This Guide is a Work-in-Progress. The content that you see right now may be different from the content that’s here once it’s finished.

If you feel like giving a rating or awarding this guide, nothing is stopping you from doing so, but it is my opinion that any praise at this point is not properly earned because this is incomplete. I would advise all readers to please hold off on awarding and rating until after this guide is complete. If I miss anything, do not hesitate to let me know through the comments, and feel free to favorite and come back from time to time to see how it's coming along.

Also be warned that my writing at this time can and will be sloppy. Most sections are either in staging or have completed their First Draft stage, and this will be ironed out after the second and final draft reviews.

Estimated completion of the first draft should be by December 2026.

Once that's done, it should take me three to four months to review everything, polish things, make some last-minute rearrangements before declaring this absolute beast of a project "finished."


I do periodically add, change, or move things around whenever I can. I may sometimes add stuff during work, but I work full-time and the Steam mobile app isn’t that great when it comes to making or changing your guides, so there’s that.

Let me disclose that as of right now, I'm only analyzing this from what I've seen from the game. I haven't yet pored over the various interviews of Abby and Tony about the creation of Slay the Princess. I plan on viewing those, taking notes and integrating them into this guide during the final draft of this guide. This is because I want to see if my analyses line up with what the creators themselves had intended to portray if they've been revealed.

You will see notes to myself in incomplete portions of this guide at this time, and the contents of each section, as well as the orders of the sections themselves may shift as this is developed. (Some might say, in the very nature of a certain "mound" that shifts. it's a "shifting mound" joke--please laugh. "Shifting Mound?" more like the "Yapping mound," amirite?)

Note that even while incomplete this is going to be an extremely lengthy read, evidenced by the number of sections in this guide. I've also sprinkled some StP memes that I either made myself or found on the internet in places where I thought they'll be appropriate. (It's a damn shame there aren't many of these.)


I go WAAAAY in depth here. I strongly recommend you go through at least a couple of full playthroughs before reading the contents of this guide.

Given the game features mature content and this is a guide that is meant to analyze it, it should go without saying that this will explore mature themes in the context of going over events portrayed in the game, as well as the analyses of them.

In this guide, I use content that I both have and have not made. For static images, I will credit the creator and/or the source I found the image from. For YouTube videos, I highly encourage liking and subscribing to those channels and videos. Content I have made (in the form of low-effort memes made on my iPhone during my work breaks) will be cited as "Original Content."

Slay the Princess is a psychological horror visual novel made by Black Tabby Games. It features stunning hand-drawn art and a rich, masterfully written story that touches upon deeply profound metaphysical and philosophical concepts with a romantic undertone.

I've personally heard other people describe this game being a complete inverse of Team Salvato's Doki-Doki Literature Club. In their comparisons they liken Doki-Doki Literature Club as a horror game wearing a dating sim's clothing, while Slay the Princess is a dating sim wearing a horror game's clothing.

Every section title after the Characters, Setting, and Key Concepts section will either be derived from an actual quote in the game, or a direct quote from the game.

(Section 1st Draft Complete 5/8/25, No 2nd Draft Review Pending.)


If you are someone that cares about spoilers, this wall of obvious misinformation that I wrote about myself is all that stands between spoilers and your last chance to complete a couple full runs of the game first if you haven’t already.


I am Dr. Malory P. Ractice, M.D. (The 'M.D.' stands for 'Major Dingus.') I was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Clown Sciences from the University of Science, Mathematics, and Culture (Go, Devil Dogs!) fairly recently in 2023. Sadly, the student records office burned down in a tragic, accidental arson.

To further complicate this already sad situation, any admissions staff, professors, and all attendees of the graduation ceremony also mysteriously perished when the plane they all just so happened to be on unexpectedly crashed on final approach on their flight to the surface of the sun a couple days later. An NTSB investigation later found that the sun's gravitational field, solar wind, and intense heat may have contributed to the crash, but it's still inconclusive.

Aside from being a totally real and not-fictitious doctor, I am forklift certified and passed ISO-60009 certifications for Ladies-Manship. I have a white belt in multiple martial arts and a black belt in Lean Six Sigma, an obscure and ancient martial art previously only thought to be taught in the elite Japanese salaryman dojos of Marunouchi. I managed to learn this after a quick stint working alongside some ex-JGSDF Ranger reservists at Manko Park, Okinawa.

I like increasing shareholder value, eating micro and macroplastics, long walks on the beach, Pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain. Oh! and Slay the Princess. Definitely like that too. And those pancake-sandwiches they sell in FamilyMart. And Fami-chiki... Yorimo a-na-ta!♥

"Dr. Ractice,” I hear you ask, “You are a very strapping, handsome, and strong specimen of the human species, but this barely coherent, unhinged rant is cringe and making my head spin. You reek of kerosene, how long have you been accidentally breathing in JP8 fumes? Also this has nothing to do with you nor Slay the Princess. Why did you feel the need to disclose all of this? I've been meaning to bring this up, and eating all the particle board at Lowe's is pretty unprofessional. Can you maybe stop?"

To quote The Narrator, “Those are all very different questions, but fine I’ll indulge you.”

To answer the questions that you've held a burning desire in your heart to be addressed I say:
1: I actually accidentally fell in the cistern this morning while chasing a bird and just managed to climb out an hour ago. The Toughbook I checked out is at the bottom if you wanna fish for it.
2: It’s not supposed to, and I didn't. This was just filler text to not just capture your attention and briefly entertain you, but also to block any spoilers and make sure they're safely out of view if the spoiler warning section wasn't doing its job properly, because some psychos use some monitors sideways for some reason (like me, for the far-right monitor exclusively for excel spreadsheets).
3: I'm sorry, I was under the assumption this was a free country. Also if they didn't want their particle board eaten, why do they make it taste so good, huh Einstein? Why do they also keep them out in the open for anyone to take? Riddle me that!

Now that the spoilers have been properly separated, let me tell you about what this guide is about.

When you bring the Damsel (aka the Best Princess of All Time, cute cinnamon roll too sweet for this earth, too pure) to the Shifting Mound, the argument presented by the deconstructed variation of the Damsel is as thus:


The fight between the Shifting Mound and the Long Quiet is what made me want to pop the hood and see what's underneath. Something about how the vessel arguments, player counterarguments, and Shifty's rebuttals were written, paired with how the "fight" was framed, Nichole Goodnight's delivery of the lines, and the message they were attempting to convey while Transformation played in the background all coalesced into a beautiful final fight scene that I couldn't help but appreciate.

However if I had to pick a specific quote, this is what inspired me to analyze the game. It showed me that when I started digging deeper (and I already dug pretty deep) that there was still a lot more to learn about what Slay the Princess is telling its audience. This is why I put the Deconstructed Damsel as the thumbnail for this guide, as I aim to show what I had seen after peeling back all the layers to reveal the core (or get as close as I can.)

Slay the Princess is a unique game in and of itself. Despite using a very limited amount of color and having few animated scenes, it’s still visually striking, especially knowing that Abby Howard had drawn every single frame by hand on paper, even the few frames that were animated—something which isn’t really seen much in this era of digital art.

Even still, it’s very heartwarming to see that the game was largely made by a husband-wife team with by my current understanding of the division of labor being Tony did the coding, Abby did the art, while both wrote the story.

The Voice actors, Jonathan Sims and Nichole Goodnight also did a good chunk of the heavy lifting of the game in both the ranges of voices they did, making every Voice and every Princess feel unique despite them being voiced by the same person. The music composed by Brandon Boone also did a very good job of bringing out the atmosphere of every environment and every scene.

There’s only two times in my life I’ve ever actually cried while pondering over a piece of art media, and the first is when watching that scene in the first Pokemon when I was a kid where Ash refused to give up on Pikachu, and the second being in 2024 while analyzing the Slay the Princess four layers deep. It’s not the story nor the characters that welled tears in my eyes, but rather the analysis of the characters in the scenarios they’re placed in, the interplay between them, and what they’re supposed to represent that did.

While this game is plenty good on the surface, doing so much with what limits are imposed on it by its very nature as a visual novel is astounding. In my humble opinion, this is testament to how beautiful this game actually is and I am both glad to have been fortunate enough to stumble across this diamond in the rough, and confused as to why more people haven’t yet discovered it.

I have spent the latter half of the last year and the first half of this year obsessively poring over almost every line and every scene in Slay the Princess and despite that, I keep discovering little things here and there.

Given that this is more a labor of love done in a semi-serious fashion and NOT an academic publication, I'll go ahead and throw the rules of academic writing out the window, just like how the Voice of The Contrarian always suggests.


Anyways, without further ado, I am Dr. Malory P. Ractice (not a real doctor), and welcome to my Ted Talk.

(Section 1st Draft Complete 3/31/25, No 2nd Draft Review needed.)

I will refer to the Narrator and Long Quiet as a male, as canonically both are masculine (even though the actual player—referred to as the “Decider” by the other voices—may be different).

"The Princess" and "The Shifting Mound," just like "The Player" and "The Long Quiet" are largely interchangeable, though I will make it clear when I need to make a distinction between the two.

Despite the Narrator being a voice inside the player's head, they are entirely separate characters both from the player and each other versions of the Echo.

Yours:

• Voice of the Hero – Starting Voice
  
• Voice of the Broken
  
• Voice of the Cheated
  
• Voice of the Cold
  
• Voice of the Contrarian
  
• Voice of the Hunted
  
• Voice of the Opportunist
  
• Voice of the Paranoid
  
• Voice of the Skeptic
  
• Voice of the Stubborn
  
• Voice of the Smitten

Not yours:

• The Narrator

(The number denotes the chapter this princess is encountered in.
A single Star (*) denotes that the route can optionally be concluded at this chapter. Two stars (**) denotes the conclusion of the route.)

• The Princess (1) – Starting Princess
  ⤷Soft (Leave the Pristine Blade)
  ⤷Harsh (Take the Pristine Blade)

• The Beast (2*)
  ⤷The Den (3**)
  
• The Witch (2*)
  ⤷The Thorn (3**)
  
• The Prisoner (2*)
  ⤷The Cage (3**)
  
• The Damsel (2*)
  ⤷The Deconstructed Damsel (2**)
  ⤷Happily Ever After (3**)
  
• The Adversary (2*)
  ⤷The Eye of the Needle (3**)
  
• The Tower (2*)
  ⤷The Apotheosis (3**)
  
• The Nightmare (2*)
  ⤷The Moment of Clarity (3**)
  
• The Spectre (2*)
  ⤷The Princess and The Dragon (3**)
  
• The Razor (2)
  1. No Way Out (3)
  ⤷The Empty Cup (4**)
  2. The Arms Race (3)
  ⤷Mutually Assured Destruction (4**)
  
• The Stranger (2**)

Shared Chapter 3 Princesses:

• The Wild (from Beast/Witch)
  
• The Grey (from Prisoner/Damsel)
  ⤷Damsel: Burned Grey
  ⤷Prisoner: Drowned Grey
  
• The Fury (from Adversary/Tower)
  
• The Wraith (from Nightmare/Spectre)

⤷The Echo
⤷The Narrator

• The Construct
  ⤷The Long Quiet/The Spaces Between (Yes, you are both a person and a place.)
  
• The Path in the woods
  
• The Cabin (The Heart of Things)
  
• Cabin Interior
  
• The Basement
  
• The End of Everything
  
• The Worlds Beyond

• The Pristine Blade
  
• The Mirror

(Section 1st Draft Complete 4/16/25, 2nd Draft Review pending.)


After being greeted by the chapter's title card, you find yourself alone on a path in the woods with a British voice in your head whose name is "The Narrator." He explains that somewhere further up the path there is a princess locked in a basement that is very much un-stabbed and that needs to change. Travelling in any direction will introduce the next voice in your head, presented as the "Voice of the Hero." He will briefly ponder the moralities involved in stabbing the aforementioned princess before the Narrator dismisses his thoughts as uninformed.

