You could also make the case that Helseth found a province of squabbling tribes whose only value to the Empire was their natual resources of Ebony and Glass, and who were further isolated by their reliance on slavery. Rightly or wrongly, he's trying to modernize Morrowind despite the harm to her traditions.

Helseth wasn't trying to kill the Nerevarine, he was testing him or her to make sure they were the real article. The real Nerevarine would have little trouble disposing of the DB, which is probably true for everyone who played "Tribunal".

Modernize according to foreign principles.

What did Helseth get from "testing" the Nerevarine? You could make the similar case that the Dunmer are "testing" the beast races by enslaving the weakest of them. It dosent work out like that though.

I still hold that Helseth is just another generic Hlaalu, therefore annoying and kniving.

Where did you get all this stuff about a civil war. There was no civil war. There was a revolution from the top orchestrated by Helseth. Indoril and Redoran were already weakened houses. Indoril collapsed because they had all their eggs in one basket (the Temple) and Redoran was already losing a lot of power, even before the invasions. Dres, Telvanni and Hlaalu are making land grabs into Indoril because the former Great House is pretty much non-existant.

The timeline at TIL explained it all.

Circa 3E 430 http://www.imperial-library.info/history/3.shtml

The outcome of this war is not yet known, I think. But Morrowind is not "more stable than it has ever been". That was at least a thousand years ago.

I think it all simply boils down to the fact that Helseth has Imperial backing, and that's all he needs.

Hypothetically speaking, lets say the Nerevarine killed Helseth. Not only would he be persecuted by Imperial Law, but he would lose his standing in the Blades, and be seen as a prime enemy of the Empire in the entirety of Morrowind. The Royal Guard would attempt to slay him, or at least capture him, and all other Imperial presence in Morrowind that became privy to the knowledge that he killed Helseth would be on his tail.

Would it cause a civil war? Most likely. If the Nerevarine murdered Helseth, he'd probably gain the support of Redoran, Indoril, and Telvanni quickly, while Dres and Hlaalu would likely side with the Empire, in order to maintain their positions, and perhaps further them, once the traitor(s) was put down. Or maybe they'd eventually side with Nerevarine, in hopes of ridding Morrowind of the Empire, and become the most, monetarily speaking, Great House in a freed land? Though I personally would highly doubt that, as they're in good with the Empire anyways.

Once the Nerevarine attempted to claim his right as ruler of Morrowind, I also believe that the Great Houses would like to abolish the position of "king". Not only that, but the Ashlanders would most likely expect some kind of initial aid in establishing themselves with the rest of the Great Houses, which could possibly cause a civil war right there. It would all depend on how the Nerevarine was portraying himself upon usurping the throne.

I think in the end however, it would be an ill-fated attempt. Though I killed Helseth in my game, I think doing in in TES reality would be political suicide. The Nerevarine could most likely do much more for Morrowind, representing the needs of the Ashlander tribes and the Great Houses in the face of Helseth. And with his association to the Blades and service to the Empire, they would see him more as an ally then the "savior" of the Dunmer people.

Helseth can be seen as similar to Peter the Great -- someone who grew up in precarious circumstances before taking the throne, and (as Ted Peterson has portrayed him) who has a murderous temper as his main Achilles heel.

I've read that Peter the Great was nearly killed by the boyars a time or two as a child, and he crushed them in return once he was established in power. Helseth similarly was unsure whether he would be allowed to live, and had to flee with his mother Barenziah. Peter the Great tried to modernize the Russians by force, as is Helseth with the Dunmer.

Allerleirauh once wrote that Helseth is the perfect ruler for the Dunmer; this was even included in the PGE 3rd. My character saw no point in trying to kill Helseth, nor Vivec for that matter. I played the Nerevarine with a certain amount of fatalism -- the downfall of the Tribunal and the success of Helseth could be seen as destined in the scheme of things.

I believe that just as Barenziah is more than the list of her youthful follies -- she was someone who had lived a life, and experienced everything from destitution to power -- that Helseth is more than a schemer and a suspected poisoner. They're both survivors.

Tribunal was like the 'Helseth and Barenziah Show'. It was a two-man show and we weren't apart of it--just a supporting actor role whose only matter was to fullfil their agendas. As if our Nerevarines' character, life, and achievements meant nothing compared to those two. I don't expect Bethesda to make the PCs in future ES games to be kings of the world or what have you but that doesn't stop me from writing my own ES history. Yes there are a great many renowned people, Tiber Septim, Vivec, Helseth, and Barenziah, but as far as I'm concerned there is only one colossus, Nerevar Incarnate.

