Can someone explain this to me? (A Lore Question)

k9mouse

How is the dire wolf mount lore? Yes, ESO and TES have dire wolves, however they are not big enough to someone to ride on. Also, can someone ride an animal whose nature that they want to eat you instead giving your character a ride?

The mount model is very well done, from a pure graphics POV -- the dire wolf mount does look cool. However, I am struggling with lore behind the mount.

Khajiit_Ri

This one says because Tamriel is a fictional world governed by the laws of magic.

Lokryn

While I can't think of a precedent for Wolf Mounts in TES lore, I don't think it's too much of a stretch really. You have to keep in mind that ESO is very early in the TES timeline. You could easily say these either went extinct or fell out of favor by the time the other games come around.

k9mouse

Khajiit_Ri wrote: »

This one says because Tamriel is a fictional world governed by the laws of magic.

Even in a "fictional world governed by the laws of magic" still have to obey rules of logic and history to make a context for a game, book, or movie to make sense. In other words, Lore.

Nestor

k9mouse wrote: »

How is the dire wolf mount lore? Yes, ESO and TES have dire wolves,

TES has never had a Dire Wolf. This is a Game of Thrones thing. Even then, those wolves are not big enough to ride.

So, Dire Wolf Mounts are not TES Lore related. Well, I guess they are now, as the Devs added them to the game, but not from any precedent in the existing TES series.

Khajiit_Ri

@k9mouse thank you, this one is humbled by your definition of lore. He did not know that in a fictional world anything must obey anything.

You do realize that history is a narrative written by winners? Not every bit of history is recorded. Also no one can apply logos to a fictional setting governed by something as unreasonable as magic? Not to mention that history even in the real world is filled with anachronisms, that don't seem to make sense, but do exist. Also given the nature of TES, with dragon breaks, and pesky Daedric princes, with multiple eras, things can be recorded incorrectly, changed, distorted, and even forgotten.

Most likely if you're looking for a logical explanation, the biggest of the best wolves were bred to make excellent mounts, perhaps they are easily influenced by magic, or put under some sort of spell.

Khajiit-Ri also loves lore, but lore mustn't "make sense", because any narrative is often unreliable, (especially in a fictional world) and should a developer (no matter how ridiculous) insert a UFO into Tamriel, it becomes lore. No explanation needed.

JD2013

In a world of Daedric Princes, magic, walking tree cities and Minotaurs etc I don't think wolf mounts are much of a stretch.

I think that they are something that comes mainly from Kvatch area (given that their insignia is a wolf) and are bred specifically in that area by specialist trainers. They're a symbol. At least that's how I see it.

Acrolas

No significant lore behind them.

Most likely the result of larger wolves cross bred with domestic dogs. So hybrid wolf dogs, not purebred dire wolves.

Molag_Crow

Khajiit_Ri wrote: »

@k9mouse thank you, this one is humbled by your definition of lore. He did not know that in a fictional world anything must obey anything.

You do realize that history is a narrative written by winners? Not every bit of history is recorded. Also no one can apply logos to a fictional setting governed by something as unreasonable as magic? Not to mention that history even in the real world is filled with anachronisms, that don't seem to make sense, but do exist. Also given the nature of TES, with dragon breaks, and pesky Daedric princes, with multiple eras, things can be recorded incorrectly, changed, distorted, and even forgotten.

Most likely if you're looking for a logical explanation, the biggest of the best wolves were bred to make excellent mounts, perhaps they are easily influenced by magic, or put under some sort of spell.

Khajiit-Ri also loves lore, but lore mustn't "make sense", because any narrative is often unreliable, (especially in a fictional world) and should a developer (no matter how ridiculous) insert a UFO into Tamriel, it becomes lore. No explanation needed.

Yep, pretty much this...

SirAndy

k9mouse wrote: »

can someone ride an animal whose nature that they want to eat you instead giving your character a ride?

One word: Magick

newtinmpls

k9mouse wrote: »

How is the dire wolf mount lore? Yes, ESO and TES have dire wolves, however they are not big enough to someone to ride on.

I agree.

For that matter the Guar (pre ESO) were never mounts in ES lore; they are pack animals.

ESO tends to stretch things as much as possible to make them fun/marketable and I get that. Bought the Wolf mount.

My big issue is they have the mouth totally wrong when howling. The jaws should not be open - the critter should be doing a thing like pursing it's lips; the mouth is barely open (brought to you by owning a dog that howls every the sirens are tested, every time a fire truck goes by, every time a police siren goes off...).

WardenofArcherus

k9mouse wrote: »

Also, can someone ride an animal whose nature that they want to eat you instead giving your character a ride?

There have been a few people who have ridden bears over the years.

I'd imagine that if large wolves (wargs are a noted exaplme in Norse mythology) existed in our world, we would have domesticated them much in the fashion we did with normal sized wolves. Heck, I'd bet that with enough time, we could have domesticated bears for such use if we had formulated a relationship with them so long ago, as we did with wolves.

Abeille

It's new.

They added wild Dire Wolves and a book on taming them to justify them existing as mounts.

Long story short, they are breed for size and taming them is really hard. You need to make the creature respect you as if you were another Dire Wolf, according to the book. And magic doesn't work.

Oh and I'm perfectly okay with this, by the way. I really don't mind seeing new creatures added as mounts, as long as ZOS puts in some lore along with it, which they did with the Dire Wolves.

TheShadowScout

If Tamriel has giants, it can have giant wolves as well, wolves big enough to be ridden. They did add that book (yes, found it as well), and so I am content with them adding dire wolf mounts to the lore to make some crown store sales...

Danikat

Nestor wrote: »

k9mouse wrote: »

How is the dire wolf mount lore? Yes, ESO and TES have dire wolves,

TES has never had a Dire Wolf. This is a Game of Thrones thing. Even then, those wolves are not big enough to ride.

So, Dire Wolf Mounts are not TES Lore related. Well, I guess they are now, as the Devs added them to the game, but not from any precedent in the existing TES series.

Game of Thrones was not the first fantasy series to include dire wolves (and neither was A Song of Ice and Fire). I first encountered them in DnD but they may well predate that too, since most ideas used in that game do. (They also appear in Warcraft 1, and it wouldn't surprise me if they're in WoW too but I don't know.)

Also as it turns out they are, or rather were, a real animal. Named in 1858 too so not a case of a fantasy geek drawing on their hobbies for inspiration. But the real ones are definitely too small to ride and obviously were never domesticated.

I don't think it's unreasonable to think that a canine could be trained to carry a rider if a big enough species existed. I have personally seen small children ride large dogs for short distances without any objection from the dog. Obviously you couldn't just go out and find a dire wolf and break it in as if it was a domestic horse (but then the same is true of a wild horse), but I also don't think it's as simple as because they're carnivores they would attack anyone who tried to ride them.