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Ah shit, here we go again.
As if all the previous nonsense in his posts was not enough, in the fifth part of this “bible” (colonel-killa-bee.tumblr.com/p…) the author tries to prove that Ulfric is not racist using some of the same superficial arguments that Stormcloak supporters like him always bring to the table. But before I go any further, I just want to make something clear: I think that the racism card is by far the worst and most ridiculous argument to criticize the Stormcloaks with and the fact many people only join the Empire only thanks to this makes me frustrated to say the least. “So you are racist as well?” No, I’m not. I think that the way Ulfric treats the dunmer and the argonians in Windhelm is frustrating to say the least and I would never support anything like that, but over time I realized that it is not a good argument when talking about the civil war itself. Think about it: Ulfric started the Civil war under a false premise, as he thought that it was the Emperor that ordered his arrest when it was only Jarl Hrolfdir that gave the order (as jarls are largely independent from the High King and do not answer to the emperor directly unlike the High King), and as the war progressed Ulfric ended up tearing Skyrim apart, weakening it in the process with countless able bodied sons and daughters of Skyrim killing each other each day (thus decreasing the amount of nords that could be used to fight the Dominion in the next Great War), attracting the attention of the Thalmor (as Alvor reveals the nords berely paid attention to the ban of Talos worship in one of his possible dialogues: “It’s from that treaty that ended the Great War, remember, when the Emperor was forced by the Thalmor to outlaw Talos worship. We didn’t pay much attention to it when I was a boy - everyone still had their little shrine to Talos. But then Ulfric and his ‘Sons of Skyrim’ started agitating about it, and sure enough the Emperor had to crack down. Dragging people off in the middle of the night… one of the main causes of this war, if you ask me.“) and all of this to the point of the Thalmor secretly using this war as means to keep Skyrim weakened (since it could be a great ally of Cyrodiil in the next Great War) to the point of it considering to help one side if it ends up being necessary to keep the war on… and among all of this mess your main reason is the racial segregation in Windhelm? I am sorry to tell you this but you may be just giving strength to the Stormcloaks.
Alright, with that said, lets get to The Stormcloak Guy’s post: first he tries to prove that the he is not racist by pointing a meaning of racism (the belief that a certain race is superior or inferior due to certain characteristics). Funny how he did not show any source for his claims there, because he only showed a single meaning of the word. In other words: he cherry picked what was convenient to him and threw away what would contradict him. According to Marriam-Webster (www.merriam-webster.com/dictio…) one of the meanings of “racism” is simply “racial prejudice or discrimination”. Something similar is stated by Dictyonary.com (www.dictionary.com/browse/raci…) and the Cambridge Dictionary (dictionary.cambridge.org/dicti…), so the Stormcloaks in Windhelm (again: in Windhelm) are racist if they mistreat individuals thanks to their race, they are just not as racist as actual racial supremacists, like the Thalmor. The Stormcloaks are segregationists, not supremacists, but still racist nonetheless.
Then he says that everyone in Tamriel is technically racist because “ they believe certain races are good at certain things, and discriminate against them because of it.” Is this true? Well yes, but actually no. It is not true from the point that everyone in Tamriel knows what each race is known for, in other words what most individuals from that race are known to be, but not everyone in Tamrieol thinks every single member of a certain race will be like the majority of that race. Now lets take a look at his list of points that are used by people who say Ulfric is racist:
He says that Ulfric does not have any hatred towards the khajiit by saying that the caravans are not allowed into the walls of any city (what is actually true) and by mentioning the khajiit encountered in Riften. Well, it seems he forgot what one can clearely hear while talking to Brunwulf Free-Winter (“Whenever a group of marauders attack a Nord village, Ulfric is the first to sound the horn and send the men. But a group of Dark Elf refugees gets ambushed? A group of Argonians, or a Khajiit caravan? No troops. No investigation. Nothing. There's a group of cutthroats out there right now that Ulfric doesn't lift a finger to bring to justice, as long as they don't threaten Nord land.”), once again trowing away what is not convenient for him. Also he seems to ironically lack knowledge of the nord tradition regarding how jarls rule, as there is a loading screen that reveals that the jarls are largely independent from the High King (which is why each hold tracks it’s bounties separately). This means that even if Ulfric was the High King (which he isn’t, at least not yet) he would not have full control over the other holds, just more influence than the other jarls. In other words what happens in Riften does not help with anything here, as Ulfric has only full control over Eastmarch.
