02-09-2010, 03:34 PM
Well, so long to old Uriel Septim. Knifed to death in a sewer by delusional cultists on the same day as the assassination of both his magically-cloned impostors... sorry, that should read heirs. That can't be a nice way to go!
Though the Common Tongue can't help but feel sorry for the old goat on a personal level (being cuckolded by your wife then trapped in a pocket realm of Oblivion for decades can't have been fun), without wishing to be disrespectful I doubt that many tears will be shed in Morrowind at his demise (this minority presumably including the cringeing Imperial lackey King Helseth and his harlot mother).
It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that the late Uriel's reign has been an almost unmitigated disaster for Resdayn. It started out promisingly enough, but went straight down from then on. One would have thought that with his supposed gift of prophecy, it wouldn't have been too hard for him to forsee that his own Battlemage planned to imprison and replace him.
Yet replace him he did, and in the ensuing chaos brought about by Jagar Tharn's monumental incompetence, the Empire putrefied. Without the threat of the Legions to hold them in check, Great House Dres launched their idiotic war against the lizards of the south, a costly military disaster which sucked in the rest of the Great Houses and bankrupted Morrowind. And all to avenge some caravaneer's murder!
Even when Uriel was restored things didn't get much better. The ensuing years saw increasingly violent eruptions of Red Mountain and outbreaks of suppurating plague. Yet these horrors were as nothing compared to the return of the odious Helseth Hlaalu to our shores, aided and abetted by Uriel's agents. The ex-Emperor must share the blame for Helseth's latter reign of terror.
But it wasn't all bad. Uriel's rumoured role in the magnificently executed Nerevarine hoax is enough to redeem him partially, frustrating the Temple bigots and clearing the way for honest reconciliation with dissidents and Ashlanders for the first time in years. Uriel deserves credit too for his consistent, low-key opposition to the institution of slavery. Abolition is likely to be his biggest legacy in Morrowind, but even that was so badly botched by Helseth's government that it resulted in an unecessary bloodbath (of which more in a coming installment).
Rest in Peace, sweet Emperor, and may your afterlife bring you more joy than your pestilential reign did.
Though the Common Tongue can't help but feel sorry for the old goat on a personal level (being cuckolded by your wife then trapped in a pocket realm of Oblivion for decades can't have been fun), without wishing to be disrespectful I doubt that many tears will be shed in Morrowind at his demise (this minority presumably including the cringeing Imperial lackey King Helseth and his harlot mother).
It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that the late Uriel's reign has been an almost unmitigated disaster for Resdayn. It started out promisingly enough, but went straight down from then on. One would have thought that with his supposed gift of prophecy, it wouldn't have been too hard for him to forsee that his own Battlemage planned to imprison and replace him.
Yet replace him he did, and in the ensuing chaos brought about by Jagar Tharn's monumental incompetence, the Empire putrefied. Without the threat of the Legions to hold them in check, Great House Dres launched their idiotic war against the lizards of the south, a costly military disaster which sucked in the rest of the Great Houses and bankrupted Morrowind. And all to avenge some caravaneer's murder!
Even when Uriel was restored things didn't get much better. The ensuing years saw increasingly violent eruptions of Red Mountain and outbreaks of suppurating plague. Yet these horrors were as nothing compared to the return of the odious Helseth Hlaalu to our shores, aided and abetted by Uriel's agents. The ex-Emperor must share the blame for Helseth's latter reign of terror.
But it wasn't all bad. Uriel's rumoured role in the magnificently executed Nerevarine hoax is enough to redeem him partially, frustrating the Temple bigots and clearing the way for honest reconciliation with dissidents and Ashlanders for the first time in years. Uriel deserves credit too for his consistent, low-key opposition to the institution of slavery. Abolition is likely to be his biggest legacy in Morrowind, but even that was so badly botched by Helseth's government that it resulted in an unecessary bloodbath (of which more in a coming installment).
Rest in Peace, sweet Emperor, and may your afterlife bring you more joy than your pestilential reign did.