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vgfm · 4 years ago

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Deltarune Theory: The True Identity and Importance of “Everyman”

I’ve been away from the Undertale theory scene for a long time. It’s been so long that a whole new-fangled game got announced, and I’ve got some theories on it.

Are these theories about Gaster or Sans or whatever’s going on with Kris? Not exactly. At least, not yet. I’ve got a better character in mind.

Let’s start with Everyman: Undertale’s most obscure character and (I think) one of the most pivotal in Deltarune.

This is a two-part theory: the first part outlines who Everyman is and why I think he’ll be important in Deltarune. The second part? You’ll have to read and find out.

This is a long one and with loads of images, so strap yourselves in.

Sections

Part 1: Introduction to Everyman

Who is Everyman?

“So Everyman’s just an Easter egg, right?”

Everyman’s Importance

Why did Everyman appear in True Lab?

Why Everyman will have a bigger role in Deltarune

Part 2: Everyman is ???

What will Everyman’s role be?

Jevil’s Connection to Everyman

The Spade King’s clue

Additional Evidence

“Seriously?”

The Gaster connection

The “Strange Son”

Who made who?

“Seriously, who is Everyman?”

End

Closing Summary

Final Conclusions

Who is Everyman?

"Everyman” is a special attack that appears during the Reaper Bird amalgamate fight in True Lab.

This same figure appears twice in Deltarune’s first chapter:

Once as graffiti in an alleyway in Hometown...

...and again as a rare bullet attack during Jevil’s fight.

The name “Everyman” only ever appears in-game next to his graffiti portrait in Hometown. Everyman’s sprites are simply titled “strangeman” in Undertale’s game files:

[Image transcript: UTModTool is showing multiple highlighted sprite entries that begin with “spr_strangeman”. On the right is the file “spr_strangeman_walk” opened, showing a picture of Everyman. End image transcript]

Some time after Undertale’s release there was a since-deleted tweet from Toby with a picture of Reaper Bird’s attack that he titled “Everyman,” which is where fans first got the name.

[Image transcript: A tweet from toby fox that says “Everyman”. The first reply says “Is that his name. please thell me thats his obj name.” Toby’s response repeats “Everyman.” The next reply says “everything i aspire to be.” Toby responds again with “’Everyman’ you aspire to be.” Toby then adds another tweet saying “Description. Just a good guy that shows up on occasion.” end image transcript.]

This is a web archive screenshot so the image of Everyman’s bullet sprite wasn’t preserved here. Special thanks to catcat for tracking this one down!

“So Everyman’s just an Easter egg, right?”

I don’t think so. I’d be more inclined to write off Everyman’s role in Deltarune as a mere cameo if he had only shown up once. But it’s odd that Toby felt the need to include Everyman twice in a single chapter. To me this seems less like a one-off cameo and more like foreshadowing for a greater role in the full game.

Let’s compare Everyman’s appearances to instances of character foreshadowing and one-off cameos from Undertale and Deltarune:

Mettaton

[Image transcript: four Undertale screenshots arranged in a grid. In the top-left screenshot, the narration text box reads “(the machine isn’t working.)” as Frisk stares at Mettaton in Snowdin’s colored tile puzzle room. In the top-right screenshot, the narration textbox is reading a TV announcement in Papyrus’ house: “(It says ‘STAY TUNED FOR A NEW PROGRAM - MTT.’)”. In the bottom-left screenshot, Napstablook’s text box says “there’s a show i like to watch on it... sometimes...” as Frisk looks at their television. In the bottom-right screenshot, Undyne’s text box says “This oven is some top-of-the-line MTT thing.” as Frisk stares at her oven. End image transcript.]

Mettaton is foreshadowed multiple times before he makes his proper introduction in Alphys’ Lab. This includes a direct on-screen appearance of his rectangular form as part of Snowdin’s colored tile puzzle. What’s interesting is that half of these references (including the tile puzzle) only make sense in hindsight to a first-time player. For all we know there could be other, more-cryptic Everyman references already in Deltarune that we don’t have the full context to understand yet.

Rouxls Kaard

Despite his legendary introductory sequence catching many-a-player off-guard, Rouxls Kaard actually is foreshadowed a couple of times before his stunning debut.

[Image transcript: four Deltarune screenshots arranged in a grid. In the top-left screenshot, Ralsei is reading a message from Rouxls Kaard: “It says... ‘Thoust fools, thou will NEVER figure it out now!’. This is continued in the top-right screenshot: “Then it, um, says, ‘PS - I make my own Rules. - RK’”. In the bottom-left screenshot, a puzzle-master says “ROUXLS KAARD... Lord of the Puzzles... Be careful...!” In the bottom-right screenshot, one of Clover’s heads says “RK came by... What a hunk!” End image transcript.]

I’ve noticed from watching Let’s Plays that many people don’t even realize that these lines were meant to foreshadow him (and I’m pretty sure I didn’t realize it either on my first playthrough).

Ice-E

Now here’s something that’s an example of both a one-off cameo and proper foreshadowing! In Undertale, Ice-E is referenced exactly once in the entire game—as part of Sans’ Monster Kidz Word Search puzzle. No other character mentions Ice-E, Ice-E does not appear in-person, nor does the Ice-E’s restaurant appear... in Undertale. Deltarune is a completely different story.

[image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. in the left screenshot, Kris looks under their sink and the narration text box says: “A can of Ice-E’s Cool Boys Body Spray ‘Spray For The Boys,’ Flamin’ Hot Pizza Flavor.” In the right screenshot, Kris reads a chart in the hospital. The narration text box says: “(It’s a classic 1-to-10 pain scale, using ICE-E as a model.)” End image transcript.]

In Deltarune chapter 1 we find numerous references and bits of foreshadowing for Ice-E and, lo and behold, we see that Ice-E’s restaurant exists in Hometown at the end of chapter 1. And notice how it’s multiple references and not just a one-off like last time.

In every example of foreshadowing listed above we’re given more than one hint of a character’s presence, and so far Everyman fits this same pattern. This makes me feel safe in assuming he will have a bigger role in the full game.

Everyman’s Importance

What’s interesting is that in Chapter 1, Everyman appears in both the light and dark worlds. So far Deltarune has kept the light and dark worlds largely separate from one another, with only Kris and Susie traveling between them (as far as we know).

Everyman’s presence in both worlds implies that either he can travel between both worlds as well, or at least that lightners and darkners are both familiar with him.

Based on what we know, I’d wager that Everyman is a lightner—specifically, a monster. I say this for two reasons: 1.) so far we’ve only seen lightners (Kris and Susie) travel between both worlds, and 2.) this would explain Everyman’s appearance as one of Reaper Bird’s attacks in Undertale’s True Lab.

Why did Everyman appear in the True Lab?

The worlds of Undertale and Deltarune are connected. Toby has all-but-confirmed this himself.

[Image transcript: A screenshot from the official Deltarune website’s question-and-answer page. The question says “So there’s no connections between the two games?”. The answer says “It’s a different world that might even have different rules. That doesn’t mean there will be no connections at all though.” End image transcript.]

One major connection between Undertale and Deltarune is their largely-shared cast of characters. Many major characters from Undertale make an appearance in Deltarune’s first chapter, and Toby has shown that at least some characters from Deltarune’s universe have counterparts in the Undertale universe as well.

The Undertale Alarm Clock App makes reference to Rudolph Holiday living in the Underground some time prior to the events of Undertale.

[Image transcript: A dialogue box where Asgore says “Rudy... loved the holidays, you know.” End image transcript.]

This dialogue also strongly implies that Undertale’s universe has a counterpart for Noelle.

[Image transcript: Another dialogue box from Asgore. He says: “With a warm slice of fruitcake on the table. His youngest daughter peeking shyly from around the corner...” End image transcript]

Depending on how one interprets the Clamgirl NPC’s dialogue, there may or may not be an Undertale version of Susie (aka “Suzy”) too.

[Image transcript: Two Undertale screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, Clamgirl tells Frisk: “Synchronicity...? My neighbor’s daughter looks about your age.” In the right screenshot her dialogue continues: “Her name is ‘Suzy.’ I feel like you two should be friends.” End image transcript.]

I’d argue that Everyman also had a “counterpart” in Undertale’s universe who lived as a monster in the Underground. Much like Rudy, the Underground’s Everyman likely grew old and eventually “fell down”. But unlike Rudy, Everyman was sent to the True Lab for the royal scientist’s soul experiments and became part of the Reaper Bird amalgamate.

This would fit with the pattern that we see with most other amalgamates, namely that they each seem to be made up of one named/noteworthy monster combined with several other generic monsters. The formula goes like this:

Lemon Bread = Shyra (Shyren’s Sister) + Aaron + Moldbygg

Endogeny = Muttler + various dog enemies

Snowdrake Mother = Crystal (Snowdrake’s Mom) + Vegetoids(?)

Reaper Bird = Everyman + Astigmatism + Whimsalot + Final Froggit

The Memoryheads seem to not “fit” with the other amalgamates, perhaps intentionally, so I’ll leave them out for now.

Long story short: Everyman was most likely a monster since he was part of an amalgamate and (as far as we know) amalgamates can only be made of monsters.

Why Everyman will have a bigger role in Deltarune

We see in Deltarune that three of the monsters who became amalgamates in Undertale have since passed away. This fits a trend I’ve noticed of Toby trying to “explain” the absence of characters who are prominent in one of his games but not the other.

The examples I cited above of Rudy, Noelle, and (possibly) Susie existing in Undertale’s universe also serve as “excuses” for where those characters were and why they were absent from the events of Undertale’s story. Rudy was dead and Noelle and “Suzy” were living with their families (presumably) in parts of the Underground where Frisk never ventured.

Shyra, Muttler, and Crystal are similarly “excused” from Deltarune’s story when the graveyard informs the player of their passing. Gerson is likewise excluded from Deltarune due to having passed away before the events of the game.

Conveniently, Everyman is not listed among the amalgamate monsters who have passed away in Hometown, and the alleyway graffiti implies he’s alive and well.

We know that Deltarune’s timeline and character ages don’t match up perfectly with Undertale’s—Deltarune Asriel is still alive and slightly older than Kris, who’s roughly the same age as DR Monster Kid. Conversely, Undertale Asriel died long before Frisk entered the Underground, yet Frisk is still seemingly in the same age bracket as UT Monster Kid (who’s barely younger than Asriel in Deltarune). Like Rudy, we can assume that Deltarune’s Everyman is younger than the Everyman who “fell down” in the Underground.

What will Everyman’s role be?

Remember when I said this was a two-part theory? Well, here’s the second half of my theory: Everyman is the Knight.

[Image transcript: A text box that says “Yes, you read that correctly.” End image transcript.]

Yes, the same Knight mentioned by Seam, Jevil, and the King of Spades. The same Knight who’s pulling new dark fountains out of the earth and who’s implied to be a major antagonist in the full game.

I could hedge my bets by saying Everyman is merely “connected” to the Knight, but if the Knight is a character we already know of then I think Everyman is the most likely candidate.

Let’s start with the name: Everyman’s sprites are titled “strangeman” in Undertale’s files. The very first mention we get of the Knight in Deltarune is Seam describing a “strange knight” who appeared, complete with red font for emphasis.

[Image transcript: Seam speaking inside of a shop, saying: “But, recently, a strange knight appeared... And three of the kings were locked away.” End image transcript.]

The word “strange” seems to be used selectively and very deliberately in Deltarune’s first chapter. Here’s a breakdown of all the times it’s used:

Seam referring to the knight

Seam referring to the Knight’s “strange son” (more on that later)

Telling Seam about Jevil (”Strange Prisoner”)

Seam referring to the “strange someone” that Jevil met

Seam mentioning the “strange words” Jevil said

Rouxls Kaard referring to Lancer (”a strange and irritating darling!”)

