Braid: Plot Analysis by xg3 Version 1.04, Last Updated 2008-09-05 View/Download Original File Liked this FAQ?

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************************************************************************ the story of BRAID

Version: 1.04 (9/5/08) Author: XG3 Contact: braidstory@gmail.com

"If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, would be like the splendor of the Mighty One. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." - Bhagavad Gita

************************************************************************ TIMELINE ************************************************************************ {castle1} ... Introduction {castle2} ... The Story of Braid {castle3} ... Analysis {castle32} ... 2. Time and Forgiveness {castle33} ... 3. Time and Mystery {castle34} ... 4. Time and Place {castle35} ... 5. Time and Decision {castle36} ... 6. Hesitance {castle31} ... 1. {castle3E} ... Epilogue

.....

************************************************************************ INTRODUCTION {c ************************************************************************

Forward +-----------------------------------------------------------------------

This is my second story FAQ, my first being the plot summary found in th Bioshock section of GameFAQs. If you enjoy this one, please check out my one as I find that the storytelling devices of these two games are quite similar in some respects.

Backward +-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Before we begin unweaving the mystery of Braid, let's get a few things o the way.

This will be disappointing to some, but the fact is that there is not a logical story to be found in Braid, at least not to the degree that most expect. The books found in the "clouds" serve primarily to convey the sp theme of that specific world rather than form any sort of coherent, chronological series of events detailing someone's life. This isn't to s the worlds and the main storyline have nothing to do with each other, bu rather that the themes are to be looked at as pieces in a scrapbook. Juxtaposed, they combine together to paint a picture. 90% of the actual storyline of Braid takes place in the Epilogue.

If you're like most players, you likely tried to read some of the books ended up skipping them completely as you progressed further into the gam until completing the mind-blowing last level, "Braid", did you think to yourself that there was more to this game than meets the eye. So what ex is this game about?

Don't Look Back in Anger +----------------------------------------------------------------------Braid is about a bomb.

Well, it's also about a princess. There are actually two levels of story this game. One is for the casual observer, the kind of guy who simply ne excuse to go from one level to the next. For this person, Braid is about chasing a princess from castle to castle, her always being in another on

books vaguely reinforce this idea, and for the casual observer this expl will suffice.

I'm going to assume you do not fit this description because you are read this FAQ.

Braid is about chasing an evasive goal and the consequences suffered bot chasing it and ultimately reaching it. It's about learning from your experiences and mistakes chasing that goal. And yes, it is also about a Let's rewind.

.....

************************************************************************ THE STORY OF BRAID {c ************************************************************************ 1945, Manhattan

Tim walked anonymously across a bridge, stopping occasionally to admire magnificent sunset gracing the heavens this afternoon. The sun itself gl intensely, low in the New York skyline. As Tim approached his house, dus turned to night, and he looked up to stare at the cluster of stars above had always looked like it wanted to form a picture of some sort, but Tim never been able to connect the dots.

As a child, Tim and his mother would pass in front of a candy store. Eve he wanted was on the opposite side of that pane of glass. The store was decorated in bright colors, and the scents wafting out drove him crazy. tried to rush for the door, or just get closer to the glass, but he coul She held him back with great strength. Why would she hold him back? How he break free of her grasp? He considered violence.

They had been here before on their daily walks. She didn't mind his scre his shrieks, or the way he yanked painfully on her braid to make her sto was too little to know better.

She picked him up and hugged him: "No, baby," she said. He was shaking. followed his gaze toward the treats sitting on pillows behind the glass: chocolate bar and the magnetic monopole, the It-From-Bit and the Ethical Calculus; and so many other things, deeper inside. "Maybe when you're ol baby," she whispered, setting him back on his feet and leading him home,

when you're older."

Every day thereafter, as before, she always walked him on a route that p in front of the candy store.

As a result, Tim grew to become an obsessive man. His lonely house refle this well. Among the items he kept in his home were a guitar, a model sh kite, and nearly all of his childhood belongings.

Tim was a man of diverse interests, a tinkerer. He often spent his time daydreaming, bent over a drafting table or stretched out on the sofa, re old memories and dreaming up new ones. He would go home after work in th evening and completely submerge himself in his idiosyncratic thoughts, l track of the hours as they ticked towards morning.

