I personally think that the only way to save Skyrim is for the Dragonborn to become Emperor, relighting the flames and restoring Akatosh's blessing. It'd be hard for the Thalmor to keep their little empire of 'the gods only like us' going if the Empire is outright blessed by Akatosh again.

The Septim line was Dragonborn, but had no dragons to eat for power. Now, there's a new Dragonborn in town, with a belly full of fresh dragonsouls.

Combining that with the fact that elves do not reproduse at a fast rate(according to the "http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Real_Barenziah" book series) and some other points that have been made in this thread it seems unavoidable that the Dominion will fall sooner or later, and most likely not be able too reach Skyrim, Morrowind or Blackmarsh.

Considering Ulfric Stormcloak I'm not sure.

Well

but I'm not sure either. That's why I made this thread.

No. It would take them lots of years to build up a stronger army and the Thalmor thread is bigger than they can afford to deal with. Having a Dovahkiin at their side could change the tides of fate, though...

If they can't even get a dominant win over the weakened Imperial empire they would just get steam rolled over by the Thalmor empire, probably even worse than the Imperials did.

This. From what I hear, Nord forces are already a large part of the imperial legion. If they decide to side with Skyrim then Ulfric takes cyrodiil.

Well the Empire started in Skyrim. All Imperials and the Empire we know today all descended from Talos, or Tiber Septim if you wish to call him that, and his Nord army. If the Stormcloaks beat the Empire, they'll just become the new Empire, and likely the Dragonborn will become the Emperor. People assume that the Thalmor are an undefeatable fighting force with unlimited numbers at their side. This is not the case. If the Empire were to rebuild it's armies, or if the Stormcloaks formed an army to rival the Empire's, and marched, or rather sailed, into the Summerset Isles, they would decimate the elves. The Imperial Legions already decimated Thalmor armies in the Great War, so they could do it again, as could the Stormcloaks. Even more so with a Dragonborn emperor at their side, and even more so if the Dragonborn went to the Temple of the One to light the Dragonfires. Besides, it honestly doesn't matter who wins the war, It is stated in a dossier you find in Also, and this is just stating a silly little fact, the Dragonborn has the power to call in a [censored] dragon with a shout. A. [censored]. Dragon. That dragon could likely destroy an entire Thalmor army itself.

I think the Dovahkiin will be gone by the time the new conflict with the Thalmor starts, unless it is uncluded as DLC. Still, the Thalmor seems to be in a lot of trouble as soon as the civil war is over.

Neville Chamberlain would be proud of you, Sir Winston Churchill would be rolling over in his grave though ;-p

I know it's just a game... but really?
Never EVER connect my name with his, please. Chamberlain was one of those who signed the Munich Pact thus effectively backstabbing my country (Czechia) in WW2! :swear:
'kay, sorry for derailing the topic, just felt I had to get this outta my chest.

stormcloaks would be able to defend skyrim easily but thats about it. by all accounts everyone hates the altmeri dominion so you arent going to see droves of woodelves, argonians, khajit etc rushing to aid the altmeri and in fact they would most likely ally against them. logically the altmeri wouldnt be my first choice for super villains because they were beaten in the past by the nords quite easily if i remember correctly.

The Empire at its peak of power could not, but I'm sure a smaller army of strenght&honor driven barbarians who frown on magic can do a better job at besting an army of sorcerers.

No offence meant but appeasing the Dominon and backstabbing the Nords and Red Guard in game is pretty much what the empire did.

An Empire at the peak of it's power has not been seen since long before the death of Martin Septim. The Empire was already very weak when this started.

18zulukiller, the Empire had 2 options: appease the Dominion, or be completely destroyed. They didn't really have any other choices.

I don't think the Stormcloaks alone would be able to defend Skyrim. They're so exclusionary and hostile to everyone else, no other groups would probably come to their aid. And if the Empire with its Legions couldn't stop the Aldmeri Dominion, what are the odds that Ulfric Stormcloak and his lawless rabble would be able to succeed where the Empire failed? Half of Ulfric's supporters hate him anyway. I can't see Skyrim actually coming together and working together under Ulfric. Seems to me like once he takes the throne, the Holds will just fight among each other like they did in olden days or start trying to scheme their way to the top. Not many people in the game actually trust Ulfric or enjoy being ruled by him.

With the exception that the Empire actually *did* fight the Thalmor and suffered high casualties afterwards(I've read somewhere they lost like 3 Legions or such).

Also, like I said before, the Imperials indirectly supported the Redguards by leaving a few Legions behind.

Quote from the Great War book:



Thank you. My lack of Engrish skills sometimes makes it harder for me to express myself. :sadvaultboy:

Destroyed by what? The empire destroyed all available forces the thalmor had(Read their entire offensive army save for hammerfall's detachment).

The empire gave 1/3 of a legion to redguard. Not several.

It depends on two questions:

1: Which side is the dragonborn on?

2: How many stormcloaks will spawn, and how many uptight elves will spawn?

...
Well.

We can safely ignore question 2, if the answer to question 1 is "Stormcloaks". Or "Thalmor".

the empire is weaker than ever, the thalmor are weak from the war, and ulfric is a much better tactiction than mede...it depend on when the thalmor attacked, if they launched a full on offensive the second the stormcloaks take over then the stormcloaks would likely fall (due to lack of order temporarily rendering them weak), but after ulfric resets his army to defend all of skyrim then they could push out the thalmor, but after the thalmor gains their full force back (which is just what the emprie is leting them do)...i would have to see what the thalmor does before making an opinion of that

The argument that the Empire is "gathering its strength" and that everyone should support them is fallacious. While the Empire is gathering its strength, so is the Aldmeri Dominion, and the Thalmor are tightening their grip on the Empire day by day.

Imperial hatred of the Thalmor amounts to posturing and the wringing of hands.

Yes. Hammerfell did it, and nords could blast them to pieces with their voice masters.

Not a chance...

If Stormcloaks win then the empire is basically shattered the Thalmar will scoop them up and and when they invade skyrim it'll be with the combined power of both the dominion and whatever is left of the empire.

Eh, I don't think the Greybeards will bother to take side in this struggle. Not before their very monestary is under attack.

If you read the whole great war book carefully what happened was the empire abandoned Hammerfell. If it wasn't for the Hammerfell legion general (I can't remember his name) not being happy about that and releasing the locals from the legion they would of had nothing to fight back with. So think about that the empire did absolutely nothing at all for Hammerfell but one legion general by partially disobeying orders did.