Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-186.215.22.127-20130215011559/@comment-6707115-20140617091244

Where does it say he was royalty to begin with? All the Arcturian Heresy (and the Atmora legend surrounding him) say is that he came from Alicaire, never about his position in the social structure of Tamriel prior to his commanding soldiers in Skyrim. Now truly, Hjaltli IS royalty, but the only known info on that is that he made raised himself to Royalty.

His raising to the top on pure merit would also coincide with the some stories of the Norse, which the Nords are based off of.