Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-27007772-20140611204941/@comment-121511-20150131094713

At least insofar as my admittedly shallow understanding of lore down the rabbit hole that is Michael Kirkbride goes, it seems to me that the Empire is not only the best choice from a purely realistic and logical point of view, but also the best choice in the interest of preserving existence as it is known. Although they are bound by the White-Gold Concordat, it is exceedingly clear that in practice the Ban of Talos Worship is not enforced at all by the Legion (with many Imperial subjects and, indeed, many Legionaries worshiping Talos in secret; he is, after all, their great Emperor Tiber Septim). Really, the Thalmor's only excuse for being able to enforce it physically through Justiciars in Skyrim is Ulfric's uprising. There is a reason that Ulfric is considered a Thalmor asset: his uprising weakens both Skyrim and the Empire, rendering both much easier to conquer, and allowing the Thalmor to continue their plans in destroying the last Towers and unraveling both Mundus and linear time. As they put it, unbinding the dragon. It's quite ironic that the Stormcloaks, despite fighting for the right to worship Talos, not only increase the likelihood of his demise as a God, but also increase the likelihood of the erasure of mankind and the end of the world. This is all beside the fact that Ulfric is a petulant child with xenophobic views on race and a lust for power, whose lack of honour is clearly displayed in both his massacre of the Reachmen, and his duel with the doomed King Torygg, whose skill with a blade is useless against an opponent who simply shouts him to the ground and slides a blade into his heart.