What are the major clans in each of the Dunmer Great Houses?

Araneae6537 · August 2019

I’ve done some searches but not been able to find the answer. My understanding is that the majority of House Redoran, for instance, would not be part of the Redoran family itself. Asking for character creation purposes.

On that note, would the scarab tattoo be totally inappropriate for a Redoran Dunmer? I wish the actual more elaborate house symbol was an option, but the scarab would be fitting for other character reasons... Actually, I wonder how tattooing in general is viewed by the Great Houses or Dunmer gentry?

Any insights, info, opinions, links, etc., much appreciated!

TheImperfect · August 2019

I honestly don't know but I found this thread
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/76048/dunmer-house-tattoos-lore-question

Ash_In_My_Sujamma · August 2019

https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Great_Houses
there you go

VaranisArano · August 2019

Check out the UESP wiki info on the NPCs in each House in Morrowind. It won't necessarily tell you the rank of a clan, but you can figure out common clan names from that, especially if you cross-reference names on ancestral tombs or common names as listed here: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Dunmer_Names

For example, looking at the list of members of House Redoran here: https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:House_Redoran

Aside from the Councilors' families, we see a couple duplicate names like: Andrano, Omalen, Indrano, Llervu, Retheran, etc.

Another method is to use names that appear in multiple games. For example, an NPC in TES 3 House Telvanni has the last name "Maryon", a last name that Skyrim reuses for the Dunmer Brelyna Maryon in the College questline.

Aigym_Hlervu · August 2019

There is a quest on Vvardenfell to help librarian Bradyn to find the Lost Library of Andule. That library contains the information on genealogies of the Great Houses. A player as I recall has no way to read those books but in order to find them a player has to take rubbings from the 30 ancestral tombs. Each tomb has a family name on it and a crest of one of the Great Houses engraved on it. For example, the Hlervu Ancestral Tomb located south of the Holamayan Monastery is marked with a symbol of the Great House Telvanni. But if it makes any sense to your in terms of RP, keep in mind that the Releth Ancestral Tomb is also a Telvanni one with the House crest on it in spite of the fact that the Releth family is also a noble family of House Redoran. Maybe this will help you somehow.

ghastley · August 2019

I'm not certain, but I got the impression that the families that were not the central ones of the Great Houses might have members in allegiance to more than one. That is, a family might divide its loyalties between more than one Great House, especially if they live on a border. Mercenaries may hire out to the highest bidder, and switch sides with the tides, while remaining as a family group.

So it may not be a simple hierarchy, as you imply.

Lenithriel · October 2019

Even though this question was answered and I'm kinda necroposting here, I have a kind of cheat that I use any time I want to roleplay as a Dunmer, or really anything. I'm huge on Morrowind and have thousands of hours invested in it and its expansions, so after a while you memorize names and which house they belonged to, etc. But if I ever need help remembering one I usually go here

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Dunmer_Names

There's a page for every single race, you'll find the name of every single NPC of playable and non-playable races that has appeared in EVER SINGLE TES GAME, including ESO. What is very interesting that would have answered this question more easily is how they have it organized by how many times it appears in a game, so you can see just how big the family is in the game. So combine that with how many times you see it appear in the other games, and you got yourself a way to find every notable Dunmer family in every House. Just click on each name and the NPC page will tell you which house they belong to, if they belong to one.

Araneae6537 · August 2019

@mrsrobot Thank you for the link to info on Dunmer tattoos!

@Ash_In_My_Sujamma Thank you for the link!

I didn’t find any mention of which clans make up each of the houses though. Perhaps I will have to make a list of NPCs known to be in each house to figure this out, but I would be surprised if no one else has done this...

EDIT:

VaranisArano wrote: »

Check out the UESP wiki info on the NPCs in each House in Morrowind. It won't necessarily tell you the rank of a clan, but you can figure out common clan names from that, especially if you cross-reference names on ancestral tombs or common names as listed here: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Dunmer_Names

For example, looking at the list of members of House Redoran here: https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:House_Redoran

Aside from the Councilors' families, we see a couple duplicate names like: Andrano, Omalen, Indrano, Llervu, Retheran, etc.

Another method is to use names that appear in multiple games. For example, an NPC in TES 3 House Telvanni has the last name "Maryon", a last name that Skyrim reuses for the Dunmer Brelyna Maryon in the College questline.

I don’t know how I missed your post this morning!

Thank you! This is very helpful!

NotaDaedraWorshipper · August 2019

I have a dunmer who's family is part of House Hlaalu, but it's not a name that appears anywhere on any NPC. Just a dunmer sounding surname I made up and say is part of House Hlaalu. Which is another way to do it without the need to figure out if some npcs are part of the house you're thinking of, or one of the others.

Araneae6537 · August 2019

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

There is a quest on Vvardenfell to help librarian Bradyn to find the Lost Library of Andule. That library contains the information on genealogies of the Great Houses. A player as I recall has no way to read those books but in order to find them a player has to take rubbings from the 30 ancestral tombs. Each tomb has a family name on it and a crest of one of the Great Houses engraved on it. For example, the Hlervu Ancestral Tomb located south of the Holamayan Monastery is marked with a symbol of the Great House Telvanni. But if it makes any sense to your in terms of RP, keep in mind that the Releth Ancestral Tomb is also a Telvanni one with the House crest on it in spite of the fact that the Releth family is also a noble family of House Redoran. Maybe this will help you somehow.

ghastley wrote: »

I'm not certain, but I got the impression that the families that were not the central ones of the Great Houses might have members in allegiance to more than one. That is, a family might divide its loyalties between more than one Great House, especially if they live on a border. Mercenaries may hire out to the highest bidder, and switch sides with the tides, while remaining as a family group.

So it may not be a simple hierarchy, as you imply.

Ahh, that would explain why there is no such list anywhere — thank you! I’ve decided on several names for my Dunmer now which I’m happy with. Thank you all!

TheImperfect · August 2019

Watched this earlier, very good.

https://youtu.be/QRkuhC4Izn4

The Elder Scrolls Online

What are the major clans in each of the Dunmer Great Houses?

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