Spiral Power!
Abenddrachen
Since this recently came up in another thread, I thought it was topic worthy. There are extreme spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution.
For (optional) dramatic effect for the inevitable moment of horrible realization that some of you are going to have while reading this, listen to this while reading!
I will explain to you why siding with the empire is the only rational choice within the Elder Scrolls universe. Because of how incredibly difficult this is for some people to decipher, I will work this backwards so the answer can more easily be seen. I will cite my sources and quotes as I go along. Please read the entire thing before commenting.
Again, I will only present evidence and the obvious. No far out speculation here.
First factor: Neon Genesis Altmeri, this snippet is Word of God (Word of God - Television Tropes & Idioms )
From Altmeri Commentary on Talos, Michael Kirkbride
"To kill Man is to reach Heaven, from where we came before the Doom Drum's iniquity. When we accomplish this, we can escape the mockery and long shame of the Material Prison. To achieve this goal, we must:
1 Erase the Upstart Talos from the mythic. His presence fortifies the Wheel of the Convention, and binds our souls to this plane.
2 Remove Man not just from the world, but from the Pattern of Possibility, so that the very idea of them can be forgotten and thereby never again repeated.
3 With Talos and the Sons of Talos removed, the Dragon will become ours to unbind. The world of mortals will be over. The Dragon will uncoil his hold on the stagnancy of linear time and move as Free Serpent again, moving through the Aether without measure or burden, spilling time along the innumerable roads we once travelled. And with that we will regain the mantle of the imperishable spirit."
Original text found here: Michael Kirkbride's Posts | The Imperial Library
What that says there is that the Altmeri (high elves) had this crazy plan that would "dispel" the mortal world. The idea of the plan is simple: unmake Talos. If you read closely, number 1 clearly states that he should be removed from the pantheon of gods, and that his presence binds souls to Mundus.
Number 2 details that not only do they intend to destroy every human, but also to make them extinct. So much so, that no human would ever exist again.
Number 3 details that after Talos and all humanity is gone, Mundus will be unmade. This is possible because of the second factor.
Second factor: The Towers, taken from elderscrollswikia.com
"The Towers are various constructs, both natural and artificial, located all across Nirn. Their existence ensures Mundus remains stabilized as they uphold the barriers between the mortal plane and the realms of Oblivion.
Each tower bears a stone that serves as it's heart and provides it with stability and power. If a stone is ever removed from a tower or destroyed, the tower becomes inert or deactivated. Should all existing towers fail, Mundus itself would cease to exist."
Source found here: The Towers - The Elder Scrolls Wiki
So basically, a lot of the highest structures all across Nirn are actually a kind of "generator" that makes a barrier around Mundus and separates it from Oblivion. Remember the Dragonfires? The barriers falling? Yeah. That one tower having issues endangered the entirety of Tamriel, and it only took a few cultists to do all that damage. Imagine the devastation if entire armies set out freely across the globe to deactivate them all. There'd be little to no chance to stop it, especially if that army was commanded by a nation that ruled all of Tamriel.
So far, the Altmeri are basically crazy and want to end the world. The only way they can accomplish this is to first destroy Talos (by reducing his worship to non-existence), then all of humanity (by wiping them all out), and then destroying The Towers (that protect Mundus from Oblivion).
So the Altmeri through the Thalmor decided, "welp, better get started!" and began a war with the Empire, which represents everything they must overcome to achieve their goal. After a horrible war, they made the Empire agree that Talos worship was illegal. Well, that accomplishes several of their goals in several ways.
Outlawing Talos:
A) weakens Talos, begins a chain reaction where through a "rational" argument people are convinced he isn't a god, further destroying him.
B) kills humans by making them slaughter each other over religious devotion. Even close friends (Ralof and whats-his-face) face death to one another over this.
C) cripples the empire by dividing it and removing almost all of its military strength. If you take a close look at this map: http://klibank.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/map.png you will see that making the Empire agree to ban Talos worship has seriously damaged the Empire. Meanwhile, the Dominion has done nothing but gathered its strength and recovered itself, while the Empire and all of their opposition to world ending cookiness kill each other over Talos.
