The Dishonored Series as Environmental and Social Commentary
During this sequence , he shows the player a sacrificial altar and table and at one point lies down on the latter . Although to the player the table appears human sized , that doesn ’ t mean it necessarily has to or is intended to be . Given that The Outsider has much in common with the trickster archetype , his words need not be taken literally . Dishonored : The Death of The Outsider casts further suspicion on this depiction of events . The Outsider claims to have died young , murdered by a cult when he was 15 years old , some 4000 years prior to the events of the games . However , at no point does he appear as a teenager . He always appears as a human in his twenties , never as a young teenager . While The Outsider can certainly take on any form he wishes , this specific appearance proves important . The choice of appearing as a man in his twenties has no other logical counterpart�for example , it would not make his manifestations to his chosen any more or less effective , as supplicants would certainly fall at his feet no matter his chosen appearance . Yet it warrants consideration that he only takes on this one human guise , which appears inconsistent with his own narrative of himself at the time of his death .
Two plausible explanations for this inconsistency emerge . The first and weaker of the two lies in The Outsider ’ s account , of his being murdered at the age of 15 and through a dark magic ritual reborn as a god , being wholly truthful . However , this interpretation would suggest that his affinity toward whales holds no deeper significance than his overall concern with environmental destruction . The more intriguing interpretation circles back to The Outsider ’ s recitation of his death being symbolically , but not literally , true . The description in the above passage reads much like the final moments of a slaughtered whale . Perhaps the curious whale moved close to a whaling vessel without realizing the danger until
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