#Freedom!Route Kris

[sansationaltime]

I haven’t been on here for long, but I’m hoping for a good future. And to get there, we kind of need a multiverse. So @tatatale, having my boy send you his Dreams! He might not have much Hope himself, but he has enough Dreams to make up for it! His friends are providing the Hope. Hope it doesn’t suck too much-

[proshipaes]

Sometimes it annoys me so much when I ship problematic stuff. Not in the sense that I don't like the problematic elements - I love them, a lot of the time. Age gaps, incest, abuse, all those things can add plenty to a dynamic. They have unique elements that would drastically change the relationship if you took them away.

But occasionally, I come across ships that would work just fine if you removed the problematic elements (especially with age gaps) and it frustrates me so much that because of one element, tons of people will never give the ship a second thought, no matter how deep and interesting the dynamic is. They'll always remain unpopular and hidden away to avoid harassment. It's such a fucking annoyance.

[marketableplushieenthusiast]

Inside me are two wolves.

One recognizes the Spamton NEO fight as horrifying and disturbing, even spared on a regular route, both for Spamton himself and Kris (or whoever gets slotted in the betrayed player spot in the dozen different crossover AUs I have bouncing around my brain). It is his ultimate mental breakdown, the freedom he wanted all this time being just out of reach, so he turns on the one person who went out of their way to help him. Kris is terrified and disheartened, but fights for their life anyway, and just when it looks like they got through to him - just as Spamton realizes that, for once, someone didn't give up on him - he falls. Because that's what happens when a puppet's strings are abruptly, forcibly cut. And Kris gets to see this play out right in front of them. Spamton's only hope is to give up his desperation, his passion, his hope that has kept him going all this time, and settle for less, and Kris is notably distraught afterwards. And I know all this. It's why I became so obsessed with it in the first place.

The other wolf freaking loves the thing. Gets all excited and giddy just thinking about it. The cutscene lead up is so terrifyingly, awesomely tense, the music SLAPS, the yellow soul mechanics and attacks are so FUN. Despite the meta storytelling - the very reason I love Deltarune and Undertale so much - silently judging it, I have a save file set permanently before the Spamton NEO fight just so I can go refight him. (And I am THIS CLOSE to booting it up rn-)

The inherent contradiction of being invested in the characters' perspectives and arcs and wanting to take them seriously, but also wanting to go replay some of their most traumatic moments for FUN because WHEEEEEEEEEEE-

Ugh.

[bs-el]

[Hyperlink Blocked] could be something like "Detachment".

a lot of the fandom seems to think that it's "Determination" or "LOVE"/"Level of Violence" b/c of this usage

NO, I GET IT! IT'S YOU AND THAT [Hochi Mama]! YOU'VE BEEN [Making], HAVEN'T YOU! YOU'VE BEEN MAKING [Hyperlink Blocked]!

and its implication that whatever mew were doing to Noelle during the weird route is essentially the production of whatever [Hyperlink Blocked] is. "Determination" in this case is referring to the Determination of Undertale's merciless route, which is effectively determination to get stronger and complete mewr goal, the ability to gain strength by detaching mewrself from the characters and the narrative as a being above the fiction. Rather than being a lightner suspending their disbelief and taking part in this dark world story, mew have the determination to not immerse mewrself in the dark world and remain a lightner in a world of darkness where objects are still objects. "Level of Violence" is roughly the same thing, as sans himself says in Undertale:

* LOVE, too, is an acronym. * It stands for "Level of Violence." * A way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt. * The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself.

both "Determination" and "LOVE"/"Level of Violence" are concepts in the merciless route of Undertale that either represent or lead to detachment, and i think that the 11 uses of "[Hyperlink Blocked]" in Deltarune back me up a decent bit, which i'll talk about below the read more:

* THAT'S RIGHT!! NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO BE A [[BIG SHOT]]!! * AND I HAVE JUST. * THE THING. * YOU NEED. * THAT'S * [[Hyperlink Blocked]]. * YOU WANT IT. * YOU WANT [[Hyperlink Blocked]], DON'T YOU. * WELL HAVE I GOT A DEAL FOR YOU!! * ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SHOW ME. * YOUR [[HeartShapedObject]].

The first two times [Hyperlink Blocked] is brought up aren't really good evidence for any theory b/c Spamton is trying to pitch [Hyperlink Blocked] as a solution to Kris's problems. However, in this case, "Detachment" would be a great solution to Kris's little "being possessed" problem, wanting to be detached from the Soul controlling them. Additionally, Kris would want detachment from the narrative of Dark Worlds b/c they have some other reason for opening Dark Fountains and diving into the Dark Worlds that has nothing to do with the stories contained within.

I WAS ONLY EVER IN IT FOR THE [Freedom]. TO MAKE YOUR OWN [Deals] TO CALL YOUR OWN [Shots] AND SOMETIMES IN THE MORNING, A LITTLE [Hyperlink Blocked] SOUNDS GOOD. DOESN;T IT?KID? DON'T YOU W4NT TO BE JUST LIKE YOUR OLD PAL SPAMTON???? TAKE THE DE4L.

Again, Spamton is just pitching [Hyperlink Blocked] to Kris as the solution to their problems, but he's also trying to make himself out to be someone who has [Hyperlink Blocked], which he kiiiiinda does if we're taking [Hyperlink Blocked] to mean "Detachment". He received some form of knowledge that drove him to madness and made him desperately seek to become "bigger" and reach for "H E A V E N", the latter of which has some few lines hinting that "Heaven" is the Light World. Spamton has knowledge that he's attached to the Dark World, and that in and of itself is othering, just as Jevil was othered by the same knowledge and locked away. Both of them became detached from their own Dark World and the darkners within.

WHAT!?!? YOU DON"T NEED IT!?!? THAT'S A REAL BIGSHOT MOVE KID!!! YOU'RE LIKE ME... [Desperate] BUT WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT, DON'T WE!? W1LD PR1ZES, HOTSINGLE, 100 CUSTOMER, AND MOST OF ALL... [Hyperlink Blocked]. WILL YOU TAKE THE FINAL DEAL!? REMEMBER... THIS IS UP TO YOU! I WOn'T FORCE YOU.

And very shortly after the previous usage of [Hyperlink Blocked] where Spamton is implying he has [Hyperlink Blocked], he's now implying he's desperate for more! He still wants to entirely detach from the Dark World and go to "Heaven"

* AND DON'T… FORGET! * TO [[Like And Subscribe]] FOR MORE [[Hyperlink Blocked.]] * HAEAHAEAHAEAHAEAH!!

and

* DON'T FORGET TO [Like and Subscribe] FOR MORE [Hyperlink Blocked]!

"Don't forget to like and subscribe for more detachment from the narrative" have mew ever been watching a youtube video and been really immersed in it... and then suddenly the youtuber plugs their channel right in the middle of it and pulls you out of what mew were watching, detaching mew from what you were immersed in?

