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shinakazami1 · 11 months

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TSP FERNATOR THEORY – THE ROLE OF NATURE IN THE STANLEY PARABLE

Oh gosh, I took this so seriously but hope someone will enjoy my rambling ;w; Just will say it here - this essay is game interpretation, it doesn't talk about Fernator AU (only mentions it).

Contents

0. What is Fernator AU?

“Stanley, this fern will be very important later in the story.” (Confusion, Bucket Destroyer & Figleys Endings – Fern)

“It's all out of my control now.” (Skip Button)

“Yes, I have something very exciting to show you!“ (TSP 2 Expo)

“And Stanley was happy.” (Outdoors - Freedom Ending and Memory Zone)

“The office could use a bit of decoration.” (Other plants in-game, Games Ending, Epilogue)

Conclusions

(Click 'Read More')

0. WHAT IS FERNATOR AU

Fernator AKA Fernnarrator AKA Fernie is my TSP AU where the Narrator takes the form of the Fern and gets moved into the Bucket.

His form can change into any plant, either through a conscious decision or subconsciously, based on his emotions. While some of his flowers blooming can fit the conventional flower language, he creates his own based on his own bias for the plants.

The AU isn’t purely cosmetic – depending on his and Stanley’s relationship before the discovery of Narrator being the Fern, it splits into 3 main pathways.

Each one of them has different ending alternatives and on top of that, the AU has a linear story.

This post will NOT be focusing on Fernator AU - instead, it will talk about the plants of the Parable and my theories about their meaning. These do influence Fernator AU as a whole but I will leave AU talk for another time if anyone would be interested.

Instead, let’s talk about the two main inspirations for the AU: Fern and The Skip Button.

1. “STANLEY, THIS FERN WILL BE VERY IMPORTANT LATER IN THE STORY.” (Confusion, Bucket Destroyer & Figleys Endings – Fern)

This Fern is one of the few plants in the game and the only one mentioned in dialogue.

Its placement in the Confusion Ending is a set-up for a joke: something gets mentioned, said to have a big importance and then gets forgotten. Maybe that was its whole purpose - a gag about misplaced foreshadowing or there is more to it.

A reverse situation is the Broom Closet – it can represent the “show, not tell” rule in storytelling where an object isn’t mentioned through text but more through actions. Narrator is displeased with that and on the third reset in a row after interacting with it, the Closet gets temporarily boarded.

That changes in the Bucket version– you can come in it as many times as you want and Narrator doesn’t get mad at Stanley (which overall is a theme in post-Skip).

So, these two are a perfect contrast:

Narrator doesn’t even mention the Broom Closet at first. However, it ends up getting new unique lines and gives long-term effects on the story (boarding the door).

The Fern gets mentioned in the story but doesn’t show up later in the ending.

However, the plant does appear in the alternative of Confusion – the Bucket Destroyer Ending.

“We're the ones that matter Stanley! Classic characters from the first game.”

Each of the objects in this picture symbolises a person in Stanley’s life:

the Broom Closet = Player, since in the original version, if you stay longer, Narrator talks about them;

the pencil sharpener= 432 – in lore, madness through never being given a pencil to sharpen;

Stanley’s computer= Boss, due to the orders;

Wife mannequin;

Baby cut-out (might also represent Stanley’s kids);

Adventure Line ™ – it isn’t a person but is said to be conscious;

and the Fern.

(EDIT: Beau in Stanarr server also said that the mugs on the table could symbolise the Employees while the Baby could be The Essence of Divine Art. That could potentially mean that Adventure Line™ could also symbolise curiosity - just like, while TEDA seems to be a conscious being, might just be human creativity. )

We already have the Line ™ from the Confusion Ending. Other objects could have been used for this scene but somehow, it is the Fern that ends up being showcased. It could be just due to it belonging to this pathway but it could be also something else.

“You see, your friends and I are concerned for you, Stanley.”

He could be meaning himself just as the voice – after all, the separation between him and his friends is not that uncommon. He does use the word ‘friend’ positively only in the UD version of the game. He calls Stanley his friend only once and then, proceeds to call the Bucket and Stanley friends a few times, making it obvious the man projects on that object.

Here though, Narrator is against the Bucket - so, why couldn’t he start to project on something else? That way, he could visually show the group of friends with himself.

So you know,,, Fernator real,,, maybe,,,,,,,

(Big thanks to Chris from Crowsx3 Discord for reminding me about this next part)

I was also reminded that Fern makes one more appearance - in the Figley Ending, Confusion Ending room.

