#but think. what could it be if it isn't gaster?? it could definitely be connected. I think it would be.

[captainbee66]

I love your tags

anyway Dr. WD Gaster being a soft and kind soul makes his character infinitely more interesting to me than him being evil or even just kinda mean. like his passion for his craft lies not in fucked up experiments, but in a genuine love for learning and the opportunity to teach others and do good by his people. he's definitely strange (all scientists are) and kinda intimidating but he's literally the most thoughtful and considerate person ever it's just a little bit hard to tell because of the way he speaks does anyone HEAR me. he's one of the few characters that WOULDN'T benefit from the mad scientist trope.

[mirror-ralsei]

THEORY: The Ink Blot Test & Symmetry in UTDR

This isn't as much of a typical theory as it is pointing out a design element that I think really needs more discussion: the distinctive style used in certain visuals in the game.

It's actually kind of difficult for me to describe. But there seems to be a recurring style used across many enemies and their weapons. This style is typically white in color, and typically very ornate and detailed-looking. It's easy to pick out because most of the shapes in Undertale/Deltarune's sprites are more simple...and because of one fact: all of these designs look symmetrical.

Here are the places I noticed this style appearing. Hopefully as you look at these, you can understand what I mean by a particular “ornate, symmetrical look”:

Reaper Bird's overworld appearance

Reaper Bird's body

Asriel's CHAOS BUSTER

Final Froggit

POSSIBLE: Knight Knight's Good Morningstar (listed here as “hammer”)

POSSIBLE: Memoryheads (they're in 3/4 view and melting-looking so it's harder to tell, but notice the curly parts and comb-teeth-like parts)

Gaster Blasters (using the unused version since it's easier to notice the style without the eyes)

(While most of these designs are technically not symmetrical if you look closely, they all definitely give the impression of being so.)

There's some other possible references to this style, but I'm just going to focus on the more distinct ones for now. And even some of the ones I've listed are debatable. If I had to pick just a few, I'd use Reaper Bird, their overworld sprite, and CHAOS BUSTER as the definitive examples.

So it's taken me a couple years of not quite being able to place why this style felt so familiar. At first I thought they might look like fractals...

...but that wasn't quite it. Finally, all of a sudden, I put my finger on it.

This design style reminds me of Rorschach blots.

For anyone who doesn't know, the Rorschach test is a psychological test involving the subject looking at inkblots and determining what these patterns look like to them. As you can see, the inkblots are very intricate and symmetrical - just like the examples above.

How does this connect to Undertale? Not too much. But Deltarune? Possibly a lot! Maybe that's the reason most of the instances where this style appears seem connected to Deltarune in some way.

For starters, inkblots are black and white. Specifically, they're black patterns on a white background. So far, every instance of these inkblot-like designs in UT/DR have been the inverse of this: they're all white patterns on dark or black backgrounds. We know light and dark have meaning in Deltarune, so this makes sense.

The ink blots' meaning are what you make of it. Your brain determines what real world things this abstract ink on paper looks like to you. This seems like it could tie into the concept behind the Dark Worlds, and how they seem like “interpretations” of items in real life: For example, the Halloween Pencil becomes a SpookySword. (It's possible the ShadowCrystals may play on this “perception” idea a bit too, but we don't know yet.)

Doctor Gaster seems to be conducting tests on us (Sound Test, SURVEY_PROGRAM, etc.) to observe our feedback. This thematically fits with this whole Rorschach blot test reference. I'm not sure if “WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK?” from Entry 17 and the egg man's flavor text 'What do you think?” are necessarily connected to this at all, but it does happen to fit the theme, lol.

All right, so we've established that there seems to be a symmetrical-looking style. We theorized that maybe they were supposed to evoke a similar look to Rorschach blot tests.

Now we're going to speculate even further.

So why exactly was this Rorschach blot looking style chosen? I think this symmetrical look might be based around reflections. After all, Deltarune involves a Light World and Dark World that reflect each other. And there are actually a few important references to reflections across Undertale and Deltarune.

Kris first appeared in Undertale as the PC's reflection in a puddle if Undertale is being run in Debug mode (Video by marxvee)

Reaper Bird is encountered in a mirror

Asriel and Kris' sides of their room are almost perfectly symmetrical in terms of layout and furniture

Kris' room in Ralsei's Castle has mirrored sprites of Asriel's trophies

The File Select text before Chapter 1's completion states “CHOOSE THE TARGET FOR THE REFLECTION” when copying a file, “IT IS IMMUNE TO ITS OWN IMAGE” when trying to copy a fiile onto itself, and “IT CONFORMED TO THE REFLECTION” when overwriting a file with a copied one

Mettaton NEO's attack is incredibly high but defenses are low, Spamton NEO's defense is incredibly high but attack is low

Gaster's motif of “666” is “mirrored” by 999: 999 appears in multiple places, eg. Chara's attack, stats of Grandpa Semi were “atk: 99999, df: 99999, hp: 999” (pointed out by LeedleLel's comment on this video by Lil' Alien).

