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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tropes_dishonored_278.jpg]]
2''[[caption-width-right:350:{{Revenge}} [[{{Tagline}} Solves Everything]]]]''
3
4%%NOTE TO EDITORS: Examples for the DLC packs "The Knife of Dunwall" and "The Brigmore Witches" go at the bottom of the page.
5%%
6
7-> ''"My dear Corvo. What a sad hand fate has dealt you. The beloved Empress dead and everyone thinks you're the killer. But we know what really happened, don't we? You don't want to end your life to the sound of idiots cheering as your head hits the muck, do you? Let's see if we can do ''better''."''
8-->-- '''The Outsider'''
9
10''[[http://www.dishonored.com/ Dishonored]]'' is a first-person stealth-based game[=/=]{{immersive sim}} developed by Creator/ArkaneStudios. It is the first entry in the [[Franchise/{{Dishonored}} eponymous series]]. It is set in an alternate world resembling {{Steampunk}} VictorianLondon, with gameplay resembling a mix of ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'', ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', ''VideoGame/BioShock'', and ''[[VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay]]'' with an artstyle done by ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'''s art director.
11
12You play as Corvo Attano, the bodyguard to the Empress of the Isles, who has just returned from a diplomatic mission to neighboring countries, seeking help in dealing with the city of Dunwall's ongoing epidemic of a deadly, rat-borne [[ThePlague plague]]. Unfortunately, the Empress is [[PlotTriggeringDeath killed by unidentified assassins]] at the [[YouCantThwartStageOne beginning of the game]], while Corvo is [[BodyguardBetrayal framed]] by the corrupt [[TheSpymaster Royal Spymaster]] [[BigBad Hiram Burrows]], who captures the Empress' young daughter Emily and [[TheUsurper installs himself as Lord Regent]]. Six months later, on the eve of Corvo's execution, a [[LaResistance group of loyalists]] opposing the new Lord Regent arranges for his escape, while a [[EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity mysterious being called "the Outsider"]] visits him in his dreams to grant Corvo supernatural powers. With his newfound freedom and powers, Corvo dons a horrific mask designed to strike terror into Lord Regent and his cronies and carves a [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge path of terror]] through Dunwall. His actions, whether [[KarmaMeter merciful or bloodthirsty]], will decide his path -- and the fate of all who live within the city.
13
14Released in North America on October 9, 2012 on PC, Platform/Xbox360 and Platform/Playstation3. The UK and Australian release dates were October 12 and 11, respectively. In 2016, as a prelude to the game's sequel, ''Dishonored: Definitive Edition'' an updated port on Platform/Playstation4 and Platform/XboxOne was released.
15
16Four pieces of DownloadableContent have been released:
17* ''Dunwall City Trials'' is a series of challenge missions in Normal and Hard mode, intended to challenge experienced players in every kind of gameplay. Released on December 11 for $4.99 (400 Microsoft points) in North America and on December 19 in Europe, it consists of 10 challenge maps/trials that test and track the player's combat, stealth and mobility skills, such as an arena battle against [=AI=] enemies, timed races, and a gravity-defying run of drop assassinations. The DLC features a new set of achievements/trophies and a global online leaderboard.
18* The next two [=DLCs=] form a two-part storyline focusing on Daud, the leader of the Empress' assassins, and tell AnotherSideAnotherStory that takes place between Corvo's escape from prison and his final confrontation with Daud. At six missions, the DLC is two thirds the size of the main game and contains a SequelHook for ''VideoGame/Dishonored2'':
19** ''The Knife of Dunwall'' opens as Daud's Whalers carry out what should have been a routine job: [[RashomonStyle subduing Corvo and killing the Empress]]. Six months later, Daud has had plenty of time to reflect on his actions and [[HeelRealization realizes the repercussions of said "routine job"]]. Contacted again by the Outsider, Daud is given an ultimatum: unravel the mystery of the name "Delilah" before his time runs out.
20** ''The Brigmore Witches'' picks up immediately after ''Knife of Dunwall'': Learning the secret of Delilah, Daud and his Whalers soon come up against a coven of witches and race to stop a sinister scheme that would shake the very foundations of Dunwall. The pack also adds more features and, if the player has a save file from ''The Knife Of Dunwall'', Daud's abilities, weapons, choices, and Chaos level [[OldSaveBonus carry over]].
21* ''Void Walker's Arsenal'' is a compilation pack of all the PreOrderBonus content originally only available through pre-ordering the game at select retail outlets. Announced on May 3, 2013, it was released on May 14 for $4/320 Microsoft Points.
22
23A GameOfTheYearEdition was released in October 2013, containing all four of the DLC packs. Just like the original release, a ThemedTarotDeck was available as a PreOrderBonus. The sequel, ''[[VideoGame/Dishonored2 Dishonored 2]]'', was released in November 2016.
24----
25!! Tropes to be found in the game:
26
27[[foldercontrol]]
28!! Main Game
29[[folder:#-F]]
30* HundredPercentCompletion: Taking a leaf from the Thief series' book, the game tells you how many collectibles you found in each level, ''down to the individual coins''. Don't attempt this on your first playthrough, because unless you are intimately familiar with every iota of the sprawling, gigantic levels, you'll never get them all. Finding all bone charms and runes is at least doable thanks to the heart pointing them out, though, and the final level of Dark Vision shows ''some'' hidden trinkets.
31* ActionBomb: Mentioned, but never seen; the Abbey wanted to use wolfhounds as these, but their hound trainer refused to go along with it. You can do this to rats if you load one with a springrazor, even more so if you stop time, possess it, and move toward some unfortunate schmucks, and leave the body before it blows.
32* AerithAndBob: The game mixes names from a variety of cultures. Some classically English names (Hiram Burrows, Farley Havelock, Custis, Treavor, Callista, Emily), some Anglo-American names (Samuel Beechworth, Billie Lurk, Teague Martin) with real-world names from other settings such as the Italian sounding Piero and Corvo (the latter is more often used as a surname than a first name); Russian-Eastern European Anton Sokolov (One of the top ten Russian surnames), and in the case of Daud, an Arabic variation of David. Jessamine is likewise an Old English variant of the Jasmine flower.
33* AirVentPassageway: Justified. You only get to use air vents when you're possessing something the size of a ''rat.'' On the flipside of things, you often see external vents on the sides of buildings and you can clamber onto them, using them as a makeshift staircase. Played straight with Dunwall Tower, which has a vent that Corvo can use to enter its interior without resorting to possession.
34* AlienGeometries: In the ''Dunwall City Trials'' mission "Burglar", [[spoiler:one of the hidden passages is a dead end filled with insane scribbles of the Outsider; turning around reveals a new, different passage to a creepy Outsider shrine, and, after turning your back again, the room returns to normal with treasure.]]
35* AlignmentBasedEndings: You get different endings based on how many people you killed during your playthrough, also known as Chaos.
36* AllCrimesAreEqual: The game actually makes this a DiscussedTrope at one point. A guard asks if he should attempt to arrest curfew-breakers, and his superior tells him that their orders are to just kill anyone who's not a guard on sight.
37* AllMythsAreTrue:
38** Granted, there is some exaggeration involved, but pretty much every mystical tale people mention is true; specifically, most stories tied to the Outsider seem at least ''partially'' accurate (though not ''completely'').
39** After saving Slackjaw from [[spoiler:Granny Rags. Slackjaw recalls hearing rumors that she was a witch when he was a kid and dismissing them as he grew up. He's darkly amused to discover it was always true.]]
40* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The penultimate mission has Corvo sneak or fight his way through the Hound Pits, which are now overrun by the Watch.
41* AlphabetSong: One of the EnemyChatter is the guard singing the alphabets, who proceeds to flubs the order only a few letters in.
42* AnnoyingArrows: Played with.
43** Regular bolts fired from Corvo's crossbow or Daud's wristbow are by far the weakest weapons in their respective arsenals, namely because a bolt fired from a crossbow the size of a pistol wouldn't be very powerful. Unless you put a bolt directly into your targets' brains or sink it in them while they're unconscious, shooting an enemy three times in the chest will only make them angry. Compared to the pistol, the crossbow not only does less damage per shot, but also reloads slower and arcs over a distance; the only advantages that regular bolts have over pistol rounds is that they can quietly take down enemies and can sometimes be retrieved from enemies or whatever object they lodge themselves in. That being said, Corvo's crossbow makes up for its lack of stopping power with [[SwissArmyWeapon versatility]]. It can fire [[AbnormalAmmo two types of specialized ammunition]]: sleep darts that can knock an enemy unconscious and incendiary bolts that [[KillItWithFire light things on fire]]. Moreover, the crossbow can also be upgraded to have superior accuracy and range to the pistol, allowing them to pick off enemies at longer ranges, especially when combined with the image magnification lenses on Corvo's mask. Another upgrade, the automatic loading mechanism, essentially turns it into an AutomaticCrossbow, completely eliminating one of the weapon's major disadvantages.
44** Enemies that use pistols (higher-ranked Watch officers and most Overseers) are much more common than Assassins, who use wrist-mounted crossbows. On higher difficulties, getting shot at by a pistol will take off a good chunk of your health and knock you back a few feet, while a crossbow bolt fired from an Assassin's wristbow will do less damage and fail to slow you down. However, this is offset by the fact that pistol-wielding enemies take some time lining up their sights before firing off a shot, whereas Assassins can quickly fire at Corvo without stopping for more than a second and can fire again without taking any time to reload. In-universe, this discrepancy has not gone unnoticed: a written report found in the Overseers' workshop notes that the Assassin crossbows they found are inexplicably inferior to those actually being wielded by the Assassins, and suggests that the Overseers stick to using weapons they are more familiar with.
45** In the case of the Tallboys, this trope is completely averted: they wield compound bows that fire deadly incendiary arrows with greater range and power than any other weapon in the game.
46* AnotherDimension: The Void. To Corvo [[spoiler:and Daud]], it appears as [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds an endless expanse]] of [[UnnaturallyBlueLighting an unnaturally bright, blue fog]] with islands, structures and various other objects floating around. Here, [[PlaceBeyondTime time]] and [[AlienGeometries space don't always behave as you would expect]]. Many people seem to be able to enter the Void [[DreamLand while dreaming]], but are rarely able to remember any details about it. [[spoiler:Few, namely Corvo and Daud, are actually able to remember everything about their visits and can even enter the Void while awake.]] The place appears to be the home of [[HumanoidAbomination the Outsider]], who appears to have the power to shape it as he desires, though it seems to unconsciously [[DarkWorld reflect happenings in the waking world]] or events that somehow involve the observer. It is also the only known source of [[MagicalUnderpinningsOfReality magical powers in the world]], only granted by the Outsider to those he considers to be special. Throughout the game, there are various hints that [[spoiler:the world emerged from the Void and will eventually end up being absorbed back into it.]]
47* {{Antepiece}}: The basics of the game's rat mechanics are environmentally taught to the player as they go through the sewers during Corvo's prison escape, before they first face guards who could be harmed by them. First, some guards who can't be reached by the player get eaten alive in a scripted event, which establishes the rats' hostility. Then, a room in which the rats are swarmed around the wheel used for exiting the room will attack the player unless they are redirected with bodies, and they will not feed upon the bodies that are elevated above the ground level. These body mechanics are important to note for players who are avoiding killing, as not storing unconscious bodies where they will be safe by rats is an easy way to accidentally get a kill.
48* AntiFrustrationFeatures: The games’ six active powers are grouped into high (Bend Time, Posession), medium (Windblast, Devouring Swarm) and low (Blink, Dark Vision) mana cost. To make it easier on the player and to make a better incentive to use your other powers, after using a low cost power your mana bar will refill its missing mana back after a short wait.
49* AntiMagic:
50** [[TimeMaster Stopping time]] and slitting someone's throat sure is fun, right? Well if the target was also [[TouchedByVorlons touched by the Outsider]] they can resist. Fortunately, it works both ways. Interestingly, the other powers like Devouring Swarm and Wind Blast aren't no-sold. [[spoiler:Daud even]] brings this up, noting that he and Corvo will have a fight no one else can.
51** The Overseers have special music boxes that can cancel out the powers granted by the Outsider wherever the music can be heard. One audio log raises the question of whether or not the music boxes' effects are themselves magical.
52* ApocalypseHow: Class 0 occurs on Dunwall due to the Rat Plague. [[spoiler:If Emily dies it devolves into a Class 2 scenario, with Dunwall collapsing into complete anarchy in its final days]].
53* ApocalypticLog: Several notes and journals written by plague sufferers can be found, almost all of them in close proximity to the bodies of those who wrote them.
54* AppliedPhlebotinum: Whale oil. Apparently, this universe has a way of treating it to turn it into the most fuel-efficient substance known to man. By the time the game begins, it's used to power everything from ships to cars to stilt-walkers to lights to guns. It might have something to do with the "whales" in this world [[CallASmeerpARabbit not being very much like our own]]. The most funny thing is: ''No one'' knows how it works. It doesn't help that there's boatloads of hinting that the 'whales' are magical.
55** The use of whale oil as an essential resource is also something of a HistoricalInJoke: by the mid-19th century, whale oil lamps were cheap to make, but whale oil itself was expensive. Companies would sell lamps with a small quantity of oil for cheap or even give them away for free, driving out other providers of artificial lighting with a product that burned cleaner and brighter, but turned out to be very expensive to maintain. This coincided with the dawn of Yankee capitalism, which is a running theme of the game. [YMMV]
56* ArbitraryMissionRestriction: The game's achievements feature numerous examples.
57** The game gives the player a sort of scorecard at the end of every mission, which includes whether the player completed the mission without (A) killing anybody, even indirectly, and/or (B) triggering any alerts or alarms. Each condition awards an achievement if it is fulfilled over the course of the entire game (as well as some lesser included achievements, such as one for completing any single mission with no alerts, or any single mission with no alerts and fewer than 5 murders, or completing every mission up to a certain point with fewer than 10 murders). The straightforward "Don't kill anyone" and "Don't alert anyone" achievements are also duplicated in each of the Daud-centric DLC campaigns.
58** One achievement requires the player to finish the game without gaining any supernatural skills aside from one that's required by a tutorial--not only magical powers, but also more mundane enhancements like the ability to jump higher, since they all stem from the Outsider's power.
59** Two mutually exclusive achievements require the player to finish the game in "Low Chaos" or "High Chaos", which require the player to (respectively) either minimize their violent and disruptive actions, or maximize them.
60* ArbitrarySkepticism: The Heart, when aimed at a weeper will sometimes claim that the weeper believes what is happening to him will pass soon, despite being, for all intents and purposes, a zombie wheezing blood and attracting flies.
61* ArtifactOfDoom: Nine times out of ten, if you find a [[UpgradeArtifact Rune or Bone Charm]] which has or had a human owner, they will be insane, plague-ridden and/or dead. Quite a few even have an ApocalypticLog nearby to further reinforce it.
62* ArtificialStupidity:
63** The first time you approach a Wall of Light at Lady Boyle's party, a nearby guard will warn Corvo (who is in disguise as a guest) that the wall is dangerous. He will do this even if Corvo has used Possession to take the form of a rat. Awfully nice for him to be so concerned for the safety of the local vermin.
64** Admiral Havelock in the Hound Pits Pub will do the same. Apparently he doesn't mind giving missions to (and lauding the deeds of) rats.
65** Any enemies who find a dead body will take it as a sign that you're nearby and search for you...''even if they're the ones who killed the person in the first place.''
66** If you modified an arc pylon that then fried a enemy, you can bet money on other enemies walking straight towards it to investigate until the pylon runs out of oil. For more fun, hope that there is a whale oil refiller close by. That said, guards who see other guards vaporized by the pylon (and who are far enough away to come to a stop) [[ArtificialBrilliance will hover on the periphery of the pylon's range and either shoot or throw rocks at the player]].
67** Enemies with ranged weapons will open fire on their target even if there is an ally in front of them. As such victims are considered to be killed by Corvo himself, it can be quite frustrating to fail a PacifistRun because a guard (who haven't even noticed you) shot a comrade while trying to kill rats.
68** Likewise, enemies who hear breaking glass or other signals will often turn towards it and run a preprogrammed "surprise" animation which includes stepping backwards. This backwards step can result in them falling off cliffs or platforms and dying; and Corvo is blamed for killing them! (This was eventually fixed in a patch)
69** The guards do not know how to fight back or defend against river krusts. As shown in the fourth mission, they are ''completely unaware'' that the river krusts are attacking them should Corvo lure the guards to the docks.
70* ArtisticLicenseBiology:
71** Normal Rats would certainly not be capable of stripping a body to nothingness in seconds unless there were a LOT more than twenty or so. The rats are stated to be a foreign species specifically adapted to be swarming predators. Also, they were found on a forbidden continent with [[EverythingTryingToKillYou other nightmarish creatures that supposedly make being eaten alive by rats seem fun in comparison]]. Then again, if whales are different in Dishonored's world, maybe [[CallASmeerpARabbit Dishonored's rats aren't normal either?]]
72** According to this game, choking someone for about 3 seconds is enough to make them instantly fall asleep... which may actually be TruthInTelevision, as the other Wiki states "A well applied blood choke may lead to unconsciousness in a matter of seconds"
73* AssholeVictim: The targets, of course. Each of them embodies some flavor of Dunwall's staggeringly corrupt aristocracy.
74** High Overseer Campbell is corrupt, venal and cruel, regularly breaking the strictures of the Abbey and keeping his position through blackmail.
75** Lords Morgan and Custis Pendleton are slave-owners who work people to death in their mines and regularly torment their younger brother in ways he barely escapes from alive.
76** The Ladies Boyle are distinct, and each has her own nasty secrets. As a unit, though, they manipulate their high places in society to destroy inconvenient people and exploit their servants to live in ostentatious luxury and decadence while the world decays. Their immense wealth allows them to buy and sell the law.
77** The Lord Regent is a dictatorial, paranoid ruler in a state of constant outrage over being unable to personally control every single aspect of Dunwall and the Empire. His brutal policies have bought the city closer to ruin with every month they exist. He had the Empress killed because he feared her approach to the plague's victims was too soft [[spoiler:but the irony is that he brought the plague himself, trying to weed out the poor and criminal elements of the city]].
78** Daud is the man who killed the Empress. Because he was paid and it was a job. [[spoiler:However, while Daud is a ruthless and violent man, he has begun to fall apart with guilt over the death of the Empress and her daughter's kidnapping, and he turns out to be the only true {{Subverted}} example. His observation of Dunwall's collapse, knowing it was his own fault for helping the Regent take power, gnaws at him.]]
79** [[spoiler:The Loyalists too, as if betraying Corvo out of lust for power was not enough.]]
80** [[spoiler:Martin's past as a vicious criminal break through his exterior piety, and he resorts to murder to defend his own hide.]]
81** [[spoiler:Pendleton is ultimately weak and petty. In his last moments he abandons his noble propriety to hurl insults, offer bribes, then reveal that he has squandered his wealth.]]
82** [[spoiler:Havelock - much like the Lord Regent - becomes wildly paranoid and totally unreasonable, mad with power. In Low Chaos, he will poison Martin and Pendleton out of fear and ramble to himself in confusion over his plan falling to pieces, knowing that Corvo will come. In High Chaos, he will attempt to kill both himself and Emily by leaping from the lighthouse into the sea and dragging her down with him.]]
83* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking:
84** Very slightly with the CityGuards, who have their officers being stronger and more competent than lesser ones. Justified, as the secret-revealing Heart describes the officers as being well-trained members of a military aristocracy.
85** Generally averted with the assassination targets; while all of them ''will'' fight back if attacked (except Lady Boyle), most are about as good with a sword as the lowest level guard (in other words, not good at all). The Lord Regent and especially [[spoiler:Admiral Havelock]] turn out to be very good fighters if confronted head-on, but have no ContractualBossImmunity or boss-like health and thus can be taken down quite quickly regardlessly.
86** Corvo himself was an example before his disgrace: as the Royal Protector, one of the most esteemed positions in the Empire, he practiced his combat skills by fighting entire squads of guards on his own and ''winning''. Justified in that prior to meeting the Empress, Corvo already was a very accomplished fighter in order to be selected as the Empress' bodyguard, [[CadreOfForeignBodyguards especially as he is the first Royal Protector in history to have been born outside of the Isle of Gristol]]. Moreover, given official ages, he got the position while still in his late teens.
87* AutomaticCrossbows:
88** The Assassins' crossbows are this, though their skill with the weapons may also be a factor - a report by an Overseer artificer notes that their attempts to use captured examples of the weapons could not replicate their range, accuracy, or firing speed.
89** Corvo can have his crossbow upgraded to fire quickly as well, with an mechanism that automatically rewinds the weapon and loads a fresh bolt after each shot.
90* AwesomeButImpractical:
91** Creative use of your powers can lead to some truly spectacular ways of taking out {{Mooks}} such as slowing down time when someone shoots at you only to possess your assailant and make them stand in front of their own bullet; however, these are needlessly theatrical and horrifically mana-draining ways to kill ''one enemy'', and being stealthy is ultimately the safest and most efficient thing to do in almost any given situation.
92%%** This one isn't especially creative, but it's both extremely helpful and insanely wasteful -- the Bend Time/Possession combo. It's useful in virtually any situation you can name, but you shouldn't rely on it unless you've got loads of Piero's Remedies. This is actually subverted if you are playing for the Clean Hands (no kill) award. Both are highly useful for stealth runs, particularly in crowds.
93* BaldOfEvil: The conspirators have a two-fer, with High Overseer Campbell and Spymaster/Lord Regent Burrows both sporting prominent chrome domes.
94* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: Assassins are just as surprised as anyone else when you [[FlashStep blink]] out of thin air before giving them a very primitive tracheotomy. Directly referenced if you manage to get through the Flooded District without being seen, in fact. You can over-hear an Assassin inform [[spoiler:Daud]] that not a single one of them saw Corvo progress through the area - said leader retorts that Corvo "knows [their] game better than [they] do".
95* BenevolentArchitecture: Sun shades than can support the weight of several people, and large air vent passages. Although most building designers probably wouldn't factor in teleportation.
96* BigBad: Hiram Burrows, who [[spoiler:deliberately caused the plague to wipe out the poor]], orchestrated the destruction of the legal government, the murder of the Empress, the abduction of the Empress's daughter and the framing of Corvo, all so he could gain power (or [[spoiler:cover up his involvement in the plague]]). [[spoiler:Once you eliminate him, Havelock takes his place, styling himself the new Lord Regent.]]
97* BigFancyHouse: Anton Sokolov owns a very impressive house slash laboratory slash workshop on Kaldwin's Bridge (though he actually only appears to use a few small rooms of it as actual living space) and of course there's also the Boyle Estate in the rich district of town which really is a big, fancy house complete with its own private art gallery and expansive wine cellar, both of which Corvo can loot with impunity.
98* BodyguardBetrayal: What everyone believes happened to the Empress. However, Corvo cannot do this while possessing a target's bodyguards, because during a possession, Corvo is too clumsy to use his hosts' weapons.
99* BodyguardCrush:
100** Much of the interaction between the Empress Jessamine Kaldwin and her Royal Protector Corvo Attano suggests they had a ''very'' close relationship. So close, indeed, that speculation exists both in-universe and out that [[spoiler:Emily is the daughter of Corvo and Jessamine]]. In fact, [[spoiler:Emily draws pictures which you can find between missions at the Hound's Pit Pub. One drawing of the Empress is labeled Mommy. A drawing of Corvo is labeled Daddy. Even Samuel and The Outsider broadly hint at it]].
101*** [[http://daleked.tumblr.com/masterpost A Twitter conversation]] between [[WordOfGod Harvey Smith]] and several fans all but explicitly confirms this.
102*** Dishonored 2 flat out confirms this.
103** Before the Empress' assassination, Emily will innocently wonder if, since you can't marry the Empress, if you can marry ''her''.
104* BoringButPractical: Many options are less interesting than "possessing a man into walking into his own bullet" or other {{Rasputinian Death}}s, but are far more useful and efficient. Corvo's pistol, crossbow, sword and grenades all do what they were designed to do pretty much as advertised and generally don't require turning every map inside out searching for Runes, expending costly amounts of mana, or making lots of noise. Their ammunition is also cheap and readily accumulated just about anywhere, especially with the Scavenger bone charm.
105** In the subject of spells, the first one you get is Blink, a short teleportation that allows you to move without being detected. It may not be as impressive as possessing an enemy, slowing time or summoning voracious rats, but it's very likely to be the spell you use the most. It helps that it consumes no mana unless you use it in quick succesion.
106* BossInMooksClothing: This applies to most characters who have communicated with The Outsider like Corvo:
107** The Royal Interrogator, who can be found in the basement of Dunwall Tower, has a huge amount of health, deals enormous damage and resists Bend Time.
108** [[spoiler:Granny Rags]], who is able to use Blink, Windblast, Rat Swarm, and unable to die until [[spoiler:you destroy her cameo and then kill her or knock her out.]]
109** [[spoiler:Daud]], who uses Blink and Bend Time while being immune to time powers himself, summons mooks, and can both deal and take huge amounts of damage.
110* BlackAndGrayMorality:
111** Considering you have to either kill your target or destroy their life, Corvo fall under this trope. The GoodEnding achievement/trophy is called [[ButNotTooEvil "Just Dark Enough"]].
112** Then there's the conflict between Slackjaw and Granny Rags. Slackjaw is the leader of a criminal gang that specializes in brewing and selling watered-down elixir to scalp desperate families and pick on locals who can't defend themselves, while Granny Rags [[spoiler:is a murderous, [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalistic]], AxeCrazy HumanoidAbomination that doesn't really think twice about spreading the plague to get what she wants.]] Interestingly, the player is initially led to believe that [[spoiler:Granny is the gray and Slackjaw is the black since she gets a "visit" from his men early that Corvo can "solve" for a rune with her repeating how men like those come by quite often.]]
113* BlendingInStealthGameplay: One memorable level takes place at a masquerade ball, where the protagonist Corvo -- a masked avenger -- can blend in naturally as soon as he (classically) sneaks past the outside guards. Many attendees comment on how bold it is of someone to wear a mask resembling that of a wanted murderer -- but are [[UpperClassTwit too arrogant to realize]] that said wanted murderer is right in front of them.
114* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Outsider, whose only discernible reason for appearing before a human and giving them otherworldly power is because he finds them amusing.
115-->'''The Outsider:''' Sokolov believes there are specific words and acts that can compel me to appear before him. ... But if he really wants to meet me, he could start by being a bit more ''interesting''.
116* BoozeFlamethrower: Slackjaw's Bottle Street Gang members have this as a unique ability. If you lure some Assassins to attack the thugs just outside the distiller, it's pretty much ''all'' they'll do against them.
117* BreadEggsMilkSquick: The maids in the levels sometimes say something that hints at the abuse they face at work:
118-->"I have to keep this position. He says to bring a bottle, I bring a bottle. He says to bring food, I bring food. He says to undress... I undress."
119* BrokenAesop: "Murder is bad" is a good aesop in theory, and the game does provide opportunities to defeat people nonviolently... but the main targets still need to be taken care of, and some of the non-lethal and supposedly more ethical ways to take them down are arguably ''worse'' than murder, such as selling someone into sexual slavery. Some of them are also guaranteed to be killed later down the line, but you're a good person because you didn't pull the trigger.
120** This aesop is further broken by how the [[KarmaMeter chaos score]] works. Basically, you get [[MultipleEndings different endings]] depending on how many people you killed. The thing is, you can kill innocent people and still have a low chaos score. You get high chaos by killing ''too many'' people. [[note]] The exact numbers aren't known but players have estimated you can kill about 20% of the enemies before getting a high chaos score, meaning you can kill 1 in 5 people you encounter and [[InformedKindness still be called a good person by the game]]. [[/note]]
121* CallASmeerpARabbit:
122** The "Whales" of the Dishonored world, occasionally called "Leviathans", are enormous Creator/HPLovecraft-esque monstrosities with blubber that serves as a fantastical energy source that powers entire empires.
123*** The "whales" actually look like the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livyatan_melvillei Livyatan melvillei]], a prehistoric predatory sperm whale.
124** "Wolfhounds" are dogs with a bit of giraffe and crocodile thrown to mix things up. The term "dog" is hardly ever used to refer to them, always "hound". Samuel mentions that old kennel contains nothing but dried dog poop, which might be an oversight by the developers.
125** "Hagfish" have almost nothing in common with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagfish the real animal named like this]]; they are similar to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakehead_(fish) snakehead fish.]]
126** It's also hinted a few times that the rats in the game are very different from real-life rats. First of all, if you observe a dissected rat or a rat that you've cut in half closely enough, you can notice a few minor differences in their anatomy from real-life rats. Second, they have the nightmarish ability to strip a corpse of it's flesh in mere seconds, which is something that should only be possible with 50 rats or more. [[spoiler:It turns out that these rats are from [[DeathWorld Pandyssia]] and a note can be found that reveals Dunwall has (or used to have) seemingly normal rats that aren't bloodthirsty carnivores.]]
127* CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker: '''Constantly.''' This is one of the things that make it stand out against most comparable steampunk quasi-Victorian settings, and also one of the areas its ''Half Life 2'' inspiration becomes clear. You can meet the guy who does these announcements in one of the later missions -- [[spoiler:he helps you take out the Lord Regent non-lethally]]. If you kill him, he gets replaced for the rest of the game by a woman (Creator/CarrieFisher, in fact).
128* CatchAndReturn: The "Back Home" achievement requires you kill someone who threw a grenade at you by catching it and throwing it back.
129* CentralTheme: For a game with a {{Revenge}} plot in promos and tagline, ''Dishonored'' is surprisingly layered, especially since much of the themes comes from the gameplay itself:
130** Choices determine who we are and the world we live in, every choice has consequences in big and small ways and ultimately people need to be more aware and responsible to how it affects the people around us.
131** The most important theme is [[WhatYouAreInTheDark what do people do when they get power over their fellow man?]] Does power always corrupt or can people choose to be different? Will it always be the case of HeWhoFightsMonsters or is it possible to be understanding and be merciful, even to the people who harmed you?
132** Likewise, the notion of honor. In a corrupt society, criminals, smugglers and assassins can be more honorable than the lords and ladies who hold power.
133* CessationOfExistence: [[https://twitter.com/TobyKhaminthong/status/558004133341306880 Developer Commentary]] states that what happens to one's soul upon death depends on whether they were dominated by discord or not. Those who were discordant end up wandering about in the Void and end up being devoured. Those who were peaceful and non-discordant just fade away and cease to exist. It tells something of the world's [[CrapsackWorld Crapsackness]] when fading away from existence is presented as the more positive option.
134* ChekhovsArmy: Emily, Campbell, Burrows, Sokolov, Daud, and Curnow are all first encountered during the prologue.
135* CityGuards: The primary {{Mooks}} of the game, in three versions of increasing power and authority. In terms of sympathy they fall somewhere around the middle. They're nearly always at odds with you, and enforcing the corrupt regime. But it's also clear most of them are just normal men doing their jobs and wishing the city gets better. The Heart's random stories also paints them somewhere between a vile criminal and a poor, desperate man that just tries to get by.
136* ClearMyName: Corvo must get the Empress' daughter back to prove he didn't murder the Empress.
137* ClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Daud]], if you choose to fight him. He's encountered late in the game, is the man who [[spoiler:killed the Empress]], and is one of the few characters who knows Corvo is connected to the Outsider. He is extremely difficult to take by surprise, and using powers near him will instantly alert him, prompting him to ''stop time'' so you can fight uninterrupted.
138* ChurchMilitant[=/=]CapeBusters: The Overseers are a martial branch of the Abbey of the Everyman, who are dedicated to combating those empowered by the Outsider. They wear dark navy uniforms, scary facemasks, and make use of special sound devices that disrupt Outsider-based powers. They're reminiscent of the Hammerites from ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}''.
139* CombatPragmatist:
140** Almost by default, especially when Corvo is up against the average guard. When you've been given supernatural powers by a HumanoidAbomination that allows you to do things like summon a SwarmOfRats to eat people alive, there's really no such thing as a fair fight. Also enforced by design: Corvo isn't really equipped to fight several attackers conventionally, so he ''has'' to use pragmatism. Attempting to go toe-to-toe with multiple enemies, even if you block and counter perfectly, usually ends up with Corvo getting chipped away by any enemy with a ranged attack while ''[[FriendlyFireproof guards swing harmlessly through each other]]'' to hurt you.
141** This can be used with your standard weapons as well: most regular enemies will only use a sword. One can run up to you, do a lot a feinting back and forth and making a big show with their weapon, then you can just pull out your crossbow, shoot him in the leg, then stab him to death after he falls to the ground clutching his injury. Or, you can dose him with a sleep dart, let him fall asleep in front of you, then kill him however you please while he's defenseless.
142* CombinationAttack:
143** The things that Corvo performs with his left hand and right hand are distinct and do not interfere with each other most of the time, meaning that it is possible to chain right-hand sword attacks with left-hand abilities or weapons. One of the best example of this in action is Blood Thirsty. At Tier II, Blood Thirsty lets Corvo perform a double sword attack, with each individual strike being able to OneHitKill most enemies in the game. However, after the first attack, the game leaves a short moment of BulletTime before the second strike, during which Corvo can use his left hand to ''blink right up to the face of another enemy'' and kill him with the second strike, which would have been otherwise out of reach.
144** [[TimeStandsStill Bend Time II]] can be combined with many other things to result in creative kills. By bending time while an enemy is firing his gun and possessing said enemy, it is possible to kill an enemy with his own bullet. Throw a grenade when bending time, then use Windblast on the grenade, and you have a flying grenade. Shooting the grenade will then instantly detonate it.
145* ContractualBossImmunity: The major boss fights in the game and DLC, [[spoiler:Daud, Billie Lurk, and Delilah]], are all immune or resistant to the majority of powers and gadgets, and also cannot be one-hit-killed except with stealth attacks. The Torturer also resists most of Corvo's powers and gadgets, though not to the same extent as the other "boss" characters.
146** This is also seen to work both ways, as Corvo is unaffected when Daud uses his own timestop powers, even if you haven't unlocked timestop yourself.
147** Outside of characters empowered by the Outsider, all major antagonists are easy to kill, but heavily protected and hard to reach, similar to a real politician.
148* ConstructedWorld: A ''very'' dark example, but one nonetheless. Notably, it's one of the few fantasy worlds to avert MedievalStasis and depict an UsefulNotes/IndustrialRevolution.
149* CoolMask: Corvo's mask. It hides his identity and defends against The Plague, as well as providing a zoom function when upgraded.
150* CoolSword: Corvo's switchblade-esque sword is certainly nice to look at, when it's fully upgraded it looks like it's coated in black marble.
151** Daud's sword is also somewhat nice looking, it's sleek and minimal. There's something to appreciate about the utilitarian nature of the whaler blades.
152* CorruptChurch: Ever since the death of the empress, the Overseers from the Abbey of the Everyman have become corrupted. The High Overseer intentionally breaks every one of the seven strictures every day as his own little joke.
153* CosmicHorrorStory: Although it's not the focus of the story, the world of ''Dishonored'' is incredibly hostile towards its human occupants. The world is overrun by bizarre creatures and deep-sea monstrosities, the latter of which humanity relies upon for its energy. The closest thing this place has to a "god" is the Outsider, a HumanoidAbomination who likes to give out RealityWarper powers willy-nilly to random people purely for his own enjoyment. And the only major religion seen in game doesn't even recognize a god or any sort of benevolent divine presence, but [[DevilButNoGod merely focuses on opposing the Outsider]] and combating otherworldly threats to humanity.
154* CrapsackWorld: The game's world has a plague running rampant, insta-kill [[DisintegratorRay Disintegrator Gates]] forcing average citizens to stay in the infected areas, infected areas filled with [[NotUsingTheZWord Weepers]] who cry blood and attack other people, and the wealthy using their money to throw extravagant parties rather than using it to solve any problems. The whole ''world'' is like this, really. Civilization, as far as we know, only exists on a handful of islands out in the middle of the ocean, separated from the "Pandyssian Continent" by a treacherous stretch of water that people have only recently begun to navigate. The continent itself is uncharted, unexplored and suspected by most to be either barren or teeming with murderous monsters (though there are coastal settlements [[spoiler:that tend to have everyone in them go insane]]). This paranoid suspicion of all things outside of the Isles Empire is shared by a good part of the population; this is a world where people are ''scared''. Even the state religion, the "Abbey of the Everyman", is based on the belief that the Universe is an unknowable Lovecraftian expanse, "swarming with all manner of dangerous spirits and forces, most of which are hostile to man’s existence", and foremost among these is [[HumanoidAbomination the Outsider]], and in death/afterlife, there is no reward, but plenty of punishment. This bleakness even extends to the academia of the world, Sokolov's writing on cosmology state that the world is "adrift in a sea of howling chaos" and "all heavenly bodies orbit a devouring core" (possibly the Void, or a [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane supermassive black hole in a perfectly mundane description of a galaxy]].) which will, in time (a few thousand lifetimes, a flicker in cosmological terms), consume every star and all of their planets. The last fact may sound less bleak once you realize that he describes a galaxy and a possible ultimate fate the universe.
155** CrapsaccharineWorld: For the wealthy, it's more this kind of world. They have nothing to do but gossip, bully and threaten to kill each other, and indulge in soulless, materialistic parties where they do much the same.
156** [[spoiler:Becomes AWorldHalfFull if you get the good/low chaos ending. A new golden age begins as the conspirators are brought to justice, Sokolov and Piero cure the rat plague, Dunwall rebuilds, and Emily grows up to become a benevolent ruler.]]
157* CreatorThumbprint: The ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' lineage becomes particularly apparent when you look at the shape and architecture of the angular metal guard booths installed around the city as well as the giant metal containment walls in the city. The similarities are even more obvious when compared to the ''Half-Life 2'' beta, which has a similar despair-drenched tone instead of “a normal day in Russia”.
158* CreepyChildrenSinging: Present in the theme tune to the game, a variation on "The Drunken Sailor" called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNbvupLf24I The Drunken Whaler]]". Unlike "The Drunken Sailor" which is about crewman playing practical harmless jokes on a drunken sailor, "The Drunken Whaler" is much DarkerAndEdgier as it involves the crew murdering the drunken whaler in horrific ways.
159* CruelAndUnusualDeath:
160** This game has a lot of candidates for the trope, but so far the top contenders are 'proximity landmine made of springloaded razorwire slammed right onto your face' and 'devoured by magically summoned swarm of enraged plague rats.'
