Prologue

Prologue 

Prologue
Strawberries	None
Sides	Interlude
Characters	• Madeline  • Granny  • Bird
Soundtrack	Celeste OST: 01  •   Prologue
Level navigation Prologue → Forsaken City

The Prologue is the first level the player unlocks in Celeste, which starts automatically after creating the save. It introduces the three basic moves within the game: a jump, a climb, and a dash. Madeline (she appears earlier during the save creation screen) and Granny, also known as the Old Woman, are characters in this chapter.

Three gameplay entities are introduced in this chapter: an Intro Crusher (a block which falls on its own), a collapsing bridge, and the (in)famous intro car.

Prologue isn't considered an A-Side, but instead an "interlude" chapter, similar to Epilogue. Additionally, the chapter does not have any checkpoints, but has a few spawn points throughout. It is shorter than all C-Sides but is longer than the epilogue.

Plot

For the list of dialogues, check Prologue/Dialogues.

Show/hide content

This is it, Madeline. Just breathe. Why are you so nervous? Madeline, having just arrived at the foot at Celeste Mountain by car, is about to embark on a journey. She jumps across several pits, narrowly avoiding a falling block of ice. The Bird is then introduced; it teaches Madeline how to climb a wall vertically. After making it past a few bumpy hills, she arrives in front of a shack where an old woman, also known as Granny, lives. Madeline asks her whether she is on the right trail or not. After the woman confirms, the mountain climber asks about the collapsing driveway. The old woman starts laughing, claiming that the mountain might be "too much" for Maddy, but she stays determined and states that she'll be fine. Granny then warns her that Celeste Mountain is a strange place, where she might end up seeing things, but Madeline ignores her. As Madeline steps onto the bridge, it starts collapsing under her feet. Managing to make it alive as she jumps across falling pieces, as the music intensifies and introduces the "Madeline" leitmotif, the bridge ends up destructing to the point where she can no longer make it to the other side. After making a leap of faith, time stops, and the bird reappears, teaching Madeline how to dash to save herself. Madeline starts panting as soon as she safely arrives on the other side. The camera scrolls upwards towards the night sky, and the text "You can do this." appears. Subsequently, the player is returned to the map screen with Chapter 1 unlocked.

Speedrun strategies

It is impossible to dash during the prologue, except at the very end. Therefore, the only way to progress quickly is via bunnyhopping and cornerboosting throughout the level. It's also possible to skip the dash cutscene right when Madeline stops falling.

Trivia

• Upon release, the final dash cutscene wasn't meant to be skippable, yet speedrunners found an exploit requiring frame-perfect menu management to save time. The devs made it skippable in version 1.2.6.0 to remove the need for a very precise and tedious skip at the beginning of the speedrun.
  • The original skip also allowed skipping the "You can do this" text following the dash cutscene, but this was removed because the developers wanted to remind speedrunners that they can do it, as a message of encouragement.

Celeste base game chapters

• 

  Prologue

• 

  Forsaken City

• 

  Old Site

• 

  Celestial Resort

• 

  Golden Ridge

• 

  Mirror Temple

• 

  Reflection

• 

  Summit

• 

  Epilogue

• 

  Core

• 

  Farewell