elder scrolls races compared to real life

The 'magical' superiority is akin to the technological superiority the Chinese had historically, and the stereotypes of the Altmer as being perfectionists and harsh on any one particularly of their culture who doesn't match up fits perfectly with European perceptions of the Chinese in the early modern era as distant, cold, calculating people from an old culture who don't care about barbarians.Īrgonian: South Americans or sub-Saharan Africans. My thoughts, based on my knowledge of history, culture, and languages.Īltmer: Chinese - I am one of those people who are convinced they look Asian. Khajiit seem to be modelled on the Persians, as you say. Redguards in the earlier games (Morrowind/Oblivion) seemed to be modelled more on the Caribbean Islanders (kinda pirate-style, with dreads and such), although in Skyrim they seem more African, it is of course obvious from their clothing in Skyrim too. Nords are in the same way obviously modelled on the Norse peoples with some ancient Scottish influence thrown in. Imperials are obviously modelled on the Romans, of course, as you say

Orcs, don't know if they are really meant to have a particular real-world parallell? The parallell to the Mongols seem more fitting on the Dwemer, at least how they're shown in Morrowind (the Dwemer buildings on the other hand kinda looking a bit like southeast-Asian pagodas).

Mournhold on the other hand looks distinctly Chinese/Central Asian. Architectually, Morrowind seems to borrow a bit from everything, with Balmora looking kinda Middle-Eastern/North African, Vivec more Egyptian, or even Mesoamerican (Maya), and the Telvanni cities being kinda LoTR-like, the buildings there reminding a lot of Hobbit dwellings. I guess they could be said to parallell the Chinese too, which could also fit with their yellowish-golden skin colour.īosmer, more like 'traditional' Fantasy/LoTR-style elves, without really having a clear real-world parallell - perhaps some of the North American native american tribes?ĭunmer seem to be quite a mix of everything - in Morrowind, the Ashlanders use ancient Babylonian-style names, while similarly based on Middle-Eastern nomadic peoples like the Kurds. Kinda fits with their French-like names, too.Īltmer, I dunno, I've kinda seen them as something similar to the Incas of South America - very concerned with themselves and their culture, and seeing themselves as above the other tribes. Bretons are a real people (check the 'Breton People' article on Wikipedia), inhabiting the Brittany region of France, and of English Celtic descent.

Elder scrolls races compared to real life