Grasping Fortune: The Real Nature of the Hlaalu, and a Possible Theory Concerning House Sadras
by AliceL93
It seems that the Dragonborn DLC of Skyrim has established that House Hlaalu were viewed as traitors by the Dunmer after the Empire abandoned Morrowind, and that they were disgraced by losing most of their power and Great House status. The book, The History of Raven Rock, vol. III mentions that they were removed from the council of Great Houses. “House Hlaalu had been at odds with House Redoran for years following their removal from the Council of Great Houses.” We may make the assumption that this was punishment for their collaboration with the Empire. Captain Veleth calls them traitors during the quest, Served Cold, in which the player has to prevent the Hlaalu from assassinating the Redoran lord of Raven Rock, Lleril Morvayn: “I need you to start out by being my eyes and ears… search Raven Rock and see if you can root out these traitors.” This view is supported by Geldis Sadri. After the completion of the quest, he remarks: “I hear you’re the reason Councilor Morvayn’s still breathing today. Serves those damn Hlaalu traitors right!” In this post, I would speculate that not only the Dunmer’s judgment on House Hlaalu were wrong, but also that even with this judgment it should have been impossible to disgrace them this much, according to the lore established in the previous games.
In the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, House Hlaalu was presented to the player in a more complex way than being simply collaborators of the Empire. Their in-game handbook, Grasping Fortune establishes their philosophy in the first paragraph: “We are the only Great House who has embraced the irresistible tides of Imperial law and custom. And thus we have profited by the Empire’s new policies, rising from obscurity as the Greatest of the Houses.” Or in other words, they have realized that resistance towards the Empire is futile, and unlike the other factions of Morrowind, they saw an opportunity in the occupation, and became successful as a result of their cooperation. Even Lord Vivec agrees that they represent the future of Morrowind, even if he is critical towards them: “House Hlaalu represents the future of the Dunmer, integrated into the sophisticated mainstream of the traditionless, raceless, godless culture of the Empire.“
For these reasons, the term, “Grasping Fortune” is ingenious, because it has three interpretations based on the different meanings of the term, “fortune.” The word can mean the following things, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
– A very large sum of money: This is the most straightforward interpretation, as the Hlaalu are businessmen (and mer) their primary goal is to accumulate wealth. They grasp fortune, make money.
– Force or personified power that unpredictably determines events and issues favorably or unfavorably: This might refer to the Imperial occupation. In this sense, a Redoran or an Indoril would have said that the Imperials meant bad fortune for the Dunmer people, but House Hlaalu aims to grasp this bad fortune and make the best out of something they cannot change, no matter how much they resent it.
– Destiny, fate: This refers to Lord Vivec’s prediction that the Hlaalu mean the future of the Dunmer. Once again, they grasp fortune in this sense as well, because they do not allow it to happen without having a say in it, they aim to take an active part in its creation.
It seems that this policy worked well for the Hlaalu. From Morrowind we know that the most important secular leaders of the country are Hlaalu: Both Duke Vedam Dren and King Hlaalu Helseth. When Vvardenfell opened up for settlement, they also received the most fertile lands, the Ascadian Isles Region and the Bitter Coast. They also own Caldera Mine, and in the vanilla Hlaalu quest titled “Ebony trade” it is revealed that they are the sole ebony suppliers of the East Empire Company.
However, Lord Vivec is wrong that they are traditionless and follow the Empire blindly. They follow the Empire only if it is beneficial for them. As the Hlaalu recruiter, Nileno Dorvayn formulates it: “House Hlaalu has always been loyal to the Emperor. We welcome Imperial law and the legions, and the trade they bring. We still respect the old Dunmer ways, the ancestors, the Temple, and the noble houses.” The fact that Nileno Dorvayn speaks the truth and it is not only some kind of PR trick to hide their treasonous collaboration with the Empire is supported by House Hlaalu’s stance towards slavery: In Morrowind, several Hlaalu own slaves, in spite of their loyalty to the Empire. There are slaves at Caldera Mine, Ules Manor, the Dren Plantation and the Arvel Plantation. Does this mean that House Hlaalu is hypocritical? Yes, but the term that I would rather use is opportunist. They take advantage of any situation. They use the force of the Imperial Legions to make their own nobles kings and dukes and to acquire the most fertile lands of the country. They profit from free trade by selling their ebony to the East Empire Company. But they profit from Dunmer tradition too, by keeping their slaves, instead of liberating them to please the Imperials.
