History Characters / TheElderScrollsTheBeastRaces

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Comes with the territory of being tree-worshipping lizards. However, unlike some of the other beast or Mer races (especially the Sloads and Dwemer), the Argonians are relatively similar to the other species in terms of morality, with some noticeably odd quirks: [[LanguageEqualsThought their language lacks in past and future tense verbs]], as the Argonians live "in the now" much more than other races, which often leads to some bizarre morals. As a whole, though, they're relatively similar to humans in terms of morals, if with the caveat of completely disregarding the past and future for being [[EasilyForgiven Easily Forgiving]] to the umpth degree.

* FantasticRaceWeaponAffinity: A weaponless variant. They'll fight with weapons, but also produce some of the finest {{Bare Fisted Monk}}s in Tamriel, as their claws give them an edge over the over races when fighting bare-handed.

The Khajiit are the feline natives of Elsweyr, Tamriel's south-central desert region. There are seventeen different subspecies of Khajiit, referred to as "furstocks", and what furstock a Khajiit cub will grow into is decided by the alignment of Tamriel's moons at the time of its birth. Most of these furstocks are humanoid with feline features, such as fur, long ears, tails, fangs, and claws, but they can vary wildly. For example, the Alfiq, the smallest furstock, are almost indistinguishable from housecats but possess great intelligence and are rumored to be formidable spellcasters, while the Senche-raht, the largest furstock, are as tall as two men and are ridden as steeds in battle by their kin. The Ohmes, meanwhile, are [[LittleBitBeastly so humanoid in their appearence]] that they are frequently -- somewhat to their chagrin -- mistaken for Elves. The variety most commonly seen in the games, the Suthay-raht, are renowned for their agiltity, making for excellent thieves and acrobats, but their attraction to piracy and skooma often see them becoming sailors. Khajiit are fond of cakes, puddings and candies of all kinds, stemming from their love of the highly addictive Moon Sugar. Khajiit are also deadly in unarmed combat due to their excellent reflexes and retractable claws. Their foreign appearance and unusual system of morality in regards to personal property makes them common targets for racism.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Comes with the territory of being moon-worshiping cat-men. Unlike some of the other beast or Mer races (especially the Sloads and Dwemer), the Khajiit are mostly similar to human's concept of morality... ''mostly''. [[LanguageEqualsThought Their language has no word for "rules"]] and they take a rather loose view of what constitutes personal property, frequently getting them in trouble in the lands of other races where what they do is considered "theft". Culturally, they value cunning and trickery far more than traditional human virtues, even though they still place emphasis on other more benign values like compassion and kindness. Overall, the Khajiit are fairly comparable to human morals, if with a total lack of understanding of what private property is.

* NonLinearCharacter: In a sense, but is both downplayed and a more mundane twist on the trope. Argonians as indivuals has no real concept of time, be it beyond or before the present, as they generally view all of life from birth to death as a single moment. To them, time is an illusion established to create a linear version of events and is therefore considered a limited way of perceiving reality. This is even reflected in their native language, Jel, which completely lacks any tenses.

* ScrewYouElves: After being victimized by the Dunmer for thousands of years with other outside forces (including the Septim Empire) doing very little to stop it, the Argonians fought back ''hard'' following the [[ChekhovsVolcano Red Year]]. They invaded what was left of habitable Morrowind, drove the Dunmer out, and claimed it (and its valuable Ebony deposits) for themselves. Though the Dunmer did eventually manage to stop their advance, they were only partially successful in driving the Argonians back, and they still hold on to a piece of southermost Morrowind by the time of ''Skyrim''.

** It also extends to their religious views. The Men and the Mer of Tamriel might fight and squabble verhemently, both with each other and amongst themselves, when it comes to the metaphysical mysteries of Nirn, but at the end of the day they can for the most part agree on at least a few things. The Khajiit firmly believe that both sides have it wrong, and their understanding of Nirn through their worship of the Moons provide them with the only true answer to life, the universe, and everything.

