Opinions and stuff!! I confess I knew pretty much nothing about the lore prior to Skyrim, but here are my current feelings on it.

MAJOR DISCLAIMER: Obviously your individual character will have whatever opinions, and it’s not like your character has to be from [insert name of homeland here]. But in general, I think if you RP your character according to the storyline of [insert name of homeland here], different interesting stories emerge in relation to Skyrim’s plot.

Redguards: Although Nord is the “expected default” race, I personally think the historical background of the Great War actually makes the Redguards the most interesting one to play in this context. Here’s why in a sentence: they got screwed over the most by the Thalmor and the Imperials. If you read in-game books detailing the war (in particular The Great War; see the epilogue especially), you’ll see that the Redguards lost the most and were perhaps the most upset at the treaty. The Redguards believed that the Empire could have pressed on and won (avenging their incredible losses, for one thing). They also believed that the treaty (which also screwed them over) was wholly unnecessary. Okay so, getting back to what I was saying. The Thalmor-Imperial storyline is really the driving meta plot behind everything (at least, everything that happens on a mortal scale), and I think there are a lot of RP/story seeds for siding with either the Imperials or the Stormcloaks or neither. The Great War is just a lot more personal for the Redguards of Hammerfell than just about any of the other homelands. Is your character bitter against the Imperials and the treaty, and wants to side with the Stormcloaks? Or is your character desperate to hold the Empire together against the Thalmor? The second reason (hahahaha all of that to say my first reason) why I think they’re the most interesting race to RP is that they have an “outside perspective” to the Stormcloak storyline. I just personally think that’s more interesting than playing as a Nord.

Nords: Playing as Nord would be close second I think. It’s pretty obvious why: Skyrim is their homeland, and the storyline is about the Nords! I… don’t have as much to say about this. IT’S JUST SO OBVIOUS. And there are Nords on both sides of the Civil War, so that works well, too. In general, by the way, I’m fascinated by how well Skyrim portrays this empire from the perspective of historical realism (sorry Dragon Age, Skyrim does it better). You can see the effects of many years of colonialism (imperialism) very clearly on Nord culture, to the point where they are essentially staging a revolt against the Empire in a very Imperial-cultural language. And of course, the Imperials govern their provinces in a similar way to the early Roman Empire (mostly hands-off with a few cultural centers like Solitude). Anyway, I digress. The main point is that playing as a Nord is an interesting if obvious choice?

Imperial: Also an obvious choice, I think. Playing as a “Roman” in the “Roman Empire?” NO WAI!? Now, ancient Rome had a whole lot of issues (let’s not pretend they were the “good guys” by any stretch of the imagination), but their very origin myths portrayed them as a mosaic of multiple races & cultures. So while the Roman Empire was culturally imperialistic about a lot of things (and they had a lot of other problems too), they also were generally less racist per se. And wow, I probably shouldn’t say that without unpacking what I really mean, buuuut that’s a long topic and let’s get back to Skyrim. So here’s what I was building up to: the Empire in this game is similar to the ancient real-world empire in that it’s generally a lot less racist than the Stormcloaks are (though let’s be real, that’s not really saying much). For example, the Stormcloaks are into segregation (see: Windhelm) and kicking non-Nords out; the Imperials are into freely mixing. I hate the fact that siding with an empire is better than siding with the rebels, but I just can’t stomach the Stormcloak racism. (But see, this is where Skyrim’s nuanced politics are as complicated as the real world). One consolation is that in terms of stopping the Thalmor’s long-term genocide of humanity, the Empire seems like the better choice (the Thalmor even consider Ulfric an asset); siding with the Stormcloaks seems inevitably like exchanging one empire for a more oppressive one in the end. Anyway, while an Imperial would generally side with the empire, maybe your character is an extraordinarily devout Talos-worshipper?

High Elves: I’m torn on this. I… actually made my first character a high elf for non-RP reasons because (1) I knew I wanted to play as a mage, and (2) I thought I basically HAD to be a high elf to be a super powerful mage. As in, I thought I’d be gimped in my gameplay by picking another race. Little did I realize that your race mostly doesn’t matter! Hahaha, my lightning spells cost no mana… why would I need high elf mana bonuses? Oh well. I make it work, sort of. Maybe I’m missing some headcanon story possibilities for my character, but I just don’t think playing as an Aldmeri is actually that interesting. I feel sort of out of place (you’d expect more high elf-specific reactions from people, I’d think, given the current political climate). (There are a few minor exceptions — try playing the Diplomatic Immunity quest as a High Elf wearing Hooded Thalmor Robes). At any rate, your Dragonborn Aldmeri isn’t one of the Thalmor, and that’s kind of interesting. And no matter which side you pick, history will remember you very differently because of your race. In summary: picking Aldmeri has a lot of potential (due to the heavy background influence of the Aldmeri on the storyline) but I find it jarring to see how little you are recognized as such by NPCs.

Dark Elves: Chances are that you’re a refugee from Morrowind (from the volcano and the Argonians) trying to eke out a living in Skyrim. That has huge potential, and the story of Windhelm (the segregation of Dark Elves into the Gray Quarter) should give you some RP ideas. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like the Dark Elves you find throughout Skyrim have some of the most interesting background stories.

I was going to go through the rest of the races, but I’m going over to a friend’s house to watch a movie and I don’t really feel like finishing it tonight. Maybe I’ll do a part 2 later if there’s enough interest?