However, by the time we witness slavery in Morrowind, it is already a dying institution. Some idealistic people belong to the Twin Lamps movement, (one of them is the daughter of Duke Vedam Dren, Ilmeni Dren) there are slave revolts (Abebaal Egg Mine) and we are after the Arnesian War. Even though the Dunmer won this war which started as a slave rebellion, it probably cost way too much to the nation, in the form of material damage and Dunmer lives. It is only a matter of time until the majority of the people realize that it is not beneficial to keep slaves anymore and push for reform. The Hlaalu realized this, and after the Nerevarine (who created the perfect circumstances by beheading House Redoran and shaking the faith in the Tribunal which delegitimized the rule of these traditionalist Houses) started a civil war with the Redoran and the Indoril for abolishing slavery. As the 3rd Edition of the Pocket Guide to the Empire points it out: “In accordance with the longstanding wishes of the Empire, he outlawed slavery throughout Morrowind. The reaction to this was bloody, as could be predicted, though the alliances formed were far from expected. As Helseth himself put it in a speech to his people, “If there is to be a revolution, it is best done by a King.” The text implies two things: Firstly, that the Empire asked the Hlaalu to abolish slavery for a long time, but it has been declined in the past, (“longstanding wishes”) which proves that they do not follow them blindly, if it is not in their interest. Secondly, that the Hlaalu know that there is going to be a revolution at one point (either by the slaves themselves, or the Dunmer commoners who cannot stand the revolts and the destruction caused by it). Therefore, once again, the Hlaalu could sense how fortune is going to change and use the opportunity to make the best out of it: Significantly weakening the traditionalist Great Houses with a civil war, while earning some brownie points with the Empire and the growing number of commoners who are against slavery.
To show how talented the Hlaalu are to predict the most beneficial course of action, I would like to point out another example. In Morrowind, we hear one obscure rumor about the Ashlanders trying to get into the ebony trade: “We had a good deal going with Caldera, but then House Redoran opened their traditional mines for trade with the Empire. Even the Ashlanders have been sneaking across the ghost fence to a mine there and trying to sell ebony.” The only visible signs of this rumor are inside the Ghostfence itself: There is indeed one mine with Ashlander miners inside. Yet, House Hlaalu senses the possibility of a competitor, so they send you to make the Zainab Tribe agree to sell ebony through House Hlaalu in the quest, “Ashlander ebony.”
Seeing all these evidence, a question might be asked: How comes that they are labeled as traitors in the Dragonborn DLC and become a disgraced, powerless House? If they are more than collaborators of the Empire, but instead they are a faction who can always sense the best opportunities, why did they stay loyal to the Empire when it was obvious that it will lose power? Wouldn’t the lore-friendly reaction from the Hlaalu in this situation were to slowly adopt an anti-Imperial stance in order to secure their power?
Perhaps with the inclusion of outlanders (such as Crassius Curio and Yngling Half-Troll in Morrowind) the opportunistic, partial collaboration with the Empire turned into actual loyalty with time and they became the victims of their own scheming. Perhaps they adopted an anti-Imperial stance, but the Dunmer people haven’t forgotten their former collaboration with the Empire, and said “fuck off” to their attempt to make themselves look like a traditionalist, and nationalist House. Perhaps the combination of these two factors.
However even then, I find it impossible that they could become a powerless, disgraced House. As Grasping Fortune points it out: “The Redoran may surpass us on the field of battle, but when the dust clears, they will find themselves indebted to us.” Yes, the Redoran are mighty, because they have soldiers, but the Hlaalu have money (more than any of the Houses because of the collaboration with the Empire). Couldn’t they hire an army of mercenaries and Morag Tong assassins to stay on top? How did such a cunning and clever House with all that wealth accumulated get disgraced by the other Houses?
Surely, due to the misfortunes of the Dunmer in the Fourth Era, the Hlaalu lost a lot. But so did the other Houses. In fact, they might have lost more.
House Indoril, on one hand lost in the civil war against the Hlaalu for the abolition of slavery, and on the other hand lost all of its influence after the Nerevarine made the Tribunal lose their power. As the Dragonborn book, The Reclamations: The Fall of the Tribunal and the Rise of New Temple points it out: “House Indoril, whose fortunes were so entwined with the Tribunal Temple, suffered greatly from its fall. While House Indoril still technically exists, the priesthood of the Temple are now considered one and the same with House Indoril – those who become priests are now considered to have “joined Indoril.”
