November 17, 2014 3:02 PM EST
This seems true for Nords, but I assume by "whomever", you mean the other races as well. I suppose it's the majority of the people in Skyrim that lead us to believe that only Nords could enter. Well, that, and the fact that you only see Nord heroes in Sovngarde (such as Torygg and other Imperial/Stormcloak soldiers). Whoever wants to enter Sovngarde should be able to with "the right stuff", but the ES universe is a lot about worship, as well. You said that they must worship Shor, as well as die in battle. I suppose someone who worshipped Sithis and died in combat would go to, well, Sithis. It's been stated before that whoever you worship and carry out ideals for, will claim you as one of their own in their realm. However, to go to Sovngarde, you are technically implying that someone must live their life for Shor in order to reach their preferred afterlife, correct? But I understand (at least I think I do) why you say that. Most people, whether man, mer, or beast, if they want to reach Sovngarde, may battle quite a lot, and risk their life doing so, as that leads to Sovngarde. That's kind of how most Nords lives are generally like. However, I think it's that you must die BRAVELY in battle. At least, that's how it's implied in the games, as I myself would find it a little hard to believe that someone who knew they were going to die, tried to run, and got shot with an arrow and perished anyway, would go to Sovngarde. It isn't a place for cowards. The School of Illusion could technically be used to either prevent a person from reaching Sovngarde, or be used to send them there. Now that IS an interesting topic...