#witch!corvo

[robynator]

obsessed with how daud canonically chooses to forgive billie when she gives him the choice between killing her and showing her mercy after she betrays him

obsessed with how just a few months later, daud does the same, placing his life in the hands of a man whose life he completely ruined, asking to be spared and, against all odds, walking away from that encounter alive

obsessed with the alternatives you're given to those options as well

how, if you choose to kill billie in low chaos she helps you guide the blade. how she looks up at you and smiles as you stab her. how you hold her hand as she dies and don't let go even after she's gone

how, in high chaos, you just don't get that choice. her death is brutal, just like all the other deaths at your hand. like she said, what's one more body? but she's not just one more body. she's your second in command, your confidant, the closest thing you have to a daughter. you don't kill her with the same detachment you do for everyone else. you don't simply pull her onto your blade, you grab her by the throat as you stab her. it's brutal and it's personal, and that makes it so much worse

how, if you end brigmore witches with high chaos, corvo will kill you because you are not true to your word. you say that you feel remorse over jessamine's murder and yet your actions speak otherwise. you are not sincere in your words and while corvo may not know that, the game does. and it's telling you that that's the only way it could end. that if daud goes down that path he will not ever better his ways, nor will he be given the chance to. the only way daud can live is if he is actually committed to change

but despite all those options, in canon, daud gives billie the chance to leave and make a new life for herself. and corvo does the same for daud. and that is a parallel i think a lot about

[russianyoshkinaneko]

Corvo chose Ghost-NoKill run lmao

[dinoserious]

wolfcatcher royal

[nevermindigotthis]

I think there should be a Dishonored TV show.

Imagine this: The Series follows several POV characters: Corvo (duh, probably in a low chaos run with some deaths), Emily (duh, little girl and the horrible no good very bad day, we see how she deals with the conspiracy and it can give some background on the villains), Daud (big regrets, has his whole Delilah story which, for TV reasons, happens at the same time as Corvo's revenge plot so the series can cut between them), and lastly Billie (lovestory with Delilah, betrayal of Daud, mercy in the end)

There can be amazing parallels between Corvo's low chaos revenge and Daud's quest for redemption, with a tense confrontation in Episode 8/9. Delilah as this secret foil that Corvo doesn't even know about, for dramatic purposes Daud has to defeat her in the last episode, so there can be a moment where the audience doesn't quite know if the Emily Corvo just rescued is still Emily. (For dramatic purposes this also needs to be the high chaos ending where Emily almost falls to her death, even though we're in mostly low chaos)

The Series (rough draft):

Episode 1: Corvo returns from his trip. Jess is murdered, Emily abducted. Title Screen. 6 months later. Corvo is being tortured in Coldridge. Daud is depressed and guiltridden. Billie is unimpressed. Episode ends with Corvo breaking out of Coldridge.

Episode 2: Corvo meets the Loyalists. Daud meets the Outsider who gives him the name "Delilah". Also he turns down contracts. Billie expresses her disapproval (again) and leaves the hideout to cool off. Emily is being held captive by the Pendletons who are being creepy and she tries to find a way out. Corvo gains the Mark of the Outsider and the Heart.

Episode 3: Corvo goes after Campbell, rescuing Martin along the way. Daud starts investigating (slaughterhouse). Billie is angry and leaves the hideout, meeting up with a lover who is afterwards revealed to be Delilah (her first appearance). Emily almost gets away from her captors, but is caught at the last second.

Episode 4: Corvo goes to the Golden Cat to rescue Emily. Daud investigates the Timshs. Billie scemes with Delilah to overthrow Daud. Episode ends with Corvo reuniting with Emily.

Episode 5: The Whaler hideout is overrun by Overseers. Billie reveals her betrayal, fights Daud and escapes. Corvo has a nice bonding moment with Emily. Corvo kidnaps Sokolov. Emily talks with the loyalists and gets the vibes that something is not right here.

Episode 6: The Boyle's party. Corvo identifies the right Boyle Lady and deals with her. Billie returns to Delilah who comforts her about having failed to kill Daud. Daud recovers from her betrayal. Emily has nightmares about Corvo dying.

