Queen Vanessa

Background

Queen Vanessa is an enemy encountered in A Hat in Time, as the lone living resident of Queen Vanessa's Manor at the center of Act 4 in Subcon Forest.

Queen Vanessa's backstory can be discovered by reading the notes scattered around her Manor, using the Dweller's Mask in the Basement and Attic, and by collecting all pages of the Storybook in the Sleepy Subcon Time Rift.

The letters and diary entries depict her story of her being completely enamored by her Prince to the point of obsession. In her diary and scattered pages, Hat Kid can read about Queen Vanessa's jealousy when her Prince was being educated by a female tutor, making several exclamations that the tutor got all his time while she only received letters. In his absence Vanessa states that she wishes she could keep him in her manor so that he'll never leave again, but admits that she couldn't just keep him chained up in the basement. This serves as intense irony, as after the letter was written, the Prince would end up just like that.

The Storybook of Sleepy Subcon is a different part of Vanessa's story. In the Storybook, Vanessa sees her Prince holding hands with a florist lady and she runs away heart broken. The next page shows that the Prince had just been handing the florist a coin to pay for flowers to bring to Vanessa. When the Prince goes to bring her the flowers, Vanessa has already flown into a rage and she chains him up in the basement. It may be possible that the events of the Storybook happen when the Prince returns from his tutelage and plans to surprise her with flowers when he goes to see her, although Vanessa being love sick, rushes to see him and everything falls apart. This could also serve as the instigating factor where Vanessa's intense enamor for the Prince transitions to the point where she locks him up out of spite for his supposed betrayal.

Another clue the storybook provides to Vanessa's backstory is its explanation of how her powers over ice began to manifest. On the fifth and sixth pages specifically, after fleeing from the false betrayal of the Prince, Vanessa is shown visibly crying as the Prince interacts with her. The tears themselves however begin to resemble ice crystals, as well as her hands becoming more sharp and hooked, her skin becoming more dark and her hair wicking up a dark cloud, becoming a light brown from the golden blonde hair of prior panels. The sixth panel further emphasizes the complete transformation to her current form, developing a slight hunchback, covered in shadow and her hands now more than ever turning inwards like claws or talons.

These clues suggest that Vanessa's uncanny ability to freeze her intruders as well as her shadowy appearance stemmed either from a dark energy that corrupted her when she was most emotionally distraught, or it was her heartbreaking that caused the darkness to manifest and the distress itself to cause such visible and tactile alterations. In later story book pages added by Seal the Deal, it shows that her dark energy resulted in the freezing and death of all who lived in her kingdom, going as far to leave all the children's souls trapped in what is now Subcon Forest.

When using the Dweller mask near the basement's back wall, the silhouette of a man becomes visible, having been shackled to the basement wall until death. It seems reasonable to assume this is the same silhouette as the Prince, since the same tragic pose can be seen being made by the Prince as depicted in the Storybook.

Though it is not confirmed explicitly in the game, the eighth panel where the Prince is chained to the wall shows his body changing in the darkness, heavily implying that the Prince would soon become The Snatcher. This, alongside several of the many comments made by Snatcher during Death Wish Mode about coldness, death and love heavily implies that Snatcher and Queen Vanessa were once lovers, but are now bitter enemies.

Powers and Stats

Tier: 9-B, possibly High 6-C, higher with Ice Manipulation

Name: Queen Vanessa

Origin: A Hat in Time

Gender: Female

Age: Unknown

Classification: Ex-Queen, Corrupted Subcon Queen

Attack Potency: Wall level, possibly Large Island level (Can kill Hat Kid), higher with Ice Manipulation (Froze over the entirety of the Subcon town in a short time frame)

Dimensionality: 3-D

Travel Speed: At least Relativistic (Can run relatively as fast as Hat Kid)

Combat Speed: MFTL+ (Can tag Hat Kid)

Reaction Speed: MFTL+

Lifting Strength: Unknown

Striking Strength: Wall Class, possibly Large Island Class

Durability: Wall level, possibly Large Island level

Stamina: Unknown

Range: Standard Melee Range, a couple of meters with Telekinesis, Kilometers with Ice Manipulation (Froze the outside of her entire mansion along with an entire town)

Powers and Abilities: Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Enhanced Senses (Can easily hear Hat Kid from her footsteps), Durability Negation, Ice Manipulation (Froze the entirety of a town including other people), Weather Manipulation (Created a never-ending snowstorm across her manor and the town), Darkness Manipulation (Is enveloped in darkness and naturally fumes it can make one fall into darkness, causes the area to naturally darken upon seeing Hat Kid), Corruption (Her darkened heart caused her to corrupt herself and others), Perception Manipulation (Warps the perceptions of her opponent making it harder for them to see), Telekinesis (Can telekinetically lift and control a key), Intangibility (https://youtu.be/xA4XQCkNhgc?t=336 Can phase herself and objects through solid objects such as doors])

Standard Equipment: Nothing notable.

Intelligence: Unknown

Standard Tactics: Vanessa will chase after the opponent and try to envelop them in darkness or attempt to freeze them as shown by several of her ice statues in her manor.

Weaknesses: Nothing notable.

Others

Notable Victories:

Notable Losses:

Inconclusive Matches: