Billie Lurk

"Billie Lurk watches me closely, studying my decisions, each move I make."

- Daud's Journal: Billie Lurk

Billie Lurk is Daud's second-in-command and companion throughout the events of The Knife of Dunwall. It is she who informs Daud about the location of the whaling trawler Delilah, and assists in each of his missions. Billie Lurk reappears in Dishonored 2 as Meagan Foster, a companion of Anton Sokolov, and serves as the protagonist's boatman. In Dishonored: Death of the Outsider Billie becomes the protagonist.

Biography
The child of a foreigner from one of the many small isles in the ocean and off the coast of Pandyssia, Billie Lurk was born on the 2nd day of the Month of Hearths in 1813 and grew up in Dunwall, spending her early years in the house of her alcoholic mother.

Unwanted and abused as a child, Billie left home at an early age, beginning an amateur career of thievery and assassination to avoid working as a mudlark or child prostitute. She hoped to one day leave such work behind to become a ship captain.

She eventually came to meet Deirdre, whose friendship helped prevent Billie from comitting suicide. In time, the two became lovers.

Billie became a pariah in the Dunwall underground when she murdered a "dandy" who struck and killed Deirdre. Unbeknownst to her, the man was Radanis Abele, son of the Duke of Serkonos. Due to her status as a wanted fugitive and the powerful individuals interested in her arrest, she was cast out everywhere she tried to seek refuge.

Immediately after Deirdre's death, Billie had actually stuck around to observe and memorize the faces of those complicit in Deirdre's death. Among them she memorized the faces and voices of the three members of the City Watch who had stood around and done nothing when Radanis Abele had killed Deirdre. One night, she managed to track them down. She drew her knife and ran forward but tripped on a divot and fell to the ground. Her mistake went unnoticed by the Watch, and the delay allowed a masked assassin to step forward and kill the City Watch members anyway.

As Billie witnessed the assasin complete the triple-assassination, she was so fascinated by his skill that she decided to follow him. The assasin, who was named Daud, was aware of her presence, and allowed Billie to trail him to his base of operations before confronting her. Impressed by her skill and courage in the face of likely demise, Daud spared Billie's life and offered her the opportunity to train with him.

After joining the Whalers in 1829, Billie watched Daud closely, replacing her previous dream of becoming a ship captain with following in Daud's footsteps as a professional assassin.

The Knife of Dunwall
Billie assists with all of Daud's missions during The Knife of Dunwall, performing recon and information gathering to simplify his work. She also interacts with Daud when he encounters particular events, such as discovering Granny Rags' recipe in Slaughterhouse Row, the statue of Delilah Copperspoon in the Timsh Estate, and the DLC's single Outsider shrine. She will occasionally comment on Daud's choices at the end of the mission (particularly the means by which he eliminates his targets), and her behavior will be somewhat affected by Daud's chaos level.

It is revealed at the end of the DLC that Billie betrayed Daud to Delilah, and planned to murder him herself. Believing he had grown weak and unstable after the assassination of Jessamine Kaldwin, Billie decided to unseat him as the leader of the Whalers and take his place. To that end, she revealed the location of the assassins' hideout to Delilah. While Delilah made contact with the Overseers to compromise the assassins as a whole, Billie was tasked with killing Daud personally.

If Daud's chaos is high at the end of the DLC, Billie's belief that Daud must be replaced never falters, and she challenges him to a duel. Daud emerges as the victor, and Billie claims their relationship was bound to end this way, as it is their nature as assassins. Though Daud is given the option to kill Billie or render her unconscious, the ending proceeds as though she has been killed in either case.

If Daud's chaos is low, Billie is unable to go through with the assassination, saying Daud is not as weak as she believed and that he "deserves better". Billie then surrenders herself to Daud's mercy, asking him to choose whether he will kill or spare her.

