Skyrim How Ulfric Stormcloak First Rose To Power

Skyrim: How Ulfric Stormcloak First Rose To Power

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Ulfric Stormcloak is one of the most prominent figures in Skyrim, and his rise to power atop the Stormcloak rebellion was decades in the making.

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Skyrim How Ulfric Stormcloak First Rose To Power

One of the most prominent figures in The Elder Scrolls V: Skryim is Ulfric Stormcloak, leader of the Stormcloak rebellion in the game’s Civil War. In fact, Ulfric is one of the first characters the player ever sees in the game, sitting in the cart where they wake up on the way to their execution at Helgen. Like most other characters, locations, and events in The Elder Scrolls, Ulfric has a fleshed-out history, and his rise to power during the Skyrim Civil War was decades in the making.

By the time the player meets him in the 201st year of the Fourth Era, Ulfric Stormcloak is already a notorious name in the Tamrielic Empire under the Mede Dynasty. By this time, the Nord had participated in over thirty years of exploits concerning the upper echelons of politics across the continent. He’s a key figure in many events which have historically canonized names in The Elder Scrolls universe, including the Great War, The Markarth Incident, and the aforementioned Skyrim Civil War. If it weren’t for the timely arrival of Alduin at Helgen, Ulfric would have been executed for crimes against the Empire.

Ulfric Stormcloak was always destined to be a man of at least notable prominence. His father was Jarl of Windhelm before him, and barring any sort of usurpation, Ulfric was next in line to inherit control of Eastmarch Hold. Aside from the nobility he was born into, Ulfric was also selected by the Greybeards to learn the Way of the Voice. Much of his childhood and likely a good part of his teen years were spent at Skyrim’s High Hrothgar, but even at a young age, it seems Ulfric was determined to go to war for his home and his beliefs.

Ulfric Stormcloak In Skyrim’s Great War

Skyrim How Ulfric Stormcloak First Rose To Power

When the Great War began between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion in 4E 171, Ulfric abandoned his training at High Hrothgar to join the Imperial Legion. The Aldmeri Dominion was primarily lead by the Thalmor, a political and paramilitary organization intent on establishing elven dominance in Tamriel once again. The Dominion directly opposed the human-led Empire, and had once again risen to prominence after The Elder Scrolls’ Septim Dynasty ended alongside the Third Era. When the Great War began, the southern provinces of the Summerset Isles, Valenwood, Elsweyr, and Black Marsh had all fallen out of the Empire’s control, and now the Aldmeri Dominion was planning on conquering Cyrodiil and the Imperial City.

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When fighting for control of the Imperial City, Ulfric was captured by the Thalmor, where his identity as heir to Windhelm was revealed. According to the Thalmor, the usefulness of Ulfric as a pawn to sow discord in Skyrim was recognized, so he was led to believe that information he gave up during interrogations resulted in the Dominion’s capture of the Imperial City. At some point, Ulfric escaped his imprisonment (or was allowed to escape if the Thalmor are to be believed) and the Great War ended shortly after with the Empire agreeing to sign the White-Gold Concordat, a notorious treaty in Skyrim.

Ulfric Stormcloak In Skyrim’s Markarth Incident

Skyrim How Ulfric Stormcloak First Rose To Power

The Great War ended in 4E 175 with the Empire making a handful of concessions to the Aldmeri Dominion. The concession most pertinent to Ulfric’s involvement is a moratorium on the worship of Talos, the Ninth Divine who is worshipped most prominently by the Nords in Skyrim. Free worship of Talos would be the bargaining chip that incites Ulfric’s involvement in the Markarth Incident. Utilizing the Empires distracted state during the Great War, a band of Bretons known as the Reachman rose up and captured the city of Markarth in Skyrim’s Reach Hold. Hrolfdir, Jarl of the Reach, recruited Ulfric to recapture the city, promising to look the other way when it came to worshipping Talos should Ulfric succeed.

Ulfric accepted and marched a militia on Markarth, eventually overthrowing the Reachman, partly due to his command of the Voice. According to reports, the city devolved into chaos once it was under the control of Ulfric’s militia. The Empire was eventually enlightened to the illicit activities in Markarth and dispatched an Imperial Legion to investigate. Ulfric refused the Empire entry to the city unless they were guaranteed the right to worship Talos. Concerned about the citizens inside, the Empire conceded. When the Aldmeri Dominion was enlightened to the blatant violation of the White-Gold Concordat, it threatened the tenuous peace, and the Empire used Ulfric as a scapegoat, declaring him an enemy of the Ruby Throne, though some have theorized that Ulfric was working with the Thalmor all along. Ulfric and his militia were ousted from Markarth, and Ulfric himself imprisoned.

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Ulfric Stormcloak’s Radicalization & Regicide

Many consider this betrayal at the conclusion of the Markarth Incident to be the inception of the Stormcloak rebellion. To Ulfric, he only demanded free worship of Talos for him and his men, was granted that request (regardless of how begrudgingly it may have been), and was subsequently imprisoned for it. During his incarceration, Ulfric’s father, Jarl Hoag, passed away and Ulfric was forced to smuggle a letter containing his eulogy out of prison. When he was eventually released, Ulfric returned to Windhelm and was crowned Jarl, where he was now in a position to actively advocate for Skyrim’s independence from the Empire. At a Moot convened to elect a successor to the late High King Istlod, Ulfric reportedly railed against the Empire in overtures approaching treason.

High King Torygg was selected at the Moot to succeed his father, Istlod, and Ulfric returned to Windhelm, where his resentment grew. Unhappy that his betrayal by the Empire has seemingly gone unanswered, Ulfric decided in the year 4E 201 to challenge Torygg to a duel. If Ulfric were asked, he challenged Torygg in the manner of ancient Nords to show how weak Skyrim had become under the rule of the Empire. General Tullius, commander of the Imperial Legion in Skyrim, however, viewed Ulfric’s victory in the duel as murder, and moved to have him arrested once again. This is the height of Ulfric’s notoriety, and his capture in Eastmarch leads directly to the intro cutscene of Skyrim. A man who once fought foreign invaders for the Empire was radicalized by their capitulation to the Aldmeri Dominion, and committed regicide as a step in escalating his rebellion in the Civil War.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/skyrim-ulfric-stormcloak-lore-rise-power-imperial-war/

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