Heres a question, who is better (politically, financialy and in terms of power) the Thalmor or the Humans (mainly Storm Cloaks and Empire). Who would win if they declared war on one another. Noting things like Hammerfalls independance, the civil war and the return of Dragons. Otherwise who would rule Tamriel in a second (or was it third) great war. I'm for the Thalmor.

Considering the Thalmor already did win, money's on them for the foreseeable future. If the Empire has time to build its forces back up, and the Dragonborn gets in on the action, then things'll be different.

This. Dragonborn + revived imperial legion = Thalmor are probably screwed.

Tut, tut. It seems we have anti-Thalmor on our hands. Nothing a good geonicide can't handle.

Thalmor have the moral currency.

Imperials have greenhouse gases.

Black Marsh has... inertia.

My money's on no second great war at all, but a very long "cold war". The victor of such would be defined in cultural terms rather than military, and I don't know who would win - both sides will change a lot over time.

huh, Thalmor seem to be week to being pushed off mountains and being hit in the face with fireballs, and large slabs of steel

I wouldn't say having all of your forces in Cyrodiil being decimated winning, but that's just me. I'm of half the mind to say that while they are better off then the Empire, a lot of what they're doing is puffing up their chest to look big and mighty, but are not in as good a position as they'd like to be in. Elewen stating that their forces are being stretched as it is (And considering that they're wasting manpower hunting down Talos worshipers as opposed to rebuilding their forces in earnest) is a red flag on their part.

If the war was done while the civil war was being fought then the Thalmor would win. They would have to move quickly before the Imperials and Storm Cloaks make a cease-fire. Blitzkrieg the Empire while still weak and then straight into Skyrim. However the Dragonborn and revived legions, including possible help from the Redguard would make for a very powerful combo.