Mirror Temple
This article is a stub. You can help the Celeste Wiki by expanding it.
| Mirror Temple | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
| |
|
| |
| Chapter | 5 |
| Strawberries |
 31 •  3 |
| Sides | 5A • 5B • 5C |
| Characters |
• Madeline • Badeline (5A) • Theo (5A • 5B) |
|
| |
|
Level navigation Golden Ridge ← Mirror Temple → Reflection | |
Mirror Temple is the fifth chapter of Celeste. Preceded by Golden Ridge and succeeded by Reflection, it introduces five new mechanics: Swap Blocks, Red Bubbles, Seekers, Seeker Barriers, and the Theo Crystal.
Plot
Show/hide content
|
|---|
|
Madeline's ventures into the Mirror Temple weren't "voluntary", unlike prior chapters; instead, she enters the temple in order to follow Theo, whom ventures into the temple himself in order to "take selfies". Madeline is clearly shown to be selfless here, and willing to help; however, she does have a bad feeling about this. Shortly after entering the temple, Madeline discovers Theo's cellphone, which was left on the ground in front of a mirror; this quickly increases her worries. The initial section of the Mirror Temple, whilst 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. The music, a soft yet slightly eerie piano piece which forms a portion of 11 • Quiet and Falling, plays throughout this section. A few mazy corridors later, Madeline discovers Theo, whom is now trapped behind a mirror; she quickly displays concern. Theo, on the other hand, sees that Madeline is on the other side of the mirror; his reality is inverted. He attempts to unveil what happened, but eventually faces a threat, and as such, has to abandon Madeline once again. She's truly on her own now. The music shifts, and the piano mostly disappears, inducing this sense of "being lost" even further. The second checkpoint, Depths, is very dark (when compared to the rest of the temple); it is extremely difficult to see without lighting up the corridors first. However, despite all of this, Maddy's fears do not demonstrate themselves. This all changes following the mirror cutscene, which plays between Depths and Unraveling. The music, 12 • In the Mirror, becomes significantly more eerie, and Madeline starts panicking again. Confronted by Badeline, Maddy instantly lays the blame upon her, but unlike all previous chapters, she is mistaken; Baddy is not to blame. She 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. Maddy eventually starts panicking, but snaps and gets angry at her other self, before reiterating that she could do this herself.
The next few rooms feature plenty of Seeker, 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 this reflection, which tells her to "get up" and save Theo. Later on, she finds Theo behind a pair of spinners, albeit trapped in a crystal; he displays glee at Madeline's sight, but also displays concern that she wouldn't be able to save him. Maddy, on the other hand, expresses her embarrassment at how 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 of comments either 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. |
Gameplay
A-Side
| Mirror Temple A-Side | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
| |
| Level | 5A |
| Strawberries |
31 • 1 |
| Soundtrack |
Celeste OST: 11 • Quiet and Falling 12 • In the Mirror |
|
Mirror Temple A-side • B-side • C-side |
Mirror Temple is of about the same difficulty as Golden Ridge, and builds upon many previously taught mechanics. It also builds upon the story significantly, as Madeline approaches the summit. Seven new mechanics are introduced throughout: Dash Blocks, Dash Switches, Red Bubbles, Seeker, Seeker Barriers, Temple Gates, and the Theo Crystal.
Five subchapters are present: Start, Depths, Unravelling, Search and Rescue.
Start and Depths
The start of Mirror Temple quickly introduces two new mechanics: Dash blocks and Red Bubbles. In addition, the game also adds dash switches and temple gates. Dash blocks move very quickly, synced to your dash, and red bubbles are similar to their green counterparts but they take you forever until you die, hit a wall, or dash out of a bubble. Note that dashing out of a red bubble 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 hunt for the key, or alternatively go hunt for strawberries before obtaining the key. A semi-hidden passage leads to a key door (the first since 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 area, centered at Madeline. In addition, torches also provide light. Yellow ones come pre-lit, and often indicate danger, whilst blue torches require the player to first come across them before turning on permanently, and are usually located at safe locations. There are two more hub rooms, one of which has another key which is not required to progress if you use a secret. However, using the secret while getting the key anyway allows for unlocking the crystal heart. Near the end of the subchapter, the player takes a red bubble up a long distance, then hits two symmetrically placed dash switches. A large curtain falls and Madeline is sucked into the mirror.
