Nord Popularity Contest

[StayFrosty05]

I have been noticing a few people specifically singling out Nords as a race they just don't like...I have become curious as to why? What is it about Nords you don't like?

[AnkhAscendant]

They're brutish.

 

It's all a matter of taste - I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Nords - but they are my least favorite race (including Orcs and Imperials, whom I also don't care for). They don't suit my taste at all. I like subtlety, intelligence, guile, wit, depth, charm, diplomacy, and delicacy, and I defy you to find any definition of Nord that includes more than one of those.

 

Nords seem to be very brute-force, honor, guts & glory, seeing things in black and white, action before thought, intolerant, opinionated, hard-headed... I'm stopping before I actually get into insults here. (This isn't to say that all of the descriptors apply to all Nords, but it is their cultural personality.) Honestly I can see the appeal, but the appeal doesn't apply to me. As a race they make me go "ugh".

 

Of course, I've never been interested in werewolves (not just in Skyrim, but at all) and if there were only three choices of class Fighter would still be fourth on my list. This doesn't directly have anything to do with Nords, but indirectly, Nords, werewolves, and Fighter-types all seem to go hand-in-paw-in-gauntlet.

 

 

Edit: I wanted to say this is across all games and lore This is not Skyrim-specific and I don't have any Skyrim-specific reasons, it's just the race in general.

Edited October 25, 2012 by AnkhAscendant

[nakakita]

The number one reason I despise Nords, is because one of them actually called other humans 'lesser races'. And because that's just how they treat all non-Nords as a whole. They think their culture should be respected, and then they respect no one else. They whine about injustices, and then turn around and treat others precisely how they just said they didn't want to be treated.

 

But I'll admit my actual ethnic makeup might be another reason why I can't stand them. I like all the other human races. The Bretons were a bit snobby in Oblivion, but they don't bother me in Skyrim. I pity the Orcs, losing their homeland and all. The Dunmer are just very interesting to me, and while they are not exactly the most welcoming race in Tamriel, they don't bother me half as much as Nords do. I can even make myself see the Thalmor arguments, and if anyone really has a claim to being a master race, it is the Altmer, but they're even less in your face about it than the Nords. The Nords seem primitive, they hate magic, which is about as brilliant as hating technology, and they're just ignorant.

 

I remember hearing that the mark of a true civilization is the ability to laugh at themselves. I really can't see the Nords doing this, though I have seen a few Altmer/Dunmer do it. In addition, I think I'd enjoy non-existance in the void of Sithis over an eternity in Sovngarde.

[Georgiegril]

I dont "hate" all Nords, but as I tend to play a Redguard, I get tired of hearing things like "Skyrim is for the Nords." Also I find their tendency to force other races out of their city to be, at best, uncosmopolitian. I understand they are feeling threatened because of the White Gold thing, and many are probably being stirred up by Stormcloak propaganda. I like to think that after I save the world, they start to become more open-minded, and would only say so, if only they had more dynamic dialogue AI!;)

[scottym23]

Judging by the two posters before me it looks like I might be the only person in favor of the Nord race. I understand the points people are trying to make and for the most part they are true. But let's not forget that when the first waves of Nords settled in Skyrim the Aldmer and Falmer were already living there. For a while they lived in harmony until they realized the Nords were breeding more and more, taking up a lot of the land. So the Aldmer thinking they were superior tried to commit genocide against the Nords and run them out, and they succeeded for a time until the final wave of Nords with Ysgramor defeated them. So having this in mind, don't you think it's understandable that they have self esteem issues and feel like they have something to prove? Imagine some catastrophic event occurring in America and everyone had to migrate to Mexico. When there, everything was working perfectfully and peacefully until they realized there were too many Americans so they tried to wipe everyone out and run them out. Eventually you regrouped and overtook Mexico. How do you think the Americans would look at Mexicans from then on?

 

And I don't necessarily agree with the "all brute force and no intellect/wit" stereotype you guys are suggesting for the Nords. There are tons of examples all across Skyrim of well educated and tactical Nords both in and out of battle.

[IsharaMeradin]

My only reason for not liking Nords or any race for that matter is that, I've only ever come up with a decent face I liked with the Redguard. Nothing to do with game play etc... I just can't get a face combination that I really like

 

Its lame but at least its the truth

[AnkhAscendant]

I also wanted to add one thing: after playing Skyrim for so long, I'm really tired of the accent. The next time I heard the "w" in "sword" pronounced I might run someone through... :P Edited October 25, 2012 by AnkhAscendant

[Inquart]

Well, to be honest and just, I think it should be said that every race in TES lore has its advantages and flaws, its brighter and darker moments.

