House Hlaalu, the Cammona Tong, and the Ideological Underpinnings of the Great Houses of Vvardenfell

Recently, I was ruminating on Morrowind when I was struck, not for the first time, by the apparent lunacy of what must be the strangest dichotomy in Tamrielic history: the Brothers Dren, and their respective leadership positions in the Imperial-backed House Hlaalu and the radically anti-Imperial Cammona Tong.

That isn’t the strange part, though. Fraternal arch-rivalry is a common enough tendency. No, the strange thing is how symbiotic they are. The Tong is centered in the Hlaalu-controlled Ascadian Isles (and keeps large slave plantations in said territory), and has huge holdings in the wilderness of the Bitter Coast, also nominally Hlaalu. More directly, Orvas Dren controls a handful of Hlaalu Councilors as hid puppets, seemingly without pursuing any anti-Imperial lobbying efforts with the influence they provide. This isn’t to say that House Hlaalu and the Camonna Tong don’t butt heads: Ralen Hlaalo’s murder proves that they have no problem with acts of crime and retribution against one another’s members.

Of course, there is an explanation that perfectly, albeit boringly and a bit too conveniently, explains the Camonna Tong’s behavior, if not Hlaalu’s. Orvas Dren’s alliance with Dagoth Ur cannot be overlooked. Cammona Tong smuggling routes are likely an invaluable asset to the Sixth House’s distribution of its Ash Sculptures across the island. If Orvas believed that he could bring about his ultimate goal of an independent Morrowind while superficially abiding by Hlaalu law and order, he could easily maintain calm among his ranks in the face of widespread Outlander colonization.

But of course, that doesn’t explain Duke Vedam’s indifference. Perhaps he is simply corrupt, or genuinely politically powerless to challenge his brother. God knows Hlaalu is just as rotten.

Which gets to my broader point. The House Hlaalu and the Cammona Tong are so intertwined because they are so alike – the former seeking power and wealth through political patronage, the latter through criminal enterprise. And, as anyone who pays attention to their local politics knows, it can often be disturbingly hard to tell the difference.

I’ve heard it remarked here that Morrowind is a philosophical meditation of the archetypes of the Thief, the Warrior, and the Mage, though I believe that quote was in reference to the Tribunal. I would posit that this holds true for the Great Houses as well:

With Hlaalu and its double, the Cammona Tong, we have the intimate duality of archetypal politicians and archetypal criminals. Kindred in spirit and in blood; it doesn’t get more obvious than the merchant prince and the criminal kingpin being twins.

Redoran is a commentary on conservative notions of honor and genuine moral virtue as absolute dogma in politics, which on Vvardenfell is a zero-sum game. For all their gleaming knights and admirable nobleness, they occupy a shrinking, ash-blasted wasteland, their more fruitful holdings picked apart by the cunning machinations of the Hlaalu, who are far too greedy to pay any heed to what is right. Redoran are weak because they try too hard to be good, too often.

Telvanni, of course, is a clear deconstruction of radical libertarianism: when unchecked ambition is celebrated, and the only meaningful restrictions are the wills of the strongest, you get a handful of insane megalomaniacs torturing and enslaving their subjects at whim.

The Great Houses are each fundamentally broken, but that is not to say their underlying philosophies are invalid.

Crucially, and this is the most important thematic achievement the House portrayal achieves, each one of the three offers a reasonable subversion of the extreme norm – cunning Crassius, noble Sarethi, inspired Aryon. Unlike their patron organizations, they are the models of everything admirable about their respective philosophies and associated arenas; pragmatism and business, conservatism and the military, and libertarianism and science (which in TES is synonymous with magic). Morrowind is never polemic. Even crime, with the Bal Molagmer, can be virtuous. Religion can be oppressive but also nurturing and comforting.