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However, this is certainly not something they came up with suddenly for the second game. I guessed the connection very early on my first playthrough of DH1, and I was even playing high chaos. There are several hints in the game, and although none of them is a legal proof of paternity, at least one is so straightforward it makes the matter quite obvious: if you read Admiral Havelock's journal in the lighthouse, he writes "I believe Corvo's loyalty to the Kaldwin woman would have clouded his head. Is she truly his daughter?"
I also think think it was stressed that Corvo was not just Royal Protector, since Outsider's last words before farewell in the ending cinematics are "you were more to her than Royal Protector". It obviously means that Corvo was, well, her father.
Illegitimacy is a valid point though, and I don't have all the answers. Obviously, Jessamine and Corvo's relationship was a secret, yet widely speculated. But it's not a secret that Jessamine never married, but had a child nevertheless. Apparently that didn't prevent the child from being an heir to the throne. Yet if there were no legitimate children either, then, well, why not?
Even in spite of the last issue, I don't think the relationship breaks the lore, quite the contrary.
They leave hints here and there about it (or at least about Jessamine's love for Corvo), and you begin to realize that he's not just getting revenge and clearing his name, he's not just saving the daughter of his empress and doing his Royal Protectorly duties, but he's saving his daughter and his link to Jessamine. It explains why he was so determined.
Thanks for the great answer! As I said, I wan't aware of anything in the first game that pointed to a parental relationship, but thanks for pointing out that there may have been hints to it.
I guess after playing through the first game and seeing Corvo as more of a caring 'father-figure' who was also a lone wolf fit with the character as a whole. So that when they introduced him as her actual father staright out it sort of changed the way I percieved him as a character... I do remember some of those insults of him sleeping with Jessamine, but I always saw it as a cheap way of people provoking him, the same way people say "I slept with your mother" rather than implying that they actually had a relationship.
I like what you said about the whole being a parent isn't necessarily the ultimate goal in life :) - to me it made Corvo even more likeable and strong as a character if he wasn't biologically related to her, as it showed we should protect those we care about, regardless who they are. I always saw the "you were more to her than Royal Protector thing" as that he went above and beyond duty to rescue her, and earned her love and respectl. I prefer that motivation for the character as opposed to just they're related, which is why he's rescuing her. The fact that they're father/daughter somehow cheapened the character for me somewhat, as it was just such a cliche. But that's just me, and I guess I found it confusing simply because it wasn't obviouc to me or what I got from the first game. But it's also just personal preference :)
@Amanda
Thanks for the reply I guess I felt it broke the lore only in the way I'd understood it from the first game; I explain just above here.
The opening at the beginning of the first game (the part floating through the clouds) almost gives it away, it's practically a love letter.
There are other things during the game too, like the empress's secret room and voice recording.
I'm genuinely surprised that you would not at least have a suspicion during the first game, even if you didn't see the evidence spelling it out clearly.
When it comes to people denying the obvious, I don't know why they would do it. I would find it very awkward if there were so many strong hints without any foundation. And it would have been particularly lame if after everything we could find out about the lore in the first game, it had been confirmed that Emily's father was a certain noble who died before she was born and Jessamine was briefly married to him too. Fortunately not.
I do understand you perfectly. Most of the time I also hold non-blood relationships in higher regard than actual family relations... And I also think there's something "stronger" involved in caring for those who are not related by blood. But perhaps that is also why I loved this detail in the Dishonored story, it made me question my own stance. I think many things in the game try to tell you that what you do, you do for revenge since you were wronged, you were innocent yet imprisoned, you'll get a chance to avenge yourself and clear your name... while also placing a rightful heir to the throne, but anyway, people will know it was not Royal Protector who killed the empress... And then suddenly, you may realize it never mattered much. Although the Loyalists seem to think that's what drives Corvo, the truth is much more humane. Even though Corvo is a lone wolf, he's not driven by anger, vengeful thoughts and a sense of duty as much as he's driven by love, and I think that gives him a softer side and brings some credibility as well.
I also find father-child relationships somewhat more interesting than mother-child ones, perhaps because there's no such physical bond as between a mother and her child. Whatever fathers choose to do is not so much defined by what's biologically mandatory. And since Corvo has never been acknowledged as Emily's father, it's interesting to see what kind of a relationship they have developed nevertheless.
This puzzles me too. I've been trying to look for clues as to when it was no longer an open secret, but so far I don't know. Perhaps this is something we'll learn in the future, maybe in the books?
And as for Emily calling Corvo by his name, she obviously couldn't call him father either. His paternity is a secret, and I also think they have never told Emily that Corvo is her father. However, the heart suggests Emily knows more than it seems, which I think means that she does know the truth although not even her parents have confirmed it. Yet she calls Corvo father at the beginning of DH2, and I would like to know when she started making such exceptions. I would also like to know whether the two discussed the matter through at some point when Emily was slightly older, or whether it was always so obvious to them that when Emily began to use "father" instead of "Corvo", Corvo didn't bother to correct her. :P
edit for spelling
I guess like I said it never really occurred to me in the first game, probably because my own understandings of the world prevented me from thinking that way. Maybe my understanding of royalty (even in fictional universes) is too rooted in practicalities like it would make her an illegitimate heir for me to have considered it a real possibility. An Empress who gets pregnant out of wedlock would be quite the scandal, in real life and in any fictional univerese, and as there is no mention of that in the first game (feel free to correct me here), I guess that's one of the reasons I never really saw it that way, as it seemed slightly ridiculous to me that no-one in the game would find that suspicious or odd, or even question who Emily's father was.
Since it's all public knowledge by the second game, it also suggests that there were no repercussions for either Emily or Corvo in making it public knowledge that they are related - which begs the question why wouldn't he just bring it up at the start of the first game to get him released, if it wouldn't be detrimental? "Hello, yes I'm actually her father and long-time lover of Jessamine,... have all these letters back at the castle between Jessamine and me to prove it... why the hell would I murder my lover and abduct my own kid? Makes zero sense right? OK so obviously I'm innocent let me go." End of game. But if he had no story to prove his innocence/loyalty to the two of them, and people saw him as just an employee turned assassin, then it made sense that he would be trapped with no option but to escape... start game. That's some real HISHE feed right there.
Btw I'm not suggesting this is how the story should've been, but I'm justifying why it was far from obvious to me that they were related. It just didn't seem to add up.
My theory is that in the first game the devs hadn't yet decided whether to make Corvo her father or not. I feel like if they'd actually decided that he was her father they would've made the hints a great deal more unambiguous, so that it was a plot detail at some point during the game that you couldn't miss. But then they only decided to make it a solid plot point for the second game, to the extent it's not even hinted at, it's thrown in your face right off that bat. If this were the case it would explain the plotholes from the first game. Would be interesting to question them and ask them when they definitely decided that Corvo was to be her father.
Again, not trying to deny anything, I'm just defending the 'wait... they're actually related?!' camp :P I'm more frustrated by what I see as gaping plot sloppiness and inconsistencies than anything else... The first game worked so well in itself, and the whole father/daughter thing could be speculated upon without runing the world or plot, since it was till just speculation. But the second game broke up how quite a few players (including myself) understood the first game.
In short, the lore no longer really made any sense. And I slightly resent that :(