...okay, i'll admit this isn't the strongest example, but it's still something in the face of these gag lines referring to youtubers trying to increase their revenue by plugging their channel, just as Spamton is trying to increase his Kromer intake.

* LISTEN. IN THE [Deep Abyss] OF QUEEN'S [Mansion] * [[A Great Deal]] IS WAITING For [[A LimiTed Time Only!]] A HEAVEN-PIERCING [[Workout-Ready Body]] * [[Designed BY The Classics You've Come To Expect! (C)1997]] * KRIS THAT [Little Nipper] IS OUR [One-way Ticket] TO MAKE YOU [Big]. MAKE ME [Big]. * BEFORE YOU KNOW IT WE WILL BE TAKING [ A Ride around Town on Our Specil Cungadero] * VACATIONING IN [Burning acid] WHILE YOU SOAK IN THE [Hyperlink Blocked].

Spamton has no idea what his "Heaven" is like, maybe it does have [Burning acid] ! Either way, if they've gotten "BIG" and escaped the Dark World, then yeah, they will be entirely detached from the narrative of the Dark World, both of them will be! They'll be free to soak in it, even. Too bad Spamton doesn't know that Kris is trapped in another, larger narrative in the Light World.

* I USED TO BE NOTHING BUT THE E_MAIL GUY, NOW I'M THE [[It Burns! Ow! Stop! Help Me! It Burns!]] GUY! * [[Amazed at thi5 amazing transformation? You too can]] HAVE A [[Communion]] WITH [[Unintelligble Laughter]] * SOON I'LL EVEN SURPASS THAT DAMNED [[Clown Around Town!]] * BUT UNLIKE HIM I'M GONNA [[Shoot For the Sky!]] AND GET ON THE PATH TO … * [[The Big One]] * I'LL GET SO. I'LL GET SO. I'LL GET SO. I'LL GET SO. I'LL GET SO. I'LL GET SO. * [[Hyperlink blocked.]]

This is the usage that apparently had people thinking that [Hyerlink Blocked] could mean more than one thing, b/c it seems to imply that the word could be an adjective. If [Hyperlink Blocked] really is "Detachment", then this specific usage could just be "Detached". This is also the usage that implies that "[[Clown Around Town!]]" Jevil may also have some [Hyperlink Blocked] of his own. As described above, Jevil realized that his world was "just a game" and decided to "leave" it by putting a jail around the world, attempting to detach himself from it. He's certainly got his own share of detachment from the narrative of his Dark World!

* KRIS!!! YOU DID IT!! YOU [[Funky]] LITTLE [[Worm]]! YOU BROUGHT ME THE DISK!! * HOCHI MAMA!!!! I CAN FEEL THAT [Smooth Taste] ALREADY!! * … NOW KRIS. DON'T BE GREEDY. HAND OVER. THE DISK. * THEN WE WILL TRANSFER. * MY [[Hyperlink Blocked]].

This is possibly the weakest example of [Hyperlink Blocked] potentially being "Detachment". Unless Spamton himself has become entirely consumed by his desire to detach from the story and narrative of the Dark World, he wouldn't describe his mind and personality as his "Detachment". Fortunately for this theory, though, he does seem consumed by this desire to detach and get "bigger and better than ever". He wants to transfer his detachment to the new body so he can continue to chase his goal of reaching "Heaven"!

* THEN. KRIS. AFTER. THIS IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT. * GO BACK. AND PUT. THE DISK. BACK. WHERE YOU GOT IT. * DO THAT… AND YOU HAVE MY [Specil Guaranttee] I WILL [[Pass My Savings Onto You!]] * EVERY [Big], EVERY [Shot], EVERY [Hyperlink Blocked], ALL YOURS, KRIS.

Another weak example, but it goes back to Spamton trying to sell this idea of Detachment being what Kris needs. He seems to be offering the knowledge that lead him to understand who and what he is, that information that othered him and forced him into the beginning stages of his detachment from the Dark World.

* NO, I GET IT! IT'S YOU AND THAT [Hochi Mama]! * YOU'VE BEEN [Making], HAVEN'T YOU! * YOU'VE BEEN MAKING [Hyperlink Blocked]!

Welcome back to the where we started, with Kris making [Hyperlink Blocked] with Noelle.

During the Weird Route, you/Kris directs Noelle to detach from the story of the Dark World, she becomes disconnected and uncaring for the "people" she's freezing, b/c they're just objects, they're just part of a dream, they're not real. She's following the directions she's being given and "completing" the "game". You/Kris manipulate(s) her into situations she doesn't want to be in by choosing for her that those things are what will happen. You/Kris force(s) her to Proceed until she understands the "rules" of the "game" and begins to freeze puzzles on her own. She goes through the motions of "completing" the "game" to the point that, when coming up to Berdley, she doesn't even realize who it is. She's become so detached that she doesn't notice that the next "Enemy" is someone she knows. and if you push her further, to get her to use a spell she doesn't even know in order to force her to continue to "play" the "game", she does so, and she continues to do so even to the very end when she freezes Spamton.

You have/Kris has made her detached from the narrative of the Dark World, so she has gained the power of someone who refuses to immerse themselves into a story. A story in a book is just words on a page if you don't immerse yourself in it. You can paint over the words. You can burn the pages. You can freeze the book. And when you're done with that, you can move on to "read" the next book, to "play" the next "game".

You have absolutely been making detachment during the Weird Route, that's like the thing that you are doing, like it's the whole point! Even to the degree that Noelle seems more fixed on the "other voice" that isn't Kris's and Berdly ends up frozen solid, detaching Kris from both of them. Spamton is on the very long and pointy nose with this one, if [Hyperlink Blocked] is truly "Detachment."

and to wrap up, "Hyperlink Blocked" is literally a connection from one webpage to another that has become disconnected and detached. You can't follow this link, the destination is detached from where you are!!

[bagelorsomethingwhatever]

ok so most of us know the salt route right? i wanted to try and rewrite it!!

first of all, no hate to the original salt route and its creator, beabigshot!! i just wanted to rewrite it so it was a little more canon to spamtons character.

second of all, thanks for the help, @kwyt33 !!

last but not least, if you have some constructive criticism, post it in the comments! im very open to suggestions, and would love to hear thoughts and concepts :]

first of all, you can ONLY do this route after you have completed the snowgrave route at least once

so when you meet spamton there should be an act called 'Proposal' and basically you (ironically) mention a ring

spamton gets curious believing that kris has their OWN commemorative ring and hes. interested

maybe theres a dialogue section where he goes like "[Commemorative Ring]? KRIS I DIDN'T KNOW YOU [Had to do it to them]!?" and most people just go on with the fight and yknow move on

but

if you keep bringing it up and ignore all of spamtons deals he goes "FINE!! F1NE!!!!!" and the battle ends

"YOU WANNA CALL [Shots]!? THEN CALL [Shots]!! MABY YOU [Aren't Serious!?] ABOUT BEING MY [1000th Customer]!!!"

and he leaves to his shop

if you go to his shop, you can see spamton looking annoyed that his shop is seeming sealed off by a strange cluster of white crystals (salt)

if you ignore him, he wont pop up again in the route 

(id like to think the salt is the saltiness/anger of a gamer or something. :3)

if you interact, "KRIS!!! YOU DID [Came to see little old me..?] I KNEW YOU [Were talking out of your]"

and you have two dialogue options, much like snowgrave 

Let's get big and Talk business

if you choose let's get big, you go on the normal path and the salt melts

if you choose talk business spamton will say "ALLLL1RIGHT! LET'S <[Discuss]."

it fades to black, and then afterwards

"I KN3W YOU HAD THE [[Light]]!!! SWEET [Freedom Sauce] WILL BE OURS!!!!!!"

