UESP Forums

Hello everyone.

I figured I'd ask about this - although I believe this has been discussed before, but it might help to get more recent perspectives on this. We know all the races of Tamriel have various differences among them and how a number of their traits are quite obvious to tell about them such as the golden complexions of the Altmer, various sub-species of Khajiit that exist, and the faint traces of Elven lineage in the form higher cheekbones and Mer-like brows regarding the Bretons/Manmer. One thing, however, that some people seem to have uncertainty with is the lore-wise height ranges of each race. I've seen a chart that seems to be agreed upon by many, and there are other charts as well some have made - but I find myself curious about the heights of a few certain races, specifically regarding the races of Man rather than Mer.

Is there an agreed upon height-range for the Nords, Bretons, Imperials, and Redguards each?

What exactly would the average height for a Nord male be, as well as the shortest height? What about females Nords - would they be the same height as a male Nord? Also, would there be some sort of stigma for Nords shorter than the average height?

I know that Breton females are shorter than Breton males, but what exactly would their height range be - their averages as well? Many seem to agree on the notion that Imperials and Bretons are both of an average of 5'9" (either the exact same or an inch shorter than the real-world average height if I remember correctly), with Breton females being... I think, 5'6". Is that correct though?

Nords are tallest of the races of men, not quite Altmer height. Beyond that I think the rest fall in an average human range.

Imperial and Breton are a cultural thing, not necessarily races, although that's basically what races are, but it's even less important here. The rest is just gameplay. There's no reason Nords, Bretons, or Imperials would be separated by height because they all share the same blood, and for the most part history and origin. They also all commonly interbreed. They're all just standard humans, with slightly less than standard cultural separations. The ranges of height will basically be the same.

They aren't even much taller in game. The difference between a Colovian and a Nord is marginal if even existent. Imperial isn't even a race and really just speaks about the people who lived in the Heartland under Reman's rule. Currently it describes anyone of Nordic and Nedic decent in the Empire. Same with them and the Bretons who live near the border. Similarly, while Bretons have some elf blood, they are by and large mostly human, and even if they weren't all these races still interbred, very regularly. Breton is a cultural designation more than anything, unless you want to argue that any random mating of a male elf with a human woman would produce a Breton, which is far from the case. It's not like the amount of elf in each Breton is uniform and that it is constant across social classes, which is why you'll see some Bretons with more elven traits than others. These are all cultural distinctions in the vast majority of cases, and you'd have zero success picking a Nord, from a Breton, from a Colovian, and probably from a Nibenean if you actually saw them outside of a gameplay context because people do not actually work that way.

Really? Never noticed it in Skyrim, that's cool.

They're certainty taller in Morrowind, too. Try navigating some of those mushroom house tunnels without bonking your big, blonde head.

The percentage of Aldmeri ancestry varies from Breton clan to Breton clan, and not everyone on Tamriel who has Elven lineage is a Breton. Reachmen for instance would chafe at being called Bretons. Imperials are even more mixed, since political marriages have always been a huge thing, and since Cyrodiil shares a border with every single other Province. Uriel and Martin Septim, for instance, were probably more Breton than anything else, but are represented as Imperials in the game.

When the proto-Cyrods were a slave population under the Alyeids you may have to factor in a little inbreeding. A slave population is likely to have a limited gene pool as their masters kept their communities confined and insulated from one another as well as from freeborn. This may have an influence in setting the Cyrodiilic apart from the Nords.

You're first source didn't prove anything besides the fact that people use the term races, which is true. That's not a genetic distinction, especially when we don't even know if genetics exist.

The second source doesn't even give what I asked for. I asked for how Bretons are genetically distinct from anyone, as in a source to prove that, not a gameplay screen to select a culture in game. Even if it was, no one is sure of the source of humans native to Tamriel.

As much as I hate talking in circles, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and keep waiting for either of you three to produce in lore evidence of genetic distinctions between all three of these groups. Till then, however, I'll go with the actual lore we are given and assume there really aren't much, if any.