#stp tsm

[julerosemary]

A Super Smash Bros Ultimate Moveset for The Princess

General Playstyle

The Princess can be considered a grappler. Her attacks do a lot of damage, but have significant startup, as she nearly always needs to change into one of chapter two or three forms to attack. She is a heavyweight character (that chain weighs her down), albeit one of the lightest heavyweights, having the weight of the sandbag*. She is decently fast on the ground (faster than R.O.B., but slower than Kirby), but slower in the air, having the same airspeed as Snake and Villager with a high falling speed (the same as Bowser), as well as being burdened with a somewhat small jump height (the same as Zelda). This generally makes her unable to go high over the stage, but she can go off it due to ridiculous up-special recovery. She does not have access to many useful projectiles, but has many command grabs. 

Notes: The Princess is able to crawl.

Ground Attacks

Jab -- The Soft Princess: The Soft Princess continuously stabs downwards. Low damage, but hard to escape from.

Forward tilt -- The Witch: The Witch stabs the pristine blade forward and slightly up. This attack does significant extra damage if The Witch stabs the opponent’s back, and almost no damage if that is not the case.

Up tilt -- The Burned Grey: The Burned Grey throws a torch in an arc forward. Low range, but lights opponents that it hits on fire.

Down tilt -- The Thorn: The Thorn directs thorny vines from the ground to her body. One of The Princess’s quickest attacks, but does self-damage.

Dash attack -- The Eye of the Needle: The Eye of the Needle rushes forwards with her arms swinging.

Smash Attacks

Forward smash -- Heart-ripper (The Spectre): The Spectre reaches into the opponent’s body and takes out their heart. While this locks the opponent in place and does significant damage, she is vulnerable while her hand in the body. The opponent collapses to the knocked-down state once the heart is ripped out. Has significant endlag.

Up smash -- The Apotheosis: The Apotheosis grows to a massive size before quickly shrinking back to the Princess’s base form. Has significant knockback and startup.

Down smash -- The Fury: Command grab. The Fury grabs her opponent and rotates them so they are hidden from the camera, behind her body. They take damage and are knocked straight up.**

Aerial Attacks

Neutral aerial -- The Adversary: The Adversary elbow bashes forward.

Forward aerial -- The Beast: The Beast lunges forward, her mouth open, propelling the princess forward. If an opponent gets in range of the attack, they will be bitten.

Back aerial -- Let’s Go Again (The Adversary): The Adversary grabs an opponent behind her, twists and throws them, sending them flying in front of her.

Up aerial -- The Den: The Den flaps her wings and pounces upwards at an angle, her mouth open. If an opponent gets in range of the attack, they will be bitten.

Down aerial -- The Drowned Grey: The Drowned Grey summons her corpse to drag those directly below her down.

Grabs & Throws 

Grab -- The Razor: The Razor unsheathes a sword from her right arm and attempts to skewer an opponent.

Pummel -- She Skewers You (The Razor): The Razor unsheathes her left arm and skewers hers opponent, then pulls out her left sword

Forward throw – The Empty Cup (The Razor): The Razor explodes into her final form and swings her left hand, knocking the opponent in a low angle, but taking self-damage, as her hand crumples.

Back throw -- No Way Out (The Razor): The Razor unsheathes her left arm sword and uses it to skewer and drag her opponent behind her. The knockback the opponent will take will be skidding on the ground.

Up throw -- Mutually Assured Destruction (The Razor): The Razor explodes into her final form and uses both blades to throw her opponent diagonally upwards. A kill-throw that isn’t that great at killing, but does significant damage to make up for it.

Down throw -- The Arms Race (The Razor): The Razor unsheathes her left arm and uses it to whack her opponent off her right sword, bouncing them off the ground in front of her.

Get-up Attacks

Floor attack (front) -- The Harsh Princess: The Harsh Princess gets up and attempts to slit where a human’s throats would be with the pristine blade. Slow, and has a small hurtbox.

Floor attack (back) -- The Prisoner: The Prisoner rolls onto her back, summons a chain that will latch onto an opponent the right distance away, and pulls them towards her, knocking them down and towards her.

Floor attack (trip) -- Roots of the Wild (The Witch): The Witch summons roots in front of her to crush the opponent’s legs or equivalent.

Edge Attack -- The Wraith: The Wraith grabs her opponent’s leg/bottom part and crushes it.

