#stp the voice of the contrarian

[lipstickchainsaw]

what are your thoughts on contrarian? not my fav voice exactly, but i thought he was interesting in the ending where you leave with the stranger

Woo, it's been almost two weeks, but I've been thinking about this one.

I think the Contrarian is a very interesting voice, because he's just very much enjoying getting to annoy the fuck out of the narrator, but at the same time, he raises so many goddamn questions.

I first came across him during the Razor, where he (alongside the Broken, but who cares about the Broken) joins the Cheated in Chapter 3, and let me tell you, the Cheated and the Contrarian are an amazing combo, and they played off of each other well, although the Cheated is obviously more emotionally invested in beating the system than the Contrarian.

It was only when I got the Contrarian on his own that, uh, some things stopped making sense to me.

To get the Contrarian as a voice, you have to avoid the cabin as much as you possibly can, which means you don't even meet the Princess in Chapter 1. To the Contrarian, then, the Princess doesn't even exist as a real being; the only person existing outside of you (the protagonist) is the Narrator, and so he makes poking at the Narrator his entire existence.

When he does meet the Princess, he still doesn't see her as a real person, just as a vessel to annoy the Narrator, and this even makes some degree of sense! With every choice you make down there, you break reality a bit and create another Princess! So of course he doesn't think the Princess is real.

It's only when the various Strangers mix into one messy whole, where he realises this was an actual person, and his empathy rushes in to go 'oh shit, what did we do?'

'I didn't think our actions would have consequences.'

And this is really compelling, story-wise! I like it a lot!

It just doesn't make any goddamn sense!

Because the common theory is that you influence the Princess through your perception and belief of her (and your refusal to see her turns the Stranger into a Schrödinger's Princess, so this makes sense), and how the Princess sees you influences what voice you get.

Except you haven't met the Princess.

So where the fuck does the Contrarian come from? What is he? We have good reason to believe the Voices are the result of the messy split between Shifting Mound and Long Quiet, right? But clearly it's not the Princess causing the Contrarian to arrive. There's only one person outside of you who knows how you behaved in Chapter 1, and that's the Narrator, except the instance of the Narrator dies at the end of every Chapter 1!

And anyway, why isn't the Narrator ever confused about the presence of other Voices? He doesn't ever seem to be surprised when they show up, even if he might be shocked at their abilities, but at the same time, he doesn't know what it means for there to be multiple of them, either?

So what the fuck is going on here? Is it really the Narrator's final impression of you that spawns the Voice in the next chapter, and not the Princess?

But even then, the Contrarian is special, isn't he?

He's the only non-Hero voice that can show up in the Cabin at the end, if you started with the Stranger route, and you know what he says?

He says he's 'right where you left [him]'. What the fuck does that mean? Presumably it's similar to what happens when you kill the Shifting Mound and the other Voices show up to join you in the new world, but the Contrarian still plays a different role.

I feel like there's answers to be had here, but I'm clearly not big-brained enough to figure them out just yet!

[beartitled]

STP voices x princesses

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

Also lil bonus ✨

[newquestion]

The Moment of Clownity

oh, let's mix it up a bit, have something made with extra effort (heart emoji heart emoji)

[itsonlypolite]

Fool didn't even realize he was within range

[phantasmatoucan]

SOME CONTRARIAN DOODLES

[dr-awkkward]

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

[part 14] [part 16]

[sunflowers-and-scales]

all these little pieces of shattered glass on the floor… are they also you?

@itsonlypolite hiiiii :)

[mattdevil]

I'll take Contrarian antagonising the Narrator for 500

[everestgale]

Behold! The perfect woman!

An old comic of an interaction from the Razor/Empty Cup. I remember pre-Pristine Cut, I went out of my way to get different voices at this point, just to see if they say they like Razor. Most do :]

[vickozone]

🐦‍⬛🔪👑

very rough draft of all of The Voices. their designs will eventually change somewhat.

I’m allowed to draw them as humans, right?

[tapestryundone]

hands these to you

[toon-topaz]

Finally finished an animation I've spent around 2 months on

[beartitled]

How would each princess hold their corasponding lil goober voices?

Princesses x voice goobers

🗡️Chapter 3 edition🗡️

Big thanks to ppl for helping me decide on a suitable match for Stubborn ❤️

(if Fury and Eye of a Needle were 50/50 I would’ve drawn them playing baseball with Stubborn /silly)

[lovelylittlewordsmith]

I don't think we can heart lungs liver nerves our way out of this one boys

[itsonlypolite]

How to Sit on a Couch (with the The Long Quiet and his voices)

This was a collab done by the wonderful artists from the StP discord server!

Hero & Smitten were done by @cammieyammie

Cold was done by @match-makee

Paranoid and Cheated (+ additional guidance!) were done by @sonjalikestodraw

Skeptic was done by @passerinearts

Contrarian & Opportunist were done by @glitchh1337

Stubborn was done by @nightmare-wonder

TLQ was done by @icannothink123

and Broken and Hunted were done by me!

Original picture under cut:

[phantasmatoucan]

MY VOICE DESIGNS!

I WANTED TO GIVE THE DIFFERENT VOICES SOME DESIGNS FOR WHENEVER I DRAW THEM, IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO GET THEM ALL DOWN but i really care them all

MORE INFO UNDER CUT

WHEN I MADE EACH VOICE I HAD A DIFFERENT CONCEPT/BIRD IN MIND

HERO - KNIGHT/SPARROW [Literally the closest to look like a human knight since i had in mind that TLQ views him as something he wishes he was]

SMITTEN - PIGEON/BARD [The way he talks just makes me think of a bard and as for the pigeon part he reminds me of a Luzon bleeding heart which definetly goes with his heart motif]

SKEPTIC - OWL/INVESTOGATOR [I always pictured him as a detective holmes like owl whenever he went on his theories, the fact that hes kind of an asshole is a bonus]

COLD - VULTURE/REAPER [I associate him with death a lot so that went into his design, I know crows are more commonly associated with death but i wanted a more bigger predatory bird for his design since he doesn't mind killing if he needs to]

OPPORTUNIST - JAY/CONMAN [Hes specifically a Steller jay, I think the birdy just has his similar vibe of being tricky to deal with, as for the conman part is kind of obvious considering his personality lol]

HUNTED - HARE [I didn't have a specific bird in mind when making him, rather i usually pictured him as some type of rabbit like bird, more hare in this case, a prey animal but he can show his fangs when he needs to]

CHEATED - CROW/GAMBLER [Disheveled man in his 40s spending all his money in a casino and not winning for 13 hours type of gambler, hes the smallest of all the voices, the crow part is because i can only picture him as that one pic of a crow with a knife on its mouth]

BROKEN - PENGUIN/FOLLOWER [More of a religious followe, the penguin part is because of how i pictured him with 𓉸 this shape in my mind , he black and white of them also fits him a lot]

PARANOID - FANTAIL/MAGE [The scrawniest fantail pigeon in existance, if he didn't over preen himself his tail would be much bigger, the mage part is for his chanting by keeping us alive, i think the way i view him is more a heal caster]

STUBBORN - MACAW/BRUTE [The biggest of the bunch if he standed up straight, i thought of a macaw because of their strong toes and how much he repeats himself (not a bad thing i think its cute), the brute part is self-explanatory)

CONTRARIAN - HUMMINGBIRD/JESTER [I'm not inmune to contrarian jester propaganda, he fits the bill of the common media jester, the hummingbird part was suggested by Mod Toucan and I think it fits him so well since he can be a little shit /lovingly]