Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-31082174-20170329222809/@comment-24144336-20190322152301

A mortal is eligible for entry into Sovngarde if they are linked by ancestry to the Wandering Ehlnofey who fought at Shor's side at the end of the Dawn Era. It's these Ehlnofey and their descendants to whom Shor accorded the afterlife of Sovngarde. The "first generation" of those descendants were the Atmorans: the mortal offspring of Wandering Elhnofey who showed heroic bravery when they made a last stand against the Aldmeri Pantheon alongside Shor.

Ages later, the "second generation" emerged as the Nords: a distinct group that resulted from the Atmorans gradually interbreeding with the Nedes of Skyrim--the same Nedic peoples the Atmorans liberated from the dominion of the Snow Elves during The Return. As Nords are able to gain entry into Sovngarde just as their Atmoran forefathers, the likely explanation is that access to the Nordic afterlife remains available across both time & interbreeding to those who trace their bloodlines directly from father's side to Shor's Elhnofey champions.

If the Nords in turn were to give rise to another derivative group through interbreeding, as the Atmorans have, the individuals of that hypothetical "3rd generation" within the North's lineage would have access to Sovngarde just as the Atmorans and Nords did before them. So it goes on, across oceans of time, until The Last War. Two criteria must be met before the souls of Men may find themselves in Sovngarde: 1) their paternal ancestry must flow back directly to Shor's Ehlnofey warriors as an unbroken road and 2) they must have died deaths which speak of courage and of defiance--thereby echoing the heroic bravery of these ancient Ehlnofey ancestors.

If both criteria indeed have been met, then in their death Shor will see them, and he will know & recognize them; and those souls of Men too earn the right to join the "blessed feasting" until The Last War commences.