Linking Skyrim Races to IRL

[Vova]

I've been thinking about how the Khajiits feel like Spaniards, They talk very smoothly and something about them gives them that feel. Also Orcs feel Like Native Americans with War-Chiefs and having tribes and all that. Nords feel American to me, because there native to Skyrim, while Brentons are like Europeans, There similar to the Nords but not quite. I haven't thought about the other races on how they match up with some of the IRL counter-parts, but It'll be interesting to know what you guys think.

 

[xsneakyxsimx]

You are welcome.

 

[Vova]

You are welcome.

Ah thanks man, I was wondering if they got some IRL inspiration!

 

[Vaga8ond]

Yeah I could tell right away the Khajits were gypsies as they are nomadic and not trusted by anyone. Cool chart.

 

[Remington721]

That is amazing and very accurate . Thanks for awesome post .

 

[Vaga8ond]

I just made a Bosmer that looks very Native American.

 

[khazan99]

This makes me want to make an Orc horse-archer now.... !

 

[Vidarr]

'xsneakyxsimx' hit the nail on the head with that post.

If I was going to be a bit more specific (stupid perfectionist that I am),
I would broaden the Breton's being Celts to specifically encompass Medieval France (still technically Celtic in origin) - if for nothing other than the wine and cheese trade .

Also, the Nords being largely inspired by the Scandinavian peoples, I think Vikings could be expanded a bit to include Germanic.

But maybe I'm just splitting hairs.

 

[Tyler The Squatcher]

I'm a bit late and I'm also new to these forums but i just want to add my personal opinion and see what anyone thinks. Although Nords share a lot of Viking beliefs, they honestly come off as as Celts who were influenced by Vikings settling in Scotland. After all the Vikings did not wear horned helmets and tales tell of Celtic warriors wearing horned helmets against the Romans. Many of the words used in Skyrim are Norse related but when it comes down to a few things they are equally as related to Celtic warriors. So personally i would say Nords would be Viking/Celts. Now for Bretons, I don't know much about them in game except they are multi-cultured with mixed blood lines from Elves and Humans. I do know Celts were a warrior culture but also had religious beliefs of nature worship. The only Bretons I know of in the game that still have their original Breton culture are the Forsworn. But Celts being tall in history contradicts Bretons for supposedly being around average height. But mixed blood would explain the change in appearance of height, hair, and eye color. The Forsworn have shamans which Celts also had except along with druids. Celts also had homes similar to Forsworn (http://resourcesforhistory.com/Celtic_round_houses.htm). Forsworn also used nature magic similar to what the Celts believed in. Only thing missing in the Bretons is their ability to fight Nords toe to toe as the Celts did with the Vikings. Celt is also a pretty broad term covering many regions in Europe such as, Britain, Scotland, Ireland, France, and any other region that i didn't list. So with all that said, I'd say Nords are Viking/Scottish Vikings and Bretons are a Celtic mix that can't really be specified since there were more than one gaelic tribe. I think it would be fair to say Gaelic Celts in general.

 

[Rimfaxe96]

I'm a bit late and I'm also new to these forums but i just want to add my personal opinion and see what anyone thinks. Although Nords share a lot of Viking beliefs, they honestly come off as as Celts who were influenced by Vikings settling in Scotland. After all the Vikings did not wear horned helmets and tales tell of Celtic warriors wearing horned helmets against the Romans. Many of the words used in Skyrim are Norse related but when it comes down to a few things they are equally as related to Celtic warriors. So personally i would say Nords would be Viking/Celts. Now for Bretons, I don't know much about them in game except they are multi-cultured with mixed blood lines from Elves and Humans. I do know Celts were a warrior culture but also had religious beliefs of nature worship. The only Bretons I know of in the game that still have their original Breton culture are the Forsworn. But Celts being tall in history contradicts Bretons for supposedly being around average height. But mixed blood would explain the change in appearance of height, hair, and eye color. The Forsworn have shamans which Celts also had except along with druids. Celts also had homes similar to Forsworn (http://resourcesforhistory.com/Celtic_round_houses.htm). Forsworn also used nature magic similar to what the Celts believed in. Only thing missing in the Bretons is their ability to fight Nords toe to toe as the Celts did with the Vikings. Celt is also a pretty broad term covering many regions in Europe such as, Britain, Scotland, Ireland, France, and any other region that i didn't list. So with all that said, I'd say Nords are Viking/Scottish Vikings and Bretons are a Celtic mix that can't really be specified since there were more than one gaelic tribe. I think it would be fair to say Gaelic Celts in general.

