Talk:Anton Sokolov/Sokolov's Paintings/@comment-6716431-20161211000626/@comment-16533050-20170923165505

Corvo did indeed steal/collect all the paintings from throughout the city during his initial forays during the events of the first game. After the conclusion of the first game, Corvo and Emily returned to Dunwall Tower and began the slow process of rebuilding their lives.

One of the first steps of this process was the removal the Safe Room of the traitorous Burrows marring the alabaster simplisticity of the palace as well as the deconstruction of the Watchtowers, the dissolution of the Tallboys, and the disbandment of over half the corrupt City Watch. To help fund this massive undertaking, Emily and Corvo had to acquire funds quickly.

Fortunately they were able to turn a lot of the materials Corvo had collected during his forays into the city including a few singular pieces of the Sokolov collection. They stored away the majority of the valuable paintings as a last resort should they become truly in need.

Over the years the economy boomed and the majority of the paintings, like so many other treasures accumulated by Corvo, such as the Boyle Cameo, were stored in an off site as renovations to the palace continued. And it was during this time that evil events occurred: Delilah Copperspoon freed herself from the Void to reside in Karnaca, and the creature who would become known as the Crown Killer was born.

It was to the off site that a visit was paid by the Crown Killer in one of her earliest sojourns to Dunwall. As a test of her abilities, Delilah initially cautioned against killing anyone, but rather to steal the valuable works of art. Long an admirer of Sokolov herself, Delilah wished to gaze upon his works once again.

Unable to locate some of the paintings previously given away by the new Empress and her father, and unwilling to send the Crown Killer to the palace to retrieve the painting still residing there, Delilah was pleased with the Crown Killer's work and sent her ally again and again to Dunwall, this time with orders to rend those who spoke out against the Empress.

During her own reconstruction of her forces, Delilah also found herself in need of funds, and thus sold the paintings after having had them in her possession for such a brief time. Discovering that Sokolov resided nearby, and realizing the paintings she had acquired from Dunwall represented a time of the past life that she chose to rewrite, she instead focused on his new artwork, and keeping the ex-Royal Physician under the control of another of her servants, Kirin Jindosh.

So that's how they wound up there... or something. I really didn't put much thought into it. Anyway TL/DR