Note: References 3 and 4 are of internal private videos for this class assignment, but referenced material is available elsewhere on the internet in troves. Assignment was written for a Mythology class at Valencia College for the purposes of analyzing how the Monomyth fits in to a particular narrative, of which I have selected the famed video game The Stanley Parable.

The Narrator Parable

If one wants to really understand a person or a society, one can analyze them through the lens of their stories. Perhaps there is no greater common denominator across all stories across all cultures than that of the Hero—that character which, through a great series of trials and victories, emerges to deliver some content, be it physical or philosophical, to a wider audience. Carl Jung would identify this as one of many archetypes that permeates the collective unconscious [3.6], i.e., that of an underlying theme that all of humanity shares and expresses through themselves or their works. In the olden days, these tales of heroism were attributed to religious figures and other sacred texts; in modern times, we see these tales of heroism expressed through movies and as of recent, video games. Joseph Campbell asserts that fundamentally, all tales of heroism, all protagonists, and all narratives possess an underlying set of themes, archetypes, and events that drive the story; however, these may be and are necessarily (according to Campbell) expressed through that narrative which he calls the Hero Cycle, or the monomyth [3.8]. Star Wars is a notable example of a story that directly called upon Campbell’s work to structure its story upon, and ever since Campbell’s The Power of Myth series released in 1987, this unconscious pattern has been brought into conscious awareness, and more and more writers have been working to structure their story around the monomyth, or otherwise try to directly subvert or parody it (while still reflecting its influence throughout their work). One of the most foundational examples of such a parody in the video gaming world is The Stanley Parable (2013, Crows Crows Crows), and its recent expansion (containing the same content of the original with an expanded story that directly references the original release), The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe (2022, Crows Crows Crows).

The story follows the protagonist, Stanley, an office worker representing both the archetypical protagonist as well as the Player themselves, and a disembodied voice of a narrator, simply called the Narrator, acting as both a narrative archetype as well as a Wise One archetype [3.15], that dictates the actions of Stanley and what he should do (although the Player can choose to disobey the Narrator). In the original game, Stanley was a stand-in faceless protagonist to represent a generic Hero, although in the expansion, Stanley does get a defined facial model, possibly to subvert its own faceless protagonist trope. Stanley’s job is to press buttons as they come on a screen for a certain duration in a certain order (parodying the very actions the Player is taking to control Stanley), upon realizing one day no instructions were coming to him, and he sought to find out why (upon discovering he was alone in the office building). This plays as a cutscene every time upon launching the game [1] which dictates his Extraordinary Beginning [3.12] and his Call to Adventure [3.13], as Stanley reaches a realization that he must seek why he is not receiving orders, or else he will sit there for a literal eternity. Here is where the Player is able to make the first (but not obvious) choice—i.e., the Refusal of the Call [2.7:29, 3.14]—where the Player can choose to lock Stanley in his office, where Stanley was unable to handle the pressure of the adventure he would soon be forced to take. In fact, the Narrator directly alludes to the fact Stanley will eventually be “given the answers” upon which the Narrator resets the game, having the Player restart with the door open, only to proceed through into the office building. This would allude to an almost ironic predestined fate for Stanley, despite, ironically, the game being all about choices and the idea that one’s choices DO matter, i.e., he must fulfill his role as the archetypical Hero, however that may manifest.

It is at this point the Player starts exploring the facility. Slightly into the facility, the player is presented with the introductory mandatory choice of the game—a set of two open doors, of which the Narrator instructs Stanley to go through the left door [2.9:55]. This is where one starts to understand the subversion of narrative tropes and the parody of the monomyth. If one does listen to the Narrator, and continues to listen to the Narrator, one finds a “Mind Control Facility” [2.34:10] filled with buttons and levers (parodying the fact that Stanley is a game character being controlled by presses of a buttons, who himself presses buttons—which is why recursion is a common theme through the game), shuts it down, and escapes the facility. Yet this is the “default” story—i.e., the “classical” monomyth, but it isn’t the real Parable of Stanley—or the Narrator himself. In fact, one could write an entire book analyzing the various subtle tropes and subversions the developer is playing with throughout the entire game, as each ending has its own role in the greater monomyth of Stanley, as well as being a cycle on its own (with each reset pressing hard on the cyclical nature of the role of the Hero—in fact, one could argue, the very act of resetting the game may be a direct allusion to the many thousand faces of the Hero through each cycle of the monomyth, the game being one giant Ouroboros [3.7]). Yet, there is one story told that only happens once during the game and is impossible to achieve again without hard resetting the game—and that is the Hero Cycle (in the form of a subverted monomyth) of the Narrator himself. The Narrator is a sapient character that is implied to have built both the original Stanley Parable and its expansion. In fact, the expansion starts out identically to the original, which after a few endings are played, there appears a door to “New Content” being intentionally made poorly upon which the Narrator seeks out to make his version of a far more improved version of the “New Content.”

