Anybody have any idea at all?

Here is what culture I believe each race was based off of:

Imperial: Romanesque

Breton: English

Redguard: African - Arabic

Nords: Nordic and Norse (obviously)

Dunmer: Native American

Dwemer: Mesopotamian

Altmer: Asiatic and Pacific Islander with some Western styled influences

Orc: Originally Japanese (armor from ES III)

Kahjiit: African

Argonian: ???

Probably wrong with the Kahjiit and the Orc, so feel free to give your insight.

These threads quickly degenerate into vitriol as people don't like this sort of speculation. It should be pointed out that some races are a mix. The Dwemer are visually based off Mesopotamians, but culturally are a sort of aberration. The most Mesopotamian flavoured document in the series is the Song of Pelinal.

The http://www.imperial-library.info/dfbooks/b105_alt_redguard.shtml lore have a sengoku Japanese flavour to them that isn't evident in more recent Reguard stuff. Ansei quite obviously ripped off the Japanese kensei.

Dunmer? American Indian? I take you're talking of the Ashlanders, but still, didn't you notice the yurts and Ashkhans as well? The more urban Dunmer culture is a puzzling mix, which includes some Egpytian influences, notably in the scarab and funerary motifs. Then Vivec has ziggurats and terraced buildings reminscent of the hanging gardens of Babylon. This is why much of this speculation often becomes a confused, since the cultures are often a sort of babble or hodgepodge.

Khajiit always struck me as more Arabic.

And Altmer, Argonians and Orsimer haven't really been explored well enough to say.

Imperials also have an Asian influence only really seen in the PGE 1st Ed.

I'm Asiatic/Pacific Islander whose culture has Western influences, and you're wrong. In fact, this whole thread is wrong.

I agree.

I am outraged beyond belief that Bretons are being likened to English, despite clear links to the French in both appearance and frivolry! Ever seen a drunken, antisocial Breton? Nope.

Anyway, I'm much more attracted to the Redguard race when a flagrant arabic aspect is clear. For some reason, attempting to translate Japanese onto any other than Japanese never really works.

Although I personally don't find it blasphemous to pose such questions, I understand why people get annoyed, and I do find it silly to assume that each of the ES cultures has a unique and direct real-world influence. Fortunately, they truly do appear to be a huge mixture as pointed out above. If it were not so, the world would be a lot less interesting. That being said, I do find it interesting to contemplate the various influences on each culture, for the ideas obviously came from somewhere, as mixed as they may be.

As far as the Bretons go, I think it's painfully obvious that the French were a huge influence. Not only are real world "Bretons" French, but many of the family names in game are francophone names (not that either of these points is hard evidence, I am aware). The evidence for them being French is not concrete, but there certainly seems to be more that suggests that the Bretons be insprired by the French than by the English. Britons and Bretons; not the same thing. Plus, the Bretons in game are generally interested in the magical arts, which is in my mind the ES equivalent of academia. Not to trash on the English in any way, but the French are generally and traditionally a very intellectual people. Not always the most fierce of physical presences either, which is also represented by the in game Bretons imo.

The Dunmer are such a ****mix that I won't even pretend to understand. Aside from the Ashlanders seeming to be some sort of a Native American / Mongolian mixture. The house Dunmer appear to me to be somewhat asiatic in some of their weapons and social organization, Mesopotamian / North African in some of their architecture. (edit: The Tribunal kind of reminded me of some of the Hindu Gods as well. There were some other subtleties that gave the Dunmer a somewhat Indian flair in my eyes. The imperial encounter with Dunmer riding on the backs of giant insects reminded me of Alexander's encounters with the Indians on their own exotic beasts. Probably a very subjective remark but hein.) Again I'll re-iterate that I fully realize that the ES cultures will never fit perfectly into any real world mold.

I think the Norse influence on the Nords is apparent, but I see other cultures present as well, which I believe has already been covered in some posts pretty recently.

The Imperials seem to have changed greatly over the course of the games, but they always did kind of remind me of the Roman Empire (understandably). For that very reason, I found that the Altmer, at least in their relation to the empire of men, reminded me of the Greeks, in that so much of their innovations were taken on by the empire of men that followed.

The redguards never really struck me as all that African, aside from their physical appearance. I always saw more Japanese and Arabic influence. The Kahjiit too, I never found to be particularly Africain-y. Unless we're talking North Africa. Arabic influence seemed pretty dominant to me.

The Dwemer .. uh .. aside from the beards they're pretty out here. Wouldn't even know where to begin. If there is a culture to be associated with them, I don't think it would come from anywhere near the same era as the rest of the influences.

Orcs, Argonians, Bosmer .... no idea. Sometimes the latter two remind me ever so slightly of some South American cultures, but not enough for me to really make a solid declaration or back it up convincingly.

Sooner or later, I expected this...