Upon reaching the cabin, the player is presented with their very first real choice in the game. He could either take the Pristine Blade on the far table and waltz in to the Basement to educate the Princess about life in South London (resulting in the harsh princess), or to remember that he left his knife license at home (resulting in the soft princess). Regardless, in true Londoner fashion the Narrator is singleminded in trying to convince you, the player, to "shank the royal tart" in local parlance.

Regardless of any choice the player makes, Chapter I ends with the player being invariably killed, 99% of the time at the hands of the Princess--to which the Narrator will deliver another iconic line second only to his "Path in the woods" monologue:


The choices the player makes in Chapter I will define how the Princess transforms in the next chapter. In almost all Chapter II variations, the player can through their actions can either end the story, or decide to progress it in one of two ways. Every route has an exclusive--or what I call a "Logical"--conclusion; or a shared--or what I call "Perverted" conclusion, whose Chapter III is shared with a different route. (The manner in which they are shared will be explained later on)

The conclusion of any route is signified by the Narrator disappearing, followed by the environment being replaced with what the game describes (during the Prisoner Route when the Narrator traps you in the cabin) as a “textured nothingness,” and the Princess losing all of her strength. She comments on how cold everything feels before falling asleep and being taken by a writhing mass of arms to a place deep within that textured nothingness. You find yourself in front of a mirror, of which you have to see your reflection before proceeding. In almost every route, every voice you have accumulated expresses their unease with the mirror and they too disappear once you gaze into your own reflection.

You then find yourself at the path in the woods again, except this time everything is made up of the same textured nothing. When you approach where the cabin is supposed to be, you find the Princess seemingly surrounded by flames from afar, but upon closer inspection, she is unconscious and limp, being held up by the same mass of arms that manipulate the Princess’ movements. This being speaks through her, and reveals that the space they inhabit is called "The Long Quiet," and refers to the Princess you encountered as a “fragile vessel” that the player has gifted her.

She explains that she is asleep and yearns to be awake. In order to do so however, she needs more perspectives to become whole, and these can only be created and shaped by the player's decisions. She asks the player to not turn off the PS2 and press "New Game+" so that you can bring her more vessels. From here, the player could refuse and attempt to wait forever (which intentionally crashes the game. Reopening it will continue where you left off), or agreeing to her plan. Upon being forced into doing the latter, she explains that the vessel is a creature of perception, meaning she is capable of doing what she is perceived to be able to. She then makes you forget everything and sets everything back to the start, with the player being greeted with the Chapter I title card.

The player then needs to complete four more routes. With each variation delivered to this, she becomes closer to awakening, and more things about the world is revealed to you as the player too starts to change and awaken. Upon the delivery of the fifth vessel, the player becomes aware of what he is, and instead of his visage greeting him in the mirror at the end of the chapter, he is confronted with the Narrator himself.

(Section 1st Draft Complete 5/8/25, 2nd Draft Review pending.)


The mirror cracks, and the scattered reflections of the Narrator among the shards of glass floating in the void disappear with every question you ask him. The Narrator reveals that he is an echo of the architect of this place you and the Princess inhabit, referring to it as the "Construct." He reveals that the Princess is an entity known as the "Shifting Mound" player's true identity is the Long Quiet, and the world outside the construct is on its last breath.

The Narrator cut the cycle of life and death in half, and the two pieces became the Shifting Mound, transformation--and by extension death--incarnate; and the Long Quiet, stillness--and by extension life--incarnate. He then folded, crumpled, and shaped the Long Quiet into something that can contain the Princess, trapped her inside it then created an Echo to set the dormant part of the Long Quiet to slay the Princess to rid the world of death.

To prevent reality itself from being completely destroyed with the Princess' destruction, the Narrator explains that he made sure that the tear in reality was rough so that a piece of what was supposed to be the Princess exists in the Long Quiet, and that a piece of the Long Quiet exists in the Princess.

The Princess' nature as a being of perception and changing to fit what she is perceived to be demanded that the Narrator to cut his own life short to prevent the risk of the Narrator perceiving the Princess to be able of breaking free of the Construct, lest any stray thought made the Princess capable of breaking free as he was the only thing apart from the Long Quiet that was aware of her existence.

The player can ask any number of questions about the Narrator, the Construct, the Princess, as well as confront him on being wrong (if the Happily Ever After is encountered). After exhausting the shards of glass, the Narrator--or his ghost, that is--dies. The player then steps into the Long Quiet, gazes at it realizing that the woods, the cabin--all of it--is him.

Walking to the Cabin, the player is greeted with an empty hilltop. After waiting a while, a mass of princesses erupts from the bottom of the hill to completely fill the interior of the Construct. At the center is the Shifting Mound, an elegant composite made out of multiple princesses that make up her hair, body, and clothes. She expresses joy in knowing that both you and her are finally awake and that she's missed the player.


She attempts to convince the player to free both her and himself, though the player can attempt to either talk the Princess out of her apotheosis, or attempt to slay her. Both of these will result in a philosophical debate with the Princess, bringing every vessel you brought to her to bear as arguments for her continued existence, and to rejoin her as the other half of the same cosmic coin.

In a normal run, regardless if the player "won" or "lost" the argument, the Shifting Mound will refuse to back down, continuing to justify her position. The Voice of the Hero will unexpectedly join the player and comment on how he fared. He then explains that no matter how well he is at "fighting" her, the player will never be able to land a decisive blow--at least not out there and says that there's a piece of him left back where it all began. He'll ask the player if he's ready to go there (he takes you there regardless) just as the Shifting Mound says she's ready for Round 2.

The game shows a sequence of the path in the woods, the cabin, and the stairs leading to the basement. Initially, all three pictures lack definition and look like child's drawings, but gradually gain more and more refined definition as the flashing images loop around and around until all that's left is a blank white space with the cabin opening its door. The player then finds himself in the cabin from Chapter I, with the only change being the writhing mass of Princesses that make up the Shifting Mound pressing in against the windows. The player can choose to take or leave the blade here before proceeding into the basement.

Taking the blade will allow the player to either slay the Princess for good and achieve one of two variations of the "Unending Dawn" endings, or attempt to renege only for the Princess to deny that. In this path, she says that the player can't just abandon the blade because the story demands it be used on someone. She offers to slay the player and reset the construct, wiping away everyone's memories in the process, leading to the "You're on a path in the woods..." ending.

Not taking the blade will end with the Player and the Princess giving up godhood and living in the construct forever, not knowing what'll happen next as they open the door of the cabin together, resulting in the "And? What happens next?" ending.

Before or after the fight with the Shifting Mound, the player could also skip this entirely by agreeing to free the both of them, resulting in the "There are no endings" ending.

In all of these endings, regardless if you saved, spared, or freed the Princess, she will always declare their love for the player.

However, there is a secret path. If the player presents the dormant Shifting Mound with five Princesses that he's slain, the player is given a red text option when responding to the Shifting Mound's vessels. Presenting all five red text counterarguments will result in the Shifting Mound lashing out, only to be restrained by the awakened Long Quiet. Here, the player is presented with two options:

1. Destroy the Princess, in which the Shifting Mound is erased in the blink of an eye, leading to the third "Unending Dawn" variation called "Your New World."
2. Offering her your hand, which the gesture will offend her. She'll say she's not wrong and that the player just hasn't listened to what she's had to say.

The 2nd option continues with the Shifting Mound saying that it's time to resume their dance, and the Voice of the Hero swoops in and yoinks the player out of the fight back to the Heart of Things. However, the Pristine Blade will be absent. This is another way the player can reach the "And? What happens next?" ending.

(Section 1st Draft Complete 5/8/25, 2nd Draft Review pending.)


Now that we've gone over the synopsis of the story, we can proceed with the analysis portion of this guide, which is going to be the rest of this guide from this point, and we're going to start with a simple question:

"What is Slay the Princess about?"

This question can be easily answered, as the game tells you from the beginning:

The words "This is a love story" that greets you before the main menu is true, but deceptive--not in the traditional sense, as it tells the truth, but it doesn't tell you the whole truth. The phrase "This is a love story" goes deeper than what it initially proclaims itself as. From the surface, it can be taken literally. The story of the game focuses around the romance between the Long Quiet and the Shifting Mound--two cosmic forces that were once together then somehow torn apart, locked in a cage and pitted against each other in a fiery and dangerous dance of passion and violence.

However, digging deeper reveals that it is much more than the interplay between these two characters and the situation they've found themselves in at the hands of the Narrator. It can be interpreted as a story about love and relationships as a whole and the emotions both subjects of it feel in the many situations they find themselves in.

Love can feel liberating, love can be oppressing. love can be horrifying, love will take you places neither you never imagined going and make you do things neither of you could scarcely imagine. It can be ugly, it can be messy, it can be contradictory, but because of all of this, it is beautiful. It is art in its purest form, a tapestry of infinite possibilities, where both you and whoever chooses to be with you as each other's painter and canvas.

In short, Slay the Princess taps upon this very aspect of the human condition on multiple levels, using its storytelling and worldbuilding elements to present elaborate metaphors for the different forms and dynamics love and relationships can take.

During Chapter II: The Stranger, the Player is presented with three sets of stairs. Regardless of which set of stairs you choose, you will lose yourself and see a scene before landing in the cabin's basement:


Each emotion is presented in diametrically opposing pairs. I had initially believed that each thread represented a Chapter II Princess, similar to others who have made their analyses of Slay The Princess. Upon closer inspection however, it didn't really make any sense, especially with the Tower being a representation of "Submission" or the Razor being "Pain" as she is arguably one of the most unfeeling Princesses in the game.

After acknowledging this, I had briefly hypothesized that the threads represented the theme that defined the relationship between the Shifting Mound and the player, but as the Narrator explained, these were all emotions the player felt. I have since then come to the conclusion that each thread represents a voice's views towards a Chapter II Princess. I have listed them below, juxtaposed with the Chapter II Princess they are a foil for:


Each Chapter II Princess represents a type of partner one might have. And while some are similar to others, ultimately each have a unique flavor to them (but don't tell The Beast/Den that). Each pair (except for the last) shares a common theme, as well as a shared Chapter III. I will refer to these chapters as "perversions" (Using this as a technical term) because each Chapter II has a "logical" conclusion, which is a chapter not shared with any other variation. The Razor and the Stranger have no route perversions, likely because both of these Princesses' routes are perversions in their own right. The Razor routes have four chapters, whilst The Stranger ends at Chapter II.


Each route perversion is attained through neglect, or more specifically denying the Princess what she needs in the relationship between you two. However, what exactly that is for each chapter will be explained in the sections of those vessels.

Slaying the Princess, Freeing the Princess, or engaging with her forever are also stand-ins for various states a relationship can end up in, however what each one represents varies from chapter to chapter. Some chapters may have this, some may not, others have only one choice and are on rails. However, for the most part:

(Section 1st Draft Complete 6/8/25, 2nd Draft review pending.)


While the story of the game is about the types of love one can bring to the other, the chapters of the game are built around relationships. But what is a relationship, exactly? The Princess in Chapter I explains this in plain terms in her response to a comment the player can make:


Why are relationships important and why are they a key part of the game's structure? As the 3rd part of the Beast's argument at the End of Everything puts it:
Relationships come in many forms, and a person is usually defined by their relationship to other people. For example, a random person could be another person's sibling. They could also simultaneously be someone else's spouse. They could be another's parent or grandparent, they are someone else's child. They are someone else's friend. The word "Relationship" in this game is used in this context. It is through your relationship with the things (both living and otherwise) within the universe that define what you are not, and therefore define what you are.

If that sounds confusing, the Shifting Mound herself puts it into easily digestible words during her final plea for mercy after delivering five hidden red text options:
The Shifting Mound in this scene begs to not be destroyed not out of a selfish fear of her own death, but rather out of selfless concern that slaying her would result in the Long Quiet losing the definition that makes him distinct from everything else.