161** A trailer called "Creative Kills" consists of a selection of ways you can cause these, including [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed3jsgMuW-k using a combination of the Slow Time and Possession powers to cause an enemy to shoot himself or a fellow guard...after the bullet has already left his gun.]]
162** Some of Corvo's non-lethal neutralizations may seem like this.
163* CruelMercy: Yes, you can do a PacifistRun and let your targets live. Of course, you still need to "neutralize" them, which could mean anything up to and including having them kidnapped, disfigured, and put to work as slaves in their own mine until they die. In some ways this ties into both the game's title, and its theme of revenge. Either way you're getting your revenge on those responsible for murdering [[spoiler:your love]] and destroying your life, but you can either kill them outright, or ''dishonor'' them, in the same way they did to you.
164** A run-down of Cruel Mercies: One branded a heretic and cast out of society, to be found later dying of plague. Two condemned to horrific slavery as described above. One given over to her creepy stalker to be his wife. One condemned to die by his confession, broadcast over the PA, and taken away to sweat it out awaiting his execution rather than a quick end. Another one will face judgement and execution based on the statements of the future Empress herself. Only one can be spared any kind of real retribution at your hands, and he redeems himself in the DLC companion story.
165* CrystalDragonJesus:
166** The Abbey of the Everyman is essentially the Anglican Church with its suppression of dissent and obsession with persecuting witchcraft, alongside its support for some amount of scientific activity. Doctrinally however its quite different from Christianity, being entirely focused on opposing the only divinity seen in the game.
167** The Outsider worship while not really a religion heavily resembles Voudou with its makeshift altars and talismans.
168* {{Cult}}: The Outsider dismisses the Abbey of the Everyman as "that cult dedicated to loathing me," though they're a state-sponsored, long-established, heavily militarized set of traditions with a lot of political pull. He's powerful and old enough that something like that just looks like a passing fad.
169* CuteAndPsycho: Emily, in a High Chaos run. She talks about filling two ships with people and slamming them into each other, ForTheEvulz. Callista notes that she's become violent and creepy, especially when Corvo is around.
170* CutenessProximity: You can hear an Overseer speaking like this to the hounds in the Kennels at the High Overseer's office. It's also strongly implied that Corvo reacts like this whenever Emily is close-by.
171* DamnYouMuscleMemory: In most stealth games, sneaking revolves around staying in the dark, and you can often hide from someone by standing in a shadow even if they're looking right at you. Sneaking in ''Dishonored'' is based on line of sight, with light and noise being secondary, which requires a different mindset and takes some getting used to.
172** In the ''Dunwall City Trials'' DLC, the powers you have access to vary depending upon what challenge you're doing. This will change the shortcuts for each of them, which can take a while to get used to unless you remap them at the start of each challenge.
173* DeathByIrony: The pacifist options, which typically result in the villains getting their comeuppance (such as the Pendleton twins ending up as slaves in their own mines).
174* DeathFromAbove: Drop-assassination. Just jump down on an enemy, attack them as you fall and watch the blood fly. It's also possible to drop hanging objects on guards by striking them with your sword.
175* DeathOfAChild: In the Worst Ending, [[spoiler:as failing to stop Havelock results in Emily's death.]]
176* DeathWorld: Every non-domesticated animal life form you encounter can easily kill you. All fish are more akin to piranhas (with a bit of moray eel thrown in) and bite you when you step into nearly any body of water, there are carnivorous rat packs, horrible mollusks called "river krusts" that spit acid gather on the undersides of waterways and it's stated that this is all just the tip of the iceberg. Accounts of the Pandyssian Continent state it's full of even more hostile wildlife, such as porcupines that are poisonous enough to kill you with one sting. People in this world have an "everything wild is trying to kill us!" mentality, mirroring similar 18th-Century European sentiments, except here ''it's true.''
177* DeliberateValuesDissonance:
178** There's a fair amount of inherent sexism in Dunwall society. While women can indeed have positions of political power, they are in general kept out of all naval affairs, and cannot be part of sailing or whaling expeditions. A common woman who wishes to take on more knowledgeable or scientific pursuits over domestic ones is considered odd and possibly in danger of falling to the influence of the Outsider by the Abbey of the Everyman.
179** Gristol society is portrayed as pretty xenophobic and nationalistic. A guard mocks Corvo for his Serkonian heritage, while another expresses disdain for Sokolov for being from Tyvia. Lydia comments on how Corvo is probably not surprised of the horrible state of the slums considering where he comes from. Even Emily, who's far more sympathetic, claims that Gristol is the greatest of the isles.
180** Whales are in general believed to be big, dumb and savage. Hence, most people think nothing of killing them slowly and painfully in order to harvest their oil. Most attempts to express sympathy for the beasts, explain how intelligent they may actually be, or provide warning of the environmental ramifications that hunting them could bring, are met with derision.
181* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Havelock either poisons his co-conspirators to protect himself, or the two of them commit suicide in fear of Corvo's retribution. It's left ambiguous, although Havelock is clearly raging against the world. When you come across the bodies, the admiral]] can be heard ranting about how all the defenses and troops in the world will do nothing to stop Corvo. Sooner or later, he'll breach the defenses and find them.
182* DevelopersForesight: [[DevelopersForesight/{{Dishonored}} Here]].
183* DevilButNoGod: The Abbey of the Everyman views the Outsider as an evil, corrupting influence, but there's no mention of a "good" counterpart in their dogma. In fact the Outsider is closer to serving the functions of both Satan ''and'' God - corrupter, inspiration, agent of creation as well as that of destruction, and general observer of the machinations of life with a side of BlueAndOrangeMorality. He gives humans powers to see what they'll do with them, and basically acts as a sort of trickster god rather than an arbiter of morality.
184* DevouredByTheHorde: The rats in the game are capable of doing this to their victims. Corvo even has the ability, "Devouring Swarm", to summon a swarm of rats onto his target to devour them.
185* DiedInYourArmsTonight: After Corvo fails to stop the assassins (because they have supernatural Outsider powers), the mortally wounded Empress Jessamine beseeches Corvo to rescue her now-kidnapped daughter... and dies in Corvo's arms.
186* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: Guards can be heard whistling "The Drunken Whaler" and you can also find the lyrics to it, since it's an in-universe sea shanty.
187* DidntSeeThatComing: Invoked by the Outsider if you spare Campbell.
188-->'''The Outsider:''' I'm older than the rocks this place is built from, and even I didn't see that coming.
189** Not said word for word, but he will make a similar comment, if you spare Daud, considering that he and the Lord Regent should be your main targets for revenge.
190* DownInTheDumps: The worst possible kind: not a garbage dump for trash, but for all the bodies that are stacking up because of the plague. A new train keeps coming to dump dozens more ''each minute.''
191* DowsingDevice: The Heart. Which is, in fact, a human heart, with some mechanical additions courtesy of the Outsider. It speaks. [[spoiler:It's implied that the Heart came from the ''late Empress.'']]
192* DramaticUnmask: The player has the option to do this if they kill the Regent personally in his saferoom, or if you talk to him on the videoscreen.
193* DressesGownsAndSkirts: Interestingly, there are almost no skirts in this setting. Even the Empress and Princess Emily wear regal, formal-looking pantaloons. The courtesans at the The Golden Cat are an exception, but given their profession, it's expected.
194* DrivenToSuicide:
195** Edmond Roseburrow, the natural philosopher who discovered how to refine and use whale oil to harness power. He hoped it would lead to a new golden age, but inevitably, his technology was used to create weapons- weapons that, under the tyrannical rule of the Lord Regent were used to oppress and subjugate the populace. Upon seeing this, Roseburrow took one of his new creations, and used it to put a bullet into his brain.
196** During the mission "The Flooded District", a wounded thug tells you where to get a key. In the high chaos version of the mission, you hear a gunshot when you get far enough away from him. Turning back reveals that the thug shot himself. Given who he just fought, what he witnessed, and the amount of rats swarming everywhere, it was for the best.
197** [[spoiler:Teague Martin]], if you confront him [[spoiler:in the High Chaos final level]] without attacking.
198* DrowningMySorrows: Samuel alludes to this when Corvo and him return from Lady Boyle's last party.
199-->'''Samuel:''' Hmm, Lord Pendleton said he would meet us here. I'd check the wine cellar. Losing family gives a man a thirst.
200* DungeonBypass: Each and every one of the game's levels has shortcuts, bypasses, secret routes, ledges that are high enough to be walked on if you find the right elevation. It's not one or two points of entry but ''five''.
201* DystopiaIsHard: One of the way that the Loyalists plan to whittle down the Lord Regent's power is to remove his financial backing. Throughout the game you witness evidence that your enemies don't quite have the manpower they'd like patrolling key areas, and those that they have tend to be so underpaid that the low-ranking guardsmen sometimes tend to supplement their paltry elixir ration with the black-market stuff. Indeed, when you return to Dunwall Tower to deal with Hiram Burrows, you can find a note at the top that hangs a {{Lampshade}} on the fact that the dry docks (the way you came in) is bereft of boats since they had to be sent to guard food supplies. General Tobias worries how unguarded the area is, but then he notes that its impossible to climb. And it is, for a man who can't Blink.
202* EarnYourBadEnding: If you opt for open combat rather than stealth, then the High Chaos ending will be this, as there will be significant more enemies and a more hostile environment along the way. High Chaos stealth, however, is [[EvilIsEasy the opposite]], as cutting a guard's throat is much faster than knocking him out, and there are a ton of very useful weapons and powers (guns, grenades, incendiary missiles, springwire traps, [[DevouredByTheHorde Devouring Swarm]], [[NoBodyLeftBehind Shadow Kill]], etcetera) that are invariably lethal to your enemies.
203* EarnYourHappyEnding: High Chaos gives you either a DownerEnding or a BittersweetEnding, depending on a choice made in the final level. Low Chaos gives you a much happier one.
204* ElaborateEqualsEffective: Corvo's Crossbow and Pistol become exceedingly littered with protruding doohickeys as upgrades are purchased.
205* EliteMooks:
206** The Assassins. They're much more alert than other enemies, move more quickly and have a few magical abilities of their own - including Blink, which makes their patrol routes much less predictable.
207** Slightly lower than them on the scale are Overseers, particularly the Overseers with an anti-magic instrument on their chest. In addition to disrupting your powers, the thing is so big it blocks pretty much all frontal attacks. All Overseers also wear big metal masks that prevent frontal headshots.
208** Also, Tallboys. Who walk on stilts, preventing melee attacks (unless you Blink up to them), wear thick armor that makes them sleep dart proof, use shields that stop ranged attacks, and use bows with explosive arrows.
209* EmpathicEnvironment: Getting seen, leaving witnesses and murdering people will lead to high chaos, which increases the spread of the plague in later levels through panic and death. Exaggerated in the level at [[spoiler:Kingsparrow Isle Lighthouse]]; while having low chaos will lead to a standard level, having high chaos means the level is in [[BattleInTheRain a heavy storm]], there are more guards, and there is a much darker, cynical ending.
210* EndOfAnAge: Invoked by The Heart. "I can feel a great age ending...".
211* EtTuBrute: [[spoiler:The non-lethal way to deal with Burrows is to broadcast his evil boasting publicly, which leads to a scene where his own guards arrest him for fear of backlash. Also invoked in the late plot with the Loyalists, who decide they might get persecuted for their actions and instead ''also'' blame Corvo for everything, decide he is better off dead and try to assassinate him.]]
212* EverythingTryingToKillYou: You can find part of a log Sokolov made about an expedition to the continent. Apparently, there are schools of quite literal flying fish that attack and poison anything they can touch, winds strong enough to throw people off the deck, massive flying serpents, rats that can eat people alive, and prairie moles that can poison people. In addition to that, there is potentially magical whale-song that drives people mad, and at least one person who was found dead from nothing identifiable, but with a look of absolute terror on his face. Less than half the crew survived the crossing. And apparently that was one of the ''better'' expeditions.
213* EvilIsEasy: Somewhat zigzagged. On one hand, with Corvo's impressive arsenal of lethal weapons and spells, it's considerably easier ([[VideoGameCrueltyPotential and tempting]]) to complete the game with a High Chaos run where you kill every guard you come across than it is to take the pacifist or even Low Chaos route and abstain from using the cool stuff. On the other hand, going the High Chaos route will also make the world more dangerous, filling it up with more rats, weepers, and higher security measures.
214* ExactEavesdropping: Averted. Random guards could be seen [[EnemyChatter talking about a girl they met]], but chambermaids or personal bodyguards could talk about important information regarding targets. A lot of important talking also happens in private rooms where ''normally'' nobody would listen in. Plus, unless using the zoom vision or opening doors, distance or walls will also make it very difficult to properly listen to what others have to say.
215* ExactWords: Corvo can utilize this trope during the "Lady Boyle's Last Party" mission if he talks to Lord Brisby first. [[spoiler:Corvo then has the option of telling Lady Boyle that someone is there to assassinate her, but that he knows of a way to save her life. He's entirely correct, and hasn't twisted the truth in the least. He's just leaving out the part where the assassin is himself]].
216* ExpositionFairy: The Heart, although it only gives you backstory information, and that only on command.
217* FaceDeathWithDignity:
218** In the second mission and with low Chaos, a plague-bearing overseer can be seen asking his friends to kill him, as he does not wish to spread the disease. They oblige him via sword as he kneels and recites the seven strictures.
219** [[spoiler:Daud]] is quite dignified if you choose to confront him after defeating him.
220* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Martin, Pendleton, and Havelock attempt to have Corvo killed and establish Emily as their own puppet once the Lord Regent is taken out.]]
221* FailedState: The kingdom of Gristol has developed into a failed state due to the outbreak of the Rat Plague (which has devastated its working class) and the corruption of its aristocrats. Though the Lord Regent manages to keep some order through authoritarian methods, the city of Dunwall is already well on its way to total collapse, with entire quarters having become abandoned.
222* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Arkane [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vclZaQb0yAI states]] that Dunwall is based on London circa 1666, just after the Great Fire, during the last parts of the Black Plague -- timeshifted to the 19th Century. Culture counterparts range further outside Dunwall, in the rest of the Isles -- there's a fantasy Mediterranean, Scandinavia, Africa, Celtic Isles and others, and generous cultural swapping between all of them.
223** Gristol -- where Dunwall is and the effective capital of the Isles -- is Britain and especially England, while some of the accents and the dominant role it plays have shades of the US and Canada. One of the maps you can see on a table makes Gristol look much like southern New England, with Dunwall occupying the same spot as Newport, Rhode Island.
224** Serkonos is "Greece or Italy" with at least some Spanish, judging on the local names. Corvo's place of origin [[spoiler:as well as Daud's]].
225** Morley is ScotIreland.
226** Tyvia is Scandinavia, with -- if [[MadScientist Sokolov]] is any indication -- at least tinges of Russia.
227** The Isles as a whole -- from their advanced technology, relatively small size, and all-encompassing hubris about being the only "civilized" land -- are a good fit for the Western world circa the 1800's.
228** The Pandyssian continent is mostly unknown, but is probably a good fit for the non-Western world pre-colonization, particularly DarkestAfrica given what descriptions we have of it. Though given that most of the notes focus on the exotic plant and animal life, it's also a good fit for Australia's rich and strange wildlife.
229* FascistButInefficient: The Lord Regent's regime is oppressive, tyrannical, and ultimately just making things worse in Dunwall. Burrows and his cronies are corrupt and abusing their power to send perfectly healthy people to the quarantined zones, and are in general putting more effort into enforcing the quarantine with increasingly more draconian laws and deadly weapons than in actually finding a cure. The police force has gotten more brutal as of late, to the point where people are too afraid to leave their homes. As such, whole sections of the city are falling apart, and Dunwall's economy is in the gutter. Not enough whale oil is being harvested to meet the increased demands, getting to the point where the government now has to start confiscating it from the population. In the end, all the Lord Regent has accomplished is turning the city into a bigger hellhole than it was before, and all his efforts are helping spread the Rat Plague even further. [[spoiler:And the Rat Plague is only rampant because Burrow's ill-thought KillThePoor plan went [[GoneHorriblyWrong horribly wrong]].]]
230* FakeUltimateMook: The Tallboys. Extremely imposing, incredibly powerful, and able to be taken down in one shot from a stealth kill, or shot from behind.
231* FateWorseThanDeath:
232** Ironically, a PacifistRun will actually result in far more gruesome fates for many of the conspirators than just death. [[https://www.escapistmagazine.com/corvo-is-not-an-honorable-man/ This article argues that is precisely the point.]] Using non-lethal methods to neutralise his opponents may be part of a vendetta against those who ruined him; that he sees death as too good and too easy for his enemies, wanting them to suffer and be dishonored just like Corvo himself was, not dying as martyrs.
233** [[spoiler:High Overseer Campbell is branded a heretic, excommunicated, and the next time you see him he's a plague-infested weeper in the Flooded District.]].
234** [[spoiler:The Pendleton twins get their tongues cut out and are forced to work in their own silver mines, which in this universe is not just a delayed death sentence, but a very painful one as well.]]
235** [[spoiler:Burrows is arrested by his own guards and shot dead, as a traitor he wanted to display Corvo as.]]
236** [[spoiler:Daud spends the rest of his life tormented by the memories of his crimes.]]
237** [[spoiler:Subverted for Lady Boyle, who is probably the only one Corvo spares not out of spite (as she did not harm him personally, not directly at least), but because it was just [[PragmaticVillainy easier to get rid of her non-lethally]]. She is separated from her sisters and held captive by a man who's obsessed with her, potentially for the rest of her life. She does eventually free herself, though, and inherits the man's fortune later.]]
238** The whispering Heart that the Outsider gives you [[spoiler:is implied to be the heart of the late Empress [[AndIMustScream with her soul still trapped inside it]] ]]. What makes it worse is that - while most of the time it gives you random snippets of information about your location or the person you're looking at - it sometimes [[spoiler:remembers who and where it is, even downright panicking when being confronted with one of those responsible for her death.]]
239* FathersQuest: Emily is kidnapped at the start of the game, so the first third involves Corvo finding a way to rescue her. He manages to liberate her by the second major mission, but the people Corvo trusts her with perform a FaceHeelTurn at the end of the second act, forcing Corvo to rescue her again in the final mission.
240* {{Foreshadowing}}:
241** [[spoiler:After you take down the High Overseer, an audio file found in the Admiral's room has him wondering if Corvo might be dangerous to him due to his obvious skills.]]
242** [[spoiler:Once you retrieved Sokolov, a new audio file can be found in the Admiral's room where he wonders, if it wouldn't be better for him to be Lord Regent instead of ''only'' leader of the royal navy under Emily's rule.]]
243** [[spoiler:Reading Havelock's diary earlier than that will net you one giant foreshadow: he ponders if he could just take power for himself.]]
244** [[spoiler:Pendleton's audio log from after the Lord Regent is eliminated features him talking about how "he" will certainly know something wasn't Pendleton's idea and come after him and if "he" does, Pendleton will be able to reason with "him" that Pendleton is more valuable alive. With the context of the impending betrayal, he's clearly worried Corvo will survive and come after him.]]
245** When Corvo visits the Void upon meeting the Outsider for the first time, he sees [[spoiler:Emily with the Pendleton twins in the Golden Cat]].