You get to this room after a Red-Blue door choice that doesn't matter at all, leading to an open door. It perfectly blends so many parts of the game together - the choice between two pathways, the illusion of the choice and also brings something new - backtracking. In most of the game, we are unable to do so - the doors close behind us and that's it. But, just like in Confusion - Narrator wants to backtrack, to change the pathway, for one last adventure with Stanley.

Maybe that was the importance of the Fern. For it to show up when Narrator wants to do something fresh, something new, WITH Stanley.

"Oh, I want more memories, Stanley! I want to keep going!"

In the end, he wants to retire and move on. If he does and only leaves his recording, if he stays with everything TK has done - that's up to a debate for another time.

But one thing is known - we all remember the Fern, even if it doesn't heavily impact the story. Unless you know - Narrator took the form of it and then-

Ok ok, but this was the nice task – now let’s talk about The Skip Button.

2. “IT'S ALL OUT OF MY CONTROL NOW.” (Skip Button)

I will talk about the Memory Zone later – here, I want to focus solely on the Skip Button room.

The Skip Button plant is the only thing in the Parable that shows actual ageing. Sure, there are some other symbols of time passage - i.e. clocks, and scratches on objects but nothing else shows decay besides this one single plant.

Changes happen in Skips #5 and #6.

In Skip #5, Narrator says it’s been a week or two. I know that people have done the math on how much time passed through each skip takes but we will base it only on the plant alone. While a week is too short for a plant like that to show signs of severe dehydration, 2 weeks is more plausible.

In Skip #6 - when he says he had stopped counting once it was over a year - the plant is dead.

Death is overall a bit of a theme in the Parable – the Countdown, Museum, Apartment and Zending especially have a lot of lines about Stanley’s death, which should cause permanent effects. Instead, the game just resets, not making any deal about it. This plant, however, does not return to its original form.

In Skip #13, concrete falls on it, leaving the plant trapped for the rest of this pathway.

I think the room overall (together with the plants and the clock) symbolises Narrator’s psyche.

The first few Skips are alright for him - sure, the time in-between seems to grow but he still thinks it is a good idea. He starts to panic and begs Stanley not to press the button in Skip #4 and in Skip #5, both the plant changes and the lights dim down. This is when he has been left for those two weeks all for himself and just sounds so tired - and with each skip, another part of his psyche breaks.

The clock stops working and falls around #8 and #9. It’s still long since in #6, Narrator where he says he lost count but he might have just exaggerated it, only losing it in these runs.

After such a long period in solitude, any mind would start to decay - the plant, the pipes letting the water escape through them, the fire alarm going off (since batteries are low), the walls getting destroyed with time… Together with how silent Narrator gets at times, I genuinely believe this whole section is us being in his brain.

But then in Skip #15, (after the sunlight in #14) this happens:

These skips are special because they are a glimpse of hope. Sunbeams, birds chirping, new life in the form of plants showing up – just for it all to disappear next Skip.

While the last time we hear Narrator talk is in #11 (The end is never), this feels like he is trying to talk to Stanley indirectly. The destruction of the ceiling feels like an attempt to break Stanley free, which, unfortunately, was a bit misplaced since we don’t have the jump option (curse you, jump circle for gatekeeping them / silly).

These can mean several things.

Narrator hopes that the situation would soon end, as mentioned in the previous part.

It could also show that he is making new ideas and growing. I think it would be a poetic way of personal growth. It is visible in the Bucket version of the game - lack of Red-Blue doors, Countdown becoming silly birds ending, him calling Stanley his friend through the bucket - he wants to change for the better.

“You are not beyond redemption. You may change, and you may become more, so much more than you were before.”

And what better way to show that than through physical growth?

Even if his mind, in the end, becomes the sandy landscape we all know - he had tried to get better and, in some way, succeeded.

I sometimes wonder if the New New Content & Bucket parts of the game are what Narrator wants to turn the game into during these Skips. How he wants to acknowledge Stanley, show that he cares for him and that he matured.

But, let’s go back a bit. The New New Content happening during these skips in Narrator’s mind are a cute theory but, it’s just that - a theory.

What is real though is the game content, like the plants in the TSP 2 Expo.

3. “YES, I HAVE SOMETHING VERY EXCITING TO SHOW YOU!“ (TSP 2 Expo)

This part alone has 4 new plants that were never seen before in the rest of the office (they later make an appearance again in the Bucket Apartment Ending).

Three of the plants have some resemblance to the one in the Skip button - a long office plant put in a pot, while the smaller ones seem similar to the Fern.