Narration before Kris seals the dark fountain (”You felt something strange.”)

Flavor text during the Jevil fight (”Kris gazed strangely”)

The Devilsknife/Jevilstail appearing in a “strange chest” outside of Jevil’s cell upon defeating him (this may be dummied out or only triggers if your inventory is full of weapons/armors and Jevil can’t give his item to you)

The description of the key to Jevil’s cell (”something feels strange about it”)

With the exception of the line from Rouxls Kaard, every instance of “strange” somehow connects to the Knight or Jevil. If the Knight is indeed the “strange someone” who Jevil met then the list tightens even further, to the point where all but one use of the word “strange” is associated with a single character and his handiwork—a very “strange man”, as it were. Speaking of Jevil...

Jevil’s connection to the Knight and Everyman

Jevil’s fight is one of two places where Everyman appears in Deltarune chapter 1. Not only that, but Everyman’s sprite only appears as a rare event during Jevil’s carousel attack, implying that his appearance is somehow significant.

Interestingly enough, the other two sprites that appear during this attack are one with a head that vaguely resembles Mysteryman (believed to be Gaster) and another with the head of a horse, a.k.a. the same as a knight piece on a chess board. It’s also worth pointing out that it’s rarer for the Everyman sprite to appear than it is for either of the other two sprites to appear.

We can also see the Everyman sprite represented in the official Chaos Revolving Keychain from Fangamer.

Jevil mentions the Knight once you defeat him, showing that he has knowledge of his existence.

[Image transcript: Jevil saying “THE HAND OF THE KNIGHT IS DRIFTING FORWARD.” End image transcript.]

This is interesting since Seam’s dialogue implies that Jevil was imprisoned well before the Knight overthrew the three kings at Card Castle. I can think of three possible explanations for this seeming timeline discrepancy:

Jevil is somehow intrinsically “aware” of things that go on outside of his cell

The Knight or someone else visited Jevil in jail to tell him about what happened with the three kings

The Knight is the same “strange someone” that Jevil met before he was locked up

The first explanation is the least likely, imo, due to Jevil asking who Kris, Ralsei, and Susie are when he first meets them.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, Jevil is talking to the fun gang and he says: “BUT LO, THREE VISITORS STANDING INSIDE?” This continues in the right screenshot, where Jevil says: “WHO ARE YOU FEW?” End image transcript.]

If Jevil was aware of the outside world then he’d surely know of the fun gang’s antics by that point.

The second explanation doesn’t seem very likely either. Seam is the only character who acknowledges Jevil’s existence and we never see Seam visit Card Castle, even after the Spade King has been overthrown.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, Jack Person tells the fun gang: “By the by, I asked Seam to come here, but...” Continuing onto the right screenshot, where Jack Person finishes by saying “There wasn’t any interest.” End image transcript.]

Jevil’s cell doesn’t seem to have any guards and it’s kept on its own floor, so that would rule out Jevil hearing about the knight from other prisoners.

If someone in the castle brings food to Jevil then he may have overheard it from them, but even that is speculative. Does Jevil even need to eat? He says his body “cannot be killed,” after all.

[Image transcript: Jevil saying “THIS BODY CANNOT BE KILLED!” End image transcript.]

And I’m not sure if the King of Spades would be so accommodating towards a dangerous prisoner.

That just leaves the third explanation, which seems the most likely to me. It’s also the tidiest explanation for how Jevil would be aware of both the Knight and Everyman—they’re the same person.

We can only speculate as to why the “strange someone” caused Jevil to run amok. If that strange someone was the Knight then I would assume that setting Jevil loose may have been his attempt to overthrow or destabilize Card Castle’s leadership. We know that the Knight eventually overthrew the three other kings himself, so that may have been his plan B after Jevil failed or he merely wished to remove Jevil as an obstacle. Either way, the Knight toppled the quadrumvirate and installed the Spade King as the protector of Card Castle’s dark fountain.

The Spade King’s clue

The Spade King is the closest ally of the Knight that we’ve seen so far. The exact nature of their relationship isn’t fully known, but the King’s words imply that he reveres and is loyal to the Knight.

[Image description: Four Deltarune screenshots arranged in a grid. In the top-left, the King of Spades says “By the Knight’s will, I shall shatter your heart to pieces!”. In the top-right, the King says “For the KNIGHT has appeared.” In the bottom-left, the King says “The KNIGHT that pulls the Fountains from the Earth.” In the bottom-right, the King says “My KNIGHT... I shall not fail you...” End image transcript.]

Both characters share an interest in maintaining the existence of dark fountains, given that the Knight has been said to create new fountains by pulling them up from the Earth.

Unlike Jevil, the Spade King’s attacks never make explicit reference to Everyman’s visage, but he does give a possible nod that many players have overlooked. When the Spade King is defeated, he makes a curious gesture by letting his cloak fly away like a butterfly.

While this may be a simple artistic flourish, I always found this moment to be odd and unfitting for a brutish character like the King. It’s also worth pointing out how the King’s cloak is clearly not a part of his body, unlike what’s implied with Lancer’s “clothes”.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, the battle narration says: “You tell Lancer you can’t tell the difference between his clothes and his body.” The narration continues in the right screenshot, saying “He seems flattered... His ATTACK POWER went down!” End transcript.]

What if the King didn’t always have that butterfly-shaped cloak? Did someone give it to him? Think of where else we’ve seen butterfly motifs before.

At first blush, this seems obvious—the Reaper Bird is clearly made from the Core mercenaries, including Whimsalot. Whimsalot attacks with butterfly bullets, so that’s where Reaper Bird got them from, right? Case closed. Well, not so fast.

It turns out there are two different sets of butterfly bullets in Undertale’s game files, and Reaper Bird’s are different from Whimsalot’s.

[Image transcript: Two groups of butterfly bullet sprites. The left group is labeled “Whimsun / Whimsalot.” The right group is labeled “Reaper Bird”. End image transcript.]

Notice how Reaper Bird’s butterflies are smaller and have pointier, more symmetrical wings? While those differences could be chalked up to limited pixel resolution, it’s interesting how Toby went out of his way to create an entirely unique set of butterfly bullets for Reaper Bird when it arguably would have made more sense for him to recycle the Whimsun butterflies like he did for Whimsalot.

If you want to compare the sprites for yourself I suggest either looking at the game files directly or looking at an actual playthrough of Undertale. I’ve noticed that Spriter’s Resource mistakenly has Reaper Bird’s butterflies listed under Whimsun’s sprite sheet (which is a completely understandable mix-up).

To drive the point home, notice the string names that are used for these butterflies:

[Image transcript: An UTModTool window showing multiple named strings. Highlighted in red are six strings that each contain “obj_strangeman_butterfly” in their names. End image transcript.]

They’re “strangeman” butterflies. Not “amalgamate” or “Reaper Bird” butterflies (despite Reaper Bird having its own share of dedicated strings and named sprites), and they’re not “Whimsalot” butterflies either. Toby clearly delineates them as belonging to strangeman, a.k.a. Everyman, meaning that Everyman is specifically associated with butterfly imagery. The Spade King also makes use of butterfly imagery immediately after he mentions the Knight in his final turn.

Between the King and Jevil, this makes two characters that can be linked to both Everyman and the Knight.

Additional Evidence

Let’s circle back to Reaper Bird for a second. It’s commonly known that this amalgamate is made from Astigmatism, Final Froggit, and Whimsalot. To wit:

These enemies are part of the mercenary group that Mettaton hires to attack you in the Core. Have you ever noticed how out-of-place they seem? Almost every other set of enemies in the game is somehow themed around their environment — Snowdin enemies are ice creatures, Hotland enemies are fire/lava-themed, etc. These mercenaries are themed around medieval warfare and yet they show up in the Core, the most high-tech area in the entire Underground.

What’s even stranger is that this medieval theme seems to come out of nowhere. Astigmatism, Final Froggit, and Whimsalot act as “upgraded” versions of Loox, Froggit, and Whimsun, respectively. And yet their Ruins counterparts don’t have any medieval theming whatsoever—it was added purely for the mercenaries. For whatever reason they’re all dressed like a bunch of wizards and... knights.

[Image transcript: Two Undertale screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, a Core NPC says “Why do I look like a black sausage and not a knight or a wizard?” This continues on the right, where it says “Well... Everyone has an angle they look best from.” End image transcript.]

That’s not my interpretation of their designs—the game outright calls them knights.

On the one hand, it’s true that Asgore’s royal guards also dress up like knights, but the Core mercenaries are explicitly not part of the royal guard—they’re mercenaries.

[Image transcript: Battle flavor text that states “Mercenaries emerge from the shadows.” End image transcript.]

Assuming that Asgore has a dress code for his guards or is just old-fashioned in his sensibilities, there’s still no reason why fighters outside of the guard should follow their standard. Even some of the royal sentries don’t follow this theming, as seen with Doggo and Sans (who’s technically a sentry):

With the abundance of knight-themed royal guard and sentry enemies that exist already, Toby could’ve easily designed the Core Mercenaries to more accurately fit with the Core’s futuristic theme. Doesn’t it seem a little too coincidental that Everyman would wind up as part of the same amalgamate as these otherwise out-of-place knights?

When we look at the other amalgamates, we can see that Lemon Bread (a.k.a. Shyren’s sister) is made up of Waterfall enemies. Endogeny is made up entirely of dog-based enemies. These two amalgamates each have a “theme” for their component monsters that fits the “main” named monster they’re each made of, and Reaper Bird has a clear theme of its own. Why would Everyman be paired with a bunch of knights if he was not connected to them in some way?

Even the Undertale artbook groups Everyman’s concept art with the Core Mercenaries, specifically the ones that look the most like knights and wizards in-game. The book also repeats the name “Everyman” and Toby’s cryptic phrase of “Just a good guy who shows up on occasion.”

Perhaps Everyman knew the Core mercenaries when he was alive? Were they his fellow knights? Or did they work for him before he fell down and they had to then lend their services elsewhere?

“The Knight? Seriously?”

Some of you may be shaking your heads dismissively at the idea of Everyman being the Knight (or you more likely clicked over to another tab by now). I mean, just look at the guy:

What part of this design makes you think “knight”, let alone THE Knight? Well, Seam does refer to the Knight as a “strange” knight, and Everyman certainly fits that bill. But more importantly, we haven’t seen an actual overworld sprite for Everyman yet—we’ve only seen some graffiti and a couple of magic bullet attacks, which are always abstract and simplified.

Not pictured: Froggit, Migosp, Temmie, Moldbygg, Tsunderplane, Mettaton, or Endogeny.

Everyman’s “proper” design would almost certainly differ from his Pillsbury Doughboy-esque bullet sprite, especially if he’s wearing a cloak or a suit of armor. And even if his design doesn’t differ that much, so what? It’s not like this series has ever had an opponent that looks goofy or non-threatening, right?

Another little tidbit I noticed: one of Reaper Bird’s attacks consists of Everyman repeatedly removing his own head.

Or maybe it’s not his head? Perhaps it’s a helmet? Like one that a knight would wear? After all, it’s not unheard of for helmets to have beak-like protrusions.

And this is a series where helmets can come in any shape or size to better fit the needs of the wearer.

Just some food for thought.

The Gaster connection

It’s time to address the elephant in the room: “Isn’t Gaster supposed to be the Knight?” If you haven’t heard by now, this is one of the prevailing theories in the fandom. To be honest, if the Knight ends up not being Everyman then Gaster is the next-best candidate, imo, but these two theories don’t have to be mutually-exclusive. I think a case can be made that Everyman and Gaster are connected in some way.

Let me say up front that this section is highly speculative (unlike the previous sections, which clearly aren’t the least bit speculative). We’re dealing with two super-obscure characters who’ve yet to make a proper on-screen appearance in either game. It’s already hard enough to figure out how either of them connect to the broader Undertale universe, let alone to each other, but I’ll give it a shot.

