Line #8 Heartwarming/Dishonored2


1	* In a rather twisted way, how Delilah treats Emily at the start of the game. She doesn't want her killed or turned to stone but intends to keep her locked up until she accepts her as Empress (like an unruly child versus an enemy). Delilah even says she hopes Emily will come to accept her as a mother figure--which might have worked when she was ten but not twenty-five.
2	* Look at the Heart and compare it to the first game. When it comes to quotes about characters, the secrets the heart divulges have an almost even split of good / bad in Dishonored 2. In the first game, quotes regarding the welfare / personalities of npcs were cynical at best, with even the more hopeful quotes containing some darkness and pessimism... But 15 years after the Plague, 15 years of Empress Emily, and the current generation as of Dishonored 2 have grown up in an environment that allows for selfless traits to foster and be nurtured. (Examples of purely optimistic/positive quotes: An Overseer who did not hesitate to leap into an inferno to save a boy when others simply stood by and watched, a guard turning a blind eye to a desperate father stealing to feed his children, a veteran guard putting a stop to severe prisoner abuse when he arrives at his new post... And on and on.) It's small and ultimately meaningless in terms of game-play mechanics and plot, but these little secrets add flavor to the setting of Dishonored 2, and help to support the fact that Emily's rule has allowed for Gristol to grow prosperous and far more just.
3	** It has a GameplayAndStoryIntegration factor as well; the more benign the anecdote that the Heart gives about a given person, the [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment harder hit]] to the Chaos level you killing them causes.
4	* Rescuing [[spoiler: Doctor Hypatia]] is an optional quest. Unlike the previous game, where all of your targets were assholes at best, [[spoiler: Hypatia]] stands out for being a truly altruistic person, who cared for the miners and only [[spoiler: succumbed to madness in an attempt to find a cure for their sickness]]. During that mission, you get to hear everyone desperately trying to see her as she was one of the few people with power in Karnaca who cared for the underclass at the time, the other being [[spoiler:Stilton, until his mind snapped]].
5	** It's also rather heartwarming how insistent [[spoiler:Hypatia's assistant Vasco is that she's a good person worth saving, despite the fact that Grim Alex has been torturing him for who knows how long.]]
6	** Similarly, the servants around Stilton's manor [[spoiler:(if you save him from going insane) will be singing his praises, discussing how he's giving away silverware to the poor and generally making life for his workers much better than they were while he was insane]].
7	* During the Dust District mission, on Low Chaos at the Overseer's Office, you get to hear an Overseer dying from his injuries. He laments that he wasn't careful during a raid but was glad that his friend was there with him. In a CallBack to a similar scene in Dishonored, said friend delivers a MercyKill, then poured wine over the deceased's face respectfully. A very human moment for bunch of fanatics.
8	** Similarly, on your way to Paolo, you can spy on a group of howlers having a small party. Two howlers are singing and dancing with each other while their friends play instruments.
9	** Mindy, a high-ranking member of the Howlers, will charge the player with retrieving a man's body from another Overseer office in the second mission of the game. Upon finding the man's recently-raided apartment, you can find a silvergraph of Mindy and a note from her setting up a meeting between the two. Upon retrieval of the body, Mindy will simply bury it and refuse to explain why. Later on in the Dust District level, you can find Mindy's apartment. If you explore it, you'll find love notes from him as well as journal entries where Mindy describes meeting and falling for him. Everything pieced together, it seems that the man that was killed was Mindy's lover and she simply wanted his body to give him a proper burial--a very humanizing story for a woman who keeps up an unfaltering persona of the cool tough-girl thug.
10	*** If you both helped Mindy and sided with Paolo in the turf war, she'll say that she knew you were cool and even offers to give you a tattoo.
11	* If you choose to save [[spoiler: Aramis Stilton]] from his fate by way of knocking him out, his formerly dilapidated mansion becomes bustling and alive again, with the Dust District prospering because of his efforts - making this one of the few choices in the game that never really backfires.
12	** It has the result of Lucia Pastor's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech becoming another SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment\|s}}. Lucia chides you for letting the Duke run wild in Serkonos and causing so much suffering. Furthermore, that they did so because you didn't do anything to make the situation better. Emily and Corvo, however, know that they have already made a substantial difference to the lives of the destitute in the region.
