Lore:Hlaalu Helseth

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King Hlaalu Helseth
King Hlaalu Helseth
Race	Dunmer	Gender	Male
Born		3E 376
Previous Ruler		Llethan
Resided in		Wayrest Mournhold
Appears in		Daggerfall, Tribunal

Hlaalu Helseth, a male Dunmer, was born to Queen Barenziah and Symmachus in 3E 376, and he is the older brother of Morgiah. Before the "Warp in the West", he spent most of his time blackmailing, bribing, and even killing nobles in attempts to expand Wayrest's influence. After failing to obtain the throne of Wayrest when his step-father King Eadwyre died, he returned to Mournhold in Morrowind with his mother. Once there, he joined the court of his uncle, King Athyn Llethan. After a relatively short period of time, Talen Vandas, Llethan's chosen heir, died, followed soon after by the King himself, leaving the throne of Morrowind to Helseth. This caused rumors that Helseth had poisoned them, a telling of events that the Queen Dowager, Ravani Llethan, backs up: she also knew of and appears to have been allied to a conspiracy, within House Hlaalu, against Helseth in favor of a candidate more acceptable to the House. Indeed, despite Helseth being of House Hlaalu himself as well as a nephew of King Llethan, he still was an outlander, not born in Morrowind itself, and a pro-Imperial at that, having his elven ears cropped as to look more Imperial and knowing almost nothing about Dunmer culture. This political stance was certainly shared by his late father, who ended up fighting for the Empire against his own province. The Tribunal Temple also initially conspired against him, but were thrown into disarray by the fall of their living gods. He wore an ancient crown of the Chimer, with five points curving inward like blades, supporting one in the middle: what it symbolized in elder days was debatable, but it meant "Five Houses Under One King" in the modern day.

After becoming King, Helseth quickly started to cement his hold on power by using the Dark Brotherhood to assassinate a variety of targets, including an attempt to kill the recently reborn Nerevarine, though according to Helseth this was a mistake - and one which backfired heavily, since the entire Mournhold chapter of the Brotherhood was wiped out when the Nerevarine pursued the attacks back to their source. The truthfulness of Helseth's apology is suspect, as there was another attempt on the Nerevarine's life while guarding Queen Barenziah for the new King. Strangely, King Helseth tends to play up his habit of assassination, as he was one of the driving forces to publish A Game at Dinner, a book that accuses him of murder.

In a shrewd political maneuver, King Helseth, representing his own House Hlaalu, formed an alliance with House Dres by marrying Lady Vendama of Bodrum Mora. Subsequently, he renounced the slave trade, setting the remaining Houses of Indoril and Redoran against him through a period of civil unrest. After the successive catastrophes of the Oblivion Crisis, the Red Year, the Argonian invasion and the break-up of the Empire which had backed him, at some early point during the next 200 years House Hlaalu fell from prominence and Redoran became the new preeminent house, with Hlaalu's place taken by the upstart House Sadras. Neither Helseth nor Barenziah's, nor the Morrowind monarchy's fate after these catastrophies is known, although the former are presumed to have lost their lives before or after the sacking of Mournhold by the invading Argonian hordes.

Gallery

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  Prince Helseth (Daggerfall)

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  Prince Helseth (Daggerfall)

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  Banner of Helseth (Morrowind)

Notes

• In Daggerfall, Helseth (as with all other "Dark Elf" NPCs) is depicted with as having deep tan skin as opposed to the expected ashy black Dunmer flesh tones seen elsewhere. This persists in all versions in the absence of third-party patches.
• Helseth is a randomized Dunmer name in Arena and also the name of the ruler of Silnim Dale; any mention of him (or connection to Helseth Hlaalu) is never made past Arena.

See also

• For game-specific information, see the Daggerfall and Tribunal articles.

References

Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.