The civil war in the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the games biggest plot points. It's technically the first thing that's introduced to the player in that iconic intro sequence. You'd think that with something that was introduced before the game's dragon that it would have a lot of work put into it.
You would think that but there are more than a few things about this storyline that just don't make any sense, no matter what team that you decide to join. This is why we've decided to put together a list of the 10 things we don't understand about the civil war.
10 Neither Side Asks The Dragonborn For Help
Imagine this, you're at war that's basically been at a stalemate for a long time andthere appears to be no end in sight. It is a prolonged a war that more and more people are getting tired of, then all of a sudden, this human/elf/beast-person shows up and they have the powers of a dragon. Most would think that the first thing to do would be to find that person and ask for their help. Yet neither side does this and when the Dragonborn goes to them offering their allegiance, they have the audacity to make them prove themselves.
9 Neither Side Tries For A Truce
Remember that on top of this drawn-out war that has claimed the lives of countless people in Skyrim? There are also countless dragons that now roam the skies and they are not friendly. This new development at the very least should cause a cease-fire until they figured out a way to stop Alduin from literally eating the entire world but neither side does this.
8 Citizens Talk About The War After It's Over
Eventually, due to the Dragonborn's intervention, one side finally wins the war. This should make some massive changes to the landscape of the world. Maybe the Empire or Nords would have massive banners everywhere, locations might change, but the only changes are a few Jarl replacements and new guards in some areas.
The worst part of this is that the NPCs in Skyrim barely react to the end of the war and don't talk much about it. Even worse some of the NPCs say lines that suggest that the war is still ongoing.
7 Keeping The Jarls In The Palaces
Depending on which side the Dragonborn chooses to take in the civil war, as they go throughout the questline for either side, that side will take more and more territory from their opposition. Some of these areas have Jarls that are more friendly to their enemies, which leads to the changing of many jarls and the imprisonment of the former ones. The problem is that the Jarls aren't simply removed from power or even put into prisons, they are instead kept in the capital of the faction, which is kind of strange.
6 The Imperials Recruit From Within Skyrim
Yeah, this doesn't sound so strange when one first hears it, but after thinking about it for a little bit it becomes pretty odd. The Imperial Legion, in order to have the numbers that they need to fight the war, is forced to recruit soldiers from within Skyrim. This may sound normal, but this means that people from Skyrim are fighting other people from Skyrim who likely hold similar ideals, but just different allegiances. The fact that this doesn't lead to a revolt within the imperial ranks is pure luck.
5 Imperials Take Prisoners After The War, No Matter Who Wins
So this makes more sense in the ending of the civil war where the Empire wins and takes control. As there would still be Stormcloak sympathizers roaming Skyrim, so taking them down would be necessary. The problem is that this still happens in the version of the civil war where the Stormcloaks win. After basically being booted out of Skyrim, it seems weird that the Imperial Legion thinks it's a good time to imprison their enemies.
4 There Are Still Bases For Both Sides No Matter Who Wins
Something else that stays after the war is that there will still be bases that belong to enemy factions after they are defeated. This makes sense in the immediate aftermath, but for some reason, the most that either faction ever does about them is tell the Dragonborn to go deal with them on their own. The problem is that these bases will always be in the game, even if the Dragonborn clears them out, as they will just respawn. At least this lets us know where the Imperials are possibly taking prisoners after they lose the war.
3 The End Of The World Is Happening
This is what we've mentioned before but it seems that neither faction cares enough about the fact that dragons are now indiscriminately terrorizing the world and one of them is attempting to literally eat the world and ruin the afterlife.
While it is definitely weird, it is somewhat believable that both the leaders of each faction won't accept a ceasefire or truce, but the fact that neither army dedicates any resources towards helping the Dragonborn, aside from using Dragon's Reach once, is weird.
2 It's Way Too Short
The big problem that a lot of people have with the civil war in Skyrim is that it seems really short and way too influenced by the actions of the Dragonborn. There are only two really big battles, the battle for Whiterun and then the taking of the capital of the opposition. Aside from that, there are a few base attacks but nothing really special. It just feels like a very short questline for something that was hyped up as so important. This is why there are so many mods that make changes to it on the PC version.
1 Either Way Skyrim Loses
This makes the whole thing sound sort of pointless and depressing, and that's solely because it kind of is. No matter who wins the civil war in Skyrim, the actual people of Skyrim lose. If the Empire wins, then they will remain part of the empire, which is at the constant threat of an even larger and more bloody war between them and the Aldmeri Dominion. If the Stormcloaks win than the combined power of the Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire's other forces will come down on them and the Stormcloaks have no way of fending that off, even with the Dragonborn.