History Characters / SkyrimCivilWar

* LargeAndInCharge: He's second only to the [[BonusBoss Ebony Warrior]] in terms of height and sheer muscle mass, and that's saying something. He's also both Ulfric's frontline general and your direct superior if you side with the Stormcloaks.

* PapaWolf: Don't mess with his kid. [[spoiler: The Dark Brotherhood finds this out '''''[[ThePurge The hard way]]'''''.]]

* PapaWolf: Don't mess with his kid.

* HatedByAll: Even other elves in their own country hate them, but they're too terrified to fight back. Absolutely everyone in Skyrim hates them, including the Empire.

* PragmaticVillainy: {{Downplayed}}, due to the [[GrayAndGreyMorality nature]] of the war and how most Jarl’s reasonings aren’t very “evil”. The jarls have partnered up with the empire because they find it more practical than joining The Stormcloaks.

** Jarl Elisif the Fair has a personal reason to go against The Stormcloaks, Ulfric killed her husband Torygg as a show of power and to kickstart the war.
** Jarl Idgrod Ravencrone is disinterested in the civil war and she joined The Empire despite her hatred for the Thalmor.

** Jarl Igmund only supports The Empire because he believes that it protects his hold from the Thalmor.
** Brina Merilis supports The Empire because she served them during the war and knows they want peace at all costs.
** Maven Black-Briar supports The Empire because of her lust for power. It also wouldn't be surprising if she joined The Empire for economic reasons.
** Kraldar supports The Empire because he wants to restore Winterhold to its former glory.
** Brunwulf Free-Winter supports The Empire because he's against Ulfric's nationalist views.

* PragmaticVillainy: The jarls have partnered up with the empire because they find it more practical than joining The Stormcloaks.

* DogKickingExcuse: What the Thalmor’s cause ultimately boils down to. On paper, destroying the material realm to ascend everyone to a more god-like existence they had before sounds well-intentioned, if ''massively'' iffy. In practice, it becomes increasingly clear that they’re more interested in reclaiming their Altmur centric, tyrannical empire they once had.

* AlmightyJanitor: Brina may be just an old soldier trying to live out her retirement, but it's her the townsfolk of Dawnstar look to for leadership, rather than their bratty Jarl. Should the Legion takeover tha Pale, however, this is [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] as she's given ''de facto'' authority as the new Jarl.

* CruelToBeKind: He disagrees with the banning of Talos worship, even to the point of keeping the statue and shrine of Talos front and center in Whiterun Keep and Balgruuf himself still worshiping him, but he still goes ahead with outlawing it. He sees that it's better the people are jailed under [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure his]]] jurisdiction than under the [[ColdBloodedTorture Thalmor's]].

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Asks the player, rhetorically, if the White-Gold Condordat ''really'' saved the Empire, or just planted the seeds for a second war as has happened with the Stormcloaks.

* DirtyCoward: General dialogue between her and her steward reveals that Laila has an emergency carriage at the ready for her to escape should a dragon attack Riften. Of course, given what happenned to Helgen, one can argue that her preparations are more between this and just having common sense, especially given how small Riften is compared to other major cities.

* AuthorityInNameOnly: He's the ruler of a ruined, barely-inhabited, resource-poor frozen wasteland and no one, not the other Jarls, not the College, not even Winterhold's few remianing non-mage citizens take him seriously. He's pretty bitter about it.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Dengeir's a grumpy fellow and his paranoia causes him to distrust people he really shouldn't worry about but unlike Sidgeir, he's mostly a benevolent ruler as Jarl.

* CulturalPosturing: Some of them, including Tullius, like to point out how glorious the cosmopolitan empire is compared to Skyrim. Tullius is also initially of the opinion that ''all'' the Imperial provinces, not only Skyrim (but especially Skyrim), would instantly degenerate into barbarism and anarchy without the guiding hand of Legions to enforce order, which is just a dickish thing to say no matter how you slice it.[[note]]However, looking into both the past and present, there is a degree of truth to some of this. While "barbarism" is a disrespectful misconception of cultures just as advanced as the Empire, several provinces have been shown to beat up on each other and fight internally whenever an Empire has been absent, such as the Great House wars in Morrowind, the Crown-Forbear conflicts in Hammerfell, and the repeated sackings of Orsinium. And let's not forget the long, chaotic, bloody interregnum that raged on for over 400 years before the Empire was rebuilt, destabilizing much of Tamriel. Furthermore, many of the Jarls, regardless of alignment, have been shown to be either corrupt or incompetant, further worsening Skyrim's situation.[[/note]]

** it's also pointed out that the Thalmor more or less ignored Skyrim until Ulfic started screaming about Talos and murdering people. The Thalmor then moved in to fan the flames when they smelled Nord weakness and the Empire had to crack down to at least pretend they were trying to stop Talos worship. It explains why Tellius is so dismissive of Nord tradition as he is the ultimate pragmatic.

