Cruelty is a hidden trait that reflects how many capricious or violent actions Elodie has taken. It can be raised by certain choices and activities, and it both locks and unlocks certain outcomes. Cruelty checks are usually invisible to the user, but certain events help you determine how cruel Elodie is.
Cruel choices often increase the Angry or Willful moods (more often the former than the latter).
Spoiler Warning: Plot details follow, read at your own risk
Events That Increase or Decrease Cruelty[]
Increasing Cruelty is mostly predictable: be violent, be evil, order lots of executions. Also predictably, not many will like you, so be prepared to deal with angry nobles, assassins, civil wars, and revolutions.
For a cruel player, one skill that you may need to train is Wield Magic. It's used in two cruelty-increasing choices, and can help with other obstacles common in the cruel story path such as the naval battle, the civil war, the magic ritual, a duel, one assassination attempt, and the peasant revolution. It's possible for a non-Lumen Elodie to finish a cruel story path, but it's considerably more difficult.
Cruelty >5 is the point where most cruel actions are unlocked and Elodie is considered evil, though not completely unredeemable. Cruelty >10 unlocks the most despicable actions in the game and is considered a point of no return for Elodie.
Week | Event | Increase/Decrease |
---|---|---|
Any Weekend | Go Hunting while Angry or Afraid | +1 if angry+0.5 if afraid |
Visit Dungeons with Cruelty >5 | +0.5 | |
Week 2 | When Julianna arrives, choose "Arrest her" | +1 |
Week 7 | Fail a Reflexes and Elegance check so Alice runs into you, choose "Punish her" | +1 |
Week 10 | Pass a Foreign Affairs check, choose "Punish the Duchess of Hellas", then "Execute her" | +3 |
Choose "Execute him" when dealing with the Ixionite diplomat | +5 | |
Week 13 | During judgement, with Archery <60, choose "Execute her" | +1 |
Week 16 | Choose "I would rather not go". When Alice questions your decision, choose "Yell at her" | +1 |
If you go to the parade and confront an assassin, pass a Reflexes or Flexibility check, choose "Fight him", then pass a Polearms check, choose "Kill him" | +1 | |
If you go to the parade and confront an assassin, pass a Reflexes or Flexibility check, choose "Blast him with magic", then pass a Wield Magic check. | +1 | |
Week 17 | If Talarist is invited, during the second dance, when he asks if you know how to dance, choose "Step on his foot". | +0.5 |
When choosing a dance partner, pass a Court Manners and Intrigue check, choose "Examine the women", then "Alice the maid" | +1 | |
When dancing with Alice with Dance >30 | +1 | |
When dancing with Banion, pass a Court Manners check, then choose "I plan to use you, then drop you" | +1 | |
If Banion insults you, if you went to the parade and confronted an assassin, choose "Accuse him of sending assassins", then choose "Execute him". | +3 | |
If Banion insults you, choose "Order his execution". Be wary that you will need to pass a Public Speaking+Presence check or win the subsequent vote of no-confidence to continue the game. | +5 | |
If you went to the parade, confronted an assassin, and traced the assassin to Merva, accuse Laurent and choose "Execute him". | +3 | |
If you went to the parade, confronted an assassin, but were unable to decipher the note, pass an Internal Affairs and a Poison check, talk to Laurent, choose "Accuse Him", then choose "Execute Him". | +1 | |
Week 18 | Pass an Intrigue check when talking to Joslyn, choose to focus on "Assassins", then suggest "More punishment" | +5 |
Pass an Intrigue check when talking to Joslyn, choose to focus on "Julianna", then suggest "She has to die". | +3 | |
Week 20 | During judgement of the wife-killer, choose "Execute him". | +1 |
Week 24 | If you did not betroth Adair, and in week 18 your greatest concern was "Nobles", and noble approval is <= 40 or either Armand or Erwin was appointed as Adair's regent, choose "Send assassins to kill her". | +3 |
Week 25 | If you chose "Send the musician to gather more information" in week 24, choose "Send assassins to kill her". | +3 |
Week 26 | If you left Adair in his grandfather's custody, he can be assassinated this week. Choose "Blame the Earl of Ishtar", then "Execute him". | +3 |
Week 29 | If you and Briony left for the Old Forest, pass a Herbs check, then a Running check, fail a Horses check, then choose "Leave her" | +3 |
If you and Briony left for the Old Forest, pass a Herbs check, then a Running check, fail a Horses check, choose "Support her" and pass a Dance check | -3 | |
If the civil war started, and you offered to help Briony, choose "Send Briony home as a gesture of goodwill". | -1 | |
If the civil war started, and you offered to help Briony, choose "Hold Briony hostage". | +1 | |
Week 30 | Corisande may visit, asking for Briony. If you sent her off into the Old Forest alone, couldn't talk her out of it or went with her but abandoned her to her fate, Corisande will accuse you. Choose "It was your fault". | +1 |
Week 33 | If Briony or Arisse are dead, Kevan will challenge you after the tournament. Pass a Wield Magic check and choose "Kill him with magic" | +3 |
If you received chocolate in Week 32 and chose "Test for poison" with Medicine < 50, no Arisse as advisor, and cruelty > 5. | +3 | |
Week 36 | If you won the naval battle without the magic ritual, you will be holding prisoners. Either choose "Ransom the rich, execute the poor" or "Execute them all" | +3 |
Week 37 | When performing a ritual against the Kraken, choose "Sacrifice Charlotte". | +5 |
Week 39 | If the peasants are rebelling, with Wield Magic >= 30, choose "Attack them". | +1 |
There are almost no ways to decrease cruelty. Saving Briony while in the Old Forest is one of the few ways.
