Spoiler All Elves are Jerks.

[Valin Oakthorn]

Than please tell me why they can't touch their plants? I'm genuinely confused.

Way Way Way Way back when, when all of the stuff happened with the earth bones and stuffs, azura whispered some secret and so Y'free was all like "Haha, im so gonna tell my people yo secret" and so he went to the wood elves and started a little gossip train in and when you heard the story, you were able to defy the earth bones and change your shape. So the wood elves, which were once beasts were all like "lets be elves" then went through a second level Pokemon evolution, and to thank Y'free, who was like the god of foresty valenwoodnes, they all cut themselves, and shook hands saying "We aint gonna eat no trees no more, cause thats bad" So obviously some stupid shaman thought he was better than every one, and tried to eat a carrot. So the Shaman went through a third level Pokemon evolution into a giant beast who ate EVERYTHING (I assume its a play on the fact that he wanted to eat more stuff, so now he ate everything" He ate every living thing he saw, and once his passive ability wore off, he ate himself. So then everybody knew not to eat the dang plants, but whenever valenwood went to war and started losing (like usual) They all drank/ate the figurative cool-aid/Lettuce and committed mass suicide, but effectively ate the other army.... and then their own... and then each other... and then themselves.

This history lesson was brought to you by: Geek Swag Lore INC.

Wait, so I was right the first time?

Kinda, necessity isnt quite the correct word. necessity would fit if they could only eat meat and valenwood had no animals. The thing is, very very very few wood elves actually are cannibals, some of the ones in the past were, and so the race as a whole got labeled for it.

 

[Dagmar]

Way Way Way Way back when, when all of the stuff happened with the earth bones and stuffs, azura whispered some secret and so Y'free was all like "Haha, im so gonna tell my people yo secret" and so he went to the wood elves and started a little gossip train in and when you heard the story, you were able to defy the earth bones and change your shape. So the wood elves, which were once beasts were all like "lets be elves" then went through a second level Pokemon evolution, and to thank Y'free, who was like the god of foresty valenwoodnes, they all cut themselves, and shook hands saying "We aint gonna eat no trees no more, cause thats bad" So obviously some stupid shaman thought he was better than every one, and tried to eat a carrot. So the Shaman went through a third level Pokemon evolution into a giant beast who ate EVERYTHING (I assume its a play on the fact that he wanted to eat more stuff, so now he ate everything" He ate every living thing he saw, and once his passive ability wore off, he ate himself. So then everybody knew not to eat the dang plants, but whenever valenwood went to war and started losing (like usual) They all drank/ate the figurative cool-aid/Lettuce and committed mass suicide, but effectively ate the other army.... and then their own... and then each other... and then themselves.

This history lesson was brought to you by: Geek Swag Lore INC.

 

[Dagmar]

Than please tell me why they can't touch their plants? I'm genuinely confused.

Because they made the Green Pact with Y'ffre the God of the Forest out of gratitude for his locking their prior unstable form which was constantly shifting from man to plant and back again. There's a dichotomy to the creation myth of the Bosmer from two different texts. One is Varieties of Faith in the Empire by Brother Mikhael Karkuxor and the other is Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi by the Khajiit Clan Mother of the same name. While there's variance in the stories the things that are consistent are that the forest creatures were originally always changing form and Y'ffre was responsible for locking the form of the forest creatures into the Bosmer:

According to the Wood Elves, after the creation of the mortal plane everything was in chaos. The first mortals were turning into plants and animals and back again. Then Y'ffre transformed himself into the first of the Ehlnofey, or 'Earth Bones'. After these laws of nature were established, mortals had a semblance of safety in the new world, because they could finally understand it. Y'ffre is sometimes called the Storyteller, for the lessons he taught the first Bosmer. Some Bosmer still possess the knowledge of the chaos times, which they can use to great effect (the Wild Hunt).

