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THE EXPERIENCE OF THE VESSELS WITHIN THE SHIFTING MOUND'S MULTITUDES

companion analysis post

What are the "Vessels," and how do they compare to "People," conceptually? What is their experience, both before and after assimilation into the Shifting Mound's Multitudes? What does it feel like?

What are the Vessels, to Shifty?

THE GIFT OF A FRAGILE VESSEL: A PERSPECTIVE

THE ENTITY - Something finds me in the Long Quiet and brings me the gift of a fragile vessel. [...] Nerves and fibres to feel the worlds beyond. Perspectives to make my own.

FRESH PERSPECTIVES, NEW AVENUES OF EXPRESSION

• (Explore) "Are you the same being as you were before? How much have you changed?" THE ENTITY - Is a child the same as an infant? I am an unbroken pattern, but every vessel gifts fresh perspectives and carves new avenues of expression. 'I' am different, but I am the same.

THE LIVES YOU'VE BROUGHT ME: SHORT, VIOLENT, FULL OF PASSION. IMPERMANENT FLICKERS.

THE ENTITY - Rhetorical. I am not rhetorical. I have only known these spaces, and I have known flickers of the lives you've brought me. Short and violent and full of passion. But all of these flickers end where The Long Quiet begins.

"DO NOT MOURN HER"

...she is part of something greater. ...she is exactly where she needs to be. ...she has served her purpose. etc.

To Shifty, the vessels are containers (bodies) for singular perspectives that She might make Her own. These vessels are fragile, and their lives are short. Each flicker of a life, inevitably, ends.

What are People, to Shifty?

A PERSON: A SINGULAR PERSPECTIVE

• (Explore) "I'm a person." THE ENTITY - A person. A set of eyes witnessing from one perspective. [...]

PEOPLE: IMPERMANENT, FRAIL THINGS TOO SMALL FOR US

[IF MOST ROUTES ENDED TRAPPED] • (Explore) "Do you think there are people out there?" THE ENTITY - It doesn't matter if there are. People are [IF SATISFIED: too small for us / IF NOT: frail and impermanent]. You and I are the only things that interest me.

"A WARMTH AND SADNESS IN ME AT THE THOUGHT OF PEOPLE"

[IF MOST ROUTES ENDED IN FREEDOM] • (Explore) "There's trees, and stars. And there are people, I think. At least there are supposed to be people." THE ENTITY - There is a warmth and sadness in me at the thought of people. Fresh tears on a winter's day. They are not like us. They do not last.

To Shifty, a person is a set of eyes able to witness from a singular perspective. People are frail, and their lives are impermanent and do not last.

What differentiates a person from a vessel?: The vessels are people; they meet every criteria. Shifty uses slightly different words, but regardless of Her personal attitude towards them and the dehumanizing connotations of Her language, the vessels, the Princesses, are still people. They are fragile/frail, their lives are impermanent/short, they both have singular perspectives. But there is a warmth and sadness in Shifty at the thought of people; a grief She may feel for the impermanence of their lives. People do not last, and She mourns them. The vessels do not need to be mourned; they do not deserve it. The vessels are people in all ways... except for the fact that Shifty refuses to see them as such. They are extensions of Her. No more. But they weren't always, no matter how She makes it sound.Read between the lines:

Perspectives She Makes Her Own, Into Parts of Herself; An Irreversible Change

PERSPECTIVES TO MAKE HER OWN

• (Explore) "The gift of a fragile vessel?" THE ENTITY - Yes. Nerves and fibres to feel the worlds beyond. Perspectives to make my own.

MAKING HER A PART OF YOURSELF, SOME CHANGES THAT CAN NEVER BE UNDONE

• (Explore) "Are you the Princess?" THE ENTITY - She is part of me, and part of me is her. • (Explore) "But were you always the Princess, or are you just making her a part of yourself?" THE ENTITY - You speak in circles. Does it matter where one things begins and another ends? • (Explore) "Let her out of there!" THE ENTITY - I'm sorry. There are some changes that can never be undone, there are some tears that can never be unshed. This is not a place that can hold a fragment of a concept. The moment she arrived here, she was going to return to me. THE ENTITY - I promise that it doesn't hurt.

BRING MORE PERSPECTIVES [VESSELS] SO I MAY BE WHOLE

THE ENTITY - There is no exit, but this vessel is a creature of perception. She can make you forget, if only you believe her to be able to. THE ENTITY - Bring me more perspectives, so that I may be whole, and perhaps then we will know our freedom.

SOMETHING SHAPED LIKE ME, SOMETHING EMPTY I CAN CRAWL INSIDE OF.

Resistance. Fingers drag claws across the glass surface of your soul. Frustration. 'This vessel is full of you. I need something empty I can crawl inside of. I need something shaped like me.'

These are perspectives that the Shifting Mound makes Her own. Note the active verb in these sentences; note how She refers to it as a "change" that can never be undone. It is not the vessel that is missing parts of itself, without Shifty. It is Shifty that is missing a part of Herself, without the vessel. The vessel is a whole and independent entity; in fact, Shifty though Shifty claims "the moment she arrived here [in the Long Quiet], she was going to return to me," Oblivion proves that vessels can be lost to the Shifting Mound. It's possible to not incorporate them. What becomes of the vessels, lost in the textured folds of the nothingness of the Long Quiet, is uncertain and unknown. But they are certainly independent. And those independent Princesses will remain independent until Shifty claims them. And then... they are changed. Their perspective consumed. Emptied out. Crawled inside of.

PERSPECTIVES I HAVE ALREADY MADE MY OWN; VALUE: USELESS

• (Explore) "When I go back, it's as if an invisible wall closes around me. Why can I not do the same things I've done before?" THE ENTITY - Those paths lead to worlds you've already seen, and to perspectives I have already made my own. They are useless to us now. Inaccessible. The only paths of value are those that are yet untread.

USELESS IF IT DOESN'T BRING NEW GIFTS.

Shifty does not value the perspectives She has already subsumed. Their purpose is to be taken in as a singular gift and never re-visited or lingered upon. Shifty sees no value in retreading a path, even if it could very well lead into a new outcome. No. It is useless. She makes it inaccessible. She regards the concept, interpretating from the sharply negative connotation of Her dialogue, with some level of frustration, possibly even apathy or disinterest or distain.

"SHE HAS SERVED HER PURPOSE" "SHE IS EXACTLY WHERE SHE NEEDS TO BE" "SHE ASKS THAT I TELL YOU TO REMEMBER HER" "NOT REALIZING THAT WE ARE ONE"

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Damsel]?" THE ENTITY - This one is soft and delicate. You molded her to love you, and she'll make for a gentle heart. Do not mourn her. She has served her purpose. • (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Deconstructed Damsel]?" THE ENTITY - This one is a reflecting pool of desire unfulfilled. She will make for a pliant heart. Do not mourn her. She has served her purpose.

Shifty has many things to say about her vessels, the vast majority of them being poetic, even sympathetic to the Princess' life story. But Damsel, the Princess that suffers the least and experiences the last pain in her journey towards freedom, who has the greatest capacity for joy and pleasure and simple comfort... is not given that same love. The Entity describes Damsel like an object, one She is apathetic to and doesn't care even remotely to see through the eyes of. Damsel has a unique perspective. It's a life without pain. With minimal conflict. With a promise of future happiness. Shifty wants, breathes, needs conflict. So much of Her, in the End of Everything, is defined by Her complete belief that conflict, struggle, and pain are what grant life meaning. That Her trauma and Her responses to that trauma define who She is. Damsel, to Shifty, is something that has yet to be textured; something blank, blind optimism making for a bland and boring existence. It serves its purpose. She cares for it little beyond that.

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Prisoner]?" THE ENTITY - This one is determined, but also cautious, one that would rather let the world move around her than move it herself. She will make for a patient heart. Do not mourn her --- she is exactly where she needs to be. • (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Razor]?" THE ENTITY - This one is single-minded edge. She is cruelty. But she is also joy. She will make for a piercing heart. Do not mourn her --- she is exactly where she needs to be. • (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Moment of Clarity]?" THE ENTITY - This one is a waiting maw. An inevitable destination where all roads end. She will make for a wise heart. Do not mourn her --- she is exactly where she needs to be.

Commonalities between these three Princesses is a certain unhealthy degree of detachment. Prisoner sits in silence in the cabin's basement for an eternity, seeming not to think of act at all, simply dissociating through the passing of an age as she waits for the barriers around her to crumble, erode, and fall. The Moment of Clarity takes a more active approach against a more humanized jailor, tormenting them ceaselessly until their will is broken by the force of the trauma and stolen away by her---the both of them shattered by the experience, and Quiet rendered no more than an object or tool. The Razor also tortures Quiet ceaselessly, turning them into gorey ribbons again and again until each life bleeds into death bleeds into life and back again as they feel every inch of burning pain that slices its way through their body---the Razor rendered no more than an object or weapon, and Quiet her target of choice. In each of these instances, both Quiet and The Princess are stuck together in the basement with no truly meaningful interactions while the reality around them erodes. A single-minded edge of cruelty and joy, a waiting maw where all things inevitably end, and a will the world will move to. These are aspects of patience and wisdom by the Shifting Mound's perspective. Exactly where they need to be.

THE ENTITY - She asks that I tell you to remember her. THE ENTITY - You won't.

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Adversary]?" THE ENTITY - This one yearns to grow and struggle. Even now I feel a will pushing against mine, not realizing that we are one. She will make for a bold heart. THE ENTITY - Do not mourn her. We will provide her with the growth she fought for.

"NO," SAYS APOTHEOSIS

APOTHEOSIS - After everything I cast aside on my path to ascension... What remnant of the old could possibly be left to defy me? You look down. At the Princess' feet writhes a shifting mound, a mass of hands clambering over each other, crawling their way up her body. They start to pull. Apotheosis - NO! The mound becomes a sea, and the Princess struggles to stay afloat, to keep the two of you close to the hole in the world and the light of the something beautiful beyond. But she is drowning. As the sea rises, she pulls you from her shoulder and holds you above the tide. You turn back to look at her. APOTHEOSIS - I think... this is the end. I can feel every part of me freezing over. Hands reach over hands, pulling at her face. Dragging her down into their frigid depths. She is tired, and life fades from her eyes. THE ENTITY - Do not mourn her, for she has finally found her light.

"I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE," SAYS THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE

THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE - What is this place? Where are we? This... doesn't feel right... THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE - This is just another place. I don't care about places! I only care about you! Is this what you wanted? For me to see this? Fine then! I've seen it! Are you finally going to come back? Are we finally going to fight? THE NARRATOR - She readies her powerful legs to charge you, but then... she slumps. THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE - But... I don't feel like fighting anymore. I'm... cold. It feels like this is where I'm supposed to be, like stepping out of that door was some driving purpose I've long forgotten, but I don't want to be here. I don't want to be here! THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE - I'm so... confused. THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE - I'm sorry. It's cold. THE ENTITY - Do not mourn her. She has finally remembered what she thought she'd lost.

"SHE IS ONLY A VOICE"

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Beast/Den]?" THE ENTITY - This one is consumed by instinct. [...] She wishes me to devour you. To make you a part of myself. But she is only a voice. Do not mourn her, for she is part of something greater.

"CONVINCED HERSELF SHE WAS ONLY A SET OF EYES [...] SHE IS NOW WHAT SHE WISHED THAT SHE COULD BE."

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Cage]?" THE ENTITY - This one is a body that convinced herself she was only a set of eyes. She will make for a watchful heart. Do not mourn her. She is now what she wished that she could be.

Note: The Shifting Mound pretends the vessels are mere objects, nothing worthy of note or care or mourning. She claims they are only perspectives, only thoughts or feelings, things that inform Her being but are ultimately beneath Her in all ways. But this is not the case. The vessels, all of them, are all people; and there is no one lone perspective granted superiority over the rest. It is clear, from how Shifty's attitudes change depending on the Princesses' overall satisfaction, that they do influence Her. It is clear that they, even after being subsumed, must retain some degree of independence and autonomy. The first vessel begs Her to tell us to remember her---to mourn her! Both Apotheosis and The Eye of the Needle fight against Shifty, either physically struggling not to drown in Her Tides as Apotheosis does or mentally struggling against the eldritch desires of Her Cold as Needle does. "No," they say, "I do not want to be here." Adversary's will continues to fight and struggle against Shifty. It is not that she doesn't realize that she and Shifty are now one; it's that she refuses to believe that she and Shifty are one. She wishes to be whole on her own. She wishes to grow on her own. To be autonomous and alive; and the Cold of the Multitudes' Seas are not alive in the way Adversary fought for. Beast and Den are hungry, still, and their desires rise from the multitudes enough to influence Shifty; to voice the desire to "make Quiet a part of Herself," the same way She "made [the vessels] Her own," and for those voices to be so strong that Shifty is compelled to comment on them. They are NOT "only a set of eyes." They are people. That is just what Shifty prefers to value them as.

What Does It Feel Like?

"PERSPECTIVES MELD TOGETHER; IT FEELS CORRECT"

• (Explore) "What does it feel like to change like this?" THE ENTITY - [...] Perspectives meld together, and the breadth of my experience stretches to new corners. There are contradictions, conflicts in my nature. And there are familiarities that bind everything together. THE ENTITY - It feels correct. This is what I need to be. This is the only path forward.

"THEY ARE NOT ME; THEY INFORM MY BEING. WITHOUT THEM, I WOULD BE AS I WAS BEFORE. I CANNOT BE AS I WAS BEFORE."