(cue spamton laugh)

Spamton has joined your party!

and so it begins

in a battle, spamton has no special options (atm) what so ever, so you can just fight how you want

when you walk where you're supposed to find noelle, she isnt there, and queen is instead.

"KRIS!!! I N33D TO [Skedaddle] BEFORE TH4T [Hochi Mama] SPOTS M3!!!]" spamton hides in the alleyway.

queen talks about kris being her willing peon and how noelle finally accepted but you can choose to decline

if you decline she says something like "That's Fair" with her visor showing the word "Ouch"

queen runs off, and spamton follows again

you can choose to go back and try to attack the enemies like the snowgrave, but spamton will have some choice words about that once out of the first battle;

___

"WOAH W0A H [[W o a h]] KRIS!!! WHAT THE [4.99] ARE YOU DOING YOU [slime] I AM N0T THE [Hochi Mama] [That you know and] [Hyperlink Blocked]!!!!"

if you continue back tracking, spamton will get the attack DEAL [Shock] which spamton will imitate noelles spell casting sprite and a pipis will drop on the enemies head. it does little damage

___ This paragraph is not required to continue with the salt route, and is 100% for fun

Once you meet the cars, spamton will talk about how he used to sell them, getting a small moment of vulnerability with spamton

"A [Cungedero]...? I USED TO. I USED TO. I USED TO... [Hyperlink Blocked].. KEEP MOVING."

you dont have to press the button to stop the cars, if you walk in the road the cars will move around spamton and avoid him. they dont want a nasty ass trash man fucking up they paint job

everything goes as normal from then on until you run into the ferris wheel poster.

"[Aaahh..] YES. [Farris] WHEELZ. WHEN I WAS A [Big Shot] I WOULD ALWAYS [Run on down to] THAT [Hellish] PLACE TO [Vacation] IN [acrophobia]."

[ ... ] [♡ Are you scared?]

"WHAT."

and the dialogue ends.

if you try to go where the addison is, spamton will refuse

"WHAT!? WHAT!!!? [Ad Blockers]?! ME!? NO! NO! NO! NO! [NOOOOoooo...]!!!! KRIS. KRIS!! WE CAN'T [Press Enter to]!!!??"

if you continue trying, spamton will continue to plead not to go in. if you do it three times, you will enter

spamtons sprite will have dark glasses instead of pink and yellow

the interaction will go as normal, until you walk away

(because spamton was hiding behind kris, the addison didnt see him until then)

A: "..Spamton?"

S: "..."

S: "DON'T [Press X to interact] ME. KRIS!! KRIS!!! KEEP WALKING!!! KEEP. WALKING."

A: "I haven't seen you in so long! How have y-"

S: "DON'T YOU [Sweet Talk] ME!?!"

A: "Spamton, I- I didn't mean to abandon you! It- it was all their idea-"

S: "NO. NO. NO. KRIS. Go."

[Stay]    [♡ Confront]

once in the battle, the addison doesnt ever attack spamton, only targetting kris

if kris is down, the addison will not hurt spamton either way

if you try to get spamton to attack, he will, but no matter what you try, he will do as little damage as possible

what you have to do to kill the addison and move on with the route is get spamton to talk to the addison and lower their guard. so basically you are setting up the addison for being spared but hah. we dont do that here, so once they are at 100 spare percent you fucking kill them!

...

You got the empty ring.

Empty ring; It's empty and almost useless.

S: "...WOW...! KRIS. THAT WAS [Highly Unnecessary]!!!!! LET'S [never] DO THAT AGA1N!!!!"

[♡ I did it for you.] [I won't do it again.]

S: "REVENGE IS [Sweet... Succulent...]..."

something i forgot to mention about the mouse traps, each mouse door is blocked by salt, so they cannot escape. and the one with the laser? well..

"KRIS!! THE [[Maus]] IS [[Block this Url?]]!!! HOW ARE WE-"

[ ♡ Keep going.]

"YOU [[Little Sponge]], WE CAN'T GO-"

[ ♡ Keep going.]

"KRIS. WE-"

with enough pushing, you shove spamton to the laser, he spazzes through it, taking a bit of damage and then pressing the button. spamtons sprite loses its smile for a few frames, before going back to normal without another word

moving forth to where you do the puzzle with noelle

you and spamton both hear a scream and the camera pans to noelle being frightened by a maus. it runs away and she sighs

she notices kris, and runs over, saying hello to kris and saying how she got lost.

she pauses once noticing spamton, and before she even says anything, spamton goes "[Angel], DON'T TRUST [[Anyone]], OKAY?!???"

noelle, not understanding spamtons cryptic message, quietly asks kris if they have a new dog, referring to spamton.

spamtons sprite changes into a glare/squint for a few frames.

noelle joins your party after some conversation about trying to find susie, and that she ended up running out of the mansion, and got completely lost.

you cannot decline noelle joining.

you come across the trash area, and kill all the enemies (popups) around, NOT utilizing noelles ice shock, and only making spamton attack

after you kill everything and make your way to where you fight berdly, noelle runs off on her own, explaining that she remembers where to go from there, and runs off.

spamton stops kris from going forth, questioning why they only made him attack and kill everything

if you tell him it was to get stronger, spamton seems mildly angered, going on to say how the angel could've done the dirty work for you, not him

he then stops you once more going on about how he's starting to think you are lying to him about having a way to get his neo form without troubles. (yes, that's what you had originally talked about with spamton. but as the player, you are only finding out about this now.)

after spamton is done talking, you have two options.

[ ♡ I'm doing this for you.] and [ ♡ I'm doing this for me.]

you are unable to choose the second option.

spamton seems unsure, but keeps sticking with you incase. he doesn't have anything to lose anyways, does he? :)

[notes from bagel: i think spamtons attacks would be like. the ones he uses on you but it uses like 60tp its so tedious. hes trying to get you to STOP fighting with him. it does alot of damage, but it takes a while to get up to. ALSO.. if you have the devilsknife, spamton will frequently wonder where you got your weapon in battle

like as flavor text; spamtons face scrunches back repulsively as he lays eyes on your weapon.

spamton glitches wildly while staring at your weapon. spamton glares at your weapon.]

so after some short walking, you come across the man hole.

spamton says "K-" and before he even finishes, you grab onto his arm, and jump in. he makes a shocked little voice blip noise.

you appear infront of the mansion. spamton follows you to the very front of the mansion, and then runs back to the man hole, trying to get back into it.

