Barred Hearts

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Barred Hearts
GENERAL
Slay the Princess
Character	The Prisoner
Character	The Damsel
Canonical?	Fanon
Status of Relationship	Never Met/Fellow Vessels
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Femslash
Also Known As	Disoner, Heartlock

Barred Hearts is the femslash ship between The Prisoner and The Damsel from the Slay the Princess fandom.

Canon

Due to being two separate vessels, the two never formally nor directly meet. They both have their separate tactics and choices to unlock their chapters, which symbolize deeper meaning in existing relationships. The Damsel is unlocked via blindly being rescued by the player, and her personality shows as such of her unwavered affection that makes her awfully two-dimensional. The Prisoner is revealed via not trusting everything that has been fed to the player, and is willing to save her, but ultimately curb stomped by The Narrator, hence forcing her to induce a mercy kill. An interesting aspect of their characters is mentioned in The Stranger route, where the very reality around the hero tears.

The Narrator goes off in listing supposedly the voices or the vessels, one of many examples being "skepticism and blind devotion". Skepticism automatically adheres to The Prisoner, whereas blind devotion fits The Damsel most. Given The Narrator's descriptions were always opposites, this enforced the Opposites Attract trope upon the two. On a more thorough note, Red Oni, Blue Oni fills in a position.

Fanon

The ship has a multitude of reasons for being recognized and well-received in the community. The quote The Narrator raised brought some speculation to the meaning. Players and fans pacted together to relate the princesses/voices to determine which respective piece they belong to. And upon connecting the dots, some took note of the Barred Hearts pairing. In correspondence, the Voice of the Skeptic and Voice of the Smitten are sometimes given equal treatment.

The pairing is easily overshadowed by popular variants including PriSkep and Sweethearts, as the voices are always paired with a complimentary princess. Others mainly involve The Long Quiet. The sapphic premise alone breaks the common production of slash and het pairings. It also, though debatable, is somewhat considered "selfcest" in which a character becomes romantically involved with themselves or a related version (e.g. themselves from another dimension).

Fans come to endear the massive personality gap between them, viewing it in a rather fluffy spotlight. They rival other femslash pairings such as Adverazor.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Damsel/Prisoner tag on AO3

Damsel & Prisoner tag on AO3