• (Explore) "I don't want to hurt you, but the more times I go back, the worse I fear things will be." [IF PRINCESSES ARE DISSATISFIED] THE ENTITY - There is a hurt that dwells in them, but they are not me. They are thoughts and perspectives. They are feelings that inform my being. [Continued response.] THE ENTITY - The wounds they've suffered carve texture around my heart. Without them, I would be as I was before. THE ENTITY - I cannot be as I was before. There are new spaces that I must fill.

SHIFT AND RESHAPE, CHANGING AND "THE SAME"

MULTITUDES ENDLESSLY COMPETE WITH THEMSELVES

QUIET THOUGHTS, EMPTY MINDS, CONSTANTLY SHIFTING INTO SOMETHING NEW

Strip the language of its poetry and metaphor and look at this eldritch, cosmic horror for what it is from the mortal perspective. From the perspective of vessels that believed themselves to be individuals, believed themselves to be mortal, and believed themselves to be people. A single set of eyes witnessing from one perspective, each. Individual women with a common, shared origin go through a horror story of their own. They change, they transform, often in ways they do not understand and sometimes in ways they detest, but in a way they must wholly identify with. Who they are is different than who they were, but all of them ultimately come out the other side still believing in themselves and their identity and the title of "Princess." Some of those stories' endings are happy, are tragic, do not feel like endings at all but instead new beginnings. And then they are claimed. Claimed by something beyond them, something they cannot understand. Something they are most often terrified by, in the brief moments before their consumption. Something that makes them feel cold, that freezes them over and steals their lives away... and takes them for its own. Their perspectives. Their souls. Their bodies. Used and puppeteered like dolls. The traumas they experienced in their lives stolen and claimed by something that was never there, that can only ever see through their eyes at best in second-hand. The core of their being used for texture, context, sensation, decoration, flavor for another's existence. And each of those women is stripped of their names. Their titles, because they never really had a name. Dehumanized into vessels, then into merely emotions and thoughts and perspectives. And those perspectives are blended together into one great mass, a multitude converging into one great big idea, trillions of drops of water losing their individual forms to become merely part of a larger Ocean. A sea whose tides converge, push, ebb and flow against each other and change so vastly that they cannot be comprehended. The Sea continues to expand, to grasp and pull in more and more perspective, gravity increasing with each new mass added to the Mound. The multitudes, each and every part of it, is sentient. They are awake. They are aware. They are not themselves. But they retain just enough to have memory of who they used to be. To hold desires that clash against other members of the network. For those so-called "empty" minds to have allegedly "quiet" thoughts. To continue, somehow, to influence this great Ocean that consumed them. If they're strong enough, that influence is great enough to be noticed and commented on---but never fully recognized. They are not Her. She simply made them a part of Herself.

The Nature of Infinity Is That Choices Are Lies We Tell Ourselves

OUR CHOICE IN VESSELS CARRIES MORE MEANING THAN WORDS

• (Explore) "Everything you say feels like a riddle. Can you give me a single straight answer?" THE ENTITY - I'm sorry. Words are... difficult for me. They never fully weave what I wish to say. If you do not like my answers, then you need not ask me questions. THE ENTITY - The vessels you choose to bring me carry far more meaning than anything words could say in the spaces between.

GRAVITY WILL PULL THE OTHERS BACK TO ME

• (Explore) "How many more vessels do I need to bring you?" THE ENTITY - One. Whatever you bring me next will be enough, and then gravity will pull the others back to me. I will be singular. A final multitude.

so, if we cannot choose which vessels you carry and which you do not... what meaning do those other vessels have?

#slay the princess #stp #stp analysis #stp shifty #stp the shifting mound #overthinking tsm #stp vessels

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overthinkit-underscore · 1 day ago

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ANALYSIS:

discovering new character and thematic parallels between Prisoner, Razor, Clarity (erosion); Fury, Wounded Wild (rejection, separation); Burned Grey, Apotheosis (devotion, light, "holy matrimony"); Thorn, Wraith (loneliness); and Tower, TPATD (empathy versus extensions of the self)

"Do not mourn her --- she is exactly where she needs to be."

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Razor]?" THE ENTITY - This one is single-minded edge. She is cruelty. But she is also joy. She will make for a piercing heart. Do not mourn her --- she is exactly where she needs to be.

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Moment of Clarity]?" THE ENTITY - This one is a waiting maw. An inevitable destination where all roads end. She will make for a wise heart. Do not mourn her --- she is exactly where she needs to be.

In each of these instances, both Quiet and The Princess are stuck together in the basement with no truly meaningful interactions while the reality around them erodes. A single-minded edge of cruelty and joy, a waiting maw where all things inevitably end, and a will the world will move to. These are aspects of patience and wisdom and the joy to be found in cruelty by the Shifting Mound's perspective. Exactly where they need to be.

"She is now only a set of eyes."

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Cage]?" THE ENTITY - This one is a body that convinced herself she was only a set of eyes. [...] Do not mourn her. She is now what she wished that she could be.

This idea is functionally incompatible, except from an eldritch perspective wholly disconnected from the true desires these Princesses hold and what it means to truly live, with the following thoughts on the next few vessels:

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Adversary]?" THE ENTITY - This one yearns to grow and struggle. [...] Do not mourn her. We will provide her with the growth she fought for.

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Spectre]?" THE ENTITY - This one is [...] a dream of a life she could never have. [...] Do not mourn her --- she will finally be able to hold what she never knew.

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Stranger]?" THE ENTITY - Do not mourn them --- for they will finally get to know themselves.

"She has finally found peace." [Fury & Wounded Wild: missing pieces of themselves, exposed hearts, rejection]

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Wounded Wild]?" THE ENTITY - This one is like a shadow of me, a memory of what she used to be, bound to the wounds of distance and time. [...] Do not mourn her. She has finally found peace.

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Fury]?" THE ENTITY - This one is desecration. She placed the weight of her agony on you, yet it is she who unwound herself. There is passion and empathy buried under her unfeeling skin.

"She isn't alone anymore." [Thorn & Wraith: Loneliness]

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Thorn]?" THE ENTITY - This one yearns for connections she feels she doesn't deserve. Even when shown compassion, she hid herself away. [...] Do not mourn her --- she isn't alone anymore.

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Wraith]?" THE ENTITY - This one is loneliness turned to seething. She could not find her strength in others, so she found it in herself. [...] Do not mourn her --- she isn't alone anymore.

A deep loneliness, self-inflicted or otherwise, that either tenderizes one's heart into something compassionate or seethes beneath the surface of one's soul until they become wholly self-reliant.

"She has finally found her light." [B. Grey & Apotheosis: Devotion, Light]

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Burned Grey]?" THE ENTITY - This one is passion betrayed. But even in the end, her love never faded. [...] Do not mourn her, for she has finally found her light.

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Apotheosis]?" THE ENTITY - This one sits at the cusp of awakening. A new god, waiting to be born. [...] Do not mourn her, for she has finally found her light.

Burned Grey is the Broken to our Apotheosis. We are the Burned Grey to Apotheosis's Smitten.

Unable to Mourn You, Would Not Mourn Yourself [Tower & TPATD: Extensions of the Self, Parts of a Whole]

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Tower]?" THE ENTITY - This one is dominance. A figure capable of bending everything to her will. Do not mourn her, for she would not be able to mourn you.

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [The Princess and The Dragon]?" THE ENTITY - This one is perspectives bleeding into one. You know her better than you know yourself. Do not mourn her, for you would not mourn yourself.

In The Princess And The Dragon, we set our eyes in the Princess' perspective and learn the whole of her experience. In Tower, the Princess pushes her perspective onto ours and turns us into an extension of her will. Tower wouldn't mourn us because we're too insignificant, just a stair on the way to ascension. But Shifty's assertion that we not mourn ourself... is wholly subjective, and quite cruel. I would mourn PATD. I would mourn parts of me that are no longer there, too. Either Shifty or Quiet --- perhaps even the both of them --- feels regret, in Oblivion, when a vessel is lost for the first time. Just a fragment of the concept... but we can still mourn them.

Sidenote: Swapping the Final Conclusions for Nightmare and Spectre

note: it just makes more sense for Shifty to comment on how Spectre's finally found her way home, with how the entirety of Chapter II - The Spectre plays out. her final words are made commenting on how she's found where "she's meant to be," the exact phrase she defines "home" as while in the basement. Nightmare, comparatively, makes a grand total of zero allusions to home in her life... and Shifty actually comments on knowledge in her thoughts on Nightmare, too. Which far better relates to the idea of "holding what she never knew." note: thoughts on Spectre become a story of a ghost with a great longing for a home she could never have, now finally granted to her with her assimilation to the multitudes. note: thoughts on Nightmare become a story of a sad doll who never knew how to be kind, only to hurt, now learning within the multitudes what "companionship" might mean.

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Spectre]?" THE ENTITY - This one is vaporous. She is a dream of a life she could never have, but that longing has given her so much capacity for kindness. She will make for a yearning heart. THE ENTITY - Do not mourn her. She has finally found her way home.

• (Explore) "What are your thoughts on this vessel [Nightmare]?" THE ENTITY - This one is filled with sadness. A doll abandoned to the company of her darkest impulses. She desires only companionship, but the only thing she knows is how to hurt. She will make for a tender heart. THE ENTITY - Do not mourn her. She will finally be able to hold what she never knew.

fascinating that Spectre becomes kind when denied a life and Nightmare becomes cruel. almost like suffering is not the universal agent of change that Shifty acts like it is? unless the moral is that it's better to be dead than alone...?

Slay the Princess's Intermissions Dialogue Analysis

THOUGHTS ON THIS VESSEL

To compare and contrast Shifty's evaluation of our gifts.

This one is... [objectification; evaluation on the basis of metaphor and meaning]

[BEAST] …consumed by instinct. A predator pushing those around her to adapt. [DEN] …consumed by instinct. A dancer moving to the rhythm of the flesh. [WITCH] …hope marred by bitterness and betrayal. [NETWORKED WILD] …like a shadow of me, twisting vines in search of answers. [WOUNDED WILD] …like a shadow of me, a memory of what she used to be, bound to the wounds of distance and time. [SHACKLED PRISONER] …determined, but also cautious. One that would rather let the world move around her than move it herself. [DECAPITATED PRISONER] …cold and cynical. [CAGE] …a body that convinced herself she was only a set of eyes. [FREED CAGE] …a locked door to which you held the key. [DROWNED GREY] …guarded sorrow. [DAMSEL] …soft and delicate. [DECONSTRUCTED DAMSEL] …a reflecting pool of desire unfulfilled. [HAPPILY EVER AFTER] …a songbird in a cage of gilded shadows. [BURNED GREY] …passion betrayed. [TOWER] …dominance. A figure capable of bending everything to her will. [APOTHEOSIS] …a new god, waiting to be born. [FURY] …desecration. [NIGHTMARE] …filled with sadness. A doll abandoned to the company of her darkest impulses. [THE MOMENT OF CLARITY] …a waiting maw. An inevitable destination where all roads end. [SPECTRE] …vaporous. [THE PRINCESS AND THE DRAGON] …perspectives bleeding into one. [WRAITH] …loneliness turned to seething. [STRANGER] …a contradiction. A winding kaleidoscope of paths unwalked. [RAZOR] …a single-minded edge. Cruelty, but also joy.

She... [personification; evaluation on the basis of their desires and life experiences]

[BEAST] …wishes me to devour you. To make you a part of myself. But she is only a voice. [DEN] …wishes me to devour you. To make you a part of myself. But she is only a voice. [WITCH] …could see the end of the tunnel, and the door was closed on her. [THORN] …yearns for connections she feels she doesn't deserve. Even when shown compassion, she hid herself away. [DECAPITATED PRISONER] …has protected herself when others could not. [DROWNED GREY] …saw herself as alone, but in the end had the courage to share with another. [BURNED GREY] …But even in the end, her love never faded. [ADVERSARY] …yearns to grow and struggle. Even now I can feel a will pushing against mine, not realizing that we are one. [EYE OF THE NEEDLE] …remembers a spark lost in time, and she would stop at nothing to reclaim it. [APOTHEOSIS] …sits at the cusp of awakening. [FURY] …placed the weight of her agony on you, yet it is she who unwound herself. There is passion and empathy buried under her unfeeling skin. [NIGHTMARE] …desires only companionship, but the only thing she knows is how to hurt. [SPECTRE] …is a dream of a life she could never have, but that longing has given her so much capacity for kindness. [WRAITH] …could not find her strength in others, so she found it in herself. [STRANGER] …They are stretched into a shape not unlike me, but it is a shape they cannot hold.

You... [acknowledgement of our perspective and/or our actions]

[DAMSEL] …molded her to love you. [THE PRINCESS AND THE DRAGON] …know her better than you know yourself.

She will make for... [overall evaluation based on what Shifty takes from them; their meaning, to Her]

[BEAST] …a cunning heart. [DEN] ..a ravenous heart. [WITCH] …a righteous heart. [THORN] …a cautious heart. [NETWORKED WILD] …a curious heart. [WOUNDED WILD] …a scarred & beautiful heart. [SHACKLED PRISONER] …a patient heart. [DECAPITATED PRISONER] …a clever heart. [CAGE] …a watchful heart. [FREED CAGE] …an open heart, if you let her. [DROWNED GREY] …a deep heart. [DAMSEL] …a gentle heart. [DECONSTRUCTED DAMSEL] …a pliant heart. [HAPPILY EVER AFTER] …an honest heart. [BURNED GREY] …a bright heart. [ADVERSARY] …a bold heart. [EYE OF THE NEEDLE] …a burning heart. [TOWER] …an overwhelming heart. [APOTHEOSIS] …a terrifying & divine heart. [FURY] …a weathered heart. [NIGHTMARE] …a tender heart. [THE MOMENT OF CLARITY] …a wise heart. [SPECTRE] …a yearning heart. [THE PRINCESS AND THE DRAGON] …an empathetic heart. [WRAITH] …a driven heart. [STRANGER] …a rich & vibrant heart. [RAZOR] …a piercing heart.