* FighterMageThief: A given Khajiit can be born into any of these roles depending on the moon phase at their time of birth. The larger furstocks like the Pahmar or Senche tend to be physical fighters owing to their massive physiques, whereas the medium-sized ones such as Cathay or Dagi are usually thieves or assassins, and the diminutive Alfiq are very magically-gifted compared to their larger brethren.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Due to their small quadrupedal body shapes, the Alfiq Khajiit are typically mistaken for regular housecats outside of Elsweyr. Those not aware of this furstock usually treat them as unintelligent cats, whom they will try to coo or cuddle with. Despite this, where the Alfiq lack in physical strength and robustness of their cousins, they make up for it with frightening magical mastery, as well as serving as excellent spies and thieves ''[[BeneathNotice because]]'' of their unassuming appearances. Additionally, being Khajiit, the Alfiq still possesses sharp claws and fangs, which they can wield with great effect against opponents and the unwary alike, with one Alfiq [=NPC=] in ''Online'' boasting about maiming an Imperial who tried to pet her while she was sleeping.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Due to their small quadrupedal body shapes, the Alfiq Khajiit are typically mistaken for regular housecats outside of Elsweyr. Those not aware of this furstock usually treat them as unintelligent cats, whom they will try to coo or cuddle with. Despite this, where the Alfiq lack in physical strength and robustness of their cousins, they make up for it with frightening magical mastery, as well as serving as excellent spies and thieves ''[[BeneathNotice because]]'' of their unassuming appearances.

* PantheraAwesome: While not related to the Khajiit, the large Senche cats native to Elsweyr and Valenwood can often be found as Khajiit pets and guard animals. They come in several forms, including Senche-Tigers, Senche-Panthers, and Senche-Lions. While other races see them as little better than wild animals, Khajiit are said to "sense an intelligence" in them that the other races do not.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Due to their small quadrupedal body shapes, the Alfiq Khajiit are typically mistaken for regular housecats outside of Elsweyr. Those not aware of this furstock usually treat them as unintelligent cats, whom they will try to coo or cuddle with. Despite this, where the Alfiq lack in physical strength and robustness of their cousins, they make up for it with frightening magical mastery, as well as serving as excellent spies and thieves ''because'' of their unassuming appearances.

The Khajiit are the feline natives of Elsweyr, Tamriel's south-central desert region. There are seventeen different subspecies of Khajiit, referred to as "furstocks", and what furstock a Khajiit cub will grow into is decided by the alignment of Tamriel's moons at the time of its birth. Most of these furstocks are humanoid with feline features, such as fur, long ears, tails, fangs, and claws, but they can vary wildly. For example, the Alfiq, the smallest furstock, are almost indistinguishable from housecats but possess great intelligence and are rumored to be formidable spellcasters, while the Senche-raht, the largest furstock, are as tall as two men and are ridden as steeds in battle by their kin. The Ohmes, meanwhile, are only a LittleBitBeastly in their appearence to such a degree that they are frequently -- somewhat to their chagrin -- mistaken for Elves. The variety most commonly seen in the games, the Suthay-raht, are renowned for their agiltity, making for excellent thieves and acrobats, but their attraction to piracy and skooma often see them becoming sailors. Khajiit are fond of cakes, puddings and candies of all kinds, stemming from their love of the highly addictive Moon Sugar. Khajiit are also deadly in unarmed combat due to their excellent reflexes and retractable claws. Their foreign appearance and unusual system of morality in regards to personal property makes them common targets for racism.

The Khajiit are the feline natives of Elsweyr, Tamriel's south-central desert region. There are seventeen different subspecies of Khajiit, referred to as "furstocks", and what furstock a Khajiit cub will grow into is decided by the alignment of Tamriel's moons at the time of its birth. Most of these furstocks are humanoid with feline features, such as fur, long ears, tails, fangs, and claws, but they can vary wildly. For example, the Alfiq, the smallest furstock, are almost indistinguishable from housecats but possess great intelligence and are rumored to be formidable spellcasters, while the Senche-raht, the largest furstock, are as tall as two men and are ridden as steeds in battle by their kin. The variety most commonly seen in the games, the Suthay-raht, are renowned for their agiltity, making for excellent thieves and acrobats, but their attraction to piracy and skooma often see them becoming sailors. Khajiit are fond of cakes, puddings and candies of all kinds, stemming from their love of the highly addictive Moon Sugar. Khajiit are also deadly in unarmed combat due to their excellent reflexes and retractable claws. Their foreign appearance and unusual system of morality in regards to personal property makes them common targets for racism.