Tim was a scientist by profession, an occupation that served his persona well. He was one of the key scientists on the Manhattan Project, a missi develop the world's first nuclear weapon. It was World War II, after all the Americans were anxious to establish nuclear capability before the Ge Tim considered the so-called "atomic bomb" his Princess - his obsession goal which he dedicated his life to achieving.

He worked his ruler and his compass. He inferred. He deduced. He scrutin the fall of an apple, the twisting of metal orbs hanging from a thread. searching for the Princess, and he would not stop until he found her, fo was hungry. He cut rats into pieces to examine their brains, implanted t posts into the skulls of water-starved monkeys.

But the bomb did not want to be made. It knew that its creation would ch the world irrevocably. The world doesn't have a rewind button, after all to bring a force of this magnitude and power into being would be a mista couldn't see this. Ghostly, the Princess stood in front of him and looke his eyes. "I am here," she said. "I am here. I want to touch you." She p "Look at me!" But he would not see her; he only knew how to look at the outsides of things.

But to be sure, Tim did encounter several warnings. Red flags, you could None of which he took heed. "Listen to me," pleaded one. "Stop," begged another. "Stop instantly." "You are running into danger!" warned the thi final cried out, "No!"

The Princess eluded him constantly. Always in another castle. If she exi she must! - she would transform him, and everyone.

Tim wanted, like nothing else, to find the Princess, to know her at last Tim this would be momentous, sparking an intense light that would embrac world, a light that would reveal the secrets long kept from us, that

illuminates - or materializes! - a final palace where we could exist in

But how would this be perceived by the other residents of the city, in t world that flows contrariwise? The light would be intense and warm at th beginning, but then flicker down to nothing, taking the castle with it; would be like burning down the place we've always called home, where we so innocently as children. Destroying all hope of safety, forever.

Every time he thought he was on the brink of capture, the Princess would everything she could to stop him, burn him, kill him. Her knight in shin armor would be there, ready to rescue the Princess from her incessant st Tim wouldn't give up, though. He never saw that side of the Princess. Fr perspective, she needed Tim to save her. He scrutinized the fall of an apple, the twisting of metal orbs hanging thread. Through these clues he would find the Princess, see her face.

On July 16, 1945, after an especially fervent night of tinkering, Tim fo himself kneeled behind a bunker in the New Mexico desert. He held a piec welder's glass up to his eyes and waited, staring intently at the Trinit detonation site located 10 miles away.

This time he was ready. The fulfillment of his obsession was imminent. T stars had aligned for Tim, and he knew that time was finally on his side quickly cornered the Princess. She responded by exploding in a violent, burst of rage.

She stood tall and majestic. She radiated fury. She shouted: "Who has di me?" But then, anger expelled, she felt the sadness beneath; she let her fall softly, like a sigh, like ashes floating gently on the wind. She couldn't understand why he chose to flirt so closely with the death world.

"On that moment hung eternity," wrote journalist William Laurence, "Time still. Space contracted to a pinpoint. It was as though the earth had op and the skies split. One felt as though he had been privileged to witnes Birth of the World..." Nearby, director Oppenheimer said: "It worked." Director Bainbridge said: "Now we are all sons of bitches."

One evening back in New York, Tim looked up towards the sky, and for the time saw the clear figure in the stars. It was the constellation Androme "The Chained Maiden". A reminder that he had finally captured his Prince once and for all.

To this day, Tim continues his ritual of dreaming around his house, floa the clouds, reconstructing memories of his past, deconstructing experien that may or may not have already occured. His journey is an inward one, hopes to learn from his mistakes in his next adventure.

He cannot say he has understood all of this. Possibly he's more confused than ever. But all these moments he's contemplated - something has occur The moments feel substantial in his mind, like stones. Kneeling, reachin toward the closest one, running his hand across it, he finds it smooth, slightly cold.

He tests the stone's weight; he finds he can lift it, and the others too can fit them together to create a foundation, an embankment, a castle.

