Headscratchers / Hitman 3

As a Headscratchers subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

General

• If Grey was loyal to 47 all along, then why, when he was scoping out 47 with a sniper rifle in the Colorado end cutscene, did he consider pulling the trigger?
  • There's a couple of interpretations. 47 was still technically his adversary during that cutscene. Plus, even if 47 was aware he was being scoped out, Grey could have quickly taken him out. Furthermore, maybe Grey was just testing just how good 47 was. Or maybe he just briefly pondered if Olivia had the right idea and he should just take out 47, only to change his mind when it looked like 47 was aware he was being scoped out.
  • While Grey does prove to be a Bad Boss in the later seasons, it's possible that he did care for his subordinates at that point, or at least the Colorado quartet. At that moment, he was angry at 47 for killing four of his employees, believing that Providence and the ICA had warped his mind irreparably and considered, for a second, avenging them and killing 47.
  • To keep an eye on him, nothing more, nothing less. The look 47 "gives him" is not directed at him, but at something else that grabbed his attention, even though it may look like it. Grey's finger was on the trigger just to be safe, and he takes his finger off once he remembers their shared past when he "looks" at him. That sniper scope is a very long distance one by the looks of it, meaning he's on one of the nearby hills that surrounds the compound, and there is no way 47 knows he's there.

Dubai

• There are three Partners but only two beds in the penthouse. Do two of them have to share a bed or is one of them sleeping on a couch?
  • The penthouse was built before the Partners came to hide in it. I assume Carlisle had to share a bed with Stuyvesant or Ingram.
  • Given how casual Stuyvesant's clothing was, he could possibly be staying in a more regular room to maintain his cover, or he'd be casual enough to sleep on a couch.
• How does 47 escape through the elevator shaft? He's over 100 floors up, he will probably lose energy midway through the climb and fall.
  • 47 has been shown before to have improbably superb stamina before. The E3 trailer for 2016 shows him running through the tundra without losing energy. Not to mention that its possible for him to jump onto one of the ledges and simply take the stairs down.

Dartmoor

• What is Alexa Carlisle doing back home? With 47 after her, the last thing she would want to do is surround herself with her loved ones.
  • As Grey says, if you fall hard enough you tend to be reminded of what truly matters. He mentions that she had final business in dealing with the affairs of her household, as shown with her giving her butler and youngest daughter the file on the Constant in case she dies.
  • Alternatively, quite a few players have theorised that Alexa is fully aware that 47 is coming for her. Maybe she just decided that she'd rather die on her own terms in her place of choosing.
  • Alexa may not have known that her family congregated at Thornbridge, she might have just stormed in with her guards before she realised they were there.
• At the gates, Phineas Whitmer announces that he has been hired by Madame Carlisle. If she didn't want information of her survival leaking outside, wouldn't it be more prudent for Alexa to get Gregory, Edward or Rebecca to hire Whitmer rather than revealing herself?
  • Whitmer could have had some personal history with Alexa, her having hired him to solve a previous mystery, and she therefore trusted him not to reveal the secret. Why she doesn't recognise him as so is because they didn't meet previously, a long time had passed since they first met in person or she's old and her mind is fading.
• How far is Alexa planning this Faking the Dead plan? She is still freely walking about the mansion, letting all her staff and security in on the secret.
  • She'll live in the manor until 47 catches her or 47 and Grey are killed by the ICA, the Constant's forces or any mercenaries she might have hired. In the scenario that 47, Grey and their allies are killed, she would either stay put in the manor or craft a new identity, and wage war on Edwards and regain control of Providence.
• Why is Edward worried about Alexa reacting to his eulogy? She wouldn't be anywhere near the ceremony, probably hiding in her bedroom until everyone leaves, and I doubt that the funeral requires a sound system. How would she even hear him?
  • He probably believes that she would ask to read it after it's done. Alternatively, Alexa could have requested that someone record her funeral, so as to see how her family would behave.
• Why did Alexa's raising of Edward turn him into a neurotic Nervous Wreck, while Gregory and Rebecca are surprisingly well-adjusted, if a bit haughty?
  • Not every child, raised by a cold and/or abusive parent, is affected the same way. Despite it not being as shown as clearly as Edward, it would appear that Alexa's parenting had a pretty big impact on the man Gregory grew up to be. He just deals with it in a different way from Edward. Whereas Edward is constantly seeking her approval, Gregory, as Rebecca argues, is more interested in shocking her with his "laziness and neglect". In regards to Rebecca, you can either accept her belief that, as the youngest, she just "flew under the radar" when it came to Alexa's attention, or Edward's belief that Rebecca was the only one that ended up living up to Alexa's expectations, and thus Alexa was far less harsh to her than she was with her sons.
• Why is Alexa taking part in the family photoshoot? It would be photographic evidence that would contradict her “death” and even barring that, she is clearly not the sentimental family-oriented type.
  • Since the fake funeral is one of the few times the family would meet and because no one outside the manor would know when it was taken, she's likely taking part in it to keep up appearances. In regards to the contradiction, the news report in Berlin reports on the Partners' real deaths anyway.
  • The photo was presumably have been put in her bedroom or somewhere else no one will ever find it.
• Why does Mr. Fernsby keep lethal poison pills in his office?
  • He could have been prepared to kill Zachary in case he was about to confess to Montgomery's murder (which Zachary was about to do, but didn't) or to kill himself if he himself was suspected of the murder.
  • The intel description upon picking up the pills indicates they are painkillers. 47 notes they are lethal in high doses but are otherwise not suspicious.
• Why is picking up the walking cane a suspicious action? It’s not a particularly dangerous weapon nor valuable.
  • Since it is used to open secret doors around the mansion, it could likely be sentimental.

