The Fall of the Usurper Content . The people of Dwynnen celebrate Othroktide every 5th of Suns Dawn , the date when , according to legend , a man emerged from the wilderness of High Rock and defeated the undead of Castle Wightmoor to become the first Baron of Dwynnen . Few people believe the legend anymore , but there most certainly was a Baron Othrok of Dwynnen who was destined to become one of true heroes of High Rock , if not all Tamriel . The legend , as most any Dwynnen child will tell you , is that years and years ago ( archivists have agreed to the year 3E 253 ) , the people of Dwynnen were ruled by a lich and its armies of zombies , ghosts , vampires , and skeleton s . Othrok was blessed with by gods and given an army of men and animals to destroy the dead . He brought peace and prosperity to the land , growing more powerful as the land improved . Years later , he led the tiny barony against the Camoran Usurper , and saved all of Tamriel . How much credit the Baron ought to receive for the defeat of the Camoran Usurper has been debated , but it is an uncontestable fact that in the year 3E 267 , the Camoran Usurper ' s relentless move north through High Rock was halted around the area of contemporary Dwynnen . Dwynnen is actually larger than it was in the first Baron ' s day - - it did not , in fact , have a sea port - - but the Battle of Firewaves was a coastal battle . The fact that the battle probably did not occur in Dwynnen does not in itself belittle the Baron ' s participation in it . The Camoran Usurper had conquered Hammerfell and Valenwood by means of a large army , which by legend consisted entirely of undead and daedra , but was mostly composed of Redguards and Wood Elves . In all probability , the Usurper summoned the daedra and undead in Arenthia and slowly replaced the original summoned creatures with the armies of his conquered territories . Most armies of Valenwood have been historically mercenary . Word of the Usurper ' s conquests reached High Rock in early 266 , but preparations to repel the invasion did not begin until early the following year . Historians attribute two factors to High Rock ' s hesistancy . The primary powers of the Bay were ruled by particularly inept monarchs - - Wayrest and Sentinel both had kings in their minority , and Daggerfall was torn by contention between Helena and her cousin Jilathe . The Lord of Reich Gradkeep ( now Anticlere ) was deathly ill through 266 and finally died at the end of the year . There were , in short , no leaders to unite the province against the Usurper . Of the leaders with any influence , at least eight ( the " Eight Traitors " of legend ) made secret allegiances with the Usurper to protect their lands . The secondary reason for the lethargy of High Rock had to do with the depth of relations between the province and the Septim Empire . For the first time since the beginning of the Dynasty , an Emperor ruled Tamriel who was neither Breton nor had spent any of his childhood in High Rock . The difference between Cephorus II and his cousin Uriel IV who preceded him was appalling to the people of High Rock . Even mad Emperors like Pelagius Septim III revered the Bretons over all other races , and cousins and younger siblings of the Emperors have ruled in High Rock since the foundation of the Empire . Cephorus was a Nord , with Skyrim and Morrowind sympathies . The attitude of the common men of High Rock was sympathetic toward the Camoran Usurper as an archfoe of this hated Emperor . The Baron and his less legendary allies , the rulers of Ykalon , Phrygia , and Kambria , changed this favorable perception . News of the Usurper ' s barbaric treatment of captives and abuse of conquered lands , mostly true , spread rapidly through their territories , and then to other neutral lands . Within a few months , the greatest navy ever combined organized along the High Rock edge of the Iliac Bay . Only the navy of Uriel V ' s ill - fated invasion of Akavir was comparable . How the combined forces of High Rock defeated the endless army of the Camoran Usurper is certainly worthy of a lengthy book in itself . And perhaps , it is best left to the public imagination . Certainly the weather worked against the Usurper , which is reason in itself to attribute divine intervention . Baron Othrok ' s divine purpose is the central theme to Othroktide , after all . And as the poet Braeloque wrote , " To find the facts , the wisest always look first to the fiction . "