Reflection

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Reflection


Chapter 6
Strawberries 3
Sides 6A  •  6B  •  6C
Characters  • Madeline
 • Badeline
 • Theo
 • Granny
 • Bird

Level navigation
Mirror Temple ← Reflection → Summit

Reflection is the sixth chapter of Celeste. Preceded by Mirror Temple and succeeded by Summit, it introduces five new mechanics: feathers, Kevin, Bumpers, Badeline as a boss, and Badeline moving blocks.

Plot[edit | edit source]

Start[edit | edit source]

Show/hide content

Reflection begins immediately after the events of Mirror Temple. Madeline puts Theo down a little after the temple, as the sun is setting, on a small rock bridge. She then lights a campfire, which shoots out red flames.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Theo wakes up and recalls having had a nightmare. Madeline greets her enthusiastically. Theo then realizes that it all actually happened; however, apart from "an existential crisis", he's fine now. Madeline then explains to him about Badeline and her influence. To her surprise, Theo does trust her. Thanking him in the process, Maddy then asks how Theo can trust her so quickly; it's because of how similar she is to Alex, Theo's sister, and because of her extreme determination. When Theo asks why Madeline is climbing the mountain, she reveals that she is trying to escape the dark thoughts she has and is attempting to avoid depression and panic attacks, using the Internet to lash out and drinking alcohol to cope.

“I'm good at keeping up appearances, but the truth is I'm barely holding it together.”

When describing what depression feels like to Theo, Maddy states it's like being at the bottom of the ocean, not seeing anything, feeling claustrophobic yet exposed, and constantly fighting yourself. Theo attempts to convince Madeline that she's, after all, a good person. Maddy then states that she wishes to get rid of Badeline to be "free" again; Theo suggests that Madeline could learn to control her instead. When Theo asks why not take a vacation instead, Madeline tells him that it would be unproductive and that she needs a challenge. When she asks why Theo went to the mountain, he states that it is because he found a new job but hated it; when she then asks about his grandpa Carlos, he tells her that he's deceased, but they had spent good times before. Apparently, he's the person who told Theo about Celeste Mountain and suggested he visit it, albeit rather mysteriously.

When Theo asks Madeline who built the temple, Madeline doesn't know, but suggests that it was built prior to everything else on the mountain; she then interjects, saying that this might be why Granny lives there. She interprets Granny as a mean person, but one who enjoys living on the mountain. Madeline then asks for the first time herself to take a selfie with Theo (the reverse, where Theo asked Madeline, happened twice, in Old Site and Golden Ridge). Theo then remembers that Madeline should be able to reach the summit tomorrow and suggests going to sleep to rest well. Madeline agrees, and they both head to sleep.

Madeline can also ask to head to sleep earlier, stating that she's tired. In this case, the cutscene is skipped until the selfie sequence.

Shortly before dawn, Madeline is transported into her dream. Northern lights appear, the campfire turns green (like in Old Site), and a single golden feather appears. 14  •   Starjump intensifies. Madeline then flies upwards, encountering some turquoise-colored Starjump Blocks along the way. Once she makes it past a short maze consisting solely of these blocks, Madeline finds Badeline, where she decides to "set her free" in a bid to reclaim control over herself, insulting her in the process and calling her cruelty and manipulativeness out. This ends poorly, and Badeline chokes her using one of many tentacles; she fails to calm herself down with the feather technique Theo taught her at the end of Golden Ridge. She then starts falling.

“You are not above me. And you can't climb this mountain.”

Madeline, awake again, slips onto the edge of the rock bridge she was sleeping on; this awakens Theo, who starts freaking out. The rock bridge collapses, destroying a now-unlit campfire and sending Madeline flying down the mountain. She lands into what looks like a crystal cave at the foot of the mountain, in a pool of water.

Rest of the chapter[edit | edit source]

Spoiler
“It's over now. Why won't she leave me alone?”

Madeline is now alone, stuck within a crystal cavern even lower than where she started her climb two days ago. She's sad and angry over Badeline having devastated her yet again.

She later manages to climb back to what appears like an elevator shaft; Granny, along with the Bird, are waiting there. The old woman first assumes that she "called it quits", but Maddy just tells her that she fell. Granny then comments on how Madeline is so mad at herself and tells her that she thinks Badeline is scared. When Madeline asks her where she is, the old woman says that she's nearby and that Madeline will find her. She later comments on how the mountain is a "place of healing". This whole time, Maddy seems to be flipping between being sad and upset, still clearly not over having fallen earlier.

After heading deeper into the crystal cavern, she finds Badeline waiting there. Madeline apologizes and says that they should get over it and work together; Badeline, still scared, attempts to defend herself and becomes aggressive, fighting back Madeline.

Madeline, now fused with Badeline, "leveled up" and has two dashes and (somehow) pink hair.

Upon being defeated, Badeline concedes, saying she'll try to leave. However, Madeline tells her they should work together and that "it's okay to be scared." Badeline eventually agrees to "fuse" with Madeline, granting her a second dash. The skies clear out, and, using the second dash, they climb out a section of the cave before Badeline boosts Madeline out of the cave. Madeline is shocked at first by their powers when they are together, and tells her counterpart that they could still climb the mountain once again; Granny and Theo encourage her further. Badeline remains worried and scared this whole time, but eventually agrees. Theo asks if he can help, and Madeline reluctantly accepts, so he holds her bag. Madeline then states that "This won't take long."

