Why was the PC going to be killed?

[Sheralynn]

 

You should be glad you did not live back in the Viking days. You know, when they would cut your head off for looking at somebody?

Welcome to war, my friend. In war your life means nothing. In war you are what you deserve.

 

The Norse/Vikings actually had a fairly descent legal system, certainly compared to others at the time. The word 'law' even comes from the Norse 'lag' (which in turn comes from the early Germanic 'lagan'). It more or less means the local custom. Laws were democratically determined thats why they would differ from town to town, hence custom. In things involving the law, like in trials, they put together a panel to weigh things and come to a ruling. Today's jury system is derived from that. You'd be selling the Vikings short if you'd portray them as lawless.

 

In reality its more like the closer to the equator, the more barbaric things get.

 

How come everybody is so overprotective over 1 single life? A poor X race walks over the border, gets caught near the sole reason Skyrim is in chaos and is being excecuted. At the time nobody knew you were dragonborn, so you were as much worth as a random beggar or bandit. Now, let me ask you: How many bandits did you kill without reasons? Uh-huh.

Wait, why do you complain again?

 

Well if they caught my character after he/she killed a bunch then it would be a different matter and the punishment would be just.

 

But shouldn't we hold governments and institutions to a higher standard then mere individuals? The blindfolded Lady of Justice, as in all men shall be tried fair and equal..

 

Still I get your point, there's an uprising, the Empire is in peril, chaos, unrest etc. and so indiscriminate killings are to be expected.

 

Thus we are back at the TS:

 

How do the Legioners fail to see that indiscriminately killing innocent people in cold blood is only give others a huge motivation to join the rebels? Seriously, you do not win over new recruits or allies that way, and without either of those things, your military force is toast.

[pikoso26]

I dont see the confusion in this... they just capture you because they cant be sure about anything. And they want to execute you because the imperial captain is one of those OFF WITH THEIR HEADS! a#$holes

[marharth]

I agree with the OP.

 

I also find it a bit insane that even if you are a high elf you still nearly get executed.

[eltucu]

My take is just that the Imperial Captain was a nasty *censored*. It's wasn't the Empire's decision to execute you, it was just hers. Then, to balance that, they tried to make the other officer you talk to seem more sympathetic to your plight.

General Tullius (and the Thalmor representative) was right there and talked to ulfric in front of you. He IS the empire in Skyrim practically. Besides, if i remember correctly, the Captain was the one who wanted to judge ulfric in Solitude rather than killing him right there. Tullius said no, kill everyone now.

 

The Legion wanted everyone dead. Like i said, even the so called Thief isnt actually proven to be a thief. Everyone just says that he is a thief. You arent a stormcloack? tough luck.

 

Even so, if you escape with the legion dude, as i explained, he says "Well, for me, you already earned your pardon". Excuse me princess, i didnt do anything bad, unless its illegal being in proximity to an stormcloack, even if im a Khajiit and i dont even know what a "stormcloack" is, i didnt do sht for being executed.

 

Beth pretty much one sided my choices for the civil war with that beginning. And the worst thing that Ulfric or any stormcloack did and that i witnessed (so no stupid "NO U" accusations, just facts) it is not listening to the Dunmer in Windhelm (his reasons being, they dont want to take part in the war and that ulfric has no time for that since they're in a war), not letting argonians enter Windhelm (that one i dont understand, nor anyone says why) and executing Tullius even if he wanted to surrender (something he turned around that fact in the same spot saying "The Empire that i knew never surrendered" so practically making a parallelism between Tullius in that moment and the Empire, in their knees).

 

I'd probably would gave a sht bout the dunmer too, with all their history of slavers. Well bad luck, go and reclaim your land from the argonians if you want somewhere to live. Hell, i hope you fail since the Argonians have more right to have that land than you with all the crap that you did to them.

 

As i said, Beth one sided my choise. It showed the worst of the worst of the Empire right at the start (and other bad things as the game advances). And the worst they showed me bout the Stormloacks was that issue with the Argonians.