Episode 7: Corvo goes to dispatch Burrows. Emily listens in on the Loyalists and their plans. Daud goes looking for a boat, and then for Lizzy Stride. Delilah reveals the beginning of her painting to Billie. Corvo returns to the Hounds Pit Pub and Emily tries to warn him, but is held back and locked in her room. Corvo is poisoned, Episode ends on him passing out.

Episode 8: Samuel drops Corvo in the Flooded District. Daud returns and finds Corvo. Emily is angry and ready to throw hands with the "loyalists", gets threatened. Bille and Delilah prepare for the ritual, Delilah tells Billie that afterwards she can go and kill Daud for real this time. Corvo wakes up and confronts Daud. They duel, Daud loses, asks for his life, Corvo doesn't say anything, but doesn't kill him. Corvo returns to the Pub.

Episode 9: Emily feels all alone in a cruel world, believing Corvo to be dead. Corvo and Daud both prepare for their final missions in a cool montage. Corvo infiltrates the Fort/Lighthouse and deals with Pendleton and Martin. Daud arrives at Brigmore manor, infiltrates it and finds the entrance to the void. Corvo goes on to search for Emily, her room is empty. Daud talks to the Outsider and confronts Billie and Delilah. Corvo finds Emily and Havelock. Daud fights Billie while Delilah (almost) completes her ritual. Corvo shoots Havelock and catches Emily. Daud injures Billie and goes to stop Delilah, bright flash of light. Emily looks up at Corvo with a strange smile. Delilah has vanished. Daud asks Billie if she's done it. Billie is angry as Delilah is gone, but has a heart to heart with Daud where they leave on relatively okay terms. Daud breathes a sigh of relief. Emily smiles and hugs Corvo, it's clear that she's still herself. Epilogue narration that everything turned out fine. End credit scene of Delilah very angry, but also very alive, in the Void.

Why 9 episodes, you ask? Well because I was trying for 10 but my planning which I came up with just now only wanted 9. 8 or 10 would make more sense from a TV standpoint though. I just think this would be such a cool series...

[bellonathedragonborn]

FINALLY posting my oldish Daud DLC pics.

It’s so jarring fighting Corvo. Since this was a low chaos run I was able to defeat him in the dream.

I wish we could see more of the Gristol countryside instead of Dunwall in both games. Reminds me of Fable 2-3.

On a more serious note. After playing these DLCs finally I can understand now why people didn’t like how Daud was handled in Death of the Outsider.

Like in the canon ending of these DLCs he owns up that IT WAS HIS FAULT he became an assassin. Only for DOTO to have him lapse and blame the Outsider for it all. Like?? Why??

[no-light-left-on]

I often wonder about the quote-unquote logistics of Corvo the Black/Emily the Butcher endings. Emily makes more sense to me, in a way, carving her way through the empire only to come back with blood caked under her fingernails and realising that she did everything her father refused to do 15 years ago. but why did Corvo have a similar choice?

what happens to the statues later? does Emily keep her father trapped in stone? does Corvo look at his daughter, frozen in the moment and considers freeing her? is he at his deathbed when he finally reaches out and cups Emily's cheek, freeing her into a carcass of an empire that he gutted for her, in her name, in the name of her mother?

when I first heard of the endings I thought that if you reach very high chaos, you are locked into this choice - Corvo or Emily tries to free the other and the stone just doesn't budge. they are trapped. the quest is over but the world knows that the bloodshed was extreme and this is the punishment they have to face

[kaldwinkarnaca]

Brigmore manor interior

[bronanlynch]

dreamt that they were making a dishonored tv show and I was watching the trailer for it and inexplicably samot from friends at the table was in the trailer so I tweeted "hey how are we all feeling abt samot" without any additional context bc obviously I was assuming that every single person on fatt twitter would have watched the trailer for the dishonored tv show only to realize that I was dreaming and had just tweeted "hey how are we all feeling abt samot" completely unprompted. and then I woke up for real and realized that I had not even actually done that however I stand by the sentiment. good morning how are we all feeling abt samot

[presiding]

hope i'm still allowed to make these but yeah new chapter of the contract up for my fellow high chaos corvo enthusiasts

[auntie-histamine]

HELP MY NEW PHONE AUTOMATICALLY IDENTIFIES CATS AS KITTIES

I'M CRYING THIS IS SO CUTE

[aleksikesa]

I was watching the new mind palace clip remedy posted today and one of the shots that focused on Saga’s case board showed these two notes that look like excerpts from Alan’s manuscripts

Excerpt 1: She squinted to read […] the smudged line on the heart. The second part recited from memory […] “I brought you the heart, witch. Show me the terror.”