For starters, we can affirm that both Gaster and Everyman are linked to the True Lab. There’s no shortage of fan theories and speculation on Gaster’s prior usage of the True Lab in his own experiments and I won’t get into all that here, but suffice it to say the True Lab has Gaster’s name written all over it.

(Am I the only one who thinks the DT Extractor looks more like Everyman’s head than it does a Gaster Blaster? Forget I said anything.)

We’ve covered how Everyman appears as one of Reaper Bird’s attacks. Interestingly, the amalgamate Memoryhead has an attack that resembles the head of Mysteryman, the figure believed to be Gaster (which I’ll assume here for simplicity’s sake).

If we follow the logic of my prior “Everyman is the named/important monster that makes up Reaper Bird, fitting the pattern of other amalgamates” argument, then Gaster (or pieces of him) could fill the same role for the Memoryheads.

Everyman and Gaster’s sprites both have the suffix of “man” in Undertale’s game files. Here are all the sprites that use this same naming scheme:

strangeman - Everyman

mysteryman - “Gaster”

snowman - gives you the snowman piece

riverman - a.k.a. River Person

darkman - the shadowy overworld sprites used for the Core Mercenaries

watchingman - The spoon-shaped amalgamate that tucks Frisk into bed

The snowman’s inclusion is a bit of a fluke, because what else would you call a snowman without using “man” in the name? If we exclude the snowman, each instance of “man” represents a mysterious figure that ties back to Everyman and/or Gaster.

We’ve already covered the connection between Everyman and the Core Mercenaries, and it’s easy to connect the “watchingman” amalgamate with the True Lab. River Person is also frequently linked to Gaster in fan theories (and they allude to “the man from the other world” and “the man who speaks in hands”), so what we’re left with is a close-knit community of strange, mysterious "man”s.

This naming scheme looks very intentional on Toby’s part, and he seems to be continuing it in Deltarune by referring to the secret unseen NPC who gives you the egg behind the tree in Scarlet Forest as simply “a man.”

[Image transcript: Narration from the secret egg room. The text box states: “(Well, there is a man here.)” End image transcript]

The Knight’s “Strange Son”?

Remember when I said I’d get back to the Knight’s “strange son”? That’s now. I’m a little iffy on this topic because it involves stacking a whole ton of assumptions onto a single line of dialogue that’s phrased in an ambiguous way. But, if it means what I think it means, it could shed a ton of light on Everyman’s possible connection to Gaster and whether either of them are the Knight.

When you ask Seam about the “Kingdom”, Seam says this:

[Image transcript: Three of Seam’s text boxes arranged vertically. In order, they read: “Historically, this land was ruled by the Four Kings, from CARD CASTLE to the East. But, recently, a strange knight appeared... And three of the kings were locked away. The remaining king put him and his strange son into power.” End image transcript]

Let’s focus on that last sentence. On my first playthrough I misread this line as “the knight put the king and his strange son into power” because that sounds a lot closer to the events that happened—the Spade King and his “strange son” Lancer are in power now because the three kings were locked away, presumably by the Knight.

But the actual text states the opposite—the remaining king (Spade King) put him (the Knight) and his strange son (i.e., the Knight’s son) into power. Or does it? The line could also read as—the remaining king (Spade King) put him (the Knight) and his (the King’s) strange son (Lancer) into power. The second way is awkwardly-structured but technically valid. And this is assuming that Toby didn’t make any grammatical errors when he typed these lines, which he has done on occasion.

[Image transcript: A dialogue box where Dr. Alphys says “I felt so guilty knowing I hadn’t do anything to stop you.” End image transcript.]

Not to be too hard on Toby, but even if Seam’s line is grammatically correct it’s still clunky and murky in its conception—at this point in the game we’ve only just been introduced to Lancer and the fact that his dad is the King, and now this line is potentially introducing yet another father/son duo that is closely connected with Lancer’s dad—is it any wonder that this line is often glossed over by fans?

The second reading, where Lancer is the “strange son,” is also awkward because the Spade King would have little need to put Lancer “into power”. Lancer was already a prince and, presumably, already wielded power in that role. Various NPCs make reference to Lancer bossing them around, and such a thing could’ve easily happened before the three kings were deposed.

If we take Seam’s line with the first reading (where the Knight has a “strange son”) and assume there were no grammatical errors, then this is the only time in chapter 1 that the Knight is ever referred to as having a son. It’s also the only time that the Knight is addressed with pronouns, implying that the Knight is male. If true, this would rule out the theory that Kris (or any potential alter ego that Kris has) is the knight, since Kris is neither male nor do they have a son. This would also rule out Susie, who’s never been a popular contender for being the Knight but is referred to as a “dark knight” on her stats page.

Who made who?

So then, who’s male, widely believed to be the Knight, and is often depicted as having one or more sons?

This (alleged) guy!

“But wait,” you might ask, “isn’t your theory that Everyman is the Knight?” Well, the Knight and his “strange son” seem to be working as a duo in the scenario that Seam outlines, given that the Spade King put both of them “into power.”

Because of Everyman’s connections to the Knight that I’ve laid out, plus the more popular theory that Gaster is the Knight, it’s possible that one may be the Knight and the other may be the Knight’s “strange son.” The way I see it, it doesn’t make a huge difference which one is which.

Now, I don’t think that Gaster and Everyman would be father and son in the strict biological sense. There are a number of reasons for this, but for starters I’m not even sure if Everyman and Gaster are the same species. My inclination is that Everyman is a monster, while Gaster may be a darkner. The latter is mostly my own guess and springboards off of a popular theory that Sans is a darkner, but it’s a whole other can of worms that I won’t get into now.

More importantly, Gaster is strongly implied to have some sort of connection to Sans and Papyrus. All three of them are also connected with special fonts that they each use. As far as I can tell, there’s no widely-used font by the name of “Everyman”, so this would imply that Everyman is not a skeleton and therefore not biologically related to them. However, there’s more than one way to start a family.

Gaster was the royal scientist in Undertale’s universe and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he (or his potential Deltarune counterpart) could find the means to create life forms artificially.

[Image transcript: The vessel creation scene from Deltarune. The on-screen text says “YOU HAVE CREATED A WONDERFUL FORM.” End image transcript.]

Everyman could be a creation of Gaster’s and thus he’d be Gaster’s “son”.

There’s also another possibility: Everyman is Gaster’s creator. We know that the Knight is pulling new dark fountains out of the Earth. I think the Knight, regardless of who they are, must be able to survive without a dark fountain to give their body form, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to venture into areas where new fountains have yet to be pulled up. The Knight is almost certainly a lightner, and I’ve already detailed why I think Everyman is a lightner as well.

We don’t fully understand how dark fountains interact with darkners, but it’s stated multiple times that dark fountains “give form” to the Dark World.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, Ralsei’s narration says “Today the FOUNTAIN OF DARKNESS-” and continues into the right screenshot, saying: “The geyser that gives this land form-” End image transcript.]

In the dummied-out manual pages, Ralsei also mentions how his dark fountain gives his body form.

[Image transcript: Ralsei’s manual excerpt, whic says “Dedicated to The unending pillar of darkness that gives my body form.” End image transcript]

Darkners need dark fountains in order to maintain their forms. They may not even be able to survive at all without them. From this point of view, when the Knight creates new dark fountains he’s bringing new darkners to life. If Gaster is a darkner himself, then it’s not unthinkable to imagine that Everyman may have brought him to life in this way and could thus be called his “father”. Seam does refer to lightners as the “creators” of darkners, after all.

[Image transcript: Seam’s dialogue box saying “They were like Gods to us. Our protectors. Our creators. Those who gave us purpose...” End image transcript.]

Ultimately the question of who’s the father and who’s the son is purely speculative. We don’t even know for sure if the Knight has a son, let alone whether it’s Everyman, Gaster, or someone else entirely. It’s very much a “the chicken or the egg?” kind of question.

[Image transcript: Two images. The right is a screenshot of the egg room with narration stating “(You received an Egg)”. End image transcript.]

Hmm...

“Seriously, who is Everyman?”

Let’s bring this home with the question we started with: Who is Everyman? I’ve gone into evidence that he existed as an actual person in Undertale and will likely play a role in Deltarune, but this doesn’t tell us much about the kind of character he is. We don’t even know if “Everyman” is his real name.

If Everyman is indeed a prominent character in Deltarune then there are two possibilities: 1.) he’s a brand new character we’ve never met before, or 2.) he’s someone that we have met before. The first option, while a strong possibility, doesn’t leave us with much to talk about, so let’s look at the second.

Right out the gate I can confidently say that Everyman is not a character that we talked to or had significant interaction with in Undertale. The obvious reason is that he was busy being stuck inside Reaper Bird and he couldn’t have been in two places at once (as far as we know). This means that Everyman would have to be a character introduced in Deltarune chapter 1.

I’ve said before that I believe Everyman is a lightner, so this would rule out any dark world characters. That leaves us with the residents of Hometown who didn’t have direct counterparts in Undertale’s story.

After careful consideration I’ve narrowed the field to two suspects:

Father Alvin

Father Alvin has always struck me as an oddity. He seems like an important member of Hometown’s community, and yet none of the other residents ever talk about him. He’s also conspicuously absent from Undertale’s universe.

The most notable thing about Father Alvin is that his church seems to worship “the Angel”.

[Image transcript: Father Alvin saying “Let the Angel’s power light your way.” End image transcript.]

Ralsei’s prophecy states that the three heroes must seal the dark fountains in order to banish the “Angel’s Heaven.”

[Image transcript: Two Deltaunre screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, Ralsei’s narration says “Only they can seal the fountains.” The right screenshot continues, saying: “And banish the ANGEL’S HEAVEN.” End image transcript.]

This would put the heroes at odds with both the Knight (who’s creating fountains) and whoever is serving this Angel. We can only speculate on the Knight’s motives, but what if he’s acting in service to the Angel?

Something that isn’t brought up much in the fandom is the religious reverence that darkners give to their fountains. The King of Spades refers to the fountains that the Knight creates as “holy” fountains.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, the King of Spades says “Holy Fountains, whose shadows are creating a new world...” The right screenshot continues, saying “OUR world.” End image transcript.]

The soundtrack that plays at the Fountain is called “The Holy.” Dark fountains can seemingly create life, so it’s easy to imagine the Knight viewing his own mission as some sort of holy rite.

As far as evidence goes for Alvin being Everyman/the Knight, the biggest clue is the drawing signed by Alvin that shows up in the supply closet at the end of chapter 1.

Every other object in the closet represents a part of the dark world that Kris and Susie visited, and yet at no point do they encounter a dark world manifestation of this drawing. We know that the Knight visited Card Castle previously, so this drawing could be meant to represent the Knight’s presence in that part of the dark world.

It’s also worth noting how most of the closet’s toys are arranged from left to right in the order that Kris and Susie encountered them on their journey. Alvin’s drawing is on the far right, just past the open cabinet drawer (i.e., Card Castle), implying that Alvin’s drawing was either at the fountain or that it was effectively the “next” thing that Kris and Susie would’ve encountered if they had stayed.

It’s hard to make out what the drawing could be beyond being a “poorly-drawn picture of a green turtle”, as the flavor text explains. Could it be Everyman? Or is it just a reference to Bold and Brash? Both? Neither? The world may never know. Or it may know when the full game comes out.

Can I also add how strange it is that Alvin’s drawing is in the closet to begin with? Alvin looks to be a pretty old dude, so why would his drawing still be in a school that he no longer attends? I don’t have an answer, I just think it’s weird.

Other clues that could point to Alvin being Everyman are that he is, scientifically speaking, old-looking, which would line up with my hypothesis of Undertale’s Everyman being an older monster who fell down before becoming Reaper Bird.

