Nature of the Demon Crown's curse

Misery and Balrog are 'cursed by the crown' and 'forced to obey whoever wears it'. What exactly does 'forced' mean? I used to think this referred to the Demon Crown having some sort of magical power directly connected to them that, say, forces their body to move exactly as the crown bearer commands, with them unable to control themselves - or perhaps their range of motion being limited to actions that are in line with the crown bearer's wishes.
However, we see in game that Balrog is willing and able to help us out of the Boulder Chamber - presumably against the Doctor's will. He says 'don't tell anyone about this', but even so, how is he able to defy the crown bearer's agenda of his own volition? Does this mean the power exerted by the Demon Crown is closer to simple extortion (I'm powerful, so you have to obey me)? But then this would hardly be limited to Misery and Balrog. Is Quote and Curly's escaping from the labyrinth something that the Doctor is actually fine with (consciously or subconsciously)? If Balrog attempts to (intentionally) do something the Doctor doesn't want, does the Doctor know about it thanks to the crown's linked power?
Something to think about, I dunno.

 

Balrog's connection to the crown was always a bit of an enigma. Misery was directly cursed to the crown after forcing Ballos to make it, presumably to make herself powerful, but Ballos pulled a monkey's paw and cursed her to it, but then how does Balrog even fit into any of this? I mean, duh, he clearly has a connection since both he and Misery were in stasis when the Doctor went to retrieve it off of Miakid's skull. Bro's somehow collateral damage.

 

I used to have a headcanon that Balrog was a kind of "criation" of Misery (or other magic entity linked in the crown),that he was cursed by Misery directly, not by the demonic crown firsthand, it's a bit absurd in retrospect, but I thought it made sense since Balrog is never even mentioned in the blood stained sanctuary, obviously this is most likely not true (at least from the point of view of what Pixel idealized or whatever) besides it, it never made sense in my head that a being that seems to have nothing to do with the creation of the crown would be equally punished, like, Balrog just exist, we have a reason of why "Misery was cursed" but not Balrog.
even though it's not one of the best answers, it's presumably that the Balrog's "existence" is later than that of the crown, and that would supposedly explain this issue of the Balrog not obeying the Doctor in the labyrinth, or is the curse simply a matter of "scale of power?" They obey not because an external force physically prevents them, but because they are unable to fight on equal terms with the bearer of the crown. Like, a widespread, possibly worldwide war was fought because of this power. Even though it's not consistently shown in the gameplay, you can get an idea of how devastating this is. IDK. Even so, it's not impossible for the Doctor to somehow know when someone doesn't follow his orders. After all, since the crown has the power to return even after it's been destroyed, it's possible to justify that the crown has a kind of "will of its own" because it's connected to Ballos' soul, so somehow it communicates with him? Maybe IDK.

 

Balrog is a type of monster that exists in a lot of other media, though the interpretation kinda changes a lot based on the specific narrative, the whole point as far as I can see is that Balrog just sortof the same "Deals with whatever situation he's put in" in every other narrative just not necessarily as merciful.

The nature of his restraint is mostly superficial outside of the bubbles they were sealed in, as you could assume The Doctor would have access to the exact same types of magic Misery has but not necessarily the terrain-manipulation capabilities Ballos has. Actually as a team Balrog, Misery, and The Doctor are effective for a VERY GOOD REASON, it's literally the air / land / "sea" duality you'd see in any other warfare scenario, just substitute the ocean with the nebulous nature of the narrative's magic system.

Why does Ballos have terrain-manipulation powers and not The Doctor?
Well, The Doctor is kindof a fuckin shrimp I mean like look at him lol Balrog could kick his ass if he didn't have that cool fuckin lightning attack, dudes with actual medical degrees CAN NOT lift unless they've got absolutely insane time-management skills.
But, The Muscle Doctor could reasonably stand a chance against Ballos with the assistance of Balrog & Misery if it weren't for the fact that Ballos VERY INTENTIONALLY ISOLATES HIMSELF through slight of hand and careful manipulation of the island's shape, as he is "one with the rocks of the earth" within the bounds of the island, if the island were to fall would Ballos's magic inevitably rot the whole earth if he wasn't killed?

Balrog is a lot like Curly and Quote, just shaped differently and put on the other side of the conflict. But it's extremely apparent that he's not necessarily equipped with the same degree of communication skills Curly is equipped with, he seems to have just as much empathy.

