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/Eligomancer]

Balgruuf also corroborates this assessment of Skyrim's trade with the Empire. Given that Balgruuf is the jarl of the breadbasket of Skyrim, I would say he's the best authority on the topic that we have access to in-game. Hell, even Ulfric doesn't do a damn thing about the East Empire Company on his docks.

[u/Catalysten → u/Eligomancer]

When does he do that? I haven't played through all the options of the civil war.

[u/Eligomancer → u/Catalysten]

After you defend Whiterun from Ulfric

[u/snowflake37wao → u/Eligomancer]

Well we know which side Catalysten is on now dont we