To build a castle of appropriate size, he will need a great many stones. what he's got, now, feels like an acceptable... Start.

.....

************************************************************************ ANALYSIS {c ************************************************************************

Now that you know the story of Braid, let's take a more in-depth look at game and its themes. Tim's name is a play on the word "Time".

The game begins with Tim's silhouette on a bridge. The point of the brid scene is to get Tim to move from left to right, immediately (re)introduc most basic concept of a 2D platformer to the player. Contrary to popular belief, the city in the title screen of Braid is not actually burning, b of a bomb or otherwise. It is merely an intense, beautiful sunset. As yo approach Tim's house, it turns to nighttime, and you can see that the bu in the background are not burning from here and from the attic later on. can also spot the Twin Towers from the attic, reinforcing the idea that city on the title screen is New York.

We see an incomplete constellation here and though we know it will play important part in the story, we have no idea at this point what it is. T

constellation adds to the mystery and helps set the mood. Tim enters his

Each room/world is a self-contained portion of the game. Like I said ear their respective plots and themes are not linear and do not combine to f chronologically coherent storyline. Instead, they serve to develop Tim's character and contribute to the overall message of the game. There are f aspects of each world that combine to illustrate the the theme of that w

1) Time Gameplay Mechanic - Behavior of the world. Each world has a uniq mechanic. World 2 introduces the concept of rewinding. World 3 introduce phasing, and so on.

2) Art and Music - The art and music are designed to set the mood of eac and also complement the world's theme. As you progress, you may notice t worlds get darker.

3) Books - Although the text in the "clouds" of each world do not direct contribute to the main plot, they serve as a metaphor for the gameplay o respective world.

4) Completed puzzle image - Viewing the theme of the world from a differ angle. Contrary to popular belief, the male figure in each painting is n One of them has black hair, and some of them are blond, while Tim has re The subject, event, and setting of each painting are not to be taken lit The paintings do not correspond to the events detailed in the books, eit

2. Time and Forgiveness {ca +-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Our world, with its rules of causality, has trained us to be miserl with forgiveness. By forgiving too readily, we can be badly hurt. But if we've learned from a mistake and become better for it, shouldn't we be rewarded for the learning, rather than punished for the mistake?

What if our world worked differently? Suppose we could tell her: "I didn't mean what I just said," and she would say: "It's okay, I understand," and she would not turn away, and life would really proceed as though we had ever said that thing? We could remove the damage but still be wiser for the experience.

As you might guess, the theme of World 2 is "Learning from Your Mistakes time mechanic introduced in this world is the most basic one: Rewind, th ability to undo a mistake and try again without penalty. It is the optim start of the game and so the colors are bright and vivid, the music is

pleasant. According to Braid artist David Hellman, "It's a very forgivin world. The art had to add to that sense of forgiveness and positivity."

The finished painting of World 2 shows a black-haired man (read: not Tim lush garden with a woman drinking white wine. He reaches for his glass, accidentally tips over the bottle of wine. The painting is basically a s of a mistake in progress.

As Tim, you have the ability to undo a mistake and re-attempt the task w knowledge you've learned, to achieve a goal. That goal is to surmount nu goombas and obstacles to reach a castle at the end of the world. Once yo arrive at that castle, the castle's flag drops and a dinosaur (that oddl resembles a stuffed animal, but we'll get to that later) greets you with message "I'm sorry, but the Princess is in another castle."

Now, you might instantly dismiss the flag and the greeter as mere homage the original Super Mario Bros, but look deeper and you'll find that ther more than meets the eye. First of all, the flags are flying the wrong way.

They are flying towards the right, while Mario's flag flew towards the l There is significance to this. From a 2D, horizontal perspective, a flag blowing in the wind to the right implies moving backwards or retreating. is the same reason why US Army flag patches worn on the right shoulder a reversed; the flag appears to be blowing towards the soldier's back whic implies moving forward or advancing. This is a hint that you are playing the game in reverse.

Backwards, if you will. In fact, the final level of the game, "Braid", i actually the very first event chronologically. It's Level 1-1, and you c confirm this by visiting World 1's clouds; the final level is actually t first door of that world, not the last.

