Does the person you follow on your FIRST trip through Helgen influence your civil-war preference?

[bulbaquil]

I've been thinking about this for a while, and see fit to test a hypothesis I had.

The person you follow out of Helgen determines who you talk to in Riverwood, and the person you talk to in Riverwood has a lot of influence on how the civil war background is presented to you. In essence, Alvor/Gerdur presents the premise of their respective side.

Which means that it's reasonable to believe that the character you follow when escaping Helgen on your first playthrough might have influenced the side you tend to join in the civil war. This is just a hypothesis, and I might be wrong, but I'd be interested to see if it applies.

 

[The_Deadliest_Troll]

Makes sense. Especially for people who are new to the game and might not know a lot about the Civil War or the story behind it. Like me; I was a TES noob when I started Skyrim. So when I followed Ralof home, I was told about how awful the empire is. So, naturally I wanted to kill them!

EDIT: I later found out that since I was a Dunmer, all of the Stormcloaks were extrememly racist to my kind. That made me regret my decision a bit!

 

[Necromis]

I think that was a bad thing on my play throughs. I really didn't ask them their opinions on the war. I think that is bad on me, but I was more interested on getting into the meat of the game from the start. Now I blow thru riverwood somewhat quickly on my play throughs. I think I need to spend more time the next play throughs.

 

[Zoa Two Tails]

To be honest I have almost always followed hadvar every time because he has better loot and you can take ingots from the forge later for smithing. Hadvar had the best resources and In the tutorial i followed whoever told me to follow them.

 

[Necromis]

well the best loot depends on if you count riverwood, and if you want heavy armour faster. As you get heavy armour immediately if you follow the stormcloak.

 

[Gemini Sierra]

The first time I ran through, I didn't realize I could follow Rolaf and kept following the Imperial.
Then the next time through I followed Rolaf as I was trying to play a character that didn't like the Imperials.
I think overall, I'd rather follow Hadvkar (?) and be able to get what ever I need at the blacksmiths.

 

[Morgan]

I typically follow Hadvar because I like the voice actor who plays him better. Also for the free ingots. HOwever, no matter who I follow, the presence of an imperial torture chamber ALWAYS biases me against the Empire. I always kill both torturers, no matter what. Hadvar just stands and watches, or even helps, so he doesn't seem to approve either

Hadvar is definitely the nicest imperial in the game, but even he, if begrudgingly, accepts the need for torture, and has the random dialogue "Can't wait to kill some of Ulfric's boys". Really Hadvar? They're fellow Nords, man.

Following Ralof gets you the heavy armor sooner, but you can grab iron from those bandits right outside the exit anyway, so that's an advantage of four or five minutes. Also, just in case you didn't notice (I didn't until several run-throughs) even if you follow Ralof, you can go through the other door and get the loot and four gold from Hadvar's starting room.

 

[Chryss]

Makes sense. Especially for people who are new to the game and might not know a lot about the Civil War or the story behind it. Like me; I was a TES noob when I started Skyrim. So when I followed Ralof home, I was told about how awful the empire is. So, naturally I wanted to kill them!

EDIT: I later found out that since I was a Dunmer, all of the Stormcloaks were extrememly racist to my kind. That made me regret my decision a bit!

When i played a Wood Elf, it made me want to join the Stormcloaks even more, just to prove that anyone willing to "Bleed and die" for Skyrim would be accepted. It's nice to be an elf and get that officers armor. I wore it like a prize.

 

[MushroomGenius]

You can also pilfer Iron armor, gauntlets, boots from the Blacksmith's basement.... not sure if there was a helm down there.

I liked that Ralof hangs out in Riverwood even during the Civil War questline, I don't remember if Hadvar is still around or not.

 

[Morgan]

You can snag an iron helm sitting next to the cart by the bear in the escape tunnel. There's also a bottle of Black-Briar mead, to calm you down after the recent harrowing adventure! (Or to give to the Jarl of Falkreath, if you head that way.)

 

[Flint firestorm]

I decided to follow go follow hardvar because of the way he saved that kid(even though they can't die)

 

[Neriad13]

As a matter of fact, I did choose Hadvar on my first playthrough and I spent an hour or so just talking to his family about their opinions. What shocked me was that they were worshipping Talos before the rebellion without much trouble, but once the Stormcloaks started stirring the pot, the Thalmor really cracked down on such practices. Whenever I choose Ralof instead, just for some variety, I find myself really missing the company of Alvor's family. They seem so sane and rational, completely ordinary citizens in a troubled time. Their opinions did shape my own regarding the war.

 

[Drewski]

Right you said VERY FIRST gameplay, so I'll answer in that fashion as you specified, with no previous knowledge at that time.

I don't possibly see how anyone could have followed Hadvar. Put yourself in the soon to be Dragonborn's shoes. You were about to be executed, with no possibility of reprieve by these Imperials. A miracle has just occured, and distracted them long enough for you to escape. You run a bit, and then this Imperial Soldier wants you to follow him. The only thought that makes sense is, `well he still wants me executed, that's his job`. You absolutely cannot know at that moment, that he doesn't really care, and will actually just `let you go, no questions asked` (which to me is almost a plot hole- he's an Imperial Soldier, he follows orders. Why does he suddenly have the authority to decide to pardon you for a capital offence??)....

Ok from then onwards, many other factors can influence your civil war choice, but I just wanted to make that shortish rant

 

[Neriad13]

Right you said VERY FIRST gameplay, so I'll answer in that fashion as you specified, with no previous knowledge at that time.