The background of Jevil's fight is a mirrored image of a carousel.

The mirrored sinks in the right hospital room read “(It's a regular sink.)” and “(It's a clone of the other sink.)” Also: “(Perhaps there was originally one tall sink that was cut in half to create both of them.)”

All leg options in the GONER_MAKER are identical except the final one, which is mirrored. (pointed out by Shayy via Semi Frequent Undertale Facts)

The background of the GONER_MAKER itself is mirrored.

The background of the Asriel Dreemurr fight is mirrored.

The strange fog graphic before Papyrus' battle appears mirrored.

"I can't get any closer to the camera, I can't even see...my...little reflection." from the Spamton Sweepstakes

POSSIBLE: Gaster's belly face (upside down, details are white on black background, where Gaster's main face are black on white background)

POSSIBLE: Hot Fridge (inverse of the function of a normal fridge. look this one's loose lol, only including it because Alphys invented it and fridges are tied to Asgore's egg fridge, Snowdrake's mother, the Sans fridge call, and maybe the unused “rustfridge” in the Trash Zone (a place rife with possible Deltarune references))

POSSIBLE: Unused rooms 123 and 321 (123 is a relatively accessible unused room with interesting dialogue and 321 is...dark, and "empty").

So notably, the places we find this reflection motif in Undertale seem mostly connected to Deltarune: Kris is the PC of Deltarune, Reaper Bird is tied to Deltarune through Everyman, Mettaton NEO is similar to Deltarune's Spamton NEO, and Gaster is...well, probably the one who gave us our SURVEY_PROGRAM in the first place. Even the more tenuous examples of reflections seem plausibly Deltarune-related, such as the fridge Fun call and the Gaster belly face in Spamton's dumpster and a reflected dark room.

I'd like to expound a little bit on the File Select and sink dialogues. Both of these seem to be playing with a concept that could explain this reflection motif.

Copying a file in the File Select seems to mean we are “reflecting” it onto another slot: “CHOOSE THE TARGET FOR THE REFLECTION.” We cannot copy a file onto itself because “IT IS IMMUNE TO ITS OWN IMAGE.” If we overwrite an existing file with a copied one, “IT CONFORMED TO THE REFLECTION.” Interestingly, though, if you copy a file into an empty slot... “THE DIVISION IS COMPLETE.”

Not multiplying the file - dividing it in two. The original file is also implied to be changed in some way by this, because if you cancel the action of copying a file into an empty slot, “IT RETAINED ITS ORIGINAL SHAPE.” Meaning it would not have retained its original shape if it were copied.

The flavor text for the “cloned” sinks reflects this (hah) exactly. “(It's a regular sink.)” and “(It's a clone of the other sink.)” are followed by “(Perhaps there was originally one tall sink that was cut in half to create both of them.)” Aside from being relevant to the only tall sink we know of, Papyrus' in Undertale, this seems to be setting up a concept of “reflections” representing “an original being divided in two.”

That's about as far as I can take this with the context we have now. We don't know what exactly this reflection/division concept will mean in the plot of Deltarune, as it hasn't showed its hand yet. We don't know if the resemblance of that one recurring style to inkblots is intentional or just coincidence. But at least we have some possible explanation for why these motifs of symmetry and reflections keep showing up.

[yggdrasil-00]

ICE-E real?!?!?

So… ICE-E has an undeniable presence in Deltarune, mainly as a mascot for a pizza chain. He even has magazines, movies, and even could be a… Cryptid? There are many, MANY Deltarune theories, and ICE-E has been unfortunately overlooked by the fanbase as a whole. Probably for the sake of their "sanity", because this rabbit hole goes way deeper than any of us could imagine… And as a person who isn't "sane" to begin with… I'm qualified and willing to delve into this madness and answer the question… Is ICE-E real? 