Now, onto the significance of the individual flags themselves. The flags end of each world are international maritime signal flags, used by ships communicate with each other at sea: World World World World World 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: N U L X K

(Negative./No.) (You are running into danger.) (You should stop your vessel instantly.) (Stop carrying out your intentions and watch for my sign (I wish to communicate with you.)

They are subtle yet assertive warnings to stop pursuing your goal, as it bring destruction into the world.

And in the real world, there is no such thing as Rewind.

3. Time and Mystery {ca +-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Tim needed to be non-manipulable. He needed a hope of transcendence He needed, sometimes, to be immune to the Princess's caring touch. Off in the distance, Tim saw a castle where the flags flutter even when the wind has expired, and the bread in the kitchen is always warm. A little bit of magic.

The time mechanic introduced in this world is Phase, the ability to be i to the effects of time and time reversal. The books continue the theme o 2, and talks about how Tim uses Rewind to create the perfect relationshi the reversal mechanism itself is not enough. Some situations require you outside of time reversal, or use objects that are.

The painting shows a man holding up a glass of red wind in a toast. Perh alcohol is the perfect means to achieve freedom from the shackles of tim

4. Time and Place {ca +-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Visiting his parents' home for a holiday meal, Tim felt as though h had regressed to those long-ago years when he lived under their roo oppressed by their insistence on upholding strange values which, to him, were meaningless. Back then, bickering would erupt over drops of gravy spilt onto the tablecloth. Escaping, Tim walked in the cool air toward the university he'd attended after moving out of his parent's home. As he distanced himself from that troubling house, he felt the embarrassment of childhood fading into the past. But now he stepped into all the insecurities he'd felt at the university, all the panic of walking a social tightrope.

Tim only felt relieved after the whole visit was over, sitting back home in the present, steeped in contrast: he saw how he'd improved so much from those old days.

He felt on his trip that every place stirs up an emotion, and every

emotion invokes a memory: a time and a location. So couldn't he find the Princess now, tonight, just by wandering from place to place and noticing how he feels? A trail of feelings, of awe and inspiration, should lead him to that castle: in the future: her arms enclosing him, her scent fills him with excitement, creates a moment so strong he can remember it in the past. Immediately Tim walked out his door, the next morning, toward whatever the new day held. He felt something like optimism.

World 4 is about how moving in space can make you feel like you're reliv your past. The books talk about Tim visiting different locations from hi and invoking strong memories just by being there. His mind back in the p Tim realizes how much he's improved since then. He remembers his goal an motivated to advance forward instead of going backwards to times and pla he's already been.

The time mechanic functions in the same way. By moving forward, you adva time. By moving backwards, you go back in time.

The painting shows a man peering into his childhood room. There's a back leaning against his desk, a baseball cap hanging from a bedpost, toy air flying above his bed, and even a Commodore 64 next to an old monitor. Th painting clearly illustrates the world's theme of nostalgia and revisiti one's past. Two things you might have missed:

1) If you look closely, you can see a child's face peering out through t zig-zagging wooden bit of the headboard's upper frame. Only his face, an tone of it is quite the same as the color of the sheets it's bound in. T face is tilted sideways, too, as if the child's laying on his side.

2) You can see a pair of hands hanging from the window in the back. Mayb is somebody who tries to enter the room, or quite the opposite, somebody is trying to leave the room.

5. Time and Decision {ca +----------------------------------------------------------------------She never understood the the intensity that, over never quite close enough were, whispered into her receive.

impulses that drove him, never quite felt time, chiseled lines into his face. She wa to him - but he held her as though she ear words that only a soul mate should

Over the remnants of dinner, they both knew the time had come. He would have said: "I have to go find the Princess," but he didn't need to. Giving a final kiss, hoisting a travel bag to his shoulder he walked out the door.

Through all the nights that followed, she still loved him as though he had stayed, to comfort her and protect her, Princess be damned.

