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{{Title|Mirror Temple |icon=[[File:MirrorTempleIcon.png|45px|left|frameless|alt=|link=Mirror Temple]]}}
{{Interwiki-ru|Зеркальный храм}}
 
{{Infobox chapter
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'''Mirror Temple''' is the fifth chapter of [[Celeste]]. Preceded by [[Golden Ridge]] and succeeded by [[Reflection]], it introduces five new mechanicsentities: [[Swap Block|Swap Blocks]], [[Red Bubbles]], [[Seekers]], Seeker Barriers, and the [[Theo Crystal]].
 
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Mirror Temple is a pivotal chapter in ''Celeste''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> story since it's where Madeline's personality starts truly unraveling (unlike before, where only hints were displayed). This chapter takes place in the titular Mirror Temple, an ancient temple that concentrates [[Celeste Mountain]]'s power.
 
Madeline's ventures into the Mirror Temple weren't "voluntary", unlike prior chapters. She enters the temple to follow [[Theo]], who ventures into the temple himself to snap a few photos. Madeline is clearly shown to doubtdoubts this idea, havingand has a bad feeling about thisit. Shortly after entering, Madeline discovers Theo's phone in front of a mirror;, thiswhich quickly increases her worries.
 
The initial section of the Mirror Temple, albeit brightly lit, does exhibit isolation. In contrast to [[Celestial Resort]], the music does not change when doors are unlocked: Madeline is truly "lost" within the temple during this time. A soft yet slightly eerie piano piece, which forms a portion of {{soundtrack|num=11|track=Quiet and Falling}}, plays throughout this section.
 
A few mazymazey corridors later, Madeline discovers Theo trapped behind a mirror; sheand quickly displaysbecomes concernconcerned. Theo, onOn the other hand, Theo sees Madeline as being on the other side of the mirror: his reality is inverted. He attempts to unveil what happened but eventually faces a threat, having to abandon Madeline once again. She's truly on her own now. The music shifts and the piano mostly disappears, further amplifying this sense of "being lost". The second checkpoint, Depths, is very dark (compared to the rest of the temple): it is extremely difficult to see without lighting up the torches first. However, despite all this, Maddy's fears do not demonstrate themselves.
 
This all changes following the ''mirror'' cutscene, which plays between Depths and Unraveling. The music, {{soundtrack|num=12|track=In the Mirror}}, becomes significantly eerier, and Madeline starts panicking again. Confronted by [[Badeline]], Maddy instantly lays the guilt upon her, but unlike all previous chapters, she is mistaken: Badeline is not to blame. Badeline then explains how she's not the only "creepy thing" living in Madeline's head, and that the temple carries the same powers as the mountain itself. Madeline eventually starts panicking, then snaps and gets angry at her other self before reiterating that she could do this on her own.
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{{Q|I'm a trespasser in my own world.|Madeline}}
 
The next few rooms feature plenty of [[Seekers]], another product of Madeline's self. She eventually reaches another mirror, where she sees herself, albeit outside of the mirror; she quickly starts degrading herself but is stopped by thisher reflection, which tells her to "get up" and save Theo. Later on, she finds Theo behind a pair of spinners, trapped in a crystal; he displays gleeglees at Madeline's sight, but alsois displaysalso concernconcerned that she wouldnwon't be able to save him. Maddy, on the other hand, expresses her embarrassment at howbecause she has unraveled so significantly.
 
Later on, Madeline finally manages to make it to the room Theo is in. She tries to break the crystal, but fails to do so; she chooses to carry it instead. As they escape, Theo makes a variety ofvarious comments, praising or encouraging Madeline, or commenting about Seekers and the level itself. Theo breaks free from the crystal after being thrown into a giant eyeball at the end of the temple.
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Mirror Temple A-Side is about the same difficulty as {{ch|4|lf=1}}[[Golden Ridge]] and builds upon many previously taught mechanics. ItThe alsochapter buildsis uponsignificantly themore storynon-linear significantlythan asthe Madelineothers, approachesand the summit.darkness Someof newthe mechanicslevel areadds introducedto throughout:its Dashmaze-like Blocks,design. DashIt Switches,also Redbuilds Bubbles,upon Seekers,the Seekerstory Barriers,significantly Templeas Gates,Madeline andapproaches the Theo Crystalsummit.
 
