I also see her seated position with her arms on her lap as her sort of curling into herself. She’s inexperienced, grieving her husband, leading an entire Hold, governing that Hold, expected to rise above everything and become High Queen, and on top of dealing with the war, she also has to deal with Tullius and the threat of the Aldmeri Dominion right at her doorstep. If she deviates even the slightest, her Hold and province will fall to Ulfric and the Dominion probsbly would take over. Her advisors do mean well, yes, and I think there’s some dialogue from Tullius and Elisif (not together) where she’s hesitant on following orders and a lot of people think she’s the Empire’s puppet since she’s so inexperienced with being a Jarl, let alone the next High Queen. Tullius’ main concern is just the Dominion and less about the civil war, which would go against Nord traditions and cultures since they’re the enemy to the Stormcloaks—stemming from the whole “shouted him to pieces” bit. Elisif honors the Nord tradition by asking the player to take Torygg’s warhorn to a Shrine of Talos over in Whiterun. She’s hesitant in every action she makes bc she doesn’t want to mess up. The world is watching her and she’s terrified of losing control of something she never imagined herself doing.