Easter egg?

[Shahariel]

Hello everyone!

I was wondering for some time now if Jurgen Windcaller and his horn are an easter egg as well - being the Skyrim version of the "Trumpeter of Eckernförde", a certain Jürgen Hansen, born 26. of December in 1825 in Kellinghusen and died there on the 6th of March 1899. That man joined the Schleswig-Holstein army in 1848 in the Liberation War from the Danes. On the 5th of April in 1849 (Maundy Tuesday) the Danish Fleet tried to land in the harbour of Eckernförde. At that time, Jürgen Hansen was a non-commissioned officer and trumpeter at that time, stationed at the Northern Redoubt of the harbour, equipped with 6 cannons. They had the flagship of the Danish marine against them, the liner "Christian VIII.", equipped with 84 cannons and pulled into the harbour by the "Gefion". Jürgen Hansen was amongst the first to be wounded ( hit in his buttocks (no joke!) and his calf.

During the rage of battle, the Schleswig-Holstein defenders were on the verge of giving up - and the Jürgen Hansen stood up, ignoring his wounds, and played "Schleswig-Holstein meerumschlungen" ("Schleswig-Holstein, embraced by the sea", original title "Don't falter, my fatherland"), the unofficial national anthem of said northern German state.

Rallied by this song, written only 5 years before, the German troops attacked with fresh courage, and managed to shoot the "Christian VIII." in flames, resulting in the captain hissing the white flag. Sadly, the fire reached the liner's powder magazine and destroyed the danish flag ship - the "Gefion" was captured and renamed into "Eckernförde".

Those who want to check the story, try http://www.alfakom.se/specks/trompeter.htm - sadly only in German

If this would really be an easter egg, that would be SO awesome, for I happen to be the great granddaughter of Jürgen Hansen!

Edited December 12, 2020 by Shahariel

[saurusmaximus]

I've never encountered anything that says who or what the inspiration for Jurgen Windcaller actually was, but there are plenty of parallels between him and Jurgen Hansen (who I had never heard of before today, so thank you) and your theory does work nicely. Maybe try posting your question on one of the lore forums like r/teslore on Reddit or the Bethsoft forums, where there are a lot more lore nerds than here.

[IsharaMeradin]

Here is another potential connection for you. A quote from an in-game book called Provinces of Tamriel:

 

Skyrim, also known as the Old Kingdom or the Fatherland, was the first region of Tamriel settled by humans from the continent of Atmora: the hardy, brave, warlike Nords, whose descendants still occupy this rugged land.

See how Skyrim is also known as the Fatherland. Ties in with the song that Jurgen Hansen played.

[Moksha8088]

A good ingame history of the arrival of the Atmorans into Skyrim is given by Queen Iorel of Atmora in the Labyrinthian tombs. This is part of Interesting NPCs.

[Algabar]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Shahariel! I used to live in Kiel for years. The small harbour town of Eckernförde isn't far away from there. I've often been there. So I was glad to hear that story, which I honestly didn't know before...

 

Another fact that may support your easter egg theory (or at least shed some light on the name "Jurgen Windcaller"): "Jurgen" or the nowadays in Germany much more common form "Jürgen" comes from Frisian and some other languages/dialects spoken in the northern part of Germany and southern Denmark. The name is in fact a version of "George". Now most of us know St. George, the patron saint of England. Guess what he was - a famous dragon killer...