#i love ulfric. i wouldn't write him if i didn't

[umbracirrus]

HEHEHE A, K, Q, AND S for the ask game please!!

Thank you!!! 😊

A: How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]?

I think that I'll answer this for my two posted fics about Elyse hehe.

The Perfect Storm - the plot in very simple terms is 'poor Elyse aand Balgruuf keep having all sorts of stuff getting stirred up, and they are going to come out of it in one of two ways: worn down and ruined, or stronger than ever having withstood the storm'. In hindsight that would've been an awesome description with a little tweaking of the wording.

Seeking the Sun - I liked the weather motif which I have established with The Perfect Storm, and had not long been listening to the Fire Emblem Three Houses soundtrack. The main theme started playing, and the lyrics 'I look to you like a red rose seeking the sun no matter where it goes' kind of just stuck with me. It also fits quite nicely with the general plot, in that Elyse has just moved to Skyrim to find a new happiness in her life after the losses of her parents.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

Ohhh that is absolutely the post-Oblivion main quest story which I have kind of on the backburner that I started writing a few months back based around one of my Heroes of Kvatch, Aelia.

In short, she and Martin fall for each other, they promise to get married once the Oblivion crisis is over, and then he goes and sacrifices himself. She's overcome with grief, refuses to leave Cloud Haven Temple... then makes an unfortunate discovery that Martin wouldn't have been the last of the Septim line, because she was pregnant with his child. And that leads to a long, spiralling path into the madness which results in her ending up as Sheogorath.

Q: Do you have any discarded scenes/storylines/projects?

Hmmm, I do have a storyline which I'm not certain if I have discarded yet, but had been toying around with the idea of...

An arranged marriage between the Thieves Guild guildmaster Dragonborn, and Hemming Black-Briar, which comes about as a form of... insurance to keep the guild firmly in Maven's hands once the guild starts trying to distance itself from her manipulations. It gets forced into place by Hemming hiring people to sabotage the guild, and then placing the idea into Maven's head so that he could 'have' the Dragonborn, though the Dragonborn was actually in a relationship with one of Brynjolf or Karliah when it comes to pass.

I did have a plot point written down in the first outlines for The Perfect Storm which has since been discarded in favour of something else, and funnily enough, it also has to do with Riften. Elyse and Balgruuf were originally going to get married in secret at the Temple of Mara if anything to give Elyse greater securities that could only really be afforded to Jarls and their families, as well as to give her some breathing room from everything going on... but it ended up very badly timed, as Ulfric just so happened to be visiting Riften on official Stormcloak business with Jarl Laila. I've since remembered that Season Unending was a Thing, and Riften is now in Imperial hands in the fic so I scrapped that idea in favour of another.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

I certainly have a few. There was only one bed is definitely one of them, as is pretend relationships that become real ones. As is enemies to lovers, there's all sorts of flavours to that! I mean, Elyse's parents theoretically are an enemies to lovers couple, in that Ingja perceived Edwyn as an enemy, her being a resident of Winterhold and him being a member of the College and her blaming him and the College for Winterhold falling apart.

I also love some AUs, specifically ones which have just a slight twist to what is typical. For example, a few weeks back in September/October, I was very into the concept of 'what if Balgruuf was a vampire' AU. Still not finished that. Maybe for next halloween... I also like the thought of 'what if they weren't Dragonborn/didn't find out that they were Dragonborn' AUs for my Dragonborn characters.

[ariquar]

Here's your answers! Maybe they'll be surprising! Spoiler: the answer with the most votes is not the correct choice. In fact, the real answer is one of the lowest voted ones.

He becomes an author of numerous books, including several fiction novels

True! First he publishes an account of his adventures (just the journal he kept with him). Later on he finds that writing is rather relaxing, and once he runs out of real-life things to write about, he turns to fiction.

He gets tattoos later in life, in particular one inspired by Paarthurnax

True! But you won't see any art of it. Not until I also get it done.

