The difference with the Empire is that it doesn't have ambitious/self-concerned founders like Julius Caesar. They look like Romans, but their empire was founded on more positive ideals (with the blessing of Akatosh, no less). Some of these emperors don't even seem like politicians, but more like mystics and people who see the future in one way or another. There have been a few bad nobles like Pelagius or Potema, who are akin to Nero or something, but they weren't dragonborn.

Nords are pretty much vikings, but with a little bit of "Moses" injected in the mix now (Ysgramor seems like a Moses character to me).

Not really. I know my History and I can honestly say if you look at what we know of the cultures irl and from TES, there are really nothing alike. All the Roman Stuff for the Imperials is all Superficial and culturally they have very little in common with the Roman Empire that they do not also share with various other cultures. Besided, gods are REAL in TES. That alone makes rl comparisons pointless.

Did the Romans have a history of being dismantled, rebuilt and remade for instance? The answer is no. But he Imperials have done so 4 times at least over 4000 years.

Did the Romans origins begin with them being enslaved by another much more advanced race?

There might be some connections you can make but honestly there are few actual one to one comparisons.

Ah, J'rahzir finds much warmth when One compares separate planes.

((Do I smell a Rome: Total War mod? ))

Tolkien never described elven armor that way. Peter Jackson's WETA designed that look, which Oblivion embraced.

Based on culture:

Imperials - Definitely Ancient Romans. Their superficial attributes match the generic Roman peoples and their architecture and culture definitely represent the Roman Empire. Not to mention their name is "Imperial", which refers to the Imperialism of the Roman Empire...which is why it's an Empire.
Nords - Scandinavian. Nordic people, Nords, you know. Not to mention their culture screams Viking.
Redguards - Persian or Middle Eastern. Superficially, they look the part but also, the Mid East was known for swordplay and the vast deserts...Hammerfell is known for swordplay and vast deserts.
Bretons - There are actually Breton peoples who originated from France. So basically, French, German, or a mix.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So for Elven races, it's not as clear cut. In fact, no Elven class ever culturally resembles anything. You can say that Altmer resemble Japan but in reality, Asia is the most resembling the Akaviri people. Well versed in literature, not yet united in an Empire, and uses Katanas.

When talking about Ancient Europe, the closest you'll probably ever get to the Aldmeri Dominion is either the Huns, which is the largest stretch ever, or one of the divided Western or Eastern Roman Empires as the division itself caused quite a bit of harm, like the division between the Elven provinces and the rest of Tamriel. Not to mention the Western Roman Empire started to censor native Paganism in favor of Christianity...like the Dominion.

See the resemblance?

I didn't use an equal sign.

No, that armor is taken from books with illustrations like The Children of Hurin and The Book of Lost Tales. I actually believe they were drawn by the man himself (at least he consented to it).

Uh.. oh man. We're going to get into paganism vs Christianity now? Probably not a good idea. In any case, I don't compare it to the Dominion at all. If anything, the Alessian religion is more akin to Christianity. That is the religion that censored native beliefs of Nords, Ayleids, and other races. More like blended and appropriated, and all under the figurehead of a central figure (the dragonborn... Alessia. A sort of messianic type of character, except with a lineage following her). The Dominion are actually trying to ressurect their old native beliefs. Wulfarth, who outlawed the Alessian order, tried to ressurect native Nord beliefs in the same way.

I find the fact that you're comparing these genocidal maniacs to the Huns...unsettling. The Huns were very accepting of conquered peoples, indeed many tribes ended up fighting for the Huns and this put out the bulk of the Hun army. I hate the distorted Hollywood image, describing Huns as savage and barbaric when in certain aspects they were more civilized than the Romans.

EDIT; sorry I meant to quote the guy above you.

This, this is exactly what I was thinking. For ancient times? I don't think there is any relevance. But throughout history? They would be the nazis quite simple. Not just because they believe they are the purest bred. But France gave into the Germans, by signing the treaty. The French civilians did not like that(Nords) and ultimately revolted(stormcloaks)

No, all I mean is that the Huns attacked the Roman Empire, which is why I called it a huge stretch. Didn't mean any disrespect.


No, I meant that the Western Roman Empire censored the pagan values while promoting Christianity. The Aldmeri Dominion censors the worship of Talos while promoting their world view. That's what they're similar to.

tell me with a straight face that the imperials are not basically romans.

