They are powerful enough to be a threat, but looking at the events around the Great War, I think their strength is often overestimated. They took a major blow to their military might in Cyrodiil during the Great War and they were unable to keep the southern parts of Hammerfell, even when a lot of the military forces had been sent to Cyrodiil and the Redguards had internal strife up until the moment they were invaded. And this is one of their neighboring nations, making supply lines a minor problem compared to what it would be to invade Skyrim or High Rock at this point.

Read my sig.

The Thalmor ravaged the Imperial City and that was before the whole rebellion. Both sides had something invested in Cyrodiil before the rebellion broke out so they all long for revenge. That being said i guarantee that both sides would ransack all of Alinor, civilians and soldiers alike. One does not simply destroy a city and get away with it.

This only makes me want to delay both sides as much as I can.

Delay will do nothing in terms of lore. The Thalmor made the Empire look weak and heartless so if the Empire gets a chance and proving themselves they will take it. The Thalmor take innocent civilians and torture them for choosing to worship a god so there is grounds for the Stormcloaks. The Thalmor in general show absolutely no regard or any other lifeforms in all of Mundus or mundus itself. They want to unmake all of creation... and their people back them. What does that say to you? They need to be wiped out along with any who support them with extreme prejudice.. If that means either side setting all of Alinor to flames, then so be it.

If the Thalmor really want to destroy Mundus, we may want to pull back to defend the Adamantine Tower, since it seems to be the only thing holding the world up now. As for delaying, obviously one side will wind up being canon eventually, I'm just wondering what I could do in-game. Either way, though... the Stormcloaks were able to restrict their attacks, more or less, solely to the Legion, but I have no intention of letting something likely to be far less discriminating ravage my own homeland without a fight.

I actually think they are underestimated. The Battle of the Red Ring was certainly a defeat, but I'm unsure about the magnitude.

About Hammerfell... I'm speculating that it could be a strategic move of the Dominion.

My feelings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JQW9lB_KbRg#t=29s

Talk to every single NPC involved with either side of the war and decide which one you like better. If that still doesn't help you decide then the Empire has an Altmeri Legate, while every single Stormcloak is a Nord, so yeah.

I'm not so sure of that. http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1454537-the-towers-theory-snow-throat/?p=22506415#entry22506415 Plus there are a few towers which would file under unknown in terms of activity. We can't just assume only one remains.