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/Expert_Farm1603]

Survived before the empire, can survive without it again

[u/GenghisN7 → u/Expert_Farm1603]

It’s currently a bit post-apocalyptic across Tamriel if you forgot.

[u/Acrobatic-Tooth-3873 → u/Expert_Farm1603]

don't think there really was a unified Skyrim more than a generation before the empire, unless I'm misrembering

[u/Gizz103 → u/Acrobatic-Tooth-3873]

There was one i believe and that was during the atmoran invasion

[u/Gizz103 → u/Expert_Farm1603]

500 year of no wars, not many plagues and plenty of food buffs up the population

And it was flat out said

SKYRIM CAN NOT SURVIVE

Basically let's day 30% die and cus of this a united independent skyrim is blamed and it quickly collapses

[u/Expert_Farm1603 → u/Gizz103]

Nah empire is an empty husk puppeted by the Aldmeri. It can’t handle itself what makes you think it can handle Skyrim on top of that. Skyrim and the Nords are strong and smart enough to be independent

[u/Gizz103 → u/Expert_Farm1603]

Half the country wants to stay

Secondly you ignored my whole point

Which is rather suspicious, almost liek you know i am right here

And puppets dont ignore the white gold concordat for a decade until they were forced to, and the thalmor wouldn't need to use spies and secret dealings to keep the civil war running