Also, the Akaviri prophecy constantly refers to you as the last Dragonborn, according to Esbern, so it looks like there won't be any more. Bet you could make some mighty shoutin' babies though.

the way i see it while the empire is better suited to fight the thalmor, at best the stormcloaks could thin the thalmor forces or heavily damage them by fighting, clearing a path for the empire to come in and clean up in the big fight

Player > Thalmor > Empire > Stormcloaks

But the player cannot run his own faction within the game, he takes orders from every peasant and his mangy dog. Therefore:

Random quest givers > Player > Thalmor > Empire > Stormcloaks

All hail your new smelly peasant overlords!

I could run through any stormcloak or imperial fort and kill everyone without a problem, so your point is completely invalid.

Yes, if the ONE MAN is more powerful than the King of the Dragons then that's sort of an invalid point.

honestly i think the dragonborn has better chances than the 2 of them, just my 2 cents

I'd say Tullius is better able to fight them. As far as I know he has been a military man his whole life and thus knows how the Thalmor behave in battle. Ulfric was born in the purple and was captured in the GW so I don't really trust his skills in leadership. In the Civil War he lets the Dovakhiin do all the heavy lifting, and almost screwed up totally himself in the beginning letting himself be ambushed just like that with his - what - five-man bodyguard. He is definitely an able leader, but not much of a commander, not much of a strategist.

I could be entirely wrong on a few things in the above of course, having completed only a fraction of the main quest and civil war quests.

IMHO, which ever side the dragonborn decides to champion will win. Sstormcloak or empire, both need a "Tiber Septem" to rally behind and hve lead them to victory.

As for me, I choose the empire. I have explained this many times all ready in other threads about this sort of thing. It was a hard choice, I feel for the stormcloaks, and the empire has a lot of problems under the hood, but ultimately, they're our best hope(IMO), and with me behind them, well... maybe the glory days of the septem dynasty will return.

I'm gonna give this a slightly SKYRIM slant interspersed with maybe a sprinkling of common sense:

Someone mentioned Tullius being all super-military good guy , and that's cool. Apprently you've never experienced brass lying to you to get the job done at whatever cost. He tells you they're spread thin defending against the Thalmore elsewhere? Really? If they're defending against even the barest of rabid bunnies , I see no indication of it at all.Thalmor squads roaming all over the place and he's saying anything at all about defending ANYTHING , I must have dismissed that in my playthroughs as pure BS drivel.

Everybody loves to talk about the brilliance of TEH AWESOMEST EMPIRE EVAR.What's their track record? Throw their allies to the wolves and slink in a corner against a very real and mortal enemy? In their hubris and vanity they're willing to throw even more lives away that literally cannot be spared for the greater threat. Instead of being this awesomely intelligent faction with awesomely intelligent leaders that some of you suggest , they blindly adhere to preserving an empire that they themselves had a direct hand in failing miserably. So yeah , big intellgent guys can't possibly be the bigger men and broker a peace and allow Skyrim it's independence and fight for the common goal because their heads are stuck so far up ancient history's @ss they can't adjust to new needs/situations. They'd rather keep killing each other rather than give up the one last place with enough manpower to throw a real fight into the ring when the time's right.And to what end? All this killing of fellow men to make the appearance of towing the Thalmor line.

If none of that is obvious to you , I can't really help that because it would take a massive pair of scissors to get the giant blinders off your face , or you simply never even notice anything else going on in this world.The empire had their chance to be what it's always supposed to have been , and when the time came for that proof of putting they failed miserably , and have the sheer audacity to tell the PC they're "defending" against the Thalmor somewhere else? If you believed that BS story I'd like to sell you some ocean-front property in Arizona with exclusive access to the largest rainbow bridge ever to exist.You are the main player in all of this no matter what side you picked , if any side.Both sides are capable of lies and deciet , it's up to you to filter out the BS and make a coherent decision regardless of what all the toadies for either side spout out of their mouths. This time there's more at stake than just pride , and both sides are wrong and wasteful and both sides have their crimes to answer for.

