*grunt* Talos Caesar *snort* Redguard Snoop Dog *grunt*

One thematic similarity between the Dwemer and Mesopotamian civilizations is that the Dwemer are considered to be the oldest civilization on Tamriel.

By the way, a quote pertinent to these threads:

i'm very sure Redgaurds are supposed to be Africans. considering their skin tones, Egyptian names, hair, and physical trains such as being the fastest and highest jumping characters(the racism lol) they were intended to be black. also they come from a place they call the "home land" which is much like how a lot of black people refer to Africa. Also they r said to have eccentric personalities. they r practically african/african american stereotypes.and they come with afro's and corn rows.... i mean come on... besides someone has to be the polar opposite considering all of the other human/elf races appearto be caucasion. games like that tend to have polar opposites. and if romans r imperials then north africans r redguards. Dunmer r modeled after middle eastern people. if u look at how they r all split into factions with different philosophies much like the middle east. also consider the names of towns. some translate into actual Arab words. Dunmer r definitely middle eastern.

agh, that's cringeworthy... While Redguards are certainly based off of black africans in some respects, they're actually MUCH more middle-eastern in culture, as discussed above.
And the Dunmer are definitely NOT middle-eastern. There might be some middle-eastern influences, (although I don't see any, and "split into factions with different philosophies" fits every society to have ever existed), but they are NOT middle-eastern. They're DUNMER. They have a unique and idiosyncratic culture that is entirely their own, although their creation was influenced by certain things.

As I said, I've never seen a middle-eastern influence though... What arabic town names are you talking about?

You are all wrong
Imperials are based off of the ancient civilization of Unibroue
Bretons are based off of Bantams
Redguards are guards who happen to be red, but had dark skin in previous iterations.
Nords are actually what nerds wish they could be like
Argonians are actually based off of chicken
Khajiit, while people may think they're based off of desert societies and cats, they're actually based off of sock monkeys
For the altmer, it's the alt key. So proud and arrogant!
the dunmer is actually poop, as the dun part is supposed to be dung
the bosmer are based off of an inverted PETA
And the orsimer were actually inspired by lava lamps.

Trust me, you know I'm right.

I googled "Unibroue" and lol'd at "alt key". That's good.

You sir...are hilarious, like my cat with skoo--cat nip...

Drow

Seti, they were originally based off Drow, now not so much...

More of me being semi-annoyed with everyone trying to classify the TES races into a RL culture. It's only superficial at best, so I figured I may as well make up a bunch of stuff I found around my room and classify it to a race.

What troubles me so much about these kinds of discussions is how it is taken for granted that any sort of inspiration for a fictional people can only come from information about another. As if you cannot start with an idea and then build a people around it. As if the Imperials are a cypher first and a fictional empire second only. I feel such a perspective needlessly implies a one-on-one relation between stories and aesthetics. Surely, all of you looking for tenuous 'these-are-these' realize that exterior parallels* are simply choices the developers made by which they don't necessarily mean to say anything?


*Which contrary to what some posters in their -understandable- zeal to dispel oversimplification would say, really exist.

What?



What?



What?!

NO, Redguard coming to tamriel are more like islamic africans that imigrated into spain and france....

Except they didn't nuke their own home with swords...

I have noticed that many Dunmer in Morrowind sound like Odo from Deep Space Nine. From this I conclude that they are based on alien shapeshifters from Star Trek.

I think the Mer races are less bassed off of real world cultures than the human races are.

I don't think the Akavirian races are based on eastern cultures.... ridiculus....

or are they?


haha, utopians... cccc

Akaviri races are obviously based on Dead Space and Planet of the Apes...

According to http://www.imperial-library.info/content/interviews-MW-team:


So the answer is... a mixture, basically. They're not based on any one culture.

What are the Dunmer based on? Sumerian beards?

Seems everyone's forgotten the Magic Triune: Drow, Skeksis, and Rock 'n Roll.

Exactly.

I never considered the Japanese connection to the Great Houses...but the more I consider it the more obvious it seems.. The whole clan/house issue is clearly Japanese...especially the Sengoku Jedai period. You have House Hlaalu which represents those clans that adopted Western technologies and tactics and on the whole were very conciliatory to the West (Clan Oda, Satsuma prefecture). House Telvanni represents Machiavellian thinking and hostility toward all foreign influence (Tokugawa). House Redoran toally embodies the Samurai ideal (with a little Sparta thrown into the mix).

Ancestor worship is clearly Eastern, even with the shrines.

Sumerian/Mesopotamia/Anatolian pre-Islamic Middle East in their architecture and general outlook on life (tending to be harshly realistic and skeptical of any sort of redeeming goodness in life). This is closely linked to Phoenician/Carthaginian culture which I think House Hlaalu in particular is modelled on. Perhaps a little Central/Southern American culture.

Some have said the Ashlanders are Native American influenced, but may I suggest that they share far more in common with the Mongolian and Manchurian tribal peoples. Yurts, Khans, etc.

I also detect a hint of Egyptian, especially in Morrowind's relationship to the Empire (being subservient but remaining semi-autonomous).

Then you have the Temple and the concept of ALMSIVI and trinity, so you have an early pre-Roman Judeo-Christian influence there.

Medieval/Renaissance Northwestern Europe meets Rome (Cyrodiil/Imperials) and/or pre-Christian Scandinavia (Skyrim/Nords). Redguards = West African Coast/Berber influence. Bosmer = Celtic/Native American. Orcs = Slavic. Bretons = British (some Celtic influence, but hardly based on Celtic society imho). Altmer = some Age of Exploration European influence, maybe a little Ottoman Empire, and is that a hint of Renaissance Italy I detect?

Dwemer are clearly Sumerian meets Industrial Revolution meets Lost Island of Atlantis. :foodndrink:

Ayleids have a strong Etruscan influence to them mixed with a little Athenian Greek.

This is me putting my degree in history to good use :dance:

Korusus - seems legit.

=)

really, good and detailed observation...


Orcs are based on slavs even in tolkien's works, well, on the linguistic part at least. But in general, our slavic mithology collides greatly with norse pantheon, and other indo-european pantheons. Just like in TES, that is, so the similarity is greater =)

Partly Drows, partly jews, and very eclectic architecture.
Why jews? Morrowind it is basically like 1st century Judea:
1. Imperials - Roman occupants.
2. Temple - Temple
3. Clans - like the different religious groups, some more for, some more against the empire.
4. Veloth - Moses
5. Nerevar Indoril - David/Solomon
6. Nerevarine - The Messiah
7. Morag Tong - Zelots or Sicarii
8. Tribiunal - Rather inspired a bit maybe, by the christian idea of trinity, which rose out of judaism.

The jews temple, was destroyed, and so was Vivec, and the Dunmer like the jews had to flee.

Woah, woah, Orcs slavic? I don't see the connection at all.

But yeah, the quote from the Morrowind team sums what the Dunmer are inspired from nicely, and it makes perfect sense when you think about it.

If anything, the orcs are much like the mongols, mixed in with some ancient Japan, a sprinkle of norse berserks, and a group of highly persecuted people