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The Hist were supposedly from one of the other Twelve Worlds of Creation. Of the Twelve, only the Hist and Ehlnofey survived the coming together of worlds. The Infernal City mentions a race of giant spider demons the Hist defeated early in Tamriel's history. These may have been doomed inhabitants of one of the other planes. All other races failed to survive, or were lost in some pocket dimension, or met some other unknown fate. In any event they're gone. Most living, mortal things are either created by the gods or descended from them depending on which creation myths you believe.

Other living things like plants and animals were said to be creations of Kyne, nature's goddess. Unlike the Ehlnofey which literally descended from the gods, the lower animals were likely crafted from raw creatia left over after the convention. Due to the intelligence of giants, however, I'd place them as offspring of Ehnlofey rather than creations of gods.

Correct me if I am wrong, aren't hist just trees?
Unless there are ent like ones as well as regular.

The Hist are trees but they are much, much more than "just" trees. They're on the same level as the Divines.

All living things can ultimately trace their origin to the interplay of Anu-iel and Sithis, so yeah the Hist would have to be aware of this being. It's even stated in sources that mention Sithis that "Even the Hist acknowledge him." They also do seem to promote change, by altering the world around them to suit their needs. It's even implied they took a race of lizards - a creation of Kyne most likely - and transformed them into their own chosen people. This is almost Daedric in nature - a corruption rather than a direct creation. Or perhaps an improvement from their perspective. While it's true they're trees physically and rooted to the ground their powers are not to be dismissed. They summoned Umbriel the floating city into Tamriel with their power, and they empowered the Argonians to shut down all the Oblivion gates in Black Marsh and later to drive the Dunmer from Southern Morrowind. These Hist are powerful gods indeed.

"gods" ha, they are no more gods than the daedra or aedra

that isnt to say they arent powerful, certainly they are powerful that isnt in question

but they arent gods

A god cannot be trapped in a cave, a god does not need a portal to sovngarde, a god doesnt die in a fire

believe what they tell you if you please

But I trust what I know

Actually, according to how you define a god, it could have any of those limitations or more.

The concept of a god being all seeing, all knowing and all powerful is a relatively new one in human history and came when Judaism repackaged intself as a monotheistic religion. Almost every god worshiped by humans in history was from a pantheon of some sort and could be tricked, trapped or even killed. For instance the ancient Greek god Pan is said to have died.

The gods in the TES universe have many weaknesses and can be trapped, defeated, tricked, etc. Most of the Hist were actually destroyed a long time ago. Their kingdom once covered almost all of Tamriel when the continent had very little ocean, but a catacysm sunk most of it below the sea. In the case of the Aedra, they're gods but they're either dead or severely limited due to giving up pieces of themselves to make Mundus. In the case of the Daedra they're trapped within their own realms but all powerful there. Anu and Sithis are limited by their natures - Anu is stasis and Sithis is change. Neither can become the other. In that way they are limited. The Godhead is limited because he split into two - Anu and Sithis.

There just a race of trees possibley worshiped as gods by thee Argonians. Dosent mean thier actually divine spirits like Aedra or Daedra

Well, the Hist definitely have extra-normal powers. I mean, they were the only race to beat back the Oblivion Crisis without the assistance of a Hero. Yes, the Summerset Isles thought they beat back the Daedra with the Thalmor, but that was probably a coincidence with Dagon's defeat by Martin, so they just outlasted the Daedra compared to actually defeating them.

On topic about the Giants, I'm fairly sure there is more to them than we see in the game currently. After more thought, all sorts of things in game have White Souls that seem like they should have Black Souls, so that isn't the indicator I had hoped for. More likely, they're just very insular and lack leadership or numbers to be a major political power in Skyrim.

There are far, far, far too many sources actually putting them on a similar level or at least that of the Ehlnofey or Dragons to simply state "they're just trees." There's very little to nothing to back that opinion up. In fact the two official novels of TES paint them as being very powerful beings.

