I have come to the conclusion that Ghirahim could absolutely destroy Demise in combat. The only move Demise ever used that wasn't with his sword (Ghirahim) was punching. Not only can Ghirahim fight with not one, but two swords, he also employs daggers, those diamond dart things, he teleports, and can grab your own sword and throw you over his shoulder. Demise wishes
this took forever and i kept fucking up the jackets and then i found out discord lowered their file size cap to 8mb so this is actually just a screenshot. but its whatever i dont even care about the quality being lowered (frothing at the mouth)
The Cage is my 2nd favourite route in the whole game. So I was very meticulous when analyzing it. Anyways, the objective of this analysis is to show just how layered and nuanced some of these routes can get. Essentially, offer a new way to look at the route, which you may have not considered.
Without further ado, let's begin.
Warning: Very Long.
Background:
To understand the different nuanaces of Cage, we have to look at how we get there in the first place. We get to the Cage by
1) Taking the knife.
2) Talking to the Princess.
3) Trying to save her.
4) Trying to kill her/ leaving her for dead. Either way, the Princess has to lose right at the end.
5) Repeat with Prisoner.
And so we get to Cage. In Cage, there are three voices that can accompany us alongwith Skeptic and Hero.
1- Broken: If we show sorrow and remorse with the 'reward'.
2- Cheated: If we show contentment with the 'reward'.
3- Paranoid: If we immediately realize something more is going on.
The Blade:
One of the most important things to note is that this route locks you into taking the blade no matter what. In chapter 2, Skeptic doesn't let you proceed without the blade. In chapter 3, you literally start with it. The blade is very evidently a crucial part of this route. Understanding the blade here is very vital to understanding the message of this route.
One of the more prominent theories is that the blade is also a part of the Long Quiet himself. This is due to Paranoids statement about the blade saying that it feels "The Balde is n extension of us." Which then begs the question which part of us is it, and that question has many answers. Maybe it's a part of us the narrator put there to make sure we slay the Princess. Maybe it represents a part of the Long Quiet which doesn't want to return to its original state.
The Second theory that I like is that the blade is a metaphor for control, trust or the likes. Essentially, you take the blade, you take control. Trust is within your hands, cause you can choose to keep it, or give it away, or break it entirely with the blade. This is very evident in the Thorn route, but also fits here.
In the first chapter, you don't trust the Princess until you've talked to her, then you help her escape, but you lose control and end up, in a way, betraying her. You give her control, the blade, and she uses it but then she's a Prisoner again.
You then meet the Skeptic. Who would never in a million years let you be left to chance. He wants control. He is going to have control. He takes the blade. Even if you don't. Then, we have to hand that control to the Princess again. The Princess is in control again. She uses that control, and puts herself at your mercy again. The trust is with you again. But you choose to abandon it again. She had control again for a moment and loses it again the next.
Then when you go to claim your 'reward' you can either immediately end yourself. Use the blade again. Find control again. And then get Paranoid. Or you can choose to accept the reward wholeheartedly and be forced into a decision. Getting Cheated out of it. Show humanity and you get Broken.
And then in Cage, Skeptic still needs that feeling of control, he needs the Blade. Paranoid agrees with him. The blade makes him feel safe. However, Broken realizes the blade is actually a setback in this ordeal. That the control offered by the blade is the cause of this madness. He knows that by not having the blade, the Princess can finally trust us. And Cheated throws away the blade because he has lost something precious to it. Just like the Princess, who has lost both of her chances to escape because of the blade.
Paranoid's Version:
In this version of the Cage, you have chosen to value answers over everything. You tried to save the Princess first because you wanted to know more. You decided to leave the head of the Prisoner because, why would she do that? What's going on? You saw your reward and decided, fuck that, I don't need happiness I need security. I need answers. I need to know what's going on.
And so you get the two voices with a very active brain. Paranoid covers all the bases Skeptic exposes. Skeptic can get stuck on a single idea. Paranoid can't keep his train of thought to save his life. Skeptic can recite the ABC forwards and backwards. Paranoid will find a way to recite it sideways. Skeptic is rationalism while Paranoid is absurdism. This allows you to figure out the nature of the construct.
Paranoid immediately figures it out. When he realizes nothing is solid. Not even reality. Then the moment he finally connects all of the dots is when you fall through the chains. After that, he basically understands the premise of the construct.
