Abstract: In Book VII of the Republic, when Socrates states that the prisoners in the cave are like us, it is not clear who 'us' denotes. This section has produced a long-standing debate between Plato scholars about whom the prisoners represent. This paper focuses on the neglected passage in Book VII of Plato's Republic, comprising a game where the fettered prisoners guess shadows on the wall to gain honors and prizes. I argue that it represents a condition of the soul where Θυμός (spirit) dominates Λόγος (reason), and that if my argument is sound, it has an import on the debate over whom the fettered prisoners represent. Contrary to most accounts of the prisoners such as those by Julia Annas, James Wilberding, and Nicholas Smith which suggest that the prisoners represent individuals or Socrates’ interlocutors, I argue that we should interpret the prisoners as representing a flawed ethical-cognitive profile.