#so his anti-empire ideas start out just a a 'ew i have to pay taxes and follow laws' to more mature nuanced critiqe as he gets older

[falmerbrook]

Today I had a thought (headcanon, au, addition to his character?) about Martin.

Imagine if he grew up rather anti-Empire, whether that be out of a genuine anti-Imperialist belief system, or just a more shallow fuck-the-man anti-authority attitude as a younger man (which you could even apply to his unhappiness for his studies with the Mages' Guild). Perhaps it starts out as a shallow version of it and turns into a genuine disdain for the structures present in the Empire as he ages and matures. He has that belief, but then is suddenly thrust into the role of Emperor, with no one else to fill the role and the threat of apocalypse if he doesn't. He's a good man, he'll do it for Tamriel, but it also represents everything he's against. I think it would add a bit more meaning to his sacrifice at the end. Not only is he sacrificing himself for the greater good, but he's also putting an end to the shitty divine right structure that keeps an Emperor in place.