#witch!corvo

[russianyoshkinaneko]

Corvo chose Ghost-NoKill run lmao

[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

[caimdrakengard]

one of my most solid pieces of evidence of daud being short is an inmate calling him 'little man' in coldridge prison

[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??

[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

[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.

[nightlilly0110]

Running list of theories in Dunwall Tower as to who “the mystery twink” is, as created by The Watch:

Someone from Pandyssia (and it turns out Pandyssians are just Like That)

Sister of the Oracular Order with the gift of prophecy that’s disguised as a man and that’s why “he’s” Like That

Sister of the Oracular Order with the gift of prophecy that transitioned into a man and that’s why he’s Like That

Some guy who got in here somehow and no one knows how to get him to leave

A prostitute that’s somehow secured a government position (seriously what does this guy even do other than annoy people and look pretty)

The actual Royal Spymaster (“Lord Corvo is the Spymaster.” “That’s just what they want you to think.”)

A dog taken human form

A curse placed upon Lord Corvo specifically

A curse placed upon Sokolov specifically (most likely by Piero)

A ghost

An actual noble from Tyvia like Lord Corvo said he was (unlikely)

Another of Lord Corvo’s bastard kids (not to insinuate that Empress Emily The Wise, First of Her Name, is in any way a bastard)

Wyman (has anyone seen them in the same room together, honestly)

Collective hallucination caused by the remnants of the plague

The Empress’ boytoy (this is just Wyman again)

Lord Corvo’s boytoy (“It’s not a theory if they’re actually sleeping together.” “Which just means my theory is correct.”)

Brigmore witch???? Maybe????

Masked Felon???? Maybe????

The Outsider (“Are you fucking stupid?”)

[tossawary]

I may never get over the parallels between Emily Kaldwin and the Outsider in the Dishonored series, specifically the parallels created/revealed by Daud's games (The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches) and Billie Lurk's game (Death of the Outsider). (Spoilers for the entire series if you haven't played the main games and companion games.)

The Outsider claims at one point that he doesn't play favorites. I think he's a fucking liar. Because in The Knife of Dunwall, he sets the story off by giving Daud a name, Delilah. He did not have to do that, just as he didn't have to give his Mark to any of the people he gave it to. He is constantly putting his hand on the scales.

Moving simultaneously to the events of Dishonored, Delilah was going to possess Emily and NO ONE saw her coming. She had everything ready in secret. She was going to win.

(Side note: I think Delilah originally developed this plan because she wanted to possess Jessamine, but her half-sister's death at Daud's hands caused Delilah to scrap whatever painting she'd originally been working on. And no one would have foreseen THAT coming either. Nightmare scenario AU for Corvo Attano.)

Corvo, Emily, and the conspirators of Dishonored didn't even know that Delilah Copperspoon existed. A guilt-stricken Daud sliding in at the last moment is the ONLY reason that Delilah didn't succeed in taking over Dunwall in Dishonored instead of Dishonored 2. And Daud only caught the impending murder of a second Empress because the Outsider gave Delilah's name to him directly.

The Outsider's favor came down on the side of Corvo and Daud, rather than Delilah, even before Delilah started doing weird shit to the Void and he took offense. Or rather: the Outsider came down on Emily's side, even before potentially Marking her. And... why?

In Death of the Outsider, it is revealed to Billie Lurk that the Outsider used to be an ordinary person. He is not infallible. He is not objective. He knows a lot, but he's probably not actually fully omniscient. An ancient cult took an ordinary young man, slit his throat, and turned him into a god against his will. And the theming surrounding eyes is not in the least bit subtle.

The vibe that I personally got while playing Death of the Outsider (interpreting only from the canon of the games, rather than any additional material) is that the Eyeless cult greedily looked upon the incredible but unpredictable power of the Void, then they made a human sacrifice and gave it a face, so that they could look upon the new avatar of its power without going insane. (At least, without going insane nearly so quickly.) They turned a person into a focus, a lens, in the hope that they could use him like a corpse puppet for their own ambitions and become powerful through him.