If Daud kills Billie, she allows him to do so without resistance; the Outsider then comments that she lived her life as Daud had taught her, and died without regret. If Daud spares her, he commands her to leave the assassins and the city. She readily complies, heading to a distant part of the Isles to begin a new life. Despite betraying her former mentor, she leaves a note in his quarters, and returns to Dunwall for his funeral if he is killed by Corvo Attano.

In the canon of the series, Billie is spared by Daud and slips away to a quieter life.

Dishonored: The Wyrmwood Deceit
In issue 4 of The Wyrmwood Deceit, Billie is seen escorting Martha Cottings through a portal, telling her that "things must play out the way they do", implying some knowledge of the grand scheme of events. The Heart backs this up, saying that her destiny lies beyond Karnaca and Dunwall.

Dishonored 2
For details of Billie's life during Dishonored 2, see Meagan Foster.

In low chaos, before the final mission of Dishonored 2, Billie reveals her identity and her affiliation with the Whalers to the protagonist, who can then either say that she is a monster or that she has changed, both of which affect her fate in the ending. If Billie is told that she has changed, Billie leaves to seek Daud, who she considers family.

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
Months later, Billie returns to Karnaca looking for Daud. After rescuing her mentor from an underground fight club run by the Eyeless gang, Daud asks Billie for help on one last job: destroying the Outsider himself. Though initially skeptical, Billie agrees, and returns to the Dreadful Wale with Daud to plot their next move.

Throughout the game, Daud remains on the Dreadful Wale, coughing and saying he can "feel the void dragging [him] away". and is limited to giving information on the world to Billie, and giving advice on missions. Eventually, after learning that the sword required to kill the Outsider is in the Dolores Michaels Deposit & Loan Bank he sends Billie to retrieve it. During the mission Daud passes away on the Dreadful Wale from natural causes which the Outsider alludes to Billie. After returning to find Daud dead, Billie burns her ship which acts as a funeral pyre for Daud. After his funeral, Billie played a recording Daud left for her, saying goodbye and making his peace with who he had been, and with his history with his former apprentice.

Later on, Daud's spirit is encountered in the Void just before Billie is about to kill the Outsider. His form is wavy and indistinct, and at first he doesn't recognize Billie. He encourages her to finish the Outsider. Here she is given a choice:

If Billie kills the Outsider, Daud will speak with her saying it's done, but Billie declares herself to be always a killer and that she will never change. In this ending Daud does not find peace and his spirit is doomed to wander the Void for eternity.

If Billie decides to not kill the Outsider, she convinces Daud to let him live by revealing the circumstances of the Outsider's mortal life and reminding Daud of how he spared her once. Daud frees the Outsider by speaking his name. Daud then agrees and after freeing the Outsider he says a final farewell to Billie as he finds peace and his soul dissipates.

Personality
Billie is a serious and straightforward woman, always focusing on the task at hand and how best to accomplish it. She is subsequently quite blunt in her interactions with others, speaking frankly about those she dislikes, at one point calling Delilah Copperspoon "a bit of a bitch". Billie also delights in exacting revenge and justice, wishing painful death on those she deems wicked. Her personality changes depending on Daud's chaos level; for instance, in low chaos she will knock guards out, but in high chaos she will kill them, saying things such as, "What's one more body, right?"

Billie initially has great respect for Daud, following his orders without question and looking to him as an example to emulate. Her reverence toward him weakens after the assassination of the Empress, and her final reaction to him depends on his chaos level at the end of The Knife of Dunwall. If Daud's chaos is low, her respect for him overcomes her ambition to usurp his place. If Daud's chaos is high, Billie will attempt to carry through with her plan, claiming her and Daud's "nature" wouldn't allow their relationship to end any other way.

Billie is also fascinated by the Outsider, at one point fantasizing about what it would be like to meet him.