The seeker cutscene plays, where you control the seeker and therefore learn the mechanics. Seekers move relatively slowly, but they can dash toward the player and target it, and even steer their dash slightly. Seeker barriers block them, 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 thru Rescue
Madeline wakes up in the mirror side of the temple; 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 which could be seen as early as the beginning of Depths. CP4, 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 three are required for a strawberry. By unlocking two doors, you can take the red bubble across three rooms to the next section. This then leads through a set of rooms with Seekers, which are harder than ones previously featured. In the final checkpoint, after finding Theo locked in a crystal, Madeline has to carry the Theo crystal all the way to the exit. Holding grab grabs Theo, and releasing it throws Theo; releasing it while holding down sets him down instead (which is untaught). 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
| Mirror Temple B-Side | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
| |
| Level | 5B |
| Strawberries |
1 |
| Soundtrack |
Celeste B-Sides: 5 • Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix) Remixed by 2 Mello |
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 is required to collect two keys to open doors blocking red bubble paths. One key can be skipped using a 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 difficult falling room to replace the straight fall found in 5A. 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 preformed quickly and in succession. The second room is one simple momentum wallbounce. The final room is long, and contains several setupless wallbounces out of a red bubble, making it very difficult. It was actually nerfed (made easier) after release.
Strawberries & Collectibles
Mirror Temple contains 31 unique red strawberries Hidden throughout the chapter. This includes one winged strawberry, and one seeded berry; most 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 Cassette Tape in 5A, and then subsequently complete 5B. This is because of how Mirror Temple's B-Side is quite a bit shorter than 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 preform a very difficult trick known as "dreadcorner". It is faster but its very inconsistent and hard to pull off, this is why most speedruns of 5b don't use it. It requires a "spiked corner boost" of the corner in the same room as bubsdrop.
Search Skip
In ARB, 100% or Golden Strawberry runs, a common skip known as the Search Skip is used to reduce the number of required keys by two (2) during the Search checkpoint. It can be done by getting to the platforms above the keys, and standing on the left side of the left platform, then doing an Extended Super to the left, followed by a up-left dash shortly after. This trick allows players to bypass having to unlock a Red Bubble, and by extension, save a lot of time and reduce the risk of dying as the areas leading to keys may be more tricky for some people. It is still important to note that one strawberry later in the level is locked behind a key door.
For speedruns on the other hand, players will still have to get the key hidden within the giant hub room to the right, which is convenient as there are a few berries on the way to it.
Depths Cornerboost
Also known as "yeet", it's a trick that can be done early in the Depths checkpoint, where the player can find a Swap Block that would normally reveal a hidden path to the left, but it's used by speedrunners to gain a lot of momentum to cross through the entire room. In order to do it, the player has to stand on the block while it's retracting, quickly do a Hyperdash which will launch Madeline with stacked momentum. This is followed by a quick Bunnyhop and a diagonal Cornerboost into the platform at the end. If done properly, Madeline will fly through the entire room, or even entirely skip the waiting for the Swap Block in the next room, if the Cornerboost is done properly. It's a tricky strategy to get used to, but it can save several seconds.
Depths Archie
Since the game has an intentional skip right before the first key lock in Depths, it's possible to utilize it in speedruns by either using the bubble on the bottom, however speedrunners usually do an Archie into the Red Bubble, causing Madeline to appear slightly higher than normally, making reaching the tunnel possible without using the intended way. It entirely skips the need of a key, as well as it's faster than going back and forth to the bubble.
Trivia
- The Mirror Temple, especially its A-Side, is the only truly non-linear chapter in the entirety of Celeste; instead, 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 Ch4 area, with birds and a return bubble. This was originally not a thing, and was added later as players were able to go left and they'd hit an invisible wall and die.
- The C-Side went through multiple changes during 1.2.0.0 and 1.2.6.0 updates, making a couple timings easier in the last room, as well as adding an alternate bottom route at the beginning, which allows 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 ended up being scrapped as the devs thought the chapter might end up being too convoluted.
See also
Celeste base game chapters