I don't possibly see how anyone could have followed Hadvar. Put yourself in the soon to be Dragonborn's shoes. You were about to be executed, with no possibility of reprieve by these Imperials. A miracle has just occured, and distracted them long enough for you to escape. You run a bit, and then this Imperial Soldier wants you to follow him. The only thought that makes sense is, `well he still wants me executed, that's his job`. You absolutely cannot know at that moment, that he doesn't really care, and will actually just `let you go, no questions asked` (which to me is almost a plot hole- he's an Imperial Soldier, he follows orders. Why does he suddenly have the authority to decide to pardon you for a capital offence??)....

Ok from then onwards, many other factors can influence your civil war choice, but I just wanted to make that shortish rant

However, at the time he tells you to follow him, fire is raining from the sky, an entire town and two armies are running around in terror in their bid to navigate the flaming maze that the village has become, you have no idea what's going on, he has no idea what's going on and he's the first friendly face you run into after jumping out of the tower. When I first ran into him at that part, I trusted him because my hands were bound and I didn't think I had any choice. I honestly didn't know that it was possible to follow Ralof until much later. He earned my friendship as we tramped through the bowels of Helgen together, as equals and trotted down the path to his uncle's home. Though I do wish we could have joined forces with the Stormcloaks in our hour of need and all of us could have gotten out alive. There was a bit where Hadvar tried to reason with them to do just that...but the Stormcloaks weren't listening. =(

As for the "almost plot-hole," your character was due to be executed on extremely shaky terms. On equally shaky terms can your character be saved. As s/he was never actually implicated in any wrongdoing and helped an Imperial soldier out of a tight jam, I think your freedom was earned on fair terms.

 

[Drewski]

However, at the time he tells you to follow him, fire is raining from the sky, an entire town and two armies are running around in terror in their bid to navigate the flaming maze that the village has become, you have no idea what's going on, he has no idea what's going on and he's the first friendly face you run into after jumping out of the tower. When I first ran into him at that part, I trusted him because my hands were bound and I didn't think I had any choice. I honestly didn't know that it was possible to follow Ralof until much later. He earned my friendship as we tramped through the bowels of Helgen together, as equals and trotted down the path to his uncle's home. Though I do wish we could have joined forces with the Stormcloaks in our hour of need and all of us could have gotten out alive. There was a bit where Hadvar tried to reason with them to do just that...but the Stormcloaks weren't listening. =(

As for the "almost plot-hole," your character was due to be executed on extremely shaky terms. On equally shaky terms can your character be saved. As s/he was never actually implicated in any wrongdoing and helped an Imperial soldier out of a tight jam, I think your freedom was earned on fair terms.

He's still an Imperial Soldier, and should be following orders. It isn't in his power to pardon someone due for execution. The least he should do is escort you to Solitude, and maybe speak on your behalf, in order to have your sentence commuted to a long prison stretch, for your actions in helping him.....

But that'd make for a pretty lousy game...

 

[Neriad13]

He's still an Imperial Soldier, and should be following orders. It isn't in his power to pardon someone due for execution. The least he should do is escort you to Solitude, and maybe speak on your behalf, in order to have your sentence commuted to a long prison stretch, for your actions in helping him.....

But that'd make for a pretty lousy game...

But he didn't pardon you, as he doesn't have that power - General Tullius did that. Hadvar just put in a good word for you to him. And you also had to prove yourself to Tullius by clearing out a fort for him before he let you join the army.

 

[Dirtcopter77-]

It makes sense, but I followed Ralof out of Helgen on my first-ever playthrough, and I go Imperial every time.

 

[samgurl775]

To be perfectly honest, I can't remember who I followed on my very first play through. It's weird to think about now, but the game was SO confusing for me at first. I'm pretty sure I followed Ralof, even though I had already made a mental decision before even starting to join the Empire. Now that I look back, I don't think I realized I had the choice to follow Hadvar.

 

[bulbaquil]

So I probably should throw in what I actually did.

I followed Ralof out of Helgen the first playthrough and typically side Stormcloak (though I think I probably spent much of that first trip out of Helgen wearing Imperial armor, and probably the captain's heavy imperial armor at that). The way I had my camera angled was such that I didn't even know where Hadvar had gone, anyway, and at any rate I thought Ralof had a cooler name. Also, I just wanted to get out of the whole raining-fire-down-on-my-head thing and went to the first door I saw, which was Ralof's.

Hadvar's path is in fact faster, since once he cuts your binds you can just saunter over to the chest with the key and speedrun through Helgen Keep, whereas with Ralof you have to wait for the Imperials to unlock the door and then for you and/or Ralof to kill them. Following Hadvar's path lets you get through it without harming one Stormcloak hair if you so choose and power past Hadvar long enough.

Unless I'm actually doing an RP, future characters will probably follow Hadvar even if I intend them to join the Stormcloaks (thus meaning Ralof won't be around for Korvanjund).

 

[Train]

When I first played Skyrim, my mind was in a state of shock. It was midnight on release and I didn't have anything to do the next day. 12:00 pm hit and suddenly my downloaded version of Skyrim from Steam was unlocked. Five minutes later I'm in disbelief as I see the words "SKYRIM" appear on the screen and my camera veiw is showing a fellow prisoner in the wagon. I soon realized I could move the camera, so I panned over to look at the other people around me. The wagon ride took forever, but I loved every drawn out second of it.

After all the scrambling around and trying to keep my excitment bursting from my chest as a freakin' dragon flew overhead, it finally got to the point where someone told me to follow them. I had no idea I could even make a choice, so much confusion and I was too hyped for words; so I didn't realize you could be either side, I just wanted to escape that madness. I followed Ralof not knowing what a Stormcloak was really, I knew the Imperials all too well and had always been one at heart since TES 3, so I suspect that if I had gone with Hadvar my opinion of the Stormcloaks could have become skewed.

As it stands now, I'm neutral.