LAST EDITED ON Apr-09-14 AT 00:39 AM (EDT)
>The Empire had already lost three entire legions in the fighting over
>the capital, the first during the retreat, and two more during the
>Battle of the Red Ring to retake it. Those that remained had been
>badly savaged and reinforcement was not forthcoming. The White-Gold
>Concordat was agreed to because the Empire knew that continued
>fighting would only delay the inevitable,That's demonstrably wrong, though. I mean, don't get me wrong. "We can't take them, we should sue for peace" was a completely justifiable stance to take at the time. Hell, I probably would have done the same thing. It's just that latter events, I feel, conclusively proved that the Dominion wasn't as strong as the Empire thought it was, which means that giving away the store with the Concordat was a mistake.
>As for Hammerfell, it's heavily hinted that the Aldmeri specifically
>asked for it because they knew that Mede would be forced to release it
>as an imperial province to maintain the treaty and that it would
>create resentment amongst the Redguard towards the Imperials. If the
>Empire had tried to hold onto it, then both likely would have fallen.
Er... wha?
I don't quite understand your logic here. After the Empire released Hammerfell, the Redguards fought on. They fought on for five more years... and they won! They beat the Dominion, driving them from Hammerfell and reclaiming their province! You're saying that Hammerfell + High Rock + Cyrodiil + Skyrim would have had worse odds against the Dominion than Hammerfell fighting alone did?
Hammerfell represents really solid evidence that the Dominion got fucked up a lot worse in the war than the Empire thought they did. Otherwise, they'd have managed to hold onto the place.
>That's sort of the sentiment you get from Jarl Balgruuf, that the
>other Jarls who support the Empire may not agree with the Concordat or
>really overly happy with the increased Imperial presence to assist the
>Thalmor, but Ulfric's challenge and slaying of Torygg went over the
>line.
Balgruuf is another reason I couldn't bring myself to side with Ulfric. Whiterun was my first home. Balgruuf is the thane who legitimized me as Dragonborn, the first guy to make me a thane of his hold. Without him letting me use his home as a giant dragon trap, we don't beat Alduin.
I couldn't just help Ulfric conquer the place after that.
-Merc
Keep Rat