Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-3539474-20130910213054/@comment-1600847-20131009200739

It shows you never played through the Imperial Legion campaign, or at least you weren't paying attention. Tullius starts to respect the Nords and Skyrim and plans to spend the rest of his days there.

I believe him when he says the Empire is preparing for a second war, since it makes complete sense. Your idea, that the Empire will let themselves be killed to appease the Elves, makes none at all. The reason they appease the Elves is to buy themselves the time to re-build. Now that both sides have had decades to re-build, they're getting ready for round two. Bethesda likely put that hint in via Tullius' dialog to tease TES VI's plotline.