Cop out ending? (spoilers)

Hitman 3 (2021)
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So, after a whole year waiting for the Steam release, I have finally purchased Hitman 3 and completed all missions. And I have to say, even though the story told across the trilogy never felt particularly interesting to me, I did think it was a bold move to have 47 the one behind the assassination of Diana’s parents, and I was curious where the devs would go with it.

But I have to say, I think the ending of the story is a complete cop out. Not only did the Constant do the stupid move of saving 47 for the sake of good old plot armour, but then at the end 47 and Diana seem to be kinda of in good terms again (maybe even partnering up)? Even if anyone can argue that having the Constant save 47 was not such a dumb decision, why wouldn’t Diana try to kill 47 again? Or why wouldn’t 47 assassinate Diana himself? Even if 47 believes Diana would not be corrupted by power, wouldn’t he still take her out to save himself from her revenge? To me what would make the most sense would be for 47 to assassinate the Constant, and then have Diana be the target for one final big mission. Because if you are gonna introduce such a major conflict between these two, the only ending that the story can have, is with one of them dead for good.

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Diana realized that 47 didn’t have a choice in killing her parents. There’s no reason for her to seek revenge. The real cause of her parents’ deaths was Blue Seed, who put out a contract on them. 47 was just fulfilling it like any other contract.

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Then why go ahead and poison 47? Also, seems like a too rational of a choice. I don’t care how cool headed and calculating anyone is, there is no way you can have any kind of relationship with the hitman that killed your loved ones

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To get Constant into a trap

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That was a way to get 47 close to the Constant while still making him think Diana is on his side, as she used the truth she learned against Edwards, instead of against 47

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What trap? How could she predict the Constant was gonna prevent 47 from dying? Doesn’t make any sense

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On any normal day, 47 would get out of a situation of armed goons surrounding him by either shooting them all, or dying in a blaze of glory.

The poison was non-fatal, meant to get 47 transported safely into the hands of the Constant who had his scientists recreate the memory-erasing formula.

The Constant thought foolishly that with 47 subdued and brainwashed, he could use him for his own evil plans. But 47 proved stronger than that.

By that point in the story, The Constant had “lured” Diana over to his side, and was even in close phone contact with her. They were in cahoots – the Constant believing that Diana really was out for revenge against 47 for killing her parents.
But she played the long game, managed to learn of his plans to brainwash 47, and then… laid a trap.

Was the Constant stupid for trusting her and trusting his team could keep 47 contained? Yeah.
But he’s human, as we all are. And when you’ve got control of the most secret, powerful organization on the planet, you’d start to think that you’re untouchable too.

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You might have to look back into the story, you seem to have missed a lot of small points :wink:

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@TheChicken answered the question for me. I have nothing to add

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The poison was non-fatal, meant to get 47 transported safely into the hands of the Constant who had his scientists recreate the memory-erasing formula.

Then my question is, who prepared the poison? Was it the Constant who did and Diana was just the carrier, or did Diana prepare it herself? Because if it was Diana, then the Constant would have been really dense not to suspect something was afoot over 47 not having died.

Moreover, if it was the Constant that prepared the poison, how could Diana know 47 would survive? Or did she simply calculate that Constant would not hand her a lethal dosage? Still doesn’t make sense.

And most importantly, at the end of the day, 47 is still the man who pulled the trigger on Diana’s parents. Even if you choose not to enact revenge, there is no way to mend any kind of relationship after that.

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When someone has been used as a tool against their will, even if it is to commit horrible acts, it is still possible to not desire revenge/vengeance. Because the person used as the tool (47) had no choice, and therefore is as much a victim of his circumstances as Diana and her family. Also 47 apologizes to her and it seemed very genuine to me. And 47 would not likely perceive Diana as a threat, and think she needs to die. She is literally the only person besides Lucas Grey who he trusts completely.

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How was 47 doing all these assassinations against his will? Codename 47 clearly establishes him as breaking out of the asylum to live his own life. His entire career he committed assassinations because he was an amoral psychopath, even before joining the ICA and meeting Diana. The ether serum can erase your memories, not make you a puppet. Lastly, even if 47 genuinely regrets his choices before joining the ICA, this is still something that there is no coming back from.

