Are the in game races based on real world races?

Gothlander

I was thinking about this and it actually does seem to be that way. Does anyone else see this?

PinoZino

No, but if I would smoke your stuff, I probably will see it too.

Rosveen

Could you please post a link to a study which divides humans into 10+ distinct races? I'd like to know what exactly I'm comparing.

Ommamar

So the Argonians correlate to....?
Khajitt represent....?

Molag_Crow

In my opinion, yes. I'm not going to get into it properly due to the fact that the average person thinks they're merely theories and made-up sci-fi bs, etc.

All's I'm going to say is that if you look in the right places, you'll find that there has been a lot of suggestive-evidence and talk of races like the Khajiit, but they're called the "Kitkarai" or something like that. If you avoid the 'official' story told to you by mainstream science, history etc and look at Ancient Egypt with an open mind, you'll see so many cat-like humanoid statues and hieroglyphs which mainstream say "Oh they just wore cat masks and stuff don't worry." and other nonsense, have actually been around but the suppression of our true history is there for a reason, and I don't need to go into why, those occult's and secret societies aren't around for nothing.

Many different kind of Elves exist, if not on this planet in a higher density, then on one/some of the billions of Earth-like planets out there.

Argonians? typical Reptilian race representation. I'm sure you've heard your fair share of Shape-shifting Reptilians from conspiracy theorists but there's actually a deep truth to that, believe it or not.

The list goes on and on really. Look at multiple lore sources even dating WAYYY back, and all the movies/games today, like the whole LoTR lore, WoW lore, Elder Scrolls Lore.. it's not all coincidence or just made-up at random by somebody with a great imagination, no.. there's truth to a lot of things we perceive to be just fantasy.

"Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence."

anitajoneb17_ESO

Actually it could be interesting to compare "races" as seen in the game with existing or perceived ethnic groups / cultural entities IRL.

However, given the nature of the subject AND the fact that Elder Scrolls background is very racist and shows many good but also many bad sides of each "race" ingame, I think discussing this on a forum is simply no doable.

slumber_sandb16_ESO

Biologically? No.
Culturally? There are similarities to real world cultures in terms of architecture and clothing appearance. Other than that I dont see much similarity.

Turelus

I think OP is confusing race and culture.

Rosveen

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Actually it could be interesting to compare "races" as seen in the game with existing or perceived ethnic groups / cultural entities IRL.

However, given the nature of the subject AND the fact that Elder Scrolls background is very racist and shows many good but also many bad sides of each "race" ingame, I think discussing this on a forum is simply no doable.

Not doable? We've done it twenty times before on Bethesda forum. It's a fairly interesting exercise too, as long as you're looking for inspirations and not 100% matches.

Just... what are real world races again?

TheDarkShadow

Ommamar wrote: »

So the Argonians correlate to....?
Khajitt represent....?

Argonians buildings and life-style is somewhat similar to South America ancient civilizations like the Inca, Aztec and Mayan.

Some people said Khajiit cultural similar to the Gypsy.

PinoZino

Rosveen wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Actually it could be interesting to compare "races" as seen in the game with existing or perceived ethnic groups / cultural entities IRL.

However, given the nature of the subject AND the fact that Elder Scrolls background is very racist and shows many good but also many bad sides of each "race" ingame, I think discussing this on a forum is simply no doable.

Not doable? We've done it twenty times before on Bethesda forum. It's a fairly interesting exercise too, as long as you're looking for inspirations and not 100% matches.

Just... what are real world races again?

Idaltu, Sapiens, Neanderthalensis, Rhodesiensis, Red Deer cave people?

Korah_Eaglecry

Gothlander wrote: »

I was thinking about this and it actually does seem to be that way. Does anyone else see this?

Theyre based on different human cultures. Some have multiple inspirations.

starlizard70ub17_ESO

The Orcs always reminded me of the Klingons and their culture in more primitive times.