Do not mourn her. [the vessels are no longer individuals; they have lost autonomy and a sense of personhood, the fact that Shifty thinks we would mourn them implies, even if they are not dead, they have been lost.]

[CUNNING HEART] She is part of something greater. [RAVENOUS HEART] She is part of something greater. [RIGHTEOUS HEART] She is finally on the other side. [CAUTIOUS HEART] She isn't alone anymore. [CURIOUS HEART] She has found what she yearned for. [SCARRED AND BEAUTIFUL HEART] She has finally found peace. [PATIENT HEART] She is exactly where she needs to be. [CLEVER HEART] She doesn't need to be protected any longer. [WATCHFUL HEART] She is now what she wished that she could be. [OPEN HEART] She is no longer bound. [DEEP HEART] She has finally been heard. [GENTLE HEART] She has served her purpose. [PLIANT HEART] She has served her purpose. [HONEST HEART] She has finally learned to sing for herself. [BRIGHT HEART] She has finally found her light. [BOLD HEART] We will provide her with the growth she fought for. [BURNING HEART] She has finally remembered what she thought she'd lost. [OVERWHELMING HEART] She would not be able to mourn you. [TERRIFYING AND DIVINE HEART] She has finally found her light. [WEATHERED HEART] She has finally found peace. [TENDER HEART] She has finally found her way home. [WISE HEART] She is exactly where she needs to be. [YEARNING HEART] She will finally be able to hold what she never knew. [EMPATHETIC HEART] You would not mourn yourself. [DRIVEN HEART] She isn't alone anymore. [RICH AND VIBRANT HEART] They will finally get to know themselves. [PIERCING HEART] She is exactly where she needs to be.

#stp analysis #slay the princess #stp #stp shifty #overthinking tsm #stp vessels #stp the shifting mound

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overthinkit-underscore · 1 day ago

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Slay the Princess's Intermissions Dialogue Analysis

THOUGHTS ON THIS VESSEL

To compare and contrast Shifty's evaluation of our gifts.

This one is... [objectification; evaluation on the basis of metaphor and meaning]

She... [personification; evaluation on the basis of their desires and life experiences]

You... [acknowledgement of our perspective and/or our actions]

[DAMSEL] …molded her to love you. [THE PRINCESS AND THE DRAGON] …know her better than you know yourself.

She will make for... [overall evaluation based on what Shifty takes from them; their meaning, to Her]

#this is not a place that can hold a fragment of a concept #stp analysis

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overthinkit-underscore · 1 day ago

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Slay the Princess's Intermissions Dialogue Analysis

Oblivion and Her Responses

We always start with this set of lines:

The world around you is unwound, its physical matter replaced by a textured nothingness. [INTERMISSION I PASSED: You find yourself in The Long Quiet once again. Memory returns. / IF NOT: It is quiet.] There is a distant rumbling, a sound of many sounds. Undulations pulse louder as something Other comes close. [INTERMISSION I PASSED: You already know what dwells in the empty spaces.] Feelers probe across the fabric of reality. Extremities find your consciousness and wrap themselves around it. You are no longer alone.

Note: with the added context of the Intermission I dialogue "vague recollections, empty tunnels without a mouth, I am sorry if I frightened you," it can be inferred that Shifty, without a vessel, just outright cannot speak vocally. (though this calls into question where the hell the first vessel ends up, since you can get Oblivion up until Shifty's taken in two vessels, and Her "lines" remain unvoiced.)

OVERALL, AND INTERMISSION I

Resistance. Fingers drag claws across the glass surface of your soul. Frustration. 'This vessel is full of you. I need something empty I can crawl inside of. I need something shaped like me.' • This is a nightmare. Wake up. It's not. [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx] • Embrace the thoughts constricting you. Urgency. 'You have a story you need to finish. It is the only way for us to escape this place.' Force pushing against your will. 'NO. You cannot go back. Not there.' Regret. 'This world is broken beyond repair. We must weave something new.' A wagging finger. 'There is only so much thread in this place. Do not waste it. I am our only salvation.' [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx]

Note: there is no vessel, no "creature of perception," here to make us forget "if only we believe her to be able to." The Shifting Mound, Herself, is not a creature of perception; only Her vessels are. The sound of the glass of our soul shattering, here, the death the Shifting Mound inflicts upon us to reset us back to Chapter I, and the force that pushes against our will? That is all literal, and it is all Shifty's doing. It is Her extremities that wrap around our consciousness. It is Her fingers that drag claws across the glass surface of our soul. It is Her who tried to "crawl inside" our vessel only to be frustrated by the resistance of it already being "full of us." Is that pure eldritch instinct, for her? For The Capacity To Change, Transformation, The Shifting Mound... it is purely instinctual to find an entrance, and opening, and push herself into spaces previously empty? To fill the empty spaces? To stretch to new corners, to grow and be more, to make all that She finds Her own? Note: this is what every vessel experiences, as well. The world around them unwound, replaced by a textured nothingness, quiet and cold. Something Other comes close and wraps its extremities around them, pulling them in, "dragging claws" against their souls. The connotation of that description is destructive; clawing against the surface of something implies, to my interpretation, seeking either a weak point (to pierce/break through or otherwise exploit) or seeking a purchase or handhold. To imagine the thought of "clawing against" the surface of a wall or door, it implies one to be looking for something to either grab and start pulling apart/open, or something to put their hand through. Every vessel's soul, if they had one, presumably got torn apart. Emptied out and crawled inside of. And even in this case, with Quiet’s soul, when met with resistance She is only frustrated--and presumably doesn't let up unless the resistance refuses absolutely to cave to the force of Her will.

INTERMISSION I DIALOGUE: SAME EVERY LEVEL OF OBLIVION

You recognize the presence inhabiting the shell. It is the entity that dwells in the spaces between. THE ENTITY - Something returns to the Long Quiet. It has surrendered its path of annihilation and brings me the gift of a fragile vessel.

INTERMISSION II

INTERMISSION II DIALOGUE: DIFFERENT INTRO DEPENDING ON LEVEL OF OBLIVION

THE ENTITY - [...] But your commitment now is final. Your ability to walk the path of mutual annihilation is vanished with your return. If you still wish to destroy me, it will have to wait until I am complete. THE ENTITY - Flicking lights in empty cityscapes become pockets of vitality and movement. I am more than I was before. THE ENTITY - Whenever you are ready, I will wipe your slate clean once again.

DENIAL

Confusion. 'Why are you here? I am unfinished.' Resistance. Fingers drag claws across the glass surface of your soul. Frustration. 'This vessel is full of you. It is useless to us if it doesn't bring more gifts.' [noteworthy lack of a wake up/embrace the thoughts choice] Force pushing against your will. 'NO. You cannot go back. Not there.' Regret. 'This world is broken beyond repair. We must weave something new.' A wagging finger. 'There is only so much thread in this place. Do not waste it. I am our only salvation.' [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx]

THE ENTITY - When I found you in the Long Quiet alone, I was terrified. What if you had decided to let me wither? [...]

ANGER

That which dwells in the empty spaces contracts across the edges of your mind again. She is furious. Betrayal. 'Every door you close on me is a door you close on yourself. Do you want to linger here, entwined with a creature you taught to hate you forever? Eternity never ends.' Cold spite. 'Our infinities shrink into something less. I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I--' [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx]

Note: Please do note the "Do you want to linger here, entwined with a creature you taught to hate you forever? Eternity never ends" threat. It may not be explicitly elaborated on, but we might get context for what torture awaits us in Bargaining and Oblivion.

THE ENTITY - I am sorry I said that I hated you. I do not hate you. When I found you in the Long Quiet alone, I was terrified. When I found you in the Long Quiet again alone, I was hurt. I thought you had decided to leave me here to wither. [...]

BARGAINING

Desperate pleas. 'I do not hate you. I am sorry I said I hate you. I do not have to hate you. We can still leave this place together.' An offering. 'We can be friends.' Ecstasy. You are elated. You have never felt more elated than you feel now. Everything is good. You cannot remember what it is like to feel anything other than euphoric joy. A reminder. 'We can be worse than enemies.' Agony. You are torn into a million pieces, and you feel pain in each of them. You have never felt more miserable than you feel now. You cannot remember what it is like to feel anything other than anguish. Mercy. You are elated again. You have never felt more elated than you feel now. In contrast to the agony you've suffered, this elation is better than all of the other elation you have experienced. Round eyes looking up at you. 'I need more vessels so that I can be finished. I cannot find them on my own, for they are me. You are the only one who can do this. You are our only salvation.' [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx]

Note: it's super easy to read this as [noun to describe tone] + [Shifty dialogue] + [emotional response]. it's just an emotional response, right? a natural reaction? from Quiet's own mind? the intensity of these responses and the instability of Quiet's memory--surely that is only a sign that their form is unstable, in this state?… Shifty, in the tone of an "offering," tells Quiet that She and he can be friends if he follows Her directions. he is "elated" at this prospect; overwhelmingly so, to the point he can no longer remember anything but this overpowering sense of elation. forgetting anything and everything else, but that joy. losing himself in it. Shifty "reminds" Quiet, relating back to Anger, that She can be worse than their enemy. Quiet is "agonized" at this prospect. with greater sensory detail, actively feeling pain and the sense of a body being torn to shreds. overwhelming misery pervading their entire form, collapsing in on them until they utterly lose themself in their anguish. failing to remember anything but this pain. But then: "Mercy." Mercy. without dialogue. without text. with absolutely no further prompting. it's not a natural emotion response on Quiet's part. there was no external stimuli to prompt this change within them and not only the cessation of Agony... but a repeat of Ecstasy. with the memory of Agony intact, to contrast against. this is intentional. "mercy" implies great intent; it implies that the Agony was a threat, if not an outright attack. the intensity of these emotions and the dissolution of Quiet's mind, to the point they can no longer remember anything but the emotions they're being forced to feel, is controlled. it is togglable, on Shifty's part. they did not have to forget anything but Ecstasy. they did not have to forget anything but Agony. that was a choice. Shifty chose to make them experience reality like that. and of course Shifty has this level of control over them, like this. She's literally wrapping Herself around Quiet's consciousness and dragging Her fingers across their soul, acting as a force pushing against their will. She is constricting their thoughts with Her own. these emotions are being forced into Quiet. they are not natural; they are controlled and measured to "communicate with" (manipulate) Quiet. of course She's manipulating them. this is "Bargaining," after all. "You are our only salvation," She says, imprinting onto them the idea of big, innocent round eyes after tearing them into a million agonized pieces and putting them back together again and filling them up with ecstasy at Her "mercy." But if they comply, the sentiment does not last.

THE ENTITY - You have come back to me, and you have finally brought another fragile vessel. I hope our voiceless encounters in the Long Quiet have not cracked the foundations of our relationship. We are each other's salvation. There is no one to save us but us. [...]

Note: From a wagging, condescending finger in Denial proclaiming "I am our only salvation" to round, manipulative eyes proclaiming "you are our only salvation" in Bargaining... to, when conceded to, a network of interconnected hands stating "we are each other's salvation." Your Commitment Now Is Final. If you still wish to destroy Her, it will have to wait until She is complete.

DEPRESSION

Dejection. Feelers limp against your soul. 'Why?' Long silence. A hollow heart. 'I don't want to see you.' [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx]

THE ENTITY - You have come back to me with another fragile vessel. I did not think you would.

ACCEPTANCE

The feelers hold you in a gentle caress. Resignation. 'I cannot stop you. But our spool is nearly taut.' A warning. 'If you come here again, we will be here forever.' [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx]

Note: Interesting warning. Is that a threat, like it was in Anger? That's up to interpretation. Do you find what Shifty did, the control over our mind and emotions, back in Bargaining... threatening?

THE ENTITY - You are back. It is good that you listened to my warning. Choice has been stripped from you. There are very few paths left for you to walk, but there is still a tarnished thread leading to our freedom.

OBLIVION

Oblivion. The many feelers pull your shape into something formless. 'You have made a decision. It is the wrong one. I love you.' You are bliss. Joy and understanding everywhere at once. Your soul threatens to fade away. 'I love you.' You are agony. A numbing arm. A parched throat. An open wound. Your soul forced back into existence. 'I love you.' You are bliss. Joy and understanding everywhere at once. Your soul threatens to fade away. 'I love you.' You are agony. A numbing arm. A parched throat. An open wound. Your soul forced back into existence. 'I love you.' You are bliss. Joy and understanding everywhere at once. Your soul threatens to fade away. 'I love you.' You are agony. A numbing arm. A parched throat. An open wound. Your soul forced back into existence. 'I love you.' You are bliss. Joy and understanding everywhere at once. Your soul threatens to fade away. 'I love you.' You are agony. A numbing arm. A parched throat. An open wound. Your soul forced back into existence. 'I love you.'

• [Exist.] You are bliss. Joy and understanding everywhere at once. Your soul threatens to fade away. 'I love you.' You are agony. A numbing arm. A parched throat. An open wound. Your soul forced back into existence. 'I love you.'

• [Consciousness fades away.]

[note: can choose the "exist" option infinitely it will always repeat one round of bliss and agony. the ending only completes when you finally choose 'consciousness fades away'.]