Now about the quote “Skyrim belongs to the nords”, the author caims that this is a dialogue for almost every nord in the game (what is indeed true), but did not even talk about racial segregation among the stormcloaks in this part of the post. I will talk about it in a while.
The author goes on to try to debunk the claim that the Stormcloaks hate all elves. While this is factually false as not all of those who call themselves Stormcloaks hate all elves (Laila Law-Giver’s court, for example), some of the arguments Colonel-KillaBee used were, to say the least, pathetic. Like when he says “Firstly, there is a difference between racism and prejudice” as if racism by itself was not a form of prejudice, as we can see here www.dictionary.com/browse/prej… and here en.oxforddictionaries.com/defi…. Prejudice is about preconceived positions, forming opinions beforehand, without enough knowledge and evidence. This is exactly what racism is about, as it is based on the preconceived assumption that someone is despisable or harmful thanks to the individual’s race). He then says “If the Stormcloaks truly hated all elves, why are there not one, not two, not three, but four Altmer npcs in the city who are not only not in the grey quarters, but are merchants?”, showing that he does not realize that these Altmer live on parts of the city that are majorly populated by nords, which means Ulfric probably does not even know they exist. He mentions one of the altmer claming the dunmer for not having what it takes to conquer the nords’ respect. This elf is Niranye and using her as an argument for this is foolish because what she actually says is “It was difficult at first. The Nords of this city are, at best, suspicious of outsiders. But in time, I made the right friends and proved myself useful enough that they don’t give me trouble anymore. The dark elves are too proud and naive to understand the way things truly are, and so they continue to dwell in that slum.” notice she said that she got the right friends, which means she was lucky. As if all that was not enough, it is revealed in one of the Thieves Guild’s side quests, more specifically the Summerset Shadows quest, that Niranye worked for the Thieves Guild before she became a merchant, so a good part of what she got may not have been trough honest means.
Oh, and that dunmer that owns a farm, Belyn Hlaalu, lives like any other dunmer in Windhelm: in the falling apart slum that is the Gray Quarter, an part of the City that is not populated by nords and that Ulfric treats like trash… and there is no evidence that the Stormcloaks know about his farm, since dialogues suggest they do not know about Faryl Atheron, another dunmer resident of the Gray Quarter, working for Bolfrida Brandy-Mug, a nord woman. You see, while working there we can hear some interesting comments about his situation, such as “Of course working for Bolfrida isn’t my first choice. But what else can a Dunmer do out here?”, or even “Bolfrida is certainly grating, but she pays well. Thankfully nobody from the city can see me out here.” At this point we can see that Faryl is a very tough and hard working individual, but where does Faryl live? You guessed it: in the Gray Quarter (sources: elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/F… en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Faryl_…). Another evidence pointing towards the Stormcloaks not knowing about Belyn’s farm is the fact that Belyn’s employee, a nord farmer called Adilsa, actually LIVES in the farm while the actual owner lives in the Gray Quarter (sources: elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/B… en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Belyn_…). Such a thing would not happen in Belyn was not trying to hide the fact that he owns a farm. Would Faryl and Belyn do what they do if the Stormcloaks of Windhelm were okay with dunmer owning farms or working for nords? The fact that these dunmer were refugees that lost everything thanks to the eruption of the Red Mountain must not be forgotten either, because naturally there would not be much they could do on these conditions.
Next he tries to prove that Ulfric is not racist towards the dunmer by citating the Decree of Monument (elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/D… www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Decre…), but he clearely failed to consider a specific aspect: it says “no compensation TO Skyrim…” It is funny how he conveniently ignored what came right after it. Lets take a closer look: “with no compensation to Skyrim or the Empire except as writ in the Armistice of old wheresoever those might still apply”. In case you do not know what the Armstice was, here it is en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Armistic…. It gave Morrowind more independence than the other provinces ruled by Tiber Septim, but the Empire was still allowed to send troops to the province and protect it (remember how the dunmer became angry at the Empire for taking their forces from Morrowind to help defend Cyrodiil during the Oblivion Crisis?), so If Ulfric does not aid the Gray Quarter it is because Ulfric does not want to.
