#slay the Princess cheated

[swanpyart]

I realize that the Stranger and the Razor routes are the weirdest routes that don’t follow the patterns that any of the others do. Stranger only has a Chapter 2, with the only expansion on her being if you get her first, which leads to seeing her in the end and Contrarian in the Cabin. Razor has 4 Chapters, the most out of all of them (except Nightmare, but she functionally has 3 chapters, we just skip a bunch). And the big similarity between the two route is that they both are completely incapable of crossover with any other route.

But thematically, it makes sense why they are kind of opposites; Contrarian and Cheated sprout from opposite mindsets. Contrarian wants to have fun and mess around for the sake of messing with the Narrator and testing the bounds of where you are. Cheated, on the other hand, almost takes things too seriously; he wants to beat the Razor at any cost, and gets more and more intense as things go on.

This is why Stranger presents only one chapter; there is barely a vessel to begin with. She is a coagulation of fragmented ideas and endless possibilities, and therefore has little framework to go off of. We never get any impression of who she is as a person, so she is unable to form from our ideas other than the unfamiliarity we get from her. Stranger is full of so much stuff that Shifty takes her earlier. Contrarian seems to treat her as superfluous to the Player as everything else (of course, he realizes his mistake in the same chapter) but she noticeably doesn’t give him the satisfaction of a real conversation, or a personality to work off of. This is why Contrarian hates the basement she creates; if everything��s happening, then nothing’s happening. He’s eternally bored with no person to work from.

Razor on the other hand, is basically set up as an unwinnable fight. Unlike Stranger, Razor’s personality is incredibly simple and straightforward, and she will remain that way the entire chapter (unless you get the Empty Cup, but it happens so close to the end and Shifty doesn’t really note any difference). In this vein, Cheated gets the opposite problem Contrarian gets; instead of being bored out of his mind, he’s given a game he cannot win or even hope to win, like Sisyphus pushing the rock. He’s given a challenge he’ll never feel the victory of, as he eventually just gives up.

[untitled-name-coming-soon]

Hello, I have my next voice design!

Voice of the Cheated! I gave him a huge cut scar across the face, and gave it stitches (That have come undone) and another cut on his chest, mostly covered by bandages. He has crutches, and a cast on one arm, and the other just has regular bandages. A little piece of his beak is broken off and missing, and his ear too.

In this drawing, the Hunted is undoing the bandages to replace them. The Cheated is so injured because of the Razor, you know "she skewers you" times 100.

And I added some green to the Hunted's camouflage wing. And gave his legs camouflage markings too.

[hug-kiss-marry-kill]

[bugsmitten]

slay the princess voices!

Headshot designs for all of them! did my best to capture their vibes ^^ hope you like it anyway

[a-lilac-lyric]

Slay the Princess in a Nutshell

[danidoesathing]

can't even walk across rooms anymore. because of the pit

[lavb-b]

Designs - @itsonlypolite >:)

[dr-awkkward]

Slay the Princess text posts, part 15 (in celebration of the Pristine Cut's release!)

[part 14] [part 16]

[senei]

hehe.

[everestgale]

Oh, I will ruin you

Oh, I will ruin you—

------

Thoughts, notes, and textless versions are under the cut.

[Find my Slay the Princess art here]

[Princess art] [TLQ art] [Voices art]

[If you saw it earlier, yes, this is a reupload. My tired brain made a bunch of mistakes, both with the art and with the post </3]

So, when I said I'm in a heavy "draw Cheated" mood, I meant it. And when I said that I love to make my favorite characters suffer, I also meant it. I spent about 5-6 hours making these two illustrations, and I actually feel really bad for Cheated now—

Uh… well, maybe I'll be nicer to my poor guy now.

he certainly deserves a break </3

[Update: Cheated does actually get a break]

Also, if anyone correctly guesses what song these illustrations were inspired by, you get a cookie from me (aka Slay the Princess doodle. I mean it, by the way). I adore this song, and it fits the Razor route so well that I actually want to make an animatic out of it in 2025. But for now, I'm happy with these two illustrations instead :]

[Update: cookies have been claimed! The song is Tongues & Teeth by The Crane Wives <3]

Textless versions:

[orcatnip]

finally, I made actual designs for cheated and opportunist!

I based Cheated off a ring-necked pheasant! I thought it'd be funny if his head fell off sometimes and he got really mad about it 🤭

I based Opportunist off a magpie!

Also, assorted sketches

Happy New Year!

[swanpyart]

Some designs for the Voices! Since the Long Quiet is a bird man, here's a bunch of bird men

[phantasmatoucan]

CHEATED WITH A BAT

BONUS skeptic was the one throwing the head

[sorry-not-feeling-it-right-now]

The Contender and The Fool

You can say that Cheated got folded in Razor aha gottem -Contrarian

We’re almost done with the voices!!! Just Hero and Narrator left!!

The process post should be posted shortly after the last batch is done! Be patient just a little longer and everyone should be done! I can finally draw stuff with all of the voices and not restrain myself!

A bonus Contrarian paper sketch as well. Been itching to post this one actually

[lady12maiden]

The fact that we didn't get the cheated for the happily ever after route is a crime. Like, imagine if he actually got to win something

[marcellachannn]

Last part^^