I rather doubt a humanoid being could shoot fire out of their hand by magic but that doesn't stop them from doing it in Skyrim.

I gotta ask this: why are you trying to apply science to a fantasy game?

it's fun?

It's the Copper Ore they chew on instead of dental floss

Awww I was expecting a punchline

My best Guess:
Human Races: 1 ancestor
Mer: 1 ancestor
Beast races: 2 Ancestors
(these are the 'common' races of Tamriel)

Why are smurfs blue? It's just the way it is.

Your idea why things must have a certain colour is not quite right. Only when an attribute, like skin colour, is under the pressure of natural selection will it adjust. When it is not then it can be random or it can be dominated by another attribute. It could be the result of their diet. Ask yourself why Europeans are white, why Africans are black, why Chinese are yellow and why North American natives are red.

Regarding the skin colour of the orcs do you need to ask Bethesda. It is how they envisioned orcs and they should be able to give you an answer.

Why are orcs green? 'Cause they're Orcs. Duh.

Because of their environment? Africans are black so they are less vunerable to the sun. I'm sure we're white for some reason or another that I cannot be bothered to research. It's all to do with the conditions surrounding us.

EDIT: Also, you said "When it is not then it can be random". No, if it was a simple mutation and one orc gained that particular attribute(green skin), it doesn't explain why the whole of the orc population is also green. If it's ''random'', then all of the rest of the population which isn't green must have died off to allow green to be the dominant skin colour, which pretty much says that green skin must be an advantage.

we are white becaus we don't need protection from the sun

yes, but most adaptations are for an advantage. having less protection from the sun isn't exactly that, BUT i think there may be other advantages to it - for example, pale skin enhances photogeneration of vitamin D.

Not always. A big part of evolution is getting rid of past "advantage" that is no longer needed otherwise we would still have tails and be a lot hairier

We are white cause that allows us to take more warmth from the sun.

The less melanin (sp) you have the more the sun will burn you not warm you so that theory is flawed. So the more white you are the more the sun is your enemy not your friend...the proof is in albino's


White and all the other non black pigments were a result of ancient alien experiments.

The original man was the asiatic black man from africa, we're all his children with diluted blood. Even the so called "black" people of america aren't really "black", hence why their skin is brown....black + white= brown/tan.
If you want true black then you need to look at the skin of tribes in africa who for thousands of years have never mingled with any other race.

Orcs have always been green, no real reason for it...

Maybe Orcs are so strong because they have the power of the photosynthesis!

Yes, a kind of Flower Power!

The Hulk went to Tamriel and got busy.....

ha "hulk smash! smash smash smash...hulk sleep"

Dunmer arent purple, with the possible exception of some of the ones seen in Oblivion. And there is a Lore explanation for it. They were cursed by Azura at Red Mountain. The Tribunal made themselves into gods, thus they and their followers abandoned Daedra worship. As to why present day Dunmer who do worship the Daedra are still grey, theres probably 2 possible reasons. 1) Punishment for their ancestors' crimes. 2) For the lulz.


Well, the Daedric Princes can assume any for they want, so I guess he decided to be green.

I like to think that rather than a process of DIVERGENT evolution (all bipedal races have a common bipedal ancestor), the races of tamriel (beast, human, elf, and then orc) went through a process of CONVERGENT evolution, in which different species develop similar traits, despite not being related (dolphins and whales, for example).

I would say that if anything, the green skin is a trait that might have served a purpose when they were still in an early pre-human state of evolution, and that once they developed culture to survive there was no real reason to NOT have green skin. It's kind of like how humans have wisdom teeth... there's really no evolutionary reason why we really need them anymore as our jaws have drastically decreased in size, but by the time we developed culture to survive (which makes evolutionary "survival of the fittest" traits not nearly as significant to survival) there was never really any chance for us to evolve out of that trait.

Now, this is a realistic and not lore-related post. However, since Tamriel has a helluva lot more divine intervention than our world... I'd say it's probably because of the Gods. But I hope I could have at least entertained.

EDIT: Bawwww I meant divines/daedric princes. My bad y'all.

What other color would Orcs be?

In all seriousness, I have no idea. I expect this to be a fairly popular thread, despite--or perhaps because of--its oddity.

Correct, the ancient Chimer were cursed to appear "as dark as their hearts" due to Vivec's, Sotha Sil's, and Amelexia's betrayal of Lord Nerevar.

It's part of their curse. For a real life reason.....most Orcs in games are green, so it just was the thing to do.