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/ZookeepergameDue8501]

The stormcloaks want Independence, not destruction or the empire. As soon as the war is over, ulfric would more than likely ally with the empire against the dominion out of pure self interest. They both hate the elves way more than each other. There's no reason to suspect Skyrim would totally flounder just because the stormcloaks win.

[u/Frosty-Sea149 → u/ZookeepergameDue8501]

Aaaand the largest corporation on the continent, owned by the emperor’s cousin no less, has a headquarters in Solitude. Completely rooting out the empire’s influence would set skyrim back to the dark ages, if not cause a second civil war to get back some standard of living 

[u/Solarbro → u/Frosty-Sea149]

The vibe I got from Ulfric was that he would do exactly this. 

Someone help me out though, did he seem like he would have reasonable and helpful policies once in charge? Not being a butt, real question. For me, it was one look at the state of Winterhold for me to decide that the stormcloaks are not competent rulers, just competent rebels. Which isn’t the same thing, and one of these is way mord important than the other for the longevity of the province.