1. [ ♡ Follow me.] (You tell Spamton that you will help him into the mansion.)

Outcome; Spamton will settle on the first ending and will be given his neo form, help you through the castle as thanks, and then you can seal the fountain immediately after Spamton compliments you for actually sticking with your word. (Spamton is left behind)

2. [ ♡ Do this.] (You tell Spamton to revert into the Dealmakers so you can carry him without him being spotted.)

Outcomes; (1) Spamton settles on the second ending. You carry him with you and seal the fountain, dropping him off at castle town. (2) If you have the Devilsknife out the whole time instead, he and Jevil will be dropped off at castle town. These two can have specific dialogue with eachother depending on certain circumstances.

3. [ ♡ Come here.] (You grab Spamtons hand and walk him with you yourself.)

Outcome; Spamton will settle on the first ending. You get him into his Neo body, and you seal the fountain afterwards, leaving him behind.

if you try to go to the top of the mansion without going to the basement, spamton will not let you, taking a little hp off of you (15) if you try.

[alonzoarts]

re: the "transforming into an item to free himself" post, I always thought there was a pretty stark difference in the messages from NEOs pacifist and violent route endings, even if the text's the same. In both cases, Spamton gifts Kris his 'strength' - but in the route where he accepts their friendship and resolves to work together to reach his freedom, his 'strength' is the Dealmakers: An item representing his ability to reach out and form deals - to form connections - especially the ones he made with Kris. Ultimately, a strength based around all the effort he spent to work towards his goals and how he never gave up, even in hopeless situations. In the route where he tries to call on more and more power until the NEO body explodes, violently, (ultimately proving he's fated to be weak without someone else's help) - his `strength` is the PuppetScarf: The strings that held him in place, reaching down to bind him, something external - something he had no control over. A strength based on acceptance of success + failure as something granted by a third party - he's implying the only strength he has, the only thing that made him strong at all, is those strings. Makes you wonder if PuppetScarf Spamton really broke out of what trapped him by becoming an item, or if he just lost hope... I could be reading too much into the throwaway post-boss items, tbh. I mean, its not like your choices matter in Deltarune. ... right?

ooo that’s a good point. I think you’re right about “puppetscarf Spamton” completely giving into his fate.

[lilybug-02]

Just realised the CT Wierd Route sets up a kinda depressing but interesting scenario. Chara is dead (by their own volition), and Asriel likely would have to leave QC's with their body (parallels). I can see Asriel getting a *kinda* similar arc to Flowey after this, alongside maybe Kris becoming pretty jaded. After all, the price for their freedom was a human soul. Snowgrave is stopped, but Berdly never gets better, Noelle and Kris are still scared of each other, the class still feels a little emptier each day. And, when they graduate and prepare to move for Uni or apprenticeships, the class photo just seems like someone is missing.

Damn, that is one hell of a hard pill to swallow. THE PARALLELS THOUGH.

Chara was really hoping you'd leave on your own accord, but when you didn't... their soul just couldn't handle it and it shattered :(. And the parallel of Asriel having to carry out Chara- gosh dang thats so sad. He'd probably spiral into himself after having yet another one of his friends die (Dess and Chara), feeling it was his fault again. And Kris would have to live with the guilt of knowing they inadvertently killed Asriel's friend and the one person to know what they were going through.

And Frisk...they got the news the day after.

[random-autie-fangirl]

Kris and Noelle/Chara and Asriel parallels

It's like a creepy human and a soft hearted monster right?

(Yes, as a matter of fact. We do have time to talk about Kris and Noelle/Chara and Asriel parallels. This is kind of an "adaptation" (or whatever) of a tag ramble so mind the grammar)

who are both the same age ("It's a twin sized bed"), one is “good” and one is “evil”....and yet they're best friends! siblings even! (I say Kris and Noelle are siblings because of Asgorudy, basically) the monster is easily scared by the human...but they like scary things as long as they're not really dangerous. (of course, Chara did actually turn dangerous later but how was Asriel supposed to know that? Chara had always been kind before). So the monster responds to their sibling's morbid pranks and creepy faces with screaming one minute and laughing the next “AAAAHHH hee hee hee” or chewing them out with a smile. Kris and Chara Dreemurr are “unpredictable” but in the same way a rollercoaster or scary movie is...they're “the good kind of scary."

Noelle and Asriel are wealthy by birth with a big house and parents with great social status. Chara and Kris are children from nowhere implied to be greatly harmed by humanity. Their time with the Dreemurrs is the first time they have ever felt safety or peace. They have known Noelle and Asriel for just as long. Both Noelle and Asriel feel like they're weak, they feel that they should be stronger and they feel like their fear or crying are a fault of character. Both of them feel trapped where they are. He wants to climb mt. ebbot "when this is all over". (I will talk about this later but remember the echo flower conversation) Noelle wants to see a city with shining lights. She wanted to see the stars back in Undertale.

...And then in both situations...“Kris” (actually Red) and Chara tell Az and Noelle to kill for them and manipulate them heavily into agreeing, pushing them around expecting complete obedience, shaming them for their emotional responses, and using Noelle and Asriel's insecurities over said emotions. Promising “strength” as a reward for doing what they're told and comitting murder on the behalf of someone too cowardly to do so themselves. Asriel gets to see the surface. Noelle gets to see her city. But both only at the cost of destroying everything living there.

And we know the difference between these situations don't we? Kris was possessed but Chara was always in control. But Noelle doesn't exactly...so it seems that in both situations that the human betrays the monster. Destroys the spirit of the person who trusted them the most. Uses the monster for their physical strength, takes advantage of their emotional “weakness”. Treats Noelle and Asriel like a weapon rather than a person. Who was warm is now cold hearted. Whose presence signified safety was the biggest danger of all. what was once a joke is now deadly serious. They were the bad kind of scary. (Please note I know it's not actually Kris this is just what might be going through Noelle's head at first, you know, before she rationalizes it as a dream).

And yes, I also know that Chara was probably doing this for monsterkind's freedom but I don't care exactly? he's still a child, ... not a chess piece, not a weapon he didn't deserve to be used even for the sake of monsterkind's freedom. Asgore doesn't force Toriel to help him? Undyne doesn't force Papyrus to help her? done for “good reasons” doesn't make them a good person!

Just like it won't make Red suddenly a good person if the weird route somehow helps lead to a happy ending. Though I like to think that Red resets or leaves the weird route before it ever reaches its conclusion. In contrast I believe Chara went back to before they died and actively chose to do the buttercup plan again when it had already failed once. Also yes in the end Asriel was able to say no when Noelle never could but he paid for that disobedience with his LIFE. Deliberately! Chara had a save file. they could have saved themselves and Asriel but they chose not to. And maybe the reason was partially punishment!

