User blog comment:ShawnCognitionCP/The Empire vs Stormcloaks, the most likely answer/@comment-24728100-20140612152414/@comment-27007772-20140612155330

I will go the same way you did, paragraph by paragraph.

If you ask her why Torygg didn't declare Skyrim's independence she will sum up the relationship of Skyrim and the Empire by stating, "Because the Dominion is a sleeping beast that Skyrim cannot slay alone. Because many Nords are part of the Imperial army even now. Because the food and resources we get from the Empire are important to our people. Because even if we can't openly worship him, Talos the god was once Tiber Septim the man, and this is his Empire. And Torygg wasn't ready to let it fall apart." Nothing she says counter-acts her first statement, it only gives a reason Torygg did not declare independance before hand.

This is a taken note from UESP: Although victorious, the Imperial armies were in no shape to continue the war. The entire remaining Imperial force was gathered in Cyrodiil, exhausted and decimated by the Battle of the Red Ring. Not a single legion had more than half its soldiers fit for duty. Two legions had been effectively annihilated, not counting the loss of the Eighth during the retreat from the Imperial City the previous year. Titus II knew that there would be no better time to negotiate peace, and late in 4E 175 the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion signed the White-Gold Concordat, ending the Great War. The terms were harsh, but Titus II believed that it was necessary to secure peace and give the Empire a chance to regain its strength. The two most controversial terms of the Concordat were the banning of the worship of Talos and the cession of a large section of southern Hammerfell (most of what was already occupied by Aldmeri forces). Critics have pointed out that the Concordat is almost identical to the ultimatum the Emperor rejected five years earlier. However, there is a great difference between agreeing to such terms under the mere threat of war, and agreeing to them at the end of a long and destructive war. No part of the Empire would have accepted these terms in 4E 171, dictated by the Thalmor at swords-point. Titus II would have faced civil war. By 4E 175, most of the Empire welcomed peace at almost any price. They were beaten into submission, as if they said no, they would have been destroyed. The Aldmeri Diminion still had plenty of soldiers in Summerset Isles, mind you.

Tullius does make a very soldid point toward war to the Dimionion. He says he suspects war against the Dominion very soon, and that the Dragonborn should not tell anyone outside of the room, pointing that it may be a sneak attack or infiltration.

The end predictions stand on their own.