 

That said, I personally really can't understand all that anti-Nord atmosphere; I might be a little bit biased, being a great fan of, in the broad sense of the term, Germanic and Scandinavian culture, around which Skyrim seems to be at least partially based, but still - are the Nords really that bad? Why? Because they have honor, courage and an utmost respect for their ancestors and great heroes, Talos among them? Because they perceive their lives as one big quest for glory and try to find a little bit of that glory even in the simplest of things, be it farming, hunting, fishing or blacksmithing? Because they seek, let's say, fulfillment in every aspect of their live? Because they'd rather solve the problem - even by force - than just sit and talk about it? Because they don't like some Gestapo-like High Elves telling them what they can and what they can't do in their own land, with the Empire they (the Nords) have fought for doing practically nothing to stop that oppression?

 

By that point some of you might think that I'm a Stormcloak sympathizer or some other in-game Nord nationalist, but I assure you I'm not - it's my fourth playthrough now and I have again sided with the Empire as a Nord, mainly to strengthen it and maybe one day see it taking its sweet revenge on the Aldmeri Reich, I mean Dominion; I'm also as far as it is possible from harboring any hatred towards any other races, as I think not the races should be fought and hated, but the individuals. Mentioning Stormcloaks, I think all that anti-Nord sentiment is in great part their leader's fault; now everybody thinks that all Nords are just as racist and narrow-minded as Ulfric himself. But look at the other Nords: Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, Kodlak Whitemane, Eorlund Gray-Mane, Mjoll the Lioness, Balimund, Captain Aldis, Brunwulf Free-Winter and many, many others, all of them honorable, courageous, hard-working people, far from ignorant (I don't mean to offend anyone here) portrayal of Nords as "illiterate savages".

 

As I said, my point of view might be biased, but to all Nord-haters or anyone with something against the Nords I say this: don't perceive the entire race by an example of one ego-driven man and his blind followers. And read "Nords of Skyrim" :biggrin:

 

Edit: scottym23, thanks for standing up for the Nords - I was afraid I'd be the only one :)

Edited October 25, 2012 by Inquart

[StayFrosty05]

I play a Nord....the same male with same appearance and name in every game...(started as an Imperial originally though, still looked very similar... :tongue: ....) I'm rather fond of him....Funnily enough though, reading the above comments I note he has never had a back story of an atypical Nord upbringing or life style, always very divorced from Nord life style and culture....The reasons I do this have already been cited above....aka...the intolerance and the double standard and poor us attitude in regards to the ban on Talos worship (think Forsworn and what the Nords did to them)....plus I prefer a rather different combat approach than is generally touted as the Nord way....(stealthy tactical Alchemist/Archer)....And yes, AnkhAsendant he is a Werewolf.... :happy: ....though once again I create my own story there....I like the natural primal wild feel of the Werewolf....though played much more so from a wolf perspective rather than some murderous blood thirsty rampaging beast.

 

What I am saying is I can see myself a number of reasons why people may not like the Nords....I always find it amusing when one of the Guards pops out with the line, "I am proof of their ignorance" that line to me speaks volumes for the opposite....always side with the Imperials if my Nord does the Civil War quest.....But that said most of the races haven't really stood out to me for negative reasons in both Oblivion and Skyrim (haven't played Morrowind) aside from the Altmer and Dunmer...neither of whom I am that fond of myself...though I play a Dunmer in Oblivion (Is the only race I can make a decent looking male out of.... :happy: ...his back story also divorces him from his own culture)...I really don't like the arrogance of these two Mer races....displayed quite strongly in both games.

 

Each race/species in the TES world does have their own particular flavor about them...a cultural and world view preset as such and each have their strengths and weaknesses....to be honest I find they are mostly all quite idiotic and base, all the races share extreme self absorb-ion in one way or the other....some more than others....I find it a wonder they haven't completely torn each other apart and genocide'd one another into non existence, they do seem to be working on it however....though I do have a soft spot for Khajiits and Bosmer.....But at the end of the day, it is about taking each individual for their own merits and not judging one by the race/species they come from...thus the ability for us all to play our Dovahkins as we see fit, not limited by race or creed....And I am with IsharaMeradin on this.... :happy: ....which race can I make the prettiest/handsomest Dovahkin out of.... :happy:

Edited October 26, 2012 by StayFrosty05

[Deleted3507349User]

I've noticed that in Skyrim all the negative things I've read about nords apply even more to the Orcs. Let us be brutally honest here. EVERY race in Skyrim has this tendency...and individuals that rise above them. Seems like every race in Skyrim is biased against every other race. The Khajiit only really respect other Khajiit. The Dunmer certainly think they're superior to everyone else...it goes on and on. I'm most likely going to be flamed for making the following observation, but I suspect the hate for the nords in particular comes from our own real-life cultural sensibilities and notions of political-correctness (i.e. the white dude is THE MAN and all of them are racist).

 

Pardon me while I drink a few potions of resist fire now.