Excerpt 2: Witch’s ladle. Towering over Saga. Watching her and the witch. Nightingale’s heart, a cold dead lump in her hand.

Idk who (or what) the witch is but apparently this heart is Nightingale’s and it has some writing tattooed on it which is originally smudged/illegible but eventually becomes readable by Saga maybe after a ritual (?)

Much to think about.

[deathlonging]

pretty universal consensus seems to be on the vast improvement of billie's presence and commentary in kod which is why much as i love her it is incredibly important 2 me that she tries to kill daud at the end of it and then fucks off. the outsider asked can you haunt the narrative if youre still alive and she says watch me !

[capthenpc]

There's always a little more innocence left to lose

During the Steam Winter Sale this past year, I purchased the Arcane publisher bundle that included all of the Dishonored games. I hadn't played the first game in many years so I thought this would be a great opportunity to jump back in and relive those memories that I held so dear. At the time of purchase I also never dove into the DLC for the first game OR played the sequel and following standalone DLC so this was something that I was very excited to do all back-to-back.

These are my thoughts. (there will be spoilers)

Dishonored + DLC: I've played through Dishonored multiple times before on Xbox360 so I'll keep this bit short since playing it again on PC didn't change any of my initial thoughts. It's one of those games that I've held very high on my all-time list since it came out a decade ago. It's the perfect blend of gothic horror and steampunk without it being over the top or basic in its execution. The stealth elements are still some of the best I've seen to date, and how chaos affects the story and gameplay were just as interesting today as they were years ago. For this playthrough I chose High Chaos and it was so incredibly fun.

After I finished the main story I moved onto the DLC for the first time and let me tell you..it was some of the most interesting concepts I've seen in a game. The DLC takes place during the events of the mainline story, but from the POV of Daud, one of the previous antagonists. The whole thing feels like you're a mob boss in charge of this giant network of underground assassins that carry out jobs for people. Every detail is incredible right down to how you can pay your soldiers to do certain things to make the levels easier. I especially love the exploration of Daud and Billie's relationship. My headcanon is that they were forbidden lovers, which to me makes that ending so much more impactful. After playing through the second DLC involving Delilah I wish the mainline story had more to do with the witches. It was such a nice change of pace fighting spiritual beings that could actually put up a fight instead of just guards with swords.

Dishonored 2: Right off the bat it's tone is immediately dark and gloomy. I had somehow missed all spoilers for this game because I didn't think it was possible to even play as Corvo until 4 hours into the game. I'm thankful for that, though because I would choose to play as Emily every time over Corvo. No offense. Something else I didn't expect was Delilah making a return as the main antagonist, claiming to be Emily's aunt - her mother's half-sister. Corvo is frozen and you're quickly launched into a high-stakes escape mission from your own home.

It's apparent throughout the game that the dev team had a lot more resources and time to work on the fine-tuning of the environments because multiple times during this first playthrough I've stopped to admire them. There's so much life in these levels, both indoor and out. The NPC's roaming around doing jobs and talking to each other, the accessible interiors of apartment buildings and local shops that you can explore that all feel different and lived-in, the different regions blocked off for certain factions each with their own personalities and motives.. It's all designed with so much care.

There's a level that has these giant wind turbines that supply the surrounding city with power and before they wind up there's a deep screech that's reminiscent of the War of the Worlds alien tripods that genuinely scared me the first time I heard it. Once they're spinning, wind storms coat the area making it hard to see. It's so cool seeing it all happen in real-time and watching how NPC's react to it. It all adds to the world building and makes you feel like you're actually existing in this world.

At this point in the game, I've put in about 8-9 hours and got to a part of the story where things take a bit of a turn. I enter a vault to find a destroyed mansion in complete shambles - most of it inaccessible due to structural damage or blocked off by hives.(yes, there are a lot of bugs). You make your way through the rubble and have an encounter with the Outsider who gives you a time piece and basically says "have fun!" before leaving. You've now been given a tool to TIME TRAVEL!

