Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
General
- Ominis's backstory and the reason why he's so averse to the Dark Arts. His parents and older brothers loved to use Crucio on random Muggles and he couldn't stand their screams of agony and was unwilling to do the same. His parents then cast the spell on him, and it was so painful that he decided to do what they said and tortured a random Muggle. And he never forgave himself for that.
- One of the Infamous Foes is a woman from the Ministry who had been blackmailed and forced to join the Ashwinders to provide for her family. And if you kill her, well...who knows what will happen to them now?
- The whole Rebellion takes place from 1 September until sometime around Christmas (while the game spans the four seasons; starting with summer, then fall, then winter, then spring, then back to summer, Fig dies in Winter), meaning all of the traumatic events of the game happen in a period of about four months.
Story
Main Story- The story of Anne Thisbe in the Hufflepuff exclusive main mission:
- She was accused of Jackdaw's death by Apollonia Black and was sent to Azkaban based on that testimony alone (and the fact that she was just a Muggle-Born). But the thing is, she didn't kill Jackdaw, she had never solved his puzzle. Thisbe had rotted in Azkaban for no reason and will never be the same, even after she had been exonerated from her crimes. Her whole life had been taken from her, and she was just a student too.
- Jackdaw finding out that she had been sent to Azkaban. He had no idea his former sweetheart had been sent to prison on his behalf, having thought she had moved on from him.
- What of her parents? Do they know their daughter went to Azkaban and why she never came home? Or were they kept in the dark, wondering for the rest of their lives where she had gone?
- The reason why Ranrok hates Wizardkind so much? Growing up, he had grown fascinated with dragons and had watched a dragon poaching ring run by humans. He worked up the courage to ask to join, picking up the wand of one of the poachers to return it to him. In return, they beat him nearly to death and he almost died. It doesn't excuse what he's done, but it's understandable why he now took to such extremes and wants to start a rebellion.
- Another slight one occurs when you think about the final battle, Ranrok never really forgot about what he wanted all those years ago, because his One-Winged Angel form is a dragon.
- It turns out that Lodgok is Ranrok's younger brother, and the reason why he was trying so hard to reason with him is because he still cared about him. But Ranrok still kills him in cold blood because he disagreed. The reason why Lodgok was helping the protagonist is because Miriam had shown him such kindness with no discrimination. The encounter was so profound that it made Lodgok question his entire worldview of Wizardkind. And because of him, Miriam was killed.
- Professor Fig's death. No matter which ending is chosen, Professor Fig still dies in the end and each is heartbreaking in its own way (though one is clearly more of a tearjerker than the other).
- In the Red Eyes, Take Warning ending, the repository cavern starts to collapse and the protagonist locks eyes with the professor before he is presumably crushed to death. And this is the last time they'll ever see him. The implication is that the reason he dies in this ending is because he was so shocked by the protagonist's choice to open the repository, he couldn't find the willpower to work through his injuries. He would have died thinking that he might have failed as a mentor, wondering what would happen to them and Wizardkind with him no longer there.
- In the Secret-Keeper ending, it turns out Professor Fig survived the fall somehow and comes to help the protagonist contain the corrupted ancient magic. He gives them the last emotional boost they need to accomplish such a feat, only to start succumbing to his wounds straight after. He hallucinates his dead wife and when he sees his student by his side, he tells them that 'Miriam would have loved them' solidifying that he had seen the protagonist more like his own son/daughter than just another student. The protagonist clutching their professor's hands as the life drains from his eyes is heartbreaking. When they realize he's dead, they seemingly start crying. Another sad part about this ending, if the protagonist says that they're going to remain the sole Keeper of the repository alone, Professor Fig tells them that he will still be by their side to help them, but he dies. Now that he's gone, the protagonist really is alone now as the last of their kind.
- In the memorial for him after, the protagonist can be seen as the most upset out of all the students, looking like they're constantly on the verge of tears. It's clear that they really cared about their mentor than just that. Very notably, this is the only time the protagonist shows a strong emotion besides anger regarding anything that happened over the course of the game.
Companions
- Poor Sebastian. His entire sidequest is just mission after mission of him getting deeper and deeper into the Dark Arts despite the worry of his best friend Ominis, his twin sister Anne, and the protagonist. It's clear that he's been deprived of support by his uncle and has been more or less isolated from the family due to Solomon's distaste for him. The end of his sidequest is a Downer Ending no matter what ending he gets, one is only just slightly better than the other.
