I have a problem here. Need some advice.

My favorite race in TES has always been Breton.

However, in Skyrim, I just cannot make sense of playing any other race other than a Nord.

The main character is dragonborn, who weilds the ancient NORD power of the voice. Dragons are literally everywhere in Skyrim. The dragonborn has the soul of a dragon.

Everything just screams Nord as the practical choice.

I know there are many people who choose against Nords because of their loyalty to their favorite races, but I just feel like my character is a joke if I am not a Nord.

Yes, I know the word walls are where you "learn" shouts, so in theory, any race can learn to use the voice. Still, it just isn't enough to settle my mind.

Here is my other problem. When I DO, play as a Nord, I have no problem creating an Awesome looking character every time!

When I create Bretons, they never turn out looking right.

But here is the problem. Look at these links:

[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m287/james_bartee/2011-12-31_02-12-23_518.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m287/james_bartee/2011-12-31_02-12-39_869.jpg[/IMG]

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to create any Nord which doesn't have these annoying cheek dimples!

I have created a Nord from every preset, and at the end, every one has these same cheek dimples. Even Nord npc's have them.

They ruin the character for me. I cannot have a battle-hardened warrior Nord in big, burly dragon armor, with these fairy dimples.

I cannot stop obsessing over them.

If there is no way to get rid of them, I am forced to role Breton. But then, I have this conflict of interest again.

^get off the ritz, they are [censored] dimples!

Just play whatever race you want.

I played a Wood Elf in Morrowind, and never had any qualms about it. There is nothing in the lore dictating that the Neravarine has to be a Dark Elf.

I played a Redguard in Oblivion, and never had any qualms about it. Again, there's nothing saying an Imperial had to be the Champion of Cyrodiil.

And I played a Breton in Skyrim, and never once had a second thought about it. The Dragonborn isn't a Nord figure. Unless I am totally mistaken in my lore, Tiber Septim, nor any of the Septims that followed, were Nords. They were all "Dragonborn". The one born with the soul of a dragon can be anyone.

So just play what you want, and stop worrying about it. That is my advice to you. I particularly enjoyed playing as a Breton in Skyrim, and my experience with them has catapulted Bretons up to the top of my "favorite race" list.

i hate nords they think there so damn tough, thankfully alot of them to kill in skyrim, my khajiit makes short work of them

Did you read any of the history books laying about? The Imperial emperor line of Septims were dragonborn as well. Weren't they Imperials? Fact is, the gods don't stick to one territory, and in fact it may even amuse them to cause the Dragonborn to be born elsewhere. They do know the future and your destiny DOES bring you to Skyrim, so there's that.

I think it would have made sense to give Nords discount on their houses. I mean, if you wanted to make the whole racism thing believable that would be the way to go. Charge Nords less for a house or charge other races more.

There are pro-Imperial nords who may be spies for the empire. Can't trust anyone until this civil war business is over. Or you prove your worth to the Jarl

But the Nords as a whole aren't racist. This isn't the Dunmer in Morrowind who feel like the Imperials have come in and overtaken their culture.

It's Ulfric Stormcloak who is a racist.

Talos is a Nord. the other Septims, I'm not so sure. Uriel the VII is an Imperial, and so is Martin. But since the Septims can basically choose to marry just about anyone, there is a possibility that at some point in time a Breton the Emperor, as I can't find any source about the lineage's races

I kinda was in the same boat you are in. I picked imperial however if my character had a background it would be he had an imperial necromancer mother and a far too trusting nord barbarian for a father (remeber all those naked nordic barbarians on the side of roads in morrowind? kinda like that) I wont get into any deeper than that but remeber all you need is a creative mind for RPing the lore. But also it doesnt matter what race ya chose. Kinda why im not a huge fan of the commercial cause it does kinda make you think twice before picking a kajiit or argonian. but all in all whatever race you chose, itll work.

The Way of the Voice is as much a draconic power as a nordic one, and there is no reason a dragonborn couldn't come from a race other than the Nords. If that explaination doesn't satisfy you then you could always start a character of another race with a Nord father. In the Elder Scrolls children mostly take after their mother, so if you had a Breton mother and a Nord father it would make sense to start a Breton character - but you'd have plenty of Nord blood too.

The Imperial line had heavy Nord influence, and I'm pretty sure Tiber Septim was a Nord. However there were plenty of members who'd be considered Cyrodiilic and were also dragonborn (at least dragonborn enough to be Emperor).

Heh I remeber I kinda had issues playing as a dunmer in morrowind. Why the hell do they keep calling me outlander??? I guess the Vvardenfall dunmer have the smokers voices and the rest of the outlander dunmer have those dry british accents you find in skyrim.