Past the initial Threshold, if one chooses the right door, one will find that door labeled “New Content” which acts as its own Call to Adventure [3.13] for the Narrator, as the Narrator starts getting fascinated with the addition of new content [2.40:17]. This “New Content” is intentionally shabby and boring, in which the Narrator vows to “find the developers” and “hold them personally responsible” for how shoddy the “new content” is [2.44:44]. This is the start of the Hero Cycle of the Narrator, as the Narrator then seeks to create a version of The Stanley Parable worthy of a sequel. The Narrator then resets the game, only for the Player to find they are no longer faced with the standard office and is directed to a vent which the Narrator is calling Stanley over to [2.45:45]. The Player can then choose to ignore the Narrator (in which he will call the Player a dork) and explore the standard office, which could be a Refusal of the Call [3.14], or they could pass the acceptance threshold of the vent, which will act as a Departure [3.12] phase, as this locks us into what is called “The Apocalypse Ending” which can only be obtained once in the game.

The Player is faced with what can be thought of as the Narrator’s headspace, where he stores his memories of all the positive reviews of the original Stanley Parable. This is all shown in a very brightly lit area, where the Narrator reads to the player the actual shining reviews the original game received. It can be interpreted that this is the Narrator’s conscious mind, just as the non-Euclidean brightly lit upper portion of the office space can be thought of as Stanley’s conscious mind. The Narrator reminisces on the original release, and how the “new release” (i.e., the cheap façade implied to be the rerelease) could never hold up to the original. The Narrator in some sense reflects the feelings of the developer himself, i.e. that he could never make a sequel to The Stanley Parable that could hold up to the original, which was why it took him 9 years to come up with a solid way to express the metacommentary and satire of the original in a new and original way without it being a cheap remake of the original. One such review is referencing how the game “strives to be every game ever created” [2.49:51] i.e., implying that Stanley is the Hero with a Thousand Faces as he stands to be the Generic Video Game Protagonist that is both simultaneously a Player and the Played. Upon the Narrator preaching how the original game was perfect and didn’t need new content, the Player is then blocked off from continuing to the next section the Narrator wants them to go towards, forcing them to backtrack and find a darkened maintenance door opened [2.52:37], which is the real threshold into the Narrator’s unconscious, in which he buried all the negative Steam reviews of the original game, in a darkened rainy area of his headspace. This is the real Threshold of the Unknown [3.17] that acts as the Descent [4.2] stage of the Hero Cycle. It is very interesting to note that the Narrator’s role as a Hero through the Hero Cycle, as opposed to Stanley’s fractally branching (yet cohesive) monomyth, is extremely linear and direct, and it is obvious that the developer was well aware of Campbell and in fact Jung when he wrote the story, using deep Jungian symbolism (such as the fact the Descent is a literal descent down a flight of stairs to a darkened, shadowed doorway) to represent the conscious and unconscious to mirror the stages of the Hero Cycle.

In this dilapidated area of the Narrator’s headspace are long forgotten negative Steam reviews of the original Stanley Parable, in which the Narrator did not and does not react well to the negative criticism of being called unfunny, where he asserts the game is designed to be deeply philosophical and profound and not necessarily funny. Upon reading a review where a Player named Cookie9 desired a skip button [2.55:55], the Narrator does decide to implement this as a trial feature and guides the Player into a room with such. This here marks the start of a Trial for the Narrator, in which in some sense, Cookie9 is treated as “The Wise One” [3.15] i.e., as a source of wisdom of how to make Ultra Deluxe somehow “better.” Yet as one will see, this does not go as planned. The Narrator’s Trial [4.3] that makes him a Hero starts when the Narrator realizes after two demonstrations of the skip button, that the skips are getting longer and longer [2.1:04:15]. At this point, the entry door has also disappeared, trapping the Player in a situation where they must press the skip button in order to advance the story. In giving the Player (specifically Cookie9 and any other Player who requested a skip button) a skip button to please them, he put himself in a scenario where he would exist for long periods of time without Stanley (i.e., the Player), where he would suffer with his own thoughts alone. To him, this is a Trial where he figures out who he really is, of himself, to Stanley, and to the Player. In some sense, this is also a Trial for the Player, as they are forced to torture the Narrator by leaving him alone for unimaginable amounts of time, even though the Narrator is pleading for them not to use the skip button. Through each press of the skip button (the Narrator’s own Road of Trials [4.4]), the room becomes more and more dilapidated, and the Narrator descends further into madness. It is interesting to see that the skip button plays the role of the Temptress [4.5] in these situations—although instead of the Narrator being tempted to press it, it is the Player who is not simply tempted but actually forced to press it.

