Current Events > I can never find a logical reason to follow Hadvar instead of Ralof.

(+) Yeah! (+)

At least story-wise. Gameplay-wise Id rather go with Hadvar because I get the free ingots at the Riverwood forge without them being considered stolen and its paced faster so I can get out and enjoy Skyrim sooner without having to listen to all that damn dialogue in Ralofs family reunion.

But it makes no sense. Why the hell would I go with the guys that were just about to cut off my head?

Lifelong imperial
Imperial military is stronger and you have a better chance of survival than with some hicks
Hadvar tried to save you but got shut down

Many options
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Hadvar tried, weakly, to stop you from being executed. Wasn't really an Empire thing - more of a Legate Rikke is a bitch kind of thing. General Tullius doesn't seem to be a big fan of her, either. If Rikke was the one who offered to help you escape, of course I'd tell her to go screw herself.

Also, let's be real here, they had just captured Ulfric and were about to prematurely end a civil war. Tullius really didn't give two shits about anyone other than Ulfric at that moment.

And it's not like the Stormcloaks had the moral high ground. Ulfric literally murdered a totally defenseless kid-king for seemingly no reason. Running off with them isn't that much more logical - especially when they openly want to purge Skyrim of other races.
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Coffeebeanz posted...

Hadvar tried, weakly, to stop you from being executed.

Doesn't help the fact that the player character would probably be logically thinking that if he/she follows the imperial guy, he/she will most likely be put back into imperial custody after the confusion is over, and back on the chopping block.

And it's not like the Stormcloaks had the moral high ground. Ulfric literally murdered a totally defenseless kid-king for seemingly no reason. Running off with them isn't that much more logical - especially when they openly want to purge Skyrim of other races.

The player character presumably doesn't know about all of this though. But then again, I guess you could role play that your character is well-educated on the current events in Skyrim. It's very possible to do this, as the game doesn't make you ask all the questions about the war, but the story is kind of set up so that the player's knowledge about Stormcloak bigotry and whatnot unfolds rather slowly.

Anyway, when playing through the intro last night, I came up with a semi-plausible reason to follow Hadvar. Since I was going to be a thief/cutthroat type character, and female nonetheless, which in my experience are capable of having more spiteful personalities than men, I reckoned that escaping the imperials might not be her top priority. Perhaps she would try to equip herself during all the confusion, and intentionally stay incarcerated long enough to get revenge on Tullius and/or Rikke. Aaaaannnnndd.... it still didn't feel right so I ended up following Ralof as usual.

Imagine playing Skyrim without mods that skip the intro
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RebelElite791 posted...

Lifelong imperial
Imperial military is stronger and you have a better chance of survival than with some hicks

But the player character doesn't know he/she will be joining the imperial army. Presumably, he/she will be a prisoner again once the confusion is all over.

Hadvar tried to save you but got shut down

All the more reason to believe that the empire is tyrannical and doesn't listen to reasonable folks like Hadvar.

FreshOverlord posted...

Imagine playing Skyrim without mods that skip the intro

I've never played with mods at all. This one always has intrigued me, though.

with out of game knowledge, joining the imperials makes sense to me. but in the context of in-game knowledge, if you were playing it from some sort of roleplay perspective I can't really imagine why you would ever help the imperials with the way things went down at the start
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Ralof just talks so fucking much in the cart ride so the first time I left his ass
afterwards I found how shitty the stormcloaks are so then I always did Hadvar

still, Live Another Life is just much better imo
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prince_leo posted...

still, Live Another Life is just much better imo

That's the one where you start in the room with the statue, right? I love that mod. So much time and care went into it.

RebelElite791 posted...

Lifelong imperial
Imperial military is stronger and you have a better chance of survival than with some hicks
Hadvar tried to save you but got shut down

Many options

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Doesn't following the Imperial idiot get you heavy armor immediately? I mean, it saves a little time. :P

Pretty sure there's a way of reverse-pickpocketing the Jagged Crown into one of their inventories, so you can finish the quest, take it back, then have it normally. It might be doable on either character, though.
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Shotgunnova posted...

Doesn't following the Imperial idiot get you heavy armor immediately? I mean, it saves a little time. :P

Nope, following the imperial idiot definitely restricts you from getting heavy armor until later. The light armor you receive by following Hadvar is stronger than the light armor you get by following Ralof. But the only way to get actual heavy armor at the beginning is by following Ralof and looting it from the captain after you kill her.

Ahh, so that's what I'm remembering.
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