Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-26213507-20150715194939/@comment-26896471-20150822022241

At the end of the day the Empire needs Skyrim for its manpower. Half of Skyrim will not fight for the Empire anyway, as the damage has already been done by the White-Gold Concordat, irrespective of its legitimacy or the subsequent rebellion. All of Skyrim would fight for her should it become indepentdent; they are defending there own homes. The same cannot be said if the Empire maintained its hold. Therefore the best use of Skyrim's resources is to fight seperately from the Empire, who would otherwise dilute its strength by dressing up unwilling Nords in Imperial armour to fight in Cyrodil. That is why Hammerfell was able to drive out the Thalmor.