Ulfric, Behind the Mask: The Postwar Years

Preface and Index/Link hub to all of the chapters

THE POSTWAR YEARS

A tyrant is only as good as his subjects. As I mentioned in the last chapter, Ulfric based most of his postwar actions on popular opinion. He and the people of Skyrim shared a mutual hatred of the Empire, and in the fine details, he could compromise and deceive for the time being. His father’s health was in decline and he knew it was the time to prepare for his position as Jarl. Ulfric read the local newspapers and listened to soapboxing zealots. The woes of Eastmarch became ingrained in his being. Whether Ulfric himself came to believe in these woes is uncertain – what matters is that they shaped his ascent to power, and naturally, continue to influence his policies. That’s why I will have to talk about what exactly the public feelings were.

Nords wanted to break free from the Imperial yoke. For Skyrim Nords, this was based mainly on the unpopular armistice and subsequent outlawing of Talos worship. The Talos clause would come to dominate all other criticisms of the treaty. The Nords in North Colovia felt similarly, with the added discontent from Skyrim being forced to respect their Southern border and refrain from forming any alliance with North Colovia (outside of their union as imperial provinces). Honestly, this is one of the terms of the White-Gold Concordat that makes me suspect the Thalmor pulling strings. It’s like it was designed just to help incite the Civil War – if so, it succeeded.

Then there are also Thalmor garrisoned throughout Skyrim. They are supposed to be here to uphold the Concordat. What they actually do is hang out most of the time (word from Haafingar is that the Thalmor embassy is a party room which doubles as a prison) and occasionally 1) gather intelligence; or 2) pluck an innocent drunk or beggar off the streets at night, just to make everybody angry. I don’t even know about that second one. Nords always had a tradition of blaming the snow elves for any unexplained disappearances or damage. Now they start blaming the high elves instead. I moved to a small Skyrim hamlet after the war, and there was a guy who was apparently pinched by the Thalmor one night – long story short, he returned within a couple of days. He had just drank too much mead and wandered away from town, deciding to spend the night in a nearby inn before heading home. We conveniently forgot the end of that story and continued to cry Thalmor.

That’s not to say Thalmor mischief is a lie, just grossly overstated. They do sometimes take people prisoner, I would imagine, to interrogate (especially with recent dragon problems and whatnot). But at this point I’m really inclined to say that the Thalmor are here for the sole purpose of sparking conflict between the Nords and the Empire. And we’re fulfilling that to the letter. Ulfric isn’t the only asset to the Thalmor – anybody who supports the Stormcloak rebellion is an asset. That would be jumping ahead though.

So that’s my understanding of Skyrim’s views on the Thalmor and how far they are from reality. We fear the Thalmor to an unreasonable extent and this furthers our hatred of the Empire for ‘appeasing’ them.

And then there is the infamous Talos clause. Most people are not as fixated on ancient history as Ulfric, and thus wholeheartedly worship Talos. I know I do. Now, the prospect of banning Talos worship had existed since the start of the war. It did not particularly outrage anybody then, since the emperor refused it (as we felt he was obligated), and we didn’t honestly believe in any foreign power’s ability to enforce such a rule. Then there was the fact that not everybody cared. Skyrim was undergoing secularisation in a way, especially with the war, where worship was more about proud tradition that it was about the divine.

The postwar settlements made us ignore that. It wasn’t outlawing Talos worship itself that angered the Nords, but the idea that the Empire gave up on us – especially when we know Talos to be, arguably, even more important to the Cyrods than the Nords – this whole affair suggested an abandonment of Man’s core values, in other words, betrayal on a profound level. Talos worship was only a means for the Nords to decide that the Empire was degenerating and losing all sense of pride and honor. We wanted to be the ones to stand up to the elves, and this is an idea Ulfric shared – like Ysgramor, we wanted to regain what was rightfully ours, without strategy or compromise, another crusade against the elves, from which the Empire was holding us back! Or did he? As I will mention later, that's more what he wants you to think. The fact remains that he does want to start a ... connection ... With the elves, that the Empire would never allow. Though Ulfric only pretended to worship Talos, he agreed with the public reaction to the Talos clause on a psychological level, which was good for him.

