Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-2165692-20140531154239/@comment-24999978-20141116090306

84.196.186.69 wrote: On that note, there exists a common misconception that the Nords are basically the "Vikings" of the Elder Scrolls universe. This is not the case. It is the Atmorans who are the Vikings of the ES universe; the Nords are more accurately described as the "Normans" of ES. Look up the subject on Wikipedia for more information about this.

The Viking/Norman distinction that Bethesda based the Atmoran/Nord distinction on for the ES lore is shown most clearly in the shamanistic belief system of "pure-blooded" Atmorans, who worshipped a variety of animals as the avatars of the Aedra, reflecting the pagan religious beliefs of the "pure-blooded" Vikings of real-life history. By contrast, the ethnically mixed Nords are shown to be ardent believers in the Nine Divines (Talos in particular), which reflects the legendary Christian zeal of the ethnically mixed Normans from real-life history.

Or perhaps we could recognise that every culture in TES has multiple real life influences in addition to having their own original ideas, and that no race can be relegated to having a single counterpart in our world.