I've never played a game as a High Elf, but considering there is a lot of tension between the Thalmor and everyone else, I can't imagine people would treat a High Elven player well.

They do not treat you any differently than anyone else. That is one of the great thing about being the Player Character. Even in Windhelm, most of the merchants are elves of one stripe or another.

Keep in mind that Altmer are not that same as the Aldermei Dominion, or the Thalmor.

I've not played an Altmer yet. But there are occasional derogatory remarks for a Dunmer (Dark Elf) in Windhelm.

I'm an armature when it comes to lore, but I thought the Aldmeri dominion had just been the government of the Summer set Isles, who in turn are the homeland of the High Elves.

The Aldmeri Dominion is the combination of Summerset and Valenwood (and not a fair and equal combination at that). The Summerset Isles is the home province of the High Elves (or Altmer), and they run the Dominion. The Thalmor are the current ruling political power in Summerset, and are the force behind the recreation of the Aldmeri Dominion and the High Elf quest for world domination. That does not mean that every Altmer is from Summerset, or is part of the Aldmeri Dominion, or agrees with the Thalmor of course. In fact, the Thalmor exiled quite a few Altmer who opposed them when they first took over Summerset. Others fled of their own accord. Like the guy who wrote http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Rising_Threat (which talks about the rise of the Thalmor).

Yes, that's right. The current (as of Skyrim) government of the geographic location of Summerset Isles is the Aldmeri Dominion. Summerset Isles is the homeland of the High Elves (aka Altmer). The Thalmor are the radical representatives of the Aldmeri Dominion to external nations such as the "Empire". Altmers are a races and not the state.

Even though npcs may hate other npcs due to their race, they tend to ignore the player's race entirely. It's funny sometimes. I had an altmer in Markarth explain to my wood elf what a wood elf was. Just today a redguard told my redguard character about her homeland as if I'd never heard of it. So no, npcs treat altmer pcs like nords, aside from some greetings when they'll call you "elf"

Funny thing, the altmer are pretty well accepted in Skyirm, assuming they're not part of the Thalmor.

Windhelm (and once upon a time Winterhold) is highly inhabited by Dark Elves, so that accounts for most of the elves there. I play an Altmer but I rarely get treated differently for the most part, there is no prejudice against the PC because then people would just complain that their Khajiit isn't allowed into cities.

My character is an Altmer, and nope I haven't noticed any unique dialogue. That is something I don't like about the game. I swear I've heard characters of a different race call my character another race than what he is.

This is a well known complaint in the game: that race means nothing story-wise. They dont have to ban PC khajiit from cities, but a little quest to prove you can be trusted would be nice, or even if people would just comment on how odd it is seeing a khajiit in town. In Fallout 3, another bethesda game, there was different dialogue, even quest branches, for PERKS. Why not have the same thing for races in skyrim? It can clearly be done, and it breaks the immersion when everyone is treated exactly the same. Like I said, when I was on my bosmer, I had an npc try to explain to me what a bosmer was as if I didnt know. Stuff like that is just absurd and lazy.

The Khajiit get derogatory comments anywhere, nobody seems to like them.

Yes the more I play with different races the less I notice that race matters in skyrim. There may be a comment every blue moon but nothing that makes the race of my character stand out. Would be nice if there was people throwing tomatoes at you if they were racist towards you but you could do a quest (to save their life or kill them for their insolence) and the city/town folk respect/fear your ways.

same goes for clothes too, not only race. Try wearing a stormcloak uniform in front of tullius. Nothing happen!

Two things I have missed : [You are now disguised as a member of the Legion] and hearing "something on your mind, Goldenrod?"

The captain of the guard will arrest you.

You get a unique option when infiltrating the Thalmor Embassy in the MQ, if you are Altmer and wear full thalmor gear you can walk around and nobody will attack you. Yu can even trick a thalmor into leaving his post

As my Breton i was caught stealing and the guard called me a "Thieving Little Elf"

Occasionally i get comments about being an elf but nothing thalmor related and the thalmor dont respect me as kin like nords do when pkaying my nord

Beyond the very beginning of the game when Hadvar and Ralof mention that I happen to be a High Elf, I have not heard any NPC say a thing about it since. Sure I get the generic "Elf" comments from guards that all elves get, but that it is. This really disappoints me since the race I choose means more to me than just appearance or stats. I don't even need extra quests or anything big relating to the race I choose, but some comments here and there would be very welcome.

If I recall correctly, race DID mean something in Morrowind, maybe even Oblivion.

But all I've noticed:
--Nord Characters receive more respectful comments by other Nords and are more appreciated than any other character.
--Playing as a Breton, I've had some Nords mention (while fighting me) "Skyrim belongs to the Nords!" which I never hear as a Nord.
--In the Civil War Quests, while relaying a message back to the enemy, after killing their courier, the enemy captain will say something about your armor if it is the opposing type.


I just realized I've had this game for 2 months and only played as Nord, Imperial, Breton, and Orc. Need to play as Altmer.

Well, the Bretons ARE essentially half elf ...

But yeah, I miss the distinction too.

The only two races that appear to have unique dialouge directed at them are the Nords and the Dunmer. And Khajiit's get insulted differently in combat. That's about it.

Might be a bad thing according to how you see it; i would like some different treatment for different races, minor ones at least.

In Morrowind I played a wood elf and a dark elf. The difference with the dark elf was extraordinary. People called me muthsera or sera, and were generally cordial. When I played a wood elf, it was "We're watching you scum!"

The most I ever see about race in Skyrim is sometimes Nords will make generic comments about my characters being elves. Like "What do you want little elf?" That is all I have ever found playing dark elves, wood elves, and high elves.

I agree. I would like to see differences in how people treat you based on your race. It would make the game a lot more interesting, and your choice of race be about more than just what once a day power your character has.