The Falmer razed Saarthal without provocation, they even had decent relations with the Nords before then, and slaughtered everyone besides Ysgramor and his sons(?), and that's only because they managed to flee. And then they then got what was coming to theme in the form of 501 angry Nords. There's a bit of a difference between that, and committing genocide just because of racial purity/religious differences/political differences.

That whole incident I'm Saarthal is very ambiguous. Like a lot of Skyrim's lore.

I don't think we'll ever know what happened there.

That's ridiculous. None of the innocent Falmer across Skyrim who had nothing to do with that "got what was coming to them." You're really going to condemn an entire race for the actions of a few? There is no difference, and there is no justification.

Nordic sanctimony at its finest.

And the Falmer actually attacked Saarthal because of the Eye of Magnus. No one knows what they wanted with it, but that was the reason.

She was not welcoming for the first time in Skyrim, so yes all because of one woman. And I'm sorry all the High Elf Thalmors are dikes too.

Altmer or Thalmor, don't care. Big giant dikeward race.

http://imgur.com/a/4ca4x

I have no problems with High Elves, its the Thalmor I can't stand.

You're entitled to your opinion, as wrong as it may be.

I had a character that killed every Bosmer in Morrowind once. And I mean EVERY named Bosmer in the game. I would have gotten more of them if I could have figured out a way to get off that stupid island.

I regret nothing.

The only part I disagree with. The Thalmor seek godhood, not revenge.

So it is merely coincidence that the man & God that demoralized and destroyed Altmeri stability, is the prime target of the Thalmor, whom very likely are run by 1,000 year old wizards?

It was only 700 years ago...

Both motives are not mutually exclusive. It is the harsh memories that push the Thalmori leadership forward with no hesitation. What drives them to extremity, under such desperate times.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Viking Neckbeard roleplayers and Roman LARPers appear to be in major conflict both in-game and on the internet with the Altmer so they're clearly a favourite of mine.

They're not mutually exclusive, but I'd say that banning Talos worship is more like a bonus than anything. The main goal still is this greedy plot that disregards all lives on Mundus.

Indeed. Main goal is not petty revenge. But revenge is certainly a motivator. Especially for the youngers who have no idea what is really going on.

To add to this, The Altmer (and to some extent the Bosmer) are the ONLY reason Tamriel was never invaded by a bunch of crazy, psycho slug necromancers and insane sea elf pirates.

This is my MAJOR gripe with Skyrim, is how they portrayed the Altmer as almost all evil, when in fact, most of the time, they were isolationists and were the race LEAST involved in wars on Tamriel. The Thalmor are only a (fairly small) political faction, that ONLY obtained power because they were able to take credit for Summerset being saved by the Oblivion Crisis (being away from Mainland Tamriel allowed the Thalmor to hide the truth MUCH easier until it was too late)

People call the Thalmor Nazi elves, Ironically, They are correct, but much more then people realize, Just like the first country taken over by the Nazi's was Germany, so was Summerset the first region taken by the Thalmor.

Yeah, the hypocrisy really gets to me, especially since it's not really hypocrisy, because the Altmer have done very, very little to other races and provinces compared to the poor innocent Nords. Calling it a hypocrisy falsely implies that the Altmer are even comparable...

The Thalmor are not nazis. This is coming from their very creator, MK.

Can someone please explain to me why people call elves knife-ears as an insult? It doesn't seem all that insulting and calling them knife-ears implies that their ears are both pointy and sharp, they're pointy, but they aren't any sharper than a humans ears. But I suppose if you're going to call elves knife-ears we should start calling humans spoon ears, or would you prefer butter knife-ears.

Knife-ears sounds bad-ass to me. Might even name a Mer of mine with that as a suffix.

did you remember the slider info?

Nope. but I could get the sliders by recreating her.
Do you want them?

I feel your pain with the eye colours. It's so bloody difficult to pick the right eye colour for your character.

Especially for a High Elf, the orangey eyes seem to make the character look different altogether.

The tit for tat race comparisons are silly. It's a fact the Altmer have always considered themselves superior to everyone and been arrogant know-it-alls in the past games, with some exceptions. That's part of their cultural characteristic. And now they're the aggressors and taking that philosophy to its extreme end so naturally people aren't going to like them.

MK also said that Altmer couldn't be comprehended and their culture was meant to be incomprehensible, and that the Thalmor specifically are the greatest threat to Tamriel. So all this trying to redeem them and make them relatable seems to me to be counter to what was intended. The Nords' and redguards' conquests are straightforward- you've got land and now it's mine. The Thalmor want to destroy the world and annihilate whole races because they think they're gods. It's not more morally repugnant, but it's deserving of ridicule nonetheless.

The Altmer are my favourite race in TES, and it svcks how badly they are portrayed in Skyrim.

Also, the 500 Companions slaughtering Falmer/Thalmor killing all humans? Both are genocide, and those who try to pass off the Nord's slaughtering (Atmorans, whatever, there is very little difference. The name changed because they were not on Atmora anymore) and condemn the Thalmor are generally the "Skyrim for the Nords" forum-goers, thus biased.

Of this, I do not deny. They are deserving of ridicule. It's just the pure black & white philosophy people attribute with Nords being innocent and Altmer guilty that rubs me the wrong way.

Exactly.

I'm very interested in Altmer culture.

Sure, the Thalmor is a bloodstain on the pages of Elven history. But hey, every race has black pages IMO.

The Nords too, and they're my favourite race.

Honestly, if not counting the Thalmor, I think that the High Elves are majestic and heroic people.

I've been wanting to play them alot more lately.

I've always shown the Altmer love. They are the most powerful magical race. A Breton is easier to play because they didn't have the weaknesses that the Altmer did, but an Altmer was easily more powerful. When it comes to magic, a Breton is a handy rifle where an Altmer is a cannon made of glass. It's part of the tradeoff.

I've always seen the Mer races are a more extreme versions of the Man races, tending to be more powerful in some regards but weaker in others.

Altmer more powerful offensively in magic than Bretons, but weaker defensively.

Bosmer are more nimble than a Redguard, but are not nearly as good all-around because of close-quarter combat.

Orsimer are powerful than Nords, but again a Nord is more balanced.

Dunmer are more powerful than an Imperial, but generally have a piss poor attitude and nobody like them while an Imperial can talk his way through anything

And all of them love having cat-skin rugs and argonian hide boots.


Altmer are not like the Thalmor at all, that's an extremist group that took over the government in Summerset Isle and remade the Aldmeri Dominion (and they way they run the Aldmeri Dominion is an insult to the Aldmeri Dominion, past and present versions). Thalmor are complete asshats and Tamriel, and more importantly the Aldmeri Dominion, would be much better off without them...or at very least, not in power like they are now.

This is 100% true about the Thalmor, but let's not forget that Thalmor =/= Altmer. The Thalmor are an extremist political group that is in power, not a race like the Altmer or Bosmer nor are they a nation like the Aldmeri Dominion.