Dr. Edega

This is an old thread of mine I wrote on Twitter looking deeper into Carmen's character at 1 A.M. that I am choosing to repost on Tumblr. Spoilers very obviously ahead for Carmen's story/"path" - Reupload from February 17th, 2026 (bits and pieces edited, and an entire new send-off to the analysis). CW for Rape/Sexual Assault.

"[...]Like I feel like it could have been written so much better by people who understand it better, but it could've been written worse, honestly."

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She's a well-rounded character for what she's meant to be as a woman. The stereotypical teenaged thrill chaser that, while charming and dangerous for her recklessness, is more than what she appears to be at first glance. Carmen, deep down, is a misunderstood teenager. One who only plays into her looks, not just for the attention she gets from it, but for the other aspects people overlook. It's hard to show it when you finally have something that keeps people around. But she isn't self-absorbed about it either. She's said on numerous occasions, both in and out of the game, that she doesn't mind sharing the limelight with her sisters. Even if it isn't the kindest sounding.

 "My sister Ruby is so pretty. If she wasn't such a bore, she could get all the boys!"

An excerpt from Carmen's LiveJournal about her sisters, one of many examples of her building her up younger sisters/older sister. The quote below the image is Carmen's comment about her twice-younger sister, Ruby.

Carmen herself is unfortunately a victim of a lot of things. Her story, both in a figurative and literal sense, her writers, and overall, the fanbase. If The Path were released today, I know a massive divide would be created on whether or not it's good what happened to her.

“She deserves it because the creators themselves said she was too much to handle,” or “She didn't deserve it because the game is framing it as trauma”. Or a ton of other things… and knowing how a lot of people view victims like her, where it's gray in what happened with them (especially fictional victims), they are never taken as what they are, or solely taken as what they are, regardless of any character or personality they show before or after it. And in a game like The Path, where your depth of the girl you play is as far as you choose to interact with items or visit places on the map without directly just going to their quote-unquote “killers”? It's safe to say most people would pick the shortest gameplay showing the real ending, not bothering to read deeper into her. She is either "just a slut who ended up getting dirty in the woods with an old geezer," or she's a victim and nothing more than that. But to me, I read her as a more... tragic character. I read her similarly to the way I read myself growing up, how I thought as a kid that I'd be that way. Breaking out of shyness, being a flirt, because it was all my mother would talk about with teenage girls growing into young women. Carmen was likely just a girl who wanted to be seen, and when she finally was, she embraced the persona that gave her that validation, conditionally, of course. Her in-game dialogue always suggests romance, since she seeks companionship more than a one-night stand or a boy toy to lug around for the appeal. She shows herself to be extremely complex in her thought process by even having her own psychological and spiritual beliefs put in as flavor text throughout your run as her. Even referencing "The Symposium" by Plato, just another example of her intelligence as more than a "ditzy party girl".

“Male and female were once one. Separated, we roam the Earth searching for our missing half."

Below is where I am going to begin speaking about her story, please take the trigger warnings above in mind. This is your final warning before you proceed with this post.

The Mishandling of Carmen Red-Riding Hood, or, How Not to Write an Atomical-Stripping Tale with Tales.

Idle animation image courtesy of Izzyzzz on YouTube.

...Even her ever iconic quote of actual flavor text for when she sits down, “The man who would save us is the destroyer. But the tenderness of giving in can defeat any power.” It's clear she's smarter than she lets on; clear that, while she gives in to her femininity, she won't let it be all that defines her. Strength and resilience, even in mild cases, are shown as every move speaks confidence until she is truly afraid. In which she still keeps herself together… Literally. (Holding herself to comfort herself if you stand still for too long in the woods.) Only after she meets her wolf does this strength become, in a way, broken, or at least significantly damaged. It is mostly because of shoddy writing and mishandling of the subject at hand, however, that Carmen's story does not exactly resonate with you as it should. Tale of Tales really did not want the player to see what is clearly her story as what it is: a rape narrative. If their stance on it from the development blog about Carmen specifically did not fill you in about this. But the imagery is clear in how it mangles and deforms her, or just animalizes her by making her take the place of a deer/marked tree, if we wanted to tick off the objectification many rape victims feel as well. Below are images proving my point.