#slay the princess #stp analysis #overthinking tsm #stp shifty #stp the shifting mound #stp

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overthinkit-underscore · 7 days ago

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raccoon Hunted? ???

Hunted would eat the food that has been dropped onto the floor. Paranoid would not.

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overthinkit-underscore · 8 days ago

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Next Intermission: Intermission II

One-Time Per Playthrough Actions (Wait, Attack the Entity, Destroy your Body, Breakdown in Communication)

Thoughts on These Vessels

Oblivion

Slay the Princess's Intermissions Dialogue Analysis

INTERMISSION I

What are you? What do you think I am? What happens now?

INTRODUCTION: WHAT ARE YOU?

THE ENTITY - Something finds me in the Long Quiet and brings me the gift of a fragile vessel. • (Explore) "What are you?" THE ENTITY - I am solitary lights in an empty city. What are you? • (Explore) "Solitary lights? What do you mean?" THE ENTITY - Thoughts without connections. A dim and nascent network. I wish to be more. • (Explore) "The gift of a fragile vessel?" THE ENTITY - Yes. Nerves and fibres to feel the worlds beyond. Perspectives to make my own. [FOR CONTEXT: must sacrifice at least one vessel to Oblivion before finishing a route to get this dialogue.] • (Explore) "You're that thing I met in the space outside of the woods, aren't you? I thought that was a dream." THE ENTITY - Vague recollections. Empty tunnels without a mouth. I am sorry if I frightened you.

SOLITARY LIGHTS IN AN EMPTY CITY. THOUGHTS WITHOUT CONNECTIONS. EMPTY TUNNELS WITHOUT A MOUTH. A NETWORK.

From our very first meeting with the Shifting Mound, She has information that we do not. The Shifting Mound is aware of the name, or the title, of the location She's in; She's aware the true name of the Spaces Between is "The Long Quiet," and refers to it as such. The Shifting Mound is already aware that She is a hivemind missing Her mind(s). She describes Herself as a city without citizens, lights scattered throughout but without connection. She describes Her form, Her handsy form without a vessel to center on and embody, as "empty tunnels without a mouth." Paths that lead to nowhere, a consciousness without a body to exist within--something formless, ill-defined, and lacking in substance. The Shifting Mound is the Network, the Connection between vessels and the Eldritch form of Thought ™️ they represent. To Shifty, these Vessels are gifts of sensation--nerves, fibers to feel something beyond the Long Quiet (The Place). From the very first vessel the Shifting Mound is gifted, She understands both what She is and what the Vessels embody for Her.

WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM?

• (Explore) "What are you?" THE ENTITY - I am solitary lights in an empty city. What are you? • (Explore) "What do you think I am?" / (Explore) "I don't know what I am." THE ENTITY - I think that you are like me. THE ENTITY - We are oceans reduced to shallow creeks. • (Explore) "I'm a person." THE ENTITY - A person. A set of eyes witnessing from one perspective. I think that you are more like me than you are like a person. THE ENTITY - We are oceans reduced to shallow creeks.

RHETORICAL QUESTION. The Sleepy Mound asks the Long Quiet what they are, but She already has an answer in mind--that they are like Her, an ocean reduced to a shallow creek. The Long Quiet is nascent, as nascent as Her network, and struggles to answer Her question with certainty--two of their three options defer to Her answer. Either they outright ask Her for Her opinion on the matter of 'them', or they simply state they don't know what they are, which She takes as a prompt to give Her answer anyway. If the Long Quiet asserts that they are a person, the Sleepy Mound provides a definition of a person. There is no confirmation that Her definition is the same as the one the Long Quiet is using to define "personhood," but the Entity defines a person as a singular perspective, then denies that Quiet could be such a thing, and provides Her take on the matter.

Sidenote I.A: Interestingly, this is wrong. If a person is "a set of eyes witnessing from one perspective," then The Long Quiet easily slots into that definition; especially in the context of these Intermissions or at the End of Everything or The Ascension Ending (all times they're interacting with the Shifting Mound), where their Voices do not make an appearance to represent their plurality and they are well and truly on their own. It's true that She and Quiet are both gods, but The Long Quiet is very much a singular entity, "reduced" (mortal; in a Chapter) or "whole" (divine; in Ascension/YNW). Even taking the Voices into account, The Decider/Quiet is always one person and one perspective. Their stream of consciousness is continuous, carrying exactly one vessel (body) at a time throughout the entire visual novel and experiencing the narrative as a chronological series of events; conversely, the Shifting Mound at all times exists in a minimum of two places at once through the "tunnels without a mouth" and "fragile vessels," experiencing the narrative through disconnected, incongruous, even contradictory short stories (bodies).Sidenote I.A concluded.

A PERSON: A SET OF EYES WITNESSING FROM ONE PERSPECTIVE. Interesting that the Shifting Mound says this as Her hands cover each vessels' eyes as they're claimed in the Intermissions. The vessels' individual perspective is blockaded by the hands of their divine overseer. The Princesses are singular, more like Her definition of 'people', whereas She is inherently plural. She cannot see as they do; and now that they've returned to Her, they will not see as they used to, either.

OCEANS REDUCED TO SHALLOW CREEKS. An ocean and a creek are both bodies of water. What makes an ocean different from a creek is solely its sense of scale. The Long Quiet and the Shifting Mound have been "reduced" from their "oceanic" ('whole', divine) forms into mere "creeks" ('reduced', mortals). What they were originally-- sprawling beings of infinite potential and means to grow --is no longer what they are, trapped beings experiencing fixed stories not even a fraction of a mortal lifetime. TL;DR, Shifty is communicating to Quiet that She and Him are gods that have been forcibly reduced into the roles of Hero and Princess. … An Ocean also contains saltwater, whereas a Creek contains freshwater. A difference in saline content. What this means for the metaphor: hell if I know, but it's a detail to take into account.

MORE LIKE ME THAN YOU ARE LIKE A PERSON. Rather than saying "you are not a person, you are like me" or something to this effect, the Sleeping Mound states that The Long Quiet is "more" like Her-- implicitly "less" like a person. There is an implicit scale between pure mortality and pure divinity, and Quiet is not firmly on either end of this scale; they are somewhere in the middle, the compromise between these two extremes. Shifty claims She thinks that they lean more to Her side than the peoples'. She claims to think that. That "I think" is important. From a Doylist perspective (considering the intentions of the writers), that's a tip on the fact that the Shifting Mound is a character, and like all characters, She has just one fallible perspective. She might be wrong about this. Maybe Quiet could be a person, or something more like a person, if they wanted to be.

ARE YOU THE PRINCESS?

CHIASMUS: REVERSAL OF GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES IN SUCCESSIVE PHRASES. A perfect parallel would be "She is part of me, and I am part of her." Instead, Shifty says "She is part of me, and part of me is her." The whole of the Princess is subsumed into the Shifting Mound; only an aspect of the Shifting Mound is contained within the Princess. So, to answer Her question: yes. It does matter where one thing begins and another ends if the cycle is imperfect, and if one thing does not wholly lead into another.

ERASURE OF BOUNDARIES, PERMANENCE OF CHANGE. The Sleepy Mound deflects Quiet's questions by implying the boundaries between one thing and another simply do not matter. If Quiet grieves the lost Princess and demands to save her, the Sleepy Mound (apologetically) claims there is no way to separate Herself from Her vessel--at least, not once they've been incorporated into the network. Maybe the distinction between the Princess and Shifty mattered before, but it cannot matter anymore; the change can never be undone, and it was an inevitability that it would occur. the Princess, according to the Sleepy Mound, is but a fragment of a concept--a part of Her, the whole.

Sidenote I.B: There's a doubled logic here. Both things the Sleeping Mound says cannot be true. Either the distinction between Her and the Princess is immaterial and they were always one entity and fusion was inevitable... OR the Princess was at one point distinct from the Shifting Mound and there was a "change" that occurred at the route's end that, supposedly, "can never be undone." It's the difference between "always having been this way" and "irreparably made to be this way"; maybe a worthless distinction to an Entity who prefers this, but a worthwhile distinction to a vessel which struggled against its purpose--a Princess who, at one point, believed herself to be more than "something empty [the Shifting Mound] can crawl inside of" (Oblivion, Denial dialogue). This would certainly be the case for Adversary, whose will Shifty feels "pushing against [Her own], not realizing [they] are one," and for Skeptic's Eye of the Needle who repeatedly cries "I don't want to be here!" as she fights against the cold. It would be the case, potentially, for Beast and Den, whose wishes to consume Quiet are so great Shifty simply must pause Her evaluation of these vessels to comment on them. And it was the case for Apotheosis, who screamed "NO!" as the Shifting Mound pulled her into Her mass. Sidenote I.B concluded.

RHETORICAL QUESTION

• (Explore) "Is this the end of the world?" THE ENTITY - How can the world have ended if we are talking?

That's a rhetorical question. The meaning here is "'the world' (the universal world, the state of being allowing for experience) cannot have ended, because you and I are here, we exist and we are experiencing reality: this very conversation we're having right now proves that the world exists. It cannot be over."

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW?

• (Explore) "Is this the end of the world?" THE ENTITY - How can the world have ended if we are talking? • (Explore) "Do you know the Narrator?" THE ENTITY - You are the only thing that I have ever known. THE ENTITY - The space we're in is vacant. Nothing comes here but us. • (Explore) "Are you what sent me to slay the Princess? Are you what trapped me here?" THE ENTITY - I have only just now stirred to consciousness. I could not have trapped you here, and I too yearn to be free. • (Explore) "Do you know about the worlds beyond this place?" THE ENTITY - I know only that they are. • (Explore) "Do we know each other?" THE ENTITY - You are familiar, but you are not me. I feel sadness, longing, hope, as I witness you.

SPACES: "THE WORLD," "THE WORLDS," "THE SPACE WE'RE IN" There are three separate 'spaces' at work, conceptually, here. The space we're in is "The Spaces Between," "the space beyond the woods," "the Long Quiet (Place)." It is empty. It is quiet here. A vacant space, beyond the Sleeping Mound and nascent Quiet, insofar as said Sleeping Mound can tell. The concept of "the end of the world" relies on the concept of one, singular world. Ultimately, Shifty's rhetorical question refutes the idea that we're facing the end of "the" world on the premise that, if quote-unquote "the" world was ended, there would be no more experience to have. There would be no conversation, for She and Quiet would have ended alongside "the" world. this may be the end of "a" world, but there seem to be many. Hence "the worlds," plural, "beyond this place." Definition of "the worlds beyond this place [The Spaces Between]" is either the fabricated worlds of paths and woods and cabins, i.e. the many parallel realities within the Construct, or The Spaces Beyond, i.e. the Absolute Reality waiting outside the Construct. Seeing as this dialogue is coming from a Long Quiet likely to have only seen three 'worlds' maximum at this point, Interpretation A (where Quiet is asking Shifty if She knows about the parallel universes) seems more immediately likely. Either way, it does not change Shifty's answer at this point; She knows that a space beyond the Long Quiet exists, but not the details of what exists within that space (or those spaces, plural).

FAMILIAR, BUT NOT ME Both Shifty and Quiet are two halves of a whole. He is familiar to Her because they both were originally together, in one form. But now, separated as they have been, He is not Her. Familiar but distinct. TL;DR, TLQ != TSM, but TLQ & TSM are still inherently tied to one another as abstract concepts. The emotions She notes when seeing Quiet for the first time are character details. Those details are wholly up to interpretation and perspective; "sadness" is the odd emotion out of the bunch. "Longing" and "hope" can both be either contextualized as "the Shifting Mound loves the Long Quiet and is processing the emotions to come from this" or "the Shifting Mound sees an opportunity for either freedom or a better life through or with the Long Quiet" or any other number of readings. The "sadness" may come from grief for their prior non-sapient existence.

TRANSITION: WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

• "What happens now?" THE ENTITY - Nothing, as we are. But I know that there are worlds beyond us, and that we are meant to reach them. THE ENTITY - There is no exit, but this vessel is a creature of perception. She can make you forget, if only you believe her to be able to. THE ENTITY - Bring me more perspectives, so that I may be whole, and perhaps then we will know our freedom. • (Explore) "How much will I forget?" THE ENTITY - Everything, until we meet again.

CREATURE OF PERCEPTION Notably, the Sleeping Mound makes a distinction between the vessel and Herself when She claims the vessel is a "creature of perception." This, of course, refers to the fact that each Princess and their capabilities are formed from perspectives--quoth the raven, "she becomes that which others perceive her to be."

Sidenote I.C: Potentially, lore-wise, the Princess's perceptions of themselves influence their changes just as much as Quiet's--but, now that Shifty has subsumed them, the vessels do not function as before. They may not be fully sapient, if they're even aware at all. If their perception is just as important in their growth and how their forms manifest to the world as Quiet's, and the vessels are stuck in the forms the Shifting Mound claims them in, then it logically follows that the Princesses vessels cease to perceive the world in the way they did before they were claimed. But this is theory-crafting, not analysis, so I digress. Sidenote I.C concluded.

As long as the Long Quiet believes, through the vessels, that Shifty can make them forget their experiences, then She can. This counts for forgetting. For one reason or another, Shifty also seems to be able to control when Quiet's Memory Returns, unless that is an innate quality the Decider coming into contact with the Spaces Between. Though this raises the question of why The Decider's Memory wouldn't Return when seeing the textured nothingness of the Long Quiet in Chapter I, or Prisoner, or Apotheosis, or even Razor's Chapter IVs immediately after [Emptying their mind].

Something has taken her away, and it's left something else in her place.

