Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-24099618-20140114190300/@comment-24350162-20140115121537

While I don't like or dislike the Thalmor, I can see that in a way they are the inverse of the Stormcloaks, albeit much, much more extreme. The Thalmor and Stormcloaks are both racist factions, who feel entitlement to lands that were never originally theirs, and are willing to kill those who stand in the way of their goals. An obvious difference being that Stormcloak racism is more xenophobic, whereas the Thalmor are Elven supremacists and eugenicists who will kill you simply for having different religious beliefs.

I also imagine that for players who enjoy being Elves in fantasy RPG's, the Thalmor seem like the obvious faction to side with, given the Empire's history and the Stormcloak's racism towards Elves. Thalmor supporters probably don't care about the religious persecution because of what Tiber Septim did to Alinor. But no matter how you attempt to justify the Thalmor's actions, it's obvious that they're intended by Bethesda's writers to be antagonists and villains.