What Braid is about

[prog]

I've been reading people's interpretations about the plot of "Braid", and most of them strike me as not so much wrong as overly literal, or just incomplete. Here's my take.

Insofar as anything is literally happening in the game, it's happening in the mind of "Tim", the protagonist. "The princess" is his idealized notion of a former lover who left him in anger after Tim commits a serious transgression (the specifics of which we never quite learn). "The monster" is the man she's with now. A large fellow with wild red hair, he appears in beastly caricature in the "Lair" levels, but shows a more literal (and quite human) countenance during the final level.

Tim deeply regrets the mistake that caused this woman to leave him, and fantasizes about getting her back. But his mistake is so grave, and the severance between them so complete, that the most he can do is concoct a cartoony saving-the-princess scenario based on the video games he played as a child. This grants him some relief, letting him pretend that she left because a horrible monster kidnapped her, and not due to anything he did - even though he is entirely aware of the truth (it's in the very first passage of story-prose you find). He mixes this with a fervent wish that he could just turn back time and undo his error, and thus you have the style of the game's levels.

The game's final level is also Tim's final reconciliation of the situation. The first half of the level agrees with Tim's fantasies - the princess breaks free of the monster and cries out for help. Here comes Tim to the rescue! Touchingly, as he races against time to meet her at the end of the course, she matches pace with him, helping to remove the blocks in his path. But when he finally gets there, bang, she locks him out, leaving him with no recourse but to once again wish for a second chance. But when he runs in reverse-time though the same level, all the enemies that were threatening Tim have vanished. Now it appears that he the aggressor, with the princess frantically slamming shut all the doors between them as she flees. Back at the start again, as Tim looks on, she cries out for help, leaps into the open arms of the monster - who now looks like an armor-clad rescuer - and they sail off together. Tim then leaves the now quiet and empty stage, alone.

This is Tim finally admitting to himself the truth of the situation: there was no "kidnapping", and so there can be no rescue. The woman, his princess, left him of her own will, and there's no monster he can fight that will bring her back to him. My take on the epilogue level which follows is that here we have Tim wandering dejectedly through the ruins of his fantasy world, now unable to support itself under the weight of his new reality. Poor fellow.

At the very end, he finally re-emerges into the city night. He has lost the princess, but he's grown enough now to know why. And that's the end of that story.

Comments

great synopsis

[(Anonymous)]

i think your synopsis is great! very insightful. i came up with similar conclusions, but i was left still wondering about braids true meaning. But after reading this, Im almost positive that this is the game true interpretation. though i think you have might have been reaching a bit with the whole
"the most he can do is concoct a cartoony saving-the-princess scenario based on the video games he played as a child."
All though it would explain all the homages to mario bros and at same time pay homage to the genre in general.

Re: great synopsis

[prog.livejournal.com]

I was drawing on the scene where he visits his childhood home - the matching illustration (after you complete the puzzle) shows him looking in on his old bedroom, which contains some old 1970s/1980s-era computer stuff, among other things.

The prose doesn't explicitly say "he fondly remembered playing Nintendo for hours" or anything, but it seemed to fit well regardless.

[chocorisu.livejournal.com]

I think you hit the nail right on the head. And I thought that last level was superb.

It's a shame that Tim is such a dick. I am quite enjoying the feeling of having played an utterly satisfying game that nonetheless irritated me a lot. ART!

[(Anonymous)]

He doesn't strike me as a weak person, actually. The game tracks his reconciliation with being dumped, as he moves from denial to acceptance of his own responsibility for it. He lets his little fantasy burn itself out, and then (presumably) gets back to his life.

[prog.livejournal.com]

oops that was me

[chocorisu.livejournal.com]

I suppose it depends how much of a metaphor it is. Bad poetry and self-indulgent fantasy where he's Mario rescuing the Mushroom Princess... if he's dealing with a breakup by relating it to recollections of his childhood then, if not weak, he's pretty childish. :)

If it's not the character's metaphor but the GAME'S metaphor then... I just think it's a crap metaphor.

[ubiquity.livejournal.com]

I like your interpretation!