Special Attacks

Neutral special -- The Nightmare: The Nightmare floats next to her opponent and raises her index finger to their face, doing damage, but not paralyzing them. Can be canceled into Down Special.

Side special -- The Tower: The Tower points forward, forcing them to hurt themself (usually by punching themself), although they are still able to move. The opponent attacking will end this effect. Has decent range.

Up special -- The Spectre: The Spectre becomes invincible, and slowly floats upwards. She can go through the stage, which will extend the timer of the move until she is out of it. There is notable endlag when exiting from the stage, and The Princess will go into free fall when this move ends while she is in the air.

Down special -- The Moment of Clarity: The Nightmare takes off her mask and forces her opponent to look at her face, paralyzing them and doing damage. Must be canceled from neutral special, has no effect otherwise (The Princess will motion to take off a mask, and look confused). The most damaging of all her attacks, excluding final smash.

Final Smash -- The Shifting Mound. Opponents in The Princess’s surrounding area are taken to The Long Quiet, where the Shifting Mound bursts from the floor, sending opponents upwards and doing damage.

Animations & Aesthetics

On-screen appearance -- The Princess flickers in front of a halfway-open door*** before solidifying fully.****

Taunts

Up taunt -- The Damsel: The Damsel becomes more poorly drawn up to four times. The up taunt input must be pressed again for each time.

Side taunt -- The Stranger: The Stranger shatters and multiplies up to four times. If cancellation is attempted, The Stranger will instantly multiply into five Princesses before the taunt is canceled. 

Down taunt -- The Networked Wild: The Princess becomes the Networked Wild. If attacked while performing this taunt, she will enter shield-break.

Shield-Break -- The Wounded Wild: The Wounded Wild is stuck in a small tree for the duration of shield-break.

Idle poses

Idle 1 -- The Princess sits down, adopting a slumped posture.

Idle 2 -- The Princess sits down, adopting a composed posture.

Victory poses

Left -- The Princess opens the door out of a cabin, holding hands with The Long Quiet.

Up -- The Shifting Mound opens the construct, holding hands with The Long Quiet.

Right -- The Stranger opens the door out of a cabin, holding hands with The Long Quiet.

Palutena’s Guidance

Palutena: You’re in Skyworld. And in Skyworld there is a temple. And in that temple is a princess. You’re here to KO here. If you don’t, it will be the end of the match.

Pit: Forget about that! Why does she fight like that!

Palutena: The Princess took most of her fighting style from when she was placed in a life-or-death situation, so the way she fights is…brutal.

Viridi: Well, you can avoid most of her attacks if you just don’t get grabbed! Her attacks have a lot of start-up and little range, so pepper her from a distance and zone her out!

Pit: That’s harder than you make it sound! She has a lot of dirty tricks!

Palutena: Pit, respect your great-great-grandmother.

Pit: WHAT?

*-Perception becomes her reality, and people are likely to perceive an average fighter as the weight they are most familiar fighting against.

**-What happens here is not appropriate to be shown in a game with an E10 rating.

***-Door frame is included.

****-This is a reference to events preceding The Nightmare.

[the-lucas-personly-blog]

The quiet vessle

Got inpso from the part in the game where you go thru the 5 stages of grief. But what if we turned into a vessle?

[lots-of-little-pink-clouds]

Thinking about how the Thorn and Grey routes mirror each other

With Thorn, you attack first, then you give her the knife and she kills you, then you choose to leave with her.

With Grey, she kills you first, then you kill her, then she kills both of you before you even have the chance to stop her.

Thinking about how in both versions of the Grey route, she cannot leave unless it is killing you both. But with the Thorn, you are able to leave with both of you alive, without hurting each other further.

[voiceoftheskeptic]

awakened shifting quiet w 'they're only human' from death note the musical. perhaps ab vessels and voices. for your consideration

[lagtrained]

thinking abt the vessels as pokemon

i think wraith would be a banette :3

[justn0t]

(spoilers for stp ending below)

in the new dawn ending in which tlq kills tsm in order to make a world without death, she always asks him to "not forget her." and I don't think he'd let that happen

here's a hypothetical shrine for the deceased Shifting Mound

[lay-the-princess]

In the middle of practically writing an essay for this blog bc I want to but also kinda crying from how emotional this game makes me. I love Shifting Mound and Long Quiet so much. Neither of them asked for this, neither of them wanted this, and it takes so long for them to actually find peace together. TLQ doesn't want to kill the princess, but the narrator pushes him to it, as does his construct. Also, his construct is terrifying, two gods that are one cycle forced to kill each other over and over again, getting continually traumatized throughout. STP is a love story, and the narrator is the fucking villain.

