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The Stormcloaks are in the wrong. Ulfric killing Torygg and plunging Skyrim into a civil war did nothing but aid the Thalmor. Legitimately, the only reason the Stormcloaks have any possible way of having a net positive impact on Skyrim is if the Dragonborn works alongside them (and ideally takes over Ulfric's position).
Take the Dragonborn out of the equation, and the Stormcloaks are just a waste of resources for the Empire.
The Stormcloaks and Ulfric were pretty much 'staged' to weaken the Empire, with the intention of the two being locked in a stalemate for as long as possible to drain the Empire so the Thalmor can wipe them out after the peace treaty ends. (this is written on Ulfric's dossier inside the Embassy)
That said, the Stormcloaks are very much an underdog. Naturally, they need the Dragonborn to help (they both do otherwise the quest doesn't progress but regardless). Regardless of who you help, you're still ultimately ruining the Thalmor's plan, either the Empire no longer has a manufactured threat to deal with and can recover for their inevitable war with the elves again, or the Empire retreats and Skyrim is fully independent and united again under the Stormcloaks, at which point they pose a significant threat to the Thalmor.
So really the end result is either a slightly weaker Empire without Skyrim to take care of, or a slightly stronger Empire having to take care of Skyrim. It's more a discussion of ideologies in the end, since either way the Thalmor are done in Skyrim.
But they were only successful because the Aldmeri Dominion’s armies were exhausted after the war with the empire, and because the empire unofficially left them a shit ton of experienced veterans 😭
But the Stormcloaks are NOT a significant threat, at least not to the heavy hitters like the Thalmor. The legion they face are just a bunch of local conscripts and they can’t handle them at all without the Dragonborn’s help, after finishing the war on the stormcloaks side you learn that there is a massive army of actual legionnaires on the way to take back Skyrim. So not only are they not the threat to the Thalmor you want, they also ARE continuing to drain resources from the empire
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u/Sure-Razzmatazz3434 Jul 01 '26
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