An interesting aspect, but since the Bretons are said to be the descendants of elves and captured human concubines, I doubt they've ever had a specific culture of their own. They rather adapted to the elven civilizations of High Rock back then, living among them as lower class citizen and stuff. Who knows, maybe they didn't take too much influence from elves and just 'did their own thing'.
Hard to tell because there's just so little information given. But by now the TES universe is large enough for its own encyclopedia, or rather one encyclopedia for each region/race/era.

 

[Tyler The Squatcher]

I'm a bit late and I'm also new to these forums but i just want to add my personal opinion and see what anyone thinks. Although Nords share a lot of Viking beliefs, they honestly come off as as Celts who were influenced by Vikings settling in Scotland. After all the Vikings did not wear horned helmets and tales tell of Celtic warriors wearing horned helmets against the Romans. Many of the words used in Skyrim are Norse related but when it comes down to a few things they are equally as related to Celtic warriors. So personally i would say Nords would be Viking/Celts. Now for Bretons, I don't know much about them in game except they are multi-cultured with mixed blood lines from Elves and Humans. I do know Celts were a warrior culture but also had religious beliefs of nature worship. The only Bretons I know of in the game that still have their original Breton culture are the Forsworn. But Celts being tall in history contradicts Bretons for supposedly being around average height. But mixed blood would explain the change in appearance of height, hair, and eye color. The Forsworn have shamans which Celts also had except along with druids. Celts also had homes similar to Forsworn (http://resourcesforhistory.com/Celtic_round_houses.htm). Forsworn also used nature magic similar to what the Celts believed in. Only thing missing in the Bretons is their ability to fight Nords toe to toe as the Celts did with the Vikings. Celt is also a pretty broad term covering many regions in Europe such as, Britain, Scotland, Ireland, France, and any other region that i didn't list. So with all that said, I'd say Nords are Viking/Scottish Vikings and Bretons are a Celtic mix that can't really be specified since there were more than one gaelic tribe. I think it would be fair to say Gaelic Celts in general.

An interesting aspect, but since the Bretons are said to be the descendants of elves and captured human concubines, I doubt they've ever had a specific culture of their own. They rather adapted to the elven civilizations of High Rock back then, living among them as lower class citizen and stuff. Who knows, maybe they didn't take too much influence from elves and just 'did their own thing'.
Hard to tell because there's just so little information given. But by know the TES universe is large enough for its own encyclopedia, or rather one encyclopedia for each region/race/era.

I agree there. But like you said, it is very possible they went on and created their own culture later on but we probably won't know for sure until TES Online or a new Elder Scrolls game with that information. The Forsworn may be one group but as far as i know they are the only group completely made up of Bretons so it's basically the only window we have to really look through at Bretons. Though i think i read something saying they were Bretons mixed with Nord blood, but i don't know how true that is. I'm interested into finding out more about Bretons in general.

 

[Rimfaxe96]

I agree there. But like you said, it is very possible they went on and created their own culture later on but we probably won't know for sure until TES Online or a new Elder Scrolls game with that information. The Forsworn may be one group but as far as i know they are the only group completely made up of Bretons so it's basically the only window we have to really look through at Bretons. Though i think i read something saying they were Bretons mixed with Nord blood, but i don't know how true that is. I'm interested into finding out more about Bretons in general.

