For Skyrim Bethesda used the Trailerkiin/Dovahkiin i.e. this guy:-

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120123065657/elderscrolls/images/thumb/f/fc/Dovakiin_DRAGONBORN%21.png/1000px-Dovakiin_DRAGONBORN%21.png

and for Oblivion we got a quick glimpse or two of this guy (The hero of Kvatch):-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJnnPh44Rlo(0:57)

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140427115244/elderscrolls/images/3/38/The_Hero_of_Kvatch_in_Imperial_Dragon_armour.jpg

I'm wondering are there any promotional nerevarine references out there? Perhaps a certain face/race that Bethesda have used as the pc during gameplay videos like they did with the trailerkiin in Skyrim?

The wiki seems to suggest that this guy from the back of the Morrowind box may be the promotional Nerevarine but I can't seem to find him anywhere else:-

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140717042737/elderscrolls/images/b/b3/Morrowind_Dark_Elf.jpg

Sometimes I like to play as these types of characters when I'm doing a proper canon playthrough of an Elder Scrolls game which is why I'm asking.

Since the Nerevarine is an Ashlander character or prophecy, then a Dunmer would be more lore correct in the strictest sense. But that is not to say that any outsider would not be the hero. Note all Dunmer not from Vvardenfell are considered Outsiders, not just the other races. So, any race can be the hero obviously.

As to your original question, back when they were making Morrowind they were just hoping someone would buy their neat game, so they did not have as cohesive a marketing plan in place as they do now. So, that guy on the box was just someone from their artwork concepts, and not something you can exactly recreate in game. Although Dwemer or Chitin Armor would be a good place to start to make one that looks like him.

Yes I know what you mean. "Outlander" seems to be based on accent and people not recognising the PC in Morrowind it seems whether he's Dunmer or not. I agree though Dunmer does make the most sense as otherwise people would surely react in shock at another race being the Nerevarine yet they don't.

Actually I think you can create him perfectly in game. I have taken a look just now and his face and hair are available. I'm still looking around now to see if I can find him used anywhere else.

This quest is the one that has the Dumner in the gear

Do that and you get the armor, then all you need is a two handed sword and your set. Note I think they are standing there even before the quest starts, so you can look at the armor before getting involved.

Thanks very much, I'll look into that soon. Yes he seems to have bonemold armor with a cloth bracer on his left arm and a Daedric Shortsword. I haven't played Morrowind in about 8 years so it'll be an experience to get back into it now.

The main thing I dislike about being a Dunmer is the fact that every single male face seems to have been used by someone else in the game. It kind of kills the immersion when you bump into someone with the same mush as you every now and again. I wish they would've put a unique face in there to use. Still my favourite Elder Scrolls game though.

The same is true regardless of your race or gender. That's one reason I use modded heads.

Most of the RPG games from around that time had you select a face for your character(s) from a limited set, and Morrowind actually had more face options for a single race than most other RPGs had in total. Later games allowed you to modify the face, which pretty much eliminated the issue with exact matches in the game, but the technology for that wasn't readily available by Morrowind's release.

One example of that "same face" issue was when my first Imperial character started in on the questline for House Hlaalu. Much to my shock, the one "eccentric" councilor not only used the same face as my character, but was wearing the same style of shirt and pants at the time.

As for Dunmer or non-Dunmer as the Nerevarine, there's one line in the dialog for one Ashlander relating to the MQ, if you're NOT a Dunmer, where the NPC stutters about "...but you're....", noting that it's unexpected for the Nerevarine to be something else. Also, the Prophecy is specifically written to not only allow it, but to make it fairly clear that the Nerevarine will be foreign-born, which makes a non-Dunmer a very distinct possibility. I found it rather ironic to have a despised Argonian character as the Nerevarine, and an Imperial (not the Uncle Crassie look-alike) was my first character to actually complete the MQ (a Dunmer was the second). Either way works fine.

The Nerevarine while strongly associated with the Dumner... Could be anything, well any of the playable races in Morrowind, and possibly even a different variety of Khajiit than Morrowind's Khajiit, although say a Dwemer or Dremora Nerevarine or something like that, would probably be bending the lore very very far.

Most Morrowind characters are Dark Elves so it stands to reason while the Morrowind Dumner are undeniably awesome, that in unmodded Morrowind a Dumner character won't look NEARLY as unique. Same applies in Skyrim if you choose a Nord cause most skyrim characters are Nords, or an Imperial in Oblivion, though Oblivion and especially Skyrim did have more options to make the face more unique so that issue is less likely.

What is your source for the Nerevarine being an ashlander?

