Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-72.74.78.209-20141019230536/@comment-17114085-20150112105858

I do agree with you that the Emperor could've negotiated with the Dominion instead of surrendering, but he just wanted to end the war as soon as possible, and he felt the only way to do so was to surrender.

Allowing Talos Worship just in homes would still have pissed people off considerably and planted seeds for a rebellion, as you should still be getting rid of every temple and shrine where people used to worship Talos. You just can't ban a popular religion. Imagine if IRL a country passes a law that closed down every single church. Religious people would go ape sh*t, revolting and protesting until the law was changed.

As for Ulfric's choices. I do think that he could've done a few things differently, like not killing Tullius and instead just taking him prisoner, but I disagree with you in your suggestions. Had Ulfric gone to the High King with all the evidence in the world it still would've mattered because High King Torygg was a vassal of the Emperor and loyal to the Empire. He would've have gone against the Empire and declared war on the Thalmor. Even if by some miracle he did do that, nothing would've changed. The Empire would still have sent the Legion to Skyrim to fight the Nords. That is because the Empire doesn't want to fight the Thalmor or the Dominion. Though they know the Elves want to fight them, thus why they are sending troops to the southern border of Cyrodiil to defend against any attack from the Dominion. The Empire is never going to make the first move.

The Empire is dying, and the Thalmor are what is killing them...from inside. They are like a cancerous tumor, slowly killing the Empire. The only way to get rid of the tumor is to operate, but the Empire doesn't want to operate until the tumor is directly trying to kill them in one swoop. So if the Empire doesn't want to take action someone else needs to, that is what Ulfric is doing.

Also even if the Rebellion in Skyrim is put down do you think the Thalmor will stop there? Since they were vital in starting the Civil War. No, they will just create another Rebellion elsewhere. It could be in High Rock, Cyrodiil or even another one in Skyrim. But they will never stop plotting until they are taken care of, which the Empire doesn't want to do.