Experienced warriors and soldiers can train armies, and I don't think those'll be in short stock in Hammerfell or Skyrim. The Legions may be well trained, but that doesn't mean they have to be in charge of the training of soldiers. The Jarls have their own soldiers, for one, which implicitly are not Legion, with the whole Balgruuf talking with his steward about accepting Legionnaires to bolster his own forces or not.

Each Redguard city has an elite guard group. So for example Sentinel has the Order of the Candle. They would patrol and defend Sentinel and the land around it from any threats. Basically like a very highly trained army. After the Dominion attacked Hammerfell these armies merged. This my friend would be an army of discipline and power combined with the legion vets. Also, Sword Singers. Those guys sunk a continent....

Skyrim. Well, given the legion did train a lot of them, but not all of them. Many are drafted in from bandit groups etc. Jarls also have their own soldiers to train others.

We also don't know who is looked to mainly for training men. Nords are the strong arm of the Empire. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the main contributors to training soldiers.

You know, the irony is that the only reason why there are experienced warriors among the Stormcloaks is that some of them are Legion veterans like Galmar.

Otherwise they'd be mostly farmers and shopkeepers.

In the Empire's prime, local legionnaires probably trained soldiers from their own provinces. But it wouldn't really matter too much. As Tdroid said, trained soldiers wouldn't be in short supply in Hammerfell and Skyrim.

You know the concept of training others, right? It involves passing on skill. There being Legion veterans makes it more likely that they'd have similar training to the Legions. Even moreso when Galmar, the Legion Veteran, is put in charge of fielding and training armies for an independent Skyrim.

Fair enough I suppose. I'm just saying that they won't have the same training.

Even the farmers being a nord society would know some basic combat training, but yes. Although the nord legionnaires I imagine would have a lot of their fighting techniques trained from home. There has to be some reason they were regarded as the strong arm of the legion after all. Something that made them special beyond just being nords, although part of that could just be their belief in Sovngarde.

At this rate unless the Aldmeri Dominion falters from within they'll win the next war. Unless something unexpected were to happen like the Hist sending the Argonians to aid the Empire or Divine intervention against the Thalmor.

I don't see why. At their strongest, they only pulled off what they did when the Empire was distracted. I don't see this next one being so damning now that the entire continent knows what they're all about. I think people are scaring themselves into believing they're uber powerful. I think the reality of it is more underwhelming.

The Nords are more naturally suited for soldering than the Imperials, so that would count for something. A lot really.

Mmm, very true, everyone is murdering each other and the Thalmor are just twiddling their thumbs waiting for both factions to be weakened for a grand strike!

Very true, they did had the element of surprise in their side. A well organized attack via all sides might be enough to bring them down, or at least cripple them.

Yes, but there's got to be more than that I think. Natural ability is well and dandy, but there's got to be some kind of tactic or something nords do. At least I wish. I just wish we knew more about nord military practices. I'm all for thinking nords are just better fighters, lol, but honestly thats kinda lazy. But it is what it is.

I don't think the Dominion can threaten nations prepared for war nearly as much as it did the Empire when it was weakened. I also think invading the Dominion is folly. You might get Valenwood and Elsweyr without total disaster(Wild Hunt, anyone?), but that leaves Alinor, which has always been as good as impenetrable.

I don't think they need to get to Alinor to be honest. Take what's on the mainland, then let the Thalmor fall from within.

Maybe the fact that they have long traditions of warfare? I mean, they can learnt he tactics of anyone. The Nords are strong, hardy and warlike, with a mind for war(and trade enterprising and exploration). The UESP page mentions them having traditions of seeking out other cultures fighting styles, but I am unsure of the source for it.

And with the Legion being at the borders I doubt the Dominion will try it again (probably will, just won't be successful. I think Hammerfell likely secured their borders where the Dominion invaded. As Colonel has posted countless times...Skyrim can't be easily invaded.

What about MW and BM? Do we know if the Dominion has any interest there?

Or let the Thalmor's treatment of their provinces do it for them. Just sayin' if you can defend your borders long enough, I'm sure the Bosmer will get fed up with the purges.

The Dominion want to kill everybody. They just need to get the heavy guns like Cyrodiil, Skyrim and Hammerfell outa the way before the mass slaughter can begin.

BLack Marsh is largely a poisonous swamp occupied by the insanely intelligent and powerful Hist, which is not suited for other races than the Argonians. If the beasts don't get you, the poisons will.

Morrowind is still rebuilding after the Red Year, but seem to be doing fairly well for themselves. And the Dunmer are enemies of the Altmer. I doubt the Thalmor want to get another nation against them right now. Humans first, the traitor elves later.

That's from the game booklet description of nords, which is as good a source as any. I just think that there's got to be something different with the training and/or fighting styles of the nord legions and legionnaires. They had to be doing something different besides being nords to for instance hold open the Skyrim resource lines from the Thalmor, which we all know is why the Imperial city lasted as long as it did. They're doing something different tactics wise. I like to think that nords being gifted at fighting also are gifted war tacticians given their history of fighting. War takes a keen mind as well as strong bodies.

They've been preparing for the next war since the end of the first one well the empire has been busy falling apart and weakening each other further every things been going rather well for the Thalmor in the mean time. It's just Hammerfall, Skyrim and Highrock. The Dunmer are still busy rebuilding their civilization, the orsimer probably wouldn't be very keen on aiding either the Redguards or Bretons. As for Black Marsh who knows what the Hist are up to if they got involved things would get interesting.

The loading screen and one book in skyrim that mentions the Betrayed and their increased activity near the surface and the increasing frequency of their raids also sounds a lot like foreshadowing, regardless of which side wins in Skyrim, they might have another problem on their hands.

And before that they've been planning for war for hundreds of years while the Empire was slowly dying. And this time around they only had 26 years, and they lost a lot of people. And also, mer don't replace soldiers as fast as humans do. As for the hist, they aren't going to get involved in this war. They're isolationists.

It took the Dominion 170 years with a declining Empire to prepare the last time. Good thing to remember. And invading is much riskier and more difficult than defending.

Or it could be that Nords have a greater natural affinity for warfare and are physically more imposing than the Imperials. Nords are naturally talented warriors, the Imperials are not. Easy math, I think.

Edit: I think we are saying the same, in different terms.

Argonians and Dunmer have zero to do with the next Great War. They're going to be too busy killing each other instead.

If that's the route Beth takes for Skyrim's inevitable "catastrophe mentioned in next game" I already have a rough interpretation of how it'll go down.