The main premise of the Civil War in Skyrim is that the Thalmor are forcing people to not acknowledge Talos as a god. This leads to much unhappiness among half of the Nords and the Civil War occurs. What struck me as really weird was the parallel between Talos and modern-day deities.

Many modern deities “ascend” to heaven in some way or another after accomplishing great tasks in the mortal world. What the Thalmor are trying to do is a complete and forceful eradication of a religion with no regard (well, some part of it was to create discord) for the consequences.

Problem is, many people believe in or believed in Talos, and the Thalmor ended up fighting a religious war. I thought that this would be exactly what would happen if someone tried to force a gigantic overhaul of religion without thought in real life. They, like the Imperials, or rather, the Thalmor, would be portrayed as ruthless, heartless people who are out to cause chaos and subvert the way of life. And the defenders of Talos as the stout, stalwart defenders of tradition.
I also take note that the Nords on Ulfric’s side are portrayed as barbarians without finesse.They are portrayed as dumb and poor, holding on to traditions long past when money had already literally and metaphorically ascended to godhood status. That’s the whole Battle-born and Grey-mane fight in a nutshell.

It kind of highlights the main point of the war: The whole war is meaningless. Both sides cannot claim any legitimacy or righteousness since everyone has blood on their hands and a kind of equal claim to things.

So really, whether you believe in Talos or not, the real enemy is bigotry and arrogance, as personified by the Thalmor in Skyrim. It is later revealed that they are the people who are running the entire show and keeping the war alive.
There is also bigotry in the normal citizens as well. Hardly will you ever see a single person in Skyrim without a very strong opinion for one side or the other. I have yet to hear a fair and balanced though about the war from a single NPC.

Funnily enough, the Thalmor are not atheists, in the sense of the word in real life, but are atheists for Talos. They believe in the eight Divines but do not believe in Talos. It reminds me of a funny T-Shirt I saw that had the words “Atheists for Jesus” printed on it.

It’s eerie how real life and a video game coincide. I wonder if the developers intended us to think about the Civil War this way. Then again, on the light side of things, the benefit of belief is quite substantial in Skyrim, 20% reduction to shout cool down is no joke for the Dragonborn. I also realize that I’m talking like Heimskarr if he wasn’t so obviously biased and one-sided.

WOW

to stick to the Thalmor..... they do not want a HUMAN to be asscended to godhood.

I don't think it's that close to modern/real world ideas about ascension. Talos is a former emperor and military general. Not a religious type of figure.

I hope this thread doesn't close btw.. I think there are rules about discussing real world religions, but hopefully we can avoid it. It'd be interesting to talk about.

lol

if by "modern" deities you are referring to a vast wealth of 3000-4000 year old gods from pantheons most people have forgotten, yeah. human history is full of such ascended gods and half gods and gods with human traits.

I think the creators of the game have a wealth of rich stories to draw from in their own history and worked to create believable and still unique stories for Skyrim, just as they've done in previous Elder Scrolls releases. Any actually recognizable "themes" in the stories would be intentional and were perhaps even meant to lead us one direction or another as individuals (bigotry, war-torn villages and families divided on political and religious issues, a pantheon of Gods meeting a pantheon of someone else's distasteful heathen Gods, religious zealotry) and I figure any subjective or deeply pointed comparrisons and emotional meanings would belong to us, as the players.

I'm really sure it's the sign of a good game that we care and are moved and not a sign of a manipulative creation process that we're caring or moved in particular directions. They weave a really awesome yarn.

I don't even see the Thalmor as denying Talos specifically in an "atheistic" sense. They're not atheistic towards Talos. They just look down on all humans, period.

Thalmor denying Talos' godhood is entirely political. It's a way to humiliate the humans and prepare them for domination by the Mer.

In the words of Professor Dawkins, "we are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."

It's not entirely political. From the Thalmor perspective, it's also notably practical. They see humanity as the obstruction to paradise and immortality, Talos included. He needs to be removed for the mer (at least the mer who aren't cursed or heretical) to ascend themselves.

True.

Yup.

Atheism parallels aren't quite accurate, though. Just a niggling detail. Zealotry and bigotry for a certainty, but it's definitely more a Nazi parallel. Humans do not match up to the Thalmor ideas of elvendom (which is to say, godhood by right of birth), but instead of death camps they plan to unmake humans by unmaking the human god. Much bloodshed and innocent lives lost, etc., etc., terrible tragedy.

The only difference from us to TES is that Gods are a mystery. As for TES, if you have played the Knights of Nine expansion for Oblivion. You know Talos is a Divine, he is the God of the Human spirit and the Last Hope ( as I see him ). He made it his duty to help you slay Umaril in the afterlife and prevent you from losing your own. He is there and is still guiding the humans of Nirn. How can a God guide a hero? If your God was once a hero, than you have more faith in him.

^^
This x 100. But we won't know their true motives until TES VI. Hope they set that one on Alinor. That would definitely make for an interesting EP.

I don't think the Thalmor disbelieve in Talos. They believe in his godhood supremely, otherwise they wouldn't be trying so hard to eradicate his worship so they can weaken him and- as they hope- take him down.

I think the politics of Skyrim are very much like current political scene in the United States. There are several points where one side is just and several points where the other side is just. Each depending on your point of view. From the opposite point of view those same points are negatives.

Talos is just one of them. I assume the ppl at Beth did this on purpose. Similar to the Blades v Paarth storyline. There are no right answers, only points of views.

Re: the Talos religion. From the Nord point of view the Thalmor are taking away their culture as a form of subject control. From the Thalmor point of view the Nords have invented a God and that is pissing off the real Gods. Both sides have "divine right" on their side.

It's a little more complicated than that, although your post accurately describes the understanding of most people in Tamriel, and probably even most Thalmor.

On a higher level, the Thalmor are lying about what they want and why they want it. They aren't fools. They know that insisting on the ban of Talos worship creates more political problems for them than it solves. But it's necessary to further their true goal, which is the eradication of Talos, the god - who right now is acting as a sort of tent-pole, holding open the universe so people can live their lives inside. Altmer regard this space as a trap, with them inside. They want out. Which means, essentially, that they want to destroy everything the rest of us hold dear.