I'm quite sure this topic has been discussed many times, though I wouldn't have a clue what search terms to use to find it. And amazingly, five months after the game's release, I've just now thought of this for the first time.

I suppose a future Elder Scrolls game (whether MMO or classic) could just ignore the question altogether, but that wouldn't be like Bethesda. Indeed, something happened in Skyrim at the beginning of the Fourth Era, and it must be chronicled in the in-game books, dialogue and lore.

I got on the Elder Scrolls bandwagon during Morrowind, so I don't fully know what's behind this "Warp in the West" business, but it's my understanding that the whole thing was done to reconcile possible alternate outcomes in Daggerfall. I suppose that's one way to do it.

Obviously, no one here has the answer. But does anyone have some good ideas? Has anyone thought about possible ways to solve this problem?

My apologies if this is being (or has been) discussed elsewhere. If so, I'd be more than happy to read the thread if someone can point me to it.

They may allow you to handle this in-game as a player through the game and in DLC... but lore wise they probably pick the outcome they choose to be lore. So if they want stormcloaks to win they will or the empire. The lore character is not your character... the lore character is the Dovahkiin shown in the previews.

Wow, never thought of that... I have no idea, very interesting point.

The easy way out is : Empire win, Thalmor tighten their reins, Stormcloaks win, Thalmor move in in force, crush them, tighten their reins. Either that or a new civil war erupts, a relative of Ulfric and Elisif are forced into a political marriage to stop the country imploding, and Skyrim remains a more independent client state. Doesn't matter what actually happened in the war if later events unfold in a similar manner whichever side one. Would be nice in a future game to find books written with opposing views as to who won, the truth lost to conjecture and history.

The Dovaklien learns the deepest darkest secrets of the dragon powers, then one night during a lengthy drinking binge he gets into a verbal argument with a stormcloak soldier and all the dragonborns supressed anger over the whole near execution thing finally overflows and they proceed to eradicate every stormcloak in skyrim in huge gusts of fire and lightning!

I can see the Stormcloaks winning, just to knock another support away from the dying Empire. I think we'll solve the Thalmor problem eventually (though not in the next game, certainly) but afterward I'd like to see Tamriel without the Empire to unite it.

There's 2 possibilities I can think of:

#1 It'll never be clear who won the war, and all the books and dialogue only hints that the war was costly but ended in favor of one side. Since no one clearly says whether the Empire or the Stormcloaks win, we get to choose our own version of what happened. In any event, the Thalmor are displeased that the conflict has ended since mankind is no longer fighting each other instead of them.

#2 Warp in the North. Akatosh, the god of time, decides to play around with time and make both sides win the war somehow. Ulfric and Tullius becomes best friends (or they both die but still win anyway... or something), the Thalmor are pissed and Akatosh is pleased with his latest project.

Possibility #2 is ridiculous and stupid, but you'll never know what Bethesda might cook up.

Personally I think the empire's about to collapse again given certain events in game.

Depending on the outcome of the war...

Stormcloaks lead tamriel in forming a new empire.
Skyrim legion leads tamriel in forming a new empire.

History will never remember which of the two it was, just that a large force of nords came out of skyrim and took up the fight against the Thalmor.(Though personally I'd prefer that the empire didn't reform)

They really can do whatever they want really, they could just chose a side to win the war that is officially lore... or completely ignore it and write something else in that would reunite skyrim and empire or keep it independent.

I think that no matter what the empire will reform either because ulfric decides that him and his stormcloaks should be focussing on the real enemy before continuing his campaign for a free skyrim and will then be assimilated by the empire again since the whole "white gold concordat" is not in place anymore ... Or the empire wins and same story happens..I really see the whole cival war as more of a distraction for the empire ..if the empire wasn't busy securing and watching their borders so tht the thalmor doesnt just invade cyrodil . They would just destroy ulfric with their entire army ...OR maybe all provinces could make a contract with the empire ...help them repel the thalmor in exchange for their independence .. Then tamriel would be divided again ....tht could be very cool

Very interesting ideas. I agree with those who said later events could overshadow current ones. For instance, a quick check at answers.com says of the fall of the Roman Empire:




So was 476 the end of the story, or the 1400s, or could we go even further and say that modern Europe is the offspring of the Roman empire, that pieces of it exist even today in its culture, architecture, language, etc?