Alvin also vaguely resembles Everyman as far as their proportions are concerned.

It’s by no means a perfect match, especially if we factor in Alvin’s shell, but both characters possess a round head with some sort of beak or proboscis.

If Everyman actually is Father Alvin, then the title “Everyman” could be a reference to The Summoning of Everyman, a 15th-century religious morality play. I won’t get into the specifics here, but the play focuses on a character named Everyman who must prepare for his inevitable death and judgment for his deeds in life. I don’t really know how much that would tie into Deltarune’s themes or if it’s even a deliberate reference to begin with, so make of it what you will.

Father Alvin was the first character that I suspected of being Everyman when I started writing this theory, but there’s one major sticking point that prevents me from fully embracing the idea: the fact that he lacks a character portrait for his dialogue boxes.

This may seem like a minor nitpick, but dialogue portraits indicate when a character is important to the story, and it would be a pretty big oversight on Toby’s part if a (presumably) recurring antagonist wasn’t given a portrait. Even a three-scene wonder like Rouxls Kaard was given a portrait.

It’s true that recurring characters like Napstablook and Monster Kid weren’t given portraits in Undertale...

But Deltarune has greatly expanded the number of characters with portraits this time around, and we can already infer that Noelle (who had a portrait in chapter 1) will be an important character going forward:

Given Alvin’s limited dialogue in chapter 1 and his lack of a portrait, I’m more inclined to believe that he’ll end up being a minor character, in which case he’d almost certainly not be the Knight (and therefore not Everyman). But who knows, maybe Toby will give him a portrait in the full game.

Thankfully, we have another candidate who might be Everyman:

The Ice-E’s Employees

You think I’m joking? Trust me, you’ll know when I’m joking.

I didn’t initially make the connection between Ice-E’s and Everyman until I saw a post from @curioscurio that pointed me in that direction.

Let’s go back to the Everyman graffiti that appears in Hometown.

Notice how the drawing right next to it resembles Ice-E’s head? I can’t believe this was staring me in the face the whole time and I never realized the connection.

Another point in favor of the Ice-E’s workers is that we don’t even know what two of them look like. We know that Burgerpants is one, and another is implied to be the Nice Cream Bunny that we met in Undertale.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, the Ice-E’s employee says “Psst, can I tell you a mascot secret? I only started working here because...” The right screenshot continues, saying “The logo made me think it was an ice-cream shop...” End image transcript.]

But this still leaves the “purple guy” and “The Warrior”, who remain in full costume for chapter 1, meaning that one of them could resemble Everyman underneath their mask.

Speaking of The Warrior, he certainly fits the bill as being “strange.” His title wouldn’t be out of place among the likes of The Knight, and his dialogue refers to the hospital’s medical staff as “white wizards”, which fits with the medieval theming that’s associated with Everyman’s mercenary cohorts in Undertale.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, the Warrior says “This castle’s WHITE WIZARDs relegated me to this HEALING CHAMBER...” The right screenshot continues, saying “But my BLOOD is BOILING FOR BATTLE!!!” End image transcript.]

Speaking of the Core Mercenaries, here’s an interesting tidbit:

[Image transcript: Two Undertale screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, a Core NPC says “As a youth, I would sneak out to play by this creepy flaming pit.” The right screenshot continues, saying “Since the CORE is always re-arranging, it was like a game trying to find it.” End image transcript.]

I used to assume that the Core Mercenaries were older monsters who fought in the human-monster war, which would explain their insistence on dressing up as old-timey knights and wizards. However, these lines of dialogue imply that the Mercenaries are far younger—young enough to visit the Core when they were kids.

So why would a bunch of younger monsters dress up like old-school knights and wizards? Simple: they’re LARPers. This would explain why their more casual overworld dialogue doesn’t match their overly-serious battle dialogue whatsoever—the battle is over and, thus, so is the act.

What does this have to do with Ice-E’s? Simple. The Warrior is also a LARPer. But he takes it a step further and never lets the act slip. According to Burgerpants, he terrorizes customers with war chants during his day job, and we see him keeping up the act while he’s injured in the hospital. It’s clear that he’s living in a fantasy world, and someone like that would have every reason to spend time in a strange dark world that “seems like” fantasy.

[Image transcript: Lyrics from Deltarune’s credits theme. It says: “And the places that you know seem like fantasy”. End image transcript.]

Someone like him could grow attached to such a place and want to see it spread as far and wide as possible, with no regard for how it would affect the boring “real world”. All he’d need to do is create new dark fountains to sustain this fantasy world.

I also find it interesting that The Warrior is in the hospital during chapter 1. Burgerpants claims that this is the result of “pizza-related injuries.”

[Image transcript: Two dialogue boxes from Burgerpants. Read from top to bottom, it says “The Warrior - Thankfully absent due to pizza-related injuries. Constantly terrorizing customers with war chants.” End image transcript.]

But what if there was another reason? We can see signs of “some kind of struggle” in the King of Spade’s throne room, complete with tattered wall banners.

[Image transcript: Narration in the Spade King’s throne room. The text box says “(Wall banners. They seem to have been through some kind of struggle...)” End image transcript.]

What if the Knight sustained injuries when he overthrew the three kings and had to go to the hospital afterwards? A “struggle” implies that there was some resistance involved.

Another interesting coincidence is that the previews for Deltarune Chapter 2 strongly imply that it will take place in a dark world that forms in the hospital.

Earlier previews have also implied that Noelle will have a larger role in Chapter 2, and she’d have every reason to be in the hospital visiting her father when things hit the fan.

It feels awfully convenient that a new dark world springs up right in the spot where the Warrior is. I wouldn’t be surprised if chapter 2 gives us our first glimpse of the Knight in person, and what better way than a surprise run-in with the Warrior?

Some of you may be asking why I’d suggest a minor character like The Warrior might be the Knight when he has a single line of dialogue and no dialogue portrait? Simple: characters tend not to have portraits when their face is hidden from view. We see this with Undyne in Undertale:

She doesn’t gain a dialogue portrait until after she removes her helmet. This is also true of Burgerpants in Deltarune.

So, unlike Father Alvin, The Warrior has an excuse for not having a dialogue portrait yet. While Father Alvin has some compelling evidence supporting him being the Knight/Everyman, The Warrior has no major counter-argument that I can think of (unlike Father “no portrait” Alvin), so I give The Warrior the edge as far as Everyman suspects go.

I’d also like point out that if Gaster ends up not being the Knight or the Knight’s “Strange Son,” then we could get a two-for-one deal of Father Alvin as the Knight and The Warrior as his strange son. Definitely not the most likely outcome, but technically possible! I’d imagine those two would have a hilariously awkward dynamic if they were related.

Closing Summary

Wow, this post went on for a while! Let’s summarize what we’ve learned today.

Everyman (in Undertale)

Was likely a monster who “fell down”

Became part of the Reaper Bird Amalgamate

Likely knew the Core Mercenaries

Is connected to butterfly imagery

Described as “strange”

May or may not have looked like his bullet sprite

May or may not have been connected to “mysteryman”/Gaster

May or may not have been connected to the River Person

Everyman (in Deltarune)

Is alive and active

Is known to both lightners and darkners

Can most likely travel between the light and dark worlds

Is known of by Jevil

May or may not resemble his Undertale bullet sprite

May or may not be connected to “mysteryman”/Gaster

May or may not be Father Alvin

May or may not be an Ice-E’s employee

May or may not be the Knight or the Knight’s “strange son”

The Knight

Described as “strange”

Is pulling up new dark fountains from the Earth

Has been to the dark world

Is possibly a lightner/monster

Is connected to the Spade King, who uses butterfly imagery

Overthrew the other three kings at Card Castle

Is known of by Jevil and Seam

May or may not be Everyman

May or may not be “mysteryman”/Gaster

May or may not be the “strange someone” who changed Jevil

Likely male

Likely has a “strange son”

Everyman and the Knight (similarities)

Both are likely monsters

Both are alive and active in Deltarune’s world

Both are (presumably) male

Both have a presence in the dark world

Both are known by Jevil and may have met him previously

Both are associated with butterfly imagery to some degree

Both are connected to knight imagery

Both are described as “strange”

Both may be connected to “mysteryman”/Gaster

Both are foreshadowed in Deltarune chapter 1

Final Conclusions

So what do I really think? I’m reminded of Undertale’s original Kickstarter demo and how much of the full game’s story was left out of it. Right now we’re in a similar situation with Deltarune. I can’t view any of my theories with certainty because at the end of the day I have no idea what Toby’s going to write for the full game, but I can guess.

If I had to put a number to it, I’d say the odds of Everyman making further appearances in Deltarune is 95% and the odds of him being the Knight is about 66%. There’s always the possibility that Gaster will usurp the title of Knight and leave Everyman as the Knight’s “strange son” or as the far less illustrious role of “no one particularly important”.

If Everyman is in the game, I’d give 50/50 odds that he’s one of the Ice-E’s employees, mainly due to the Warrior’s situation lining up well with Chapter 2′s (likely) setting. I’d then give a 25% chance it’s Father Alvin and the remaining 25% as “anyone else”.

Thanks for reading all of this (or skipping to the end). I’ve seen hardly anyone talk about our favorite strange little man and I just wanted to get the word about him out there. Even if you don’t agree with my conclusions, I’m happy to (hopefully) ignite further discussion over this often-overlooked character.

For now I’ve said all that I can say on the topic. All we can do is wait and see what happens. Fingers crossed.

Special thanks to @curioscurio for inspiring me to make this post in the first place.

Date published: December 10th, 2020

#deltarune #undertale #everyman #undertale theory #gaster

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evenmywordsare · 3 years ago

Text

well now that it’s been 24 hours, here are my personal thoughts on chapter two. spoilers obviously!

so susie might be one of my favourite characters in all media now? i don’t even have the words. i would kill for her. i love her and her faces and her enthusiasm and her awkwardness and. how she took an interest in healing magic but still fires it off in a badass way. i just love her SO much

everything about noelle. what a sweetpea i LOVE her i can’t even put it into words either. she is so brave. also when she strangled berdly

SUSIE AND RALSEI BROTP RISE UP. they are the cutest friends omfg. i’m obsessed

also susie and kris brotp continues to be top tier

ralsei is super weird though. he is a sweetheart but he is 100% hiding something. HOW DOES HE KNOW ABOUT THE SUPPLY CLOSET. WHY DIDN’T HE TURN TO STONE LIKE ROUXLS AND LANCER. WHY DID NOELLE AND BERDLY AND QUEEN SEEM TO BARELY PERCEIVE HIM. WHAT WAS WITH THAT WIERD CONVERSATION AFTER THE SPAMTON FIGHT. IS HE EVEN A DARKNER. WHO IS HE

loved his suit with the lil bowtie though that was so cute

im not sure if ralsei has a uh. crush on kris. or if he’s just so completely unused to affection of any kind. i’d lean toward the latter which makes me so sad. who hurt him

SUSIE AND NOELLE SUSIE AND NOELLE!! oh they were so cute help me

they should have told noelle the truth though :/ it’s too bad susie panicked

QUEEN was delightful and super funny and so fun and i’m sincerely glad she stuck around. absolutely love her

i can’t perceive her as lancer’s actual mother. like i saw it coming within the first minute of meeting her with the colour scheme and the name but it doesn’t fit for me, nor do i want to for a single second think about her being in a relationship with the sp*de k*ng

i don’t care for any sp*de k*ng woobifying btw. fuck that guy

i was not expecting antagonist berdly but ngl i kinda loved it. i love how the dark world immediately went to his head it was perfect. he’s AWFUL but in a hysterical and entertaining way. he’s a great parody of a character and i genuinely enjoyed his presence and role in the game

i just love that trope where the protagonist’s bully or rival gets powers equivalent to theirs and then lets the power go to their head and goes way too far with it and i could see some of that with berdly. i almost wish toby had pushed it a bit further with that