The character I play was born in an ashlander tribe on the southern mainland, thus suiting the "outlander" quality. That seems pretty canon regarding lore, right?

Cool idea. To make my last character lore-correct I made her Velothi (which, as I understand it, are Ashlanders who have settled and accepted the Tribunal Temple), but a mainland tribe would have been a good idea.

Yeah, and Ashlanders believe that Sotha Sil, Almalexia and Vivec betrayed Nerevar on Red Mountain. Depends on your faith and how you're raised and which books you choose to believe. That's one thing I love about TES lore is that the developers wrote different interpretations of history so that we could pick and choose which one to believe..... much like how history here on Earth is.

Yeah, Mehra Tabni was a devout follower of the Tribunal so it really rocked her worldview to not only be declared a heretic by the Temple but confronted with the radically different viewpoint of the Ashlanders concerning the death of Nerevar. After meeting with Vivec, however, she was able to find peace and accept her role, and I think she'd approve of the Reformed Temple's arrangement of beatifying the Tribunal but worshiping the Good Daedra. Since my last Nerevarine was Dunmer I don't think my next one will be, but when I do play a Dunmer Nerevarine again I think I'll make him/her a mainland Ashlander like you did--it would be interesting to go in with a different perspective (and one less charitably inclined towards the Tribunal).

Oblivion: Too unique, too unique...

That's the closest we got for Morrowind. You don't even see the player in the official trailer, as it's all a first-person perspective.

But as others have said, the Neravarine could be anyone. Although when I roleplayed based on suggested Lore, I went with that guy in the picture. Just to "fit in" to the Dunmer culture better.

According to the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr3TCWPlDrw for the Steam release the Nerevarine is either an Imperial, Breton, or Nord. It is in first person but you can clearly see the hand and part of the arm when the player character is firing a bow at 1:10 in the video.

Speaking for myself I want the Nerevarine to not be a Dunmer as that better serves to shake up their world view and hopefully drag them out of their xenophobia.

Well, no.
According to the trailer you can play as those races.

It's nothing like Oblivion and Skyrim where they specifically show one character archetype and say "Here's the Hero, you can be this guy right here."

Since we are on this topic, I really wish Oblivion's default Imperial male looks like the one in the trailer, could save me a ton of time when I play as an Imperial.

The Prophecy is named after a Dunmer who fought for the Ashlanders and achieved the Ashlander's goals. He may not have played in the ash fall of Red Mountain, but he was, and is, an instrument of the Ashlanders.

Nerevar
The Temple honors Saint Nerevar as the greatest Dunmer general, First Councilor, and companion of Vivec, Almalexia, and Sotha Sil, who united the Dunmer Houses to destroy the evil Dwemer, the treacherous House Dagoth, and their Western allies at Red Mountain. But the Ashlanders say Nerevar promised to honor the Ancient Spirits and the Tribal law, and that he will come again to honor that promise. To the Ashlanders, this means destroying the false Temple and driving the Imperial invaders from the land.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/nerevarine-cult-notes

The Temple honors Saint Nerevar as the greatest Dunmer general, First Councilor, and companion of Vivec, Almalexia, and Sotha Sil, who united the Dunmer Houses to destroy the evil Dwemer, the treacherous House Dagoth, and their Western allies at Red Mountain. But the Ashlanders say Nerevar promised to honor the Ancient Spirits and the Tribal law, and that he will come again to honor that promise. To the Ashlanders, this means destroying the false Temple and driving the Imperial invaders from the land.

When you complete the main quest, some of those aren't fulfilled. You destroy the false temple gods but the Empire is still very much interwoven into Morrowind, what with all the colonies, traders, guards, etc.... That would be like trying to drive out all the jews from Poland and Germany. Hmm...

And "evil dwemer"? Resdayn was originally the home of the dwarves until the High Elves left Summerset Isle, following prophet Veloth, and settled there. Sure, they lived harmoniously for a while until they ceased making love and started making war. So, I can't see the Dwemer as evil, and in fact, the old Altmer, who became the Chimer, who became the Dunmer, should probably be the "evil ones" in this case, although I don't consider Dark Elves evil at all. Chimer were simply punished as a whole for the mistakes of a few bad apples, solely based on the judgement of Azura. Pretty harsh and unfair.

We really don't know much about Nerevar's childhood and youthful days, if anything at all. Since it is such an open discussion, could it be plausible that Nerevar himself was once an Ashlander as a child?

There were no Ashlanders at the time of Nerevar. The Chimer were divided into clans that would eventually become the modern Great Houses and Ashlander tribes, but their lifestyle was closer to that of the Ashlanders than that of the House Dunmer. Still, the prophecies do explicitly state that the Nerevarine will be an outlander.

