Should the Dragonborn be a certain race or sex?

[Daelon DuLac]

This has been bothering me.

For some reason, I just can't bring myself to even begin the Main Quest with my female Khajit. It just doesn't feel right.

I was thinking about it and, IMO, it just seemed like the Dragonborn would only be human and probably male given history and lore. Somehow it always comes down to Nord or Imperial as dragonborn.

I hope I'm not being bigotted in this regard, but, the more I thought about it, while I could justify a female human dragonborn, I just couldn't bring myself to have it be any other type. Elves would just be wrong, since they don't even really have the same belief system and the beast races already have all their own stuff going.

Thoughts?

 

[Lady Redpool the Unlifer]

Since being Dragonborn is a gift from Akatosh, literally anyone can be Dragonborn, regardless of race or sex. Akatosh will give it to whoever he feels like, so we might as well just go with it. There is NO reaspn that a female beast or elf couldn't be dragonborn

 

[Daelon DuLac]

Since being Dragonborn is a gift from Akatosh, literally anyone can be Dragonborn, regardless of race or sex. Akatosh will give it to whoever he feels like, so we might as well just go with it. There is NO reaspn that a female beast or elf couldn't be dragonborn

Understood. Just commenting on my own biases. Since most of the beast races and the elves do not even recognize Akatosh and since there is no history of a non-human, non-male dragon born, I was just wondering how I can work it in to RP. Like I said, my little Khajit female just doesn't seem to fit in to the questline. Deadly? Hell yes! Intimidating? No.

 

[Sean]

I would consider the canon one to be a Male Nord Warrior, much like the live action trailer for Skyrim.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

I would consider the canon one to be a Male Nord Warrior, much like the live action trailer for Skyrim.

Weren't the Septims Imperial though? I thought there were a few dragonborn amongst them.

 

[Sean]

I would consider the canon one to be a Male Nord Warrior, much like the live action trailer for Skyrim.

Weren't the Septims Imperial though? I thought there were a few dragonborn amongst them.

Not all of them Tiber Septim was most likely a Nord, and they were most likely not the only ones that had dragon blood.

 

[Crooksin]

If it was supposed to be a certain race, don't you think it would be called the Dragonman/lizard/lady/cat, hm? Nope, Dragonborn

 

[Daelon DuLac]

If it was supposed to be a certain race, don't you think it would be called the Dragonman/lizard/lady/cat, hm? Nope, Dragonborn

Good point. I know I'm deluded in this. Just stating my RP issues and hoping for feedback. Besides, that would be an awfully long name, especially for the DLC. Thanks for chiming in.

 

[Crooksin]

If it was supposed to be a certain race, don't you think it would be called the Dragonman/lizard/lady/cat, hm? Nope, Dragonborn

Good point. I know I'm deluded in this. Just stating my RP issues and hoping for feedback. Besides, that would be an awfully long name, especially for the DLC. Thanks for chiming in.

Personally, imagining a Dragonborn to me is a big ass Nord with a beard shouting down bitches. Mainly only because the whole game is based around Nords, probably, if they decided to put the Dragonborn aspect in Morrowind then I would imagine a Dark Elf. I don't play female characters and rarely ever touch the beast races mainly because I dislike the look of them, so I'm biased in that way. Interesting point though, the religion aspect, I would be skeptical if Akatosh would choose a non-human race for the Dragonborn. (Speaking as if this plops is real, of course lol)

 

[MalkavianVentrue]

I personally think any race or gender can be Dragonborn, but I'm not exactly totally knowledgeable about Elder Scrolls lore either.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

If it was supposed to be a certain race, don't you think it would be called the Dragonman/lizard/lady/cat, hm? Nope, Dragonborn

Good point. I know I'm deluded in this. Just stating my RP issues and hoping for feedback. Besides, that would be an awfully long name, especially for the DLC. Thanks for chiming in.