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH SPAMTON. what was with the obvious mettaton in the basement and spamton’s boss music having the mad dummy and power of neo and mettaton and jevil motifs. and the yellow soul mode. WHAT WAS WITH SEAM’S COMMENTARY ABOUT HIM. IMPORTANT TO A CERTAIN LIGHTNER ONCE? METTATON? HELLO? what is the timeline here. i am going insane

asriel’s computer shows game development with a final boss that has rainbow wings. the dark world in this chapter was in a computer, meaning that mettaton body must have come from the internet. is it possible that asriel is making undertale…? i have no clue what’s happening ignore me

not knowing the exact connection between undertale and deltarune is going to kill me

anyway i got lucky and somehow survived spamton on the first try but what an insane battle

toriel and sans besties content :) they are besties in any universe!

what were snowy and monster kid talking about by the weird door……… the way they directly mentioned kris too…. did kris come from there?

more confirmation that other humans exist in this world, just not in hometown, is interesting.

so what i’m understanding is that dess died (hence noelle freezing up at the word “december” during the spelling bee) and that potentially cop asg*re killed her (hence the rift between the two families, asg*re not seeing rudy in person, the divorce, asg*re getting kicked off the force) anyway acab

i continue to h*te delatrune undyne. toby how could you do my all time favourite ut character like this. disgusting

TORIEL AND SUSIE 😭 oh my god. their interactions were super important to me. they made a pie and it nearly brought me to tears

susie’s expression and walk animation in kris’ house is 🥺

based on her reactions to the room ralsei made for her and kris’ house and the way toriel treated her, susie definitely does not have a room or a house or (nice) parents. maybe toriel could adopt her

toriel’s pyjamas

has kris been the knight this whole time? i’m still a kris defender and i will never call them evil but i am just wondering

also we all agree they were the one to slash toriel’s tires right? obviously they don’t want toriel to leave… but they also opened the door. to let the darkness out? will the whole town be covered in darkness? dark world toriel, undyne???

with the utmost love and respect i did not vibe with the cyber setting as much as the original dark world setting. still lots of fun of course though and loved the amount of care and detail that went into it but i won’t miss it. it didn’t feel very “deltarune” to me especially in the beginning with those objecthead robots, or at the end with the punch out boss fight. but that’s just down to my personal preference

i LOVED the enemies- tasques, werewires, poppups, maice etc. so creative and interesting!

the recruitment mechanic is great and gives so much more purpose to the enemy encounters

the new music is soooo good. slaps as always mr fox

i haven’t done the no mercy route yet.. i don’t think anything is worth doing horrible things to noelle so i’ll have to see if people say it’s worth it (i’m someone who really enjoys the ut no mercy route for the boss fights so i AM interested but. noelle. yikes lol)

overall i really enjoyed it for the music and characters!

#deltarune chapter 2 spoilers #pie posts

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nebuleeart · 3 years ago

Note

Who's the little axolotl guy?

ohoho anon get ready for a long answer because you have just asked about my most developed oc 😏

Their name is Chip! (he/they) They're the main character of a story concept I've had in the back of my mind for a while now, and I also use them as my pngtuber model on Twitch (or I would. If I ever streamed there NJANSDKJNKS)

He's from a little group of OCs that my friend and I call "the Craftworld gang" because I haven't come up with a good name for them yet. Each of them has a magic power or item that is craft-based (one of them can fold origami weapons, one of them has a beefed up glue gun, etc). Chip can create potions out of paint :)

He originated as a Deltarune darkner OC based on a real plush that I own, the Snoozimals axolotl (sweet boy pictured below)

Here's some older sketches of them! Tumblr wont let me put the images in the correct order for some reason but the one with the glasses came first and the other was the redesign. I ended up removing his glasses when I gave him horns bc I thought he looked like a NERD it made him more expressive 😊

THEIR BACKSTORY!!!

He's an orphan living in a magical village protected by a mage named Aria, who is also Chip's mentor and mother figure. They've learned everything they know about magic from her and they have a super close bond. I need to develop her way more but just know that she is a sweetheart who loves her son.

(little comic with the two of them based on something funny my friend said in dms once. thanks mun ily)

(in-universe art chip made for aria 🥺)

He also has a best friend named Fray (the aforementioned "one with the glue gun"). They've known each other since they were kids and they might be. A little gay. BUT DON'T TELL THEM I SAID THAT ITS A SECRET!!!!!!!!

(I think if they made it big on ao3 their most popular tags would be "fluff", "mutual pining", and "idiots to lovers")

Random facts time!!!

they are 19 years old and 4'4. This makes them my second-shortest oc

running joke with me and my friends is that he is a very amateur artist (see the in-universe art for reference). everyone around him loves and supports his art career no matter what tho :)

he is a pacifist, he only uses potions like sleeping to stun enemies or potions that will give his teammates a boost.

he was named after Chip from Sonic Unleashed!

if he was in the Real World and not a mostly-technology-free fantasy universe his favourite video game would be Splatoon

And finally. Misc funny art of him (Jerma sparkle suit on the left and that one image of the among us plush on the right)

Thanks for reading :) Hope everyone likes The Guy tm, feel free to send an ask if you wanna know more, i love talking about my kids !!!!

#thanks a bunch for the ask anon!#answered asks #chip (oc)#ohohoho oc tags begin NOW #fray (oc)#aria (oc)

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moonybadger · 3 years ago

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Some Ralsei thoughts!

There’s a lot of possibilities for what the heck is going on with Ralsei, but I think he might be the embodiment of what Kris wishes they were? A kind monster who looks like their family with little red horns. Ralsei’s horns always really stood out to me, for on thing because it was really weird seeing an Asriel like character with horns, but also because Toriel and Asgore’s horns are white. Kris is said to have worn a headband with little red horns on it all the time as a kid and seems very uncomfortable looking at the pictures of other humans. They look up to their brother so much that this alternate universe version of them has a name that’s an anagram of his and also looks similar to him in general (Noelle starts to notice that Ralsei looks like... someone. She doesn’t finish the thought, but the only other people we’ve seen look like Ralsei are the Dreemurrs)

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Ralsei can’t be his own person now. Maybe he was created from this child like wish of Kris’s and inherent desire of Darkners to support Lightners, but now he has friends and is having experiences. He says in the game that he’s still trying to figure out “what being Ralsei-like” even means.

There’s still a lot of mystery around him, like his knowledge of the game mechanics and also his almost deliberate disregard of Kris’s demeanor during the Snowgrave route. If memory serves me right, he only really seems put off when he can’t trigger the Susie and Noelle cutscene but seems to deliberately redirect Susie when she notices Kris is acting kind of weird. When Kris is freaking out after the Spamton fight, Ralsei insists that the encounter was just a weird event that didn’t mean anything. He does comfort Kris here but seems to dissuade the others from thinking about it too deeply. It’s very weird!!! Ralsei is a mysterious little guy!!!

#deltarune #ralsei #delta rune #deltarune spoilers #bored badgering

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darkestcorners · 3 years ago

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[This is long and Im sorry, but it's your fault for being such an incredible writer, SO LEMME SPREAD MY ANGER 😖]

So I just read Darknets ch. 2 and BISH!!!!

I just... where do I begin 😭

I honestly cannot see how anyone can say that they hate Polarity!JK MORE than they hate Darknets!JK. And this is coming from someone who SEVERELY hates that skirt loving trash (yet absolutely loves how his character was written lol). Emotional manipulation is such a cruel thing, and I hate how comfortable P!Jk is with destroying his y/n's mental health and life as she knew it - all for the sake of making her attached to him. He feigns it under wanting the best for her and "love" while disregarding the real her and her true feelings. This man would rather break this girl completely and build her into something he molds instead of just having something natural & real - which would've probably taken a long while w/ how bad her anxiety is, but definitely could've been possible and better w/ how smart he is. So by all means, I am NOT defending this sadly neglected yet manipulative 개새끼. 😤

But DARKNETS!JK?? Oh. Honey. This Jungkook is on another level. We barely know this one, but I think we know enough??

We knew he was twisted. He's a stalker. A pervert. A kidnapper. Is a fudging human trafficker. And honestly, that should've been enough. Yet what have we learned from Ch. 2?

He's also: demented. Physically abusive. Mentally abusive in a much different way than P!Jk. I mean, that ending scene with the guns was *chef's kiss* in the way it was brilliantly executed 🔥, yet also made my blood boil. 😖 It's the way that even tho the girls' guns were unloaded, his still could've been. 😩 This man finds joy in the pain he brings. And maybe it's because we haven't seen P!JK's y/n push his limit and make him full of anger to know just what all he's capable of, but so far, he's not physically abusive? He doesn't even want his y/n to harm herself, and - oddly enough - doesn't like seeing her sad or treated like ish (even tho he manages to make her sad & feel bad about herself effortlessly all the time by opening his mou- gosh, I really despise this mf 😒).

TL/DR, both of these characters would make really shxtty people irl, and I seriously dislike both of them. But I just feel like- if I'm going to be forced to live life dealing w/ an abusive man who's too far gone for saving and the only shred of happiness I'll ever have will be via the stockholm syndrome I develop as a result or from the delusion of favoritism that's really just obsession.... then out of the two, P!JK is the one I'd rather deal with. And I have Darknets! Y/N's lack of patience & temper, yet Polarity! Y/N's social anxiety, so idk how I'd do in either of this universes 🙃🙃 But yeah, thank you for blessing us w/ your amazing writing, and looking forward to more of both of these addicting series! ⭐⭐⭐ Wishing you the best w/ school, and hoping 2022 is kind to you. 🌻🌻

Hi babes! 💕💕Sorry I took a while to answer , my inbox is overflowing rn

I love your analysis on both darknets jk and polarity jk! They are indeed horrible in very different ways. I can see why you dislike darkners jk more, he is definitely more easy to hate due to his profession and overall aggressive demeanor. Not to mention the literal kidnapping 😬

Polarity jk is indeed more complex, I’ve read how a lot of you guys are conflicted at times with him and that’s really what his character is about! To some he’s an obvious red flag and manipulator but to others he does bring that validation some people would find comfort in on how handles the MC’s mental disorder. It’s a very dangerous dynamic nonetheless.

Haha I like how you said you have darknets MC’s temper but Poalrity MC’s anxiety, I’m kinda the same so it would be hard to choose how well I’d do in either universe

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and enjoying my stories babe! I really enjoy reading your opinions and analysis on the characters 💕💕 I hope 2022 treats you well too! Take care ! 🥰🥰🙏🙏

#asks #polarity #darknets #so sweet #<3 #love you

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mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune · 3 years ago

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The Theory About Steven, Pink-Steven And Their Mom

I was originally going to sign back on later after talking about well the other stuff I had posted and I wanted to wait to post the talk about the theory about Steven, Pink-Steven and Rose.

I first wanted to sign back in to edit one of the tags in the last post I had posted before I sign out, but then I decided to talk about the theory about Steven.

okay first of all we know the Crossover theory

about Sans and Steven being one and the same.

and Steven Quartz Universe spells out “Sans”

and it is possible that while one version of Steven never became Sans,

such as a version that lived in the Deltarune Timeline, and the Sans we see in that game might very well be a version of Steven that became Sans and is from the Undertale Genocide Timeline, that never had a neutral or pacifist run.

and Sans, his little brother and the rest of the survivors of that non-stop geno timeline had to escape into the Deltarune Timeline.

where there was another him, but the him that was born there was still Steven and never became a Sans.

anyway back to the theory about Steven, Pink-Steven and Rose.

even if it is said that Rose gave up her form to bring Steven into the world,

but what if that is only half true, we know that Pink-Steven

when he was reforming, he first appeared as Pink Diamond, Then Rose Quartz and lastly as Steven.

