Aaaanyway, back on topic. Bethesda derived the idea of the Nine Divines from Norse religion actually - The Nine Noble Virtues.. Then they became the 8 because of Skyrim, and the Thalmor having a whinge and so on and so forth...
...no?
The Nine have been around since before Skyrim had more than a few sentences to its name. You might as well say that they based them on the Nine ringwraiths.
Anyhow, if people stopped worshiping Talos, he would disappear. And there were Nine Divine when the pantheon was created, but the Ninth Divine Shezarr (Cyrodilic Lorkhan) was forgotten. Talos was his revival, in a sense. Or several senses.