As someone who tried to do this exact thing not too far back, I gotta say this is an extremely futile and personally annoying task. Annoying in the sense that you'll never be able to FULLY discover which race is based on which. Nameless Shape's inability to assert cultural influences for 4 races show this futility. Because it's technically impossible. Of course, you're gonna find SOME influences, but then other people will come up with other influences and then you'll be debating something that will ultimately be a waste of time when all of that energy could be focused into something that is actually lore, such as http://www.imperial-library.info/obscure_text/tsaesci.shtml, which is something a great deal of people STILL don't fully understand.

And even if you could do it, do you realize how boring that would be? It would be BATW boring. Because to me, it now is.

edit: fixed something because I'm illiterate.

lol - don't be such a sourpuss, attributing influences is fun for some people - ah - I see you have your own favorite there too :thumbsup:

I would like to add Scottish to the Dunmer mix and not just because of their generally 'dour brogue' - I feel that the Morrowind main theme takes on qualities that are Scottish, Irish, English (and probs the Welsh are in there somewheres too!) in a kind of late Victorian / 1950s mix like a military slow dance - anyone ever hear the theme for the Archers?. Heh, too bad there is no dancing in Morrowind because a military or royal ball would be absolutely splendid with that tune and arrangement. Truly romantic. Add in the tones of the Landscape and you have that Highland feel again - but there are other parts of Britain where the same thing exists - the Lake District, Snowdonia etc. And On top of some of the higher Peaks in Snowdonia you will find barren waste. There should be vege everywhere in Snowdonia - but it just gets blown and rained off!

Those wonderful little Islands in Azura's sea - ever the Giant's Causeway? - and never forget the Burren for flowers and other small plants!

Name your Volcano.

Imperials have very Brit accents and intentionally so. It's an excellent way to say posh and cultured in an Imperial setting.

I fully agree about the French/Breton thing, :shrug: but add in British Alchemy (there are some very famous Brit Alchemists - one might say notorious) - the French were really more 'catholic' regarding that - and maybe 'colonial' French/Brit housing in Daggerfall but with a more modern plainness.

Give Dwemer a mix of Anglo-French-Italian for their contraptions. The Sun King was famous for his love of such extravagances if more outgoing and extravagant in nature.

Back to the Dunmer. The Ascadian Isles landscape especially is very Itallianate - maybe Renaissance and all artists that follow that feathery leaf type the trees have - but the Hlaalu houses have much Brit/US frontier in details and materials of the interiors = homely and yet again have that Fragonard/Boucher touch though infinitely less sumptuously so. Exteriors are blockier and plainer though so that's more Arab again with a European interpretation. hoooo - what a mix

Heh - the Balmora Mages Guild? see last para ...

I have been trying to picture the Bosmer thing - but it gets tangled into that Green Pact / Woodland thing. We are still looking for a true style that is not LotR there - though I have come accross one most excellent example in concept form - in mods generally people reach for Wooden Tree Houses first and realise later that is not really a Bosmer thing - imported Wood or no.

This could take a long time ... there is soo much that it's not possible to get near without mixing influences - an dthere is more architecture in there than meets the eye. The vast span of Morrowind landscape and culture was visually and architecturally far richer than the bits I have seen of Oblivion - but maybe peole who have seen more of Cyrodiil than I would disagree ... :shrug:

Well...Sorry if I offended you. This wasn't meant to be a insulting to anyone. I can't see why it would be.

Albides, thank you for your input. I was simply curious as to where Bethesda got their inspirations from. You have pretty much answered my question.

As another note: anything you may look at that appears wrong to you is just a simple observation of one detail that may have been a part of a culture. I said that the Dunmer have Native American attributes because of their tribal/Ashkan lifestyle (contradictory as it may seem for me to say that) as well as their looks. In the Morrowind, they appeared to me as if they had Native American attributes: they had the pronounced facial features and some of the hair stylings as well.

However, it is notable, as Albides said, there are a variety of other cultures influencing them as well.

AND, ANOTHER NOTE: If people are going to be touchy and become rude I am going to get a moderator and ask him/her to shut this down.

Oh...and uh....Bretons...French...whoops. :facepalm:

In before moderator saying "Modern politics and religion are not subjects allowed on the Bethesda Boards" or a variation thereof.

But while this lasts:



You forgot how the Tribunal Temple is a Kaballistic mix of Judaism and Christianity (or, to be more precise, a stereotype of the Catholic Church): the latter because of its rigid power structure, political stranglehold, and "Inquisition"-style response to heresy, and the first because of its actual doctrines, the half-accurate and half-implied Nerevarine-as-Jesus allegory, and the similarity of the Velothi Exile to the Exodus from Egypt.

Personally I'm fascinated by culture, regardless of how ignorant I am of some or many, and I do my best to learn about them and explore the depth of their influences. That's why I created this topic in the first place.

However, apparently I've broken a rule and this needs to be shut down.

Locked by request