Too bad you're just playing the devil's advocate and you really don't believe that.

You're not supposed to.

They are, for all intents and purposes, nazi elves. They are there to be despised. So don't look for a reason to like them, because they're not supposed to be liked.

If you want a "do I like them or hate them" dilemma, you get plenty of that with the Empire and Stormcloaks.

The Dragonborn prophecy, from a more flexible point of view, could very well also refer to the Thalmor as well as Alduin. They're both smug in their supreme hubris, they both hate "lesser" races, and both seek to end the world.

Thalmor are on my RoS (Run on Sight) list. First time I ran into them, I got blown nine ways to Oblivion!

Says who? I think the Thalmor were a great addition to TES, I just hope Beth focuses more on them in the future * crosses fingers for joinable Thalmor faction*

I do there were three of them walking, and told me I was bad if I like Talos, so I told them I follow any god I want, and they attacked me and I killed them all ha

As I said before... The Thalmor are basically nazi elves. You... do realize this, yes?



The thalmor goon squads you encounter don't level up, you'll be able to cut them down eventually.

And it will be so satisfying. Go for the mage leader first, the two grunts are just sword fodder after he's out of the picture.

I'd say it's a bit more comparable to Harry Potter vs. The Death Eaters. You even have the whole chosen one, prophecy bit going on.

Though I don't play a High Elf, I don't see why High Elves can't join the Thalmor.

As I understand it, it's because you have to be a certain type of high elf (namely, eugenically "superior", born on Summerset, etc) to be anything more than just sword fodder.

I wanted to kill the one at the College of Winterhold when I met him the first time. I even tried taking him out quietly in a stairwell (but he was unkillable at the time). As far as the emporer; well, I already assassinated him.

Their on my E.O.S list. That's "eat on sight" for all you non-werewolves.

Herp derp golly no, I never knew that. If chimpanzees suddenly conquered half of Europe and demanded they be treated as 'equals' I very doubt much most people would be willing to oblige them. Except in this scenario Thalmor are the 'humans' and humans are the 'chimps'.

I like their armor, especially the female Thalmor guards, I would love to have an army of them guard me house! like a boss!!!

I like the fact that they are so well designed to be hated.

I'd like to role-play a High Elf that's aligned with the Thalmor, but that's not really possible with the current implementation of the game. Maybe some player-made mods will allow it.

Lol this. Many annoying personalities are jammed into the Thalmor. They're set up to be main antagonists at some point in the series I guess.

I will only help them if they gave a copy of the lusty argonian maid.

Except they don't even like other high elves who are not already thalmor, and the feeling is often returned to them from those other high elves. They don't have much dissent on Alinor now because they have killed or "purged" a lot of political dissidents. And you don't exactly see the other high elves running off to join them do you? A lot of other high elves hate them (Legate Fasendil, Runil, Faralda, etc.). So technically you probably couldn't join them unless you already were one in Alinor.

And it would be one thing if the Thalmor just wanted to have their own empire or even to be dominant, but they don't. They want to kill and destroy everyone and all creation.

And elves are not superior to humans, as they are a fictional race created by the minds of humans. They are only as "superior" as the developers of the game want them to be, and it is obvious that Bethesda wants the thalmor to be villians. So it doesn't seem any more likely that one will be able to help the Thalmor any more than one could help Dagoth Ur or the Mythic Dawn.

And before you accuse me of being some elf-hater or something, I'm not. I play a high elf and typically love elves. But I hate the Thalmor because I believe that they are the reason that Bethesda is going to make the high elves into the next great menace for Tamriel.

I think they have a freaking cool looking uniform, they look like proper soldiers. But that alone doesn't stop me from slaughtering them, and running into them when i can't.

Kitty99, where in the game does it say that the Thalmor want to kill everyone? Is it in a book? I've heard this online before and want to see it for myself.

As a story and world element I think they are excellent, but the Thalmor themselves? I hate them.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/forum-archives-michael-kirkbride

"To kill Man is to reach Heaven, from where we came before the Doom Drum's iniquity. When we accomplish this, we can escape the mockery and long shame of the Material Prison.
To achieve this goal, we must:
1) Erase the Upstart Talos from the mythic. His presence fortifies the Wheel of the Convention, and binds our souls to this plane.
2) Remove Man not just from the world, but from the Pattern of Possibility, so that the very idea of them can be forgotten and thereby never again repeated.
3) With Talos and the Sons of Talos removed, the Dragon will become ours to unbind. The world of mortals will be over. The Dragon will uncoil his hold on the stagnancy of linear time and move as Free Serpent again, moving through the Aether without measure or burden, spilling time along the innumerable roads we once travelled. And with that we will regain the mantle of the imperishable spirit."

Uhm ... no, they're not. They're a mix of the Catholic Church and imperialist England, both of which conquered large swathes of the world and imposed their mores on others, while leaving other aspects of invaded territories largely untouched, e.g. culture. (Also, if you think of High Elves as England, and other Elves as the other territories of the British Isles, it all makes sense.)

Now, if the Thalmor were trying to assimilate other peoples, they'd be based on the French.

And if they were fascist and genocidal (as opposed to imperialistic and militaristic), they'd be Nazis.

The Nord Stormcloaks are the Nazis.

Fascism: a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

Led by a dictator: A bit of a stretch, but it seems the top echelons are at least a dictatorial cabal. They do forcibly suppress opposition and criticism. Haven't seen what industry or commerce are on Summerset... and they do quite openly have aggressive nationalism and are head and shoulders more racist than the Stormcloaks are.

They're nazi elves, and Talos worship Nay, all races not Altmer are their judaism.

I believe "undo the world by killing the remants of Lorkhan(humans)" classify as genocidal, and they have supposedly killed or purged all who have a different political opinion than them from Alinor so they sound like Nazis to me.

Except, the Thalmor aren't racist in the Nazi, actively-trying-to-exterminate-or-drive-out-everyone-else sense.


I didn't know about this.

Uhm ... why are they not killing everyone in sight in TES:V?