Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-26145872-20160118234435

Let's create a hypothetical situation depicting a war between Dragons and Altmer on Summerset:

First, let's take the following details out of the situation, as if they do not exist for this particular war:

-Alduin is nowhere to be found

-Elves did not posess the Elder Scrolls

-Kynareth did not intervene to assist mortals

-Paarthunax did not teach mortals the Voice

Now, let's tally up the advantages that, generally, most Mer have over Men:

-Mer tend to have superior magical abilities with a few exceptions

-Mer armour and weaponry that is generally stronger than Nordic equipment in most cases, but not all

Do you think the Altmer would've won this hypothetical war? Why or why not?

My answer: It's plausible, yes.

Why: I would say the Altmer could've had a fairly good chance of defeating the Dragons due to their magical prowess. Dragons had, and still have, a very distinct advantage over the race of Men, and that is their ability to soar the skies while the race of Men are stuck on the ground. As such, a Dragon is not within sword's reach to be stabbed in the skull and thus killed, so a Dragon can therefore simply shout fire onto a pack of Nordic warriors and burn them to their deaths. Mer, on the other hand, could retaliate with powerful magic of their own, being able to attack Dragons from a distance. In other words, Mer have the distinct ability to still inflict damage upon a Dragon while it soars through the skies of Tamriel. While it is possible for Men to use a bow and arrow to attack from a distance, it becomes useless once the user has run out of arrows. A Mer, however, will have a constantly regenerating supply of Magicka to continue blasting fire or lightning at a Dragon. Many could say that a Nordic archer could simply pick up his arrows to fire them once more, yet how is that possible when all of his or her arrows are lodged into a Dragon's body while flying, assuming said archer hit their target? With all of this said, it is not a guarantee that Altmer would win, however. A Dragon could still use powerful shouts to inflict potentially fatal damage onto entire packs of Mer, severely wounding them. Finally, a fired arrow travels at a far slower speed as opposed to lightning, which in reality, travels at the speed of light. This means that an archer would have to predict a Dragon's movement in order to hit them, and that is something you do not want to be focusing on when a Dragon is shouting fire and ice upon you. Cast lightning via Mer would not have to face this issue because, as said earlier, lightning in particular travels at such incredible speed that a Dragon simply could not dodge. With all of this information said and done, I would give the Altmer a significantly higher chance of defeating the Dragons as opposed to Men. 