Well you can't really blame them. Would you be very trusty of an empire that pretty much submitted to being the Thalmors [censored]?

Indeed! I think that would make a perfect MQ end, even if it were only a temporary ceasefire. Have a parley between the two leaders and they decide to put aside their differences to fight the Thalmor and Alduin's dragons.

As opposed to directly.

Skyrim supporting the Thalmor?

..That..doesn't even make sense.

Maybe once you win the war the opposing leaders defect instead of get killed, or they surrender and you can choose to spare them (allowing them to help you) or killing them. It would be the best case scenario for the two factions to stop fighting and instead fight the Thalmor and the Dragons of course.



Yes, we must work together as one Humanity if we are to defeat the Thalmor. No Imperial, Redguard, Breton or Nord. No Empire or Stormcloak Skyrim. Humanity First.

No no. Cyrodiil. Cyrodiil supports them directly.

The khajiit are only too glad to get from under your thumb imperial. No more "annexations" and trade embargos... perhaps if the stormcloaks win, the new Nord government will be an ally instead of an oppressor to my people?

More like helping them out instead of supporting them. No one that considers himself or herself a human would support the Thalmor.

Helping them out is supporting them.

Not really. The Nazis forced the Jews to help them as slave labour, but that doesn't mean the Jews supported the Nazis.

Imperials do not support the Thalmor, we have to work with them because our Emperor was foolish enough to make a treaty with them, a treaty which made us hated throughout the other races. We do not support the Emperor's doings.

Yes, no patriotic Empire citizen would support the Thalmor. No human would, really.

We are in agreement. As an Imperial I do not fight for the Emperor, but for the Empire itself. I wouldn't shed a tear if Medes fell down and died, it would hopefully allow someone better on the throne, but I won't let the Empire fall into chaos, not to the Stormcloaks or the Thalmor.

That's too much of a stickman. It's not at all similar to the Thalmor and Cyrodiil.

I think you guys need to look up the definition to "support."

It...pretty much is, actually.Just to a more extreme extent.

But how many OTHER races want back in on the empire now it's gone?

The Legion didn't exactly do anything to stop the slavers in Morrowind taking argonians - so it's no suprise the Argonians grabbed the opportunity to annex Morrowind once the empire crumbled.

Empire: "Excuse me argonians, can you un-slave the dunmer and give them back their land?"
Argonians: "No"


The Khajiit have always been the butt-end of imperial politics and had much of their land annexed and their trade blocked by the empire. No big suprise they were quick to leave once it fell

Empire: "Excuse me khajiit, can you join us again so we can reimpose trade sanctions and take a bit more of your land? - pretty please?"
Khajiit: "No"


The Nords... well a few of them are ok with the empire, but civil wars don't usually break out over a MINOR disagreement it seems theres a big will for independance there and whether they say yes or is no yet to be revealled.


And the elves... HAH, they're loving it, why would they stop to rejoin the leadership of man?


All in all... reviving the old empire isn't going to be done peacefully or out of mutual trust - if cyrodiil wants to get back on top of all the nations it'll be at sword-point

Good man, I salute you. This how a professional soldier should think, (outside of Warhammer 40,000) fight for your nation and not for it's leader. I will be joining you in the Legion, no matter what mistakes the Emperor makes.

EDIT: @Ryuujin_0

That is true, but I wouldn't mind an Empire of Man. All that takes is for Skyrim to not secede and everything left in the Empire will be Human provinces.

Just a note.

The only reason the Argonians won is because we were hit by a ton of natural disasters and such. If that hadn't happened, the lizards wouldn't stand a chance. >_>

I suspect some bias from the writer as well. Completely and utterly defeating Mehrunes Dagon's forces without a sweat when everyone else was dying horribly? You'd think they would have their own Empire by now.

No. Forced labor and genocide is not the same as a vassal state. The vassal state still has the ability to live within means, and still has the ability to separate from their masters. Concentration camps does not have the amenities that a puppet state does.

Helping = supporting.

Supporting is the aid or favor of a particular or wide array of ideas or actions. Those that support maintain a cooperative assembly, such as what Cyrodiil is doing with the Thalmor. Puppet states support their masters, otherwise they wouldn't be a puppet state.

I think you guys are confusing "support" with "agree wholesale."

Agreed Brother. Let us crush this uprising, then turn our attentions on defeating the Thalmor.

You are assuming that the Empire is a puppet state of the Aldmeri Dominion. We do not know enough about the lore to confirm this yet. This thread's purpose was not only to try to find evidence of Imperial resistance, but also evidence that might prove the Empire as a puppet state and debunk the "myth" that the Empire might be resisting the Thalmor. So far, neither has been proven.

There are multiple definitions for "support". It can mean to advocate, or it can also mean to aid. This means that in a way, helping does equal supporting, but in a way it also does not.

For example, the Ottomans controlled vassal states. I am sure the vassal states did not think, "Hey, this is great! Everyone should join the Ottomans!". They might have provided tribute, resources or troops to the Ottomans when needed, supporting them in a way, but they did not support, as in advocate, the Ottoman Empire.

But you see, now we're arguing about the subtle differences between the words "help" and "support." Now I just feel really nerdy.

Okay, then let's just talk about the Empire and the Thalmor then. Has anyone actually considered that the Empire doesn't like the ban of Talos worship and may be doing nothing against Talos worshippers? It's the Thalmor who are capturing and killing Talos worshippers AFAIK.

As you said, this is still speculative. We won't know until the game has been played from start to finish or Bethesda confirms or denies it. It still doesn't make the Empire better in my eyes. They're allowing persecution from outside sources to weed out their own beliefs and people, yet then they fight against the rebellion launched for that same reason.

It's like the inquisitions of the old Catholic church. Other countries just let them happen when they could've resisted (some did, of course). I understand the Empire is dying and can't fight another war that it would almost-surely lose, but that doesn't make them innocent. They can give up Skyrim if they have no intent on safeguarding their citizens' rights (reminds me of East and West Roman empires).