#slay the Princess spoilers

[evenworsefreak]

HEA througout her entire chapter

[prokopetz]

"But don't they also gush over the Adversary and the Spectre and the Razor" well, of course – the Voice of the Smitten is nothing if not open-minded. The difference is, singing the praises of a nine-foot-tall dragon lady or a vaguely humanoid mass of screaming knives is respectable, at least from the perspective of the image the Voice of the Smitten is insistently trying to project. Not in a million years would they willingly admit to so pedestrian a preference as big boobs. Like, I want you to imagine that conversation as exactly as you're able.

I think my favourite subtle joke in Slay the Princess is how the Voice of the Smitten loudly insists they're all about pure devotion and courtly love, then in all of their spotlight chapters the Princess has visibly bigger boobs. Like, we see you, buddy.

[sonjalikestodraw]

"Unbridled Passion"

"...and great artists would expend entire lifetimes trying to merely capture the spark you hold right now!" Almost a year since I started this painting, Narrator... So I made it my entry for Draw the Princess!

[inksandpensblog]

Also it just occurred to me how Narrator is tasking Quiet, the embodiment of stasis, to enact a change (aka slaying Shifty) while hoping Shifty, the embodiment of change, will remain a constant long enough for Quiet to do so. It’s almost like he’s relying on the unevenness of the tear to make this whole scheme work.

[worldbeyondtheworld]

Please hear me out.

The Pristine Blade hanging on that chain (which is additional symbolism - a noose / a collar) around the Princess' neck in Happily Ever After is a Damocles sword.

An impending or lingering doom enforced by the Narrator's narrative that made this scenario even possible in the first place. The Pristine Blade is the symbol of her lack of agency at the beginning of each route because he trapped her in the Cabin. The symbol of the death he intends for her.

A narrative Smitten has hijacked, but is still very much there.

A world without change. A world where her greatest desire is withheld from her. A world where she is never free.

(A world where she has to pretend that she's happy or fear retaliation or Smitten hurting himself again.)

The biggest difference is that the Blade is pointed at her heart rather than hanging over her head. But it fits. Physical death would be a relief at this point, because her emotional heart has been hollowed out. And she can only die by the Blade piercing her heart.

But even that is under TLQ / the Player's control. Again, her potential doom is never being free.

[worldbeyondtheworld]

tags by @salty-an-disco

I find it interesting that Hero popped up from the very beginning even before we’ve met the Princess

(Very messy ramble below)

Unlike all of the other Voices who popped up in the second chapter, both Hero and Narrator are there with you since the beginning

When we’ve questioned the Narrator/Echo before we meet Shifty he said that TLQ had subconsciously thought of the vessel to be a pretty princess, and so she took that form regarding it

I wonder if that’s also the time that Voice of the Hero was created? Because that was technically the first change that had happened within the construct? Cause watching the streams I’ve noticed that the VA of the voices for TLQ(in general) had said if LQ ever had a voice, it would be something in between Narrator and Hero, and I found that thought interesting

Maybe Hero is not the moral compass of the group, but the voice that just wanted to do the right thing instead. After all, the word “heroic” means very little in the work of the construct. And many times, Narrator refers to you as a “hero”, and maybe that also leads to you wanting to see yourself as a hero, but having a lot of conflict regarding it.

Maybe a hero was all LQ wanted to see himself as before he had realised his own godhood, but he just didn’t know where to begin

[ratman517]

Ok Chat Slay the Princess au/ fanfic idea or whatever because this idea has been on my mind for a while

Also a bit spoilery for one of the endings I guess??

———————————————————————

What if in the ending where the Princess and Quiet just live normal lives, the voices followed but as birds and as they live their lives in the cabin a rumor spreads about there being like a horrible monster and ghost living in the forest (because lets be fr they do NOT look remotely normal 😭😭😭) so one day a person stumbles onto the cabin, lost or investigating up to you, and invites themself inside/invited by Princess only to get absolutely jumpscared by not only the weird ass exotic birds that SPEAK but also the GIANT SHADOW BIRD like just imagine

———————————————————————

Person: Hi um I think I’m lost, do you have a phone or charger I can use?