(Small note: these plants are based on real-life ones that are common in offices and are low maintenance but I am too tired to figure out their types. Possibilities from a bud: “the first one in the basket is prob Dieffenbachia Seguine, down in middle is calathea makoyana, low right kentia palm”. )

Interestingly, the whole Expo is red-themed so, to compliment that with the opposite colour - green - could seem like it’s a bolder move. It to be fair isn’t - there are a lot of greys, whites and browns that tie everything together, not letting this become a Christmas-themed event.

Expo gives us a lot of new and fresh Narrator ideas - the Bucket, Figleys, and Infinitive Hole. I think these plants also deserve a mention - they all tie perfectly to the theme of Narrator’s growth.

He wants to be better, to please Stanley and I think, maybe, to fit in more. He could have reused the same plant from the Office but no - he made new ones.

And just like the Broom Closet - they never get acknowledged in the dialogue.

Show, not tell.

4. “AND STANLEY WAS HAPPY.” (Outdoors - Freedom Ending and Memory Zone)

Stanley felt the cold breeze, blablabla, you know the drill by now. Most of us will remember the current Freedom Ending - lots of grass, some trees, blue sky…

But that wasn’t always the case.

The 2011 Mod had a way different ending screen.

The difference is probably due to the limitations of this being a mod but comparing it with the future renditions, it might portray how Narrator had gotten softer throughout the games.

In this one - the outside world is urban. You went out of the building you were mind controlled in into a town of some sort. It doesn’t look too appealing. Trees without any leaves, very short grass - it is SOME freedom but it feels rough. Just like the only other outdoor area in the Games Endings (more about it in the next part).

The newer versions, however, are WAY different.

More saturated colours, some rock roads, trees, and mountains in the background - nature is ALIVE and well. Just like Stanley is, being freed, in Narrator’s eyes.

Because it is Narrator who chose to make this the end screen. It is just visible, time and time again, how much this man adores nature. Sure, he might be scared about the open world (next point, again) but he could have just remade the buildings from the original. But he chose not to - instead, upgrading it into something more beautiful.

This isn’t just an ending for Stanley - it’s an ending for HIM.

I think that’s why Memory Zone is just so similar, in my eyes, to Freedom in this aspect.

“(...) I made something special and tucked it away here where the game’s developers won’t find it.”

Some things do not match - the tree types seem different, the sky is a different colour, and small flowers pop here and there that aren’t in Freedom.

But there is a key element that does match - mountains.

These two areas may be connected - Memory Zone seems to be on a higher standpoint, maybe on a hill rather than a mountain but due to just that, it is possible they are both connected, just in different parts of the world.

Memory Zone is special to Narrator - it is supposed to show his achievements and happiest moments. It would make sense that it was placed in a similar area as Freedom - just hidden so that the other game developers Narrator mentions, would not influence it.

The Maintenance area of the Memory Zone, however, is everything Narrator tried to repress. That is why he might not remember the reviews in there - it’s all hidden in his subconsciousness.

“I don’t recall this part of the Memory Zone before.”

Narrator had been probably working on the Memory Zone way before he shared it with Stanley. It was his safe space, or so he thought. The memory in the name seems to be the most important clue - it’s not like some remembering zone, history zone or something - it’s memory.

And memories like to get hazy.

As I mentioned - to me, Skip Button's room is a visual representation of Narrator’s mind, at least a part of it. And since it’s a part of this area - I headcanon the whole Memory Zone to be that.

Contrasting with the wild flora of the main Memory Zone, the maintenance seems very run down and secluded. The colours in Memory Zone are already desaturated in comparison to the rest of the game but this part looks dirty thanks to the focus on browns and greys. While some of the lovely nature is in there - birds, a big water pool, the trees are dead.

These dead trees, just like the Skip Button tree or 2011 Freedom Ending ones might be a pattern for Narrator when he is not in his best shape.

Once again, the game shows just how important the nature aspect seems in the key part of the story. Narrator made the conscious decision to change the Freedom Ending and probably also had some saying about the Memory Zone, until the parts he wanted to repress that got run down.

Narrator keeps on repressing things a lot throughout the game. He shows denial and shifts the blame - on Stanley, the Player or the reviewers. At the end of it all - during Skip - he finally realises his flaws and mistakes.

But that realisation happened way too late.

Maybe that’s why he later tries to separate himself from that Memory Zone, putting it in the Executive Toilet.

Or maybe, it’s some not-so-hidden poop joke. But that’s not as important.

So let’s get to the rest of the game.

