What requirements are there for men or mer to become ghosts when they die? Can, say, Sotha Sil or a Dragonborn become a ghost? What about Dwemer ghosts? Why so many of them in Morrowind?

Same reason Draugr fill skyrim to the brim, or Human ghosts being so common in Cyrodiil. You do a lot of dying in your homeland.

As for ghosts themselves, seems to be the relatively standard "have something holding you back" affair, plus necromancy as a cheat.

I don't think this concept has been detailed to well in the series. I'd sum the more common cases in that a mage is involved, or a individual dies under really stress/horrible ways and they sort of become bound to the area where they have died, like in most basic fiction. A dragonborn becoming a ghost? I'm not quite sure if a Dovah can even become a spirit, considering that they always seem to be absorbed into another Dovah or stored...somewhere else. Sotha Sil? Perhaps, but I think he'd upload his mind into one of his machines before he'd become some restless spirit. The Dwemer ghosts are a fickle subject, and may be the result of something completely and utterly different.

Maybe as long as you are not bound to say, Hircine or Nocturnal. But even so, does one ghost (assuming a Nord) travel to Nirn from Sonvngard as they wish?

Bah. Delete this post.

The institution of ancestor worship makes dunmer ghosts a lot more prominent in Morrowind, due to elves binding themselves to family ghostfences to serve their clan post-mitten.

This topic doesn't get brought up enough.

Aside from what others have already said; curses, traumatic deaths, being bound to an object.


I'd imagine so. They just don't, cuz hey, mead and Shor and mead and Shor and mead and Shor and and and and mead.

Ancestor worship seems to somehow empower spirits, but this is more of a general impression rather than sourcable information on my part.