 

My thoughts...
Maybe they must obey the crown up to an extent. Direct commands are effective (feed Sue flowers), but vague goals may leave room for some free will (being sent to the Labyrinth by Misery to continue pursing)... And maybe being defeated helps a little? The ole slap to the senses... for a moment.

I'd need to read the text script again of what exactly the Doctor, Misery and Balrog say. Also I wonder if distance has some effect? Or proximity to the Core or being within the labyrinth's depths (and near the sealing rock? As well as being close to the anomaly that is Booster falling to his death or being unscathed... Which is one of the factors towards the best ending/reaching Ballos.) Maybe even Ballos' desires have some impact on the Crown's control. Assuming some part of Ballos wants to be freed from his forced immortality. And it is Ballos' power that the Demon Crown uses.

Perhaps Misery and Balrog are under a curse/blessing of immortality as well? What did Misery want with the creation of the Demon Crown anyway? A Crown that comes back time and time again, unable to be destroyed as long as Ballos lives... Even when the Doctor is destroyed he returns thanks to the Red Crystal or... and Demon Crown?

Anyway, we do see Misery being able to rebel against the Doctor after his ethereal Red Crystal form. Maybe by that point the Demon Crown was broken? Though the Red Crystal was able to control and mutate Misery (and Sue)... so maybe the link between the Crown continued to persist in that mist form? Or maybe it bypasses it entirely, if you think of the Crown as a tool, maybe the Crystal just uses a similar principal to control in some raw wild fashion? Don't need the Crown if you can reproduce the desired effect to some extent...

My head...

 

the fact [sic] that Ballos VERY INTENTIONALLY ISOLATES HIMSELF

Did you even play the game? Jenka is the one who seals Ballos up.

I used to have a headcanon that Balrog was a kind of "criation" of Misery (or other magic entity linked in the crown),that he was cursed by Misery directly, not by the demonic crown firsthand, [...] it never made sense in my head that a being that seems to have nothing to do with the creation of the crown would be equally punished, [...]
even though it's not one of the best answers, it's presumably that the Balrog's "existence" is later than that of the crown, and that would supposedly explain this issue of the Balrog not obeying the Doctor in the labyrinth, or is the curse simply a matter of "scale of power?" They obey not because an external force physically prevents them, but because they are unable to fight on equal terms with the bearer of the crown [...]

Hmm, that's interesting. I think I like this theory actually. So you're saying basically Misery created Balrog, who's something of a robot-like being, as a subordinate (punching bag); and by extension, he indirectly fell under the Crown's influence/curse, but not to the same extent or degree as Misery. Yeah, lines up with what we see in-game and would explain a thing or two.

What did Misery want with the creation of the Demon Crown anyway?

Serri mentioned that Misery probably just wanted power. I vaguely remember playing a mod called Misery Story long ago in which Misery basically wanted there to be a powerful leader for the Mimiga who could unite and protect them, which is why she seeks the creation of a power-granting artefact. I kinda liked that idea. (I don't remember how it explains why Ballos cursed her though.)

Anyway, we do see Misery being able to rebel against the Doctor after his ethereal Red Crystal form. Maybe by that point the Demon Crown was broken? Though the Red Crystal was able to control and mutate Misery (and Sue)... so maybe the link between the Crown continued to persist in that mist form? Or maybe it bypasses it entirely, if you think of the Crown as a tool, maybe the Crystal just uses a similar principal to control in some raw wild fashion? Don't need the Crown if you can reproduce the desired effect to some extent...

I hadn't considered the point about Misery being able to rebel against the Doctor when she thought it would be possible to. Well, the Red Crystal basically keeps the Doctor alive, so his possession of the Demon Crown and its control over Misery shouldn't have changed - it's only Misery who thought he was dead/the link broken and thus attempted to rebel. My guess is that this is essentially of the same nature as Balrog going against the Doctor's wished by helping us in the Boulder Chamber when he thought no one was looking. Does this mean that both Balrog and Misery are in fact only indirectly controlled by the Crown through coercion? Come to think of it, they probably go into stasis when there is no Crown Bearer - Misery should have realised from this that the Crown was still active even when the Doctor's body was destroyed, but probably didn't think about it because of everything that was going on. But apart from this property of only being able to be active when they have someone to command them, it does seem unlikely that they're directly controlled.