How would harming the Shifting Mound harm the player? As the third part of the Apotheosis' argument at the End of Everything, along with a rebuttal to a direct vessel counterargument for the Wild explains:
The Shifting Mound and The Long Quiet are two sides of the same coin. To destroy one side completely would mean the destruction of the coin in its entirety. One might sand one side down so that what is embossed and engraved remains smooth, but that is merely transformative, not destructive. To truly destroy one side is to destroy everything on that side, but since the back of that side is the other face, destroying one side completely destroys the other face, and by definition destroys the coin.

So then, what is the Shifting Mound's relationship to the Long Quiet? Apart from what is shown in the game, the Shifting Mound is everything the Long Quiet is not, yet the two are similar, and the Shifting Mound herself says so in the first time you meet her. It is also shown in several points in the game, but for now I'll quote a passage from Chapter II: The Tower.


Having cleared that, what is the Princess' opinions of the Long Quiet, seeing the game places her against him? Seeing that the game announces itself as a love story, obviously she harbors affection for the player, would she not?

And the answer to that question is yes. The Princess does love the Long Quiet, and she even says so before the game ends in every ending except one (because she doesn't even get the chance to say so in that one.) She doesn't mince words when she declares her love for the Long Quiet either. Regardless if the player decides to free her, slay her, or give up godhood and stay in the Construct forever with her, she will always tell the player that she loves him.


At the End of Everything, the Princess uses the following verbiage when choosing not to engage with her by staying quiet:


There's only one variation of the Princess that genuinely despises the player, but even then it's built off being spurned. In Chapter III: The Princess And The Dragon, despite being hurt twice, the Princess still finds it in her to forgive the player. In Chapter II: The Tower/Chapter III: The Apotheosis, the Princess hides her love for the player behind condescension. The Eye of the Needle even admits as much after attempting to free her after freeing the Adversary:

Section 1st Draft Complete 6/30/25. Second Draft Review Pending.


When the Narrator has the heart-to-heart with the player before meeting with the newly-awakened Shifting Mound, the Narrator reveals to the player that he in fact is something called "The Long Quiet."

"Wait a second, I thought the Long Quiet is a place," I hear you say. Yes, the Long Quiet is a place. It is also a person--You, to be exact. The woods, the path in the woods, the cabin, and the basement are all you, crumpled and warped and stretched to the point they are almost alien and unrecognizable to the dormant part of the Long Quiet--The part that you, the player inhabit.

The voices in your head (except the Narrator--we'll get to him later) is also you.

In the game, However, upon closer inspection of the player's limbs, appendages, and body, it's shown as being covered in feathers. The player's hands and feet are raptorial in appearance, with a black scute for skin and the ends of each finger and toe sporting talons. The Princess herself references the player's appearance as being birdlike through her nicknames and terms of endearment. This is not an exhaustive list, but here are lines I know of:


Despite the player's actual appearance being obscured when the Long Quiet looks at himself in the mirror, in Chapter III: The Princess And The Dragon, the Long Quiet's body (taken over by the Voice of the Opportunist) reveals what the Long Quiet's body actually looks like. Given a remark from the Princess herself in Chapter II: The Adversary regarding the player's appearance never changing, it can be stated that the Long Quiet's appearance in PATD is how the player looks throughout the entire game.

In addition, during Chapter II: The Witch, if the player decides to slay the Princess, during the fight scene, the Witch will bite off pieces of the player, and in her mouth are a bunch of black feathers.

The Long Quiet is revealed to be a vast and nascent god which is everything the Shifting Mound is not. It was the Narrator's intention for you to slay the Princess and by ending the dance of constance and transformation, of life and death, of existence and nothingness that the world would be held in stasis and prevent the end of the world.

Seeing as the Long Quiet stands diametrically opposed to the Shifting Mound, The Long Quiet contains life within his multitudes. It would also stand to reason that he is the god of Constance, as the Shifting Mound is the goddess of Transformation. However, as the Narrator describes, there are inconsistencies within the Long Quiet and the Shifting Mound (as a result in the rough tear in the cycle of life and death when the Narrator split the two.) While the Long Quiet doesn't change externally, he does change internally in the form of the presence of a new voice at the start of a new chapter.

There are similarities between the Shifting Mound and The Long Quiet, seeing that both were hewn from the same fabric. In fact, the Dormant Shifting Mound says as much when she says:


Just like the Shifting Mound, The Long Quiet is also a creature of perception, and also changes to fit what others perceive him to be. However, the changes are more subtle and happen internally. Unlike the Shifting Mound, he is able to change himself based on how he perceives himself to be as well. This is seen in both Chapter IV of the Razor Routes and the secret red text scene at the End of Everything.

WIP


Every time the Long Quiet dies, he usually gains a new voice in the next chapter. The attitude of that voice depends on the choices made before everything goes dark, and you die. The appearance of the voices in their respective chapters seem to be a reflection of the Princess imprinted onto the Long Quiet. However, despite the attitudes changing, they are always the same, albeit with different tones to them.

Another point reinforcing the Long Quiet also being a creature of perception is the fact that all the voices, including the Narrator are both birdlike, male, and voiced by the same person. It can be argued that when the Narrator was shaping the Long Quiet to form the Construct, some of the Narrator’s influence spread to the Long Quiet and makes itself manifest in the form of the Long Quiet as the aforementioned similarities between him and the Narrator.

The Long Quiet, despite being stillness incarnate seems to change his mind a lot and is given the free will to hop on and off the tracks that the Narrator placed him on. This, as well as the internal changes between chapters is likely due to the small part of the Shifting Mound left in the Long Quiet when the Narrator made a rough tear when he cut the cycle of life and death in two.

TOO TIRED TO WRITE TODAY--NOTE: Elaborate "Textured Nothing" and the construct, as the dormant Long Quiet is an integral part of the construct, lying beneath the layer of glass keeping everything in. Note the scene when the Apotheosis when she reaches into the Long Quiet and starts tearing to shatter the glass.

Also note the glass symbolism when it comes to anything regarding The Long Quiet:
-The Mirror
-Spectre's quote about the voices being shards of broken glass
-Networked Wild breaking through

Glass being part of the Long Quiet's identity might explain why the Long Quiet is fragile when fighting the Princess without the Pristine Blade.

Section 1st Draft Completed 7/28/25. 2nd Draft Review Pending

The Narrator is a pivotal character and the chief antagonist of Slay the Princess. He is the first voice you hear in the game and he stays with you, though the Narrators you encounter are the same voice, it is revealed that they are different versions of the original Narrator. It is because of this that the Narrator's memories couldn't apparently remember what happened in the previous chapters, as it had less to do with his inability to remember but rather every Narrator you encounter being a completely different yet similar entity.


After delivering the fifth vessel to the Shifting Mound, the player begins to awaken. At the cusp of that awakening, the Player encounters the Narrator for the last time, where he can choose to have a heart-to-heart with the Narrator and ask him a few questions before proceeding onward.


The Narrator reveals that the time which the story of Slay the Princess is set is in the far future, and according to his words, "The bones of the universe are old," which suggest sometime near the heat-death of the universe. He describes that in his time, every living being was consumed by the fear of death and consigned themselves to oblivion. He saw the suffering around him and was motivated to save everyone and everything he cared about, though it's not revealed how.

Based on the facts that both the Long Quiet and the Shifting Mound are both creatures of perception--capable of doing whatever it is they're perceived to be--and that there isn't any mention of anyone that could have helped him, the Narrator likely sequestered himself to the loneliest corner of the universe in his bid to stop the end of everything and carried out what he did alone.

Through unknown means, he managed to find the cycle of life and death. After studying it, he realized that a mere mortal such as himself, for all the knowledge in the universe could not by himself destroy a fundamental part of reality. It is from this realization that drove him to He reasoned that If only gods can kill gods, then his best bet would be to trick one into killing the other. And with a plan, he set to work.

He cut the cycle of life and death into two diametrically opposed forces: One of nothingness, order, and permanence--The Long Quiet; The other force one of presence, chaos, and transformation--The Shifting Mound. Realizing that completely destroying one will destroy the other, he made sure that when he separated the two, the cut was rough and would result in a small part of one residing in the other. He then folded the Long Quiet into agonizing shapes that would make up the worlds between. Having done that, he imprisoned the Princess within the deepest fold of the Long Quiet. To contain the two, he contained everything with a layer of glass--as one would contain liquids or dangerous samples in an ampoule--and set a fragment of the Long Quiet that forgot everything (the Player) to slay her and an echo of himself to guide that fragment.

This is hinted at in Chapter III: The Wild, where if you join the Princess in attempting to escape the Construct, the Narrator will attempt to dissuade you by delivering these lines:

With his work done, there was only one thing left to do to ensure his work came to fruition. The Narrator ended his own life to prevent himself from accidentally thinking the Princess as capable of breaking free of the Construct he created.


Before even meeting the Narrator near the end of the game, hints of what the Narrator's true nature appears at in multiple chapters of the game, almost all of which are when the Princess becomes aware of his presence within the Long Quiet's head. Here are some lines of what the Princess and the Dormant Long Quiet says about the Narrator:


Knowing that the Princess is a creature of perception--that transforms into whatever she is perceived as--and that he was the only one who knew her true nature, the person who would become the Narrator created an echo of himself which he hoped would guide the player to slay the Princess to rid the world of death. When all was done, he ended his own life to prevent himself from thinking the Princess capable of escaping the Construct.

(Setting of the events of the game)

Despite being a ghost, the Narrator may have a more active component in the containment of the two gods he trapped. Revisiting the quote from the Princess in The Wild, she says that the Narrator's gaze "pushes against their borders, curling them in on themselves." which suggests a more active role in maintaining the Construct's integrity and keeping the two gods he spun into existence trapped within it. However to what extent is kept hidden from the player.

What we do know is that the Narrator has an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Construct. That would make sense, as he is what's left of the man who made it in the first place. This is reflected in the appearance of the Long Quiet, which takes on an avian form with black feathers. Even more striking still is how similar the voices sound to the Narrator himself. As the Narrator likely spent more time with the Long Quiet and shaping him into what he needed him to be, the Long Quiet's nature as a creature of perception like the Princess likely resulted in him taking on aspects of the Narrator.



In every chapter past Chapter II, the Narrator will deny the presence of the mirror in the cabin. I always found it odd that he couldn't genuinely see it, despite the fact that it's shown near the end that the Narrator is within the glass of the mirror itself. I have a theory as to why, but I'll have to go on a tangent then loop around.

Throughout the game, the Narrator thinks himself as infallible even until the end. However, there is one chapter where he gets a taste of the world he envisioned, which is Epilogue: Happily Ever After. In this chapter, the Narrator is forced to sit through a world in stasis and realizes that he was wrong and admits as much:


If the Happily Ever After is a princess that the player turned in to the Shifting Mound, there is an option to tell the Narrator that a version of him was wrong. Despite this evidence, the Narrator will dismiss this as a fluke and he'll still think that he's correct in wanting the Shifting Mound gone.

Going back, I believe this inability or unwillingness to self-reflect is likely the reason why the Narrator cannot see the mirror, and as to why most of the voices fear it.

It is my personal headcanon that the actual names of TLQ and TSM are "Theodore Long Quiet" and "Theresa Shifting Mound."
•"My actual name is 'Brian.' Silly, right?"
"No, no. You...can be 'Quiet.'"

-Verbiage of TSM: “Is it by the design of our conflict that I cannot win…” implies her understanding of the Construct and how it works
——The cabin at the Heart of Things is likely the part of what was supposed to be TLQ that is still embedded within the Princess, and the Princess trapped in this cabin is probably why she needs TLQ to choose to free her in order to escape the Construct

-The Shifting Mound despite being the goddess of transformation can’t change her mind, and the Long Quiet despite being the god of stillness changes his mind pretty often.
—This is likely due to the “imperfect cut” the Narrator made where one contains a small part of the other.

