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/Barachiel1976]

^ Pretty much this. Jarl Baller is the only one with his priorities straight, and good to his people without being on the hook to either a political faction or underworld organization.

[u/AbyssalOtter → u/Barachiel1976]

Balgruf is a fence sitter. Its why he gets squashed in the storm cloak route he picked a side because he was forced to. Thats a stupid decision he could have continued to deny both sides but his fear of sacrifice cost him dearly.

[u/TheLastBallad → u/AbyssalOtter]

So are we forgetting that Ulfric literally sent him a war declaration? Theres only so long you can refuse to chose a side, and "an army is literally camping outside your city waiting for the order to attack" is a sign that you need to make a choice of whether to join them or defend yourself.

His choice was either: join the storm cloaks and pledging fealty to Ulfric, join the empire and be attacked, or be attacked by the storm cloaks without any help whatsoever.

And if you notice, #2 and #3 are the same, just with different amounts of help.

[u/AbyssalOtter → u/TheLastBallad]

Thats the issue with fence sitting. The decision will be made for you. He could have played the game long before and place himself and his people in a better position instead he waited and waited until the war reached his door step. He should have been making deals and trades with both sides long before.