When players first get introduced to the world of the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, they are immediately introduced to the game's main point, that being the dragons, but instead, we are first introduced to the current civil war that is raging across the lands of Skyrim.
One of the first characters that we meet in the game is the leader of one of the factions involved in the war Ulfric Stormcloak, who leads the Stormcloak rebellion who seeks to take back Skyrim for the Thalmor run Imperial Legion. The player is given an option to join either side but the problem is that the Stromcloakcs seem to have a few weird things going on seemingly nobody wants to talk about.
10 Ulfric Can Escape In The Opening
This one starts at the very beginning of the game. The beginning fo Skyrim has become a bit of a meme just for being so long and drawn out, even if it does set the world up fairly well. The start has you being wheeled out in a cart next to the leader of the Stormcloaks, Ulfric Stormcloak, who is gagged so he can't use his dragon shout ability.
The problem is his wrists are tied in front of him with his hands-free, so he could easily reach up and pull down the gag, use the dragon shouts that he's so good at and escape.
9 What Shout Kills The High King
The first thing that we learn about Ulfric Stormcloak, other than him leading the rebellion against the Imperial Legion and the Thalmor, is that he has the ability to use the ancient power of the Thu'um. We get to see this in combat when we see Ulfric fight but the most notable time that Ulfric uses the Thu'um is never seen.
Ulfric uses the Thu'um to "tear apart" the former high king of Skyrim, but we don't know what shout he uses to do it, it was probably the famous Fus Roh Dah, but that doesn't exactly rip people apart so what did he really use?
8 They're Pretty Prejudiced
There aredefinitely some sympathetic points that the Stormcloaks have going for them. Things like the fact that they are being oppressed by an outside invader who banished the worship of one of their gods and also the High Elves in Skyrim are all really smug jerks.
The problem is that the Stormcloak's whole "Skyrim for the Nords" thing is a bit prejudiced and the fact that they will grill the Dragonborn for not being a Nord if they try to join them also doesn't make them look the best.
7 They Make The Dragonborn Prove Themself
Focusing more on the topic of the Dragonborn's involvement in Skyrim's civil war, it's a bit strange how neither side directly seeks out the Dragonborn and asks for their help. This is especially strange in Ulfric's case as Ulfric was literally next to the Dragonborn and they both escaped the same execution.
Even their past interactions aside, Having the Dragonborn on your side isn't just a boost in fighting power but it would also be a massive boost in the morale of your troops, so why does Ulfric make them prove their worth when trying to join the Stormcloaks?
6 Ulfric Used To Work For The Thalmor
This is something that might go pretty unnoticed to anyone who isn't into deep diving into all the lore that a game world has to offer but yeah Ulfric Stormcloak, leader of the rebellion against the Thalmor and basically confirmed High Elf hater used to work for the very people that he fought against.
Now it's nothing new to hate an old boss, especially with people like the Thalmor and Ulfric didn't work for them for very long, but it is still a strange tidbit to think about when Ulfric is talking.
5 The Thalmor Are Still In Skyrim After The War
Keeping on track with the Thalmor theme, one would think that as soon as Ulfric wins the civil war and become High-King of Skyrim, if you choose to join him that is, that he would immediately remove any members of the Thalmor for Skyrim, if not just go complete ethnostate and remove all the High Elves.
Despite that being a fairly logical conclusion, that doesn't actually happen as Thalmor can still be seen roaming throughout Skyrim and even still spawning in their normal locations like their bases.
4 Imperial Soldiers Still Take Prisoners
Another thing that you would think would stop happening after the end of the great war is that you would think that any imperial loyalists would be hunted down and either killed or imprisoned but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Imperial parties can still be seen roaming throughout Skyrim and one can even see people being taken prisoner by the Imperials, even after they have lost the war.
3 There Are Still Imperial Camps
One thought that just having random squads of imperial and imperial taking prisoners after the war was odd but that's just the first layer of this confusing mess. The real strange part is that you realize that the Imperial Legion still has large bases in Skyrim that are known to the Stormcloaks.
It makes sense that places like these would exist still in the immediate aftermath of the conflict, but when the Dragonborn is sent to clear out these places, every eventually respawns and there is no effort by the Stormcloaks to really remove them.
2 They Stop At Skyrim
This mentality has bigger ramifications that we will get into in the last entry but it seems that the Stormcloaks are thinking just a little bit too small in terms of their plans for the aftermath of the civil war.
Basically, the Stormcloaks just want to retake Skyrim for the Nords (who are still pretty much in power) and reinstate Talos as a god. The problem is the Empire is going to strike back and so are the Thalmor and Ulfric seemingly is just fine for settling with Skyrim with him in power.
1 They Can't Beat The Thalmor
If the Stormcloaks win, at least with the current mentality and man-power that they have at the end of the conflict, even with the Dragonborn, they are at a disadvantage. The Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion is going to strike back at them hard, and there is no way that the Stormcloaks can survive a combined onslaught of that level.
It's also unlikely that any peace talks between Ulfric's Skyrim and the combined forces against him are going to go well, so war is basically inevitable.