Lore:Cyrus

Cyrus
Cyrus wielding his sabre
Race	Redguard	Gender	Male
Born		2E 831 Sentinel
Resided in		Stros M'Kai
Appears in		Redguard

"There once was a hardy young lad of the sea... A Redguard of courage and honor was he... Sail on, my Cyrus, sail on..." —Third Era sea shanty

Cyrus the Redguard, also known as Cyrus the Restless, and Sura or Sura-do-Hega in Yoku, (b. 2E 831) was a hero best known for leading the Stros M'Kai Uprising in 2E 864. Having spent the early years of his career under the wing of the Cyro-Nordic pirate captain Tobias, Cyrus traveled to the island of Stros M'Kai in search of his missing sister, Iszara, ending up leading his fellow Redguards in a rebellion against the Empire alongside her.

History

Early Life

Cyrus as a child

Cyrus was born in the city of Sentinel in 2E 831 (or 2E 834 or 2E 839 according to some sources). His father was a loyal Crown and a famous comedic playwright, and he had an older sister named Iszara. As a boy, Cyrus worked on the Sentinel docks and longed to become a pirate. It was here that he met the half-Nord pirate captain Tobias. At the onset of the Tiber War in 2E 852, amidst the threat of civil war between Crowns and Forebears, Iszara married a Forebear actor named Hakan.

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  Speaking with Captain Tobias

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  Iszara leads Cyrus away from the Sentinel docks

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  A teenage Cyrus working at the docks

Hakan

Cyrus kills Hakan, an act that changes his life forever

Hakan's political views influenced Cyrus as they trained in the art of sword fighting. Eventually, Cyrus confronted his father over their family's loyalty to High King Thassad II. Seeking to put an end to the conflict, Cyrus' father wrote a noble play about the shared history of the Ra Gada and the Na-Totambu, the predecessors of Hammerfell's two political factions. The play was a huge success and managed to abate the civil war for several years. Hakan, however, was furious at his father-in-law for causing his Forebear militia to disband. During a night of celebration, Hakan drunkenly confronted him, and struck Iszara when she tried to intervene. Cyrus came to his sister's defense and dueled Hakan to the death. Unable to face his family, he fled Sentinel to join Tobias' crew.

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  Cyrus has dinner with his family

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  Hakan as Cyrus' mentor

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  Cyrus and Hakan duel

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  Hakan lies dead

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  Cyrus flees, and Tobias takes him in as a member of his mercenary crew

Mercenary Work

Cyrus and Tobias as mercenaries

For the next few years, Cyrus worked as a mercenary and assassin in the employ of the Khajiit crime boss S'rathra, traveling all across Tamriel, including Skyrim, High Rock, Argonia, and Morrowind. It was during that time that S'rathra tasked the crew with liberating his kinsmen from a Dunmer slaver camp near Tear. After the Raid on Tear, Cyrus parted ways with Tobias, doing jobs for S'rathra alone. This work continued until 2E 864, with the last job being a contract to help the half-Akaviri mercenary lord Duadeen. As the men were preparing to leave, he received a letter from Tobias stating that his sister had apparently gone missing on the island of Stros M'Kai following the Battle of Hunding Bay. S'rathra provided coin from Duadeen's retainer to pay for passage, but Duadeen stopped him, wanting an explanation of his sudden departure. Cyrus killed one of Duadeen's men to prove his point. He then left High Rock and the mercenary life behind, never to return.

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  Cyrus and S'rathra

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  Mercenary work in Skyrim

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  Mercenary work in Argonia

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  With Tobias as they approach Tear

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  Freeing S'rathra's kinsmen

Stros M'Kai

Cyrus receives a letter from Tobias saying that Iszara is missing

Cyrus defeats Lord Richton

On his way to Stros M'Kai, Cyrus fought off a shipping raid by a group of pirates known as the Restless League. Upon arriving on the island, he hoped to find out about Iszara's whereabouts through an audience with the provincial governor, Amiel Richton. He took a job to deliver an amulet from the Sload necromancer N'Gasta to the governor. Meeting with Richton, Cyrus learned that Iszara was affiliated with the Restless League. He threatened to cause trouble if Richton did not explain everything, prompting the governor to have him imprisoned in the palace's catacombs for questioning.

Cyrus found out how to signal a League ship from a dying prisoner in his cell, then escaped the catacombs. He made contact with the rebels at Saintsport and met their leader, Basil, at the League's hideout. It became clear that Iszara had been working with them up until her disappearance. Following a series of clues, Cyrus discovered that Iszara had gone to N'Gasta hoping to free Prince A'tor's from a soul gem. However, N'Gasta tricked her into selling her soul to Clavicus Vile, and he kept the soul gem to gain favor with Lord Richton, passing it off as the "amulet" Cyrus had delivered. Using the Flask of Lillandril, Cyrus defeated N'Gasta and rescued his sister's soul from the Fields of Regret, Vile's realm of Oblivion.

