Canon, References, Notes
Aug. 13th, 2019 07:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aboveallthingsCANON
outsider shrine speeches
hollows dialogue in Death of the Outsider
ref for Cult of the Outsider + the Envisioned
void rifts - consequences of removing the void deity
Dishonored 2 travel logs
Death of the Outsider travel log
META
article: the outsider as outcast, pharmakon
FAN STUFF
wrapped around your ankles over the waterfall: dvd commentary
fan-made heart whispers for the outsider
outsider shrine speeches
hollows dialogue in Death of the Outsider
ref for Cult of the Outsider + the Envisioned
void rifts - consequences of removing the void deity
Dishonored 2 travel logs
Death of the Outsider travel log
META
article: the outsider as outcast, pharmakon
FAN STUFF
wrapped around your ankles over the waterfall: dvd commentary
fan-made heart whispers for the outsider
The Ancient Music
Date: 2019-08-24 01:54 pm (UTC)"Throughout the natural world there are ripples that we can barely perceive with our sense, an Ancient Music permeating everything as a fundamental structural rule. Through it, you can work wonders without violating the natural world or begging favors from unfriendly spirits.
Throughout my studies I have found a 17 note scale derived from this phenomenon, and with the right equipment those notes allow for astonishing effects. Not the least of these is the ability to calm the turbulence originating in the Void which we attribute to the Outsider."
NOTES:
- magic is music? music is magic? vibrations??? they cancel each other out.
- personal theory: any magic the Outsider does not personally control comes from the lingering remains of past Void deities, whose magic may not necessarily be compatible with the Outsider's
Can The Outsider Speak? An analysis of his visitations
Date: 2019-08-24 01:59 pm (UTC)https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Can_The_Outsider_Speak%3F_An_analysis_of_his_visitations_(2)
https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Can_The_Outsider_Speak%3F_An_analysis_of_his_visitations_(3)
https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Can_The_Outsider_Speak%3F_An_analysis_of_his_visitations_(4)
Part 1
Date: 2019-08-24 02:00 pm (UTC)"It is a rare enough tale, but one which varies only in the tone and enthusiasm of its narrators. Select few are, through dreams or contact with shrines, transported to the Void and converse with the Outsider himself. Some, it is said, walk away from these encounters with his favor."
"However, if these stories are to be believed, then we must question the extent of his power in the Void. Does he choose these dialogues consciously? What is the nature of these conversations, if indeed they are intelligible? What is his physical nature in these moments?"
NOTES:
- they still don't fuckin believe he's a person
- I wonder if he hates Sokolov because he wants to study/dissect the Outsider like the Envisioned/Cult of the Outsider.
Part 2
Date: 2019-08-24 02:03 pm (UTC)However, turning to the confessions of an excommunicated Oracular Sister by the name of Romana Kyme, we find a plausible tale. She recounted a dream in which the Outsider appeared to her and, understanding the circumstances of her wrongful conviction of apostasy, offered her a 'gift'. This was rejected. The next morning she was branded and turned out to the streets."
NOTES:
- what does the Outsider think of the Abbey anyway
- I think he only ever directly describes them in DH1 "a great cult devoted to loathing me"
Part 3
Date: 2019-08-24 02:05 pm (UTC)However, many such attempts are failures. Long are the lists of potential incantations, sacrificial animals, and bodily fluids which are said to compel the Outsider to appear; none are successful. But yet there remain scattered, firsthand accounts of people—bearing on their flesh what is known colloquially as the ‘Outsider’s Mark’ which we recognize as the symbol engraved in whalebone runes—seemingly communing with these altars and, when they wake, are able to recount specifics of the Outsider’s voice and appearance which do not vary substantially in their description."
NOTES:
- the form of his shrines is standardized in games for ease but probably varies significantly across time/space
- charms used to be carved from seal tusks etc. according to another book...
- personal theory: the charms only became magic when the whalebone was used, because whales exist in the Void and the world simultaneously. this is unfortunately also why overuse of charms/runes w/o the Mark drives people insane: the ~vibrations of the Void~ can't be endured without the Mark as a shield.