Conquers

Redguards - Somali pirate?
Bretons - something from europe, maybe france?
Khajiti - the russians? (i am basing off some architecture looks almost a tiny bit like moscow?), so if anyone has better answer say so
Orcs - honestly no idea
Nords - the vikings, obviously
imperials - Anglo-saxon
Argonian - Central American Natives (Aztec, Mayan, etc)
Dark elves - another one i cannot say
High Elves - Nazis
Wood Elves - the African tribesman maybe, but also maybe somewhere in central america cause of cannibalism

feel free to criticize me, i am open to it

Zinaroth

Ommamar wrote: »

So the Argonians correlate to....?
Khajitt represent....?

German and French people, pretty obvious isn't it?

Marrtha

Each race has some aspects that were inspired by the real-world races. Accents, culture, dances etc. But no, one race does not refer specifically to only one race irl.

Marrtha

Conquers wrote: »

Redguards - Somali pirate?
Bretons - something from europe, maybe france?
Khajiti - the russians? (i am basing off some architecture looks almost a tiny bit like moscow?), so if anyone has better answer say so
Orcs - honestly no idea
Nords - the vikings, obviously
imperials - Anglo-saxon
Argonian - Central American Natives (Aztec, Mayan, etc)
Dark elves - another one i cannot say
High Elves - Nazis
Wood Elves - the African tribesman maybe, but also maybe somewhere in central america cause of cannibalism

feel free to criticize me, i am open to it

Orcs = black people voices. Just my impression O.o

Rosveen

Conquers wrote: »

Bretons - something from europe, maybe france?

Maybe Bretons.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breton_people

Conquers

Marrtha wrote: »

Conquers wrote: »

Redguards - Somali pirate?
Bretons - something from europe, maybe france?
Khajiti - the russians? (i am basing off some architecture looks almost a tiny bit like moscow?), so if anyone has better answer say so
Orcs - honestly no idea
Nords - the vikings, obviously
imperials - Anglo-saxon
Argonian - Central American Natives (Aztec, Mayan, etc)
Dark elves - another one i cannot say
High Elves - Nazis
Wood Elves - the African tribesman maybe, but also maybe somewhere in central america cause of cannibalism

feel free to criticize me, i am open to it

Orcs = black people voices. Just my impression O.o

but i know nothing of african tribes focused strongly on smithing the finest goods, and having one chief with many wives

AngryNord

Conquers wrote: »

Redguards - Somali pirate?
Bretons - something from europe, maybe france?
Khajiti - the russians? (i am basing off some architecture looks almost a tiny bit like moscow?), so if anyone has better answer say so
Orcs - honestly no idea
Nords - the vikings, obviously
imperials - Anglo-saxon
Argonian - Central American Natives (Aztec, Mayan, etc)
Dark elves - another one i cannot say
High Elves - Nazis
Wood Elves - the African tribesman maybe, but also maybe somewhere in central america cause of cannibalism

feel free to criticize me, i am open to it

Redguards - their architecture is very Middle Eastern/Persian, but culturally also have Asian influence
Bretons - Bretons are real people, a Celtic people living in Britanny, France
Khajiit - have a lot of paralells with India/SE Asia
Nords - Norse, ancient scots
Imperials - ancient Rome/Greece
Argonian - yeah, very Mayan in architecture and clothing/armour style
High Elves, Wood Elves: Tolkien High Elves/Wood Elves
Orcs - Mongols/Asian cultures
Dunmer - Architecture very Chinese-like. Also a lot of Asian influence in culture.

bertenburnyb16_ESO

do u even TES bro?

NovaMarx

Like others have pointed out, I think what OP really means by "race" is "culture". The cultures of the different races are definitely heavily inspired by real world cultures.

Here's what I think:

Imperials: Ancient Rome
Redguards: Middle East > Persian > older cultures, like the Ottoman Empire
Bretons: European Dark Ages
Nords: Scandinavia > Vikings
Argonians: Aztec (and other South American Indian cultures) + Native American
Khajiit: Gypsy, with a mix of Asian inspired buildings (like Kuala Lumpur)
Orc/Orsimer: Old Mongolia > like the Djengis Khan era, where the lands were divided into strongholds run by warlords.

