Christina Bindon

Both paths would start with Hans lamenting his imminent marriage with Henry reassuring him that nothing will change between them (the connotation of him saying this will change based on later dialogue options.) Hans, of course, brought wine along for this hunting trip to drink his sorrows away. This is where the dialogue actually starts to branch off. You can toast to Hans’s last days of freedom (Platonic) or to his upcoming nuptials (Platonic) or their heroism at Suchdol (Platonic) or to just to “❤️Us” (ie Hans and Henry) (Romantic) [you can do up to three toasts, so long as you can handle your drinking checks]

Hans says something like “I’m going to miss this” to which Henry can offer another toast, which will lead into the Platonic Cutscene of them drinking together before Henry and Hans lay down for a nap. Cut to the Clock [You are Sleeping Off the Wine]

OR if you chose the “Us” option for any of your toasts, it unlocks an extra dialogue option of “❤️is that all you’ll miss?” where they actually talk about how Hans’s arranged marriage affects them as a couple, which is its own dialogue tree that sets the tone for the romance over the rest of the game. No matter how that conversation path goes, it will end with Henry suggestively asking if his lord only brought him out here to lament his fate. Hans will act offended that Henry questions his motives before leaning into a kiss and—Cut to the Clock [You Are Enjoying Your Lord’s Company]

Both paths converge on a cutscene of Henry sleeping on Hans’s shoulder, with the only difference being what they’re wearing. If they only drank together, Henry will still be wearing a brigandine chest plate, and Hans will have on a cuirass. If they did anything else, they’ll only be in pourpoints. They’re approached from all sides by bandits who intend to ransom to the groom-to-be to his bride. Their unusually savvy captain seems to understand the massive political significance of this wedding. The fight is effectively unavoidable.

For the Platonic Path be either drunk or hungover, since all they did was drink. For the Romantic path, Henry and Hans were distracted from drinking, so instead they having a post-coital buff called something like Afternoon Delight that raises Str, Ag, and Vit +2 like Secret Herb in KCD2.

This means the trade-off for going full platonic is being tipsy/hungover in full armor, and the trade-off for romance is less armor but better overall stats. Since strength and agility buff melee damage and vitality governs stamina, Romantic gives you better offense and Platonic gives you better defense. What makes Romantic more viable than Platonic in this proposed setup is that Romantic doesn’t leave Henry drunk or hungover because they stop drinking earlier on. A Romantic Path Henry therefore never has debuffs on him, only the Afternoon Delight buff.

If you already know the game’s fighting mechanics, the buffs to all combat stats more than makes up for not having a brigandine, so more experienced players should go for the romantic path while newer players would be better served by the extra layer of armor.

KCD2 ENDING SPOILERS!

When I finished KCD2, I got the "neutral" ending where Henry's parents are mildly disappointed. It didn't give me the option to repent for my crime 😭 I think in the 1.3 update, they changed the ending requirements so that if you stole too much, you couldn't repent. I tried to do everything to please them. I did things that didn't sit right with me like leaving Markvart to suffer and die on his own cuz I knew it'd make them happy (tbh the framing of it seemed more evil than killing him honorably. Like Istvan's theme played!).

Ik people say Henry's dream parents are just his subconscious speaking to him, and if that's the case, that's probably how Henry thinks his parents would react (negatively). It still really touched me that no matter what, Radzig was always proud of Henry. And all his friends. 🥺

Solas & Adahla Lavellan: new growth.

I commissioned this piece from the unbelievably talented Hotwe, who is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful, deliberate artists I've ever had the pleasure of working with. I cannot express how grateful I am for the kindness shown towards my imaginary dolls at every step of this process. Thank you! <3

This is a paired piece to this one, also by Hotwe, which I commissioned immediately after finishing Inquisition for the first time. Once I finished Veilguard and filled out how the story ends for these two, I knew I desperately wanted the other half of this diptych.

Close-ups and lengthy notes on the incorporated symbolism are below the cut.