up piety and solitude for defending his homeland and courage. He can't be branded a dick for that.

Ulfric admits his flaws with the whole 'falling from the teachings' but what about the Emperor you most likely fight for? What has he acknowledged? Has he apologised to the Nordic leaders for submitting to tyranny when he had a decent chance of gaining back a lot of lost ground, and has he promised them that one day Talos will be restored? Has he tried to negotiate with Ulfric or calm him down, or try to make any sort of deal with him? Has he prayed in apology to Arkay, for undoing everything the dead had done, has he prayed in apology to Stendarr or Shor or Talos, imploring them for mercy and asking for a chance at redemption? Has he apologised to the Redguards for leaving them out to dry after all they had done for him? Has he apologised to all the Imperial supporters in Summerset, Valenwood and Elsweyr for forsaking them?

All he has done is sell his hard-won honour, his true freedom and the freedom of his people and one entire province (Hammerfell) in return for giving the humans a few more decades under Imperial rule and limited autonomy of their represented countries. When a man with, in my opinion and the opinions of most average Nords, the best claim to the throne, tries to grab his nations freedom from Aldmer oppression, he sends men to try and kill him. They wouldn't have given him a trial or a shot at redemption, nothing.