Should you side with the Emissary or the Hunter in the Starfield Unearthed mission?

There are a lot of choices to be made in Starfield, and some of them are more impactful than others. In the Unearthed mission, you’ll come face to face with one of the biggest choices in the game. Do you side with the Emissary or the Hunter? And what if you don’t want to side with either of them?

Should you side with the Emissary or the Hunter?

If you want to face the Hunter as the final boss and get his weapons and armor, side with the Emissary. On the other hand, pick the Hunter as an ally if you want to face the Emissary as the final boss. The Emissary will not drop any armor, however. If you enjoy a challenge, you can side with neither of them and end up facing them both at the end of the game. There are a lot more details to discuss here, but first, a major spoiler warning.

Major story spoilers lie ahead. You have the rough information you need to make a decision, but there is a lot of nuance to explain.

What happens if you side with the Hunter?

If you side with the Hunter, then they will help you out during the Revelation mission. He will also request that you kill Keeper Aquilius, an unusual request given that the Hunter is actually the Keeper from another universe. You can also get a great melee weapon called The Last Priest that is only available through this mission.

You will need to end up fighting the Emissary, and while you can try and talk your way out of it, killing them will get you the Eternity’s Gate weapon. It’s a bit of a beast, so don’t let the urge to chat deny you from getting a great weapon.

What happens if you side with the Emissary?

If you side with the Emissary, you will end up fighting the Hunter during the final mission, and the Emissary will offer you aid. This is interesting from a story point of view, as the Emissary will actually be your dead companion from earlier in the game.

In another universe, they made it to the Unity and became a Starborn. Killing the Hunter lets you get his weapon, the Unmitigated Violence, and his armor. Now, keep in mind that this is the only way to get the Hunter armor unless you are willing to put in a lot of work and get through various levels of New Game Plus to get iterations of the Starborn armor.

What happens if you side with neither of them?

While this is technically the toughest option, it’s also the best. You can’t get The Last Priest, but you can get both the Hunter’s rifle and the Emissary’s rifle, the Hunter armor, and you’ll end up getting more Starborn gear if you go to New Game Plus anyway. Canonically, this removes the interference from either of them in humanity’s affairs, as both of them strongly felt they needed to exercise some control over the Unity and the Artifacts. Remember, just because two different sides appear to disagree doesn’t mean they are really all that different.