Princess: Oh of course! Why not sit down for some tea while you’re at it :)

Person: That’d be lovely- WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?????

Princess: That’s just my lovely husband!! Say Hi dear!!

Quiet walking out with a little tea set waving at the guest

————————————————————————

Also I imagine the voices do NOT look normal at all, like Hero is a falcon with a bird helmet on, Hunted is this pheasant deer mix (like a hippogriff but bird size), Stubborn is a macaw with donkey ears, etc etc. So just imagine seeing like the Hero out of the corner of your eye

————————————————————————

Person: What was that???

Quiet: Oh, Hero come say Hi we have a guest!!!

Person: Hero????

Watches as a full ass falcon with a helmet quickly appears on Quiet’s shoulder and stares at Person

Hero: Uh Hello! Nice to meet you, sorry if I sound a bit weird it’s been a while since we’ve had a guest!

Person: HUH??????????

[abby-howard]

A background from the Pristine Cut that I have been wanting to share for ssooo long.

Yes, those chains were hand-drawn link by link :]

Here's a close up, and raw pencils for another background that I was proud of:

Just wanted to share.. that is all....

[lemonduckisnowawake]

Slay the Princess is a comedy

[worldbeyondtheworld]

This could also tie back to the Narrator- or rather the Mortal's thoughts on her. It's only through the Narrator that TLQ even consciously knows of the Princess, let alone considers killing her. He's always the first and the most regular to insist to kill her.

And TLQ does listen to him again in the Spectre version leading to The Princess and the Dragon.

That TLQ even considers the idea of killing himself again shows that while the Narrator is ultimately powerless, he still influences him greatly.

The Mortal is dead, but his belief persists. It pervades every part of the Construct. It haunts the narrative both literally as the Narrator / Echo, and in the Construct's very fabric, which we know is part of The Long Quiet's body.

It would fit that we discover this in the route following the one where the Princess becomes a ghost. In the chapter in which the audience perceives the world from her point. In which TLQ becomes part of her.

How terrifying is that, that a dead person who hated you so much, can still cause so much pain for you?

How terrifying is that you can never escape that hatred, because it's woven into the very place you're trapped in?

I am very interested in the "This is what you deserve [repeat indefinitely]" at the start of The Princess and the Dragon. It was nice to get to see how the princess changes from her perspective and you could say that narration comes from the effect of the player and the voices have had in that route. But given how so much resets to the chapter 1 look (and just because I would find it more telling), I'd like to think that's what's going on in the princess' head at the start of every chapter 1. She reacts to people's perception of her, but until the player makes up their mind, there's nothing to define her, so where is this coming from?

I think it may be a leftover from the Narrator. Like yeah, he killed himself and left only an echo precisely so it would be impossible for him to affect her, but he created the whole construct due to his absolute belief that what she is didn't have a right to exist. Surely some of that would linger?

[sir-biszkopt]

LQ and his 4 smoking weed wives

[inksandpensblog]

There’s something about Quiet’s appearance in “The Princess and The Dragon” that I have yet to see anyone talk about. Possibly because it’s not something super-evident in his visual portrayal, but rather is in his narrated portrayal.

He’s described as having “the world trailing behind him” or smth like that.

Hearing/reading that immediately put in my mind this idea that Quiet’s body is, like, visually attached to the setting somehow.

Considering how we later learn that Quiet is the setting as much as he is the player’s avatar through which to interact with said setting, I think it could be a really cool bit of visual symbolism and I have yet to see anyone take advantage of it or even interpret it that way.

The way I kinda pictured it is like…for example if it were a comic, the panel borders would be distorted so that when he’s featured in a panel he’s always connected to the frame somehow. Best part is it doesn’t have to make physical sense, it’d be more like how Mickey Mouse’s ears are always seen from the same angle no matter what direction he turns his head.

(As a bonus, for anyone who hasn’t been spoiled about that aspect of the end yet, it could easily be interpreted as symbolic of the narrator’s control over Quiet instead.)