I believe that Pink-Steven might really be a Fragment from Rose,

when a soul is fragmented, it is likely to become a new being, one that isn’t 100% the same as their soul-parent.

we know that Rose has lied before, and she even kept what she did to Spinel a secret from the rest of the Crystal Gems.

I believe that Pink-Steven saying that she’s Gone, has more meaning than just her being “dead” and he might know what really happen to her.

in theory when Rose was still pregnant with Steven,

she secretly made another Pink Diamond that she put inside herself

and let it bond to Steven, then she fragmented a part of herself and place it in the New Pink Diamond that would be part of Steven.

then once again Rose fakes her death, and went to parts unknown.

maybe she could of escape to the Dark World in the Deltarune Timeline.

I do have another theory about the Dark World, that it might be the very place that Gaster was lost through Time and Space in.

we know that in the Chapter 1, when Susie and Kris got back there was no one at school and it was just them.

and Toriel calls when Kris is about to leave the school.

it is a theory, but it is possible when Kris and Susie entered that world...

their existence was forgotten, like at first they would be remembered,

and those who have been to the Dark World (or Dark Worlds) like them

will be able to be immune to the whole forgetting their existence.

so it is possible while Kris and Susie go back to Dark World,

and a hour passes when they are still there,

the only ones who will be able to remember them and freakout about everyone forgetting them....would be Noelle and Berdly.

since those two had ended up in the Cyber-Dark World.

they might end up becoming immune to the effects the Dark World/Void.

if Berdly asks whats taking Susie and Kris so long,

I would imagine that everyone (but Noelle) would look at him like he was crazy and wondering who are Kris and Susie.

so yeah I believe that the Dark World, might be the Void.

and it has the ability to cause those outside it, to get amnesia of a person who enters that world....

the only way someone from the outside can remember, is if they been to that place before and were able to escape.

back to the talk about Steven, if Steven becomes Sans in one of the possible ways....either being resurrected or reincarnation.

the half that is Pink-Steven would still end up existing,

both halves being cleaved.

if Steven ended up having his age flux dangerously while he was in the middle of dying, then at his last moments he could of ended up becoming a baby.

and Gaster could of found the Baby Sans and ended up becoming his new dad.

or Steven could of been reborn as Gaster’s son, there can be different theories on how Steven becomes Sans.

but no matter the theories,

he would always end up becoming the big brother to Papyrus.

if Steven did become a Baby again, and became Baby Sans.

his memories of his past with his Ex-Dad, Connie and the Crystal Gems.

might not resurface until a few years later, maybe not until after Papyrus was born.

I know not all fans will agree, but it is possible that Pink-Steven isn’t just a reincarnation of Pink/Rose, and might just be a fragment from her that she placed into a new pink diamond she created and had it bond to her human child, that she and Greg would either name Steven or Nora.

Pink-Steven yelling out that ��She’s Gone” might have more meaning,

like he knew she didn’t “die” or just retreated into the gem she gave to Steven.

I believe the Pink Diamond that Steven has, is truly his and was possibly made by Rose and Pink-Steven was a creation of hers by taking a fragment of her consciousness light and placing the very small fragment into the newly created Pink Diamond.

if that were true, that would mean that Rose is still alive and hiding.

and she made her friends, Greg and her own Son believe she had truly gave up her physical form and she gave her life to bring Steven into the world.

only Pink-Steven, the other half of Steven would know this very big secret.

it’s okay that not all fans agree about this theory being possibly true.

and it’s alright that no one agrees about the dark world we see in Deltarune,

is really the void that makes others outside it, forget those who enter it.

but it would explain why no one was truly worried about Susie and Kris when they didn’t come back to class for hours.

and the only time they did show worry, was when they came back from the dark world and everyone remembered their existence.

it is possible that Susie, Kris and maybe some of the Darkners/Tulpa

have no idea that the Dark World makes those outside it forget a person’s existence and the only way to undo it is if they return.

I’m gonna stick to my headcanon theory, that has to do with how before the Player/Red Soul ended up using Kris as a vessel.

the Knight had taken over Kris at some point, and would get them into trouble and even did some dangerous pranks, like with the ferris wheel.

the purpose we have in the game, is to free Kris from Knight and have them bond with others and form strong friendships.

but if we choose to go down the Geno Path, we end up becoming partners with Knight.

I had to watch clips from Chapter 2 to find out certain stuff that I missed when finally being able to play it myself.

I believe that the Ralsei we meet in Chapter 2, is not the same one we first meet in Chapter 1, and the real fluffy prince is in imprisoned and the Ralsei we meet in Chapter 2 is trying to fool us into believing they are the one we befriended before.

I know a lot of fans might of wondered if Ralsei is hiding a dark secret.

and it turning out that he is the bad guy, but that might only be half true.

the Ralsei in Chapter 2 might turn out to be secretly a bad guy who is working for the Knight.

but as for the Ralsei in Chapter 1, he could turn out to truly care about Kris and knows that the Player/Red Soul was placed in them, in order to save them from Knight and to take away their control over Kris.

Knight might only get back control during a Geno Route in the Dark World,

and even during the Nighttime when Kris returns home.

it is possible while the Knight has control of Kris, they allow them to eat the Pie.

Kris might possibly have three souls in them, one belonging to them, the other being the Knight who was making their life miserable, and lastly the Player.

the Player can go down the Geno Route, but in doing so would be adding the misery to Kris, and they wouldn’t just have one soul that wasn’t theirs that is making their life a nightmare, but two instead.

we know that Steven was very confused about the thoughts if he was his Mom or not, and it turns out he isn’t her, but he could still have a fragment of her

that ended up becoming Pink-Steven.

no one has to agree about this theory being true, but I believe that Pink-Steven isn’t just a reincarnation of Rose but is really a fragment from her that Rose created, along with a new diamond.

Steven’s relationship with his mother, is already estranged and it can be possible he doesn’t view her as much of a hero to look up to as he did when he was a kid, same goes for how bad things got for him and Greg.

I’m sure that while some who watched that episode on Steven Universe Future,

where Greg showed Steven the House he grew up in, think Greg made the right choice by leaving......well I’m not sure if others feel that way but I’m just guessing.

but I believe Greg was slightly in the wrong, even if his parents tried to do their best, they could of still explained why he wasn’t allowed to have certain things.

I did mention before about the theory that one of Greg’s parents

might of had a sensitive hearing and couldn’t handle loud music,

and Greg kept having the volume up and even though one or both his parents told him to stop it and to keep it down, he ignored them and kept the volume up.

and there could of been a good reason why they gave him meatloaf,

even if too much of it might be possibly bad.

Greg might of had a habit of misbehaving, and that is why his parents had to be even more strict with him.

we know that Pink Diamond, before she became Rose and when she faked her death and poof and reformed, the Rose Quartz disguise was no longer a disguise and that form became her real form the moment she reformed after Pink Diamond was “shattered” and we know before all that happen,

Pink would always misbehave and Blue would have to place her in the tower.

while Pink could of had some unfair moments where she was punished for the wrong reasons, other times the punishments were fair and something she needed.

but it would of been best to just ground her in her room,

and only use the tower if necessary, like to block out her destructive powers.

I believe the tower was made to block out Pink’s destructive powers.

Rose was both a good and bad person, but she could be a bit insensitive

and didn’t know how much Blue, Yellow and White loved her.

or how much Spinel loved her,

or how Pink Pearl aka “Lily” (Fanon) or Volleyball (Canon) loved her

and defended her actions when she ended up hurting them.

even Pearl was hurt by her, and she didn’t want to believe that she would hurt Lily, but then at some point in that episode where they tried to fix Lily,

Pearl had open her eyes to the damage that Rose (when she was Pink Diamond) had done.

after what happen with Steven, and even seeing that his problems had first started in the first series, Rose had caused him some emotional pain.

it doesn’t help that his family, Greg and the Crystal Gems are partly responsible.

even if they love him, they kinda half neglected his human needs.

even if they ended up taking care of most of his human needs....

Greg is at the most fault for not taking Steven to a doctor for his human half,

and Doctor Mahaswaren was in the right to be upset at Greg.

she mentions the unhealthy and healthy stress and the trauma done to Steven’s body, and how he always feels attacked.

I don’t think Sadie, Lars, Connie or others who knew Greg, knew anything about how Steven was being raised might be actually hurting him.

there is something called balance, Steven could still do Gem stuff

but he should make sure to give himself a break and do more human stuff.

some who have been in the same or slightly different feelings that Steven goes through in Steven Universe Future, end up relating to Steven and understand the bad feelings aren’t so easy to get rid of and don’t just go away as fast as we want them to.

if you get a another depression after getting better from the first one,

it might end up becoming worse and might go through some stages

and it will take way longer to get better.

you could try to act like everything is fine, and even if there are people and the stuff that interest you that still makes you feel a bit happy, the bad feeling is still there and it can hurt.

not like the hurt you feel when you get a cut or if you end up with a bruise on your arm and depending how hard your arm got hit, the inside of the arm will feel a bit sore and you will have to use ice and when the bruise starts to change color means it is getting better.

the type of hurt that has nothing to do with those two, has to do with your very soul and emotions I think.

like a build up of too much negative energy that is only hurting you on the inside.

I know there was more than one things that were getting to me that day,

and because of a fight, it was the breaking point.

I didn’t like it when the words I was trying to explain before ended up being misinterpreted and I had to give up on trying to explain.

I learned that it is a bad idea for someone who had a few months of depression, to end up with another depression on another year that might be close to the one that they had the first one and had got better too.

it could end up becoming way worse.

plus it can hurt when you feel like your family don’t listen to you,

and might make you feel they don’t love you as much, even if they do love you, they might make you feel like they don’t when they can’t understand about certain concerns and you might feel heart broken at thoughts that you try to tell them but they wont listen or they try to tell you that isn’t true.

I mean I still love my family, but it feels like they don’t listen to me half the time.

I think it is possible when our family don’t listen when we needed it,

it can end up hurting us emotionally and it might cause us to not trust them with certain things anymore.

we can still trust them, but not like how we use to.

like with my whole Ficto-Aroaceflux and then going through a type of chrysalis stage that has my inner me trying to figure out if I’m more of a Gyno-Agender

or Feminine-Nonbinary.

and I know I can’t tell my family about me believing in a Goddess too.

I still believe in God and even Jesus, but now I believe in Goddess.

at first I started to go by Neo-Christian with the whole Ma-Acolyte

(which the “MA” stands for Mother of All Angels.)

but now I go by Neo-Spiritual.

and I can’t tell my Mom that I am a Asexual Flux type.

there are some Aces who can be Bi or Pan or Hetero.

the Asexuality should not be confused for the Asexual Reproduction.

just because they both use the word “Asexual” doesn’t mean they will be the same.

Steven not talking about his feelings or if he does, it doesn’t go into how bad it has gotten for him.

ended up with him having a really REALLY bad breaking point.

and it caused him to view himself as a Monster and ended up corrupting himself.

there are some things that we can share with family and friends,

but some things we keep to ourselves.

anyway I’m gonna go sign off now, I will sign back later or tomorrow.

I hope some of you agree about the theory about the Dark World really being the Void, and the whole Pink-Steven really being a fragment from Rose and the diamond that Steven has, is really a new diamond that Rose created so she could once again fake her death and go into hiding.

we know that Pink had the ability to create gems from dirt and made a very real looking pink diamond shards.

so it is logical to believe that she created a new pink diamond and place a fragment from herself, into it and made everyone believe she gave up her form when she had Steven.

if Sans and Pink-Steven became separate beings, but still being related...

and Sans still having traces of gem in soul.

