The Outsider



"[T]he Outsider is something else, [...] a being that haunts creation from first to last."

- Overseer Sturgess describing the Outsider

The Outsider is a mysterious, morally ambiguous supernatural being, neither good nor evil. He usually appears to people of interest as a plain-looking young man with short brown hair and black eyes, wearing a brown coat, blue-grey pants and black boots.

Though many people worship him, such is considered heresy by the Abbey of the Everyman and punishable by extreme measures, up to and including death. Created to be the Void's representational figure, he appears to be the source of all magic in the world of the Dishonored franchise, and his shrines can be found across the Isles.

Biography
"[The Outsider] is not classically a 'trickster god,' but he's done a few things that probably remind people of other trickster examples, like granting man some kind of forbidden boon. You could say he has 'Chthonic' or 'Underworld' god qualities which represent the unconscious, mystery, secret or repressed desires, creativity, etc. The 'Shadow Self' from Jungian archetypes. This aspect, in my opinion, is much stronger than the trickster qualities."

- Ricardo Bare The Outsider was born over 4000 years before the events of Dishonored. He lived as a human outcast with no known family in a ruined city. When he was fifteen, he was sought and taken by the Envisionned who saw in him all signs to become one with the Void, notably his age and bits of prophecy (the celestial movements and events like the mass dying of fish).

The cultists brought him to the Void through a place in Shindaerey Peak where the boundary of the ethereal world is the thinnest. There, they prepared him for a ritual: "he was bathed and dressed" in painted clothes, his eyes painted over, "his hands were adorned with [golden] rings" and he was drugged with potions and smokes that made him forget his memories, including his own name and age.

He was then restrained to a sacred Altar in a deeper layer caled the Ritual Hold by the cultists. There, they slit his throat with the Twin-bladed Knife and he "merged in part with the Void". A spiritual image of him was turned into the god-like being known as the Outsider, an inhabitant of the Void. His physical body remained in the Ritual Hold, cast in stone as he was screaming in pain, unable to move or even speak, immortal to anything but the Twin-bladed Knife that created him. His name was also eternally lost to him, which was essential to the ritual. Unbeknown to him though, the Outsider's Mark is in fact his name, written in a language only the dead can read. Giving his name back to his physical body can break the ritual.

Upon attaining godhood, the Outsider became a "being of insatiable curiosity about what people do when given power over others", spurring him to appear to those he finds "interesting". The Outsider decides whether to make contact with these individuals through their dreams or during prayers at his shrines. He can mark them of his name to link them with the Void through him and grant them Supernatural Abilities. He only chooses people in whom he sees a potential to change the world.

Dishonored
The Outsider first meets Corvo in the Void after the latter escaped Coldridge Prison. He gives him his Mark and the Heart, a tool to find runes and bone charms but also listen to people's secrets. Throughout the events of Dishonored, the Outsider observes Corvo and his actions, often appearing to comment his choices and their effect on the world. At the end of the story, he narrates the events to come based on Corvo's choices and the chaos he wrought.

The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches
Upon regaining interest in Daud, the Outsider reappears to the assassin, warning him of his inescapable conclusion, but revealing that the terms of his fate can be altered. He gives Daud the name "Delilah", which Daud discovers is a powerful witch planning to possess Emily and become Empress herself. At the end, the Outsider reminds Daud of all his actions, with the assassin thereafter facing Corvo.

Dishonored 2
In Dishonored 2, he appears to either Corvo or Emily as they are asleep aboard the Dreadful Wale to offer his mark. Whether the protagonist accepts it or not, he gives back the Heart although with another purpose in mind. Throughout the events of the Coup, he watches and discusses the current affairs of the world, intervening on occasion to assist the protagonist. He offers them the Timepiece to help them navigate Stilton Manor, twisted by the Void and Delilah's ritual. He also shows his own past to them and Delilah's influence on the Void. He explains that Delilah has become a "part of him", and that he doesn't like it. As in the first game, the Outsider narrates the events that have unfolded in accordance with the amount of chaos the protagonist has accrued.

The Return of Daud
As stated in Dishonored: The Return of Daud, Daud went on his quest to destroy the Outsider after he appeared to him through recurrent nightmares. After Daud gets deathly weakened by the Twin-bladed Knife and captured by witches, he foresees the changes brought to the Empire by Emily's actions during her exile in Karnaca.

Death of the Outsider
In Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, the Outsider observes the quest of Daud and Billie Lurk to destroy him. Quite apart from trying to preserve his own life, the Outsider appears to Billie for the first time and gives her relics to assist in her mission, including a new eye and arm. Far from being simple aids, these artifacts grants her the ability to see disturbances caused by the Void as well as powers not tied to the Outsider.