Dividing the Empire in such a way almost guarantees an easy victory for an army powerful enough to defeat the Empire when it was at its best. Without unity or organization, even the Argonians don't stand a hairs' chance at victory against that kind of power.
Now that you understand all the reasons the Thalmor banned Talos worship, and just how conveniently it conquers the Empire by using the Imperials to kill each other, its pretty easy to piece together this next part.
Third factor: Ulfric Stormcloak, the belief in Talos is real, the rebellion isn't
If you've read the Thalmor Dossier on Ulfric, you'll know its painfully obvious what the truth is: the Thalmor purposefully set Ulfric on his path to start a "rebellion." By starting the rebellion and keeping it going as long as possible, the Empire is seriously weakened, Skyrim is weakened, and humans are dying. All is going according to plan for the Thalmor, and thus the crazy Altmeri who came up with this plan.
"For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill." ~Tsun Szu, The Art of War
The Thalmor understand this quote's concept perfectly. Indeed it is what they are doing. Their greatest goal is halted by the Empire, and at its best they were matched enough to sign a temporary truce. So instead of using military might to "win a hundred battles", they changed tactics. What did more damage? The simple outlawing of Talos worship has caused more damage to the Empire than basically any military campaign in Tamriel's history. Even more than any Daedric Prince.
Thus this all comes full circle. If Skyrim wins its independance, the Empire will be that much weaker. Skyrim will be weaker. Tamriel will be weaker. This makes things easier for the Dominion to accomplish its conquest, because they stood a good chance against a united Empire. A divided one that's been at war with itself the entire time you've been recovering? Like taking a sweetroll from a baby. It would almost be too easy.
Once the Dominion wins its easy battles, they will start eliminating humans ala-Hitler style, making people completely forget about Talos by simply convincing people he isn't a divine. It will become the accepted social norm and everyone within the new (and much larger) Dominion will simply forget who the heck Talos even is, especially because all the people will be ELVES because the humans will be DEAD.
Eventually, when all the humans are killed by the giant super-elf master race, they will simply deactivate the towers, and Mundus will be destroyed.
So by siding with the rebels and winning, you are weakening the Empire fatally, the Empire is the only thing that stands in the way of the Dominion of destroying all humanity and bringing about the end of days.
And finally, through all of this, siding with the Empire is the right choice. By minimizing casualties and reuniting Skyrim with the Empire, you save Skyrim AND the Empire AND improve Nirn's chances of not being destroyed by crazy elves. The world NEEDS the Empire to save it.
It doesn't matter what your personal beliefs are about freedom and independence. It doesn't matter what your political alignment is. It doesn't matter what you believe in.
"I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world." ~Ronald Reagan
Would could possibly more alien to the universal aspirations of all living beings than wanting to destroy all life? Skyrim's independence isn't going to matter if the Dominion just marches in and takes Skyrim with the same overwhelming force that they used on the ENTIRE EMPIRE (and was evenly matched against) years before. Skyrim would still be recovering, and simply wouldn't have that kind of military might. If the entire Empire couldn't come up with it, there is no way a single former province can. Worse, since the Empire has no support from the provinces in a united offensive, they basically get slaughtered.
It'd be several small disorganized exhausted nations against a well trained, powerful, organized, rested, and resourceful nation. It'd be a guaranteed loss.
Siding with the Empire is the only thing the Dragonborn can do to help save Talos, humanity, and all of Mundus from certain doom. Seeing as he/she goes on a quest to stop Alduin from destroying the world, it's pretty obvious what the Dragonborn's motives are. Any Dragonborn that knew all of this would have no other choice but to side with the Empire because that's the only thing that can save the world.
And that ladies and gentlemen, is why choosing between the Empire and the rebels IS a black and white choice. It's just very difficult to find the answer to. But the answer is there if you know where to look. It isn't about "freedom" or religious rights...it's about the end of the world. Will you save it or will you destroy it?
