Discover Top Posts Tagged with #tes critical

thinking about sheogorath this morning. what a weird character. like his presence (in theory) should have these huge implications for the role of the mentally ill in the fictional cultures of TES and creates a wealth of narrative and thematic opportunities that are only sometimes explored in the actual games. will write more on this i’m working rn

#op #tes #tes meta #tes critical

Hey, uh, I was having a conversation about the lore, and someone mentioned how the Redguards are responsible for genocide.

And I was like "Well, yeah, Redguards and Bretons are known to be extremely awful to the Orsimer, that's right, that's a fucked up part of the lore that should be more open for discussion-"

And then they interrupted me and said they were talking about the indigenous nedic populations of Hammerfell, actually, getting enslaved and exterminated by the Warrior Wave.

And that fucking brings me pause, because that's not a fucking thing in the lore.

Then they mention a MK Quote about "Black Imperialism" to justify this, about how he decided to have the black people come,kick ass, and conquer a land, which they take as tacit approval of the genocide of the nedic natives.

Which, AGAIN, are not a fucking thing.

So I decide to dig deeper into it and.

Uh...

Ok, THIS, is an extract from the 3rd edition of the Pocket Guide of the Empire, used by UESP as source for the Hammerfell page for its history.

The Yokudans left their continent following a cataclysm (discussed in a later section of the Guide), arriving in Tamriel in an invading fleet called the Ra Gada. The disorganized Orcs fell to them quickly, as did all the infestations of monster and beast further inland. The Redguards, as the Ra Gada came to be called, made no concession to the Breton settlements along the coasts, slashing through the southern Iliac Bay, winning the entire area that is now the Province of Hammerfell in only a few major battles. The Na-Totambu, the government of Yokuda, was transplanted whole, together with their traditional system of agriculture and religion which was well suited to the unforgiving climate of the Redguards' new home.

The guide mentions only Orcs, Goblin-Ken and Monsters living in "The Deathlands" as natives, then mentions Dwemer, Altmer and Breton settlers, Altmer and Bretons specifically for ONE settlement each on the coasts.

There is no mention of the Nedic people, and none of the races here talked about have gone at any point extinct.

Now, THIS is from the First Pocket Guide of the Empire from ESO:

This vanguard "warrior wave" of Yokudans, the Ra Gada, swept into the country, quickly slaughtering and enslaving the beastfolk and Nedic villagers before them, bloodily paving the way for their people who waited at Herne, including the Na-Totambu, their kings and ruling bodies. The fierce Ra Gada became, phonetically, the Redguards, a name that has since spread to designate the Tamrielic-Yokudan race in general. They ultimately displaced the Nedic peoples, for their own agriculture and society was better organized and better adapted to Hammerfell's harsh environment. They took much of Nedic custom, religion, and language for themselves in the process, and eventual contact with the surrounding Breton tribes and Colovian Cyrodilics hastened their own assimilation into the larger Tamrielic theater.

Notice ANYTHING different?

Like, the sudden presence of white nedic tribes getting genocided by the Warrior Wave because they were too "primitive" to survive?

ESO decided, out of fucking nowhere, to just... Have the Redguards commit slavery and genocide. Just like that. To have them show up and commit slavery and genocide on some generic "primitive native white people."

They decided to make it another fucking race war. And they decided to make their one human race featuring black people the butchers in it.

And now we have fuckers using this as a justification for anti Redguard sentiment, to use a very thinly veiled euphemism.

What in the fuck?

#elder scrolls #redguard #tes #tes lore #tes critical #elder scrolls criticism

Side note, funny as shit how in Redguard Naafilgarus the Red Dragon is specifically set up as the violent tool of imperialism, as the subjugator, as the devout soldier of Tiber Septim enforcing his will on the subjugated Redguards, as an all around villain and monster...

Then ESO shows up and now Nahfahlaar the Red Dragon is one of the good guys saving the world because he's actually upholding Akatosh's will all along or some shit, the promotional material so much so as calling him an "Old Ally" of elder scrolls lore.

Like, holy shit, they turned the symbol of the Imperial Dragon, the instrument of Tiber Septim's imperial conquest, the personification of the empire, into one if the fucking good guys, and pretended he was a good guy all along.

You can't make this shit up.

#Naafilgarus #Nahfahlaar #elder scrolls #tes #tes critical