So, this might be a futile attempt to rationalize inconsistencies wrought by game design rather than relevant lore, but I've got a few questions about our favorite slandered One-Eyed Nordic king, Olaf One-Eye. Particularly, that he's entombed in a Draugr crypt, and is quite a formidable Draugr himself.

But weren't the Draugr of Skyrim remnants of the Dragon Cult? As in, cultists would go through specific necromantic rituals and mummification processes to become Draugr, and serve their Dragon (Priest?) overlords even in death. But Olaf's reign started 1E 420, whereas the last known remnants of the Dragon Cult were found in Forelhost around 300 years prior.

Do you suppose that even after the Dragon War, ancient Nords continued the practice of Draugr'ing their dead? Come to think of it, Jurgen Windcaller is entombed in an even larger Nordic crypt, and he came around long after Olaf One-Eye. So, in that case, what was their modus operandi for Draugr? They seemed to continue the practice long after the fall of the Dragon Cult; was it reserved for masters of the Voice, or certain Nord heroes?

edit: what other Nordic ruins are known to postdate the Dragon Cult?

King Borgas is technically a Dragur in-game, but Galmar pins it on the magics of the wild hunt that cursed his corpse rather then anything reminiscent of the Dragon Cult. It's worth noting that we really don't the specifics to becoming a Dragur, though it has been used purposefully used once like in the case of http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Bloodmoon:Draugr_Lord_Aesliip. My assumption is that becoming one could become a Dragur for a whole host of supernatural reasons. Given that the Nord's tend to mummify their dead, Dragur could be a blanket term for undead humanoids in general, given that crypts with no Dragur activity tend to swarm with them if a necromancer decides to take up residence.

Actually Jurgen Windcaller was contemporaneous with Olaf One-Eye. The defeat that Jurgen witnessed was that inflicted by the First Council to drive the Nordic Empire from Resdayn. Not the later battle during the War of the First Council.

Interesting that you mention Aesliip. As I understand, (forgive me for not being so familiar with Bloodmoon), the Draugr of Solstheim were cursed with undeath for going Donner party on each other. Of course, the Dragonborn DLC also showed that the Dragon Cult - and their Draugr - had a presence on Solstheim as well.

I can get behind this. The mummification processes the Nords used weren't tied to the Dragon Cult, but being so well-preserved, the Draugr make great subjects for necromancy. The Dragon Cult took advantage of this, mostly, but other necromancers (like Lu'Ah Al-Skaven of Ansilvund) can use the Draugr, too. Curses, like on King Borgas or the Draugr of Bloodmoon, could raise the Draugr as well. This seems like a pretty good explanation.

Now, I'm not sure if mummification is still practiced in present-day Skyrim, but judging by the architecture of the city Halls of the Dead, and the use of Mount Kilkreath as a crypt for the dead of the Civil War, I'd say Nords still bury their dead the same way. Perhaps several Nordic Ruins are simply "Halls of the Dead" for long-destroyed Nordic cities, like Bromjunaar.

Ah, thanks. The UESP page for the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Greybeards points to the Battle of Red Mountain around 1E 700, which is why I got confused. But the page for http://uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Jurgen_Windcaller places him at 1E 416, which is indeed contemporary with King Olaf. That's actually pretty cool, though.

Yeah, they should really fix that. Shalidor was also present during that time, as he challenged the Rourken exodus from Resdayn that happened as a result of Rourken's disagreement with the Chimer/Dwemer alliance of the First Council. Just an interesting tidbit.

More directly on topic, I agree with Dargor's interpretation that Draugr might be a general term Nords apply to all corpse-like human undead. Another interpretation might just be that the devs found it easier to just reuse the draugr assets than develop new assets for just a few locations.