"I don't know if you've noticed... but I'm kind of a trashfire. You probably shouldn’t look up to me." - Chicory, to Pizza while drawing their portrait
In her self-portrait, Chicory is depicted as a brown hare with a pink nose. She adorns a purple cloak over a black shirt and teal pants. She wears gold/orange leggings[1], and a blue to gold band around the base of her ears.
In the final chapter, Chicory removes her Wielder cloak and wears suspenders.
As the deuteragonist of the story, Chicory is the most prominent non-player character in the game, appearing in every part of the story in some way.
Background
"For as long as I can remember, everything I did was to become the wielder. And then as soon as I got it... that's when everything fell apart." - Chicory
Before the game’s story starts, Chicory was picked by Blackberry out of the Art Academy to be her successor as wielder. Chicory was originally delighted at this great honor, and looked up to Blackberry immensely, but training under her proved to be very taxing. Blackberry’s standards were extremely high, and she was very strict and demanding with her pupil. Chicory, out of fear of appearing weak or imperfect in front of her teacher, simply suffered through it in silence, until it was too late. When Blackberry was supposed to hand over the brush to Chicory in a simple ceremonial step in Brunch Canyon and officially declare her wielder, Blackberry instead changed her mind, deciding that Chicory was not yet ready for the position. Chicory’s pent-up frustration with both Blackberry and herself exploded out of her, and she stormed off, saying she’ll be Wielder with or without Blackberry’s approval.
She spent a lot of her wieldership struggling with perfectionism and self-loathing. She often focused on making small parts colored perfectly, ignoring the larger area for the sake of this small portion being completely flawless. Her wieldership had also seen a larger amount of corruptions than that of wielders past, feeding into her guilt as she believed these problems were her fault. Eventually, she reached a breaking point, and left the brush outside her room, somehow causing all the color in the world to vanish, which is where the game’s story begins.
In-Game
"Turns out there's a LOT I can do, that I didn't think possible." - Chicory, to Pizza in the final fight
Chicory is indirectly seen at the very start of the game, when Pizza is talking to themself about how cool she is, however she doesn’t properly appear until the beginning of Chapter 2, when Pizza tries to return the brush to her. She acts cold and distant, saying that Pizza can simply take it for themself. Later in Chapter 2, she gives Pizza a phone call at the entrance to the Wielder Temple. She apologizes for her coldness earlier, saying that she was feeling very depressed. She offers Pizza encouragement, but still refuses to take back the brush.
In Chapter 3, Pizza finds Chicory in front of the Wielder Tower trying and failing to paint. Pizza requests Chicory to paint a portrait of them, and they talk while she does so. In return, Chicory also asks Pizza to paint her. At the end of Chapter 3, Pizza faces a corruption that forms into an apparition of Chicory, which says that she made a mistake and never should’ve given Pizza the brush, calling them a joke.
Pizza visits Chicory again at the start of Chapter 4. They tell her what they found, and she begins regressing into depression again, saying that the corruptions are all her fault, that she’s a messed up person, and Pizza should just leave her alone. When Pizza goes too far and says some things they don’t really mean, Chicory kicks them out of her room.
Pizza comes back to Chicory in the Wielder Tower in Chapter 5. They find her room engulfed in corruption, with her at the center. Chicory is surprised that Pizza came back, but reiterates that everything is her fault, and it’d be best for everyone if they abandoned her here. Pizza, however, doesn’t give up on her, and talks her down until she’s more stable. Pizza explains the real source of the corruptions to her.
Chicory guides Pizza through the Wielder Trials. Midway through, Chicory also offers to hang out with Pizza and have some food together, where they talk about finding their purpose in life. During the trials, Chicory opens up a lot more about what it was like for her being wielder, the weight of the brush’s legacy on her, and her falling-out with Blackberry. Pizza and Chicory grow closer through these experiences.
In Chapter 10, Chicory talks to Pizza before they ascend the Wielder Tower to face the largest corruption. She says that she’s been thinking about it, and resolves that the only way to solve the corruption issue is to destroy the brush. Regardless of whether Pizza agrees or not, they ascend the tower, and fail. They come back and find Chicory waiting for them near the base of the tower again. Chicory comforts Pizza and gives them a hug as they lament that they weren’t good enough. However, Pizza feels something unusual, as if the brush is still with them. They begin growing their own brush tree, much to the shock of Chicory. Pizza grabs their second chance by the handle and ascends the tower again. Chicory, meanwhile, is left to contemplate what Pizza just did. She realizes that she could grow her own brush too.
As Pizza is ensnared in the tendrils of the corruption again, Chicory comes to their rescue, with her own brush. Chicory assists Pizza in the final fight, restraining the apparitions of wielders past and helping them up when they fall until, finally, the two destroy the brush together.
After the final battle, Pizza and Chicory ponder on the future, for them and for the world as a whole. They decide to repurpose the Wielder Tower into a learning space where they can teach others how to grow their own brush as well. In the process, Chicory finally packs her things and moves out of the tower. She gives Pizza a flag and lets them set it wherever they think she should live. After she moves in, Pizza can visit her at any time.
Multiple artists contributed Chicory’s art in-game. Chicory’s colors in the opening room and her yurt were done by Alexandra Kern, while her portrait of Pizza and self-portrait were made by Alexis Dean-Jones.
Chicory’s non-verbal vocal emotes were voiced by Lena Raine, who is also the composer of the game’s soundtrack. [4]
It can be assumed that the voicebank used for Chicory in Song of the Wielders is the same as the one used in another one of Lena Raine’s works, Oneknowing (Vocaloid 5’s Amy), as they share a lot of similarities in sound. [5][6]
Chicory's Leitmotif Chicory’s musical theme on the soundtrack is the aptly named Chicory’s Theme.
This motif is first introduced in Not Anymore, a more downtrodden and depressive rendition of Chicory's theme. This is further intensified in Messed Up Person, before finally, after Chapter 5, her true theme appears.
Chicory's identifying instrument is the clarinet.
Chicory’s yurt in the post-game is small enough that you can place her flag on top of most other houses, including Pizza’s house.
It cannot, however, be placed in any interior or underground area, even if there would theoretically be space.
The player can't pick Chicory or Clementine as their favorite food, to avoid the protagonist sharing a name with key characters.
The game will ask the player for their next favorite food when attempting to do so. Going from 2nd favorite, to 3rd favorite, all the way to 10th, past which it will simply ask for their next favorite food.
Interestingly, nothing prevents the protagonist from being named Blackberry.
According to Greg Lobanov, Chicory would be annoyingly good at picking up video games.
He assigns this statement “70% [canonicity]”, meaning it’s likely but not necessarily true.
