Why are Elves so ugly?

Rebirthment

People here talking and showing off their Altmer but not Bosmer


Honestly, the elves ingame look pretty decent to me, and just right to make them look unique yet beautiful in their own way. Especially compared to the previous ES games

chessalavakia_ESO

I would guess it's a mixture of the degree to which their faces are angular, the fact that their skin color frequently looks a bit jaundice which in humans frequently represents health issues which in turn can cause humans some revulsion, and the eye design.

You'll notice that when they do the cinematic high elf they skip all of that and she looks quite attractive.



I would also suggest that some of the lack of appeal is fashion based. Players frequently are running skins and outfits that display their skin to show off which tends to put a fair bit of focus on the skin tone which frequently looks a bit sickly. NPCs are frequently wearing simpler clothes/armor where the dye either doesn't combine well with their skin tone or looks so bland your focus immediately jumps to their face.

My Altmer's face might not be that pretty (Okay, so she's still far better looking than I am IRL but, by video game standards she's not that pretty) if you look closely but, they are generally wearing fancy looking clothes/armor with dye that draws much of the attention.

I do like the simpler clothes/armor but, I don't think they work well on Altmer.

Then again I might just be weird.

Hapexamendios

cyclonus11 wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

I think the high elves look fine. I have an altmer character and see nothing wrong with her looks. The same goes for the NPCs. I can't think of anyone who's particularly unattractive.

Usually, but Camyaale in Marbruk is pushing it.

I think she has some Orc ancestry

TaSheen

McMasterx wrote: »

There are some edge cases, but yes, it's mostly eye of the beholder stuff.

She's gorgeous!

Rebirthment wrote: »

People here talking and showing off their Altmer but not Bosmer


Honestly, the elves ingame look pretty decent to me, and just right to make them look unique yet beautiful in their own way. Especially compared to the previous ES games

Hey, I posted one of my latest Bosmer earlier, darn it!

Kadraeus

They look better than they do in any of the other TES games
Well, except Dunmer and Orsimer. Dunmer look good in Skyrim and Morrowind. Orcs in Skyrim.

Galiferno

Divine punishment from Shezarr and Aka

spartaxoxo

I think all the faces in ESO look a bit ugly. All of the faces in all the elder scrolls games. But as far as holding them all to the lower standards of the franchise in general, ESO has some comparatively gorgeous characters. So, in my head canon all the characters look more like how they'd look in the cinematics than they do in the game. By that measure, there's some very good looking folks running around in the second era. It makes you wonder how they ended up with Thoronir later.

TheNuminous1

Speaking of elves. There is a rather beautiful elf girl at one of that boastful telengers sites in auridon. What was her name again. She is sitting against a tree, oh ya. Her name. Fistamanwae. (Not joking this is a real npc in auridon)

jtm1018

My point of view.
To me Almalexia, Naryu and Mirri are very extremely gorgeous beautiful women.

Nightowl_74

I've never found Elder Scrolls characters very visually appealing, but I do think ESO has the best looking of the franchise. As elves go, I can't think of another video game that has prettier ones, but my experience isn't particularly extensive. Dragon Age has some really ugly elves, in my opinion. From what I've seen the beautiful ones are in movies and books.

Michae

I'm very fond of the "ugly" looks of the TES elves. I don't want them to look human. Those jagged angular faces really suit them, especially the Dunmer. I loved their look in Morrowind, I'm glad they came back to it in Skyrim and ESO after what was done to them in Oblivion.

Muizer

AnduinTryggva wrote: »

To be honest I think Elves, specifically High Elves are pretty ugly as we can create them in ESO while in the overwhelming majority of the fantasy literatures Elves are considered to be of extraordinary beauty. How did that happen?

Did you play Skyrim? The elves there look like they've been carved out of wood ..... with a battle axe.

Xarc

Bosmer arent ugly at all

Aelorin

I think the opposite: This game is the first were Elves, and Altmer look absolutely stunning.

You have to get the sliders right

Aztrias

With the right sliders, Altmer look fine(a lot better than they did in previous TES games at least )


As much as it pains me as an irl Nordic the worst looking race to me are Nords, most of the males look really bad, some of the females look good though like Lyris and a few NPCS, but most of the time they all look like weird bloated potatos...
Bretons don't look that good either but not as bad as the Nords.
In Skyrim Nords looked pretty badass and had a lot of good hair and beard options.



Imperials and Redguard's look pretty good, especially the Redguards

Kiralyn2000

AnduinTryggva wrote: »

To be honest I think Elves, specifically High Elves are pretty ugly as we can create them in ESO while in the overwhelming majority of the fantasy literatures Elves are considered to be of extraordinary beauty. How did that happen?

Just because elves are Amazing Beauty in "the overwhelming majority" of fantasy, that doesn't mean that every fantasy book/game/etc has to be the same way. TES "dwarves" are different, too.

(and yeah, if you think these elves are bad, go check out Oblivion & Morrowind. )

Fenris_Arainai

And here I am, thinking that ESO elves are absolutely gorgeous

As for the "humanised" trailer "elf" -- I think she's not attractive. Her nose is weirdly tiny for her face, and makes her look weird.

AvalonRanger

AnduinTryggva wrote: »

To be honest I think Elves, specifically High Elves are pretty ugly as we can create them in ESO while in the overwhelming majority of the fantasy literatures Elves are considered to be of extraordinary beauty. How did that happen?

But, Skyrim high elves...are more...

Grizzbeorn

AnduinTryggva wrote: »

To be honest I think Elves, specifically High Elves are pretty ugly...

Rude.

NotaDaedraWorshipper

chessalavakia_ESO wrote: »

You'll notice that when they do the cinematic high elf they skip all of that and she looks quite attractive.