* {{Expy}}: Of Adamus Philida, both being Imperial commanders that threaten the Dark Brotherhood.

* CoolSword: According to rumors, he wielded the Daedric Artifact "Goldbrand" during the Battle of the Red Ring. This was never confirmed by the Empire itself. [[spoiler:It's technically true and false: an impersonator took the place of the injured emperor before the battle, and said impersonator just so happened to have Goldbrand due to an encounter with Lord Naarfin the day before.]]

* FourStarBadass: A talented general, he managed to encircle the entire Dominion army occupying the Imperial City during the Great War and obliterate it. He then captured Lord Naarfin, the Thalmor commander, and hung him from the White-Gold Tower, alive, for 33 days before having him killed. One account suggests the Thalmor commander was carried off by daedra on the 34th day.

* PayEvilUntoEvil: His decision to hang Lord Naarfin in a crow cage on the White Gold Tower for 33 days was brutal, but well-deserved. For the record, Naarfin planned to sacrifice the Imperial City's entire population to daedra.

* BullyingTheDragon: Subverted. The Empire as a whole is ''much'' stronger than the Stormcloaks. If you play the Dark Brotherhood and Stormcloak storylines simultaneously, Ulfric will refuse to attack Solitude so long as the Emperor, or his cousin Vittoria Vici, is present. He knows full well that though killing them might be a short-term victory, but it would mean that with the high profile murder of their ruler, the Empire would no longer have any excuse to ignore the threat of the Stormcloak Rebellion, and would have to bring the full might of the Imperial military down upon them, which would all but certainly result in a quick and crushing defeat for the rebels. The Stormcloak Rebellion can only succeed because the Empire does not consider it a serious enough threat to invest anything but the barest minimum amount of force possible in supressing it, allowing them to keep the majority of their forces on the border with their equal-strength rival, the Aldmeri Dominion. In the end, the Empire as a whole considers the prospect of losing Skyrim a regretable, but ultimately acceptable loss compared to giving any semblance of an opportunity to the Dominion.

** Part of this is just due to general background intolerance among Skyrim's Nords. All the holds, Imperial or Stormcloak, ban the Khajit caravans from entering. "Skyrim belongs to the Nords" is a popular battlecry among Nords both within and without the Stormcloaks and Skyrim society, in general, doesn't think too highly of elves due to a long history of warfare between the races, with the Great War being only the most recent example. So whether a random Stormcloak is more racist than a random Nord is an open question.

* ManipulativeBastard: He can be quite cunning when he wants to be. How much so depends on how much credit you're willing to give him, with Imperial-aligned characters frequently considering his rhetoric about fighting for Skyrim's traditions and apparent humility to be fronts he uses to gain support. Even without this interpretation, there are moments like his challenge to Torygg. Ulfric and his followers claim the duel wasn't a murder since both men agreed to fight, while members of Torygg's court note that, if Torygg had actually refused, Ulfric could have used that as proof he was unfit to be High King and called a Moot to depose him. There is also the issue that in Nord culture, that while challenging someone to a formal DuelToTheDeath is an acceptable way to settle a conflict, it is also generally viewed as an incredibly harsh way of doing so and only something that should be done in the event that all attempts to find a dimplomatic solution to said conflict have been exhausted; something which Ulfric's critics will notice he ''didn't'' do before challenging Torygg. In his speech to his troops after winning the Civil War, he refuses to take the position of High King until elected by the Moot. A minute later in private, Galmar praises that "nice touch" and Ulfric confirms he knows his election is guaranteed.

** According to what most firsthand sources (including Ulfric himself) say, he did use the Voice when he killed the High King, but the actual killing blow was done by hand.

