Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-24099618-20140114190300/@comment-260563-20171204051445

The Thalmor are what the Stormcloaks would have been if they were Elves and they had brains.

Quite literally, they started off as rebels who overthrew the pro-Imperial Elven rulers, replaced them with rulers who see Elven traditions and purity as the goal, and they waged war against the Empire, just like the Stormcloaks did. The only difference is, the Thalmor were actually smart about it, utilizing every asset they can get and using deceit and trickery along with brute force to accomplish their goals.

While Ulfric was a meathead who got himself captured twice and had no actual military accomplishments of his own other than killing a boy-king that could easily have been an ally, the Thalmor successfully overthrew the pro-Imperial Elven rulers, they formed the Aldmeri Dominion, and strong-armed the Wood Elves into an alliance while they fooled the Khajits into joining them. Then, they waged war on the Empire by giving the Emperor the heads of the Blades operatives in Aldmeri territory as a gift and proceeded to hand the Empire its ass during the war, to the point where the Empire was forced to sign a disadvantageous truce.

The Thalmor are what the Stormcloaks should have been: smart but bigoted rebels that can overthrow an Empire and start one of their own. Instead, the Stormcloaks made more enemies than allies when Ulfric killed King Torygg, their tactics amount to charging in and the occasional ambush, and if the opening to Skyrim was any indication, Ulfric would have lost had it not been for Alduin saving his ass unintentionally.

And unlike the Thalmor, who got the Wood Elves and the Khajits to join them, the Stormcloaks make no appeals to other races, even though Morrowind is closer to their side of Skyrim and the Argonians are also independent of the Empire. They also make no appeals to the Thieves' Guild or the College of Winterhold to gain the support of those factions, which means the Stormcloaks could have monopolized Skyrim's magic for themselves and gained some Thieves' Guild agents for their war, but didn't do it. Which goes to show that when comparing the Thalmor to the Stormcloaks, the Thalmor are obviously smarter, and in a stand-up fight, not only with Elven steel and magic prevail against Stormcloak brawn, but the Thalmor would have ten different ways to outsmart Ulfric before he even steps on the battlefield. He'll get captured again, and the Dragonborn and Galmar will have to run the Stormcloak war effort against the Thalmor while "Princess Ulfric" spends the war in another castle.