- If you decide to turn him in, it is likely that he will be in Azkaban for life and we will likely never see him again. According to Ominis, prison life has been poor to him, and it seems like it will only go downhill for him. The news that Rookwood was the one who cursed his sister, not goblins, only seems to make him angrier and he is unable to go through the Character Development on his anti-goblin stance.
- While not turning him in is technically a mercy as he won't have to spend the rest of his life locked up in one of the worst prisons in the world, Sebastian has to live the rest of his life with the guilt that he killed his uncle and that his sister may never forgive him for what he's done. And while his home at Feldcroft is still standing, there is no one waiting for him there as Anne had cut ties and left with only a single note to her brother.
"Sebastian, too much has happened. I need to get away from here for a while. I miss Uncle Solomon. I need time. I will always love you, but I don't know if I can ever forgive you. - Anne"- Perhaps one of the saddest things is after meeting Sebastian and Ominis in the Undercroft after Sebastian killed Solomon, Ominis is already sounding like he's close to tears at the very thought of turning Sebastian in. Despite everything, his anger and distaste at Sebastian spilling his secrets and pursuing the Dark Arts to find some cure for Anne, he still deeply cares about him.
- The reason why Natsai is so hellbent on taking down Harlow is that she's trying to make up for the Survivor's Guilt she feels when her father took a literal bullet to save her while they were out galloping as Animagi. She never forgave herself for his death. In a blink-and-you-miss-it scene, Natty's boggart is the man who killed her father, as shown in the epilogue cutscene.
- Poppy despises poachers and dislikes humans, and the reason behind that is that she had grown up in a family of them. She had watched her parents and others torture and kill beasts for most of her life until she felt forced to run away to live with her grandmother. She lives a happier life now, especially after the protagonist gets her to open up more to others, buts no wonder she had resented other people (besides her gran) for so long. In one of the poacher camps, you can find a letter that is likely from Poppy's parents, talking about how they 'don't feel weighed down' anymore now that Poppy was gone. Looks like no love was lost there.
Sidequests
- Oh, Tobbs. Poor, poor Tobbs. He was one of Deek's friends, having been sent to a cruel master by the Ministry after their previous one died. His task as set by his master, who was a Potioneer, was to basically collect leech juice in a dank cave filled with loads of spiders. If he falls short by even three bottles, he gets beaten, told to self-mutilate, and denied food privileges, then ordered to get the same amount plus five extra bottles unless he wants to lose more. After Tobbs got as much as he could from the first part of the cave, he delved deeper into the more spider-infested parts just to please his master! And after you fight a boss-level Acromantula, you predictably find his corpse slumped over with a note apologizing to his master for not getting enough juice and dying from his spider bite. It really hammers in how horrible wizards can be to their House-Elves and Deeks is completely devastated to get the news.
- What really happened to Claire Beaumont's brother, who had become an Inferius due to himself being involved in the wrong crowd in an effort to take them down from the inside? The protagonist ends up killing him to put an end to his misery and they can tell Claire the truth or a lie. If they tell her the truth, she understandably is upset, bursting into tears. The only thing the protagonist can give her is the tattered remains of the sweater she had knitted for him. The protagonist themselves seems traumatized by the event, as indicated by their journal entry in the quest log:Protagonist: I know I did the right thing, but I fear this event will haunt me forever.
- The sheer magnitude of how many sidequests are like Tobbs and the Beaumonts. It's a good 75/25 chance if you're sent to look for someone that they are likely dead and you stray across their remains. This does a surprisingly good job of making it feel like Anyone Can Die.
Gameplay
- Enemies will react harshly to you killing their allies. Loyalists especially, swearing revenge on the protagonist for taking the life of their friends. Sometimes Ashwinders / Poachers claim the reason they're attacking the protagonist is that they took the life of several good friends. Makes you wonder whether or not we've gone too far.
- When casting Crucio on enemies, they will get frozen in place, screaming in pain and begging for it all to stop.
- Small but notable, sometimes when exploring dive spot treasure vaults, you find corpses. One of them is of a werewolf who was exiled from his home. Another you find just a piece of paper on the body of a wizard that just says MUDBLOOD on it, implying they died of a hate crime.