* NiceGuy: Regardless of your race ("You don't have to be a Nord to fight for Skyrim's freedom!"), Ralof will try to help you in the prologue, including leading you to safety when you seem disoriented and shocked by Alduin's attack. Considering the Stormcloaks are known for [[FantasticRacism their dislike of other races (especially Imperials and elves)]], this is quite telling. There's also his friendliness on the way to his own execution, as he strikes up conversation with the player character and makes an effort to calm an increasingly panicked Lokir, both of whom are complete strangers to him. He also shows his openmindedness at the Guardian Stones. He is elated if the Dragonborn chooses the Warrior stone, but is more accepting of spellcasters and thieves than many other Nords, especially among the warlike Stormcloaks. If you select the Mage stone, he sounds a bit skeptical, but quickly concedes "to each his own" and admits it's not for him to judge. Picking the Thief stone elicits Ralof's sympathetic reassurance that it's never too late to change, as he seemingly takes your choice to mean you have a seedy past. All in all, he's one of the friendlier faces you encounter in the opening act of the game, and one of the few characters in all the land to be warm to you from your first encounter.

* InNameOnly: The modern Thalmor have barely any connection to what they originally were in the earlier eras, where they were first tasked with protecting the Aldmeri heritage. Later on, during [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline the Second Era early Interregnum]], the Thalmor were structured to serve as a diplomatic and administrative corps made up of equal numbers of Khajiit, Bosmer, and Altmer members, with Justiciars being local law enforcement instead of secret police and thuggish enforcers. Even later, in the last few decades of the Second Era, the Thalmor was a congress of Altmer diplomats and Bosmer chieftans specifically responsible for helping administer ''Valenwood'', not the overall Dominion. In all these incarnations, they were far kinder and more tolerant than what they would become in the wake of the Oblivion Crisis.

* HurtingHero: It really does kill him inside to wage war against his fellow Nords.
-->'''Galmar:''' I've toured our camps. We're ready [to take Whiterun].\\
'''Ulfric:''' Is any man ever ready to give the order that will mean the deaths of many?\\
'''Galmar:''' No, but neither is every man able to give that order when he must. [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre But you are that man, Ulfric. You've been that man before, and you'll be him again]].

* RankScalesWithAsskicking: All their leaders. Ulfric's basically a poster boy for the WarriorPrince trope who's noted as basically the kingdom's greatest warrior save possibly for the Dragonborn himself. Even his fiercest detractors, like Brunwulf Free-Winter, admit he's a mighty warrior and a great leader. Galmar is a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy savage]], [[NemeanSkinning fur-clad]], [[TheBerserker berserking]] [[LargeAndInCharge giant of man]] who chops down Thalmor and Imperials like lumber with an effin' huge battleaxe.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: She won her wealth through bribery, corruption, and murder. Her sons are both {{Entitled Bastard}}s who dislike each other, and one of them is AxCrazy to boot. Her daughter is a MasterPoisoner-in-training who otherwise isn't as bad as the rest of the family. There's even a hint of possible incest. They're the Borgias in the setting.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Interestingly, Ulfric has quite a lot in common with UsefulNotes/RobertTheBruce. His killing of Torygg with the Voice and the controversy over the morality of the action closely mirrors Bruce killing John Comyn on holy ground to kickstart his own rebellion.

* ButtMonkey: Because of just about every other trope listed here, the Thalmor almost universally find themselves on the bad side of every player's Dovahkiin, and on the end of their blades. Even Imperial players have a habit of brutally murdering any they encounter.

* ButtMonkey: Owing to her essential flag, she can take a ''lot'' more damage than most Thalmor, and you only have to pay forty septims each time, which you'll be easily able to afford by the time you run into her.

* ButtMonkey: He's a Thalmor and an exceptionally assholish one at that. He's also not wearing any armor, not flagged as essential, guarded by only two soldiers who go down quite easily, and his quest doesn't offer much of a reward, so if you've got a [[SuperScream clear throat]] and a spare forty septims...

* RatedMForManly: They're [[ProudWarriorRace Vikings]] who are fighting in the name of and to restore the worship of their principal God of War; their basic initiation test requires them to kill an undead wraith creature on an iceberg in the middle of the sea; and they have names like Stone-Fist, Sun-Killer, and Cairn-Breaker.

