Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-85.74.137.231-20130605091958/@comment-3322638-20130803164857

Well, you arrived at a critical point here. Congratulations!

You see, since the story is set in Skyrim, the Stormcloaks and Imperials both employing Nords, the hero is typically a Nord.

The Dragon Language is the Thu'um, Nords were ruled by dragons and hence had some skill in it. Also, the gift enabled the absorption of Dragon souls, which has a side effect of giving the user wisdom on an aspect of the Dragon Language, which further helped mastering Thu'um. Hence, the Dovahkiin is typically a Nord.

But what the game shows in trailers and promos isn't the conclusive lore to appear in the next TES. Dawnguard cover shows the Dragonborn is a vampire. Might be he never was.

Of course, the future lore would be such that the Dovahkiin would be assimilated as a Nord, being the Arch-Mage of a Nord Institution, Harbinger of a Nord mercenary group, officer in an army in Nord lands, respected by the Nord Greybeards and the hero of the Nord people, and the one who rid the Nord homeland of the Alduin menace.

So, what the game says before the game is played is a bit dependant on the game itself; its theme and setting. If the next story is set in High Rock, most probably it would be typically about a Breton super Magician fresh out of the Direnni Tower (or something like that).

Of course, even the developers know that an Orc Dovahkiin would be improbable, seeing Orcs were but evil monsters to be killed once. The elves are constantly being portrayed as the bad guys, the Altmer or Bosmer wouldn't work against the Thalmor, nor will the beast races be expected to be very prominent. So, the only people who would be Dovahkiin (should the game be a RPG with no character customization) would be the human races, most prominently the Nords.

Hence, your theory is right, in some regards. Your question is not stupid, in fact, even I had thoughts before I decided a god had infinite freedom to do stuff. However, to preserve the roleplay equation, they made it such ANYONE can be Dragonborn. Even an Altmer.

Even a Khajiit.

I know my argument isn't very coherent, but it contains the essence of it.

P.S.: Okay, Paarthunax, Tree sap, Ysolda. Now what?