What I'm saying is that Skyrim (the game) depicts just a tiny sliver of Tamrielic history, and what's important to us in this time-frame is just a blip on the radar of time itself. Regardless of what we, the players, do to change the outcome of the history, larger forces will be at work later on which will dwarf the events of this game. Another way of saying it is that the battle may be in our hands, but the war remains firmly in the hands of the Bethesda writers. Maybe we push out the Stormcloaks. Maybe we push out the Empire. But in the subsequent years between games, Bethesda can move those forces right back in (or add a new, completely different event which will make the point moot).

All of this sounds good to me, but there's still the specifics of the war which need to be dealt with. Namely, the death of Ulfric or Tulius. Smaller details like this are easier for Bethesda to simply ignore, but something tells me they'll add some reference, somewhere, somehow, to one or both of these historic figures. How they'll deal with this will be interesting.

One thing for me that the lore version of events is lacking so far : "Blah, blah, blah, dull history, blah, propagandist rewriting, blah, blah, and the Dragonborn stood triumphant over the broken body of ambassador Elenwen, blah, blah." As it stands, a bunch of glitches need to be exploited to derive that particular pleasure.

No, it's not. That's just for marketing.

this^ gamesas can never decide on what happens so nothing ever happens.

Well, they could just have this huge mountain erupt destryoing the whole country and any written record of who won the civil war. Oh, wait, they already did that . . .

Something will happen which makes who won the war inconsequential.

1) The Thalmor invade and the Empire collapses - Skyrim gets her independence, even if the Legion put down the Stormcloak rebellion.

2) The Thalmor invade and all kingdoms of mankind unite - The Empire is essentially still in one piece. Even if the Stormcloaks won, they're not stupid enough to isolate themselves and become vulnerable to the true enemy. Alternately, the Elder Council promises independence for each of the Empires regions (including Skyrim) if they unite for one last war against the Thalmor. If the Empire won the civil war: Skyrim becomes independent anyway after the second Great War. If the Stormcloaks won the civil war: they agree to stand behind the Legion again temporarily in order to defeat the Thalmor, and earn official recognition from Cyrodiil of Skyrim's independence.

3) Skyrim itself is invaded by a foreign force (Thalmor? Newly independent High Rock/Hammerfell? Argonians? Even Falmer??) wresting control from whoever won the war.

4) The Empire undergoes peaceful decolonisation, so Skryim gains its independence either way

All possibilities.

Ulfric and Tullius turn out to be the same person!
/shyamalan

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned a Dragon Break yet. So I'll say it: Dragon Break. Hey, http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Warp_in_the_West_%28book%29.

I think Bethesda will probably have the Thalmor invade Skyrim, and beat whoever won the civil war questline, making it obsolete as to who won the war.

Warp Of The North is my guess.

What a twist!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cw990NCy7Q

The rise of Pelagius.

I get the feeling that the ceasefire option will be the canon option. I don't have a particular reason for thinking it, just my guess.

I want Ulfric and Tullius to die fighting each other, and I want the Thalmor to invade Skyrim, were the remains of the stormcloak and imperial army band together lead by galmer and Rikke, but in the end the Thalmor destroys both of them.

I think that no matter what the empire will reform either because ulfric decides that him and his stormcloaks should be focussing on the real enemy before continuing his campaign for a free skyrim and will then be assimilated by the empire again since the whole "white gold concordat" is not in place anymore ... Or the empire wins and same story happens..I really see the whole cival war as more of a distraction for the empire ..if the empire wasn't busy securing and watching their borders so tht the thalmor doesnt just invade cyrodil . They would just destroy ulfric with their entire army ...OR maybe all provinces could make a contract with the empire ...help them repel the thalmor in exchange for their independence .. Then tamriel would be divided again ....tht could be very cool