Eldan: Fair enough, my mistake.

Quote Originally Posted by veti View Post
he was already high king at the time of the Markarth Incident, which was 24 years ago - but he'd never bothered to make the pilgrimage to High Hrothgar and learn anything from the Greybeards himself.
Ah, no. That was Torygg's father Istlod. Torygg had been voted king mere months or perhaps just weeks before the duel with Ulfric.

Reading through the emotion to get at the factual content here, we can see: Torygg could have refused the challenge, and all that would have followed would have been a new moot. Which is to say, the same end result as his losing the challenge. Which suggests, to me, that Torygg's acceptance of the challenge was nothing to do with honour or duty or pride: he thought he could win. If he had a stomach for open debate and "due process" and all those civilised imperial ways, he absolutely could have gone that way and he'd have had his chance to persuade the jarls to do it his way. But he didn't want that: he wanted to fight. I have no sympathy.
I think you underestimate how huge impact honour can play. Even if you have a legal way to refuse a challenge, honour might very well dictate you answer it. If Torygg had refused the duel, he'd have shamed himself in front of Ulfric, his court, his wife and all of Skyrim. All of Skyrim would have seen him as a coward and a weakling and they'd never accept him as king after that. Answering was the only honourable way to go forward. Anything else would have been to give up his position.
I'd even hazard a guess that has Torygg done just that, he'd be forced to vote Ulfric as high king after that since "if he didn't think he was in the right then why did he refuse the challenge?"

You might be right that Torygg may have wanted to fight. It's possible. But refusing it, while probably legal, was in matters of honour an impossibility.

And as we see... honour is an important facet of Skyrim politics. As it's precisely why Ulfric hasn't been elected High King (or even called a high moot, which is his right). All his opponents consider him rather dishonourable.
It's also rather telling that when Ulfric and his allies defend the duel, they do so on the grounds that it was permissable or neccessary. Not that it was honourable.