She'd look more attractive if she looked like an actual altmer.

I loathe mer in the cinematics. They don't look like mer, they are humans with pointy ears. There has been threads made about it, latest was regarding Necrom's and the derpmer in it. They should make them look like actual mer.

Suna_Ye_Sunnabe

Beauty must indeed be in the eye of the beholder, haha. I find the elves to be the far more attractive races in eso, and I adore their look 🙂

AScarlato

Nightowl_74 wrote: »

I've never found Elder Scrolls characters very visually appealing, but I do think ESO has the best looking of the franchise. As elves go, I can't think of another video game that has prettier ones, but my experience isn't particularly extensive. Dragon Age has some really ugly elves, in my opinion. From what I've seen the beautiful ones are in movies and books.

I think the elves in Tera and Black Desert Online look good. EverQuest (for its time) had some good looking elves as well. Final Fantasy 14 has a few elven characters with decent fanbases though they are not everyone's cup of tea.

Dragon Age Origins had decent looking elven options though they became awful in DA2. I think some people found Sera attractive in Inquisition. Witcher 2/3 had some good looking elves also for certain characters. Baldur's Gate 3 elves look great and beautiful. I know a lot of ESO players who are playing around the the character creator there.

Just some options for elf-lovers lol.

Destai

My Altmer are beauty perfect, dunno what you're talking about

YetAnotherLinuxUser

Yes, why make a race that looks like the innards of someone's nostrils?

Carcamongus

Kind of depends on the game. Everyone was ugly in Oblivion, but things improved considerably in Skyrim (though orcs went from goofy porcine faces to I'm-not-sleeping-tonight ones). ESO beautified everyone, even the orcs. I find many Dunmer to have a sort of an exotic and classic beauty, whereas the Bosmer tend to be cute and pretty. I've had a dislike towards the Altmer since Skyrim (don't touch my Talos, [censored]!), which should naturally lead me to be biased against them in aesthetic terms. However, I don't think most of them are ugly. Hell, even the Orsimer were improved enough that I no longer wish I could put a paper bag over their heads when talking to them.

Now, who's an adorable little blind Nosferatu-looking cutie? Yes, you are! Yes, you are!

I'm joking, not (very) deranged.

AScarlato

I think my Altmer here looks good, along with my Altmer friend that I took at a RP wedding we attended. But, he's benefitting by looking down and covering half of his face. His buggy eyes are also closed. LOL

In other poses/lighting/expressions he can look quote awful.

FantasticFreddie

Pretty much all I play are Altmer and Argonians.
Take from that what you will.

ADarklore

I used to feel the same, until I played around with the sliders more and got some really attractive results. One of my least favorite races was Dark Elves, until I also spent time working with the sliders and now they're one of my favorites... behind Breton and Imperial, then DE's and then High Elves.

Besides that, I think the elves in Skyrim were awful... haven't played any other ES games besides Skyrim and ESO, so cannot compare to the previous titles. But considering graphics back before Skyrim, I doubt they were better than what was found in Skyrim.

Nightowl_74

AScarlato wrote: »

Nightowl_74 wrote: »

I've never found Elder Scrolls characters very visually appealing, but I do think ESO has the best looking of the franchise. As elves go, I can't think of another video game that has prettier ones, but my experience isn't particularly extensive. Dragon Age has some really ugly elves, in my opinion. From what I've seen the beautiful ones are in movies and books.

I think the elves in Tera and Black Desert Online look good. EverQuest (for its time) had some good looking elves as well. Final Fantasy 14 has a few elven characters with decent fanbases though they are not everyone's cup of tea.

Dragon Age Origins had decent looking elven options though they became awful in DA2. I think some people found Sera attractive in Inquisition. Witcher 2/3 had some good looking elves also for certain characters. Baldur's Gate 3 elves look great and beautiful. I know a lot of ESO players who are playing around the the character creator there.

Just some options for elf-lovers lol.

It's funny I forgot about FFXIV (because I play it) but the elves there are generally good looking. They aren't very popular within the game though, and a lot of players think they're ugly. I don't, I think their frames are willowy and they have some of the most attractive facial options. Besides Dragon Age I haven't tried the other games, but to me the characters there are fairly ugly. Love the franchise, though! I actually play an elf in Inquisition.

AScarlato

Nightowl_74 wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

Nightowl_74 wrote: »

I've never found Elder Scrolls characters very visually appealing, but I do think ESO has the best looking of the franchise. As elves go, I can't think of another video game that has prettier ones, but my experience isn't particularly extensive. Dragon Age has some really ugly elves, in my opinion. From what I've seen the beautiful ones are in movies and books.

I think the elves in Tera and Black Desert Online look good. EverQuest (for its time) had some good looking elves as well. Final Fantasy 14 has a few elven characters with decent fanbases though they are not everyone's cup of tea.

Dragon Age Origins had decent looking elven options though they became awful in DA2. I think some people found Sera attractive in Inquisition. Witcher 2/3 had some good looking elves also for certain characters. Baldur's Gate 3 elves look great and beautiful. I know a lot of ESO players who are playing around the the character creator there.

Just some options for elf-lovers lol.

It's funny I forgot about FFXIV (because I play it) but the elves there are generally good looking. They aren't very popular within the game though, and a lot of players think they're ugly. I don't, I think their frames are willowy and they have some of the most attractive facial options. Besides Dragon Age I haven't tried the other games, but to me the characters there are fairly ugly. Love the franchise, though! I actually play an elf in Inquisition.

Dragon Age really is the weakest example of pretty elves, but so many people were into Fenris romances and some even Merrill in DA2. And Zevran had a decent-sized fanbase outside his hilariously butchered face in DA2 lol.