The time mechanic in this world is the Doppelganger. Here, Tim is able t create a shadow of himself to pursue and carry out a different fate. The in this world is a bit more difficult in conveying the theme, but we get point. He walks out the door and stays at the same time. He says somethi loud, but at the same time, he doesn't. For the art, this is what Braid artist David Hellman had to say:

In the case of the "parallel realities" world, I represented the th combining luxurious domestic objects (nice furniture and fabrics) w rugged outdoor objects (swampy water, rotting piers and nautical ro The resuilt is incongruous, but intentionally so! Hopefully players have two simultaneous reactions "what a nice ottoman" and "what a swamp" again reiterating the theme of "splitting", or "staying or going".

The painting shows two versions of the man at an airport. One is sitting looking depressed, waiting for his flight. The other is in good spirits, happily walking towards his next destination. A woman walking in front o happier clone has her hand on a seat near the sad guy, bridging the two as one moment.

6. Hesitance {ca +-----------------------------------------------------------------------

But the ring makes its presence known. It shines out to others like beacon of warning. It makes people slow to approach. Suspicion, distrust. Interactions are torpedoed before Tim can open his mouth.

The ring is used here as a metaphor. Take the case of a wedding ring. A devotion, it's also a huge warning sign that makes people "slow to appro This world's time mechanic functions in exactly the same way. The closer Tim's ring an object is, the slower it moves.

The painting depicts a man standing in what looks like a rainy Times Squ the past. The Uncle Sam poster on the right confirms the idea that this

place during World War II. It is snowing. Note that the painting matches setting of World 6, which happens to be a snowy New York City. The man i wearily looking at a ring in what looks like a rubbish bin.

It's clear that the ring is a burden that Tim can use to achieve goals h not otherwise be able to, but that's all. It's exhausting to use and onl to a limited degree. At the end of this world, the greeter says, It took you so long to get here! But at long last, I can tell you that... The Princess must be in another castle. I've never met her... Are you sure she exists?

This is your clue that the "Princess" you've been chasing this whole tim not literally be a real princess.

1. {ca +-----------------------------------------------------------------------

At a cafe on a bright plaza, most customers sit back, feeling the warmth of the sun, enjoying their cold drinks. But not Tim - he barely notices the sun, doesn't really taste his coffee. For him this corner affords a good view of the city, and in the teetering o the passers-by, in the arc of a shop-girl's hand as she displays te to an interested gentleman, Tim hopes to see clues. That night at the cinema, fictitious adventurers lunge implausibly across the screen. The audience here is mixed. Some are patrons of the cafe, now sitting excitedly in the plush chairs, eager for another new flavor, for distraction from the boredom of their easy lives. Other seats hold fisherman and farm workers, hoping to forget their toils and rest their hands.

Tim is here too, but he is scrutinizing the gloss on the lips on the screen, measuring the angle of the plume of a distant helicopte crash. He thinks he discerns a message, when the cinema closes and most of the audience strolls down the plaza to the south, Tim goes north. People like Tim seem to live oppositely from the other residents of the city. Tide and riptide, flowing against each other.

The text in this story illustrates how Tim's perspective of events are different from the people around him, and how people seem to move in the opposite direction he does.

In World 1, time moves backwards as Tim moves forward. Also, as I mentio earlier, the first level is actually the fourth door, and the final leve the first.

The difference in perspective is revealed in the final level, "Braid", w what seemed to Tim to be a cooperative mission to help the princess esca the knight turns out to be exactly the opposite: the princess is doing everything in her power to get away from Tim, eventually escaping in the knights arms.

There are eight stars hidden throughout the game. Once you get the seven one, the switches in this level become time immune and you can get a lead on the princess by reversing time. You ride up the chandelier finally catch her. She explodes and you can collect the eighth star. Go outside the house, look up, and the constellation will reveal itself to Andromeda, a princess with her wrists bound in chains. There are a couple of mysterious things to note from the last level. 6980

The princess' mailbox is number "6980". At this time, nobody knows for s what its significance is, although a few theories have been proposed:

1) 6980 is the postal code of Tim, Denmark. I'm inclined to consider thi coincidence until we can find a way to tie the game to Denmark someho The only connection I've found so far is that Jonathan Blow, the crea of Braid, once did a lecture at the Nordic Game Jam in Copenhagen. Th Bard!

