Like I said, it just seems too simple for my liking. What does it mean that they have a natural affinity? Do the nords recognize enemy strategies better and know how to counter them accordingly? Are they good at making up appropriate strategies on the fly? I want details. Details we'll likely never get sadly.

The loading screen also says Torygg was shouted apart, and that the falmer went blind from years away from sunlight. We can guess the first is an exaggerated lie. The second part we know is a lie.

Yeah, that's an over simplification.. if we want to look at Oblivion, sure most of them come across as legion guards or farmer/diplomats.

In actuality we have the Nord-like Colovians and the Akaviri-influenced Nibenese. The Imperial milk-drinker is Nord hubris just as the barbarian Nords is Imperial superiority complex.

True but don't forget Septim only managed to defeat the original Dominion using Numidium. Although that Dominion also didn't have crackpot Thalmor they do this time.

As for the difference between Nord fighting styles and Imperial fighting styles I'd say it would be similar to the difference between Roman and Germanic Armys. The Imperials with their Shields, Formations and heavy armour have the advantage in the field but in rough terrain and forested areas their heavy armour and large shields become a burden and they don't stand a chance. For an example the Battle of Teutoburg, of course it wouldn't be that neat and simple since there wasn't magic involved but still it would be similar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxilvLpCT7U&feature=player_detailpage&t=232

The norseman also frequently used shield formations, so the Nords probably have traditions for it too. Skyrim's landscape surely support using it, like in the Whiterun plains. Adaptability might be an important thing. Skyrim is varied and quite so.

But but unlike those two there is evidence for the Falmers increased activity the raided cart on the road a little ways south of Dragon Bridge, a book and of course all those dead archaeologists and explorers slaughtered by them in the various Dwemer ruins and the caves where bandits where camping out before they got a surprise visit from the Falmer in the night.

That dominion was also likely more powerful. Tamriel in general seems to have declined, especially after the oblivion crisis.

Thing is though, the nords would also be fighting with shields. They're modeled after norseman, and they fought using shield walls and such, and the nords are a part of the legion, meaning they'd be trained to learn these formations there as well.

Indeed, but not at the levels great enough to fulfill what the loading screen was suggesting. TBH, I think they just put that up as an excuse to have them around more as an enemy for the player.

Falmer raids are actually real. Just because a rumor about Torygg wasn't 110% accurate does not invalidate the clear use of possible fore-shadowing. Bethesda added it intentionally to illustrate their possible threat. So you can't just blindly cross them out as a possibility. There's also a book that talks about their growing threat in numbers and surface activity.

^This.

The Bretons are pretty much sitting back and waiting to see what happens in Skyrim. If Skyrim breaks away and becomes independent, so does High Rock.

It'll be enough to cause more instability from a Civil war.

Nerevarine saves the day...

Morrowind gets trashed.

CoC saves the day...

Cyrodiil gets trashed

...

And a misphrasing of what I intended to say. Doesn't matter though, the Imperials seem to regard the Nords as better than them at warfare.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Provinces_of_Tamriel

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Pocket_Guide_to_the_Empire,_1st_Edition/Skyrim

I know they're real, hev. Calm down. I'm saying a little increased activity does not a snow elf revenge plot make.


Two out of 5.

I agree we can't ignore a possible threat. Too bad so many do just that when I bring up the end of the Dark Brotherhood.

That's because we need more information. Yes, its a big deal and serious subject. But we need more.

It doesn't have to be successful to still do damage. It would increase the danger of the Thalmor for the next game. It "canonizes" the civil war by making the result practically irrelevant since the Nords are forced to deal with the Betrayed, and it keeps the second Great War from being a simple victory.

Even with the scant amount of detail, its the death of an Emperor in a time of a great war. Cant be good.

To be successful, it has to get started first. I don't see any big war happening anytime soon. Not in this era anyway until they get more intelligent, which they are getting. But it will take time. We also dont know if their numbers are great enough for that.

No doubt, but we need more knowledge on who could probably succeed him. We have none of that. We just have to wait.

Not really. I'm sure there are plenty of elder Altmer, Bosmer, and Dunmer that remember a time when the Empire didn't exist since it has only lasted roughly 630 years up to this point. Also unless I'm mistaken, the Argonian can live a very long time because of their connection to the Hist.

Um...how was Hammerfell a betrayal? The Legions didn't (and still don't) have the strength to defend it after the war. Harsh as it was, Hammerfell had to be let go. It's called trading territory for time, and it's an extremely effective pan. In this case, it completely divided the attention of the Dominion's armies, since they had to keep fighting through Cyrodil while still getting hammered by the Redguard. Any Redguard with an ounce of tactical sense will grasp this quickly on his or her own, or immediately upon seeing a map with military positions outlined.

If anything, the Empire letting Hammerfell go is a hard-edged compliment to the Redguards. "We can't protect you anymore, but you don't need us to. Godspeed."

The point is it could happen they've set it up so that they can use it the future if they decide to whether they do that or not is obviously unknowable right now. But there does seem to be a trend of all the provinces declining in power and prosperity in the last 200+ years.

Cyrodill ravaged by the oblivion crisis, civil war, great war and yet another civil war , Skyrim losing one of it's oldest cities in the great collapse and then being ravaged by the civil war. Morrowind almost wiped off the map by the eruption of Redmountian and then further destroyed by the Argonians. Hammerfall ravaged by the Great war although besides Black Marsh and Highrock they seem to be doing rather well still. Not much information on Elsweyr besides being split into two kingdoms, the void nights and becoming part of the Dominion, and Valenwood is also a mystery short of being brought into the Dominion by a coup and the purges carried out by the Thalmer and the deactivation of it's tower. Alinor ravaged by the Obilivion crisis and Crystal-like-law destroyed and the Thalmor taking over, purges and then the great war.

The only province that is practically untouched so far is Black Marsh. Highrock is pretty much an Enigma other than being on dubious terms with the empire and wayrest being captured by Corsairs.

But out of the Major Power Blocks the Dominion is still more stable than the Empire for the time being that probably wont last of course.

Strange, I seem to remember Ulfric dying on a blade's katana, the Stormcloaks being crushed and Skyrim once again becoming a productive member of the Empire.

Indeed, my point in bringing it up normally in CW debates, which of course this is not, is to counter all the unknowns people bring up like if Ulfric can be a good domestic ruler as well as a militaristic one, even though a war general is more what they need right now, or if Skyrim can ally with Hammerfell and Cyrodiil. Its to show the other side has just as many unknowns. Them siding with Hammerfell for instance is an even bigger question given their very very recent history. And as previously said, the wild card of who the new Emperor could be. For their sake I hope it isn't Motierre.

They were going to give southern Hammerfell to the Dominion. The Redguards (and Legion) fought hard there the entire time. They weren't just going to give it up.