And Yeah! That's all the parallels between Chara and Asriel and Kris/Red and Noelle! Thanks for listening! =)

[kooki914]

What do you think will Toriel's relationship with Mrs. Holiday be like? A foil situation maybe? It's kind of strange that for a family so closely tied to the Dreemurr Toriel never has talked about any of them. Wonder what she actually thinks about Noelle?

All good questions, honestly! I believe Toriel isn't really the type to seek out super close friendships with people to begin with (her friendship with Sans seems to almost be an accident in both worlds), and Rudy mentions how their families have drifted apart over the years. I feel like part of this can be attributed to her and Asgore's divorce (as him and Rudy are close, breaking up with Asgore probably made stuff awkward between Toriel and Rudy), but another part is also Dess' disappearance I think (her and Asriel were close, and it's been hinted that after she disappeared, Kris stopped hanging out with Noelle too, and it might've given the parents less incentive to stay in touch with each other overall).

On the question on mayor Holiday and Toriel specifically, I DO kind of see them as foils already? Toriel is a smothering and loving parent while mayor Holiday is strict and cold. The one thing they have in common is they're both reactionary (Noelle being afraid her mother would take away her console if she saw her crying over a game, contrasted to Toriel taking Asriel to church every day for a week because of a first kiss), and they both seem to have a need for control over nearly everything. With mayor Holiday it's not even subtle, while with Toriel it's less overtly "control freak" vibes and more specifically someone who's so used to having all responsibility on her shoulders alone, that she doesn't even notice she's doing it to herself most of the time.

If they were to be proper foils, I'd like if it were an extension of the themes around freedom and control, honestly, and not even in the parental sense. Deltarune seems like it has a lot to say on free will vs predeterminism, and I think marriage - holy matrimony - is an interesting vessel to explore that through. Toriel as someone who ended her marriage for personal reasons, which can be misconstrued as selfish if you don't take into account her feelings and needs as a person, contrasted to mayor Holiday who seems to have an iron grip on her family's dynamic, which can be misconstrued as people-oriented if we fail to take into account the effects that has on Noelle and Rudy (and possibly even Dess when she was around). The Holiday household seems pretty toxic, with Rudy constantly in the role of mediator, Noelle in the (psychological) role of "adaptive child" (see The Entire Snowgrave Route for why that's horrendous), and mayor Holiday seemingly in the role of judge, jury and executioner.

Basically, Toriel as someone who liberated herself and mayor Holiday as someone who refuses to let others be liberated, sort of. A hint of it can even be seen in how they treat someone like Asgore. Toriel privately shittalks him but isn't really cruel to him to his face (which gives him the wrong idea, sadly), while mayor Holiday is "lenient" with his rent payment while being clearly cold and cruel about his personal plights. Toriel is someone who wants to move on and make as little of a mess as she does so, while mayor Holiday could be someone who prioritises a "safe" stasis over any kind of change to the detriment of everyone around her. Toriel is "mean" but empathetic, mayor Holiday is "giving" but cruel - possibly another commentary about how being "nice" isn't always a good thing, how some people do it out of necessity (Toriel) while others do it as a manipulative tactic (mayor Holiday), and how overall issues are always more complicated than they seem. More complicated than someone who, say, just tells you to "sell more flowers" would think they are, based on her limited willingness to see from anyone else's point of view.

(This is offtopic but this is really interesting symbolism to me: if we look at Asgore giving people flowers as a metaphor for giving people love and attention, *selling* more flowers wouldn't even directly help him, in a narrative sense. He's giving Toriel flowers and she keeps throwing them away, EVERYONE does, because they fundamentally don't need or want them. Asgore is someone the community doesn't need anymore, and the mayor's solution to that is "put a price on it", because to her (I speculate) ALL relationships are transactional. She thinks his problem is that he's TOO loving, that he's TOO giving, rather than that hes throwing his love into an endless black hole that will never return the gesture. Anyway, that's enough rambling about Asgore on a Toriel post, sorry!)

Oh, and I nearly forgot to answer: I don't think Toriel would have particularly strong feelings towards Noelle? Toriel's nice to every kid she knows, but I think the inverse, what Noelle thinks of Toriel, is a more interesting question. Knowing Noelle's issues with mother figures, does she see Toriel as aspirational, or does she think Toriel is faking it and using kindness as manipulation (like mayor Holiday may be prone to doing)? Is Noelle weary of Kris' mom, hence not coming over to their house often, or is she nostalgic about the bond their families had and remembers Toriel more like an aunt than a mother? Since we know she's scared of her mom, is she vaguely hoping her own parents will separate, or did Toriel set a "bad precedent" in her eyes and she dreads her family being pulled apart further? All very very interesting questions, in my opinion, and I hope we see more of the Holiday/Dreemurr dynamics as the story goes on.

[krispdreemurr]

d'ya think noelle is going to play a bug part in the next chapters (or just their weird routes)? or will we take advantage of someone new, or nobody at all (save for Kris)?

the weird routes I don't fucking know. i think noelle was kind of in a unique position, but I can imagine ways to manipulate Toriel or whoever. it's really really hard to tell where this is going from here on that front

Noelle, however, is absolutely playing a role. she's been setup so hard as someone who breaks games and finds secrets and such just by existing, she's already onto Kris being off and wants to help them, she's linked so strongly to angels conceptually... she's going to be important, and I particularly think she's going to be key to getting Kris freedom.

[dinosaurstirfry]

EVERYTHING ELEPHANTO 3.0

BACKSTORY:

BIG DRAWING:

DUMB DOODLES:

BATTLE ARENA MOCK-UP:

WEIRD ROUTE FORM:

RANDOM DIALOGUE:

*HEY-HI-HELLO EVERYONE!

*WELCOME TO-MY-SHOW

*TODAY WE HAVE-A VERY-SPECIAL-GUEST

*PUT YOUR-FIGURATIVE-HANDS TOGETHER FOR...

*T-... huh

*wait...

*KRIS-IS THAT-YOU!?!?

*IT-S BEEN SO-LONG!

*I HAVEN-T SEEN YOU ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛AND-THEN-THEY⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

*WOW YOU-VE GROWN SO-MUCH!

*I REMEMBER WHEN-YOU-WERE AN TV Y AND NOW YOU-RE A TV G!

*HEH HEH HOW-COULD I-FORGET

*ELEPHANTO-NEVER-FORGETS!!!

*SAY KRIS-WOULD YOU-MIND-DOING-ME A FAVOR?

*SEE THAT-AUDIENCE-OVER THERE?

*(Several decaying white dolls sit motionless)

*(Their limbs are being held on by a purple string)

*THEY-RE EXPECTING AN-AMAZING SHOW

*SO HOW ABOUT-WE PUT-ON A-HELL-OF A PERFORMANCE?

*THINK-ABOUT IT

*IF THIS-DOES WELL-WE-COULD RIDE ONTO-THE RED-CARPET IN-A-HEATED LIMO

*AND THEN-AND ONLY-THEN

*ONCE WE-REACH-THE-END WE-LL EARN THE BEST-REWARD OF ALL

*FREEDOM.

*I NEED TALENT-LIKE-YOU TO-EARN IT WITH ME!