2) ISO 6980 is a standard dealing with measurements of beta radiation (t same type of radiation produced by nuclear fission/atomic bombs). [http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.h number=37015] Thanks Neal!

There is also a Mona Lisa painting hanging in the princess' art gallery. first time passing it, it is normal, but the second time it has a mousta and the letters "LHOOQ" are written under it. This is a reference to the of art "L.H.O.O.Q." by Marcel Duchamp.

There are also two stuffed animals in the princess' bedroom, one of the greeter dinosaur, and one of the "goomba". There are also cutouts of the bunnies on her curtain.

Epilogue {ca +-----------------------------------------------------------------------

He cannot say he has understood all of this. Possibly he's more confused now than ever. But all these moments he's contemplated something has occurred. The moments feel substantial in his mind, like stones. Kneeling, reaching down toward the closest one, runnin his hand across it, he finds it smooth, and slightly cold.

He tests the stone's weight; he finds he can lift it, and the other too. He can fit them together to create a foundation, an embankment a castle. To build a castle of appropriate size, he will need a great many stones. But what he's got, now, feels like an acceptable start.

The epilogue finally reveals the main plot of the game, the creation of atomic bomb. In the very last scene of the game, Tim stands in front of castle, built out of the blocks of each level he's experienced. Here he contemplates what he's been through and what he could have done differen that he understands the inevitable outcome. He understands that he does know everything and that his journey is far from over. Maybe when he's f finished, his princess will no longer be in another castle.

There are a few loose threads in this final scene. As I mentioned earlie final castle is formed out of blocks representing all of the levels you' played plus one for the Epilogue. However, it is missing the block from level: Hunt (4-4). There is also a platform cloud floating above the cas At this time, nobody has figured the significance for either of these th

In case you still don't believe that the story of Braid is about the ato bomb, here's some real life evidence. From Xbox World 360 magazine's pre Braid: "Telling the story of a man searching for a princess in a strange it tips its hat to a world of obscure sources: ...Brian Moriarty's 1986 adventure Trinity..." The game Trinity is about and named after the same nuclear explosion test from Braid. [http://braid-game.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/xboxworld_3_4.jpg

After completing the game, you may want to check out the credits sequenc can access it through the start menu. The credits sequence is purposely outside of the game and it doesn't autoplay once you complete it. This i keeping with the idea that the events of Braid are circular.

The credits sequence features a poem by Christina Rossetti, "Who Has See

Wind?" The following appears at the beginning of the sequence: Who has see the wind? Neither you nor I: But when the trees bow down their heads The wind is passing by. - Christina Rosetti The following appears at the end: The wind is passing thro'. But when the leaves hang trembling Neither I nor you: Who has seen the wind?

The poem is presented out of order. The first part is actually the secon and vice versa. The second part's lines are presented backwards. This is another hint that the events in Braid occur in reverse.

.....

If you have a question about the plot, feel free to send it to me at braidstory@gmail.com

Version History +----------------------------------------------------------------------1.04 (9/5/08) - Added two observations for World 4's painting. 1.03 (8/22/08) - Added David Hellman quote on World 5's art. 1.02 (8/21/08) - Added a second theory for the princess' mailbox number, 1.01 (8/20/08) - Added a theory for the princess' mailbox number, 6980. 1.00 (8/18/08) - First version of guide completed.

Credits +----------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to Number None, Inc. for creating this amazing game. - Thanks to the following people and sources for all of their contributi whether it be providing insight or simply reporting a typo: lewismistreated, razedinwhite, Yedokai, bad framerate, lufia22, Ryan K halfrobo, Bard, Neal, Panayotis K, Tim S

(c) Copyright 2008 Jeff Liu +----------------------------------------------------------------------You may post excerpts of this FAQ on your forum or fansite on the condit that you link back to this location (url) at GameFAQs.com. Please also s an email at braidstory@gmail.com with a link to wherever you posted it, I'd like to see all of the different places this FAQ turns up. This may be reproduced under any circumstances for commercial reasons without adv written permission.
Braid: Plot Analysis by xg3 Version 1.04, Last Updated 2008-09-05 View/Download Original File Hosted by GameFAQs Return to Braid (X360) FAQs & Guides