Part 4
Date: 2019-08-24 02:07 pm (UTC)For surely it is alarming to consider. If the Outsider speaks, why does he not speak to us? He has never conversed with a member of our society, let alone bestowed any favor. Yet we in all the Isles know the truth of his creation, and are his wardens in the Void. So why, then, does he so often appear to the ignorant and miserable, the wronged and the hurt?
What knowledge does he seek? What does he hope to gain by traversing the dreams of these people, or by granting them such abilities as to allow them to change the circumstances of their lives?"
NOTES:
- 4000 fuckin years and they are only just realizing HMM, THE OUTSIDER MIGHT BE A PERSON,
- ok to be fair I don't know how old this book is, the monograph might be Quite Old
- GOSH KAREN I WONDER WHY HE WOULD NEVER WANT TO INTERACT OR EMPOWER ANYONE FROM THE CULT THAT MURDERED HIM
- WHAT??? POSSIBLE MOTIVATION??? COULD HE HAVE FOR FAVORING THE MISERABLE AND ABUSED??????
- fuck the cult of the outsider
Chant of the Eye
Date: 2019-08-24 02:09 pm (UTC)A voice for the silence
A face for the terror
A body for the darkness
Born in the Month of Darkness
Date: 2019-08-24 02:10 pm (UTC)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlXJuvGQfA4
Believers roamed from town to town
They spied every baby born, up and down
Scouring the land for a child to use
And ponderous, esoteric clues
A crumbling black city, an outcast found,
Father a monster, mother under the ground
A beggar, a mongrel, a boy with no shoes
He fell to their hands to cage and abuse
[...]
They were drawn to a light, a waning gray
His face was blank, he had nothing to say
He watched and waited, they painted his eyes
They colored his clothing with pigments and dyes
They found a path away from the light
To an ancient tree withered by blight
A sacred altar, encircled in stones
Twin blades of bronze, sharpened on bones
[...]
In the Month of Darkness, seasons destroyed
A ritual killing bound his spirit to the Void
Eyes drained of color, the beggar no more
To become what the Believers waited for
They set him outside, beyond the spheres
Quiet as the night, long like the years
He opened his eyes, as black as a dream
Trying to speak, his only words only a scream
And lo! in the month of darkness
And lo! his name destroyed
And lo! he still whispers in silence
And lo! he went into the void
The Essence of Eternal, by Polina Roszakova
Date: 2019-08-24 02:16 pm (UTC)"It is impossible to study the Outsider without also examining that desolate place which so exalts him. But it is a grave error to mistake one for the other.
True, the Void rests upon his shoulders. We know that he, like the Eye of the Dead God which grants us our knowledge, is both a focal point and a catalyst for its power. We know that he alone, bound there, obscures the true nature of that place from those who teem below in Karnaca and all of the isles beyond.
But the Void exists eternal, while he is but a figure the Envisioned placed there, in their wisdom. The Outsider is a static point, a truth upon which we build our foundations. But the Void is shifting, dynamic, a vast, ever-changing place which grasps at our world through every crack and fissure it can, from the wants of the living to the remains of the dead. We who cross the border see this hold on our very bodies. We who live upon the threshold know its nature."
NOTES:
- "he is but a figure the Envisioned placed there, in their wisdom"
- personal theory: after the previous Void god was removed from the Void, the Void went nuts with fissures and so on (see: The Veiled Terror). After some time of them, the Envisioned decided the Void needed a god to be controlled. So they made one. (Probably thinking that the new Void-god would be soooo grateful and give them power in exchange for making the Void happy.)
The Heart of the Abyss
Date: 2019-08-24 02:19 pm (UTC)"CORVID (studying the back of his hand)
Ah—It burns! What is this supernatural gift?
THE STRANGER (moving closer)
Oh, but I have many more gifts to give. What will you do with them, I wonder?
CORVID (admiring the young man)
Oh! What pale skin, what piercing gaze! You look more youthful than the legends say.
THE STRANGER (caressing his cheek)
Let me show you which legends are true."
