Ulfric is Skyrim's Hitler

• Hitler fought in World War 1, initially called the “Great War”. Ulfric fought in Tamriel’s “Great War”.

• Hitler saw the Treaty of Versailles as a stab in the back. Ulfric was critical of the White-Gold Concordat.

• Hitler staged the beerhall putsch a few years after his stint as a soldier and was incarcerated for it. Ulfric aided in retaking Markarth on the condition that Talos worship be allowed, which resulted in his imprisonment.

• Hitler hated Jews. Ulfric hated the Thalmor.

• Hitler is charismatic. So is Ulfric.

• Hitler is right wing. So is Ulfric.

• Hitler advocated for the needs of the Germans. Ulfric advocated for Nords.

• Hitler led the Sturmabteilung. Ulfric leads an army called the Stormcloaks.

• Hitler was 50 years old when he started World War II. Ulfric was 50 years old when the civil war kicked off.

Most great leaders are charismatic, many could be considered “right wing”, and it is not unheard of for politicians to harbor hatred for their enemies. Their similar ages could also be a coincidence. But some of these parallels are undeniable — the treaties, the word “storm”, and the “Great War”… Surely these similarities were intentionally added to the game by the developers.

I’ve seen a few people come up with a similar theory and most of the time they are met with disagreement. A few of the arguments made against the case are decent:

Ulfric, for example, isn’t actually racist — the correct interpretation of the lore is that he is motivated by ideology and power, not race. He’s also courteous towards you regardless of your race in game.

The Stormcloak racism thing is also a little overblown. There’s two racist assholes in Windhelm, but most other people seem to ignore them. Although the argonians are not let in the city, Ulfric and Windhelm are also not alone in being skeptical of outsiders. By all means, the Thalmor are the real racists.

These details aside, the real reason why people don’t want to believe Ulfric is supposed to be Hitler-lite is that a lot of people support the Stormcloaks, but most people don’t like Hitler. And people don’t like it when you compare a thing they like and a thing they don’t like, no matter how similar they are.