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Hmm. I've been listening to the 1981 BBC radio broadcast of LOTR, and a remark made by the actor playing Legolas caught my attention. He said to the actor playing Gimli: "You dwarves certainly are skilled in dwemer-craft!"

Now this certainly is interesting, as the Dwemer in the "Elder Scrolls" games are a race of so-called "deep-dwellers" that the human races call dwarves, but which have turned out to be elves (?). The Dwemer in these games also seem to be escapees from a Steampunk setting, as their cities are full of pipes, steam, and steam-driven automatons. *shrug*

If this was all, I'd count it as a coincidence - but then, take a look at this aerial shot of Whiterun, the first walled city that you come across in Skyrim. What does this remind you of? The architecture, and particularly the wooden watchtowers that greet you as you first enter Whiterun, immediately made me think "Hey, it's Edoras, the home of King Theoden from the movies!" Even the horsey symbol of Whiterun is reminiscent of Edoras, as the men and women of Rohan are obviously famous for being great horse-riders and horse-tamers.

So what do you think? Is this all just a coincidence, or is there some sort of link between Skyrim and LOTR? Just wondering!

I doubt there's any "real" link between the two. The most likely scenario is that Bethesda was influenced by LOTR, like most fantasy stories or games.

Hmm. I don't think there's a specific, provable connection between Skyrim and LOTR; however, the word "dwemer" isn't exactly common - I've only ever heard it used in Skyrim and LOTR. Where does it come from? What does it have to do with dwarves (or with TES's elves, for that reason)? Curious minds wish to know...

I agree that Bethesda was probably only inspired by LOTR (as they were by ancient Rome, obviously)... still curious, though.

Rath Darkblade wrote:Hmm. I don't think there's a specific, provable connection between Skyrim and LOTR; however, the word "dwemer" isn't exactly common - I've only ever heard it used in Skyrim and LOTR. Where does it come from? What does it have to do with dwarves (or with TES's elves, for that reason)? Curious minds wish to know...

I agree that Bethesda was probably only inspired by LOTR (as they were by ancient Rome, obviously)... still curious, though.

Why don't you look it up yourself or ask this same question on a TES message board? I seriously doubt anyone here has the answer, so your best bet is to look elsewhere.

Humm. I have looked it up elsewhere - googled it, wiki'd it, looked it up in dictionaries, tried LOTR encyclopedias and TES encyclopedias... no-one seems to know. Oh well...

Rath Darkblade wrote:Humm. I have looked it up elsewhere - googled it, wiki'd it, looked it up in dictionaries, tried LOTR encyclopedias and TES encyclopedias... no-one seems to know. Oh well...

Did you try the Steam message boards? They have individual boards for Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim.

They may not know (and you'll probably come across a few asshats), but maybe someone will have a decent answer.

You could also take a look at this thread, where some people are discussing the similarities between LOTR and Skyrim.