#stp the burned grey

[circusmantis]

We are a path in the woods.

[lifeonradiant]

this idea suddenly appeared in my head and i had to create it

[beartitled]

Silly sketch for my hungry STP ppl

[bbbartblog]

Chibi Burned Grey~

[inksandpensblog]

Actually come to think of it, why is Thorn’s cabin described as being the charred remains of a fire, underneath all those vines and flowers?

You get to Thorn through the Witch, and Witch’s route doesn’t involve fire at all.

The only Princess with a connection to fire is the Burned Grey, whom you can only meet through Damsel’s route.

Damsel’s Grey burns the cabin down because on some level she understands that the construct is pitting you against her, even though she doesn’t realize that the construct is more than just the cabin. But she believes that destroying the construct will put an end to the conflict between you two, allowing you to finally be together. She believes that this burning destruction will make your romance possible.

To get the Burned Grey, you have to reject the romantic path at the last moment and betray the Damsel despite her faith in you.

So it’s interesting that, after being betrayed by the Witch in a doomed demonstration of good faith, we return to a cabin that we perceive as having already been burned; and, upon meeting Thorn, we are offered new romantic possibilities.

[deconstructthesoup]

I've seen a lot of people give names for the Voices, and as a Vessel enjoyer, I decided to give my names for them, too!

Damsel: Danielle

Prisoner: Priscilla (Pris for short)

Witch: Willow

Beast: Beatrice (Bea for short)

Tower: Diane (my thought process was basically "goddess, divine, Diana, Diane" for this one)

Adversary: Addison (Addy for short)

Nightmare: Natalie (Nat for short)

Spectre: Sienna

Razor: Zora

Stranger: Stace (gender-neutral name for a they/them princess!)

Burned Grey: Bernice

Drowned Grey: Drusilla

Thorn: Therese

Den: Demi

Apotheosis: Aphrodite (keeping with the goddess theme)

Eye of the Needle: Iris

Moment of Clarity: Clara

Wraith: Winifred (her whole vibe kinda speaks to her having an old-fashioned name, in my opinion)

Fury: Fiona (though I've also considered Alecto)

Wild: Wihelmina

[lipstickchainsaw]

Do you have any thoughts on the Burning Grey or Damsel routes? Because I found them both fascinating with the themes of agency and denial of agency, plus with how your shaping of the princess is most clear in the Damsel’s chapter.

I do think it’s very cool that Burning Grey somehow manages to be less creepy than normal old Damsel. Because yes, she’s trying to kill you, but also she appears to have thoughts and feelings and that is significantly less creepy than the hollow shell that is the Damsel.

I think the Burned Grey is fascinating for very much the reasons you describe, but let's talk Damsel first.

Because the Damsel is incredibly unsettling and it's a route that leaves a bad taste in my mouth (in a way the game intended, I mean).

I think a lot of the routes in Slay the Princess explore the theme of agency, especially how unequal power dynamics shape people involved in those exchanges, what resistance looks like in the face of someone having power over you, and whether any real respect or relationship can follow from it.

And the Damsel says 'no, it can't'.

Oh sure, it seems like she says 'yes, it can!' with all the enthusiasm of a chivalric romance, but it can only exist insofar as the Damsel stops existing as a person, only to the extent that she can sublimate her agency, her personality, her wishes, dreams and desires by fully giving into what the person who's there to kill her wants.

(You kill her with one stab, but she has so little power that in Chapter 1 she has to stab you countless times to finally end you.)

The Smitten doesn't care about this and is happy to fully dominate her personality away (which is why he's awful), until she becomes but a prop in the story he wants to tell, an endlessly adoring maiden who hangs off his every word but will, crucially, never express any desire or opinion of her own.

Basically, she doesn't exist.

(And when you try to discover what she does want, what person does exist underneath the adoring accommodation, her physical body becomes as well-defined as her mental existence.)

And you get there by trying, at every turn, to save her, by not considering her enough of a threat to take the knife, and not even bothering to let her try to free herself.

You have denied her any agency in Chapter 1, and thus you get the Damsel.

Crucially, she doesn't even resist when you kill her.

Instead, you then get the Burned Grey, and here's where things get interesting.

You see, the Damsel thought you loved her, and so she became the prop to your story, but you killed her, so clearly this isn't actually what you want.

But that doesn't make sense, because you loved her enough to try to save her the first time!

These contradictions finally spark a degree of agency once again, and the Burned Grey concludes that something is off. She loves you, and she knows you love her, but you keep killing each other.

So it has to be the location itself! It has to be the cabin itself, the entire thing set-up that is setting you at each other's throats even though you don't want to, and the only way to escape this cycle of violence and abuse is to destroy it!

And she's right! The cabin represents the Construct within itself, and the Creator specifically set it up for the Long Quiet to kill the Shifting Mound, and destroying it together is the only way for this to stop!

I think the only other Princess that comes this close to understanding what's actually happening might be the Wild (and possibly the Moment of Clarity, but I am not playing through the Nightmare again to figure that out, thank you).

And so, in a statement of love, empathy, finally finding one's agency, the Burned Grey tries to end this cycle.

By burning you to death.

[the-butch3r]

whatever. go my pristine blade

[torazii]

stp princess disco elysium portraits (damsel, prisoner and the greys)

[EYE CONTACT + BODY HORROR]

i really like this batch doing witch next

[newquestion]

holidays are finally over! time to draw :)

i got tired waiting for fanfiction on ao3 to update so i thought why not make my own weird fanfiction but MANGA

prev | next

Behind the scenes under the cut

i was debating myself on whether or not i should do a traceover of this panel

but the voice in my head said "nah, eyeball it"

anyways props to abby howard for going through hatching and detail hell, what a boss

in my GREAT WISDOM (sarcastic) i forgot to put side windows on the school made out of cabins here

so i had to add them after copy-pasting every cabin

Originally, these were Prisoner (lie, she skips school) and Advy (cheat, she forces Quiet to do te homework), but i thought against it and gave them to the obvious choices (plus Narrator was introducing the school to Quiet here, so he couldn't be the one talking to Advy)

i don't really draw the voices, but the Narrator is here!

i think it's a pretty universal choice to give Narrator glasses.

by the way, all these Japanese doesn't mean I'm fluent 😭😭 i'm still just a learner, so if there's a mistake, don't be afraid to correct me!

thanks for reading!

[orcatnip]

"I'll make you feel what I feel if it is the last thing I do! And mark my words, you wont like it when it happens!"

"Oh, how exciting. I'd love to see you try."

I completely agree with this post, @dampfur !!!! What was going on in the burned grey...

[dice-goblin-shapeshifter]

Is this the burned one or the drowned one?

The Grey

[sonjalikestodraw]

[Chapter III: The Grey]

And if you don't love me now / You will never love me again I can still hear you sayin' / You would never break the chain

[letoilepourpre]

grey they will never make me hate you

[the3rddenialist]

I kill you and me.

[deconstructthesoup]

Fun fact: The Judge has dark glasses because it's a play on the phrase "justice is blind"