Line #25 Heartwarming/Dishonored


1	* One of the first things you get to do is play hide-and-seek with Lady Emily should you choose to do so, and this is ''right'' after she runs up and gives Corvo a gleeful Glomping like papa was back from work. This one moment helps sell how much of a ParentalSubstitute Corvo has been to the girl since her early childhood.
2	** Finding a picture Emily drew of Corvo without his mask, the word 'Daddy' written over it.
3	** When she sneaks into your room because she feels comfortable there.
4	*** Heck, just about anything with Emily and Corvo. [[spoiler: Which makes the Low Chaos ending where she runs into your arms all the sweeter. The part where she buries you next to her mother more or less says she thinks of you as her father.]]
5	** After rescuing her and bringing her back to the Hound Pits, Corvo will step off the boat and offer Emily his hand to help her get back on land. Purely symbolic, but also purely ''adorable''.
6	** What's the first thing Corvo and Emily do when [[spoiler:he finds her in the Golden Cat]]? She immediately rushes into his arms, and he picks her up and twirls her around.
7	** It turns out Corvo is actually [[spoiler:Emily's biological father]], first confirmed by WordOfGod, then properly in the sequel.
8	* Anton and Piero huddled under the tables after [[spoiler: the betrayal of the Loyalists]]. The two of them are talking like old buddies and lamenting all of the time they wasted being rivals.
9	** [[spoiler: It also becomes a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome when their combined knowledge is enough to cure the plague.]]
10	* [[spoiler: The sparing of Daud. After all of your horrific means of neutralizing and/or killing your victims, you can roleplay Corvo choosing to reclaim some of his humanity and cast aside revenge by sparing the life of his Empress's killer in his only genuine act of mercy towards a high value target. Daud himself is moved by the action and ''even the Outsider is briefly at a loss for words''.]]
11	** Possibly more heartwarming even if you've been doing a PacifistRun. Though you've avoided killing anyone (directly) throughout the entire game, it's implied a possible motivation for sparing his targets is because Corvo wants to inflict CruelMercy via FateWorseThanDeath. [[spoiler: Daud]] is the first and only target he can allow to live and have it be unambiguously considered benevolence.
12	** [[spoiler:Daud's entire speech to Corvo is this if Corvo has done a perfect PacifistRun to this point, with Daud reflecting on all the things he himself has done -- murdering for coin, with no care for who he was paid to kill -- and the path that ''Corvo'' chose. Corvo, too, was asked to kill -- and always found another way, even after all he suffered at the hands of the people he was sent to murder. The ''absolute'' Crowner comes if Corvo sheathes his blade and steps back, silently granting Daud his life. Daud sounds almost awed, to the point that it's nearly a TearJerker.]]
13	--->[[spoiler:'''Daud:''' And you choose mercy. Extraordinary.]]
14	*** [[spoiler:It becomes even more heartwarming when he tethers away after you spare him. It's then that you realise that he could have escaped at any time, but chose to stay and either die or be forgiven.]]
15	* Going through the Lady Boyle mission and not upsetting the party. Even after earning the "Well Mannered" achievement/trophy for doing it, not upsetting a good time for everyone else just feels ''right'', sort of like doing {{Pacifist Run}}s of ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' even after going through the game.
16	* After [[spoiler: Havelock's betrayal,]] when you finally get back to the pub, you find one surviving loyalist, Cecilia, who at first is reluctant to trust Corvo. If you go back into the abandoned apartment after things quiet down, you'll find a note on the floor, stating that she made a run for it, thanking Corvo for giving her the courage to try and escape from the pub, and after this was all over, she'd do her best to find Corvo again.
17	** If you hang around for a few minutes before leaving the apartment, Cecelia will mention that, when asked where she was, Lydia (who has expressed dislike for her in no uncertain terms) [[spoiler: "[[DyingMomentOfAwesome told Havelock to go screw himself]]... [[TearJerker and died]]."]]