-Dying between chapters is likely a metaphor for the shattering of one's ego associated with the start of a personal growth stage.

-All route perversions are representations of what happens when a relationship is denied a chance to earn something it yearns for. “Perversion” is used as a technical term as these routes deviate from each Princess’ “logical” conclusion—the path’s exclusive chapter III. Both Logical and Perverted routes have a toxic, healthy, or neutral conclusion.

Fury: Rage (Adversary- Excitement)(Tower- Validation)(Biblical common theme)

Grey: Regret (Damsel- Reciprocation)(Prisoner- Assurance)(Lost Agency common theme)

Wraith: Entitlement (Nightmare- Vulnerability)(Spectre- Understanding)(Ghostly common theme)

Wild: Escapism (Witch- Patience)(Beast- Commitment)(Animalistic common theme)

Razor/Stranger is the only pair that does not have a route corruption, but that might be because both routes are corrupted in their own right, with Razor having 4 chapters, Stranger having 2, and both being on rails.

-The Pristine Blade is likely what the Narrator used to slice the fabric of reality in half, and is the only thing that can meaningfully slay the Shifting Mound if the Long Quiet is even slightly hesitant (non-red text)

-Some of the Narrator’s influence may have spread to both the Long Quiet and the Shifting Mound:
TLQ: Voices sound the same as the Narrator, Bird motifs
TSM: Stubborness and ”I’m not wrong. I can’t be wrong.”

-Beast/Den(Consumption): Lioness art style, Revolves around literally eating the player (and not in a good way). Frames this as sustainment.
—Den: “Mutual Consumption” is a relationship where both participants sustain each other through mutual sacrifice.

-Witch/Thorn(Betrayal): Feral cat art style, The tale of the“Scorpion and the Frog” references, Witches in fairy tales are normally depicted as untrustworthy and it might be this the story is referencing, as the Princess does not do magic, other than “pocket sand.”
—Thorn:

-Adversary/Needle(Rivalry): Demonic art style, “Satan” Hebrew translation as “Adversary,” and this Princess’ story about giving in to base emotion, Relationship built on thrill-seeking and hedonism. Violence->Conflict->Friction->Excitement. Converse: Razor.
—Needle: A relationship where one partner is consumed with chasing the initial spark and obsessed with having it with the person they care about. “Are you finally going to come back to me? Are we finally going to fight?”, “Show me you’ve been worth all the room you’ve taken up in my head!”, and “My scars are a memory of what you used to be to me. I want those feelings back.”

-Tower/Apotheosis(Submission): Divine art style,Possible reference to the story of the Tower of Babel in both the chapter’s name, and the Princess’ story in Chapter III. Relationship built on subservience. Converse: Damsel, but unlike the Damsel who voluntarily throws away her agency, the Tower demands to be placed on a pedestal regardless of what the player feels.
-Apotheosis: Unlike the Tower, the Apotheosis seems to be more patronizing and maternalistic in her attempt to subjugate the player, akin to a parent sitting an unruly child down.

-Prisoner/Cage(Skepticism): Helplessness due to circumstance. Despite her loss of control, she still flexes her autonomy when challenged. “Do you think these chains take away my say in things?!”

-Damsel/HEA(Blind Devotion): Like the Tower, but on the other foot. The Princess surrenders to you unconditionally. Learned helplessness, literally crumbles the moment you start to demand independent agency. This is present in the Deconstructed Damsel’s art styles—losing depth and definition the more you pick apart at her motivations. Childlike drawing final form likely a metaphor for reversion to childish behaviors, or for childish preconceptions of love and relationships.
—HEA: Deals with realities or problems of long-term committed relationships. Defined by a relationship hanging on by the thread of obligation.

-Nightmare/Clarity(Terror): How being in a relationship is terrifying on multiple levels (“To fear rejection is contained within being known.”) Encapsulates fear of commitment, fear of being alone, fear of rejection, and anxiety about the future and what might come next.
—Clarity: Intimacy through shared vulnerability. Dropping the mask in Chapter II is a metaphor for the Princess showing herself for who she is, warts and all.

-Spectre/PATD(Longing):
—PATD: how self-doubt sabotages an otherwise healthy relationship. Player and the Princess are friendly and the Princess forgives the player regardless if she’s from the Soft or Harsh variant of the Spectre. Fused ending is a metaphor that you (reading this IRL) can either be the Princess or the Long Quiet in any relationship.

-Razor(Pain): Similar to the Adversary, but Novelty rather than excitement drives the Razor and she lacks the "mutual respect" aspect the Adversary holds towards the player. Pain for the sake of pain, unlike the Adversary, who conflates the exchange of pain as evidence of connection. Violence for the Razor is one-sided too, evidenced by “No! I’m the one that’s supposed to hurt you!”. The only Princess that will actually lie to the player. (Make sure to add jokes about the Ides of March)
—Slay:
—Don’t Slay:

-Stranger(Unfamiliarity): Missed relationships, and all the “what-ifs” represented by every princess melded into one.

Notes about the Construct:
-(My theory) The Construct is probably onion-shaped (Think, Eldia from AoT but the Titans expand outward), starting at the center, and jumping between worlds during each death is directly away from the center. Behind the very last “wall” comprising of the Construct’s glass shell would be the Worlds Beyond. Upon the conclusion of every route, the Shifting Mound resets the construct.

-As the two forces that make up reality are contained within the Construct, does that mean that everyone and everything in the Worlds Beyond are in limbo? How can they stand still if constance cannot reach them, and how can time progress if transformation is similarly trapped?

-The Narrator does not shatter the Construct after the Princess is slain in either Chapter I or during Chapter II: The Prisoner. This is likely to prevent the LQ from thinking the Princess back into life.

(Goes over the Dormant and Awakened versions of the Shifting Mound and how they differ from each other, as well as their similarities)

The Princess (aka Princess Princess, aka wifey, aka cosmic horror aka death itself) is the subject of the entire game—some might say Slay the Princess revolves around Princess Princess. As stated before, The Princess is a single facet of the eldritch beauty that is The Shifting Mound, both of whom are creatures of perception that change to suit to match what they’re perceived as.

The Princess’ color palette differs from the Long Quiet, the woods, and the cabin. Whereas the latter takes on various shades of black, the Princess is completely white, apart from the contour lines and shading. Apart from the Prisoner Route, she is always shackled on one arm, and apart from The Beast, always has a white dress. Atop her head is a tiara, one of the few constants the Princess has, the second with her remaining feminine. The tiara changes its form and composition based on what she transforms into.

The Shifting Mound, like the Long Quiet has a dormant form and an awakened form. The dormant Shifting Mound takes the form of an endless mass of arms reaching out from someplace unseen, whereas the awakened shifting mound takes the form of a composite Princess made up of various smaller princesses. Individually, each princess is naked, but together, they not only make up the Shifting Mound’s body and hair, but also her clothes. Yes, the Princess is wearing herself, in a way.

The attitudes between the dormant and awakened versions also differ from each other. The Dormant Shifting Mound is more passive, reflective and is generally patient and understanding with the player, but the Awakened Shifting mound is more active, impatient, and assertive.

According to the heart-to-heart with the Narrator, when he created the construct, the newly-formed Long Quiet chose for the Shifting Mound to take the form of a Princess.

WIP

WIP—In Staging
Goes over the Pristine Blade, what it is, what it’s supposed to represent, and why it’s a central thematic device in the story

The Pristine Blade is the fulcrum by which the game's story hinges on. It is a silver-like vorpal dagger made out of some unknown metal, though engineered in a manner to be able to kill gods.

This Paragraph: Physical description of the Pristine Blade

This Paragraph: Where and when the blade appears in the game

This Paragraph: How the blade is used in the game in various scenes

This Paragraph: Diving into what the blade actually is

This Paragraph: What the blade is supposed to represent (Note to self: Has to do with the capacity to harm)

(WIP)


(Goes over the similarities between the Long Quiet and The Shifting Mound)

>Narrator says he made sure the tear in the fabric of reality was rough, and a small part of what was supposed to be the Princess is in the Long Quiet, and vice-versa.

-->This is manifested in several contradictions within both the Long Quiet and the Princess.

Goes over the philosophical stances of the Long Quiet, The Princess, and the Narrator, and what each ending represents.

(Goes over the fight between the Shifting Mound and the Long Quiet at the End of Everything)


Unless you’ve decided to go against the Narrator and shatter the Construct, embracing the dance of creation and destruction as you walk forth into the infinite with your other half SIIIIIIIIMP! (jk) you will trigger a boss fight that would make the average Souls player cower in fear, consisting of the Princess engaging you in a good-faith philosophical debate.

Each Vessel argument is composed into three parts, but how they’re divided is not immediately clear unless you’ve gone through at least three or four playthroughs:


(Note to self: You can choose to either engage the vessels directly (defensive) or you can counterattack the Shifting Mound with your own arguments (offensive). There is a hidden third option, which triggers a unique branch of two endings if five unique arguments are made against the Shifting Mound.)

I open each vessel analysis with what I perceive to be the most thought-provoking argument poised by any version of that vessel. I will also cite the variant of it. Be aware that it may not be completely verbatim (i.e. punctuation being in the wrong locations, wrong punctuation entirely, etc.) as I am going completely off of memory when typing these out, and even when I double-check them, I'm going off of sound cues and not reading the actual text. The actual words used in these passages are verbatim, though.

(Rephrase and refine:) Each story’s conclusion has a moral lesson, which is hinted at in the Shifting Mound’s rebuttals to your counterarguments. I will attempt to ascertain the general moral of each of the Princesses’ stories.

WIP

Going into the basement unarmed then changing your mind will result in the Princess chewing her arm off, and worse yet, she's craving a bucket of chicken and wants to go out to get it. Locking the door behind you in your infinite wisdom will result in you being eaten instead because you're the only bird in the basement with her.

This will result in Chapter II: The Beast. The woods resemble a rainforest with denser thickets covering the edges of the path. Going down to the basement, you find that looks like a lion exhibit.

The Princess will invariably eat the player, and whether she eats you whole or disembowels you instead determines what happens next. In the former, allowing the Princess to open the door to the cabin will result in you being spat out and the Princess is taken to the Shifting Mound. However denying her freedom by either attempting to slay or being digested will result in a route perversion, leading to Chapter III: The Wild. In the latter, the Princess wins the samurai duel and eats your disemboweled corpse, leading to the logical conclusion: Chapter III: The Den.

The Beast like the Witch is cat-like, though in this chapter the Princess is more animalistic in nature. In this chapter, she takes the form of a lioness and speaks with the demeanor of an apex predator on the hunt. Looking closer, the Princess in this chapter has learned through trial and error some of the mechanics of the Construct shortly after the player’s passing in Chapter I. Unlike other versions of the Princess, the Construct spoke to the Beast per the Princess’ own words.

She’s realized that the player is the only one the Cabin lets come and go freely, but this can only happen while the player is alive. Given the player’s earlier unwillingness, the Princess is forced to drag the player to freeing her which takes the form of the Princess eating the player whole.

Thematically, the Princess in this chapter is centered around the consumption of the player one way or another. Metaphorically, it is referred to in the Beast's argument as "sustenance."

The Beast is a metaphor for a partner that is somewhat overbearing or overprotective, with a consumptive love. As an example, think of an excited aunt or grandmother seeing an infant child for the first time, saying something like “You’re so cute, I could gobble you up!” but taken literally. Alternatively, it could also represent a partner that leeches and drains energy from the other. This conclusion is drawn from the game’s usage of “sustenance” as a plot device for both the Beast and the Den.

I’ve heard a quote—and I’m not sure who to attribute it to as it’s been some years ago and I might be conflating one with the other, or a different individual entirely—from either Dr. Jordan B. Peterson (Ph. D in Clinical Psychology) or Dr. Orion Taraban (PsyD), describe this type of behavior in relationships described along the lines of “…if they could, they would slice you open and crawl inside you like a tauntaun from Star Wars just to be that much closer” (or something to that effect—I misremember the actual quote or lecture, as this was several years ago—I’ll try to find the actual video and post it here if I find it.)

