Misha

(This will be an analysis on Damsel(and a little bit of HEA) as a whole, both as a character and her role/archetype in fictional works(and how women were treated))

Damsel can be related to how women are often treated like something the hero (often times male) wins at the end of his journey in fiction. As if the woman was just an object that would endlessly praise and look up to the male hero for whatever thing he has done. This trope is often shown (at least, in my own experiences) in shonen anime, where despite the main male lead and the female lead having little to no chemistry together, and them seeming like they barely know anything about each other, with the female lead being hopelessly in love with the male lead and him being oblivious to the fact, or the male lead liking the female lead for no particular reason aside from just very surface level traits, such as how nice she is. And often times, they would end up together by the end of the series, when the male lead has much more chemistry with his male rival, or just anyone that isn’t his supposed love interest. The Damsel + HEA routes criticises this mindset, and puts it in a more human light.

Damsel can also be related to how women are often forced to act like the “perfect woman”, to basically silence themselves and not allowed to have any of her own personal opinions, and to basically become the “perfect wife”. Damsel, as a character, seems ditzy on the surface, but she is actually quite terrified and probably has like, a million thoughts running through her head. She has made herself appear harmless and agreeable just so that she would have a higher chance to be freed by you. She still has her own desires, which is to leave the cabin. And she would attempt to achieve that goal by fawning over you, saying things like “my dashing hero” and agreeing to everything that you say, just so she could lower the chances of you potentially hurting her. To get to Damsel, you’ll need to resist the Narrator, and the Soft variant of the Heart would acknowledge that there is conflict in your eyes, much like her Harsh variation. However, instead of hiding information and being cautious like Prisoner, she made herself seem harmless, so that whoever, or whatever was forcing you to hurt her would think that she is completely defenceless, and therefore sparing her. But, by doing so, she had caged herself in, not allowing her truest thoughts and feelings come through. This is an extremely tiring act to play. Her cleverness is extremely subtle, and it has shown that it has fooled many players into believing that she is just another supposedly flat character, including me. Of course, Damsel as a character isn’t like. A scheming mastermind who is “secretly evil muahahahaha” or anything. Her fawning response is a defence mechanism against the unknown being that is controlling Quiet within his head. Unlike Prisoner, who is calm and collected and seemingly has everything under control, and with a clear plan to get herself out of her cell, Damsel focuses more on the social aspect of survival. Just agree to everything her saviour says, then maybe the thing inside of his head won’t think that she deserves to die and control her saviour’s hand and hurt her. Which honestly makes her transition from Damsel to Burned Grey even more heart wrenching, cause to her she is doing everything right. And despite she’s, in her mind, doing everything correctly, she was still killed by you, betraying her trust.

Smitten is, overall, an extremely emotionally overwhelming character. How he’s so sure of where his heart would lead him that it would lead to him having such a strong will over almost everyone else that he’d literally overpower the choicemaker himself. But that would also make him extremely stubborn in his pursuit, that he would continue to do what he believed to be the right thing to do even if there are evidence that were pointing towards the opposite. He mainly listens to his heart and never really what was shown in front of him, unlike voices like Skeptic or Cold. Which is what had led to the events of HEA, where his fear of being alone had led to him tearing his heart out in order to keep both you and the Princess forever in the cabin, despite the Princess/Damsel telling him that she doesn’t want to stay in the cabin. He doesn’t really look at what’s in front of him or what he’s listening, as stated before. As long as he deems something as a good thing, then that’s a good thing. But if it were the opposite then he would continue to hold that ideal until the day he dies. He’s not really the type to listen to logical reasoning.

⭐🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️⭐

other flags:

Gals of deciet and unwavering love for you