The Return The Return is a term used for a period of time in late Merethic Era . It is the time Men returned to Tamriel to settle there permanently . Pre - Return events . Up until the late Merethic Era , the elves had lived in peace with the Atmoran settlers of Skyrim . When they saw that humankind was growing at an exponential rate , given a human ' s faster reproductive period , the elves started a genocidal campaign against them . The night the elven genocide began became known as the Night of Tears . Almost the entire human population of Skyrim was wiped out . Only three people were purported to have survived the attack on the capital city of Saarthal . They were Ysgramor and his two sons , Yngol and Ylgar . They escaped Skyrim on the last longboat back to their homeland , Atmora . Upon arriving to Atmora , Ysgramor told stories of treacherous elves and of gathering an army to come back and avenge the lost souls . Return of the men . On the day known as Day of Final Passage Ysgramor and his army , the Five Hundred Companions , left the port of Jylkurfyk on the continent of Atmora , to sail back to Mereth and take back what was rightfully theirs . During their voyage to Mereth , The Five Hundred got caught in the Storm of Separation . As a result , the legendary Ysgramor lost his eldest son , Yngol . Yngol Barrow was made as a proper burial place for an Atmoran warrior . Shortly after the Five Hundred arrived at Hsaarik Head , Saarthal was taken back from elven kind . The first goal of the Five Hundred was fulfilled and the next was yet to plan . The Circle of Captains was assembled and it was decided that every captain and his crew should go their own ways . Thus began a period of genocidal slaughter of elves . The first notable event to be recorded was the founding of Whiterun . The crew of the Jorrvaskr under command of Jeek of the River scouted the area later named Whiterun Hold . They found a mysterious monument that was feared by local elves and decided to put it to proper use . The lands in this valley were suitable for harvest as well . The crew settled there not knowing that they had started a settlement that would later grow into a great city that still stood in Fourth Era . The second notable event to be recorded was the founding of Windhelm . The crews of the Kaal Kaaz , Sadon Reyth and Ylgermet , under command of Harbinger Ysgramor himself , fought elves in the area later named Eastmarch . Ysgramor stumbled upon his son ' s grave and in his grief decided to build a great city where the nearby river , White River , met the Sea of Ghosts . The city was to serve as a monument of all mankind . It was built by elven captives in Atmorian fashion . A long bridge was built as the only entrance to the city , so that no elf could sneak in unnoticed to avenge his own kin . As well as Whiterun , Windhelm still stood in the Fourth Era as one of the biggest cities in Skyrim . End of the Return . The period along with the great expansion of mankind and a merciless reprisal campaign against the elves ended with the death of Ysgramor . News of his death spread like a dark cloud all over Tamriel , and most of the warriors put down their weapons in grief never to pick them up again . Ysgramor chose to be buried at sea , looking in the direction of his true homeland , Atmora . But even after death of the great Harbinger , his castle served High Kings for many generations after . However , by the end of the Return , Man had already gained a permanent standing in Skyrim . Snow Elves had been banished underground , to emerge only thousands of years later as the beasts known as Falmer . Tamriel soon became the only home for men , as Atmora had froze beyond recognition and had ceased to be a haven of settlement and survivability .