I've Been Playing Beat Saber For Exercise Some Recently And Am Rapidly Realizing That Oh. Beat Saber

What is up slay the princess fandom?? Fellow gamers I bring you my rendition of the slay the princess characters and a more romantic(just romantic mhm) take on the player's interactions with the different princesses. Fun fact about the process is that all of these were originally sketches in my sketchbook, now lined digitally. Very satisfying to make, hopefully satisfying for ya'll to see.

Scarlet Hollow and Slay the Princess

Okay, brace yourself, we're going full strings-and-corkboard today. Also, there are SO MANY SPOILERS IN THIS POST FOR BOTH GAMES. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED AT LEAST ONE PLAYTHROUGH OF BOTH.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way...

It wasn't an accident that we got Slay the Princess when we did, right before the ramp up to Scarlet Hollow's climax begins. Slay the Princess isn't just it's own thing - it's an explicit explanation of the dynamics of Scarlet Hollow. It's a direct metaphor, and may be more than that.

"You are on a path in the woods. At the end of that path is a cabin. In the basement of that cabin is a Princess. You are here to slay her. If you don't, it will mean the end of the world."

There are three forces in both games. We can see that explicitly in Slay the Princess, with The Narrator, The Long Quiet, and The Princess. We can also see it in Scarlet Hollow, with Sybil, Wayne, and Tabitha. Episode 3's tablet spells this out explicitly:

Three wolves, the three forces of the town, surrounding a goat. A sacrifice. That's the Witch, the Entity, and the Scarlets in the context of the vision.

There is a controlling force who tries to convince and cajole and control if that fails, who is immediately suspicious, and while they seem to be against the Princess, they are actually against both forces in play. The force can and does affect the minds of others. It turns people against the other two forces in play. It's friendly, as long as you do what it tells you, but betrays you as well, in the end. The Narrator. Sybil.

A being who is fundamentally disturbing, but whose face is always shadowed and unclear, or outright covered. Despite that, we always see his glowing eyes. He rots slowly as we proceed with the story, eventually rotting away to show his true form, perhaps. He is a fundamentally eternal being, one who cannot be killed permanently. He is reborn into different bodies, over and over. He may represent a "new and unending dawn", eternity unchanging. He also has the most agency of this own, though. He is fundamentally connected to The Princess. There are multiple of him. The Long Quiet. Wayne... or whatever is controlling him.

Then there's a Princess. Feels trapped in a house at the top of a hill, unable to escape unless she is freed by outside forces. A monarch, but actually has the least agency in her situation. Not yet a queen. Despite all of this, she may have the greatest capacity to change, and to change the world around her. Her role changes based on how she's treated and perceived by others. When perceived as a friend deserving of sympathy, she softens into one. When perceived as a harsh being, she is one. She is disturbed by The Long Quiet's appearance, but is inextricably connected to him. The Princess. Tabitha.

Whether Slay the Princess is just a metaphor for what's going on in Scarlet Hollow, or whether these are actual forces that exist in the Scarlet Hollow universe being replicated on a miniature stage is hard to say.

I think, though, that it's hard for me to deny that there is a strong connection between the two games. Perhaps this is why we haven't seen the choice the Mystic can influence yet?

How do you feel about the use of AI as a tool for writers? Not to make the writing for us, of course, but to ask for prompts or "chat" about plot points where you're stuck.

Friends are nice. If you can find some human ones. That's how Terry Pratchett and I became friends. He'd call me up when he wanted to chat about plot points when he got stuck.

GAMER APOLLO

Every day I think about gamer Kristoph. This entire official art is great. Klavier is being a pretty boy, Apollo is intense, Trucy has that autistic stare, Ema is rage quitting in the background… but Gamer Kristoph REALLY gets me.

Hmmm. As a sentient swarm of keese, I find news of sudden inexplicable monster death deeply disturbing.

Sorry for going missing without a trace guys, I got eaten by a frox on my last delivery run. It was not a pleasant experience.

Glory to Master Kohga.

Oh. Oh….

here's a random word generator--whatever word it gives you is now the thing you are the deity of

I'm so serious about being kind above all else. it has genuinely changed the way I interact with the world on a fundamental level and has made me so so much happier.

I used to hate it when people said the trick was to just do it until ‘do it scared’ started going around, because that’s truly it. Life didn’t start changing until I applied for jobs with one hand in front of my eyes and a trembling hand navigating my computer mouse. Or until I said everything on my mind (in moderation) with my fists clenched and my legs weak. Or until I refused to accept that I’d ‘just’ be shy forever while also kind of being nauseous at the idea of trying to be the opposite. Two things can coexist and that’s exactly the point of believing that you can do anything.