#narrators

[hewlett39]

I made some narrator-game inspired stamps for my pinned and thought I’d post them separately for anyone that might want to use em.

Template belongs to Sillys-Resources2763 on deviantart

[writerpolls]

Writers: have you ever written a story with an unreliable narrator?

No, I never have

Yes, I’ve tried it before

Yes, I often do!

Yes, ALL of my narrators are unreliable

Unsure / other answer

See results / I don’t write

Voting ended onAug 6, 2025

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Saw your Twst x EAH posts so I wanted to share a hc I have about those kinds of AUs:

Both Maddie and later Kitty are shown to be able to hear the narrators, which makes sense since they’re from Wonderland. Awhile back I saw a theory brought up that it’s those two out of the Wonderland cast specifically because they’re both rebels, so in order to hear the narrators in a EAH context would be to 1) be from Wonderland and 2) be rebel aligned

So. In theory, as the rebel-iest wonderlandian in Twst, Ace would be able to hear the narrator(s)

As you’ve already brought up, Riddle would obviously be a royal, then Trey & Cater are Riddle’s right and left hands, so they’d be royals as well, and Deuce wanting to be an honor student would also align himself with the royals (which adds a bunch of flavor in his role in book 1 too! Because he hates the oppression from Riddle, but he’s really trying to put his rebellious days behind him, in more ways than one)

Leaving Ace, who wants next to nothing to do with that shit. I think he doesn’t mind following his destiny, but to that strict of a tee? That good(or even people who don’t want to have a horrible fate) people will suffer because they have to fulfill their destiny? Yeah, no, he obviously hates that

And so, imagine the potential of him hearing the narrators. My personal thought is Brooke being the main narrator, as a kind of, “We’re narrating this story (EAH) it’s time for you to narrate on your own” and her parents send her to narrate Twst on her own (with some supervision at times, just because of how story breaking it can be to have a character hear the narrator, with that narrator willing to break the story, and especially if the character that can hear them will follow through)

Also I can’t help but imagine in like, Spectral Soirée for example,

Ace: Wait, gimme a minute, let me ask the narrator

Floyd: The who?

Ace: Shush! Brooke, little help here?

Brooke: Ehh, sorry Ace, I don’t think I can tell you much without ruining things

Ace: Bullshit! There’s like, 3 groups out here! Surely one of them knowing the plot, at least a little, won’t ruin things!

Brooke: Not wrong… Uh, I guess I can tell you one thing

:It’s Malleus’s fault

Ace: THAT DAMN LIZARD!

Or something like that lol. Cue the others just being confused about what’s going on/who he’s talking to

(Wow, this is getting long-) And to add on! If the theme of this AU is everyone slowly turning to the Rebel’s side, just imagine all of the main Heartslabyul cast (or even side cast for higher comedic potential) starting to hear the narrators as well lol

I think that’s it for now. I just find this idea really funny/interesting

[ EAH x TWST posts: part 1 / part 2 / part 3 ]

Ooh, that's an interesting EAH theory (though I seem to remember a webisode where the Narrators argued which side Kitty was on?? So it’s not totally clear if she’s a Rebel or not) 🤔 Oddly very fitting for Ace, who is a character that consistently calls others out for their wrongdoings, regardless of their social status, wealth, or power. Even though Ace is often characterized as bratty and pretty mean-spirited for no particular reason, he's also shown to have a heart of gold behind all of that. He abandons the winter break he was willing to cheat on his final exams to avoid remedial lessons for, just to take a tedious transit route back to Sage's Island in response to a SOS text from Yuu. He's frequently standing up for others and hypocrisy that he sees (Ghost Marriage, Endless Halloween Night, etc.). Ace isn't exactly always in the right (he also avoids personal accountability and makes excuses to not get involved in book 7's big fight against Malleus) and doesn't always have the most noble of intentions (in book 2, he only wants to help out only to earn himself a spot in Heartslabyul's team), but this does speak to his rebellious streak.

Him somehow ending up as the only Rebel of his dorm (at least to start off in book 1) is also very par-for-the-course. Trey and Cater were pretty much obediently falling in line with and enforcing Riddle's orders, and even Deuce was hesitant to go against his dorm leader's words for a while. I guess by the end of book 1 though, Trey, Cater, and Deuce would classify as Rebels too since Deuce agreed Riddle was being unfair + joined the duel against him and they later on banded together to fight OB Riddle.

I love the idea of Brooke Page (the daughter of the two Narrators from Ever After High, for those who don't know) maturing a bit and being handed the responsibility of narrating her own story. It would add a lot of chaos to an already chaotic story, since Brooke tends to go on her own tangents and actively roots for her characters to win and to find their happy endings. Her parents would definitely have to keep a close eye on her to keep Brooke from giving everything away. Cue everyone else in the Twst cast thinking Ace just has a habit of talking to himself/j

I think it makes the most sense to keep “hearing the Narrators” limited to only a few characters in the cast. If everyone came to progressively learn to hear them, I feel like it would really kill any tension or suspense and the charm of the ability would be reduced. Maybe just keep it to Ace so there’s one person in the “main” friend group that’s able to hear the Narrators’ voices? Then he can sort of be an interpreter for the others.

