Madeline

Madeline
Madeline as depicted in Farewell
Other names	Maddy Strawberry (by Theo)
Age	between 20 and 30
Gender	Female (trans)
Pronouns	she/her
Status	Alive Spoiler Madeline can die from countless different reasons; however, she respawns within seconds of dying, making her de facto immortal.
Family	• Mom (unnamed)
Friends	• Theo  • Granny
List of characters

Madeline is the protagonist of Celeste, and is the character whom the player controls in nearly all instances. She is a trans woman that struggles with her mental illnesses, depicted throughout multiple times throughout the course of her ascension of Celeste Mountain. Even though her motives for climbing the mountain are left open to interpretation, her determination manifests itself throughout the events of Celeste's first seven chapters.

Presumably because of Celeste Mountain's influence, as foreshadowed by Granny, Madeline is frequently confronted by a doppelganger, known as a part of her, whom attempts to convince her to return home and to give up; this character, known more commonly as Badeline, serves as Celeste's primary antagonist between chapter 2 and chapter 6, being responsible for many of her pitfalls.

Outside of Celeste, she and Badeline make an appearance in the Nintendo Switch version of TowerFall Ascension, an earlier game by Maddy Thorson, as playable characters. Additionally, Madeline makes an appearance on many pieces of Celeste-associated merchandise, often alongside Badeline.

Appearance

Even though Madeline takes a more "realistic" appearance in many of Amora B.'s works and many pieces of fanart, within Celeste itself, especially when it comes to portraits used during conversations, she is depicted in a more unrealistic fashion. Madeline appears to be a relatively short Canadian woman with pale skin, brown eyes and a distinctive cowlick near the center of her hair. Her hair is typically auburn in color, but shifts to cyan blue after dashing, or pink after acquiring a second dash (via Badeline). Throughout the game's events, Madeline is depicted with a turquoise-blue hood-less winter jacket, charcoal gray pants, black-and-gray winter boots and (depending on the chapter) a brown backpack containing a red sleeping mat and a water bottle.

Within Celeste's official art, Madeline is depicted reaching for a winged strawberry; in other official art, including Theo's InstaPix account, more details about Madeline's appearance are revealed; for instance, she is depicted with an indigo shirt underneath her jacket, and in photos taking place after the events of Celeste, many other pieces of clothing. Despite all of that, in practically all of Celeste's official art, with the exception of Chapter 8's end card, Madeline continues to be depicted with her auburn hair and distinctive cowlick.

Madeline's status as trans is impossible to decipher solely from her appearance; however, hints shown in Farewell's end cutscene may suggest this. Notably, a photo of Madeline during her childhood shows her with much shorter hair.

Renaming

Upon the creation of a new save file for Celeste, Madeline may be freely renamed to anything else beneath ten characters. This does not impact gameplay or the plot whatsoever, except that all characters (in the base game, at least) will adjust their dialogue to mention Madeline's new name. However, there is one exception (an easter egg): if Madeline is renamed to Alex, the same name as Theo's sister, Alex will be renamed to "Maddy".