The True Purpose of Sovngarde or: the Never Ending Return

Why does Shor collect the souls of Nord warriors in Sovngarde? Is it from the goodness of his missing heart or is their an ulterior motive? Why does he have Tsun guard the whalebone bridge from those who have died an honorable death on the battlefield, only allowing those who best the god in combat to pass? The answer is simple, Sovngarde is a staging ground. A staging ground for what? Why for none other that the return of Ysgramor and his five hundred or so companions. Sovngarde is Atmora, or rather becomes Atmora at the start of a new Kalpa.

Why do I say this? Because of The Five Hundred Mighty Companions or Thereabouts of Ysgramor the Returned. A traditional accounting of the Ysgramor and all those that accompanied him on his return to Skyrim from Atmora after the night of tears, except there are a few strange things about it, primarily the fact that it references people, places, and things that shouldn't exist at the time of the return.

Several examples of this include:

>no souls aboard surviving except for Olaf the Dog, a berserker who had been to Hsaarik’s Head a thousand times or more and knew leaping magic. He jumped from the wreckage all the way to Skyrim, landing on Olaf’s bridge. He was burnt there for his cheating by the students of Haafingar, which now happens every year.

A clear reference to King Olaf One-Eye, Jarl of Whiterun and High King of Skyrim from 1E 420-452

>By 1E421, Ysgramor revised the rites of vanguard and appointed Rebec the Red to lead the return with the Nail-knock, whose longboat counted these Sons and Daughters of Kyne among their number:

Note the 1E421, while we don't have an exact date of Ysgramors death, this is well after the death of Borgas, the last of High King of Skyrim through Ysgramors direct line.

> Vrage the Gifted, born under the strange suns (meaning the sun of Ald Mora and the sun of Merethland) of 1E208

This one blatantly states that he was born in the future, which is true because that's a reference to High King Vrage.

> Potemaic the Wolf-King, whose daughter would be of less height than her father but no less in stature, coming to her own in the nearing solitude

A reference to the Wolf-Queen of Solitude, Potema Septim, born in the 67th year of the third era. But Potema's father isn't named Potemaic, could this be a genderbent wolf-queen? We'll get back to that concept later.

> and Jurg his boon companion whose wind-calling would set it all back aright in calming assurance

Here we have Jurgen Wind-Caller, the founder of the way of the voice practiced by the Greybeards.

>Hjal, whose presence will not be explained under the Pact, for that would lessen the names of the Five Hundred by many times, breaking the genesis of eschaton, and not even Fhalj the Carcass-Mouth wanted that

A possible reference to Hjalti Early-Beard and the Talos oversoul?

>their daughter Culecha who looked on Hjal when unlooked on herself, which was seldom for she was fine-looking in every known return.

A reference to Cuhlecain, Emperor 0. Interestingly also genderbent, but male to female instead of Potema's female to male.

>The last to die was Borgas himself, written in viscera across the ice by the power shouts of the Lord of the Wulf’s Hart, and no one gave pity when the monsters of the changewinds arrived to claim their bond on the soul of the son of Borgasa.

A two for one, a reference to High Kings Borgas and Wulfharth, and the wild hunt practiced by the Bosmer.

> Tulemeht who ran once with the Pelinal and Hearken-Beak who spoke bird and Klopitu, and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Periff and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif and Perrif their wives and finally Kopro and his wife Perrif (all southerners pressganged into Ysgramor’s service by a tweak in Shor’s breath),

A reference to both Pelinal and Alessia. Apparently Perrif was a popular name. Interestingly it talks about how the southerners were pressganged into service by Shor, could Shor have allowed them into Sovngarde despite not being true Nords at heart? Perhaps out of love for his dear wife Alessia?

>and Pale Pass the snake-fighter

And here is the Akaviri invasion and their defeat at Pale Pass.

>and Baarl who wore a Colovian Arrow-Catcher even though it was dyed yellow, and the Remanites called D’Arleunce and Jean-Piet and Camorleigh and Alexe, and Umjanor and Ralpag and Old Hrolhdar and Mothol Mothsdotter and Galaej peerless in the Voice who yet vowed never to use it, and finally Varoonaal who plucked the poison darts from the body of the King of Cyrod.

This one is a doozy. Colovian fasion, Remanites, and the poisoned King of Cyrod (Reman III?)

I'm sure there's more I missed, but the point is clear, The Companions include people from the future of Nirn, sometimes thousands of years into the future. The very first example I provide is one of the most compelling arguments, that King Olaf has been to Hsaarik's Head a thousand times or more, just how many times has he invaded Tamriel?

This is the reason why the trial of the whalebone bridge exists, Shor is building an army, the most elite fighting force known to all of Mundus where literally every single member can best a god in single combat. Perhaps the Aldmeri are right to try to erase the concept of man, for every Kalpa the forces of Ysgramor swell with new blood. With how long this Kalpa has gone on, the next time they might just take all of Tamriel.