Skyrim: Being a High Elf WORTH IT? - Elder Scrolls Lore

[Music] one two three and bang you there right there behind the screen have been rapidly transported into the Elder Scrolls universe a soul destined to be thrust into the world of Tamriel as one of the ten playable races of the Elder Scrolls game series but the big question on the tip of everyone's tongue is which race would you be which race is worth it is it worthwhile being in Argonian is it worthwhile being an orc these are the questions that we endeavor to answer in this series of videos what is up ladies and gentlemen my name is Scott from fudge Muppet and today I am back to bring you a brand new episode of this is it worth it series in the description below are all the previous episodes and I will add in the future episodes as they are made now of course this kind of video has a lot of variables including personal preference but we will do our best to analyze each of the races and determine whether or not if they are worth being so today let's look at the pros and cons the benefits and detriments of being a high elf is being a high elf worth it so before we dive into the topic itself let's just set something straight in the previous videos in the series we explained the parameters but just to recap we are making two assumptions to add some consistency to the evaluation one we are assuming that each race is born in their homeland ie an Argonian in Black Marsh or Redguard in Hammerfell and two we are talking about a contemporary context meaning the time of Skyrim which is the 201st year of the fourth era but yes that's all we need to know time to get down to the nitty-gritty so for this video if we were a soul in the Elder Scrolls universe that could choose to be any of the playable races would being a high elf be worth it let's begin of all the elves to migrate to Tamriel from the distant land of alt Maris it is believed that the High Elves are the most direct unaltered descendants of the early Ultima this much is evident from the name alone which I'll address now to avoid a great deal of confusion the early elven settlers of Tamriel are called the old mark with addy while the high odds of Somerset are called the Ultima with a T the old MA meaning early folk or elder folk had little trouble settling on Tamriel and displacing the native beast races for they were significantly more technology advanced than the ancestors of the Khajiit and the argonians among others during the Maratha era all facts need to be taken with a little grain of salt in this rule even applies to the mysterious continent of old Maris which many scholars believe never even existed but that question is not one for today what is important to note is that the early Ultima were initially concentrated in the summerset isles the many varieties of elves we see in modern times exist due to further migrations to the mainland of Tamriel the Dharini ELLs of the iliac bay maintained much of their old mer heritage but the eyelids the Bosma the orcs the Maremma the Khaimah these races deviated drastically from their ancestry when the various subsets of elves set sail for mainland Tamriel a significant chunk of old macho's to stay isolated in Allan or which is the name the Aldmeri Dominion today gives the summerset isles unsurprisingly these elves were not subjected to the same environmental or magical factors that altered the biology of the other elven races and these ultimate elves maintained almost all of their ancestral traits and features this purity is something the High Elves take great pride in and it has a clear impact on every other aspect of Ultima life as we'll see throughout the video the Ultima call themselves the cultured people and that should immediately tell you how the High Elves perceive themselves if you choose to be born a high elf well you'll receive a great deal of respect from your peers simply for your blood alone they are on average the tallest of the Tamriel ik races their skin is golden in turn they are innately gifted in the art of magic possessing greater magical reserves than all others they are resistant to most diseases and they have incredibly long lifespans some have been known to live for thousands of years and they are among the most intelligent of known races on top of all that the amount of time the race is spent in a cohesive society in a racially and socially homogeneous region has given them a significant advantage in establishing a robust to civilization free from much of the turmoil which frequently undermines the mainland races will touch on all these aspects in a little bit more detail but when summarized like that it's nearly impossible to find a downside to being a high off granted mainlanders associate the name higher with being proud and snobbish and these lesser races are quick to envy and resent the ultima for it but that's a pretty reasonable drawback considering all the positives fortunately as a high elf your ego will almost certainly be large enough to drown out the haters and you can flex on those mainland man 'lets from the comfort of your glass towers across the sea in Somerset speaking of Somerset what would it mean to be born in the summerset isles well if you are a member of another race it wouldn't be ideal historically policymakers in a Lenore have been at odds with determining whether to allow foreigners on their lands at all in the pocket guide to the empire first edition we hear descriptions of Somerset's capital city allen or from a distance human traders were only allowed in the ports at this time in the late 1st era they described the city as made from glass or insect wings less fantastic accounts come from the imperial emissaries of the riemann Dynasty which describe the city as straight and glimmering a hypnotic swirl of ramparts and impossibly high towers designed to catch the light of the Sun and break it to its component colors which lies draped across its stones until you are thankful for nightfall one of these emissaries in service to Riemann cyrodiil ii in the late 1st era documents his attempts to engage in diplomacy with the hai offs and their ultimate Dominion he states the following in his journals as documented in the pocket guide the ultimate despise other elves as unsophisticated curls and barely consider the non Aldmeri races at all they pay their imperial tithes I'm sure not for fear of war with the humans but rather to keep an invasion from infecting their Islands this emissary Eric of gifts spent much time among the High Elves and the pocket guide vouchers for the reliability of his accounts these accounts are scathing and you can sense the hatred in his writings so it is likely there's a significant amount of embellishment in here but regardless from him we learn a lot about hai of society he says High Elves consider themselves to be the only perfect race over hundreds of generations they have bred themselves into a racially pure line and are now almost identical to one another in appearance the theory that the high elves do not reproduce as quickly or as often as humans is false rather into my horror like 9 out of 10 babies born to them in their obsession for purity breeding outside