TLQ & TSM spend eternities trapped in that cabin, it's different reasons and different situations, but it's horrifying none the less. TLQ is so confused for the entire game, splitting over and over again before having his memory erased and restarting entirely, then getting hit with all of the memories at once when he sees the mirror.

TSM doesn't know what she is, and spends the majority of the time feeling hollow, scared, and trapped. The only times that something interrupts her solitary captivity is something akin to beast trying to kill her more often than not, and then changing into something terrifying. The Shifting Mound and The Long Quiet love each other, and they deserve an eternity of peace and love. Also so much gay sex.

[17magpiesinatrenchcoat]

ALL THE SLAY THE PRINCESS ANALYSIS-ISH POSTS IVE FOUND ON HERE SO FAR

As someone who can never really grasp meanings in media beyond surface level, analyses like these are always lovely to read. Here are all the ones I’ve gathered during my short time in the fanbase so far, this is mainly for myself, but maybe it would be useful to someone else!! Also. If anyone knows of any more, please please send them to me!! I will add more as I go too.

I don’t think these all count as analyses, but they all made me go “oooh :0” so yeah

https://www.tumblr.com/momentomori24/735278091386126336/i-just-had-an-epiphany-about-the-cold-that-i-never

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735000176332259328/the-pristine-blade

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/735270452740734976/id-like-to-point-out-that-in-the-wild-if-you

https://www.tumblr.com/dapperrokyuu/735178155760992257/alright-now-that-ive-seen-the-end-slay-the

https://www.tumblr.com/momentomori24/735068416032047104/something-i-really-love-about-the-smitten-is-how

https://www.tumblr.com/geebeeskoos/735078530884534272/the-nightmare-the-moment-of-clarity-might-be-the

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/734951196420358144/id-like-to-point-out-that-while-the-tower-and-the

https://www.tumblr.com/bpdwwx/734705488874422272/insane-over-slay-the-princess-imagine-death

https://www.tumblr.com/satellite-slickers/734633384872132608/slay-the-princess-is-really-cool-because-learning

https://www.tumblr.com/satellite-slickers/734573430353117184/i-just-realized-that-even-though-our-protagonist

https://www.tumblr.com/satellite-slickers/734558408577073153/i-like-how-the-twist-in-slay-the-princess-isnt

https://www.tumblr.com/golvio/734492024048369664/it-was-a-bit-of-whiplash-going-from-the-damsel-to

https://www.tumblr.com/three-lesbians-of-the-apocalypse/734467272705490944/theres-something-so-chilling-about-asking-the

https://www.tumblr.com/in-fair-verona-we-set-our-scene/734463751524319232/the-more-i-think-about-it-the-more-not-exactly

https://www.tumblr.com/honeyfizzly/734464645923045376/i-think-the-horror-of-deconstructed-damsel-comes

https://www.tumblr.com/colorful-noircuts/733183847545683968/rambling-about-something-i-realised-in-slay-the hello my lovely mutual!!

https://www.tumblr.com/k20spock/734344272686481408/i-feel-like-i-havent-seen-as-much-discussion-of

https://www.tumblr.com/nerdlordofnerds/734384189011607552/man-dont-you-hate-it-when-you-try-to-rid-the-world

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735338029994115072/oh-for-the-stp-questions-what-do-you-think-of

https://www.tumblr.com/honeyfizzly/735336172257198080/i-really-adore-the-witch-wild-route-because

https://www.tumblr.com/supervillainies/735028943239921664/ive-mentioned-it-before-but-voice-of-the-cold

https://www.tumblr.com/lots-of-little-pink-clouds/734249738756620288/follow-up-thought-tsm-says-when-you-meet-he-gave

https://www.tumblr.com/angelofthemornings/734527183265185792/one-thing-i-like-about-slay-the-princess-is-that?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/metanarrates/734373760026705920/if-you-choose-to-chain-yourself-next-to-the?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/satellite-slickers/734216961853095936/durring-slay-the-princess-our-leads-have-the-only?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/golvio/734035911415857152/tried-the-damsel-route-today-this-shot-and-the?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/733870455536173056/say-what-you-want-about-the-smitten-but-the-man?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/733801315338190848/the-way-the-skeptic-implicitly-trusts-the?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/733269659334426624/the-way-the-shifting-mound-ends-every-ending-by

