Elderscrolls and history

[Noobo]

HAs many fantasy games have elements drawn from history, I thought it'd be interesting to draw some parallels in Skyrim/the elderscrolls series

 

Im not a massive fan of lore, but its quite interesting to see what the diegetic history of this game was based on

If you have any interesting input/theories on what elderscrolls lore was based on please discuss here

 

heres one based on my knowledge:

 

Imperials are more or less Romans (obvious)

Moreover, i think a parallel can be drawn from the Imperial settlement of cyrodiil to the Roman settlement of the Italic peninsula:

[elderscrolls] Migration from Atmora - [myth] If you believe Virgil's Illiad, with Ysgramor being a fantasy Aeneas

[elderscrolls] extinction of the Ayleid - [history] Well the Romans in their usual "neighborly fashion" managed to wipe out the native Etruscan culture

 

Now its your turn. Wow us with your obscure knowledge

[Vangarrett99]

I used to dig Elderscroll History, then I took an arrow in the knee? :wallbash:

 

Alrighty... serious business now.

 

Let us draw the parallels to our medieval world...

 

The Imperial is based closely to the Roman Empire. Style of clothings, military grabs, buildings, terminology (Legate, Legion, Legionnaire).

Even the names resemble Roman. They worship Talos, who is the first Emperor. Roman worship their first Emperor Julius Caesar (Posthumous) as a godlike figure. (Liken that of Jupiter, who is the equavalent of Zeus)

 

Nords are vikings. Period. (Everything about them is Norse)

 

Redguards are based loosely on Corsairs that plagued Mediterranean Sea's southern coasts (Algier, Trebizond, Morroco).

 

Bretons should be the Brits, Normans, even Gauls. They belong to the same stock.

 

Argonians are perhaps closed loosely on Mayan or Egyptian? They are beastmen and rather primitive. Their primitive culture could draw a parallel with the Mayans and Egyptians.

 

Khajits would be the Nomadic People of the African Plains and Savannas. I believe I do not need to go into details on the resemblances?

 

Next... we have the mer or elves.

 

 

The Altmer could be the Atlanteans? They are the fabled people of Lost Atlantis which was described in some records as a breed of highly-intelligent, sophisticated race who has a highly-developed culture before they are lost to us? lol

 

The Dunmer are the Turks. Dark-skinned, tenacious, warlike and extremely adept in combat. On Vvanderfell in the wastelands and deserts, there are many nomdic tribes, and many Turks are nomads until the formation of the Ottoman Empire?

 

Now... the Bosmer... this race I can't seems to find a parallel to it in our real world... (Robin Hood and his Merry Men? English?) Someone help? :rolleyes:

[TimF]

There are near to no parallels with the real world history, apart form some traits and cultural style.

[Noobo]

we're not superimposing historical events onto Elderscrolls, merely throwing conjecture as to where inspiration was drawn from

 

Bosmer could be the Germanic tribes, excellent foresters, but not really noted for their archery. Being fair, this pre-concieved idea that forrest=archers is purely based on fantasy like Robin Hood. The only nations that had rely on archery as their main military doctrines are mostly plains people (achaemenids, parthians, mongols). The only exception is the English/Welsh longbowman, but i think we can discount that due to the geography and social conditions of medieval england.

[Gruff]

A pretty obvious parallel to world history could be the empire/stormcloak conflict. It could be compared to way too many tragedies in world history. But that is in a very general sense. And I think it is handled very well by the game designers!

 

As TimF says, there are also interesting cultural design/style parallels. As a swede/scandinavian not very much in Skyrim reminds me of Vikings however, except for some of the buildings and some of the names. Which paradoxically could be historically correct, the real Vikings quickly adopted any "foreign" influences they could steal. And horned helmets would have been seen as a joke from an ancient era ...