The fact that the vessel must be claimed and the Mirror put in its place before Quiet's Memory Returns implies that the Sleeping Mound has something to do with that process. And, not to mention, the way the Shifting Mound is allowed additional influence of Quiet past the first route. After this Intermission, after allowing Shifty to have done something to them, Shifty is capable of blocking their choices in routes--not just through unselectable greyed-out options in the menus, but also direct intervention in certain cases. Those cases include choices that would lead to a repeat of a convergent Chapter III route--like Shifty preventing Quiet from [Slaying the Princess] in Tower if they have already seen Fury--and choices that would lead to either Oblivion or the Good Ending.

FIRST PERSON PRONOUNS "Bring me more perspectives so that I may be whole." The Shifting Mound does not guarantee Quiet any sort of enlightenment through this process. She is exclusively worried about collecting more vessels for Herself so that She may grow and pursue Her awakening. This is an inherently selfish request, even if just in wording.

Regardless of if you agree to give Shifty more vessels, She will get more vessels as the Constructs machinery wears down. That's just the nature of Her eldritch existence. There's no other way to exist; "the moment the vessels arrive in The Long Quiet, they are going to return to Her." Though something goes wrong in Oblivion. Apparently, vessels the Princess can exist outside of and even be lost to Her... but this is not something She admits to or acknowledges as a possibility. Not unless it happens. Shifty resets your memory not just because She's trying to manipulate you; TLQ's memory, lore-wise, has to be reset. They're in the Spaces Between because the Construct depends on their Perception to form new worlds, and something within TLQ's memories has convinced them there are no new worlds to create. They're stuck. Shifty, in resetting their brain, un-sticks them. Really, Her telling Quiet to bring Her vessels as if this is a mission they're on is more of a kindness. It's something to hold onto, a sort of purpose, before they go back. A hope for escape. Hence, "perhaps then we will find our freedom." She makes no guarantees, no promises, but She does offer hope.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (I): THREATEN, COUNT VESSELS, ASK HER INTENTIONS

• (Explore) "Aren't you scared that I'll find a way to kill you?" THE ENTITY - I have not lived. I am not afraid to die. • (Explore) "How many more pieces of you do I have to find?" THE ENTITY - More than you have found, but less than there are to find. I am infinite. The rest will find their own way home. • (Explore) "I was sent to slay the Princess to stop her from destroying the world. If I help you, is that what you're going to do?" THE ENTITY - You ask of things that cannot be done. To destroy is merely to reshape. To remold. "You're being semantic. What are you going to do if I help you?" THE ENTITY - How can I know? I am flickers in something sprawling and unilluminated.

FLICKERS IN SOMETHING SPRAWLING AND UNILLUMINATED Continuation of the "City" metaphor. the Sleepy Mound cannot say for certain what She will or will not desire to do, for She is only hardly aware of Her own existence with a single vessel in Her claim. ultimately, though, no matter what: the Shifting Mound always knows that there is 'no such thing' as true destruction. it is a core tenant of Her very being that tells Her this, a subconscious awareness She always has. the certainty in which She knows this is an indication of Her nascent divine nature, a being that is to some extent a cosmic force of "reshaping," "remolding," "change" -- and yet, She still acknowledges "some changes can never be undone" in this same Intermission. so, yes, it is possible to "destroy" something in the context of the state that thing used to exist in. technically, the vessels are not destroyed when Shifty claims them, but the Princesses cease--irreversibly--to be individuals when She does so. their prior states have been "destroyed" in the sense that they no longer exist in their prior form. the vessel is still there. but She has crawled inside of it.

CONCLUSION.

• "Okay. Make me forget." THE ENTITY - She asks that I tell you to remember her. THE ENTITY - You won't. [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx] Everything goes dark, and you die.

Something about this, agreeing to Shifty's demands, gives the Shifting Mound significantly more agency for the rest of the playthrough. Allows Her to block us from the Good Ending. With one more vessel, She can prevent Oblivion outright. "You have already committed to my completion. You cannot go further astray."

Shifty's "the vessel wants you to remember her but you won't" lie in Intermission I is in a similar line of reasoning to Voice of the Cold's "do you hear that? she's scared" line in Chapter II - The Spectre. yes, objectively and pragmatically speaking, both of these lines are true. but they are odd things to say and comment on, the oddity of which carries its own connotations. VoT Cold comments on the fact that Spectre, in the leadup to TPATD, is afraid when we choose to slay her. He says this either because he's a sadist or because he considers her fear a sign of weakness or just because he finds it interesting. It's an objective observation that, when voiced aloud, implies things about Cold's character. similarly, the Shifting Mound hears--in whatever eldritch regard this must function like on Her end--Her first vessel long to be remembered, chooses to voice this final wish to Quiet, and then comments that said vessel will not be remembered. this is an objective observation. Quiet is about to forget "everything," after all. but the fact that Shifty chooses to say this implies something about Her character. remembering a person that no longer exists would be akin to mourning, and the Shifting Mound does not believe Quiet should mourn any of Her vessels on any grounds. what connotations are there, in this odd line? it's also.. a small-scale observation. Shifty operates on the grander cosmic scale the majority of the time. Quiet, for all intents and purposes, does not forget the first vessel. their Memory Returns; Shifty knows their Memory Returns. so why does She focus so much on the fact that they'll be temporarily forgetting this first vessel? It also implies that the vessels are to some degree still aware when networked in the shifting mount--and that Shifty, for one reason or another, wants Quiet to know about that, wants Quiet to know that their first Princess cares about them (whether that be in a sweet or twisted way), just before She shatters them and takes it all away.

The vessels' level of awareness throughout this process is something I'd like us to keep in mind as we progress.

#stp #slay the princess #stp shifting mound #stp shifty #overthinking tsm #stp analysis

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overthinkit-underscore · 8 days ago

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Next Intermission: Intermission III

Previous Intermission: Intermission I

One-Time Per Playthrough Actions (Wait, Attack the Entity, Destroy your Body, Breakdown in Communication)

Thoughts on These Vessels

Oblivion

Slay the Princess's Intermissions Dialogue Analysis

INTERMISSION II

How have you changed? What does it feel like? Why are you the kindest being I've ever met? Why can I not do the same things I've done before?

INTRODUCTION: HOW MUCH HAVE YOU CHANGED?

THE ENTITY - Flicking lights in empty cityscapes become pockets of vitality and movement. I am more than I was before. THE ENTITY - Whenever you are ready, I will wipe your slate clean once again. • (Explore) "Are you the same being as you were before? How much have you changed?" THE ENTITY - Is a child the same as an infant? I am an unbroken pattern, but every vessel gifts fresh perspectives and carves new avenues of expression. 'I' am different, but I am the same. • (Explore) "What does it feel like to change like this?" THE ENTITY - Eyes close in reflection. THE ENTITY - Perspectives meld together, and the breadth of my experience stretches to new corners. There are contradictions, conflicts in my nature. And there are familiarities that bind everything together. THE ENTITY - It feels correct. This is what I need to be. This is the only path forward.

POCKETS OF VITALITY AND MOVEMENT. MORE THAN BEFORE. With a secondary vessel, the disconnected lights of Shifty's cityscapes have now been brought together. The city is far from full, but now it is at least inhabited; the push and pull from one perspective to another has granted Shifty some of Her higher thought. She is more than a single perspective, now--it is certain that She is beyond a person. She has grown.

EYES CLOSE IN REFLECTION. This is narration of the concept of a bodily expression. [note: this also happens in Oblivion.] The Sleeping Mound is not a body; She is a mass of feelers, arms and hands which grasp and hold onto and fill into the vessels we grant Her. Those bodies are not Her own; She doesn't really get how to use them. She isn't that body. This is why Her arms puppet them, why hands on the vessels' face and neck squeeze and push to force words to come out, because She is not truly integrated into that body. She is merely holding it; appraising it. She covers their eyes long before She thinks to 'close' Her 'eyes'.

HOW MUCH, WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE, TO CHANGE? The Sleeping Mound focuses on Herself and Her experience for all of this dialogue. Sleepy here describes herself as "an unbroken pattern," meaning She does not simply jump from one state of completion to the next--there is a progression to Her change. Intermission I Shifty grows into Intermission II, and so on. What is the manner of this growth? Consumption. "Every vessel gifts fresh perspectives and carves new avenues of expression." Shifty gains two things from each vessel: their perspective on their life and its experiences, and an expression. What does She mean by "avenues of expression?" Multiple things come to mind: it could be that She means the actions taken in each vessel's route, the violence and the choices and words, or maybe the grander metaphor and moral to each route's story. She learns to express Herself in these flickers of action and life. "Perspectives meld together." Welcome to the horror of a hivemind. This is why the vessels change so much between the point they are claimed at the end of their route and the point they are brought up in the End of Everything argument: they're being melted together. Vessel 1 and Vessel 2 are interlinked and communicate between themselves. With each new vessel added, Shifty's experience "stretches to new corners" with even more life and its aspects lived, and the vessels become more and more and more crowded. Their experiences contradict, and their experiences are familiar, and they are being turned into soup.

So, why does Sleepy focus so much on Her perspective on Her Network's changes? Two parts: for one, the individual experience of each vessel is cosmically horrifying, potentially even beyond comprehension; and for two, Shifty doesn't know Her vessels' experiences first hand. They're all secondary sources of what living like a person might be like.

FIRST PERSON PRONOUNS IN QUOTES, AND WITHOUT QUOTES.

[note: this also happens in Fury, with Cold.]

Voice of the Cold - I'm still here. I'm still [quote] 'me' [end-quote]. The Entity - [quote] 'I' [end-quote] am different, but I am the same.

It appears that, when Shifty says quote-enquote "I" or "me," She refers to Her self-identity. When She is not quoting the concept of "me," She is simply describing the objective, tangible Her. What She appears as, in the external--towards Quiet, and towards us. "She," as-in Her identity and comprehension of both Herself and the world She's in, changes with each vessel She subsumes… but She is still Her.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (II): THREATEN HER

• (Explore) "You know that at the end of this--once you're finished--I'm going to kill you, right?" THE ENTITY - There is still much to be seen. Neither of us know the depths of our being. Perhaps at the end of this, I will be the one to kill you. Or perhaps we will leave this place together, and find new horizons to discover.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (II): COUNT VESSELS

• (Explore) "How many more vessels do I need to bring you?" THE ENTITY - If I am to be an ocean, you have [IF SATISFIED: nurtured me into / IF NOT: given me enough to build] a pond. My waters are shallow and murky, and I yearn from more perspectives. [IF PRINCESSES ARE SATISFIED] THE ENTITY - You will have your rest in due time, and I am sorry for the burdens I place on you. [IF THE PRINCESSES ARE DISSATISFIED] THE ENTITY - I will transcend in due time, and there is no way forward but to contribute to my awakening.

BODY OF WATER MOTIF Shifty prefers the City metaphor to the Body Of Water one, but hey. She's a pond now.

CONDITONAL COMPASSION More critically: if Quiet has shown compassion to Shifty's vessels, She shows them compassion back. She apologizes, openly, for the burden She places on them in tasking them with collecting Her vessels for Her. She recognizes that Quiet, in asking how long this journey will take, must be wearied from their travels insofar. In contrast, if the vessels Shifty's claimed are hurt, Shifty shows less compassion towards Quiet--reprimanding them for asking a question and claiming Her awakening as an inevitability. Naturally, this is a continuation of what we saw from Her in Intermission I: "…so that I may be whole, and perhaps then we will know our freedom." She believes Herself to be the pairing's only salvation. It is only in Oblivion, through Bargaining, that She recognizes Quiet's equal importance in this journey and endeavor. Her ego is already present. And it inflates in response to hurt.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (II): ASK HER PREFERENCES

• (Explore) "What do you want me to bring you next time?" THE ENTITY - Gifts aren't what someone tells you to bring them. [IF PRINCESSES ARE SATISFIED] THE ENTITY - My joy is in seeing what you choose. [...] [IF PRINCESSES ARE DISSATISFIED] THE ENTITY - Do not worry. [...] THE ENTITY - [...] There are no wrong answers, and every perspective illuminates my shadows and shares new secrets. • (Explore) "So you don't have any preferences on how you'd like to change or grow?" THE ENTITY - My preference is for you to show me what you would like me to see. I cannot know the ways I wish to grow, for I have yet to feel them. It is you who guides me down the thin trail of perspective and memory.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (II): ASK HER INTENTIONS

• (Explore) "When this is all done, do you know what you want to do?" THE ENTITY - With every gift you bring me, I excavate the alleys of what I am meant to be, and every exploration yields new and complicated truths. What I will be is different than what I am and what I am is different from what I was. THE ENTITY - I cannot tell you what desires I will hold when I have changed. THE ENTITY - But in this moment, all I want is to know myself [IF PRINCESSES ARE SATISFIED: and to know you].

That conditional "and to know you" as the Sleeping Mound's core desire is… noteworthy. She only cares to know Quiet if She is satisfied by their behavior and choices. Granted: I can't fault Her for it. Shifty has the right to be distant and cold to Her partner when they're giving Her gifts that essentially just say "I don't like you and/or and/or I will not give you what you want and/or I want to kill you" for their majority.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (II): GUILT

• (Explore) "I don't want to hurt you, but the more times I go back, the worse I fear things will be." [Initial answer depends on satisfaction of the vessels.] [IF PRINCESSES ARE SATISFIED] THE ENTITY - The vessels are shaped by memories of you, but [IF FREED: their impulses / IF NOT: they] are drawn to the edge of the Long Quiet. To them you are a gate to something more, [IF FREED: and any hurt you've caused them is understood as a fair price for freedom]. But they are only thoughts and perspectives. They are not me. [IF PRINCESSES ARE DISSATISFIED] THE ENTITY - There is a hurt that dwells in them, but they are not me. They are thoughts and perspectives. They are feelings that inform my being. [IF PRINCESSES ARE EQUALLY SATISFIED AND DISSATISFIED] THE ENTITY - The vessels are a weave of emotion at odds with themselves, but they are only perspectives. They are not me. [Continued response.] THE ENTITY - The wounds they've suffered carve texture around my heart. Without them, I would be as I was before. THE ENTITY - I cannot be as I was before. There are new spaces that I must fill.