But the Outsider has never cooperated. Personally, I don't think that he has much power of his own, honestly, at least by what he's shown doing in the games. I think that he can only really act as a focusing lens, a pathway, through which other people can touch and use the Void. All he can really do is offer people the Mark, the ability to use him, and then watch them go. (The Heart, he manipulated Piero Joplin to make, I think. I don't know where he got the Time Piece, but I assume it was made in a similar way, taking advantage of the Crack In The Slab that Delilah made. When he "took" Billie's eye and arm in Death of the Outsider, it was only because he opened a connection to the Void in Billie Lurk that was already there.)

I think he can probably use this to make people go insane, obliterating their minds by opening the lens to the Void too far, but... I think there's a vulnerability to him making connections, temporary or permanent ones. It can be dangerous for him. In Dishonored 2, when Delilah is doing whatever she's doing with the Void, the Outsider says, "Delilah is a part of me now. And I don't like it." Delilah appears to use her own Mark to reach out to Corvo or Emily's Mark, so that she can talk to them in the Void, and she's probably doing it by reaching through the Outsider somehow.

I don't think that the Outsider can control what powers his Marked get from the Void or how deeply they reach into it (thank you, game mechanics of giving different characters different powers), which is possibly what he meant when he said that he didn't play favorites. Once he gives them access to the lens into the Void, I don't think that he can take it away or control it, only give his Marked the cold shoulder and stop talking to them. (His role in Dishonored is definitely to give you cool powers and then step back so that you can do your thing.) The game mechanic of collecting runes to increase powers suggests that it's up to the Marked to improve their powers and practice them. (See... everything with Granny Rags.)

The Outsider in Dishonored 2 struck me as... kind of helpless in some ways, confirmed by Death of the Outsider. When Billie Lurk finally finds his body in the Void, there's no fight. He can't do anything to defend himself. (I don't think he wants to defend himself.)

Somewhere in The Brigmore Witches, the Outsider says something about Delilah looking out through Emily's eyes. Emily is in some ways the avatar of Dunwall. She's the focus point of imperial power, the figure supporting the mythology of royal right and privilege, the legal means through which people can seize social, military, economic, etc. control. The Royal Spymaster tried to use Emily. The conspirators tried to use her too. And Delilah tried to trap her own niece in (I think I'm paraphrasing something else that the Outsider says) an invisible prison, screaming inside her own head while someone else takes control, to take this power for herself.

Delilah tries to do to a little girl what the Eyeless cult tried to do to the Outsider. And I think the Outsider went, "Hm, don't like that."

So, the Outsider gives a would-be Empress's name to the man who just killed the last one and is desperate for a release from guilt, even if that means covering up blood with more blood. He gives Delilah's name to DAUD, an assassin, the fucking Knife of Dunwall.

(Or maybe the Outsider could foresee the chaotic wreck that Delilah was going to make of Dunwall, when it turns out that her schemes don't "fix" everything for her like her fantasies, like she does in Dishonored 2. And the Outsider decided that Delilah's future was just too boring to let happen. That's also possible.)

And sure, Delilah comes back years later in Dishonored 2, more powerful than ever, semi-immortal, pushing back against the Outsider within the Void itself, and no one saw her coming this time either. Possibly not even the Outsider. (When the Outsider makes fun of Corvo for not seeing Delilah coming, for losing another Empress, for not stopping to talk to Daud so that Daud could warn Corvo about her, it can read as a genuine admonishment of sorts. I think the Outsider is honestly frustrated.) But if the Outsider hadn't decided to play favorites in the background of Dishonored, if he hadn't decided to set Daud on her, then Delilah would have won before anyone even knew that she was playing the game.

[loreiiiiiiiii]

I'm playing dishonored 2 again and there's a neat little contrast between it and the first game I think isn't really talked about enough.

You are *never* the underdog in dishonored one. Aside from the first level, where you have to break out of prison, there is never a point in the game where your enemies actually pose a threat to you. No matter their resources, your enemies are just mortal men. You can visit unholy void-wrath upon them with impunity and they can do absolutely nothing about it. Even the whalers, the only faction who come close to matching Corvo's powers, only have a fraction of the magic you have at your disposal. This is part of what makes the chaos system work so well imo. No one poses a threat to you. That's why the game judges you so harshly for every life taken- you *never* need to take a life in Dishonored 1.

