Do Dark Elves have some sort of relationship with rats? Because Llevana Nedare called a bunch of rats to kill Ulrich Leland and Arvena keeps them in her basemant. I don't know about any other Dark Elves and this may be just a coincedence but I thought it was weird.

I have 2 reasons to put forward:

1) Bethesda isn't that original when it comes to quests. So they throw in rats.
2) It's been almost like a tradition for Beth to put some odd quest involving rats in the game. In the cases of Morrowind and Oblivion, the first fighter's guild quest always deals with rats.

I think its more of a running gimmick then anything.

Dev joke I guess.

Running gag

Diferent cultures keep different kinds of animals as pets. I guess rats are like cats to Dark Elves.

Also, in Morrowind, which takes place in the homeland of the Dark Elves, if you look at them in the Construction Set, you'll see that they have a 100 Personality. Why wouldn't you want that as a pet?

I don't know. Arvena Thelas in Anvil loved them, but her sister in Balmora wanted them dead. Could be a coincidence

Well Drarayne Thelas' rats messed with her pillows... AND YOU DON'T MESS WITH DRARAYNE'S PILLOWS!

Most likely, one Fighters Guild quest in Morrowind sent you to kill rats, Oblivion had a similar quest to save them, it seems to be a bit of a running joke, though it does seem to be an interesting coincidence(?) that two characters who have pet rats in Oblivion are Dunmer, I wonder if the person who ran the rat restaurant mentioned by Weebam-Na was also a Dunmer?

it's not the bethesda isn't original it's a running joke about Rpg's in general there's always the "rat quest". So bethesda makes fun of that.

Personally I think they should stop putting animals in Fighter's Guild quests. Those guys are mercinaries, not hunters! I think the games needs a Hunter's Guild.

There's no hunter's guild for good a reason, the oldest hunters in Tamriel realized years ago that getting together resulted in more killed beers than bears. But yeah, a hunter's guild would kinda svck.

Killing more beers than bears...hrmm...combine both at once?

Mead does increase your strength...

Maybe some of them prefer rats as they are smaller and easier to handle than guars, not to mention everywhere. Or maybe they have secret charming powers to secretly make people like them.
But I don't think they really mention about any kind of relationship between Dunmer and rats, guars maybe...

In any case, it's definitely kindy weird.

What we call rats are actually the early stages of life for Dark Elves. When the rats are crawling around causing trouble, that's when they are toddlers. The ones called giant rats are that way because they've grown to be pre-teens. Both Dark Elves who had a lot to do with rats were actually day cares for the town. That's why Drarayne Thelas had the pillows, to put the baby dark elves on. Then she planned their slaughter with the help of your character.

Its just a mockery! A joke! A waste of Bethesda's time and the COC's.