Nords are more inspired by Vikings, Scandanavians guess you can find a little inspiration from other barbaric cultures but not more than Scandanavians. Also, just because some races are influenced by real life ancient cultures doesnt mean that they designed every race or faction in the game to mimick real life. I doubt someone sat down and thought "Hey, i want this faction in the game, but what shall i base it on?"

The reason some of the Human races are inspired by real life cultures is because the developers probably wanted to stray away from the old idea of basing every human rpg race after medieval England.

Eh, yeah you can make some parallels with certain real life cultures if you're lore-savy and a historybuff, but the races have become more and more ambiguous over the series as they got fleshed out. There was a time were the Bretons did scream "MAGICAL BAWDY CELT!" and the Nords "AXE-SWINGING VIKINGS RAWARARR -foams at mouth-" and so on, but now it's almost impossible to pinpoint accents or genuine inspirations. Especially for the Elves, you really can't do an A to B. It's more like A to 23 Delta.

Point is, is that there are no 100% clear connections. Now this all can be good to fluff out less developed races like the Bretons, but they're prone to change. The Bretons where British-esque in Morrowind, psudo-French in Oblivion, and now sorta-Celtic again in Skyrim like in Arena.

Ottomans, breaking over the crippled Empire after half of it was lost.

Western Roman Empire fell, but the Eastern Roman Empire survived and continued as Christians (8 Divines opposed to 9 before)

The Ottomans remained a threat until they completely overran Constantinople, as the Thalmor are, though it doesn't match up perfectly

((Breaking character almost completely, I disagree. Their personal matter of arrogance and old Aylied ruins seems to be more Greek than anything else. It would seem fitting, no? Arrogant, flamboyant, and mildly aggressive fits the personality of the Greek City States. Alexander's (though Macedonian) ego essentially gave the Greeks a good portion of the world at one time, hence why the Egyptian Pharoahs were named Ptolemy. Such expansion and vivid disregard for other nations is quite greek, especially considering the Greek views of the Romans prior to being conquered. The difference between the Greeks and the Aldmeri is that the Greeks haven't really pushed into Rome, the closest was the Carthaginians, perhaps the Seleucid Empire, but mostly Carthage (who have had greek roots in a strange sense). So, perhaps the rivals of Rome have spawned the rivals of a fictional Rome. Thalmor = Carthage? Should we expect the utter destruction of the Summerset Isles? Hopefully. ))

Not everything can be compared to the real world. Thalmor is nothing like carthage. Its silly to see any race, faction or culture in the game and think it 'must' be based on some past real world society. Imperials... Yes. Nords... Yes. Bretons... Yes (although in my opinion they were always more medieval France than celts. I dont think celts had names like francois and matthieu)

Mmm...Persians?

Yes, I know Nirn and our world are quite different, but you can always see a parallel between the two worlds and their cultures. My question is not about IF you can do that, but WHAT the Dominion could be compared to. Yes, I know the history of the two worlds is totally different, but I can't stop seeing resemblances. General Tullius makes me think of Julius Caesar and Ulfric Stormcloak makes me think of Vercingetorix. Not saying they are the same. I know my history very well, so I get all your arguments. But it's not all about the history, also about the culture. And I just get a Greek feeling when looking at the Dominion.

((The Thalmor aren't the Aldmeri Dominion, though. Thats the thing. Sort of like Blades aren't the Imperial Empire. It is a part of it, but not all of it.))

The imperials are NOT basically Romans. You are woefully underselling the unique depth of the Imperial culture created in this game series. It is actually quite deep. There are very few things the Imperials have in common with Romans. Most of the things they do have in common with them are completely superficial. Bethesda just wanted them to look Roman to get more fans to feel familiar with the game and identify the empire.

best comparrison i can think on is the Sassanid Empire fromm late 3 rd centuri AD tilll their collapse in the 7th century , probably the only enemy the late roman empire feared and also religious fanatici

persians left the scene when alexander conquered the middle east and where replaced by what later would become the parthian kingdom the only independent king dom in the western world when they collapsed they where replaced by the sassanid a even worse enemy of rome
actually the 4 horseman of the apocalypse is a reverence to the parthian/sassanid mounted warriors
Persia reappears after the collapse of the tamarine (sp) empire in the 15 th century AD

Carthage seems like a good comparison (don't criticize me immediately). I mean, they too struck at the hart of an Empire. But the Greek states also seem a good "candidate", considering their culture is one that shaped the Ancient world, just like the Ayleid culture shaped the Empire and the rest of Tamriel (well, lots of it).

The Forsworn really are nothing like the 'Celts.' The only way I could arrive at that conclusion is if I relied on Braveheart and Gladiator as my primary sources.