That was my first impression too, but after thinking more of it, actually the Outsider saved Billie from slipping into madness and had a good personal reason to do so.
Billie’s body modifications are nothing like a fancy tatoo easy to hide under a glove. She was attacked and marred by the Outsider and it feels even more bad considering the fact, that she was crippled before in D2, „healed” by our actions in Stilton Manor and then crippled again in DOTO - her flesh and blood replaced with prosthesis from hell against her will.
Except there was something terrible wrong with Billie’s arm and eye before that: her body flickering, a part of this world and yet apart, what is and what could be (like the walking Void hollow). Billie was slowly losing her mind with constant nightmares, her every morning taking awhile to know what's real, her fingers going stiff for hours after waking up, her eye going blind without warning. It was worse and worse every day and a matter of time before she would lose control over her „healed” arm and eye, or even become mad like Stilton did. The Outsider saved her from that fate, severing her tether to previous timeline and linking her directly to the Void instead. It was forced, because he knew Billie wouldn’t trust him or accept his offer.
The problem is: as the players, we’ve experienced very little of what Billie felt with her body before that cutscene. Without reading her journals, she seems quite fine. There is no playable nightmare like Daud’s one in BW, no unexpected blindness or our hand going stiff, leaving us vulnerable and terrified for a moment, because we can’t fully trust this body (like in Soma). Loosing control over playable character doesn’t sound fun in the immersive sim game, but moments like that could be added to already scripted actions, for example entering/leaving a carriage or while talking with Daud (he could even express a deep concern there is something wrong with Billie).
Back to the Outsider, voluntarily saving random people from suffering doesn’t fit his personality either (even Corvo had to rot in Coldrigde for months), but after reading Dishonored tie-in novels his motives are more clear. He put a lot of effort into setting up the stage for his fall, moving the Twin-bladed Knife from the depths of the mine in the farthest north part of the Empire to the top of the mountain in the farthest south. And when everything was ready, the final piece, Daud, was swept from the board and he had to replace him with Billie to continue with the plan.
The person determined enough to leave everything behind and go straight to hell, knowing it’s probably a one way ticket. The person who tasted power before, understood what good and bad it can bring, and doesn’t crave for that power anymore (wouldn’t choose to tap into the Outsider’s power like Delilah or decide to mess with entire timeline like Zhukov). The person who knows what’s like to be forgiven and given a chance to start a new life without deserving it.
jacobvanloon
kianamaiart
kaledo-art
snowghoul
baratheonpilled
titsay
