I was wondering what races the Elder scrolls races correspond to in reality. Here are my best guesses so far. Some are obvious (Nords, Imperials for example) and even mentioned officially by the creators, and some were harder to guess.

Breton - French (particularly Brittany?) - Mentioned by the developers, civilised, artistic, intellectual, obviously European in appearance etc.
Imperial - Roman - That one's simple, architecture, government, army, etc.
Redguard - Africa - African appearance, live in the desert, naturally athletic build
Nord - Scandinavia, Scotland, Russia - Noted as inspirations, rough, viking-type warrors with Scandinavian features, architecture etc.
Altmer - Japan - Imperial, focused on honour and tradition, strong art culture etc. and also, just look at the Altmer picture on UESP wiki
Dunmer - Mongolia - This is the biggest guess, based mainly off architecture and environment
Bosmer - England, Ireland (middle-ages, maybe based off Wiccan tradition or the like) - Nature based, excellent archers, forest-dwelling
Orc - Central European or Mongol barbarians - Nomadic, tough, uncivilised
Argonian - Carribean or Indo-Asian islanders - Tribal and secretive, live in marshy swamps and forest, natural hunters, noted for spears
Khajiit - Egypt or possibly middle-east - Egyptians worshipped cats, desert environment, large pantheon, many smaller kingdoms

Orcs are simply orcs, and elves are simply elves! You can guess man races, but beasts and mer come from a fantasy world!

Well appearancewise, yes, but there do seem to be some real-world influences in terms of architecture, culture etc.

The word negro is offensive to many.

I apologise for that. As far as I had been made aware it was a more correct way of saying it and didn't carry any offensive or racist connotations. What is the correct term to use here? African? Black?

Just because they're fantasy races doesn't mean they don't draw at all from real world civilizations in their culture. Though orcs and elves at least presumably do draw some aspects from their counterparts in other fantasy settings, even though, those settings themselves probably drew influences from some real life cultures.

I think part of the problem with comparing Elder Scrolls races to real world cultures, though, is that any given race isn't necessarily based on only one real life culture. Any given race could take elements from multiple different real life cultures, or from similar races in other fantasy settings, added to it all, Bethesda may try to put their own original spin on things, with varying degrees of succees, especially since much of the current Elder Scrolls lore was not yet established when the series first began, so it might not be immediately obvious where the inspiration for some races come from. Though some aspects, at least, like the Roman influences of the Imperials, or the Norse basis for the Nords (It's even in the name!) seem pretty clear. But it's a little harder to spot the influences in say, the Dunmer, in part because we have seen a number of different Dunmer cultures in Morrowind, and it's hard to imagine them all being inspired by the same source, and for some races, like Argonians, I'd say we don't have enough information for me to feel comfortable making a guess.

Its the intention behind the words that are offensive. The OP clearly had no bad intentions. Words are simply words.

You're right, but saying that these races are influenced by a certain culture is different from saying they have a counterpart in the real world. That's what i meant.

Breton - French (particularly Brittany?) - Mentioned by the developers, civilised, artistic, intellectual, obviously European in appearance etc. :goodjob:
Imperial - Roman - That one's simple, architecture, government, army, etc. :goodjob:
Redguard - Africa - African appearance, live in the desert, naturally athletic build Redgaurd have more of an Arabian architecture, weapons, and armor.
Nord - Scandinavia, Scotland, Russia - Noted as inspirations, rough, viking-type warrors with Scandinavian features, architecture etc. :goodjob:
Altmer - Japan - Imperial, focused on honour and tradition, strong art culture etc. and also, just look at the Altmer picture on UESP wiki Although seemingly highly Asian influenced, not enough info has been given to state exactly where they came from. Japan seems to be a the most influential though.
Dunmer - Mongolia - This is the biggest guess, based mainly off architecture and environment Due to influence of the Tribunal the Dunmer society is strictly original, if you want to put a real world influence on them do it with the Chimer.
Bosmer - England, Ireland (middle-ages, maybe based off Wiccan tradition or the like) - Nature based, excellent archers, forest-dwelling This doesn't much match with a cannibalistic tree hugging society, It seems more like they are from the Indonesian rainforests then England.
Orc - Central European or Mongol barbarians - Nomadic, tough, uncivilised :goodjob: Seems purely like Mongols rather then Germanic
Argonian - Carribean or Indo-Asian islanders - Tribal and secretive, live in marshy swamps and forest, natural hunters, noted for spears I believe them to be more Mayan from what we know of them, really they seem like many Amazonian tribal folk.
Khajiit - Egypt or possibly middle-east - Egyptians worshipped cats, desert environment, large pantheon, many smaller kingdoms :goodjob: Although very Egyptian they also seem to have some other African tribes or maybe even Native American influences.

