I can't decide which side to take. Imperial jokers who run on a fake dynasty or a bunch of racist rebels. Mainly I just want Thalmor blood on my blade being a Bosmer and all. And in being that it would be kind of silly to join the Stormcloaks. But if I join the Imperial's I would look like another gummy bear [censored] under the Thalmor who are just egging this whole civil war thing on to begin with.

So do the Thalmor get their jelly pads handed to them if I pick one side or the other? Spoil it for me, I don't care.

BOTH sides ignore the Thalmor. I generally play a Talos-worshipping Thalmor-hating Imperial loyalist and kill Thalmor every chance I get.

No, afraid not. I joined the Stormcloaks, as a Nord, and kill imperials and thalmor as they walk the roads with stormcloak POWs or Talos worshippers. On another character, I played the imperial side, and a thalmor party entered Castle Dour, came up behind me as I was talking to Legate Rikke, and drew their swords and threatened me because I was apparently interfering with official business, even though I was in the middle of getting a quest.

Now on the main quest, you get to make the Thalmor look bad and kill them too.

Don't join the civil war if you don't want to pick a side. To loosely quote Arngeir, sometimes doing nothing is the best choice.

Personally, for a character that was just generally against the Thalmor, a united empire is the better option so that may be some pull to fight for the Imperials.

How sad.

So the MQ gives me a chance to bring down the Thalmor? Or just a member of their ugly clan?

The main quest doesn't have a whole lot to do with the Thalmor.

Actually not picking a side is the worst you can do. The longer the war lasts, the easier time the Thalmor have.

There's a sidequest in Whiterun that will give you what you're looking for. Just be nice to old ladies.

Edit:



Yup - that's known as divide & conquer.

Yes. You get to kill a bunch of them at their embassy. The Thalmor and Blades are mortal enemies, because the Blades were the biggest bane to the Thalmor in the Dominion war.

On that note, there is a fort on the shore of Northern Skyrim called Northwatch. It's occupied by Thalmor, but I haven't been able to figure out what's going on in there. The Thalmor are very protective. I need to get back up there and infiltrate it and see what the secret is.

That's true, actually. I agree.


There's a quest in Whiterun that sends you there. Check http://uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Missing_in_Action, if you're so inclined, for the details.

In the MQ, you Aside from that, your choices in the civil war affect one other minor interaction with the Thalmor; if you take sides, then that interaction doesn't take place.

you're still playing the part of the pawn in the thalmor D&C game by taking sides.

the "best" option doesn't exist in the game, bethesda only provides you with lose/lose scenarios (probably on purpose i imagine, as it may be part of a dlc questline)

I just tried the peace treaty and it was interesting to see so many different characters all in one place. It is quite a bit of dialogue though.

Also, I kicked the thalamor out of the peace talks. Lol

You get the peace treaty option if you advance the main quest without picking sides?

It is part of the mq, but I picked stormcloaks and still got the option. There has to be a limit as to how far you get in the civil war though.

Major Spoiler

Cool, I'd already finished the civil war before advancing that far in the main quest. I'll have to get around to doing it again sometime without picking sides.

Or the worst choice, since the civil war will bleed the Empire and Skyrim both. End it.

If the Empire wins, imperial solidarity puts up a stronger front against the Thalmor when the interbellum eventually ends. If the Stormcloaks win, there is now an immediate problem for the Thalmor in a nation openly hostile to them worshipping Talos (which they want to end in order to unmake the world).

Realistically, the Imperials will have a better long-run chance against the Thalmor... but the story writers will have to be fair and not make come to pass what would realistically happen if the Stormcloaks win: namely... the now alone Skyrim gets ROFLSTOMP'd by the full brunt of the Thalmor's army (instead of spread thin all over Tamriel like during the Great War) and the Empire's back is broken by Skyrim's secession thus leaving the Thalmor unopposed.

I don't see this happening. Ulfric says he worries the Thalmor will invade Skyrim, but with their harsh terrain and the distance, I think it more likely the Dominion would try to finish Cyrodiil off first. Then they could attack Skyrim from fertile lands to the south, with resupply routes across friendly territory. If they do try to invade Skyrim first, IMO it would be because their first goal is to eradicate Talos from the mythic and the chance to accomplish that would tip the scales to outweigh the territorial disadvantages. And then it should be clear that the White-Gold Concordat was the worst thing the empire could have done to their own cause.

Both Skyrim and Cyrodiil are still going to have to work together, even if Skyrim is independent. They'll have to learn to be allies rather than in a one-up one-down relationship.

And if someone can explain to me how being united with the empire helped Valenwood, Elsweyr, Morrowind or Hammerfell against the Thalmor, then I'll buy the argument that being in the empire gives Skyrim an advantage against them. At least one that outweighs the disadvantage of having their blood and mineral resources drained for the milk drinkers in the Imperial City, the enemy invited to prowl their territory and scout at will, and their divine protector weakened.

It's interesting to see the dialogue, but they're all right when they say that it's basically a waste of time. It's only a temporary truce until the dragon crisis is resolved, then it's game on again.

Talk to old ladies in Whiterun before you go back to that fort.

It's not needed. The ones inside will respawn just for the quest even if you cleared the fort the first time.

On a side note, I did the "SIege on the Dragon cult" quest and when I got out of the ruins there was an imperial soldier attacking the Thalmor agend once he discovered the ruse. He said something like "Die Thalmor bastard"

I don't recall the Thalmor attacking Morrowind heavily. Valenwood, Black Marsh and Eleswyr left on their own after Thalmor-backed coups tore them from the empire (...Just like in Skyrim if the Stormcloaks win. Read that Ulfric dossier.). And the Empire did help Hammerfell. Do you really think they could have resisted the Thalmor without all those "discharged" legionnaires?

The empire didn't help Hammerfell, Decianus did.(The empire said abandon Hammerfell, Cyrodiil's the only place that matters)

And you need better reading comprehension on that Dossier. They don't want a stormcloak victory. A strong nation that worships talos is a big Shezzarine risk. And the coups are exactly the point. The empire when it was in full control of everything still let it go to heck until Cyrod itself was threatened.

The Empire's lost all pretence of liking the other provinces. They showed their true colors during the great war. The Empire is for Cyrod.

i thought the thalamor army was busy in hammerfell, or something with another war.