With the announcement of future DLCs, I've been thinking about the HUGE holes left in Skyrim's main and secondary (CW) quests. Normally, TES games leave loose ends so that the lore can be flexible for future games. Here's my question:

At the beginning, the game sets up the CW conflict by introducing the Thalmor. Raloff complains about them in the cart and you see them on horses near General Tullius as you enter Helgen. With no DLCs to resolve the game, why were the Thalmor even in the game at all? Were they even involved in the Civil War questlines? Now that I'm thinking about it, I never saw the Thalmor play a prominant role beyond the Diplomatic Immunity quest and easily-killable roving patrols.

To me, Beth's news of no more DLCs relegates the Thalmore to MacGuffin status.

Nope, more like a potential set up for a future game.

I don't really get your question. Do you mean what is the point since they dont actually do anything major gamewise? Because lorewise they're in Skyrim to stomp out Talos worship officially and to make sure neither side wins the war unofficially.

I don't think they were MacGuffins. They were like the Dragon Cult: A potentially interesting faction that was not delved into in any real significant way and is just treated as "Mwahahahahahaha!!! We're so evil!" villains. To sum it up in two words, the Thalmor were/are a "Missed Opportunity," one of many in Skyrim.

Personally, I'm kinda hoping that the entire Thalmor thing gets resolved offscreen between Skyrim and TES VI.

I hear you, but nothing set us up for the CW and they pulled it off. Nothing set us up for the return of Alduin--at least, nothing like what they did with the Thalmor. If they are setting us up for a future game, then they went through an awful lot of trouble for a release that may not occur for many years.

This

What I'm saying is Beth used them as a MAJOR plot device They're incorpration was more that just merely lore.

But the dragon cult was not used as a plot device that was integral to setting the stage of the whole game.

I wouldn't say the Thalmor were. They're mentioned in one comment by Ralof, and are very easy to miss in that opening.

If the Thalmor were not in Skyrim, then there would be no civil war because the Nords could continue to worship Talos. The only people enforcing the ban are the Thalmor, without them there there would be no conflict or visible signs of the changing politics of the world since Oblivion.

They are there because they are in the MMO and because that is where the story is heading. They might be mentioned in books that come out before the next if there are books and almost certainly some mention in the next game. Plus they added some drama. So w/e.

Ok. maybe MacGuffin would be a bit strong. Nevertheless, they were played up bigger than to just simply build up some anti-Talos lore. That's the reason why there are so many anti-Thalmor threads, and why people desperately wanted to see a DLC that fought the Thalmor. Maybe not a MacGuffin, but they certainly became more irrelevant than they began.

Eviction of Thalmor from Skyrim most likely is left for post-game lore, with a book or dialogue stating that Empire/Stormcloaks evicted the Thalmor embassy when the Second Great War started.

In my hopes for a TES VI: Alinor, the Thalmor are probably the main antagonists in that instead of being a sideshow in the greater scheme of things.

They are there as hate figures and the easily killable roving patrols with the new legendary difacultey are now not so easy to kill.

I could see that. Maybe the next ES game will be a continuation of Skyrim? 10, 20, 30, 50 or 100 years after Skyrim ended? Then people will read stories about the last Dragonborn and somewhere there will be a statue or shrine or temple to worship, like Talos.

But Im getting off topic. Perhaps the Thalmor in Skyrim were just a set up of whats to come in the next game.

I also hope to see Alinor in TES VII.

From my perspective, I saw them as being a bigger part of the game than most, I guess. Maybe my attitude was skewed by my overall distaste for them.

Only if there's more subtle routes you can go down than confronting them directly.