For (optional) dramatic effect for the inevitable moment of horrible realization that some of you are going to have while reading this, listen to this while reading!
I will explain to you why siding with the empire is the only rational choice within the Elder Scrolls universe. Because of how incredibly difficult this is for some people to decipher, I will work this backwards so the answer can more easily be seen. I will cite my sources and quotes as I go along. Please read the entire thing before commenting.
Again, I will only present evidence and the obvious. No far out speculation here.
First factor: Neon Genesis Altmeri, this snippet is Word of God (Word of God - Television Tropes & Idioms )
From Altmeri Commentary on Talos, Michael Kirkbride
"To kill Man is to reach Heaven, from where we came before the Doom Drum's iniquity. When we accomplish this, we can escape the mockery and long shame of the Material Prison. To achieve this goal, we must:
1 Erase the Upstart Talos from the mythic. His presence fortifies the Wheel of the Convention, and binds our souls to this plane.
2 Remove Man not just from the world, but from the Pattern of Possibility, so that the very idea of them can be forgotten and thereby never again repeated.
3 With Talos and the Sons of Talos removed, the Dragon will become ours to unbind. The world of mortals will be over. The Dragon will uncoil his hold on the stagnancy of linear time and move as Free Serpent again, moving through the Aether without measure or burden, spilling time along the innumerable roads we once travelled. And with that we will regain the mantle of the imperishable spirit."
Original text found here: Michael Kirkbride's Posts | The Imperial Library
What that says there is that the Altmeri (high elves) had this crazy plan that would "dispel" the mortal world. The idea of the plan is simple: unmake Talos. If you read closely, number 1 clearly states that he should be removed from the pantheon of gods, and that his presence binds souls to Mundus.
Number 2 details that not only do they intend to destroy every human, but also to make them extinct. So much so, that no human would ever exist again.
Number 3 details that after Talos and all humanity is gone, Mundus will be unmade. This is possible because of the second factor.
Second factor: The Towers, taken from elderscrollswikia.com
"The Towers are various constructs, both natural and artificial, located all across Nirn. Their existence ensures Mundus remains stabilized as they uphold the barriers between the mortal plane and the realms of Oblivion.
Each tower bears a stone that serves as it's heart and provides it with stability and power. If a stone is ever removed from a tower or destroyed, the tower becomes inert or deactivated. Should all existing towers fail, Mundus itself would cease to exist."
Source found here: The Towers - The Elder Scrolls Wiki
So basically, a lot of the highest structures all across Nirn are actually a kind of "generator" that makes a barrier around Mundus and separates it from Oblivion. Remember the Dragonfires? The barriers falling? Yeah. That one tower having issues endangered the entirety of Tamriel, and it only took a few cultists to do all that damage. Imagine the devastation if entire armies set out freely across the globe to deactivate them all. There'd be little to no chance to stop it, especially if that army was commanded by a nation that ruled all of Tamriel.
So far, the Altmeri are basically crazy and want to end the world. The only way they can accomplish this is to first destroy Talos (by reducing his worship to non-existence), then all of humanity (by wiping them all out), and then destroying The Towers (that protect Mundus from Oblivion).
So the Altmeri through the Thalmor decided, "welp, better get started!" and began a war with the Empire, which represents everything they must overcome to achieve their goal. After a horrible war, they made the Empire agree that Talos worship was illegal. Well, that accomplishes several of their goals in several ways.
Outlawing Talos:
A) weakens Talos, begins a chain reaction where through a "rational" argument people are convinced he isn't a god, further destroying him.
B) kills humans by making them slaughter each other over religious devotion. Even close friends (Ralof and whats-his-face) face death to one another over this.
C) cripples the empire by dividing it and removing almost all of its military strength. If you take a close look at this map: http://klibank.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/map.png you will see that making the Empire agree to ban Talos worship has seriously damaged the Empire. Meanwhile, the Dominion has done nothing but gathered its strength and recovered itself, while the Empire and all of their opposition to world ending cookiness kill each other over Talos.