The Narrator’s role as a narrator and not a Player is expressed when he realizes that he cannot prevent the Player from pressing the button [2.1:07:20], which is the start of his Apotheosis [4.6]. This is when he starts to realize that he should not have let the negative Steam reviews get to him, and that this Trial which he is in (which notably, might’ve been an intentional move by the Narrator to prove a point to the Player, as the presence of a plant and clock in the level indicate the Narrator expected large time gaps to happen) would not have happened had he been more assertive of himself and his game [2.1:08:12]. While there is no real sense of “death” in this game, as the game simply can reset itself, the Narrator effectively martyrs himself (as stated before, it’s very likely he knew this would happen), as the Player has no choice but to continue to press the skip button that they demanded the Narrator so graciously provide. Upon the next skip, the Narrator realizes what he really desires are companionship, and someone to talk to [2.1:11:25] (i.e., he is a Narrator, his only purpose is for someone to listen to him—his Freedom to Live in the Hero Cycle, and he must fulfill his archetypical role to narrate a story). It is interesting to note he comes to this realization when all but one light has gone off in the room, i.e., once again alluding to the unconscious, and these being the Narrator’s unconscious fears being brought to the surface, which is part of his Apotheosis. This ending expresses the deepest, core feelings of the Narrator: “One single thing I need—and god I can see now that I need it more than anything is to know someone else is taking [his rambles] in.” as which he asserts later, makes him feel “real.”

The climax of his Apotheosis is revealed in the next skip, which is indicated by the fact all the lights are off in the room [2.1:14:55] and thus this is the deepest part of the Narrator’s unconscious mind. The Narrator explicitly describes the revelation he had during the vast gap of time that passed after the last skip. He no longer felt the need to manifest a certain outcome, like he does during the rest of the game. All timelines were a “strand in the web of [his] being.” To him, this state of existence was excruciating. His core Apotheosis then, was his desire to state to the Player, upon Stanley returning, was to merely express how he wishes for the Player to know how excruciating it is to exist in a state of frozen time—i.e., that state which he as a Narrator experiences during the moment of being skipped, as he fails to fulfill his archetypical function as a Narrator and what makes him truly who and what he is, as a direct takedown of this request for a skip button, and how it contradicts the Narrator’s role as a self-aware narrative trope, one who tries his best to be assertive and funny. Not only does this act as an Apotheosis for the Narrator, it aims to (hopefully) act as an Apotheosis for the Player—particularly those who requested a skip button, for them to understand the esoteric trope of exactly who the Narrator is and what the Narrator represents, to better understand the archetype of the Narrative role in video games, and how a skip button would be the bane of a self-aware Narrator’s existence, as the whole theme of the Stanley Parable is to reference, parody, and reflect on these themes in the form of metacommentary and satirical trope subversion. The trope subversion goes further to turn the Narrator’s Hero Cycle into a tragedy, as the Player is forced to live with their decision of requesting the skip button.

Further skips will have the Narrator on a Nietzschean spiel on how the game was never meant to be funny and how it was meant to speak on and of the human condition [2.1:18:30] (and to allude to why this specific ending is depressing, painful, and unfunny), and another will have him parrot the thematic phrase of the game shown on the loading screen, the Ouroboros phrase of “The End Is Never The End” [2.1:22:51] which is likely a direct reference to the monomyth, for Stanley himself is the archetypical Video Game protagonist and thus represents the Hero With A Thousand Faces for all video game characters, and so his story (and by extension, the Narrator’s) will never end for as long as video games exist, as there are millions of stories, millions of Hero Cycles, millions of starts and finishes, millions of adventures, each fundamentally expressing the same archetypes which each ending of The Stanley Parable express and explore in different ways, each being subverted through the use of the Divine Aid of the Bucket (which itself requires an entire essay ten times the length of this one to analyze), each serving some archetypical role in the large scheme of video game storylines. After several skips, the Narrator stops talking, and the Player is forced to skip several times until the building falls apart and deteriorates [2.1:23:23] into an apocalyptic desolate landscape (which still resides in the Narrator’s headspace, implying he is absolutely nothing and desolate without a Player to listen to him—once again hammering down the Apotheosis that the Narrator as a narrative archetype necessitates one to listen to him else he has no purpose), in which eventually the skip button itself is broken, forcing the player to venture into the apocalyptic landscape [2.1:24:36], which eventually forces a reset [2.1:25:22].