He tries to justify Ulfric’s segregation againt the argonians by saying that it is known the argonians may get suddently overtaken by the Hist, but the question is: did Ulfric have this in mind? The answer is “we don’t know”, so this is not a good argument. The Stormcloak guy then claims Ulfric is doing it for the safety of nords, dunmer and argonians because these races are known to not get along well… sure: he left them to freeze in the docks, with barely having a roof to confort them and barely having what to eat, for their own safety. Logic is overrated, am I right? “Then what about how Brunwulf states that it is also for their own safety” there is a great difference between a ruler banishing a certain group because he is prejudiced towards the group and a ruler who chooses to keep such group separated because the folk in his lands show bigotry (and maybe even violence) towards such group. Comparing Ulfric with Brunwulf in this aspect is a false analogy.
The best part of this? If the return of the argonians to Windhelm would put them in danger, it would show how innefective Windhelm’s governemnt and defences are. Of course, that could be explained by how the war has basically been draining Windhelm’s resources, as it is revealed by Brunwulf himself if he becomes the jarl, but that would only show how ULFRIC’S government was innefective, because the Civil War was Ulfric’s fault in the first place.
Well, about the trade issue: Ulfric would obviously not trade directly with Cyrodiil because he sees them as enemies. Trading with the East Empire Company is no good argument either, as they have business in pretty much all of the provinces of Tamriel, even in the Aldmeri Dominion. And it is funny how he says that “ both are dependent on resources from eachother, and both need to rebuild, especially the Empire.” yeah sure Colonel-Killa-Bee, especially the Empire. Lets just ignore how Tullius reveals that Cyrodiil is managing to keep the Dominion’s army at bay simply by gathering most of the Imperial Legion in the southern border with the Aldmeri Dominion, all while a Stormcloak Skyrim would have just been torn apart by Ulfric’s civil war, weakened and partially devastated, without any chances of receiving any resources from Cyrodiil, unlike an empire supporting Skyrim as Sybille Stentor’s dialogue reveals.
As if all the previous nonsense in his posts was not enough, in the fifth part of this “bible” (colonel-killa-bee.tumblr.com/p…) the author tries to prove that Ulfric is not racist using some of the same superficial arguments that Stormcloak supporters like him always bring to the table. But before I go any further, I just want to make something clear: I think that the racism card is by far the worst and most ridiculous argument to criticize the Stormcloaks with and the fact many people only join the Empire only thanks to this makes me frustrated to say the least. “So you are racist as well?” No, I’m not. I think that the way Ulfric treats the dunmer and the argonians in Windhelm is frustrating to say the least and I would never support anything like that, but over time I realized that it is not a good argument when talking about the civil war itself. Think about it: Ulfric started the Civil war under a false premise, as he thought that it was the Emperor that ordered his arrest when it was only Jarl Hrolfdir that gave the order (as jarls are largely independent from the High King and do not answer to the emperor directly unlike the High King), and as the war progressed Ulfric ended up tearing Skyrim apart, weakening it in the process with countless able bodied sons and daughters of Skyrim killing each other each day (thus decreasing the amount of nords that could be used to fight the Dominion in the next Great War), attracting the attention of the Thalmor (as Alvor reveals the nords berely paid attention to the ban of Talos worship in one of his possible dialogues: “It’s from that treaty that ended the Great War, remember, when the Emperor was forced by the Thalmor to outlaw Talos worship. We didn’t pay much attention to it when I was a boy - everyone still had their little shrine to Talos. But then Ulfric and his ‘Sons of Skyrim’ started agitating about it, and sure enough the Emperor had to crack down. Dragging people off in the middle of the night… one of the main causes of this war, if you ask me.“) and all of this to the point of the Thalmor secretly using this war as means to keep Skyrim weakened (since it could be a great ally of Cyrodiil in the next Great War) to the point of it considering to help one side if it ends up being necessary to keep the war on… and among all of this mess your main reason is the racial segregation in Windhelm? I am sorry to tell you this but you may be just giving strength to the Stormcloaks.