Pink-Steven could end up meeting Sans again, and might decide to tell him the truth about their Mother, how she made both of them, and how the Diamond that everyone believed was Rose/Pink’s Gem was really a new pink diamond she created and made everyone believe she had died when giving up her form to bring Steven into the world.

we know that Rose had kept secrets before, this would just be another secret that fans would of had to figure out, I mean if it is true.

but it is still a theory, but it is a theory that I see as headcanon.

not everyone has to agree about it being true, not everyone has to agree on the same headcanon and that’s okay.

I’m going to go watch Steven Universe now,

and later I’m going to play Deltarune.

see ya later and stay safe everyone.

#steven quartz universe #pink steven #rose quartz #pink diamond #fragment #sans the skeleton #steven universe theory #undertale theory #deltarune theory #spoilers #dark world #void #Headcanon

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the-golden-ghost · 3 years ago

Note

for the fic titles:

hand in unloveable hand (don't know much abt lupin but i think you could do a lupin one w that lol)

santa baby

the rest is history

all that glitters

acute angle

AH thank you for sending so many! :D I don't know what fandoms you want for them all so I'll do a mix of fandoms I know how to write for:

Hand in Unlovable Hand:

For some reason even though I know this has already been used as a plot point on the show it would be funny if the characters literally were handcuffed together or some such.

But maybe to shake things up slightly instead of handcuffs the premise is that they can't let go of each other? Like they're navigating some dark mazelike area and if they break contact they'll be pulled apart and the chances of finding each other again are almost nil.

So they just continue in pursuit of the treasure, linked only by touch, navigating by... well, mostly by Goemon's Supersonic Cool Guy Senses (and maybe Jigen's too, I don't know if Lupin or Fujiko are established Seers In The Dark)

And for added drama there's probably booby traps and the like!

Santa Baby:

Rouxls Kaard, ever on the lookout for some all-powerful evil entity to sell himself out to, learns about the Lightner celebration of Christmas and decides he will become the minion to that otherworldly Decider Of Fates And Breaker-And-Enterer, Santa Claus!

(The Lightners try to explain that Santa Claus isn't even evil but when Rouxls gets on a notion he really gets on it)

Anyway he starts writing letters to Santa offering his services as Sworn Evil Duke And Resident Minion and boyfriend on the side and asking Kris & Co. to deliver them.

Eventually they get sick of it and start trying out ways to get him to stop cause not only is it potentially dangerous for a Darkner to make direct contact with the Light World (let alone try to infiltrate it!) it's also really annoying

The Rest Is History:

This could be a 20,000 Leagues fic about Nemo and Pierre exploring historical sites on the coastline during their honeymoon and planning out their life together now that they've decided that this is what they both want.

All That Glitters:

Jigen & Goemon decide to prove that they're just as worthy as thieves as Lupin and Fujiko are by stealing over 5 million in gold on a solo (okay, duo) mission. Hijinks ensue.

Acute Angle:

Gaster attempts to recontact his minions after discovering that a jump between universes is possible in all dimensions including pocket ones. When he makes contact again, this time slightly to the left of the original Dark Worlds, things don't go exactly as they did before.

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oiralinsanity · 5 years ago

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An Undertale/Deltarune Theory (Or two...)

So yesterday, I had a couple of thoughts about Deltarune go through my ADHD mind as I was working (Pushing carts into the grocery store), and I feel like I want to share them with you guys, gals, and enbies.

1. Soul Traits of Undertale, and us using them to help our friends in Deltarune.

So the first thing that went through my mind was about something I read on here (Can't remember who brought it up) that Chapter 1 was about Kindness, how we helped Susie learn how to be kind and to make friends, thus helping her not be so much of a bully. I began to guess that in later chapters, we will be using a different trait to help a different person with their life problems. I'm guessing that Noelle is going to be our Bravery Chapter, as she is afraid of both her mother (For some reason) and asking Susie out on a date.

So right now, we got:

Kindness - Susie - Teaching a Bully how to be kind and make friends and helping Lancer see that his father is being a big meanie.

Bravery - Noelle - Helping Noelle stand up to her mother and perhaps ask Susie out. The Dark World issue might be that the Darkners are afraid of the standing Ruler.

Patience - ??? - Helping a person to learn that sometimes people need time to get themselves together. Dark World issue might be that the Ruler wants everything done now and is punishing their subjects for being too slow.

Perseverance - ??? - Helping a person learn not to give up when the going gets tough, and to keep pushing. The Dark World issue might be that the Darkners give up too quickly, and they need someone to help lead them.

Integrity - ??? - Helping a person learn to be truthful and not to lie to themself. The Dark World issue might be that the Ruler pumps themself up too much and has dug themself into a hole of falsehoods that they're afraid of actually coming out and telling the truth.

Justice - ??? - Helping a person know the difference between right and wrong. The Dark World issue might be that the Ruler is corrupt and is imprisoning prople just because it benefits them.

Determination - Kris Dreemurr - Helping Kris Dreemurr find the Determination within themselves to fight their supposed destiny, as the Knight behind all of the other Dark World problems reveals that Kris is the Angel's Heaven and they're destined to destroy the world.

I also believe the our discarded vessel from the beginning of the game had somehow managed to survive and became the Knight we now have to fight. I think that the reason all of the problems that Knight has brought upon the Dark World is due to the fact that they were not completed when they got discarded, is and thus Soulless and empty.

Another thing, I believe that the Knight will use the quote "Your choices do not matter in this world" towards us, as it was what they heard their creator being told by Chara just before they were presumed to be discarded. I believe that if the Player were to help solve all the Dark World problems, as well as the Light World problems, it would bring everybody we helped together to fight the Knight, and to give Kris the Determination they need to upsurp their destructive fate.

2. Deltarune is both Undertale's prequel and sequel, but from two different perspectives.

From our perspective, it is a sequel as we have just came from the Undertale Universe to work with Gaster and Chara on this new universe.

But from sans and PAPYRUS's perspectives in Deltarune, they have yet to journey to the Undertale universe and thus getting stuck there.

There's multiple reasons for this. The first is how in one of the FUN runs (The ones where the Clam Girl shows up and talks about "Suzy", and how it must have been destiny), checking the photo album will include a drawing of three people, with the words "DON'T FORGET" scribbled at the top. Right now, many of us have come to the conclusion that those three are in fact Kris Dreemurr, Susie, and possibly Ralsei, and not sans, PAPYRUS, and GASTER. I also believe that the photo of sans with a group of people we don't recognize is also from Deltarune.

I believe that sans and Papyrus came to Undertale from Deltarune. In the process, their machine breaks down, stranding them in an alternate world where they, along with every monster, are trapped underground. Later on, Papyrus meets Flowey and the resets occurs. I believe that because Papyrus has the strongest sense of resets, it causes him to slowly forget his childhood, causing him to perhaps create that drawing in a last ditch effort to keep some sort of strong memory of his past.

Now, I began to notice that Papyrus shows a lot of the Soul Traits stated in Undertale. In the Genocide Route of Undertale, he shows Kindness and Patience to us, while also showing Bravery to stand up despite the apparent danger we create. He shows Perseverance, as he made his brother get a job and tricked Undyne into becoming Frisk's friend. He shows Integrity, as he stays true to himself and doesn't become full of himself, and he has a sense of Justice, as he follows the Royal Guard guidelines correctly, capturing the human alive, and after a while, helping them out.

The fact that he has a stronger sense of Deja Vu, it gives off the feeling that it's not normal. I believe that in Deltarune, when we eventually hang out with Papyrus, we'll inadvertently teach him how to harness the human traits. Either that, or he has experience with Dark World Saves that grants that stronger residual memory.

I think we also reveal to sans how we know him and his brother personally (Perhaps in the terms of Time Travel or some shite, but vaguely as to not cause a temporal reflux on sans's state of mind in Undertale).

Plus, Kris would be the type of person to play a prank on Papyrus and tell him that humans are descended from skeletons...

#long post #Undertale #Deltarune #Deltarune Theory #sans #Papyrus #Kris

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megaderping · 6 years ago

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On the whole “Lancer is Sans” debacle...

Now, people can headcanon and theory whatever they like, but this theory honestly bugs me a lot? I feel that not only is it based on flimsy evidence, but it also robs Lancer of his individuality as a character, too. So, I figured I’d just do a quick post outlining why I don’t care for this theory, and why I don’t think it’s likely. Point 1: Appearances

A lot of people who believe Lancer to be Sans from the past point out similarities in appearances. I will concede that both share similar proportions and palettes, but I honestly don’t think this means much, as if you look at Lancer’s talksprite...

It’s rather clear that his face isn’t skeletal. For one, he has a mammalian mouth shape with the upside down Y shaped lips, plus a distinct upper and lower jaw. The thing people mistake for a skeletal nose? It’s the tail of a spade. Plus, if he was a skeleton, why does he have fleshy arms and legs? Why does his dad have a mouth on his stomach, a trait he probably has, too, if the original cards that inspired Deltarune are any indication? It really just feels like the fandom seeing another short, chubbyish character with a blue palette and wanting to lump him in with Sans willy nilly, though I know there are other reasons... Point 2: Personality...? This one I feel is a LOT dodgier. True, Sans and Lancer both have an interest in jokes and pranks, but that’s about where the similarities end. Lancer is very eccentric and energized, with hints of insecurities and a deep desire for friendship. He’s a neglected and possibly abused kiddo who may not have the best social graces and may not be a bit naive, but he means well and despite his attempts at being “the bad guy,” ultimately cares deeply for others. Sans is very laid back, quite social and, at least in UT, is on friendly terms with just about everybody. He’s always got a smile and seems to enjoy making others laugh, but also hates putting forth more effort than necessary, hates promises and obligations, and can be a bit manipulative and intimidating when the situation calls for it. He’s certainly not above pranks and does at least seem to care quite a bit for his bro, but his overall demeanor is radically different. “But Dorked,” I hear you say, “people mature over time! Couldn’t Lancer have just matured into the skeleton we know today?” But I think there’s still a pretty gaping problem with this logic... Point 3: Sans is in Deltarune, you guys

Sans exists in Deltarune, as does his brother Papyrus. He’s new in town, but has probably lived there for at least a little while, seeing how he runs a grocery store and mentions some experiences there (selling to both Alphys and Toriel). I feel like this point is really self-explanatory. Yes, yes, you can argue “Ralsei is Asriel, tho!!!” But like... I think it’s far more likely that Ralsei is just a parallel to him, seeing how he looks a lot younger than a college aged boss monster would, and I’d find his blushing a bit concerning if he were literally Kris’ brother. Point 4: But what about his lab in Undertale?

I see a lot of proponents of the Lancer Sans theory bring up the lab. Blueprints, the image of three people that says “don’t forget,” and the image of Sans surrounded by people we don’t recognize... Well, first of all, the blueprint graphic isn’t 100% identical, but even if it was, Toby is no stranger to reusing graphics when it’s convenient. To argue that this is the thrashing machine blueprint feels like a stretch. Moreover, Sans exists in Deltarune’s world. It’s entirely possible he could become involved in whatever antics await in future chapters. Some people are fond of Sans being a darkner... but while I won’t deny that he could have some connection to it, perhaps discovering it in later chapters, I’m not fully convinced just yet. Regardless, if that does turn out to be the case, that doesn’t mean he has to be Lancer. He is a skeleton. Most of the dark world entities are based on cards or objects in the school- so why change from that theme to a skeleton? Maybe there could be another area in the dark world with a different theme/feel to it, BUT... Is it not also possible that Sans will befriend our three heroes, or the plot involving the dark world will eventually bleed into the “real” world? And the people we don’t recognize... well, Deltarune is full of new monsters! Rudy, Berdly, Jockington, Catti, Susie, Noelle, her mother... point being, we could still meet more new people on top of that. Which is to say that I think the theory that the skeleton brothers originated from DR’s world but got dislocated to Undertale’s later makes a lot of sense and would explain so much, like Sans mentioning how he gave up on “going back”, his lost soul dialogue... Final Point: Santer of the Universe? Ultimately, though, my problem with both this is... why must Lancer be linked with Sans to be meaningful or important? This really seems like a symptom of a greater issue of elevating Sans to ridiculous levels of importance to the point where there basically is a Sans fandom that sometimes even eclipses UT itself. Now, I’m not saying people can’t have fun designing AU Sanses, but I feel that the overall importance of Sans is greatly exaggerated, and his character is twisted beyond recognition in so many works as it is. But if you take away the character’s personality outright, and make their story wholly unrelated to Undertale... is it even really Sans anymore? Again, if that’s your thing, have fun, but I just don’t get it. And besides, there are so many other interesting concepts in both UT and Deltarune besides Sans. Not every little thing has to trace back to him. It’s based purely on aesthetics, and not who Sans or Lancer are. And I think it’s far better if characters like Lancer, Rouxls, and Ralsei are allowed to stand on their own.

