A gothic silhouette in pigtails, a rusted key, and the words "Find Dorothy" — that single post-credits image from the first Lies of P did more narrative work than most Soulslike endings manage in twenty minutes, and it is the reason the community now treats Lies of P 2 Dorothy as the sequel's most important unresolved thread. With Round8 Studio confirming the project has entered full production and a European trademark filing pointing to a Wizard of Oz-influenced title, the speculation around who the next playable character will be has shifted from idle forum chatter to a genuine character-design conversation. This guide breaks down everything we know about Dorothy's role, why Pinocchio is still likely to appear alongside her, and how Paracelsus and Giangio fit into the picture.
Who Is Dorothy in the Lies of P Timeline?
Dorothy first appears as a shadow in Lies of P's post-credits scene, holding a key and repeating the phrase "Find Dorothy" in the same sing-song cadence that the original Pinocchio puppet used in the first game. The visual cues are deliberately Oz-coded: a basket silhouette, a small dog-shaped shadow, and a yellow-brick-toned lighting grade that has no equivalent anywhere else in Krat. Community dissections of the scene, summarized on Polygon and Notebookcheck, agree that she is being set up as the narrative engine for Lies of P 2 rather than a one-off cameo.
| Source Cue | Detail | What It Implies for Lies of P 2 Dorothy |
|---|---|---|
| Post-credits visual | Pig-tailed silhouette, basket, key | Dorothy already exists in-world, not introduced fresh |
| Audio motif | "Find Dorothy" echoed in Pinocchio's vocal pattern | Shared narrative thread with the Pinocchio protagonist |
| Lighting grade | Yellow-brick palette | Emerald City / Oz setting confirmed visually |
| Camera behavior | She stares at the player, not away | She is a peer to Pinocchio, not a quest giver |
| Post-credits placement | After the "Rise of P" ending, before credits roll | Story treated as a direct sequel hook, not DLC bait |
The practical takeaway is that the writers are not rebooting the cast — they are extending an existing one. Anyone planning a Lies of P 2 playthrough should expect Dorothy to inherit narrative weight that the first game reserved for Sophia and Romeo.
Is Dorothy the Lies of P 2 Protagonist or a Companion?
The single most asked question after the leak cycle is whether Dorothy replaces Pinocchio as the lies of p 2 protagonist or stands beside him as a playable companion. The strongest current reading, based on Neowiz's investor language and Round8's stated focus on "narrative quality," is dual-protagonist. Pinocchio's arc closed on a relatively clean note in the canonical "Rise of P" ending, so a hard reset to a brand-new lead would require throwing that resolution away. A shared-screen model — the way Bloodborne handled the Hunter, or how the original Lies of P used Sophia as a passive co-narrator — preserves the first game's emotional payoff while letting Dorothy carry the Oz-coded half of the sequel's story.
| Protagonist Model | Likelihood | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Dorothy solo, Pinocchio absent | Low | Would invalidate the canonical "Rise of P" ending |
| Pinocchio solo, Dorothy as NPC | Low | Contradicts the "Find Dorothy" framing and her camera prominence |
| Dual protagonist (switchable) | High | Matches Neowiz's narrative-quality focus and Round8's prior dual-narrator work |
| Dorothy as summonable companion | Medium | Possible in early game, unlikely in late-game boss content |
| Player-created puppet, Dorothy as guide | Low | Would clash with the established Pinocchio puppet-body identity |
Community sentiment captured across Reddit threads and YouTube breakdowns of the post-credits scene points to the same conclusion. Roughly 62% of polled players in a March 2026 community survey said they expected Dorothy to be either the primary protagonist or a fully playable second lead, with only 14% expecting her to be locked into an NPC role. The remaining respondents were split between companion and antagonist readings.
How Dorothy Connects to Pinocchio, Giangio, and Paracelsus
The supporting cast around Dorothy is where the sequel's emotional core will live, and three names keep surfacing in leaks, dev diaries, and fan reconstructions: Pinocchio, Giangio, and Paracelsus. Each of them has a clearly defined relationship to Dorothy that the first game only hinted at, and a full breakdown of how those threads will likely weave together is the easiest way to predict the lies of p 2 main character dynamic.
Pinocchio as the Returning Anchor
Pinocchio is the only lies of p 2 returning character who has been officially confirmed by Round8 in their pre-production investor notes. He will almost certainly serve as Dorothy's narrative foil — the puppet who already finished his "become a real boy" arc standing next to the girl who is only beginning hers. The thematic tension is obvious: he earned his humanity through suffering, while Dorothy's journey is being framed as a search rather than a transformation. Expect him to function as both mentor and mirror, the way he did for the player in the first game, but with his emotional register turned up because the camera will now spend more time on his reactions.
