I was thinking that the Imperials were sort of like a saxonish appearance with a roman like culture (obviously roman)

The Nords are the Sveeeedish or Norseman

the Bretons have a french overtone imho because of their names

The orcs are mongols and have signs of early germanic culture

I would say the Dark Elves are sort of like japanese, because of their appearance. But I can't really pin it on any culture.

High Elves, are kind of tough, I have no clue who they are like in real life.

Red Guard are very easy to relate to real life. They are Morrocan.

Lizard guys (i can't spell their name for the life of me) are native american i suppose

Bosmer aren't native american in my opinion for the simple fact that they are more scientific than native americans.

well Discuss! Debate!

Someone on another forum said that Imperials had a hispanic hint to them but i disagree and another said the High elves were japanese but i disagree with this as well what do you think?

There is a lot of these threads and ultimately none of the TES races are races in real life, some of them draw upon influences from our world like the Orc having Samurai inspired armor.

Search function is your friend.

If the thread is so bad i'll let a mod close it. However I would just like to have a discussion right now and actually talk about the cultures with people and relate to them with real life. There are hints from many cultures in all of the races. Or should I have revived a dead thread?

There is no 1:1 comparison of TES races. Most comparisons are made by asthetics alone but when you get into the lore you'll find no such comparison to make. Alt of people compare Imperials to Romans, but like I said culturally their nothing alike. The Redguards have influences all the way from African and Arabian to Phonecian, theres just no real comparison to be made.

It's just that this has been discussed to death :shrug: I guess there's no real harm in talking about it again for those who didn't voice their opinions the last time(s).

Argh. This again. Y'know you people are gonna give Tenga Toppa a conniption.

Anyway, There are no 1:1 comparisons. Sure, the Imperials have Roman-ish armor and Latin names, but they lack the Republican institutions and slavery that Roman society was built on. Really, they're more like Latin-speaking post-Reform Act British who've successfully repelled an invasion by Imperial Japan and China and then assimilated the invaders into their society.

Going down the line, I think you'll find the other races just as amalgamated in their real-life influences.

I wasn't saying the thread was bad I was just pointing out the incredible number of these threads. My personal view on it. Not 1:1 comparisons just suggestions as to where some influences were drawn from.

"What are the elder scroll races in real life?"
Fictional creations that draw from a multitude of inspirations and influences with no direct anologues.

The races are whatever you wish them to be. At least this holds true with the dunmer, as everyone has compared them to every single culture that ever existed in TES.

saw the thread thought this sentence, went to post it, saw you beat me...jerk lol

Some thing to add, the imperials give off a british empire vibe, the east empire trade company sounds like something from history class

nords have a norse feel (obviously)

Every race in The Elder Scrolls is in essence unique to elder scrolls, but their history and cultures often draw from several real life inspirations. Intentional or not because we simply know the stories of our own history. Examples. The Nord history since skyrim is the most recent game, in their history they fled their homeland to escape constant war supposly. They landed in skyrim and befriended the local snow elves who accepted them, but as more and more nords arrived the snow elves became concerned for their culture as the nords were taking more and more land. This is a good comparison to what happened between the American Settlers and the Native Americans before the founding of USA. The nords and snow elves also went to war, and the elves were either exteriminated, pushed out into lands the nords did not want or slowly incorporated into their own societies. While the Nord culture strongly resembles vikings in many of their beliefs such as marriage and names their history is no doubt very diffrent.

This series of mix matched histories to compare to our own follows all the races. The Orc's might have samurai looking armor but thats about as far as their comparisons go, Where the Yokunda (pre migrational Redguards) have a history of highly skilled swordsman called Sword-Singers who did generally the same public duties as samurai with the same code of honor, yet the sword swingers history more reflects that of the Knights Templars, but they fought for their lands instead of religion and were eventually turned on because of political ambition.

Its impossible to say any race in Elder Scrolls is like a real life counterpart because as you can see, they are all unique in their own way.

Since we're having this thread, may as well point out that the elements of Eastern philosophy and religion in Nordic culture shouldn't be overlooked.

I like this, though the reason might be complicated. The easy thing to say is to repeat that TES and its cultures are a bit, 'all things to all people'...

I will say something else, however (potentially tapping a hornet's nest, yet I hope people will note the impartial, unpartisan tone in which I am addressing this). What the real question in games like this, which I think is more applicable, is how they are inspired by authors who are, to whatever vague degree, preoccupied with current events. To start with, you have a global, imperialistic power that bans slavery appearing wholly dominant/stomping out brushfires in the 1990's (Daggerfall), seeing them struggle with that imperialistic tendency and get nearly kicked out/be kicked out of a few distant locations (Redguard/Morrowind), then struggle with a crisis or two which strains their resources to the breaking point (Oblivion), and finally see them on the descent during the ascent of rising powers with... questionable human rights records (+ rise of historically less prominent nations, ala Skyrim).

In other words, perhaps the best case to be made is that TES, like all forms of media, is used for cultural soul-searching. I think you can fill in the blanks from here, if you are so-inclined... further, I feel like I should add an MKish statement that anyone who uses my post as an excuse to engage in Monkey-talk will be hit with a hammer, this big. Yet, it is hard to read someone with as passionate of opinions as Kirkbride, and not make a real life connection here or there. This is all fit into individual experiences/opinions, and hence is a personalized, non-empirical process, as it is intended to be.

New competition: argue for the weirdest cultural equivalencies you can!

I guess you all are right you can compare them here and there but they are all unique. All parts of them are drawn from different cultures not a single one and a lot of it is complete fantasy. Thats a good thing imo. I just found it fun to compare them to people of our world. idk

Morrowind, along with the general mentality of Dunmer reminds me of Russia and eastern Europe a lot.

Just saying.

These discussions lead nowhere. Each 'race' has dozens of real or imagined RL connotations. Unless you believe that possessing one superficial genetic or cultural feature determines the rest of the culture somehow, I can't see what there is to be gained by comparisions unless there is a specific anolytical stardard applied (i.e. attitude to creation, in which case we can discuss whether the Aldmeri weltanschauung is gnostic, or a subversive take on Tolkein; or economics, in which case we can talk about the extent to which Elven societies represent real slave-owning cultures, etc.).

A case in point: the Empire was a combination of barbarian invasion and slave uprising, which somehow established a lasting and dominant polity based on the hegemonic elven civilisation it destroyed, something which never happened historically, AFAIK- attempts by barbarians to create pseudo-Roman empires on the wreckage of the old one either didn't last, or mutated into 'dark age' feudalism, for instance, while slave revolts (think Spartacus) have never been famously successful.

The Dunmer are Jewish Babylonian Mongol Vulcans who domesticate giant ticks, flying jellyfish and minature tyrannosauruses, and fled to a frozen wasteland after their volcanic wasteland home blew up.

Just like real life.