(This paragraph: Where this relationship can be seen in real-life)

(This paragraph: Thematic analysis of the Beast, animalistic appearance, etc.)

WIP

WIP

Betraying the Soft Princess in Chapter I by either changing your mind and grabbing the blade but forgetting to lock the door, or attempting to slay her at any point after she bites her arm will result in Chapter II: The Witch, where the Princess being turned into an unwashed hikikomori girlfailure tsundere nekogirl squatting in the basement of an Akiya while doing her best to hide her Long Quiet dakimakura from view. (As you can see, being sent to Japan on unaccompanied orders can and will change the foundation of your psyche, and not for the better.)

From here, the player can either attempt to slay her--to which she will briefly say "Dubbed King of The Hill is better" (heresy!) before activating "Secret Technique: Pocket Sand," leading to Chapter III The Wild--or attempt to free her from the basement, to which the player will be given the option to betray her. If the player chooses not to, the Princess betrays the player regardless of who goes up the stairs first. This will result in the Player and the Princess making yet another John Wick reference and fall down the stairs, paralyzing both the player and the Princess.

Bringing the blade into the cabin but then choosing to surrender it to the Princess will result in the player being invariably--and predictably--stabbed in the heart by the Princess, resulting in Chapter III: The Thorn.

The Witch resembles less like a stereotypical fairytale witch and more like a housecat. Like a housecat, the Witch is not particularly trusting and is looking to get one over on the player as revenge for their betrayal. Her vindictive nature will ensure that no matter what action the player takes, the Princess will almost always end up betraying the player.

In the context of real-life relationships, the Witch symbolizes a relationship undergoing a "make-it or break-it" phase that could go either way. However this dynamic specific to the Witch is brought about through a betrayal of one's trust from one (or both) partners. In this type of relationship, both parties have subjected themselves to an emotional cold war and are mainly concerned about emotional (or ego) survival than connection.

This Paragraph: The fable of the Scorpion and the Frog and the game's reference to it in the steam achievements.

This Paragraph: Thematic analysis of The Witch.

Moral of the Witch's story: If you stab someone in the back, do not be surprised if all they see in you are daggers.

I would like to take this time to unilaterally declare that the Freed variation of the Thorn where the player kisses the Princess is canon, and nobody can tell me otherwise. Besides, this version has the most content, and betraying the Princess ends the chapter abruptly.

Having said all that, the story of the Thorn is by far the most satisfying enemies-to-lovers stories I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.



Moral of the Thorn's story: Forgiveness—like respect—is a two-way street.

Moral of the Prisoner's Story:

“I wake up in chains. You come to me, knife in hand. You give her your implement. I cut myself free.”

Moral of The Cage's story: We sometimes end up becoming the wardens of our own prisons.

Attempting to do a pacifist run by not bringing the blade into the basement, then continuing to click “[X MERCY]” even when the Narrator decides to take over the player’s body. The Princess then sees you’re struggling and takes the Pristine Blade from your hands and then proceeds to try her hand at spiritual trepanning—where instead of boring a hole in the player’s skull to exorcise spirits or cure headaches, she does it to your sternum in an attempt to free the player’s heart.

Unfortunately for the player, not only did she not mention she failed her TCCC course, she was dropped from Field Surgeon school after being re-cycled three times, all on account of her panicking on the tourniquet application prac-eval. Because of this, she nicked every major artery and vein imaginable in her attempt to conduct surgery on the last wound she inflicted to try and fix it. To make things worse, there isn’t a single IFAK in sight (not like any amount of hemostat, chest seals, or CATs would have saved you at this point, ngl). The Princess cries over his body, realizing the player was severely allergic to stab wounds and that she shouldn't have stabbed him 26 times in the chest. The player goes into anaphylactic shock before succumbing to knife-wound poisoning.

When the player awakes in Chapter II and goes to the basement, he is greeted with the undisputed best Princess in the game: The Damsel. She is similar in tone to the soft Princess in Chapter I, albeit a bit cheerier and unnervingly open to any suggestions the player makes, including cutting her arm off a second time. At any point, the player can slay the Princess, and strangely she will not resist and even welcome the player--but we'll get to that later.

Freeing her from her bindings will give the player the option to either leave the Cabin with her, or ask her what she wants to do. Both will open up the possibility to either submit the Damsel to the Shifting Mound, or progress to the route's logical conclusion, Epilogue: Happily Ever After. Choosing to ask her where she wants to go to dinner will result in her art style degrading and losing definition while her voice gets commensurately peppier. For the latter, she remains the same.

While I place the Damsel upon her throne as the Best Girl, the story of the Damsel is by far one of the least romantic stories in the entire game. If the Damsel as a personality could be condensed into an idea, it would have to be the song “Bimbo Doll” by Tila Tsoli.
The Princess in this chapter closely mirrors the type of personality Tila’s making social commentary about, albeit not in a sexually explicit and crass manner as Tila’s lyrics might suggest. The desire to dissociate from deeper understanding (and by extension responsibility) by using innocence as a shield, the superficiality of one's appearance and demeanor, and the want to be desired by others describe the Damsel perfectly.

"So why do you call her 'best princess' if she’s as shallow and her story not as romantic as you say it is?" you may ask. To that I respond: "I hear you, just let me finish eating this large chunk of drywall. You--uh, gonna drink that paint thinner?" To put it into words, the Damsel is the best Princess because while her story is flat and her personality is shallow, she is an absolute cinnamon roll. (Too good for this world, too pure.)

To elaborate, the Princess' decision to kill the player in Chapter I when the Narrator takes it over was a hard choice to make, from both the Prisoner and the Damsel's perspectives--especially the latter. In the service of having to avoid hurting the player again she suppresses the expression of her self-identity and holds on to the innocence she had when the player entered the basement unarmed in Chapter I.

Her innocence comes about from the denial of reality, but this act of obscuring oneself from reality comes at a cost. The price of which is that she has become an empty shell of a person, almost facade-like. While her appearance and demeanor are superficial, she puts real and genuine effort to whatever it is she's applied to and takes whatever's presented to her in as positive a light as possible. Even when the player changes his mind at the top of the stairs, the Princess makes no attempt to rush to the door even though it's within arm's reach, even knowing she's probably capable of leaving the cabin on her own--The Princess in this chapter wants to leave, but only if you're with her.

In short, while she's lacking much of the emotional depth or intelligence as the other Princesses, She is the most innocent and pure-hearted of the Princesses. Despite her superficiality, she does not have any ulterior motives and is also the most honest of the Princesses.

In the words of Viggo Tarasov, the Damsel is a Princess of focus, commitment, and sheer will. Okay, perhaps not the last one, but certainly the former two. Not a thought behind those beautiful eyes of hers, but she only wants two things: To make us happy, and to leave the cabin.

(something about a commentary on fairy tale depictions of "love" meaning "rescue," and the Damsel's reaction to the player suggesting to stay in the cabin ["But we'd have to stay here forever... I don't know you."])

(Explain that the Damsel’s self-erasure likely stems from her discomfort having to hurt the player in Chapter I, and her want to satisfy the player—and by extension the loss of her ability to express herself—lends to both physical and emotional disarmament)

(IRL examples: Self-erasure in mostly men in most long-term committed relationships—“Happy wife, happy life,” self-sacrifice for the family being the driving force behind career advancement, and similar sentiments, etc. in more modern arrangements; though also occurs with women in traditionally-aligned family settings, especially towards their own children.)

(Explain Statehood, Failed States, Sovereignty, and Autonomy as macro-scale expressions, then scale down to the individual level and then explain why the Damsel is at best a protectorate and a failed state at worst if she were a country)

(Tie with the Tower for an inversion of the relationship dynamic)

("Do I miss your heart because I can't stand to see it go?" can be taken two ways: Literally--unable to hit the Player's heart when Ch I Princess stabs you because she doesn't have it in her to hurt you, or Metaphorically--questioning the basis of her perceived need for the player's affection out of fear that she'll be alone without the player)



Moral of the Damsel’s story: If you live for others, you lose yourself.

Where do I start with Epilogue: Happily Ever After? I've personally experienced this type of relationship from both start to finish, however In my IRL run, my Princess was the one that pushed the blade into her own chest at the top of the stairs, metaphorically, speaking. (She's still alive and with someone else now, and I wish her all the best--in the words of the Shifting Mound herself, "this was a lesson I sorely needed.") This chapter put me through some hoops playing this the first time, let me tell you.

Were it not for my most recent encounter with my IRL version of the Eye of the Needle, this would have been more firmly burned into the back of my mind, but that doesn't mean that Happily Ever After didn't hit me like a fully-loaded BNSF train going 90mph downhill--to which it most certainly did. Anyhow, back to the analysis.

From Chapter II: The Damsel, there are two ways to get to this chapter. One is by hesitating at the top of the stairs. The other is by hesitating before fully deconstructing the damsel. Both these options are given just before the optional end of this chapter, and indeed one can simply ignore the options and proceed with gifting the (Deconstructed/)Damsel to the Shifting Mound.

However, hesitation--in the form of asking if the Princess would be happy staying in the cabin forever--will result in the Damsel expressing unease staying in the cabin. This will upset the Voice of the Smitten, who uses his reddit mod simp powers to make a Superman reference. however, given the Long Quiet has no clothes, he goes for the next best thing--which is your ribcage, ripping it open while ranting about how all she needs is to see the contents of your heart. When the Princess touches your exposed heart, the Voice of the Simp leaves your body and you die of cringe (and exsanguination, but we all know it's the former that did you in.) The Narrator says the thing and the screen fades to black.

You are greeted with a different title card than most, presenting itself as an "epilogue." Also, the Voice of the Smitten is absent. The voice that accompanies you and comments on the absence of the Smitten depends on if you went through with either Freeing or Deconstructing the damsel. For the former, it would be the Voice of the Opportunist. For the latter, it would be the Voice of the Skeptic (formerly Voice of the Paranoid.)

The cabin here is more like a gothic cathedral, and the stairs lead upwards to an attic instead of a basement. The "basement" itself is brightly lit, well-furnished, and adorned with tapestries depicting romantic scenes. At the end, the Princess is seated at the end of the table, and the two of you are forced into sitting by a mysterious shadow above the Princess (which is the Voice of the Smitten.)

At first, you are given the option to eat dinner. Eating the first time, you experience the best meal ever. However, as you keep repeating, the perceived quality decreases even though it's literally the same meal over and over until you can barely stand the meal at all. After voicing a dissatisfaction, one of the four torches fizzles out, and the to of you play a boardgame that grows in complexity the more you and the Princess play, but eventually grows boring. A second torch follows. The Princess then suggests to spend time together, but after the third torch dies, she grows anxious.

Unless you decide to keep the torches lit forever (which ends the chapter) the remaining choices will invariably cause the fourth torch to go out. The room is plunged into darkness, and the Voice of the Smitten disappears. The Princess breaks down into tears and cries. From here, you can slay her (ending the chapter) or the two of you can exit the cabin. If you attempt to slay her, the Narrator will be against it, though caving in to your decision. If you leave the cabin with her, he will say that he genuinely hopes the Player and the Princess' decision to leave was worth it.

When asked why the Narrator's suddenly had a change of heart, he only responds with:
This is the only instance where the Narrator changes his mind about slaying the Princess, and you can confront him about this before you reach the End of Everything.

If you asked the Princess to ignore the torches and focus on what she wanted, she'll respond by saying that what she really wants is to dance beneath the stars, but the only way she could do that is if she leaves this place. Upon leaving the cabin, she comments on how the stars are so beautiful, and the two of you share a tender dance before the Shifting Mound claims her at the end of it.

Now that we've gone over the events of the chapter, what is the Happily Ever after about? Well, one doesn't need to dig too deep to find it. Epilogue: Happily Ever after is very straightforward with what it's supposed to represent.

