Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-25343239-20150319182007/@comment-260563-20180104054048

Ulfric doesn't even want to risk war with the full power of the Imperial Legion. All he's fighting are local levies and hold guards, not proper Imperial units like the Penitus Oculatus. When the Emperor is on his boat right next to Solitude in the Dark Brotherhood campaign, Ulfric will not attack. Because he knows that if he attacks Solitude and kills the Emperor, the Imperial legions guarding the border with the Dominion will run up north and crush his nuts. An assassin from the Dark Brotherhood killing the Emperor is a crime, to be investigated by criminal investigation units. A Stormcloak army killing the Emperor is an act of war, which will send the full might of the Legion north to Skyrim to kill the Stormcloaks.

Which goes to show that Ulfric isn't even ready to go to war with the Dominion. The Dominion matched the Legion pound for pound and forced an uneasy truce. The Stormcloak can't even defeat local levies and hold guards without the help of the Dovahkiin. And let's be honest: would the Dominion really just lay there and let Ulfric repair the damage done to Skyrim by the Civil War? More likely they would attack Skyrim before they can make themselves ready to fight the Dominion. With the Empire hating the Stormcloaks for taking away Skyrim, and with their best general dead and out of the picture, nobody will help Ulfric's "free Skyrim" as it gets squashed by the Elves.