He and Delphine eventually become friends, despite their differences

True, surprisingly! It takes a long time — long enough that Ari's initial threat of "I'll live longer than you, I can wait to take over the Blades" actually holds some weight. But Delphine isn't stupid, she's just stubborn, and after she nearly leaves when Ari brings actual dragons into the fold, he has a long talk with her that ends in mutual respect and grows into friendship.

He and Teldryn never have kids, but they do open their home to young adventurers

True! Both of them see their lives as a bit too dangerous to be parents full time, but they're also experienced adventurers and warriors. So letting some young hopeful wanderer wanting to make a name for themself stick around for a few days, telling them stories that function as lessons in safety and survival, hey, that's close enough to being dads. Plus they've got a spare room for Ari's Blades recruits.

One of his best Blades students is Ulfric's son

True! Another OC of mine, Orrin — he was born before Ulfric joined the Legion, raised by his mother who … didn't approve of Ulfric's later views. He joined the Blades in hopes that he could make up for his father's legacy, and Ari sees a lot of himself in Orrin. Orrin is sometimes a bit too eager to prove himself, but that eagerness also meant he was one of the first willing to train in mounted dragon combat.

He learns to sew out of necessity, then takes it up as a hobby

Not true at all. Ari can't sew. He can't do it to save his life. Teldryn is the mender and the knitter and the quilter in the relationship. Any time Ari's clothes rip, he dejectedly brings it to Teldryn.

He creates his own Shout, based in lightning

True! More because Ari finds studying the dragon language so fascinating, and he wanted to see what he could do with it. This led to him experimenting with intent vs spoken word in dovahzul.

He loves seafood, and it's what he truly misses most from Shimmerene

True! Skyrim being Skyrim, a lot of the seafood dishes are heartier. While he still enjoys what Skyrim has and wouldn't dare speak ill of the salmon especially, there are times he wishes he could head to Shimmerene for the wine from his parents' vineyard and lighter fare from his childhood.

I've seen this done for fandoms but I thought it would be fun to do for ocs! Feel free to copy this idea!

(I'll reveal the answer when the poll ends!)

[bastardsunlight]

RANT AHEAD!! ❤

Friendly reminder: Ulfric invited the dark elves into Windhelm after Vvardenfell threw a shit-fit and displaced a fucklot of ‘em—and he’s not been on the throne of Windhelm long--maybe fourteen years. That bit is important. One of the dark elves you speak to in Windhelm (one of the well-off ones) says that it’s basically due to the dark elves’ lack of willingness to actually engage in the Skyrim way of life (clinging to their Morrowind ways of living—not culture, they’re obviously free to worship whomst the fuck ever in Windhelm) that keeps them impoverished.

 There are TWO nords in Windhelm who’re shitheads at the dunmer and, confirmed by a dunmer NPC, all they do is get shitfaced and stumble through the gray quarter at night, yellin’ crap—rude, but honestly, the Dragonborn can beat one of ‘em down and they lay tf off. They might be representative of Windhelm nords, but then the dark elf who is well off should also count as representative of how to be successful in a new country. He left the gray quarter and made a life for himself, which any of them can do, because it isn't actually confirmed to be a law that the dark elves have to stay in the gray quarter. One elf says “they won’t let us live outside that slum” but another elf, who lives outside the slum, says that the dark elves who live there are essentially oppressing themselves--much like the subject of this rant, every citizen of Skyrim will have a different perspective. 

Galmar Stone-fist, Ulfric’s right hand, is the one who tells the DB this, saying something along the lines of “he invited them here, but I wish he’d asked the rest of us first”. Meaning Ulfric DID defy some potential racism in order to offer asylum and shelter to the dark elves (I say potential, because ofc it could just be that life in Windhelm is tough enough without opening its gates to refugees). He stuck his neck out for elves. That’s a canon truth. The fact that you, a DB of ANY race, can literally join the Stormcloaks and rise in the ranks without a problem sort of negates the “racism” argument, if you are using in-game facts and mechanics. “Oh, but the player character has to be able to join either side” yeah that’s true--a lot of stuff in the game is set up for the PC. All the Stormcloak soldiers are human, but hey guess what? So are the Imperial soldiers. 