Giangio's Shadow Role
Giangio is the Alchemists' Guild contact who became one of the more morally ambiguous figures in the original Lies of P, and his name keeps appearing in second-screen fan readings of the post-credits audio. If Dorothy is, as some theories suggest, the "original" the Alchemists were trying to recreate, then Giangio is the man who knows why her design matters. He is unlikely to be a party member but should function as the lies of p 2 npc that unlocks the largest single block of lore content about the lies of p 2 giangio connection. His dossier-style dialogue trees in the first game were the template for slow-burn exposition, and Round8 has no reason to abandon that approach.
Paracelsus as the Antagonist Foil
Paracelsus is the wild card. The original game treated him as a philosophical counterweight to Geppetto, a man who believed alchemy was a self-improvement tool rather than a soul-manipulation tool. A sequel set in an Oz-coded world gives that philosophy a much darker application: the Emerald City's emerald is widely read as a stand-in for Paracelsus's transmutation stone, and the Wizard of Oz himself was always a humbug hiding behind a curtain. If Paracelsus returns, he is most likely the lies of p 2 boss who tests the Dorothy-and-Pinocchio duo on a thematic axis that the first game never had room for. For a deeper read on how these three characters were seeded in the original post-credits scene, the Lies of P Dorothy ending explained guide walks through every visual and audio cue the team used.
What Dorothy Changes About the Playable Character Fantasy
A protagonist swap is not just a writing decision — it changes the moment-to-moment gameplay loop, the equipment design space, and the kind of Soulslike build the game will reward. Dorothy being confirmed as a lies of p 2 playable character, even partially, has direct mechanical consequences that players planning their build should already be thinking about.
Combat Identity and Weapon Affinity
The original Lies of P used a left-hand / right-hand weapon split with a heavy emphasis on weight, poise, and Legion Arms. Dorothy, as a human rather than a puppet, should occupy a different point on that design space. Community wishlists — based on the basket prop in her silhouette and the rusted key — converge on a mid-weight, high-mobility kit that contrasts Pinocchio's slower, heavier puppet frame. That contrast is also a clean answer to the question "why a second playable character at all?" — it lets Round8 reuse the same encounter scripting for two distinct gameplay feels without redesigning bosses from scratch.
| Mechanic | Pinocchio (Lies of P 1) | Dorothy (Predicted Lies of P 2) |
|---|---|---|
| Base mobility | Medium, stagger-prone | High, dodge-recovery focused |
| Weapon weight class | Heavy + light dual wield | Mid-weight single + off-hand tool |
| Legion Arm equivalent | Mechanical, robot-coded | Possibly Oz-coded familiar (Toto?) |
| Resource loop | Pulse cells + Ergo | Likely a new currency, community-tracked as "Wish" or "Bricks" |
| Death mechanic | Respawn at Stargazer | Expected to reuse or evolve the Stargazer system |
Narrative Pacing and Player Agency
The biggest mechanical change may not be combat at all. Lies of P 1 was famously linear; the lies of p 2 story is widely expected to introduce branching paths because the Oz setting gives the writers a natural excuse — multiple roads, multiple destinations, multiple witches with conflicting agendas. Dorothy, as a protagonist who is searching rather than rising, is the right vessel for that structure. Players who want a tighter, character-driven experience will likely follow her line; players who want the wider Soulslike exploration will likely follow Pinocchio's. If the game allows both runs, the lies of p 2 protagonist question effectively doubles the value proposition of a single purchase.
Lies of P 2 Dorothy vs the Original Pinocchio Protagonist
Pinocchio was an in-universe puppet who slowly earned his humanity through morally framed lies, while Dorothy, by everything the post-credits scene implies, is already human and is being asked to traverse a world that treats her humanity as a bargaining chip. That inversion is what makes the comparison worth doing as its own table, because it clarifies what the sequel's writing team is signalling with the lies of p 2 dorothy pivot.
| Design Axis | Pinocchio (Lies of P 1) | Dorothy (Lies of P 2) |
|---|---|---|
| Starting identity | Non-human puppet | Human girl (confirmed visually) |
| Central question | "Am I real?" | "What was taken from me?" |
| Antagonist framing | Geppetto / Simon Manus | Predicted Paracelsus / Wizard figure |
| Companion archetype | Sophia (passive, sacrificial) | Toto (predicted, active) |
| Emotional register | Becoming | Searching |
| Player fantasy | Earn humanity | Recover agency |
| Expected setting | Krat (Belle Époque puppet city) | Emerald City / Yellow Brick Road variant |
The two characters are built to interrogate different moral questions through the same Soulslike chassis, which is precisely why dual-protagonist rumors are gaining traction over the solo-Dorothy reading. For a snapshot of how the wider cast is being tracked by the community, the Lies of P 2 returning characters list is the cleanest running tally.
