#yeah sorry ik this is a dn blog but i've been thinking about this game since the day i first played it and i must scream Somewhere

[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