Quote Originally Posted by The_Jackal View Post
I'll tell you why Tullius is worse: Because he openly betrays his principles to become an instrument of Thalmor oppression. He knows the Thalmor are the real enemy, but projects his own scheming, self-serving motives on Ulfric Stormcloak. Ulfric is standing up for his beliefs, for his people, at a time when the Empire is letting them be persecuted by a foreign oppressor. How he gets painted as a villain in that context by any rational person is totally incomprehensible.

Yes, he's not the most open-minded and tolerant fellow in Tamriel, and yes, some of his followers are outright bigots. But the Empire has its share of bigots too, and the Thalmor are the goose-stepping Nazis of the piece, and Tullius is carrying their water. As Toby Ziegler put it in 'The West Wing', "You're not the Devil, you're the guy who goes to the corner store to get the Devil a pack of cigarettes".
Because Tullius isn't betraying his own principles, he's upholding them. He's a man of law, order, and discipline. He swore an oath to serve the Empire and the Emperor, and those principles demand that he obey the lawful treaty signed with the Thalmor. It doesn't matter that he knows that he's their enemy or that he knows he's being made to do their dirty work; his duty is to obey his orders, and he does so to the best of his ability. He can't just discard his orders and act on his own - what kind of example would he be setting as an officer or as a citizen?