Now before we speculate, here's a disclaimer. Only 2 chapters are out right now. So even if there's a lot of evidence and puzzle pieces, it's still not the full picture. But let's try to collect as much info as possible with what we have so far…

In chapter 1, there's the "ICE-E's Pezza" restaurant next to QC's diner. I know there's an ICE-EE body wash in Kris's bathroom, but I'm not sure if it's relevant in any way. Anyways, once you walk inside, it's a standard pizzeria with a huge, hulking blue entity at the counter. He is known as "The Warrior". Dude is pummeling pizza dough like no one's business. And you'd think he's wearing a mascot costume… But according to Toby, he isn't. Interesting. We'll get to him later. To the right of him, there's an… 

Oddly bloody piece of dough, which could just be sauce but I'm covering all my bases here. His dialogue is odd… But it seems irrelevant.

Outside the building on the left, there's Burger-sorry... PIZZApants in a mascot costume. When you interact with him, he seems unwilling to chat and talks to us when he eventually recognizes Kris. After talking about Asriel, (I'm aware of how relevant he is, but he's not the central topic at hand). He mentions that "ICE-E's Pezza is hell." And to "enjoy your freedom, while it lasts." 

While this could be Pizzapants complaining about his job, "hell' is mentioned by Jevil; a Darkener that is strongly implied to be connected to Gaster. Once you defeat him, he has this to say: "Soon, the queen returns… And hell's roar bubbles from the depths." While this is 100% about the Roaring and chapter 2's boss, Queen… 

It's strange that the specific word "hell" is chosen here. And Burgerpants even says the word "freedom". A word that is intrinsically tied to the secret bosses who are connected to Gaster... On the right side is a pudgy purple mascot. It's a funny Five Nights at Freddy's reference, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they might be more important than we think. No one knows who they are, and Burgerpants isn't even sure if they "even work at ICE-E." Very odd. But wait! There's more! 

When you go to Town Hall, Politics bear talks about the purple mascot trying to give him a briefcase and possibly even sneaking into the Mayor's office. According to Halfbreadchaos in their own ICE-E video, this particular item is connected to Gaster. I don't think they're Gaster himself, but this purple guy is definitely working for him. Another very, very interesting lead is the word "nightmare". It's something Jevil says after defeating him…

"A nightmare will awaken in your hearts." 

And when you have a FUN value of 56 or 57 in Undertale, the ICE-E crossword puzzle Sans (another person connected to Gaster and Deltarune) asks you to solve now has a weird snowman character on it named: "Nightmare". A certain [number 1 rated salesman 1997], also mentions hell and oddly enough… Pain. Which segues us into…

Chapter 2:

In chapter 2, Spamton says "WAKE UP AND TASTE THE PAIN" during the Spamton NEO fight. Weird. It's also a flavor in ICE-E's Pezza and in the Goner maker. It's even mentioned by a dialogue placeholder in Undertale:

("La la. Wake up and smell the...  Pain").

Speaking of dialogue...

One of Spamton's famous phrases is:

"Too many vacation days?!? Take a goddamned vacation straight to hell!!"

Like I mentioned before, "hell" ties back to Jevil and ICE-E. Not to mention that the quote parallels Burgerpants. "I can't go to hell, I'm out of vacation days." I'm not sure what their connection is… I guess I'll have to wait for future chapters to clear things up.

Plus, you can steal an ICE-E statue in Noelle's room. It's definitely ICE-E, but mixed with apparently... Something else. When you and Kris put it in their room, the narrator implies that. Wasn't a good idea. Now, back to "The Warrior." Since I said we'd talk about him later. He ends up in the hospital and his hands are bandaged due to a "pizza-related injury"… 

Huh... Hands… 

It's probably nothing, and could be a joke… But isn't it weird it's JUST his hands? It's strongly implied that he's a fighter… I don't think burnt hands would really affect him. Plus… Hands are connected to Gaster. "The man who speaks in hands'', the odd spacing in "TAKE IT IN YOUR    HANDS." Hell, the wingdings typeface even HAS hands as letters! 

(Editing me here: I forgot something else! There's a typing puzzle where you have to spell… Oh god. Giasfelbhreher. I don't know how I was able to spell that first try. Apparently it's ICE-E's catchphrase and it's a word featured in that crossword too. Once you solve it. It glitches. None of the other puzzles do that... It's a minor detail but.. We'll keep this in mind.) 

There's no denying the connections here… Even if it seems insane. Now before I continue, I'm gonna get on my soapbox and say... Insanity as a concept just stigmatizes people who experience psychosis and similar things in my opinion. While yes, your mental health can decline and it is important to take care of yourself... I think sanity is just a metric used to shame people and ostracize them. All ideas are welcome, no matter how out there they may seem! 

Except maybe Kris being the Knight. I disagree with that, but ultimately it's Toby's decision whether that becomes canon or not. Or Toriel being homophobic because. No. Just. No.