Berlin

• How is Grey's outfit still clean and undamaged, enough that 47 can wear it, after Grey was shot several times in it?
  • 47 only wears Grey's coat and likely washed it beforehand.
• How do the ICA agents see through the Club Crew and Bartender disguises, which cover 47’s whole head so that they can’t see his baldness or barcode?
  • 47's height, blue eyes and general aura of death give him away. Still, 47 can actually blend in as a bartender and poison Agent Swan.
• How does 47 end up wearing his signature suit in the end cutscene? The default location forces him into the Number Six outfit and there is no suit in the club.
  • He most likely changed into it after he left.
  • He might have bought or stolen it from a tailor while going to meet Olivia.

Chongqing

• How did Imogen Royce get picked up by the ICA? Wasn't she just essentially just a niche Youtuber with a mad fanbase?
  • Her intel states that her work in behavioural analysis got their attention and thus she has hired.
• Why couldn't ICA analysts pick anything up on Royce? Before entering the ICA, wouldn't she need to surrender information about herself so they won't think she's a government spy or something? And how is she so effective at covering up her past?
  • They might have simply hired her for her abilities and surveillance expertise, or they may have believed her potentially made-up backstory. Considering 47 managed to get into the ICA without much info on his past, they probably wouldn't have cared much. As for covering her past up, she might have had any records wiped out.
• Why do 47 and Diana’s files include conversations between them?
  • Possibly for analysis or archiving.
• What exactly does Hush die of during his experiment with 47?
  • His experiments are focused on finding ways to control and alter the mind. Throughout the level it's shown that Hush is particularly obsessed with finding a subject capable of resisting the demands he gives them, so he can better improve his work. Hush also mentions to Royce that he has some form of sensory processing disorder, which is likely to have been caused, or possibly even increased, by his experiments. It's likely that the experiments that Hush has been conducting have had just as bad of an effect on his mind as they have on his test subjects. Therefore, when 47 resists Hush's attempts to control his impulse functions, and Hush requests that the researchers increase the signal strength on the machine, his brain is unable to cope and shuts down, killing him.
• Why is the air conditioning in the ICA break room turned off?
  • The temperature could be set too cold or there may be a bad odour.

Mendoza

• Why does Yates simply have Vidal shot dead but has Diana brought all the way to his bedroom for her execution? Since Vidal was already killed in the meeting room and she and Diana were joined at the hip since the start of the mission, why waste time and effort taking Diana upstairs instead of shooting her down as well?
  • He feels the need to gloat and rub his victory in her face, or so Diana theorises.
• Why does Yates keep the file report revealing that he sold out his wife?
  • In the scenario of a retrial or something, where the file would be needed to be submitted as evidence.
• Why was Dolores, Diana's friend and fellow ICA handler, expelled from the ICA over Jaguar's screwup? She was still a trained handler who could be assigned to another more level-headed agent. Maybe ground her for a while, but dropping her is a waste.

Romania

• Isn't 47 pretty Easily Forgiven by Diana for murdering her parents?
  • They've been partners for years and it was something he did on the orders of his creator and Providence. With that in mind, it would be rather hard for Diana to truly blame 47 for her parents' deaths given his Human Weapon nature.
• If Diana didn't actually betray 47, why did she tell Edwards to kill him after she knocked him out?
  • It was essentially a Failure Gambit, and Diana knew that Edwards very rarely gets rid of anything beneficial to him (like Diana herself; Edwards could've killed her back in Paris at the end of Dubai, but he didn't). 47 being a mind-wiped clone assassin with no real sense of morality is one hell of an incentive for Providence members to stay in line. Diana appeared loyal knowing Edwards wouldn't go through with killing him.
• What is 47 doing at Diana's cabin in the end cutscene?
  • He is rejoining her to continue going on missions in the future. As 47 says, Providence has been dismantled, but there will always be someone like them trying to play puppet master and fill that power void. For the first time in a long time, it's his choice to continue being a killer for hire, not Diana's, Providence's, Grey's, or the Institute forcing him in various ways. What is deliberately left ambiguous is whether Diana asked him back in, and whether Diana's motives remain pure.
  • It's pretty much the ending of Blood Money but the ICA is destroyed, and 47 and Diana go freelance.
• What was the phone that 47 picked up in the end cutscene?
  • A satellite phone so that he could reach Diana more conveniently.
• Why wasn't Diana in the cabin to meet 47?
  • It's possible that while Diana forgave him, either 47, Diana , or both, are still not entirely sure the other is trustworthy and want to keep things long-range for the safety of both of them. Either that, or they're enforcing the old rules of not meeting in person when they can help it.
• With Edwards dead or neutralized, what would happen to the money he stole from the Partners?
  • Diana presumably hacked into his bank account and stole it for herself and her activities.