18	* One of the parts of a low chaos ending shows [[spoiler: Samuel and Corvo hanging out together at the Hounds Pit Pub. Even though he's returned to nobility, and the differences in their castes now count after the game's events, Corvo still didn't shut out the only man who stayed with him when everyone else had cast him aside.]]
19	** In the same ending, [[spoiler: if you saved Curnow, then you get a scene of him and Callista reuniting.]]
20	* While playing a Low Chaos playthrough at High Overseer Campbell's place, you can find in a bunker an Overseer sick with the plague begging his friends to [[MercyKill kill him]] before he loses him mind and becomes a weeper. After they decline at first, and one offers his share of elixir instead, they finally go through with it, killing the sick man as he's reciting the Seven Strictures. The whole scene is a very touching example of the selflessness that surfaces in the Low Chaos timeline, as people still have hope that things ''can'' get better. [[spoiler: It's all the more touching when you realize that in High Chaos, the Overseer will claim that he's healthy, and his friends accuse him of trying to infect them all before they kill him.]]
21	* A PacifistRun in general is this, or even a playthrough where Corvo's only kills are his targets. Before the game even really starts, his life is destroyed: he's betrayed, convicted of his Empress' murder, tortured for ''six months'', nearly executed, and generally put through hell -- and then he's given incredible powers, and they make it so very ''easy'' to kill anyone and everyone in his path. He could do it without anyone suspecting a thing even as their fellows drop like flies... until Corvo eventually gets to them. But Corvo ''doesn't''. He chooses to do what's ''right'' instead of what's ''easy''. Despite everything he's suffered, despite all of the cruelty shown toward him, he rises above it and doesn't let any of it turn him into a monster.
22	** Sparing [[spoiler: Daud]] is made even more powerful if you don't even alert him and just [[spoiler: pickpocket him]]. Look at what he knows: All his men are absolutely loyal to him. So only one person could have done it: Corvo, who has a very good reason to hold a grudge. So, this one guy, who you expect to murder you on sight, gets in ''without him or anyone else seeing him'', to point where he could stab you. Yet, what he does? Just [[spoiler: pickpockets you]] and leaves... once again, without anyone seeing him. ''Guy who you expect to kill you moment he sees you, just got in, got into position to kill you and decided just to screw with your head instead''.
23	* In Low Chaos, after Corvo severely wounds [[spoiler: Daud]] to the point that the man can no longer fight, the [[spoiler: Whalers]] appear to defend [[spoiler: Daud]], forming a protective ring while one crouches down to check on [[spoiler: Daud]].[[spoiler: Daud]] has to order them to leave a second time to get them to back off.
24	* In the Golden Cat, you can see two of the prostitutes quietly dancing, just holding each other close and slowly turning. No attention is drawn to it, but it is still quite a touching scene.
25	* Also from the Golden Cat is a scene where a guard is telling another that he's fallen in love with one of the prostitutes, and that when he's saved enough he'll take her away from this life. Even though his friend is less than supportive, it's still nice to hear someone cares about the girls.
26	* From the ''Knife Of Dunwall DLC'': "Billie. [[spoiler: I forgive you.]]" The Outsider's reaction, [[spoiler:where he reveals that Billie managed to get out of Dunwall and make a life for herself]], makes it even better.
27	** "Daud, the man who murdered an empress....[[spoiler: the man who spared his betrayer's life.]]
28	** The ''Brigmore Witches DLC'' reveals that Daud and [[spoiler: Billie]] are still keeping in contact via letters.
29	* For the non-lethal elimination of Timsh, you need to [[spoiler: utilize a plot cooked up by a former noble that Timsh wrongfully disgraced.]] Part of that plan is to make Timsh's house smell like a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Weeper]] den. Remarkably, although rotting bodies and plagued rats are in plentiful supply, [[spoiler: the disgraced noble goes to great lengths to create the right stench without using plagued materials, out of concern for the guards and servants living in the Timsh estate.]] From what we see of Dunwall society, the Aristocrats are often criminally indifferent to the lower class, [[spoiler: and a noble who has nothing to lose should be even more reckless than normal. Yet not only did he delay his plan and put himself at risk, he also relinquishes an [[TheCorruption Outsider]] [[CompellingVoice Rune]] as payment to ensure that innocent bystanders won't be hurt.]]