Dividing the Empire in such a way almost guarantees an easy victory for an army powerful enough to defeat the Empire when it was at its best. Without unity or organization, even the Argonians don't stand a hairs' chance at victory against that kind of power.
Now that you understand all the reasons the Thalmor banned Talos worship, and just how conveniently it conquers the Empire by using the Imperials to kill each other, its pretty easy to piece together this next part.
Third factor: Ulfric Stormcloak, the belief in Talos is real, the rebellion isn't
If you've read the Thalmor Dossier on Ulfric, you'll know its painfully obvious what the truth is: the Thalmor purposefully set Ulfric on his path to start a "rebellion." By starting the rebellion and keeping it going as long as possible, the Empire is seriously weakened, Skyrim is weakened, and humans are dying. All is going according to plan for the Thalmor, and thus the crazy Altmeri who came up with this plan.
"For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill." ~Tsun Szu, The Art of War
The Thalmor understand this quote's concept perfectly. Indeed it is what they are doing. Their greatest goal is halted by the Empire, and at its best they were matched enough to sign a temporary truce. So instead of using military might to "win a hundred battles", they changed tactics. What did more damage? The simple outlawing of Talos worship has caused more damage to the Empire than basically any military campaign in Tamriel's history. Even more than any Daedric Prince.
Thus this all comes full circle. If Skyrim wins its independance, the Empire will be that much weaker. Skyrim will be weaker. Tamriel will be weaker. This makes things easier for the Dominion to accomplish its conquest, because they stood a good chance against a united Empire. A divided one that's been at war with itself the entire time you've been recovering? Like taking a sweetroll from a baby. It would almost be too easy.
Once the Dominion wins its easy battles, they will start eliminating humans ala-Hitler style, making people completely forget about Talos by simply convincing people he isn't a divine. It will become the accepted social norm and everyone within the new (and much larger) Dominion will simply forget who the heck Talos even is, especially because all the people will be ELVES because the humans will be DEAD.
Eventually, when all the humans are killed by the giant super-elf master race, they will simply deactivate the towers, and Mundus will be destroyed.
So by siding with the rebels and winning, you are weakening the Empire fatally, the Empire is the only thing that stands in the way of the Dominion of destroying all humanity and bringing about the end of days.
And finally, through all of this, siding with the Empire is the right choice. By minimizing casualties and reuniting Skyrim with the Empire, you save Skyrim AND the Empire AND improve Nirn's chances of not being destroyed by crazy elves. The world NEEDS the Empire to save it.
It doesn't matter what your personal beliefs are about freedom and independence. It doesn't matter what your political alignment is. It doesn't matter what you believe in.
"I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world." ~Ronald Reagan
Would could possibly more alien to the universal aspirations of all living beings than wanting to destroy all life? Skyrim's independence isn't going to matter if the Dominion just marches in and takes Skyrim with the same overwhelming force that they used on the ENTIRE EMPIRE (and was evenly matched against) years before. Skyrim would still be recovering, and simply wouldn't have that kind of military might. If the entire Empire couldn't come up with it, there is no way a single former province can. Worse, since the Empire has no support from the provinces in a united offensive, they basically get slaughtered.
It'd be several small disorganized exhausted nations against a well trained, powerful, organized, rested, and resourceful nation. It'd be a guaranteed loss.
Siding with the Empire is the only thing the Dragonborn can do to help save Talos, humanity, and all of Mundus from certain doom. Seeing as he/she goes on a quest to stop Alduin from destroying the world, it's pretty obvious what the Dragonborn's motives are. Any Dragonborn that knew all of this would have no other choice but to side with the Empire because that's the only thing that can save the world.
And that ladies and gentlemen, is why choosing between the Empire and the rebels IS a black and white choice. It's just very difficult to find the answer to. But the answer is there if you know where to look. It isn't about "freedom" or religious rights...it's about the end of the world. Will you save it or will you destroy it?
