So me and Uthgar the Unbreakable were walking down the road when we saw 3 thalmar escorting a prisoner. Since i was well armed and had a follower I decided to attack the thalmar and free the prisoner. As soon as I took my first swing my own companion runs up and stabs me through the chest, instant death.
I thought i might have accidentaly hit her so I reloaded and and tried from a different spot (and i killed the mage first with two swings in case he was casting a spell on her). As soon as I hit one of them she did it again!
Guess she must be a thalmar spy...

Which won't help the consoles players at all; they don't get mods. I kind of feel sorry for them.

I think the prisoners are either plants or masochists. I once watched some bandits attack a Thalmor escort and prisoner. The prisoner cowered under cover while the guards fought, with the leader mage getting killed. The remaining guards set off up the road again, sans prisoner, who was still hiding. The said prisoner cowered for a bit longer, then haired off after them. When I ran past them a few minutes later the prisoner was back in convoy with his ex-captors.

Sounds about right to me, the Nords are freaking full it......

Almost as bad as the time I opened the cell doors for 3 captives in a bandit cave, and what do they do? One lays down and goes to sleep, and the other two stand there and say "leave me alone" whenever I try to let them know they are free.

There must have been another witness. Because I have released Nords from those Thalmor guards several times and never incurred a bounty.

Looks like I completed the quest where you find the King Troll on the forums.

The Thalmor will rule Skyrim soon enough, you shall see.

Worked perfectly for me.

This is it. I have done it this way as well and gotten no bounty, and gave him gear and he did help. Died, but he didnt run at least. I also have done it without gettng them grouped closely enough and wasnt able to interact fast enough with the prisoner and he jackrabbited on me too. And, yep, I got hit by a bounty. It was a massive...40g. Pfft, I got 10 times that for the gear they donated to me. Paid it and the guards were smoochin my butt again.
So, either way....don't worry about it. Bottom line is this...you get to KILL THALMOR. And that, my friend, is (like the commercial says) PRICELESS! Good Hunting!

If you want to fight Thalmor without getting a bounty, talk to them and tell them you worship Talos.

I prefer changing into a werewolf and eating em all for lunch.

This also bothers me (the fact that the prisoner doesn't help you nor thanks you) but to kill them without getting a bounty, simply engage in dialogue, tell them you worship Talos (takes a few dialogue initiations as the Justiciar says go away after a time or two of prodding questions) then they will attack you. No bounty, and you get their stuff
I wonder if the Hold you are in could be patched into the game to where Windhelm guards won't care if you kill Thalmor or Imperials in the Hold and vice versa

I'd like to see that extend to other holds as the Civil War progresses. It's nothing short of bizarre when you've just helped the Imperials take over Riften, see the guards come under attack by Stormcloaks, but can't defend the guards without being arrested.

As for annoying the Thalmor - questioning them about where they're taking the prisoner and telling them off also works.

One of the many problems they said were being fixed, or already had been -- before Skyrim was released. Now we'll have to wait until long after January for Bethesda to maybe fix the issue. Don't worry if you're on the PC though, as modders will most likely have a solution out in weeks.
QA? There is no QA; just Todd Howard, sitting in a bean bag chair, playing Skyrim how he wants to play and having the developers strong-arm the game into enticing you to do the same (or breaking otherwise).

Honestly, imagine how messed up things would be if they didn't actually release their construction kits.

I kill Thalmor Inquisitors on sight. Those heretics! Bounty? Who cares about bounty? I'm Dovakiin! I breath fire. I knock them all off cliffs. I mark them for death. I kill all the guards in Reach, and all those Thalmor boot licking Imperial scum who sold us out when they signed the White Concordant. Do they not recognize the second coming of Talos? Skyrim for the Nords! Today Skyrim! Tomorrow the world!

A dragon dies somewhere in the world, and the Dovakiin didn't kill the dragon. Does the Dovakiin know? Yes. The Dovakiin knows. A dragon was attacking a hold, and I didn't want to bother with it so I wandered back to do the White Phial, and about an hour later I absorbed a dragon soul. Whoa.


Loved the construction kit for Morrowind. Made a Mudcrab's Pawn Shop in Balmora so I wouldn't have to travel all the way down there. Alas now on a 360 and no tool kit. I miss it so. Would love to do some quick editing to fix a couple things so I could finish a couple quest lines. The upside to the 360 is that I don't need a $2400 PC.

Never trust a Nord! They are as slippery as salmon!