Not as such in two. Your enemies are not just mortal men in dishonored 2. Your first target, the crown killer has some jekyll-hydesque get up that gives her strength beyond even the void marked. Kirin Jindosh's clockwork soldiers are often encountered in enclosed spaces, making them much harder to evade- as opposed to the tallboys, who are almost always in open spaces and very easy to avoid. Delilah's witches are far more formidable than Daud's whalers- and Delilah herself *takes a sword to the heart and shrugs it off in the opening cutscene.* Unlike in the first game, you ARE the underdog in the second game. Especially if you choose to play the game with no powers.

Idk I just think it's neat

[dedecorus]

Daud - born to have the Outsider’s mark. His mother was a witch. He was abducted at a young age and made his way to Dunwall, where he quickly made a living as a pickpocket. He carved his own path, sought out the Outsider’s shrines, and even went to the Academy for a short time, actively seeking knowledge on the occult. Got the attention of the Outsider at the age of 25, by himself and not through circumstance. But, once he got the mark, what he did with it was mundane. Boring. The Outsider quickly lost interest.

Corvo - his life after winning the Blade Verbena was almost on rails, and he had little agency. Powerful people used him as a pawn for their own benefit, and he entered into an inevitable situation where he had no choice but to serve the crown. The Outsider takes notice after the coup, once he’s escaped from Coldridge as a pawn in other people’s games yet again. But, once he gets the mark, he forges his own path, to the surprise and often delight of the Outsider.

Both Daud and the Outsider react in a similar way to Corvo's choices in low chaos. A kind of awed surprise. How many people must the Outsider have given his mark to? And how many, like Daud, used it for petty, uninspired personal gain? The Outsider's reaction to Corvo's choices indicates he hasn't seen them often.

Daud, when confronted with Corvo, and all he has done (and deliberately chosen not to do), has a complete identity crisis. Daud sees all he's done with his life, and with the mark, for what it really is. "But what have I accomplished? More than you, or much less?"

[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

[starlaindisguise]

my OC, Peony 🌸

Her full name is Penelope Bridger-Corvo, but her partner Ruth gave her the nickname Peony !! She cherishes that name, because to her, it represents the beauty and romance and love that she never believed she could have or be, before she met the one who sees her for all of her delicate blooming light. She finally feels all of the things that the flower represents, and so she always buys them as a reminder that she is worth it. After a lifetime of feeling alone and helpless, she has to really tell herself that.

(More yapping under cut)

Peony was born into a crime family that sold a substance by the name of witch’s breath. The substance, when taken, would not only give a sense of levity, but grant powers, similar to the ones given out by the Empire to their military. For many vulnerable people in poorer areas of the continent, witch’s breath was their only line of defense against potential violence. The Corvos saw this as an opportunity to manipulate their way into a place of extreme success. Peony was raised to be just like her parents, with the same cunning and facetious smiles that could force people into dependence on their product. But she never felt good doing it, and when she would object, she was met with extreme cruelty. She would act out at school in order to cry for attention, but many people found her annoying or scary, so she had no social connection outside of her family.

Once she grew older, in an effort to change things, she asked her parents if she can go to school to become a therapist to help people who the Corvos might prey on. This action resulted in 18-year-old Peony being kicked out of her home and being wiped from her family history. With nothing but abandonment issues and a set of morally compromising survival skills, she becomes jaded and buries her soft side. After all, the only thing it has gotten her is crushing loneliness. She begins to steal from other people in order to make ends meet and takes up a terrible janitor job that she hates more than anything in the world. But one day, on one of her midnight robberies, she meets a struggling craftsman whose ideas were too big for his family, and is trying to follow his passion completely alone. The two understood each other immediately, both abandoned by the world. Except the craftsman still had hope that one day, he might be able to prove them wrong. They fell head over heels for each other. Despite some inconveniences (the crafstman tries to swindle Peony, Peony tries to steal from the crafstman) that cut their first meeting short, after that night, they want nothing but to spend time with the other, even if it’s just cruel banter over money. They at least want to have the other’s name. They meet weeks later in the same spot, and, much more calmly, they introduce themselves. The craftsman’s name is Ruth.

Peony and Ruth end up dating and marry two years later, and are all the happier because of it. They are very Strawberry Blond - Mitski … 🪶🌸

If you’re reading this, thank you so much for seeing me talk about my girl. It’s been years since I’ve thought about this story, but recently they’ve been getting a much needed rework. I guess this is the world’s informal introduction to The Rhinestone Code. Hope you enjoy ⭐️