Skyrim Civil War: Imperial or Stormcloak?

Short answer: it barely matters which side you pick. The Imperial campaign (Reunification of Skyrim) and the Stormcloak campaign (Liberation of Skyrim) are, in UESP's words, radiant versions of the same quest — mirrored structure, the same achievements, and the same kind of leveled reward at the end. So choose on roleplay and on which jarls you want sitting on which thrones, not on power or efficiency. The one thing genuinely worth knowing first: your last chance to switch sides is not when you swear the oath. It comes one quest later.

Verified against UESP on September 3, 2026. The current build is Special Edition 1.7.104 (released August 27, 2026); that patch and the preceding 1.7.99 cover crash fixes and Creations storage, and neither changes Civil War quest behaviour.

Three things to settle first

Joining is not symmetrical

Escaping Helgen with Ralof (Stormcloak) or Hadvar (Imperial) only decides which side asks you first — it does not enlist you. You can decline both and carry on; soldiers from either side will keep offering as you travel.

To actually enlist, go to that faction's seat. The entry tests differ.

The Stormcloak test is a single enemy with consumables provided if you are underleveled; the Imperial test is clearing an entire bandit-held fort. If you want to enlist early, the Imperial route is the heavier fight.

Step by step

Joining the Imperial Legion

1. Travel to Solitude and enter Castle Dour.
2. Speak to General Tullius, who directs you to Legate Rikke.
3. On Rikke's orders, go to Fort Hraggstad and clear out the bandits holding it.
4. Return to Rikke and report in.
5. Take the oath and collect your set of Imperial armor.

Joining the Stormcloaks

1. Travel to Windhelm and enter the Palace of the Kings.
2. Speak to Ulfric Stormcloak, who directs you to Galmar Stone-Fist.
3. Take Galmar's test. Below level 20 he hands over an Elixir of Resist Cold and three Ice Wraith Banes here.
4. Travel far north of Windhelm to Serpentstone Isle and kill the Ice Wraith. There is nothing to carry back.
5. Return to the Palace of the Kings and repeat the oath after Galmar, then collect your armor.

Exactly how long you can switch

This is the part most players miss. Swearing the oath does not lock you in.

• Before you finish the joining quest, simply completing the other side's joining quest switches you over. The original quest is marked failed.
• After the oath, you still get one more window. Both factions' second quest is The Jagged Crown, and both send you after the same crown. Deliver it to the opposing leader — Tullius or Ulfric — instead of your own, and that faction will admit you.
• Past that point the choice is locked and the campaign runs straight to the final siege.

In other words, "enlist, see how it feels, then decide" is a supported path. If you are torn, defer the real decision until the crown is in your hands.

You become an enemy the moment you enlist

• Once you join, the other side treats you as hostile. Enter their camps and you are warned, then attacked if you do not leave.
• You are not required to wear the issued armor, but wearing the opposing faction's armor can get you accused of being a spy — though that dialogue stops once you have joined either side.

The campaign, step by step

Step 5 is an umbrella quest that walks you through the holds one at a time. On the Imperial side you also gain rank: the first promotion is Quaestor and the final rank is Legate, with a leveled item at each promotion.

The closing achievement is Hero of Skyrim (30 points, Silver), and it unlocks for capturing either Solitude or Windhelm — another way of saying the two routes are equivalent.

Season Unending — the only way to move the map without fighting

Partway through the main quest, when you need Dragonsreach to trap a dragon, the Jarl of Whiterun may insist on a truce first. That is Season Unending, and it is the only opportunity to redraw the Civil War map by negotiation. The Greybeards broker it at High Hrothgar.