It might be interesting to tie this in with his character development over the course of the main story as well. Like maybe Ace confides in Brooke after the end of book 5, wondering why is it that Deuce got his UM before he did?? And then he’s not able to properly protect Grim from being kidnapped in book 6… Is there anything Ace can do right? This could help lead into the big reveal of Joker Snatch in book 7.

Aaah, so many possibilities unlocked 😳

[champion-of-love]

it's insane that shannon gave maddie an eah version of the phrase 'blorbo from my shows' before it was ever invented here on tumblr. instead of blorbo from my shows, maddie has 'narrators of our world that only i can hear'

[rjalker]

Metaphorically, Martha Wells stans will point at a main character who says the sky is purple, and will insist this character is an unreliable narrator, because, "Look! He (misgendering) said the sky is purple! But we all think the sky should be blue! This proves he (misgendering) is an unreliable narrator!"

And, meanwhile, every single other character in the story except for the ones that Martha Wells deems Scarily Mentally Ill and Literally Hallucinating, agree that the sky is purple. The purpeleness of the sky is always treated as matter-of-course. Sky purple is an established color. Everything that is referenced as sky-colored is purple in some way. Everything from dialogue, to scene descriptions, to cultural keystones, show us that the sky is purple, as a matter of course. The only time the sky is described as not being purple is at night, or during sunset.

And then Martha Wells stans point and yell, "See! That protagonist is an unreliable narrator! He (misgendering) said the sky is purple, so that means it's not, obviously!" While ignoring the part that the narrative upholds the statement "the sky is purple" at every single opportunity, without fail.

Also, the author gets paid to get up on stages and give speeches about how if you think the sky isn't purple in her books, you're willfully ignorant and an idiot.

But according to these people, I'm the one who doesn't understand what an unreliable narrator is, because I explain, over and over and over again, that if the narrative upholds the narration, the narrator isn't unreliable, you just don't want to admit that the story Martha Wells is telling you wants you to think that slaves are evil scary monsters who need to be put down like rabid animals, and slave owners are adorable precious cinnamon rolls that every slave should *hope* they get to kill themselves to protect someday, cuz that's the only way their lives will ever have any value.

Especially because it's not even that these people disagree when Murderbot says slave owners are awesome and other slaves are evil. They agree wholeheartedly. They just know they can't say that openly because it will get them called exactly what they are: white supremacist slavery apologists.

But the fact that they won't say it openly doesn't stop it from being obvious, because they're the ones choosing to die on the hill of defending this shit that literally tells us to worship slave owners straight out of the gate, and still expects us to cheer on the heroes of the story torturing slaves to death instead of rescuing them 10 stories in, with literally no sign of ever stopping.

Once again: In order for a narrator to be unreliable, the narrative must refute the narration.

A character saying "the sky is purple" is unreliable if the narrative shows us that the sky is actually blue.

A character saying "the sky is purple" and the narrative showing that this is true at every opportunity, is literally just a normal narrator, narrating facts.

Murderbot isn't an unreliable narrator for worshipping slave owners and demonizing other slaves, because Martha Wells, the narrative, goes out of her way at every opportunity to uphold those statements. Murderbot is punished when it offers to free another slave in book 4, and Martha Wells wants us to forget the fact that this came only after Murderbot killed this other slave's two friends and is literally only offering freedom as a distraction because *Murderbot is losing the fight it started on purpose, for no other reason than the fact that it is a fucking serial killer of other slaves for fun*

Just because you don't like seeing the slavery apologism and other forms of bigotry in this series pointed out does not mean Murderbot is an unreliable narrator when it comes to the slavery apologism in this series. Martha Wells upholds Murderbot's statements about slave owners being wonderful and other slaves being dangerous and scary every chance she has, because she is a white supremacist, and she is training you to be a white supremacist with her.

You all literally read the sentence "my [slave owners] are the best" and decided this series was progressive, because Martha Wells told you to see the slave owners as adorable, and you refuse to think twice about anything that tells you to simply turn your brain off and enjoy the cutsey slave owners being worshipped by their slaves.

You are not doing media analysis by brushing off all criticism of this series as "Murderbot's just an unreliable narrator!" You don't even know what an unreliable narrator is.

And you're especially not doing media analysis when you claim anyone who thinks slavery apologism is bad *is just mentally ill and therefore can be disregarded entirely*. There's a fucking word for that, and you won't like who invented it!

[mastercantdecide]

if i had a nickel for every (more or less) disembodied narrator in a game about choices…

[chrysalicefiasco]

I always love a narrator in a musical. The way they slip in and out of crowd moments. Adding or aiding to the story when needed.

Jeff's narrator is a bit of a gremlin in Cinderella's Castle.

In 'Cursed Crazy' the way he's perched. Stalking her movements with his head. He's kinda like the stray cat in the lyrics. Not tame. Wanders where he pleases. Eyeing his target with interest

Also i find myself drawn to his dancing, especially in 'Neon'.