246** If you talk to Cecelia, she may say that if the City Watch invades their hideout, she'll "know how to hide". [[spoiler:When Havelock and Co. have betrayed you and killed all the servants, guess who's the only one still around?]]
247** The music box found on the first real mission and the various documents surrounding serve to forewarn the player about the music box carrying overseers encountered later in the game.
248** If you do Granny Rags' sidequest during the mission to eliminate Campbell, you'll see a poster for the Golden Cat next to the distillery still. The next mission, that's your destination.
249** Right after you finish off Campbell, search Pendleton's room before and after you go to bed and you'll find a letter and an audiograph pertaining to his brothers, and if you talk to him before heading down to deal with the weepers in the sewer he'll ask Corvo if he has siblings. Guess who your next targets are. Also, throughout the first two levels you can find tidbits about a party thrown at the Boyle mansion, and an invitation in Bunting's apartment, which alludes to where you'll have to go after dealing with Sokolov.
250** Talking to the Outsider at the shrine near the Boyle Manor has him declare Lady Boyle either dies tonight or [[spoiler:lives out her life in a dreary, far away place]] alluding to the nonlethal elimination method of [[spoiler:delivering her to her obsessive 'lover' who imprisons her.]] At the shrine in Dunwall Tower, the Outsider will ask if Corvo intends to end the Lord Regent's reign with blood or truth, [[spoiler:hinting at how you can take him down by broadcasting his confession across the city.]]
251** Reading Havelock's diary has him praise Corvo's swift and effective ways of cleaning out the scum to save Emily. [[spoiler:Log Six before the betrayal has him wonder how he should proceed once Lady Boyle is gone, hinting on him realizing that Corvo would ''not'' allow him to use Emily for selfish purposes.]]
252** When you return from having [[spoiler:Lord Regent killed or executed]], there are two foreshadowings. One is that [[spoiler:both the weather and music seem oddly ominous for a congratulation party]] and the other is [[spoiler:that Samuel behaves a bit different than usual, hinting on him having been asked to poison you.]] You know, just in case you missed the fact that [[spoiler:despite having defeated the BigBad and your little future Empress safely at home, you don't just get a nice ending cutscene and credits]].
253** In the first real mission, Dr. Galvani's studies of rats reveal that the point of origin of the Rat Plague is not the docks, as one would think would be the point of entry, but inner-city slums, [[spoiler:hinting that the plague was not naturally introduced to the city.]]
254* ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself: One hit takes place during a MasqueradeBall. Once he's inside, Corvo can mingle freely among the guests, some of which will compliment his costume. [[RefugeInAudacity For bonus points, you can even sign the guest book with your real name]]... which will be commented on as possibly "a sick joke" in a note later in the game.
255** If you sign your name in the book at the beginning of the mission, the Boyle sisters (most specifically, whichever one you're looking for ''after'' you've figured it out/been told) will comment on it ("Does Death walk among us?", "Do you think he's really here?")
256* ForceFieldDoor: The "Walls of Light" made by Sokolov, a lethal electrical field that fries anyone who the device hasn't been attuned to (or vice-versa). While they're usually flat vertical "doors", there are mobile emitters that will fry anything coming inside its InstantDeathRadius.
257* FriendlyFireproof:
258** Averted for the player in all cases other than [[ImprobableInfantSurvival Emily]], though you'll get a NonStandardGameOver if you kill allies that are still important to the plot.
259** For the mooks, played straight with swords, but ''averted'' when it comes to guns. Getting a pistol-wielding guard to accidentally shoot one of his buddies several times is an achievement, even!
260** Averted with Arc Pylons. While normally (meaning they have not been hacked by the player) they will avoid targeting anyone designated "friendly" (like guards) and only target unknowns (like the player) it will ''not'' hold its fire if a friendly is between the Arc Pylon and its target. An unaware guard might find himself vaporized by a pylon he thought himself safe from if the player decides to juuuuuust creep into the pylon's targeting range...
261* FullCircleRevolution: [[spoiler:After helping the Loyalist Conspiracy topple the corrupt regime that rose to power by using Corvo as the fall guy, the Loyalists then insert themselves into the now empty positions and use him as the fall guy again in order to legitimize their claim to power. However, it falls apart quickly, either because of guilt if Corvo was low-chaos, or paranoia if Corvo was high-chaos.]]
262[[/folder]]
263
264[[folder:G-L]]
265* GamebreakingBug: There are reports of the mission "High Overseer Campbell" giving you an automatic, "Ghost"/"Shadow" achievement voiding alarm, apparently through an oddity in the scripting. It's believed to be caused by the guards next room from Campbell's meeting hall, who will eventually check on him if the meeting goes on for too long - if they don't find him they begin searching. The problem is that they consider him missing even if he left by his own volition, such as the trip to his safe room; almost any path the player takes on a non-lethal playthrough results in the guards searching the upper floors, which may or may not count as an alarm. Fortunately, the issue can be circumvented if you just knock out everybody on the upper floor, but it's somewhat unintuitive on a stealth run.[[note]]Shooting a bolt on the wall after Campbell enters causes him to run for the safe room, leaving Curnow alone - interestingly, scaring Campbell this way doesn't count as an alarm and the guards won't start searching for him[[/note]]
266* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
267** A minor example, but it's there; if you choose to eliminate your targets non-lethally in an otherwise High Chaos run, wanted posters will still say you murdered them, and character dialogue about your past targets will act as though you did them in.
268** Despite there being naught but ash left if one invests in the proper power, thereby not giving rats anything to chew on, killing people with Shadow Kill still results in High Chaos scores.
269*** Especially obvious during the duel at Lady Boyle's party. If Shadow Kill is at maximum, Lord Shaw will just disappear. The guards will still look at his spot as if inspecting a corpse. Even more ridiculous: if Corvo instead uses a sleeping dart, the same scene plays out with the guards acting as if he was shot dead.
270** You can use the zoom function, even if Corvo isn't wearing his mask.
271** Daud and the Whalers are shown blinking across much greater distances than allowed in gameplay. This might be explained though as it is hinted that Daud had the powers for far longer than Corvo and thus might have better control over them.
272** The game will track if the player is doing a Ghost run, with wanted posters showing a silhouette with a question mark if the player has gone completely unseen, but character dialogue will still act like Corvo has been spotted. Guards at the Golden Cat will discuss witnessing the "masked assassin's" fighting style in action, guests at the Boyle party will comment how Corvo is wearing the mask from the wanted posters, to give a few examples.
273* GasMaskMooks: Several guardsmen can be seen wearing surgical masks. Actual gas masks are worn by the [[EliteMooks Assassins]], probably because their hangout is Plague Central.
274* TheGhost:
275** Dr. Galvani. You can go to his office twice, you find various logs he's written on studying the plague, but the man himself never shows up.
276** Some animals are mentioned but never appear. Kingsparrow feathers can be found, but the actual birds can't (presumably because possession would allow flight, which would be broken). The mysterious Whales don't appear (alive) either, meaning possession can't reveal their secrets.
277** A live whale makes an appearance in ''[[DownloadableContent The Knife of Dunwall]]''. Conveniently, the protagonist of that scenario lacks Corvo's possession ability.
278* GoMadFromTheRevelation: In the third ''Tales from Dunwall'', Piero starts to have visions of death (or maybe the Outsider), which leads to the invention of Corvo's mask.
279* GoneHorriblyRight:
280** Edmond Roseburrow dedicated himself to progress and technology, and discovered Trans. That discovery launched a massive UsefulNotes/IndustrialRevolution and the true start of the modern age in the Isles... [[IndustrializedEvil and also ushered in horrible abuse thanks to]] [[EvilChancellor The Lord Regent's]] [[PuttingOnTheReich charming]] [[TheEmpire regime.]] Roseburrow took it [[DrivenToSuicide about as well as you'd expect.]]
281** Hiram Burrows decided that [[spoiler:an outbreak of plague would be the best way to KillThePoor in Dunwall. He was right; it wiped out at least half the city and there was nothing he could do afterward that could contain or get rid of it.]]
282* {{Gonk}}: One of the most striking things about the artistic style of these games is how ''ugly'' nearly everyone you see is. Sure, Corvo, Jessamine and Emily look kinda nice, but pretty much everyone else looks like a grotesque parody of Victorian-era beliefs on the rich and poor. The poor folk are either hulking gorillas who look carved out of meat or thin wiry fellows who resemble weasels or rats, and both are covered with debilitating acne, burns, or scars.. while the high-born nobles look pointed and inhumanly angular, and though their skin is usually smooth, their expressions are nonetheless marred by wicked smiles or sneers of cold contempt. The men's faces are lined and rugged with weariness and hard living, while the women are pinched and somehow lopsided; everyone's scared, everyone's tired, and nobody smiles. Ugly characters in an ugly world, to tell an ugly story... or maybe not so ugly, depending on your chaos level.
283* GoodIsNotNice: A "Clean Hands" playthrough will, among other things, see you [[spoiler:condemn a priest to living in the gutters, catching the plague, and turning into a Weeper; having two men hideously disfigured and sent into a life of slavery; and handing an unconscious woman over to a man who says he's going to keep her locked up for the rest of her life.]] Corvo may be on the side of right but ''do not cross him.''
284* GovernmentConspiracy: Corvo's goal is to take one down. [[spoiler:On both sides.]]
285* GovernmentExploitedCrisis: The game takes place against the backdrop of a massive epidemic of Pandyssian Rat Plague ravaging the city of Dunwall. Rather than set up medical facilities and treat the infected (which is entirely within the realm of possibility, as the good ending shows), the Imperial government and the aristocracy use the opportunity to corral the underclasses and other undesirables in quarantined homes and entire districts and to let them die out while they throw lavish parties and jockey for favor with the Lord Regent. [[spoiler:Late in the game, it is revealed, in fact, that killing the poor with an engineered outbreak was Lord Regent's idea in the first place.]]
286* GraffitiOfTheResistance: All over the places. [[https://youtu.be/MJC4zEZLDMY?t=135 Examples]].
287* GrenadeTag: Once you get the Spiked Grenade Housing upgrade for grenades, you are capable of doing this. Whip one out, cook it (if necessary), smack it on a foe, and ''run''.
288* GuideDangIt: The best outcome of some quests requires some specific actions that aren't immediately obvious; you can stumble upon them by chance, or you can consult the wiki...
289** For example, it is ''very'' easy to find out which Lady Boyle is which since literally every guest seems to talk about their balcony. Finding the guest that offers you not only the non-lethal route but also state which Lady Boyle is your target is a thing of coincidence though unless the player deliberately runs through every single room looking for a hint.
290** ''Enough Coin To Slip Away'', a Brigmore Witches Achievement that requires the player to finish a Low Chaos playthrough with over 10,000 coins... when all of the DLC's levels only have about 7,500 coins between them all. The Guide Dang It part comes more from how you're supposed to do it- going back through Knife of Dunwall and taking as much money as possible, and then importing that save into Brigmore Witches and continuing from there.
291** Engaging in either Slackjaw or Granny Rag's quest lines in the beginning of the game will force you into a confrontation near the end where you normally have to kill one of them. This will invalidate both Ghost and Clean Hands. There are certain ways of getting around it, but they're very tricky (and may in fact be straight-up GoodBadBugs). Annoying for players going for two already finicky achievements.
292* GuiltBasedGaming: The High Chaos of ''Dishonored'' excels at making the player feel like a complete and total monster if they kill anyone but the specified target.
293** You killed that maid because she caught sight of you and was about to start screaming? You get to hear her boyfriend talking to his buddy about how he's going to propose to her. You killed that Overseer who was about to attack you in perceived self-defense? He might have been the one who warned his friend about the friend's sister about to be accused of being a witch and that she needs to run. You killed that guard who yelled for help? You get to hear his friends snarling that you just made his wife a widow. Nice work, YouBastard.
294** Likewise, if you [[spoiler:failed to save Geoff Curnow, or worse poisoned him, you get to confront the cold and heartbroken Callista. If you continue killing NPC and spark the rise of the rat plague you get to see Cecelia cough, suggesting that she's sick and soon to be diseased. Finally, Samuel Beechworth, your best friend will call you a monster and outright betray you with a flare gun.]] Harvey Smith and Ralph Colantanio admitted that this was deliberate, while they wanted to give players freedom they also wanted them to accept that there are consequences to every action, noting that it wouldn't make sense for good supporting characters like Samuel Beechworth to support you if you are a mass-murderer.
295--->''"What we wanted was to let you express yourself in the game but to have the world react to that, at least in some way. [[spoiler:Samuel Beechworth, betraying you and firing off that flare, was something we had to fight for]]."''
296* HandSlidingDownTheGlass: If Morgan Pendleton is killed by way of sabotaging the steam room, he'll run up to the window into the room and bang on the glass before he dies, his hand sliding down the window.
297* HazardousWater: Fish will sometimes attack Corvo should he be in the water with them.
298* HeelRealization: [[spoiler: In the Low Chaos Ending, the Loyalist Conspirator ringleaders who got greedy and tried to seize power for themselves fall apart when the guilt catches up to them. You encounter Havelock who has already shot Pendleton and Martin dead, who is just simply waiting fretfully and without ill intent for Corvo to show up. Havelock even says Corvo might take him down because he 'has a slower sword hand,' implying Havelock knows Corvo is the better man.]]
299* HiddenDepths: While High Overseer Campbell seems to be a man of unrepentant vice, the regular Overseers seem to be less corrupt than the members of the City Watch and are more or less people indoctrinated into beliefs of The Abbey. Early on, you can see them being taught about The Abbey's basic principles much like a theology lesson.
300* HisNameIs: One of Slackjaw's lackeys tries to investigate who's been murdering his gang members and records an audiograph as a message once he finds out. He spends way too much time saying "I can't believe who it was!" and by the time he gets around to the actually useful part of the message the murderer has caught up with him.
301* HoistByTheirOwnPetard:
302** One common tactic: when an enemy fires a projectile at you, freeze time, possess them, have them run ''in front of their own projectile'', leave the body, and unfreeze time. HilarityEnsues.
303** When you go after the Lord Regent, if an alarm sounds, he will hide in a safe house at the top of his castle. It's possible to circumvent the Wall Of Light that serves as his last defense, use a rewiring tool to turn it deadly to enemies instead of you, knock the Lord Regent unconscious, ''then toss him into the wall that was supposed to protect him from you.'' Or you can go to his saferoom first, before the alarm is sounded, subvert the wall, ''then'' set off the alarm deliberately. He will naturally enough race to his saferoom and immediately get vaporized on the way in. Or rewire the Walls near to the staircase and then expose his crimes - which is normally the pacifist route for this mission. The guards will arrest the Lord Regent and march him out of the mansion ''through the rewired Wall'', incinerating the Regent in front of them. This is counted as Corvo killing the Lord Regent for Chaos purposes, though.
304** When leaving to assassinate Campbell [[spoiler:Callista informs you that he's planning to poison her uncle because he's not corrupt like his other men. When you arrive at the meeting room before the men enter, you [[PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo can switch their glasses]], and Campbell ends up being poisoned by the very same concoction he had ordered to be shipped for his own, dirty deeds]].
305* HollywoodDarkness:
306** Shadows are much, ''much'' less pronounced than in ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' (or ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'', for that matter), even with a relatively low gamma setting. They're also less central to the game's stealth mechanic, which relies more on avoiding line-of-sight than hiding in the dark.
307** Oddly enough, averted in one scene that is a direct homage to ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'', where an Assassin watches an apprentice make his way through a shadowy obstacle course.
308* HubUnderAttack: In the penultimate level, the Hound Pits Pub - a site normally used as a hideout for Corvo between missions, a meeting place for the rebellion, and a safe haven for the newly-rescued Emily Caldwin - is attacked and taken over by the Watch. Now, Corvo has to take out the occupying forces, find out what happened to Emily, and gear up for the final showdown with the Lord Regent.
309* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Invoked by the crappy situation Dunwall is in, as well as by the Outsider himself indirectly: he only ever grants powers to people who interest him, but every single example in the game of a person with magic (including possibly Corvo) seems to abuse these powers heavily rather than using them for decent purposes. The Outsider himself actually doesn't compel them to do this in any way, instead leaving it up to them exactly what they do with them. [[spoiler:In fact, should Corvo spare Daud, the assassin who killed the Empress, he will mention that he finds Corvo even ''more'' fascinating, because when he had the chance to take his revenge he did not do so.]]
310* HyperactiveMetabolism: Eating unspoiled food will restore small quantities of lost health. Certain bone charms can enhance this. By contrast, [[PoisonMushroom eating spoiled food will reduce small quantities of health]].
311* {{Hypocrite}}s: Worship of the Outsider is considered witchcraft and heretical by the Overseers in the Abbey of the Everyman. Keeping runes or bone charms is a sign of witchcraft. Accusations of worshipping the outsider are levied against troublemakers to discredit them. Yet almost every person who is rich or in a position of power keeps runes of the Outsider amongst their most precious possessions.
312* IdiotBall: Corvo is forced to hold this when [[spoiler:the crown loyalists betray him. Right after drinking a toast cup his vision goes blurry and if he even knocks out the traitors that clearly just poisoned him it causes a game over.]]
313** Corvo, even when ''obviously not feeling well'', [[spoiler:doesn't say anything to anyone about it. He is pretty much walking through the bar, his vision and hearing fading in and out as his heartbeat is pumping in his ears, yet doesn't seem alarmed enough to even give a small hint to Emily that something is wrong.]]
314** Interestingly, in that very same scenario, [[spoiler:the Loyalists]] might hold it as well, depending on your Chaos (more pronounced on Low). [[spoiler:Trying to kill a supernatural assassin you outfitted with a huge arsenal of useful and deadly gadgets who has proven to be ludicrously effective and is fiercely protective of your future puppet ruler (already a questionable idea)? You should make absolutely, completely sure that it works the first time, because ''you won't get a second try''. And who do they choose to deliver the poison? ''Samuel'', one of the most ethical and honest people in the game]]. Depending on what you did up until then, this can border on TooDumbToLive.
315* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Pandyssia's name means, roughly, "all that is bad" ("pan" as in Pangaea, "dys" as in dystopia). It's a supercontinent full of hideous and dangerous wildlife that will gladly snack on any humans they find, and people who visit tend to die or go mad and ''then'' die.
316* ImpairmentShot: Happens after the Return to the Tower mission. [[spoiler:When Corvo returns to the Hounds Pit Pub to celebrate the success of that mission, he takes a drink with the other members there. When he returns to his bedroom, Corvo's view becomes this shortly before passing out from poison, revealing the betrayal.]]
317* ImpoverishedPatrician: It is rumored that the Pendletons recently became this with suggestions that the family's silver mines are almost out. [[spoiler:In the High Chaos ending, Pendleton admits that he is broke.]]
318* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Played straight in that you can't kill or harm Emily (you can kill other allied [=NPCs=], though doing so causes an instant game over).
319* InsistentTerminology: Daud's Whalers always refer to their [[FlashStep "Blink"]] ability as "Transversals".
320* ItemAmplifier: Certain bone charms increase the health and magic received when you use restorative elixirs.
321* ItemCrafting: Implied but not actually used, at least not for you, the player. You find various valuable items all around the city and collect them, but they just get converted to instant cash for your convenience. Piero explains that he sells anything you find on the "black market." However, there's a letter to Piero from Havelock that saying "We can't give you copper wire and Kingfeathers! Go find your own!" and these two items happen to be two of the common ShopFodder items you collect. It's possible an earlier version of the game had you collect this stuff for more direct item crafting rather than a simple cash exchange.