All of this is just RP discussion to me so don't take it personally please , I have no desire to insult anybody. But the things I've witnessed I'm either giving the writers way too much credit for realism , or they somehow managed to throw in realistic BS politicians that run around contradicting themselves.Either way my personal leanings go towards the stormcloaks because this vaunted empire has failed miserably at every step and has no credibility left to command respect.Politicians and warriors do not mix well , you can see that for yourself throughout real history , all empires have a definite line when things started going badly , and it's generally associated with the absolute undermining of the military and it's total misuse by people with grander ambitions.

there's a pro-imperial song that is virtually identical.

We drink to our youth,
to days come and gone.
For the age of agression,
is just about done.

We'll drive out the http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Stormcloaks
and restore what we own.
With our blood and steel
we'll take back our home.

Down with http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Ulfric_Stormcloak the http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Torygg,
on the day of your death we'll drink and we'll sing.
We're the children of skyrim, and we fight all our lives,
And whenhttp://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Sovngarde beckons every one of us dies!
But this land is ours and we'll see it wiped clean,
of the scourge that has sullied our hopes and our dreams...

anyways, it's quite clear Bethesda has done this so they have options in the future. They can take the Tamriel story in two possible directions now:

1) a continuation of the empire, where it picks itself up and puts itself back together, or...

2) a new saga in Tamriel, a saga of all independent racial kingdoms.

I, for one, welcome our new peasantry overlords...

wait, what?

As I am sure some have pointed out. There is a problem here. Only one side will fight the Aldermeri Dominion.

Yeah, when I read those I laughed at how stupid he was, then realized that he really didn't care about the nords and only himself. Either that or bad writing.

As for who would be better against the Thalmor, the Stormcloaks or the Legion, I'd say neither. The redguards from hammerfell are still fighting them and are somewhat holding their own, even after the empire abandoned them, so they get my vote. They just need better allies.

The dossier says he is an ASSET because he is causing the civil war and thus draining resources from the Empire. If the Thalmor wanted him to win so badly, why do they say they want to AVOID a Stormcloak victory? If you've seen anything on Ulfric, you know he absolutely hates the Thalmor with a passion which is what they want in the first place.

I know there is a Dossier for Ulfric in Thalmor Embassy saying Ulfric is a puppet to them and he doesnt know it. So, its really a toss up

Correct!

I was also considering posting "The Fall of Rome" by Auden, but from previous experience I know poems can be real thread-kiilers.

Yeah.

Ulfric clearly hates the Thalmor with a burning passion. You know, what with them torturing him. I think Ulfric probably did the stuff in the "Bear of Markath" and is the worst choice for the Realm but I think he's not guilty of being a Thalmor puppet.

Read the Thalmor dossier again /facepalm. It states clearly that he is not knowingly or willingly helping them, and will have nothing to do with them. How people translate that into him being a Thalmor sleeper agent I will never know. If you play through the Stormcloak questline it is very obvious that Ulfric hates the Thalmor far more than the Empire and sees them as the ultimate enemy. They imprisoned and tortured him during the war, then had him imprisoned again for worshipping Talos. Him aiding the Thalmor makes no sense on any logical plane. The only reason he's fighting the Empire is they stand in the way of the Thalmor, or else he wouldn't even bother.

I think folks are using sleeper agent and asset synonymously, which is what is breeding confusion. Or, they read the word dormant in the dossier, and assumed it meant sleeper.

And yet they somehow miss the immediately following paragraph, in which it is stated that he wants nothing whatsoever to do with them. Furthermore, Ulfric himself, if you actually listen to what he says instead of dismissing it out of hand, goes on at some length about how he despises them. Between these, I've no idea where folks are getting the notion he's a Thalmor agent.

As to which group is better-equipped to fight the Thalmor: the Empire is in a much better position to do so geographically, however they aren't really showing the will for it. Conversely: the Stormcloaks most definitely have the will for it, but cannot reach them unless they first take over Cyrodiil (I don't see an alliance between the two happening any time soon, if ever). While I typically stay out of the whole Civil War mess, as in the long run both sides are going to lose in some fashion, in the bigger picture I'd honestly have to go with the Stormcloaks because the Empire has destrroyed pretty much any and all possibilities of getting future alliances with the other provinces after their behavior towards Hammerfell. Whether or not the Stormcloaks can arrange such alliances still remains to be seen, of course, but I'm pretty sure they'll have a better chance of it since they won't have the albatross of betrayal perched on their shoulders during negotiations.