December 11, 2013 10:30 PM EST
I know there are plenty of discussions out there debating the Altmeri Dominion and Talos worship and other such things in general, and even I myself am sick of seeing these arguments going back and forth, with one post making you think "Hey, that sounds right" but then the next post making you think "Huh, that sounds about right as well".
But I just want to get my personal opinion out there, because there seems to be a lack of Altmeri Dominion sympathisers on this site. Also I will admit to the fact that there are gaps in my knowledge of the lore, I've taken what I learned playing Skyrim and Oblivion, which is not everything. But this is what I see to have happened. Please keep that in mind, and tell me of anything I may have wrong.
First of all I can admit that the way they are enforcing the ban of Talos worship is wrong. Dragging people off in the night, shoot first ask questions later types of attitudes, that's just not fair. But then I compare that to what this supposed Talos person did and well... it kind of pales in comparison. It's still wrong, but what Talos seems to have done, from the eyes of the Altmeri Dominion, is wrong-er.
So this human guy barges into your house screaming "this house is now mine I don't care about your opinions" and then he kills all the residents of that house, sits on the chair in front of the fire, and thinks to himself "hmmm, one house it not enough. and the people that lived here were ugly, I hate them, I want to kill them all and take all their houses. good idea!!!" and he does just that. Barges into homes, kills the families, the working man, the single mother, the simple babe, all for no reason the occupants of this house can see. But some of them he thinks "huh, you could be useful, I will kill everyone you love and then you will do my bidding" and he begins to take slaves. (I heard/read that he did this, but I may be wrong)
Meanwhile other humans are enthralled by his charming personality, the way he can swing his axe, and think "this guy is pretty cool, let's do what he's doing" and so they copy him, looking to him as a leader and an overall awesome guy, because hey! He's killed a bunch of people who aren't human! And survived! Cool, right? So they follow him in droves, do what he does, kill and rape and enslave the elves who were there first. Who did nothing(?) to anger this one dude, this dude who decided he hated them and then tried to kill them ALL, and declare that what they once owned was now his because he wanted it.
And the elves that survive this regroup, burning with hatred for this one man who killed thousands, if not millions of their kind, of their families, and then the humans have the audacity to start worshipping this man as a god, a god equal to the Eight. This mass murderer, this man who committed genocide, they now considered him a god.
I would be hateful too.
And so with the war with the Empire coming to a close with the treaty, they say, "please stop the worship of this Talos dude, who by the way, killed all our people" and the Empire agrees, even if they don't really want to. But they agree, and they sign, and that's that.
Then a few years later the Nords start kicking up a fuss. Especially this Ulfric dude. "Damn elves stopping me from worshipping who I believe to be a god! What have we ever done to deserve this?" And then he begins fighting back.
And the Thalmor and Altmeri Dominion go "This can't go on. This murderer god can't be worshipped, because he can't be a god, he murdered our people in cold blood" and so they begin to strengthen their presence in Skyrim, to crack down on the worshippers, because it's now against Imperial law, and their own law, so worship him. (Although the way the do this is horrible, but it's also what happened to them too, in some ways)
And then Ulfric goes "look at these elves, murdering our kind because they want us to stop worshipping our god, that sucks and so now we can start a war with those Imperial milk drinkers who are obviously in love with them, because they can't murder us! That's cruel!" Stormcloak rebellion ahoy!
From that I can sympathise with the Altmeri Dominion. I can see why they hate Talos and his worship. Can't you?
Oh, also, I resent the way some people here look at the Altmeri as man-hating killers who want to take over the world. I read a post somewhere that a user named Vix wrote (I think?) and I pretty much agree with that. They do believe they are better than man, but they aren't trying to kill off all man and take over the world. They want to go back to where it was safe and peaceful and to do that they believe if they were in control they could do that. They, understandably, believe man to be walking, talking chaos, butchering their plans (and their people *cough* Talos *cough*) and they think that if they were in control, they would put a stop to that chaos, and maybe even things out a little. It was a while ago that I read that post but that's what I got from it. Correct me if I'm wrong.
So this is a jumbled mess and I hate that I can't really articulate my beliefs well but please forgive me for that and try to understand both my opinion, the standing of the Dominion, and this clusterfuck bunch of thoughts put into words. Eh.
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