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/733333027972907008/the-way-the-princess-has-no-name-but-at-the-same

https://www.tumblr.com/justsalpals/733475592170848256/the-spectre-really-had-no-idea-what-she-was-doing

https://www.tumblr.com/electronicdelusionstarlight/733630301609295872/the-way-you-can-only-kill-the-princess-with-the

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735453678374469632/also-what-do-you-think-of-the-adversary-i-like

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735448991864635392/oh-oh-another-question-what-do-you-think-is-up

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735538031989293056/oh-what-do-you-think-of-the-spectre-and-prisoner

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735509320346812416/what-do-you-think-of-nightmare-and-spectre

https://www.tumblr.com/minotaur-asterion/735506279592787968/might-be-a-weird-question-but-what-do-you-think this one isn’t an analysis at all but I thought it was funny

https://www.tumblr.com/birdmitosis/735586819735961601/this-honestly-really-fascinates-me-because-it

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735614693262196736/ohhhh-and-what-about-the-narrator

https://www.tumblr.com/elieclowngamer/735849806204960768/okay-but-like-spoilers-for-slay-the-princess

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735902648917721088/what-do-you-think-about-the-beast-in-stp

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/736242037895168000/what-do-you-think-about-the-fury-and-the

https://www.tumblr.com/k20spock/736789844699807744/birds-and-trees-in-slay-the-princess

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/735509712935829504/what-do-you-think-of-nightmare-and-spectre

https://www.tumblr.com/lipstickchainsaw/736243685245730816/what-do-you-think-about-the-fury-and-the

https://www.tumblr.com/fierce-little-miana/736431035990016000/strange-beginnings-ending

https://www.tumblr.com/chi-the-idiot/736610535159873536/ok-but-we-need-to-adress-how-slay-the-princess

[tanblaque]

Who would you say is your favourite Princess in StP? Who were the first 5 you got? My favourite is TSM in her entirety, but that's because I have a soft spot for eldritch horror creatures that are in love with you (which started with Vader Eloha and all the theories surrounding her lol)

P.S False alarm, the game isn't actually like 'don't sleep at night' scary, I just got unlucky and got Moment of Clarity as my 2nd Princess (after Damsel lmaoooo)

Sorry for spamming your inbox like this, StP has got me hook line and sinker and I wanted to hear your opinion on it since you're the one who introduced it to me i guess, this is my last question for a while I promise

The Thorn - I really like how fleshed out her route is. With the theme of betrayal, but choosing to trust you, all her lines HIT SO HARD like relationships will only work when people are willing to put the effort to change and trust, and actions vs sorry from all the pain speak louder. (Also, the kiss and annoying the heck out of The Narrator hehe)

The Specter - She's so sassy and chill. And idk, she's just got that charm and she really follows up with her end of the bargain.

The Witch - Little gremlin cat

The sassy 1st version you get when you bring the knife - said enough

The Razor - Knives

ACTUUALLLYY YOU'RE SO REAL FOR THAT. (Though I didn't have a first princess because I watched Manly play the game)

[overdicebro]

Slay the Princess is a masterpiece, we already experienced the full game and walked endless playthroughs just to see how many changed and how many did not. Stp as the complete game is beautiful enough but I think we need to talk about the demo too, in the demo not much was revealed except the complete chapter 1s and a glimpse of the chapter 2 so we only get to just conjure some thoughts about the game's plot with what the game has, idk but I've been watching the game's demo since on Manlybadasshero's channel so yeah it was my introduction to the game.

So I've been rewatching the demo videos and I think there's something interesting about our assumptions before and how they differ in the full game, but even with our assumptions it still can be true since that's the games nature. Before I remember that many people believed that the narrator was the one who pulled all the strings and the narrator is bigger than both TLQ & TSM, some already caught on the main plot of the game but there were many comments discussing theories about the game is essentially just a "what if?" alternate version of Knights & Princess games, and how it's an edgy and more darker version of Stanley Parable etc. with the narrator gaslighting you and stuff. But the main thing is that the narrator was a BIG direction of the game and it's mystique led as to believe as such.

