(forgive me if this has been posted before)

We can choose to join the Stormcloaks or the Empire...but we have no option to see the Thalmor side of the story. I usually play elves when I play ES games and it struck me that, well, what if my High elf didn't want to help either side and help other elves rule the land?

This is the three bladed story and i had a hard time thinking that the Thalmor were just the 'bad guys'. Sometimes elves have very good reasons for doing what they do.

Heck I'd love to see it made into DLC with quests and new locations.

Anyone else?

They want to kill all men, one of the things they must do is banish Talos from the nine divines, they are racist pigs, they say that they want all mer to be superior, but the thing is, they hate all races of mer, they think they are better than everyone.

The whole reason the Civil war started was because of them, they wanted them to wipe each other out.

We know full well why the elves are doing what they're doing. No, it's not a good reason.

Bethesda doesn't support playing the bad guys unless they're willing to include those particular bad guys winning as the background for future games. The Thalmor can not win. That would prevent future games.

Maybe the Thalmor will fall. And for the elder scrolls games would not make sense play as a follower of a falling empire.

You see... You did everything for the Empire in Cyrordill helping martin septim spit fire in Mehrunes Dagon.

The empire has fallen but you came again 200 years after when another empire arises.

Well.. I don't know.

Ps.: TALE said all I wanted to say.

Why couldn't you join the Sixth House in Morrowind? Because they were the villains without any redeeming features (And at least Dagoth Ur was somewhat sympathetic as a character, the Thalmor lack that entirely), as with them, so with the Thalmor.

And it was the same with the Mythic Dawn.

I guess so. *sigh*

I'd just hate to see the next ES game follow that wonderful trend of 'oppress the elves' that so many other fantasy games are falling into. It worked in Dragonage, it wont work here.

I mean when the Thalmor fall, will all the other races take it out on the elves? All the elves?

Also the Stormcloaks were not exactly a 'fair' side to choose...especially if you were an elf. You were working towards your own extermination.

Why not take a chance and let them win, or if nothing let them gain an even stronger foot hold on the lands.

It would be interesting.

Heck, the Camoran family is high up within the Thalmor, which raises questions about why the Thalmor were so prepared to help the Summerset Isles resist the Oblivion invasion....


And the only Elves likely to suffer when the Thalmor get beaten are the High Elves, the Dunmer don't work with them, the Bosmer seem to have been taken over in a way they didn't want and may be performing guerilla resistance within Valenwood.

That is a good question, political PR move I guess?

that would be a good option . but all the elves I ever played, even evil ones, hate the thalmor, so it would not effect me. I wish there was a quest to kill the thalmor at markath and hunt justicars.

(I just hate evil elves. other than the drow in d and d. because in D and D the "normal elves" are so good! having the main elven culture be run by fascist racists is a bummmmmmmer. )

I think its also that the Thalmor don't recruit for the inner circle; its a bloodline elitism thing, you have to be born into it.

Off topic, but same opinion here. I always like D&D elves and eladrin best. So I usually make Altmer that are sort of renegades from their own culture or were born in Cyrodiil.

The ultimate goal of the Thalmor is to destroy Mundus. That's like asking why we can't join Alduin.

I would assume so, a kind of "We can still further our goals if Mankar and the Mythic Dawn fail, by being crazy prepared for the Daedric invasion!"

So essentially, they had a xanatos gambit set aside to give rise to the Aldmeri Dominion if the MD failed in their plot

I'd like to thank all of you for your replies so far. I was nervous about joining up here, but I like that my question (which I felt was fair) was given a good debate and I wasn't flamed.

You guys rock!

To further the question then. Ok the Thalmore are 'evil' but then why can we join and work for The Dark Brotherhood? They are also quite evil and while have no plans for world domination, they have you committing murders left and right.

If their and option, why can't the Thalmore be an option as well?

Perhaps a Altmer only quest line for them?...that would be cool.

Because the Dark Brotherhood aren't antagonists. They're evil, sure, but that's irrelevant. Their victories don't destroy the world and kill the prophesied one.

All outcomes of quests in Elder Scrolls game take place. Either by being non-mutually exclusive or by being being only vaguely referenced so that it might have happened. The Thalmor do not fit into this concept. Their outcomes are mutually exclusive with the others and are impossible to keep vague. In that "genocide of humans and end of the world" can not be vague.

Sure, you could have a quest for them. Such as infiltrating them. But following them as a faction kind of flies against the point.

Villain syndrome - Joining up with the Thalmor is going to be impossible for the same reason you can't join the Sixth House in Morrowind or the Mythic Dawn in Oblivion. Expansion, DLC or the next TES game, these guys will be the big bads, with a major plotline revolving around defeating them, they don't want that to go to waste. And, as someone mentioned, the Thalmor have a major case of bloodline elitism, they're not likely to allow you to join unless you're from one of their major bloodlines, and somehow I don't see them taking on the Dragonborn hero - Your association with the Blades (Whether curtailed or not) is likely to make you rather suspect in their eyes.

Edit -

Also what Tale said.

Whoever is saying you can't join the Thalmor because they are "evil" is just wrong.

Not evil, but definitely villains. Racist, genocidal, elements of them being responsible for the Oblivion Crisis (The Camoran family being part of the inner circle of the Thalmor, which makes how ready the Thalmor were to step up to the challenge of the Daedra invasion suspect.... a Xanatos Gambit in TvTropes terminology). They're the High Elven Aryan Nation, and they happen to be in control of the Aldmeri Dominon

For more info on the Thalmor and the circumstances surrounding their rise, find the "Rising Threat" series and "The Great War" ingame.

I am guessing that the Thalmor will get wiped out either in a skyrim expansion, or in a novel between this game and the next. I don't really see them being too much of a threat for elderscrolls 6.

That actually brings up another good point though. Through the DB you murder the emperor, seems as that would have a pretty big effect on the game... and the DB is def considered "evil"

Well, Amaund Motierre was ready to step into the Emperor's shoes, and if you killed him, I imagine one of the others on the Elder Council will simply do the same.

well....basiclly theres a pretty basic reson why we cant join the thalmore and cannot alow them to vtake over,

because their will be no "hammerfell" or "summerset isle" as our next game

about the dark brotherhood,

the thalmore are on a totally differant level to the DB i dont know wether you played OB but even in their "glory days" they werent what they once were....

i find it more than a bit irritateing that everything the champion did is , pretty much, unraveled in "the great war"

i mean, WTF....

its pretty worrying to think how close the empire was to collapsing in "the great war" , im not an imperialist but in a way it just shows how much of a threat the thalmore are.

the thalmore have forbidden worship of talos, this is what has really fuelled my hatetred for them....basically were told who we are and are not allowed to woship now?!?!


anyway, its always good to see a new member to the forums! ( i hope we discuss other issues in threads again )

So are other races ( racist ) including Nords. TES story line is still rather naive if you compare to for example Witcher 2, but there is no clear good and bad side in main line or some quests.

GUYS,


theres no underlying the fact that if the thalmore win = NO MORE GAMES FROM ELDER SCROLLS