I'm a Nord.. but you're asking me "But first tell me. Why's a foreigner want to fight for Skyrim?".

Huh?.. wait a second.. last I checked I'm a Nord bro.. this IS my homeland. Does he say this to everyone? Or what... cause I don't get it..

I just found this kinda funny and interesting.. never really paid attention to it before on other characters.

He says it to everyone AFAIK. My first toon I got that far in the questline in was a Khajiit. Then I went through the first part again on a Nord (about the time I decided I couldn't do either questline again) and he said the same thing. Very weird.

Hippnotic It's probably bethesda way of being lazy, and not recognizing the race. I've always played a Nord and I always get the same thing from him.

You were caught crossing the border. Your place of birth or even your home for your life until now could be anywhere. Maybe you were born in Skyrim, but left for a different province, grew up, and then decided to return to Skyrim.

In Morrowind, you are always called an outlander and a foreigner, even if you play as a Dunmer. Morrowind wsa my first TES game, and I thought it would be fitting to play as a Dunmer (which remains my favorite race). Everywhere I go I hear "What is it Outlander?" "Speak quickly, Outlander." and so on. Some characters in Morrowind explain they can tell you are outlander based on your speech patterns and accent. This might explain why Dunmer in Skyrim sound so vastly different from the ones in Morrowind. So, I'm guessing that a Nord PC would sound like the ones found in Morrowind, which sound different from the ones in Skyrim.

Since Ralof says you were crossing the border, it makes most sense to me that the Nord dovahkiin was part of the diaspora and they recognize this from your clothing, speech etc. It limits what you can give your character as roleplay background, but how else to explain why you have no family and no one knows you in Skyrim.

Nords inhabit other provinces, too. Usually the accent is a dead giveaway to check if someone is native to a region or not.

If i remember right you where referred to as a foreigner in oblivion a few times too even as an imperial, just a way to cut down on extra dialog in my opinion.

Your character is assumed (by the game) to be a non-native of Skyrim; it may be your ancestral homeland but you're still a foreigner by virtue of having come from Cyrodiil or points beyond.