NOTES:
- I have so many questions about pulp fiction and theater, whether smutty romance plays fade to black or go all the way and whether the theaters that do either or both get into catfights with each other and brothels, whether Corvo kNOWS ABOUT THE RPF OF HIM AND THE OUTSIDER, whether there was RPF of Corvo and Jessamine (I mean, probably), whether this is just someone making a quick buck off sensationalizing a public figure or someone who sincerely believes that the Outsider Marks people by fucking them...........
The Lonely Rat Boy and Other Tales
Date: 2019-08-24 02:22 pm (UTC)https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/The_Lonely_Rat_Boy_and_Other_Tales_(2)
https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/The_Lonely_Rat_Boy_and_Other_Tales_(3)
https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/The_Lonely_Rat_Boy_and_Other_Tales_(4)
Part 1
Date: 2019-08-24 02:23 pm (UTC)NOTES:
- :(
Part 2
Date: 2019-08-24 02:24 pm (UTC)The boy heard a voice like the voice of the waves. Cold and timeless. A shadow rose up, a radiant darkness that defied all sight. A young man who wandered lonely places. The Outsider himself. When the flesh of the boy's left hand itched and smouldered, he did not look away. When the vision vanished, the Outsider's mark remained."
Part 3
Date: 2019-08-24 02:25 pm (UTC)The ones who had hurt him were within his sight. The boy curled his hands into fists; his nails bit into his palms. The Outsider's mark seared his skin as he raised its magic."
Part 4
Date: 2019-08-24 02:26 pm (UTC)The ones who hurt him were dead. He smiled for this–for the only one who had taken pity on him in his short years. He laid down on the cold stones before the shrine.
"Thank you." A pained whisper to the night air. He had lived his final days unafraid."
NOTES:
- One of Corvo's charms: "Gutter Feast - Eating white rats restores 5% mana."
Malchiodi's Diary
Date: 2019-08-24 02:32 pm (UTC)"I am now certain the meaning of that script adorning the flesh of those few who encounter the Outsider. It is his name- the name he lost when he merged with the Void. And if this name is returned to him, the old ritual performed by the Envisioned years ago would be undone."
Speculations on the Afterlife
Date: 2019-08-24 02:41 pm (UTC)"Those who lead virtuous lives receive the gift of oblivion upon passing. They dissolve into the Void like mist, casting off the worrisome shackles of mortal identity to become one with the foundational materials. Wicked spirits, however, earn a cruel fate. Their punishment is to wander the Void for eternity, unable to return to this world and contact loved ones. They retain only memory enough to suffer."
We Watch the Stars, by F.H. Clapp
Date: 2019-08-24 02:42 pm (UTC)"The night’s sky foretold the necessity of the Outsider, and urged the Envisioned to seek out the wretch who would become him. It is not simply the movement of these distant stars, but when they blink out into nothingness that tells us what the Void requires. Alongside the migration of birds and the entrails of certain animals, the disappearance of several prominent celestial lights urged the ancient Envisioned to take a helpless orphan and create the Outsider from his wretched flesh."
Whispers from the Void, By Barnoli Mulani
Date: 2019-08-24 02:44 pm (UTC)https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Whispers_from_the_Void,_By_Barnoli_Mulani_(2)
https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Whispers_from_the_Void,_by_Barnoli_Mulani_(3)
https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Whispers_from_the_Void,_by_Barnoli_Mulani_(4)
Part 1
Date: 2019-08-24 02:45 pm (UTC)And who among us does not know this place? Have we not all seen it in our dreams? This place we share, in the farthest reaches of our minds. The realm where nothing makes sense, where one is at once both lost and at home. The Void."
Part 2
Date: 2019-08-24 02:46 pm (UTC)"But when so revealed it will not be a fearsome place any longer, not the distant and special realm described in the myth of the Outsider!"