The Forsworn might be the splinter group descending from runaway Bretons or something like that. In Tamrielic history humanity's been at each others necks for quite a bit, having their own little tribes and territories while elves for example had entire civilizations going at that point. Even when the Ayleid started kidnapping, enslaving, murdering and brutally torturing humans just for fun they didn't step up, I guess they just didn't consider themselves to belong together for whatever reasons (just like humanity sees differences in one another because of irrelevant characteristics such as skin color, facial structures etc despite being genetically the same).
Maybe the Forsworn were one of those tribes, only larger than others and being able to hold themselves up against the Nords for quite a while. Well, now that there's an Empire, I doubt they'll live for much longer as long as they behave aggressively and with hostility towards everyone but themselves.

(Admittedly, while being in Cidhna Mine I felt some sympathy for the Forsworn, but when I went to their dungeons and saw innocent people, kidnapped Nord women and many more laying about... no, that's just not a decent thing to do.)

 

[Tyler The Squatcher]

I agree there. But like you said, it is very possible they went on and created their own culture later on but we probably won't know for sure until TES Online or a new Elder Scrolls game with that information. The Forsworn may be one group but as far as i know they are the only group completely made up of Bretons so it's basically the only window we have to really look through at Bretons. Though i think i read something saying they were Bretons mixed with Nord blood, but i don't know how true that is. I'm interested into finding out more about Bretons in general.

The Forsworn might be the splinter group descending from runaway Bretons or something like that. In Tamrielic history humanity's been at each others necks for quite a bit, having their own little tribes and territories while elves for example had entire civilizations going at that point. Even when the Ayleid started kidnapping, enslaving, murdering and brutally torturing humans just for fun they didn't step up, I guess they just didn't consider themselves to belong together for whatever reasons (just like humanity sees differences in one another because of irrelevant characteristics such as skin color, facial structures etc despite being genetically the same).
Maybe the Forsworn were one of those tribes, only larger than others and being able to hold themselves up against the Nords for quite a while. Well, now that there's an Empire, I doubt they'll live for much longer as long as they behave aggressively and with hostility towards everyone but themselves.

(Admittedly, while being in Cidhna Mine I felt some sympathy for the Forsworn, but when I went to their dungeons and saw innocent people, kidnapped Nord women and many more laying about... no, that's just not a decent thing to do.)

Skyrim had so much super potential especially for DLC but Bethesda just blew it off. I would of loved to see a Forsworn questline where you have the ability to get them to see eye to eye with either Nords or Imperials. Hell even just giving them the Reach. don't plan on playing TES Online since the economy is in the plopss and monthly pay is outrageous. Although i'd love to just because it's an online TES game. But they could of held off on that since i don't see it being the giant success everyone else sees it being. Since they Just kind of blew off potential for Skyrim which is debateably their best game ever, I'm expecting the next game to be equal or better. Let's face it, they had possibilities with the Civil War, the Moot, the Forsworn, definitely with proper race treatment and identification. But i think TES Online may give the best representation since it's open Tamriel. But who knows.

 

[Irishman]

Its not IRL but when i was watching The Game Thrones (highly recommend for those who havot seen it) i thought:

The Starks and other northerners were the nords - love the cold and very headstong with big hearts
The Beratheons and lannisters were the imperials - very political and were city folk
The people from Braavos were the kajiit - aweome accents, somewhat secretive and good warriors
The Khalasar are the redguards - tanned, curved swords and very skilled at swordplay

Its a great show and gets you amped up to play Skyrim

 

[Vaga8ond]

Its not IRL but when i was watching The Game Thrones (highly recommend for those who havot seen it) i thought:

The Starks and other northerners were the nords - love the cold and very headstong with big hearts
The Beratheons and lannisters were the imperials - very political and were city folk
The people from Braavos were the kajiit - aweome accents, somewhat secretive and good warriors
The Khalasar are the redguards - tanned, curved swords and very skilled at swordplay

Its a great show and gets you amped up to play Skyrim

I haven't watched the 3rd season yet (don't have cable) but yeah there are a lot of similarities between The Game of Thrones and Skyrim. I would assume there would be more of a contrast physically between Bretons and other human races as they do have some elven bloodlines. If elfs came first then they would have the dominant traits/genes, thus humans would carry the recessive traits.