Songs of the Return , Vol 7 Series . This book is part of the " Songs of the Return " series . Content . When at last the rightful claim of Saarthal had been retaken , driving the murderous elves back to their lofty cities , did great Ysgramor turn and let loose the fearsome war cry that echoed across all the oceans . The Five Hundred who yet stood joined in the ovation for the victory and the lament for their fallen peers . It was said to be heard on the distant and chilling green shores of Atmora and the ancestors knew their time had come to cross the seas . As the reverberations echoed out and drowned to silence , all looked to Ysgramor , who bore the blessed Wuuthrad , for his next commandment . With his lungs that bellow forth the fury of humanity , he bade them to continue their march , that the devious Mer might know the terror they had brought on themselves with their trickery . " Go forth , " he roared . " Into the belly of this new land . Drive the wretched from their palaces of idleness . " Oblige them to squalor and foil , that they would see their betrayals as the all - sin against our kind . Give no quarter . Show no kindness . For they would not give nor show you the same . " ( Our great forebear gave this order as he did not yet understand the prophecy of the Twin Snakes , that he would be fated to die before seeing the true destiny of his line . ) Hearing this , the Circle of Captains gathered each their crews unto themselves . From here , they decreed , we will go forth . Let each ship ' s band make its own way , seeking their fates to the open sun . A night spent in feasting , the Oath of the Companions was sworn anew , with each of the Five Hundred ( so they still names their count , in honor of the shields that were broken at Saarthal ) swearing to act as Shield - brother and Shield - sister to any of the Atmora n line were their fates to ever again entwine . As the red hands of dawn stretched from the east , so broke the Five Hundred Companions of Ysgramor , setting about their journeys , sailing now across the land with waves of stone and crests of trees flowing under their footed hulls . The first to break from the grounded fleet was the crew of the Jorrvaskr , who had been formed of Ysgramor ' s closest friends . Their captain was known as Jeek of the River , so called by the harbinger himself from their youths passed in glory . When assembling their glistening hull , he sought out the labors of Menro and Manwe , who now bore the native timbers across this new land of Tamriel . Among their fiercest were Tysnal ( Who Was Twice - Named ) , and Terr , his twin and Shield - Brother whose girth was never spoken of to his face . There were others , too , in their band - - Meksim the Walker , Brunl ( Who Fought with his Off - Hand ) , and Vust the Smiler . Those and others were sworn to Jeek , and they pushed forth into the shadows where yet the sun had not reached . Southwards they went , by beast and by foot . Elves they found , though none remain to tell what those battles entailed . The numbers of the Jorrvaskr never faltered , so shrewd were they in battle , with minds as sharp as their blade . Once , as the sun beat from its high - home , Jonder the Tiny , the one who ran ahead , came over the hill to tell what was seen . Amidst a vast plain his eyes had met a monument of a bird , whose eyes and beak were opened in flame . When his brothers and sisters crested the hill , they too saw its glory , but they were afraid for no elven settlement could be seen to the horizon . " But this is not seemly , " said Kluwe , who went by Loate when hiding his face . " Is not this wide land fit for harvest ? Why have not the elves , vile to their cote , seen to exploit and tame it ? " They asked of their elven captives ( for they had many ) what they found unfit about these plains . Yet even the captives who still bore their tongues could say nothing of the valley . They looked with fear at the winged colossus , and from their babblings did the warriors of the Jorrvaskr learn that it was older than even the elves themselves . Of those who wrought it solid from its mother - stone , nothing could be said , but it was known to drive a magic almost as old as the Nirn itself , some remnant of the god ' s efforts to render a paradise in Mundus before the shattering of Lorkhan . This first of many , this crew of the Jorrvaskr , heathens and ancestors to us all , feared no stories or gods . Indeed , if there was something the elves feared , they would have it for their own . Thus began the labors , once more , of Menro and Manwe , whose eager hands again laid to the Atmoran wood which had born them all across the sea , and what was their ship became their shelter as this valley became their purview until the end of all their days . Thus began the building of the Great City , circled by the running of the White River , as brought forth by these beloved of Ysgramor , yet but twenty - two of the glamorous Five Hundred Companions .