NOTES:
- the fact that there are people who apparently don't believe in the Outsider is hilarious
Part 3
Date: 2019-08-24 02:47 pm (UTC)Call to the Spheres Vol 1-3
Date: 2019-08-24 02:54 pm (UTC)https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Call_to_the_Spheres,_Vol_2
https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Call_to_the_Spheres,_Vol_3
- plucky natural philosophers climb in a flying machine into the Void
- the Void = the sky in this novel apparently
- they find a monolith in the Void?
- narrator returns, having murdered the rest of the crew, and been anointed His herald (I'm assuming this is the Outsider)
"I do not fear the Void, nor am I concerned with the spiritual sanctity of the weak. For I am now His herald, His chosen, having seen His sublime vault, where eternally He feeds upon the substance of the Void."
NOTES:
- hey lovecraft what's up
- also people generally don't capitalize He/Him when referring to the Outsider, so I'm assuming this is just a stylistic quirk for a piece of in-world fiction
- but iirc Daud does in his journal...
Old Stolen Diary
Date: 2019-08-24 05:05 pm (UTC)"[Excerpt from the diary of a known heretic, seized before his execution]
For most, the Outsider is nothing but a child's tale meant to instill fear of that beyond the family, the community.
When I was young, my mother and I were on the run, moving from one village or sea town to the next. Camping in the woods for weeks, always with the cursed Overseers at our backs.
At night she told me of her dreams. Of the empty place where the Outsider whispered to her. With each visit, her craft grew, until she could see through the eyes of moths, and unlock a door or window latch from outside a house.
I will find this empty place. Somehow the key to open the Void will fall into my hands. In time, I will learn the secret and he will call to me as he called to her."
Spirit of the Deep
Date: 2019-08-24 05:18 pm (UTC)[Excerpt from a longer work of fiction.]
Spirit of the Deep, Siren of the Dreams.
I walked for hours along the coast, leaving Dunwall behind me until the lament of the waves drowned all other feeling. I wept, knowing you would not come to me, my love.
You rule my dreams, where I behold with senses I do not possess in waking life the dark splendor of your home in the deep. There the ocean rests on your back like a sleeping child on his father's shoulders.
In these sleepless nights of despair, you appear to me not as the mighty leviathan, but as a young man, with eyes as black as the Void.
NOTES:
- this reads like the protagonist is in love with the Outsider. (unsure)
- the idea of the Outsider as literally being a whale/leviathan seems to be an in-world fiction trope which is appealing meta considering the amount of fanfic from DH1 that uses a similar premise
Tyrion's Journal
Date: 2019-08-24 05:21 pm (UTC)"2nd Day, Month of Darkness
Someone else found this place and wants to share it. He has a strange amulet made of bone and he claims that it protects him from the plague. We'll see...
Perhaps we can help each other, but I’m losing confidence in the odds of survival.
4th Day, Month of Darkness
Since he arrived, I've been having bad dreams and I don't feel really well.
There're more and more rats in the building.
Soon, I won't be able to leave this shack even if I want to. I'm starting to think that his amulet is cursed."
NOTES:
- charms/runes emanate weird auras that affect people around them
THE SILVER SPIKE – The Outsider Walks Among Us
Date: 2019-10-02 11:18 pm (UTC)"Here at the Silver Spike, among our many offenses against the Duke's endless decrees, you can add another. Your dear editor counts among his friends several citizens well-informed on occult matters. As such, I can share this with you: The Outsider is not likely to be forgotten here in the Southern capital!
Many of the shrines built to honor him have been disturbed of late, as if recently visited. That figure of myth apparently walks among us, gathering up offerings. Some leave ruin-carved [sic] tokens of bone in the abandoned corners of Karnaca, and others interested in such matter report that, yes, those tokens are gone a night later!
Trust your senses. Do you not taste him in the withered, sickly crabs you boil for dinner? Can you hear his voice in the hum of bloodfly wings? What else could explain our current plight here in Karnaca. Murder in the streets and firing squads as a response. Such times!
Believe me when I tell you, my fingers tremble as I scribble these truths, but I am willing to continue on for your benefit. Do not be seen reading this printing of the Silver Spike. Burn it as soon as you [sic] done, and eat the very paper should you see an Overseer approaching!"