Five subchapters are present: Start, Depths, Unravelling, Search, and Rescue.
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==== Start and Depths ====
 
The start of Mirror Temple quickly introduces two new mechanicsentities: DashSwap blocksBlocks and Red Bubbles. In addition, theThe game also adds dash switches (buttons) and temple gates. Dash blocks move very quickly, syncedalong totheir yourtrack dashwhen Madeline dashes, andretracting redlater. Red bubbles are similar to their green counterparts, but they take you foreverMadeline until youshe diedies, hithits a wall, or dashdashes out. Dashing out of red bubbles does not give you your dash back. The game then throws the player into the first "hub" room and hides a key, which is required to progress. Madeline has to now search for it or hunt for strawberries before obtaining the key. A semi-hidden passage leads to a key door (the first since {{ch|3|lf=1}}[[Celestial Resort]]) and the next checkpoint.
 
The hallway with the locked door turns dark. As Depths starts and Madeline finds Theo in the mirror, a spotlight effect illuminates the room, centered on Madeline. Torches also provide light. Yellow ones are pre-lit, often indicating danger or the intended path, whilstwhile blue torches require the playerMadeline to turn them on first and are usually located at safe locations. There are two more hub rooms, one of which has another key that is '''not''' required to progress if you use a secret. However, using the secret while grabbing the key anyway allows for [[Mirror Temple/CollectiblesCollectables|unlocking the Crystal Heart]]. Near the end of the subchapter, the player should take a red bubble up a long distance, then hit two symmetrically placed dash switches. A large curtain then falls, and Madeline is sucked into the mirror.
 
The [[seeker]] cutscene plays where you control the seeker and therefore learn its mechanicsbehavior. Seekers move relatively slowly, but they can dash toward the player, even steering their dash slightly. Barriers block them from proceeding, but they (and only they) can break the red stone blocks by dashing into them. After navigating the seeker to Madeline and "killing" her, the cutscene ends, and the second half of the level begins.
 
==== Unravelling thruthrough Rescue ====
 
Madeline wakes up in the mirror side of the temple. ''{{soundtrack|num=12|track=In the Mirror''}}, a highly unsettling track, starts playing. After a set of cutscenes with [[Badeline]], seekers are introduced in gameplay for the first time; the first one pops out from a seeker statue, one of which could be seen as early as the beginning of Depths. Checkpoint 4, Search, is yet another hub with three keys, which can all be skipped using a reverse super (see [[Techniques]]). Two are required for the intended path, and the third one is needed for a strawberry. Then you can take the red bubble across three rooms to the next section. This leads through a set of rooms with Seekers, harder than the ones previously featured. In the final checkpoint, after finding Theo stuck in a [[Theo crystal|crystal]], Madeline has to carry it to the exit. Holding Grab allows to carrycarrying Theo, and releasing it throws the crystal; releasing it while holding down sets him down instead (known as a neutral drop, untaught in the main game). Theo will also make witty remarks during this process. Escaping the Mirror Temple requires Madeline to throw the Theo crystal into a giant eyeball; this destroys the crystal, freeing Theo.
 
=== B-Side ===
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Mirror Temple B-Side has four checkpoints: Start, Central Chamber, Through the Mirror, and Mix Master.
The first checkpoint is very short and serves as an introduction to the level's mechanics. The second is a mazelike puzzle area, where the player has to collect two keys to open doors blocking red bubble paths. One key can be skipped using an extended hyper and a cornerkick, and skipping both requires a difficult and very precise technique called a bubsdrop (see Techniques). A vertical upwards room later, CP3 opens with a challenging falling room, replacing the straight fall found in the A-Side. Seekers are reintroduced, and seeker bounces are required. The final checkpoint also includes Theo, with the center of platforming revolving around Theo more than avoiding seekers.▼
 