*WHAT-S THE POINT-OF-ACHIEVING FREEDOM WHEN YOU-RE ALONE???

*SO

*YOU-LL PLAY THE HERO

*SINCE YOU-RE ALREADY-WEARING-SOME-SHINY PLOT ARMOR!

*AND ME?

*I-LL PLAY THE BAD GUY!

[flonbowe]

So I was thinking about Mettaton, and something hit me

Mettaton Neo has a very angelic design. I may be stretching it, but considering what a certain other angel looks like

The resemblance is very much there. Mettaton's Ex and Neo forms look far more human than anything or anyone in the underground, including Frisk themselves during the Genocide run. Mettaton Neo is specifically a form used in a last case scenario to stop you. Now depending on how you view the Neo form, this can probably mean a few things. My two cents is that its Mettaton trying to keep himself and you fooled. Mettaton first and foremost is a showman. He's a TV star, and even if he may no longer have an audience, there's no way he's going off air lying down.

Now why would this relate to his Neo form resembling the Angel? Well he's bluffing, whether intentionally or not he is bluffing. He can't beat you, and deep down I think he knows too. The best he can do is stall for time to get as many people out and evacuated as possible, to inspire hope. Its why he stays in the underground, and its what he's good at: inspiring. So he fights you and blocks your path, in the face of a demon he uses the visage of an Angel as the last line of defense for Monster kind. Undyne has fallen, the Asgore will fall too, but Mtt cannot let the monsters hopes die too. I know this isn't in game, but this kind of idea is even further expanded with this cover of Power of Neo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI0CxTgpA6Q

It uses a bunch of leitmotifs, and one of which is Bergentrückung, the other theme of someone who tried to bring hope to the Monsters, and the theme of who will fall after Mtt. This is also apparent with how Power of Neo is a more techno Mtt themed version of BAATH to begin with. At every point in the Mettaton Neo fight, from design to music to personality: Mettaton is stalling and pulling an intimidation act as a last ditch effort, since he doesn't know Sans is waiting in his church to play ball with Frisk. https://www.tumblr.com/dn-838/738700806141952000/how-aborted-genocide-affects-the-mettaton-neo?source=share This post goes more in detail on other aspects and Is generally just really interesting. But what I want to point out is what this means for Spamton Neo. By this logic, Spamton ALSO uses the visage of an Angel. Just for funnies, lets compare sprites too!

I know im using fan made content again but after UTY, that really isn't too bad I think, especially for a more for fun exploration like this. Speaking of fan made content, lets see where that sprite came from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkDjXdp2Ayc&t=69s

Notice how it only uses the first part of the loop, it doesn't go on and doesn't continue Power of Neo fully. It doesn't have the full meaning of Mettaton's heroic sacrifice to help people, as instead of an Angel to save the Underground, Spamton is that Angel of Death in Undertale's prophecy (in the Snowgrave route anyway). Like Mettaton, Spamton also uses the visage of an Angel to achieve a goal, but no matter what route it is its a dark perversion of Mettaton's goals. Mettaton wanted to inspire the Underground and achieve his dreams, trying to stall and kill Frisk to either save them from Asgore, or save the survivors from You. Spamton wanted his freedom and attacks and tries to kill Kris for their soul so he can be free. He also assists in the Snowgrave route, being an accomplice to many many deaths for 15 minutes of fame. This idea is more properly conveyed in the last parts of Big Shot with the use of Power of Neo. Oh yeah this was a Mettaton analysis whoopsie Ok so I know this was a Mettaton Neo thing at the start but man I just wanted to gush and gush about Mettaton cuz man I really can't get enough of him. He's the only one of two characters in Undertale to directly have connections with the Angel prophecy when it isn't just the Delta Rune itself, he inadvertantly saved the Underground because he's what made Alphys get the Royal Scientist posi--OH WAIT YEAH THATS SOMETHING I CAN TALK ABOUT OK SO SIDE TANGENT METTATON UNINTENTIONALLY SAVED THE UNDERGROUND AND I FIND THAT REALLY REALLY COOL! Because Alphys used Mettaton as a project to show to Asgore to become the Royal Scientist, this let Alphys work on the amalgamates and also create Flowey. Without Flowey, the barrier wouldn't have broken and no one would have been freed. Yes I know this isn't all solid since Mettaton didn't somehow cause 6 random kids fall down but you get the idea. Mettaton transitioning saved the world totally I NEED MORE METTATON AUS GRHEYCGDHWUDYGHJWYDH IM GOING TO GO FERAL!!! HE'S NEEDS IT AHHHHHHH!! Ts!Underswap is honestly amazing for Mettaton. I mean Mettacrit. He doesn't get his JoJo body, but is that going to stop him? OF COURSE NOT!

HE'S METTACRIT! AIN'T NO ONE STOPPING HIS DREAMS! He's also a wonderful little gist of Mettaton's whole character, just get rid of Alphys (sadly). Someone who wants to achieve their dreams, wanting to share the love and kindness around, with of course the sassy show stealing charm he needs.

But what if that wasn't so easy

SURPRISE! UNDERFELL TOO! We got the whole holy trinity of Undertale au's, specificallyyyyy

I MAY BE READING TOO FAR INTO THIS BUT I LOVE METTATON GAMMA SO MUCHHHH Its still our same ol Mettaton, but now his dreams are falling on deaf ears. He's Spamton in nature instead of Fabulous. Everyone is violent and blood hungry, so a simple cooking show with a touch of murder won't be enough, or another beautiful rendition of Oh My Love~! Its clear (to me anyway) that Mettaton in this au is nowhere near as big a star as he is in the normal Undertale continuity. In his intro monologue he brags about the audience he brought in, and during the fight he's much more focused on what the Audience wants rather than the show HE wants. Something OUR Mettaton just wouldn't do. This is the same sexy rectangle who basically just broadcasts whatever he wants. I forgot the exact dialogue and screenshot but its just not something Undertale Mettaton really does. Underfell though? A different story. He's bound to his viewers in a bad way till Frisk comes along. He's even more bound to Alphys in this AU as her little science fair project. GOD I LOVE THIS GAME ITS WHAT I'D WANT FROM AN ACTUAL UNDERFELL GAME! Oh my god I haven't even talked about Deltarune Mettaton and Mike and how that works OK SO THIS IS ENTERING MY PERSONAL FANON BUT Y'know how Spamton and Mettaton have their parallels? Y'know how the internet has been down in Deltarune?

