The Black Star (Aranea or Nelacar)

[Zales]

It's been a long while since I started this quest so I remember nothing about the 2 choices. I have looked up what the advantages of both giving the star to Aranea or Nelacar are, and it seems that Nelacar is the way to go. However, I do not know which one is the good and which is the bad ending for the quest.

So my question is, which one gives the good ending, Aranea it Nelacar?

[MysticMalevolence]

Neither of them are necessarily good or bad. If it's about rewards--returning to Aranea will give you an infinitely durable grand soul gem, while giving it to Nelacar will give you an infinitely durable black soul gem.

In terms of morality/character choices... well, Azura, while a daedra, is widely viewed as neutral or even benevolent rather than evil. Her domain is dusk and dawn, so, nothing malicious there, and in Daggerfall her followers were literally just her lovers. On the other hand, she did cause Malyn Varen to go mad and start killing people, though I expect he would have done the same without her influence if it meant corrupting the star.

Nelacar, on the other hand, is a dangerous wizard that is willing to manipulate divine artifacts for personal gain. While his research and work might come from genuinely virtuous reasoning, he's dealing with matters that he really shouldn't.

I'd say it boils down to what your character is. Are they a power-hungry breton battlemage? If so, they would probably help Nelacar for their own gain. A aedra-serving imperial paladin? Nelacar, to spite the daedra. If they're bosmer they might help Nelacar because Azura is held in high regard by the khajiit.
Conversely, a khajiit would likely help Aranea because they hold Azura in such high regard--their mythos holds thta she created them. A dunmer would also likely help Aranea, for the same reason.