▲The first checkpoint is very short and serves as an introduction to the level's mechanics. The second is a mazelike puzzle area, where the player has to collect two keys to open doors blocking red bubble paths. One key can be skipped using an extended hyper and a cornerkick, and skipping both requires a difficult and very precise techniquetech called a bubsdrop (see Techniques). A vertical upwards room later, CP3the third checkpoint (where Madeline entered the mirror) opens with a challenging falling room, replacing the straight fall found in the A-Side. Seekers are reintroduced, and seeker bounces are required. The final checkpoint also includes Theo, with the center of platforming revolving around Theo more than avoiding seekers.
 
=== C-Side ===
The first room consists of three [[wallbounces]] and three wall jumps, all very tight and must be performed quickly and in succession. The second room is one simple momentum wallbounce. The long final room contains several setupless wallbounces out of a red bubble, making it very hard. It was nerfed (made easier) after release.
 
== Strawberries & CollectiblesCollectables ==
 
{{Main|Mirror Temple/CollectiblesCollectables|l1=Mirror Temple CollectiblesCollectables}}
 
Mirror Temple contains 31 unique red strawberries Hiddenhidden throughout the chapter., This includesincluding one winged strawberry and one seeded berry;. mostMost of these strawberries are found prior to the ''Unraveling'' chapter, but a few are found after as well. Additionally, a [[Cassette Tape]] and Blue [[Crystal Heart]] are hidden within.
 
== Speedrun strategies ==
 
=== 5B Routing ===
In any% and True Ending speedruns, the optimal strategy is to collect the [[Mirror Temple/CollectiblesCollectables|Cassette Tape in 5A]] and subsequently complete 5B. This is because how Mirror Temple's [[#B-Side|B-Side]] is quite a bit shorter than [[#A-Side|its A-Side]]. The use of a trick named "[[bubsdrop]]" is additionally used in 5B and saves about 20-25 seconds, but is difficult to perform. Alternatively, the player can perform a very complex trick known as a "dreadcorner". It's faster but very hard and inconsistent to pull off, and thus most speedruns don't use it. It requires a "spiked corner boost" of the corner in the same room as bubsdrop.
 
=== Search Skip ===
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== Trivia ==
* Taking the first red bubble of 5B left will taketakes you to a small area designed similarly to {{ch|4|lf=1}}[[Golden Ridge]], with colorful birds and a return bubble. This was originally not a thing and was added later asto prevent players could go left,from hitting an invisible wall and dying.▼
 
* The Mirror Temple, especially its A-Side, is the only truly non-linear chapter in Celeste: it is much more centered on exploration. However, Unraveling and Rescue are effectively linear.
▲* Taking the first red bubble of 5B left will take you to a small area designed similarly to {{ch|4|lf=1}}, with birds and a return bubble. This was originally not a thing and was added later as players could go left, hitting an invisible wall and dying.
* The C-Side went through multiple changes during the 1.2.0.0 and 1.2.6.0 updates. A couple of timings were made more manageable in the last room, and an alternate bottom route at the beginning was added, allowing the player to skip the tight Wallbounce.
* Early in development, the Mirror Temple was supposed to be larger and even more maze-y. Some rooms eventually were scrapped as the devs thought the chapter might have ended up being too convoluted.<ref>Maddy Thorson, [https://youtu.be/u-nSjhIgmXc?si=kmvUcMyQyQ0YTioj&t=6133 Celeste Developer Commentary Livestream] on YouTube</ref>
* The Seekers in this chapter were originally going to be turrets that shot at Madeline, however these were removed because they did not fit the game. The Seekers also originally tried to avoid getting jumped on.<ref>Maddy Thorson, [https://youtu.be/u-nSjhIgmXc?si=Cz1rcd_2UHeSekuv&t=6006 Celeste Developer Commentary Livestream] on YouTube</ref>
* In 5B, Theo happens to break the fourth wall.
 
== See also ==
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{{Levelselectsmall}}
 
[[Category:Mirror Temple]]
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