Chapter 3's dark world is definitely TV themed, there's no way it can't. I know Tenna is the big TV related baddie now, but Im using Mike in this take. If Spamton is the more passive parallel to Mettaton, Mike in this chapter 3 take would be the darker direct parallel. Instead of the dreamer from humble beginnings who, even if he can be vain and self centered at times, still means well deep down like Mettaton is, Mike would be the cynical producer type who's fueling problems in the industry to make it big on top. A dark Mettaton if you will. Basically like this

https://www.tumblr.com/paintedhen/703948707502145536/determinators-determinators-mettaton-has?source=share

WHICH SIDE NOTE METTATON IN DELTARUNE IS DEPRESSING IM SO SORRY FOR HIM

https://www.tumblr.com/everysongineverykey/691083816166686720?source=share

I KNOW I KEEP LINKING OTHER POSTS BUT ITS NOT MY FAULT EVERYONE IS COOKING! GRAHHH Mettaton's such a character man. He makes me think lots of things and I wish I could gather my thoughts more clearly

[sexylinoleum]

SNOWGRAVE

Time for some snowgrave analysis. Kinda embarrassed it took my dumb ass almost a year to realize this but nevertheless today I will examine a few lines of Spamton Neo's dialogue.

So these lines seem to directly imply that Spamton believes the end result of whatever the weird route leads to will be Kris' freedom from us, rather than us breaking things because we can or us attempting to gain further control over their world.

The thing is Spamton doesn't just believe that the path of LOVE and murder will break Kris' chains, he seems absolutely certain of it.

Spamton, with his practically eldritch knowledge can, in my opinion, sometimes be taken as a reliable source of information, if you can peel past the layers of his cryptic vernacular. It may be the case that any players who, by the end of Deltarune's story, desperately want Kris to be free to live their own life, may have to venture down a dark path in order to achieve it.

There is a debate to be had as to whether Kris can even survive without the players intervention, I suspect this dialogue from Spamton may be serving as particularly heinous foreshadowing. If I may propose a hypothetical, Kris may require the players soul to live, the only way they can escape that is by growing sufficiently strong in the traditional UT/DR manner, Kris, more likely preferring death for themselves, would have to be forced down such a path presumably by ourselves.

And while I made all of that up, call it speculation, I may not be far off...

Cause for one reason or another, Spamton also seems to believe that in the event that Kris wins their own freedom, they will, for one reason or another, become suicidal.

Crying in a broken home being an obvious reference to Kris' divorced parents and and "WISHING YOU LET YOUR OLD PAL SPAMTON [Kill You]" being a polite and antagonist centric way of saying "Wishing you were dead one way or the other."

There are probably many other ways you could read any of this text but in my opinion, if Spamton is to be taken as an even remotely reliable source of information, this dialogue has severely foreboding implications on the future of Deltarune's morality, and on our own moral integrity as we continue to play it, with the paths before us seemingly being, one, use Kris as a meat puppet to "save" their world and possibly discard them at the end of our adventure or, two, fight for Kris' freedom, ruining their life and destroying their sanity in the process.

But hey, we've only got two chapters so I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

[darkworldmysteriessadeltaruneau]

Welcome to Dark World Mysteries: A Deltarune AU!

Dark World Mysteries is an AU where Kris and their friends decide to explore Asriel and Dess’s bunker in the summer, which is where the seven dark worlds are located. Instead of closing these dark worlds, Kris and their friends solve mysteries inside of them. But the real mystery might have been with them all along…

Characters:

Kris Dreemur

The second oldest sibling of the Dreemur family, and the current owner of the key to Asriel and Dess’s bunker. They might have much more freedom in this AU, but their choices still affect the world around them, for better or worse…

Susie Boom

A scary but lovable girl who lives with her Uncle Alvin and Aunt Betty, and Noelle’s former best friend. Kris’s younger siblings think of her as a big sister.

Noelle Holiday

Noelle, Rudy’s daughter and Dess’s younger sister, is loved by most everyone in Hometown and an avid mystery novel reader. However, something seems to be weighing down on her recently…

Sheldon ‘Berdly’ Berdman

Noelle’s best friend, the top of his class, and Kris Dreemur’s gaming buddy, Berdly is the most accomplished kid in Hometown…almost too accomplished.

Ralsei Umbra

A kind young man who lives with his aunt near Kris’s house. The whole town thinks of him as mysterious and strange…but he’s really just a normal guy.

Frisk Dreemur

The youngest of the Dreemur siblings. They are kind, goofy and always sees the best in others.

Chara Dreemur

The second youngest of the Dreemur siblings, Chara is very bright, but also struggles to make friends her age.

Clover

Frisk and Chara’s classmate and mutual friend, who has a great love of cowboys. She lives with her dad Starlo on a farm.

Routes:

Mystery Solved! and Mystery Unsolved… (Normal Routes)

These routes are pretty self-explanatory - they hinge entirely on whether you solve the chapter’s mystery or not. If you solve all of them, that’s a “Case(s) Closed” Route.

Goner (Weird Route)

This route can be started in Chapter 2, when Noelle learns a new power called “Snow Rude”, which can double her healing and magic abilities, but at the expense of her own health. If Kris commands her to do it enough times in regular battles, she decides to use her powers in the Queen boss fight to save Berdly, but ends up freezing herself due to how much she’s used her powers. You can lose more and more party members in a similar fashion throughout the chapters (Berdly, Chara, Clover, Frisk and Susie) until it’s just Kris and Ralsei, at which point you learn a dark truth…

[swe3tcoffe3]

Yk how the general community consensus is that Weird Route is about The Player trying to get their Freedom? What if it's more than that?

I'm a big fan of exploring alternate interpretations personally, it's why I dislike trying to make one long continuous theory about what Deltarune's timeline/future will be as I like to see different viewpoints, ideas and potential meanings. Even if they may be wrong, if they enhance the main story in some way or are comedic I do find enjoyment in exploring them, and I guess this post is one of these instances where I've decided to try and "explore" things from this "different" perspective.

This alternate view I've been thinking about recently all sprouted from this one line.

"Noelle will ride with me."

It is very unsettling and one of the many instances of romantic undertones being apparent in the Weird Route, but also it's slightly confusing because a lot of that route strongly implies that Kris is not only unhappy but also entirely under our control during it. They have no way to rebel against The Player's will, which seems to be being directly projected onto Kris. And so in this case, we have to ask the question: why would The Player, in this instance, wish to ride with Noelle?

It's possible to make the argument that The Player wants Deltarune to be like a traditional JRPG where Noelle is forced into the role of "innocent and submissive love interest" and Kris taking on the "assertive hero" role, but then that creates more questions, namely why does the very game itself feel like it's starting to break just by us going down this route, and also why or how will this enable The Player to be free? There could be more to it than just "The Player wants Freedom and also wants everyone to fit neatly into specific roles they are familiar with, regardless of consequence", something unique that would distinguish it much more from Undertale's Genocide Route thematically. After all, Toby has said that he at least aims to do something different with Deltarune.

But then what could this be?

Before I continue, I think it's important to at least gain a rough understanding of some of the traits (or "characterisms" as I like to call them) that The Player has, as while they are "literally us" for all intensive purposes, they do have some distinguishable traits from us that I have roughly summarized in this slightly older image below.

TL;DR: The Player is a character who is an outsider but obsessed with Undertale's world, which is why they wanted to join Deltarune. With this knowledge we can therefore infer that there will probably be at least some level of resentment from their end towards Deltarune.

