Except for the French. The Americans would not have won without their gunpowder trade, and might not have stayed independent without their naval assistance later. Also Hessian mercenaries. But, all that aside, hail Ulfric.

I think Bethesda will make a neutral advance of the story. Probably with the whole thing going to hell.

Got some interesting ideas here. Wonder what more people think.

I'm an empire supporter, but it'd be cool. Unlikely as it may be that the stormcloaks could crush the entire dominion, if they did then fair play to them, it's my main reason for supporting the imperials - you know, the whole "united empire" thing.

I personally won't care. Ultimately, it's Bethesda's lore, and if in TES VI, they want to establish that the Stormcloaks ended up winning the war, well the more power to them. It won't change the fact that I still support the Empire, and a unified Tamriel under the Imperial Legion!

What I will say, however, is that I don't see the results of the Civil War being a huge part of TES VI.

The Nerevarine Prophecies, and what happened with Vivec and the Tribunal didn't play into Oblivion, and outside of the end of the Septim Dynasty and a new set of rulers coming to the throne, the Oblivion Crisis and the events of Oblivion don't play into Skyrim. So I don't see the events of the Dragonborn or the Civil War playing into any TES VI outside of some brief mentions that there was a Dragonborn that saved Skyrim from the dragons.

I guess ultimately they will have to make a decision on the canonical outcome of the war, but I highly doubt it will have any kind of significant impact on the game.

Let us turn the question around then: What if the Imperial Legion is declared the canon ending of the Civil War?

This.

Personally, I've supported Ulfric because I think Ulfric is in the right place at the right time. Yes, he and his earliest supporters are Nord-centric bastards, and I'm not fond of that. But Revolution has a way of getting away from its initial leaders once the people get behind it in large numbers, and there are a number of things my most advanced character did to blunt the more racist aspects of the Stormcloak Rebellion (though those things are for the spoiler thread, not here). I figure, with the support of the Dragonborn, enough people would join that the Nord-centric aspects would be blunted, and in my version of the story, the Dragonborn is constantly trying to either convince or maneuver Ulfric to take a much less Nord-centric position and much more anti-Thalmor position, to make his reign more coalition friendly.

As to why I do not support the Empire, I believe the Empire has already proven its military and administrative ineptness countless times, with the Thalmor disaster being only the latest. The Empire is old, and it isn't even an Empire of Tamriel any more, with the Aldmeri Dominion even existing in the first place. The Empire continues the decline that was only briefly arrested during the reign of Uriel VII. Ulric's reign is young, and his conquest has momentum. I think it entirely possible that Ulfric's forces could successfully challenge those of the Thalmor, if only the Empire got out of the way. And so I join Ulfric, to move that decaying carcass we yet call the Empire of Tamriel.

It would make me pretty upset at first.

But as long as the Thalmor lose, I'd probably learn to live with it.

Yes I'm interested in hearing from the other side as well.

I'd find it extremely dull that the devs couldn't come up with something more original than an empire reboot.

A large part of that is simple geography. America had an entire ocean protecting it from England, and it really had no nearby European countries to meddle in its affairs. They were able to fight on their home turf, with all of their resources immediately at their disposal (relatively speaking), and wore the British down by not engaging them in direct combat, but rather through the Fabian Strategy and fighting a war of attrition to dwindle British resources to the point that it just became too costly to be worth the effort.

Then, as Celan pointed out, the French loved screwing with their British rivals, and began supporting the Americans following their victory at the Battle of Saratoga. The British use of Hessian mercenaries also turned many Tories against the crown, and some of the Hessians even ended up deserting the British to either just settle in America, or join the Revolution instead.

Ulfric doesn't have geography on his side, he's not fighting a war of attrition, and he doesn't have any allies who are helping him out to screw over the Empire. The Thalmor might be interfering with the Civil War to prolong it, but that's merely keeping the status quo, and not helping Ulfric find victory either. He can't even use the Imperial Legion for extensive propaganda either, considering the Legion's recruiting most of its soldiers locally, so it isn't so much foreigners coming in and smashing up Skyrim as it is Nords rejecting Ulfric's claim to the the throne. His biggest asset is weather, and even that won't do him too much good, considering the majority of the enemy forces are his own countrymen, who are well used to Skyrim's bitter cold same as his are.

