Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-4708902-20170204190043

I doubt any of you expected to find a discussion like this, but while playing Skyrim and Oblivion, I couldn't help but notice that many Khajiit characters seem to have traits that are associated with autism. Now for those of you who don't know what autism is, or use it as a duragatory word, autism is a brain condition that effects how the brain operates.

Think of the human brain as a computer. Computers process data, so do brains. Everything we see, do, learn etc is processed as data by our brains. Autistic brains however process this data differently then standard human brains. The autistic brain is phsyically indistguishible from a non autistic one and still does it's job, but in a different way. This causes autistic people to have certain traits uncommonly found with other people. OK enough classroom talk, what traits do Khajiit have which could make their race, a race of autistics? Well I'll list them. Also, if Elder Scrolls 6 takes place in Elsweyr, this subject might be an interesting one to explore

1. No real fear of danger: Any expert in Elder Scrolls lore knows that the Khajiit are known for being shifty risk takers. They crave change, and are very unpredictible. They also are known for worshipping certain Aedra and Daedra in addition to the Moons, similar to how the Aylieds worshipped both the Aedra and Daedra, as well as the stars. This shows that the Khajiit are risk takers. By being more acceptive of change, they are more interested in what the future holds, and by worshipping some of the Daedra along with some of the Aedra(Including Mehrunes Dagon), the Khajiit show that they are less afraid of the Daedra then the other races and/or understand that some Daedra are beneficial to their cutlure.

The Aedra and Daedra that the Khajiit worship seem to be connected to change and unpredictability. The Aedra they worship are Akatosh, who is associated with time, and time is known for changing things. Kynarath, who is associated with wind, a wild and untammable element, Mara, who is associated with love, which is not only an emotion associated with strong emotional attachment, but also plays a role in change as marriage marks a change in life, and Stendarr, who is associated with Rightousness and Mercy. Surprisngly rightousness and mercy have relevence in change and unpredictibility, as mercy is less expected then punishment.

The Daedra the Khajiit they worship are Asura, who is associated with dusk and dawn, the transitions from day to night and visa-versa. Hermaous Mora, associated with Knowledge, and knowledge leads to learning things, and learning is changing. Hircine, associated with the Hunt and Werecreatures. Becomming a werebeast a change, but the Khajiit may also worship Hircine because Werebeasts are similar to beast races. Mehrunes Dagon, one would think that after the Oblivion Crisis that Mehrunes Dagon would have lost nearly all his worshippers, but Mehrunes Dagon has some redeeming qualities, as change and ambition are needed for society to thrive, and are prized characteristics of the Khajiit, hence why the Khajiit worship him, though it's more likely they view him as a nesseasary evil, since he tried to end the world in Oblivion. Mephalla, who's sphere is associated with deception, plots etc, and those are shifty traits, and there are few beings more shifty then a Khajiit. Sanguine, debauchery, gluttony, greed etc. Those traits are associated with Moonsugar and Skooma. In concusion to this part, the Khajiit seem to be more acceptive of certain parts of the dark sides of mortals and try to embrace both the light and dark of mortals, similar to their shifty personalities, showing a willingess to risk such a delicate balance, and Autistic people are known for being risk takers. Why are the other Aedra and Daedra not worshipped by the Khajiit? Well the answer is next. (Sorry this was so long)

2. Insistance of samness. I know what you're thinking. "Doesn't this contradict the last statment?" In some ways yes, in other ways no. ES has shown that the Khajiit crave change... as long as it favors them. The most famous examples is when the moons vanished, which leads them to become supporters of the Thalmor. Even autistic people who are more acceptive of change, are against change that does not favor them, even moreso then non autistic people. Other examples with the Khajiit are the Knahatten Flu, the Oblivion Crisis, the Interegnum and other threats Tamriel has faced.

3. Difficulties with social interactions. There's never been any official reasons why the Khajiit often speak in Third Person, but it's implied in Online that the Khajiit's ancient language doesn't have any words that mean individual. If the Khajiit's ancient language never created any words for individuality, it could be that the ancient Khajiit had difficulties interracting with eachother as individuals, so their language evolved to try and address this, by replacing individuality based words with group based words in an attempt to correct the Khajiit's difficulties with social interraction.

4. The Khajiit are a catlike race. A few years ago, science proved that all real life cats are autistic, be they domestic or wild. They have poor social skills, but can bond with others with effort, they react strangely to objects and are not big with changes that they feel doen't favor them. So with the Khajiit having similar to traits to real life cats, it might stand to be that like real cats, Khajiit are all autistic.

If ES6 is set in Elsweyr, studying Autism could help Bathesda expand more on Khajiit culture and set up a society that actually does a decent job of portraying autism, which is not always portrayed accuratly. Outside of that, it could help Elsweyr establish it's own identity, making is distinguished from the other providnces as all providnces should have their own identity.

Being autistic myself, I've been a Khajiit player ever since I bought Skyrim, my first ES game, maybe it's because I'm an animal lover(another autistic trait) or maybe it's because I had a hunch that the Khajiit were autistic, but either way this theory of mine sticks to me. What do you think, do you think the Khajiit all have autism? 