Eventually, Billie steals the Twin-bladed Knife from the Eyeless Gang and finds how to enter the Void through the lair of the Cult of the Outsider. There, she locates his physical body in the Ritual Hold and can closely examine his trapped body before making her decision to kill or free him. If Billie kills the Outsider, she resigns herself to be nothing more but a killer. Should she decide to spare him, she convinces a reluctant Daud to break the sacrificial ritual by whispering the Outsider's real name in his ear. After the Outsider becomes mortal, Billie takes him out of the Void, giving him another chance to live the mortal life that the cultists had taken from him.

No matter the decision, the Outsider is removed from the Void forever, destabilizing it and the physical world as a consequence.

The Veiled Terror
In Dishonored: The Veiled Terror, a vision of the Outsider still appears in Billie's nightmares, warning her of the chaos that is to come following his separation from the Void.

Personality


"I so enjoy watching history warp as words pass from the lips of one to the ears of another. Imperfectly formed, half understood, poorly remembered."

- The Outsider

The Outsider is revealed to have "human emotion, but inhuman perception", making him "almost alien", or as Harvey Smith interprets him, possessing two parts – "human faculty and something primal and chthonic". Harvey Smith also notes that "some of [the Outsider's] lines are sarcastic", but his tone can go unnoticed.

Though widely sought and worshiped throughout the world, the Outsider states that he "[doesn't] play favorites", and is known to only appear to "interesting" individuals – his interest in people being the primary prerequisite for his audience. He deems devotees of himself and the Void to be "unhinged" and grants them no favors for their reverence. Those who manage to pique his interest are frequently given his attention, however; furthermore, those who he sees as particularly interesting and potential agents of change are bestowed his Mark, with social standing and effort having no bearing on their selection. Due to his standards, it is not uncommon for long periods of time to pass without the Outsider marking anyone. It is not enough to be extraordinary; Anton Sokolov is one of the greatest inventors of his time, and a highly regarded artist, yet when the Outsider speaks of Sokolov's efforts to communicate with him, he concludes, "But if he really wanted to meet me, he could start by being a bit more interesting."

His interest in those bearing his Mark is heavily dependent on their execution and vision. Unpredictable, low chaos actions generally garner his amusement and fascination, while high chaos ones are typically met with uninspired synopses of given situations. Should the actions of a Mark bearer become mundane in his eyes, the Outsider seemingly abandons them, until his interest is renewed.

He is ultimately a neutral being, unbiased regarding the happenings of the world and placing no conditions on those he gifts with supernatural abilities. No matter the actions of Mark bearers, his disposition typically remains the same – that of a dispassionate spectator merely seeking an entertaining show. He does, however, display subtle degrees of hostility, both in The Knife of Dunwall and Dishonored 2: in the former taunting Daud with the assassin's guilt in the murder of Empress Jessamine Kaldwin and approaching demise; while in the latter openly voicing his dislike of Delilah becoming a part of him.

Trivia

 * The Outsider is voiced by Billy Lush in Dishonored and Robin Lord Taylor in Dishonored 2 and Death of the Outsider.
 * The Outsider, or at least the Void, is associated with whales.
 * A book titled Spirit of the Deep seems to equate the Outsider with "a leviathan".
 * During the final confrontation with Granny Rags, she shouts, "Bones of the great leviathan! Protect me!"
 * Both runes and bone charms, which channel the Outsider's magic, are usually made from whale bone.
 * Whales swim through the void around the Ritual Hold and can be heard as you approach the Outsider.
 * According to Harvey Smith, the Outsider cannot change form and "appears almost as he [did] in life".
 * In his first appearance to Corvo, the Outsider claims that the Heart was molded by his hands. This is specious, however, as it is revealed by both the audiograph Piero's Speculation on the Spirit and Harvey Smith that it was in fact crafted by Piero, who the Outsider in a dream inspired to do so. It is possible that the Outsider was speaking metaphorically, however.
 * Though he is not omniscient, the Outsider receives "horrible glimpses of all time and space".
 * When appearing at his shrines, the Outsider is only visible to people he wishes to be visible to, as he once talked with Daud while Billie Lurk stood by, unable to see him.
 * In Rumors and Sightings: Daud an eyewitness noticed Daud bending at a shrine, presumably in conversation with the Outsider, and yet the former only noted that he was seemingly "in whispered argument with an unseen being".
 * Daud, Delilah, and Billie have referred to the Outsider as "the black-eyed bastard".
 * In the non-lethal ending of Death of the Outsider, Harvey Smith imagined that the first thing the Outsider would do is to "sit at a cafe out on the sidewalk and watch people go by and not feel the cold of the Void and the bitter cynicism for being ritually murdered".