Now back to ICE-E. Remember the movies I mentioned before? Once you return home and Susie ends up staying at Kris's house, she lists horror movies. One of which is ICE-E: The Movie. Wait. Why is there a pizza mascot in a horror movie? Well…

Spamton Sweepstakes

Before we talk about ICE-E and his weird cryptid vibes… I have to mention how insane the Sweepstakes really was. I thought it was just a charity event, but as we all know there were 26 hidden pages on the website. 

26! 

Toby.

You madlad. I know he didn't release them all at once, but the sheer amount of lore packed in these pages blows my mind! From the chapter 3 leaks to lore about pretty much everyone in the main cast (except Ralsei), it was crazy! But I'm not here to talk about all that… I'm here to talk about the funny ice cube man. Being. Thingy? ANYWAY. 

When you click a fake ad on ICEE sightings, you're redirected to a very, very interesting page. It tells us a story about a young Noelle freaking out because she swore an ICEE pizza box winked at her. Dess burns it, and Asriel buries the remains. Which has some. Weird implications. But that isn't the strangest thing on this site. There's an ad that leads to a secret page with 16 cupboards… 

16… 

6… 

Huh. An interesting.

Coincidence.

26 pages, 16 cupboards...

Now back on topic.

There's a few items you can find here. A Ralsei plush, a snippet of the wikipedia page for Super bad and a weird chair that glitches when you interact with it. When you click it again, there's a small chance that a pair of pink and yellow eyes jumpscares you. The same eyes that DEVICE_FRIEND has. 

However, that's not what I'm gonna talk about in this video. I'm here to talk about. A gumball machine? Well, Spookydood's video (link in the description) has brought to my attention that this image isn't a stock photo.

It's an original image that has been photoshopped together. Which is weird, right? Spamton even references it. "THOSE [chewed up gumball wrappers]". You know where you can find a gumball machine? ICE-E's Pezza. And I bet that the machine being photoshopped has some significance. Omega ICE-E might be a possibility, but I got my own interpretation. Now that we have the evidence on deck and a topic at hand, let's start theorizing!

Theories and Speculation

Alright, now to take all of our evidence and see what conclusions it gives us.

1. The gumball machine indicates there's some photoshopping element to ICE-E. I don't think it's just a hint to Omega ICE-E. No. I think that ICE-E can also shift his form, like how an editing program changes an image. Remember that statue? And the ICE-E sightings ad? It seems like this guy has many forms and the mascot version is a form he chooses to be more presentable. Considering Gaster's overall presence in the narrative, I think that Gaster is the one that helps ICE-E change forms. Maybe the Warrior is his current form, or the purple guy. Perhaps both. If that's the case, maybe ICE-E is more relevant than we thought. ICE-E's many forms are like Gaster's hands… Enacting HIS will, like how a demon would 

2. ICE-E has a clear connection to Gaster. There's some precedent to them working together somehow. The purple mascot could be the vehicle they use to communicate or set things in motion! Maybe it's ICE-E or Gaster himself, but I doubt it's the latter. I think it's the former because Gaster only talks outside the bounds of the game.. As if he himself can't interact with the world of Deltarune, but ICE-E can. I think the mascot was created so he can set whatever plan he has in motion. To control everything in the shadows behind a corporation. He can oversee everything while making sure the game/device (watch Mollystar's video after this one; link in the description) is running. Plus, our funny wingding man doesn't have a form at the moment. And revealing what he looks like so early in the story would kill the mystery that is Gaster. A bit off topic but, I don't think the mystery man is Gaster himself. We don't know if it's him or not and there's  a chance that it's just a piece of him. He could be an aspect or a part of Gaster's form, since he was shattered across time and space. So until Toby decides to reveal what the handy man himself looks like, we just have to speculate. Hmmm.. 

3. Because of what I mentioned above and ICE-E's glitchy nature. Doesn't that connect him to Noelle? I know this seems out of left field but… Think about it. Gaster, glitches, secrets, ice… All of those relate back to Noelle! She has the ability to break games after all, and she lives in one. Maybe ICE-E could be the key to unlock access to the man who speaks in hands or clues about her past? I think so! But I'm not sure how to pin this without saying Halfbreadchaos's video verbatim… But I'll try. I think that ICE-E is drawn to the Holiday family. The pizza box winking at her, the statue, the connections to Gaster. I think he's the cryptid Kris is defending our angel (not the angel) from… So to answer the question, "is ICE-E real?" Yes. But I don't think ICE-E's the one they or us as players should worry about. Not as much anyways. It's almost like he's trying to communicate with our main cast in some way… Slowly letting his presence known in every chapter. Could this be leading up to Noelle fighting him as Omega ICE-E or allying with him to defeat Gaster? We'll just have to wait for the next chapters!

