The individual outcome of everyones game won't affect future games, they will probably just say that one side eventually won. By this I mean despite the way the Dovakin acted, one specific side ended up taking over Skyrim many years after the events of the TES: V

Personally I think the Stormcloaks is the cannon story. More reasons than I have time to list here.

Also, there is a reason why, no matter who you choice to win, that the High King is never crowned and there are still enemy camps in the wild. It's so Bethesda can continue the story the way they want from that point.

So well you may think you picked the winner, it really isn't over yet, loose ends and all that...

Am I the only one who would prefer a new dynasty of Dragonborn emperors? Since the Titus Mede II is dead, and there is political strife and civil war, if the Dragonborn shows a strong hand he could get both sides to fall in line beside him - the Stormcloaks must follow him as he is essentially an avatar of Talos (yes, I do know that the Dragonborn is blessed by Akatosh, but the Dragonborn has a possibility of selling himself as Talos reborn) and a Nordic hero, and the Empire because he inherits the throne as heir to the Septim dynasty because he is legitimate Dragonborn.

I think the Empire/rebellion story hasn't ended with the player's choice in Skyrim. What about all those unkillable generals after the CW questline ends? Even tho you are instructed to finish off the remaining enemy forces, you can't. Could mean that the CW is expanded upon in future DLC.

And as for a Vvardenfell equivalent in Skyrim, my money's on the giant supervolcano in Eastmarch. Skyrim is already on shaky ground, as evidenced by the earthquake as you enter The Reach for the first time.

That doesn't make sense though, the part about being the heir to the Septims, that means at some point the Emperor in Oblivion was doing the nasty with the other races since the Dragonborn can be Argonian if someone picks that race. I don't know it is weird thinking about that, how are you the Dragonborn if Martin Septim died without children, that means his dad had to have had other illegitimate kids that went of having kids until it gets to you, it makes no sense.

Well, Martin did have some wild times as a worshipper of Sanguine at one point, so it's within the realm of possibility (however slim) that he had at least one illegitimate child roaming around he wasn't aware of. Likewise, if you consider the possibility that many of the Septims were fond of...erm, sowing their wild oats shall we say, despite Oblivion's claim of "zomg there's no Septims left except Martin" (which is an issue for another thread...we won't go into my issues with Oblivion's MQ ), there's probably still some descendants of the line roaming Tamriel.

Although I suspect P!nk's "heir to the Septim dynasty" comment wasn't meant to be taken literally. It's just that the Septims were Dragonborn, and the hero of Skyrim is Dragonborn, so there's a spiritual kinship if not an actual genetic one.

Though even then, I'm not sure just being Dragonborn automatically legitimizes any claim you'd have to the Ruby Throne. It's been 200 years since the last Dragonborn Emperor and the idea's probably largely fallen out of favor, or at least popular/cultural memory...particularly in predominantly human provinces like Cyrodiil or Hammerfell, where there hasn't been a Septim on the throne in living memory. While us players still have strong memories of the Septim Empire, the folks living in Tamriel in 4E 201...not so much.

Besides which, having a Dragonborn/Septim Emperor is no longer necessary, since the Dragonfires no longer need to be lit to keep those pesky Daedra at bay. Martin's sacrifice and the big honking statue in the Imperial City took care of that. So the "but you need a Dragonborn ruler" argument goes straight out the window.

Someone on another forum suggested this. The Dragonborn's apotheosis (becoming Talos) causes a dragon break. I thought it was interesting.

I was thinking about this the other day. It is a rather tricky wicket though, because regardless of what happens later as in eventual outcome of the civil war, the Thalmor question, etc.. the Dovakhin will still have sided with one or the other and killed the leader of one side and brought a total rout of the province, or possibly chose neither at the council table. any of those actions by the Dov are historically significant and verifiable. So they will have to deal with it somehow, but it is difficult because it is either/or of three variables.