The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim doesn’t have a canon ending, at least not until The Elder Scrolls VI rolls around.
That said it hasn’t stopped fans from believing a canon ending to Skyrim does exist, and speculating which one it might be.
There are plenty to choose from, with each one creating a new possibly future for the realm
You’ll find plenty of theories and which ending is the real one and why, like this one below by Reddit user Tessenreacts.
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Their theory reads: “The reality is that the canon ending of Skyrim is that the Empire re-unites Skyrim and prepares for war … There is almost no situation in which the canon ending is one where Skyrim is independent or the civil war is ongoing. The Stormcloaks required near divine interference to escape complete defeat, and they won't get such a convenience again."
This of course prompted a big discussion over how nothing is canon unless Bethesda says so, and Bethesda hasn’t said anything on the matter so nothing is canon, yet.
“I feel that, as much as I support the empire myself, the truth is that instead it looks like the empire is on an inevitable decline and Skyrim will become independent” theorised one of the comments.
Another argued “If you have to argue that something is canon, it isn't canon. Otherwise it would be indisputable.”
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Finally one user said “there's, nearly, no ‘canon’ thing in Skyrim tbh. The only real canon thing is the main story, so the Dovahkiin that does everything the main story makes him/her do and then kills Alduin. That's pretty much it.
It does make you wonder if The Elder Scrolls VI will canonise anything, or if it’ll leave things up to the imagination.
It’d be cool to at least see some references to our Dragonborn character in the next game, perhaps rumours of a dragonslaying badass in a far off land.
Topics: The Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls 6, Bethesda