The Elven races are a bit more "fantasy" oriented, so they are bit harder to place (IMO):

Altmer: imperialists/colonialists > believe themselves superior than those from "savage lands"
Dunmer: unsure about what to compare their culture to...
Bosmer: Also unsure what to compare to > their cannibal tendencies could be compared to different tribes from both Africa and South America, but that's about it --- but they do like a good drink, like the Nords

TheShadowScout

All fantasy cultures draw inspiration from the real world, be it history or legends. Some more, some less. Usually mixing a bit of this, and a bit of that into something new.

Like Imperials are pretty distinctively influenced by ancient times - imperial rome, mostly, adding a touch of "mage-patrician/nobility" in the mix...
...the Bretons displaying classic "medieval fantasy" touch, from dark age arthurian legends to late medieval count dracula...
...the redguards giving an imperssion of "1001 nights", with a few bits from ancinet egypt burian rites and asian warrior cultures mixed in...
...the Nords being basically pure "vikings of legend", just with less longships, but just as much axe swinging and mead drinking...

Or the elven races...
...the altmer, classic "stuck up elder race sidhe" inspired, as found in many fantasy backgrounds, be it LOTR or D&D...
...the bosmer, classic "nature-close wood elves", though with a slightly different touch by "green pact"... which is basically just an inversion of the usual "vegan elf" shtick...
...the dunmer, classic "svartalfar", with a nicely unique origin story, and a touch of "god-kings" culture by the tribunal, with the ashlanders as "semi-nomadic tribal culture" side...
...the orsimer, classic "orc", which themselves are patterned after hunnish and mongol "barbarians clans"...

...the Argonians being a mix of jungle tribe, and acient south american cultureral architecture, with a special tweak due to hist connection...
...the Khajiit displaying a heavy indian/gypsy touch (considering all the rakshasa legends, I can see where that came from too).

Its no more or no less then pretty much any fantasy "races" out there.

Korah_Eaglecry

Redguards - Obviously of Arab influence. Probably pulled from multiple cultural sources.
Nords - Germanic Tribes and Vikings
Imperials - Romans and Early Middle Ages Kingdoms
Bretons - Late Middle Ages English and French
Khajiit - Ancient Chinese, Eastern Europe/Russia, and maybe some Northern Africa (shields and armor?)
Argonians - Central American Natives from both pre and post Conquistador presence.
Dunmer - South Asia
Bosmer - South American Native Influences
Altmer - Architecture wise Pakistani and Indian but their society seems to be a mix of quite a few across different regions and time periods
Orc - Best guess would be Mongolians

Stranglehands

the races in elder scrolls started off as the races in dungeons and dragons, but were adapted to make them a bit more unique, and as time went on became more tied to the daedric princes and the monomyth of anu and padomay. the place where elder scrolls gets most of its most interesting aspects from is religious studies, in a similar way to how tolkien's works draw from linguistics and ursula le guin's from anthropology and taoism.

the iliac bay (daggerfall covenant zones) is like a mini-mediterranean sea and medieval european cultural tropes corner. you've got your bretons who are like a combination of druids and generally spiritual and unstable celts, and noble and flamboyant medieval knights. the redguards are like north african moors, but around the time that Redguard (the game) came out they developed a strong sideline in being swashbuckly rogues and adventurers, and then you've got their yokudan pantheon which reminds me of desert spirituality like that of australian aborigines and the more mystical parts of islam.

the imperials are kind of more like romans than they look, given that they have a deeply spiritual seer-emperor (best seen in the beginning of Oblivion). remember that roman emperors held the title of pontifex maximus, which was initially the title of the highest of the priestly class in the imperial cult, and that title to this day inherited by the pope.

the nords are pseudo-vikings who worship an obviously very norse spin on the monomyth, and their writings are like sagas (and a lot of their stuff is named after characters from famous sagas which makes it a bit weird if you've read any). they're probably the least original race in the game. then again the orcs are pretty generic D&D orcs too. the fact that their proud warrior race status is forced on them by a fetishistic daedric prince makes them a bit more interesting though.

