The Outsider & Daud
THE OUTSIDER AND DAUD: A COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP ACROSS THE DISHONORED SERIES
I. INITIAL CONNECTION: THE MARK AND THE ASSASSIN
[From Dishonored & Wiki Sources]:
- First Meeting: The Outsider granted Daud his Mark approximately 30 years before the events of Dishonored (around 1807).
- Selection Criteria: The Outsider explains he chose Daud because he saw "a man who would change history" - recognizing his potential to significantly impact the world.
- Powers Granted: Daud received several abilities including:
- Blink (enhanced mobility)
- Void Gaze (perception powers)
- Pull (telekinesis)
- Ability to share his powers with his assassins
- Most uniquely, the ability to Bind others, allowing him to confer a portion of his powers to his followers - something no other Marked individual could do.
[From Rumors and Sightings: Daud]:
- The Outsider maintained an active interest in Daud longer than most Marked individuals, observing his creation of the Whalers assassin group and his rise to become "the Knife of Dunwall."
II. EVOLVING RELATIONSHIP: FROM FAVOR TO DISILLUSIONMENT
[From Dishonored DLC Cutscenes]:
- Initial Dynamic: Early in their relationship, Daud appears to have been more enthusiastic about the Outsider's gifts, using them with calculated precision.
- Growing Tension: By the time of Dishonored, the relationship had grown strained. The Outsider appears to Daud with an increasingly judgmental tone.
- Post-Empress Assassination: After Daud kills Empress Jessamine, the Outsider confronts him with clear disappointment, stating: "No one else has killed an Empress" and questioning whether the act gave him what he wanted.
[From Knife of Dunwall & Brigmore Witches DLCs]:
- When Daud seeks redemption, the Outsider is skeptical: "I've seen you kill for coin and for principle. But now, this... this is different."
- The Outsider's tone suggests a complex mixture of disappointment, curiosity, and perhaps even regret at how Daud used his gifts.
- He explicitly points out Daud's moral decline: "There was a time when you were scrupulous, then pragmatic, and now... your hands do violence almost on their own."
- Importantly, he notes: "I give my Mark sparingly, Daud. I've seen it used for power, for love, for money...but very, very rarely for redemption."
III. THE DELILAH CONNECTION: A DELIBERATE TEST
[From Brigmore Witches DLC & Dishonored 2]:
- The Outsider deliberately introduces Daud to the mystery of Delilah Copperspoon, another Marked individual.
- He cryptically states: "Draw near to Delilah, as she pulled away from the Void" - setting Daud on a collision course with Delilah.
- This intervention suggests the Outsider was using Daud as a counterbalance to Delilah's ambitions, setting the assassin on a path of redemption.
- When Daud eventually stops Delilah (trapping her in the Void), the Outsider appears genuinely satisfied: "No one else has seen what you've seen."
[From Death of the Outsider]:
- Years later, the Outsider reveals that Daud's actions against Delilah were crucial: "If not for you, Delilah would have become a god long ago."
- This suggests the Outsider deliberately manipulated Daud into stopping another Marked individual who threatened the cosmic balance.
IV. DEATH OF THE OUTSIDER: THE FINAL CONFRONTATION
[From Death of the Outsider Cutscenes]:
- Daud's Mission: 15 years after the events of Dishonored, an elderly, dying Daud recruits Billie Lurk to help him kill the Outsider.
- Motivation: Daud views the Outsider as the source of chaos in the world: "Kill the black-eyed bastard. End the Void."
- The Outsider's Response: Surprisingly calm when confronted with Daud's plan, stating: "We let you live, Daud, when you deserved to die."
- Final Encounter: The Outsider allows Daud to find him in the Void, telling him: "The world doesn't need me anymore."
[From Death of the Outsider Ending]:
- The Outsider addresses Daud directly in their final confrontation: "Hello, old friend." - suggesting a complex relationship beyond simply granter and recipient of power.
- If Billie chooses to kill the Outsider, Daud assists in the killing, completing his mission.
- If Billie chooses to free him instead, Daud is still present for the resolution, witnessing the end of their long, complex relationship.
- Either way, the Outsider's final words acknowledge Daud's role in his story: "You have done something impossible."
V. PHILOSOPHICAL COUNTERPOINTS
[Analysis From All Sources]:
- Daud as Fallen Agent: Daud represents what happens when the Outsider's power is used primarily for violence and self-interest.
- Moral Journey: Their relationship evolves from benefactor-recipient to a complex dynamic where Daud seeks to destroy the very source of his power.
- Thematic Significance: Daud and the Outsider represent two responses to power:
- The Outsider gives power without directing its use, observing without judgment
- Daud uses power destructively, then later seeks redemption by eliminating what he sees as the source of corruption
[From Death of the Outsider]:
- Daud's final mission represents his acknowledgment that cosmic power itself is corrupting, regardless of intent - a direct challenge to the Outsider's philosophy of neutral observation.
- The Outsider's willing acceptance of Daud's mission suggests he may have come to partially agree with this assessment.
VI. PARALLELS AND CONTRASTS: VICTIMS AND AGENTS
[Analysis From All Sources]:
- Shared Victimhood: Both were effectively children when their paths were set - the Outsider was sacrificed as a teenager; Daud was mentored as an assassin from childhood.
- Opposite Responses: The Outsider became a detached observer; Daud became an active agent of violence.
- Power Dynamics: Despite the Outsider's superior cosmic power, Daud ultimately seeks to end their relationship on his terms - attempting to reclaim agency.
[From Death of the Outsider]:
- Daud tells Billie: "The Outsider's made people miserable for thousands of years... and now I'm going to kill him." This represents Daud's ultimate rejection of the Outsider's passive observation of suffering.
- The Outsider responds with understanding rather than anger, suggesting he recognizes the validity of Daud's perspective.
VII. LEGACY: INTERTWINED FATES
[From Death of the Outsider Ending]:
- Regardless of the player's choice, both Daud and the Outsider's stories end simultaneously - their fates permanently intertwined.
- If the Outsider is killed, Daud dies in the process, having completed his final mission.
- If the Outsider is freed instead, Daud still passes away, but with the knowledge that he helped break a cycle of cosmic manipulation.
[From Final Narration]:
- "The Outsider is no more. Perhaps he walks the world now, tasting those pleasures he was denied for millennia. And perhaps he's haunted by the faces of Daud..."
- This final connection highlights how their relationship, spanning decades, defined both characters' ultimate destinies.
The relationship between the Outsider and Daud represents one of gaming's most complex character dynamics, evolving from god-worshipper to adversaries and finally to something like reluctant mutual understanding. Their connection spans the entire Dishonored series, serving as a foundation for the franchise's central themes about power, responsibility, corruption, and redemption.
What begins as a simple bestowal of power becomes a philosophical argument about the moral responsibility that comes with cosmic influence, culminating in Daud's ultimate rejection of the Outsider's detached stance and the Outsider's acceptance of his own role in the cycle of violence his powers enable.
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