I always thought she was a good and gracious god. So why would people like Nelacar call her evil?

She doesn't seem go out of her way to hurt people. Unless they really p*ss her off.

I don't know everything about Azura, and am not an expert. But she doesn't seem the type to mass murder people, not like Mehrunes Dagon or Molag Bal.

If anything I see that she's a justice type. I could be wrong.

She cursed an entire race for the actions of three individuals and she created a prophesy that led to the utter destruction of Vvardenfell because she felt slighted by those three individuals.

In this http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1471920-daedric-prince-you-despise-most/, she ranks as the fourth most despised deadric lord, only Molag Ball, Namira and Mehrunes Dagon are despised more (and she's only four votes behind Mehrunes Dagon). The thread contains some good discussion of why many people do not like Azura.

I never considered what Azura did as a 'curse'. In my opinion she gave them their own identity. Before Azura's intervention, they were just a different sect of Altmer. Exactly like the Orcs, the Orcs were Altmer before their transformation. I mean gameplay wise how boring would it be to have two different sets of Altmer, one who worships the Aedra and the other the Daedra? They both have the same physical and racial characteristics only different ideology. Also one must remember that the Dunmer don't look at it as a curse, they look at it as a blessing. During Morrowind's time period they believed they were the cream of the crop.

That's why she only got 10 votes in the "most despised" poll and Mehrunes Dagon got 14. There are different ways to interpret Azura's actions.

Some say that the "curse" was just giving the Dunmer an identity, but the fact remains that she did it out of spite, not benevalence.

Some say the destruction of Vvardenfell and all the death that occurred when that happend was a necessary consequence of ridding the world of Dagoth Ur. I am no so convinced that there was not another way.

Then there are her actions in Oblivion, where some of her followers contracted the vampire disease when fighting an evil vampire. For their trouble they are locked in a cave for years and then instead of trying to cure them, Azura just has the Champion of Cyrodiil go in and slaughter them all.

She is not a black and white character, which I find compelling. I consider her evil but the question of just how evil she is may be open to some debate.

Sorry for double post. But to answer the OP's question. Nelecar like all Altmer consider Daedra to be evil and untrustworthy. That was the whole reason for the schism between Altmer and Chimer in the first place. You are right imo, she comes off as more benevolent that Mehrunes and Molag Bal. The reason why she 'cursed' the Dunmer was because the Tribunal broke their word and murdered her champion (Indoril Nerevar).

It cannot be proved that the Almsivi murdered Indoril Nerevar. As the UESP states: "http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Nerevar"

The reason she cursed the Dunmer is because the Almsivi broke oaths with her and became gods themselves and Azura just could not stand it that they were no longer worshipping and adoring her.

I agree with your last statement, after all she is a god and loves all the attention of her followers. As for Nerevar's murder. My lore knowledge is not as good as it used to be, but Vivec stated during his trial that he murdered Nerevar when he was mortal. He said "I did not kill Nerevar, Vehk did."

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/trial-vivec

Again I'm going by old lore that I remember.

Edit: Here's the exact quote from Vivec himelf:

I see her as both good and evil (which might make sense as she is the lord of dawn and dusk - which are inbetween states). I'm no expert on her though.

And for the cursing of the Dunmer for what 3 people did, yes, that is a little extreme

I did a combined Morrowind/Skyrim playthrough in which the main character remembered parts of his past, and in that playthrough, the betrayal of Nerevar was not the action of 3 people only, but had support from the upper tiers of Chimer society. Nerevar had been picked as hortator in the war against the Nords, and as Almalexia's husband, because he was a simple-minded soldier type whom they thought could inspire the masses and do heroic things while leaving politics to his betters. But Nerevar had ideas of his own and did things that many did not approve of (such as his friendship with Kagrenac) - and used the Moon-and-Star to persuade those of differing opinions. The problem was, they only remained under his influence when he was present. So eventually they decided he had become too much trouble and had to be eliminated. I think it makes more sense to curse the Dunmer if the murder of Nerevar was a people betraying their leader, rather than 3 individuals doing a stupid thing. But that's not even headcanon, just an idea I used for one playthrough

The Trial of Vivec is not canon. It is a made up roleplay that included some of the devs, including Kirkbride himself, but it is not an official part of the lore.

Oh okay, like I said my knowledge is a bit rusty.

Luckily it doesn't really conflict with anything. Always gonna be part of my head-Canon at least!

If you trust any Daedric Prince not to have ulterior motives and help people out from the bottom of their big ol' heart, you're going to be in for a rude awakening.

I think fans have a tendency to anthropomorphise her more than other daedra. Like any daedra prince, she doesn't have mortals' best interests at heart. Unlike many, her own interests often line up with common mortal ones. So when she does something harmful, some fans call her spiteful, vindictive or two faced. She looks like Hera or Ishtar when people transgress against her, but I think it's more like merciless, but honest fairy tale justice. I'd take her "curse" over one of Peryite's or Molag Bal's or Hircine's.

This. At the end of the day, Azura is a Daedra. She just doesn't happen to be as vicious as Molag Bal or Mehrunes Dagon or as capricious as Sheogorath. I think she's probably the closest to "good" of the so-called "Good Daedra," but as a Daedra she's still above the moral judgment of mortals. She does what she will, and mortals can benefit or not as the case arises. Personally, I've always seen her in a positive light as a patron of heroes (much like Athena), but the implication of that is screw you if you're not a hero. She's certainly not a god of the people. But really, is any Daedra? Or Aedra, for that matter.