I vote for Queen Ayrenn but as leaders go they are all utterly awful.

Skald-King Jorunn is perhaps the worst of the lot, he looks like the ghost of Christmas present from the Muppets Christmas Carol, with his only achievements having a popular sister and a better brother. His very title is singing king (though I see no such talent to him), how he became the King of the Nords is beyond me, while the pact only placed him at the head cause the other options wouldn't work. I can't think of anything he has achieved other than getting lucky with a random stranger getting off a boat and being recruited by the Thane of Windhelm to save his life.

High King Emeric aside from masses of self-doubt he appears to be a merchant lord who some how became king, though I am at a loss as to how this happened, who is easily defeated by everyone he goes up against only saved cause some random stranger was looking to help a guard captain who had been captured. But it gets worse, he is happy to dispatch necromancers and assassins and sanction the murder of civilians and villagers so he can't even claim any moral high ground in his dealings. He is a weak loathsome being.

Queen Ayrenn is as confusing as hell, she is some how very young yet has spent a lifetime travelling around Tameriel and many years working with the races to forge the dominion and is older than her brother who would have to be incredibly young if she is a young queen. She abandoned her responsibilities to go travelling but as soon as there is an opportunity to be in charge is straight back, she ignores the will of her own people and brands any that stand against her fools and traitors, participates in rituals to get blessings which she then ignores until they become favorable. While at the same time is happy to use deadra to steal others appearance (and use assassins) and have her troops murder babies in the hatching pool (I know a little schematic, if you kill a pregnant woman are you also murdering her baby I'd say yes so killing an Argonian in its egg your killing a baby).

So really we have two war criminals and one incompetent, so its a pretty underwhelming bunch as leaders go.

King Kurog

A lot of the things done were not sanctioned by the rulers but by leaders of the forces that ended up in other territories.

I agree with Jorunn being boring. He isn't a bad leader but not the great leader he presents himself to be.

Ayrenn is not a bad person she is perhaps not as experienced as the others but experience comes with time.

Emeric is all right also. His doubts make him seem realistic and human. Most of us have doubts and question actions we have done. Was it the right choice should we have done this. Might there have been a better way. Still when things got rough he put on his armor and lead the charge. Granted he got himself in a bind since the witch captured and stabbed him still he took a risk to help his people.

Can't decide between Jorunn and Ayrenn. But I am sure that Emeric is by far the worst leader and doesn't fit as a ruler at all. He acts like a bland, indecisive and sluggish little boy.

AlienSlof wrote: »

King Emeric - because Bill Nighy!

As a, small scaled, dubbing fanatic myself, Bill Nighy should've been chosen (fingers crossed for right grammar here >.<) as some villain, like in several awesome acting in movies.

Hard to tell if he would be a better Molag Bal as I loved Malcolm McDowell's voice acting.

Ravena wrote: »

He could at least have had a powerful commanding Nord voice to make him a bit more interesting, like Ulfric did.

I agree. Although I didn't recognize from other sources, Vladimir Kulich's voice would be MUCH better for Jorunn.

Bryanonymous wrote: »

Though my loyalties lay with the Conenant, I have a soft spot for the queen. She's so nice to the hero. Hard to believe her and Emeric can't make peace.

Easy to believe. Like most Altmer, she is still a racial supremacist

Sheogorath.

Queen Ayrenn is an adventurer at heart, she's intelligent, kind, and personable. Her goal is to make Tamriel a better place. Her biggest weakness is inexperience, and time will take care of that. She's also the only faction leader that doesn't manage to die during her questline, which I consider a plus. Yes, there are very scummy people in her faction...but if you hadn't noticed, there are scummy people in ALL the factions.

Jorunn seems like a bit of a nobody. What we learn about he seems good; he had the city built up before the palace for the good of his people...but that's about all we get about him. Part of the problem is he only gets two zones of characterization, and spends half of that time comatose. And he seems to be playing second fiddle to his sister, in spite of the fact that she's dead. In his defense, I can't think of anything really bad to say about him and he seems a decent enough sort...he's just not terribly noteworthy. For his faction's part, I really worry more about the Tribunal, because we KNOW they can't be trusted.

Emeric has self-confidence issues and is a little bit sexist. He hesitates when it matters (king for Rivenspire? Let's just put that on the back burner, surely that can wait indefinitely...), he rails against Daedra worship then makes pacts with Daedra worshipers* himself, and he wrote off the lives of all the people of Craglorn. He also came off as stuffy and somewhat condescending in his dialog. His goal IIRC was to re-establish trade and make money...which is a lot easier to do when you're not at war with 70% of your potential trade partners.

Now, to be perfectly fair, any of the three would be a big step up from Clivia and the Tharns.


*I'm talking about the Azura cult if that's not clear. PLEASE NOTE: I don't have a problem with him making the arrangement with the Azura cult, in and of itself. He had good reasons for doing that. My problem is that he's being a hypocrite; if he'd painted an exception for them outright, rather then loudly and publicly bemoaning Daedra worship and THEN making pacts with Daedric cultists, I would have less of an issue.

I have a soft spot for Emeric. I think it is because he seems more human. He has insecurities and he will make jokes about himself. It seemed like he really could be considered a friend.

Liked emeric because of his personality. He tries he *** up but he keeps trying to shape the world into something better ( according to him ) Ayrenn feels incompetent to me. In every AD zone you have to deal with people who dont want to support her because she cant do it herself. As for jorunn honestly i dont even remember him so yeah. No lasting impression makes him a bad character.

Emeric reminds me of martin the most so im sticking with him

Those who know, know M'aiq is the only alliance leader of merit.

You should clarify what you mean by "best," but Ayrenn for me - that sultry Kate Beckinsale voiceover, mmm. I could listen to her talk all day.