322* JustFollowingOrders: Eavesdrop on guards and you'll find they tend to range from true believers to just happy to not have the plague.
323* JustIgnoreIt:
324** This has become the upper-class policy for dealing with the plague. As long as the plague remains isolated to everyone who isn't wealthy and/or noble, they pay no mind to it, and let the government deal with it. This is essentially a national policy mirroring [[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe Masque Of The Red Death.]]
325** Following the Red Death comparison, and given that Corvo can summon armies of plague rats, it is possible to bring the plague to the dinner party of at least one major noble, making it a good deal harder to ignore.
326* KansasCityShuffle: One way of taking out Lady Boyle non-lethally is to warn her that there is a plot to assassinate her. You can then advise her to take shelter in the cellar, where you can then knock her out and leave her for [[StalkerWithACrush Lord Brisby]].
327* KarmaMeter: There is a "Chaos" stat that basically tallies how many people you kill. This will directly affect what kind of ending you get and the state of the next stage. The in-universe justification is that more bodies means more rats, and more rats means more plague. Indeed, leave enough dead bodies around, and rats come a-feastin' (but the ability that turns the bodies into dust doesn't help). The Chaos meter also determines how much rioting there is - again, it makes sense that the guard will be tighter and more violent the more people, especially guards, are dead.
328* KickTheSonOfABitch: You can do this of course, if you don't opt for PacifistRun.
329** The pacifist solution to Lady Boyle eventually turns out better than for any other target, but at the moment, can be quite cruel.
330* KillThePoor: The Lord Regent's motivation.
331* LadyAndKnight: As the Royal Protector, Corvo serves as the knight to Jessamine's lady. With her death, Emily becomes the new lady he is sworn to protect.
332* LaResistance: The Loyalists, who break Corvo out of prison and help him take down the Lord Regent.
333* LaserGuidedKarma: In a no-kill run, Corvo is this trope embodied: The High Overseer is branded as a blasphemer against his faith and forever expelled, forced to live as a beggar for what little remains of his life. The Pendleton brothers are disfigured and forced to live as slaves in their own mines. Lady Boyle, a well-known woman of loose virtues who is financially backing the Lord Regent, is forced to live as essentially the sex slave of one of her admirers. The Lord Regent is taken away to be tried and executed for his manifold crimes. And [[spoiler:Loyalists all come apart, tearing themselves to shreds due to the same selfishness and blind ambition that led them to try to kill Corvo.]]
334* LeParkour: Climbing, running, and sliding, helped with the [[DoubleJump Agility]] and [[{{Teleportation}} Blink]] powers.
335* LighthousePoint: Kingsparrow Island has a heavily fortified military base with a huge lighthouse in the center of it, with the base's war room located at the top of it. [[spoiler:You climb the thing in the final mission.]]
336* LivingCrashpad: Landing on opponents will prevent you from taking damage during long falls.
337[[/folder]]
338
339[[folder:M-R]]
340* MadeOfExplodium: The Whale Oil is highly explosive, a fact that you can use to your advantage.
341* MadeOfPlasticine: Everyone's pretty flimsy. Corvo can cleave off limbs and heads with his sword, and an upgraded pistol shot can actually blow an enemy in half. Headshots with the crossbow will decapitate your target and pin their head to the wall.
342* MagicAIsMagicA:
343** Refreshingly averted in the backstory: magic ''doesn't'' work consistently or on command, generally because the Outsider doesn't care to show up and grant his Mark to people he deems uninteresting. Once you do have the Mark, however, magic works swimmingly.
344** There's also the case of the runes and whalebone charms. Runes are ancient artifacts that predate Dunwall itself, having been crafted by a long-gone, Outsider-worshipping civilization millennia ago; people frequently find them washed up on the beach and buried in the riverbed, and nobles keep them as good-luck charms (though they generally bring anything ''but''). Bone charms are made by superstitious whalers to grant them good luck at sea, but generally give people headaches and some even seem to attract plague rats. The implication is that only people marked by the Outsider can use these things.
345* MagicAndPowers: Those [[TouchedByVorlons Touched by the Outsider]] develop supernatural abilities, possibly including the following.
346** BlowYouAway: "Windblast" creates a blast of wind powerful enough to smash through weak doors and even kill people that have been thrown into a wall. [[AttackReflector It also reflects projectiles.]]
347** DemonicPossession: "Possession" lets the user jump inside anything from rats to fish to people, including assassination targets, and control them. You can even jump inside a rat, sneak through a hole in a fence, and then jump back out on the other side.
348** DoubleJump: "Agility" allows the user to jump while in the air.
349** HealingFactor: "Vitality" allows the user to have RegeneratingHealth if upgraded to its second level.
350** NoBodyLeftBehind: Enemies killed with the "Shadow Kill" technique leave behind only a pile of dust, taking away the need to hide them.
351** SummonMagic: The "Devouring Swarm" technique summons a SwarmOfRats to devour or distract enemies. However, if there aren't any enemies in sight, they will [[HoistByHisOwnPetard attack the caster instead]]. [[spoiler:Daud, in the DLC, is capable of summoning ''assassins'' who get to share his powers.]]
352** SuperSenses: "Dark Vision" gives the user XRayVision and the ability to see other peoples' line of sight. Depending on your brightness setting, it may help or hinder your ability to see in the dark.
353** {{Teleportation}}: The [[FlashStep "Blink"]] ability does this at short range.
354** TimeStandsStill: "Bend Time" allows the user to either slow or stop the flow of time for a short time. [[spoiler:Daud's version of Blink freezes time while it's being aimed, for no cost, so long as you aren't pressing any of the movement buttons, or jump.]]
355* MagiTek:
356** One way of looking at the world is that whales are mystical creatures: all your magic power upgrades come from charms and runes made of the bones of whales. Their glowing oil would therefore be some sort of magical combustible, and so ''all'' the technology in the city is MagiTek: machines running on magic.
357** The Heart you get is also a fusion of science and magic; it's got a mechanism keeping it alive and pumping (and ''talking'').
358* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident:
359** There are targets you can take out this way, such as filling a steam room at full blast. (The Achievement for doing that, in fact, is "An Unfortunate Accident".)
360** You can just knock out the other brother, lift him up and toss him off a balcony, making his death look like a suicide.
361* MarathonLevel:
362** The Kaldwin Bridge level that takes you towards Sokolov has you cover several huge streets and a big bridge before you get to Sokolov's house.
363** The Escape from the Flooded District has you moving through the plague colony/quarantine area which you have to sneak past and then a bunch of sewers with river krusts which, provided you completed two side quests earlier can be made longer than necessary. That's ''after'' you [[spoiler:confront Daud and recover your gear]] by the way.
364* MayDecemberRomance: Lollygag enough in the intro, and Emily will innocently ask that, if Corvo can't marry the Empress, maybe he could marry her. [[spoiler:Considering that Emily is heavily implied later on to be Corvo's daughter, this obviously wouldn't work out.]]
365* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: As part of the Kaldwin's Bridge mission, the player must disable the water floodlights on the bridge approach so that Samuel can extract Corvo after finding his target and they can get away under cover of darkness. If the player looks off over the water after disabling the floodlights, you can see a distant Samuel in his little skiff moving from the position where he dropped Corvo off to where he will pick him up later.
366* MedicationTampering: In an early-game side mission, the player can agree to work for [[CrazyCatLady Gra]][[CrazyHomelessPeople nny]] [[WickedWitch Rags]], poisoning an elixir still [[spoiler: used by Slackjaw's Bottle Street Gang]] with rat viscera.
367* MedievalStasis: An aversion, even though its DarkFantasy setting. The world is in the middle of its UsefulNotes/IndustrialRevolution.
368** There's automobiles, tankers, MiniMecha, and guns, and [[CallASmeerpARabbit "whale"]] oil is used as the primary fuel for all of this technology. What is ironic is that while you would think that the technological progress of ''Dishonored's'' setting comes as a result of magic being heavily suppressed, the truth is that the whale oil on which the Industrial Revolution is built on is heavily magical. Emily Kaldwin states in her lessons with Callista that nobody, not even Piero and Sokolov, understand how the oil actually works. One note has a few speculations such as the oil being so special to protect the whale from deep water pressure, leading to him wondering [[ProfessorGuineaPig if a human could produce the oil if being exposed to extreme pressure as well]].
369** Likewise, Piero makes a Spiritual Remedy of Mana despite being a scientist (or a "natural philosopher" as per the pre-[[UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment Enlightenment]] term) and the Outsider himself is bemused at how humans are harvesting and bleeding the resources dry much like an older civilization did before.
370* MixAndMatchCritters: Where do we start? Well, how about with the whales? They might be normal animals rather than Lovecraftian horrors, but that doesn't stop them from having tentacles, scales, and other things that probably should ''not'' go on a mammal.
371* MoneyForNothing:
372** Played straight with money. Levels are filled with coins and [[ShopFodder collectible trinkets]], if you search hard enough you'll gain much more money than you'll need to buy upgrades and ammo (unless you're ''really'' trigger-happy with explosive ammo and grenades), especially if you try a Low Chaos run (much of the buyable stuff is related to lethal tactics).
373** The final level still has money and valuables that can be stolen, but the last shopping opportunity in the game is in the ''previous'' level. The only reason to hunt for them is completion's sake.
374** Averted with the runes, since there aren't enough of them to fully level the whole skillset.
375* MonsterWhale: Whales are hunted by humans like in RealLife, but are monstrous borderline EldritchAbomination versions of the creatures we'd recognize. They have giant razor teeth, tentacle-like protrusions around their mouths, and some connection to the Void. Pandyssia, the native land of the plaguebearing rats, is also said to be home to land-dwelling variants.
376* MultipleEndings: The ending will change depending on your Chaos stat, which is based on how many people you kill and how you handle your targets. Further, in a High Chaos run, the ending changes based on whether or not [[spoiler:you manage to save Emily]]. In total, there are 3:
377** Low Chaos: [[spoiler:Corvo manages to make it to the top of the Watch Tower -- only to discover Martin and Pendleton dead and Emily locked away. Havelock has anticipated your arrival and betrayed and poisoned both Martin and Pendleton in paranoid terror. He then allows Corvo to pick up the key to Emily's door, but not before the two engage in combat (or, you know, [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim Corvo blows his brains out]]) with Corvo coming out on top. He frees Emily, who is installed and rules as a fair and just Empress eventually renowned as "Emily the Wise". Sokolov and Piero (if they're still alive) manage to concoct a cure to the plague, and Dunwall stabilises while the Empire prospers. Corvo grows old, dies, and is buried beside the grave of Jessamine by Empress Emily, now older than her mother was at her death.]]
378** High Chaos 1: [[spoiler:Corvo fights through the Watchtower. Martin and Pendleton die violently, though Corvo may not necessarily kill them himself. Havelock attempts to kill both himself and Emily by throwing himself from the tower, but Corvo saves Emily. She is installed as Empress, and the events of the game are remembered as an age of terror and corruption. However, Emily is remembered as a ruler who [[IDidWhatIHadToDo did what she had to do]] in a bad situation. Whether the plague is cured or not isn't specified, but the ending slides imply that Emily remains Empress for decades and Corvo still dies of old age, so Dunwall presumably gets through it.]]
379** High Chaos 2: [[spoiler:Corvo fails to save Emily before she falls. With no ruler, Dunwall is ripped apart by plague, crime and corruption, its citizens turning on each other in the days before the end. Corvo flees the continent alone, abandoning his mask and protector's sword on Emily's grave.]]
380* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Can be [[ProfessionalKiller played straight]] or [[PacifistRun entirely averted]], depending on your playstyle. Or, of course, you can play it as [[AntiHero somewhere in between]] by [[NeverHurtAnInnocent only killing]] [[AssholeVictim your targets]].
381* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:In the high-chaos ending, approaching Pendleton and Martin alone will result in this; both express regret over what they've done before dying, with the former succumbing wounds from his own guards, and the latter committing suicide, albeit in an attempt to deny Corvo the satisfaction of killing him.]]
382* NavalBlockade: The Empress briefly mentions such a blockade being deployed around Dunwall by the other provinces of the Empire, to ensure the rat plague remains in Gristol.
383* NeverTrustATrailer: The (exquisite) trailers don't quite match up with what actually happens in the game. You escape prison ''before'' the Outsider decides to visit you in your sleep and give you magic powers, climbing steep rooftops is sadly not a thing and escaping through windows would have made some missions considerably easier.
384* NoFlowInCGI: ...is why all the female characters have short hair and wear trousers. More specifically it's why the ''only'' character with flowing long hair and a coat that reaches below the knee is the one you never actually see animated. It becomes kinda obvious when you [[spoiler:meet him in the DLC]].
385* NoGearLevel: [[spoiler:The Flooded District]] level, you even see your box of gear that was stashed away by Samuel is taken by [[spoiler:Daud]] and tossed into the basement. However, this is probably the only chance you have to swing around an Assassin's Blade or Overseer's Saber.
386* NoHarmRequirement: In order for the player to get the "Clean Hands" achievement/trophy, they must go through the entire game without killing anyone, including their assassination targets. Downplayed by the requirement for the good ending: they can kill [[https://www.reddit.com/r/dishonored/comments/c3ohb6/how_many_people_can_you_kill_in_the_first/ up to 141 enemies]] before the Chaos level gets high enough to lock them out of the good ending. Killing rats, river krusts, and wolfhounds don't count for either, and the number of kills in the final mission doesn't affect Chaos.
387* NoPeripheralVision: Most of the guards never seem to bother to look up, so long as they're not alerted. In a long hallway full of idle guards? No worries, just blink up to that chandelier and they won't bat an eyelash, even if they're looking in the same direction as you. On the bright side, it makes [[DeathFromAbove drop-assassination]] that much easier. Tallboys make this more difficult though as ''their'' Line of Vision is higher.
388* NonLethalKO: Favored method of neutralizing enemies for pacifists is to choke the enemy from behind or using sleep darts. Then there is also the [[spoiler:upgraded Arc Pylon which resulted from the combined work of Sokolov and Piero]] which can do this in a large area.
389** Attacking anyone [[spoiler:before the Lord Regent sends Daud's assassins at you]] will result in Corvo being sent to prison for assault.
390* NoodleIncident: One is being discussed by the first assassination target when he first appears in the mission: "My men, your Overseers, a couple of whores, maybe a little too much ale... then one harmless prank with a runaway chicken and all of a sudden Treever's Alley is a sea of blood and tears."
391* NotCompletelyUseless: Obviously, when you're doing a StealthRun or PacifistRun, deadly-inaccurate-and-loud Grenades aren't going to get much use... except against [[DemonicSpiders River Krusts]], two strengths of which are armoured hides and being placed in tight groups, and which do not count for "no kills" or "no alerts" achievements.
392* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: The Blink power still maintains some momentum so if you're falling from a great height and then Blink to the ground, you will still receive some damage.
393* NotUsingTheZWord: Those infected by the plague are called "Weepers". They cry blood, looked like death warmed over, and attack other people. There is ''one'' notable difference between Weepers and zombies, in that Weepers are disturbingly [[TechnicallyLivingZombie still alive]], but suffering from severe brain damage caused by the plague.
394* OddlySmallOrganization:
395** The loyalist conspiracy trying to topple the lord regent and those supporting him consists of: One disgraced, suspended Admiral, an Overseer, the lesser son of a noble family, an assassin, an inventor, a boatman, and four domestic servants. And that's it. Justified in that they are essentially trying to just murder key people so they can take over key positions.
396** The Lord Regent's conspiracy was equally small, though at least in his case each member was in a prominent position to begin with and had access to a wealth of resources.
397* OnlySixFaces: Check the character pages and you'll notice just about everyone has very similar long faces, high cheekbones, and sunken cheeks. The [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Watsonian]] explanation is that this is just what people from Dunwall look like as the Serkonan Corvo and Daud have notably different features. The Doylist explanation concerns research Arkane's character designers did into English face shapes while the game was still set in a steampunk London; this was carried over into the final game without much change.
398** Most [=NPCs=] who aren't at the Hound Pits look the same. There seems to be one model for most male commoners, female commoners, male nobles, and female nobles.
399* OneSteveLimit: Averted. There are two characters in the game named "Lydia": a maid at the Hound Pits pub, and one of the three Ladies Boyle.
400* OffscreenTeleportation: During the first assassination mission, [[spoiler:Granny Rags appears to do this]].
401* OffWithHisHead: Corvo will often perform 'finishing moves' on enemies with low health, some of which involve decapitating them. Additionally, if Corvo is killed by a sword, it's highly implied he has been decapitated, judging from the way the camera rolls around on the floor.
402** Pistol shots and crossbow bolts can also occasionally decapitate foes, in the latter case sometimes even pinning the detached bodypart to any surface behind it.
403* OhMyGods: ''"What in the Void?"'', ''"[By the] Outsider's Eyes!"'' and similar exclamations.
404* OptionalStealth: The game gives options in how you want to play the game. You could, for example, play through the entire game undetected... or become a whirling dervish of supernatural death. Notably, there's the Ghost achievement for playing through undetected and in a PacifistRun.
405* OrganGrinder: Overseer Music Boxes are organ grinders worn by the [[ChurchMilitant foot soldiers]] of the Abbey of the Everyman. The music boxes [[AntiMagic negate the magic]] of the [[HumanoidAbomination Outsider]] by creating "mathematically pure notes" and can attack with waves of sound.
406* OrganizedCrimeSidequest: During the mission to rescue Emily from the Golden Cat and assassinate the Pendleton twins, the cosmic horror/political thriller slant of the game takes a turn towards crime fiction when local crime boss Slackjaw offers an optional quest: find an art dealer frequenting the Golden Cat and interrogate him for his safe combination. In exchange for this, Slackjaw's gang will dispose of the Pendleton twins ''for'' you - albeit [[FateWorseThanDeath non-lethally]].
407* [[OurMonstersAreWeird Our Animals Are Weird]]: According to Arkane, they tried to make the animals both normal and familiar while remaining otherworldly. For example, they endowed dogs with long, crocodile-like snouts, sharks have odd squid-like tentacles and a green, sickly color, whales vary in body parts from individual to individual...
408* OxygenMeter: You only have a limited amount of time underwater.
409* PacifistRun: Despite you playing as an ''assassin'', you can play through the game without killing anyone via a TechnicalPacifist route. However, some of the non-lethal fates are AFateWorseThanDeath. For example, Lady Boyle is an assassination target, but the player can [[spoiler:knock her out and give her to a guy with a crush on her, [[SexSlave never to]] [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty be seen again]]. He even notes that what he's doing is immoral, but asserts that it's better than killing her.]] However, ''Literature/DishonoredTheCorrodedMan'' reveals [[spoiler:Lady Boyle seduced, married and killed her captor, inherited his wealth and moved to an island far away from Corvo and Emily.]]
410* PainfulRhyme: One of the in-universe books 'Tales for Children' rhymes 'Riley' with 'time-y' and 'why me?'.
411* PatrollingMook: City Watchmen, Overseers, Street Gangs, and even Assassins.
412* PetTheDog: The Overseers, despite being corrupt ChurchMilitant, really do care for their wolfhounds. One can be seen sweet talking to a sick wolfhound in a kennel, and you can find a note where one refused even the idea of having the wolfhounds strapped with bomb vests no matter what the Chaos Level is.