the pure line is a terrible unthinkable crime and taken as prima facie evidence of the tainted blood of the individual in question if they were they wouldn't have the impulse to do it exile to the mainland is regarded as equivalent to a death sentence since there is no purpose in living outside to their ideal Society they have a high regard for order and gravitate naturally towards wearing uniforms and speaking in formal patterns they feel no real tenderness for one another and have no concept of compassion they are decadent and self-obsessed they surround themselves with riches and treasures the works of great artists in the finest of everything but have no real appreciation for any of these things each of them is concerned solely with himself and as a result they do no real socializing they meet and hold courts only to demonstrate their importance and power to each other the pocket guide assures us of Eric's reliability so should we take this detailed account as completely accurate or is Eric the human exhibiting some kind of envy and resentment that we spoke about earlier if his words are true then that could be a strong argument against being a high elf what if you were one of the 90% of babies killed for not being pure enough and if you survived that hurdle would be ultimate Dogma obsessed with purity and narcissism appeal to you I believe that this Eric's statements are over the top character chose of the High Elves but as always there is some root of truth to the stereotype while 90% of babies may not be killed the practice of eugenics and selective breeding is definitely there amongst the high elves into the societal structure of purity bloodlines formality and Duty over enjoyment seems to be the status quo if we look at the third edition of the pocket guide to the Empire we can see some documented evidence of Somerset's improved racial tolerance in recent centuries as some set has been exposed to the rest of Tamriel so too has their national sentiment changed the guide says with the insularity of the somerset decisively broken many ultima particularly the young witch among the high ops is a fairly loose term began to take a more critical view of the rigid hierarchy of Ultima society and its strict cultural xenophobia while there had always been discontent on the fringes of Ultima society which was traditionally resolved by exile of the malcontents for the first time a significant element of Ultima began to agitate for social change this nascent revolution in the Somerset Isle has taken many forms most constructive surely is the acceptance of new cultures and races on to its shores some occupying positions that would have been forbidden just a century ago the queen of first hold for example is the dunmer more gaia daughter of barons aia and sister of the king of morrowind health her children quran thea Antron allah although half altima are fully dunmer in appearance and stand to inherit the throne but even with these gradual developments racial discrimination will never be removed from ultimate lands or Ultima hearts completely it is far too ingrained and with the rise of the nationalist supremacist FAL more in the fourth era it remains a contemporary issue being born in the summerset isles as a high off however that is a much more desirable way to begin mortal life assuming you are pure enough to survive the supposed 90% infant mortality rate the first benefit of being a high off born in Somerset is Somerset itself many travelers credit the Isles as being the most beautiful region in all of Tamriel as the guide to the Blessed Isles states though we may pine for old LFA the golden warmth of the Divine's will always dry our tears in the sunkissed land of Somerset into the land of the altmer is often called the birthplace of both civilization and of magic this means being native to the Isles grants you some exclusive opportunities and if you wish to become a powerful magic user there is no better place to be born and what if you wish to expand your horizons venturing to the mainland well as a high elf you have some privilege in this regard if you are a foreigner wishing to visit the Isles you know already from what we've covered that the odds are stacked against you but as a high off visiting the other provinces you can expect to move relatively freely without trouble of course some regions like Black Marsh are naturally inhospitable to non natives but other than that the only real complications come from the turbulent political climate in Tamriel we discussed the political shifts taking place within Somerset already but the work of the Dominion end to the foul mor has increased racial tensions many of the provinces in hammer fell for instance wounds are still fresh from the conflicts between the Dominion and the Red Guards the Red Guards did not wish to hand a large chunk of their land over to the High Elves and after a decade of war the second Treaty of Strasse McCoy was signed I imagine Hammerfell is not the friendliest of places for a high off similarly in Skyrim where civil war has torn the province into many of the Nordic natives resent the Ultima for outlawing Talos worship High Elves are of course tolerated more so in the western half of the region but you can expect to attract plenty of scales and snide remarks in the grand scheme of things though this is a far better treatment than most travelling races can expect but when asking the question is being a high off worth it knowing what we know the positives dwarf the negatives yes your culture is elitist yes the other races consider you to be pretentious but even Pellinore whitestrake the elf Slayer himself would be lying if he said the egos of the High Elves were not somewhat justified your race is the tallest the most intelligence the most magically gifted your homeland is rich with history beauty and legacy as well as academic and arcane opportunity and when men grow old and died 80 you still have centuries of life to gain experiences to further your studies and skills to achieve greatness so for me the answer is definitely yes so would you consider being a high off worth it your reputation for a heightened ego precedes you wherever you go but chances are your superiority complex is backed by your undeniable superiority that seems like a pretty good trade-off to me but what do you guys think is being a high off worth it for you let me know what you guys think in the comments below and let me know what race you would like to see discussed next thanks so much for watching this video head down into the description below for social media links of which you can follow as well as the previous instalments of this is it worth it series my name is Scott from fudge Muppet thanks so much again for watching and I'll be back to nerd out with you again [Music]

Channel: FudgeMuppet

Views: 208,384

Keywords: skyrim, elder scrolls, elder scrolls lore, skyrim lore, altmer lore, high elf lore, high elf worth it, altmer worth it, skyrim worth it, being a high elf worth it, worth it, elder scrolls worth it, fudgemuppet, summerset isles, alinor

Id: ifMdjaq7Blw

Length: 13min 10sec (790 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 27 2019