5. “THE OFFICE COULD USE A BIT OF DECORATION.” (Other plants in-game, Games Ending, Epilogue)

Besides Fern, there is another plant that keeps on being with Stanley a lot. It is there, never in the foreground but it’s always there. It’s like a hidden companion - maybe, as a symbol for not so hidden one.

This plant shows up in most of the Left Door pathway to the Boss’s Office - 5 times in different rooms:

desks 431- 436,

desks 418-424,

left-right door choice,

Meetings Room,

and the entrance to Boss's office.

It also shows up in rooms we see around the pathway:

room with 456, 457 doors,

413 room,

Executive Bathroom

and two in the room with Elevator Music.

The plant shows up 4 times in Confusion Ending (including the earlier mentioned 456, 457 area)- and thinking how the Fern is also there makes me just feral. Narrator joins Stanley on his little adventure through the unknown territory - so he inserts himself in the story.

In the Right door pathway, we get through the first 3 from the Left door and 2 more - the Loungue and the Games Ending.

The Games Ending has very different alternations between the game version but one thing is stable - nature in the open words games.

“I wonder what he found.”

In 2011, once again, nature is quite dead and dried up. RIP all the plants in this version of the game.

The next alternations, however, take a different approach and make the plants more alive.

The 2013 version uses Minecraft as it outdoor area.

Narrator doesn’t focus at all on the nature aspect - more on the crafting one which is fair, he is a storyteller and a game designer.

In Ultra Deluxe, there are two areas - Rocket League and Firewatch.

Rocket League won’t get that much attention from me - it’s just a typical grass for sports fields. The Firewatch, however, is a direct parallel with Minecraft. And it’s due to it being open-world.

This brings me to the last issue with Narrator and nature - he likes it quite a lot, but it HAS to be limited for Stanley.

Freedom makes you stuck in a cutscene, you can only go to mines in Minecraft due to no jumps, Memozy Zone has barriers, so Stanley has one path to follow, and most plants are potted- expect, for one thing.

And it’s the plants that show up in Skip #15.

I think it’s no coincidence that in the Bucket runs, the Red-Blue choice is off-limits. I think it’s due Narrator not wanting to go through things that hurt. But they hurt not only him - they also hurt Stanley.

We could focus on the fact that each of the Games runs ends up with Stanley being trapped in the 2011 version. But I think that lack of freedom to explore beyond the main area - the set path, the game, is what got Narrator more, in the end. Maybe he is scared about full freedom and lack of full control over the story and Stanley.

And maybe that’s why the Epilogue seems to be a never-ending desert. It’s Narrator’s last attempt to give Stanley the true freedom they both needed.

“An epilogue would be fun. Wouldn’t it, Stanley?”

(Shoutout to a Rammy who gave me the idea to talk about this screenshot.)

The desert, for me, fits the Sandman story (no, not just the song though now it is playing in my head so I hope it will play in yours, too). It shows up at the end of the Skip run and just like the room itself, I think it keeps on symbolising Narrator’s mind.

Once a mindflow, where his thoughts could drift anywhere they pleased became quite stagnant. He fell in hibernation or the mind was just no longer there.

The Sandman brought him the sand and let him rest, cope with the near eternity of solitude.

And to think, during it, Stanley uses wood he finds in this place to bring some light. Lighting up the neurons that still are active.

And this one last time a plant in any shape is present - it is there to serve Stanley.

Narrator, I see you. You probably never left because you are unable to but, you still care about Stanley.

And we care about you.

6. CONCLUSIONS

(painting in the background: The fairy grotto, 1867)

I could mention EVERY single plant in-game: all the nature paintings, plants in Demo and all the Infinitive Hole nature backgrounds, apple in Pink room, try to get through every plant and try to find its significance but at the end of the day- this whole thing is over 3k words IOSFAIHOSAFHIOFSA

I know this post didn’t talk much about Fernator. I could talk about how Narrator’s need for control and being in a confined space makes him want to be in a Bucket that he also projects a lot onto. How plants often symbolise his psyche, show up in important parts of the office and as the only other visible living being besides Other Stanley and Mariella, maybe, just maybe, Narrator, who seems to not be human, might have decided to take such form, for comfort and safety. But I will leave that for another time.

So if you reached this point, I hope you realise that Fernator AU is a superior AU to the point it’s canon /silly/nsrs /j (,,,, or is it / silly)

If you are reading this - thank you so much for reading this ramble or just skimming through it. I do appreciate you.

Thank you and-

“I'm out... I'm out... I'm done! It's over! Thank you for playing! Your input was extremely valuable.”

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