The Best Race in the Elder Scrolls, the Dunmer | The Elder Scrolls Podcast #59 

Dunmer used to be on the bottom list of my favorites. But after watching your guy’s videos and especially playing Morrowind, they’re my favorite hands down. Absolutely fell in love with them.

Its really a shame they didn't expand upon Nord culture in Skyrim the same way they did with Dark Elves in Morrowind

Necromancy is fish-hooking an unwilling soul, and dragging it forcibly back into the land of the living. Ancestor Communing is just knocking on their door and going "Hey, got time for a quick chat?"

Can't believe Drew and Michael didn't even crack a smile at the pun 45:56. House Dres "got absolutely swamped" in the Argonian invasion.

My favourite part about the Dunmer is that while still looking like fantasy elves, they're so far from it, they may be completely alien - and that's of course how they're designed, with heavy sci-fi elements rather than fantasy - to all the rest of Tamriel to such an extend you think they're not from here... and then you get the lore behind it, which is so badass. I think they've got the best design out of most modern fantasy elves, simply for how unique - but not bad unique - they are.

The first ES character I ever made was a Dunmer I named Gaah Remir in Daggerfall. None of the lore was really established then I don't think but I thought the Dark Elves looked cool. I've made it a tradition to make a "Gaah Remir" character in every ES game I've played since.

I am *down* for Drew’s theory about why the chimer were turned into the dunmer

I've been playing Dunmer since Morrowind, and as with all RPGs I always name my character Leon. There will always be a Dunmer named Leon to save Tamriel 😂

To be fair, the Dark Elves are the best because they're the most fleshed out race. Morrowind was more about bringing the Dunmer's culture to life over how badass the player was (with the tech limitations of the time). You experienced what it feels like to live in the land of the Dark Elves. To me, that's what modern Bethesda's lacking. The ability to bring the culture of the races they're representing to life. With the tech available now, they could potentially make their best Elder Scrolls yet. Should they tighten up their weaknesses and don't forsake their strength's. Skyrim was fun, one of the games I keep going back to until I'm burnt out and let it sit for a couple of months. However when you look at the lore comparing to what the game was, you start to feel like the Nords of Skyrim were just Imperials having beef with Imperials over whose the better Imperial.

Bethesda’s version of Dark Elves is my favorite interpretation for sure

I played as a Nord first playthrough and a Dunmer second. There are a lot of differences between: “Well met, Kinsman” and “ You damn gray-skin! Go back to Morrowind!”

I want an entire video on just Drew's little side fact thing at 12:10 about why they were changed and all that. Please!

You know Scott made the title for this upload.

When starting my first elder scrolls game, Morrowind, I picked dark elf based on looks alone. They obviously are the coolest.

They were the first race i ever played in skyrim.

"this is gonna be a short one" Me. *Looks at timestamp* Anyway Dunmer have always been my favourite Race so it's a win-win for me

The main reason dunmer are the best is how in-depth the world building surrounding them is. They are one of the most complex and realistically designed fantastical cultures ever.

East Empire Trading Company reminds me of Amazon today

I honestly think the culture and lore of the Dunmer is one of the greatest across all mediums of fantasy, period.

On the topic of dwemer origin, this is an excerpt from PGE 3rd edition: "Even the earliest records of Summerset, however, shed no light on the origins of the Dwemer, who already occupied the northeast of Tamriel when Veloth and his people arrived there."

I'm saddened by the lack of ash yam discussions 😔

In Eso Morrowind when you visit Azura she refers to Vivic as a murderer

Okay but honestly, I play a nord, And I wrote him to be hopelessly fascinated with dunmer culture. Also, Sotha Sil is almost basically /the/ god. So it's kinda weird to think about.

First character is always a dunmer. After that Nord, orc, or Breton. But I tend to always come back to a dark elf

I always play as Dunmer (unless i just want to discover the other races out of curiosity), my very first caracter in the ES was a Dunmer.

I miss the way Dunmer sounded in Morrowind. All scratchy and burnt-out. It just fits with the whole curse thing. Make them look and sound ugly.

Drew’s hot take about the Tribunal being the curse of the chimer was not something I was prepared for on a Sunday morning

How powerful is Azura? Merunes Dagon was in Tamriel for a few minutes during the Oblivion Crisis and managed to not do much but get wrecked by Akatosh. While Azura in an instant created a new race of all the Chymer and all their descendants in perpetuity.

re: necromancy and the dark elf ancestral tradition: define necromancy as 'returning to life that which is dead' and dark elf ancestral summoning is considered necromantic. However: define necromancy as 'a subversion or corruption of the natural interactions of living and dead essences' and such ancestral summoning could no longer considered necromancy, depending on your dogma.

The 69th podcast should be the lusty argonian maid I’m calling it now!

I am amused at the idea that maybe the Dunmer would find Skyrim super weird, like when they see bear or deer that might be just as weird as like silt striders or cliff racers is to us lol.

