Does your heritage impact your choice of race in Skyrim?

As you can probably assume, I am deeply intrigued by cultural impacts upon individuals; this has been further emphasised by my forays into the world of Skyrim and my theories that race and culture play a prominent part in creating such and immersive world - thus reflecting life in quite acute terms.

I have created a thread about that currently and would hope you could add your own opinions.

However, this thread will focus more on whether or not the races you choose in Skyrim are predicated upon a disposition to any particular element or aspect within your own cultural exceptions in 'real life' and, if so, how entrenched within the game does this become when you role play?

For example, my father was born in Tromsø, Norway to an Irish oil-rigger and a Norwegian mother. They moved across to Ålborg, Denmark when he was around 15 year old. It was there that he met my mother whilst working as a welder in marine boilers. She had a Scottish mother and a Danish father.

My parents then moved to Northumbria (like the Lindisfarne Vikingr raids all over again!) and the rest is history.

So, in short, I was born in England but have Irish/Norwegian and Scottish/Danish blood coarsing through my veins.

I am a Celtic-Norseman and thus this has given me a real bond with the Nord race - so much so that, without judging me too rashly for my narrow-mindedness - I haven't actually played as any other race yet...and giving me a hatred of the Thalmor and Imperials.

So...does it impact upon YOUR affinity to other races in Skyrim?

Well, I'm a Polish-American with Indian heritage from two separate tribes and I would rather pick flowers and chase salmon up waterfalls than kill undead. Doesn't necessarily dictate my route in the game as I see the game as nothing but a bunch of resources being exchanged that have arbitrary values. But the aspects of the game I mentioned give me most joy as those are the joys I enjoy in real life.

I see I missed the point a little. Sorry. I don't factor my heritage in at all personally. My decision is based on what sort of RP environment I want to create.

I don't like Thalmor because they are constantly rude. I couldn't care less what they are doing behind the scenes.

Not really, but this is my first time through. I really only chose the Imperial because of the extra cash. I will probably play Nord next as it's my heritage, but, as I've traveled all over the world and have such admiration for so many cultures and peoples, I don't really see it affecting my choice of play. My gender does tend to influence my character choice though. I think I would only play males, simply because I have no idea how to play a female. Although, I have created a female nord character that I want to turn in to a Dibella Worshipping slutty assassin. Too bad I'm on console or I'd mod her out to get certain reactions from the NPCs.

Most of my Dragonborns have been Argonians. So in those cases definitely not, unless you're counting my last reptilian ancestor from about 256 million years ago. I believe it was the Pelycosaur

I'm half white(german), half asian(thai).. smack dab in the middle of Texas. I'm a redneck. Cowboy boots, dirty jeans etc. etc. I play every kind of character I can get my hands on but I'm finding a certain great joy in playing nords and redguards more than anything else... Building my ummm... Virtual Ranch, adopting lil red-headed children and kicking ass with as much epic style as possible.

I'm mostly drawn to playing Nord characters. I'm of mainly European heritage so I think I just connect with them the best. Plus, it only seems right that I play a Nord in Skyrim.

Well i'm English, french, welsh, indian and burmese.

I don't know what the asian equivalent in skyrim is

I know you can get mixed race mods on PC but i have xbox, are bretons mixed of nord and high elf?

Lightningfalcon said:

Well i'm English, french, welsh, indian and burmese.

I don't know what the asian equivalent in skyrim is

I know you can get mixed race mods on PC but i have xbox, are bretons mixed of nord and high elf?

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I would say more like a mix of nedic and aldmer .

I play nord because I like them the best

Very interesting replies thus far...thank you all for contributing.

I'm Australian/Scottish and always play as the Imperial since Oblivion (Roman types) So my heritage doesn't always impact my choice of race.

All kidding aside, my non-Argonians, including my current Dragonborn, have all been Nord. Myself, I'm German, Dutch, Irish and English, with a touch off Scottish thrown in way back in the day (my mother was big into genealogy). I actually had ancestors who fought on opposing sides of the American Revolution

Yes and no, for me. I'm a blend: Irish, English, African-American, Dutch and Cherokee Indian. So that likely explains my interest in mixed-race characters (my main is a Breton/Redguard). But overall, it doesn't inform my racial choice as much.