This chapter is a story of a relationship where both parties love each other deeply, though over time the ties that bind the relationship rot and wither away due to monotony. This is typical of most long-term relationships and marriages. I've heard the analogy that if someone puts even the finest piece of art near their front door, eventually that piece of art will eventually become part of the scenery. This analogy also rings true with both the events of the story and real-life relationships.

However, the game itself acknowledges that the challenge of boredom and monotony and the metaphorical chains they make can itself be overcome with the option of keeping the torches lit forever, or leaving the cabin and dancing beneath the stars.

(This paragraph: The rupture in this story and what it's supposed to represent, note the table, being seated across from each other yet separated by a large distance as a metaphor for obligation masquerading as intimacy)

(This paragraph: What slaying the Princess means)

(This Paragraph: Thematic Analysis of the Princess, esp. with the End of Everything)

Moral of the Happily Ever After's story: You can have too much of a good thing.

WIP

Fooling around by bringing the Pristine Blade into the cabin but not immediately rushing the Princess results in finding out in the form of the player learning that the Princess was not just any Waffle House employee--she was a manager. She lands a good hit to your head and you suffer a minor headache (I believe the technical term would be "severe acute blunt force trauma-induced subdural hematoma" according to “real” doctors).


The two of you fight with the grace of two drug-addled individuals in a Denny's parking lot, but after a quick respite, you assess the situation and see the Princess clearly having the advantage. Deciding to finish the job after the Princess turned your ribcage to jello will result in the player landing a decisive hit, driving the Pristine Blade into the Princess’ heart. However, you've had the unpleasant experience of having the equivalent of eight .30-06 black tip rounds hit the NIJ level III AR500 plate strapped to your chest and you collapse to the floor as a result. (Definitely regretting not getting Level IV UHMWPE/Silica composite plates and a trauma pad instead no doubt)

The two of you stare into each others’ eyes as you both expire, the Princess expressing her satisfaction in the mutual exchange by making a John Wick reference (she's a big fan of the first film,) followed by the Narrator announcing the chapter’s curtain call.


These actions result in Chapter II: The Adversary, an isekai world where the antagonist (and main love interest) is an Isuzu NPR in a maid outfit and cat ears, obsessed with running MC over (with love!) Here the cabin resembles the entrance to an arena, and the Princess taking a more demonic appearance, sporting horns, hoofed feet, and a forked devil’s tail. She expresses her relief with the player’s return and wishes to fight him again. When asked if she’s okay with the player freeing her, she announces her disinterest, and even demonstrates her ability to free herself, but chooses to remain in the cabin.

Should the player refuse to fight her by either doing nothing or running away, she will bring out the steel chair in the former case, or chase the player down, breaking the door at the top of the stairs, and then bringing out the steel chair. She will express her disappointment though, leading to a this route’s perversion, Chapter III: The Fury, which is shared with Chapter II: The Tower.

Attenpting to fight the Princess but failing will result in the player dying and leading to Chapter III: The Eye of the Needle—This route’s logical conclusion. If the player attempts to free the Princess however, the Narrator will protest by forcing the player to give the Princess the middle finger. Attempting to continue will result in the Princess giving the player the Mike Tyson Experience, killing him instantly.


While similar to the Razor—who also shares the theme of wanting to fight the player forever—the Adversary differs in that she views the player with respect enough to consider him as an equal to her. For the most part, there is a degree of the Princess wanting a consensual exchange in this chapter, though she will fight you regardless if you attempt to disengage.) This stands in stark contrast to The Tower, whom the Adversary had been contrasted to. Both the Tower and the Razor see themselves above the player, though in the Tower’s case, she wants a pet out of the player; for the Razor, she wants a toy.

According to Abrahamic theology, "Shaitan" or "Satan" is a Hebrew word that translates to "accuser" or, more pertinent to this: "Adversary." The chapter's name as well as her having demonic features is a clear nod to Christian/Hebrew/Islamic theology. Looking at the Tower’s “holy” depiction shows there is a shared biblical theme. This poses a couple questions: Why does the Adversary—who sees herself as equal to the player—represent the devil?

Well dear reader, this is where we dig deeper. The Adversary is a metaphor for a thrill-seeking, hedonistic relationship, and hedonism is largely seen by Abrahamic religions as a sinful endeavor. The Princess craving a fight is a representation for a lust-driven desire for excitement, which is seen in the beginning of most romantic relationships.

While it's normal to experience feelings of lust towards your partner, where the Princess goes astray is where she sees the dynamics backwards. In any interpersonal relationship, be it friends, family, lovers, etc. it is normal to see friction and conflict taking the form of in-jokes, banter, ribbing, and even instigated verbal exchanges. However, these social phenomena occur with the context of an established relationship built on a foundation of mutual connection.

Indeed, in most romantic relationships, heated arguments—despite expressions of animosity being thrown—are largely fueled by the fact that both participants care for each other, but are ultimately frustrated by one’s behavior or habits.

CLEAN THIS PARAGRAPH UP> The Princess does care about the player too, though how she expresses it requires a keen eye. Despite being stronger and faster than the player, she harbors a hidden respect for the player and treats him as an equal, and it shows itself with the Princess handing over the Pristine Blade after every engagement with her, despite having no clear incentive to do so if her goal was winning. However, her goal is to chase the excitement of a stalemate forever, and with this in mind, her propping the player up makes more sense in this light.

(NOTE TO SELF: Mention how she becomes disillusioned if you keep trying to fight her without the blade, resulting in route perversion. This is a metaphor for giving the Adversary a taste of her own medicine and letting her see early on how it changes someone, turning her off from pursuing further and leading to animosity.)

Adversary’s theme of physical strength may be an analogy for “coming off a little strong,” and it also carries on with the Eye of the Needle where she comes off too strong.

Moral of the Adversary's story: Love and hate have more in common with each other than one might think

WIP - Section in Staging, 1st Draft not complete


Full Disclosure, The Eye of the Needle hits me a little differently. Without revealing too much of my personal life, mfs say they want an Adversary/Needle GF until they actually get one (I'm 'mfs'.) Actually had to turn this one down, unfortunately. Even after that, she still kept pursuing for a year and a half. She even looked like the Adversary, minus the horns and goat-legs.

The Eye of the Needle is, when you dig past the surface, one of the most romantic Princesses in Slay the Princess, a close tie with The Thorn if the player decides to kiss her.

As the logical evolution of the Adversary, the Eye of the Needle is defined on the surface by the Princess' need to fight the player, although this has evolved to become a more obsessive form of that need for conflict. As elaborated earlier, "fighting" is an analogy for excitement. The Eye of the Needle takes this and dials it up to 11.

Similar to the Adversary, the Eye of the Needle shares the same demonic art style, but this time featuring more draconic features, notably dragonlike feet and a spiked lizard tail. Looking at her eyes, she has an intense and hungry glare towards the player, like how an unruly child eyes a toy they desire. Her clothes are torn and mangled, with her sleeves ripped off as her muscular arms jut out of them. Little remains of the once-elegant skirt the Princess had in Chapter I, revealing powerful and muscular dragon-like legs similar to that of her arms.


Dragon theme: Possible interpretations ("Chasing the dragon" and addiction, the story of "There Is No Such Thing As A Dragon," and biblical interpretation as the Devil is described as a dragon in Revelation, which is both the final book of the Bible and the final chapter of this branch in StP)

Choosing to bring the blade and losing against the Princess by taking the French approach to fighting will result in the Princess giving you what I call the “Dommy Mommy Treatment” (Trademark, Patent Pending). The interation is shown in the illustration I made using FreeForm while on break at work:


Returning to the cabin in Chapter II: The Tower, you find that you’ve been body-swapped with the one short friend you have (or if you’re short, everything just looks normal). Everything is comically huge, and getting the Pristine Blade from the high pedestal it’s on requires the use of a step ladder. Even the stairs to the basement are huge. Reaching the bottom, you see the Princess, and following the naming conventions of Hideo Kojima, she… towers… over you.

She proceeds to tell you to kneel, and regardless of your choice to follow or resist, the voice of the Broken takes over subconsciously and makes the player kneel. If the player left the blade upstairs, this chapter is on rails, and you’re essentially forced to submit the Tower to the Shifting Mound. If tje blade was brought down, however, this opens the door to either Chapter III: The Fury, or Chapter III: The Apotheosis.

Resisting the Princess with the blade will result in LowTierPrincess telling the player: “Your life means the world. You serve so much purpose. You should love yourself NOW!” This results in the Voice of the Broken experiencing so much love that it’s overflowing and he has to cut relief holes in the player’s chest to prevent it from bursting.


Moral of the Tower’s story: If you treat someone like royalty, they will treat you like a peasant.

Moral of the Apotheosis' Story: A benevolent dictatorship is still a dictatorship.

Choosing to be a timid, fence-sitting Virgin True Centrist (as opposed to being a pragmatic, nuanced Chad Radical Centristlike me) by choosing to neither slay nor free the Princess in Chapter I will result in the Princess becoming everything you’ve ever feared, leading you to become so scared, you die of a heart attack.

Jokes about politics and centrism aside (for now), the Nightmare is a Princess themed around fear. However, unlike her logical conclusion The Moment of Clarity (which we’ll get to later), this fear is one-sided and inflicted on the player. This fear originates from refusing to decide whether or not the Princess is dangerous or harmless, compounded by a refusal to make a decision, which the story demands.

Fear is not derived from certainty, but rather uncertainty—For example, the fear of being alone in the dark is not from the dark itself nor from being alone. Rather, the fear comes from the uncertainty associated with not knowing if one is truly alone, or that one may be isolated from any help should they come into danger. One might be secretly be accompanied by something in the dark, and what’s more there is a risk that whatever might lurk is not guaranteed to be harmless. A monster that you can see coming in front of you, while frightening in its own right is less frightening than one that you know is there and is approaching but cannot see. This is because with certainty (in this case vision,) one has more recourse than another with less certainty.

Going back to the Princess, why is refusing to make a decision to free nor slay the Princess one made out of fear? By refusing to make a choice, one is refusing to fully commit to an outcome, instead deciding to kick the can down the road (in this case, forever)

The Princess in The Nightmare doesn’t really do anything, compared to the other forms. In fact, the most violent act she does in this chapter is running her gloved hand gently across the player’s face. The pain the player feels in this chapter is definitely self-inflicted. In fact, the Princess here seems to almost be more of a side character, as the interactions between the Voice of the Hero and the Voice of the Paranoid seem to take center stage.

This leads me to believe that this Princess is likely to be a stand-in for a crush or somebody one would be afraid to let know what one’s true feelings are for them. In a professional setting or in a social circle, this may be someone you've been trying to gain approval from. This is evident in the second line in the Nightmare’s argument:


In this context, the fear of being rejected is used to shield oneself from the possibility of an emotional dagger being run through one’s back, as knowing someone (and in turn allowing yourself to be known) first requires them (and/or yourself) to be vulnerable. To let a crush know what you feel about them may not just end in rejection of one’s hopes for a romantic relationship, but potential ostracism from friend groups and social humiliation. This leads to people tending to “play it safe.” In a professional environment or social situation, it might manifest in the form of fearing your proposal, ideas, or views are rejected at best and ridiculed at worst. There is also the fact that familiarity breeds contempt, and it is the latter which someone might attempt to avoid, especially since it would come from someone that they hold dear.

Most everybody has encountered the Nightmare at multiple points in their life, and the Voice of the Paranoid reciting his mantra is an accurate representation of what goes through one’s mind.

Slaying the Princess will result in her becoming resentful and result in the Wraith, while choosing to remain steadfast in true centrism will result in the Moment of Clarity.

The Moment of Clarity is one of the more thought-provoking Princess variants despite this chapter being one of the shortest and being on rails.

