Is The Necrobinder The Watcher In Slay The Spire 2?

In the deranged world of Slay the Spire, deadly enemies are not the only thing players are faced with. They also find hidden secrets. Slay the Spire 2 entered Early Access on March 3, 2026. There have been some speculations about a theory that may connect the missing character of the original game to the sequel.

The Missing Watcher in Slay the Spire 2

In the first game, players could choose from four unique characters: the Ironclad, the Silent, the Defect, and the Watcher. In the sequel, however, the Watcher is missing. Instead, a new character called the Necrobinder has been added to the roster.

At first glance, the Necrobinder seems like just a fresh character. A skeletal-looking fighter with an animated left hand named Osty. But when you pay attention, there might be more to it. Some fans speculate that the Necrobinder might actually be the Watcher. They think she has been resurrected to have her revenge.

There are too many similarities character-wise and gameplay-wise for us to ignore. It might just be that the calm and collected Watcher may have returned to life in a very different form compared to her previous incarnation.

Visual Evidence

You might be wondering when this theory first appeared. Well, the very fact that the Watcher and the Necrobinder look and feel very much alike, caused this theory to appear in the first place. The Watcher was a blind monk who used powerful divine stances in battle.

Before I continue, I’d like to explain a real historical practice called Sokushinbutsu. In this practice, some Buddhist monks followed extreme fasting and discipline until their bodies slowly became naturally mummified.

It makes it much easier for us to connect the dots here. The Watcher was already a devoted monk, so it makes sense that her story could continue in this way. Now, she appears in the sequel as an undead mummified lich.

The visual clues are the strongest hints that the Necrobinder is the resurrected form of the Watcher in Slay the Spire 2. The Watcher in the first game, wore long purple robes with very large and long sleeves. The Necrobinder in the sequel seems to wear the same kind of robes, but those are now old and torn.

The Necrobinder has also bright blue ghostly fire on her head. This is the same color as the Watcher’s hair in the first game. Not to mention this detail about her eyes. The Watcher, as we all know, is blind, and surprisingly, the Necrobinder is a skeleton without eyes. The visual similarities are too many to ignore.

How the Necrobinder Plays Like the Watcher

In deckbuilding games like Slay the Spire, gameplay mechanics often reflect a character’s identity. The Necrobinder’s cards feel very similar to how the Watcher played before. The main point of this idea comes from the Retain keyword.

In Slay the Spire, some characters could keep cards in their hand for later. For example, the Silent and the Defect had cards that allowed this, like Well-Laid Plans or Equilibrium. The Watcher was different, though.

She was the only character whose base cards had an inherent auto-retain feature. For instance, cards like Crescendo can simply stay in your hand without the need to activate them. Or a card like Establishment specifically worked well with this ability. In the sequel, the Necrobinder uses this exact mechanical identity.

Base cards like Sacrifice feature the same inherent auto-retain capability. It basically functions very much like the Watcher did in the first game.

The more you look into it, the more it makes sense. Here are some other examples:

·    The Watcher had an iconic card named Talk to the Hand. The Necrobinder features a direct thematic counterpart called High Five.

·    The Watcher’s Scrawl was a powerful draw card. The Necrobinder features a power card called Pagestorm, which also helps draw more cards. There’s a very interesting detail in the updated artwork for Scrawl. It shows a skeletal finger that’s writing with a pen, which looks like it could belong to the Necrobinder.

·    The Watcher had a card called Sands of Time. The Necrobinder plays an attack card called Time’s Up, which features an hourglass.

·    The Watcher’s unique Miracle card bears a striking visual resemblance to the Necrobinder’s Wisp card.

In the original game, the Watcher’s character select screen explicitly stated she had come to “evaluate” the Spire. Fast forward to the sequel and the Necrobinder’s lore text initially stated she was here to “bind the forgotten corpse.” This was later updated to describe her as a “Spireborn lich who seeks revenge.”

Those who believe the theory conclude that the Watcher failed to defeat the Time Eater and disappeared. Now, in the sequel, she returns as the Necrobinder to take revenge on the entity that killed her.

Why Some Fans Disagree

Not everyone believes the theory, though. One big problem is the word “Spireborn.” The Watcher originally came from outside the Spire. If the Necrobinder was born inside the Spire, then they can’t be the same person.

Their personalities are also very different. The Watcher was calm and serious while the Necrobinder seems much more playful and sarcastic. She even talks happily with her severed hand companion, Osty. It might be a reference to the novel The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Are They the Same?

Slay the Spire 2 currently continues its Early Access period and the Necro-Watcher theory remains one of the most interesting fan theories in the community. So, is the Necrobinder the Watcher in Slay the Spire 2? There’s a lot of proof that shows they are the same character. At the end of the day, I’d like to think otherwise. Just because it leaves room for the arrival of another character.