» Sat Dec 10, 2011 1:27 am
They're fundamentalist zealots and racists - their behavior comes down to how the Aldmeri creation story differs from that of most of the humans on Nirn. A lot of that can be gathered from the Momomyth and the various books on faith in Tamriel. Humans have a creation story that portrays it as a positive thing - though their story does admit the gods were ticked into performing it. The traditionalist Aldmeri creation story portrays the even as tragic and violent; it was the time when their ancestors were robbed of paradise and had their divinity torn from them. It portrays humanity and other lesser races and the farthest from divine - things bred by Sithis and Lohrkan to wage war against them and prevent them from returning to the divine state they had before linear time and this limited existence. This traditional Aldmeri (but not exactly popular amongst the general population) creation myth also includes a possible happy ending for the Aldermi - the defeat of the servants of Sithis and children of Lorhkan and their eventual return to divinity.
The Thalmor hold this story far closer to their hearts than the rest of their people and it wholly informs their policies and actions; they see the other races - humans in particular - as the perpetual servants of their great spiritual enemy. They do have a long plan, as one of them says "to demonstrate the superiority of Mer over Men 100 years at a time," and this is partly why they paused after acheiving certain goals. The reason the worship of Talos so offends them is also related to their particular view of creation and of the gods. The idea that a human could ascend to divinity - something that rightly belongs to their people first and foremost - is of course offensive to them. It is probably more than that though - such a god is not part of their religion's happy ending. Their plans, methods, and beleifs are so offensive to those who know them that the Psiijic order (powerful mages who hold an even older Aldmeri religion and view of creation) obsconded with one of the largest of the Summerset Isles and go against their philosophy to a degree to interfere with one of their agents in Skryrim.
Their actions make sense in relation to some traditionalist Aldmeri religious views and those Thalmor who would hunt Talos worshippers amongst largely hostile populations would have to be the most fanatical of true beleivers. Considering that as the sole requirement for the mission most of them have in Skyrim, it would make sense that most of their best and brightest would not be among them. Not only would that be a good way to get your best and brightest killed but they're probably more useful elsewhere.
The books in game do make note that they do not have numerical superiority. What they had, largely, was superior military intelligence and organisation; they were also fighting in mostly unstable lands as a unified force. The Empire at the time they invaded had been barely holding itself together after the eruption of Red Mountain, the defection of much of Black Marsh and Valenwood, and the civil war in Hammerfell. When the Aldmeri Dominion chose to wage war on the Empire they did so when it was least capable of mustering its strength and after they had rooted out all of the Blades operating inside their borders.
The High Elves probably do know better than to think dragons were myth - but they have far less experience with them than humanity. The High Elves did not have a presence that overlapped with the places where dragons had their seat of power - there were two other elven empires who called these places home. Dragons were predominantly a force in proximity to what is now Skyrim; the elves who lived their and would know about them are either extinct (Dwemer) or insane (Falmer.) Had they lived then yes perhaps their lore on the subject would be superior. As it is, even though the human records of dragons were largely relegated as myth, fairytales, or simply put away and forgotten it is still superior to information found elsewhere.
Also, the lore surrounding dragons is problematic for the Thalmor view of creation and their people's place in the world. They beleive themsleves to be the closest descendents to the divine beings that came before - but Alduin in particular and dragons in general are far more closely related to a divine being than they are. Their view of their own divine nature and superiority would have discouraged any serious study of the subject and any existing material would have likely been viewed as heretical. Alduin has not part in their idea of how the world will end either. Basically, what they "know" to be true is inherently incompatible with having an extensive knowledge of dragons; combine that with the fact that they would have needed to rely on the lore, legends, and records of lesser races to acquire such knowledge and it makes sense that they would be quite clueless when all these dragons started showing up.
