You know, the bigger the balls, the easier it is to hit.
... and it's likely to be even more painful too *shudders*

ANYWAY, it is not certain as to which side will end up being "cannon." I do agree with everyone on how screwed the Dominion would be regardless. :celebration:

Why is a faction the right one just because its people are singing praise to Talos?
Morrowind also had a Talos cult...
(That said, I am still siding with Ulfric, even if just to see what happens...)

Legate Rikke "Talos go with you"
General Scrubimus " WHAT WAS THAT LEGATE?"

I think they're going to play off both decisions. As in, for the next game, only refer to the Dragonborn as "The Hero of Skyrim" and use a cover method like "He crushed the opposing side during the war..." followed by "... And turned his sights towards the growing problems with the Dominion..."

You know, the little allusions to the overall meaning. Since the civil war is just a civil war and I'm sure is going to lead to a bigger war with the Dominion. You only have to say "during the hard times in the civil war".

of course you're going to have two sides of fans saying "They did this right" and "They totally did this wrong" regardless of what decision they make.

for me, I hate both sides, but the fact or whimpering down and accepting terms and ridding a god from worship is simply something that would cause any group to rebel... so even if logic wins, heart and spirit usually prevails... look at all the movies xD and even in history.

I fully agree that whichever side has the Dragonborn on their side will win in the end. I mean, seriously; you kill a(NOTHER) god, and end up with the full power of the greybeards, as well as the ability to tear dragons a new one with two strokes of your axe/sword/mace...either way, the thalmor are screwed.

Plus, y'know, you can have the Mages College blowing them up, the Nightingales stealing the charred remains, and the Dark Brotherhood killing the survivors. Oh yeah, and the Companions and the Namira worshippers eat what's left over.

That's not even MENTIONING the VAST COSMIC POWER that you get from all the daedric artifacts you accumulate.

Ehm, nope
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_(fiction)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannon
:D

A random bandit dropped Talisman of Talos for me

Years from now, when they make stuff "cannon", they're probably going to mix it up. Like, Ulifric takes over places but is eventually stopped, or something. I have no idea how they're going to pull it off

heres hoping that ulfric wins the empire crumbles to the thalmor the skyrim falls to the thalmor the elves are in power gloating about there win eyes set on hammerfell and black marsh then all of a sudden kagrenac and the dwarves return to whup some ass like you thalmor thought you were running what?
:dance:

I have no idea what canon is until someone made an explanation. and no, imo, the correct path for a dragonborn is to pick neither side. just my 2 cents though.

lolwut

This.

This is actually the funniest logic I've read in a long time.

In regards to Dovakiin screwing over the Thalmor by siding with the Nords... not really true. Skyrim does not have enough strength to fight off the Thalmor after losing all Legion troops and a huge amount of soldiers to the civil war. And the Imperials and Nords might still even be at war if Ulfric wins, but this time with the full might of the Imperial Legion coming down on them, which is even better for the Thalmor. Best option is for the Imperials to win, and for Skyrim to stand with the Imperials in fending off the Thalmor.

Dark Brotherhood end spoiler below:

I don't know, I have a hard time believing that Skyrim could stand alone against the Thalmor and win, Dhovakiin or no. A united Empire (Skyrim included) barely managed to hold them back, and Skyrim would be weak following a bloody civil war to oust the Empire. A successful rebellion would likely end up shattering the already fragile Empire, allowing the Thalmor to steamroll across Tamriel. Dhovakiin may be strong lore-wise, but he's not a one man army. Even if he and an Empire-free Skyrim resisted the initial Thalmor invasion, the rest of Tamriel would be swallowed up, and the Thalmor would only grow stronger. At that point it's only a matter of time until Skyrim falls, too. And honestly, playing through this game I haven't ever gotten the impression that Skyrim is any sort of major military power, most of it is pretty back-woodsy, with only a couple major population centers. Where would Skyrim marshal the military strength to stop a major invasion by a powerful army, after ousting or killing most of it's trained fighting force (Imperial soldiers)?

It just seems to me that joining the rebellion is hardly a good bet for anyone interested in restoring Talos worship. I'd say Ulfric is shortsighted in this regard, but as others have pointed out, the Talos issue is only a pretense. The man is just a racist power-monger with a personal agenda.

Edit: Beaten by the guy above me.

Talos was a Dragonborn. It makes more sense his perk would reflect that, not just because the Stormcloaks worship him and the Imperials outlawed it.

I think you need to read up on Tiber Septim

I second this. I don't know if either will win, but I don't think the Dragonborn would get involved by picking sides

All quests in TES are canon. However, it will never be mentioned which Dragonborn completed and which he did not (if you don't do a quest, someone else in the gameworld will).
In other words, both Tulius and Ulfric will die eventually (tough we will never be given an detailed explanation of how to allow our imagination to say "Ah, I did that!" or "Damn, who did this?!") and Skyrim's future won't change in long run no matter with whom you side.

What the hell does the word canon mean?

Example: Gothic 3 had around 3 endings but the next game/expansion says that the character of Gothic 3 supported the King. Thus, the King side is considered canon while orcs are considered non-canon.

This.

The Empire didn't want to ban the worship of Talos, but the Thalmor had the Empire's nuts in a vice when they were forced to sign the White-Gold Concordant. If you have never had your tender vittles in a vice before, you become very agreeable.

I would argue it is just as canon to have a Dragonborn that worships Talos and supports the Empire, but most of the Elder Scrolls canon is different per individual. You really only have to acknowledge global events.

The Dragonborn is a global event.

The Dragonborn being a female Khajiit that escaped slavery in Morrowind only to be frozen in ice until the return of the dragons is not.

:)

This! This! Hahaha!
The most beautifully short summary of the Empire as a wholes mindset.

Hell, when I was fighting for the Imperial legion I was wearing an Amulet of Talos.

As I see it, I believe that the Empire is doomed to fall apart. I believe that the Stormcloak victory will be canon, and that the Thalmor will march against man again. But this time men will unite in an alliance, instead of as an empire.
I think that TES VI will be in Valenwood and/or Sumerset Isle, with the MQ about throwing down the Thalmor from the inside.

Just my two cents.

There is no canon in the Elder Scrolls.

the Thalmor outlawed it under the white gold concordant, and the empire isnt going to keep it that way for long, this is just time to rebuild and get ready for the next fight. do u really think that the empire will ban the worship of TIBER [censored] SEPTIM (aka guy who founded the empire) except to gain an advantage against the thalmor over time?

Having only played Oblivion before this game, the only one of the divines I know exists is Akatosh because I SAW him. (Or my last character did, at least.) Any mage can enchant an amulet to give +10 magicka (like Julianos') or +15 Speechcraft (like Dibella's). Don't see why characters couldn't just rationalize amulets of Talos as nothing more than enchanted apparel.