[Vangarrett99]

we're not superimposing historical events onto Elderscrolls, merely throwing conjecture as to where inspiration was drawn from

 

Bosmer could be the Germanic tribes, excellent foresters, but not really noted for their archery. Being fair, this pre-concieved idea that forrest=archers is purely based on fantasy like Robin Hood. The only nations that had rely on archery as their main military doctrines are mostly plains people (achaemenids, parthians, mongols). The only exception is the English/Welsh longbowman, but i think we can discount that due to the geography and social conditions of medieval england.

 

Germanic tribes are noted for their axes not bows. English and Welsh longbowman are closer. *shrug*

 

Yeap, in medieval Europe, they use more of crossbows than bows/long bows. The crossbow is a simpler weapon to master. The English were the only nation to favour bows/long bows than crossbows in Europe. And of course.... archery is sometime like a basic skill to the plains people. In those days, western calvaries couldn't match up with the easten ones because they lack horseback archery. The best shock calvary is still the Mongols. They had superb heavy calvary and very mobile light horse archers.

 

Come to think about it... Skyrim should integrate horseback combat and archery? That would be fun? :whistling:

[Sheralynn]

I think of the elves as the Asian peoples. They somewhat reflect Asian cultures like the nomadic Mongolians, the sophisticated Japanese or the philosophical Chinese. Their appearance and style also has an Asian feel.

 

The European peoples are roughly divided into the Germanic, Roman and Slavic peoples. In TOS roughly represented by the Nords, the Imperials and the Bretons.

 

The Redguard would have course represent the Africans.

 

The beast races don't represent any ethnicity but reflect some cultural aspects. They serve to express things like marginalized groups (the Khajiit) or those who are exploited (the Argonians). Often times they are the tragic figures or the victims.

 

The whole civil war thing could be seen as the latter days of the Roman Empire but just as easily as a reflection of today's emergence of the 'multicultural society' and the end of western civilization as we know it.

[macole]

This is the way I look at the races;

Bosmer: Followers of the Green Pact, religiously carnivorous and practitioners of cannibalistic rituals the Bosmer most obviously represent the Celtic Druid culture of north western Europe prior to the Roman conquest.

 

Altmer: A definite Northern Asia Chinese/Japanese cultural influence.

 

Dunmer: No doubt the Dunmer represent Persian and Sassanid empires of the middle east circa 500 BC to 200 AD

 

Redguard: Migrating from the sunken western continent of Yokuda and not being of the same stock as Nords, Bretons and Imperials I always looked at the Redguard as possibly being a Phoenician/Trojan/Carthage culture.

 

The following are all related to one and other as descendants of the Nedes;

Imperials: Greco/Roman culture easily.

 

Nords; Obvious Nordic and Germanic cultures.

 

Bretons: Romanized Britain and Gaul

 

The Beast Races;

Khajiit: With up to 20 known variants of the Khajiit race ranging from almost Elven Ohmes-raht to larger species such as the Senche and the Cathay-Raht governed by a dictatorial republic/confederacy in Elswery, I see them as a north and south American Indian cultural composite

 

Argonian: Quite possibly the greatest influence would come from dense jungle rainforest cultures of south eastern Asia from India through Thailand and on to Bali

[Vangarrett99]

MMmm... you guys are good. Took your history lessons huh? :D

 

I like the link between Bosmer to Celtic Druids. Make sense,,, but don't think Wood Elves are cannibalistic?

 

Now... how about the Dwemer or Dwarf?

 

They are kinda like a 'lost civilisation' aren't they? They are technically advanced even in the ancient days. Stargate anyone? :whistling:

[macole]

MMmm... you guys are good. Took your history lessons huh? :D

 

I like the link between Bosmer to Celtic Druids. Make sense,,, but don't think Wood Elves are cannibalistic?

 

Now... how about the Dwemer or Dwarf?

 

They are kinda like a 'lost civilisation' aren't they? They are technically advanced even in the ancient days. Stargate anyone? :whistling:

 

Sorry to disappoint but the Bosmer do pratice ritual cannibalism according to the Green Pact. You can check here http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Bosmer and here http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Bosmer.

 

The Dwemer all vanished at the same moment in time. One minute they are here and the next minute poof they're all gone. Stargate experiment gone haywire.