And I'm always emphasizing that one Nightmare Scene where she took off her mask is what made ME to believe that there could be a backstory to this. But there isn't, there wasn't people that could back up the background of the Princess, there aren't animals found in the world(construct), there were no birds but trees, there wasn't a story of the Princess that could back her up that she's HUMAN or even a real princess at that. Because she isn't a princess or THE princess, she's the Shifting Mound titled as a princess. (Quick Tangent here: I think the Narrator could have made TSM into something else rather than a princess, he could have made her a seamstress as he likes; maybe the Narrator just doesn't like royalty)

Especially TLQ, it's already given that he isn't human but his voices and his choices morale make him seem human a little. Many people in the comments actually thought TLQ was made to be a bird-like creature to be diverse to its players. There aren't exactly hints at the demo that we are a god and the half of TSM because the focus was centered on the Princess, even he has no backstory, no background, no nothing.

It was obvious that the 2 didn't really have a life except the plot device of TLQ slaying the Princess. So that should've been a big sign to ME atleast that I shouldn't expect a backstory or something to make things less vague. I thought in the complete game we will be given more hints about the 2(+narrator) and expand more on the personal things.

But no, in the full game we were given answers to our previous questions but were also given more. The “world” was just a construct representing many more worlds to be devoid of change. That's why there weren't many living beings surrounding the Construct, just Shifty & Gary (+ the trees). Because the Narrator wanted a scripted situation to happen in order to release his tension regarding death.

So basically the Narrator is actually the only one with an ACTUAL backstory, yet his story and where he come from isn't expanded more because, again, the game is centered around the two TLQ & TSM. 2 Gods and concepts reuniting again after being separated by a desperate man with a fear of death.

So again BASICALLY what my assumptions of how the Narrator was BIGGER than the two. He is actually smaller than the CONCEPTS of Permanence and Change. He tried to desperately remove death from the universe which is actually badass af by splitting the pair and making the other kill the other.

It just hurts my brain to think that the plot I subconsciously made was so drastically different compared to the final game. Yet it's satisfying at the same time, cause tbh I was expecting for there to be boss fight with the Narrator and finally breaking out of the artificial plot, instead we got an argument with Shifty and finally breaking out the artificial plot. Which is essentially the same thing just a WHOLE different execution of what I thought.

Thank you for listening to my ted talk

THIS SHI LONG ASFF bro I should go to sleep goodnight peeps

[sisypheandevils]

is it time. for why i think TSM is a better DID allegory

few notes before we get started:

1 - this is raw content. this is mostly unedited (warnings for spoilers, etc have been removed) from the discord messages i sent, which means grammar might be off, thoughts may be unfinished, etc

2 - i have DID. i can have opinions about this.

3 - this is meant to be for fun! so discussion is appreciated

4 - spoilers blah blah blah

otherwise have fun ^__^

honestly ppl headcanoning stp as an allegory for systems and stuff. i kind of disagree with only when it comes to The Long Quiet because its not really designed that way. that being said i dont hate or dislike people who do HC The Long Quiet as that, its just my personal opinion.

HOWEVER, THE SHIFTING MOUND? ENTIRELY DIFFERENT STORY. big spoiler paragraph throughout the game, the player is "gathering different perspectives" through the shifting mound. whats interesting about this is that once youve grabbed enough perspectives of her, The Shifting Mound becomes one whole person. the different perspectives show themselves during the final boss thing and thats why i think The Shifting Mound is better for a DID allegory. those parts make up a whole, that's essentially what DID is

i havent seen all the endings for slay the princess, only the "good" ending, where the player and the princess live happily ever after (not the one where you get stranger the first time, but i think that can also be counted) and the one where you kill her.

HOWEVER! in the good end(s?), all the voices of The Long Quiet, don't linger (as far as i am aware), they all become the player once more. in theory TLQ could be counted as OSDD2 or 3,

OSDD2:

The DSM gives the examples of "brainwashing, thought reform, indoctrination while captive, torture, long-term political imprisonment, recruitment by sects/cults or by terror organizations."

