...and Khajits are, very vaguely, Middle Eastern, while Bretons are, very vaguely, French...

...who are the Wood Elves? The lizard guys? The Dark Elves? High Elves? The Redguards? Etc.

Argonians are obviously Australian. Croikey!

Bretons are French? Huh, I always thought that Breton = Briton = British

I would consider Redguards as a mix of Middle-Eastern and African - with the former being the most predominant.

The Elven races either have a culture of their own or a mix of past human cultures.

redguards ar arabic, khajiit more asian...breton's are french...no one likes them

None of them are any one culture or even an amalgam of several cultures. They have unique characteristics for the most part. However if you must draw real life cultures into it and say 1=1 then these are the cultures with the most similarities to each race imo.

Nords=Norse

Imperials=Romans and Chinese

Bretons=French and...Bretons

Redguards=Songhai Empire and some Persian Empirical influences.

Khajiit= Arabian/Indian/Tibetan.

Bosmer=Celtic Druidic Culture

Dunmer=Sumerian/Babylonian

Argonians=Central African peoples. Namely a lot of cultures around the Congo. Not a very good connection other than swamp, tree-worship, slavery.

Altmer=Nazi's for the Thalmor portion, and probably the 18th century Japanese concept of Xenophobia and some Spartan breeding ideals alongside some good ole supremecy from the Europeans of the 16th-20th century.

Orcs- Mongols, Huns, and Viking berserkers.

Having said that there is probably about a 50% max cultural influence of each of those cultures on the cultures of Nirn. The rest is actually quite creative and in depth. Plumb the depths of the Lore and you will be surprised I think.

Nords are predominantly Norse, with a hefty amount of Germanic and Celtic thrown in.

Bretons are mostly a French anologue now, though in Daggerfall they were much more British.

Imperials are the most straightforward; I don't get anything but pure Roman Empire from them, even moreso in Skyrim.

Both Khajit and Redguards have Arabic influences.

It's not a comparison that'll hold up to much scrutiny, I don't think, but the Altmer play a role in Skyrim that reminds me an awful lot of American intervention in the Middle East, right down to the small extrajudicial teams grabbing individuals.

The rest? I dunno.

Is it necessary for all the races to be some shallow imitation of real world ethnicities? Not trying to be a jerk, I just like believing some imagination went into there cultures.

As an american i say [censored] YOU! We don't compare to the thalmor leave insulting comments out of this.

They're not mutually exclusive. I find it hard to avoid the idea that there are some similarities.

Well, I think I would say that the Redguards obviously holds a middle-eastern culture and the Khajiit are more central african.
The Bretons are a mix of French/Keltic cultures.
The Argonians are the only ones I cannot really place. They live in marchlands, that's about all we know about them.
The Orsimer are defenitly mongolian,
The Altmer too are hard to place,
The Bosmer are definitly native americans,
The Dunmer are... the dunmer?
And all the Akaviri races have a more asian culture.

It did for some, not so much for others. When you're using "Nords," "Bretons," and "Imperials," you're not exactly distancing yourself from real-world history.

Wrong! Nords are actually Scotsman. You play the role of William Wallace. Remember William Wallace in this scene? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLrrBs8JBQo


"Bolts of lightning come out his [censored]...." Todd and guys at Bethesda watched Braveheart and this scene was the prelude to Skyrim and their Shouts abilities. All makes sense now :biggrin:

Britons weren't completely British either, for as far as I know. I do agree with Redguards having Middle-Eastern influences.



How do you figure the Imperials to have Chinese influences exactly? I had to look up the Songhai Empire, but that's a good one. I haven't played Morrowind, so I cannot really comment on the Dunmer. Orcs befit the Huns.

But yes, there are no perfect anologues. The Nords, for instance, aren't all that big on seafaring or going out to find new land.

I dunno. Cannot think of any empires that rose and fell multiple times in Europe. China though...every friggin few hundred years. Splintering, Invasion, rebellion, re-conquest, new dynasty, stability, repeat.

Really besides the names, military structure, it being an Empire with a "senate"(Elder Council) and Roman armor there really is not all that much that fits as a Roman thing. Hell they even have a whole mandate of heaven thing going with the Amulet of Kings. The Mandate is all chinese. Dynasties are very important for China. Rome...not so much. Important but not incredibly so.

I think it is more a combo of those two plus many somewhat original ideals.

I cannot think of any cultures that have risen from slavery against evil masters and created an incredible empire that conquers an entire continent multiple times though. There are many things that make them quite unique. Ancestor moths, Elder Scrolls, White-gold tower, Niben Bay, a jungle empire turned to grasslands by a Demi-god turned into a god after death(Talos). There is loads more.

It is more like Akaviri = Asian mixt of Japan/China.

Like all other races in TES the Nords have a mixed culture, part is scottish, part is norse and another germanic.

Oh, God, I hope not. And especially not Mel Bloody Gibson's make-believe version of history.

It's pretty hard to look at a Nord in a Stormcloak Cuirass with blue warpaint on his face and not get the sense that the designers watched Braveheart once or twice.

Hmm, now that you put it that way. The Mel Gibson reference does seem to tie in with some of the Stormcloaks' less desirable traits as well...

Hey I liked the movie Braveheart as did like 80% of the people that watched it ANDDDDD he did Lethal Weapon which is awesome so you can lay off his craziness due to past services rendered.

im austrailen and i like this!

Bretons in the real world are from Brittany, the Northwest peninsula of France. (not to be confused with marmite-loving Britons from Britain)

makes sense,

I'm not really a fan, and his apparent problem with the English doesn't really help.


True, though though the names Brittany and Great Britain share a common root; I don't know how much relevance that has culturally or in any other meaningful way, though. As for the in-game Bretons, I thought that at least prior to Skyrim they exhibited various traits from both, with the usual caveat that they're a made-up race, of course. The Bretons in Skyrim don't seem to have a lot of commonality with their forebears though, at least not that I can see.

Not everyhing need to rely on something. TES should be seen unique.