Hello I have a question. I'm sure it's been asked but I haven't found the answer yet. I just started the game recently and was wondering what will they do in future games when they reference Skyrim and they don't know whether the empire or the stormcloaks won the war?

I haven't done much of the main story but am almost done the civil war storyline and this is something that's been on my mind.

I'm willing to bet that the Stormcloak Vs. Empire lasted until the Thalmor finally came in and crippled both forces. Then TES: VI will have to do something with the Thalmor.

I'd laugh if they threw in a Dragonbreak.

Both sides won... Somehow :blink:

Oh here's a crazy idea, how about Bethesda going "X won, deal with it" ?

I love choices in RPG's, but I don't care if my choice isn't the canon choice.
If the storyline says X happened then that happened, I got to play through a what if scenario.

So it can easily be handled, what "you" did doesn't matter, the official storyline is what matters, and if the official storyline wants the Imperials to win then they won.
Simple as that.

"But that ruins my choice! I joined the Stormcloaks!"
So?
I joined the Stormcloaks as well but if Imperials won then they won.

[edit]

I'd consider it pretty damn weak of Bethesda to not adress what events were canon in fear of devaluing certain players choices.
Cause our choice should not matter, this isn't Mass Effect or Dragon Age.

Then our choices are meaningless. That's good in an RPG, right?

I prefer it when they keep things vague, but with the civil war going on in Skyrim and our ability to help determine its outcome.. I think Bethesda did something they shouldn't have.

"Weakened by the war, both rebels and Imperials alike fell to Thalmor blades"


They'll make the Thalmor conquer Skyrim anyway, disregarding dragonborn's choice.

In a way.

Here's the thing, you get to play through a storyline, and you get to see what could have happened if the storyline had taken a different toll, that's what great about RPG's.
That they allow you to see what the other side of the coin looks like.
But the official storyline is what matters for the lore.

But your choices aren't meaningless.
You get to see what could have happened.
The "what if" scenarios.

While the official storyline does not follow your choices at least you had the option to see what could have happened.

So are your choices meaningless?
In canon, yes.
But gameplay-wise and lore-wise, no.

(By lore-wise I mean by showing what the lore "could have been".)

For those opposed to this, I wonder how you'd like the Fallout series. :confused:

Oh and as a final note, when TESVI rolls out and you find out X won, then if you want to you could always play as X when playing Skyrim and ignore Y forever.