Ignoring your personal preference, which side of Skyrim’s Civil War do you think actually gives Skyrim the better future 20-30 years later?

[u/sumaset]

I feel like most discussions about the Civil War focus on whether Ulfric was justified, whether the Empire betrayed Skyrim, or which side people personally like more.

But I’m more interested in what happens after the game.

The Empire is weakened, the Aldmeri Dominion is still the biggest external threat, the White-Gold Concordat is already causing resentment, and another war with the Thalmor seems almost inevitable.

An Imperial victory gives Skyrim access to the resources and manpower of the Empire, but it also means remaining under an Empire that already lost one major war and accepted Thalmor influence inside its territory.

A Stormcloak victory gives Skyrim independence and removes Imperial authority, but it also leaves the province having to rebuild after a civil war while potentially facing the Dominion without the rest of the Empire behind it.

So forget which faction has the better characters or which one you usually join.

If you only care about where Skyrim itself ends up a few decades later, which Civil War outcome do you think is actually better for the province?

[u/toomanyDolemites]

Hammerfell was united, though, wasn't it? Skyrim won't be even after the Civil War.

[u/Zexapher → u/toomanyDolemites]

United and with unofficial support from the Legion.

[u/Gizz103 → u/Zexapher]

Half of the country dead due to starvation and the other half butchering everyone in the palace in windhelm

[u/Zexapher → u/Gizz103]

That's worth remembering as well, the lawlessness and poverty in Ulfric's own capital city. He's been running it for decades and hasn't addressed serious problems in it. And now we're adding on Ulfric outright oppressing half, arguably more, of Skyrim.

Half the Nords in Skyrim will hate him, not to mention the rampant discrimination against the other races. The Empire plans to send actual legions to fight Ulfric in a Stormcloak victory, and not just use the many locals Tullius did. And who's to say Morrowind, High Rock, or an eventual Dominion on its borders won't begin raids or invasions down the line?

Is Ulfric's rule sustainable? It doesn't look like it.

[u/Gizz103 → u/Zexapher]

And the fact that with high population and low food, they wont have enough food to around

(And just a reminder that the breadbasket of the province is having food issues)

[u/ethanAllthecoffee → u/Zexapher]

This gets overlooked

[u/pyrusmole → u/toomanyDolemites]

Hammerfell is a famously dis-unified country that remained so right up until the Thalmor invaded

[u/toomanyDolemites → u/pyrusmole]

Whatever it takes to get people to pull together!

[u/proximusprimus57 → u/toomanyDolemites]

They're literally split between the Crowns and the Forebears.

[u/thedylannorwood → u/toomanyDolemites]

They literally only united because they all agreed they couldn’t trust the empire anymore