What the crap? That makes no sense. BG2 had a crapload of NPCs, for example, and it had NPCs that were a lot more fleshed out, and which were generaly more liked. (Even if you didn't like their character, they had a lot more personality than TES ones.) Besides, if being as big as TES means everywhere the people are diluted to robots, they should rethink their design policy.
Thoronir was more interesting than most other TES characters. He sort of felt short when you discovered Agarmir's role in the plot though, his dialogue, his voice acting, and the fact that he just sat there and still sold stuff just didn't convince that he really cared (or noticed) where his goods came from. It just felt like getting a Kill X quest from him, the quest was nevertheless interesting but not the character.