So true. Though I think it will be the focus of the next game... Or an action game. That would be cool if the fanchise expanded even more and a studio was making an ES action adventure RPG.

Skyrim going to Ulfric wouldn't result in Thalmor going in. The Thalmor in Skyrim are largely eliminated by Ulfric when he wins the war, and he makes hints that he's probably going to burn the embassy. In any case the Thalmor are likely to make a hasty retreat before taking any action in Skyrim as there's little reason to stay when you're in an area with a hostile populace supported by a hostile ruler who has stated that he plans to make war on the Thalmor. As proof, look at what happens to Ondolemar and the Thalmor soldiers in Markarth if Ulfric takes it, either by concession during the peace conference or by military victory. He disappears from the game. If Tullius takes Markarth back, Ondolemar does not return and as far as I can gather, neither do the Thalmor soldiers.

After the Stormcloaks take Markarth, his body winds up in the hall of the dead, so yup, he is certainly deceased.

So you're saying that if a country declares war on you, you aren't going to rush them down and crush them while they're weak from fighting a previous war?

Remember, the Thalmor only loses the Embassy, a prison, and maybe a couple of Justiciar squads (including Ondolemar). The Stormcloaks, on the other hand, probably lost a large chunk of their manpower fighting against the Empire. The Thalmor would just move up from Cyrodiil and hit the Stormcloaks either while they are weak, or after they have lost their usefulness to the Thalmor.

Sure, the Thalmor are eliminated in Skyrim, but they only had a small force there. And what of the Thalmor in High Rock and Cyrodiil? The Thalmor could easily hit Skyrim from both sides.

I may be late, but hell with it, this is a perfect visualization.

I always pictured the Altmer to be the mythological equivalent of the white population of the Upper East Side.

Ulfric declared to prepare to march to the Summerset Isles after the Stormcloak took Solitude. If not a political speech, then he will have to face an Empire standing in his way to the Dominion, who has recently lost to him and considerd him a traitor still. The Stormcloak cannot justify itself to even every Nord in Skyrim, so I doubt how High Rock and Cyrodiil would buy his story. And this will be a situation the Thalmor would mess into for their own benifit, to weaken the Empire a bit more, or to drag those Manmers into their first line against the Nords, even before the Stormcloak can do them any real harm. If merely a political speech, then the Thalmor will observe and order action right on the border of the newly independed realm, mayhaps a successful assassination or several minor assaults will be launched, and that is what the Thalmor are really very good at.

Either case Skyrim is no better, and there's too much uncertainty in the Imperial side. Only a Savior could save Skyrim, that (s)he hit hard on the Thalmor's core and disorgnize them, then the Thalmor will collaspe as Alduin had vanished in air. Whether this Savior is the Dragonborn or not, we'll have to wait and see.