Board Thread:Skyrim/@comment-12599067-20130928060857/@comment-25808502-20171114214925

Also if you'll turn your attention to this, you'll see that the dunmer are bragging about turning part of the city into a ghetto. Which pretty much confirms that the dunmer did that to themselves and Ulfric is just their scapegoat for their own frustrations. " For we dark elves have come, and little by little, shall claim Skyrim as our own". This sentence only demonstrates how delusioned Athal Sarys is. Peacefully occupying the proudful City of the Nords, the City of Ysgramor? They're not occupying it, but being slowly forced to find another place to live in. Living in the Gray Quarter is not something to be proud of.

Now let's see Belyn Hlaalu's (the farmer mentioned in the book) description:

"Regarding the   Dunmer segregation   in Windhelm, he mentions that many of his kin complain too much about the way they are treated. In his opinion, complaining does little good. He is a firm proponent of hard work, and believes it's the only way to win the respect of the local   Nords". This Dunmer is not trying to "peacefully occupate Windhelm", but trying to peacefully make the Nords respect the Dark Elves with hard work. He also thinks that the Dunmer complain too much about the segregation. This doesn't mean the complaints are exaggerated, but ineffective. Respect and racial peace will only be earned with hard work. This only demonstrates that Athal Sarys does not think like every other Dunmer.

You say "the dunmer are "bragging about turning part of the city into a ghetto".

1 - Athal Sarys is the one who brags, not the Dark Elves as a whole.

2 - He is bragging about occupying part of the city, not about turning it into a ghetto. After all, that is only bad for the inhabitants of the Snow Quarter, not the Nords.

3 - Sarys never say anything about Ulfric or the segregation. He is not talking about opression, he's talking about invading Windhelm. Dunmer of Skyrim doesn't " confirm that the dunmer did that to themselves and Ulfric is just their scapegoat for their own frustrations".

" Indeed, one might be surprised as to just how well we've settled into Windhelm. The district once known as the Snow Quarter is thus named no more. Now, they call it the   Gray Quarter, for such is the reality of the Dunmer occupation. The district is now populated entirely by my kind, a victory not lost on its residents" - Athal Sarys