You give the Empire too much power with respect to their declining status, yeah sure they could hunt the Nerevarine down, but he has the strongest allies among the Ashlander tribes. He goes native and they could send legions after legions and be slaughtered in a prolonged guerilla war in harsh terrain that favors the natives. With Cyrodiil bleeding its manpower from the Oblivion invasion, legions stationed in far flung regions, and moral and political corruption in the highest levels of government.

The legions withdraw from the east to a Cyrodiil in chaos, leaving the Great Houses, weak, divided, and obsolete, and an age old theocratic Tribunal state w/o its false gods. To be swallowed up by hordes of Ashlanders led by the Incarnate. That's my ES lore anyway.

Tribunal was like the 'Helseth and Barenziah Show'. It was a two-man show and we weren't apart of it--just a supporting actor role whose only matter was to fullfil their agendas. As if our Nerevarines' character, life, and achievements meant nothing compared to those two. I don't expect Bethesda to make the PCs in future ES games to be kings of the world or what have you but that doesn't stop me from writing my own ES history. Yes there are a great many renowned people, Tiber Septim, Vivec, Helseth, and Barenziah, but as far as I'm concerned there is only one colossus, Nerevar Incarnate.

Morrowind has survived in its original state ever since the Tribunal came to power. For 3000 years the Tribunal protected them and their way of life; the Dunmer stagnated, never needing to change or thinking to.

About 500 years ago, Vivec surrendered Morrowind under the Armistice for a very simple reason: Morrowind would have been destroyed by Imperial conquest. Tiber Septim had enough power at his disposal to completely obliterate the Dunmer armies, and doing so would have destroyed them as a people and culture. The Armistice gave them limited protection, and allowed them to gradually adapt to the presence of outside powers.

Vivec did this because he knew the Tribunal would fall after Dagoth Ur's rise. They could not protect their people forever, so he hoped to let them slowly adapt, surviving entry into the Empire.

With the Nerevarine's actions in Morrowind, the glacial pace of adjustment was abruptly transformed into a torrent. With Sotha Sil and Almalexia dead, Vivec all but powerless, Dagoth Ur defeated, and Helseth in power, Morrowind was on the edge of a sudden and irreversible change. Helseth stepped up to the bat on this one, guiding the Dunmer through the painful adjustment by force and acting as a bastion of hope. While not what the Dunmer longed for, the bright and distant past, he offered survival and growth in a world where all that had been solid and true for 3500 years had turned into a fading mist.

I've just got a few problems here, but you make a fair enough point.

The Great Houses have not been in civil war since the ascendancy of the Temple. The Temple, as we know stopped full civil war in Morrowind and brought the illusion of peace, but peace nonetheless under the Triunes. (Not only the Tribunal forbade civil war, but the Daedra too) All the conflict between the Houses has been trivial land grabs, petty slanderous squabblings and sabre rattling. The Dunmer, since the Chimeri days have always been a people of the knife, the heavily regulated and sanctioned Morag Tong assassinations are the tools to sate this subtle impulse.

Helseth comes to power and Morrowind really is plunged into civil war. Full civil war as Helseth engages a revolution against the people of Morrowind, backed by weakened imperial politics focused on the hope that the Dunmer will keep themselves busy whilst the imperials get their lazy asses back on their thrones.

Helseth clearly has no inkling of how dire the crisis of Dagoth Ur was. If he did, he would have known that helping Almalexia, not opposing her every move, would have been better for the people of Morrowind in the long term. As we're talking about Helseth as a bad apple for the people of Morrowind, not whether or not he's entitled to do so or whether he's simply a good chess player, which obviously, he is.

Also, he tried to kill the saviour of Morrowind. This stinks of pure machiavellian knivery, most akin to Telvanni dealings. Why? Just the same reason why the mad god Almalexia tried to kill him, to maintain the order of power, and that means imperial sponsored Hlaalu cliency.

Hypotheticaly, if he did succeed in killing the Nerevarine a few months earlier, he would probably would have doomed all of Tamriel.

That said, he didn't even have faith in his own culture's tradition enough to use the Morag Tong! He used the Dark Brotherhood, and y'know, those guys are just plain evil. Not to mention his vicious army of goblins, do you know how annoying those things were to kill?

He's an imperial, ears clipped like a man swit and reliant on nothing but the weakening foundations that raised him. Yes, Morrowind needs and strong and pragmatic ruler, but a Dunmeri ruler, one who is intimate with the dunmer nation and knows the hidden needs of the nation. What isn't needed is an imperial imposter who think he can impress the Dunmer with shows of malice and radicalism.

I think this post from TSBassilisk sums up my point nicely. This is als why I believe Morrowind needs a man like Helseth.
I'm also missing something in this discussion. You all seem to assume that the Nerevarine would take the throne if he could. But why should he want to do that? Why would the Nerevarine want to become king? Is becoming king the final purpose of the Nerevarine or was he only needed to end the rule of the Tribunal and begin a new age for Morrowind (by helping Helseth).

