Redguard:Cyrus' Father

Cyrus' Father
Location	Sentinel (only seen in The Origin of Cyrus!)
Race	Redguard
Gender	Male
Faction(s)	Crowns

Cyrus' father

Cyrus' father writing a play

Cyrus' father, despite being unnamed, is an important character in the background of the events of Redguard. He is the father of Cyrus and Iszara. Their mother is never seen or mentioned in any game materials. A famous Crown playwright known for his comedies, he lives and works in the Forebear city of Sentinel. He speaks Yoku to some extent and is knowledgeable about Redguard history.

In the game, he is only mentioned once, by Cyrus when talking to Tobias about Thassad II: "No. It's just... I mean, he was dying when I was still a young kid. We Redguards were only waiting for it to happen. My father kept his profession in one hand and a whetstone in the other." Otherwise, his main role is in The Origin of Cyrus!

He is always shown wearing a light gray shirt, brown pants, and a black belt with silver buckle.

History

Family and Comedy

Family dinner

During Cyrus' youth, his father wrote a successful comedy depicting High King Thassad II of Hammerfell, a Crown, as a buffoon with political and ancestral faults. However, the true purpose of the play was to have the Forebear audience cheer for the belittled and beloved Crown king, thereby looking foolish to those who understood the deeper meaning. Hakan, Iszara's future husband, played the lead role in this play.

After Iszara married and moved out to live at Hakan's estate across town in the merchant quarter, they came to visit for family dinners and for Hakan and Cyrus to practice sword fighting. Iszara and Hakan did not mention the growing unrest in Sentinel's Forebear underground to her father.

The comedy about the Crown High King (part 1)

The comedy about the Crown High King (part 2)

Crown Philosophy

Cyrus' father challenges his son's newfound Forebear sympathy

During Cyrus' adolescence, Hakan's mentorship led him to have second thoughts about his family's political affiliation. His father spoke to him of philosophy in remaining loyal to the Crowns despite the mounting pressure from Sentinel's Forebears. He explained that the Crowns are their family's ancestors, the king's faction, and that his plays have a double meaning in seemingly parodying the Crowns. He believes that the Forebears have a right to complain, but never a right to secede.

Cyrus' Father: "Where did you hear this?"

Cyrus' Father: "And why would you shame your ancestors so? We are Crowns, Cyrus, and the weight they speak of is the king, a noble burden to be sure."

Cyrus: "But you make fun of the king in everything you've written."

Cyrus' Father: "Son.

"My mockery of him is the mockery of the mockery of his enemies."

Cyrus: "So the Forebears are right in nothing?"

Cyrus' Father: "In complaint? Yes.

"In demand for rapprochement?

"In some cases.

"In secession? Never. It is not the way for us.

"And it will not be the way for you.

"And if the king is challenged we--I, you, your sister, others--shall rise alike as he to meet it--

"--for we are Crowns alike as he.

"Naha 'mei dogo Ra Gada lonhe trai, Sura."

Cyrus: "What..?"

The Yoku words Cyrus' father spoke to his son translate to "The Forebears know their place, Cyrus."

A Temporary Unity

The Ra Gada historical play

Hakan confronting Cyrus' father in a tavern, shortly before Cyrus kills Hakan in a duel

On the night of this exchange, Cyrus' father wrote an epic play about the Ra Gada (ancient Forebears) driving the Orcs from Hammerfell to make way for the royal family (ancient Crowns) three thousand years prior. This play, his shortest work, also became his most viewed. By showing the Forebears' ancestors as heroes and the king's royalty as a noble line worth fighting for, he managed to abate the tensions in Sentinel for a while. High King Thassad II and the Forebear spokesman, Baron Volag, signed a truce that put a temporary end to hostilities. For Iszara, the downside to her father's success was that Hakan could only see her from then on as "the devil's own daughter".

In a night of celebration at a local tavern attended by Cyrus, Iszara, their father, and many Crowns and Forebears, Hakan arrived drunk and angry. In Yoku, he called their father "Tukta-mab'ro" (Storyteller), "G'ye" (Fabricator), "No lo'igra" (Deceiver), and finally, "Liar". Iszara tried to intervene but Hakan slapped her. Coming to his sister's aid, Cyrus entered a duel with Hakan that led to Hakan's death.

Cyrus' father did not see his son again for at least ten years, and it is unknown if they ever reunited or if he lived through the events of Redguard.

Gallery

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  Cyrus' father challenging him about his sympathy for the Forebear cause

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  Cyrus' father speaking Yoku

Notes

• In Michael Kirkbride's unofficial follow-up story, Lord Vivec's Sword-Meeting With Cyrus the Restless, Cyrus' father is mentioned by Vivec as Cyrus lies helpless on the ground: "And I know of your late father, the playwright, and though some of its local color is lost on me, I am fond of his work. That is why I have let you live. I adore poetry, too." While this story portrays his father as dead, it is unclear when he died or how far in the future the story takes place.