So miss me with that “ulfric is a racist” thing. That’s so simple, so very very simple and a really shallow interpretation of Ulfric’s character. Has he done no wrong? PFF fuck no. He killed a man in an argument over ideals and what a proper Skyrim should BE. Elisif is a widow ‘cause Torygg couldn’t best Ulfric, but the fight itself was fair, according to canon—members of Elisif's own court (which she doesn't rule, btw, Falk Firebeard does) confirm it. So riddle me this:

Is it wrong to desire liberation from a small, centralized government, who is under the thumb of an even more removed dominion of some folks who are slowly but surely killing all religious dissidents in your country because one of your gods makes them squirmy? [cue crusade banners]

The aldmeri dominion (and thence, the thalmor) are racist motherfuckers. The idea of Tiber Septim becoming a god is anathema, not only because he is mortal, but because he’s a HUMAN. Lorkhan et. Al. are elven gods, elven concepts, elven ideas—the other eight divines are Aedra, which were of the same nature as the Daedra ‘til they created Nirn. Now, could it be that the Aldmeri Dominion would balk against an ELF becoming a god? I can’t answer that. But the blessings of Talos work. They confer healing and shit on you, so I hate to break it to ya, elves, Talos is a god. [cue Heimskr’s speech “WE ARE BUT MAGGOTS, WRITHING IN THE FILTH OF OUR OWN CORRUPTION]

Engaging in religious oppression is the overarching theme of the Aldmeri Dominion. Conquering the Empire allows them to keep suppressing the worship of Talos. Talos is a human who became god--he was a nord, in fact, and the FOUNDER of the empire. He is a legitimate god whose presence upsets the elves because he was mortal. Is that racism? If they’re pissed because he was man rather than mer? Yes. If they just find the idea of an ascendant mortal anathema, still a tentative yes. Oppressing the beliefs of a people is a from of racism. 

The Nords came to Skyrim from Atmora thousands of years ago and they got along fine with the snow elves ‘til they unearthed an artifact in Saarthal. It was at that time the falmer felt they had no choice but to attack. Ysgramor lost his son(s?) and thus mounted a counterattack, driving the falmer to retreat into the waiting arms of the frankly shady dwarves, who promised asylum, but enslaved them. This is NOT a metaphor for the oppression of native peoples in the United States, so don’t like, try and make it one. The falmer struck first, the humans won and thus the Nord people are the oldest native residents of Skyrim--we’re talking millennia, here, people, not a century, but literal thousands of years that Skyrim has been human, specifically Nord, land. 

I mean, Tullius is kind of racist if you really feel the need to go there (I don’t, but see Imperial side dialogue before you kill Ulfric “wherever you people go when you die” in which Legate Rikke, a Nord herself, reminds him “Sovngarde, sir.”). That’s how racism works. People will say shit that disrespects your culture or way of life, but if you’re close to ‘em, they don’t see it as a problem, because they don’t see you as “like all the other ____.” Now, Tullius doesn’t justify himself to Rikke because he is her superior officer, but it just goes to show that, for being the imperial rep in Skyrim, he gives very few fucks about the culture. Now, is this most likely because he is tired and does not want to be there? Yep. Does that excuse him? Only if Ulfric’s belief in his own cause excuses him. The empire is a puppet for the Thalmor, thus Tullius is a puppet of the thalmor as well and if you don’t think that destroys his pride as an imperial soldier (same as Ulfric?????), well, maybe it’s time for another study in human nature.

