Well it depends because if the thalmor can just walk around and stuff then ya. But if they're telling the emperor what to do then even if the empire wins the thalmor will still keep running the show and will then be able to walk all over Skyrim even more. I think it's gotten to a point where at first the empire was planing to rise up but now they've just kind of accepted the thalmor and are just gona deal with them being there.

Okay why dont the stormclaoks and empire just ally and kill the elves? The kill eachother...

Thats the dream

Yeah, Talos worshipers, meaning the Empire, one of the ways for the Altmer to go back to Godhood is to make it the Eight Divines again.
Talos is the god man, the god of the Empire.

Yeah, I'm really stuck. This plot is just so brilliant. I guess the only thing one can do is to stay neutral until one faction starts winning, then to go with that faction for the good of Man.

Because the Thalmor are playing them for the moronic men they are!

Ha, Seriously though, the Thalmor are probably subtily making the civil war worst, and it would be so horrible un-human for two sides of a war to just magically decide to work together, even if evidence of Thalmor trickery got out.

I think that the stormcloaks should win because as an imperial i want the best for my people and Cyrodiil. And with my Emperor nor taking aggressive action against the thalmor (I know the army is in Skyrim but there is still a lot he can do politically) and just kind of letting them march across imperial land, and kill talos worshipers, then he's not doing his job right and isn't defending the rights of his people. And when the government doesn't protect the rights of it's citizens, it must be over throne. The stormcloaks on the other hand do fight the thalmor and have ignited a full blown revolution to protect the rights of their people. If they come to power then they could create a force that will go against the thalmor, take away their power in the Cyrodiil, and eventually crush them. Cyrodiil would no longer be bullied by thalmor and the races of man would be the most powerful in tamriel again.

The stormcloaks have no interest in Cyrodil, they want freedom for skyrim, thats it.

Which side does Esbern support, if either?

Exactly, when the thalmor see that a new nation of MAN is in power, then conflict is inevitable. War will break out and Cyrodiil will take its chance to fight the thalmor finally. Thalmor will be forced out Cyrodiil and return home weak. Cyrodiil will no longer be a puppet to thalmor and they will unite with Skyrim in their hatred for the thalmor.

That's the way I see it, too. Frankly, I don't think it matters who you side with, or who ultimately wins the civil war; the fact that there even is a conflict in the first place means the Thalmoor have already won. The only way Dovahkiin can win this game is to not play it at all.

Except the Thalmor have already all but crushed a UNIFIED empire of man, fighting them again, when men are divided would be folly. Sometimes the best thing you can do is just suffer and wait for a better time to strike.

Yes but they beat Cyrodiil not all of Tamriel. Skyrim is all the way past Cyrodiil. Perhaps your right that Skyrim can't defeat the thalmor, but with the large distances the thalmor must travel (no matter what way they take they will have either have to travel across a whole province or sail halfway around tamriel) Skyrim could probably defend and not be conquered. And if Skyrim could hold there ground long enough the Thalmor would either self collapse or be weak enough to be over throne by rebellion or even Cyrodiil.

Thalmor are Elven supremacist scum. I've seen them in a stream, abd they're pretty disgusting. It's goldenrod arrogance multiplied by 1000, much worse than the Dunmer. They were going on about how they'd subject all Nords before being destroyed by one. They also torture Nords and use some damn dirty tactics.

Unified? The empire is hardly unified with the end of the Septims. The power is clearly completely decentralized, they just took advantage of it. I don't think that the Empire will survive much longer at this point.

Well They are elves

And by supporting the Empire, you are indirectly supporting them

Brave soldiers of the Legion, Listen!

You have heard rumors of a Thalmor puppet goverment in the Empire and your loyalty may be faulting.
But where does your loyalty lie? In the emperor or the Empire? The Empire is more than a man, more than many men!
It is an idea, a symbol, a bastion of hope! We are the legion. It is up to us to protect the Empire from any threat!
Be they Daedric, Merish or even the Emperor himself! The Empire is more important than anything.
Now we must deal with these rebels trying to break our Empire! Once they have been beaten, I promise that the next stop will be Summerset Isle!

FOR MY GODS AND FOR MY EMPIRE!

HAIL THE EMPEROR!

Fools! My allegiance lies with Talos, the Empire does not exist without dragonblood. The Elves will deceive you and keep you away from the truth, the truth that you are not fighting a war for your people! You are fighting a war for cockroaches! Those rats are comfortable in their fancy thrones plotting the demise of mankind while you shed the blood of your own brethen for their sake! The Empire died with the Septims! You are being used, only to later be disposed of and backstabbed by the architects of war. Because their loyalty lies solely with their own, and the world could fall apart and our lives lost, little would they care. We should protect our kin, not live for the memory of a long dead empire, sustained only by delusions of the mad. Fight against the true enemy!

Fool! It was the empire why Stood against OBLIVION! IT WAS THE EMPIRE WHO STOOD AGAINST UMBRIEL! It was the Empire which stood Against The terrible Legions of Hammerfall And High rock! IT WAS THE EMPIRE WHO FOUGHT THE THALMOR WHO FOUGHT IN VALENWOOD FOR FREEDOM!

...and failed, and are now the Thalmor's dogs.

Men should just except the fact that those created by gods have nothing on those decended from gods.

This is a real difficult decision. I play an Imperial who was going to side with the Empire, even after almost being executed by them. But hearing that the Empire I love is all but a puppet of damn altmers, I'm choosing instead to go with the Stormcloaks. The Imperial Stormcloak will destroy all Thalmor he finds in Skyrim!

Not going to wear that ragged stormcloak armor though, no way. Sticking with the shiny Legion armor

Listen up http://roflrazzi.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/funny-celebrity-pictures-i-have-an-army-of-stormtroopers-your-argument-is-thus-invalidated.jpg

So if I'm playing an Altmer who wants to see the Aldmeri kicked out of contintental Tamriel forever because they screwed me and I hate them now, should I choose Imperials or Stormcloaks? Because it seems like choosing Stormcloaks just makes it more difficult for the men to win in the long run,