I have always wondered where the dov came from, who his family was, why he was crossing the border, and whatnot since I started playing Skyrim. A few NPCs have a family dialogue that reference parents/family. Yet I've got no idea who my parents are and if I had any siblings.

Well awhile back I received a letter from a courier that a family member had past away, and left me an inheritance. It was only 100g, but what I really wanted to know why I received a letter about a family member I never knew I had. And why am I never involved with them, or the funeral?

It seems silly to have such a thing in the game but never mention family or where I can go to see them off to Soverngard

Anyone got an explanation for the death of a unknown family member??

I don't remember the name, but it was one I had never seen. And apparently they lived in Solitude and where quite wealthy?

I really want to know about this...

Are you sure it said a family member specificly? Because I believe anyone who dies who likes you, from doing them a favor or whatever, usually leaves you some gold.

Well, that particular thing is something that happens usually after you kill a named NPC.

Otherwise, you just roleplay why you are where you are, what happened to you, and where you go from Helgen.

Yeah it said family member i'm pretty sure. I'll look to see if I can find it. But it was an inheritance, the jarl said he was sorry for my loss, taxed my inheritance (of course) and done.

someone from solitude I had never met before...

I was pretty disappointed that your origins are not stated ingame. But then, it is normal in TES games. oblivion doesnt tell you who your parents are too. So its roleplaying at its best.
As for the family member inheritance, never saw those before. Normally if you do favours and that person like you, you get inheritance when the npc dies, presumed murdered by you XD

Yeah but there are NPCs who mention how proud my parents must be. And that is almost their only dialogue. So of all things to say, why mention parents?

I do want to know why the dov was trying to cross the border...

This, you're free to roleplay as you like in TES games. But still, no matter how I roleplay in Oblivion, I ended up with a disturbing reason to be put into prison.
About those inheritances, everyone in Skyrim lives alone. So when you help someone, naturally you become the closest relative of that person. If, for whatever reasons that person dies, you'll be receiving the inheritance.

TES games have open ended PC elements so that you and everyone else who plays the game can decide (or not) who their character is, where they came from and why.

If you want to know about your parents, you just have to invent the parents that you want. Better than someone telling you who your parents are, imo. If you want to know why the Dovahkiin was crossing the border, then I'll ask you: Why was the Dovahkiin crossing the border? (Although that sounds like a lead up to a bad joke... )

Inheritances are cool for pointing out that you have had an effect on the NPCs you deal with, since they must have liked you so much that they bothered to put you in their will at some point before they died.

I had a funny glitch with that one. For some reason, Ria and Athis from the Companions all of a sudden decided I was a threat, and they tried to kill me in the streets of Whiterun. I made a run for it, the other Companions chase after them two who are chasing after me, the Whiterun guards spring to my aid, citizens running in all directions, it was general mayhem.
Athis and Ria eventually got killed by this mob and peace returned (one of the guards looked me right in the face after killing them and asked; 'Trouble?') Next, as I was walking to the gates to leave this crazy city that courier stopped me and told me I had an inheritance from... of course, Athis and Ria. "Sorry for your loss." Yeah...

Waaat? Disappointed?

Everybody has parents, it's unavoidable. As to why NPCs mention it... Well, it's just a way to praise you. In real world people say these things too, don't they?

You and only you can decide why your character was crossing the border. The beauty of TES games is in the fact that they don't tell you why you do the things you do, it's always your choice. Would it be better if they said you were an expatriate Nord with family in Markarth? How would you be able to roleplay a Khajiiti orphan then?

I am glad the story is open for you to roleplay as you like. My characters all have different beginnings and reasons for crossing the border. My orc has the most interesting.

Agreed. I'd be upset if the game made mention of a backstory/parents. Just like with Oblivion and Morrowind, my character has a specific background story, created by me, that helps me figure out what quests she will/won't take and guilds she will/won't join, etc. for roleplaying purposes. It's probably very different from what you've come up with, or what Bethesda would come up with, so it's probably for the best that they leave it to us to fill in all the blanks.

My husband used to play Assassin's Creed a lot. Even though I thought the game looked beautiful I never really enjoyed playing it. I think it was because I felt the character was forced on me, and I simply couldn't identify with a young, Italian male who was also a womanizer. (I could build a character like that, if I wanted to, but then it would be MY young, male Italian womanizer, not someone else's.)

I'd prefer a little more backstory, also. You can only use the RP excuse to mask laziness so much. Why did I cross the border? IDK, I wasn't given that choice. Maybe from an RP aspect I wouldn't have or at least chosen a better place and/or time. Many people don't even do the MQ and CW so WhyTF would they even cross the border in the first place? They could "RP" outside of Skyrim if they have no intention of fighting dragons and visiting the Greybeards.

Bethesda could give us more background if they wanted. They don't have to script our history right up to the very minute we were captured. They could've given us background up to like age 10 or 12 and then let us "RP" the rest.

This always seems to be something that older NPCs say to me, particularly if I've done something nice for them and especially if they are parents themselves. The older lady in the alchemy shop in Solitude, IIRC, is a prime example; Fralia Grey-Mane might be another but I haven't talked to her lately. And both favors there involve the children of the NPC in question.

Given all of that, it seems perfectly in character; being elders they probably tend to identify more with the parents of a presumably much younger PC than with the PC him/herself. So instead of "you've been a good friend" it's "your parents must be proud." To them, saying that your parents would be proud of you is the ultimate compliment.

I love the open nature of it. There's no other way my current character could possibly exist in this game. Malicia is a female High Elf whose entire family was tortured and then killed by the Talmor for dissenting when she was young. Hearing "Your parents must be proud of you" is painful but it reminds her of her purpose. She started the adventure as a loner, but she's making friends, so receiving an inheritance letter from someone who considered her to be family would be bittersweet affirmation of her new place in the world, a confirmation that she belongs here among these people.

Early on with my first toon I was attacked in Riften by 'the 3 Thugs'. I backed myself up in a corner and just hacked and slashed unitl everyone was dead.

Come to find out there was a woman in rags among the dead... even stranger, a courier brought me an inheritance from that woman less than two game days later......

Figure that one out.

I got one from alvor after he got abducted by a dragon. He was in the middle of riverwood when a dragon swooped down took him up. Hr later guy come along with my inheritence lol.

My Hunter was carted off to the arcane university when she was 21 after setting her parents crops alight. She ended up in prison after burning the convoy she was on when bandits attack. After escaping prison thanks to an emperor she saves the world from oblivion. While returning she ends up spending 200 ish years in a state of limbo. She eventually returns to her home only to find it under new ownership. The new owner tells her that the widow that live her prior to him was dragged off by the thalmor.

I must agree.... I couldn't play Torment (well, besides the fact that the toon was male period, and the backstory was set in stone, I really never could stomach Planescape....) or The Witcher.... because: A, I do NOT play male toons EVER; and B. I don't play toons who have "life stories" that I don't myself write and can't identify with.

check to see if your spouse is alive

cats ate your parents.

I hated that Desmond Miles was the PC, (and he was pretty inept at getting out of facilities...) but I thought playing an ancestor was a pretty good way to integrate how all players have to be Altair or Ezio. This is probably the one game where I could fully accept playing a male, because I thought the reason for it was pretty good. I would have loved assassinating humans in AC games all day long - except for THIRD PERSON PERSPECTIVE. After a few TESO discussions I am really hating the thought of third person perspective. Maybe even more than I hated that AC was third person.