Altmer (High Elves) - The tallest of the elves. Also the most snobbish. Have ridiculously intricate table manners. Consider themselves superior to all other races and practice eugenics to maintain their superiority. Really like magic and make very powerful mages. Hate the worship of Talos. Not so much strange, as they are assholes. 3/10
Ayleids (Heartland High Elves or Wild Elves) - Were able to capture and store magic in meteoric glass and used these stones to power mechanisms in their cities. Loved power greatly. Worshiped both Aedra and Daedra. Also known to have fornicated with Daedra at least once. Had a great empire until a slave revolt happened, after which they got driven into the margins and subsequently disappeared. Like the Altmer, only weirder. 5/10
Bosmer (Wood Elves) - Friendly, smol, tree-loving elves. Made a pact with the forest god Yffre to live in peace in the Valenwood, whose tenants include never harming a plant of the Valenwood. And only eating meat….including the meat of enemies slain in battle. These elves will eat you. Their pact with Yffre also granted them an ability to perform a group ritual that transforms them into a hoard of unstoppable murdercreatures. Their normal exterior is but a ruse. NOPE/10
Dunmer (Dark Elves) - Formerly a group of kinda orange elves called the Chimer, who got cursed and subsequently pallet-swapped. Worship either a trio of living gods called the Tribunal or the Daedric Princes Mephala, Boethiah, and Azura. Also really big into ancestor veneration. Some of them live in giant mushrooms, while others have an either city district built in the remains of a giant crab. Suitably weird and non-human. 6/10
Dwemer (Dwarves or Deep Elves) - Underground-dwelling, steampunk elves in a fantasy setting. Built robots and giant mechs which still function after several thousand years of no maintenance. Discovered a way to warp reality using music. All telepathically connected through an ability named the Calling. Sought to create their own god. Managed to collectively screw themselves and vanish wholesale due to this. Generally very strange. 8/10
Falmer (Snow Elves) - Very very pale elves who were once a great civilization, before being devastated by a war with the Nords. Made a deal with the Dwemer for sanctuary in their cities, which involved eating mushrooms which turned them build. Slowly warped into murderous creatures who hate all other beings. Now basically Morlocks. 8/10
Maormer (Sea Elves) - Have translucent, chameleon-like skin and milky white eyes. Descended from a group of elves that got banished to a marsh island in the ass end of nowhere. Generally pissed about this. Build ships out of insect parts and ride sea serpents into battle. Genuinely freaky, if only they appeared in more than one game. 9/10
Orsimer (Orcs or Pariah Elves) - Originally ancient high elves who were so faithful to their god that they got cursed and warped when he did. Favour physical strength far more than other elves. Everyone hates them and constantly sacks their one city. Many lead a tribal existence on the fringes of society. Easily the strangest origin story of any elf race in the realm. 7/10
TL;DR - Elves in the Elder Scrolls are weird as fuck.
lilmisschique
