On my second run through the game and I just realized, after slaying the Lord Regent and returning the Hound's Pit, Emily is working on some rather... Curious artwork. A figure, man or woman is hard to discern (leaning toward latter), atop a mountain of corpses with a blood-stained blade in hand. From the way it looked, I nearly mistook it for a picture of The Outsider.

I think that's Corvo. Did you talk to her? She has some very disturbing things to say, as well. Basically you made a little Nero.

edit- Looking at the http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv146/gmosko/emilyblood_zps7794733d.jpg again, and rotating it, it's possible that it depicts Emily herself. That makes sense because her dialogue is about how she wants to be ruthless like Corvo is. I still think it's Corvo, looks like his hair and coat.

I prefer to think it's reflective of Emily's changing, like you said. I did speak to her, and I think that was the moment that, as Corvo, I felt a pang of genuine regret for playing high chaos. Taking this into account, I had to put the poor girl out of her misery.

Harsh! I haven't gotten to that part yet. I don't think any incarnation of Corvo could purposely let that happen, but I have a terrible soft spot for father-daughter stories.

Just knowing that the possibility for her to turn into a despot broke my heart, she could damage the city even more then Burrows. I mean really. Build two ships, just to crash them together and watch the men drown? I wouldn't be surprised if her first decree is a purging of the infection. Burn down the infected districts, leave nothing but ash. If I were Corvo, I'd rather cherish the memory of the gentle Emily, not one bathed in blood, with the reality that I sculpted that reality.

Then again, I still don't quite know the exact structure of government used in 'The Empire'. Might be a constitutional monarchy, seeing as they have a Parliament. Or, the Parliament was only formed after the Empress's Assassination to create some semblance of order in the chaos.

I suppose it shouldn't be that great a surprise... Korvo helped raise her; he's all she's got left now. It's natural she'd imitate him.

The actual postlude to the high chaos ending is not all that bad, though. The society is decadent and riven with violence, but it's not nearly as bleak as if Emily doesn't become empress at all.

I think Corvo would have to at least try to save her. How could he live with himself if he let her die as he had to watch the empress die?

This is when I imagine everyone agrees to disagree. As different people, we perceive the character differently. I made the conscious decision the Empire was better off being reduced to dust.

The fact that he flees Dunwall in the event of her death suggests that he can't. He's escaping in the only way he can, short of suicide.

I think that the three endings are summarized thus:

1. Emily is lost. With no central figure to rally around, and things already destabilized because of Corvo's bloody actions, the Empire disintegrates into anarchy.

2. A good-hearted but somewhat ruthless Emily takes the throne, but the lawlessness and chaos that Corvo's prior actions created (along with the plague) is more than she can completely resolve. Still, though the Empire suffers, it endures.

3. A gentle and good-hearted Emily takes the throne with her benevolent protector at her side. Because Corvo's prior actions generated limited chaos and bloodshed, order is restored. The plague takes a terrible toll, but storms always pass, and eventually a cure is developed, and Emily's wise rule ushers in a new golden age.

If Ending 2 is coming, then we see shades of Emily's changing (or perhaps true) nature in the things she says and choices she makes.

Interesting post!

I just finished with ending 2 exactly as you describe. I'd played a nice, clean game up until one especially manic level (I can't remember which, but I remembered it entailed a lot of arc pylons and walls of light about two thirds of the way through the missions). It was SO hard (yes, I'm playing on 'easy' but you can quit laughing!!) that I made up my mind to rewire the blasted things instead of nicely disabling them, killing my enemies in one fell swoop. So my continual low-chaos results finally gave way to high chaos at the end, with the resultant ending 2.

So throughout, I had a gentle, innocent-natured Emily, whose darker influences only showed in the very last level when she said:
Sweet little thing! Aw!