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Race Redguard Gender Male
Born 2E 831
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..."[1]

Cyrus the Redguard (also known as Sura[2] or Sura-do-Hega[UOL 1] in Yoku) was a hero of the late Second Era.

Cyrus was born in the city of Sentinel in 2E 831[3] (or 2E 834 according to some sources[4]). 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 Wars in 2E 852, amidst the threat of civil war between Crowns and Forebears, Iszara was wed to a Forebear actor named Hakan.[5]

Hakan's political views influenced the young Cyrus, who then eventually confronted his father over his loyalty to the King. 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. He then fled Sentinel, joining on with Tobias' crew.[5]

For the next few years, Cyrus worked as a mercenary and assassin in the employ of S'rathra, traveling all across Tamriel. It was during that time that he helped liberate a Dunmer slaver camp near Tear. After the Raid on Tear, he parted ways with Tobias, doing jobs for S'rathra alone. This work continued until 2E 864, when 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. He departed High Rock and the mercenary life, never to return.[5]

Upon arriving on the island, Cyrus delivered an amulet to Lord Richton from the Sload necromancer N'Gasta in order to find out about Iszara's whereabouts. Richton then promptly had him arrested as a rebel and thrown in the palace's catacombs. After fighting his way out, Cyrus learned that a rebel organization named the Restless League was attempting to overthrow Imperial occupation of the island. He made contact with the rebels, and discovered that Iszara had been working with them up until her disappearance. Following a series of clues, Cyrus eventually learned that Iszara had been taken prisoner by N'Gasta, who sold her soul to Clavicus Vile. 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.[6]

During his time on the island, Cyrus also defeated an ogre in the goblin caverns, retrieved an ancient gear from the Dwarven ruins to fix the island's observatory, and helped the Yokudans on the island get past N'Gasta's soul snare. After learning that the body of the late Prince A'tor was secretly being kept in stasis by the League, Cyrus returned to the palace catacombs and killed the dragon Nafaalilargus to recover the amulet he had originally delivered, which turned out to be the soul gem holding the Prince's soul. The League then 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.[6] 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.[6]

Very little is known of Cyrus' later life, although he had ambitions of searching for the Eye of Argonia in Black Marsh.[7] Some say he sailed west, to lands uncharted. Still, others claim 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.[8] The truth of the matter is unknown; by 3E 39, Dead Man's Dread was captained by an unnamed 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 Dead Man's Dread sailed into a subterranean pirates den on Blackbone Isle to winter there after their captain died in 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.[9] 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.[10]


  • Varieties of Faith in the Empire states that the HoonDing materialized during the Tiber Wars, when it was said to have incarnated as "either a sword or a crown, or both".[11] 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.
  • Cyrus' reputation continued to live on in the form of an old sea shanty.[1]
  • Cyrus' height was known to be approximately 1.85 meters and his weight was 80 kilograms.[12]



  1. ^ a b First Mate Malvulis' dialogue
  2. ^ Saban's dialogue in Redguard
  3. ^ Cyrus' biography on Redguard's official website
  4. ^ Elderscrolls.com Timeline
  5. ^ a b c The Origin of Cyrus!Michael Kirkbride
  6. ^ a b c Events of Redguard
  7. ^ Tobias' dialogue
  8. ^ The Restless — Unknown
  9. ^ Captain's Journal
  10. ^ Dead Man's Dread Creation for Skyrim Special Edition
  11. ^ Varieties of Faith...Brother Mikhael Karkuxor of the Imperial College
  12. ^ Wanted Poster in Redguard


  1. ^ Tiber Septim’s Sword-Meeting with Cyrus the Restless