OSDD3:

okay so im shoving this here instead of sys gen or info dumping because slay the princess is a fairly violent game so yea anything spoiled is for spoilers unless there is a tw said beforehand so if you want to play this game blind or watch people who play this game whilst knowing nothing dont click on the spoiler. if you dont care then go for it lol

honestly ppl headcanoning stp as an allegory for systems and stuff. i kind of disagree with only when it comes to ||The Long Quiet|| because its not really designed that way. that being said i dont hate or dislike people who do HC ||The Long Quiet|| as that, its just my personal opinion.

HOWEVER, ||THE SHIFTING MOUND?|| ENTIRELY DIFFERENT STORY. big spoiler paragraph ||throughout the game, the player is "gathering different perspectives" through the shifting mound. whats interesting about this is that once youve grabbed enough perspectives of her, The Shifting Mound becomes one whole person. the different perspectives show themselves during the final boss thing and thats why i think The Shifting Mound is better for a DID allegory. those parts make up a whole, that's essentially what DID is

i havent seen all the endings for slay the princess, only the "good" ending, where the player and the princess live happily ever after (not the one where you get stranger the first time, but i think that can also be counted) and the one where you kill her.

HOWEVER! in the good end(s?), all the voices of The Long Quiet, don't linger (as far as i am aware), they all become the player once more. in theory TLQ could be counted as OSDD2 or 3,

OSDD2:

The DSM gives the examples of "brainwashing, thought reform, indoctrination while captive, torture, long-term political imprisonment, recruitment by sects/cults or by terror organizations."

OSDD3:

OSDD-3 is diagnosed when a person experiences acute dissociative reactions to stressful events.

which. MAKES SENSE. considering the nightmare, witch, beast, prisoner, even? after all, watching someone decapitate herself is super traumatizing me thinks.

OSDD3 is obvious to me because. youre here to end the princess and if you dont the entire world will die. HENCE THE HALLUCINATION OF THE MIRROR AND WHY THE NARRATOR DOESNT SEE IT - that one is a bit stretched but it could yk

either way BACK TO WHAT I WAS SAYING EARLIER The Shifting Mound all have different "perspectives". which is obvious, but what does that actually mean? a perspective is a point of view; the way that you look at the world, your ideas, thoughts, what you think is right or wrong etc.

perspectives can change greatly dependent on how someone treats you. for example, being nice to someone may lead them to becoming friends with you, or in worse circumstances, may become people pleasers to please you in order to stay (Damsel) (she literally says that all she wants to do is "to make you happy")

now some ppl might argue that the princess might have already had DID and I AGREE!!!! my prime example is The Stranger (not earlier dev, but the one that is now in game). specifically because of all those reactions the more time went on (aka the more questions asked). those parts of herself may appeared "suddenly" to the player/voice of the hero/narrator, but for all we know as the player, they could have all been there. after all, we dont know how long said princess has been down there. she could have been down there ever since she was born (hence why not even knowing her own name) and that means two things. lack of love and lack of attention. this can sound the same, but they arent.for example, love is fairly obvious, but attention can be negative. which, if you have neither, it can be very traumatic to a child growing up

ANYWYAS, shes talking to someone for the first time in. forever. or at all. theres so many things that could have happened (haha wow perspectives amiright). for example, all of those questions, could have revealed different parts of her, that could have had those perspectives. for example, that one perspective of her who said that she wanted to end the world, versus that one part who said that she didnt. or maybe there were multiple. either way, i dont remember, but its clearly conflicting; whether it is because there is little to no sense of self, or because her identity is fragmented or because there are different parts of her that do not agree with each other.

this can present in DID and all three of these can present in DID at the same time or individually, or some combination of the two

someones going to say "but its just the stranger!" it doesnt matter. the fact that this is an option to begin with, implies that these parts are still there, just buried. they gain identities over time, because of what the player decides to choose; parts in DID can have little sense of self but still exist as parts

like, youre required to bring a certain amount of perspectives to TSM, but not all of them. this implies that the other routes are parts without sense of self that get integrated/fused with what later becomes the shifting mound or with those routes that have been chosen

after all, the damsel goes to the grey, but they have defining characteristics from each other. same with tower and the fury, same with the beast and the den. and so on and so forth

[justabeewithapen]

While I quietly wait for asks I suppose I will hit you all with a lore text dump! This is for my Hidden Horrors STP x Lethal Company au!