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You really should look back at the story, it’s explained for the most part, and for the rest, it’s easy guess

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Look, @Snake, it’s very simple:

Diana used the poison on 47 to make it seem like she was turning against him.

She likely got the poison from one of ICA’s labs and ordered some for this very purpose after she found out that 47 killed her parents but before he shut ICA down.

She didn’t know that it wouldn’t kill 47, or that Edwards wouldn’t kill him if he found out he was still alive. It was a gamble, exactly the same as in Blood Money, with no way of knowing if it would work or not but having no other plan otherwise.

The poison was either supposed to look like it killed 47 to prove Diana’s loyalty to Edwards and it was supposed to seem like it just wasn’t completely effective, or Diana was only supposed to stun 47 and turn him over to Edwards alive with the promise that he would dispose of 47 for her.

Either way, Edwards decided that since 47 was alive, rather than kill him, he’d finish what Ort-Meyer started and erase his memory, make him Providence’s top assassin, and study his genetics to make more of him.

Diana had spent enough time meeting Edwards by this point, as implied throughout H2 and seen in cutscenes in H3, that she understood how his mind worked enough to take a chance that he would try to use 47 instead of kill him.

With 47 in close proximity to Edwards, and the poison wearing off without Edwards knowing it, that was the plan to have 47 take him out, just like Blood Money.

Diana forgave 47 because she knew that he was being controlled as a tool and didn’t have a choice, making him not truly responsible for her parents’ deaths. She’s choosing to blame the person who held the gun instead of the gun. Also, how could she blame him for making her an orphan she she had sent 47 out hundreds of times now to make who knows how many orphans by killing other kids’ parents.

47 did not kill Diana because he wanted to hear her out first, since she had done things like this before, making it seem like she’d turned against him when she hadn’t.

Is it all clear now?

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I would argue that in Blood Money was a much more sure bet, because 1) she knew for a fact that 47 could be revived, and 2) there was no way 47 would lose the gun fight in the church.

neither cases make sense to me: if 47 was supposed to be dead, a man like Edwards should have immediately deduce that Diana botched it on purpose and was setting a trap; if Edwards specifically told Diana to deliver 47 alive, he is stupid for even thinking 47 could be contained.

Like I said, stupid decision on Edwards part, and perhaps even out of character. Feels like clumsy writing to me.

This is the point were I must be forgetting something really important. How was 47 being controlled? The ether serum can wipe out memories, but not make you a puppet like Bioshock’s Jack. Like I said in other post, Codename 47 clearly establishes that 47 escaped the asylum and went his own way, and clearly chose the career of a professional assassin. Yes, 47 has been manipulated across many ocasions throughout his career, but he always had his free will. That is why I don’t buy into Diana’s forgiveness.

Regardless, thank you for taking the time to explain the gambit in detail.

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Here’s the answer to the two big questions then:

Edwards got arrogant. That was the flaw in his plan. He thought that since he outsmarted the Partners and left them vulnerable to be killed, and then cut Diana, 47, Grey and Olivia off from each other, that he’d proved he was smarter than all of them. He also was certain that Diana would never forgive 47 for what happened, since her parents’ deaths have been her driving motivation her entire career. He could not conceive that she’d side with her parents’ killer on top of everything he was offering her. It makes perfect sense, because that’s what people do when they hit nothing but net long enough; they start thinking they’re hot shit and miss the obvious when someone is about to screw them over.

As for 47, he had spent his entire life in the asylum and at the institute, following Ort-Meyer’s orders and being conditioned to obey him and not follow his emotions. Also, since the whole thing with Diana’s parents is a WoA development, the accompanying coming Birth of the Hitman is too, and the comic establishes that the clones had monitoring chips that were used to find them if they ever tried to leave, so all the clones felt trapped and had no choice but to obey orders or face heavy consequences. When 47 killed Diana’s parents, he did so because Ort-Meyer told him to and he was forced to obey, he had no way out. On top of that, he was never taught that killing was wrong; he was built up his whole life in preparation for killing and he didn’t know any different. Ort-Meyer wiped his mind after that incident to make him more obedient, and then wiped it again just before C:47, restoring his free will while keeping his memories blank, so that 47 would think that he escaped on his own.