Personally, imagining a Dragonborn to me is a big ass Nord with a beard shouting down bitches. Mainly only because the whole game is based around Nords, probably, if they decided to put the Dragonborn aspect in Morrowind then I would imagine a Dark Elf. I don't play female characters and rarely ever touch the beast races mainly because I dislike the look of them, so I'm biased in that way. Interesting point though, the religion aspect, I would be skeptical if Akatosh would choose a non-human race for the Dragonborn. (Speaking as if this pl*** is real, of course lol)

I don't usually play female characters, but I found I was turning in to just a hack and slasher so I thought I'd try something new. Now a female Nord and a female Khajit. It's interesting trying to play them since I have no point of reference and need to really think about how a character like that might actually react.

 

[orca45]

The natural approach should be Nord. Dragonborn is setup in Skyrim, a land in dangerous to be destructed by Alduin, and Skyrim belongs to Nords. Other race than Nord, would not have a sense since they are from other territories. Just my 2 cents ...

 

[jarif]

Well i was thinking of this before but the thing is are you playing the iconic Dragonborn from the trailer? No.
So that means the Dragonborn can anyone you want him/she to be. Btw thats racist. XD
Btw Dragonborn can be anyone even a town guard

 

[orca45]

Well i was thinking of this before but the thing is are you playing the iconic Dragonborn from the trailer? No.
So that means the Dragonborn can anyone you want him/she to be. Btw thats racist. XD
Btw Dragonborn can be anyone even a town guard

Dragonborn could be anyone and I don’t care if somebody choose a woman, a man, a reptile class or any other. This is not about being racist at all; it is just a game. In my opinion, I said : the natural approach should be .... I did not say it “must be”.

 

[jarif]

Well i was thinking of this before but the thing is are you playing the iconic Dragonborn from the trailer? No.
So that means the Dragonborn can anyone you want him/she to be. Btw thats racist. XD
Btw Dragonborn can be anyone even a town guard

Dragonborn could be anyone and I don’t care if somebody choose a woman, a man, a reptile class or any other. This is not about being racist at all; it is just a game. In my opinion, I said : the natural approach should be .... I did not say it “must be”.

i was talking about Khajiit, everyone seems to make racist comments on them just cause their little kittens XD

 

[orca45]

Well i was thinking of this before but the thing is are you playing the iconic Dragonborn from the trailer? No.
So that means the Dragonborn can anyone you want him/she to be. Btw thats racist. XD
Btw Dragonborn can be anyone even a town guard

Dragonborn could be anyone and I don’t care if somebody choose a woman, a man, a reptile class or any other. This is not about being racist at all; it is just a game. In my opinion, I said : the natural approach should be .... I did not say it “must be”.

i was talking about Khajiit, everyone seems to make racist comments on them just cause their little kittens XD

I see. I don’t like that class because I want to look human. Now, if in real life an eel or a snake talk to me like human, I will plops in my pants because that would be the devil himself .... lol ...

 

[MakkeKaryumo]

The lore says (From the Wiki)

"Near the end of her reign, as Alessia lay dying, she was visited by Lorkhan, called Shezarr in Cyrodiil.[3] He brought with him a pact from Akatosh, the chief of all gods, for Alessia. Akatosh infused Alessia with his own divine blood, then had Shezarr place her soul into the newly formed Amulet of Kings. Akatosh then sealed off the planes of Oblivion, which kept the Aedra and Daedra from ever walking Nirn again. Alessia's soul was bound to this seal, as Akatosh vowed: as long as an heir of his and Alessia's joined blood sat on the throne of Cyrodiil, and wore the Amulet of Kings, the seal will remain in place and Tamriel would be safe from Oblivion. Thus from here the bloodline were called by the nords of Skyrim as Dragonborn. Martin Septim was the last Dragonborn emperor to wear the Amulet of kings and thereby seal Oblivion forever."

So I guess as long as the Dragonborn is in that bloodline, it could be literally anyone. The chances of the Dragonborn being an elf or beast is somewhat lower, if only because Elves and Beastmen tend to fancy other members of their race more than humans.

