The Hunter actually mentions that he has completed "thousands" of times collecting the artifacts, and that he started out by forming alliances, talking to people to get what he needed etc, but eventually started speedrunning it by any means necessary.

That's why I love the hunter. My favorite character in the game. "You're strong, don't allow yourself to be judged by the Emissary's hypocricy. Take what's rightfully yours." like it's finally someone taking you as who you are, a god, because it takes one to know one.

neither really, but i def like Hunter more

And the emissary is on the left.

It's basically the whole campaign from the beginning just with new added starborn dialouge options

It's a game to him. That's why he's called the Hunter.

He doesn’t want to just go to unity every time, it’s about seeing all the different ways each time.

Agreed, the Hunter's philosophy is closer to correct (it doesn't gatekeep directly) but his continued involvement in the matter makes it an impossibility for it to properly exist. By which I mean, unfettered access to the Unity is the least morally problematic, but "Might makes right" when one of the players is permanently on NG+1000 will only ensure that that person always wins for all eternity. "Every man for himself survival of the fittest" doesn't create a stable ecosystem if there's a superpredator that eats LITERALLY every meal- if the Hunter fully succeeds he'll be the one to get to the Unity in most universes (barring those where our character wins).

It's implied that he never (or rarely) failed before the first time we play through Starfield, as we're the first version of "us" that entered the Unity, and that the player becoming Starborn has essentially deposed him from the top of the food chain. He "plays" with us out of curiosity and boredom, but even if he tried I don't think he could win, and he seems to know it.

@@IronSquid501 I got the sense that our player character, out of random happenstance and the sheer inscrutable workings of infinity, happened to get the best of him in this one potential timeline and finally become Starborn, which messed with every timeline a bit simultaneously. The versions of the Hunter we meet can be bested, but even after we're Starborn, there are still infinite Hunters beating infinite Player Characters, and infinite PC's beating infinite Hunters. Infinity gets weird. What we can say is that thematically, the Hunter has the highest level armor, only achieved through maxed put NG+ cycles. The Emissary has the one from doing I think 4-6 cycles. So it's implied the Hunter is basically a superpredator that almost always wins, but the Emissary occasionally does too. The versions of the Hunter and Emissary we see in each of our universes have won every time they've fought in a row (otherwise they'd be gone; and, our PC has won every time we tried, barring any reloads), and you essentially end their streak if you side against that iteration of them.

I had to delete my comment to repost this. Emissary is chosen by who you have the highest affinity with.

@@redthewifeyhunter4034 I thought it was based on who you chose to save

@@halvorson566 nope. Example: I bonded with Sarah most of the game and married her. I then started traveling with Sam and got his second dialogue. I did the Eye mission where you gotta save someone, the game kept track of who i had the most affinity with out of the top 2 and thus Sam stayed at the Lodge and Sarah stayed in the Eye

@@redthewifeyhunter4034 The Emissary is whoever didn't make it in the High Price to Pay mission. The "main 4" companion with whom you have the highest affinity will always remain on The Eye (their repair "fails" and they elect to stay behind). The main 4 companion with whom you have the second highest affinity will then always be automatically chosen to accompany you to Petrov's barge. As a result, when you return to the Lodge to place the artifact, they will always be with you. At that moment The Eye calls and you choose which to save- if you go to the Eye (most people don't choose this) then your highest affinity companion will survive and your second-highest will not; this second-highest-affinity companion will then be the emissary. If you remain at the Lodge to protect it and the artifact, then your highest affinity won't make it, and they'll be the Emissary.

@@JB-xl2jc exactly what i said. Out of top 2 that i had highest affinity with

It only happens on ng+ if you decide to repeat the main quest line.