Isn't that the unreliable site ?
Let's say that's the reliable one, nothing that says there isn't contestable or unable to be put into doubt, if it's well-written lore (and I do believe it is, love you Beth)
then it can't possibly capture the mood and the motivations of the people involved, since such lore is treated within the in-game universe as written history; regardless of what imperial supporters may or may not say, and I am certainly among them, we cannot treat The Bear of Markarth as absolute truth, damning as it is, it can still be considered propaganda.
This is a rather dangerous assumption, and most likely incorrect, given the degree of animosity between the atmorans and the snow elves, fact of the matter is that the atmorans didn't stop at Sarthal, they waged a campaign which did not allow the possibility of the snow elves occupying any part of the surface territory in the region, they engaged a campaign to utterly eliminate them from the face of Skyrim.
That the dwemer finished the job for them doesn't excuse the atmorans' actions, and frankly, you don't have to exterminate an entire group of people to call it genocide, please don't make me invoke Godwin's Law.
I did excuse myself for the hyperbole
If you're interested though, the idea of said character is basically the "anti-nord", he sneaks, he prefers daggers, uses magic most of the time, and is as silver-tongued as any khajiit merchant.
Yes, all of these happenings that are considered history in the game are impossible to get right exactly, which is why everyone uses as much fact as they can and then make assumptions or educated guesses, so you kind of contradict yourself when you're calling my assumption "dangerous."
Nevertheless, you continue to make the Snow Elves look like innocent little creatures that were massacred by the Nords. The Snow Elves were just as brutal as the Nords,
both sides launched genocidal campaigns on one another, and the Nords won. Simple as that. If the Snow Elves got the upper hand they would have definitely killed all of the Nords, my "dangerous assumption" as you labeled it was that the Nords at least
could have a solid reason for killing all of those Snow Elves (to protect the knowledge of the Eye) because like you said, we cannot possibly capture the mood and motivations of the people (and races) involved, so we must resort somewhat to educational guesses and some assumptions. That is mine.
This is basically what I'm saying:
Nords possible reasonings for launching Genocidal Campaign on Snow Elves:
- To simply seek revenge for their losses and the desolation of Sarthal.
- To keep secret the knowledge of the Eye of Magnus and protect it from any who wish to covet it.
Snow Elves possible reasonings for launching Genocidal Campaign on the Nords:
- Threatened by the rapid growth of Nord population, and fearful of these numbers suddenly attacking them for no reason. (remember, Ysgramor and the other Nords came here to seek peace away from the Civil War in Atmora, it is highly unlikely they came to Skyrim to seek for more fighting.)
- To destroy the Nords, for they are the race that is in the way of them [The Snow Elves] from gaining access into the knowledge of the Eye of Magnus.
Okay, there we have 2 reasons of the 2 different races involved in the massacre. Like you just said, we can't completely assess the motives behind these people when they are considered history in the game, for we only have access to so much fact based on the books and what the wiki tells us. This basically means this is an unending argument. It seems as though you believe in Reasoning #1, as I believe in Reasoning #2, because of these different opinions we have different perspectives on Nords and Snow Elves, yet we can't completely prove that our opinion is right due to your valid statement that "we can't possibly capture the moods and motivations of the people involved" due to it being history and lack of solid resource.
Going back to the root of this debate, when you said "Nords are unable to justify their wars" as well as given examples like Ysgramor, well, based on this - your statement is neither correct or incorrect, because I believe reasoning #2, which clearly shows that Ysgramor and his Companions (who are in fact Nords) did in fact justify their reasoning for fighting the Snow Elves, however your opinion says that Ysgramor and his Companions do not justify their reasoning.
And after this post, I am finished with this debate
