Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-96.252.245.207-20130116060134/@comment-24653522-20140501121437

Pacman the great wrote: All these "Screw the Thalmor they should go die in a hole arrghhh!" people should stop and think; Skyrim was set in a strongly anti-Thalmor province. We simply don't have enough sources that aren't biased against Thalmor to say they are awful. OK, so they're very expansionist and aggresive, but so was Tiber Septim. Alright, so they did some underhanded stuff; but hold on, what about the Acturian Heresy (where Septim killed Zurin Arctus to power the Numidium). The Thalmor anti-Talos stuff? Well, maybe that isn't a good thing, but it's called propaganda - they are trying to weaken the justification of a Cyrodiilic Empire. As for the talk about the Dominion being a xenophobic place, well, belive it or not, it's quite normal to have racists in the Elder Scrolls; in Skyrim, the Stormcloaks pushed the Dunmer into a slum and don't let Khajiit or Argonians within their walls. And as for the Towers stuff, you realise that Michael Kirkbride's stuff isn't canon? It is not backed up by books or dialogue, and Bethesda has no connection with it.

I'm not saying the Thalmor are perfect, but they aren't inherently evil, and the Empire and Stormcloaks aren't exactly saints either. The Thalmor (mainly the Altmer) are very racist... They don't believe anyone that isn't Mer deserves to have any power. Even within their own homelands. They want to rule all of Tamriel, not to unify Tamriel, but to rule over it.

The Stormcloaks (most of them) are also very racist. I didn't have a hard time deciding to fight against them. Sure, Ulfric was a troubled guy and pretty badass, but he was racist and left my kind to freeze outside of his city. Imagine a Skyrim ruled by someone like Ulfric... I have no doubt there'd be racial segregation.

I believe the Empire needs to step things up and get a grip. But I think Bethesda is setting Tamriel up for a continent-wide revolutionary war, OR Tamriel will finally crumble and each province will become their own independant nation, thus ushering in a 5th era. No empire. I love the idea of all the factions that would bring into play and the total chaos that's sure to constantly erupt, but it would probably complicate any future plot... and if not complicate, it would definitely over-simplify. They might have to go with another conqueror that unites the provinces/countries and starts a new empire and ushers in another era. Once Tamriel's run dry of any new plot, they'll probably switch over to a different continent.

But I'm very certain that the Divines and/or the Daedra will step in and/or take advantage of the inevitable "Great War II," or whatever it might be called.