Ok so we all know the lore of the Elder Scrolls but what about what we feel is behind the scene. In Oblivion we learned about the Aliads and now in Skyrim we have learned about the Thalmor. Both of these groups brought death and war to the Empire. The Aliads once ruled the land until they were defeated and retreated back to their homeland. Now in Skyrim we have learned that the Thalmor took over the High Elves home and ended up taking the Empire. They let the Empire still stand as a figure head but they run the show. The Thalmor have proven that they only care about elves and hate everyone else. Anyone that learned anything about the Aliads in Oblivion learned that they hated all other races and enslaved everyone to do their work. Looking at the similarities between them has lead me to the conclusion that the Aliads may be the group that rules the Thalmor and sets everything in motion. Many people may say that it is impossible but remember, the Aliads were not wiped out, just defeated and sent home in shame. It is easy to see that they could have spent time plotting to take back Tamrial and enslave everyone all over again. With how the High Elves have always looked down on other races it would serve the Aliads well as pawns in the least. The Aliads seem to be a race that cares not for even other elven races and would most likely use the High Elves, mainly the Thalmor group, to break down the empire and cause chaos in all lands so that they could move in with an army and take everything back. This is my thoughts behind the Thalmor and so my thoughts of the lore that is building behind the scene. I feel that this could be a future thought on new Elder Scrolls games if not just new content.

The Thalmor ARE high elves, no new or mythical race is controlling them, no daedra or god just Altmer being racist a-holes, as for the Aylied, lorewise aylieds weren't actually 100% Altmers as most people think, they did have a different skin color and culture.

Also I'm getting tired of this whole "The empire is nothing but puppets" crap, its not true and it was only stormcloak propaganda. The Thalmor don't control the empire and they never will, the only faction that is actually playing at the Thalmor game is the stormcloaks by assisting in weakening the empire, whether Ulftic knows it or not he is the true puppet.

Well if the time god really has split into each of his different aspects. The Auri-el aspect could be backing them.

Other than that, the ayleids and Thalmor have different fundamental goals. Ayleids ruled tamriel, Thalmor want to unmake Nirn.

what the thalmor want to destroy nirn??? i missed that in the game

The Altmer are behind the Thalmor, plain and simple. The Ayleids are kalpaic leftovers. Any Ayleids that were "sent home" would have been sent back into the previous kalpa. There are a lot of amazing things going on in the lore behind the scenes, but there's no evidence to suggest that it's what you're saying.

Right first of all, it is spelt "Ayleid" and they didn't do anything bad to the Empire, it was the slave rebellion that caused their downfall that started the First Empire. And they didn't go back to their homeland, once they were defeated they all died or assimilated with the other Elven races. So now I have corrected you about the Ayleids I shall move on to your question, I don't think anybody is particually 'behind' the Thalmor so to speak, they just rose as a political party to help Summerset Isles recover from the Oblivion Crisis, but ended up getting more power than they needed.

They actually were around before the oblivion crisis but they didn't have enough support to cause the Altmer to rise up into the Dominion.

The Altmer hate Nirn. They insist the creation of Nirn bound their souls in a mortal form, which they find detestable. I suggest you read "The Monomyth".

I don't remember seeing anything that explicitly stated this to be the Thalmor goal, but it would certainly make sense. A twisted TES kind of sense.

Well the MK-sources said that, and since he basically puts thing longhand that Bethesda have done shorthand and haven't had the time or ability to use up-front yet, there is no rational reason to assume it's untrue. Their methodology of eliminating Talos worship fits in with both their mythic and political goals.

We aren't really given any insight into the organization that I know of, so it's not clear wether the Thalmor are being controlled by one A-hole Altmer or it is more of a democratic thing.
I guess Auri-El backing them could be a possibility, considering his stance on the whole creation business.

They seem to like bureaucracy, with their first- second- and third-emmisaries, first justiciars, etc. From what we see of them in Skyrim, they are rigidly hierarchical yet not without upward mobility for those who show talent in their field. As for the controlling government, we have as yet no clue.

I never said that the Thalmor were not High Elves. I full well know that they are High Elves and a holes. When it comes to the the Thalmor running the Empire, to get my point of view, you have to play the Stormcloak side to the end and the leader of the Empire army tells you that the Thalmor are behind the Empire now and want to rip it apart. When it comes to the Aylieds, I never said that they are High Elves, just that they maybe running the Thalmor.

The Ayleids and the Thalmor may have differents goals but it doesn't mean that the Ayleids couldn't use that Thalmor to set things up so that they can take things over again. The Thalmor are trying to weaken the Empire and the Ayleids would love that. It was the Empire that beat them and they would love to see it fall and take over.

I never said once that I have evidence behind what I was saying. It is just a theory that I have. The Ayleids came from another continent and were beat by the rising Empire. In Oblivion they said that the surviving Ayleids feld back to their home after they were defeated.

I think you're confusing the Ayleids and the Akaviri.
The Ayleids homeland was Cyrodiil, the Imperial City was their capitol and they're called the Heartland High Elves for a reason. Once Alessia defeated them they fled into Valenwood where they merged with the local population and remote parts of Cyrodiil where they became basis for myths about the wild elves.
The Akaviri came from the continent of Akavir, east of Tamriel, and were defeated by emperor Reman Cyrodiil, founder of the second empire of Cyrodiil. Most Akaviri invaders were killed or fled but some pledged their allegiance to Reman, founding organisations such as the Blades, later becoming the Akaviri Potentates, trusted adivisors and stewards of the Reman dynasty who were finally assassinated mid second era.

Again theres a difference between the truth and propaganda, the whole "Thalmor are controlling the empire" was propaganda, I've played the stormcloak side and nowhere does it say the empire is being controlled by the Thalmor, just Ulfric being a liar and using badly made propaganda.

Read the spoiler for what he actually meant.

You know the Thalmor existed in the Oblivion invasion time set right? And i think even then they were trying to get a hold of the Empire. The problem is that their importance then was a bit smaller comparing to the Oblivion invasion

Great explanation! +1

Exactly. The thing is, they weren't mainstream until their masterful manipulation of postwar events (and may not have been strictly "mainstream" even then). Where have we seen this in realityland?

Thanks. This is some new info to put up. There is so much lore in the Elder Scrolls series that even in the games it is hard to get it all. There are even times in the games that information gets confused. There were times in Oblivion that the way things were stated and written it seemed to say that the Ayleids came from another continent and ruled that way. There does have to be other continents in the world because in Skyrim, it says that humans came to Tamriel from somewhere else. But thank you again. this is more information for me to think about and continue to work on my theories about the world of Elder Scrolls.

This is true. I read both of the Elder Scrolls books and this help to state this about the Thalmor. It did say that they were around during the Oblivion Crisis. After the Oblivion Crisis had ended, they gained more power and were working to take over more land. Both books give more insight as to how the Thalmor were before they started their war with the Empire. I would suggest to all Elder Scrolls fans to read both books. The Thalmor may not be the focus of the books but they do get talked about.

Actually, the in-game book "Rising Threat" is a much better source, although you are right. Much like in Skyrim, when the weird stuff goes down everyone assumes it's the Thalmor first in IC and LoS.