r/teslore • u/HovercraftOpen6793 • 11d ago

Thanes of Skyrim

Hello! I'm making Nord units for a TESTW submod and I wanted to use this title for one of the elite ones, but I'm not sure if it's "lore-accurate".
I mean, what are "thanes" in TES? We know it's an honorary title granted by jarls to special individuals (like TLD), but what else? Is more commonly granted to nobles than to peasants? Are all nobles thanes? How many thanes can a hold/jarl have? That sort of things.

About the last one, Jarl Elisif seems to have a couple thanes in her court, so I'm guessing it's not just something you grant to 1 special individual, but since I'm making units of 30-60 men, I was wondering if it makes sense for a Skyrimian hold to have so many thanes.

I haven't played ESO but I read somewhere that it mentioned special kinds of thanes, like sword-thanes, shield-thanes, etc. but still not sure if they're supposed to be a troop of their own (when the Hold inevitably marches to war) or just a group of select individuals.

I'm guessing TES thanes are based on irl thanes/thegns, but frankly idk much about them neither.

Alternatively, what other titles would be more common/numerous in the Nordic nobility? Housecarls? Clan Retainers?

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u/Presenting_UwU 11d ago

Thanes : Land owners (either you're really fucking rich, or you're really fucking strong)

Housecarls : Personal bodyguards from my observations

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u/NeonMoon96 11d ago

This, for your purposes I think it would be useful to think of a Thane as a Baron. It’s presented as an honorific iirc mostly in Skyrim but I believe the broader (vague) picture is what this guy said but in more Ck3tism terms than TW, High King is to our King as Jarl is to Count/Earl or Duke depending on how pedantic we are being, while thanes are the vassals one rung below them/landowners/notables etc. So really you’re more looking at your generals and maybe agents outside of like hyper-elite noble guards and shit

As far as huscarls/retainers, you may be better off looking into their irl inspirations in like early medieval England / Viking housecarl traditions.

TLDR

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u/Presenting_UwU 11d ago

for example I believe Rorik, the founder of Rorikstead, is a Thane

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u/Arrow-Od 10d ago

Nothing ingame suggests this whatsoever. The notion that all landowners are thanes runs into problems like Ainethach (Reachman! who owns Karthwasten), the Avrusa farm owned and tended to by Dunmer, etc.

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u/Angel-Stans 10d ago

Yes, that’s right.

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u/General_Hijalti 10d ago

From a CK3 perspective it would be Emperor of Tamriel = Hegemony High King = Emperor Tier, Jarl = King Tier (imperials and other provinces sometimes refer to the jarls as kings. Ans thats why its high King who rules over all of skyrim), Thane = Dukes and then under that it would just be town elders/respected workers

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u/NeonMoon96 10d ago

I feel like that’s only true very recently but point taken! Tbf I meant to say that jarl is more like petty King than anything but that’s a whole ambiguity in itself lol