Hidden History is brought to you by G2A.com and of supporters at Patreon.
Whether you see him as a hero or a villain, it’s hard to deny that Ulfric Stormcloak
is one of the most ambitious men in Skyrim. Introduced in the opening minutes of the game,
Ulfric establishes himself as an important presence right away. And as the game goes
on, he only becomes even more interesting and controversial. Like many of the people
found throughout Tamriel, his life parallels some real-world figures in some curious and
unexpected ways. In a past episode of our show that focused
on the Imperials, we talked about just how similar they are to the Roman Empire. As most
of you probably know, everything from the Imperial military, to the structure of their
cities mirrors Rome at its height. It only seems fitting then that Ulfric Stormcloak
shares a lot of traits with one of the Roman Empire’s most despised enemies: Gaius Julius
Civilis, the leader of the Batavian Rebellion against Rome in 69 AD. The Batavian Rebellion
consisted of a group of very scattered, but powerful, Germanic and Celtic tribes determined
to get out from under the heel of the ever-expanding Roman armies. But it’s not just the fact
that Ulfric and Civilis both fought against an empire that makes them similar, their lives
mirror each other in many ways as well. Much Like Ulfric Stormcloak, Civilis spent his
early years fighting for the empire. And both men seemed to have been pretty respected soldiers,
dutifully serving the will of their legates. Eventually though, both men became disillusioned
and turned on their former commanders. And again, much like Ulfric in Skyrim, Civilis
was even sentenced to be executed before narrowly making his escape. Their stories remain fairly
connected after that too, with both men rising up to recruit their fellow countryman and
raise an army in an attempt to get the mighty empire out of their countries. So although
it’s not confirmed, there does seem to be an overwhelming number of interesting things
the two men have in common. It is worth noting though that even at their worst, the Stormcloaks
were a lot more successful than their real-world counterparts. The Romans, no doubt angry about
being betrayed by one of their own, crushed the Batavian rebellion in under two years.
This led to city of Nijmegen, a vital stronghold of the rebellion, being completely destroyed
and Rome ordering that even more of the tribes’ young men be forced into service in the Roman
legions as punishment. As for Civilis, historians don’t really know what happened to him.
He just stops being written about afterwards. But most suspect that things ended uh...not
well for the guy. But hey at least Nijmegen was eventually rebuilt and still stands in
what is now the modern-day Netherlands. There’s another historical figure that many
fans believe to be part of the inspiration behind Ulfric as well: Alaric the First, King
of the Visigoths. Much like Ulfric and Civilis he was once a member of the Empire’s legion
before going off to lead a rebellion. There is one key difference though: he actually
pulled it off. In 410 AD he sacked Rome itself, causing the most definitive event in the slow
decline of the Roman Empire. This is because, much like how Ulfric Stormcloak sees the Imperials
as a fading power and wishes to take advantage of that, Alaric recognized that the once-powerful
Roman Empire was on its last legs and could topple over with the right push. In the end,
both of these enemies of Rome have a lot in common with Ulfric Stormcloak and help shine
a light on the possible inspirations behind one of Skyrim’s most interesting characters.
Next up, we have our comment showcase. This week, our comment comes from Vohkun, who has
an interesting theory about the inspiration behind the Thirsk Mead Hall. He believes the Thirsk Hall and the story of the Udyrfrykte
to be a reference to the ancient Early English epic Beowulf. And he’s got some compelling
evidence to back it up too. For those who don’t know, the Udyrfrykte is a monster
who appears in Elder Scrolls 3 and is mentioned in Oblivion. Vohkun points out the similarities
between the deadly slaughter in Thirsk Hall and the mass killing in Heorot Hall done by
Grendel in Beowulf. In fact, the Udyrfrykte itself is a likely reference to the infamous
beast Grendel, not only are they both troll-like creatures who live in icy caves but they also
have noteworthy mothers. Grendel’s dangerous mother plays a huge role in the second half
of the Beowulf story, which mirrors the even more deadly Uderfrykte Matron in Oblivion.
All in all, it’s a pretty well thought out theory, but we want to know what you guys
think. Let us know in the comments below. Now it’s time for our shoddy comment, which
is provided by Archer this week, who decided to chime in saying “The answer is y 4 youtube
money bitches”. But hey, for all we know this could just be some kind of deep philosophical
musing that’s just going over our heads. Anyway, it’s time for some trivia! Last
week we asked you all where Kenny’s family originally lived in Telltale’s first Walking
Dead game. The answer was D) Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This week our question is Stormcloak-related:
What event in Elder Scrolls history is considered to be the initial conception of the Stormcloak
Rebellion?