You can argue that this part of the game was meant to only be a negative sexual experience; however, it is obvious that with the very set pieces Tale of Tales weight-painted for this game, SA was meant to be read from at least something. Be it the concerning age gap between Carmen and the Woodsman, or even the fact that this man got her drunk without a second thought, just for some starting points on where to look for the inconsistencies of "she wanted it"/"she asked for it".

Rape is a very serious word to throw on this, but given the imagery we are flashed by at the end of her success, mixed in with the hazy/blurry vision in the house that is likely more than just the crackling fire smoking up the place, she was either intoxicated (meaning she could not consent), or the Woodsman had forced her despite being a "cube" as Tale of Tales describes him. Which brings me to the very thing that boils my blood about her path's very writers... the way they attempt to abstract the Woodsman of blame while simultaneously framing him as this evil, all-killing-of-purity figure. Laws where they live frame seventeen as the age of consent and the age to consume lighter alcohol such as beer; however, it is not explicitly stated/implied that the girls live in Belgium. It is a dangerous game to play on the subject of her story, but in most countries, they round the age to about 18-21. This includes the age of consent as well. To use your Country of origin as an excuse is quite flimsy, as, for all anyone knows, this game could take place anywhere as there are no regional indicators.

To frame this character that they themselves have written as a rapist (and for example, likely inspiring him off of Vladimir Nabakov's "Lolita" narrator, Humbert Humbert) as a boring everyman, while framing who is essentially Dolores in the long run (so much as having Carmen's name inspired by the novel) as the girl who wanted it because she "thinks she runs the place" is distasteful, and, quite frankly, a gross observation to make about a teenage girl. One thing is for certain about age, you don't develop completely until twenty-five. That man was old enough to know better, judging by his hairline, and she is just barely of her teens by two years. You make the vote.

It has to be read that she is scarred by the assault, because after her chapter ends, you are just meant to… Move on. Pick another girl. Get to the end. She comes back fine anyway… What's the big deal? Well, the lesson is to grow up. But in Carmen's case specifically, I feel like hers could be taking the time to grow up organically rather than stepping into heels too big or roles too mature. How, instead of growing up entirely, could she slow down for just a moment to work on moving on? What's so tragic to me about Carmen as a character is the fact that she has so much potential to be such a wonderful character to portray a real issue amongst women, and effeminate people: Sexual Assault, and potentially rape. But it's the “up in the air” narrative that pulls such a blunt and hard-hitting story down by its ankles.

TOT really missed the mark with stringing all of these amazing ideas together for the sake of having a story where the men are not completely demoralized, rather, just seen as different “toxic outlets” to women's trauma/journeys. But Carmen's wolf isn't. He is the only out liar as the only pure evil character. Carmen's wolf is quite literally a real person who could exist in our everyday lives, seen as the "savior" in the original tale. That is what inarguably makes him the most horrifying. Auriea humanizes him by speaking of him in a way that values him more than Carmen as a character, and he's an NPC you only encounter as Carmen, who is, again, your player's character, NOT HIM! Read alt text for a less professional reading into these things they had to say about her. My God, is it bad.

Genuinely, what is this pity party they threw for themselves? I genuinely forgot all about this because of my hatred for this side of the story. They tried to justify statutory rape at worst by saying that because she drank, stole his hat (as a flirtatious gesture), and lit his campfire to sit by it, she deserved to be assaulted. Either in the shed, or in the tent, likely with his "daughter" present, depending on what the Girl in White does during the encounter cutscene.

What can we learn?

Working on some bullshit. Here's the sketch because the line art is still being worked on. (Given I wanted to do this on her birthday last month but had absolutely no motivation…)

For an idea, I redrew this exact image in 2023, and 2024 (though not 2025, unfortunately). I am however filling in the blank with this year, as my style has not improved much compared with last year. Surprisingly, I managed to do those with a pure white background when I've found I work better with a more muted grey/dull color background.

Lines are subject to change. At least for when I actually finish this in the coming days.