This reset, then, acts as the Return, or the Second Threshold [4.8] crossing, as the Player, Stanley, and the Narrator return to Room 427 [2.1:25:35] and into the top-level conscious realm. There is no real reference to what had occurred in the previous ending, but it is implied the Narrator does remember, as the Narrator directly references the “new content” section from when he was previously aware to fabricate his “new new content” section. It is very important to note that the Narrator has the power to reset the game at will and could’ve reset the game at any point during the Trial but chose not to in order to deliver a poignant point to the Player and assert his role as the archetypical Narrator. In some way these resets can be seen as the “Magical Flight” [4.9] story archetype in the monomyth, with the Narrator himself being some divine force with no one but the developer himself higher than him (of which the Confusion Ending explores this power structure and is perhaps one of the most fun explorations of the Call to Adventure, with a literal Adventure Line telling Stanley where to go). The Narrator, then, fulfills his Apotheosis through his next cycle in the “New New Content” section [2.1:26:26], and what more he gains from it upon the next selection of cycles in the game, by attempting to be more assertive about who he is, what his role is, and what he can create to manifest a truly worthy sequel to the original Stanley Parable—but it would take an entire book of analysis to truly capture how subtle this game is, and through every which avenue it explores and subverts the Hero Cycle and other tropes found throughout video gaming.

When The Stanley Parable first came out, playing it in 2013 made one truly fall in love with this game, and beg to ask for a sequel. Now while one could write a dissertation of analysis on this game (and the very fact this essay is 3698 words long exploring a terse analysis of one ending is proof of this), it’s hard to initially realize why the developer hesitated to write a sequel to it. When one starts to understand the narrative tropes in the game, the role of Stanley as the Hero archetype, the Narrator as the narrative archetype, and the extremely subtle and genius subversion of tropes found throughout the game, one starts to realize that the game would be incredibly difficult to top, and necessarily should not have a sequel due to the very nature of what the game was.

While Ultra Deluxe did add several new features and endings that did manage to augment the quality of the gameplay and story of the original (namely, using the Bucket as “Divine Aid” to reach seemingly absurdist yet still meaningful versions of each original ending, with the Bucket itself becoming a central thematic character to the sequel), perhaps no more poignant ending could possibly be reached than the one-shot ending exploring the Narrator, a parable of him in and of itself. It was this ending that makes you truly understand who the Narrator is, and more importantly, is a metacommentary on what an archetype is, and how if one tries to subvert an archetype, one fundamentally contradicts what an archetype is (i.e., a skip button defeats the purpose of an archetypical Narrator). The Stanley Parable and its sequel The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe fundamentally aims to demonstrate this relationship between the archetypical Narrator or Wise One and the archetypical Protagonist or Hero, and how one cannot exist without the other (explored much further in the Museum Ending), and how they both must coexist in order to form a cohesive story. The Narrator is not supposed to be the Hero, which is why his story is only playable once—but his Hero Cycle is necessary to fulfil his role as a character, and to deliver a poignant message about his role as the narrative archetype. It’s easy to see why this game has several recursive themes throughout it, and one could spend years analyzing this ineffable game, but the Narrator should rest easy knowing the sequel was everything the original was, and far, far more—and there will never be a time this game will cease to be relevant to modern audiences—for the end is never the end is never the end…

Bibliography

1. OPENING DIALOGUE:
   
   This is the story of a man named Stanley. Stanley worked for a company in a big building where he was Employee #427. Employee #427’s job was simple: he sat at his desk in Room 427, and he pushed buttons on a keyboard. Orders came to him through a monitor on his desk telling him what buttons to push, how long to push them, and in what order. This is what Employee #427 did every day of every month of every year, and although others may have considered it soul rending, Stanley relished every moment that the orders came in, as though he had been made exactly for this job. And Stanley was happy.
   
   And then one day, something very peculiar happened. Something that would forever change Stanley; Something he would never quite forget. He had been at his desk for nearly an hour when he had realized not one single order had arrived on the monitor for him to follow. No one had shown up to give him instructions, call a meeting, or even say ‘hi’. Never in all his years at the company had this happened, this complete isolation. Something was very clearly wrong. Shocked, frozen solid, Stanley found himself unable to move for the longest time. But as he came to his wits and regained his senses, he got up from his desk and stepped out of his office.
2. “The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe with Analytical Insight”, uploaded by International Space Station (me), November 14, 2022, https://youtu.be/UypsB74ckHM
   *Note, this is my playthrough on Nov 11 I specifically did for this assignment and contains commentary directly pertaining to this assignment. The other speaker is my friend Toni (Gabrielle Murray)*
3. “The Monomyth Hero Cycle Part One Video”, uploaded by Bob Warren, May 4, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWRpx-9BqsY [Referenced by Slide Number]
4. “The Monomyth Hero Cycle Part Two Video”, uploaded by Bob Warren, May 4, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEy_tirRI3c [Referenced by Slide Number]