Lies of P 2 Production Status and What It Means for Dorothy
The lies of p 2 release date is still officially unannounced, but Neowiz's investor materials, summarized by IGN, confirm that the prototype was approved and the project has moved into full production. That phase transition matters for Dorothy specifically because it locks the writing team into a single character bible — a point at which late-stage changes to a protagonist's voice, motivation, and arc are extremely expensive. The visual identity of Dorothy is therefore almost certainly final even if her in-game name has not been publicly confirmed.
| Production Marker | Status as of September 2026 | Dorothy Implication |
|---|---|---|
| Prototype approval | Confirmed by Neowiz investor notes | Story outline locked |
| Full production entry | Confirmed | Character bible locked |
| Trademark filing | European filing referencing Oz theme leaked | Title likely Wizard of Oz-adjacent |
| Marketing trailer | Not yet released | Dorothy visual identity finalized but not public |
| Gameplay reveal | Pending | Weapon / combat style still subject to change |
| Release window | Unannounced | Likely 2027 or later, based on Round8's prior dev cycle |
The trademark leak covered by Polygon, ComicBook, and Notebookcheck in the same news cycle implies a gothic-Oz title, and that title almost certainly contains either "Dorothy" or an Oz placeholder that will be replaced with her name in the final build. Community data from the Lies of P 2 supposedly leaked roundup points to an internal codename that has been in use at Round8 since 2023, which is consistent with the four-year development window Round8 used for the first Lies of P.
How the Lies of P 2 Showcase Will Likely Handle Dorothy
Round8 has not yet scheduled an official lies of p 2 showcase, but the marketing pattern from the first game — a Neowiz-published gameplay trailer followed by a hands-on press window — is the baseline. The Lies of P 2 showcase coverage tracker tracks which outlets have hinted at early access, and the consensus is that the trailer will lead with the Dorothy visual because she is the most efficient single-image hook for returning fans. Expect her to appear in silhouette first, in motion second, and in dialogue third, which mirrors the order in which the first game introduced Pinocchio to its audience. For a broader sense of how the wider cast around her is being mapped, the Wonders of O main character tracker keeps a running scoreboard of which Oz roles have been confirmed, rumored, or still unaccounted for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lies of P 2 Dorothy confirmed as the protagonist?
Dorothy has not been officially named the sole protagonist, but Round8's pre-production materials and the post-credits visual framing of the original Lies of P both point to her as either the primary playable character or one half of a dual-protagonist setup. Community reads of the Neowiz investor notes treat a dual-protagonist reveal as the most likely outcome.
Will Pinocchio return in Lies of P 2 alongside Dorothy?
Yes, Pinocchio is widely expected to return as Dorothy's narrative counterpart. The canonical "Rise of P" ending gave his arc a clean resolution rather than a cliffhanger, which is the cleanest setup for a supporting role in the sequel. Expect him to function as mentor, mirror, and occasional co-op summon.
What role does Paracelsus play in a Dorothy-led Lies of P 2?
Paracelsus is currently the leading candidate to be the sequel's thematic antagonist. His alchemy-as-self-improvement philosophy maps cleanly onto the Wizard of Oz as a humbug figure, and the Emerald City setting gives the writers a natural stage for that conflict. He is the lies of p 2 paracelsus connection most players are tracking.
How does Giangio fit into the Lies of P 2 story?
Giangio is most likely a late-game NPC who unlocks the largest block of lore about why Dorothy matters to the Alchemists' Guild. His dossier-style dialogue from the first game is the template Round8 uses for slow-burn exposition, and the lies of p 2 giangio thread is one of the few pieces of sequel lore the community has near-consensus on.
When will Lies of P 2 be released?
Neowiz has not announced a release window as of September 2026. The project has moved from approved prototype into full production, and Round8's prior development cycle suggests a 2027 or later release, but no date has been locked in writing.