Description

Culture & History

The origins of Giants in The Elder Scrolls are shrouded in uncertainty and debated among scholars. While their pointed ears bear a resemblance to those of the mer, some suggest a possible ancestral link between Giants and the Nords, tracing back to the Atmorans. According to this theory, the Atmorans, an ancient race of intelligent giants, eventually split into two distinct groups.
 

The reasons for the split remain unknown, but it is believed that one group of Atmorans evolved into the smaller and more intelligent Nords, while the other group grew larger in size but lost some of their intellectual capacities, ultimately becoming the Giants. This belief was prominent during the First Era when Nordic farmers would offer cows as a sacrifice to appease the Giants and prevent attacks on their livestock. However, over time, this tradition and the belief in the ancestral connection waned in popularity.
 

Despite their primitive appearances, Giants are moderately intelligent, able to fashion tools and clothes for themselves, tend mammoths, and harness fire. Semi-nomadic, Giants travel with herds of mammoths and set up camps across the lands. Their camps are typically decorated with the skulls and tusks of mammoths, alongside various other bones, some of which are used as tripwire chimes to alert them to any intruders.
 

For protection, Giants are known to fashion large, crudely-made clubs of stone, wood, and bone and even sets of armor. Despite their rudimentary craftsmanship, they are one of the few races who know of the techniques required to grind the iron-like tusks of mammoths into powder, a prized alchemical ingredient.
 

Some Giants belong to a clan, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, which is ruled by a high chieftain. The clan chieftain's rule is absolute and in times of conflict, they are known to rally their troops and lead organized attacks. If the chieftain is killed, their followers are often left in disarray. Giants have also been observed as having matriarchies, where a giantess has the highest authority.
 

Giants typically have a deep and guttural speech, sometimes called Giantish. To the average person, it sounds like incomprehensible grunts and roars. Giants tend to be non-hostile to speakers of Giantish. Some Giants, however, have learned to speak rudimentary Tamrielic in order to communicate or trade with people, and a select few have worked with other races as volunteer gladiators or guards. Although Giants have no known written language, they seem to have an affinity for spiral motifs. This particular pattern is often depicted as scars on their torsos, carved into their mammoth's tusks or painted onto various rocks, trees, and walls within their encampments. Observers have speculated that this rudimentary art possibly entices females, marks territory, or is simply artistic expression.
 

While it's commonly believed that Giants herd mammoths, scholars have observed that their relationship is based more on mutual respect. They are seemingly able to communicate with mammoths and protect them fiercely. In return, Giants receive companionship and milk, which they process into cheese. Their omnivorous diet also consists of cooked skeever meat and other animals, which they spit-roast over their massive campfires. Some accounts claim to have witnessed a Giant eat a mammoth, but the meal was conducted with reverence.
 

Giants have been known to gather regularly at a ceremonial site. Here, they come together to trade, mate, and communicate with whatever methods they have developed. One tale speaks of a Giant family residing on Mount Trolhetta. Giants also demonstrate intricate beliefs regarding death. They have places set aside as sacred burial grounds, such as Secunda's Kiss in Skyrim. When a Giant is sick or dying, he or she goes to one of these places to die. If a Giant dies elsewhere, other Giants make sure the body gets to the burial ground. They typically don't live near these sacred locations, and they don't guard them. They simply make use of them.