Yes, it’s true that Tullius prioritizes the safety of the citizenry at Helgen. Ulfric doesn’t. 1. Ulfric is prolly a little pissed, 2. He’s just been arrested for beating a dude in a fair fight, 3. He has NO troops, and 4. He’s trained with the Greybeards; he understands what a dragon can do WAY more intimately than Tullius and he knows better than to get in the way of that fire. Skyrim is a rough fuckin’ place and the addition of dragons doesn’t help. Neither man backs down from the civil war, either, so don’t bother with that angle. “Oh Ulfric didn’t stop civil warring to fight dragons” yeah nor did Tullius. Methinks being the commander of an army is not so simple as “okay guys let’s stop fighting and be bffs”. Tullius is there on orders he doesn’t want to follow, but Ulfric also doesn’t seem like he WANTS to tear Skyrim up--he feels it is necessary, same as Tullius feels quelling the rebellion is necessary. It’s all in your perspective--and yes, I’ve played the Imperial questline; I was a high elf and it made sense, story-wise.

Aligning with the Empire means aligning with the Thalmor. Aligning with the Stormcloaks also means aligning with the Thalmor. No matter what, you’re either directly serving them or their interests. If this bothers you, you understand the desire for an independent, sovereign Skyrim. 

Ulfric does what he does because he just spent however the fuck many years fighting against the aldmeri dominion (after, mind you, leaving the training of the greybeards to stand up for an ideal), fighting FOR THE EMPIRE, hoping to keep the lands of men a separate, sovereign land unto themselves, with their various provinces and governments under the empire. He was NOT opposed to the empire until they bowed to the white-gold concordat, an agreement which promised peace (a good thing yes?) in exchange for dropping the ninth divine, Talos, Tiber Septim-become-god (religious persecution, and please recall this isn’t just “take down all shrines of talos”—this is literally hunt down and root out talos worshippers in their own homes [markarth quest]). While Ulfric is being tortured by the Thalmor, his countrymen are being forced to bow the knee to the Summerset isles and a people who have no real idea how life, commerce, and politics in Skyrim should and do work, all because they’re opposed to the worship of the LEGITIMATE GOD Talos.

The Thalmor convinced Ulfric that the information he FINALLY gave them after being tortured actually helped them take the Imperial capitol. It didn’t, of course, the capitol had already fallen, but he carries that guilt. That’s canon, too. He carries the guilt of thinking it’s his fault the Empire lost the imperial city (the first time--they took it back during the battle of the red ring like one or two years later) which, btw, the Aldmeri dominon started, for the record.

Lemme remind you that many of the citizens of Skyrim thought Torygg was a bit of a weakling, as well, that he was content to bow to the empire’s wishes, the wishes of the aldmeri dominion, without seeking a better position in trade, taxes, etc. for Skyrim. Is that a reason to kill someone? Well probably the fuck not. But you know what? These are fantasy politics and it wasn’t as if Torygg was caught off guard. They were dueling. [cue Yu-Gi-Oh! opening]. So the empire captures Ulfric and is gunne behead him—and well y’all played the opening.

I’m only saying this because I cannot cruise the Ulfric Stormcloak tag without seein’ this garbagio and it’s killin’ me. Is he a sweet cinnamon roll who can do no wrong? No. Are the stormcloak’s skyrim’s third reich? Also fucking no??? It is just my own observations and interpretations of the events and dialogues in-game which lead me to this conclusion. Skyrim has a right to secede from the Empire which serves the Aldmeri Dominion more than it serves its own people. Don’t forget that the Aldmeri dominion is engaged in active oppression of a legitimate faith. Don’t forget that Skyrim staying allied with the Empire doesn’t strengthen the Empire for some speculative, future uprising. Don’t forget that it’s unwise to apply real world politics to a fantasy world with such completeness that you cannot recall the actual details and parameters OF that fantasy world.

I mean at the end of the day, it’s a videogame, right? So… grain o’ salt.