How come everybody is so overprotective over 1 single life? A poor X race walks over the border, gets caught near the sole reason Skyrim is in chaos and is being excecuted. At the time nobody knew you were dragonborn, so you were as much worth as a random beggar or bandit. Now, let me ask you: How many bandits did you kill without reasons? Uh-huh.

Wait, why do you complain again?

Yep since Bandits always attack first, and bandits are know for being... bandits (dont look at me, design desitions. Even the thief of the intro is called a thief cuz he is a thief, you're not called bandit, nor beggar, nor anything, just prisoner cuz they dont even state that you did something wrong). While you, the player, arent a known bandit, nor know beggar, nor stormcloack. The Empire could just have killed Ulfric and let the rest live and get prosecuted in a trial.

Also, did you notice what happens when the dragon attack? "SAVE THE TOWNSPEOPLE! - Tullius. So, a Imperial General prioritize the NORDS of a SMALL village over his OWN life AND killing Ulfric? And what did Ulfric do? Run like an idiot.

Lol, you call other ppl naive, and you think Ulfric should have stayed and fight side by side with the legion? What would have happened next? "Hey, lets forget our differences and have a beer!" No, he would be executed. You want us to put us in Tuillius shoes while you dont want to put yourself in Ulfric's? What would you do with your hands tied, no weapons, in a village that is a small fortress of the faction that almost killed you 20s ago? Go outside and fight for them?

 

And you say put that "NORD" in big letters like if saving a nord was something that made the Empire look better. Cuz they're from other race? Isnt that a bit... racist? Like they dont deserve to be saved cuz they're nords but good tullius wants to save them so he is good.

 

Not even the player can do anything to save the ppl. And no townsfolk of Helgen survived. Only the thalmor agent, Tullius, Ulfric and the Stormclock/Empire guy that you follow.

Edited January 6, 2012 by eltucu

[sedeslav]

And now...your (absolutely resonable questions...) leading to one obvious truth: Bethesda don't have a good story writers.

[billyro]

Bethesda wanted a thread like this to be released so we could converse (or should I say argue?) about this topic. :P

 

The Imperial Legion is just fearful.

[BucMan55]

I chalked it up to a medieval/roman empire situation with a province in civil war where nobody has even an inkling of the kind of justice system(however flawed it may be) you or I live in today. This kind of thing still happens in some places in today's world. Why would I have a problem with it in what represents several centuries ago of today's world(and advances in human rights). Edited January 7, 2012 by BucMan55

[CasperTheLich]

as far as the opening scene goes, the only flaw i see is why would anyone follow the "nice" legionnaire through the fort after they were just seconds from beheading you.

frankly, i have a hard time joining the empire even after i hear the speeches, rants, and see the lore books about the imperials, stormcloaks, & dominion. i find it hard to get over the whole off with his\her head thing. for instance... i can picture how skyrim would be under ulfric's rule, and i don't really like what i'm seeing. also i can see a few pictures of skyrim under the empire's rule. most are markedly better, some not so much. but i... er, my characters have a hard time carrying a "candle" for the jerks who wanted to separate my character's head from his or her body.

 

---edit

as for why my character was dressed in rags and totally unarmed or armored in the beginning.

 

i figured the ambush happened just before my character crossed the border, and happened to be carrying his\her belongings in a cart, and was wearing a suit of armor with a weapon etc. and some imperial patrol was conducting a mop up operation and came across my toon, they ordered him\her to surrender (and not knowing s\he walked into a war zone) my character obliged, thinking it was some kind of boarder inspection or some such. and my character was stripped of arms armor and possessions confiscated before being loaded on a prison wagon. Not too hard to accept, right?

Edited January 7, 2012 by Invisible Man

[stabbykitteh]

But they're only egging the rebellion on by motivating more and more people to join it.

 

That seems to be what Empires do... Looking around the world, a few nations in particular seem to think that the answer to terrorism is perusing actions that simply create more terrorists. Maybe it's not Bethesda's writers being stupid so much as reflecting the stupidity of real world events. Or maybe I'm giving them too much credit. The game had to start somehow :wink:

[marharth]

But seriously why the hell do you still get executed if you are a high elf?

 

Beth should of at least had the Thalmor step in to double check.