#definitely the closest to the Shifting Mound conceptually

[phantombre]

You know, I haven't drawn the Princess in a while, so here's (in my opinion) the most intriguing lore wise:

A web of nerves laid upon a web of nerves laid upon a web of nerves...

[lipstickchainsaw]

So, to talk about the Apotheosis, we need to talk about divinity, and the different interpretations of what it means to be a 'god'.

Every Princess we meet is, in some sense, an aspect of the Shifting Mound, who is a divine entity, one of a pair of gods. The Tower, and the Apotheosis even moreso, also consider themselves to be gods, but they're really talking about different things.

For the Tower, being a 'god' simply means 'being very powerful'. Her divinity expresses itself in being able to exercise a lot of control over her environment, as well as a general sense of superiority over mere 'mortals'.

However, she is still trapped within the Cabin, chained to the role of a being needing to be freed to reach her full potential. In part, of course, she says she can free herself, but it doesn't make for the right kind of story. (Indeed, the Tower is the closest Slay the Princess gets to saying it's a story about stories.)

So, there are some conceptual limitations to her divinity, which she recognises, but she isn't really the god of anything. She's just really powerful in a way that's not very well defined.

The Shifting Mound, of course, is far more powerful than the Tower could ever even hope of being, and is, most importantly, the god of something, namely transformation, evolution, and the cycle of life and death. With this comes a certain... comfort in being who she is, because she is considerably more fundamental and conceptual, rather than a more physical and present deity.

Essentially, you can touch the Tower. The Shifting Mound simply exists.

The Apotheosis is a step along the road from the former to the latter. The Apotheosis is a grand entity, entirely unconcerned with the narrative of having to be freed, looking less human than the Tower did, with the many, many eyes on the bands loosely wrapped around her skin.

She doesn't quite need to define herself by being greater than the mere mortal bowing before her (you), she doesn't need worship, and there seems to be the vague realisation that there is something greater she should be the god of, which she's reaching for here.

But she is not yet so far beyond mortals that resistance is utterly inconceivable, and you have the ability to attack her in the middle of this grand attempt at self-definition.

Of course, this tableau is then frozen, because this entire narrative is merely a part of the process of self-discovery of the Shifting Mound, the true deity the Apotheosis is, ultimately, only a small part of.

What do you think about the Fury and the respective routes that you can take to her (Tower, Adversary)? In my playthrough I got her through the tower and was subsequently a little disappointed at Adversary's take (probably since I was expecting a little bit of variation due to the absence of godhood)

And, if you have time, what do you think of the Apotheosis?

Well, this one's been waiting in my inbox for a while, so let's get to it.

The thing about the Fury is that she is defined primarily by a great identity crisis, having a certain identity/role established at the end of Chapter 1 and then having it totally denied over the course of Chapter 2. Yes, the Tower and Adversary are very different, and the way you deny them are different, but the result of that is remarkably similar, so let's have a look!

(I'll talk about the Apotheosis in a reblog.)

I, too, got to the Fury via the Tower the first time, so let's start there. The Tower is a Princess defined by your attempt and subsequent absolute failure to slay her. Your perception of her is that of someone impossible to lay a finger on, so why even bother, and the role she grows to fill to meet that perception is of a god.

And your inability to resist her extends even to your choices in the Tower, because she can outright overrule or preempt your choices in a way no other Princess can, even taking control of the Narrator. It's how she defines herself, and being joined by the Broken only further enhances this.

And then you defy her anyway. You go right against what she demands of you, defy her even as you stab yourself at her command to cut her heel, to draw blood. This sullies her image to such an extent that it causes a mental break, because this shouldn't be possible. You should be a broken simp worshipping her at her feet, freeing her from her bonds in the culmination of her being as a god, and instead, here you are, plunging your blade into a god's heart.

So the Fury ends up looking the way she does, her flesh torn, her perfect image clearly sullied and corrupted, her heart open for all to see. At the same time, this incongruence between the two roles your perception might've made her fill (and the tension between the Broken and the Stubborn), the thing that's making her have this mental break, also leaves her tapping into some genuinely incredible power, basically insta-killing you no matter what you try, pissed off as she is.

Taking the Adversary route to get here, the connotations are obviously different. It is, as you mentioned, missing the divine element, but crucially, the Adversary is also defined by one very simple thing: you both fighting to the death and clearly enjoying it.

She outright says, as she dies in Chapter 1, that doing this was 'fun'.

So when you meet her again, her sole purpose in life, the one thing she wants and cares about, is fighting to the death. If you give her this, everything is fine, and she reaches the culmination of her reason for being, and it is glorious.

However, you can turn this desire to ash, either by talking to her and force her to think about her circumstances, or by turning this glorious desire into a horror show as you keep getting up despite your, uh, face being gone (which is fun, I definitely recommend doing this once).

And here, too, the Fury is an identity crisis. All her muscles, all the power you imbued her with in Chapter 2 were useless, so you see her tear her skin off, tearing the chain binding her (to her role, her position with this entire set-up) off along with it. She still wants to fight and kill you, but instead of being glorious, it's now turned bitter and hateful, and she can't even use physical violence to satisfy this urge, so, in her frustration, she just rips you apart with her grander power as she comes unshackled.

In short, by forcing either Adversary or Tower to go against her initial nature, you break a bit of the greater system operating behind the scenes, and let her tap into some of the Shifting Mound's power to break you, right before the Shifting Mound claims her.

(Also, I compared the Adversary's lust for violence to sex, and I think you can apply some of this to the Tower, too (literally worshipping the domme 'goddess'), which makes the Fury the result of orgasm denial. You're welcome.)