413** If you leave the four dogs in the kennels alive, you will eventually meet them in the Flooded District after they have been "rescued" by the assassins, who observe in a note that with proper food and care, the hounds are behaving more to their liking again.
414* PhlebotinumInducedSteampunk: The technological advances of the setting are the result of using the oil of magical whales as fuel.
415* ThePlague: The Rat Plague, which has been tearing Dunwall apart for almost a year and a half. People infected by it [[TearsOfBlood cry blood]] in the late stages, have discolored skin, and occasionally attack other human beings.
416* PlotTriggeringDeath: Naturally, the story kicks off with the murder of Empress Jessamine that leaves Corvo ''Dishonored''. Discussed and averted in-universe. As Dunwall's decline sharply picked up the pace around the time that Jessamine died, some people believe everything started with the assassination and need to be reminded the rat plague was already ravaging the city beforehand [[note]]Indeed, the prologue scene features Jessamine describing Dunwall as already at the breaking point from the plague.[[/note]].
417* PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo: You're warned ahead of time that High Overseer Campbell is going to eliminate a city guard captain that's investigating corruption in the Overseer's ranks, and an optional mission is to save the guy during Campbell's "Wine and Dine and Poison the Guy" routine. A straight-up switching of glasses is possible, but not necessarily the most ideal solution because the other Overseers will jump to the conclusion that the captain deliberately poisoned Campbell. You can break both glasses, forcing Campbell to initiate Plan B (good for getting them both to a private area) or if you're feeling REALLY murderous, you can mix poison into both glasses.
418* PoliceBrutality: This seems to be the general policy of both the City Watch and the Overseers (see AllCrimesAreEqual, above). In addition to executing people on the spot for something as innocent as breaking curfew, City Watchmen steal from citizens, round up victims for cruel experiments, and open fire on refugees.
419** In neutral areas, if you stand in a watchman's way you are liable to get kicked out of it. Nobody reacts.
420* PostClimaxConfrontation: On a smaller scale, in the Flooded District, you end up facing [[spoiler:Daud, the man who murdered Empress Jessamine]]. You'd think this would be the focus for the level, but in fact, [[spoiler:sneaking into Daud's base and confronting him-or not confronting him as the case may be-]]is actually only the mission's ''halfway point'', and you still have to actually escape the District and [[spoiler:Granny Rags]] is actually closer to the level's final encounter.
421* {{Precursors}}:
422** It's repeatedly mentioned that people have recently found the ruins of an ancient city buried deep beneath Dunwall, and it seems that this civilization crafted the Runes you find in the game.
423** The Outsider mentions at one point that humans always use their resources until they run out and die because of it. He then observes that the current civilisation is headed the exact same way as the one he had seen before.
424** In the High-Chaos ending, [[spoiler:if Emily dies, the Empire crumbles, [[ViciousCycle going the way of that ancient civilization]]. The parallel is implied, rather than stated, but it's there.]]
425* PrisonLevel: After getting falsely charged with the assassination of the Empress at the start of the game, Corvo is imprisoned in Coldridge Prison and tortured in the hopes of forcing him to sign a confession of guilt. However, he's unexpectedly released from his cell by a guard in league with [[LaResistance the Loyalists,]] allowing Corvo to either fight or sneak his way through the prison until he reaches the boat waiting for him just outside the prison.
426* PunchClockVillain: Many of the low-level {{Mook}}s are implied or even outright stated to be such. For all they know, they're just following the orders of the government like they've always done.
427* PuttingOnTheReich: The Lord Regent's men love this. The aesthetic could be described as something akin to [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany Bismarck]] meets [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany the SS]] with a dose of [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships the British Redcoat]] for flavor.
428* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Subverted. Dresses simply don't exist in Dunwall, and all female characters wear outfits that vary from trousers and shirts to fancy pantsuits, regardless of their power, ass-kickery, or lack thereof. The Watsonian explanation being that it is simply the fashion of the day and, given the precarious position that Dunwall is in economically, dresses simply are too impractical to make and wear with any regularity. The Doylist answer is that Arkane simply didn't have the budget to make animation rigs that would allow for flowing cloth (which also explains why no one has long hair either).
429* RefugeInAudacity: "Lady Boyle's Last Party". Corvo goes to a costume party [[ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself as himself]], signs the guest book with his real name, and has a possibility of [[spoiler:going straight up to his target and telling her [[ExactWords someone has come to assassinate her]] for the nonlethal option]]. After the job is done, [[spoiler:Lady Boyle's sisters, if they are still alive, ''give Corvo gifts'' for sparing them]]. A report found in the Lord Regent's office later in the game incredulously describes the ledger signing as "a perverse joke".
430* ReluctantMadScientist: Both Piero and Sokolov, though it's more out of ForScience than anything. Though they talk about allegiances, [[spoiler:Sokolov quickly squeals when threatened with rats, and seems to care more about the subjects and opportunities the Lord Regent hands him. Piero seems more interested in all the things he can make. They both chum up in the end, despite apparent conflicting worldviews - over science.]] In ''The Knife of Dunwall'', a note from Sokolov about his Arc Mines ("straight from the twisted mind of Sokolov", the City Watch says) imply he's disgusted with the Lord-Regent gleefully testing them out on a prisoner, despite Sokolov himself claiming the prisoner deserved it, and hoping to find a non-lethal current that simply knocks a target out.
431* RegeneratingHealth: The second level of the Vitality skill allows the player to regenerate health.
432* ReplayValue: The game is actually quite short for an ImmersiveSim, clocking in at roughly 6 or so hours and extending to 8 if you do all of the rather limited optional content. That being said, the game is very replayable. You can't unlock and upgrade all your powers on a single run no matter what you do, so the game incentivizes returning to try again with a new suite of powers. Each target has multiple ways of taking them out (scripted or not), and the game makes sure you know that there's multiple ways through a level. There's numerous different kinds of SelfImposedChallenge, such as not using any powers, or engaging in a PacifistRun. The game also incentivizes a Ghost run (not ever being seen or leaving behind evidence you were there), and the game world reflects how successful you are at remaining undetected, such as characters mentioning that your targets were assassinated by an unknown assailant instead of "the man in the mask" if you killed them without being seen. Lastly, there's the dichotomy between a low and high chaos playthrough, with stuff as small as the amount of rusty blood on your blade to as large as guard and security presence being affected by how many people you kill.
433* RightManInTheWrongPlace: Invoked by the Empresses' usurpers about Corvo. Burrows had originally suggested the trip in the first place, presumably to keep Corvo away from the Empress so the Spymaster could make his move. The Lord Protector returned home two days earlier than expected, but this ended up working in Burrows's favor because when the assassination succeeded Corvo made for the perfect fall guy.
434* RivalScienceTeams: The Loyalists field Piero against the Regency's Sokolov. Both men also have a personal rivalry going since their days in academia. Of course, [[spoiler:this becomes a moot point when Corvo kidnaps Sokolov, taking him (but not his technology) out of the running.]] In the end, [[spoiler:both men make up and, in the low-chaos ending, work together to put an end to the Weepers.]]
435* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: "[[TagLine Revenge Solves Everything]]"
436** In gameplay, this can be taken to extreme levels. Yes, you ''could'' just sneak your way through and just go after the target... ''or'' you could slaughter everyone who gets in your way, or even every guard between you and the building that is your destination and every person in the building where the target is hiding. You can make the streets run red with the blood of the innocent and guilty alike, and turn every building your targets live in into an abattoir. There's very little that can stop you, especially as you gain greater powers.
437** Regarding the story, this runs true as well. Corvo ''will'' get his revenge on those that cross him, no matter how. Be it a kill or a FateWorseThanDeath, the simple fact that you dared to mess with his Empress and Emily will mark you as his next target and ''nothing'' will stop him from making you scared for your very life. Even in a Low Chaos pacifist run where nobody dies through your hands, your path of revenge is so terrifying that [[spoiler:Lord Regent locks himself into a heavily protected fort]] and [[spoiler:the Loyalists first betray you and then kill each other out of fright.]]
438* RoomFullOfCrazy:
439** In one of the slums, you can find the apartment of a man who's become dangerously obsessed with visions of the Outsider, scribbling "THE OUTSIDER WALKS AMONG US" all over his walls.
440** At Lady Boyle's Last Party, you can find one of the victims of Granny Rags, with her insane scrawlings all over the wall and a diary note of hers stating of just how ''bored'' she is of it all.
441[[/folder]]
442
443[[folder:S-Z]]
444* SarcasticConfession: Oddly enough, you can have ''[[TheVoiceless Corvo]]'' make one of these. [[StopPokingMe Bother]] [[GreenEyedMonster Ramsey]] enough, and he'll tell one of the guards that he doesn't think you're on the guest list. When the guard asks for your name, you can either lie and tell him that you're Lord Treavor Pendleton, or act drunk and say "I'm an agent of the Outsider." [[spoiler:Guess which one lets you continue to wander the party freely, and which blows your cover?]]
445* SaveScumming: A necessity for getting the Ghost achievements. There are also two bone charms that are completely random and you can keep reloading until you pick up the desired one.[[spoiler:The charm in a vice in the second mission and the charm in Daud's pouch in the seventh.]]
446* ScareChord: Used often, usually when you've been spotted by an enemy.
447* ScenicTourLevel: The intro, which takes the player to the Empress through numerous, lengthy interactions with Corvo's peers. [[spoiler:It also serves to introduce the player to the villains and to what will become the Big Bad's lair after the Empress' assassination.]]
448* SchizoTech: The technology is like something out of a 19th century World's Fair. Fluorescent bulbs light streets guarded by soldiers carrying flintlock pistols and swords. Electric death-walls are powered by condensed whale oil and controlled by mechanical computers. Massive trimaran freighters lift whales entirely out of the water after spearing them with harpoon cannons. There's indoor running water, but people still crap in buckets.
449* SchmuckBait: Alarm clocks are all over the place and you have to be careful not to bell them by accident.
450* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:In the worst ending, Corvo is revealed to be on a ship headed far, far away from the dying Dunwall - though, the Outsider questions if he's running AWAY from Dunwall, or [[SequelHook hunting something else.]]]]
451* SecretRoom: In [[spoiler:the house for Burglary]], there is a secret room in the bedroom that is [[StalkerShrine covered with pictures of Lady Boyle]].
452* ShadyLadyOfTheNight: Emily Kaldwin, daughter of the murdered previous Empress Jessamine and thus the presumptive Empress, has been kidnapped by [[RegentForLife Hiram Burrows]] and held in The Golden Cat, a brothel managed by Madam Prudence.
453* ShopFodder: There's a lot of things to scavenge, but only a few of them are actually straight-up coins. Just as often, you'll find valuables like maps, refined whale oil jugs, copper wires and rare feathers. You don't need to trade them in at a vendor, either; for player convenience they are instantly converted to cash as you pick them up. At least in Piero's case, the game justifies this in a letter from Havelock: he uses some of these objects as materials for his inventions, so by giving them to him, he needs less money to get the materials.
454* StalkerShrine: In the house for Burglary, there is a secret room in the bedroom that is covered with pictures of Lady Boyle.
455* ShootTheHostageTaker: [[spoiler:Possible in the high-chaos ending; shooting Havelock when he threatens to jump to his death with Emily will result in him falling, while Emily will grab the ledge.]]
456* ShoutOut:
457** In the very first cutscene after Corvo's arrest in the intro, where he's being interrogated and tortured, one of the torture devices sat on the table to his right is [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour a rat in cage-shaped headgear]].
458** The first safe Corvo has to open uses the code 451 - a traditional reference to the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTVBSxnwiCo&t=747 entrance keycode of Looking Glass offices back in the day]], used by various games (those developed by Ion Storm Austin and {{Creator/Looking Glass Studios}} and ex-employees thereof) since the first ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' in 1994 (Although they tend to make it 0451, since their codes use four digits. It was also the code to their old security system.).
459** Traveling to each of your missions happens via taking Samuel's boat, much like how ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' takes the player from UNATCO's headquarters to the missions via police ferry.
460** In one mission you can come across an assassin in training; his mentor almost directly quotes lines from the first ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}''[='s=] training mission.
461** One of the levels involves AFeteWorseThanDeath being crashed by a man, all as part of a CosmicHorrorStory. In addition to the "Literature/TheMasqueOfTheRedDeath" and ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' references, that's also the plot of a story by Creator/HPLovecraft, who was one of the main inspirations for the setting. Bonus points? That story's title is ''The Outsider''.
462** All in reference to the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series, Along the way to the hideout, there's a sign for the [[Creator/TerryPratchett Pratchett]] Warehouse; this may also account for the major character named Havelock. There's also a Mr. Pratchett you encounter, and Prachett's Jellied Eels are everywhere. Moreover, the setting as whole seems to bear a striking number of parallels to Ankh-Morpork in ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}''. Granny Rags is also a take on Granny Weatherwax though far more violent.
463** Piero's documents mention that he's working on something called a "Door to Nowhere," and you can find walls with markings rather similar to the portals from ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}''.
464** At the party, wearing a rodent mask no less, is one Lord [[WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH Timothy Brisby]].
465** The [[CosmeticAward Achievement/Trophy]] 'Alive Without Breath' is a line of a riddle that appeared in ''Literature/TheHobbit''. The full riddle is as follows: ''Alive without breath / as cold as death / never thirsty, ever drinking / all in mail, never clinking.'' You gain the [[CosmeticAward Achievement/Trophy]] by possessing a fish. And ''fish,'' of course, is the riddle's answer.
466** The symbol for the plague marked on infected houses is vaguely similar to--and almost identical to when you see it with a crossbone in a creepy cultist's lair--another symbol for plague-bearing, supernatural rats: the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Skaven]]'s logo.
467** The [=achievement/trophy=] for Sparing [[spoiler:Daud]] is called [[Series/{{Firefly}} 'Mercy is the Mark']].
468** There's a brown haired servant named [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Lydia]] in a Bethesda game.
469** A prominent scientist named Sokolov may or may not be a shout out to ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater''.
470** The scowling Overseer masks are reminiscent of the Immortals from ''Film/ThreeHundred''. They also look a lot like the masks of the Ordinators in another Bethesda game, ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind''. Plus, both are a worn by some kind of fanatical religious police.
471** It might be a stretch on this one but the suggestion that Corvo could be Emily's father could be a ShoutOut to ''VideoGame/{{BioShock 2}}''. As there is a deleted Audio Diary that confirms Delta is actually Eleanor's biological father.
472** Near the end of the Flooded District stage, you can find an angry letter from [[Series/{{Scrubs}} Percival Cox]].
473** In a low-chaos playthrough, you meet a group of survivors in the Flooded District and have the chance to assist them in escaping the District. [[Series/BlakesSeven The group led by Blake numbers seven]].
474** Late in the game, you can spy on an [[EliteMook Assassin]] teaching his apprentice how to [[FlashStep Blink]]. The instructions he gives make it sound a lot like [[Franchise/HarryPotter Apparition]]. One can almost hear the refrain of [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Destination, Determination, Deliberation]]. Probably also another reference to ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}''.
475** At the End of a High Chaos playthrough, Emily [[spoiler:has become a sociopathic and violent 11-year-old girl, due to the influence of her father (father figure, at least), and she's played by Creator/ChloeGraceMoretz.]] Quite possibly a Film/KickAss ShoutOut.
476** During the ''Brigmore Witches'' [=DLC=], you come into contact with several enchanted statues of Delilah, one of which is initially posed with her hands over her eyes. If you look away for long enough and then look back, she will have moved from her plinth [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink and be reaching out to grab you]].
477** Lizzy Stride is likely to be one to one of UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper's victims, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Stride "Long Liz" Stride"]].
478** Author P. J. Stokeworth appears to be Dunwall's version of Creator/HPLovecraft, to judge by the book [[http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/The_Howl_From_Beyond ''The Howl From Beyond'']] that can be found during ''The Bridgmore Witches'' DLC.
479** At the end of the ''Brigmore Witches'' DLC, you can [[spoiler:disrupt an eldritch ritual by sneaking into it halfway through and replacing one magic item with another. [[VideoGame/{{Thief}} Sound familiar?]]]]
480** Following one successful mission, Pendleton can be heard to call out [[Series/{{TheWire}} ''Where's Wallace?!'']]
481* ShownTheirWork: While the setting is Victorian SteamPunk, Arkane did [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs4nCzAUQV4 extensive research]] all over Europe to get a certain realistic style based on real-life societies from the period.
482* StealthBasedGame: Though you can opt to completely ditch this for a good old fashioned shootout and stabfest.
483* StealthRun: Which may be combined with a PacifistRun for a Ghost Run, so ''no one ever knows you were there.''
484* SteamPunk[=/=]DieselPunk: Neither fully describes the game's aesthetic; let's just say that it's set during a Whale Oil UsefulNotes/IndustrialRevolution that came a ''bit'' too early. The Outsider's magic makes it a bit GaslampFantasy-ish, too.
485** DungeonPunk: At least in part. A mix of swords, sorcery and Lovecraftian cosmology along with guns and [[{{VideoGame/HalfLife2}} Combine]]-style technology and architecture.
486* StickyBomb: An upgrade to the grenade will enable it to stick on things due to the spikes added on it.
487* SwarmOfRats: There's a lot of ferocious rats in this game, which seem to be the source of the plague. A swarm of rats can also be summoned to devour your enemies. Rat swarms tend to move as if they have a hive mind, and they love to chew on dead bodies. Learning to use dead bodies to distract vicious rats is just one of the tricks you need to pass. It's notable that these rats are not native to Gristol, but are a larger, smarter and more ferocious variety from the [[DeathWorld Pandyssian Continent]]. Also notable is that the amount of rat swarms you have to deal with has a direct positive correlation to how many people you kill - the more corpses, the more rats, which in turn forces you to deal with more Weepers because the plague is spreading.
488* SwordAndGun: Corvo keeps his long knife at the ready in his right hand and his pistol in his left. Even if you don't use both at once he's conceivably ''ready'' to whip either out. Watch Officers and other firearm-wielding enemies also fight this way, with a saber in one hand and a pistol in the other.
489* TakeYourTime: Events won't trigger until you actually reach the proper location. Feel free to wander around the Abbey, stealthily taking out every single Overseer both inside and outside of the building, and whether it takes you thirty minutes or six hours to do it, Campbell and Curnow will ''still'' be only just arriving at their meeting. Also, [[spoiler:after Corvo is poisoned, the symptoms will continually get worse, but Corvo will ''not'' collapse until he reaches his room. He is perfectly capable of running circles around the Hound Pits Pub for hours as long as he stays out of the attic]].
490* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:In the high-chaos ending, Havelock attempts to throw himself from the lighthouse with Emily.]]
491* TechnicalPacifist:
492** The non-lethal approach to "neutralizing" targets can get pretty nasty: couple of corrupt Members of Parliament who own a mine run by slave labor? Do a favor for a crime boss who will in return have them kidnapped, disfigured and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard sold to their own mine as slaves]]! Powerful female aristocrat supporting the Lord Regent? Knock her unconscious and hand her over to an "[[StalkerWithACrush admirer]]" who promises [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty she will never be seen again]]!
