Considering its the seat of the empire, and there's no thalmor patrolling the streets and all the guards are imperial soldiers is weird. There is three altmer there. Shouldn't the city be full of altmer since the thalmor rule the empire basically and it's the seat of the empire in skyrim? Someone should make a mod that replaces all characters there with altmer counterparts and replaces all guards and imperial soldiers with thalmor.

Sorry I meant altmer in the tittle. Stupid auto IFC on my iphone

Well, there is the Thalmor HQ, even though no one lives there.

Lolwut? The Thalmor don't rule the Empire, despite some appearances to the contrary.

The Empire has a treaty with the Dominion but that doesn't mean the Thalmor have any sovereignty over the Empire or Skyrim, they only have the right to insist on the enforcement of the terms of the treaty. Those terms did not include evicting Nords and other non-Altmer from their homes in Skyrim and giving the property to whatever Altmer the Thalmor chose to send there as the new occupants.

The Thalmor aren't part of the Empire. Although (I assume) they have vast powers over it, the Empire still has a Human Emperor, and Solitude is, essentially, a Nord town. Kicking all the Nords out of Solitude is a no-go.

The Thalmor have their own embassy and base for interrogation.

It's already how it's supposed to be. Contrary to Stormcloak propaganda the Thalmor do not rule over the Imperials. They have an uneasy alliance going and thanks to a moment of weak will in either Mede II or more likely the Elder Council the WGC favors the Thalmor more heavily. Doesn't mean Cyrodiil is now thralls to Thalmor will though. It's Imperial lead and so not much thalmor there they have their own headquarters.

Yeah, the Thalmor wouldn't exactly be swarming the city. Maybe a couple hidden agents here or there, but not full patrols.

As stated above they get to make sure the treaty is kept in place. So they get to hunt Talos worshipers. They really bend the rules in their enforcement of that though. Don't be surprised if you are evicted from your home on the basis of being a Talos worshiper and then a Thalmor moves in. So they can't directly evict you, but if they say the word Talos they can.

The Thalmor choose to maintain their embassy rather than stay in the city proper. It's easier to perform tasks such as torture that way, and keep information from the Empire. The treaty doesn't extend to making Thalmor agents exempt from the law.

Note that the Thalmor have a headquarters in Castle Dour, but the building is abandoned. Cobwebs and the like confirm that they're choosing not to use them.

There are Thalmor locations to the north of Solitude. Thalmor aren't there to protect, they're there to ensure that nothing goes wrong and will intervene when necessary. I'm quite certain that the Thalmor could easily crush the Stormcloaks with the aid of the Imperials, however I believe they are just bidding their time and letting the Imperials and Stormcloaks duke it out until Thalmor can swoop in and take over

I feel like this was just an oversight though. I can see a Thalmor patrol living in Solitude. There's one in Markarth, so why not in Solitude? I like that they're main embassy is out in the woods. Easier to catch prisoners and torture them there. And easy for me to massacre them without any witnesses...

I don't think it's just a matter of them wanting privacy for the purposes of torture and murder... I mean, they are not just Altmer, they are THALMOR. They believe in their own innate superiority, they feel it lowers them to have to deal with "lesser" creatures, why in the world would they want to mix with them if they don't have to? I suspect the only reason the ones in Markarth actually live in the Jarl's keep is because there is no suitably secure location outside the city for them to have a private enclave. Trying to establish one would likely result in open hostilities between themselves and the Forsworn on a regular basis. Not that they couldn't handle it with sufficient numbers, but that would probably be more trouble than it's worth to them. Their enclaves in Haafingar are very secure by comparison and allow them to operate without such distractions.

And there's another reason why they wouldn't be forming an Altmer "colony" in Haafingar, IIRC they believe that it taints an Altmer somewhat even to leave Summerset, they are not out to colonize the rest of Tamriel by filling foreign cities with their own people.