Lol Cirrok the Lofty, the best!!! I did not realize it!
And for the City... I agree with the ones who say its based on history nordic style cities. And idilic version, but based on it.

Whiterun is defenetly heavily inspired by Rohan. The big fields around Whiterun looks a lot like the riddermark of Rohand. Their banner shows a horse quite similar to the horse in the banners of the Rohirrim. Whiterun itself looks a lot like Edoras with it's Dragons reach on top of the hill exactly as the "Hall of Meduseld" on top of the hill in Edoras. If the banners would be green instead of yellow and the walls around whiterun was made of wooden logs as a large palisade I would call it a right rip-off.

In any case I love Rohan and I also love Whiterun. Go figure.

Its not based on Rohan. Seriously, guys. You know what Edoras and Whiterun have in common? They are both Motte-and-Bailey Castles. Its one of the oldest, most well known sorts of fortifications. Because it worked really well.

You start with a fortified structure on top of a hill (The jarl's palace), leaving only a very vulnerable path to the castle. Arrows would be used here. Trying to scale the cliff would be suicide. Over time, the safety of the area prompts people to move in. This in turn is followed by an expansion of the walls -- usually an entirely new one, down the hill from the castle. (That would be the place with the temple and prophet and hall of the dead)..

And as more people come, it goes out even farther, and the wall is expanded again to defend those new, vulnerable areas. This is where the shops, Inn, and market is. I mean...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carisbrooke_Castle_14th_century.jpg This. This is a motte-and-bailey castle.

Elder Scrolls is mostly based on D&D and Tolkien. D&D even has its own version of http://www.eyeofthevortexonline.com/articles/article136.php!

Watched The Two Towers... Edoras is beautiful. Whiterun? Not up to it. Just the tundra resembles Rohan a bit, but it's too compressed, unfortunately.

whats Rohan ?

Well, Whiterun/Rohan are considerably cleaner, more colorful, and friendlier than old Norse holds. No paganism, no constant risk of disease, people most likely don't smell of their own waste. Instead, in Whiterun, there's Daedra manipulation, ice mummies, bandits, necromancers, and Giants/The Nordic Space Program.

Come to think of it, Rohan only had to deal with Orcs and a temporarily possessed king. Looks like they have the best of it.

Rohan is a 'feud' in the fictional world of Middle Earth, mentioned mainly The Lord of the Rings.

Tamriel > Middle Earth
Skyrim > Rohan
Whiterun > Edoras

Minas Tirith did though

The first settlers of the Great Plains of America built settlements like this. It's just what you do in the plains when you have a height advantage over others. It's practically human nature. No doubt Tolkien was inspired by something similar.

Gildergreen is definitely a nod to the White Tree. But IMO, they should have just planted that bad boy in like, Solitude or something.

YARR

And I guess that the temple of Kynareth is loosely like the Houses of Healing...