My Rants: Elder Scrolls: The Thalmor

So now I get to the big question on my Elder Scrolls Rants list, the Thalmor, the Aldmeri Dominion, the High Elves and there xenophobic ways and all that blah. For those who have played Skyrim, we all know who are the Thalmor. How they represent German Nazi's in more ways than one, how they're keeping a leash around the Imperial Empire's neck locked on and tight, and so on and so forth. Originally it was all just basic for a Thalmor discussion, how much I hated them and what they've turned the entirety of Tamriel. After delving deep into the lore of the Elder Scrolls, I found some rather interesting things. One is that the Thalmor in Skyrim are that of the Third Dominion and the first two weren't all that bad to be honest. Lets just look at the first dominion where the Thalmor started off.

So starting off with the first of the Thalmor, they were originally a council within the High Elven government that was in charge of safeguarding High Elven heritage. Basically they were in charge of keeping the High Elven lands safe. However in the Second Age of 580, their role was expanded upon where they would be a sort of negotiator in the Aldmeri Alliance between the High Elves, the Wood Elves, and the Khajiit, all while some members were advisers to the King of Valenwood to nobles of Elsweyr. And knowing the Aldmeri Dominion of Elder Scrolls Online, the Aldmeri Dominion just wanted to take control in order to restore order and peace in Tamriel. That seems pretty good considering the Thalmor we all know in Skyrim. But how did they turn from advisers and negotiators to a group of xenophobic assholes?

Looking at the lore again, it would seem that the Second Dominion didn't start off their xenophobic ways. Nope, going forward three hundred years later after the First Dominion, the Thalmor was reconstructed by the Valenwood government instead of the Summerset Isles. The reason of this was because along with the southern parts of Hammerfell, harbored pirate groups that threatened the Summerset Isles for a long time. And so, the Thalmor took control of both southern Hammerfell, Valenwood, and the Summerset Isles to secure their shores declaring that there is no safe haven for them to lay low in those lands in effort to stop the constant assaults from those pirate groups. So we went from advisers and negotiators to pirate fighting imperialists of sort? Overall, not bad.

Upon looking more and more into its lore, the more confused I become when looking at the Third Dominion which are the Thalmor we all know from in Skyrim. According to what was written for in the Third Dominion, the Thalmor came back again somewhere prior to the Oblivion Crisis in the Third Era of 433, where they exploited the confusion of the High Elven people that they were the ones who brought salvation to the Summerset Isles. Because of this, it enhanced their influence in the isles until in the Fourth Era of 22 they completely overthrew the High Elven monarchy and completely taken over the Summerset Isles, even renaming it Alinor. And we all know what happens next, the Great War starts, the White-Gold Concordat, the Redguards seceding from the Empire to fight off the Thalmor, so on and so forth.

What exactly happened when the Third Dominion rose? Who started the Third Dominion? Are they the reason why the Thalmor is like this? Many questions indeed. But overall, yeah, I hate the Thalmor we all know. There's no question about it, and if you didn't hate the Thalmor before, just look at the things they're involved in in Skyrim. From Anicano of the College of Winterhold wanting to take the Eye of Magnus and even sending out a Thalmor assassin to kill you and take the staff, to the information on the dossier about Ulfric Stormcloak and that they want the Civil War to continue on and how Ulfric is considered an "asset" and allowed him to escape from them at one point before the Civil War. But are they all evil, well not exactly?

In all honesty, I swear I found one Thalmor agent that I would consider tolerable, and that would be Ondolemar of Markarth. Though he only interacts with you in one or two quests that being Search and Seizure where you must find evidence of Talos Worship in Markarth, and in Diplomatic Immunity where if you're good to him he can provide a distraction. I always felt that he's just doing as he is told? Sure he may hold the beliefs of the Thalmor but not as high as all the others? I don't know, I sort of have this attachment to him that I cant quite describe? Maybe because he isnt hurling fireballs at me or shouting slurs at me or whatever, either way Ondolemar is good on my book.

And I can literally go on about the Thalmor, how they somewhat enslave and slaughter Wood Elves, how they managed to split Elsweyr in two, but overall it just drives the point home on how evil they are. And you know the worse thing about this, long ago I've heard something from I believe one of the developers. I believe it was somewhere in 2014 or whatever, I cant quite fully remember it all but there were a set of key words that somewhat scares me "The Thalmor Will Win." Again, I am not entirely sure that was the exact words used but those were the key words that I remembered from that old discussion long ago. What will happen if the Thalmor quote on quote "win." Win what exactly, will they destroy the Imperial Empire entirely and claim all of Cyrodill or go even further and take over all of Tamriel? That's a question that maybe answered somewhere in the future in the Elder Scrolls 6.