[beartitled]

STP voices x princesses

Because I wanted a reason to draw them all >:D

Also lil bonus ✨

[worldbeyondtheworld]

tags by OP

constantly thinking abt the long quiet and the shifting mound and their relationship w humanity. because the two are very much not mortal and even in the what happens next ending its very ambiguous if they ever WILL be or Can be. but even still they have both felt what its like to be mortal

i feel like its vague if the entity the two used to be even percieved its own existence. the way the narrator talks about it makes it seem like the two only existed conceptually and as a result lacked a complete sense of identity, and didnt need to, and wouldnt want to. but in the same way a thought cannot be unthought, the narrator gave them a glimpse into what it felt like to be mortal and the two can never un-know it, even if it wasnt exactly the same

the long quiet in particular seems especially tied to humanity and in some aspects seems to want to BE human (which feels so potent given how decidedly Not human he is). the game tends to imply that every option you get is a thought he DOES have, and in the spaces between, the choices dont seem as influenced by a given voice, which highlights even more how much he feels conflicted on his own nature that he gets Multiple options to express discomfort with himself being a god

it just gets to me how one of the options during the fight is literally "appeal to your shared humanity". because even if the two are gods, their separation and reshaping has given them humanity that they can never un-feel. for how much the shifting mound grieves what she once was, she cannot will her humanity away. shes mourning what the two of them once was and is desperate to have it back at any cost, even though they can never be together how they once were.

even if the long quiet goes with her, theyre still apart and lack balance, because the two once just Were and werent two parts. they werent both halves, they werent two concepts, they were just one concept that happened to, by human eyes, consist of two halves. and the narrators insertion of humanity into the mix in order to separate them, separating them into concepts that humans understood, manually put into existence a struggle for equilibrium where that balance had simply Existed

but theyve already perceived what felt like reality and can never un-see it. they were separated and Need the other to feel whole and for reality to BE whole but the moment that either of them realized their own free will, the moment the two fully came to feel like people, they could never be together the same way once again

im struggling to come up with a metaphor that isnt silly but its like if you took a piece of fabric and cut it in two and made them both into shirts. youve added a piece of humanity into them and doing so cost its original form. to take them apart and try to put them back together would never get you the original, whole piece of fabric back, because theyve been completely changed by their own unique destruction and reconstruction

they were separated in a way that gave them humanity that they have such conflicting feelings on. both seem to have a deep love of humanity but vastly different ideas on what humanity needs to thrive, because its in their natures

in order to get one to kill the other the narrator let the long quiet interpret the both of them as mortal. and for a being of perception and an god thats being lied to, this became part of their limited view of the world, on top of all the other reasons that the two gained humanity. the long quiet couldnt be told what to do if he didnt have the ability to potentially act on the narrators desires, and the shifting mound could never die if the long quiet didnt believe her to be capable of death

the narrator gave the two humanity and the shifting mound is very reasonably distressed by this. because the two of them never asked for this but they cant undo it. it is her OWN subtle desire for things to be the same as they used to be, her own piece of that stagnation that also led to her experiencing humanity, that makes her so adamant during the fight. she misses the long quiet and wants to undo a change that cannot be undone in search of a constant state of being that was taken from her

and the long quiet felt so closely tied to mortality, both its existence and absence, that no matter what, he wants to aid humanity. but hes been lied to and denied autonomy to the point where he doesnt know what that entails. but he wants to be a part of it. he was given fake mortality and cant seem to figure out how he feels

the shifting mound is set in how she feels it best to aid in the existence of life. she is stagnant in her feelings because its all that feels right to her. the long quiet is ever-shifting in how he feels it best to aid in the existence of life. he is changing in his feelings because its all that feels right to him

getting to the heart of the shifting mound allows them a moment to discuss it as the closest they can get to mortals. the two care about their impact on life and what it means to be alive and what better way for the two of them to truly decide what they want to do about it, outside of the conflict thats been forced between them, than as the mortals they never were?

[anniflamma]

The Princess and The Dragon route again. Opportunist is such an asshole, and I love him for it.

[prokopetz]

Play Slay the Princess.