Hello

Just like the title asks, I'm curious if the Thalmor inadvertently strengthened the god they seek to undermine by outlawing His worship. The goal seems to have been to weaken Talos by outlawing His worship, but that backfired, and if anything Talos worshippers seem to have become more devout. People in general don't like foreign powers telling them what they can and can't do, and often seem to gravitate towards what someone told them not to out of spite. Looking at Ulfric's rebellion, the worship of Talos became a rallying cry for many Nords, and it seems reasonable that some people who might have been lax worshippers became more committed as a sign of protest against the Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire. And the Thalmor's ability to police places to route out Talos worshippers seems like it could further ignite animosity against them, thereby making people who oppose the Thalmor worship Talos just to stick a metaphysical middle finger to them.

What say you?