During his time on the island, Cyrus also found Archmage Voa's ring in the goblin caverns, defeating many goblins and a large ogre along the way. He also defeated a Dwarven mechanical giant and retrieved an ancient gear from the Dwarven ruins of Bthzark to repair the island's observatory. Using the observatory's orrery, he helped the Yokudan witchmother Saban complete a burial ritual to save her dead son from N'Gasta's soul snare.

Iszara, Cyrus, and the Restless League formed a plan to recover A'tor's soul gem, now being guarded in the palace catacombs. There, Cyrus killed the dragon Nafaalilargus, who Richton had ordered to guard the gem. With the soul gem, Voa's ring, and Saban's magic, the League forces covertly entered the Temple of Arkay in Stros M'Kai, where A'tor's body was held in stasis. Saban attempted to resurrect A'tor, but instead his soul fused with his sword, creating a powerful artifact known as the Soul Sword. Cyrus rallied the disheartened rebels by taking up the sword and leading an attack on the palace. He killed Richton and the assassin Dram as they tried to escape aboard an airship. With the death of the island's provisional governor, the rebels were able to negotiate a peace treaty more favorable to Hammerfell, although it remained a part of the Third Empire.

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  Just off the boat in Stros M'Kai

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  In the palace catacombs

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  Exploring the goblin caverns

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  Fighting the Dwarven mechanical giant (Redguard concept art)

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  Defeating the giant (Redguard concept art)

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  Cyrus fighting Dram (Redguard concept art)

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  Reuniting with Iszara

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  Facing Nafaalilargus

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  Cyrus wielding the Soul Sword

Later Life

Older Cyrus the Restless

Cyrus' Sabre onboard Dead Man's Dread

Cyrus' later life can only be guessed at from an assortment of legends. He shared a competitive ambition with Tobias of being the first to find the Eye of Argonia in Black Marsh, a feat he may have accomplished with his own crew. Some say he sailed west, to lands uncharted. A tale of him facing Vivec in Yokuda supports this idea. Further adventures of dubious authenticity involve Molag Bal in Coldharbour and Tiber Septim on Masser.

Claims of unknown origin suggest that he took command of the legendary ship Dead Man's Dread and sailed north to the Sea of Ghosts, drawn there by the stories of Tobias, where he amassed a great fortune and lived out the rest of his days on calm waters. By 3E 39, the Dead Man's Dread was captained by an unknown individual who had come into possession of several relics once belonging to Cyrus, including his sabre and clothing. On the 2nd of Frostfall 3E 39, the crew of the Dead Man's Dread sailed into a subterranean pirates den on Blackbone Isle to winter there after their captain died under mysterious circumstances. The ship and crew became trapped underground after the entrance to the grotto collapsed that night. It transpired that both the captain's death and the tunnel's collapse were the work of a Forebear named K'avir, who had orchestrated the death of the entire crew due to their allegiance to the Crowns. Realizing their dire circumstances, the crewmembers decided to commit suicide rather than face starvation. They each prayed to Arkay to bind their souls to the ship, in order to honor their captain's dying wish and protect the relics of Cyrus in undeath. In 4E 201, the Last Dragonborn sailed to Blackbone Isle chasing rumors of Cyrus' lost treasure and cleansed the island of undead, claiming both the relics and the ship in the process. The Dragonborn later received a note containing a word of advice from a pirate who only identified themselves as "a restless soul".

Gallery

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  Young Cyrus

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  Redguard artwork

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  Depiction of Cyrus

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  Cyrus, up close (Redguard concept art)

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  Cyrus with his sabre drawn (Redguard concept art)

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  Cyrus fighting a group of skeletons (Redguard concept art)

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  Cyrus fighting a she-demon (Redguard concept art)

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  Cyrus braving a snowy peak (Redguard concept art)

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  Redguard loading screen

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  Cyrus, transformed into a gremlin (note the red vest)

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  A wanted poster of Cyrus

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  Barbas imitating Cyrus' face

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  Cyrus' Sabre (Skyrim)

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  Cyrus surrounded by other major Redguard characters (Redguard 25th anniversary artwork)

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  Cyrus portrait from Bethesda's 2024 Black History Month post

Notes

• Varieties of Faith in the Empire states that the HoonDing materialized during the Tiber War, when it was said to have incarnated as "either a sword or a crown, or both". The sword is presumably a reference to the Soul Sword, while the crown likely refers to Cyrus himself, who comes from a family of Crowns. It can therefore be surmised that Cyrus became the Make Way God when he wielded the Soul Sword during the rebellion on Stros M'Kai. This would match the description of the HoonDing, said to be a Yokudan spirit of "perseverance over infidels", as the actions of Cyrus and the Soul Sword led directly to the signing of the First Treaty of Stros M'Kai, allowing the Redguards to continue to rule themselves as a province of the Empire.
  • Furthermore, developer commentary has stated that Cyrus was more than just a Redguard, which is one of the reasons why he was able to slay the legendary dragon Nafaalilargus.
• Cyrus' reputation continued to live on in the form of an old sea shanty.
• Cyrus' height was known to be approximately 1.85 meters and his weight was 80 kilograms.

See Also

• For game-specific information, see the Redguard article.

References

Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.