Redguards , Their History and Their Heroes Content . " This is a publishers proof of the initial draft of my book , " REDGUARDS , THEIR HISTORY AND THEIR HEROES " . " " The following is a collection of the tales , myths and history of the Redguards . Much of their history is shrouded in mystery and in the mists of time . It is hard to distinguish between myths , and real history . " " Below are the first chapters of the draft by Destri Melarg " " Author ' s note as translated into the Modern Tongue of Hammerfell : " Frandar Hunding was born in 2356 in the old way of reckoning , in our beloved deserts of the old land . The traditional rule of emperors had been overthrown in 2012 , and although each successive emperor remained the figurehead of the empire , his powers were very much reduced . Since that time , our people saw 300 years of almost continuous civil war between the provincial lords , warrior monks and brigands , all fighting each other for land and power . Our people once were artisans , poets , and scholars , but the ever evolving strife made the way the sword inevitable - the song of the blade through the air , through flesh and bone , its ring against armor : an answer to our prayers . In the time of Lord Frandar the first Warrior Prince , lords called Yokeda built huge stone castles to protect themselves and their lands , and castle towns outside the walls begin to grow up . In 2245 , however , Mansel Sesnit came to the fore . He became the Elden Yokeda , or military dictator , and for eight years succeeded in gaining control of almost the whole empire . When Sesnit was assassinated in 2253 , a commoner took over the government . Randic Torn continued the work of unifying the Empire which Sesnit had begun , ruthlessly putting down any traces of insurrection . He revived the old gulf between the warriors - the sword singers - and the commoners by introducing restrictions on the wearing of swords . " Torn ' s Sword - hunt " , as it was known , meant that only the singers were allowed to wear swords , which distinguished them from the rest of the population . Although Torn did much to settle the empire into its pre - strife ways , by the time of his death in 2373 internal disturbances still had not been completely eliminated . Upon his death , civil war broke out in earnest ; war that made the prior 300 year turmoil pale in comparison . It was in this period that Frandar Hunding grew up . Hunding belonged to the sword - singers . This element of empire society grew from the desert artisans and was initially recruited from the young sons and daughters of the high families . They built the first temple to the unknown gods of War and build a training hall " The Hall of the Virtues of War " . Within a few generations the way of the sword - the song of the blade - had become their life . The people of the blade kept their poetry and artisanship in building beautiful swords woven with magic and powers from the unknown gods . The greatest among them became known as Ansei or " Saints of the Sword " . Each of these began their own training schools teaching their individual way of the sword . Those Ansei of the highest virtue wandered the country side engaging in battle , righting wrongs , and seeking to end the strife . To sum it up . Hunding , was a sword - singer , a master , no , a Master Ansei at a time when the peak of the strife was reborn out of the chaos of Torn ' s death . Many singers put up their swords and became artists , for the pull of the artisan heritage was strong ; but others , like Hunding pursued the ideal of the warrior searching for enlightenment through the perilous paths of the Sword . Duels of revenge and tests of skill were common place , and fencing schools multiplied . Frandar do Hunding Hel Ansei No Shira , or as he is commonly known Frandar Hunding , was born in the far desert marches in the province of High Desert . Hunding is the name of the High Desert region near where he was born . No Shira means noble person or person of noble birth and Hel Ansei is his title of Sword Sainthood . Hunding ' s ancestors reach back to the beginning of recorded time in the high desert and were artisans and mystics , his grandfather was a retainer of the Elden Yokeda , Mansel Sesnit , and led many of the battles of unification prior to Sesnit ' s assassination . When he was 14 , Hunding ' s father died in the one of the many insurrections , and he was left to support his mother and four brothers . His prowess with the sword however , made his life both difficult and easy . Easy in that his services came in great demand as a guardian and escort . Hard in that his reputation preceded him , and many awaited their turn to face him in battle and gain instant fame through his defeat . By the time Hunding was 30 he had fought and won more than 90 duels killing all his opponents . He became virtually invincible with the sword , gaining such skill and mastery that he finally stopped using the real swords , created through the artisanship of his people , and began using the Shehai or " way of the spirit sword " . All sword singers learn through their intense training and devotion to the gods of war and way of the sword , the forms of discipline that allow the creation of the spirit sword . This is a simple form of magic or mind mastery where by a image of a sword is formed from pure thought . The sword