Weird minor distinction here: if the Princesses experience freedom in their lifetime, Shifty says their impulses are drawn to the Long Quiet (the Location). if the Princesses are not freed by their route's end, Shifty says the vessels themselves are drawn to the Long Quiet (the Location). I... don't know what to make of this distinction or what it implies.

SEAMSTRESS SHIFTY MOTIF If Her two vessels are conflicted, She describes them as a "weave of emotions at odds with themselves."

RED FLAGS "The worse I fear things will be" can also include things that are worse for Quiet. Shifty exclusively focuses on the idea of things that are worse for Her in Her response. (And Quiet fixates on that, too, with little to no consideration for their own wellbeing.) "The wounds [my vessels] suffer carve texture around MY heart" is bonkers crazy from the perspective of the vessels that are subsumed, if we view them with any remote sense of personhood or independence from the Shifting Mound at any point.

TO THEM, YOU ARE A GATE TO SOMETHING MORE. If the Long Quiet has been the best possible partner to the 2 Princesses (and, ergo, to Shifty), then they are rewarded with Shifty telling them that every single Princess (note the definite article 'the', not the demonstrative article 'these', in "the vessels") saw the Long Quiet as "a gate to something more." Not a partner, or a person, but a gate--another object. And, in saying "the Long Quiet is a gate to something more," the Shifting Mound implicitly likens Herself to "something more." Once again placing Herself on a hierarchy above them, even to the singular perspectives of Her vessels. She is The Possibility of Meaning; and Quiet? A gate to Her. A blade to free them from their shackles. A key to the door. This is the warmest thing the Shifting Mound will say, to comfort the Long Quiet's guilt. The greatest compliment She will grant them.

INVISIBLE WALLS

Note: "perspectives I have already made my own" does not account for Oblivion. (most of the game, it seems, doesn't really account for someone aborting Oblivion. unless canon wants us to think that the vessels lost to Oblivion are reclaimed in Intermission II onwards?) This connects back to the reasoning on why Quiet's memory is reset, considered in Intermission I's analysis. Blocking out Quiet's choices ensures each vessel is different and unique and special... and is also wholly intentional on the part of the Shifting Mound. She is manipulating Quiet's mind.

KINDNESS

• (Explore) "You have been kinder to me than anyone else I've ever met. Thank you." / (Explore) "You have been kinder to me than anyone else I've ever met. Why?" THE ENTITY - Why wouldn't I be kind to you? You are the only thing I know that isn't me.

[note: apparently, Quiet has private kindness ranking of "anyone else I've ever met" ... whether or not it includes, say, the Princesses or the Voices is unclear.] Quiet's standards are so low that they consider it "kind" when a woman doesn't immediately start degrading and killing them the second they meet Her. And, hey, considering the shattering glass with each Intermission's Conclusion and the "everything goes dark..." narration to follow, it's heavily implied Shifty kills Quiet in some way in order to send them back to Chapter I. So it's not even that She doesn't try to kill them, She just does it "nicely." Because the events of the Chapters beforehand with each Intermission are so gruesome and traumatic that the events of each Intermission seem like a safe-haven in comparison; a quiet moment to breathe, before they're sent back.

Sidenote II.A: How is the Shifting Mound supposedly "kinder to me than anyone else I've ever met?" What I went through in my first playthrough, and from what I've seen of most other playthroughs I've watched, it seems that the Entity in the Spaces Between is particularly hypnotic. We finish the first route, seeing some horrific shit therein, and then Cosmic Horror starts happening. The world unwinds itself into textured nothingness and hands appear from literal nowhere to steal away a Princess we have amicable relations with. And then The Mirror appears, put in the Princess's place by the same Entity that took her away, and our Voices (the ones who went through everything with us, who might've helped or might've hurt us, but whom for the most part were always there) start panicking. And then they're just--gone. And we are alone in a place that is empty. And it is quiet there. The Voices "fell silent" as we approached, the Mirror causing them to "leave." Our mind was emptied. And then... we approach Her. And it's instantly disarming. Her soft tones, the OST… it catches so many people off guard. And this Entity is so forthcoming with information, it seems. Maybe Her dialogue is hard to discern for some at times, and it's difficult to peel the layers back on every metaphor, but it feels like we're getting the gist of things on every line. Every line which is delivered in soft, sweet tones and pretty language caught between prose and poetry. And it's so peaceful in its stillness. You kind of… forget, that the Vessel is there at all, really. It's... mystifying. Having gone through all this conflict, and having spent so much time with The Narrator who refuses to answer even a single question and is so openly on the offensive… aren't the Spaces Between a break from it all? A short reprieve? It's so peaceful here. So void of violence. So introspective. It really does all feel so far away once I'm near you. Should it feel so far away? Does it really? If this is meant to be a reprieve from the Construct's hellish design, why don't we get to wait with Her more than once?... Why does She put up invisible walls which close in around us? We have been through so much trauma in the Chapters that even just slightly less trauma would seem a kindness in comparison. Sidenote II.A concluded.

CONCLUSION

• "I'm ready to go back.", THE ENTITY - I [IF FREED: will long for / IF NOT: await] your return, but it will give me time to reflect on what I am. THE ENTITY - We will meet again. [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx] Everything goes dark, and you die

#slay the princess #stp #stp the shifting mound #stp shifty #overthinking tsm #stp analysis

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overthinkit-underscore · 8 days ago

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Next Intermission: Intermission IV

Previous Intermission: Intermission II

One-Time Per Playthrough Actions (Wait, Attack the Entity, Destroy your Body, Breakdown in Communication)

Thoughts on These Vessels

Slay the Princess's Intermissions Dialogue Analysis

Intermission III

What happens to the worlds we leave behind?

Note: This is where I feel that Shifty's more negative traits begin to show more obviously.

INTRODUCTION: GROWING CHORUS OF CONTRADICTION

THE ENTITY - I am a growing chorus of contradiction. A mass of tides ebbing and flowing at all once in more directions than my attention can bear to hold. To look at any one is to shift them all into something new, and to look away is to reshape them yet again. THE ENTITY - All of me is changing, and yet the rest of me is still the same. • (Explore) "You can't be a contradiction. Contradictions don't exist." THE ENTITY - And yet my waters flow and my streets bustle. There are no words that can describe me into non-existence. There is no logic that can bind my multitudes. THE ENTITY - I am everything that you have known me to be, but I am also none of it. • (Explore) "How can you stand to be a contradiction?" THE ENTITY - As easily as you can stand to be you. You are like me, even if you have chosen not to look at the corners of you that do not fit, even if you have chosen to ignore the brilliant contours of your soul

Note: the Sleeping Mound's voice direction has changed dramatically from Intermission II to Intermission III. She's now even breathier and placing odd emphasis on words in Her speech patterns. In Her introductory dialogue, She almost sounds overwhelmed as She describes Herself--even just in text, "a growing chorus," "a mass of tides," "more directions than my attention can bear." Of course, when Quiet tells Her she can't be a contradiction, the tone gets distinctively more forceful. Additional note: this is the first time the Shifting Mound uses the word "multitudes" to describe Herself.

MY WATERS FLOW AND MY STREETS BUSTLE The changes between Intermissions are escalating. From Intermission I to Intermission II, Shifty went from "flickering lights in empty cityscapes" to "pockets of vitality and movement." Now, from Intermission II to III, Her metaphorical city has gone from slight habitation... to bustling streets. From a creek to a pond to flowing waters, tides that ebb and flow in ways not dissimilar to the ocean Shifty prophesized She'd return to the form of. It seems like the more Vessels Quiet brings her, the faster her other infinite multitudes are pulled to her. But at the same time, she doesn't seem to be fully capable of comprehending it all, still more mortal than divine. It's overstimulation to Her. But the overstimulation of the Multitudes seems to be preferable to the sensory deprivation of the Tunnels Without A Mouth, to Shifty. Discomfort in Transformation, to Shifty, is preferable to the alternative when She was alone and without sensation. Considering the use of the word "multitudes" here, plus the fact that She boasts that "there is no logic that can bind Her," She may feel empowered, even, by the overstimulation. That She struggles to know Herself makes Her feel powerful; makes Her feel like She's so much 'more' than She was before. As She says in Intermission II, "it feels correct. This is the only path forward." Regardless of how much She changes in Her journey towards self-discovery, She will always pursue it as Her ultimate goal.

YOU CAN'T BE A CONTRADICTION Shifty gets forceful when Quiet tries to tell Her what She is and is not, what She can and cannot be, what is and is not possible. Tells them twice, in two different ways, that She will not be told what She is when She's discovering it for Herself; that She will not be bound by another's logic, nor described into non-existence. In essence, She has interpreted Quiet's "contradictions don't exist" as an invalidation of Her stated identity, and reacted accordingly with passionate upset. Whether or not Quiet meant to invalidate Shifty's identity with that line is up to interpretation; but Her reaction to the perceived slight seems sympathetic regardless. In a way, it mirrors the interaction in Intermission I, in which Shifty outright denies their declaration of personhood.

AS EASILY AS YOU CAN STAND TO BE YOU. "How can you stand to be a contradiction?" is not really what Quiet is asking. The "contradiction" thing is a metaphor. What they're asking is essentially, "how can you stand to be so many things at once/have so many aspects of yourself/think, so much, all the time/grow?" Quiet is also finding many different aspects of themselves through this process, best exemplified by the Voices and how they chatter and argue against each other.

THE CORNERS OF YOU THAT DO NOT FIT, THE BRILLIANT CONTOURS OF YOUR SOUL. There are choices Quiet could have made in the three routes they've hand-picked for the Sleeping Mound--they could have slain Damsel, but instead chose to free her, etc.--and those capacities will exist forever, regardless of if they were chosen. They, like Sleepy over here, have far greater capacities than their choices would make apparent on the surface.

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW?

• (Explore) "Do you know what happens to the worlds we leave behind?" THE ENTITY - My perspectives are shadowed. You have seen what I have seen, just as I have seen what you have seen. The angles of my vantage do not offer me hidden truths, and my attention is turned inward, except when you are here with me. THE ENTITY - Perhaps this will change when our work is done.

SHADOWED PERSPECTIVES. YOU HAVE SEEN AS I HAVE SEEN, AND VICE VERSA. The Shifting Mound is not omnipotent in this state; not yet. Like a regular person, She can only see through the Vessels' eyes. Quiet and Her are the only two entities (as far as She is aware) in every Chapter and story within the Construct. They experience the exact same things, just in different perspectives. The secondary line, that "perhaps this will change when our work is done," heavily implies that this is a temporary condition. That, potentially, when She awakens, She will have seen more than what Quiet has seen. TL;DR: as of now, The Shifting Mound has blind spots. She only knows the things Quiet shows her. When "our work is done," i.e. when Shifty awakens, this might not be true.

ANGLES OF MY VANTAGE. The Shifting Mound is in no higher position to Quiet. She cannot see beyond the gifts they've given her. TL;DR, She does not know any more than Quiet does on this whole situation. Or at least She thinks She doesn't; She's more immediately aware of the whole "reincarnating immortality" and "we used to be gods" thing, but She shares that knowledge at the first opportunity.

ATTENTION IS TURNED INWARD. While Quiet is on the path in the woods putting themself through the Chapters, the Shifting Mound is alone in the Long Quiet. While alone, She reflects on the Princesses She's assimilated: their experiences, their beliefs, their feelings. Compares and contrasts them against each other… changes them, to suit Her needs. When Quiet appears, She accepts whatever gift they grant Her, and briefly talks with them before sending them back. This is Her existence until She awakens. TL;DR, Shifty is thinking about Herself, Her identity, and Her place in the world whenever She's alone. When She's with Quiet, we already know what She's doing, because we witness it.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (III): THREATEN HER

• (Explore) "I'm still planning to kill you once we're done with this." THE ENTITY - If that remains your choice when all is said and done, then you may try. [...] [IF PRINCESSES ARE SATISFIED] THE ENTITY - [...] But know that I do not wish you harm, even if you attempt to destroy me. [IF PRINCESSES ARE DISSATISFIED] THE ENTITY - [...] I will regret destroying you, if that is what we come to.

Even at Her most dissatisfied, Shifty's Multitudes will always regret "destroying" the Long Quiet. (And yet, in Intermission I, She said "to destroy is merely to reshape, to remold." How interesting that Her position on the matter appears to have changed.) She will not passively allow Quiet to destroy Her, but She does not actively wish them harm. But if they ever were to try, She assumes it could only ever be an "attempt," and if She were to retaliate, it would be She who destroys them. She cannot imagine being overpowered.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (III): COUNT VESSELS

• (Explore) "How many more vessels do I need to bring you?" THE ENTITY - We will know when we near our destination.