Gameplay[edit | edit source]

A-Side[edit | edit source]

Reflection A-Side

Level 6A
Strawberries 1
Soundtrack Celeste OST:
13  •   Madeline and Theo
14  •   Starjump
15  •   Reflection
16  •   Confronting Myself
17  •   Little Goth
Reflection
A-side  • B-side  • C-side

Reflection's A-Side is one of the longest A-Sides found in Celeste, after Farewell and The Summit. Its most significant addition is a Badeline boss fight, but it does introduce many other mechanics, including but not limited to feathers, Kevins, and bumpers.

The Start checkpoint, following the initial story segment, is fairly simple. It introduces feathers (including trapped ones, requiring a dash to get them) and Starjump blocks. The Starjump track plays here.

The Lake checkpoint introduces Kevin Blocks and uses feathers to pass areas Madeline can't traverse normally.

The Hollows checkpoint starts with one large room with a feather that Madeline must reach to get to another area. This room also features the path to the Crystal Heart and the cassette tape. The subchapter has several split paths featuring large, horizontal rooms focused around Kevin Blocks, feathers, and bumpers.

The Reflection checkpoint consists of a talk with Granny, a room with a lot of bumpers and one featuring water, and, lastly, one room containing a giant Kevin Block which leads to Badeline.

The Rock Bottom checkpoint is a chase between Madeline and Badeline's boss form, which can shoot deadly energy spheres and lasers at Madeline. It also introduces Badeline-activated moving blocks, which can either move between two spots or fall down upon Badeline being hit by Madeline.

The Resolution checkpoint has Madeline use a newly-obtained second dash to get back up with help from Badeline, who throws her upwards into a cutscene with Granny and Theo, ending the chapter. It is nigh-impossible to die here outside of the first screen without resetting.

B-Side[edit | edit source]

Reflection's B-Side is notable for being very difficult and is a sizable step up from the A-Side. Neither the cutscene with Theo, Badeline, nor Granny are present in this level. It starts with relatively difficult gameplay before plunging into a series of rooms where you fall through for quite a while. Overall, these rooms are quite a difficulty spike from the previous. After this checkpoint, the boss fight with Badeline starts, which is also a massive step up from the one in 6A. Due to the lack of cutscenes, the entire 6B is spent with a single dash. Despite this, you will still have 2 dashes in The Summit even if you completed 6B instead of 6A.

C-Side[edit | edit source]

Reflection's C-Side is notable for having four gameplay checkpoints instead of the typical three within C-Sides. Despite this, it is still three screens. The first room consists primarily of wallbounces and bumpers. The second room is a "freefall" section with feathers. The final room, which contains two checkpoints, is divided into two sections: a Kevin section, where a single four-sided Kevin Block must be hit several times to cross a large gap, and a final section, consisting mainly of bumpers and one additional wallbounce.

Strawberries & Collectibles[edit | edit source]

Main article: Reflection collectibles

Reflection does not contain any red strawberries, owing to its narrative importance and use of split paths on several occasions. However, a Cassette Tape, Golden Strawberries, and Blue Crystal Heart are hidden within, just like all prior A-Sides.

Speedrun strategies[edit | edit source]

Routing[edit | edit source]

In any%, All Red Berries (ARB), and True Ending speedruns, the optimal strategy is to collect the Cassette Tape in 6A and then subsequently complete 6B. This is because Reflection's B-Side is quite a bit shorter than its A-Side and because 6A does not contain any red strawberries.

A common way to quickly go through the 6A cassette room is to hit the Kevin Block's left side and do an ultra off of it when it's about to hit the wall. If timed correctly, the ultra will be chained with a block boost, giving Madeline a huge amount of momentum, allowing her to skip most of the room with quick Bunnyhops.

6B demo spot[edit | edit source]

In the middle of the final falling room of 6B is a wide gap between spinners, allowing players to Demodash through it and save a few seconds. The window to perform it is, however, quite tight (2 frames), so it's mostly used by higher-level speedrunners.

6B feather skip[edit | edit source]

In the third Badeline room in 6B, it's possible to quickly jump off the left falling block and instantly perform a Hyper or Super off the next block before it falls into the spikes. This trick is rather precise and easy to miss, so it's often done on the most optimal runs.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

  • Reflection is the only chapter in the game other than Farewell without red berries. One of the reasons is the split paths, as the developers wanted players to be able to get every strawberry in one go, but it also fits the general narrative of the chapter.[1]
  • Reflection also marks the first time a chapter's end card is animated: Badeline's reflection appears and fades. The Summit's end card is also animated.
  • In early development, Reflection was meant to be mainly an underwater level. The idea was eventually scrapped as the devs didn't find the rooms interesting enough to be kept in the game.[2]
  • In the developer commentary stream, the vertical falling part was entirely different. At first, it was meant to be a fairly long checkpoint with multiple falling rooms, however, during the playtesting phase, the majority of people found the rooms to be too hard compared to the rest of the chapter. These rooms eventually ended up being moved to 6B instead.


  1. Maddy Thorson, Celeste Developer Commentary Livestream on YouTube
  2. Maddy Thorson, Celeste Developer Commentary Livestream on YouTube