* RatedMForManly: A Viking king who believes in AsskickingLeadsToLeadership and who kills people by shouting at them.
* RebelLeader: Self-explanatory by this point.

* RatedMForManly: He's a massive, bloodthirsty bear of a man roars like a savage animal in combat and only thinks about hewing Imperial and Thalmor heads from necks.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Characters often admit that even though they're loyal to one faction, the other side isn't entirely wrong in their viewpoints. [[spoiler:That Rikke, Ulfric and Galmar all arrive in Sovngarde shows that as far as the Divines are concerned, there is nobility to be found in all their actions -- Tullius is exempt on account of not being a Nord.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: Characters often admit that even though they're loyal to one faction, the other side isn't entirely wrong in their viewpoints. [[spoiler:That Rikke, Ulfric and Galmar all arrive in Sovngarde shows that as far as the Divines are concerned, there is nobility to be found in all their actions -- Tullius is exempt on account of not being a Nord.]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: In-universe, the civil war is precisely about the people of Skyrim being split on what to think of the Empire and the Stormcloaks. Depending on who you ask, even in-game, the Stormcloaks are either virtuous freedom fighters who want to protect Skyrim's culture and restore her to glory, or are barbarian upstarts who are out to take over the country and are causing more trouble than their rule would solve, while the Empire is either a crumbling and fading force with no power that has turned its back on its heritage, or they're Skyrim's best hope to fend off the Thalmor and with the Stormcloaks' defeat rebuild themselves and Skyrim back to the glory days along with the restoration of Talos worship. The only people that ''don't'' get this trope by either the Imperial Army or the Stormcloaks are the Thalmor - you have to look very very deep into the books and lore to get this trope for them.

* BeCruelToBeKind: He disagrees with the banning of Talos worship, even to the point of keeping the statue and shrine of Talos front and center in Whiterun Keep and Balgruuf himself still worshiping him, but he still goes ahead with outlawing it. He sees that it's better the people are jailed under [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure his]]] jurisdiction than under the [[ColdBloodedTorture Thalmor's]].

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Out of all the Jarls, aside from Ulfric, he likely has the most battle experience.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: While you may have identified closely with [[spoiler:the Dark Brotherhood and got to know and like many of them on a personal level]], there's no denying that they certainly had their fate coming.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: If the stories about him fighting on the front lines are true. [[spoiler:They're not quite true, but he ''would've'' been out there if it weren't for his injuries.]]

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: All their leaders. Ulfric's basically a poster boy for the WarriorPrince trope who's noted as basically the kingdom's greatest warrior save possibly for the Dragonborn himself. Even his fiercest detractors, like Brunwulf Free-Winter, admit he's a mighty warrior and a great leader. Galmar is a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy savage]], [[NemeanSkinning fur-clad]], [[TheBerserker berserking]] [[LargeAndInCharge giant of man]] who chops down Thalmor and Imperials like lumber with an effin' huge battleaxe.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: In-universe, a lot of different people have a lot of polarizing things to say about Ulfric and his true motivations in killing Torygg and rebelling against the Empire. Is he a heroic freedom fighter, a cowardly usurper, a well-meaning but misguided patriot? Depends who you ask. Ulfric himself shows himself to be a complex and layered person -- at times he acts humble and doubts his worthiness, other times he shows himself to be confident and bold regarding his rebellion. This is because he's well aware that his actions and his reputation can affect the morale of forces on both sides of the warlines, but which of them is the ''real'' Ulfric is up for debate.

** Even if he isn't [[spoiler:killed by the Stormcloaks]], he can easily be killed by ''you'' by simply walking up to him and [[MakeMeWannaShout Shouting]] him down the stairs. Killing him and his bodyguards will set all the guards into "Stop right there criminal scum!" mode, but you only have to pay a measly forty septims for assault, and can just have his corpse looted so you just make your money back. "[[ExpansionPack Dawnguard]]" offers new and [[AnimateDead corpse]][=/=][[YourSoulIsMine soul-defiling]] methods to kill him with the [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]], and "Dragonborn" grants you even crueler ways to kill him.

* ButtMonkey: He's a Thalmor and an exceptionally assholish one at that. He's also not wearing any armor, not flagged as essential, guarded by only two soldiers who go down quite easily, and his quest doesn't offer much of a reward, so if you've got a [[MakeMeWannaShout clear throat]] and a spare forty septims...

