That's not because the player is presumed to be male.Callate said:The Dragonborn can be a woman, but Prell's repeated thesis in the article is that in spite of the presence of a woman who would be the obvious candidate to take over the vacated leadership role, the mantle is passed on to the PC instead. While there are female characters who could have become Archmage instead of the Dragonborn, there isn't (in my experience) any inherent suggestion that the role would more naturally pass to Faralda, Nirya, or Mirabelle than to Tolfdir, Phinis, or Urag.wizzy555 said:Eh? The dragonborne can be a woman, and the master wizard was a woman. The rank below arch-mage.
It's got nothing to do with gender.
It's because the player is THE CHOSEN ONE who's automatically better at everything than everyone else.
There's no suggestion it would pass to anyone but the player because the entire game, from the ground up, is designed to have the player as the ultimate hero of everything. There's not a single actually competent leader in the entire game who can take care of things themselves, the player is required to do EVERYTHING because that's how the game is designed. You're the chosen hero and by design absolutely nobody else is.
There's not a single male leader of your likes either. Ulfric can't win the war without you. Kodlak can't cure his lycanthropy without you. General Tullius can't beat down the rebellion without you. Not a single Yarl can defend his hold without you. Brynjolf can't bring the Thieves Guild back to glory without you. The Greybeards can't stop Alduin without you.
Nobody in the entire continent of Skyrim is capable of achieving anything, not even farming their own fields, without you the chosen hero.