The children of Fadomai tore out the Heart of Lorkhaj and hid it deep within Nirni. And they said, "We curse you, noisy Lorkhaj, to walk Nirni for many phases"

But Nirni soon forgave Lorkhaj for Nirni could make children. And she filled herself with children, but cried because her favorite children, the forest people, did not know their shape.

And Azurah came to her and said, "Poor Nirni, stop your tears. Azurah makes for you a gift of a new people." Nirni stopped weeping, and Azurah spoke the First Secret to the Moons and they parted and let Azurah pass. And Azurah took some forest people who were torn between man and beast, and she placed them in the best deserts and forests on Nirni. And Azurah in her wisdom made them of many shapes, one for every purpose. And Azurah named them Khajiit and told them her Second Secret and taught them the value of secrets. And Azurah bound the new Khajiit to the Lunar Lattice, as is proper for Nirni's secret defenders. Then Azurah spoke the Third Secret, and the Moons shone down on the marshes and their light became sugar.

But Y'ffer heard the First Secret and snuck in behind Azurah. And Y'ffer could not appreciate secrets, and he told Nirni of Azurah's trick. So Nirni made the deserts hot and the sands biting. And Nirni made the forests wet and filled with poisons. And Nirni thanked Y'ffer and let him change the forest people also. And Y'ffer did not have Azurah's subtle wisdom, so Y'ffer made the forest people Elves always and never beasts. And Y'ffer named them Bosmer. And from that moment they were no longer in the same litter as the Khajiit.

There is nothing from the lore that supports the notion that the Bosmer assume the shifting forms of forest demons and animal gods by eating a locally grown carrot.

Transformation is achieved by a vaguely detailed form of ritualistic magic:

"While sometimes amusing, the Bosmer have a bestial side. They can resort to animal shapes if they need to, or water. Their most dreaded transformation is the Wild Hunt, which killed King Borgafor the "iniquities" of his Alessian faith. The Wild Hunt is a pack of shifting forest-demons and animal-gods, thousands strong, which sweeps through the countryside killing everything its path. The Wood Elves do not like to talk about the Hunt, and I gather they do not feel proud of this power at all-Gomini, my Bosmer companion of late, tells me that the Hunt is used for justice, but that also, "every monster in the world that has ever been comes from a previous Hunt. Those Bosmer that go Wild, they do not return." - Eric of Guis

....A flash of white fire erupted from every crevice of the temple, and the moan of the Bosmeri prayer changed into something terrible and otherworldly. The climbing Cathay-Raht stopped and stared.

"Keirgo," it gasped. "The Wild Hunt"

It was as if a crack in reality had opened wide. A flood of horrific beasts, tentacled toads, insects of armor and spine, gelatinous serpents, vaporous beings with the face of gods, all poured forth from the great hollow tree, blind with fury. They tore the Khajiiti in front of the temple to pieces. All the other cats fled for the jungle, but as they did so, they began pulling on the ropes they carried. In a few seconds time, the entire village of Vindisi was boiling with the lunatic apparitions of the Wild Hunt.

Over the babbling, barking, howling horde, Scotti heard the Cyrodiils in hiding cry out as they were devoured. The Nord too was found and eaten, and both Bretons. The wizard had turned himself invisible, but the swarm did not rely on their sight. The tree the Cathay-Raht was in began to sway and rock from the impossible violence beneath it. Scotti looked at the Khajiiti's fear-struck eyes, and held out one of the cords of moss.

The cat's face showed its pitiful gratitude as it leapt for the vine. It didn't have time to entirely replace that expression when Scotti pulled back the cord, and watched it fall. The Hunt consumed it to the bone before it struck the ground.

Scotti's own jump up to the next outcropping of rock was immeasurably more successful. From there, he pulled himself to the top of the cliff and was able to look down into the chaos that had been the village of Vindisi. The Hunt's mass had grown and began to spill out through the pass out of the valley, pursuing the fleeing Khajiiti. It was then that the madness truly began.

