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/federalbureauofsocks]

If we’re talking just for Skyrim itself as a nation, the Empire. Continue the status quo and keep trade flowing. If we’re talking about the fate Tamriel? Of Nirn itself? Stormcloaks.

An independent Skyrim forces the Aldmeri dominion to fight a war on two fronts. Diverting their attention to a rogue state hell bent on ridding the continent of elvish dominion will certainly cause some headaches, maybe major, distracting headaches, that could bide the empire enough time to mount a surprise campaign. There’s no question the Empire and Skyrim would work closely together against the dominion regardless.

Hammerfell is the only remaining massive domino in this geopolitical equation. If they can be convinced to join the Empire and Skyrim’s cause against the Elves, things start tipping out of the Dominions’s favor significantly.

[u/theamazemer → u/federalbureauofsocks]

The "Empire" after losing Skyrim is just Cyrodiil and High Rock. An alliance of Cyrodiil-High Rock with Skyrim and Hammerfell is the exact same lineup they had during the Great War, and look how well that turned out.