Isn't this true? I know there is a book that said that the dragonborn can be any race, but that is just one person saying that. Playing Skyrim and listening to all the people:

Balgruuf's advisor (can't spell his name) called it Nord nonsense

The nord guards told Irileth that the she wouldn't understand the dragonborn stuff because she wasn't a nord

talos was a nord

only nords can go to high hrothgar to learn the way of the voice

it was the nords who learned how to use the thu'um

Can someone help me understand this? Because I'm trying to figure out how it would make sense for me to play the game with any character other than a Nord.

Nords are also prideful, and something of arrogant bigots. ^^

Yes, it's part of their culture, and yes, you could say that they "invented" it (though that's not exactly right), but that doesn't mean it can't be taught to anybody. Just that the Nords have a special connection with it.

Dragonborn is a Nord legend. So what? To fulfill a legend, you need not be one of the people who believe it. Many tales consists of an outsider visiting a group and fulfilling the prophecy they passed down.

Even Lord of the Rings did it. Halfings saved the world of men.

Well, the MQ in Morrowind was all about Dunmeri culture with a dash of imperial influence, and they went out of their way to make it a point that the Neravarine was to be an outlander. (Or foreign born Dunmer at least.)

The Champion of Cyrodiil could have been any race.

The Dragonborn could be any race.

Beth goes well out of their way to make sure never to include direct references to previous games heroes so there is no "canon version" of said hero. No race, no gender. Whatever character you choose IS the Dragonborn.

I love being a Dunmer Dragonborn. It's a massive middle finger to the Nords in general. I feel like a Jew in Nazi Germany who one day woke up with Superman's powers, and then went on to kick the arses of Hitler and the entire Nazi regime.

Well, you do have it figured out. Since this is the spoiler forum, I can tell you what you have in store if you try to be dragonborn using another race - disappointment.

You will get to the very end - the final battle. You are fully prepped after 300 hours of play. Just as the battle starts, the screen goes blank, the sound makes this odd screeching noise like fingernails on a blackboard and an image of Cicero shows up on your screen. He then goes on to give you some raspberries, say you aren't a Nord so you can't finish & then the game teakes you back to Helgen where you are knocked back to LVL1, all your possessions, skills and perks lost & you have to start again.

Now you know.

My biggest issue is that unless I'm playing a nord, or Orc ( current main, don't usually do backstories but I go with half Orc/ half nord for the ops reasoning) the shouts just felt terribly out of place. A Bosmer thief would not start screaming in the languange of dragons! I know anyone can be dragon born, it just svcks that unless I'm playing one of the races I mentioned above I feel I'm breaking my rp during the MQ.

I know, I know, you don't have to do it, but I would still say it's the mos "racist" of any of the tes MQ's!

My female Breton seems to be having no trouble at all with being the Dragonborn. Everyone who is aiming to help her complete the MQ doesn't seem to be bothered by the fact that thier "chosen hero" is a young Breton girl instead of a strong manly Nord of manlyness.

My Morrowind character is a Khajiit. The Nerevar, the hero of the Dunmers is a member of a beast race they enslave.

The only time I actually played a hero native of the province was Oblivion.

Youre really cool for acting like a complete idiot.

Obviously in the game you can be dragonborn with any race, I'm saying lore-wise. Not gameplay-wise. The only race that has any connections to Dragons are the Nords. Every dragonborn has been a Nord, every person who has learned to shout has been a Nord, its a Nord tradition, everything in the game points to the dragonborn being a nord. It sounds kind of silly to have a Altmer dragonborn.

It was different for the CoC, since there is really no information on who or what he is. He's just a guy who helped Martin, that it. But in Skyrim your are the Dragonborn, the savior of Skyrim and protector of the Nords. Nobody but the Nords understand what it really means to be the Dragonborn.

And wasn't the hero of Morrowind a reincarnation of a Dunmer general?

