Tear Jerker / Pyre

• The fact that, under those masks, under all the snarl and disappointments thrown at each other and at you, practically all the Exiles are just people who once deserved better.
  • Ignarius was just doing his job when he confronted the wrong Commonwealth officer. This can possibly ends with him trapped in the Downside for the rest of his life if he isn't liberated.
  • Dalbert is a kindly old Cur who wishes to uphold the tradition of the Rites; under his guidance, the Fate is one of the few Triumvirates who seems to retain their original purpose. He was exiled for attempting to preserve and practice old traditions within the Commonwealth.
  • Doubly so for his foster son Almer, who never mentions any other family but Dalbert; he was exiled for putting up a fight as his father was arrested. For all the boy knew, any Rites could be their last shot at liberation.
• There are hints early on that, due to the previous Nightwings disappearing under unknown circumstances, all the other Triumvirates remained stuck in the Downside for years. Their initial anger is almost understandable.
• Only the victor of a Liberation Rite may take their freedom. By its very nature, winning your friends' freedom means denying someone else theirs, many of whom never deserved to be exiled in the first place.
• The news that only one Exile can leave per Liberation Rite. Seeing your Fire-Forged Friends disappearing one by one can be hard to take in. It's mitigated by receiving Messenger Imps that tell you how much better they're doing, but it still stings.
  • Worse? Since the Rites only grant freedom to those who participate firsthand, you, the Reader, can't ever leave the Downside. Even Hedwyn punches the wall in the Blackwagon over this. Arguably made even worse when the very last Liberation Rite ever gives you the choice between three options: one more of your Nightwings — Oralech, the original Nightwing who was denied freedom and almost died for no fault of his own — or yourself.
• The Moon-Touched Girl was exiled for "vagrancy". She was a homeless child with a strange affinity for the Old Ways — it's implied she can even communicate with the Scribes themselves — and it is very implied that she's autistic, or at least engages with the world differently from everyone else. One day, Commonwealth authorities took her in; when they realized her fixation on the Scribes, she was deemed 'witless'. When nobody took responsibility for her, she was exiled. That's right: she was exiled, essentially, for being more different than anyone was willing to put up with.

  • A little Heartwarming, but if Volfred is still with you before you start the Final Liberation Rites and when you select to hesitate on choosing which of the Nightwing members you wish to liberate, he'll telepathically reassure you that, no matter what, all the Nightwings will stand with you and will respect whatever choice you made. Knowing full well that only one of them can be free, they will accept whatever fate bestows upon them and continue on trusting their Reader.
  • Choosing to liberate Oralech over yourself or a fellow Nightwing results in a Flat "What" from Oralech, and he is truly thankful for the opportunity you've given him.

• Choosing to liberate Pamitha despite herself willing that she be stuck in Downside to atone for what she did to her sister. Every other Nightwing celebrates, but you and Pamitha alone know the truth of it.
• In one optional dialogue inbetween Rites, Hedwyn states it thus:
  Hedwyn: "...in the end, no one's responsible for our own problems except us."
• The second to last Rite, upon knowing that the Rites are ending. The other team simply doesn't bother showing up anymore, knowing their hopes are dashed anyway, leaving your team to a pitiful little opposing pyre.
  • Unless it's the Dissidents you're up against, who don't see the Rites as a means of Liberation, but find satisfaction just in participating. At least one Triumvirate is still dedicated to the Rites, if even for the wrong reasons.
  • If you win the penultimate Rite by default, the victory splash uses your characters' sad portraits, and they don't give the victory cry, acknowledging that they won because your opponents have given up all hope of regaining their freedom.
• Some of the ending states that what the Nightwings, other Exiles, and so on can become by the end of the game are very depressing.
  • If Lendel was never freed, he refuses to believe the Rites are gone for good, and wanders the Downside for the rest of his life, trying to find a way out. Not that he fares any better if he does get Liberated.
  • The worst of these is easily Oralech, who, after being denied his freedom for the final time should you win against him, is Driven to Suicide. If you don't decide to liberate him, that is (although if he wins and you reach out to him before he ascends, he does see that you've meant well, and may decide to give you his spot — creating the only scenario in which he is not liberated but does not commit suicide).
• As you unlock more of the Book of Rites, you can see how hopeful the Eight Scribes are, for their Commonwealth to be a better place that's founded on more humane principles than the oppressive Empire. Meanwhile, you're fully aware of what the Commonwealth has become.
  • On a similar note, the triumvirates the Scribes set up. Despite the noble ideals and aspirations the Scribes hoped they would embody, their modern incarnations are, at best, shadows of their former selves, and at worst, outright mockeries of what they once stood for.
• If the Fate win a Liberation Rite, it seems as though the elderly Dalbert is about to ascend. He embraces his foster-son Almer, then quickly transfers his anointment and shoves his son into the exit despite Almer's protests. Though this seems like a heartwarming moment, their separation goes rather poorly for everyone: Dalbert retires, permanently withdrawing the Fate from the Rites; without his father's guidance, Almer becomes a recluse whose only real connection comes if the Moon-Touched Girl is liberated too; and Dalbert ultimately dies alone in the Downside shortly after the Rites end, although he supposedly dies a peaceful death.
• The chain of events that led the previous Nightwings before you to disband: one of its members, Erisa, lost her brother in the war. Her own father then became incredibly abusive, punishing her in her brother's place when her blacksmith work wasn't up to task. This went on for a lifetime, culminating in Erisa killing her father and being exiled for it. Driven by injustice and desperation, she tried to steal Oralech's place to ascend, not heeding the warning that it will kill her. This ends up with one dead woman and a reformed man being robbed of his freedom he rightfully earned, forced to walk the Downside and slowly transforming into an incredibly bitter demon for an unknown number of years. A testament that the Rites are doing the exact opposite of what they were intended; pushing a sane person to commit terrible deeds instead of uplifting them.
  • Oralech's crime was insubordination for refusing to take part in the Commonwealth-Highwing Remnants war any further. Which makes his punishment even more damning.
• The purpose of the Nightwings is to be the judge for those who are worthy of being accepted back into society. They set the standard of the 'civil qualities' to be upheld... except that the Nightwings are still composed of people, with all their attachments and flaws. The Rites, as the law of the land, will never be perfected. The best the Commonwealth can do is to continuously push forward for the better, suffering or not.

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