493** This also counts towards a PacifistRun. The game will only log deaths that you are directly responsible for, like straight-up murder or hacked weapons. But it won't count it if, say, you lead a swarm of murderous rats to an enemy, or a group of Weepers that are chasing you "accidentally" end up running into some City Watchmen. Though their corpses will still alert guards as though you had done it, you won't see any deaths recorded at the end of the mission. People that you knocked out dying after the fact, however (falling, drowning, getting eaten by rats), will count.
494* TeleportSpam: The Assassins just ''love'' abusing their Transversal ability. [[spoiler:Daud]] has it, too, but is not nearly so bad about spamming it.
495* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Played with. If you get noticed before they recognize you, or if you make some noisy running sound, they often dismiss it as rats or just 'hearing things'. They seemingly have no idea how to replace the trans battery of a wall of light or an arc pylon after you remove it. They also seemingly never bothered to look up. However, the officers in particular, WILL notice if some guards are missing from their post, and they will take over their patrol routes as well. Alerting a guard will cause him to call for help and if you managed to escape, they will actively search for you with their weapons drawn. They will also be alerted by bodies or unconscious guards that you have to hide bodies constantly. Eavesdropping on the guard chatter will reveal that at least some of them ''are'' in fact supposed to put whale oil tanks into the devices as part of their duties.
496* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: Played straight, considering how corrupt and selfish the villains are. [[spoiler:The final act subverts this in the worst ending, as, despite Corvo's best intentions, the chaos generated in tearing down the totalitarian government causes the plague to continue to spread relentlessly, dooming the city without Emily's guidance.]]
497* ThreePointLanding: When falling from a high enough height Corvo lands with his left hand touching the ground, implying this.
498* TimeStandsStill: One of the skills you get is "Bend Time," which eventually allows you to stop time and interact with people while they're frozen.
499* TitleDrop: The Outsider offers one for the seventh mission.
500-->'''The Outsider:''' Will you tear it all to pieces? Either way, it's [[TitleDrop Lady Boyle's last party]].
501* TouchedByVorlons: Corvo gains his powers from The Outsider's Mark, as do others chosen by The Outsider.
502* TreacheryCoverUp: [[spoiler:The reason that Havelock, Martin, and Pendleton poison Corvo and murder the other Loyalists (Wallace, Lydia, and potentially Callista). They had also had planned to kill Samuel, Cecelia, Piero, and Sokolov, but Samuel was smart enough to see it coming and run, and Cecelia escaped by either inadvertently being warned by Wallace[[note]](Low Chaos)[[/note]] or because she wasn't feeling well[[labelnote:*]]High Chaos[[/labelnote]]. Piero and Sokolov survived by barricading themselves in Piero's workshop. Callista's survival depends entirely on whether Corvo has maintained Low Chaos; otherwise, Havelock will kill her as well]].
503* TrickBomb: The Springrazor mine, which doesn't explode, but releases blades to slice up anyone unlucky to run into it.
504* TrickArrow: For both the crossbow and the wheellock pistol. The former has [[InstantSedation sleep darts]], [[ArrowsOnFire incendiary bolts]], and [[StuffBlowingUp explosive bolts]], while the latter has [[StuffBlowingUp explosive bullets]].
505* UncannyValley: {{Invoked}}; The aesthetic of ''Dishonored'' uses heavy elements of Impressionism, an art movement that was popular in the 19th century, in its design which helps enhance its Victorian-esque DieselPunk setting greatly. However, this unique artstyle has made the otherwise normal populace of the world have almost distinctly grotesque visages and exaggerated caricaturisations of human anatomy.
506* UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay:
507** A High Chaos run leads to lots and lots of realistic consequences. All those murders in {{you|Bastard}}r wake mean lots of dead bodies for the rats to feast on, spreading their plague with them as they go. The chaos created by carving a bloody swath through the city leads to people panicking, which in turn leads to the guards becoming even more repressive in the hopes of maintaining some semblance of law and order (and presumably because they're afraid of being next). And your allies are, understandably, ''flat out terrified'' of you, [[spoiler:and their wanting you out of the picture as soon as {{you have outlived your usefulness}} becomes much more understandable]]. At the end of it all, [[spoiler:the power vaccuum that you violently created, combined with all that unrest boiling over, leads to Dunwall's total collapse - ''especially'' if you're unable to save Emily.]]
508** The final boss is hard to call such, given how easily they go down. But then you realize that you're a ''highly-trained supernatural assassin'', [[spoiler:while Havelock's only human, and [[VillainousBreakdown even he realizes this]]. He does at least make an attempt if you pick up the key without touching him.]]
509** [[spoiler:Hiram intentionally brought the plague to Dunwall, hoping it would kill off the poor and homeless. However he failed to anticipate the rats inevitably multiplying, and the quarantines failing. Its not like the rats were just going to go away on their own or that people, sick or not, would want to stay in plague ridden areas.]]
510** [[spoiler: The boss fight against Daud; while the both of you are supernatural assassins, the both of you are still human and Corvo can marely Blink in front of him and instantly kill him in a single strike, skipping the boss fight, if the player is so inclined.]]
511* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Friendly [=NPCs=] never seem to question it if you walk around them with a (potentially beating) human heart in your hand.
512** WordOfGod says that only those touched by The Outsider can see it, [[InvisibleToNormals regular people can't]]; they would just see Corvo standing as if he's holding something.
513* UrbanRuins: The SteamPunk combined with DieselPunk city of Dunwall is plagued by a rat plague which kills hundreds of people and leaves {{Technically Living Zombie}}s in its wake. Many buildings are locked down, ruined, or even completely destroyed. This trope is especially apparent in the Flooded District, which the authorities just gave up on, and so there is not even any order left to be found there.
514* UrbanSegregation: [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] '''and''' [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]. Dunwall has traditionally had districts divided up based on proximity to industry and real estate value, in part to let the nobles get away from the slums and to keep the inhabitants of the slums stuck in them. However, the Rat Plague and the subsequent [[CrushingThePopulace heavy-handed measures to deal with it]] by the Lord Regent have made this even worse than usual. Quarantine steps have been taken to limit travel between areas, entire districts have been walled off save heavily guarded checkpoints, and some have even been walled off ''entirely'' and given up as a lost cause. It's one reason why the Hound Pit is so safe: it has been abandoned and walled off with gigantic metal barricades to the point that it can only be reached via the Weeper and rat infested sewers or by forbidden boat travel.
515* VerbedTitle: ''Dishonored''.
516* VideoGameCaringPotential:
517** One of the very first things that Corvo can do in the game is to indulge Princess Emily in a game of hide-and-seek.
518** Since unconscious characters can be killed if their bodies are handled carelessly, a player doing a nonlethal run may be compelled to find a safe, comfortable place for anyone they needed to KO for sake of the mission.
519* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: All of the nonlethal solutions are definitely this, but if you actually want to see the effects of this...
520** Murder everybody at a dinner party, unleash swarms of rats on unsuspecting guards and townsfolk, lob flammable whale oil containers into a group of plague victims, possess a guard and make him walk in front of his own frozen-in-time gunfire, possess a guard and make him walk in front of ''his friend's'' frozen-in-time gunfire, drug a guy and throw him off a cliff, etc.
521** If you're feeling more petty, you can leave unconscious guards in compromising positions with others, leave them on top of chandeliers, toss a bottle at the back of your target's head, GoombaStomp someone and run, possess a guard and have him vomit on a bystander, toss corpses from up high in front of unsuspecting maids, blow down a door with Windblast that someone is standing behind and more.
522* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment:
523** The more people that Corvo kills, the more the ending changes. However, guards will also be more alert in later missions, and [[spoiler:allies may turn against you when they otherwise would not, causing more alert guards]]. There will also be more security measures in place (towers, walls of light, and so on).
524** For a game that was advertised with Corvo stabbing people left, right, and center, it flat-out tells you that you're going to get a DownerEnding if you run around murdering everyone. With all the EnemyChatter about how they have loved ones and all of the little notes you can find that detail the lives of the people around you, you might start wondering why the game doesn't just come right out and call you a heartless asshole if you do a lethal High Chaos run.
525%%* VideoGameStealing:
526* VillainBall: At the beginning of Back Alley Brawl's infinite [[EndlessGame 13th wave,]] [[spoiler:Daud appears and stops time for a private duel just like in the main game.]] However, being frozen in time makes every other enemy currently spawned (usually around 10 in total, including [[DemonicSpiders Tallboys]] and ''his own men'') easy pickings. Thanks for the free kills, [[spoiler:Daud]]!
527* VillainousBreakdown: Funnily enough, the Lord Regent's [[spoiler:EngineeredPublicConfession is a pre-recorded mid-breakdown speech (so, he breaks down while breaking it all down for you). Step One of his KillThePoor plan, killing the Empress to put himself in power, worked great - Corvo was even conveniently there to frame! Step Two, kill the rats, didn't work out. Step Three, quarantine, was a total failure because his blackguards, forcefields and tallboys couldn't stop people from breaking quarantine to be with their loved ones.]]
528--> ''"You can see how my plan should have worked? '''Would''' have worked! If everyone had just '''followed orders'''."''
529** He also has one in a high chaos run, when upon entering the tower, you see him conversing with his general via screen, being paranoid about the masked assassin coming for him. Then, when you clear the room, you can go ahead and call him, and have a choice of removing your mask and revealing yourself to be none other than Corvo Attano...
530* VocalDissonance: You'll eventually run into the guy who's been giving the CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker, he looks younger than you'd expect.
531* WantedPoster: This and the following games show them, officially marking the heroes as enemies of the state.
532* WellIntentionedExtremist: Deconstructed. The game's High and Low Chaos system in general is a statement on the trope; Corvo's motivations remain the same and it's how extreme his methods are that shape the world around him. The more extreme he is, the worse everything becomes. [[spoiler:Several characters, especially in Low Chaos, will speculate that the Loyalists truly did have Emily and the Empire's best interests at heart, but the simple fact that they were willing to use underhanded, vicious means led them down a dark path. Being able to order the deaths of anyone who gets in your way is a heady drug, and the Loyalists succumbed to it.]]
533* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler:The Loyalists' betrayal of Corvo. Also, on a high chaos run, Samuel, the boatman, the only guy who was still on your side, at the start of the last mission will say you are worse than the other loyalists put together, and signal the loyalists that you are coming if you don't kill him.]]
534* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Despite hearing the Heart say things like "I will be glad to rest" and "I am not alive, nor have I been granted the gift of death" for the entire game, the ending makes no mention of the Heart's final fate. Even worse considering that it's almost certainly [[spoiler:the Empress's own heart]]. The answer to that question is left to the [[VideoGame/Dishonored2 sequel]].
535* WhatMeasureIsAMook: You can come across guards who, rather than talking about all of the puppy-kicking they're looking forward to doing later, are talking about their lives. You can overhear at least one man talking to his fellow guard about a prostitute he's fallen in love with, and how he wants to take her away from that life. If you end up killed in a fight with guards, the last thing you'll hear as you lie on the floor is your killer talking about how you just made the wife of one of his buddies a widow.
536** There's one level where a guard mentions he's working up the courage to propose to his girlfriend, who is a housemaid. A housemaid in the same house he's at. [[YouBastard A housemaid you could've conceivably killed two rooms back]].
537** A ton of this in the guard bunkhouse. One Overseer has a letter from his male lover assuring him everything is alright, he loves him, and he's not mad about a recent incident.[[note]]They were seen in public together and the Overseer covered by throwing homophobic slurs at him.[[/note]] A pair of Overseers very nearly take a City Watch guard's sister to be burned at the stake for being a witch, but he stands up for her despite knowing he won't be shown leniency; Corvo can take out the Overseers and save them. The guard himself has a letter in the post from a friend warning him that someone's taken evidence proving his sister is a witch to the proper authorities, telling him to take her and get out of the city as soon as possible.
538** Though the feeling of guilt over murdering the guards is mitigated a lot if you use the Heart on them and find out that a lot of the guards are sadistic and greedy monsters. For the most part, the Heart gives fairly random mentions to a guard's mindset or past (the vast majority of these are negative), though there are a fair few it will exclusively give kind messages about.
539** Not just with the guards, but with nearly every human enemy you face. The guards are just doing their jobs and hoping they don't get the plague, the Overseers were acquired as children (either taken as orphans, given by parents with too many mouths to feed, or straight up kidnapped) and brainwashed to follow a doctrine (and one book even mentions that those that can't be brainwashed are just killed off), the thugs are just trying to get by the only way they can, and the assassins are just honoring the man who gave them chance and a trade. Very few people are in this to screw people or watch the world burn.
540* WhatTheHellHero: If you murder indiscriminately, [[spoiler:Samuel will call you out on it in the final level in a ''big'' way -- and he'll alert the loyalists and every one of the numerous guards on the island that you're coming, unless you kill him first]].
541* WhatYouAreInTheDark: This may be the theme of Dishonored; Corvo was once a protector of the Empress and her daughter. Now that he's an assassin without an Empress and his identity is a secret from all but a select few people [[spoiler:until near the end]], he has choices to make while in the dark; kill everyone or spare them. It's a test of character that ends with the empire in flames or in good hands. [[spoiler:Havelock failed, as did Martin and Pendleton]].
542* WhereItAllBegan: You will head to Dunwall Tower to kill the Lord Regent, [[spoiler:though [[DiscOneFinalDungeon you are not done yet]]]].
543* WholePlotReference: Lady Boyle's party heavily draws from "Literature/TheMasqueOfTheRedDeath" by Creator/EdgarAllanPoe. How closely it hews to that reference depends on the actions of the player.
544* WorthIt: The boy in the second ''Tales of Dunwall'' video spends his last living hours searching for the Outsider. Despite the plague-ridden bite of an infected rat that the Outsider gave him the ability to control, it's to ''thank'' him, because he was able to get revenge on the children that had tormented him - and because, at last, he was no longer afraid.
545* YouBastard:
546** Subtle, but it's there. If you kill ''anyone'' with your blade, the blade stays bloody for the rest of the mission, regardless of what you do afterwards. This also includes the creepy rat fetuses in the jars in Dr. Galvani's office.
547** [[spoiler:If you had a High Chaos run, Samuel will throw this in your face, saying that you're worse than the other ex-Loyalists put together, and signal the guards on the last level that you are coming.]]
548** Guards will also occasionally yell it verbatim when you kill their fellows in front of them.
549-->'''Guard:''' [[WhatMeasureIsAMook You just made someone a widow]], you bastard!
550* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness:
551** [[spoiler:The Conspirators to you, since they believe you will object to them using the new Empress as a puppet. Plus, you're visible proof of their complicity in the overthrow of the Lord Regent. Havelock also harbored thoughts of being Lord Regent himself, and succumbs to the temptation.]]
552** [[spoiler:In a High Chaos ending, if you were able to save Emily, she said that she'd wind up murdering all of the co-conspirators, anyway]].
553* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: Corvo needs to invest into the Agility skill two times before he's capable of running faster than a jogging speed.
554* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: [[spoiler:Things don't end quite as cleanly as expected with the neutralisation of the Lord Regent, and the princess does, indeed, end up in [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon another castle]].]]
555* ZergRush: The rats. If you see a group of rats they ''will'' swarm you and start biting. The individual rat bite is weak and they are easy to kill, but they are relentless in a group and until you thin the group enough for them to disperse, their damage will add up quickly.
556* ZombieInfectee: People pretending they don't have the plague, only to succumb and spread it to others, is a major, major problem in Dunwall.
557[[/folder]]
558
559!! Daud DLC
560
561[[folder:''The Knife of Dunwall'']]
562[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/knife_poster.jpg]]
563----
564* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: [[spoiler:The final mission requires Daud to take back his base from the Overseers.]]
565* AsYouKnow: This scene on entering the Legal District:
566-->'''Billie''': There's an equipment stash on a nearby roof. We've been planning a hit on Timsh for some time now. A lot of people want him dead.
567-->'''Daud''': [[LampshadeHanging I know]].
568* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: This little "To do list" found in a Hatter hideout.
569--> Loot that one place.
570--> Get even with Craxton.
571--> The key we nicked from the Watch can get us inside the Legal District.
572--> Brush my teeth this week.
573* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: Arnold Timsh regularly accuses healthy people of being infected so he can evict them and secretly add their wealth to his own. Daud can nonlethally eliminate Timsh by filling his house with a foul smell and tricking him into giving the City Watch a forged order from the Lord Regent (dated a ''month'' prior) stating that the house is contaminated and needs to be cordoned off immediately.
574* BrickJoke: A common piece of EnemyChatter in the main game consists of one guard asking another if he thinks he will get his own squad after what happened last night. ''The Knife of Dunwall'' features a guard who actually did get his own squad because of what happened last night.
575** Another one from the main game is mooks asking each other if they are in for "whiskey and cigars tonight". In here, you can hear a mook asking another "Whiskey and cigars? Is that all you can think about?"
576* TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch: [[spoiler:If you leave Rothwild unconscious in a room with Abigail for too long, then you will return to find him dead. Abigail says [[BlatantLies she has no idea how an awl wound up embedded in his skull]]. Getting knocked unconscious must have caused a heart attack or something.]]
577* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Rothwild tortures his workers into obedience, has a brutal crew of enforcers and uses the number of industrial accidents and fatalities as a safe code. He's also amused by the "songs" of the tortured whales, which drive his less sociopathic employees mad.
578* CrateExpectations: [[spoiler:Beating Rothwild and his butchers non-lethally requires locking him in a crate and shipping him several continents away.]]
579* CruellaToAnimals: Rothwild and his whale slaughterhouse. Whales are initially eviscerated alive to drain oil from them; once their oil secretions begin to plummet, they're milked for additional oil through a slow death by gradual electrocution to cause extra secretions.
580** Additionally, the "Butcher" enemy type. Not only are they required to carve up both living and dead whales with enormous buzz saws, they are pretty much required to be psychopaths (especially considering most other thugs complain ''they hear whale songs and screams in their sleep'').
581* DirtyOldMan: Barrister Timsh, who pretty much holds a maid hostage just so she would stay with him that night.
582* ElectricTorture: Rothwild set up a chair with wire attachments in his slaughterhouse's meat locker for precisely this purpose, using it on stubborn or disloyal employees, shocking them until they are willing to sign contracts pledging to never try any collective bargaining methods. Daud can throw a couple of characters in the chair to get information out of them [[spoiler:[[HoistByHisOwnPetard including Rothwild himself]].]]
583* ExpositionFairy: Billie plays this role, using Blink to appear next to you, talk about something relevant, then vanishing again.
584* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: In the main story Daud can [[SuperEmpowering grant powers to others]]. In the DLC this appears in the form of the Arcane Bond Daud possesses by default, which grants powers to the assassins he summons. Unlike in the story, however, he can upgrade this power so that assassins are immune to the time stop power he uses to force a duel.
585** Daud's assassin organisation also helps him in gameplay by arranging "favors" via its intelligence network and aids in battle through the Summon Assassin power.
586* GameplayAndStorySegregation: In the opening cutscene of the main game one of Daud's whalers uses Pull to lift Corvo. In the DLC (which is set after these events) Daud needs to spend runes to unlock Pull, the upgrade that lets it work on people and the second level of the Arkane Bond power if he wants his summoned minions to be able to use it.
587* [[SequelEscalation DLC Escalation]]: WordOfGod states they wanted to make this harder than the main game.
588* [[spoiler:EtTuBrute: Billie, Daud's greatest student, is responsible for the assault on their base, and has been working with Delilah behind his back.]]