I honestly can't play as anything else, I feel that I'm a Dunmer at heart and every single one of my Elder Scrolls characters since have been Dark Elves and will remain the only times the I've played as anything else was by experimenting but it's never the same without those eyes, or skin or voice

The lore of the other races of Tamriel were created to better integrate them into the world, and with one another. When creating The Elder Scrolls III, the lore of the Dunmer was created to *alienate* them from the other races in Tamriel. That's because the developers of TES3 wanted that game to have an otherworldly feel to it. There was also an internal power struggle between creative forces from TES2 and TES3 as to the direction the series would go in. In a sense, the point about the Chimer being created by Boethiah (the betrayer) makes sense. The new direction that TES3 took compared to TES2 and the internal creative power struggle was kind of similar. Sort of like the internal game studio's drama being used as lore-building material by the game's writers.

I was no joke looking for a dunmer video from you guys last night so I can connect with my character better. You guys are like psijics popping up at the best of timings.

Dark elves my favorite ever since playing against them in Dungeons and Dragons adventure Vault of Drow

"The Best Race" damn right

** Argonians: 👁👄👁 Khajit: 👁👄👁 Altmer: 🤬🤬🤬 Nords: 😡⚔🏹 Imparials: 🐸☕ Orcs: 🤨 Bosmer: 😐

Good to see another new episode boys! Keep up the work of the Divines!

to the topic of whether he Dwemer are OP in lore, I think you also have to take into account that since they used technology(even if it was magical), that has an upward progression through time(like in the real world) so the Dwemer tech we know about is their high water mark, potentially some of it was developed in the last decades of their existence. Magic on the other hand seems to have a diminishing trajectory through time. So for the majority time of their existence until they emerged and started interacting with the Chimer, they may have in fact been fearful/at a disadvantage to all other races, hence why they lived/stayed underground. On a side note, while dwemer maybe came from chimer, I think there's maybe something that the Ayleids came from chimer. If you think about real world migrations, especially early in time, they aren't usually a single group moving in a fixed path but radiations of people across time that often splinter or many groups that stay along the path. If Ayleid's were Chimer who left Sumerset during the Velothi migrations but who settled down and didn't keep moving, it would explain how they started venerating the Daedra, and their political system sounds in some ways like an intermediate between the highly centralized Altmer and the clannish Chimer.

To be honest, Dunmer is one of the interesting races in the whole TES universe. With their alien and diverse culture that is an amalgamation of tribes, myths, races, and cultures inspired from the real world. Apart from other race like Imperial that almost feels like a TES representation of Roman Empire/European world, Dunmer is a whole new level.

Love the Dark Elves and their living gods. Such an interesting culture. I’m a Dark Elf Vampire in ESO.

It could just be me but I really like the voices of the Dunmer as well.

After years of hearing your voices it's strange seeing your faces. Thanks for everything. Top quality content as always.

If you are going for a pure mage, or any type of spellblade type character, the Dunmer are the best choice.

I assume that during the phase of High Velothi Culture the Dwemer were still developing Tonal Architecture and weren't as advanced at using it to create weapons. Much later, by the time of the Red Moment, they had become more advanced. People dont realize how long it took from Point A(Dwemer and High Velothi meet) and Point B(Battle of Red Mountain). In that time they had become more powerful.

"we might need extra podcasts" Please do! I think (know) part of the reason there is so much to dig into here is because the Dunmer have the most fully realized world-building. Morrowind is a treasure trove of lore, and it's got the perfect mix of familiar and weird. They did an excellent job of creating a broad and varied culture in a broad and varied environment with broad and varied political and economic interactions.

Morrowind(particularly Vvardenfel) is almost proof that there used to be 12 worlds before creation. Its nothing like anywhere else on Nirn, like a chunk of another planet that had been placed on Tamriel.

The Dunmer's organisation into major and minor families, their comolex political structure, blue skin, red eyes, zeal and - outside Morrowind ‐ their general pride in their Dunmer-ness (to put it politely) is somewhat reminiscent of the Chiss Ascendency in the Star Wars universe... 🤔

What grand and intoxicating podcast. Been waiting for you guys to talk about the Dunmer

Thanks for doing these podcasts. There's a lot of people out there who have no one to talk to about these things and it feels like we're in the room nerding out with you lads.

Damn Elves I Bet They Had Something To Do With This

Here's hoping they come back in Elder Scrolls 6.

Ohhg I love seeing a whole session dedicated to the Dunmer, who may very well be my new favourite ES race!

Dunmer is my favorite race to play in Skyrim

For those of you curious what the daedric says on the title image. Left: Remember to let us know waht (sic) topics you would like to see. Love you all Middle: dunmer are the best. This is not propganda (sic). Drew. Vivec lives. Scott. Daedra graffiti. Michael. Subscribe. Right: sample text lmao

Love this podcast so much, it has become my favorite now

“I tried to think of a Dark Elf joke, but it kept getting Dumner and Dumner.”

I often get the vibe listening to Fudgemupet. That they think the red mountain irrupt it once and then one wave of refugees came. The red mountain continuously a Rupps, that’s why heart stones can be found on source time, and in addition to that refugees are still coming and traveling due to all the unrest.

