Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-25343239-20150319182007/@comment-260563-20180320231720

But that's the thing. Even if I approached the whole Great War from the perspective of a Dominion-lover, I'm not convinced that they can even win. With the meddlesome historian that I am, too many factors bite at me to even consider the Dominion to be close to victory. That's why I raised my six points in one of my previous replies. That would be my sure-fire strategy to win Tamriel for the Dominion. But it's clear that no Thalmor leader would ever commit to such plans, and because of that, they'll overstretch themselves and get themselves destroyed.

I like the Empire for their civilization and culture, and I like the Thalmor for their style and aptitude for magic. But while the Empire has its weaknesses, it's more like a slumbering beast that can wake up and savage its hunters when it gets in the right mood, while the Dominion is like that athlete that won three consecutive rounds in whatever sport he was playing, but he tired himself out, and come the fourth round, he's going to get creamed. Hard.

The Dominion suffered massive losses in the war. They lost the army they sent to take over Cyrodiil. And they gained absolutely NOTHING in return. No economic tributes, no military advantages, only a province they couldn't hold and a religious agreement that the other side violates on a regular basis. Oh, and there was that civil war in Skyrim that they worked hard to engineer, but that was almost foiled by General Tullius. And even with Ulfric escaping, that whole farce of a war can be ended by having the Whiterun guards join the Empire, and guess what Ulfric does? He prepares to attack Whiterun, which will cause Whiterun to ally with the Empire and clean his clock. Which means all that planning, all that strategy, all those years of work, goes down the shitter.

If I were a Thalmor general, I'd be pretty pissed. Here we are, representing the best of Elven Culture, supposedly enjoying a golden age after "defeating" the Empire that subjugated our ancestors, and what did we get out of the war? A desert province of little value to us, that we can't even hold. A religious agreement that we know our Imperial "friends" violate on a daily basis before the ink on the Concordat even dried. A small uprising on the ass end of the Empire that even guards from a neutral hold can end. And to get that, we had to sacrifice what, entire armies of good Altmer soldiers? The pride of our race, the joy of our Dominion? We sent good men to die just for THAT? I'd be so pissed that I'd probably stage a coup against the current leadership of the Thalmor, just so I can come up with a more permanent peace with the Empire that doesn't rile people up for revenge come the next war, while I focus on trade, propping up reproduction rates, and creating links of economic and political goodwill between the Dominion's provinces and neutral territories like Black Marsh and Morrowind, just to make sure that we actually do have the manpower and coin to survive the next war, not to mention make sure not to rile up the humans to be fanatically anti-Elven.

I found both the Empire and the Thalmor to be compelling. On the one hand, you had this Roman-esque culture built by Saint Alessia, their equivalent of Julius Caesar mixed with of Harriet Tubman, an Empire built by former slaves that created a cosmopolitan society. I think Alessia is better than Talos-that dude could have assimilated the Elves peacefully, but chose violence, and the Thalmor waging war on the Empire when the latter became weakened was the eventual end result.

But at the same time, the culture of the Aldmeri Dominion was beautiful as well. Minus the racism, of course. An elegant culture with style and substance, a culture that knew the importance of magic and elegance. Just looking at their stylish armor and weapons gives a hint of a cultured society on the same vein as the Protoss and the Covenant. If they didn't hate humanity, they'd have made for excellent trade and cultural partners. Hence why the barbarism of the Stormcloaks really does contrast with the elegance of the Thalmor. Both are racist murderers, but at least the Thalmor have style and manners. The Stormcloaks would be the kind of people that my Dragonborn would treat as a minor nuisance, but she'd look at the Thalmor and see them as worthy foes. She'd hate them for what they did in the past, but she'd at least appreciate their sense of style and aptitude for the higher mysteries, whereareas the Stormcloaks turned their backs on their forefathers' love of the clever craft, as Tsun said.

So while on a moral ground, I'd support the Empire over the Thalmor, and as a historian, I see the Thalmor on a collision course with disaster, I can't help but agree to the fact that the Thalmor are at least cultured and worthy foes, unlike the Stormcloaks who not only committed regicide and raised an unnecessary rebellion, but also doggedly insist on winning against unrealistically impossible odds, as well as ignoring the world of magic in a world where magic was a God-given right.

So to go back to the OP's question, Skyrim alone would get creamed by the Dominion, while the Empire and Skyrim together can defeat the Dominion with patience and time. But at the same time, the Dominion is a powerful adversary, which necessitates the larger host of the Empire's army and Imperial coin to defeat.