Now, when I tell you this section was one of the most fun and interesting I've experienced in a video game EVER.. I could not believe it was real. It's done in such a faithful and artistic way. It's not just a gimmick thrown in there, it's actually so cool and makes sense given the lore and what's possible in the universe.

In present-day you're in the destroyed mansion having to deal with structural damage, bugs and witch-zombies...and in the past you're dealing with armed guards and having to navigate around mansion crew. Balancing the two simultaneously was both challenging and so thrilling. It's made even better that you can view the other side with the time piece the Outsider gave you. Flipping open the lens shows you a LIVE view of your surroundings in the other world so you can see if it's safe to jump back or forward. How I didn't get spoiled for this section is beyond me. I could talk about A Crack in the Slab for hours, but let's continue onward..

The next level that caught my eye was the Conservatory, where the witches are heavily present. It's the first level in the game that I genuinely felt a sense of horror, in a good way. I love that each level is an entirely new and different region with its own set of enemies. It's such a stark difference between D1 and D2. I didn't feel like there was any enemy variety in D1 at all and it suffered because of it. Also want to note that the clockwork soldiers are absolutely terrifying. Easy to take down, but....terrifying.

The remaining few levels stay pretty consistent in terms of overall depth and feel. Since I chose High Chaos again for this playthrough this is where you start to really see those decisions come back to bite you. The whole vibe of the world becomes more dark and less-forgiving. The dialog with NPC's is a lot gloomier and people start to bark back at you when you approach, insinuating that they disagree with your methods. I remember wishing there were more consequences in D1 for High Chaos, but I digress. The last mission before the big end fight you discover that Meagan, the woman helping you the entire time is actually Billie, the woman who shadowed Daud in the D1 DLC. I thought that was an incredible twist, especially because she helped Daud assassinate Emily's mother(the then Empress..) in the first game. The entire game you're like "who is this woman? How did they lose their arm and eye? What's their story?" and then they throw that at you. It's so well done and really adds to the gravity of it all.. She disappears before your descent to Dunwall where you confront Delilah on the throne.

This last level felt like a graduation ceremony. Walking through the streets of Dunwall as the woman I'd become, after all the death and carnage I'd created..it was eerie, yet deserving. Bodies everywhere, some hanging beside the streets as trophies. Before entering the castle I found an Overseer that was still alive and before I left them they said quite possibly the sickest/most poetic burn I've heard in a long time: "At death's door I smell the corruption of the Void upon you. A heretic against a heretic. Laughable. The world is doomed." Onward to the castle..

I didn't realize it at first, but when you travel up the winding road to the main entrance you actually return to the exact spot where the beginning of D1 was, the gazebo. There, sitting where the Empress stood is a grave in her honor. I love this little detail because it further-exemplifies the theme of this Grand Return..closing the story where it all started. A great way to end this amazing story before a battle to the death ensues.

The fight against Delilah itself was a little challenging to me and a key component to the fight was hidden behind a certain wording that I didn't immediately understand, resulting in me getting frustrated. I also jumped the gun and placed an item too early while also getting hit during the following mini cutscene so I softlocked myself. It's unfortunate that this last bit of the game was probably the least exciting and broken part of it all.. A sour way to go out, but expected for a video game boss fight to be honest. The game as a whole left me feeling extremely happy and legitimately in awe that I'd gone this long without ever touching it. With how much I loved Dishonored when it came out a decade ago this should have been a day 1 purchase for me, but like all things there're multiple factors. I'm putting this game down knowing that I'll play it again and again for years to come and I'm so excited to see what other ways I can play. I may do a full-stealth playthrough next as Corvo. We'll see!