Choosing to stay with your nightmare forever in the basement or throwing the Pristine Blade into the abyss in Chapter II: The Nightmare will result in the Princess making a Five Nights at Freddy’s reference. However, instead of mauling the player with tooth and claw the same way a famished polar bear would, she mauls the player with honesty, the same way a disgruntled, unmedicated, and hungover psychotherapist close to retirement would.

She calls the player out by calling him a cowardwith a tiny bird pp, followed by her literally dropping the mask and sharing her heart, leading to the player sharing his heart in return. The following scene plays out and is read by the Narrator, with the Princess demanding to be let out of the basement in between lines:


I’ve heard interpretations saying that this scene is one of the character’s nightmares, be it the Long Quiet, The Narrator, or the Princess. However, I have come to interpret that this scene encapsulates every character’s deepest fears. The first line, representing the endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth—the cycle the Narrator sought to end is the Narrator’s. The second line, representing change trapped in stasis is the Princess’. The third line, the illusion of constancy and comfort is the Long Quiet’s. Finally, the last line is the parts of the Long Quiet in the Princess, and vice-versa.

While the Princess in this scene is just as domineering as the Wraith in bending the player’s will to serve her own ends—which is to break free of the cabin and spread fear to the world—The Moment of Clarity does so seemingly with a veneer of gentleness and understanding. Arguably the Princess here represents one of the most healthy partner archetypes in the game. Despite the theme of fear serving as a layer of deception, the relationship between the Princess and the Player is the most harmonious type shown. Revisiting the Adversary/Eye of the Needle specifically, the Moment of Clarity is what one would get when the Princess’ backwards presumptions between the causal relationships regarding conflict, vulnerability, and intimacy in The Adversary are rearranged in the correct order.

The Moment of Clarity’s art style is represented by an ethereal black dress floating in space, with eight (formerly Three before the Pristine Cut) long gloves and a gaping void where the Princess’ face used to be under her mask, revealed when the mask she wears shatters on her ascent from the depths of the pit where the Basement once was.

Going on a tangent, there’s a hidden nod to Nietzsche, who is widely known for his contributions to existential philosophy (Nihilism, specifically), and his quotes about us murdering God, and about what happens when you stare into empty graves—I’m vastly oversimplifying, but the second one is what’s relevant here. Everybody I know seems to only know the latter part but not the former, so here’s the full quote:


Now looping back around: “How is this relevant to The Moment of Clarity?” I hear you ask. In seeking to trap the Princess, the player himself becomes trapped. In gazing into the abyss, the Princess stared back, and in her eyes the player saw his own fears along with hers.

Now, existential philosophy and Prussian-style mustaches aside, what kind of relationship does the Moment of Clarity represent? This chapter represents a relationship not unlike the Happily Ever After (in that both the Player and the Princess are implied to also have done everything possible, evidenced by the presence of every voice possible like in The Razor), but one that has a secure attachment built on the foundation of trust gained from brutal honesty and mutual vulnerability, which is something the Damsel lacked.

In real-life, such relationships are incredibly rare, as being honest and vulnerable opens one up to being hurt or taken advantage of, be it emotionally, financially, or otherwise. Finding someone that you could be honest and vulnerable with, who is also willing to be honest and vulnerable in return is nearly impossible as it requires honest growth and self-reflection, the same kind that was seen in the transition scene between the Nightmare and the Moment of Clarity.

The narrative depth (or lack thereof) for the Moment of Clarity is also telling, as this relationship had already gone through the trouble of hammering every problem beforehand, and there was logically only one conflict left to resolve, which was to let the Princess leave the cabin.

Now for the question you've been dying to know: Who is the Moment of Clarity supposed to represent? Well, the Moment of Clarity represents someone who you've not just come to love not because of their faults, but rather in spite of them--and someone who in turn also has chosen to spend the time to appreciate you in kind, warts and all.

Elaborate: This relationship is like getting back together with your ex (note what the Spectre says of you attempt to slay yourself after allowing her to “hitch a ride”)

(Joke about Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid here)
(Joke about Imagine Dragons here)
(Joke about “Here be Dragons” and “Dragon Deez Nuts” here)

Moral of the Princess And The Dragon: We are sometimes our own worst enemies.

The Razor route can be reached from Chapter I if the player first brings the blade to the basement then either wonders if she’s armed when confronting her for the first time or decisively slaying her but then trying to confirm the kill. In these two scenarios, the Princess will show the player that the only concealed carry weapons permit she needs is the Second Amendment.

Chapter II splits into two paths depending on if the player decides to bring or leave the blade in Chapter II, which will determine the appearance of the Pristine Blade in Chapter III and IV. When looked on a map, the Razor routes resemble a pair of scissors (NOTE TO SELF: GET ON POWERPOINT AND MAKE A ROUTE MAP THEN PLACE IT AFTER THIS PARAGRAPH)

The Razor is unique from every other Princess in that she is the only Princess who will attempt to lie to the player—Even The Witch, whose whole theme is centered around distrust and betrayal is more truthful than The Razor. Despite the grotesque acts she does against the player, she unflinchingly has a playful, childlike attitude throughout. She is also unique in that she is the only Princess that not only has a Chapter IV, but only ends in Chapter IV: Chapter II and Chapter III Razors cannot be brought to the Shifting Mound. In addition, No other Princess breaks past Chapter III.


Have I encountered the Razor in my personal life? Yes, but I never had the pleasure (or displeasure, given the luxury of retrospect) of being in a relationship with her—this one turned me down, but we remained close friends for a time until she got married. She even sounded like The Razor too.

The Razor is defined by the Shifting Mound as a “Piercing heart,” one that is both cruelty and joy. This Princess—regardless of “Mutually Assured Destruction” or “Empty Cup” variations will always be chipper and eager to inflict pain upon the Player. Though similar to the Adversary/Eye of the Needle, the dynamic of pain being inflicted is largely one-sided, and the Princess expresses panic once the tables flip in MAD:


The Razor shares some similarity with both the Adversary/Needle and Tower/Apotheosis. The Razor is closer to the latter than the former, as despite her wanting to engage with the player is also central to the Razor’s story as is the Adversary, the Razor doesn’t view the player as an equal, or something to be respected. In the Tower’s case, the Princess views the player as a potential “pet” or “priest,” whilst in the Razor, the Princess views the player as a plaything—something that exists purely to entertain her, and her playful demeanor is emblematic of that.

(No route corruption, as Razor’s goal is to mess with the player)

Refusing to go to the cabin entirely in Chapter I will result in you looping back to the original path to the cabin. If the player chooses to be steadfast in avoiding what The Voice of the Smitten calls “our destined confrontation with our star-crossed lover,” the Construct flips the table. On the third loop around, the player is greeted with the sight of a cabin peeking from the woods. Upon reaching the clearing, he sees an endless view of hills, paths, and cabins filling the screen. The player then remembers his debilitating Domatophobia and goes insane to the point where he dies.

In Chapter II, the player is thrust into the body of a regular West Berliner waking up to go to work in East Berlin on August 16, 1961. Cut into the woods is an impossibly large and wide wall surrounding the Cabin. Unfortunately for you, in this alternate reality the Tempelhof, Gatow, and Tegel Airports were not part of the Allied occupation sectors, which means you can't run away and have to go to the cabin.


Unlike the other chapters, there wasn't an opportunity for the Player nor the Princess to know each other. Given the Princess' nature as a creature of perception and the embodiment of transformation and presence--absent a person to perceive her to fit a specific role--she is forced to become everything at once.

Metaphorically, the Stranger represents a relationship that was either cut too short before anything meaningful could be established, or was never established at all. Unlike the other Princesses, this is a stand-in for what could have been. The Princess being every possible Princess all at once and the Long Quiet feeling every sensation and experiencing every choice imagining all at the same time are metaphors for the endless "what-if" scenarios that play in one's head.

Attempting to slay the Princess in Chapter II: The Prisoner will result in the player finding out that despite her name, the Prisoner does not take prisoners. (I stole this joke from a YT comment, I forgot where) Winning against her but refusing to take her head out of the cabin will end in the Narrator pulling the same stunt he pulled leading to The Spectre. However, after committing the Sewer-slide on the Voice of the Hero’s behest, the player is greeted with the title card for “Chapter III: The Grey.

While the Grey is technically a shared route, there exists two versions of this chapter: The Drowned Grey and the Burned Grey, and both are mutually exclusive. The Drowned Grey appears as a ghostly apparition wearing a mourning dress with veil, and this contrasts to her opinions of the relationship between the player and the Princess at this stage, referring to it metaphorically as “a forgotten place flooded by emotions left unspoken.”

Unlike every other chapter, The Grey does not represent a relationship. It instead represents the two types of breakups that can happen. In the case of the Drowned Grey, this kind of breakup is messy and fraught with sadness and resentment.

Choosing to slay the Princess in Chapter II: The Damsel will result in one of the most tragically comedic scenes in the game, where the Princess delivers the following line in the same bubbly and cheery voice:


The Voice of the Smitten will then flip the table and force the player to stab himself and bringing you to Chapter III: The Grey. However, unlike the Drowned Grey, it isn't raining. The Burned Grey appears as a ghostly apparition similar to the Drowned Grey, however this version of the Grey is wearing a wedding veil and has a cheerful voice and a willingness to speak to the player.

Just like the Drowned Grey, the Burned Grey represents a breakup. This type is an amicable, mutual break. This is noted in the second part of the Grey's Arguments (Refer to the introduction of this section if you need a refresher). The fact that the argument refers to these events warmly with the choice of words would lead one to correctly assume the Burned Grey represents an amicable breakup. The Cabin being referred to as a “memory,” The fact that the meeting between the Player and the Princess in this chapter is referred to as a “reunion,” and the past between the two referred as a “home built on all the futures supposed to be” that was “preserved,” and the final scene where the cabin is being burned by “the fire of the heart” are all hints of this present in the Burned Grey’s argument.

Upon attempting to exit the basement like in the Drowned Grey, the Burned Grey appears at the top of the stairs.Unlike the cold demeanor of the Drowned Grey, the Princess here still retains a happy tone to her voice and will respond to the player’s protests against being burned alive. The contrast between the Princess’ clothes also reflect her attitude towards the player—where the Drowned Grey looked like a mourner’s dress, the Burned Grey’s looks like a wedding dress. The direction of the implement the Princess uses to kill the player is also inverted—upwards from below in this version compared to the top downwards in the Drowned Grey.

(Elaborate: Symbolism of water as a cleansing implement, and fire as a purifying implement, Player dies going up in BG likely a nod to a funeral pyre and acceptance of the memory, and being dragged down and drowned a nod to a burial at sea and suppression of the ordeal. Also compare how the Princess looks at the player—With love on a level plane in BG, with disgust from above in DG.)

Just like the Stranger, the Wild is a peek behind the curtains way too soon. Within the Wild, there's various hints of the true nature of the Long Quiet and the Shifting Mound before the two were split in half by the person who would become the Narrator. The player can reach this shared route through Chapter II: The Witch and Chapter II: The Beast.

Either through unfortunate circumstance or by design, there is no mention of the next chapter in the Beast, but In the Witch, choosing to fight the Witch will result in the following line delivered by the Princess during the pause in the fighting, referencing the next chapter by name:

"Do you hear that, you pathetic little wretch? Those are the roots of the wild, and they're coming to choke the breath from your lungs and squeeze the life out of you!"[/code]

Compared to the previous chapters leading to the Wild, the Princess in this chapter seems to have done a complete 180. In the Wild, she is strangely empathetic and understanding with the player to a degree that makes it seem like it's overcompensatory. Other than leaving the Construct with the player, she only desires that the Player stay as one being with her. Upon being reminded of what happened to the player in the previous route, the Princess panics. Based on how the player reached the Wild, the first outburst's content will change:

(Introduction to The Long Quiet's Multitudes)

Mandatory: Appears regardless of player choice
Optional: May or may not appear in the chapter based on player choice

"We're not going to go through with this, right? She's a princess. We’re supposed to save princesses, not slay them."

