Racism in Skyrim?

[Nannernade]

It's not that uncommon, if you're not a Nord in Skyrim and venture into that little area supporting the Stormcloaks you'll see racism more and more, like in Windhelm where all of the Dunmer are forced to live in the recesses of well... I'd say a garbage dump or a sewer. But yeah it's mostly due to that whole we don't like change so fuck off attitude.

 

[jthwilliams]

<link=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FantasticRacism>You DO realize that it's intentional and purposeful, right?

Noooooo!! you've sent me into the TVTrope trap.

 

[The Last Parade]

yeah there are orcish mines with tonnes of ebony and ochalium but you cant get in there without either being an orc or completing malacaths quest

 

[Imperium9990]

I never have, and never will play a Nord. Its Argonian, and Dunmer for me.

 

[kuyo]

the guy talks about your "norse power" no matter what race you are. Just replace "Norse" with "Imperial", "Orc", "Argonian", and so on and you get the idea. Supposed to make you feel good about choosing your class.

nope, the guy just said I was stupid for being a reptile and coming to this frozen land.

 

[AppleShrapnel]

Khajiit sell skooma and moon sugar because skooma and moon sugar sell. Have you ever had septims weighing your purse down? It is good feeling, is it not? Have you ever tried skooma and moon sugar? This, too, is good feeling. :3

This one suspects that we are barred from Skyrim's cities because of this. But what choice do we have but to turn into thieves and bandits? Khajiit bring sugar of the moon from the warm sands of Elsweyr because we have little else to offer to burly, hairy Nord men and women that they do not already have.

Many Nords are warriors and smiths, for this is what they are good at. Khajiit sneak and steal, for this is what we are good at. But we so very rarely have an opportunity to do much else as unwelcome guests... this one has tried to fit in; I wear armor that could crush a child, and wield weapons that could cleave a giant in two, but no, guards still stare at me and call me sneak thief, and bandits threaten to turn Khajiit into decorative rug.

This one bears no ill will, however. Our time will come soon. And soon, ceiling Khajiit will be watching you. >^w^<

 

[Niko Stepz]

Just because of the fact that the Stormcloaks are pretty racist I decided to try and join them with my Dunmer character. They let you, which I find weird. They use some excuse about not only letting Nords join, but only letting people "willing to die for the cause" join. I'm pretty certain as soon as I do whatever it is they need me to do they'll try to stab me in the back. As soon as they do, BAM ! Ice Spike to the face and my glass axe to the jugular. They think thye can pull the wool over the archmage's eyes ? Bah.

 

[Prince Regent]

I'm always a Dark Elf. We consider ourselves to be superior to everyone and everyone considers themselves superior to us.

(though the altmer and the bosmer may be somewhat unsure about us, we're certainly sure that we are better than them)

 

[jawakiller]

Khajiit are rapists and theives.

they?s climbin' in yo windows
they?s snatchin' yo people up
tryna rape em so y?all need to
hide yo kids, hide yo wife
hide yo kids, hide yo wife
hide yo kids, hide yo wife
and hide yo husband
cuz they rapin' errybody out here

 

[AppleShrapnel]

Khajiit: Hello, Lydia... would you like to play the rape game? :3

Lydia:*gasp* nnnNNNOOOOOOOOO~ *brandishes sword and back pedals furiously*

Yes, that's the spirit. >:3

 

[liquidsolid]

I see plenty of racism in Skyrim. Like how the Dark Elves all have to live in the ghetto in Windhelm. I play a Nord and though I don't really discriminate based on race in the game, I do feel as if my character is a bit superior to the others and that Skyrim really does belong to the Nords. I am a member of the Stormcloak faction.

I'm planning on starting another character who will be a thief and assassins and he's going to be Khajiit. Sort of reinforcing the stereotype...oh well. Haha

IRL I am not a racist and science shows that there are nothing but superficial differences to separate races.

 

[mental_looney]

Pretty sure lots of games are like that to give a bit of racial solidarity and add to the tension while racism is not something to be taken lightly it's a game can't be all hugs all the time.

 

[chstens]

There isn't ENOUGH racism in Skyrim, in my opinion. Or... There isn't enough racism directed at the player. I picked Dark Elf because I know that no-one likes them, and I expected much more racism than I actually got.

 

[Furioso]

I had a funny encounter with the games racism, when I walked into Windhelm, I noticed that there was a Dark Elf woman being harassed and threatened by some Nords due to her race, once they left we had a nice conversation on how racism was bad, then as soon as I turned around she said "Damn lizard." ....So now I'm wanted for murder in Windhelm, and I have a Vendetta against all Dark Elfs, Irony!

OT: Just because a game features racism toward it's characters doesn't mean the game promotes racism, it's just a part of the setting, people are way too politically correct these days

 

[Spawny0908]

Of course. It's everywhere.

It's happening because there's a rebellion going on between the Empire and the Stormcloaks. Stormcloaks want all non-nord occupants out of Skyrim. Empire wants to keep things the way they are. Makes sense in-universe. And it's pretty much why I didn't join the Stormcloaks.

Though I agree it's not too subtle, but then again considering Nord culture, subtlety wouldn't be one of their strong suits.