Death of the Outsider Standalone DLC: With how Dishonored 2 ended, I was glad to see Billie got their own standalone story. I was even more glad to see that this DLC was essentially just a reskin of D2 - same as the way the DLC was for D1. Jumping in right after the last game was the best way to do it as it just felt like the same game entirely. I've been sort of struggling to come up with the words for how I feel about this DLC for a few reasons, the biggest being that it's not really grabbing my attention as much as the last two games. It's felt like a very limited version of D2 and I think had I started off with powers or with a more-engaging story to follow I'd have been better off. That's not to say during the 4 hours I've put in so far that I've not been enjoying myself, either! I just feel like in the first few hours I haven't felt as immersed into the story as I maybe hoped I would. I do appreciate how right from the jump they mention that Billie had a queer lover named Deirdre. It's actually mentioned multiple times in the first few missions and I just think that's incredible. I also appreciate how once again we're playing as a new character so obviously the moveset/abilities had to change. You go from playing as Corvo, then Daud, then Emily and now finally Billie - ALL of them play and feel different. Moving on to the levels and gameplay, I got to a part where you're in this little district called Cyria after getting your powers for the first time and basically told to have at it! I love the design of it; it's vertical and has lots of interiors to explore. My favorite thing, however, was the bounty board in the black market shop. I can't recall whether or not D2 had a similar mechanic, but if it did I never explored it. I was ecstatic to find new ways of going about fulfilling jobs (and getting paid!). It's one of the reasons I love the Hitman series so much. Give me a target and a specific way they have to perish and I'll spend 3 hours creating a route. I hope if Arcane ever plan on making another installment in the series they'll adopt Hitman's contracts system. The next mission was a huge bank heist that takes place in Cyria, but with heightened security surrounding the area. Getting into the bank was mostly no trouble, especially because the game gives you multiple interesting ways in. I chose the method of dropping a sedative gas through the vents that knocked everyone out inside. There were still clockwork soldiers roaming around and electrical security equipment all over the place that made it difficult tho. This mission was probably my favorite so far in this DLC. We're nearing the end with the final two levels, one of them being a return to the Conservatory from D2. It was really cool to be back here as the first time I was here I really enjoyed it. This time, however the place is crawling with Overseers instead of witches and it acts like more of a stealth mission than the one before. Once we got what we needed from the Conservatory we headed to the last mission in the game, the Quarry where the entrance to the Void is located. This was the first time in the game where I sort of just said "fuck it" and bulldozed my way through, killing everyone and anything that moved. At this point in the playthrough I'll admit I was getting kind of tired so I wanted to finish it as quickly as I could. I know this affected my rating because when I reached the Outsider in the end I was only given one choice; Kill him. The ending area in the Void could have been a little more exciting and I feel like it was a little rushed and wasn't given the amount of care the rest of the DLC got. I still absolutely loved the environment - as soon as I got inside and saw the whale floating above I had this huge smile on my face. I do hope in possible future installments we see more from the other 3 people touched by the Outsider's mark, maybe set before his death. I wouldn't mind going back a bit to when Corvo was in his prime.

Final Thoughts: So that's it. The story wrapped up nicely in the end, although I don't really know where it could go from here considering the Outsider was basically the one giving out the powers to people and with him gone...there's no one else. I'm sure that's the reason we haven't gotten another installment since.. Nonetheless I'm extremely happy with the whole experience. I'm glad I finally played these games after thinking about it for so long. I can thankfully still say that Dishonored is one of the best games I've ever played and now I can say the sequel is right up there with it, especially with levels like A Crack in the Slab. All-in-all, this was a stellar game series and I can't recommend it enough. Honestly one of the best gaming experiences I've had in many years. I will refrain from giving it a rating as I don't have a solid/consistent system in-place for that. It's great tho. Play Dishonored.

[warlordfelwinter]

i want the outsider talking about the vice overseer and saying "protecting the good people of the empire from the likes of us" to be the first time corvo realizes he is kind of a witch

[no-light-left-on]

hi I am still not normal about how we never get much of an epilogue for Emily and Corvo in the second game we are told how the rule turned out and that Emily is the beloved empress now but nothing beyond that and I get that the entire game is very much built on that I get that the first game we have close relationship with Emily and become fond of the staff that work with the Loyalists so we feel alone because we do not quite see eye to eye with our allies and all we have left is this little innocent child that sees Corvo as someone who can do no wrong in this world which is strongly contrasted with the second game where Emily (or Corvo) has few trusted allies that they can actually rely on and it feels like a group of almost-friends working to dismantle the conspiracy but at the very end of it all Emily is all alone, even her return to the Tower is so much more grim, her taking down Delilah, the entirety of Dunwall- it all feels so incredibly and thoroughly isolating, she is all Alone now, and maybe that's why it bothers me so much to see the story end so abrupty.

it would've been so, so poetic if both the first and the second game ended with Corvo and Emily embracing

[kaldwinkarnaca]

Dunwall Tower