I'd like to hear another 2 hours please.

Between the Family names coming first in their names and the Family clans with subsidiary familes, and crime being a way of life, it sounds very Japanese and Yakuza inspired. Not to a T, obviously, but I can see the inspiration.

By the rim of all holes, thank you for another amazing episode!

''The Best Race in the Elder Scrolls'' Me - Accession War FudgeMuppet - REEEEEEEEEEEEE!

If I could be any race in the elder scrolls it would be dunmer

I think a dragon break just happened, because I’m sure they already did this :P

I genuinely think that the Dragonborn in Skyrim could definitely be a Dunmer (in regards to staying true to lore). Barenziah, and the mother that gave birth to Uriel Septim (forgot her name) were both Dunmer women. Somewhere in the mix there couldve been a lost/orphaned Dark elf child that didnt know they were the last Dragonborn and eventually made it to Skyrim and so forth. In Oblivion, ESO and Skyrim all of my characters were Dunmer, next TES ill be one again

Oh boy, another video about Argonians! Also, it sounds like the Dunmer will be mentioned for some reason.

My absolute favorite race since the days of Morrowind!

Anybody who likes these videos might really love the "Exploring the Lord of the Rings" series by Mythguard Academy on RU-vid. Hundreds of hours of juicy LOTR lore already and they're not even done with the first book yet. Like literally it just keeps going and going. Loving that series and this one too.

Touching on the point of the difference of architecture from mainland Vaardenfell to Morrowind, the Akaviri invaded the mainland in some areas that the Dunmer claimed for themselves. So the buildings sort of show a clash of cultures.

Bae-thiah wants some of that Lork-Daddy.

I started with Morrowind, was part of the Pillow Fort and Hannah's Buttersky crew, became a mod on gamefaqs as a result. I can still get the Sword of White Woe before reaching lvl 10 in the barracks in Balmora, and haggle with a talking mudcrab. I made the fine city of Vivec float with TES Editor so the NPC's would pat off the edge to Slaughterfishy doom. Every TES I will always play a Dunmer assassin/thief/mage. This is the best vid!

Objectively correct

SOOOO CLOSE TO 1M!

Can wait for Dark Elves 2: Padomaic Boogaloo.

Azura's love is so damn powerful. To hell with Ayelieds and humans, they may be the direct descendants of Aedras but none can even compete with the Dunmer prowess.

This dropped just as I am about to try Morrowind for the first time. I think this is a good omen

Facts ‼️ I always choose the dark elves 🧝🏾when I play Skyrim.

Dunmer are objectively the coolest race.

When Skywind finally comes out you guys need to do a collab playthrough

The 4 corners shrines are not only reminders. These shrines are there not for worship but to appease the daedra. Before alessia and/or Sil there were much more of a threat

It's quite sad that post-Morrowind Bethesda completely washed over the lore. If only Todd did not have watched Lord of the Rings, Cyrodiil would have been completely different.

Right at 40:00 when Michael said “being” I got a Disney+ ad that said “gorgeous” as it’s first line haha. Yes RU-vid the dunmer are gorgeous. Edit: it says glorious not gorgeous but that just makes it fit even more

awesome stuff.

Y’all should do one going into the niveren and dagoth ur

The Dunmer are probably my most played race in ES games, followed by the Nords.

I like how when Scott agrees with whatever either of the guys are saying, he sometimes does such a snoby and posh "nnyeeah", like a caricature British noble 😄

The ending of the words is SCODREMI

Wrote an entire 200 page book about the Dunmer and morrowind, their culture and religious Practice, the houses and history and geography. And even made a lore friendly lesser house known as house Ulen and wrote lore for that

Argonain all the way. Most dark elves are just additional targets for me.

this is literally an afront to my tastes.

I love the lore surrounding the dark elves but I hope next episode is about something a little more off the beaten path in the lore books.

Dunmer have always been my favourite ever since Venturiantale made his Skyrim series

Two questions/thoughts I always had: 1. With the return of the Nerevarine and the destruction of the Tribunal, wouldn’t the curse be lifted and the Dunmer look again like the Chimer? Or was the curse permanent with no “cure”? 2. I always liked the idea that the Dwemer had dark skin and such (some fan art depict them with deep blue, lavender or gray skin instead of pale gold) and the curse basically make the Dunmer look like them, so they would forever remember their one time nemesis.

Never have I agreed with a title more than this one.

Always been my favorite since morrowind.

I knew this day would come. I knew, and no one believed.

How far north did the Argonians penetrate into Morrowind? Telvanni are pretty far north. Also, with the way the Hist control the Argonians, to what degree would the Hist actually want to bring down the mage lords? Although given to cruelty towards their slaves, their use of slaves as guinea pigs would be useful to the Hist. Each Argonian slave is effectively an inside man relaying the effects of their magickal research.

I can tell before this even starts, this one is Scott's podcast lol.

Dunmer was the first race I ever played, and they are the best

"His Name is Sil," the latest spaghetti western from Bethesda Studios.