I've got two characters I'm playing at the moment, characters I'm settling into that I really like. They are both dunmers. I've read quite a bit about dunmer over the year, and played several other TES games, so please don't think because of my avatar and what will follow that I confuse the dunmer of TES with the drow of AD&D. That said, I've been a fan of the drow since they were merely a rumor in the first Monster Manual and then a whispered threat in the Against the Giants modules for AD&D (late 70's). When the actual first drow modules came out -- Descent into the Depths of the Earth, Shrine of the Kua-Toa, and Vault of the Drow, around 1980 -- my interest in the original rpg dark elves was solidified. All subsequent dark elves are, by me, compared to that first vision.

So, having said all that, now you know where my interest in dark elves comes from. I know they are quite different from dunmer, but there are also a lot of similarities: white hair, can be ambidextrous, red eyes, seen by others as haughty (and, at times, as evil), sophisticated, almost alien architecture, etc.

Thinking back on my long history of interest in the dark elves (drow) got me wondering about all of you, my fellow Skyrim players.

Where does the inspiration for your character come from?

I play as a dark elf thief, and the inspiration comes from Garrett, from Thief series. He has a similar personality, and sort-of-kind-of similar appearance.

I love Nords simply because they are good warriors. My elf character in Skyrim came about because I wanted an Elf character more akin to the elves in stories and lore in the real world, so I picked a Bosmer that uses magic and Archery. Not too far off the established lore of the Bosmer.

mine too comes from the game 'thief'

An Orc warrior/mage

Inspiration was RAAM from Gears of war, while I'm still working on his abilities its almost uncanning how much I got him to resemble RAAM, epically when he does that execution where he stabs someone though the abdomen in slow mo.

Lord of the Rings trilogy, even though the lore are totally different.

Currently role-playing a young Aragorn, learning all that he needs to be a master swordsmanship and fully-capable Ranger of the Wilds.

My main character is more or less based on the Rohirrim, except he doesn't ride (yet). I also have a Wood Elf who's heavily inspired by Robin Hood

Oddly enough, my Dunmer is inspired by Worf from Star Trek: TNG. LOL! Perhaps odd inspiration for a Dark Elf, but I find an interesting similarity between Klingons (with their warlike nature, honor, and tradition) and the Dunmer. Dunmer are kind of the "black sheep" of elven races, as the Klingons are in Star Trek.

My first two characters were only inspired by TES itself. I started with a Dunmer rogue, which I think fits the race as a whole very well. The second character I created was a Nord warrior. I was going through the MQ on my rogue and I was getting the feeling that the story didn't fit my skinny and stealthy elf at all. So I made this posterboy character to go through the MQ for the first time.

I rolled a Nord ranger last weekend. I made him a Nord because when I think about rangers, I think about Lord of the Rings, and Nord lore reminds me a bit of the Numenoreans (except for the elf slaughtering bit obviously). I'm still torn about which weapons to use though. I find two-handers to be too big in this game and using a single longsword feels like hampering myself. So I'm carrying a shield at the moment, which is a bit un-rangerish and I feel guilty about it.

I created an Orc based on Worf. I think the Orcs are closer to Klingons. I also created a Dunmer character and called him Romulas. To me the Dunmer look a lot like Romulans.

For those of you who say Lord of the Rings, you need to specify Peter Jackson's LOTR or actualy LOTR lore.

I definitely use D&D classes as a huge influence to my RPing.

My Dunmer is based off D&D drow of the Forgotten Realms universe. He's a ruthless assassin with specialization in Illusion, Alteration, and Conjuration and I RP him as being psionic (Paralyze for Mind Blast, Illusion for all types of mental control, Bound Swords as Mindblades, Silent-Casting perk to simulate thought-based powers differing from normal magic, etc.). In TES he's a Nightblade in skills but I'd call him a Soulknife in FR.

My Altmer Spellsword will be based off the Bladesinger prestige class, though the rest of his character and background is that of a Cyrodiil-born Altmer.

My Imperial is a Paladin dedicated Stendarr that (eventually even more so through mods) possesses many of the same powers other Paladins do with his ability in Restoration.

My Nord is of the Barbarian class, and uses 2H warhammers, dislikes magic, and relishes combat.

I also plan on making a Breton that will be similar to an Infernal Pact Warlock. He'll summon daedra rather than devils though and will be empowered through a pact with a Daedric Prince (I'm thinking Haermaes Mora or Clavicus Vile).

Yeah, at first I thought Orcs and Klingons were more similar. But as I really got to thinking about it, especially with the way they were developed in TNG, Klingons are a good deal more sophisticated than Orcs, with a rich history and sense of honor. I don't see Orcs as particularly cultured or honorable.

Very cool responses. As a Dunmer player it's interesting to note that our collective inspiration for our Dunmer characters ranges from the original AD&D G-D-Q modules to Forgotten Realms to Star Trek!

Also interesting to note two players citing Thief. I heard good things about that game but never played it. I'll have to look into that someday.

Also cool to see the LotR inspirations. I've read those books so many times and I still love them. Plus, even though he changed things -- a lot of things -- I do still overall like the Jackson take on LotR, and I can see how it would be influential. Though, I have to admit that I cringe every time I see the elves show up at Helm's Deep.

I created a Nord Named Olav Stordrage.My insparation for him came from old norse mythology and the vikings wich i am intrested in x)

My Breton Reachmen character is probably my favorite right now. I based his attitude off of the late Andy Whitfield's portrayal of Spartacus. Calm but passionate with a burning flame against those who have wronged him. He accepts his fate as Dragonborn, but still follows his tribal ways. Dorian is more of a grey shaded character, hes not the knight in shining armour type but he isn't evil either.

My Oblivion and Morrowind characters... who were designed by me looking at the mechanics and saying: "What would -I- specialize in if I was here"

Ezio Auditore

- Imperial

- Leader of the Thieves Guild

My Thalmor justiciar was based on the not-so-good ol' Schutzstaffel, that is the Nazi psychotic lunatics in black uniforms killing because that's what they are paid for. This time however the protagonist realizes the error in his ways and tries to make up to the world the dozens he has killed in the name of the Dominion.

My Nord Beastmaster is an archer inspired by samurai archers, who ranked higher than the standard sword samurais you see in movies. Even his chosen armor (scaled) looks much like old samurai armor (horned helmet and everything). Tis a shame there is no mounted combat in Skyrim because that is what they were famed for.

Sean Bean in Games of Thrones

Imperial modeled after Marcus Junius Brutus. Guess which faction's quest I will definitely be doing.

Robert E Howard`s Conan.

Not the sop in present day comics.

I had several inspirations for my most played character: The Assassins' Guild in Terry Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork mainly, but there's some Garrett there too, and I tried to make him look a bit like the Dunmer version of Danny Trejo. There's also the general, whose name escapes me at the moment, but who said something to the effect of "If you're going to have to take someone's life, the least you can do is to be polite about it".

Ser Gregor Clegane, aka: The Mountain.

Except my character, Fenrir, uses a battle axe