For those who look at this ship and ponder why it’s shipped. Of course, you can really ship anyone with anyone for any reason, god knows a decent portion of my own ships are just based on aesthetics and such but these two go deeper than old man toxic yaoi, and boy can I prove it.
I already mentioned this in my Affogato analysis, but Affo and Dark Cacao directly parallel each other in their actions in the main quest. During Dark Cacaos rule he, after experiencing the traumatic events of the dark flour war, became paranoid and fearful, bringing as much security and fortification as possible to his kingdom, but with resources and attention going towards that, his citizens became unhappy and smaller villages began to fall victim to attacks with no one to help them.
During Affogatos rule, after experiencing his own village fall due to such events, he intended to bring as much happiness and joy as he could to his followers, because he actively knew how terrible it was to go without it. Putting his resources into that however, left the kingdom vulnerable, and open to attack.
They are two sides of the same coin, two traumas that led them to pursue different ideals for a kingdom, but ultimately they’re both flawed for putting too much attention into one thing. Only when they come together to discuss both of their reasons for their actions, and find a way they can give the kingdom both joy and security, can everyone be content.
Bonus tropes: soulmates (they are definitely soulmates, I mean just look at the two sides same coin thing), enemies to lovers (gotta love it), old married couple
this may be messy as it is late into the night, might add more to this later…. the jury’s still out….but I am here to preach their potential!!
The Stanley Parable Narrator and his Characterization (and how it changed over time)
this post was written a few weeks before TSPUD is slated to release
This post is very long and image-heavy. Many of the images had to be edited together to avoid hitting Tumblr’s image limit, so you might have to click/tap on images to see the subtitles.
I assume most people who played The Stanley Parable are aware that it was originally created as a mod of Half Life 2, and if you didn’t, well, now you do. The mod is free and available on Moddb if you’re interested. What I want to talk about here is how the Narrator changed from the mod version to the full game- specifically, how his attitude towards Stanley changed.
In the final game, the Narrator’s personality and treatment of Stanley changes quite a bit depending on which Ending you are playing. In some, such as the Freedom Ending and Mariella Ending, he is completely detached and acts as an ordinary video game narrator. In others, such as the Countdown Ending and Apartment/Phone Ending, he is outright cruel to Stanley. And in my favourite ending, the Confusion Ending, he is friendly and treats Stanley as an equal.
He acts a bit differently in the mod version. He implies some not-so-nice things about Stanley almost immediately:
This line is a variable beginning in the final game, likely as an easter egg, but it is the only intro dialogue in the mod version. After the intro cutscene (which is pretty much the same in both versions) this is the first thing the Narrator says to the player.
There are no Endings in the original mod where the Narrator shows clearly positive feelings towards Stanley. There’s a few lines in the Games Ending that vaguely imply it, but more on that in a bit.
In the Freedom ending, he acts in almost the exact same way as he does in the final version. Simply telling a story, with no part in it himself. He acts similarly in the Mariella Ending.
Then there’s the Apartment/Phone Ending. This one is accessed by going through the red door, as there is no Zending, and this Ending also involves no phones or apartments. Instead, Stanley is sent back to his office, and presses buttons while the Narrator berates him and talks about how sad his life is.
In the Games Ending, there is no third door, leaderboard, or Baby Game. The Narrator simply teleports you straight from the unused level into the beginning of Half Life 2 (this was changed to Minecraft and Portal in the final game) and then, instead of passive-aggressively saying that Stanley might like a game the Narrator had nothing to do with, he talks about how the game wasn’t even made for Stanley.
Eventually, you reach a point where you can neither continue nor return, as the Narrator does not open the next door. Instead, he suggests you make up your own story and ending.
After his dialogue finishes, your only options are to restart the game or fall out of the map, as there is a hole in one corner of the map. If you fall, the Narrator briefly implies that he actually cares what happens to Stanley.
After walking into the light, you are returned to the office and walk around the map for a few minutes. All the doors are open and they don’t close behind you. After a minute or two, the screen goes dark, and the Narrator wonders if Stanley figured out a story, and talks about his place at the end of every story, before the game restarts. This is also the only Ending to say ‘The End’ instead of ‘Written and Created by Davey Wreden’.
Then there’s the Museum Ending. In the final version, to access the Museum Ending, you must walk down the corridor labeled ‘escape’ just before the Mind Control Facility. The Narrator never even mentions the escape corridor unless you enter it. As you walk, the Narrator repeatedly tells you not to keep going.
However, in the original version, this ending is accessed in a very different way. Go through the right door, walk past the door the Narrator opens you, and you will come to an elevator. While you wait for an elevator, the Narrator heavily implies that everyone left because Stanley is bad at following directions, and then says that Stanley decided to ‘punish himself’.
After riding the elevator and walking down another hall, you find yourself in a room with some rideable pods from Half Life 2, one of which is on a rail and can be ridden. Upon getting in, you start moving and as soon as you can see the crusher, the Narrator says that Stanley should have known he would die here, and that he accepted his fate and did not struggle, because he deserved it for ruining a perfectly good story.
Then the Curator comes in and the death trap pauses, allowing Stanley out like in the final game. Instead of a museum with exhibits detailing the game’s creation, you simply walk through a hall lined with various objects seen within the game, such as the elevator doors and the crusher. The Curator’s dialogue is also different.
In the mod, she outright states that the Narrator wanted to kill Stanley, saying that he sent his subject down the conveyor, and asking what he hoped to accomplish by murdering him. The dialogue in the final screenshot implies to me that, in-universe, the game was created by the Narrator, and that everything he wants to happen, happens. He wanted Stanley to experience the Story, and when he couldn’t have that, he decided he wanted Stanley dead. In the final game, her dialogue is a bit more vague.
There’s nothing really denying that the Narrator wants Stanley dead, as he is never very friendly with Stanley. In the final, there are several times where he is polite and friendly to Stanley, even when he’s mad at him, such as parts of the Real Person Ending, and when Stanley repeatedly ignores him and gets onto the lift in the warehouse. None of these are present in the mod, making it easier to believe that the Curator was being literal when she said the Narrator wanted Stanley dead.
Here’s hoping we get even more Narrator characterization in TSPUD!
i was making a little compilation of the narrator from the stanley parable making silly noises, but then i realized there isn’t a lot of that so instead i made a compilation of him being a nerd
