UESP Forums

Just something I was wondering. With my last character. A High Elf Destruction/Conjuration Mage, I decided for change of pace to kill the dragon, get to High Hrothgar (sp) and do their quests and get the horn of Jurgen Windcaller (was that the name) And I did it just so I could join the Stormcloaks. But it never felt right. I've always loathed the whole "born as dragonborn with pre-determined destiny locked into" thing. I prefer more character autonomy. XD So I made this poll to see how most of you feel about this thing.

Daemos Avetorii wrote:Just something I was wondering. With my last character. A High Elf Destruction/Conjuration Mage, I decided for change of pace to kill the dragon, get to High Hrothgar (sp) and do their quests and get the horn of Jurgen Windcaller (was that the name) And I did it just so I could join the Stormcloaks. But it never felt right. I've always loathed the whole "born as dragonborn with pre-determined destiny locked into" thing. I prefer more character autonomy. XD So I made this poll to see how most of you feel about this thing.

i ignore the MQ and the civil war, as I RP and play commoners playerthroughs xD

The member of the Snowmane family (my old username was Eric Snowmane after my first Oblivion character and I've adopted ancestors and descendants of that line for older and newer games) that I consider my "canon" run through, for lack of a better term, did the Dragonborn thing, killed the dragons, etc, and joined the Imperial Legion.

I've done a handful of runs and I've been through both sides of the war, though lately I just use an alternate start mod to bypass being pressed into the main quest, and I'll adventure and do whatever my roleplay idea for a given character is. Although I have set Skyrim Unbound for this save to spawn dragons only around word walls and I can't "read" word walls until I stumble across my first dragon near a wall, at which point the Greybeards will shout and summon me to climb the mountain to them, with the main quests leading up to killing the first dragon being marked and hidden as effectively complete, so I never have to flee Helgen, never have to run to Riverwood with whoever I fled with, and then run to do Balgruuf's errands. So, I'm an adventurer who could be Dragonborn if I stumble across the word walls (and I never look them up on maps and never know where they are aside from one in the middle of the Rift), so from a roleplaying perspective it's me out doing my thing, and I may or may not eventually and accidentally turn into a hero, which is fine with me.

Edited for a typo (and I made a typo making those four words...)

I'm not sure why the dragon is the focus of the poll, but I usually like to join the Stormcloaks and then betray them so I voted Empire. The peace talk system still confuses me though, I always try to give away as much as possible in order to prolong the civil war questline but the results vary.

legoless wrote:I'm not sure why the dragon is the focus of the poll, but I usually like to join the Stormcloaks and then betray them. The peace talk system still confuses me though, I always try to give away as much as possible in order to prolong the Empire questline but the results vary.

I've never done the peace talks in the years of playing Skyrim! With all of my characters I've gone off doing other crap and returned to the Main Quest as the last thing to take care of, so by that point the Civil War has been resolved for one side or another long before I get to where that is supposed to happen!

Damon wrote: I've never done the peace talks in the years of playing Skyrim! With all of my characters I've gone off doing other crap and returned to the Main Quest as the last thing to take care of, so by that point the Civil War has been resolved for one side or another long before I get to where that is supposed to happen!

It's a really weird experience when your side gains or loses a city because of it. Definitely mixes it up. Having all four/five teams in a room together is also really tense.

legoless wrote:I'm not sure why the dragon is the focus of the poll, but I usually like to join the Stormcloaks and then betray them so I voted Empire. The peace talk system still confuses me though, I always try to give away as much as possible in order to prolong the civil war questline but the results vary.

That's messed up dude .

I usually just ignore the civil war for the most part. Call me shallow, but there aren't any real rewards and nothing really changes, so I'd rather just learn how to Thu'um people to death .

MetaCthulhu wrote:

legoless wrote:I'm not sure why the dragon is the focus of the poll, but I usually like to join the Stormcloaks and then betray them so I voted Empire. The peace talk system still confuses me though, I always try to give away as much as possible in order to prolong the civil war questline but the results vary.

That's messed up dude .

I usually just ignore the civil war for the most part. Call me shallow, but there aren't any real rewards and nothing really changes, so I'd rather just learn how to Thu'um people to death .

There are plenty of rewards if you're an ass like me and you're satisfied with killing people for showing off their natural right to want to rule themselves and if you take pleasure in putting foreign soldiers in their towns to govern them and make them pledge loyalty to the foreign power!

I usually focus on the Main Quest for most characters. Victor the Paladin will side with the Empire, but only late in the game as his path of redemption. Tihm the Enchanter avoids the civil war entirely. Everyone else is anywhere else in that regard.

The peace negotiation is practically inevitable. A straight up hostage-swap between Markarth and Riften is the invariable resolution.

I'm more of a "I kill the dragon to unlock dragons and shouts, then I spend several dozen hours wandering about doing whatever quests catch my fancy and eventually realize that I want to do faction or DLC questlines."

The game is in "periodic achievement hunt" mode for me now, so whichever path suits the collection of achievements the character is after. If unlocking shouts is not absolutely required for a playthrough, then I avoid doing so. Never liked the concept or the implementation.

Thinking back to my headcanonical playthrough shortly after release, shouts were unlocked accidentally and then only interacted with to the extent required to progress the MQ. The civil war was completed as quickly and cleanly as possible in the Empire's favor. Apparently the peace summit is fairly easy to miss; I only found out about it years later while browsing the wiki.

I have yet to do the civil war quest, because to be honest, I don't particularly like either side. I'll get around to it someday, when I play through the game again.

At least you only have to do it once, no matter the side you chose, to get the achievements/trophies related to it. Bethy didn't go full evil on us on that one.

I too am not a super-fan of the Dragonborn thing, but it is an important thing to note that prophecy in the Elder Scrolls are not set in stone. Nor is a Dragonborn beheld to any one particular destiny.

Examples That said, I usually ignore the MQ up until I am summoned by the Greybeards and CW.

I usually do the Main Quest up until the Horn quest, to unlock all three words of Unrelenting Force. After that, I let Delphine stew for quite some time while I adventure. The Civil War is something I leave alone until I complete most of the quest lines. But I prefer to side with the Imperials when I finally take a side.

None of these options really apply to me since I normally just do what's in-character for the character I'm roleplaying, whether that fits in with the main quest or not. I have an Argonian character who's loyal to the Empire but considers himself a servant to the common man first, so he kills the dragons not to get shouts or aid any political factions but because he wants to protect the people. I've also adopted a Khajiit rogue character from my boyfriend who would prefer to just not get involved. My characters are generally very bonded as a unit and looking out more for each others' interests than the Empire's, sort of reflecting my own views on politics.