Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-24587225-20150902024621/@comment-29368855-20160807225340

The stormcloaks could ally with Hammerfell, if a second great war came they could offer help to the empire, whereas imperials would have skyrim, cyrodil, morrowind etc. but not all of tamriel could help fight, thus they would be weaker, but if Ulfric takes skyrim, then he can free hammerfell, and ally with the empire when the time comes, thus the thalmor has a bigger threat, so I think that if the Stormcloaks win, the Thalmor are weaker.