Balgruuf's advisor (can't spell his name) called it Nord nonsense
The nord guards told Irileth that the she wouldn't understand the dragonborn stuff because she wasn't a nord

In both cases they're referring to the fact the prophecy is a part of Nordic mythology and tradition, not believed or respected by outsiders. Consider how different countries or faiths look upon the belief systems of different religions and faiths in the real world - The story of the garden of eden is closely cherished by Christians for example, but plain bizarre to anyone else. (Snakes, Apples, what?)

In fact the prophecy was lifted from an elder scroll, which predate the existance of humans. No reason the prophecy should explicitly pertain to the nords or even humans




talos was a nord
it was the nords who learned how to use the thu'um

Nords were the first humans in tamriel - it's rather like pointing out that caveman invented the wheel... it's a given given there wasn't any choice in the matter. incidentlly, the nords did not discover the thu'um. The thu'um was taught to them by parthunaax, alduin's former right-hand and leader of the greybeards, as a way to help the humans break free from his tyranny




only nords can go to high hrothgar to learn the way of the voice

According to who? - They let you in didn't they (if you're a non nord)





All the while he's got a huge trollface.jpg grin on

It can be any race because Akatosh is the god who chooses who will be dragonborn. akatosh is not just a nordic god.

only nords can go to high hrothgar to learn the way of the voice

Funny. My Breton Dragonborn was able to mingle with the Greybeards without an ounce of trouble.

If you want your Dragonborn to be a Nord, do it. Some of us actually want our Dragonborns to be of other races, regardless of what the lore says.

Then why has every dragonborn in history been a nord? Why weren't any of them Bretons or Argonians?

Time to get out of your mom's basemant and see the sky. Make a friend. Have a coffee at Starbucks. It's a game - not your life.

In MW I preferred playing a Dunmer to beat the MQ.

In OB I preferred playing an Imperial to beat the MQ.

In Skyrim I prefer playing a Nord to beat the MQ.

Not required, but I prefer it. Like the OP I think it just 'feels' right, but obviously I can play Skyrim any way I want, as can anyone else.

There were plenty of Imperial Dragonborn. Alessia was Imperial.

Most Dragonborn have existed in times when it was impossible to tell they were Dragonborn. Argonians aren't exactly fighting dragons over in Black Marsh anytime in recent history.

Go ahead, continue to be an idiot...no please. It amuses me.

The Imperial dragonbron were decended from tiber septim, who was a nord. So the emporers were really nords as well.

I undertsnad the gameplay reasons for being able to play any character, but in terms of lore, the dragonborn needs to be one person, if in terms of lore, the dragonborn were to be one race, wouldn't he be a nord?

Alessia predates Tiber Septim. She was born in Cyrodiil.

And many of the Emperors had more Imperial blood than Nord.

To me, Bretons would be the most likely race to be Dragonborn.

True, i just have a hard time rationalizing a Breton or a Altmer dragonborn (If you haven't guessed I want to make a mage character)

Imperial does make sense to me, because of her and the emperors

And speaking of Nerevarine, it was never made clear whether he was an actual reincarnation of Indoril Nerevar or Azura's catspaw. Azura's crafty like that. She likes elevating random schmucks to epic status.

It's entirely about whatever Akatosh wants. And there's no reason to presume he's a racist.

I guess your right, even though Shouts and Dragons and stuff like that is more of a Nord thing, Akatosh does not discriminate. Thanks for helping me out!

I'm still probably gonna play a Nord though haha, unless there were special dialogue options or story choices for an elf

Perhaps there was, were, is ..... only undocumented, unrealized or might just be called something else. that's why it's called culture, if you're not part of it, then you dont know what's going on in there or its hard to understand, only to find out you have something similar. it's kinda like religion - they say its this, the others say its that only to find out they're talking about the same thing. LoL

I'll admit that it feels more "natural" when playing through as a Nord. I'm a redguard right now, however, and I've never had problems buying that I'm dragonborn. But I think it would be weird as an Argonian. But you can justify it.