589* EvilVsEvil: Bundry Rothwild vs [[spoiler:Abigail Ames]]. Rothwild is a hybrid of a CorruptCorporateExecutive and a [[TheMafia Mob Boss]] who remorselessly exploits his workers, uses ''torture'' to keep them in line, and indulges in animal cruelty to maximize his profits. [[spoiler:Abigail Ames seems like a saint at first, in comparison if nothing else, but she's really a professional rabble-rouser who's been hired by Rothwild's competition to sabotage his business. She is disdainful of the workers she's rallying, despises Rothwild for being a low-born commoner who rose above his station, has no qualms about murdering a man while he's unconscious, and is perfectly happy to demolish a warehouse while fully aware - even gleeful - that several dozen men will "die screaming" within. Though they are AssholeVictims.]]
590* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:Billie, who has had your back through two missions, is suspiciously absent just as Daud's base is under attack in High Chaos]].
591* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:It's hinted that the Brigmore Witches are capable of inflicting this on others. According to a poem written by Delilah, her next victim will be ''Emily''.]]
592* KlingonPromotion: [[spoiler:In the High Chaos ending, Billie Lurk duels Daud for leadership of the Assassins.]]
593* LeeroyJenkins: Overseer Hume, who [[spoiler:leads the attack on Daud's base, despite orders to hold back until he has enough reinforcements. Daud successfully breaks Hume's shaky hold on his territory, disables Hume, and learns from Hume's notes that the Abbey is planning to make another strike (which is most likely why, in the game proper, [[ContinuityNod Corvo encounters a squad of dead Overseers in the Flooded District when he arrives there]]). Many characters scoff that his recklessness and impatience doomed not only his first push, but also any attacks that came after him]].
594* MadnessMantra: [[spoiler:A letter you found right next to the empress in the void is just written with "YOU KILLED HER" over and over.]]
595** This is also a ContinuityNod to the main game's plot, where, when Corvo first meets the Outsider, the letter next to the dead Empress repeats "YOU CANNOT SAVE HER".
596* TheMafia: The Butchers, who are both criminals and slaughterhouse staff.
597* MercyKill: Daud can deliver one to an eviscerated whale that is being slowly killed for its oil.
598* MilesToGoBeforeISleep: Daud is told by the Outsider that his story is soon coming to an end, but he can accomplish one last thing before he meets his fate. The Outsider doesn't actually bother to specify what this fate will be, or whether Daud can avoid it, or if this last task has anything to do with either of those things, but really, none of that concerns ''him''. Only Daud.
599* TheMole: [[spoiler:Billie reveals that she has been working with Delilah because she believes Daud lost his edge to guilt after killing the Empress.]]
600* MultipleEndings: Á la the main plot; all endings include TheReveal that [[spoiler:Billie is TheMole]], but with a twist depending on the player's actions.
601** [[HappyEnding Lowest Chaos]]: [[spoiler:Billie admits to her betrayal, and requests honorable execution. Daud spares her, and she leaves Dunwall forever and spreads Daud's legend; the epilogue shows Daud turning to meet Corvo as he approaches.]]
602** [[BittersweetEnding Low Chaos]]: [[spoiler:Billie admits to her betrayal, and requests an honorable execution. Daud, with Billie's help, stabs and kills her; the epilogue notes Billie redeemed herself, but questions if Daud has done the same.]]
603** [[DownerEnding High Chaos]]: [[spoiler:Billie fights Daud in the belief that his abilities as a leader are slipping and he's become weak. Daud defeats her and either executes her or knocks her out; the epilogue shows Corvo approaching Daud's back.]]
604* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Daud's opening monologue has him explaining that the Empress was meant to be another routine hit, and yet he [[HeelRealization has seen dreadful repercussions for his awful actions.]]
605* NonStandardGameOver: Killing Lurk or [=NPCs=] who have information needed to advance the plot gives you a game over with the message "irreconcilable hostilities."
606* NoOSHACompliance: Pretty much the Rothwild Slaughterhouse. Guard rails missing and employees being outright killed. This is pretty much the reason the employees went on strike.
607* OneSteveLimit: The only clue the Outsider gives Daud is the name "Delilah". Nearly ''six months'' later, he gets his first lead, in the form of a ''ship'' called Delilah, which turns out to be named after the woman the Outsider was referring to. You'd think he'd have found another Delilah by that point.
608* RememberTheNewGuy: Billie Lurk. Despite being the second-in-command of Daud's Assassins, she's never mentioned in the game proper. [[spoiler:Justified - she's either dead or banished by Daud for her betrayal by the time Corvo finally reaches the base, and it seems a sufficiently painful event that Daud would rather not talk about it.]]
609* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:In Low Chaos, Billie realizes her mistake in working with Delilah and allows Daud to kill her as penance.]]
610* ShockAndAwe: You now get mini arc and stun mines that electrocute anyone unfortunate enough walk by them.
611* SmugSnake: Overseer Hume, who assumed he could [[spoiler:take down the Assassins and Daud despite being ordered to hold back]]. You can even listen in on him gloating, or you can cut him off mid-sentence.
612* SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids: The Butchers in the whale slaughterhouse are armed with big saw blades powered by whale oil and have face masks that prevent headshots. Their saws are so big they can block bullets and sword strikes, you can't defend against them very well, and the saws even have a metal chip ejector that shoots rapidly, effectively making these guys the only ones in Dunwall who have ''machine guns.'' They're one of the toughest new enemies in the whole city; their boss even says they're probably the toughest fighters in Dunwall. Yet their only ostensible job is chopping up whales.
613* TitleDrop: [[spoiler:Abigail Ames calls Daud the Knife of Dunwall if you wait a while after meeting her. The Outsider also uses the name in the High Chaos ending.]]
614** The name of the final DLC, The Brigmore Witches, is also dropped in [[spoiler:the low chaos version of Daud's hideout, when Billie tells you of her betrayal and Delilah appears.]]
615* ToBeContinued: The DLC ends with [[spoiler:the Overseers routed and the traitor either dead or banished, but Delilah, the one that the Outsider put Daud on the trail of, is still out there, still planning to take Daud down, and the Brigmore Witches still need to be dealt with.]]
616* TouchedByVorlons: The Outsider mentions that there are only eight in the world he has gifted in this way. This comment is made chronologically before Corvo gets empowered.
617* YouALLLookFamiliar: One could be forgiven for thinking that the whale-processing facility employs clones of the same narrow-chinned, dark-haired, wide-eared guy as laborers.
618[[/folder]]
619
620[[folder:''The Brigmore Witches'']]
621[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_brigmore_witches_poster.jpg]]
622----
623* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:The nonlethal method of defeating Delilah is to trap her within a painting of the Void, which is itself hidden in the Void. It seems Daud shares Corvo's penchant for CruelMercy.]]
624* AntagonistTitle: It's named for Delilah's coven, and she's not that keen on Daud.
625* ArtifactOfDoom: This DLC introduces Corrupted Bone Charms, which provide a powerful boost but also inflict a negative secondary effect when equipped.
626* BadassBoast: Given to the assassins in your library in the very beginning with "Interesting times, gentlemen. Overseers in the Flooded District, witches abroad in the city. Traitors in the ranks. I'd be nervous, too. Then I'd remember who killed the Empress in Dunwall Tower and came out untouched.".
627* BlendingInStealthGameplay: Before breaking into Coldridge, Daud may procure a [[MalevolentMaskedMen face-concealing Overseer uniform]], which effectively lets him waltz right through the first few guard checkpoints unopposed. There's even a unique in-game special action that is given if you remain undetected through the entire mission while in the uniform.
628* ChekhovsGunman:
629** If you saved the workers at the Rothwild Slaughterhouse in ''Knife of Dunwall'' and import a savefile, a special Bribe appears that allows the head employee (the one who gave the mission to free them in the first place) to appear in the Drapers Ward Textile Mill, where he talks to Daud about the building and gives some general intel.
630** Coupled with VideoGameCrueltyPunishment, if you went to the trouble of torturing Abigail Ames at the Slaughterhouse, she will give you a "special" Bribe... that consists of a [[SchmuckBait bomb that automatically arms itself when Daud gets close]].
631* CuttingOffTheBranches: Both endings of this installment (low and high chaos) prove that Corvo got into at least one confrontation which eliminates any Ghost or Shadow runs of the first release. Additionally, the low chaos ending demonstrates that Corvo did not send Daud a message by stealing Daud's belt pouch and key.
632* DeadlyGas: What Daud will face should he kill the Geezer. An anti-toxin which will protect him for the duration of the mission is available, however, if one searches carefully.
633* DecoyDamsel: In the sewers beneath the Textile Mill, Daud finds a young woman hiding from Weepers. Approaching her gets him ambushed by witches.
634* DeliberateInjuryGambit: The frontal kill animation for [[spoiler:Delilah; after being stabbed by Daud, ''she deliberately pushes herself further onto the blade to claw at his face.'']]
635* DuelToTheDeath: According to a biography of Nurse Trimble, Trimble and Piero's rivalry eventually got so heated that they decided to settle it with a pistol duel. [[ATeamFiring They were both such crappy shots that both of them managed to walk away completely unscathed]]. They eventually settled things with a coin flip. Piero won.
636* DyingToWakeUp: In the intro to ''The Brigmore Witches,'' Daud finds himself in a duel with Corvo, similar to the one due to take place in the main game... except the blue tint and odd gravity reveal that this clearly takes place in [[DreamLand the Void]]. If the player has imported a save from a High Chaos playthrough, the fight ends with [[KarmicDeath Daud being disarmed and then killed]] with a single slash to the throat - whereupon he wakes up, breathless and panicky.
637* EvilVersusEvil:
638** High Chaos Daud versus Delilah. Mass-murdering assassin versus ambitious and ruthless witch.
639** The gang war between the Hatters and the Dead Eels.
640* EyeOfNewt: Delilah lists various unique ingredients as she performs a ritual in the final mission.
641* EyeScream: Wakefield's unique execution animation involves getting a sword slowly pushed into his left eye.
642* FinalBossNewDimension: [[spoiler:The final confrontation against Delilah takes place in the Void.]]
643* {{Fingore}}: Lizzy Stride holds no grudge against the gang members who sided with Wakefield and decides not to kill them. Provided that they each give her a finger. Two fingers if they complain.
644* ForegoneConclusion: Daud will at least survive the DLC so that he meets his fate at the hands of Corvo.
645* {{Foreshadowing}}: If [[spoiler:Billie]] was spared at the end of Knife of Dunwall, Daud can find a letter [[spoiler:she's]] sent him in his headquarters before the first mission containing a book with various ports of call outside Dunwall, which foreshadows [[spoiler:Daud's own flight from Dunwall after a Low Chaos Corvo spares him, which happens if Daud maintains his Low Chaos run in Brigmore Witches.]]
646** [[spoiler:The book also mentions the southern city of Karnaca, the "Jewel of the South". The sequel, Dishonored 2, is set in Karnaca.]]
647** BackForTheFinale: This instead happens if Daud adopts a High Chaos run [[spoiler:while having spared Billie. Despite being absent for the entirety of the game outside of the aforementioned letter, Billie returns in TheStinger to the High Chaos ending, to mourn at Daud's VikingFuneral following his assassination at the hands of Corvo.]]
648* GardenOfEvil: Brigmore Manner is a place with flower beds placed on many open surfaces, filled with soil and growing mysterious, glowing plants that cannot be natural. Inside, it is full of vines and growing creepers that snake over floors and up walls.
649* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:Delilah plans to use her powers to possess Emily and control the Empire through her.]]
650* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: [[spoiler:Daud saves Emily from Delilah, but no one else besides the Outsider (who won't tell anyone) knows. It's possible, or optional, in VideoGame/Dishonored2 however, for Emily Kaldwin to find out]].
651* {{Hellhound}}: "Gravehounds" who patrol around Brigmore Manner. They are composed of the skull of a wolfhound imbued with arcane energies, such that it reanimates a body. [[BodyHorror Said body is skinless and exposes the bare skull]]. If they are damaged, the body will disappear, [[FromASingleCell only to reappear shortly after]]. [[RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain Destroying the skull is the only way to keep them down]].
652* HumanShield: You can use mooks to this effect thanks to the Pull power. In fact, there's an achievement for that particular use of it.
653* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: A witch tries to ambush Daud with a WoundedGazelleGambit. If Daud is made aware of this beforehand, he instead grills her for information by shoving his blade into her forearm and twisting it.
654* KickTheDog: Exploring Delilah's mansion, players can find an unconscious Overseer whom the witches have tortured. [[spoiler:Waking him causes him to scream and begs not to eat any more -- on further inspection, ''he's visibly surrounded by chunks of raw meat and human bones.'']] A note on the table reveals that [[spoiler:the remains belonged to his friend, another Overseer.]]
655* LaserGuidedKarma: Determines Daud's ultimate fate at the end of the DLC. If Daud attempts to change his ways via a Low Chaos run, then Corvo will ultimately spare him at the end of his DLC. But if he decides to simply accept he is who he is via High Chaos, then Corvo kills him. Daud even alludes to this during his final monologue just before the ending cinematic of his fight with Corvo, by saying that people's actions will have consequences they can't always see.
656* LivingStatue: Delilah is a talented painter and sculptor, and she works this into her magic. She makes statues of herself that can be used to commune with her, speaking through them. [[spoiler:The ones around Brigmore Manner act as sentries, [[HellIsThatNoise screaming when an intruder goes by]].]]
657* MarathonLevel: The Draper's Ward level is a huge sprawling city-scape comparable to the Flooded District, with gang territory in separate parts of the map separated by a huge expanse, and then a sewage section. It feels longer than it is in terms of space (unlike Flooded District which was quite large) because of the elaborate side-quests which forces you to move across the map to find important items scattered across different sections.
658* MakeMeWannaShout: The witches activate their powers by screaming.
659* MercyKill: Possible with the Geezer (Mortimer Hat), who is being kept alive on life support by his nurse, Trimble. [[spoiler:Since Trimble runs the gang by pretending his orders are from his patient, he also keeps the Geezer locked away from the gang, and connected to lethal gas emitters to deter the merciful -- as such, the Geezer begs Daud to learn the poison gas antidote so he can pull the plug and let him die.]]
660* MindOverMatter: The DLC's new power is Pull, which Daud and his Assassins used in the regular game against Corvo.
661* MobWar: Going all out in the all but abandoned Draper's district. Traditionally the domain of the Hatters gang, the Dead Eels have recently put into port nearby making the situation tense. After the Hatters steal something the Dead Eels need, the tension explodes into all-out warfare, with both sides taking out stragglers of the other and keeping a standoff on either side of an old channel.
662* MultipleEndings: There's only two of them this time around. There is also an [[TheStinger after-credits scene]] that changes appropriately according to Chaos level.
663** Low Chaos: [[spoiler:Even though Corvo doesn't know that Daud redeemed himself by saving Emily from Delilah, he spares him anyway. TheStinger shows Daud laying his sword atop the Empress' tomb.]]
664** High Chaos: [[spoiler:Corvo ignores Daud's pleas for mercy. Daud's redemption was for nothing. TheStinger shows [[VikingFuneral the cremation of Daud's body]] in the Flooded District; if Billie was spared in ''Knife Of Dunwall'', she will appear among the mourners.]]
665* NonStandardGameOver: In addition to the "irreconcilable hostilities" message if you kill plot-critical [=NPCs=], [[spoiler:you also get a game over if Delilah successfully completes her ritual.]]
666* NostalgiaLevel:
667** Daud pays a visit to Coldridge Prison, which has beefed up its security extensively since Corvo escaped in the vanilla game's first mission.
668** The DLC also opens with Daud's perspective of the fight between him and Corvo. [[spoiler:It turns out to be AllJustADream.]]
669* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Daud's opening narration for the Dead Eels mission invokes this trope regarding Daud's motivation for targeting Edgar Wakefield for Lizzie Stride to give her back control of her Dead Eels gang.
670--> Daud: I don't judge him, I've done worse myself. But I need that boat.
671* OldSaveBonus: Daud's powers, weapons, Chaos level and some key decisions can be carried over from ''Knife Of Dunwall'' if the player has a save file - if there are several files with differing Chaos levels, the game lets you choose which one you wish to import.
672* PrisonLevel: Daud has to break into Coldridge Prison in order to rescue Lizzie Stride, leader of the Dead Eels and the owner of the only boat that can get him to Brigmore. Needless to say, security has been substantially improved since Corvo's escape.
673* SanitySlippage: Daud shows signs of this in High Chaos, such as mistaking one of the Assassins for Corvo and nearly killing them in panic.
674* ShoutOut:
675** One of Delilah's statues acts like a [[Series/DoctorWho Weeping Angel]] when you pick the bone charm placed in front of it.
676** The nonlethal solution to eliminating Delilah plays out the exact same way the Trickster is defeated in ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject''. [[spoiler:By letting her complete her ritual after you've pulled the old switcheroo on the item necessary to pull it off. In this case, a painting.]]
677* TakingYouWithMe: Done by one of the witches who was captured by the Watch while infiltrating the Dunwall Tower. Rather than giving up her secrets, she does... something. When Daud arrives at the scene, he finds the interrogation room in ruins, the witch's charred corpse in the interrogation chair, no sign of her guards unless you count the massive bloodstains and a bunch of the plants associated with the witches' magic, which apparently grew with such ferocity they punched holes in the walls and the ceiling.
678* TimedMission: [[spoiler:Once Delilah finishes her painting of Emily, you have roughly 60 seconds to kill her or sabotage the ritual.]]
679* TookALevelInJerkass: In an imported High Chaos save, changes in Daud's dialogue are used alongside ''Dishonored'''s usual YouBastard elements. In the opening levels, Daud [[SanitySlippage uncharacteristically]] gloats about [[ReminiscingAboutYourVictims his murder of the Empress]] as he faces off against Corvo [[spoiler:in his dream]]. His later conversations with the Assassins show that he has gone from being AFatherToHisMen to TheNeidermeyer, with some of them talking openly about betraying him.
680* UriahGambit: One of the witches accuses Delilah of this in the sewers, offhandedly; she says that Delilah is putting her strongest witches in the most danger because when the master plan is complete she'll want the weakest witches near her. [[spoiler:Since Delilah would be inhabiting the body of a child, she may have a point there…]]
681* VideoGameCaringPotential: On the revisit to the prison, it's possible to see the execution of Corvo's rescuers. Rescuing them is especially difficult as powers are unavailable in the area, but doing so gets you information.
682* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: If you tortured Abigail for information on ''The Delilah'' in the previous DLC, she sells you a favor in this one. Said favor turns out to be a bomb set to go off a few seconds after Daud approaches it.
683* VillainProtagonist: Daud returns in the final DLC pack.
684* WakeUpFighting: Daud grabs an unfortunate Assassin's throat as he is woken up in his bed in the High Chaos path.
685* WhatYouAreInTheDark: The Outsider narrates at the end of a Low Chaos route that Daud's tale, as the man who saved the Empire, will never be told. It's implied that had Daud not gone after Delilah, she would have left him and the Assassins untouched when she [[spoiler:stole Emily's body to rule in her place. Delilah returns as the BigBad in the second game by which time an adult Emily is well prepared to defend herself and her Empire personally. Likewise, Emily at least can learn of Daud's heroism from Billie Lurk]].
686[[/folder]]

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