30	** It's doubly impressive if you remember that Outsider Runes compel most people who own them to become obsessively possessive. Willingly giving one away is ''not'' as easy as it sounds.
31	*** Which makes the way [[SmugSnake Lord Pendleton]], an [[AristocratsAreEvil amoral]] [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]], casually gives you one in exchange for winning the duel aganist Lord Shaw and [[HonorBeforeReason therefore defending his reputation]] almost take on a [[PetTheDog different light]]. Remembering that he put Corvo in a situation which [[NiceJobBreakingItHero could have killed him]], no matter how [[EpicFail unlikely]] that may be, [[IdiotBall before even finishing his mission and without giving him any warning]] may dampen it for some people, but all things considered ''anyone'' that can give you one, like how Piero can sell you one, one seems [[HeroicWillpower a lot more impressive now]].
32	* It's widely speculated that, Wallace, the JerkAss butler, told [[spoiler:Cecelia "not to come outside, due to her not receiving any bonus" in an attempt to save her life ]], knowing full well what was about to happen. Nice if true, though it raises the question of why he didn't make himself scarce as well.
33	** Most likely for the same reason she can maintain a safe house with no one noticing: she's effectively invisible to the higher-ups. Her duties are mundane and menial enough that the Loyalists wouldn't notice her missing. Wallace was Pendleton's manservant and Lydia was the bar maid, which means either of them would be missed and draw attention to the fact that Cecilia had also vanished.
34	* In a Low-Chaos run of ''The Brigmore Witches'', if [[spoiler:Corvo spared Daud in the main game]], the last scene is Daud reverently laying his sword at the Empress's grave before leaving the city.
35	* After taking care of Delilah, Daud receives a notification. [[spoiler:Target Rescued: Emily]].
36	** Letting Delilah talk during her ritual reveals that Emily loves Callista almost as much as she loves Corvo and Jessamine.
37	* It was said that your actions influence others depending on your chaos rating. This is particularly true in [[spoiler: "The Loyalists"]] mission during a low-chaos run and Callista Curnow. [[spoiler: Havelock, despite there being no reason to, lets her live and instead puts her under a form of house arrest.]] There's no need for any of that, but he does it anyway.
38	* Though hostile, most enemy groups are quite nice to each other.
39	** Some guards will talk about how one will propose to his girl soon or how they look forward to getting a promotion.
40	** The Dead Eels can be heard talking to each other and while their tone is rough, they confide their secrets (such as [[spoiler: being watched by women on roofs]]) to each other, aware that it might make them seem crazy or untrustworthy.
41	** The Witches probably take the cake. They refer to each other as "Sister", are kind and protective of each other and can be seen touching each other's hands or shoulders for support. When peeking through the library door, Daud can listen in on a witch confessing a minor crime to a witch of higher rank, only to be instantly forgiven. When a young witch in the Gallery doubts Delilah, her older companion tries to encourage her. Even the witch in the red jacket (which can be bribed to betray her coven and give Daud information) will make absolutely clear that she will only accept violence against Delilah, but not against her other sisters.
42	* During Lady Boyle's Last Party, you can overhear a conversation between two guards, talking about a singer who was wrongly suspected of being a witch and was dragged off to the Abbey. One of the guards went all the way to the Lord Regent to get him to get the Overseers to give the singer back, and both guards want revenge for what they did to her. It's nice to see people still caring about each other.
43	* The secrets whispered by the Heart to Corvo are usually depressing or enraging, but there are a few little rays of sunshine and honest human goodness to be found lurking in the souls of Dunwall's citizens. Of particular note, it's easy to forget that the Overseers, in better times, would be holy men attending to the good spirits of their people. And then...
44	--> He was asked to perform a wedding. So few, as of late. It lifted his heavy heart.

Context Heartwarming / Dishonored