There was another case of Nord nationalist redemption: the Forsworn rebellion. The existence of an independent state was intolerable to the Nords of the Reach. Cyrodiil did not intervene, and really, it couldn’t have. Cyrodiil was in no state to drive out the Reachmen, with the horrendous death toll, infrastructural damage and loss of resources. They barely had any troops left to send. The Nords ignored this simple truth, adopting another reason to hate the Empire. It was perfect bait for Ulfric, which he had in fact anticipated as soon as the Forsworn uprising began. He could gain favor in the west. Funny how the Reachmen had their hearts in the same place as the Nords – they, too, wanted to break free from foreign control and regain their pride. They were just lower on the food chain.

Once Ulfric’s lungs recovered from battle wounds and he could shout just fine, he travelled west. A group of ex-soldiers from Colovia, who we called the ‘Nords in Exile,’ followed north along the Hammerfell border to voluntarily join Ulfric’s forces. Ulfric welcomed the Nords in Exile with open arms. Cyrodiil continued their policy of turning a blind eye to Nord troublemaking, even with some of their own Colovians getting involved. The Empire gave up on any plans they had to recognise any independent kingdom.

Let me just emphasise that Ulfric’s intervention in the Reach was illegal. Nobody granted him free rein to invade Markarth, neither the Empire nor Skyrim. Even if that were the case, the Markarth incident was laced with war crimes. In the preface I mentioned that I wouldn’t cite anybody. Well I lied. One of the only pieces of solid literature on the Markarth incident that you should definitely read is The Bear of Markarth. Yes, it’s written by an Imperial, Arrianus Arrius. Yes, you should watch out for bias as you should with any text. It is still the only account unclouded by Nord fanaticism and it presents fact rather than fancy. Ulfric’s war with the Forsworn went beyond redemption; it became a bloodbath of unnecessary killing, rape and torture. One could even call it a genocide.

Were the Nords ignorant to this? Some were, willfully so, and others were not. Those who knew cared little. They considered the Reach folk lesser men – animals even, to be hunted down like deer. This was the public opinion.

The Markarth affair was significant in that it represented the roots of Ulfric’s personal Stormcloak Army. The main assault on Markarth was orchestrated by Galmar Stone-Fist (Ulfric’s wartime comrade and current housecarl), who would continue to become a main player in leading the Stormcloaks into the Civil War. Many of Ulfric’s friends who played a role in the intervention were granted commander status when Ulfric became Jarl.

So the Nords of the Reach were gushing about Ulfric’s ‘victory.’ Still, not everybody was blind to the obvious crimes he had committed. What really drew the Empire’s attention was the issue of the White-Gold Concordat. Recognition was generally foggy and the Nords exploited the confusion to allow Talos worship in the newly ‘liberated’ Reach. This is a big example of appeasement on the Empire’s part. They even tried to make a deal with Ulfric to allow Talos worship in the Reach. The Thalmor, worried by any cession of the hostilities between Skyrim and the Empire, put their foot down hard. Ulfric was arrested for treason and imprisoned. The Empire bitterly agreed to strengthen their grip on Talos worship.

Even so, it’s important to realise that Ulfric’s imprisonment was no martyrdom (though he might have projected it as such). The government of the Reach made sure to keep Ulfric out of Cidhna Mine, and instead sent him to a small prison in the Falkreath hold where he was supposed to remain for a few years. He was kept apart from the common prisoners and had access to many luxuries – for instance, he was allowed to send and receive letters as he pleased. Contrary to popular knowledge, Ulfric did not hear of his father’s death by a smuggled letter. He was told freely by a guard, and proceeded to write a eulogy which the prison itself employed a courier to take back to Windhelm. More importantly, Ulfric was released from prison that month, because Windhelm needed a Jarl and Ulfric was the only real option.

I was a worker in Windhelm at that time, so I got to see Ulfric return to the city as a war hero. The people still hailed his crimes. I had never seen such an excited crowd as the day Ulfric entered the city to be appointed Jarl. Nords flowed through the streets incoherently and tearfully yelling (in a happy way). I’m sure a few children were trampled. It was a real paroxysm of mirth.

Ulfric didn’t ‘rise to power’ in the strict sense. He had always known that he would be Jarl. That fact can be taken for granted. Ulfric’s ambition goes beyond the title of Jarl, maybe even beyond the title of High King, and it’s important to examine how he has paved a road for himself thus far. At this point in the Story, Ulfric has popular support, a desire to break free from the Empire and a private army in the making (including some Colovian ‘Nords in Exile’). As Jarl of Eastmarch he now has more control over Skyrim’s domestic policies, and a bigger say in foreign policies, which soon causes mayhem – in the next chapter.