Alright, with that said, lets get to The Stormcloak Guy’s post: first he tries to prove that the he is not racist by pointing a meaning of racism (the belief that a certain race is superior or inferior due to certain characteristics). Funny how he did not show any source for his claims there, because he only showed a single meaning of the word. In other words: he cherry picked what was convenient to him and threw away what would contradict him. According to Marriam-Webster (www.merriam-webster.com/dictio…) one of the meanings of “racism” is simply “racial prejudice or discrimination”. Something similar is stated by Dictyonary.com (www.dictionary.com/browse/raci…) and the Cambridge Dictionary (dictionary.cambridge.org/dicti…), so the Stormcloaks in Windhelm (again: in Windhelm) are racist if they mistreat individuals thanks to their race, they are just not as racist as actual racial supremacists, like the Thalmor. The Stormcloaks are segregationists, not supremacists, but still racist nonetheless.
Then he says that everyone in Tamriel is technically racist because “ they believe certain races are good at certain things, and discriminate against them because of it.” Is this true? Well yes, but actually no. It is not true from the point that everyone in Tamriel knows what each race is known for, in other words what most individuals from that race are known to be, but not everyone in Tamrieol thinks every single member of a certain race will be like the majority of that race. Now lets take a look at his list of points that are used by people who say Ulfric is racist:
He says that Ulfric does not have any hatred towards the khajiit by saying that the caravans are not allowed into the walls of any city (what is actually true) and by mentioning the khajiit encountered in Riften. Well, it seems he forgot what one can clearely hear while talking to Brunwulf Free-Winter (“Whenever a group of marauders attack a Nord village, Ulfric is the first to sound the horn and send the men. But a group of Dark Elf refugees gets ambushed? A group of Argonians, or a Khajiit caravan? No troops. No investigation. Nothing. There's a group of cutthroats out there right now that Ulfric doesn't lift a finger to bring to justice, as long as they don't threaten Nord land.”), once again trowing away what is not convenient for him. Also he seems to ironically lack knowledge of the nord tradition regarding how jarls rule, as there is a loading screen that reveals that the jarls are largely independent from the High King (which is why each hold tracks it’s bounties separately). This means that even if Ulfric was the High King (which he isn’t, at least not yet) he would not have full control over the other holds, just more influence than the other jarls. In other words what happens in Riften does not help with anything here, as Ulfric has only full control over Eastmarch.
Now about the quote “Skyrim belongs to the nords”, the author caims that this is a dialogue for almost every nord in the game (what is indeed true), but did not even talk about racial segregation among the stormcloaks in this part of the post. I will talk about it in a while.
The author goes on to try to debunk the claim that the Stormcloaks hate all elves. While this is factually false as not all of those who call themselves Stormcloaks hate all elves (Laila Law-Giver’s court, for example), some of the arguments Colonel-KillaBee used were, to say the least, pathetic. Like when he says “Firstly, there is a difference between racism and prejudice” as if racism by itself was not a form of prejudice, as we can see here www.dictionary.com/browse/prej… and here en.oxforddictionaries.com/defi…. Prejudice is about preconceived positions, forming opinions beforehand, without enough knowledge and evidence. This is exactly what racism is about, as it is based on the preconceived assumption that someone is despisable or harmful thanks to the individual’s race). He then says “If the Stormcloaks truly hated all elves, why are there not one, not two, not three, but four Altmer npcs in the city who are not only not in the grey quarters, but are merchants?”, showing that he does not realize that these Altmer live on parts of the city that are majorly populated by nords, which means Ulfric probably does not even know they exist. He mentions one of the altmer claming the dunmer for not having what it takes to conquer the nords’ respect. This elf is Niranye and using her as an argument for this is foolish because what she actually says is “It was difficult at first. The Nords of this city are, at best, suspicious of outsiders. But in time, I made the right friends and proved myself useful enough that they don’t give me trouble anymore. The dark elves are too proud and naive to understand the way things truly are, and so they continue to dwell in that slum.” notice she said that she got the right friends, which means she was lucky. As if all that was not enough, it is revealed in one of the Thieves Guild’s side quests, more specifically the Summerset Shadows quest, that Niranye worked for the Thieves Guild before she became a merchant, so a good part of what she got may not have been trough honest means.