I agree that he or she probably wasn't interested in ruling Morrowind or driving out the Imperials. Why else would the Nerevarine depart for Akavir except from the urge to explore? (Leaving aside the gameplay reasons for getting the Nerevarine out of the picture after MW and its expansions.) The Nerevarine is probably a puppet who has cut his/her strings and decided to choose their own path from now on.

Also, some have talked about uniting the Ashlanders to help drive out the Imperials. But the Ashlanders portrayed in MW are proud but scattered and powerless nomads; it seems unlikely their day can come again. Also, the idea of Nerevarine as would-be king only works if you played him as Dunmer. What about my MW characters, a Redguard and later an Argonian? I doubt the Dunmer would have given them any fealty other than as a temporary Hortator.

I agree that he or she probably wasn't interested in ruling Morrowind or driving out the Imperials. Why else would the Nerevarine depart for Akavir except from the urge to explore? (Leaving aside the gameplay reasons for getting the Nerevarine out of the picture after MW and its expansions.) The Nerevarine is probably a puppet who has cut his/her strings and decided to choose their own path from now on.

Also, some have talked about uniting the Ashlanders to help drive out the Imperials. But the Ashlanders portrayed in MW are proud but scattered and powerless nomads; it seems unlikely their day can come again. Also, the idea of Nerevarine as would-be king only works if you played him as Dunmer. What about my MW characters, a Redguard and later an Argonian? I doubt the Dunmer would have given them any fealty other than as a temporary Hortator.

I agree, although I meant something else. The Nerevarine is bound by the prophecies. They outline what his purpose is in the great scheme of things. Is becoming king of Morrowind part of the prophecies? If not then why would the Nerevarine do that?

Secondly the Nerevarine is a typical ES hero, they fulfill their destiny and then ride of into the sunset, never to be heard from again. The Nerevarine will not become king of Morrowind and rule for several centuries because he is a typical ES hero.

Except I'm going to bring up the question of is the Nerevarine really bound by the prophecies. He never fulfilled them. Vivec lived. The outlanders still controlled Morrowind, even more so than before.

He hasn't fulfilled them yet.

Well, the chance to kill Vivec is come and gone. Vivec is ... I'll just simplify and say unkillable. The Tribunal's lies will remain truth.

Which part of the four prophecies say anything about driving away the outlanders? (The Stranger, Lost Prophecy, Seven Signs, Seven Curses etc.)

The Ashlanders always talk about it. I'll check the TIL.

You shall be Nerevarine of all the tribes, and Hortator of all the Great Houses. You shall eat the sin of the unmourned house, and free the false gods. You must defeat the Sixth House, and Dagoth Ur. You must free the Tribunal from their curse. This is the burden of prophecy. This shall be your duty as Urshilaku Nerevarine.

That maybe so, but it isn't part of the four prophecies you find during the main quest. Furthermore I think it is very likely that the whole driving out the outlanders things is merely ashlander propaganda. I think they just changed the prophecies to suit their own needs. Remember that they also denied that the Nerevarine would be an outlander?
And this is the duty of the Nerevarine, according to Sul-Matuul:

Except I'm going to bring up the question of is the Nerevarine really bound by the prophecies. He never fulfilled them. Vivec lived. The outlanders still controlled Morrowind, even more so than before.

The actual prophecies don't directly say anything about killing the Tribunal. Freeing them, perhaps, but not actually killing them. Nor do they say anything about freeing Morrowind; they were prophesied long before Morrowind was part of the Empire.

Your work in Morrowind is not finished, Nerevarine. Vivec still lives, but I believe his time grows short. Protect my people. Defend these lands. The skies of Mournhold are clear once again. Let these people suffer no longer. Now go, mortal. Embrace your destiny, and go with my blessing. "

Azura says that Vivec's death is part of the Nerevarine prophesy.

"You no longer bear the burden of prophecy.
You have achieved your destiny.
You are free.
The doomed Dwemer's folly, Lord Dagoth's temptation,
the Tribunal's seduction, the god's heart freed,
the prophecy fulfilled.
All fates sealed and sins redeemed.
If you have pity, mourn the loss, but let the weeping cease.
The Blight is gone, and the sun's golden honey gilds the land.
Hail savior, Hortator, and Nerevarine.
Your people look to you for protection.
Monster and villains great and small still threaten the people of Vvardenfell.
Enemies and evils abound, yet indomitable will might rid Morrowind of all its ills.
For you, our thanks and blessings; our gift and token given.
Come; take this thing from the hand of god."