13	** This choice also has the effect of saving Meagan's lost arm and eye, as she'd gotten them injured looking for Stilton when he disappeared.
14	* Finding out that [[spoiler: Billie Lurk]] has made a new life in Karnaca for herself and even made true friends in Stilton and Sokolov.
15	** In general, her relationship with Sokolov is rather sweet. They often fondly bicker and leave notes for each other around the ship. The Heart implies that Sokolov has become something of a ParentalSubstitute to Meagan.
16	** On Low Chaos, Meagan will slowly decide that Corvo/Emily deserves to know the truth of her involvement in [[spoiler:Jessamine's death.]] For her to reveal something like that to extremely skilled assassins who were obviously very personally affected by it shows both genuine remorse as well as trust.
17	** Curiously, [[spoiler:Jessamine as the heart seems to hold no ill will towards Meagan/Billie despite fully knowing her history]], stating that she understands why Corvo/Emily likes her.
18	* On Low Chaos, when Jessamine's spirit [[spoiler:leaves the Heart and dissipates into the Void. Whether she's bidding her farewell to Emily or Corvo, she holds their hands and takes that sensation, along with her love for them, into nothingness with her. Emily gets to say a proper goodbye to her mother at last, and Corvo has a more bittersweet line wishing peace for the love of his life, "star of my sky."]] Either way, Jessamine finally gets to rest. She'll also praise Low Chaos Emily and Corvo for always finding an alternative to killing.
19	** She will also often lament that she wishes she could hold their hand, or that she could have shown Emily the world.
20	** While in High Chaos, she will eventually tell Corvo she no longer cares about what he does and will berate both protagonists for their bloodthirst, she will never stop loving Emily and will still tell her she loves her before dissipating into the void.
21	* Seeing [[spoiler: Billie reunite with a familiar-looking red long-coated man in the low chaos ending]] is happy for anyone who played ''Knife of Dunwall'' and ''The Brigmore Witches''.
22	* Although Delilah's coven seemed to attract a lot of murderous psychopaths, there's [[TrueCompanions a genuine warmth and camaraderie between them]]. A witch would scream in horror and despair if you killed another in front of them or otherwise profess relief if all you did was knock them out. They'd have tea time, enjoyed a bit of gossip and even making jokes about Delilah and Breanna. If not for the unrestrained murder and torture, they would be like a group of women seeking refuge and love with each other against the Empire's superstitious society.
23	** Using the heart, you can actually hear some of these witches' backstories. While many of them are violent psychopaths and always were, some have more sympathetic backstories. For example, one of them was dying from consumption (tuberculosis) and was saved by Deliah's magic. Another came from a terribly abusive household and the magic allowed her to reclaim some power for herself.
24	** Breanna herself describes in an audiograph in her office her own backstory; she was a noblewoman set to marry a lecherous man three times her age. Through joining Delilah's coven she was able to escape the arranged marriage and build a new life for herself. Evil she may be, she lovingly describes the times she had with Delilah early on in their coven and refers to them as the "golden days".
25	* During the Death to the Empress mission, you can stumble upon an audiograph made by a witch by the name of Marykate and Jenny. It goes to show that even amongst murderous psychopaths, there's a hint of innocence in the coven.
26	-->'''Witch Jenny''': Marykate, what’s this then?
27	-->'''Witch Marykate''': Did you grow up in country, dear? Out in the sticks? It’s an audiograph machine.
28	-->'''Witch Jenny''': But what’s it for?
29	-->'''Witch Marykate''': It enables important people to record their voices. A prince’s orders for war, a matron’s business instructions, or a lover’s hungry words dripping with honey. Even the final thoughts of one lost in despair before jumping from a bridge.
30	-->'''Witch Jenny''': (in awe) So now my voice will live on, even after I’m dead and gone.
31	* The interactions between Emily and Wyman. Even though they only converse through letters, there's a genuine love between the two. And the best part that it's kept low key and not shoved into the main plot for the sake of romance.
32	* The health potions are no longer just "Sokolov" branded, but are now "S&J", the J referring to Sokolov's rival-turned-peer/friend in the academic purview, Piero Joplin.