Oh, and that dunmer that owns a farm, Belyn Hlaalu, lives like any other dunmer in Windhelm: in the falling apart slum that is the Gray Quarter, an part of the City that is not populated by nords and that Ulfric treats like trash… and there is no evidence that the Stormcloaks know about his farm, since dialogues suggest they do not know about Faryl Atheron, another dunmer resident of the Gray Quarter, working for Bolfrida Brandy-Mug, a nord woman. You see, while working there we can hear some interesting comments about his situation, such as “Of course working for Bolfrida isn’t my first choice. But what else can a Dunmer do out here?”, or even “Bolfrida is certainly grating, but she pays well. Thankfully nobody from the city can see me out here.” At this point we can see that Faryl is a very tough and hard working individual, but where does Faryl live? You guessed it: in the Gray Quarter (sources: elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/F… en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Faryl_…). Another evidence pointing towards the Stormcloaks not knowing about Belyn’s farm is the fact that Belyn’s employee, a nord farmer called Adilsa, actually LIVES in the farm while the actual owner lives in the Gray Quarter (sources: elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/B… en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Belyn_…). Such a thing would not happen in Belyn was not trying to hide the fact that he owns a farm. Would Faryl and Belyn do what they do if the Stormcloaks of Windhelm were okay with dunmer owning farms or working for nords? The fact that these dunmer were refugees that lost everything thanks to the eruption of the Red Mountain must not be forgotten either, because naturally there would not be much they could do on these conditions.
Next he tries to prove that Ulfric is not racist towards the dunmer by citating the Decree of Monument (elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/D… www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Decre…), but he clearely failed to consider a specific aspect: it says “no compensation TO Skyrim…” It is funny how he conveniently ignored what came right after it. Lets take a closer look: “with no compensation to Skyrim or the Empire except as writ in the Armistice of old wheresoever those might still apply”. In case you do not know what the Armstice was, here it is en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Armistic…. It gave Morrowind more independence than the other provinces ruled by Tiber Septim, but the Empire was still allowed to send troops to the province and protect it (remember how the dunmer became angry at the Empire for taking their forces from Morrowind to help defend Cyrodiil during the Oblivion Crisis?), so If Ulfric does not aid the Gray Quarter it is because Ulfric does not want to.
He tries to justify Ulfric’s segregation againt the argonians by saying that it is known the argonians may get suddently overtaken by the Hist, but the question is: did Ulfric have this in mind? The answer is “we don’t know”, so this is not a good argument. The Stormcloak guy then claims Ulfric is doing it for the safety of nords, dunmer and argonians because these races are known to not get along well… sure: he left them to freeze in the docks, with barely having a roof to confort them and barely having what to eat, for their own safety. Logic is overrated, am I right? “Then what about how Brunwulf states that it is also for their own safety” there is a great difference between a ruler banishing a certain group because he is prejudiced towards the group and a ruler who chooses to keep such group separated because the folk in his lands show bigotry (and maybe even violence) towards such group. Comparing Ulfric with Brunwulf in this aspect is a false analogy.
The best part of this? If the return of the argonians to Windhelm would put them in danger, it would show how innefective Windhelm’s governemnt and defences are. Of course, that could be explained by how the war has basically been draining Windhelm’s resources, as it is revealed by Brunwulf himself if he becomes the jarl, but that would only show how ULFRIC’S government was innefective, because the Civil War was Ulfric’s fault in the first place.
Well, about the trade issue: Ulfric would obviously not trade directly with Cyrodiil because he sees them as enemies. Trading with the East Empire Company is no good argument either, as they have business in pretty much all of the provinces of Tamriel, even in the Aldmeri Dominion. And it is funny how he says that “ both are dependent on resources from eachother, and both need to rebuild, especially the Empire.” yeah sure Colonel-Killa-Bee, especially the Empire. Lets just ignore how Tullius reveals that Cyrodiil is managing to keep the Dominion’s army at bay simply by gathering most of the Imperial Legion in the southern border with the Aldmeri Dominion, all while a Stormcloak Skyrim would have just been torn apart by Ulfric’s civil war, weakened and partially devastated, without any chances of receiving any resources from Cyrodiil, unlike an empire supporting Skyrim as Sybille Stentor’s dialogue reveals.
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