What Do You Think The Civil War Cannon Ending Is

[NUCLEAR_DETONATION]

I think its Stormcloaks because empires dont last forever. Now i know somone will probably think they know that so think of it this way, The Romans were divided (Byzantium and West Roman Empire) and conquered, The Tamrielic Empire stood for how long and then somone broke away, not sure if it was Sumerset or Black Marsh but they broke away, Then The Empire Went to war with the dominion Hammerfell brok away leaving only Cyrodiil, Skyrim, High Rock and Morrowind, But get this, The Empire has no control over Morrowind, they are basicly but not officially a vassal of The Empire, Im not sure of the state of High Rock but i believe its loyal. I can never make out Bretons in the Army. Anyway this leads to a manpower shortage and Skyrim Breaks away, leaving High Rock and Cyrodiil. High Rock is the only province not to share a border with Cyrodiil so High Rock would break away (diplomaticlly of course) and that leaves Cyrodiil, eventually the emperor would die with no heir or the empire would fall apart or it would be disolved in a peace treaty. This is my scenario of who will win and what would happen after. thanks.

Matt

[Zsrai]

I think it doesn't matter. Elisif stays as the jarl of Solitude no matter who wins, so we know that no matter what the Last Dragonborn does in TES V, she will survive and be leading at least some faction. Considering that Bethesda usually says that all possible choices for the Hero of each game are chosen, that means that the Emperor dies too. My guess is that no one is sure who won the Civil War because it was overshadowed by the death of the Emprah and all of the chaos that that entails. Elisif is the High Queen because she's in power in Solitude no matter who wins the war and it's easy for them to say "She is High Queen". The Thalmor swoop in and restart the war or do whatever and/or the Redguards do something anti-Dominion and/or some outside force drops a deuce all over Tamriel. And this is likely where TES VI starts.

[dcain3456]

Stormcloaks win but Ulfric dies. And since he never got around to having Ulfric II, Skyrim is in chaos.

[Mr. Whiskers]

If there's one thing my time with TES has taught me, it's to not guess what the devs will do, since they have a history of defying both logic and their own lore.

That said, from a logical perspective the Empire would win the war and make the most sense given the foreshadowing towards a second war, but from a story perspective the Stormcloaks could be a good choice since it would make things harder for the forces opposing the Dominion. That way if they want to make the next game during the war the Empire would be a serious underdog and people generally like underdog heroes and if they want to make it after the war it's more likely Tamriel will be under Dominion rule, which would be nice for a change of setting from the previous games.

[Belanos]

It doesn't matter as the next game will most likely have no relationship to this one, except for some passing comments here and there. None of the TES games are really connected to each other.

[Genghis_Caesar]

Well the actual, but marginally less groundbreaking answer to this is the Stormcloak victory and Skyrim becoming independent becoming canon, as throughout the game, from the very beginning, the Stormcloaks were made to seem more appealing until they and the situation in general were somewhat thoroughly examined by the player. A Stormcloak victory also provides more viable and interesting story-telling options. With new alliances (one with Hammerfell for example) being very likely, providing new and interesting angles for story telling. To briefly and broadly summarize the differences between and Imperial victory becoming canon or a Stormcloak one:
An Imperial victory=A weaker Empire with a weakened embittered Skyrim being its last reliable ally, but the status quo is largely maintained.
Independent Skyrim=A nearly collapsed Empire in a bitter fight for survival struggles to remain afloat, with a chaotic international crisis as old alliances fail and new ones are forged, the Aldmeri Dominion being the only clear contender for success in the looming Second Great War.
There's a lot more to the second one with a greater number of story choices to go along with it.

Now the cannon ending changes the very nature of Tamrielic warfare, with the Mongols sweeping across Tamriel with the the Chinese siege engineering auxilliary brigades, forcing enemies onto the open field to face their superior cavalry and mobility. With this introduction of the cannon, and gunpowder warfare in general, to the face of Nirn, the various nations, peoples, and factions across Tamriel would soon develop their own gunpowder technology, that as it advances over time, renders melee combat as a risky, often last resort style. Only the fastest learning and most powerful/versatile mages stay alive in combat for very long, operating more as a functioning feature of squads and platoons of soldiers rather than the glorious rulers of the battlefield they once were, destruction magic becoming increasingly obsolete with cheap and plentiful ingredients requiring only at a minimum a basic level of alchemical skills providing a quick alternative to the expensive maintainence and lengthy training of combat mages, with most heavy armor and great weapons being dropped in favour of the mobility provided by even the cheapest of light weapons and armor. As firearms advance, mages see a revival in their importance in warfare, but not in what was seen as conventional members operating on large battlefields directly alongside their comrades, but rather as specialized forces: destruction, illusion, and alteration mages primarily serving as guerrilla, sabotour, and counterintelligence soldiers that work in special units, causing destruction on marching troops and confusion among enemy movements, reigning in chaos and deception. Restoration mages, now more important than ever, see a renewed emphasis placed on their school.

States now begin seeking how to turn the tide in their favor, assigning teams of mages and alchemists to work together on secret projects designing weapons capable of destructive capacities only witnessed twice before in Tamrielic history.

These new weapons of mass destruction now proliferate across Tamriel, and what happens next has yet to be seen...

[Ilja]

Only canon parts hinted by the game are:

1. Elisif remaining as a Jarl of Solitude (as said above).

2. New war against the Thalmor lead Dominion. Both Tullius and Ulfic made it clear that war against Dominion will continue, after Civil War in Skyrim is over.

- If Stormcloaks win the war, Ulfric leads Nords to attack directly against Summerset Isles. This act can be considered more or less suicidial, but Empire is unlikely stand watching by, even if Skyrim detached from it.

- If Empire wins the war, they have enough proof of Thalmor being part of orchestrating Skyrim Civil War. Tullius says that war against Dominion starts again. Nords remain as part of the Empire.

In either case, White-Gold Concordant is no more, war against Dominion continues and Nords are part of it - with or without Ulfric leading them.

[Zsrai]

Originally posted by Ilja:

Only canon parts hinted by the game are:

1. Elisif remaining as a Jarl of Solitude (as said above).

2. New war against the Thalmor lead Dominion. Both Tullius and Ulfic made it clear that war against Dominion will continue, after Civil War in Skyrim is over.

- If Stormcloaks win the war, Ulfric leads Nords to attack directly against Summerset Isles. This act can be considered more ore less suicidial, but Empire is unlikely stand watching by, even if Skyrim detached from it.

- If Empire wins the war, they have enough proof of Thalmor being part of orchestrating Skyrim Civil War. Tullius says that war against Dominion starts again. Nords remain as part of the Empire.

In either case, White-Gold Concordant is no more, war against Dominion continues and Nords are part of it - with or without Ulfric leading them.

I'm sure that, regarding point 2, that TES 6 will be far enough away and long enough after TES 5 that there won't be any real need to clear up who leads what charge, too. Whomever won will die bravely against the Thalmor at the start of the Second War, and TES 6 will either take place at the end of the war (with the Hero bringing an end to it?) or just after it, playing clean up in as of yet unnamed province.