Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-2165692-20140425203121/@comment-17114085-20141121095309

Those sources don't assume something with nothing backing it. Gelebor knows they are blind, he is unsure how exactly they became blind. He assumes that it was the toxin. Uthrax also came to the conclusion that it was the toxic fungus. The loading screen tells us that scholars (plural, that is important) believe that it was because of the years of living underground that caused them to become blind. With that loading screen we can assume that the scientific community in Tamriel believe that it was the years of underground living that caused the blindness, so basically evolution(adaption to environment). Uthrax seems to be one of the scholars that believes in the toxin theory. The thing is that scholars, like Gelebor, know the Falmer are blind (likely through observations, experiments, etc.) but they are unsure exactly how they became blind. Uthrax was in Blackreach so he has studied them, like other scholars before him likely had to come up with their own conclusions. Gelebor has encountered the Falmer numerous times while he was at his post, the Vale is filled with Falmer. You act as if these sources just pulled this information out of their asses, that is entirely untrue (as shown by the book, Uthrax studied the Falmer for who knows how long).

Game mechanics (the fact Falmer using bows like any other NPC) and design choices (Falmer helmets don't make the character blind) are irrelevant. These aren't evidence of anything, just that Bethesda was too lazy to make custom AI for the Falmer that prohibited them to use Bows or that they wanted them to use bows to give more enemy variety instead of making all the Falmer be melee fighters and that they chose not to cripple players that chose to wear the Falmer armor by making their screen go black when wearing the helmet.

Our in-game observations aren't facts, they are representations of facts that are warped by game limitations, game mechanics and design choices. In-Game World =/= Real World(Nirn, not Earth).