I don't think that works. It's not impossible to judge Vivec's actions as good or evil because ... you just can. I mean, that sounds circular, but my point is that with that much power - whatever the source - his actions do not lose a moral dimension, and I certainly suspect that friends and relatives and countrymen of those who died at his hands or neglect are certainly not wrong to judge his actions to be evil, if that's how they view it. Since it's subjective, it's not remotely possible to start drawing borders where concepts of good and evil are no longer applicable.

"His motives are outside good or evil" actually sounds like a huge copout.

Whether such concepts actually achieve anything worthwhile is a different debate.

"His motives are outside good or evil" reminds me of this story, but i think motives is the word that screws it up

I think it would be more nearly accurate to say that his actions are beyond accountability. Morality itself is based on individual value systems that defines particular actions as "good" or "evil" or perhaps doesn't say either way, and is certainly not an absolute judgment outside of fictional cosmologies where good and evil are defining features of the cosmos (like D&D - along with law, chaos, and neutrality).

not to mention ethical theories (consequentialism, rights, duties, virtue, care, narrative)

I wasn't talking about judging him, though, I was talking about his motives from what we can find in the lore. Achieving CHIM means to achieve oneness with the god without which nothing exists^[1]. We also learn that a key word in CHIM is love; the love for the universe or, since the godhead has created all, the love for the story that's being told^[2]. Vivec says that Landfall will be an act of "greatest love", which is clearly not "love" for the people inside the ES universe; but it's an act of love directed at us by putting a boot in the rear of a stagnating ES universe, which needed a major event, for example the destruction of Morrowind to get out of the dreadfully standstill stint of lore between ~2004 and 2009 and has lead to many discussions (such as this one), which is precisely what drives the universe forward. Vivec's motives are outside what any in-universe character would be able to perceive, because his love is not directed at them but at the creation that is the Elder Scrolls itself. He wants to please us, the fans who care about the ES universe as much as he does.

[1] "The secret Tower within the Tower is the shape of the only name of God, I." - Sermon 23
[2] "Scale unto this along the magical spectrum and maintenance of time, which is forever, and you begin to see the Lunar God’s failure as Greatest Gift. As above, 'This is the love of God.'" - The Loveletter

That does not make his actions beyond morality, that simply also makes them insane.

I don't care much for the idea of CHIM as "meta-awareness of The Elder Scrolls as a series of games," however. It doesn't ring right to me at all.

If Vivec is everyone (he is) then he cannot harm another (since there is nothing other than Vivec). That's what makes him kinda beyond conventional morality.

Morality is a construct by humans, for humans. We can apply morality to anything - I can say that it is immoral for the penguins to steal each other's eggs or for the seal to eat them. But that doesn't make either evil. Similarly, we can apply morality to the actions of a God, but we can't objectively label him as good/evil. Especially since we do not and cannot perceive the world as he does. Morality is not some black/white absolute judgement, even when applied to people.

In short, you can declare something evil, but that doesn't mean it's evil.

You can't declare anything or anyone objectively evil because there is no such thing. But that wasn't the point of my objection against the idea that Vivec, or at least his actions, cannot be labeled evil. Obviously they can be labeled as such, and these labels can indeed be backed up by rational thought. After all, it is not necessary to take Vivec's perspective into account while discussing the impact of his actions - and his perspective may sound insane or narcissistic ("everyone is Vivec, so Vivec can't harm anyone") to others with a different perspective.

It's not even as if Vivec's perspective is objective, even if it is unique. It is simply that his subjectivity includes CHIM.

I don't think that it's useful to label Vivec's actions as evil, however. Just that "he's beyond conventional morality" isn't a convincing argument, since he's not literally part of the conversation and doesn't need to be convinced of the morality of his actions. Calling him "evil" likely does nothing to illuminate his actions to anyone else, but it probably serves as a form of catharsis.

So by achieving CHIM Vivec has become one with the fourth wall?

What about self-harm? Happens all the time.

One could argue that Vehk/Vivec is the Chimer/Dunmer version of Talos. A Mortal that ascended to Godhood.

Not at all.

Except ascending to godhood is about all they have in common, hardly enough to draw comparisons.

I wouldn't know. I killed him myself. Vengeance is a [censored].

To transcend mortal boundaries set in place by immortal rulers. At its simplest, the state of chim provides an escape from all known laws of the divine worlds and the corruptions of the black sea of Oblivion. It is a return to the first brush of Anu-Padomay, where stasis and change created possibility. -Vivec