* ManipulativeBastard: He can be quite cunning when he wants to be. How much so depends on how much credit you're willing to give him, with Imperial-aligned characters frequently considering his rhetoric about fighting for Skyrim's traditions and apparent humility to be fronts he uses to gain support. Even without this interpretation, there are moments like his challenge to Torygg. Ulfric and his followers claim the duel wasn't a murder since both men agreed to fight, while members of Torygg's court note that, if Torygg had actually refused, Ulfric could have used that as proof he was unfit to be High King and called a Moot to depose him. There is also the issue that in Nord culture, that while challenging someone to a formal DuelToTheDeath is an acceptable way to settle a conflict, it is also generally viewed as an incredibly harsh way of doing so and only something that should be done in the event that all dimplomatic solutions to said conflict have been exhausted; something which Ulfric's critics will notice he ''didn't'' do before challenging Torygg. In his speech to his troops after winning the Civil War, he refuses to take the position of High King until elected by the Moot. A minute later in private, Galmar praises that "nice touch" and Ulfric confirms he knows his election is guaranteed.

* ManipulativeBastard: He can be quite cunning when he wants to be. How much so depends on how much credit you're willing to give him, with Imperial-aligned characters frequently considering his rhetoric about fighting for Skyrim's traditions and apparent humility to be fronts he uses to gain support. Even without this interpretation, there are moments like his challenge to Torygg. Ulfric and his followers claim the duel wasn't a murder since both men agreed to fight, while members of Torygg's court note that, if Torygg had actually refused, Ulfric could have used that as proof he was unfit to be High King and called a Moot to depose him. In his speech to his troops after winning the Civil War, he refuses to take the position of High King until elected by the Moot. A minute later in private, Galmar praises that "nice touch" and Ulfric confirms he knows his election is guaranteed.

* DeadpanSnarker: A bit of this towards Nords and their warlike customs.

* FrontLineGeneral: During the Battle for Windhelm.
* GoingNative: Downplayed, but if the player sides with the legion, Tullius mentions he's probably not going back to Cyrodil, noting that while he's never going to really understand [[HornyVikings the Nords]], [[GrimUpNorth or get used to the damn cold]], he's come to see Skyrim as his home and respect the fact that the [[MiseryBuildsCharacter harshness inherent to the country tends to make people improve themselves]].
* GrumpyOldMan: You get the feeling that he'd rather get this war over with to prepare for greater threats like the inevitable second war with the Thalmor.

* HypercompetentSidekick: To Jarl Elisif.

* RedOniBlueOni: The blue to Rikke's red.

* TheStrategist: He masterminded Ulfric Stormcloak's capture, and had [[SpannerInTheWorks a dragon not attacked Helgen,]] he likely would have succeeded in dealing a great blow to the Stormcloaks. Hadvar notes that, since taking command, Tullius managed to turn the situation in Skyrim around, from a complete rout for the Empire to a near victory... [[spoiler:before Alduin [[SpannerInTheWorks interrupts]] Ulfric's execution.]] He is considered by the top brass of the Legion to be a proficient "troubleshooter"; he was sent by the Emperor himself to turn things around in Skyrim.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: He doesn't expect much tactical brilliance, organization, charisma or political savvy from the Stormcloaks and their supporters. He's ''dangerously'' wrong.

** If the Dragonborn is a dunmer then it's poetic how a dark elf is the one to finish him off. In Windhelm, Dark Elves are second-class citizens due to being refugees and Ulfric is purposefully indifferent to their suffering. The same is true of an Argonian, as they're not even allowed in the city, stuck in a slum on the docks.

** If the Dragonborn is a dunmer then it's poetic how a dark elf is the one to finish him off. In Windhelm, Dark Elves are second-class citizens due to being refugees and Ulfric is purposefully indifferent to their suffering.

** [[spoiler:The more outspoken parts of the Dunmer population in Windhelm have a similar reaction if he is killed.]]

* FaceDeathWithDignity: If the player sides with the Empire, at the end of the siege of Windhelm, Tullius tells Ulfric he could surrender and be publicly executed, or go down fighting. Ulfric chooses fighting, of course. When beaten down and kneeing, he issues his LastRequest -- that the Dragonborn be the one to deal the final blow, since "it'll make a better song that way.