Abilities
Billie demonstrates the ability to perform transversals, as well as Thorns, the ability to fire multiple, shadowy darts from her wrist. She also can perform a Windblast-like scream, but only does so at the very beginning of the duel against her. Like Daud himself, she has enhanced health as well as immunity to Bend Time, sleep darts, and being set on fire. She also cannot be killed with fatality attacks.

By the time of Death of the Outsider, Billie's right forearm and eye have been replaced by Void artifacts, granting her more access to its magic, in addition to other Void artifacts such as the Twin-bladed Knife. Displace allows Billie to teleport in any direction by trading places with a shadowy doppelgänger. Semblance can render anyone unconscious, temporarily disguising Billie in their likeness, while Foresight is useful for scouting ahead and marking enemies. Unlike other users of Void magic, Billie does not require Piero's Spiritual Remedy or Addermire Solution to replenish mana, her artifacts simply drawing power directly from the Void.

Trivia

 * Billie Lurk is voiced by Kristy Wu in Dishonored and by Rosario Dawson in Dishonored 2.
 * Just as Emily Kaldwin observes and imitates Corvo in Dishonored, Billie functions similarly in regard to Daud, making him consider the effects of his actions.
 * Despite working with Delilah to accomplish their mutual goals, Billie does not appear to respect her – when the two meet at the end of The Surge, Billie either argues with Delilah (low chaos), or commands her to be silent (high chaos).
 * "Lurk" is not Billie's last name, but a nickname.
 * Billie is bisexual and, according to Harvey Smith, mostly attracted to women.
 * This is further shown by an audiograph that can be found in one of the transitions of the Dreadful Wale that states that she has "-loved many women and even a couple of men-".
 * Billie sees Daud as a challenging mentor and father figure, but it is also possible that Daud is "a complex, unresolved love interest" of hers.
 * If Daud accidentally attacks Billie during a fight, the game will end, stating irreconcilable hostilities as the cause.
 * Billie is the only assassin besides Daud that wears a red outfit, whereas the rest of the assassins in The Knife of Dunwall wear gray or dark blue (in ascending order of importance within the Whalers).
 * The Windblast-like scream and Thorns are powers commonly used by the Brigmore Witches. Her alliance with Delilah granted her these two powers.
 * Like the other assassination targets, Billie has a special death animation if killed with the sword. Unlike the others, her death animation, like her actions, varies based on Daud's chaos level. In low chaos, Daud places a reassuring hand on Billie's shoulder. She looks up at him with a smile before Daud stabs her through the chest. In high chaos, Daud seizes her by the throat before stabbing her in the stomach.
 * Like Mortimer Ramsey, she has more than one special death animation.
 * Billie Lurk's appearance at the end of The Wyrmwood Deceit and her powers were not explained through the comics or Dishonored 2. According to Harvey Smith, Lurk is not marked by the Outsider, but rather empowered at the end of the comics by certain artifacts found during her later adventures and affected by changes at Stilton Manor during Dishonored 2.
 * The knife she is carrying in that scene resembles a lot the one used to sacrifice the Outsider to the Void. According to the novel Dishonored: The Corroded Man where the knife is introduced for the first time, it can grant powers akin to the Outsider's mark.
 * At some point, Billie almost killed Slackjaw while he was getting a shave.
 * Galia Fleet did not like Billie. Whether this was a personal grudge, or a view shared by other Whalers, is not clarified.
 * Billie is the only playable character in Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.
 * Billie does not possess the Outsider's Mark. This makes her the first playable character in the Dishonored franchise to be given powers that didn't directly come from the Outsider.
 * At the same time, Billie had expressed an interest in the Outsider when she was still with the Whalers, but this interest has greatly waned in her later years to the point she is not interested in receiving the Outsider's Mark.
 * Billie hates the Sentinels, especially how they were smiling.
 * According to Queen Eithne, the names of Billie's parents are Asher and Francis. Billie does not know who her father was.
 * Billie took part in the assassination of Jessamine Kaldwin, though her exact task is unknown.