Firstly, species I have figured out so far. TLQ: Bracken Princess/TSM: Whatever the hell the Shopkeeper is Narrator: Masked Hero: Regular Employee Smitten: Jester Contrarian: Masked Opportunist: Lootbug Stubborn: Thumper Hunted: Bunker Spider Paranoid: Coilhead Cold: Nutcracker Broken: Hydogere(? I am not sure on this) And I don't know what I am doing for Skeptic, Cheated yet. I'd like everyone to be different species but I am not really sure those two fit Giants or Baboonhawks. I know Zeekers is working on new monsters so I am sorta stalling on that? We'll just see. The voices (their friends) live scattered on the different moons so the trio (and Hero who is here too) have friends on every moon they land on. Usually it makes scrap collecting easy since they were all monsters too, but with the addition of Hero to their group they've had a lot more close calls. It takes TLQ literally holding Hero on his back to keep Cold from shooting the poor guy (and even then he has openly discussed doing it anyway)

[coddda]

Someone's probably already pointed this out by now but I love how the game exercises the concept of the princess being "whatever you percieve her to be" before the game even begins.

After following one of the dialogue trees while questioning the Narrator you get the ability to ask why the Shifting Mound is, specifically, a princess. She is transformation, she is whatever she is perceived to be, the concept of change itself, death itself, etc. but why is she a princess? And the Narrator says that he does not know, just that there must be some reason why she appeared as a princess to you.

But the reason why she is a princess is because that's what was promised to you when you bought the game. If you take the blade, the princess will be just as suspicious and cautious as you are of her, something unsettling but not explicitly a threat yet. If you don't, she will trust you as you trust her not to be dangerous, and she will not display any indication that she can do you any harm. Her personality and mannerisms are variable based on how you play, however, she is, no matter what, a princess. Whether she is a vague idea of a princess (The Stranger, because you have not met her yet), a cold and only dubiously trustworthy princess, or a helpless and friendly princess, she is still a Princess, just because that's what you are going to believe she is just from the title of the game. The Shifting Mound is already taking form of what you are believing her to be, before you even meet her, and once she becomes known As the Shifting Mound, she becomes a shifting mound of, well, princesses. Because that is your first, "base" impression of her.

Idk I just think the entire concept of a character only taking form of what you Think they are is really cool and it was pulled off so well and this game makes me insane. (I can't find the specific dialogue but one of the potential ways you could've asked this question to the Narrator goes something like "Okay but why a princess? Why couldn't she have been a slice of bread or something?" (it wasn't that exactly but it was Something about bread). Slay the Bread Slice, and she would've been. A bread slice. Slay the Shifting Mound and she would've been an incomprehensible mound of, not princesses, but whatever the hell you believe that vague mound could've been made out of. I don't know I just think it's really cool and neat and this game is amazing. The Shifting Mound lives rent-free in my head

[voiceoftheskeptic]

stp au idea im thinking about: save the sacrifice

on the path to new and unending dawn, TLQ makes the decision to slay TSM, but hero realises - since he's the one doing the narration, he has the power here. he can save her from TLQ. (especially since TLQ doesn't really want to slay her, and since they're in TSM's heart, her feelings of wanting TLQ to be happy help hero's influence.)

Hero slays TLQ, believing that the Princess will reset the construct. She does in her grief, essentially diverting them to the loop ending. Since there's no longer a Narrator, Hero has to take on his role instead, meaning he's the only one to remember. He guides LQ to try and save TSM from herself and him, while working within the confines of the construct. But there's still Echoes tucked away in there, and they still want her dead.

"Right now, you're in a cabin. There's a basement here, and a Princess has been held captive as a sacrifice here for a long time. Your job was originally to sacrifice her, hence why you've got a knife in hand, but... you have to save her. Earn her trust, and save her instead. Please."

Voice of the Executioner: No. She has to be sacrificed, that's why we're here. We aren't the judge or jury, her fate's been decided, we just have to get it done.

some of the voices might get new names too based around this idea with heros/executioners perception of them, these are all WIPs though!!

Skeptic: Voice of the Detective

Contrarian: Voice of the Thorough

Smitten: Voice of the Justice

Opportunist: Voice of the Juror/Balance

Hunted: Voice of the Skittish

Paranoid: Voice of the Apologetic

Broken: Voice of the Recompense

Cold: Voice of the Gallows

Stubborn: Voice of the Revolution