#deltarune #undertale #lancer #sans #undertale meta #deltarune spoilers #mega's musing

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inbarfink · 6 years ago

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Alrighty, here’s all of my Deltarune theories

1. Deltarune’s central theme\moral question will be something a long the lines of “The free will to do bad things versus the safety of not having the bad choices”. To put it in videogame terms (as Undertale was more concerned with meta-commentary about videogames than real-world implications) “Should a game give you the option to do the evil thing even though you should totally do the good thing?”. The world of Deltarune is... safer than Undertale’s, at least that’s how it looks like. You literally can’t do a Genocide run, you *have* to end your adventure in the Dark World as a ‘Hero’, you have to be good - no matter what you want. It’s safer, since there’s no chance of a Genocide-Timeline, but it’s... oppresively suffocating when you know you have no other option - and kinda creepy to think about the fact that even if you WANT to be a horrible human being, everyone is ignorant to it and thinks you’re a great hero anyway. The world of Deltarune is a world where *nobody* has a choice; the player is railroaded, Kris is controlled against their will, Ralsei argues we *have* to be heroes because of a prophecy, the Darkners were created for a ‘purpose’ so their Free Will might be kinda fucked. The “Pacifist” Ending to the Dark World segment feels like a rushed parody of an Undertale Pacifist Run, complete with going back and talking with all the monsters you befriended. But it feels... deeply unsatisfying because this “Happy Ending” was not caused by your hard choices, but because you just... did as you’re told. Plus, Kris and friends have caused no REAL change in the Dark World the way Frisk changed everything to the Monsters living in the Underground. Sure, there’s a new ruler in Card Kingdom - but the Darkners are still living hidden from Lightners without much hope of having “purpose” again. Meanwhile, in the Light World, the Monsters have lives that... fairly happy and safe - but not quite as happy as they could be in the Undertale True Pacifist Ending. There’s less relationships, less self-improvement, less people-choosing-who-they-want-to-be. No free will robs you of satisfaction and reaching your fullest potential, but on the other hand... is it worth it if it means someone (*eyes the Player*) will use that free will to do evil? Yeah, the Light World is not quite as happy as the True Pacfist Ending - but it is not the only ending Undertale has.

2. There are two main antagonist-forces in the story: The Angel’s Paradise, that force the Delta Warriors are destined to banish and whatever you wanna call the Queen and the Knight and ect. The Angel’s Paradise is responsible for ridding this word of choices, probably for that sort of ‘greater good’ of preventing people from making bad choices (Although, to be thematic, the Angel’s Paradise is also robbed of choice in some way). The Knight and the Queen and company wish to bring choices INTO this world, but like... in a bad way. By destroying and remaking it or something. They would be a metaphor for a frustrated-denied-Genocide-player. But they would also be potrayed sympathetically somewhat because, as mentioned - not having choices sucks.

3. Since the Angel seems to be the center of the religion of Hometown, I think Deltarune will be upping the JPRGness game of Undertale by having Kris literally fight against the God-Figure of their parent’s religion to restore free will to the universe.

4. The Angel’s Religion in the Light World would be very open about the fact that it’s all about personal choices being less important than safety. That’s why Toriel is so religious, valuing safety over freedom was always kinda her thing.

5. I do, at the very least, believe Toby Fox’s claims this is not a direct sequal to Undertale and it doesn’t effect the ending of Undertale that you got in any way. I espacially buy that last part. It’s VERY important to Undertale’s themes that all endings are equally “canon” and whatever one is real depends on the player’s choices and nothing else. I don’t think Toby wants to make either True Pacifist or Genocide or Post-Genocide Pacifist into the “Real Ending”. That hardly means it has to be a totally unrelated AU, however. My money right now is that we’re looking at a stealth prequal. The World of Deltarune is one without choices, by banishing the “Angel’s Paradise” and\or letting the Queen and the Knight destroy and remake the world - they create the world of Undertale, one where there are choices. Although the characters are fearful about existing their safe, railroaded world, they are hopeful this new world would be even better with choices. Although the ending is the “same”, it’s context would be different depending on what you did in Undertale. If you ended with True Pacifist ending, you have proven the hopes the Deltarune people had for the new world correct. If you did a Genocide run, then the Deltarune people just look like dupes and overidealistic fools and you have accidently proven the Angel’s Paradise totally correct about how nobody can be trusted with choices and you’re no better than the Queen whooops.

6. Undertale tells us the original meaning of the Delta Rune symbol has been lost to time. I’m guessing that although the Underground interpeted as a prophecy of freedom - this was all just conjecture and coincidence on their part. The real meaning will be revealed in Delta Rune, it’s probably the Delta Warriors banishing the Angel’s Paradise (IE, the Undertale World’s creation myth, basically). Question is, why is one of the triangles upside down?

7. Not only do I think Sans might be originally from the Deltarune timeline (and aware of it), I think he might be a Darkner. Implications that Sans might not be originally from neither the Underground or the Surface, and that he might not be a proper Monster - are well-documented in the Undertale fandom (”You must really want to go home. Hey, I know the feeling, buddo.” “look. i gave up trying to go back a long time ago. and getting to the surface doesn't really appeal anymore, either.” The fact that he bleeds, can dodge attack and we don’t ACTUALLY see him turn to dust.) I just never took them super-seriously cause none of the purposed “solutions” made sense to me. Sans as a Darkner, though? Darkners are not originally from the Underground, Lancer’s dialouge implies they can bleed, and we don’t know what happens when *they* die. Not to mention, they can perfectly dodge attacks if they’re ‘On Guard’. ALSO, the most consistent difference between Monsters and Darkners? Monsters have Black-and-White dialouge icons, Darkners have them in full-color. But Sans (and Papyrus) have black-and-white faces. Darkners or Monsters, THEIR PROFILES WOULD LOOK THE SAME. That’s the sort of Hidden-in-Plain-Sight twist Toby Fox is into. Papyrus is almost certainly a Monster, he turns to dust when you kill him and everything. So that would mean Papyrus and Sans are not brothers by blood or something like that. Maybe Sans adopted that little Monster Skeleton Child as his “brother” to keep his Lightner disguise intact and ended up really honestly caring for the guy as his true bro.

8. Speaking of Papyrus? Something is very much up with him being one of the only Undertale Monsters you don’t get to meet. I support the speculation that he might have a radically different personality in that timeline, but also... Sans only mentions hanging out with his “Little Brother”, he never mentioned a name. Could it be that Sans’ brother is not Papyrus? At least not yet? I mean, we still don’t know where Gaster fits into this timeline.

9. I’m betting that Deltarune Asriel is... secretly a jerk. Mostly because: A. Ralsei is an obvious Flowey-Analogue and he’s as sweet as they come so what does that makes of the analoge for Flowey’s sweet alterego. B. Everyone is just so fucking praiseful of the guy some other shoe’s gotta drop C. Deltarune has some real ‘Monkey’s Paw’ vibes in regards to what people wanted out of Undertale 2 (Dark World = Just Undertale Again with Some Terms Switched and Upgraded Gameplay, Light World = Hanging Out with the Post-Pacifist Happy Ending Characters) it only make sense Toby Fox would want to fuck with our desire to see Asriel alive by making him such a radically different (and asshole) person. Kris’ gloomy and antisocial personality might be a result of being bullied by their big brother while nobody notices and assumes Asriel is Just Such a Nice Big Bro and Great and Hot. I’d be bitter too. They could have, like, a sequence that plays on our expecations of Asriel from Undertale. Where at first he comes in and seem as nice and sweet as that other Asriel and the player buys into it too (even though Kris was in a position where he would have recognized it as non-sincere) only for it to be NOOOPE he’s a jerk actually! Why did you fall for his trap Kris you’re the one person who knows how he REALLY is it’s almost like you’re mind-controlled or something? Thankfully, since Asriel was last in town, Kris aquired a new mean purple friend who likes eating faces and doesn’t like mean family members.

10. As for the OTHER Goatson, I don’t think Ralsei is like... secretly sinister or deciving Kris and Susie - but I also don’t think his worldview is as sweet and correct and right all the time. His issue is more... naivete, and being just a bit too comfortable with a lack of choice. (He honestly doesn’t seem to realize why Susie isn’t really into “Well, the prophecy says you’re a chosen one so you MUST be a hero and act nice and stuff). Although he means well, I think more will be called into question about his worldview other than the Pacifism. I am also... kinda expecting the twist that he might not be the Prince from the Dark. Again, not because he lied, but because he was... mistaken. (In the Legend of the Deltarune speia tone thing, the Monster and Human clearly look like Susie and Kris - but the Prince of the Dark only looks like Ralsei because he is wearing a cloak, which is not his default outfit. I feel like this might be relevant). He wanted it to be true cause then he’d get to go on an adventure and be a hero and have friends - so he just convinced himself it’s true. Would he be so okay with following prophecies when he finds out that, like, Lancer or whatever is who’s REALLY supposed to be a hero and friends with Susie and Kris?

11. Also that part about Darkners being made with a ‘purpose’, to ‘serve’ the Lightners... it REALLY creeps me out. Ralsei says Lancer feels good inside about being friends with Kris and Susie because he’s ‘fulfilling his purpose’... Is it possible that maybe all Darkners are just... a little too suggestible to friendship from Lightners? Like the friendship with Lancer seems pretty honest, but maybe all the ‘friendships’ we made with the Darkners we spared had less to do with us just being nice and more about us accidently overriding their free will??? Scary to think about, but it fits with the theme of Restrained for the Greater Good versus Free and Evil. It could also explain the King of Spades’ reaction to Lancer saying the Lightners are his friends, as far as the Spade King knew this was more Mind Control than actual friendship. Maybe the Spade King doesn’t think there’s any way to solve that dilemma but destory all the Lightners so that the Darkners won’t have to worry about that ‘purpose’ shit anymore? He thinks it might be the only way his people could have free will? (Also there’s a real theme here about rejecting railroading by becoming a villain; Spade King being a self-professed ‘Bad Guy’, Susie rejecting the role of the Hero to also become a Bad Guy, probably Kris at the end)

12. As for the ‘purpose’ for which Darkners were created. Well, to be meta, I think they were created to be NPCs for RPGames... sorta. I don’t think the game is gonna use the term outright, but they’ll word it like the Darkners were created to play villains and secondary roles in epic-fantasy-stories Lightners made happen inside their realm. That’s why the Dark World follows RPG Logic closer than the Underground (you can sell items in shops, for example), and why all the Darkners are themed after things like Chess and Checkers and Card Games and Plushies. They were made to be playthings, games.

I think that’s it for my predictions to what’s gonna happen next in Deltarune, stay tuned to literally none of them being true in any way.

#deltarune #Delta rune #undertale

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