Altmer vs Khajiit

Ilision · May 2019

Which race is the older race and why is there so much animosity towards Khajiit. I am sure some of us, if not all are aware due to the newest expansion that Khajiit's origin started in Tamriel in the land called Elsweyr before Tamriel was inhabited by Altmer. Below you will find a quote from wiki reference the two races and theories as to who came first and possibly one coming out of the other:

"Even before the first Men or Mer set foot on Tamriel, the Khajiit were already native to the continent.[12][13] However, the origin of the cat-folk on the Tamriel still remains debated. Legend speaks of the Khajiit to have originated from an intelligent feline race or being their cousins.[14][15][16] This belief could be supported by the interpretation of the encounter with four and two-legged cat demons by Topal the Pilot to be ancient Khajiit, just as Tamriel was still being explored the first time by Aldmer.[17][1]

Other theories speak of them being descendants of Aldmeri settlers, proved by the visual similarity of Ohmes and Ohmes-raht to Men and Mer, especially Bosmer.[UOL 1][18][1][16][19][20] The Khajiiti creation myth suggests the Bosmer and Khajiit to have common ancestors; Azurah having taken the forest people that were torn between the shape of beast and man and given them the many shapes of the Khajiit. But with Y'ffre telling Nirni of Azurah's doings and shaping the remaining forest people into the Bosmer, this link was cut.[21]"

What do you all think???

Ogou · May 2019

There isn't a specific point in history during which the Aldmer became the Altmer but from the two possibilities in your post the Khajiit existed at the same time the Aldmer did making them older than the Altmer.
At the same time, you could argue that since there doesn't seem to be any great shift between the Aldmer and Altmer that they are essentially the same civilization, just called by different names. In that case the answer would be that the Altmer (as the Aldmer) are, most probably, older than the Khajiit.

As to the animosity. Well, the Altmer tend to be suspicious of any outsider/non-Altmer. And this is made worse by the fact that the Khajiit openly worship at least one Daedra (Azurah) which is a big no-no in Altmer society.

ArchMikem · June 2019

If the Lore is to be believed fully, then the Altmer, Aldmer, and Ehlnofey are the same thing. Each Race just descends into the next over who knows how many generations, and over time the history of the previous just turns into legend. I would say then that the Altmer, by extension, are the oldest Race on Nirn because their original ancestors, the Ehlnofey existed way back in the Dawn Era.

The Khajiit however I think came to be sometime in the Merethic Era, but they themselves were one of, if not the original inhabitants of mainland Tamriel, and were making leaps in creating a civilized society before the tribes of Man from Atmora stopped banging rocks together.

People just give Khajiit a hard time because, A: Furries, and B: the game thrust on them the stereotypes of thieves, vagrants, and general uncivilized beasts, which is ironic considering they were the first civilized people on Tamriel.

PriestessAthena · February 24

Khajiit are oldest race native to tamriel. They’ve been here the longest. Mer may be an older race but they arrived to tamriel at a later date. Is how I take it.

ZOS_Hadeostry · February 24

Greetings,

We've closed this thread given its age and it's a discussion that was last active June 2019. If you wish to continue discussing this topic please create a new thread.

Thank you for your understanding.