In the moons' light, from Scotti's vantage, he could see where the Khajiiti had attached their ropes. With a thunderous boom, an avalanche of boulders poured over the pass. When the dust cleared, he saw that the valley had been sealed. The Wild Hunt had nowhere to turn but on itself.

Scotti turned his head, unable to bear to look at the cannibalistic orgy. The night jungle stood before him, a web of wood. He slung Reglius's satchel over his shoulder, and entered.

 

[Chowder138]

All elves? That's a very bold claim. Many are. You could even say most are. But not all. As a matter of fact, Niranye is probably one of the nicest characters in the game.

 

[Alissa DeWitt]

One of the things I really like about this universe is that all races has their good points and their bad points. Everyone has weaknesses and prejudices and admirable qualities. No one is really evil or good. Everyone is somewhere in middle, though some lean more one way or the other. It makes the world seem realistic and well-rounded.

 

[Harc]

The Altmer are a great people with much wisdom

 

[Thorn]

I don't necessarily see any of the Mer as being "Jerks". The Thalmor give a bad reputation to the Altmer as a whole. The Bosmer and Dunmer seem to be victims of fabricated or wrongly interpreted stereotypes. The Orsimer are noble in a sense to me. I always am suspicious about what I read about the Dwemer being super bad as most of the accounts come from their enemies. The Snow Elves were victims of Nordic/Nedic genocide. And why wouldn't the Falmer want to incur vengeance against Skyrim? And the Ayleids....I think that is just another example of a few bad ones making it bad for the rest.

But that is just my opinon

 

[Chowder138]

The transformation that Bosmer undergo during the Wild Hunt has nothing to do with any violation of the Green Pact.
As noted by another they haven't practiced slavery since the Third Era. The Daedra are above concepts of good or evil. Azura, Boethia and Mephala were considered "good" Daedra by the Chimer and Dunmer.
There is nothing in the lore that establishes that they want to destroy Nirn and humans. Players that think this are spending way to much time discussing lore with MK worshipers. Just because he writes it doesn't make it lore. It's outside the game and unadopted by Bethesda. They own the copyright. He doesn't. While it's an interesting concept, it's not lore and it's not canon.

Than please tell me why they can't touch their plants? I'm genuinely confused.

Way Way Way Way back when, when all of the stuff happened with the earth bones and stuffs, azura whispered some secret and so Y'free was all like "Haha, im so gonna tell my people yo secret" and so he went to the wood elves and started a little gossip train in and when you heard the story, you were able to defy the earth bones and change your shape. So the wood elves, which were once beasts were all like "lets be elves" then went through a second level Pokemon evolution, and to thank Y'free, who was like the god of foresty valenwoodnes, they all cut themselves, and shook hands saying "We aint gonna eat no trees no more, cause thats bad" So obviously some stupid shaman thought he was better than every one, and tried to eat a carrot. So the Shaman went through a third level Pokemon evolution into a giant beast who ate EVERYTHING (I assume its a play on the fact that he wanted to eat more stuff, so now he ate everything" He ate every living thing he saw, and once his passive ability wore off, he ate himself. So then everybody knew not to eat the dang plants, but whenever valenwood went to war and started losing (like usual) They all drank/ate the figurative cool-aid/Lettuce and committed mass suicide, but effectively ate the other army.... and then their own... and then each other... and then themselves.

This history lesson was brought to you by: Geek Swag Lore INC.

Wat.

 

[UnfaithfulServant]

I'm pretty sure Bethesda gave each race a horrible background for topics like this.

 

[Tzipora]

I'm a Bosmer, and what did I do during that cannibal quest in Skyrim? I lead the guy to be sacrificed, but in a turn of events, I killed all the cannibals there. I don't think I could eat another person. It's just, ugh.

 

[Tzipora]

I'm pretty sure Bethesda gave each race a horrible background for topics like this.

I definitely agree. No one is perfect.