Hi lore forums!

A quick question here. We all know about the impact Akaviri culture, politics, art of war etc. etc. had on 2nd Era Cyrodiil.

But where exactly stem the Akaviri (or East Asian, if you insist) elements found in Altmer, Dunmer and Orsimer cultures from?

http://images.uesp.net/6/6d/Lore-race-Altmer.png seem to have Kimono and Katana-esque swords in some Oblivion art.

Orcs are known for their http://static2.nexusmods.com/15/mods/110/images/22793-1-1345537607.jpg, and mainland (House Indoril) Dunmeri http://images.uesp.net/b/ba/ON-prerelease-Mournhold_Night_Ordinator.jpg strikes me atleast somewhat inspired by East Asian design elements.

Are these signs of foreign influence on these cultures or are the similarities to Akaviri stuff just coincidence?

Perhaps the Aldmer had a very East-Asian aesthetic, and some of their descendants (Altmer, Chimer/Dunmer, and Orsimer) maintained elements of it after their split.

I wouldn't be surprised if Trinimac was represented in Samurai-esque armor that evolved into the Orcish style after his transformation into Malacath. It's worth noting that the samurai-ness of Orcish armor was downplayed in the games after Morrowind - that screenshot you've got from Skyrim is a mod. Hell, perhaps Orcish Armor only looked like that in Morrowind because of the regional aesthetic. Morrowind in general had heavy East Asian influences.

Sooooo, someone else with an opinion?

Some aspects of Dunmer culture that reflect this influence can be explained by the invasion of the Kamal.

I would say contact between akavir and tamrial is closer then we think. Just look at pre roman Brittan for example. trade was flowing across the channel but if you asked any government official they would say they have not made contact with the barbarians. just because there is no embassy dose not mean small scale trading is not happening.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/morrowind-armorers-challenge and equipment, at any rate. I'd wager that most Katanas and Dai-Katanas come from them in Morrowind, or at least smiths who trained there.

this is not what i am actually thinkg of it to be in real

Well the smithing in the book is complete [censored].Neither does folding make a sword sharper nor would it be needed for good steel or ebony....

Apart from that :The blades and Dunmer still use katana without any changes to the sword desgin, which I think is purley cultural and out of tradtion.

Especially for use without a shield the desgin is not that good at all(Good for cutting ,apart from that....).But people in Tamriel are also silly enough to use all kinds of inferior hilt desgins despite having acces to basket hilts

???

Definitely katana inspired,which is not to say that "simliar" swords(two handed curved for that matter) weren't used elsewhere in history without any japanese influences:

http://swordmaster.org/uploads/2011/euro-swords/wallace_collection-swiss-saber_A.489.jpg:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/albioneurope/6092583000/sizes/o/in/set-72157627420240477/:

"The tanto is a stylish dagger variant of Akaviri design. For obscure reasons, the Telvanni prefer them to standard daggers as a matrix for their enchantments, and Telvanni mercenaries are often equipped with enchanted tantos by their mage-lord patrons."

They used katanas more than Houses Hlaalu and Redoran too. I suppose they were in the front line of invasion. It's funny how katanas are so popular with the one of the least Bushido factions we've seen. Maybe a deveoper said at some point "No don't give them to House Redoran [Bolvyn excluded], everyone would just call them the samurai house".