33	* The rather blatant lie that Armando tells to the palace guardsmen he calls to collect the "Imposter" Duke, and the guardsmen's reaction to it. The guardsmen look like they are seeing right through the lie... but they go along with it anyway. The real Luca Abele truly is that despicable that the Duke's own palatial guard (which, like the Grand Guard at large, are a mixed bag of moral calibers) are completely fine with going along with the Doppelganger Replacement.
34	** Also occurs when Emily or Corvo correctly identify Armando. The body double is easily persuaded and Armando states his intention to work for the good of Serkonos, even if in opposition to Dunwall's decrees, a plan that occurs successfully in the Low Chaos ending.
35	* If you sympathize with Delilah's plight that led her to her wicked ways, one could see the non-lethal elimination for her as, by far, the most merciful in either of the games - [[spoiler: Sending her to a LotusEaterMachine -style imaginary world of her own design - where she gets to live out her wish of being loved by all, in a sealed-off world where she can't hurt anyone else, being none the wiser.]] It's a rare game where both the protagonist and antagonist walk away equally happy, so for it to happen in a dark and broken world such as Dunwall is quite refreshing.
36	* In general, the relationship between Emily and Corvo is as extremely sweet as it was in the first game--especially now that Corvo's status as Emily's biological father is wholly acknowledged rather than just implied. Even the game's tutorial is one of Corvo's self-defence lessons with Emily, at the end of which he expresses how it makes him feel better knowing she can defend herself.
37	** In the first level of the game, you can find an audiograph left by Corvo in Emily's bathroom, in which he lists some of her recent accomplishments and reaffirms his pride in her.
38	** At the end of the game, you can find and explore Corvo's living quarters, though now trashed by the Witches occupying Dunwall Tower. Not only has Corvo kept the 'Daddy'and 'Mummy' drawings Emily had drawn of himself and Jessamine for the 15 years that have passed since the first game, he actually ''framed'' them. Awwww...
39	*** A bit of fridge heartwarming to the fact that the witches ''must'' have found said drawings (they're out in the open, and though aren't hung on the wall, seem undamaged) and seemingly couldn't bring themselves to destroy such a wholesome display of fatherly love.
40	** Corvo/Emily reawaken each other from being turned to stone by placing a hand on their cheek.
41	* If playing Low Chaos as Emily in the Conservatory level, she can find a painting of Jessamine and lament how she wishes all three of them--herself, Corvo and Jessamine--could all be together again.
42	* During the Clockwork Mansion level, you can overhear a couple of servants complaining about how abusive an employer Jindosh is and how they put up with it because it's still preferable than being left out in the cold. If you've taken the non-lethal route with him, you can later find a newspaper that states the servants now describe him as "gentle as a lamb".
43	* In the first level of the game you can rescue the local newspaper editor from being killed by one of the traitorous guards. Afterwards, you can talk to him and he'll apologize for falling for and printing the false information about the Crown Killer and promises to keep writing essays proclaiming Emily and Corvo's innocence. In the final level, he will still be camped out in his office, and true to his word, you can find a newspaper where he's written an essay in Emily and Corvo's defence.
44	* While most of the aristocrats at Duke Luca's palace range from vapid and selfish to outright psychopaths, you can find the occasional decent person among them. One is a woman sitting in the main dining hall, who is saddened by the death of a poor old woman who lived near her. Another is a man standing on one of the balconies who is openly critical of Luca and notes that things were better under his father's rule.
45	* Sleep darts work on wolfhounds, meaning you absolutely can (though it's difficult due to limited ammo) choose to spare even the ''dog's'' lives.
46	** On a similar note, if an Overseer finds one of their hounds dead, they have a chance of swearing vengeance against whoever killed it.
47	* In the second level, you will come across a few Grand Guard soldiers harassing a merchant for ratting them out over some unstated infringement. You can step in and if you manage to either kill/knock out or divert the guards' attention long enough for him to get away, you can save him from being vaporized in a nearby wall of light. If you track him down after getting rid of the guards, he'll thank you for saving him.
48	* The Black Market shopkeeper in the Dust District's back door code is actually her wedding day. In her apartment, you can also find an unsent love letter to her husband and a wedding photo, suggesting the two are still deeply in love despite being apart from each other.
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Context Heartwarming / Dishonored2