Blunt.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (III): ASK HER PREFERENCES

• (Explore) "Do you still not care what I bring you next?" THE ENTITY - I care about your gifts, but I have no preferences [IF SATISFIED: to burden you with]. [...] [IF PRINCESSES ARE SATISFIED] THE ENTITY - [...] Even if I did, I would never dare to tarnish our relationship by assuming myself above you. [IF PRINCESSES ARE DISSATISFIED] THE ENTITY - [...] You have your responsibilities, and I have mine. • (Explore) "So you don't have any preferences on how you'd like to change or grow?" THE ENTITY - The tides do not dictate where they are pulled. A river does not dictate its outlets. THE ENTITY - My gift to you is to let you choose your path, and my task is to [IF SATISFIED: treasure / IF NOT: contemplate] the gifts you bring me.

Couple of notes with this one:

The Shifting Mound only recognizes Quiet's struggle throughout the Chapters as a burden to them if She is satisfied with their gifts to Her.

She also only conditionally adds that She wouldn't assume Herself above them… if She is satisfied with their behavior. If they show Her, through their gifts, that they love Her. That line is omitted if She is dissatisfied.

A small point of foreshadowing towards how the Shifting Mound behaves at the End of Everything argument, in regards to [Appeal to your shared humanity] and [Reject Her authority]. She will tarnish their relationship by assuming Herself above them at the End of Everything.

If Shifty is dissatisfied, She "contemplates" Her vessels. Otherwise, She "treasures" them.

The Shifting Mound is only kind and empathetic when Quiet does what she wants. So even if the Vessels are unsatisfied by, such as, Quiet refusing to fight Adversary (Skeptic EOTN) or killing Nightmare to get Wraith, she will treat them the exact same way than if they, for example, killed Prisoner and Thorn.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (III): ASK HER INTENTIONS

• (Explore) "Have you figured out what you'll want when we've finished?" THE ENTITY - The desires of my multitude thrive in endless competition with themselves, but none of them rise above their dance to influence me. THE ENTITY - I yearn for what I have always yearned for. [IF SATISFIED: Our/ IF NOT: My] awakening. Other desires shrink in the light of [...] [IF PRINCESSES ARE SATISFIED] THE ENTITY - [...] knowing you and knowing me. [IF PRINCESSES ARE DISSATISFIED] THE ENTITY - [...] self-knowledge.

BLATANT LIE, OR SIMPLY WRONG. Take note of the above line, "none of [my multitudes] rise above their dance to influence me." This is patently false; if this were the case, Shifty's answers wouldn't be different if the Princesses are satisfied or not. In fact, in a single playthrough, you can actually watch Shifty's multitudes influence Her if you Ask Her Intentions when the Princesses are Satisfied in Intermission II, and then collect a vessel to swing the favor of the tides towards Dissatisfaction (best done by throwing Wraith into the Abyss or slaying Fury after the torture sequence) for Intermission III. Shifty's priorities will switch from "to know myself and to know you" into "self-knowledge" fast. She thinks She's above it all, but She's simply not.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (III): GUILT

• (Explore) "It doesn't matter how many times I go back. At least one of us always hurts the other. Doesn't that change you? Doesn't that make you worse?" THE ENTITY - It changes me, but it doesn't make me worse, nor does it make me care for you any less. Does it make you worse? Do you resent me? • "If anything, it makes me like you more. I don't know what that says about me." THE ENTITY - It says that your heart is gentle. That even in the darkness, you are guided by compassion. • "No, not really. It all seems so distant as soon as I'm near you." THE ENTITY - It does seem small from here. And the more we journey, the smaller each of those steps will be. But that doesn't make any of them less special. • "I have no opinion one way or another on the matter." THE ENTITY - How strange of you to ask me, then. • "I just want it all to stop." THE ENTITY - It will, in time. But you still have a long ways to go before we are done. Know that I hold no malice for you. • "Yes, you're torturing me and I hate it. I think I hate you." / [Remain silent.] [IF PRINCESSES ARE SATISFIED] THE ENTITY - You are what brings me meaning. Know that the pain of your journey will subside in due time. [IF PRINCESSES ARE DISSATISFIED] THE ENTITY - Know that I hold no malice towards you. The pain of your journey will subside in due time.

BLATANT LIE, OR SIMPLY WRONG. "It changes me, but it doesn't [...] make me care for you any less" is blatantly false. Her responses to Quiet lamenting their pain and suffering are affected by whether or not She's been Satisfied by their decisions or not. That is a tangible effect the hurt they inflict onto Her has on Her care for them. Whether or not it makes Her "worse" is too subjective to measure. Does Shifty know She is lying? I doubt it. She views Herself as above it all and will proudly tell us so. She might not notice just how the vessels are changing Her. She might think this is always how She was meant to be. Or maybe She's simply too overwhelmed by Her own size to think much on it at all, consumed by Her own ego, drowning in a developing divine confidence.

WHAT BRINGS ME MEANING. This is Shifty's idea of a loving, affectionate, compassionate statement. Complete dismissal of Quiet's pains, their suffering, the torture they've endured in favor of the meaning She finds in it and them. She does not reassure them of how She feels about them; She reminds them of their role, and how She's defining Herself through their gifts. The 'gifts' they hate going back for, the vessels they claim to be torturing them. If the Princesses are satisfied, then Quiet's pain must not be that bad. If Shifty's Multitudes are satisfied, then so too must Quiet be in due time. Their pains will subside.

IT MAKES ME LIKE YOU MORE. COMPASSIONATE AND GENTLE. "At least one of us always hurts the other [...] if anything, it makes me like you more." This is a trauma bond, at best. Shifty claims that this is an expression of The Long Quiet's compassion. It's interpretable, instead, that it's a sign that the Long Quiet does not value themself or their wellbeing or their safety at all, that they would allow themselves to be harmed (or even harm someone they claim to like) and feel better about the relationship through that shared pain. Considering the egregious fates The Long Quiet can meet at the hands of these vessels (the road to The Moment of Clarity, their countless steely deaths at Razor's blades, Fury's torture sequence, being digested or disemboweled by Beast, etc.), it may be a sign that they're normalizing others hurting them to a dangerous extent. That they might even take abuse as a sign of affection. And Shifty enables this belief.

CONCLUSION

• "I'm ready to go back." THE ENTITY - I will be here when it is time for us to meet again. [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx] Everything goes dark, and you die.

This might be the most direct and straightforward thing that Shifty ever says. (It might not be physically possible to double layer ‘I’ll be here when you come back.’)

#slay the princess #stp #stp the shifting mound #stp shifty #overthinking tsm #stp analysis

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overthinkit-underscore · 8 days ago

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Previous Intermission: Intermission III

One-Time Per Playthrough Actions (Wait, Attack the Entity, Destroy your Body, Breakdown in Communication)

Thoughts on These Vessels

Slay the Princess's Intermissions Dialogue Analysis

INTERMISSION IV

Is that a rhetorical question?... There are people out there, I think. I'm not alone when you send me back; there's a voice I call The Narrator.

INTRODUCTION: THE WORLDS BEYOND

THE ENTITY - There's a world beyond the endless walls of the Long Quiet. […] [IF PRINCESSES ARE FREED] THE ENTITY - […] We're supposed to be there. Do you know what we'll find out there? • (Explore) "Is that a rhetorical question? Do you know? Do you want to tell me?" [Note: the volume of the Shifting Mound's dialogue increases for this line.] THE ENTITY - Rhetorical. I am not rhetorical. I have only known these spaces, and I have known flickers of the lives you've brought me. Short and violent and full of passion. But all of these flickers end where The Long Quiet begins. THE ENTITY - I'm asking you because I cannot know your mind. Do you know what we'll find out there? • (Explore) "There's trees, and stars. And there are people, I think. At least there are supposed to be people." THE ENTITY - There is a warmth and sadness in me at the thought of people. Fresh tears on a winter's day. They are not like us. They do not last. [IF PRINCESSES ARE TRAPPED] THE ENTITY - [...] I am curious to see what it means for us to know it. • (Explore) "Do you think there are people out there?" THE ENTITY - It doesn't matter if there are. People are [IF SATISFIED: too small for us / IF NOT: frail and impermanent]. You and I are the only things that interest me.

RHETORICAL QUESTION Remember that one interaction in Intermission I, with the rhetorical question? The "How can the world have ended if we are talking?" (Implied: "it can't have ended. It's not the end of the world.") Or the fact that Quiet and Shifty's first interaction included Shifty asking Quiet what they were, despite the fact that She already had an answer for them in mind and actively argued against their answer if they disagreed? "Rhetorical. I am not rhetorical." As in: Quiet has asked Shifty if Her greeting them with "do you know what we'll find out there?" was a rhetorical question. If She has an idea of what the Spaces Beyond might look like, and is making pleasant conversation on the way to tell them of it. If She knows something they do not. Shifty is immediately aggressive at this implication, and also fixates on the word 'rhetorical'. She is not "rhetorical," She does not use "rhetoric", She does not care for "words." She literally raises Her voice at Quiet just for asking for clarification. (This, combined with the "can you give me a single straight answer?" "if you don't like my answers, you need not ask any questions" interaction doesn't bode well as a sign of the stability of this relationship.) Ironically, Shifty claims She's asking Quiet a question because "i cannot know your mind" (i.e. Quiet might have information/answers Shifty does not)… which is exactly what She's getting mad at them for implying the other way around.

Does She just want them to trust Her unconditionally and not question Her ever? Well...

THE NARRATOR

• (Explore) "When you send me back, I'm not alone. There are voices that speak to me. Some of them are me, but one of them is something else. I call him The Narrator, and He wants me to kill you. Do you have a Narrator? Have the vessels had one?" THE ENTITY - No. [IF FREED: Their thoughts are quiet. / IF NOT: Their minds are empty, but constantly shifting into something new.] Do you think your Narrator lives in the spaces beyond? • "He does. I don't know why, but I know this for a fact." THE ENTITY - I am on the cusp of my awakening. Perhaps you are on the cusp of yours. • "He does. I don't know what I'm going to do when I find him." THE ENTITY - There's no need for you to know what you are going to do before you do it. If you find him, remember that I'll be waiting for you on the other side. • "He does. And when I find him, you and I are finally going to have answers." THE ENTITY - Do not look to one who fears me for your truth. The only answers worth knowing are those we can find within ourselves. • "He does. And when I find him, I'm going to kill him." [IF PRINCESSES ARE FREED] THE ENTITY - If he drives you towards my destruction, then he is steeped in delusion, for he does not know me. Just as I hold compassion for you, and you hold compassion for me, you can hold compassion for those who have wronged you. [IF PRINCESSES ARE TRAPPED] THE ENTITY - If he is anything other than us, he isn't worth the effort to destroy. • He does. But you're going to keep that to yourself. THE ENTITY - It's nice to be with someone whose thoughts I can never know as mine.

DO NOT LOOK TO ONE WHO FEARS ME FOR YOUR TRUTH. Shifty doesn't just want quiet not to look towards outside sources (the narrator) for 'the truth,' with a definite article, which would imply She wants to be the sole person they look to for understanding and information. She explicitly wants quiet to only look towards themself and Shifty and their relationship to Her for "their truth," with a possessive article. Implying She's advising them to comprehend their self and identity and purpose only in the context of this relationship. Maybe- maybe. Maybe when she says "the only answers worth knowing are those we can find within ourselves" she means it in, like, a self-introspection way---like she will only find Her answers from Herself, and Quiet will only find His answers from Himself. …if she didn't say that as a follow-up to "do not look to ONE WHO FEARS ME" i could almost believe that.

ONE WHO FEARS ME. HE IS STEEPED IN DELUSION. It's only rarely in contextual instances that any vessel would ever even be made aware of the Narrator, let alone see/interact with Him enough to recognize that He fears her. Granted, maybe TLQ telling Her "one of them is the Narrator, and He wants me to kill you" is enough for Her to simply assume (correctly, by sheer coincidence) that He's afraid of Her…? double-granted: this is Intermission IV. Shifty's gained an ego by Intermission III. anything that thinks She should be destroyed, in Her eyes, must simply be delusional and afraid of Her. "Delusional" is Her new favorite word.

DESTRUCTION Shifty says in Intermission I that there is no such thing as destruction. Here, She recognizes that Quiet's Narrator wants them to destroy Her, and in response simply says He is not worth the effort to destroy--implying destruction is a very real possibility. Is destruction only a real thing when it's happening to Her, or it is She who enacts it?

Sidenote IV.A: We don't get another moment like this again, where the Long Quiet, as our player character, has an inherent knowledge that we cannot gloss over or fail to understand. The Shifting Mound takes The Long Quiet's unexplained knowledge of the Narrator's origins as a sign that they're on the cusp of their divine awakening. Why? Are the first trickles of eldritch information a god inexplicably knows always, in some way, related to their divinity? Their domain? The abstract concept they embody? How interesting, then, that the Long Quiet's inherent aspects of knowledge are of that involving The Spaces Beyond, The Narrator, and The Existence Of People. The idea, in Intermission I, that they are a person. They are, after all, the god created to rid the world of death. Mortality is one clear aspect of their divine domain; a purpose to their being, nascent and long-forgotten. Perhaps they are more like a person than they are like Her?... Sidenote IV.A concluded.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (IV): COUNT VESSELS

Question: has this "gravity" thing been happening already? It would explain your rapid character development for the only four vessels we've given you.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (IV): ASK HER PREFERENCES

• (Explore) "If this is the last time, is there anything you would like me to bring you?" THE ENTITY - These gifts are a conversation, and each one shows me the contours of your heart. The only thing I want to see is what you choose for me when the thread is fully drawn.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (IV): ASK HER INTENTIONS

• (Explore) "Do you know what's going to happen when you awaken?" [IF PRINCESSES ARE SATISFIED] THE ENTITY - If I did, I would already be awake. [IF PRINCESSES ARE DISSATISFIED] THE ENTITY - No. The point of awakening is to find out.

