Braid epilogue

With a little help from the forums I found what I think is the complete text from the epilogue level. I've posted it here in it's entirety.

GodWhyMe has also blogged the text from all the books in the game. That can be found here.

*** SPOILERS *** Some things can be not undone or unseen.

The extra text from the epilogue really seems to clarify that the story plays out on two levels.

On the surface it's the tale of Tim and his interesting ability to reverse time. It's the story of Tim living his life in reverse, trying to get back to before he lost his princess. We come to the end of the game, back to that moment and find that both are trying to run from each other and block each other's path. At the end Tim's princess finds her knight in shining armor and it's Tim who is the monster from which the princess needs to be rescued.

I think I really did see that coming as I progressed through the game. I can't help but feel a little sad at the end though.

The epilogue cements the allegory of the story fairly clearly to me. I'm not quite sure exactly what the princess is, but Tim's story is the story of man's quest for knowledge. I'm going to guess that the princess is nature or perhaps peace though that part it really up to some interpretation and further discussion. The first set of books in the epilogue show man dragging in princess forcefully through "Manhattan", striving towards a destination without real regard for the journey. The second set of books show the extent to which man will go to see what is already in front of him but hidden from his eyes. The third show the princess' rage at man's meddling with forces beyond his control. The last show man, as a boy, his princess holding him back from what he desires because he is too young.

In the end Tim is left with nothing but the raw building blocks from which he can start to rebuild his life at both levels of the story. On the surface he has the memories he needs to cope with the loss of his princess and the knowledge of why she's gone. From there he can rebuild his "castle" to become suitable for another princess and another time and perhaps learn from his past. The same holds true for man now that he's unleashed all that the candy store had.