Starfield ending: Should you side with the Hunter or Emissary?

Deciding whether to side with the Hunter or the Emissary—or with neither—is one of the biggest choices you'll make in Starfield. While the Emissary is seemingly the more peaceful, lawful good option, you might want to consider siding with the Hunter's more chaotic ways. Or you can simply strike out on your own and do whatever you want.

There are pretty significant story spoilers in this guide, so tab away now if you want to go in blind.

Should you side with the Hunter or Emissary? 

As you might expect, siding with one Starborn over the other leads to one becoming your enemy at the close of the main questline. The Emissary wants to keep the Unity safe from those it deems unworthy of using it, whereas the Hunter thinks it should be a free-for-all. Of course, you can decide your own path and they'll both become your enemy, but it could be argued that this is the best, if not the most canonical ending. 

When facing either the Hunter, Emissary or both, you will get an option to talk them down. While this means avoiding particularly challenging fights, you won't get a weapon as a reward, so weigh that choice up when it comes. You'll make that decision during the Revelation quest.

Side with the Hunter

If you side with the Hunter, you'll fight the Emissary in the final mission and he'll be there as an NPC follower to help you. Before that, though, you'll need to either kill Keeper Aquilus or convince him to go into hiding. The Hunter is reborn in another universe through the Unity, leaving behind a legacy that wills the many to rise up against power.

There is a Speech option you can use to persuade the Emissary not to fight you, but if you do kill them, you'll get a particle beam rifle called Eternity's Gate, which does increased damage to humans, fires two projectiles on every fourth shot, and has volatile rounds that, if they hit, will do increased damage.

Side with the Emissary

Pick this option and the Emissary will be an NPC ally here, and once the quest ends the Emissary will remain in this universe to seek out individuals worthy of being Starborn. 

You'll have to kill or talk down the Hunter, and choosing the former will net you a laser rifle called Unmitigated Violence, which irradiates and frenzies enemies while doing double damage to those with full health. Neat.

Side with neither

You can either talk them both down or fight them both alone, but it is a difficult fight. It does mean that humanity can search for Artifacts and use the Unity as they see fit without any interference from the Starborn.

If you choose to fight them, there's a lot of jumping around dimensions and fighting duplicates of both the Hunter and Emissary so it's a bit of a time, but you'll get both of their weapons as your reward. 

Once you've either talked down your foe or wiped them out, it's on to Starfield's ending, which conveniently introduces its New Game+.