the dwemer satisfy the common fantasy atheist-technocrat-race and advanced-extinct-race roles. then there are the ayleids that kind of do the same thing but in a much more mysterious way (nobody knows when or even if they left, they just kind of faded from the historical record after alessia took over the imperial city, and their technology is way more mysterious than the dwarves' robots)

wood elves are a bit sad because around the time pocket guide to the empire 1st edition came out they were a lot less generic (the males looked like little ugly pixies, etc). ESO has done a lot for making them more complex than they have been in previous games though.

the other three races (dunmer, khajiit and argonians) seem to be deliberately as weird as possible and unlike anything else (though house dunmer religion is a bit like hinduism, and argonians again owe a lot to australian aborigines (especially as they have a "dreamtime" of sorts going on not in the past but the present, in the form of the hist trees)

Jura23

Bretons are inspired by middle age French, it's pretty obvious, they even have French names mostly.

Paazhahdrimaak

Conquers wrote: »

Redguards - Somali pirate?
Bretons - something from europe, maybe france?
Khajiti - the russians? (i am basing off some architecture looks almost a tiny bit like moscow?), so if anyone has better answer say so
Orcs - honestly no idea
Nords - the vikings, obviously
imperials - Anglo-saxon
Argonian - Central American Natives (Aztec, Mayan, etc)
Dark elves - another one i cannot say
High Elves - AMERICANS
Wood Elves - the African tribesman maybe, but also maybe somewhere in central america cause of cannibalism

feel free to criticize me, i am open to it

FIXED.

Stranglehands

altmer are ancestor worshippers first and foremost. they're basically the death eaters out of harry potter and everyone else is a mudblood. the twist is that they genuinely are the supreme race and are destined to take over the world, they just keep getting screwed over by gods

Darkstorne

CrowsDescend wrote: »

In my opinion, yes. I'm not going to get into it properly due to the fact that the average person thinks they're merely theories and made-up sci-fi bs, etc.

All's I'm going to say is that if you look in the right places, you'll find that there has been a lot of suggestive-evidence and talk of races like the Khajiit, but they're called the "Kitkarai" or something like that. If you avoid the 'official' story told to you by mainstream science, history etc and look at Ancient Egypt with an open mind, you'll see so many cat-like humanoid statues and hieroglyphs which mainstream say "Oh they just wore cat masks and stuff don't worry." and other nonsense, have actually been around but the suppression of our true history is there for a reason, and I don't need to go into why, those occult's and secret societies aren't around for nothing.

Many different kind of Elves exist, if not on this planet in a higher density, then on one/some of the billions of Earth-like planets out there.

Argonians? typical Reptilian race representation. I'm sure you've heard your fair share of Shape-shifting Reptilians from conspiracy theorists but there's actually a deep truth to that, believe it or not.

The list goes on and on really. Look at multiple lore sources even dating WAYYY back, and all the movies/games today, like the whole LoTR lore, WoW lore, Elder Scrolls Lore.. it's not all coincidence or just made-up at random by somebody with a great imagination, no.. there's truth to a lot of things we perceive to be just fantasy.

"Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence."

Prof_Bawbag

Conquers wrote: »

Redguards - Somali pirate?
Bretons - something from europe, maybe france?
Khajiti - the russians? (i am basing off some architecture looks almost a tiny bit like moscow?), so if anyone has better answer say so
Orcs - honestly no idea
Nords - the vikings, obviously
imperials - Anglo-saxon
Argonian - Central American Natives (Aztec, Mayan, etc)
Dark elves - another one i cannot say
High Elves - Nazis
Wood Elves - the African tribesman maybe, but also maybe somewhere in central america cause of cannibalism

feel free to criticize me, i am open to it

The cat thing aside, I'd say the Khajiti were more based around Moroccans or past North African cultures. Or even India

Stranglehands

Darkstorne wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3M9bp1n97w