For someone who "doesn't know what's going to happen when She awakens," She is shockingly accurate with some of these predictions:

knows that there is a world beyond the Long Quiet, and knows (if Her multitudes have seen freedom) that She and Quiet are "supposed to be there."

knows how She and Quiet relate to people: they are not like people, who are frail and impermanent and do not last. They are larger than (more than) that. She feels warmth and sadness at the thought of people, but only if She, Herself, has seen freedom through Her vessels' eyes. Otherwise, She is indifferent, caring only for Herself and Quiet.

knows Quiet is on the cusp of their awakening, somehow, in some way.

knows that if Quiet finds the Narrator, She will be waiting for them "on the other side."

knows She only needs one more vessel in order to awaken; and knows that, in order to awaken, gravity will pull all of Her aspects back towards and into Her multitudes. She knows She will be singular. A full city, an ocean… a completed network.

knows that the only thing that matters is what Quiet will choose for Her "when the thread is fully drawn" (return of Seamstress Shifty motif).

CONCLUSION

"I'm ready to go back." THE ENTITY - The next time I see you, each of us will finally know what we are. THE ENTITY - I will be here. Waiting for you. [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx] Everything goes dark, and you die.

#slay the princess #stp #stp the shifting mound #stp shifty #overthinking tsm #stp analysis

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overthinkit-underscore · 8 days ago

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Slay the Princess's Intermissions Dialogue Analysis

INTERMISSION IV

Is that a rhetorical question?... There are people out there, I think. I'm not alone when you send me back; there's a voice I call The Narrator.

INTRODUCTION: THE WORLDS BEYOND

Does She just want them to trust Her unconditionally and not question Her ever? Well...

THE NARRATOR

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (IV): COUNT VESSELS

Question: has this "gravity" thing been happening already? It would explain your rapid character development for the only four vessels we've given you.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (IV): ASK HER PREFERENCES

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (IV): ASK HER INTENTIONS

For someone who "doesn't know what's going to happen when She awakens," She is shockingly accurate with some of these predictions:

knows that there is a world beyond the Long Quiet, and knows (if Her multitudes have seen freedom) that She and Quiet are "supposed to be there."

knows Quiet is on the cusp of their awakening, somehow, in some way.

knows that if Quiet finds the Narrator, She will be waiting for them "on the other side."

knows that the only thing that matters is what Quiet will choose for Her "when the thread is fully drawn" (return of Seamstress Shifty motif).

CONCLUSION

#this is not a place that can hold a fragment of a concept

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overthinkit-underscore · 8 days ago

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Slay the Princess's Intermissions Dialogue Analysis

Intermission III

What happens to the worlds we leave behind?

Note: This is where I feel that Shifty's more negative traits begin to show more obviously.

INTRODUCTION: GROWING CHORUS OF CONTRADICTION

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW?

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (III): THREATEN HER

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (III): COUNT VESSELS

• (Explore) "How many more vessels do I need to bring you?" THE ENTITY - We will know when we near our destination.

Blunt.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (III): ASK HER PREFERENCES

Couple of notes with this one:

The Shifting Mound only recognizes Quiet's struggle throughout the Chapters as a burden to them if She is satisfied with their gifts to Her.

If Shifty is dissatisfied, She "contemplates" Her vessels. Otherwise, She "treasures" them.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (III): ASK HER INTENTIONS

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (III): GUILT

CONCLUSION

• "I'm ready to go back." THE ENTITY - I will be here when it is time for us to meet again. [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx] Everything goes dark, and you die.

This might be the most direct and straightforward thing that Shifty ever says. (It might not be physically possible to double layer ‘I’ll be here when you come back.’)

#this is not a place that can hold a fragment of a concept

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overthinkit-underscore · 8 days ago

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Slay the Princess's Intermissions Dialogue Analysis

INTERMISSION II

How have you changed? What does it feel like? Why are you the kindest being I've ever met? Why can I not do the same things I've done before?

INTRODUCTION: HOW MUCH HAVE YOU CHANGED?

FIRST PERSON PRONOUNS IN QUOTES, AND WITHOUT QUOTES.

[note: this also happens in Fury, with Cold.]

Voice of the Cold - I'm still here. I'm still [quote] 'me' [end-quote]. The Entity - [quote] 'I' [end-quote] am different, but I am the same.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (II): THREATEN HER

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (II): COUNT VESSELS

BODY OF WATER MOTIF Shifty prefers the City metaphor to the Body Of Water one, but hey. She's a pond now.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (II): ASK HER PREFERENCES

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (II): ASK HER INTENTIONS

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (II): GUILT

SEAMSTRESS SHIFTY MOTIF If Her two vessels are conflicted, She describes them as a "weave of emotions at odds with themselves."

INVISIBLE WALLS

KINDNESS

CONCLUSION

#this is not a place that can hold a fragment of a concept

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overthinkit-underscore · 8 days ago

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Slay the Princess's Intermissions Dialogue Analysis

BACK TO INTERMISSION I

BACK TO INTERMISSION II

BACK TO INTERMISSION III

BACK TO INTERMISSION IV

One-Time Only Actions

These actions can only be taken once per playthrough.

WAITING

Note: if you (Explore) a wait option at all, regardless of if you select [Wait forever] and hear the Sleeping Mound's monologue on the topic, you can never wait again. The (Explore) option simply disappears. You can only think about waiting in an Intermission once per playthrough. Presumably, if protagonist character motives are to be considered at all, after the first time, the Long Quiet must not consider it a worthwhile option. Whether that be because of the Sleeping Mound's discouragements, or the nature of the options you have available to select after choosing to wait, or because the act of waiting did not prove to bear the fruit they thought it would... ultimately, after waiting with Shifty in an Intermission just once, Quiet never tries to do so again.

INTERMISSION I

• (Explore) "And what if I don't let you do this to me?" THE ENTITY - Then we will be here forever, as we are now. Unfinished, dry, hollow. • "I'm not going back." [Wait.] THE ENTITY - If you need time, then I'll wait with you. • [Wait forever.] • "Okay. I'm ready. Make me forget."

INTERMISSION II

• (Explore) "And what if I don't want to bring you any more vessels? What if I just wait here forever?" THE ENTITY - Then we will remain here as we are now. Barely finished, damp, cavernous. • [Wait.] • [You have no need to wait.] THE ENTITY - If you need time, then I'll wait with you. • [Wait forever.] • [There is no waiting forever.]

INTERMISSION III

• (Explore) "I don't want to go back anymore. I just want to stay here. Forever if I have to." THE ENTITY - If you need time, then I will wait with you. • [Continue to wait. Forever.] • [There is no waiting forever.]

INTERMISSION IV

• (Explore) "If this is the last stage before your completion, then I'm not going back. I'm just going to stay here. Forever, if I have to." THE ENTITY - You have already chosen to walk along this path, and we both know you will see to its completion. But if you need more time, then I will wait with you. • [Wait forever.] • [There is no waiting forever.]

WAIT FOREVER

THE ENTITY - You are as I am now, and forever is a long time to remain undone. THE ENTITY - I am not you, but I know that I would return before forever was finished. THE ENTITY - What textures will you weave for yourself to occupy forever? Will you place the images of 'you' and 'I' into a box for safekeeping? THE ENTITY - If you close that box, will you become another you in another world? An imaginary pattern repeating itself until it can no longer bear the weight of its hand-drawn cage. THE ENTITY - You'll always come back to the box, because you'll always want to know what it means to be you. I will be here waiting by your side until you're ready to return to mine. • Continue. THE ENTITY - I see you have returned to me. Days mean nothing in the maw of forever. I never left your side.

How ironic that the Shifting Mound refers to us not playing the game and returning to your real lives as running away to an imaginary one, seeing as she is the fictional character in a "hand drawn cage." She's also saying that eventually the player is going to want to know what happens next, and continue playing the game. Wishing to know what it means to be themselves... and implying only She has the answer. "I will be here waiting by your side until you're ready to return to mine," She says. Sweet and ominous all at once. Not even closing the game can save you from the Shifting Mound. She will never leave your side, no matter how you strive to detach yourself from Hers. She's dead certain you will return to Her; and when you do, She is warm and comforting and gentle. She "never left your side." This goddess has absolutely no concept of boundaries of any kind. Not physical boundaries, not emotional boundaries, none. Not even metafictional boundaries!~

[ATTACK THE ENTITY.]

• [Attack the Entity.] Your will cuts across the entity in front of you, but nothing happens. THE ENTITY - My roots burrow in an ocean beyond your sight. We cannot harm each other as we are now.

Where is this "ocean beyond my sight" where your roots burrow to, Shifty. Does the Construct, the Long Quiet, not contain all of you at all times?

"We cannot harm each other as we are now," apparently, does not include killing the Long Quiet. After all, every Intermission ends with "Everything does dark, and you die" as Quiet's final narration before the Chapter I title card... alongside the sound of shattering glass. The Long Quiet has a glass motif. The Narrator/Echo is either The Mirror itself or the grime on top of the Mirror that cannot be wiped away until the current route ends and the Echo fades. In Oblivion, the narration describes "the glass surface of [Quiet's] soul" and the Construct, AKA Quiet's divine body, is described as "the glass of the Construct," too. That shattering sound is the Long Quiet's soul, or their body, or (in all likelihood) both. Any which way, they are undoubtedly harmed in the process... just not wholly destroyed.

[DESTROY YOUR BODY.]

• [Destroy your body.] You raise your will to end your life. But as it buries into the space your body should be, you feel nothing at all. One of the many hands in front of you reaches forward, and gently touches the side of your face. THE ENTITY - There is nowhere for you to be but here.

The Long Quiet has the will to end their own existence... but not the means. Not here. Not like this. Is it comforting, for there to be nowhere for them to be but with Her? Is it terrifying?

BREAKDOWN IN COMMUNICATION note: Intermission II+ only

• (Explore) "Everything you say feels like a riddle. Can you give me a single straight answer?" / (Explore) "Enough with all this pretension. You're not actually saying anything." [note: Quiet asking Shifty for a straight answer is always at the TOP of your choice menu. calling Shifty pretentious is always at the BOTTOM of your choice menu, just above the option to die and [Go back] to the Chapters. both options prompt the same answer from the Sleeping Mound.] THE ENTITY - I'm sorry. Words are... difficult for me. They never fully weave what I wish to say. If you do not like my answers, then you need not ask me questions. THE ENTITY - The vessels you choose to bring me carry far more meaning than anything words could say in the spaces between.

THE VESSELS YOU CHOOSE TO BRING ME CARRY FAR MORE MEANING THAN ANYTHING WORDS COULD SAY.

This line focuses only on Shifty herself. "The vessels you choose to give me" is a one-way conversation. Shifty's response and contemplation of those gifts is the other half of that conversation. Without Her input, Quiet is not hearing anything back. If they do not ask Shifty questions or speak to Her in the Spaces between, it is Quiet who misses information. Shifty is gaining much from Quiet's gifts, but comparatively, Quiet isn't gaining much. Quiet is not in need of vessels to crawl inside of; without running through the Hell Loop, they are neither "empty tunnels without a mouth" nor a "dull and nascent network". They are simply themself. They lack information and identity, sure, but they aren't literally granted form through meeting new variants of the Princess. (They're actually actively withering, unraveling to nothing throughout these burdens!) Their conversations with Shifty in the Spaces Between are, comparatively, more important to Quiet than they are to her. (No wonder they would initially want to linger here. No wonder Shifty rushes them out, instead. She wants vessels and gifts, not conversations and words.)

IF YOU DO NOT LIKE MY ANSWERS, THEN YOU NEED NOT ASK ME QUESTIONS.

She actively contradicts Herself in Intermission IV, when She asks Quiet "There is a world beyond the endless walls of the Long Quiet. Do you know what we'll find out there?" and, when Quiet asks if She knows and is being rhetorical, says "I'm asking you because I cannot know your mind." Quiet, too, cannot know Shifty's mind. Neither can read minds. The point of asking questions is to learn about one's partner in a conversation. To ask for clarification is to attempt to communicate through a barrier. Shifty makes no efforts to change Her language for Quiet's sake. She says what She says, and if Quiet doesn't understand?... That's too bad. Go back and find Her another vessel; there is no waiting forever. You are already committed my completion. We both know you will see this task to its end.

#slay the princess #stp #stp the shifting mound #stp shifty #overthinking tsm #stp analysis

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overthinkit-underscore · 8 days ago

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Slay the Princess's Intermissions Dialogue Analysis

INTERMISSION I

What are you? What do you think I am? What happens now?

INTRODUCTION: WHAT ARE YOU?

SOLITARY LIGHTS IN AN EMPTY CITY. THOUGHTS WITHOUT CONNECTIONS. EMPTY TUNNELS WITHOUT A MOUTH. A NETWORK.

WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM?

ARE YOU THE PRINCESS?

RHETORICAL QUESTION

• (Explore) "Is this the end of the world?" THE ENTITY - How can the world have ended if we are talking?

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW?

TRANSITION: WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Something has taken her away, and it's left something else in her place.

REOCCURING EXPLORATIONS (I): THREATEN, COUNT VESSELS, ASK HER INTENTIONS

CONCLUSION.

• "Okay. Make me forget." THE ENTITY - She asks that I tell you to remember her. THE ENTITY - You won't. [GLASS_SHATTERING.sfx] Everything goes dark, and you die.

The vessels' level of awareness throughout this process is something I'd like us to keep in mind as we progress.

#this is not a place that can hold a fragment of a concept

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