There inteligent trees, I never said that the where regular. I like to compare them to the trees in Avatar. They seem to be on the same level as dragons to me.

While on my way to markarth I saw farmer with a painted cow and he said he was bringing it to a giant camp. He explained how the markings let them know it was a peace offering and prevented them from stealing their live stock. I asked him if he needed help but he said he was ok. I wish I would of followed him to see how it went.

I saw him as I was retrieving a goat from a giant (haha that quest is hilarious), so I thought that it had to do with that quest. Apparently not, because as another character I ran into the guy and I hadn't done that quest before. Mere coincidence...and I wish I'd followed him, too. ^^

There was a post about this at Bethsoft. Apparently someone actually followed him and the giant killed him. Probably due to gameplay mechanic restrictions. It's implied in more than one place in the game that the races of Tamriel trade with the giants. The most notable example is Sanguine's daedric quest in which it's found out the PC traded a farmer's goat to a giant.

Personally, I suspect the Karstaag to have some sort of relation to the "giant goblins" mentioned in Notes for Redguard History. He certainly looks like he may as well have come through a "rent in space time."

He physically resembles a combination of a yeti and a demon from asian mythology, in my eyes. The Rieklings also have vaguely asian looking features, especially resembling certain steppe cultures. We have lore sources mentioning a failed Kamal invasion of Morrowind, in close proximity to Solsthiem. I personally feel it's plausible some of these beings are some sort of leftover Akaviri soldiers. It's possible Karstaag was a Kamal snow demon, or maybe a being that served them, and the Rieklings were their goblin slaves. That's my interpretation.

One nagging detail though. Or maybe two.

1 - MK's 500 Companions piece uses the term Karstaag as a sort of clan name for the giants from Atmora. The remnants of these giants in Skyrim don't look much like him at all though.

2 - In the novel Lord of Souls the local nords believe a new Frost Giant moved in after Karstaag died. It's later revealed to possibly be the trickery of a sorcerer, but the fact remains they believe it can happen. It may just be superstition, but it almost sounds like the Frost Giant is something the land itself produces, like an ice spirit.

Actually, now that you mention that... Perhaps the Karstaag in Bloodmoon could be an example of what happens to a regular sort of giant infected with lycanthropy? Although perhaps not, since lycanthropy does the same thing to Argonians and elves as it does to humans...

It's possible he was some Daedric servant or beast who serves Hircine for that point.

Or a leftover Bosmer werebeast from the Wild Hunt. Remember, there was once a Wild Hunt that killed King Borgas, and many of those monstrosities retreated into the extreme wilds of Tamriel and were never brought to justice.

I like this idea..... the Wild Hunt really interests me

The Kamal freeze over in winter, so he can't be one of them.

Yes..the winters in Kamal. We don't know how they differ. They could be much, much colder depending on Kamal's proximity to the northern climate. Or it could be magical frost.

And haven't you yourself argued against taking Mysterious Akavir too literally in the past? That's the only source for that bit of lore, but it's established in two or three that Kamal invaded Morrowind.

Well I think that hes a giant, like he is referred to as. I've never heard the Kamal described as giants.

I've heard them described as frightening demons who terrorize the Tang Mo, and apparently it took the combined strengths of Ysmir and Almalexia to defeat their king at Red Mountain. That doesn't necessarily mean he was physically huge but he had a might to match physical gods, and that reminds me of the fight between Almlalexia and Sotha Sil against Mehrunes Dagon, who took the form of a giant in that particular battle as he often does.


edit: On the topic of giants and Ehnlofey being related, and having common ancestry with man, etc.... for what it's worth MK recently posted this image from his personal collection at the Bethsoft forums. King of Atmora is a giant, and a particularly huge one, at least as he envisioned him.

Giants haven't appeared in an ES game since Daggerfall, so I think that Bethesda pretty much started from scratch when they made giants for Skyrim. I think they're leaving it to the gamers to figure out the lore of the giants, which is perfecly okay.