Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-25343239-20150319182007/@comment-32014963-20180310163626

Synod or College of Whispers, they were sure as hell not performing during the Great War. That is not what a hard working and ambitious Mage J'zargo said about them. Since J'zargo is only interested in obtaining greater magic power and not political power his statement

"Mages in Cyrodiil are all about politics. The Synod and the College of Whispers are too busy guarding secrets to bother to teach. Skyrim was not J'zargo's first choice, but Winterhold is removed from politics, dedicated to study. This is the place for J'zargo to become great."

I am pretty sure they are same one way or another.

J'zargo has immensely stronger weight than one should view. That is why even if you only see Synod, the words of an extremely driven and hard working Mage, deemed not just synod but also College of Whispers can be taken as a bit more truth than exaggeration.

Though everything in Elder Scrolls should be taken with a grain of salt, College of Whispers being stronger than Synod. Yeah maybe but as an Institute recognized by the Imperials/their government, the College of Whispers wouldn't be that much better.

Not enough to compete with Altmer Mages in magic skills and not able to compete with the College of Winterhold that was removed from politics.