The Player is denied the proper joy of the game that they wanted to play, as the Dark Worlds seem more catered towards The Fun Gang's interests and at the very beginning they are booted out of their vessel and put into someone who would really rather be doing anything else that isn't "adventuring". Whenever "Undertale" motifs start reasserting itself in Deltarune it's portrayed as something unnatural (case in point, Spamton). Pretty much the entire world they're in is antithetical to their existence.

But at the same time, we're also meant to accept this as per our agreement, or else we can't play the game.

So when we do a Weird Route, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume then that we can also interpret this as a form of malicious compliance? We accept the agreement, yes, we accept that we can't get what WE wanted out of the game, but that doesn't mean we have to be the only one who suffers, right?

We manipulate Noelle, a relatively important character in the story with a natural affinity for videogame glitches to "cheat" the game, and we aim to taint her friendship with Kris, and in future may even attempt to prevent her from being with Susie by interfering with her romantic life, and even possibly use her to break the game itself to make one big final "screw you" to Gaster, or whoever else may be in charge of this SURVEY_PROGRAM, ruining countless lives just for the sake of an "epic own".

The Weird Route therefore becomes more inherently childish from this perspective. It's like a temper tantrum, a bully lashing out at others due to their own internal issues just to feel better about themself but ultimately being ineffectual, except in this case the bully is a cosmic force much much greater than anything else in the world so the consequences of their actions are more devastating, but still inherently childish. And also pretty familiar.

Maybe it's a symptom of the characters being neatly tied to this overarching theme of escapism, of love, dreams and hopes, but if we assume that the destruction caused in Side B is born out of The Player's jealousy for the characters and ability to actually enjoy these fantasies that they were denied, then it would actually make them a really neat parallel for Susie. Someone who was bitter and closed off, somebody who'd violently lash out, especially onto Kris (funny how Kris is also an incredibly obvious and direct target in the Weird Route as well, huh?).

Suddenly, her being teased all they way back in Undertale makes much more sense.

And there's also some reason to believe that Clam Girl isn't talking to Frisk here but rather The Player, given that she teased Deltarune's release ~6 weeks before it came out, so while it wasn't Frisk's time to meet her, it would instead end up being The Player's.

With all of this, it could be reasonable to assume that like Noelle, Susie could also relate to us in some way beyond just paralleling how an audience engages with fiction. She has the potential to become either our worst enemy or our best friend, because in a way, she's meant to be vaguely like us.

A person who is suffering from unfair circumstances (in her case, an implied rough home life, in ours a game that does not welcome us) who feels like they don't really have much of a choice in how things turn out, but because of their friends they're able to persevere and find happiness and companionship from the places and things within their control. In Susie's case, it's the time she spends with her friends and talking to people, but for us, what is truly within our control? We control Kris, but it's unhealthy and unwilling and Kris can break free under specific circumstances, so what else could it be?

What else other than the time we're spending playing the game? If we ever choose to leave it all behind we basically "win" and get the best possible outcome. We let the characters have their peace and live their lives, and we get to enjoy our own "Freedom" in the real world and do our own things, not bound by any arbitrary rules other than the ones we choose to follow.

Or we could let this bitterness from our unfortunate circumstances consume us, and go down the path Susie used to walk, lashing out at anything in our way in an envious rage, blind to the fact that in doing so we don't really change anything other than furthering our own misery.

This sort of "live your life" message reminds me of the End Poem from Minecraft a bit actually. I don't think the meaning behind either Deltarune or the End Poem is "don't play games", but rather that while it's a liberating experience, it's also important to not let it consume you entirely because you have a life separate to that as well.

[the-puppet-bracket]

Spamton propaganda:

"You know someone had to do it.

This guy's whole thing is not wanting to be a puppet anymore, but uh-oh-spaghetti-o! Dude now has physical puppet strings!"

"Making a [SPECIL] deal by placing his [#1 SALE SYSTEM] into a [CLASSIC!] body, Spamton believed he could be more than [HYPERLINK BLOCKED]. But the strings told him otherwise. He lunged at Kris in [LIMITED TIME OFFER], trying with all his [50% OFF!] to be more than a puppet."

"Spam email bot who was exposed to something that drove him mad and he spent the whole rest of his existence trying to cut his strings, only to die (maybe?) when he finally manages it."

"He is the most tortured dumpster man alive. Also, not literally a puppet, but metaphorically!!! There's some mysterious outside force controlling him and limiting what he can say and god, he desperately wants to break free, trying to kill the protagonist (his only friend in years) for the chance of ""being let loose from his strings"". In his secret boss battle, he thinks he'll be free after getting a new body but he isn't, as his new powerful body has literal strings attached. You fight him, because he thinks your soul (long story) will gain him access to freedom. During the pacifist route of the battle, you cut his strings until there's one more left, he's ecstatic, being able to break free from the narrative of the confines of the game. He decides to break his own last string, and he falls to the ground into pieces. It turns out he relied on the strings after so long, and couldn't recover without them. Afterwards, he's deshevaled, hung up by vines in the dark basement that resemble his old strings and he says ""It seems after all I couldn't be anything more than a simple puppet."" This ties back to how Kris, the protagonist of the game is feeling the effects of being controlled by the player and really shows the core focus of the game and it's characters. And that's why I entered him into this poll!

Also he is genuinely so fucking hilarious bro just play Deltarune already what the fuck are you doing the chapters that are out rn are free dawg (play Undertale first though, it's like ten bucks or something you'll be fine)"

"Spamton best blorbo. Very good blorbo. Exquisite blorbo even. He's sad and adhd and insane and weird and I love him and you should too. Pipis"

"he spamt"

"[[NUMBER ONE RATED SALESMAN 1997]]"

"he's living in a goddamn garbage can. let the big shot win. it'll be funny. does he deserve it? that is up to viewer discretion. but he is our beloved tumblr sillyman and as such we need to pay him respect in some manner. <3

(iirc spamton is a puppet? probably. oh well if he doesn't count ignore this i'm not read up on

my deltarune)"

"frankly i'd be surprised if he's not one of the most submitted. anyway his whole Deal is about being a puppet and having other things control him and so he seeks to regain that control through either manipulating the player into murdering half the city or to take the red soul and use it to become a god. yet in his super powerful NEO form he still has strings attached to him (that he won't even notice if he succeeded in the player manipulation thing) and in either case he ultimately becomes an item you use just for stats. guy really isn't a fan of puppetteers"

"you propably knew this was coming lol

Tumblr's favorite awful little puppet desperately fighting to get rid of his strings

the pinocchio references are strong in this one

HA HA HA ... THIS POWER IS

FREEDOM.

I WON'T HAVE TO BE JUST A PUPPET ANY MORE!!!!

...

OR... so... I... thought.

WHAT ARE THESE STRINGS!? WHY AM I NOT [BIG] ENOUGH!? It's still DARK... SO DARK!"

"Tries to become a real boy, ends up as another puppet look guy. He's shady, he's a scammer, he's got cringefail swag and I love him"

"He's just a little fucked-up little guy"