 

[Wildroses]

My favourite race is Altmer. It has occurred to me that this has got to be unpleasant for hell of a lot of Nords, considering the recent history of Tamriel. "Our greatest Nordic legend, our prophesied hero, our treasured myth made real is one of those elitist scum who we went to war with and took Talos away from us?!" Puts a whole new spin on the guard line: "You couldn't possibly be the Dragonborn of legend, could you?"

Possibly Akatosh is a bit of a troll trying to encourage racial equality and looking beyond the surface. Or you can just chalk it up to: "The Divines work in very mysterious ways. Akatosh knows what he's doing." Ultimately, I'm not going to stop making female, elvish and beast race characters just because it makes "more sense" that the Dragonborn would be a male Nord/Imperial. One of the joys of Skyrim is all the choice you get.

Actually, I decided my current Altmer character I'm keeping a journal for doesn't believe she is the Dragonborn. The situation arose because she had to do the Civil War questline, but you can't unless you start the main quest, and I didn't want to start the main quest anytime soon. So I decided it won't be until she's learnt 20 words and absorbed 20 Dragon Souls that she re-thinks this Dragonborn thing and seeks out the Greybeards. Level 39, 6 words of power and 12 Dragon Souls absorbed means I have a while to go. It's amusing to write about. She thinks the Nords who talk about her being Dragonborn are either superstitious or trying to play a practical joke on her. The pretty lights which happen when Dragons die would happen even if she wasn't there because Dragons are highly magical beasts. The chanting and lights of a word wall mean she's still reeling from the trap her dog set off that hit her head. She doesn't remember hitting her head in the fight but she must have because she hallucinated again. The Hagraven had been doing weird things with magic before she was killed. As she wouldn't have grown up around legends of the Dragonborn, this doesn't strike me as unrealistic.

 

[Cren Reon]

Hey, there's a first for everything, right? Akatosh doesn't discriminate!

 

[Cren Reon]

My favourite race is Altmer. It has occurred to me that this has got to be unpleasant for hell of a lot of Nords, considering the recent history of Tamriel. "Our greatest Nordic legend, our prophesied hero, our treasured myth made real is one of those elitist scum who we went to war with and took Talos away from us?!" Puts a whole new spin on the guard line: "You couldn't possibly be the Dragonborn of legend, could you?"

Possibly Akatosh is a bit of a troll trying to encourage racial equality and looking beyond the surface. Or you can just chalk it up to: "The Divines work in very mysterious ways. Akatosh knows what he's doing." Ultimately, I'm not going to stop making female, elvish and beast race characters just because it makes "more sense" that the Dragonborn would be a male Nord/Imperial. One of the joys of Skyrim is all the choice you get.

Actually, I decided my current Altmer character I'm keeping a journal for doesn't believe she is the Dragonborn. The situation arose because she had to do the Civil War questline, but you can't unless you start the main quest, and I didn't want to start the main quest anytime soon. So I decided it won't be until she's learnt 20 words and absorbed 20 Dragon Souls that she re-thinks this Dragonborn thing and seeks out the Greybeards. Level 39, 6 words of power and 12 Dragon Souls absorbed means I have a while to go. It's amusing to write about. She thinks the Nords who talk about her being Dragonborn are either superstitious or trying to play a practical joke on her. The pretty lights which happen when Dragons die would happen even if she wasn't there because Dragons are highly magical beasts. The chanting and lights of a word wall mean she's still reeling from the trap her dog set off that hit her head. She doesn't remember hitting her head in the fight but she must have because she hallucinated again. The Hagraven had been doing weird things with magic before she was killed. As she wouldn't have grown up around legends of the Dragonborn, this doesn't strike me as unrealistic.

I LOVE your idea. It makes perfect sense. and the best part would be when she finally comes to terms that that "Nordic nonsense" is actually true