I have no clue why people seem to think they have to be a Nord in Skyrim. It seems like it was more made to be played by any race other than a Nord. The Voice isn't a Nord power its a Dragon power that humans can sometimes wield. Also while it makes sense for an Outlander to have no family or friends around in Skyrim, it doesn't for a Nord at all. How can a grown advlt Nord from Skyrim not know anyone or not have any one know him/her. Someone would know them, or they would have family around some where.

In Oblivion it made sense to play as any race. But in Skyrim it really does feel like a few races are out of place to be the dragonborn for sure.
The human races are okay but when it comes to the mer I'm not so sure it fits then the beast races are at the bottom of the pile.
For example look at the khajiit. There role is as merchants who are not allowed into any of the cities. I made a Khajiit and entered Whiterun then deleted the character because I was not really meant to be there. Why am I the only Khajiit who isn't being kept out? It makes no sense and ruins the immersion to the point that the race is unplayable unless you just want to explore outside of the holds.

your thinking to much into it, just gotta let it flow, pick the race you want and play how you want, dont let litttle facial feautures ruin it for ya. I went through 4 or 5 characters, the ones i tried to seriouslyplan out always got boring , i finally made an orc warrior and named him Bash Dat-A** and im having a blast running around and smashing people to peices, just have fun with it bud.

My favorite race is Altmer, alas it just doesn't work for the Dovahkiin, or Skyrims setting in general due to the Thalmor and Aldmeri Dominion.

Don't get me wrong I know that not all High Elves support the Thalmor, but I bloody well would, and since I can't I just decided to give in and play a Nord. It's not so bad.

I did not realize that there were other races besides Nords who were dragonborn in the past according to lore.

Exactly how many were there, and what was their race? Does anyone know?

Now that I have heard this, it changes my whole perspective. I thought all dragonborn were Nords.

Still, in the bard song "the dragonborn comes"

Hasn't anyone heard the lyrics? "With a voice weilding power of the ancient NORD art..."

Isn't that a dead giveaway that the voice is a Nord art?

I think the deal in Morrowind is that the Dunmer consider -anyone- not native to Morrowind as an outlander, even fellow Dark Elves. And if you listen to the narrative in the beginning, you are being transferred from the Imperial City Prison, thus implying your character is not a native of Morrowind.

Not sure about otehrs, but Tiber septim actually had nordic blood in him. Then again, as I understood from some posts over the past days here, Akatosh cane make anyone a dragonborn I think.

In any case, to answer the op; role playing. My 2nd character was the last (ex-)Ashkan from Vvanderfell that ran over from Morrowind with remainings of the Urshilaku followers who all died crossing the Velothi mountains. Aka he's dunmer


Not really I think, it's a dragon "art", they just adopted it more commonly than other races, but according to several people in the game itself- with a lot of time and practice anyone can learn simple shouts if one wold wish it so.

I noticed the dimples as well, but it didn't bother me as much as the darkelves. Their foreheads stick out creating angry eyebrows even without any hair.

Personally, my favorite race has always been a breton, and they look the best in my opinion. I prefer smaller noses and I only found one nose on the Nord that looks right.

I like creating an orc blacksmith that moved to Skyrim along with the lore friendly movement the orcs made to Skyrim (What an awesome coincidence!)

I also made a high elf vampire who supports the Imperials because he is Thalmor, until his blood was tainted by the impure vampires. Now he is in exile to his homeland and a traitor to his Thalmor brethren.

My third character is a Nord, and I really don't need a backstory for him, now do I?

A Breton...I can't think of anything.



Martin Septim? He was literally called a dragonborn after he died in Oblivion.

I have a female Altmer mage who in my game is a member of a resistance movement among like minded Altmer against the dominions tyranny. She came to Skyrim to aid the empire.

I also have a Dunmer witchhunter who in my game is a refuge from Morrowind who came to Skyrim with the families prize steed, which got nicked by a bloody thief at the border after a skirmish with rebels and imperials at the crossing.

Both have strong ties to Skyrim, making RP'ing them quiet easy. As for the dragonborn aspect, thats easily explainable in the lore. It is a divine gift, and it may normally be a lineage (ie Septim bloodline). I consider both "blessed" at birth by the divine to be the dragonborn and become the latest legendary hero of Skyrim.

Yeah, I've heard the words "dirty Imperial" and less formal words in my day. My character is an Imperial.

Just because the voice is a NORD art, doesn't mean anybody can't learn it. All the equipment in the game is stylized in the NORD fashion but does that mean only nords can equip it?

Well, the game is set in the nord homeland so I don't see why it should scream nord. That said, I never felt I had to play a nord for the story or my role in the world to make sense, much like I never felt like I had to play a dunmer in Morrowind or an Imperial in Oblivion. Then again, I might take to the "mysterious, dissappearing hero" more than most.

So far, I haven't gotten enough convincing evidence to prove my case wrong.