Then again this is all speculation on my part. Most likely they are just referencing small bits of these cultures to get a larger unique culture for the races. It probably isn't so much as going the easy way and coping other cultures (for the races of man it is though) but using real world influences to get an idea on a plausible and seemingly real-world race that we can somewhat relate to. Probably why if they introduced the Sload and Akiviri races one would want to play the Akiviri races (which are heavily Asian based) more then the Sload. Only exception to that would be ones who want to be dark and grotesque necromancers (like myself ).

Really no need to apologize, nor did I suggest your intention was racist.

I live in the deep South of the U.S., and the usage of the word is taboo. Just my knee-jerk reaction I suppose. :shrug:

Anyways, I always thought of the Redguards as being more of North African or even Aryan influence culturally.

I would compare Orcs with the Anglo-Saxon branch of Americans.

I would say the Bosmer most resemble MesoAmerican tribes (cannibalism and whatnot) whereas the British would probably have had an influence on the Bretons. As for the Argonians, they would probably be made more after Amazonian tribes as opposed to Indonesian ones- but I guess that's just splitting hairs. As for the Orcs, they most resemble the Mongols- I don't know where the Dunmer would fit into this though- Maybe India?

Despite the name, I'd say the Bretons fit most closely with Renaissance Italians.

Anyways, no race "corresponds" to any real life people. Some are inspired by real life races, and other similarities arise by accident, but for every similarity there are also differences. In my opinion, it is these deviations from the expected real life counterpart that make the races interesting.

I think you're right, some bretons have italian names and accent (Vicente Valtieri), while others are french-like (Antonietta Marie)... They also live in High Rock, maybe it's the tamriel counterpart of the Alps :hehe:

these threads are all just flamebait. Each ingame race is based partially of many different real-world cultures, if only because the various developers who design them have all been influenced by different things, and will understand the pre-existing lore on them differently.

It might help to actually read the thread - it is talking about influences, not direct representation/depiction, and most people have been having a reasonable discussion, like the reasonably mature people they are. If you think something is "flamebait", then hit a report button and let the moderators decide.

I would say IMO that the Altmer are more like the Chinese and the Dunmer are more like the Japanese .

Yes, let's not forget how the Mongolians scaled the great wall of China using fast-growing plant-buildings.

:facepalm:

Hahaha.

Anyway, Ashlanders remind me of Native Americans, somewhat.

I don't really think it's quite possible to put a single stereotype on the Dunmer. Thier cultures and beliefs where too emphasized in Morrowind to do so well. They have:

Native Americans - Ashlanders
Americans/English - Hlaalu (businessmen)
Old Religious Fanatic Christians - The percecution of heretics and the hiding of secrets. (witch hunting days)
Middle East - Redoran armours and stylisation (may just be me) aswell as the living in barren regions
Old English Nobles - Telvanni. They collect slaves and tend to have a similar superior view on life.

Just to name a few. Really don't think people will be able to agree on a lot, here.

I also think there's somewhat of a British Influence on the Nords. Unless I'm mistaken, they're great seamen, and have quite a nice navy.

I have always thought the Dwemer bore strong connections to the ancient Mesopotamians. The beards I think are the most notable feature (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:MW-art-Dwemer-Concept.jpg and http://www.crystalinks.com/gilgameshtomb.jpg). Ur was also the name of a city in the Mesopotamian Empire.

Yeah, I should clarify. I'm not saying there are always direct comparisons, but I am speaking of general influences. I think the South-American influence on the Argonians is probably right. I think they're probably just based off a large variety tribal societies around the world. There is that cannibalistic and tree-hugging aspect of the Bosmer, so maybe there is an Indonesian influence. I still reckon there is probably some influence from nature-based pagan societies in England and other Germanic countries. I don't really know, I'm certainly no expert on world history and culture.