A ' Tor A ' Tor was a Redguard who was the son of the last High King of Hammerfell , King Thassad II . Following his father ' s death , he led the Crowns against Baron Volag in the Hammerfell Civil War , but was mortally wounded during the Battle of Hunding Bay . History . During Tiber Septim ' s conquest of Tamriel , he invaded the homeland of the Redguards , Hammerfell . A ' Tor , along with his father , initially bravely resisted Tiber ' s military advances . With Thassad ' s death ; however , the Crowns and the Forebears split over the issue of independence from the Septim Empire . Under A ' Tor , the Crowns took a strong stance against joining with Cyrodiil and favored continued independence . Their rivals , the Forebears ; however , wanted to gain the economic and military benefits associated with joining the Empire . Thus a civil war broke out . A ' Tor , as King Thassad ' s heir , led the Crown war effort against the Forebears . Using tactics learned from his father and his generals , A ' Tor was wildly successful in driving back the Forebears , defeating their leader Baron Volag on numerous occasions . The young prince ' s military successes ; however , also brought his downfall . The Forebears , fearing defeat , invited Tiber Septim to lead his Imperial Legion s in to stop the Crown advance . Heavily outnumbered and outsupplied , A ' Tor ' s tactics no longer proved effective and his forces were driven back to the main Crown base on the island of Stros M ' kai . In the ensuing battle , A ' Tor and the majority of his warriors were defeated by the Imperial Legion under Admiral Amiel Richton . A ' Tor was killed by a poisoned arrow of the assassin Dram . A ' Tor ' s soul was then put into a soul gem . This soul gem was fashioned into an amulet and came into N ' Gasta ' s possession . Cyrus took a job offer to deliver the amulet from N ' Gasta to Amiel Richton in exchange for information about his sister , Iszara . When returning the amulet , Richton denied knowing any info on Iszara prompting Cyrus to threaten him , resulting in his imprisonment . The soul gem was then put in the treasure vaults and put under guard by the dragon Nafaalilargus . Cyrus escaped and managed to find his sister . He then learnt that the amulet was actually a soul gem and set out to retrieve it . He killed Nafaalilargus and took the soul gem from the vaults . A ' Tor ' s body , however , was saved by his battlemages and the priests of Arkay , where it was being kept in the Temple of Arkay . Saban then took the soul gem and used a spell to attempt to resurrect Prince A ' Tor ' s body with it . The spell worked , put the prince instead chose to have his soul enchant his sword . This sword became known as the Soul Sword and contained Prince A ' Tor ' s mind and spirit . The sword could think and move on its own and guided Cyrus to his former palace . Cyrus used the sword in combat against the guards , Dram , and Amiel Richton . After defeated Richton , Cyrus was tricked and forced to drop the soul sword . The soul sword then flew up and stabbed Richton and Dram . Following the defeat of the Empire on the island , the soul sword then became possession of Iszara and later a symbol of the Crowns and Restless League .