Skeptic struggles to process this. He doesn't understand how something could just be without a reason. Everything has a reason. Why would the chains just break? Why would the mirror just be a distraction? Why would something just happen? However, in the end he does seem to shift more towards Para's views of the world. But it takes a whole lot of convincing and still a reason. A false reason. But a reason nonetheless.
Paranoid also hates the cyclical nature of the events. Also important to note, Para makes a lot of false assumptions as well. One of the biggest one being, "The Princess isn't acting rationally." He fails to see the reason behind the Princess' actions and words. He just regards it as irrational. He HATES the cyclical nature of the events, but plays right into them. Skeptic LOVES when the cyclical nature plays out, because to him that is completion. Where Para feels trapped by the loop, Skeptic just wants to complete the puzzle. And when they do slay the Princess, Para has his iconic mini breakdown and Skeptic is just confused. Also Hero, my poor baby, being the only one with emotions in that scene. Seriously we need to get Hero some chocolates.
Cheated's Version:
(Before I get into this, I must say, Cheated is my most poorly understood voice. I do not know Cheated like I know the other voices. Apologies in advance.)
Cheated is pissed. He is fuming. From his perspective, we can't win. Whatever we define as a win, can't happen. Something is going to throw us off. Maybe the Narrator posseses us again. Maybe the raggedy bridge collapses. Maybe the Princess' body drops us. Something must go wrong. That's all we've seen happen this past couple of times.
And Cheated's pessimism makes sense. We've been at the cusp of 'victory' twice. And both times we were then forced to slit our throat. Why wouldn't it happen again? This belief in the cyclical nature of our loss is a direct parallel to the Princess' cyclical view of the whole ordeal. However, they both cope with this differently. Cage is utterly defeatist. She can NOT break the cycle, simply because she sees no point in doing so. Cheated is spiteful. The blade slit our throat, fucking throw the blade. It'll make Skeptic and Narrator mad? Well that's even better. Hanging in chains? Ofcourse we are. Why don't we just piss off everyone while we're at it? We are going to escape? But what if, somehow, we didn't.
However, despite all this, in the end the Princess is able to overcome this belief. She is able to overcome this futility while Cheated, can't because he is just like that. He can't see past the lens he has put on himself. He can't jump over a crack except till the very end.
But the Princess, despite putting herself at the bottom of a canyon, chose to climb through.
In conclusion, Cheated's version of the Cage showcases the difference in people to overcome difficulties, be it in beliefs or other forms. Some can jump chasms, others falter at cracks.
Broken's Version:
This version of the Cage is all about trust. Whereas Paranoid's route we were trying to find control, and Cheated's route we were just trying to piss on our fate, this route is about trust.
We get here because our trust has been broken multiple times already. Firstly by the Narrator. Then by the Skeptic. And the Princess has been betrayed too. Both times by us. We, although possessed by the Narrator, tried to stab her in the back first. Then we just left her for dead after she cut her head off. The guilt eats at us. We see the blade and our first instinct when we have Broken is to get rid of it.
This blade has done so much damage to both you and the Princess. It's disgusting what it has made is do. So we throw it away.
Then Broken, being the badass he is, guides us on how to regain that trust. The Princess sees that we want to trust again. This breaks the Princess. Her entire world-view just shattered. She literally drops to her knees and is practically begging to be trusted. Since the beginning we have been nothing but skeptical of the Princess. She doesn't know why. And she wants you to trust her. So when you agree to let her out of the chains the first time, she is relieved. Then you try to backstab her. But she sees it isn't you. Atleast, that's what she thought, but then you left her for dead a second time. And she wants to trust you still, but what reason have you given her to? You always come with the blade and you always stab each other.
And yet, when you come without the blade, she finally has a reason. You don't have a blade. You can't hurt each other anymore. You don't want to hurt her anymore and she knows it. She never truly believed the world was cyclical. She just never could prove otherwise.
However, you leaving the blade behind. You taking that initiative collapsed that ideology on its head. She really isn't bound by any cycle. She isn't stuck in a loop. And you cleared that up. And she can finally trust you now, since you chose to trust her.
Conclusion:
If you want to feel the warmth of others, don't carry around cold steel. Because then you may be trapped in a cycle of distrust that you can't break.
Relinquish control sometimes. Clutch it desperately at others. Learn to trust. Always trust.