Appearances:

The Voice of the Hero is the first voice that isn't the Narrator you hear at the start of the game.

"She’s getting ready to pounce. Move, now!"

Appearances:

"Oh, you're back! Just... as I intended! I-I was never cut out for leadership, really."

Appearances:

The Voice of the Opportunist is by far the absolute worst voice ever. Not in a "this character is badly written" way, quite the opposite. The Opportunist is written so incredibly well--one of the best written in my opinion--but the character itself I absolutely hate with how slimy and machiavellian he is, like a sleazy, yet highly convincing used car salesman, or Saul Goodman.

The Voice of the Opportunist--like the Stubborn--has one goal: That the player end up on top by any means necessary. However, unlike the Stubborn, the Opportunist puts an emphasis on "ANY means necessary" and does not shy away from (and even actively seeks) doing so through underhanded means.

The Opportunist is the most manipulative of all of the voices (The Narrator would rank higher than the Opportunist, but technically the Narrator isn't a part of you) and would stab the player in the back if it meant being on top (and he does!) He assumes leadership of the Long Quiet's body in Chapter III: The Princess And The Dragon in the player's absence, skewing a democratic session inside the player's head by stuffing the ballot with the Narrator's vote to stab the Princess, even with the knowledge the Player was trapped in the Princess' head as a voice.

"There’s something special about this loose chain."

Appearances:

"She’s gorgeous! Absolutely divine!"

Appearances:

Arguably the strongest voice in the entire game. The Voice of the Smitten is the only Voice that was able to reshape the Construct and escape from the player's body, living independently of the Long Quiet in Epilogue: Happily Ever After. I would argue that if the Smitten was present in the Apotheosis and his simping for the Princess was somehow forced to cease, it would have easily been no contest and the Apotheosis would have been absolutely demolished at the hands of the Omega Simp.

True to his name, the Voice of the Smitten is single-minded in his infatuation with the Princess and sees her as perfect regardless of what she does or what she looks like, where he says what the title of this section is when the Princess exposes her entire skeleton of blades in Chapter IV: Mutually Assured Destruction/The Empty Cup.

The Voice of the Smitten's main appearance is in Chapter II: The Damsel, gained after gaining the Princess' trust and keeping true to your sentiment to free the Princess in Chapter I.

"We’re not giving up that easy, now GET UP!"

Appearances:

"We’re all prisoners here. Some of us are just willing to embrace our chains."

Appearances:

"Heart. Lungs. Liver. Nerves."

Appearances:

"Oh, wow. How absolutely terrifying. What's a ghost supposed to do to us?"

Appearances:

"Ha! It’s our turn to flip the table!"

Appearances:

"Grab it, and throw it out the window! What use is a knife against a world-ending monstrocity?"

Reanalysis

-TLQ/TSM was made out of the cycle of life and death per Narrator (not the fabric of reality which I previously thought)
•TLQ contains life in his multitudes just as TSM contains death in hers
•As TLQ and TSM are exact opposites, TSM being transformation personified means TLQ is stasis personified
•We see the Princess/TSM is black lining upon white, whereas she sees us as white lining upon black, from PATD and Vessel argument preview (seeing through Her eyes)
•The Worlds Beyond will likely end even if TLQ slays TSM, but because TSM’s destruction means the end of death, people will live beyond the end of the world and into the next (Per Narrator: “A chance to live outside the shadow of the end”)
•The scene that plays out when The Nightmare transitions into The Moment of Clarity is TLQ's, TSM's, and The Narrator's nightmares combined.
--Construct Origin: Birth, death, birth again
--TSM: Decay
--TLQ: Bloom
--Narrator: A million microscopic stitches from a million microscopic wounds

Goes over metaphors and symbolism in the game, as well as influences from Christian, Taoist, and Buddhist teachings, along with Tony's background in Psychology.


(NOTES FOR SELF)
Sneak in an anti-centrism joke (bc the Princess says 'there is no center')

Buddhism: Reincarnation and suffering as a main driving force, Loops as Samsara and breaking free of the construct as Nirvana. "Intent is nothing, wisdom is everything. I turn the wheel because suffering is a falsehood, a delusion. It is up to the world to free itself of it." --SM achieves Nirvana through awakening and is attempting to drag TLQ to enlightenment via breaking free of the construct.

Christianity: Tower/Adversary, as well as the ghostly Princesses, architecture of the cabin interior of multiple Princesses resembling cathedrals, the concept of redemption in Spectre. Drowning and Burning in The Grey. The tragic story of the Narrator draws parallels to the Old Testament story of Moses ("The only way I could share my dream to the world was to never be able to see it for myself.").

Taoism: Yin and Yang present within the Long Quiet and Shifting Mound. SM being Yin, LQ being Yang, and the inverted colors of both Yin/Yang with LQ/SM both embody the concept of "a small part of one in the other," which is also in the lore as the "rough tear in reality" the Narrator made. Philosophy of "one being defined by what the other isn't." The Empty Cup story-wise

Psychology: Five loops represent the five stages of human development, and is evident with the way the Dormant Shifting Mound develops and how the Long Quiet changes whenever he approaches the mirror. Five stages of grief referenced when you refuse to continue for five loops in Chapter 2. Each of the Princess' variations also representing relationship archetypes.

Touching the Mirror: Represents self-reflection, voices disappearing is the destruction of one's ego after a significant transformation to the next stage.

This is a list of some trivia and details in the game that I've observed:

• The Princess
  
  • The Princess will always have a crown, though what it's made out of will change commensurate to what she transforms into.
    
  • The knife the Princess can kill the player with in Chapter I is the only other handheld weapon in the game apart from the Pristine Blade.
    
  • The only instance where the Princess attempts to prematurely free the player (but not herself) from the Construct can be encountered in Chapter III: The Apotheosis, where the Princess throws the player as her final act of grace towards the hole she tore through the Construct before being subsumed by the dormant Shifting Mound.
    
  • In the game files, there is a picture of a clown Princess with a balloon shackle, holding up a cream pie. the name of the image is "everything_goes_dark_and_youre_pied.jpeg"(sic).
    
  • In Chapter I, if the player decides to retrieve the blade from upstairs and then changes their mind and decides to lock the Princess away, her severed arm will appear floating near her and moving as though it's still attached.
    
  • The Razor is the only Princess that has a Chapter 4, and is also the only Princess whose branching routes cannot conclude in Chapters 2 and 3.
    
  • The Razor is also the only Princess that will attempt to lie to the player.
    
  • The Stranger is the only Princess without a Chapter 3. She also doesn't share a route with any other Princess.
    
  • The Happily Ever After is the only Princess that wears makeup, evidenced by her mascara trailing down when she cries. This effect is absent in all of the other Princesses when they cry or get teary.
    
  • The only time when the Pristine Blade is presented as an accoutrement is when it's worn as part of a necklace by the Happily Ever After.

• Cursor
  
  • If you pick up the Pristine Blade, your cursor shows your hand grasping the blade.
    
  • If you switch your grip on the Pristine Blade at the behest of the Voice of the Contrarian, the cursor will reflect this.
    
  • If the Razor gets bored and tries to kill the player in chapter 2 with the Pristine Blade, she will slice off your right hand immediately after you block her strike. your cursor switches to the left hand without the Pristine Blade.
    
  • If you resist the Princess with the Voice of the Paranoid in Chapter III: The Apotheosis wielding the Pristine Sword, your cursor will be seen gripping a sword instead of the normal dagger form of the Pristine Blade.
    
  • When the Princess digs her hand into the depths of the Long Quiet in Chapter III: The Apotheosis, the cursor changes to that of the Awakened Long Quiet at the End of Everything.
    
  • When you fuse with the Princess in Chapter III: The Wild, the cursor also changes to the Awakened Long Quiet.

• The Long Quiet
  
  • In The Princess and the Dragon, it's revealed that that your decision-making process in the game happens in real time.
    
  • The Long Quiet has pockets, despite not wearing any clothes (based on the line of questioning you can give the Narrator while in the woods in Chapter II: The Prisoner, his appearance in Chapter III: The Princess and the Dragon, and the remark from the Princess in Chapter II: The Adversary that his appearance does not change between chapters.)
    
  • The envelope containing “The Evidence,” and the handwritten letter are the only things in the game apart from the subtitles that contains lettering.
    
  • There is only one instance where all the voices are not hesitant and welcome the mirror, and that is at the conclusion of The Moment of Clarity.
    
  • There is only one instance where the Player inhabits another person's body, and that is during Chapter III: The Princess and The Dragon.

• The voices in your head
  
  • There are only six instances where all the voices are present in your head(I personally call this "Me and the boys" mode): Razor Chapter 4 (Empty Cup/Mutually Assured Destruction), The Moment of Clarity, and the 3 variations of the "Unending Dawn" Endings.
    
  • The Voice of the Smitten is the only voice that has demonstrated its ability to leave the player's body, and the only voice that is capable of molding the Construct (as evidenced in Epilogue: Happily Ever After)
    
  • There is only one instance where the Narrator admits he's wrong, and this is during Epilogue: Happily Ever After. If the player brings this up during the final conversation with the Echo, the Echo will write that version of him off as giving in to delusion.
    
  • There is only one instance where you have one less voice in your head, and that is in Epilogue: Happily Ever After. This is also the only chapter where a voice meets his end.

• The Cabin
  
  • The cabin in the Tower is the only variation in which an extra piece of furniture is inside the top of the cabin, that being the ladder.
    
  • There is only one chapter where you never set foot inside the cabin, and that chapter is the Apotheosis.
    
  • In Epilogue: Happily Ever After, the brightly-lit stained glass windows imply that it's daytime outside. This is the only instance where it's implied to be day inside the cabin.
    
  • Also in HEA: This is the only chapter where there is furniture inside the ‘basement’
    
  • Ditto: The dinner scene is the only scene where the player holds a handheld tool (a fork) that isn’t the Pristine Blade. Unfortunately, the cursor does not change to reflect.
    
  • The stairs lead upwards in Epilogue: Happily Ever After. This is the only instance where the stairs lead up to a second floor.
    
  • At the Heart of Things, if the Voice of the Contrarian is present and the player decides to throw the Pristine Blade out of the window, the blade gets stuck in the mirror with the point embedded in the shoulder of one of the Princesses that make up the Shifting Mound.

• The Woods
  
  • There are only two confirmed instances and one implied instance of daytime encountered in the woods, and both confirmed instances are encountered in the Burned and Drowned versions of Chapter III: The Grey. In Epilogue: Happily Ever After, it's implied that it is daytime outside of the cabin at the start.
    
  • There is only one instance where rain is encountered, and that is during Chapter III: The Grey, with the Drowned Grey.

• The Worlds Beyond
  
  • There are only three instances where the player can see the unchanged worlds beyond, and that is during Chapter III: The Wild, Chapter III: The Apotheosis, and the "There are no endings" ending.
    
  • The state of the Worlds Beyond and how it's presented vary from ending to ending. Freeing the Princess will portray it as a kaleidoscopic vision of grass sprouting from the earth. Slaying the Princess will reveal it to be a red dwarf. Eliminating the Princess entirely will show a lakeview with a singularity in the far distance.

(Ending statements) (WIP)

This game is an absolute masterpiece. A beautiful blend of storytelling, hand-drawn art, writing, voice acting, and music. It's because of this that I will never not be an unpaid shill for Slay the Princess, screaming praises of it from every rooftop I can pen-test my way into and proselytizing my IRL friends, family, and acquaintances of this game with the same fervor as a frenzied 15th-century portuguese missionary.

My Top 5 Favorite tracks (in order):
1. Transformation
2. It Was Always That Easy
3. I Meant It
4. The Apotheosis
5. The Princess

Near the end of the game, assuming the Player decided to engage the Shifting Mound in a battle of wits at the End of Everything, the Princess will monologue

The Mirror, the Pristine Blade, the Woods, and the Cabin.
The fact that the player stays the same, why the Princess is always a Princess despite her ability to morph into anything