I don't know about "most." The fact that they use different VA's for the legion than Nords (whereas the Stormcloak regulars are the Nord VAs) suggest to me that these are mostly Cyrodiilic troops.

The poster was, I think, comparing Skyrim's chances against the Dominion to the American Revolution, though. In that case, they certainly do have a geographic advantage, are waging a war of attrition, and are seeking allies.

I think either way the empire falls. Whether Beth wants the empire to reform or not is what remains to be seen.

Will Ulfric lead a new band of heroes out to drive back the dominion and form a new empire? Will Tullius do the same? Will we ever really know which of them it was?

Or does the -spoiler events- of skyrim mark the end of the empire for now? Does the empire shatter and the seperate nations band together in their last bid against the Thalmor?

Will we ever catch that dastardly criminal loosing arrows into the knees of adventurers?

J'derras is against the Stormcloaks primarily because of their racist tendencies and lack of seeking a peaceful means of seeking independence. They are hurting the Empire which only helps the Thalmor. But on the final part of the hypothetical with an independent Skyrim leading an alliance of other nations to defeat the Thalmor, J'derras says,"More power to you Nords. Go kick their inbred [plural censored]."

Good one, the OP may well self combust.

For me, I don't really care I'll play both Civil War questlines but beyond that, it's just a game.

I am sure they will make a good ending for both sides.
Like a win-win situation, and that is the best ending, coming from a Stormcloak supporter.

I really hope for something drastic like that, lets put it clear the empire has ruled Tamriel for over 3 eras now and I could really use a change... besides the fact that I support the Empire because my characters race are often Dunmer/Imperial/Orcs, Ulfric's motivations are not that compelling anymore...

The 3rd Empire, the one Tiber Septim created, has only ruled all of Tamriel in the 3rd Era. In the 4th Era, the 3rd Empire lost control of most of it's provinces and has been reduced back to what it originally started with: High Rock, Skyrim and Cyrodiil. The 1st and 2nd Empires were seperate Empires.

I don't think a stormcloak victory is likely. At most, they'll come up with something like Ulfric becoming High King and Skyrim being granted more autonomy but still remaining a province of the Empire.

Oh thanks, I always took the Empire as one but yes Talos is the great Emperor for he conquered every other province of Tamriel, anyway the Elder Scrolls games have the main questlines centered on the third empire, I wonder what would it be playing beyond it... guess we'll need to wait for TES:O ...

TES:O will take place before the third empire is founded and after the second one has collapsed.

No such luck there.

You can call him what you want, he didn't sit back and let the thalmor slaughter innocent worshippers of the man who founded the current empire, who most of the empire worship as a god.

The empire is weak, signing the WGC went against the foundations of the empire, despicable. The best thing for skyrim is independence, the people can worship who they want and racial intolerance will likely subside.

It will better for the Aldmeri if the Stormcloaks to win. The Aldmeri will invade Skyrim within a week and it will be the end of the Stormcloaks and the Imperial Empire. The Aldmeri will rule with a iron fist. The Stormcloaks will try to fight and they try to get help from the outside as their numbers dwindle. Where from? The Imperials cannot help them. They used to have a army in Skyrim.

That's the way I look at it. I know it is simple and too black and white.

Technically speaking, Tiber Septim did not found the current Empire. The Empire he founded died with Martin Septim. Titus Mede I founded the modern Empire. However, by the admission of people on all sides, another war with the Dominion is inevitable. Once the Empire and the Dominion are "officially" enemies again, there's no longer any reason for the Empire to uphold the WGC. Hence, the Second Great War will likely result in, or be a result of, the ban on Talos worship being lifted. As the (then unenforced) ban was the Stormcloak's primary motivations for rebelling, lifting it would likely repair relations between Skyrim and Cyrodiil, if the Stormcloaks won.

Actually, if you pay attention to what one legate says, most of the Imperial troops in Skyrim are actually locals as the Legion is too spread out to actually get their own troops in their. Make of that what you will.

@warpenergybot: True. How many will be able to fight within a week after the civil war. Aldmeri will see that chance and pounce. How many commanders are left from both sides able to command after the civil war? It will be no worries with the Aldmeri they have plenty. In Cyrodiil coming from Summerse Isle and Valenwood. They will be waiting at the boarders.