GAMES · STORY NOTES

Dishonored 2

Dishonored 2 is a 2016 first person action-adventure game developed by Arkane Lyon and published by Bethesda Softworks for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. The game's aesthetic was influenced by paintings, sculptures, architecture, fashion, and technologies around the year 1851; set in the fictional city of Karnaca, based on the Cypriot city of Larnaca, it also drew inspiration from other Mediterranean countries like Greece, Italy, and Spain.

Description adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Dishonored 2 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Text adapted for this entry.

FULL SPOILERS AHEAD

The story, including the ending.

These write-ups discuss major events and outcomes for this listed work. Each source and its coverage are identified below.

Source plot synopsis — includes the ending

=== Setting ===
The game takes place during the year 1851 in the Empire of the Isles, a union of four island nations under the rule of Empress Emily Kaldwin. While players begin and end the game in the capital city of Dunwall, much of the story takes place in the coastal city of Karnaca, a wealthy silver mining city and seat of power for the Duke of Serkonos, the southernmost region of the empire. Unlike Dunwall, which relies on whale oil for power, Karnaca is powered by wind turbines, though the winds coversely lead to frequent dust storms in the poorer districts of the city, especially the mining district. Additionally, while Dunwall's architecture and design is primarily influenced by Victorian-era London and Liverpool, Karnaka's aesthetic is inspired by various subtropical cities in the Mediterranean and the antebellum Deep South.
At the time the game begins, the extremist and corrupt Overseers of the Empire's state religion, the Abbey of the Everyman, are engaged in a violent conflict against the Howlers street gang for control of the populace, forcing the Grand Serkonan Guard, Karnaca's law enforcement and the Duke's personal bodyguards, erecting defensive barriers called Walls of Light in response to the disarray.

Characters

The main characters of Dishonored 2 that the player can control are Corvo Attano (Stephen Russell), a former bodyguard turned assassin and the main character of the previous game, and Emily Kaldwin (Erica Luttrell), Corvo's daughter and the former Empress of the Empire of the Isles. The game's main antagonists include Luca Abele (Vincent D'Onofrio), the new duke of Serkonos following the passing of his father Theodanis, and Delilah Copperspoon (Erin Cottrell), a witch and the antagonist of the previous game's downloadable content packs The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches, as well as the half-sister of Emily's deceased mother; promotional material from the special collector's edition of the game references her as Delilah Kaldwin.
Other characters in the game include Meagan Foster (Rosario Dawson), captain of the Dreadful Wale; Paolo (Pedro Pascal), leader of the Howler gang; Mindy Blanchard (Betsy Moore), Paolo's second-in-command; Mortimer Ramsey (Sam Rockwell), a corrupt officer of the Dunwall City Watch; Liam Byrne (Jamie Hector), the Vice Overseer of Karnaca who opposes the Howlers; Anton Sokolov (Roger L. Jackson), Dunwall's genius inventor; the Outsider (Robin Lord Taylor), the representational figure of the Void, an alternate dimension that grants supernatural abilities; and Jessamine Kaldwin (April Stewart), Emily Kaldwin's mother, whose spirit was trapped in The Heart.

Plot

Fifteen years after Corvo Attano restored Emily Kaldwin to the throne following the assassination of her mother, Dunwall has prospered under her reign. A serial killer known as "the Crown Killer" has been murdering Emily's enemies, leading many to believe that Emily and Corvo are responsible. During a ceremony in remembrance of Jessamine Kaldwin's assassination, Duke Luca Abele of Serkonos arrives with the witch Delilah Copperspoon. Delilah claims to be Jessamine's half-sister and the true heir to the throne. The Duke's men attack, killing Emily's men. The player then chooses whether to continue as Emily or Corvo, and the character not chosen is magically turned to stone by Delilah. The player escapes to the Dunwall docks, where Meagan Foster is waiting. Meagan was sent by Anton Sokolov to warn Emily and Corvo about the Duke's coup. They sail for Karnaca, where Delilah began her rise to power. During the voyage, the player is visited by the Outsider, who offers them supernatural powers and instructs them to stop Delilah.
Arriving in Karnaca, the player is tasked with rescuing Sokolov, who was kidnapped by the Crown Killer. Infiltrating Addermire Institute, where the Crown Killer is reportedly hiding out, the player discovers that the Crown Killer is the alter ego of Karnaca's Chief Alchemist, Alexandria Hypatia (Jessica Straus). Hypatia accidentally created the Crown Killer persona when she tested an experimental serum on herself, and the Duke then exploited this to frame Emily. The player either kills Hypatia or cures her condition.
Investigating Addermire, it is revealed that Sokolov was imprisoned by Kirin Jindosh (John Gegenhuber), the Duke's Grand Inventor. The player enters Jindosh's Clockwork Mansion, kills him or performs an electrical lobotomy on him, and frees Sokolov. Sokolov directs the player to eliminate Breanna Ashworth (Melendy Britt), the curator of the Royal Conservatory and witch working for Delilah. The player enters the Royal Conservatory and discovers that Ashworth brought Delilah back from the Void, after her defeat at the hands of Daud, the assassin who killed Emily's mother. Ashworth is either killed or has her powers removed.
With Delilah being too powerful to defeat conventionally, Sokolov suggests the player investigate the home of mining magnate Aramis Stilton (Richard Cansino). Upon entering Stilton's mansion, the player discovers that he had gone insane after witnessing Delilah's resurrection. With the aid of the Outsider, the player travels back in time and observes the Crown Killer, Jindosh, Ashworth, and the Duke pull Delilah from the Void. Afterward, Delilah siphons part of her soul into a statue, making her immortal.
The player invades the Duke's palace to eliminate him and retrieve Delilah's soul. After either killing the Duke or working with his body double to depose him, the player finds the statue and extracts Delilah's soul. The player then returns to Dunwall for a final confrontation with Delilah. After reuniting Delilah with her soul, the player may choose to kill Delilah or trick her into trapping herself inside her own painting.

Endings

There are multiple endings based on whether the player caused high chaos by indiscriminate murder, or achieved low chaos by refraining from taking lives. These endings are also dependent on whom the player killed or spared, and which factions, if any, they sided with.
In the High Chaos ending, the player is faced with the choice of freeing Emily / Corvo from petrification or leaving them that way. If Emily is not left in stone, she becomes a vengeful empress and brutally purges Delilah's supporters. If Corvo leaves Emily petrified, he takes the throne for himself and becomes a brutal tyrant known as Emperor Corvo "the Black". Karnaca is either ruled by a new tyrant or collapses into anarchy and, if alive, Sokolov becomes a broken man after witnessing the perversion of his work, and is exiled to his home country.
In the Low Chaos ending, the player frees Emily / Corvo from their imprisonment. A council of representatives, or, optionally, Corvo, who can make himself the new Duke, takes charge in Karnaca and brings the city back from the brink. Emily becomes a fair and just ruler, reuniting the Empire. Sokolov, proud to see his work used for good, returns to his home country to spend his last days in comfort.
In either ending, if Meagan survives, she is revealed to be Billie Lurk and leaves to search for Daud, leading to Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.
Sources and content license

Source and revision history ↗ · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Dishonored 2. Section headings and formatting adjusted. · Content license