User blog comment:Madman97/You know what really grinds my Wabbajack's? S3E5: Lack of Thalmor Involvement/@comment-1822253-20140114192448

I have to disagree, the Thalmor don't want to have a major role in Skyrim because it might upset the balance of the civil war going on there. If there was more of a Thalmor presence, there could be a possibility that more Nords, and even those of other races who are anti-Thalmor, might join the Stormcloaks.

As well, seeing how they are using Ulfric as a sleeper agent to cause turmoil within the Empire, one could argue that the Stormcloaks are in fact, part of the Thalmor forces, even without them knowing.

But I don't see any sort of alliance between the Thalmor and Alduin happening to be honest. Or at least not the entire Thalmor organization, maybe a handful of extremists within the Skyrim branch. We don't really know what Alduin's motives are. It's implied that he wants to destroy Nirn, but he might actually be trying to subjugate mortals once again, after all he says "This world is mine." That's not something someone trying to destroy the world says.

To finish up, I would have liked too see a route with the Thalmor, which I imagine would involve sabatoging and ensuring that the Empire and Stormcloaks continue the war.