According to Temple lore, Nerevar was made into a bonewalker when he died, and he is portrayed as such on all his shrines and stuff. As I understand necromancy, especially Temple religious necromancy, the subject's soul is directly bound to the reanimated corpse, and the only reason zombies appear "mindless" is because the process is usually so traumatic that it destroys the soul's sanity. So am I mistaken about how necromancy actually works, or is Nerevar being made into a bonewalker just Temple propaganda?

I know the lore on reincarnation and the "dreamsleeve" is sorta dodgy in and of itself, and it is entirely possible that the Nerevarine is not literally a reincarnation of Nerevar anyway.

Hmmm...

I thought that in necromancy, the soul completely leaves the body. The necromancer then replaces the soul (which is a form of magical energy) with his own magic that he can control. It would explain why you can still raise thralls after soul trapping them. So when you kill someone their body becomes an empty vessel which can be filled.

Nerevar's soul then would have been freed and able to enter another mortal form.

Where are you getting that Nerevar was made into a bonewalker?

The only place I can find any mention of this is "The Gospel of Saint Nerevar", which seems to be fan created for the Tamriel Rebuilt mod, not anything from actual lore.

edit;

Found the original posting from Kikrbride on the imperial library, but not anything about it actually being used in game/canonized into lore.

Honestly, I always thought of the Nerevarine as more of a "spiritual successor" than a literal reincarnation. That is to say, anyone who fulfills the First Trial is essentially eligible to be the Nerevarine, and it is that person's actions are what make him/her the Incarnate.

"...for it is the deeds of a man, not the words of a prophecy, that are to shape his destiny."

-Lloyd Alexander

(Then again, I formed that headcanon long before I ever learned the lore having to do with the Dreamsleeve. But I figured I'd put it out there anyway.)