The Elder Scrolls games is rich with all sorts of intelligent species, from the powerful and mystical subspecies of Elves to the numerous and determined subspecies of Humans. There’s even the coy Khajiit, a bipedal race of cat people, and the enigmatic Argonians, a bipedal race of lizard people.
For today, however, let’s talk about the Humans and the Elves. For better or worse, they are the great shakers and movers of Nirn–most of mortal history is about the interplay of Elves and Humans amongst each other and themselves.
As you might recall, when the et’Ada were tricked into creating the world by Lorkhan, many of them eventually turned into the Ehlnofey. These Ehlnofey were the direct ancestors of all the Elves and Humans that end up as playable characters in the Elder Scrolls games.
However, there’s a reason why the Ehlnofey split apart into Humans and Elves.
Source: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/File:ON-npc-Guardian_of_the_Water.jpg
When Nirn was first created and Lorkhan punished for his trickery, the world wasn’t quite fully shaped yet—mostly baked, but still needs a little more time in the oven. It had been split apart into twelve different worlds, with one of them being the largest. This fraction of creation became the original home of the Ehlnofey.
However, the twelve worlds became merged together in a tumultuous event. Some Ehlnofey managed to remain in their original home, which was later called Aldmeris (also known as Old Ehlnofey), and there they retained their mighty powers and ancient knowledge. They others became scattered throughout the newly formed Nirn outside Old Ehlnofey and came to be called the “Wanderers”. They became toughened by the harshness of their new, unfamiliar home.
Eventually, the two halves of the original Ehlnofey race met together again, but they made war upon one another. The devastating conflict that followed created the oceans and split Nirn into what it looks like today. Aldmeris world became the continent of Tamriel, the literal and symbolic center of Nirn. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Old Ehlnofey became the Elves, and still retained fragments of their incredible power—this is why the various subspecies of Elves today are longer-lived and more attuned to magic than Humans. The Wanderers, on the other hand, became Humans.
Both the inhabitants of Old Ehlnofey and the Wanderers eventually split apart into subspecies. The Elves called themselves Mer, meaning “folk”. The terms “Mer” and “Elves” are interchangeable.
This is one half of the fundamental philosophical divide between Men and Mer. Aside from the obvious physiological differences, they share different histories and were shaped by different forces. They also see existence differently, as well:
As far as the Mer are concerned, they were once beings of great power (the et’Ada), and Lorkhan stole that from them through trickery. And so according to traditional Elvish thought, existence has been a long, slow decline from greatness and Nirn is the prison they’re all trapped in. Not all Elves necessarily believe this, of course, but this attitude highlights one of the fundamental differences between Man and Mer.
Men, meanwhile, see existence as a humble blessing, a chance to choose their own destinies. They see Lorkhan as a being who sacrificed himself to give them existence, and so Lorkhan in various forms is often worshipped by Human cultures throughout Nirn.
This deep-running conflict serves as the philosophical basis for the conflict between the Thalmor—what the Altmer of Summerset Isle became—and the Human-dominated Empire in the game of Skyrim.
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