Of course there are, and always have been, many parallels between the Nords of TES and the beliefs and ways of the Germanic heathens in real life. That goes without saying, their language, choice of drink, customs, beliefs and such.... And, for those of you who don't know, "thu'um" as they call it in the game, this whole system of shouting in Skyrim too is a huge reference to viking lore if you will.

No need to go into great detail, but the "vikings" (for lack of a better word) did in fact revere a kind of magic referred to as "galdr", essentially using the vibrations of one's voice to blah blah blah you get the picture.. anyway so... I'm getting real involved here with the Greybeards, doin the MQ thing, but.. talking to Arngeir, their philosophy is very eastern. I'm sure .. haha.. I'm sure about 99% of you here either don't follow me or don't care.. But, I do find it a bit curious that Bethesda goes to the trouble to put the whole atmosphere of germanic heathenry into Skyrim, the Nords, the Greybeards.. and yet the philosophy is so... eastern and not like northern beliefs whatsoever.

What say you Bethesda?