Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-2165692-20140425203121/@comment-17114085-20141121000150

Harold Burned-Mane wrote: It doesn't matter what the game mechanics make it seem like, the Falmer are blind. Lore clearly states them to be. In-game characters confirm the lore, and so they are blind.

Gelebor, the Snow-Elf, even says so:

"...Surprisingly, they agreed to protect us but demanded a terrible price... the blinding of our race..."

"...The blinding of my race was supposedly accomplished with a toxin..."

He should know, he is a Snow Elf and has encountered 'the Betrayed' on many occasions. Despite this being an old comment it still is very much valid. In the end this is all speculation based on inconsistencies encountered through gameplay. The fact is that multiple source, including the game loading screens, books and in-game characters, all say the Falmer are blind. What we are presented in TES games isn't the whole picture, it is everything the developers could and chose to include in the game due to limitations and design choices. The province of Skyrim is about 40 km2 in TES V while the playable territory in TES II is roughly 161,600 km2 and it had over 15,000 locations. The area in with TES II took place in, in lore, is supposed to be around half the size of Skyrim. That is a clear example of Gameplay(In-game World) =/= Lore(Actual World). Same goes for the Falmer and their blindness. It may not seem like they are blind during some occasions but they are, according to lore.

You can still make up speculation and theories using your observations in-game but it doesn't change the fact that unless Bethesda chooses to retcon the Falmer's blindness out of the lore then they are blind.