April 18, 2016 7:12 PM EDT
After hundreds of Skyrim playthroughs, I finally read a lore book that I had somehow either missed or just never got around to reading: The Great War. It has quickly become my favorite lore book because of its incredibly detailed account of the battles and events leading up to and during the war that led to the controversial White-Gold Concordat.
What really stood out to me though, was that in the Empire's weakened state, it took help from every nearby province to hold back the Thalmor. For example, the famous success at The Battle of The Red Ring could never have been accomplished without help from the Nord legions to the east, the Redguard legions to the west, the Cyrodiilic legions to the North, and the incredible strategy on the part of Emperor Titus Mede II (who, prior to reading this book, I though of as simply the emperor you get to kill for the Dark Brotherhood. I had no idea he was so awesome).
I used to think that both sides of the Skyrim civil war had about an equal amount of merit, but this really seals it for me. Were the Empire to be completely dissolved, no one province would even come close to being able to withstand an attack from the Thalmor (Someone may point out that Hammerfell was able to do it after the Great War, but that was a weakened Thalmor who had just been trying to fight two wars at once. Were the Aldmeri Dominion to focus entirely on Hammerfell, I have no doubt they would succeed), and that includes Skyrim. The books itself even says something to this effect as a last note: "All those who value freedom over tyranny can only hope that before it is too late, Hammerfell and the Empire will be reconciled and stand united against the Thalmor threat. Otherwise, any hope to stem the tide of Thalmor rule over all of Tamriel is dimmed." Without a united front against the Thalmor, we will see the Aldmeri Dominion aborb every province one by one until all are ruled by oppressive elven overlords.