That’s how 47 is not truly the one responsible for Diana’s parents, and why she forgave him. He was following orders that he had no choice but to follow as far as he was aware of. And also, like I said, Diana sent him after so many people and ended up making him do the same things he’d done to her, but without forcing him to, by just making him trust her judgement of who deserved to die, that she would be just as guilty, if not more so. How could she blame him for what he did when he did it under orders of his master, while she was making him do the same thing with complete trust that he did not have to think about what he was doing or who would be hurt. 47 had robbed many other kids of their parents because she told him to do it and gave him pay for it, so how could she possibly face herself if she blamed him for it?

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I still don’t 100% buy that Edwards would really become over-confident after so many years as the Constant, but I guess it is a plausible explanation. Lets allow that.

Oki, so the assassination took place before he escaped the Asylum? I thought it was after he escaped, and was just working for somebody else before joining ICA. Also, I had no idea that there was this Birth of the Hitman comic – And frankly, we shouldn’t be required to read a comic to fully understand the context of the ending.

If we are going to allow Edwards to still be part of the human condition and become over-confident and careless, why not allow Diana to be overcome with rage and not see how she was doing the same thing to 47 that 47 do to her?

But I guess we have firmly entered nit-picking terratory. Thanks for taking the time to elaborate. I guess I should check out that comic (even thought the game shouldn’t require me to read it)

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…and the latest trilogy and its comics clearly established, that stuff was happening prior C47:

  1. The asylum in question was a Providence asset, and as such ‘The Partners’ ordered trough Janus ( the first constant) the make of the clones. These clones were actually very different, not like the second batch of 47s.
  2. The assasination of the Burnwood parents was also ordered by Providence, since Blueseed was also a Providence asset.
    That contract was given to subject 6 and 47. That was the point, where subject 6 and 47 started to carry out their own contracts, which eventually led to that infamous fire in the asylum and the collective brainwash.
    Over time all the clones died and only 47 stayed alive and strong. For that reason Ort-Meyer was ordered to make clones just like 47. Enter the game, Codename 47.
    After the events of C47 47 was recruited by Diana who was just put into the handler program; enter WoA’ arrival/freeform training.

Diana herself said so: it was made by Ether.

Not really, since 47 never died, jus was put into a coma like stance, probably to his order (I mean he even says so when 47 gains conciousness for a moment); eventually either the poison lost its strength, or 47’s mind proved to be more stronger than the toxin that played with his mind.

Blood Money and Absolution would like a word with you.
Also how can you hate someone, who was frequently brainwashed, therefore has 0 recollection; and even when finally their memories are coming back, they’re not sure if it’s even theirs?
Sure, such a thing would leave a dent on any kind of relationship, but 47 several times proved to Diana his loyalty and vice versa.
Plus, Diana even admitted, that she was no different in using 47, like anyone else in the past. “…but people are not meant to be controlled.” She surely played an act, but came to that realization anyway, when she talked Lucas before arriving to Sgàil.
Also, you can be sure, that the whole plan that Diana set up for take over Providence, was also a revenge on 47, but essentially setting him up to get the constant was also the sing of forgiveness.
Let’s not forget, that both of them were put in a situation, because of Providence. This way Diana was able to take revenge on them, and more.

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“Look, @Snake, it’s very simple:”

Proceeds to write a 1000 word essay :stuck_out_tongue:

Sorry, I had to.

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Yes, I don’t think Diana forgiving 47 is too hard to believe, exactly because she feels guilty in having wielded 47 as a tool herself for years. That’s why she says that ‘Providence used you, but I’m no better’, ‘You didn’t have a choice, I did’ and ‘people aren’t meant to be controlled’. I do agree that the previous iterations of 47 had more agency, but in this trilogy, they really play up the factor of 47 having no moral compass or sense of direction, so he has been outsourcing that to Diana. Using his skills for “good” instead of it being random (disordered).

The part that is hard to believe to me is that Edwards, who seemingly is very intelligent and calculating, would take the chance of inviting Diana into Providence and keeping 47 alive. These games are asking for a great deal of suspension of disbelief, that’s just how it is. Personally, I still enjoy many aspects of the story and universe regardless.

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