Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-209.7.3.188-20160303204000/@comment-30011802-20161102174305

And Skyrim can defend for itsself!

Lets look at the two ways a military force can invade a territory. The first possibility is by Land. If the Thalmor were to attempt this, they’d need to go through either Morrowind (not allies of the Thalmor, and never have been, plus Argonians occupy part of it and are fighting the Dark Elves) or Hammerfell (obviously hostile to the Dominion) or through Cyrodiil, even High Rock. Now many say that there’s the solution. The Thalmor have a treaty with the Empire, and they are allowed through Empire territory. Two things. One, the Justiciars are allowed, and two, whole armies are clearly not.

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How do I know this? Tullius himself says that the Empire is currently guarding its border to watch for an attack from the Dominion. Think about that for a sec. If the Thalmor were allowed to waltz in whenever they wanted, why the hell is the Empire wasting their time guarding their borders? It makes no sense. Clearly the deal of the Thalmor in their territory extends solely to Justiciars for hunting down “heretics” not their whole army. . Now look at Skyrim’s natural barriers. Mountains. The worst kind. You cannot sustain a flow of troops and supplies through a mountain range. Not easily anyway. Couple that with the intense weather, and you have a complete supply chain disaster, easily cut off with avalanches, ambushes in the mountains, and already made impractical and long treks due to the mountains already.

.This picture better shows just how fortified Skyrim truly is from Hammerfell, High Rock, Cyrodiil and Morrowind:

http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121111164447/elderscrolls/images/b/be/TamrielWorldMap.jpg

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Now, the Thalmor, assuming they actually did get through Cyrodiil in whatever fashion still would have trouble getting through even if they used the Pale Pass, due to it’s treacherous reputation. Here’s an example of how it caused trouble for Tullius during the Stormcloak rebellion. You’ll remember this from part 1 if you’ve all been reading like good boys and girls: . %5B5%5D  In 4E 201, the Pale Pass was closed due to avalanches, preventing Imperial reinforcements from helping to secure Falkreath Hold under Imperial control during the Stormcloak Rebellion. %5B6%5D %5B7%5D . In short, a land invasion is highly unlikely in the current situation. I didn’t even talk about the obvious disadvantage of fighting in a cold climate that the Thalmor are not at all used to fighting in (their homeland is SUMMERSET ISLE for Kyne’s sake) against a people who are literally magically resistant to cold weather and magic. . Now lets look at what the Thalmor are actually good at. Naval invasion. The Thalmor are known (or rumored. didn’t hear much about this so called godly navy in the war) to have the most advanced and powerful naval force in Tamriel. But even the most advanced naval ships cannot successfully invade without a safe port nearby to house reinforcements and supplies to sustain the attack. See how far away Summerset Isle is?

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It would be comically impractical to invade Skyrim from this far away, whether that be by land or sea. Even our real life history proves this fact to be true. The Thalmor can’t set one on the coast of Skyrim to the North because one, they’d be under constant attack, and two, the Sea of Ghosts is as the name suggests extremely treacherous. They don’t have any islands nearby to do this either.

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The only possibilities they have is to anger the Dark Elves as well, and take one of those islands that are literally on the opposite side of Tamriel from Summerset Isle. Then they’d be fighting two nearby nations at the same time, and this time one of them is magically adept, and are as tough as the Nords are. So without a true safe port, this invasion tactic is even more unlikely to succeed.

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Or, they could try and get permission from the Imperials to use High Rock’s ports for a land and naval invasion, but if the Imperials don’t interject to letting the guys that are out to destroy humanity be in a position to not only taking an independent Skyrim who is an enemy of their enemy, but also High Rock, their only other province left, then I know High Rock will. And even if they didn’t, you can guarantee a Hammerfell and Skyrim alliance at that point. The Bretons may even jump in themselves if they see the writing on the wall. This is how alliances are formed. . This is why I personally laugh at those who say “without the Empire in Skyrim, the Stormcloaks are doomed.” The Nords could literally sit back and gulp down some Black-Briar mead while the land does the fighting for them. There is no realistic scenario where the Thalmor invade Skyrim successfully, or without starting up the Great War II.