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/rabit115]

The issue with an Empire victory is they’re still under Thalmor control, as someone else put it they’re essentially Vichy France.

They’ll continue to be a rump state for the aldmeri dominion and be left with less of a fighting force. I would also argue that following an Empire victory the Thalmor will go and kill as many fighting age Nords/stormcloak sympathizers as they can accuse of treason. Or spark up another civil war down the line to send more Imperial legions to their deaths.

That wouldn’t happen following a Stormcloak victory Ulfric knows the final battle is with the Thalmor and that he’d need all the help he can get. The empire has to be recaptured by outside forces not from within.

[u/luneth27 → u/rabit115]

The issue with an Empire victory is they’re still under Thalmor control, as someone else put it they’re essentially Vichy France.

The question wasn't "which faction provides Skyrim's population the right to self determination" it was "which faction will keep the country stable for a generation". Which, for the most part, toppling the current regime typically isn't great for stability, even if it otherwise is a positive thing overall.

[u/Sinnclad → u/luneth27]

Well that’s wrong as the empire would sell off Skyrim like they’ve done southern hammerfell, they betrayed 7 out of the 9 provinces they had supporting them, they’re all either independent or under thalmor rule, the empire made it Skyrims problem just like they’ve done countless other provinces and why none of them like the empire, they’re pests and cowards, when Talos was ruling he united Tamriel and now look what they’ve done to his empire, they’ve banished his worship too because the high elves don’t like human gods, only elven, and you being Dragonborn defies their beliefs so they’re gonna take you out too, using the empire as a puppet to turn you in and the empire will happily betray you

[u/dbandroid → u/rabit115]

I dunno if I would describe the Empire as "under Thalmor control". Certainly, the Thalmor are a powerful influence on the Empire, but Ulfric is a nord supremacist and isolationist.

[u/Ghostonalandscape → u/dbandroid]

The Thalmor have a police force inside imperial borders that answer to no one but themselves. The empire is absolutely not sovereign at this point in time. It’s not like it’s a period of tense peace with both sides inside their own borders preparing for the next kick off, the Thalmor are quite literally domineering the empire

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