Lore talk:Imperial Legion

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Moved from article[edit]

Some of the following seems useful but certainly doesn't belong in the Tamriel namespace. Could a denizen of Vvardenfell take a look please?

After completing all of the lower-ranking quests, the player is rewarded by joining the Imperial Knights, the higer echelons of the Legion, whose armour is gold with red tailorings, as opposed to the usual dark colours of the rank-and-file soldiery.
The Legion, playable only in Morrowind, is relativly full at the time the player enters the game. The only station which has an available opening is Fort Darius in Gnisis, which is occupied by the Deathshead Legion.
In Morrowind, the Legion's armour and structure strongly resemble that of the real-life Roman Legions. The helmet, shield and "skirt," although darker in colour, are almost perfect reconstructions of the armour used in Rome after the reformations of Gaius Marius. However, in Oblivion, the armour of the Legion is completely different. Another interesting note is that in Morrowind, many races are employed in the Legion, most prominently Orcs, prized for their ferocity and hardiness as frontline troopers.
(Oddly, the "skirt" that guards are seen to wear is never offered to the player, and must be obtained by either killing a guard, stealing one from a garrison, or killing one of the few civilian NPCs who wear them)

--RpehTCE 17:34, 23 October 2007 (EDT)

Paragraph One - No, you just get given some Templar armour. You don't actually join the hidden 'Imperial Knights' faction, although your rank is 'Knight xxx'.
Paragraph Two - True. This could probably be used to expand the brief note to that effect on the Morrowind faction page.
Paragraph Three (a) - I agree on the helmet, but not the shield or skirt, but I wouldn't call myself an expert. It's fairly widely accepted that the Imperials are based on the Romans, anyway, and I don't think this resemblance is worth particular mention.
Paragraph Three (b) - Not sure what the comment about the Orcs in the legion in Morrowind is intended to suggest. Sure, most of the legion soldiers in Oblivion are Imperials, but it is set in their home province.
Paragraph Four - Sort of true. You can't get the 'Imperial Skirt', or indeed the 'Imperial Belt', without killing or stealing, but you can purchase identical pieces, just called 'common' rather than 'Imperial' from various clothiers. I don't think this is worth particular mention.
--Gaebrial 02:45, 24 October 2007 (EDT)

Page move[edit]

After the request of several editors, i've moved the info from Oblivion onto this page.--LordDagon 11:48, 2 February 2008 (EST)

Uniform change[edit]

  • Is there any known explanation for why the Legion underwent a drastic uniform change some time between the time frames of Morrowind and Oblivion? It seems odd that the Legion is using drastically different gear yet there is no reason for it ever given in game (that I could tell.) Jedibob5 03:30, 19 July 2011 (UTC)
Different provinces get equipment at different times? It's never explained in game though. rpeh •TCE 08:26, 19 July 2011 (UTC)
Well... That's one of the few lore fails of Bethesda in TES, I would say. There's no in-game explanation why the Legions in Cyrodill wear late medieval like armors while the time difference between the events of Morrowind and Oblivion is exactly... 5 years. Events in Skyrim are set 200 years after the events of Oblivion and as we can see the Imperial Legion came back to their sense and returned to earlier-like equipment (not as useful [compare for example the shields] as in Morrowind but still...). It is just Bethesda's lore fail. --Arkhon 06:46, 20 December 2011 (UTC)
Hmm, i wouldnt really call it a Lore fail more than its just Bethesda trying out a different style. The whole of oblivion was based around that classic, though over-used, medieval theme. I guess they thought that the whole romanesque armour design may not have suited it. Besides, maybe its just like an honour-guard type armour, for those who defend the seat of the empire to wear a special uniform. Vos 08:56, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

There is an error in here[edit]

It states that, there are only Legionaries from Skyrim and Cyrodiil but High Rock is still with the Empire — Unsigned comment by 108.25.178.129 (talk) at 15:09 on 8 April 2012

No, Hammerfell disagreed with the terms of the White-Gold concordant and split from the Empire. Hammerfell is now independant. The Silencer has spoken 15:17, 8 April 2012 (UTC)
He said High Rock, not Hammerfell. And he's correct; the article omits mentioning High Rock at this point in the article, even though it is still part of the Empire (and thus presumably a source of Legion recruits). I'll change it shortly after I finish a few other tweaks.Minor EditsThreatsEvidence 22:13, 8 April 2012 (UTC)
My bad. The Silencer has spoken 22:16, 8 April 2012 (UTC)


Twenty years? Seriously?[edit]

I might be ot that up to date as I still want to get a perfect character in Oblivion (which includes getting almost 3.000 health) so I might be wrong but I always belived Ulfric Stormcloak beeing alive in TES:Skyrim was living 200 years after the Oblivion Crisis. I even looked it up right now and it seems like I'm right about that. So why does the article tells us all this stuff with Ulfric was 20 years later? I guess he is no vampire and beeing a racist-nord I dont belive he is part -mer... This leads me to the conclusion that its a mistake on the page but as I dont want you to belive I'm just a trolling guest I would prefer a member to confirm this and fix it.06:04, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Actually, i believe its referring to the fact that the stormcloak rebellion took place about 20 years after the great war, which was mentioned in the paragraph above. Vos 08:43, 17 May 2012 (UTC)
Oh sry, yes that makes sense... I was just very tired at that time and so I got confused as I read "Ulfric"...^^' — Unsigned comment by 93.200.83.105 (talk) on 17 May 2012
Haha, all goods. Vos 21:29, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Basis for claiming there are former Legionnaires in the Stormcloak Army[edit]

What is the basis for concluding that many of the Stormcloaks were members of the Legion? There's no support for this claim in the game. The only ones explicitly acknowledged as former Legionnaires are Ulfric and Galmar. The core of the Stormcloaks come from Ulfric's Nordic militia that fought the Forsworn in the Reach, and we know that none of them were Legionnaires because the whole reason they had to be raised was because the Legions in the Reach had been recalled to Cyrodiil to fight the invading armies of the Aldmeri Dominion. The ones we see walking the roads to join the Stormcloaks by all appearances are not only not former Legionnaires, many appear to be completely unschooled in combat (farmhands etc.), and none of their dialogues imply that they're former Legionnaires. It's been a while since I did the civil war quests but I also don't recall any content in them that imply or from which you can infer that any significant number of the Stormcloaks (if any) are former Legionnaires.--DagmarH 22:29, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

Actually, there is in-game dialogue that explicitly states that some Stormcloaks are former Legionnaires. ThuumofReason 22:39, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
Please cite your source. Generic references aren't verifiable. I've encountered far too many generic claims about in game dialogues that ended up being untrue--DagmarH 01:49, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
I found it. In the Imperial Legion quest The Jagged Crown, after dispatching the Stormcloaks outside of Korvanjund, Legate Rikke says "Well done. They never knew what hit them. But don't underestimate the Stormcloaks. Many are Legion veterans. They may be traitors, but they know how to fight." --DagmarH 02:47, 18 August 2012 (UTC)