singer forms the sword by concentrating , and it takes shape in his hand - usually a pale thing of light , misty and insubstantial , a thing of beauty perhaps , a symbol of devotion to the Way and the gods , but no weapon . However , those Ansei of the highest level and sensitivity and those with talent in magic , can at times of stress , form a spirit sword , the Shehai which is far more than light and air - it is an unstoppable weapon of great might , a weapon which can never be taken from the owner without also taking his mind . The Shehai became Hunding ' s weapon , and with this he slew bands of brigands and wandering monsters than infested the land . Finally upon finishing his 90th duel , defeating the evil Lord Janic and his seven lich followers , he was satisfied that he was indeed invincible . Hunding then turned to formulating his philosophy of " the Way of the Sword " . He wrote his Learnings down in the BOOK OF CIRCLES while living as a hermit in a cave in the mountains of high desert in his sixtieth year . In that year Hunding having enlisted in the many battles of the empire , defeating all opponents , had thought himself ready for death and retired to his cave to capture his strategy and mystical visions to share with other Sword Singers . It was after his completion of the scroll of the Circle that the Singers found him composing his death poem and preparing to join the gods of war in final rest . At sixty he was a vigorous man , who thought himself through with life , but his people , the sword - singers needed him . They needed him as never before . Torn ' s Sword Hunt , had separated the Singers from the common people , and the rise of the Last Emperor began the last great strife of the desert empire . The Emperor and his consort Elisa ' s final effort to wrest control of the empire from the people by destroying the sword - singers . Hira vowed to search out every Singer with his Brigand army composed of Orcs and castoffs of the wars of the empire , and to scourge them from the face of the planet . The Sword Singers were never a numerous people . The harsh desert kept the births few , and growing up in the unforgiving wastes eliminated all but those of iron spirit and will . Thus the final strife which became knows as the " War of the Singers " found the people of the sword unprepared and unready to join together their individually great skills into an army that could defend their homes and lives . Frandar Hunding was sought out , his death poem interrupted , and unceremoniously command of the singers was thrust upon him . To the unknown gods of war great thanks is owed that Hunding had the time in his cave to write down his years of accumulated wisdom , of strategy , of the way of the Shehai . The singers fled from their camps up into the desert hills and mountains . Fled to the foot of Hattu " the father of Mountains " where Hunding had gone to write in peace and to die , and there these remnants formed into the Army of the Circle - they learned Hunding ' s Way , his strategies his tactics , and the final great vision for a master stroke . Hunding devised a plan of seven battles leading the Armies of Hira further and further into the wilderness to the foot of Hattu , where the final battle could be fought . Hunding called his plan the " Hammer and the Anvil " . With each battle Hunding ' s Singers would further learn his strategies and tactics , grow strong in the use of the Shehai , and be ready to defeat their opponents in the seventh battle . And thus it was , the six first battles were waged , each neither victory or defeat , each leading to the next . The larger armies of Hira following the small army of Hunding . Outnumbered thirty to one , the singers never faltered from the Way . The stage was set , Hira and his Army maneuvered to the base of Hattu Mountain , where the hammer blow was delivered . The battle was pitched , and many singers fell that day . Hunding knew , that the singers who lived would be few , but Hira and his empire of evil would not live and so it went . At the end Hunding and less that twenty thousand Singers survived the day , but no army of evil was left to pillage and murder , more than three hundred thousand fell that day on Hattu . Of those who were left to run and live , all were scattered to the four winds , and organized force no more . The singers packed their lives , folded their tents , mourned their dead , and followed Hunding to the great port city of Arch , in the province of Seawind . There Hunding had a flotilla of ships waiting . The Singers left their desert for a new land . No longer welcome in the desert empire , they left to be sung about and spoken of in legend . The final great warrior , the singers of Shehai , the Book of Circles , all leaving that land where their virtue was unappreciated . Red , red with blood they were in the eyes of the gentle citizenry , never mind that they had saved them from a great evil . The singers vowed to learn new ways as they traveled across the great ocean to their new land . To adopt a new name , but to honor the past . In honor of their final battle , they named their new land Hammerfell and adopted the name Redguards . In honor to Hunding the great warrior prince , each household in Hammerfell has a place by the hearth an alcove really , just a niche , big enough to hold the scroll - The Book of Circles .