Events Changed by Cruelty Values[]
Be aware that high cruelty values will sometimes override the outcomes of certain events. Case in point: The Visit Dungeons weekend activity, the amount of enemy losses during the civil war, reactions to the poisoned chocolates, and many epilogues and romance options.
Week | Event | Cruelty Needed |
---|---|---|
Any Weekend | Permanently change the outcome of "Visit(ing) Dungeons" to increase +1/2 Cruelty, +1 Cheerful and +1 Angry, regardless of Mood | >5 |
Week 18 | If you receive flowers from Brin or a dancing figurine from Banion, choose "Give them/it to Alice". Pass the Cruelty check to force her to accept, otherwise she rejects them | >1 |
Week 29 | If you receive and embroided cushion from Lillah, choose "Give it to Alice". Pass the Cruelty check to force her to accept, otherwise she rejects it | >1 |
Week 30 | If a civil war was declared and you hold Briony hostage, passing a Cruelty+Presence check is needed to succesfully "Exile the rebels" | Cruelty >10 or Cruelty*10+Presence>150 |
If you are at war, pass a Cruelty check to increase rebel losses by 10% | >10 | |
If you are at war, fail a Cruelty check to halve rebel losses | <10 | |
If you are at war, fail a Cruelty check while also passing a Battlefield Medicine+Herbs check will have you save rebel soldiers as well | <5 | |
Week 32 | If you pass any check that unlocks "Save (the chocolates) for later", pass an Intrigue check to unlock "Test for poison". If you fail the subsequent Medicine check, pass a Cruelty check to have Elodie force-feed the poison to a chicken (near-zero Animal Handling) or to a prisoner. | >5 |
Week 33 | If you saved the chocolates for later without testing, a steward will eat them and die instead. Pass a Cruelty check so instead of being scared, Elodie will be happy it wasn't her. | >5 |
Week 34 | If you sent your agents to look for "Commoner uprisings" during Week 18, you will receive a report. Flavor text changes based on Commoner Approval and Cruelty. | >5 |
Week 36 | If you lose the naval battle, you will meet Togami. If you had a conversation with you magic tutor about spare Lumen crystals, pass a Cruelty check to succesfully "Offer to give him your power". This ends the game immediately and unlocks both the "Evil Elodie" epilogue and the "Become an evil minion" achievement. | >10 |
Week 37 | If you successfully performed a magic ritual, you will be informed of the Kraken it unleashed. If Charlotte saved you Week 3, you will be aware of her powers, and you can pass a cruelty check to unlock the choice "Sacrifice Charlotte". Be wary that if you sacrifice Charlotte and Lucille is alive, she will kill you next week without any chance of checks saving you. Note that Sabine, if you have her, will report back about Lucille's attempts on your life and status as a Lumen this week, unlocking the option to sacrifice Charlotte to the Kraken even without the cruelty check. | >10 |
Epilogues | The "Queen" epilogue flavor text is changed if you have high cruelty | >10 (?) |
If Elodie finishes the game as a Lumen, a low-Lumen Approval flavor text notes the hostility extends to her, but no-one dares to act against her | >5 (?) | |
The "Queen" and "Outcast Julianna" epilogue flavor text notes how the populace blames Elodie's behavior on Julianna and magic | >5 | |
The "Kraken" (seal the Kraken) epilogue flavor text is changed if you have moderate cruelty | >5 | |
Romances | If you choose "Marry no one" and have high cruelty, the epilogue notes that Elodie abstains from marriage her entire life, constantly taking in lovers and discarding them once she's bored | >10 |
Alice becomes a (forced) romance option if you choose "Marry no one" and fulfill certain conditions, amongst them passing a Cruelty check | >4 | |
Evrard becomes unavailable, too busy fleeing the country to escape from Elodie | >5 (?) | |
If Banion tricked you into an engagement at the Grand Ball, the epilogue changes to note that as soon as she has an heir, Elodie will end the relationship by ending Banion's life | >5 (?) | |
If you took cruel actions, Anciet refuses to marry you | >3 | |
If you took cruel actions, you can't marry the Earl of Pastry in the epilogue | >3 |