Truth be told, I've not played as a Nord yet - I simply wasn't compelled, even though the game is set in Skyrim. They just didn't call to me. I was never big on Viking history and culture. I'm much more of a Roman fan, especially since my academic degrees and research pertain directly to that era and niche of history. My favorite race in general is Imperial unsurprisingly, but I've only actually rolled one such player character in this game.

So really, to answer the question at hand, I have a mixed background that doesn't really compel me to favor one ES race or another. If anything, I'm intrigued by the crisscrossing of cultures and heritage. And I think that's reflected in my character creation.

Docta Corvina said:

I'm much more of a Roman fan, especially since my academic degrees and research pertain directly to that era and niche of history.

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One could argue that the Nords are to Skyrim what the Batavians (or Batavi) were to the Roman Empire. Of course a rebelling Skyrim could be comparable to the territories briefly held by the Empire prior to the Battle of Teutoburg Forest.

I'm a fan of ancient Rome too, and yes, that plays a heavy part in my choice to have all my Dragonborns join the Legion.

yes and no, depends on what mood im in. but i have played all races and several builds with each

Yes, Whenever I play an RPG, I try to create the darkest pigmented human or human-like archer I can. Some games I can only play an elf since they can sometime be made almost dark-skinned.
I applaud TES for having a melanin-prominent human who can kick much A55. My problem is how far can I deviate from my personnal ethics.
I hated every minute of the Dark Brotherhood's quests. I still have the last two of the quest line to do and can't bring myself to do them.
I can't even see myself playing a female. I wouldn't know how to act.

Polish and African... Hmm Well I don't think it has much of an impact since I almost always find myself making Nords or Bosmer characters. I just base my choice off of the race's lore, and Talents.

Most of the characters I play tend to be Nords, as the race simply fits my hack-and-slash playstyle quite nicely. Now that you mention it though, I am of Swedish descent, so that might subconsciously have something to do with it, but I honestly never really thought about it. It wasn't until I started playing Skyrim when I started experimenting with the different races for different RP standpoints and branching out to see what the game could offer. Now, I pick my race based on how I want the character to be played and their backstory. There are advantages of playing an Elven mage over a Nord one.

I guess to answer your question in one phrase: yes and no. It depends on what kind of coffee I've drank that morning.

Maybe a little.

I always tend to go with what fits with the game more (TES:III - Dark Elf; TESIV - Imperial; TESV - Nord), but I do try to tweak the characters to look like me, so my answer would be: No, I don't use my own heritage to impact my choice of race.

I'm Austrian, a quarter Russian (My grandfather is Russian) - I like playing as Nords, but overall, it doesn't really affect the way I play the game. (I'm a Khajiit and Argonian guy xD)

Interesting question.

I'm a mix of Scottish/Welsh and Heiltsuk (Canadian First Nation); although since I have dark skin, eyes and hair it is easier to identify as First Nations (American Indian, red indian {sigh}, etc.). As a result of this I find myself most often playing Bosmer/Dunmer archer assassins using stealth and long range marksmanship to eliminate any agents of the great Imperial machine.

By the same token though, I'm not very sympathetic to the Nords when they preach their bigotry, or the Altmer for the belief in their racial superiority. So now I've taken to assassinating any Thalmor prisoner convoys, both the guards and the prisoner (lol, "I'm free! I'm free!" thwack!! "Oh no!, an arrow to the knee?!?"), whenever I meet them out in the wild [my dominion, ]

I've always felt an affinity to the Forsworn rebellion or to the Dunmer refugees in their position at the margin. I feel it would be a betrayal to the downtrodden masses, and to my carefully veiled sensitivities, to even consider a Nord, Imperial or Altmer character. Also, I just don't know how to step on the neck of some beggar and demand he/she clean the mud off my boot.

Recently I've switched to an Orc Berserker as a change of pace, get up close and personal with the one you're eviscerating. To do that required me to consciously look past the Orcs collusion with the Empire. It was a tough pill to swallow but I'm developing a narrative that leads the Orcs away from service to the Empire and towards resurrecting Orsinium once again to placate myself.

I like the fact that this game has such detail written into the script, revealing the biases you hold by the choices you make in your character development and gameplay.

But, you know? Maybe I'm reading too much into a mere video game?