A few notes on your other points. The Dunmer were punished for their blasphemy of accepting the Tribunal as gods. The "Good" Daedra are not good as a mortal understands the term, but I'd certainly take Azura over any other Daedra and definitely over the Aedra. Also, driving the Empire out of Morrowind would be more comparable to the Irish driving the English out of Ireland--which they did, after five hundred years (well, except the northern tip). It's also very hard to sympathize with Machiavellian nihilists like the Dwemer...

The driving the empire out of morrowind could just be one of the prophecies that came out over time and wasnt actually part of the original prophecy. As most dunmer didnt like the empire, so adding in another aspect that everyone sees as favourable could just be made up over the thousands of years - just like how the prophecy that the nerevarine was supposed to be an outlander got 'lost' somehow (obviously someone didnt like this part and got rid of it). As Uriel septim helps the nerevarine and knows a lot of prophecies, why would he help someone that was going to drive his empire away?

Or the other theory I have, The Nerevarine DID drive the empire out by getting rid of the tribunal's power, which in turn got rid of vivec's power, which in turn caused the moon to fall and the red year to happen. Which as a result 200 years later, Morrowind isn't really part of the empire, thus that Nerevarine prophecy is fulfilled.

So Nerevar, being a Chimer, looked like an Altmer since Chimer are Altmer who traveled across Tamriel to Resdayn? Is the Nerevarine supposed to carry with him/her the same personality that Nerevar had since Nerevarine is the incarnation of Nerevar? (I thought souls were recylced in the Dreamsleave and "washed" away)

Thanks for clearing that up about the Dunmer's punishment.
Why would you take Azura over the Aedra? Aren't the Aedra more docile than Daedra? Daedra always seem to be very boisterous in personality.

You're saying that through word-of-mouth, over the centuries, as Dunmer retold the prophecies of the Nerevarine to each new generation, they gradually could have changed it to satisfy their own prejudices and qualms? What do you mean by the outlander part of the prophecy being lost? It clearly states that Nerevarine will be an outlander. (Is someone from the mainland of Morrowind considered an outlander to Vvardenfell? My character is from a rather aboriginal tribe in the Argonian Jungles in southern Morrowind)

I read http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Nerevarine_Prophecy that because of the Tribunal's weakened state after the main quest, the Empire becomes even more involved in Morrowind.

First off, I wouldn't put too much trust in anything on that website.

Secondly, the Empire may have had more influence right after the events, but in the two hundred years since, that has significantly changed. Red Mountain blew up, and took out much of Morrowind with it.

I think it would be interesting to play a Nerevarine who did have some "echo" or memory of being the Chimer warlord, but given the variety of paths that the Nerevarine can take it certainly doesn't seem to be necessary that the Nerevarine in any way resemble his/her past life (as evidenced by the fact that the Nerevarine can be female and any species).

Of all TES religions, the Tribunal during their golden age (before Dagoth Ur woke up) are probably one's best option (assuming you're Dunmer). But with the Aedra vs. the Daedra, it seems to me that worshiping the Aedra simply serves no purpose as they aren't going to personally interfere for you unless the world is about to end. Of course, Azura probably won't do much for you either unless you're one of her champions, but that definitely seems preferable to the attention of the other Daedra...Azura is all about herself, but as a Daedra who sees herself as a sort of patroness she seems more inclined to be compassionate than your average Daedric Prince, and more likely to do anything for you at all than any Aedra. (I freely admit this is a somewhat cynical view of religion that I certainly wouldn't endorse in the real world. )

A Mainland Dunmer probably wouldn't be an outlander if they grew up in a traditional Redoran or Indoril home, but from some southern tribe along the Argonian border--that may very well qualify as an "outlander" to the traditionalists.

Yeah, im basically saying that the ashlanders changed the prophecy, just like they changed the outlander part. If you remember, in the main quest, there is the lost prophecies. Nibani mesa talks about them and says that they were lost, or purposefully lost. Later you find out one of those lost prophecies is "The Nerevarine is an outlander", in which nibani says that it's no wonder they were lost, as that is a sentiment most ashlanders wouldnt want to hear (the nerevarine being an outlander is NOT a widely known part of the prophecy, which is why the player character had to go out of their way to find these prophecies with the dissident priests).

So yeah, what im saying is that just like the lost prophecy (the nerevarine being an outlander), the whole driving the empire out of morrowind would have easily been an added prophecy. As far as i remember, the main nerevarine prophecies doesnt include driving the empire out of morrowind and only NPCs actually mention that part (i dont think it's part of the 7 trials or anything, whereas the outlander part is).