• You must get both Ulfric and Tullius to attend. To persuade them you need Speech 25 for Ulfric and Speech 50 for Tullius — starting with Ulfric is the easier order.
• Trading holds at the table changes which holds you must fight for afterwards. Holds you concede become targets you have to take; holds you gain are ones you skip.
• If either side already controls at least eight of the nine holds, no truce can be negotiated and the quest is bypassed entirely.
• To get a reward you must already belong to a faction. And because a favourable treaty gets harder to negotiate the further the war has progressed, doing this soon after picking a side is worth the most.
• Conceding too much costs you rewards. Trading holds away can lock you out of some of the unique radiant quests tied to them, their ranks, and the War Hero achievement. Ranks are not automatic — they require actually pressing the attack (not fleeing) on that hold's quest, and not having acquired the hold at the negotiating table.

The biggest catch applies to both sides equally. Once a truce is struck, the Civil War stalls for everyone — Reunification of Skyrim and Liberation of Skyrim alike — until you finish the main quest's final battle, Dragonslayer. You resume it after defeating Alduin.

What happens on resumption differs by faction. On the Imperial side, whichever campaign quest was active when the truce landed auto-completes and cannot be restarted (if it involved a fort, that hold transfers to your side). On the Stormcloak side, finishing Dragonslayer immediately hands you every assigned hold except Haafingar, skipping their remaining quests.

If you want the war settled first, the fastest route is to leave Season Unending alone. For where this sits in the main story, see the Dragon Rising walkthrough.

What victory actually changes

The war's lasting mark on the world is who rules each hold. When a hold changes hands, the deposed jarl and their court and family are exiled to their own side's capital and replaced by the opposing appointee, and the associated forts are regarrisoned by the winning side.

If the Imperials win

• At the final battle you kill Galmar and force Ulfric to his knees. You choose whether to execute him yourself or let Tullius do it — either way Tullius gives you a leveled enchanted sword.
• Windhelm gets a new jarl, Brunwulf Free-Winter. Speak to him afterwards and he unlocks the ability to buy property in Windhelm.

If the Stormcloaks win

• You kill Rikke and beat Tullius into submission, and again you can either finish him or leave it to Ulfric, with a leveled sword as the reward either way.
• In his victory speech Ulfric states he will not take the title of High King until the moot names him. Elisif agrees to forsake the Empire and remains Jarl of Solitude.

If you want to buy the house in Windhelm, or you are attached to a particular jarl, that is the practical deciding factor. For how the Reach's politics colour the choice, the Forsworn and Markarth article gives the conflict a different weight.

Before you commit

• There is no rush. You can leave the question open indefinitely and play everything else. The only consequence is recruiters who keep asking.
• Everything up to the Jagged Crown is effectively a trial run. Enlist, see how it reads, and carry the crown to the other camp if it does not suit you.
• Every jarl's palace has a war room with a map of Skyrim. Red flags mark Imperial holds and blue flags Stormcloak ones, and they change as the war progresses or as Season Unending reassigns them. You can add marked locations to your own map by aiming at them (E on PC).
• Watch for quest collisions. If the Dark Brotherhood quest Bound Until Death is active, for instance, the Battle for Solitude is delayed until it finishes.

Summary

• Both campaigns are radiant versions of the same quest, with identical achievements and reward structure
• The Helgen choice only decides who recruits you first
• Entry tests: Fort Hraggstad for the Legion, the Serpentstone Isle Ice Wraith for the Stormcloaks
• The last chance to switch is the end of The Jagged Crown — deliver the crown to the other leader
• Enlisting makes the other faction hostile; their camps warn you once, then attack
• Season Unending is the only bloodless way to move the map, but it vanishes at eight-hold control and stalls both campaigns until Dragonslayer is done — and conceding holds can cost you ranks and the War Hero achievement
• The real outcome is the jarls. An Imperial win puts Brunwulf Free-Winter in Windhelm and opens property there

Sources: the overall framework from UESP's Civil War page; the two campaigns from Imperial Legion and Stormcloaks; the truce from Season Unending; the sieges from Battle for Windhelm and Battle for Solitude; the build number from Special Edition Patch.