Go to Windhelm. Plenty of racism there.

And the guy talks about your "norse power" no matter what race you are. Just replace "Norse" with "Imperial", "Orc", "Argonian", and so on and you get the idea. Supposed to make you feel good about choosing your class.

Yeah I never really realised how racist the Stormcloaks were until I joined them. Kinda regretting the decision. I hope there's a way I can switch sides. If not then in my next playthrough I'm going Imperials.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Khajiit sell skooma and moon sugar because skooma and moon sugar sell. Have you ever had septims weighing your purse down? It is good feeling, is it not? Have you ever tried skooma and moon sugar? This, too, is good feeling. :3

This one suspects that we are barred from Skyrim's cities because of this. But what choice do we have but to turn into thieves and bandits? Khajiit bring sugar of the moon from the warm sands of Elsweyr because we have little else to offer to burly, hairy Nord men and women that they do not already have.

Many Nords are warriors and smiths, for this is what they are good at. Khajiit sneak and steal, for this is what we are good at. But we so very rarely have an opportunity to do much else as unwelcome guests... this one has tried to fit in; I wear armor that could crush a child, and wield weapons that could cleave a giant in two, but no, guards still stare at me and call me sneak thief, and bandits threaten to turn Khajiit into decorative rug.

This one bears no ill will, however. Our time will come soon. And soon, ceiling Khajiit will be watching you. >^w^<

Swiftheart likes this fellow khajiit! Swiftheart want to share a jar of skooma with you someti-Wait...no...no...Swiftheart finally off that stuff. Took five years of stuck in imperial jail to get over it. Swiftheart no want to go back to it. Too expensive, and makes brain all silly after a while...

Swiftheart also keeping eye out for Ceiling Khajiit. Heard he was a nice guy!

 

[sergnb]

I first realised this just after I picked a race. I chose to play as a Nord which immediately brought the guard with the check list great joy. He was also very taken aback when after he gave his "Norse power" speech the front woman still ordered me to my death. This made me realsise that this game might have a slight Norse supiriourity thing going.

After surviving the dragon onsluaght I was sent to Riverwood, where another man sent me to Whiterun. When I reached Whiterun the first thing that I encountered was a squatter camp filled with Khajiit. I went closer and over heard two of them talking about how the Nords would not let them into Whiterun because they think all Khajiit are rapists and theives. They then went on to say that all they are trying to do is raise a family.

When I entered Whiterun I saw a group of Redguards being herassed by Whiterun guards. The guards where going on about how the Redguards only wanted to come in to rape children and abduct woman to sell into slavery. When I went up to one of the Redguards, he said that they where just looking for a friend and if I could help.

Things like this kept happening throughout the game, and I didn't make a post about it earlier because I thought Yatshee would bring it up in his review of Skyrim but he didn't. So I want to know if I am the only one who has experienced this racism, and if you have, share your tales of witnessed racist actions within Skrim.

yes... we have... it's one of the main themes of the game... you know, with the civil war going between the all powerful empire and the extremelly racist rebeld group.

What's the point of this thread really...

Anyway: Racism in this game is nowhere near as strong as it should be. You shouldn't be able to join the stormcloaks if you are not a nord. You should not be allowed to enter some cities if you are not X race. You should not be able to enter a Thalmor embassy while being a wood elf. You should not be able to do a lot of things that you are able to.

If you are a Khajiit or argonian, you SHOULD be kicked out of some places. Wouldn't be epic to have to infiltrate a city through the sewers and have to walk around at night avoiding wards, habiting clandestine hoods to do your quests, and never being able to do the quests that the jarl has to offer? It would encourage people to have multiple characters.

With the current system, you can just create one character and explore EVERYTHING. I mean, the game itself is big and vast, and I am nowhere near of discovering everything it has to offer, but yeah, being the leader of the dark brotherhood, thieves guild, mages college and companions is sort of ridiculous.

You shouldn't be trusted right away by some random stranger when you have a criminal history of thievery and assasinations. You should be attacked on sight by some people, and you SHOULDN'T be attacked on sight by others (Forsworn is the most clear example. What about a friendly bandit camp for once? What if I actually want to join their cause?). If I'm wearing an imperial armor and I enter a stormcload camp, they should turn hostile on me.

I mean, come on, we had this in Fallout New Vegas. I know it's not the same developer, but just how hard would it be to replicate that faction system?

The problem of this game is that it lets you do anything, but none of it really matters afterwards.

YOU SAVED THE WORLD! Yeah, those arrows are gonna be 50 gold a piece. What was your name again? Listen I don't care who you are as long as you bring me some random item lost in a sealed ruin north of here.

 

[Justanewguy]

For the record, I think it's funny how there are two different takes on the Redguards. On one side some people are saying they're there to kill an innocent woman for speaking out. On the other is a group saying that they're exacting justice on a criminal. It's these shades of grey that make the game worthwhile. Right and wrong are not really black and white here. What's true? It's hard to say, as there's no way to check the facts, but I'm impressed with what they did.

Even a bad guy tends to believe he's doing good things. They managed to give a quest that shows just that. That's impressive, and I'd like to see more of that.