House Dres’ capital, Tear was destroyed in the Red Year. The book, The Red Year formulates it this way: “The ground… it just turned into mush. There was almost no warning. I mean, we were what… perhaps a mile from the nearest swamps? It was like the swamp suddenly swallowed up half of the city.” In addition, they lost most of their territories during the Argonian Invasion, as Adril Arano’s dialogue points it out: “They cut a bloody swath across most of the southern region of Morrowind. Nobody seems certain why it happened… an attempt at expansion, revenge for the enslavement of their people or perhaps both.”
House Telvanni also got destroyed utterly during the invasion, at least according to Lymdrenn Tenvanni’s journal in Skyrim: “We brought this upon ourselves; the Argonians simply answering a rallying cry incited by a millennia of suffrage [sic] imposed by my kind. And so here I sit, in the crumbling basement of our family home while a thousand thousand booted feet echo above me and the screams of the dying find their way to my ears. So falls House Telvanni.”
What about House Redoran? The Nerevarine left them leaderless with the killing of Bolvyn Venim. They also lost in the civil war against the Hlaalu for the abolition of slavery. In addition, their capital city, Ald-ruhn got destroyed during the Oblivion crisis, while it can be supposed that the same is true for the rest of the Redoran settlements in Vvardenfell during the Red Year.
Yet, in Dragonborn, the Redoran are the leading faction of Morrowind, and even the Telvanni master, Neloth has a tower on the island. The Hlaalu are powerless and disgraced and replaced in the Grand Council by House Sadras, an obscure, formerly unknown faction. So obscure, that in fact we never even meet anyone named Sadras in any of the games, or see their ancestral tomb. Who are these people and if they were such an obscure faction, what service they could have done that the other Great Houses awarded the title of the Hlaalu to them?
Team Welsh Wizards (RubberMan and RubberBoy) have made a Morrowind mod titled Rise of House Sadras, which tells us the origins of this House. Obviously, the mod is not official Bethesda content, just fanfiction, but according to the story, Sadras was a Hlaalu noble in the Third Era who hated that House Hlaalu is friendly to the Empire, so he started his own faction.
I would have a different headcanon, based on all the arguments I have enumerated: House Sadras is House Hlaalu, under a new name. As Grasping Fortune points it out: “When you see a chance to turn a profit, take it. But do not follow money blindly. There is value in reputation, more than many young Hlaalu realize.” It is possible that the Hlaalu realized that the “Hlaalu” name is no longer reputable among the Dunmer due to the former collaboration with the Empire, so they just changed it to Sadras, in order to remain powerful and wealthy, and saved most of their members and wealth, by making them join this new House, while a few stubborn ones continued to bear the “Hlaalu” name and “die for the sins” of the whole faction. Sounds far-fetched? Don’t forget that we are discussing a House which is so opportunistic that they were ready to collaborate with the Empire as well. Also, they are businessmen. (and mer) Real life companies do that all the time, if the reputation of their current name is stained. Take the private military company named Academi, for example. They are the same guys as the infamous Blackwater Company. (Yes, the one that allegedly committed war crimes in Iraq.) When Bayer bought Monsanto, the most hated company of the world, they also decided that instead of staying separate entities, the two companies would merge and run under the “Bayer” name.
But is this also possible in Morrowind? According to the scholar of Morrowind history, Hapshat Antabolis, yes. Hapshat Antabolis is a Blades informant who provides information on House Dagoth to the Nerevarine in Morrowind. According to his notes: “Many of House Dagoth died defending the House; those survivors who were faithful to the Great Council were redistributed among the other houses.” Therefore, when House Dagoth was exterminated, some members were offered the opportunity to join another Great House and survive.
What if something similar happened in the Fourth Era? Maybe the Hlaalu nobility realized that the Empire is going to leave, and that they cannot get away with their collaboration as Hlaalu? Some obscure member (similarly to the story of Team Welsh Wizards) started a new House under the name of House Sadras, a House with a similar profile as House Hlaalu, but utterly hostile towards the Empire. The members of House Hlaalu slowly started to apply for membership, besides a few stubborn ones. When it was time for the other Houses to make a move against House Hlaalu, they could disgrace them, because they were even less powerful than all the other Houses that suffered more than them during the Oblivion Crisis, the Red Year, the Argonian Invasion and the religious crisis following the fall of the Tribunal. Most of their wealth and membership was saved to this new House Sadras. This could solve the riddle of the most powerful, and cunning House suddenly being disgraced, and an obscure little House taking their place. From a Hlaalu’s perspective, what’s wrong with giving up one’s name for survival and more importantly: profit? As Grasping Fortune points it out: “In the great wind of progress, tradition cannot stand.”