The Argonians refer to themselves as the "Saxhleel" in their own tongue (known as "Jel"). "Saxhleel" translates to "the people of the root" in Jel, a name which reflects the bond they feel with the sentient and ancient Hist trees which are also native to Black Marsh. Argonians believe that their souls were given to them by the Hist, and they drink the sap of the Hist to communicate with them and to grow. Most Argonians are able to feel the presence of the Hist in their minds at all times, but the further they travel from Black Marsh the weaker the connection gets. Additionally, the Hist are said to "acknowledge" Sithis as the true creator of the universe, and thus offer Argonians born under the sign of the Shadow (known as "Shadowscales") at birth to the Dark Brotherhood (which serves Sithis) to be trained in the arts of stealth and assassination.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Both playable beast races appeared far more human in ''Arena'', the Khajiit looking like somewhat feral Wood Elves while the Argonians were essentially scaly, fanged men. Argonians became more reptilian in ''Daggerfall'', but the Khajiit remained furless until ''Redguard'' and ''Morrowind''. The lore justifies these discrepancies somewhat by establishing a staggering amount of dimorphism and subspecies for both races, with some beast folk almost looking human and others as merely sapient lizards and cats. ''Online'', in particular, gets to have a lot of fun going '''in''' on the many variations of the Khajiit, and as a result, you'd better be ready to have conversations with ten-foot-tall tiger-men, half-ton ''actual tigers'', and [[AndZoidberg housecats]].

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Both playable beast races appeared far more human in ''Arena'', the Khajiit looking like somewhat feral Wood Elves while the Argonians were essentially scaly, fanged men. Argonians became more reptilian in ''Daggerfall'', but the Khajiit remained furless until ''Redguard'' and ''Morrowind''. The lore justifies these discrepancies somewhat by establishing a staggering amount of dimorphism and subspecies for both races, with some beast folk almost looking human and others as merely sapient lizards and cats.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The adult stage of sload is stated to neither care for their offspring ''nor'' produce any themselves. Not only does this raise the question of why they evolved the adult stage in the first place, but since they have no issues with using their offspring as alchemy ingredients, natural selection ought to favor sload that neotenously cut out this stage altogether.

* BizarreAlienReproduction: The Argonians are easily the most "alien" out of the playable races and are an oviparous (egg-laying) sapient species, with the females possessing NonMammalMammaries. According to some sources (and confirmed by Argonians in ''Elder Scrolls Online: Murkmire''), the Argonians are also sequential hermaphrodites, meaning they can [[GenderBender switch genders]]. The time spent as either male or female is called a "life-phase".

* NonLinearCharacter: In a sense, but is both downplayed and a more mundane twist on the trope. Argonian as indivuals has no real concept of time, be it beyond or before the present, as they generally view all of life from birth to death as a single moment. To them, time is an illusion established to create a linear version of events and is therefore considered a limited way of perceiving reality. This is even reflected in their native language, Jel, which completely lacks any tenses.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Both playable beast races appeared far more human in Arena, the Khajiits looking like somewhat feral Wood Elves while the Argonians were essentially scaly, fanged men. Argonians became more reptilian in Daggerfall, but Khajiit remained furless until Redguard and Morrowind. The lore justifies these discrepancies somewhat by establishing a staggering amount of dimorphism and subspecies for both races, with some beast folk almost looking human and others as merely sapient lizards and cats.

* WasOnceAMan: Like the Falmer, their de-evolution from an intelligent, sapient race with their own civilization has included their souls becoming white, like those of animals.

* FaceHeelTurn: As a race during the 4th Era, if one considers the Empire as the "face" side of things and the Aldmeri Dominion as the "heel". (Which, while the Empire has its flaws, is still very much the [[BlackAndGrayMorality "gray" to the "black"]] of the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName outright fascist]] Dominion.) After Red Mountain's eruption, the Aldmeri Dominion influenced the Argonians to attack Morrowind and get revenge over millennia of slavery and to free the remaining illegal slaves there, as well as to capture Morrowind's valuable [[FantasyMetals Ebony deposits]]. The Dominion profited in further weakening the Empire by tearing away two more provinces (Argonia seceding and then capturing what was left of Morrowind).

* ThenLetMeBeEvil: The sad irony of the Khajiit is that since they are stereotyped as thieves, drug addicts and generally lowly scum, they rarely find meaningful employment and have to resort to criminal activities to survive.