Most of these threads deal with explaining which side you prefer to win. My focus though is: Does it seem odd that the ONLY way there can be a civil war winner is if the Dragonborn takes a side? Civil wars can drag on for quite a while. But sooner or later, one side throws in the towel. Pointedly, in the case of the Skyrim civil war, the ONLY way to end the civil war is by having the DB take sides... and that side WILL be the winner. That quite a burden to place on a newly hatched DB. It demonstrates a higher level of control of the rulership of a province than ever was wielded by a High King or even the Emperor.

I am of the opinion that Bethesda should have come out and made a decision. If the DB fails to take sides by Level ____ (40, 50, 60, etc.), then at that point either the Empire sends in additional legions and puts an end to the rebellion, or else it decides in no point wasting more resources and just lets the Stormcloaks win.

I could support this idea. Only two of my characters have ever been Dragonborn (one did the main quest, the other did the Dragonborn expansion) so the civil war rages on eternally in all of my games.

I think it would be a nice change of pace in this series to see the resolution of a conflict happen independently of my character's actions in an Elder Scrolls game.

Honestly, it probably wasn't the best idea to give us a choice in the matter, because anything that comes in 5E, and involves Tamriel, will most likely be heavily reliant (from a historical perspective) of what happened in Skyrim. Something as major as, say, a force like the Empire being defeated, and losing an entire region (especially one as important as Skyrim) to a force comprised of what was essentially civilians, would be a huge conflict for history. Then you have the Aldmeri Dominion, whose reaction to Skyrim falling from Empire control would have to be integrated.

This is really what separates the game from the lore. If we weren't there, the war would have gone its natural path, and it would eventually end. I think it's safe to say the Empire would naturally have been victorious. If they weren't, it really wouldn't make sense, and throw off the history. The Stormcloaks was essentially makeshift army, comprised of mostly civilians that took up arms (some have military backgrounds). The Empire has been around for thousands of years, is a professional army, highly skilled in military tactics and strategy, economical sound with ties all over the continent, in a truce with the Aldmeri Dominion, and all around more capable. Not to mention that if the Stormcloaks won, they would void themselves from the treaty they were protected under with the Empire, and the Aldmeri Dominion would then conquer them. Ulfric would basically have led the country into a slaughter, and watched everyone die. This is why the Empire signed the treaty in the first place... it wasn't because they wanted to, it was because they were forced to, and had no other options if they wanted to spare the lives of the people. This is why Ulfric wasn't a fit leader. A leader has to be able to set aside their pride, and make hard decisions that are in the best interest for the people they serve. Maybe he, and those that joined his army, were willing to die fighting, but that doesn't mean everyone he would have served in SKyrim would have been. All Ulfric would have done is watch Skyrim fall into complete control of the very same force he despised, the Dominion, and the Nords of SKyrim would be dead. Good job, Ulfric.

Bethesda should have declared the war's victor. Although, like I said, there's the game, then there's the lore. If a title comes out in 5E, for example, they can still decide the victor for historical records. The Civil War would ultimately have just been a fun detail in the Skyrim title.

Its a nice idea to have the civil war resolved over time without player involvement, but personally I would have tried to play up some of the strategy aspect of the civil war instead of having it resolved off screen.

The soldiers of both sides mainly stick to their camps and only send out patrols as random encounters every now and then. Not a lot happens without the players involvement, but imagine if there was a actual front line? If you could stop into the Jarls longhouse and get some updates from the imperial/stormcloak commanders stationed there about the latest happenings in the war. The Stormcloaks trying to push a force through Valtheim while the Empire has kicked out the bandits from the towers and erected fortifcations there, and all of this being based around some dynamic scripted stuff where there's a AI on each side trying to figure out the best way to win the war. When the Dragonborn gets involved, he is given the usual trial of clearing out a bandit fort, but after that he is treated as a champion warrior, and is allowed to roam freely with the Ulfric/Tullius AIs giving him full access to their plans, and suggestions of where the DB would be most useful, aswell as flat out being allowed to march over to Valtheim and order a assault across the chokepoint and make a push towards whiterun or eastmarch.

There's a lot that could have been done with the civil war questline, but what I described would probably have added atleast half a year onto the dev time. Still, seeing some sort of agency from the NPCs involved in the civil war would have been a neat mechanic to have.

I'm actually fine with a permanent civil war as the natural state for Skyrim. Nothing says a civil war can't last years or even decades. My (one and only) character is never 'The Chosen One'; she is simply a traveling adventuress. As an elf, she views the humans rather sadly. Given their short life spans, they chose to fight themselves instead of join forces against their real enemy - the Thalmor. But it makes no real difference to my elf if the red coats or blue coats win. . . or if the war simply continues.

I just realized what Bethesda is most likely to do in regards to what happens after TES5: It doesn't matter which side the player chose to support. If the player chose Empire, then no tweaking would be required. If the player chose Stormcloaks then one year after the player stopped playing the Empire would invade Skyrim, defeat the Stormcloaks, and execute Ulfric for high treason. Either way, the end results are the same: Stormcloaks defeated and disbanded, and Ulfric dead. And the Dragonborn has dropped from sight to who-knows-where.