Wait, I'm honestly confused what you're all hot and bothered about. What game, and what aspect of it? Where do you think the racism was handled lazily? Because there's only two points I can think of in the TES games you've played: the Dunmer in Windhelm in Skyrim, which is... pretty spot on. Refugees belonging to one group move to a city in another region after they lose their homes, are confronted with negative stereotypes and lower standards of living. That, and the casual racism directed at Khajiit regarding the perception of them in places other than Elsweyr as thieves &c. because of differing cultures.
Or is it that you're parsing it all as Lands of Hats? Because that's... like, the sort of sweeping generalization which generally gets people
accused of racism.
In Skyrim, you've got the following ethnic groups and subgroups:
1. Reachmen, AKA the Forsworn, the people that the Nords displaced in SW Skyrim.
2. Nords ->
2a. Nationalists. The ones who are pushing for independence, and who are generally less cosmopolitan and open.
2b. Imperial loyalists. Duh.
3. Orismer clans. Remember those Orc strongholds scattered all over the place? Do they not count as people or something?
4. Imperials: Yeah, some of their military forces are Nords, but a lot of them aren't.
5. Khajiit trading caravans: Admittedly, not a tremendous amount, but still a decent number of people -- and to be fair, Elsweyr is on the opposite side of the continent. Same deal with Argonians: In Oblivion the southern reaches of Cyrodiil were dominated by those two races because it bordered Elsweyr and Black Marsh.
6. Redguards: Admittedly, not many -- a lot of them are connected to that one fugitive quest.
THAT SAID, and this is important: If you know what's going on during and prior to the events of Skyrim, you'd know that Hammerfell is a) no longer part of the Empire because b) they refused to cede land to the Aldmeri after the White-Gold Concordat and kept fighting, eventually forcing the elves out at terrible cost. So Hammerfell at the time of Skyrim is heavily depopulated and damaged.
7. Falmer. They're the remnants of the Snow Elves, and there's a massive population of them, given how many we see in the various ruins and caverns around Skyrim.
8. Bretons. They're about as present as Imperials are.
9. Dunmer refugees.
10. Bosmer and Altmer, some as normal immigrants, others as part of the military occupation.
So long story short, Skyrim has four major native racial groups (one of which is so strongly split in terms of cultural loyalty that they're almost different peoples), one major group of immigrants, one medium-sized group of foreign soldiers, and a smattering of travelers and immigrants from pretty much every province.
But yes, okay, it's nothing but polar bear people. And let's be honest here, Tamriel isn't the U.S.: "white" isn't a racial or cultural subset that people recognize. It's like going to Europe during the 30 Years War, grabbing a Swede, an Italian, an Irishman, and a Pole, and acting as if they're all part of some sort of monolithic racial and cultural group.
Incidentally, "white romans with katanas": this is ignorance. This is you projecting onto a fantasy world. The fact that the trappings of a culture in a fantasy world resemble those of a real-world culture doesn't mean they're required to be identical to each other. Moreover, it's showing that you aren't paying attention to the lore. The Empire took a lot of their practices from the
Akaviri:
After initial contact was made by Akaviri invaders, Uriel V eventually launched a counterinvasion (which failed utterly). The Empire's arms and organizational methods were heavily influenced by those of the Akaviri. An Akaviri founded the Fighters' Guild.
The Blades? The "white romans with katanas" you're whining about? They're the organizational descendants of a group of Akaviri dragonslayers who served an Emperor in the distant past. Their bases, armor, and weapons are made in the Akaviri style
because they were Akaviri people. Centuries later, the bloodlines had watered down, the purpose of the organization had shifted, but they maintained those same cultural traditions.
Author
Topic: Things that made you go "WTF?" today o_O (Read 14946553 times)