[pt-disconnected]

Anonymous Ask Responses #20

This one is pretty delayed, sorry about that. But I will say there's some interesting ones here. And some amusing ones. But with that out of the way, let's just get straight into it.

————————

First, some from before the latest iteration in the series. Lots of these ones, so I'm sticking with ones I found interesting.

@prhthezanko:

"Oh interesting~ Toriel now knowing about the soul being Player's... Now thats gonna bring up a lot of questions, especially the way they found Kris in the first place. Though I do have to ask, how is Player going to go around town to the other Dark Worlds without being seen by others?" As we saw earlier, the group made their attempts to hide the Player while headed to the school (with it succeeding to fool everyone except Berdly). However this won't be how it happens every day, so that will get complicated for the group as time goes on.

———

also @prhthezanko:

"Ah yes, Toby is the one who planned this all. Toby created a connection to another world to get a more immersive story. Though, he didn't plan on it being literally immersive. Here's a small idea, since this time travel is inside said world, and not in the Overworld, it more like an auto pilot, and to keep the paradox, it automatically disconnects at the point to prevent timeline corruption. I don't think Gaster would risk a temporal paradox that might endanger his plan, right~?" Mmm, more like the game window can be open at a given point in time. Normally this would flow with time the same as any other situation, but with the altered SAVE data, it gets a little screwy since it isn't pulling a character in the game back in time, and thus not affecting the actual timeline at all. Everything goes the same until a new element, the Player, is introduced. And since the Player has gone in and out of the timeline already, the game simply works around that- if they encounter themselves, then they likely either change future events or just get pulled back again. This might be due to an error in the code of the 'gateway', since there's not supposed to be two of the same character at any given point. That's part of why the Player needed the avatar in the first place. Errors in the code do usually cause the window to close however, which could mean one of two things. One, the Player is spat back out of the Light World into the Over World again. Two, they become trapped in the Light World until they manage to reopen the 'gateway'.

We'll see which of these options works best for story purposes. :)

———

"I hope I didn't miss anything here but will Kris play as a party member given that the player is now an individual character that isn't controlling Kris anymore?"

It's less because the Player is an individual character and more that Kris no longer has a SOUL that can get hurt. But we don't fully know that whole mess yet. We'll see soon enough.

———

"When kris was kicking player in part 8, the only thing I thought of was John Mulany saying 'stay down on the ground you motherfucker' lol" Kinda what Kris was doing. They were sick of the Player choosing for them and wanted to exact revenge, and when they can't fight back it's a lot easier to do that. But, well, we saw what happened in the end. Hitting someone while they're down is a cheap fighting technique, and that's kinda why I put it here. Kris was willing to use such low blows because of how aggravated they were.

———

"I just realized that in part 8 when player tellis kris to “strike them down and get their freedom” it was referencing the asgore fight in undertale where asgore tells frisk to do the same thing"

Close, but honestly not quite. Asgore says (word for word) "take my soul, and leave this cursed place". But it definitely was a part of what that scene was based on. A small part admittedly. It also is a nod to how the SPARE function works in Undertale, outside of the Asgore battle anyways. You don't fight back- you take each hit, and you just grin and bear it, continuing to try and connect with them and see what they're like. You never really think about what it looks like from the other side though...

———

"Seam saying the stuff about the player just makes me think of the snowgrave route"

I wonder why? Maybe it was intentional? :) But seriously though, if someone who did the Snowgrave route for fun had gotten this sort of situation, things would be a lot worse. And no, I'm not gonna go down that path for any spin-off stuff. Too dark. (Doesn't mean I'm gonna stop anyone else.)

———

@prhthezanko:

"Oh I love the details. The souls, the fact that Player will still have control (assuming nothing stops that), and so much. Here's an interesting thing, What would happen if the Player would reset just after Disconnection? Would they be able to go back before the Disconnection or would they end up at the point of Disconnection? Basically, would they be able to reset where Kris would have the soul still or would the Disconnection of the soul lock them out of the previous saves."

The timeline for that segment is fixed- anything that has been witnessed by the Player becomes a fixed event. Timelines are weird, but I'll try and explain it.

The timeline of the Light and Dark worlds is, in a way, separate from that of the Over World. The game is more or less a 'gateway' into a particular time and place in one of those worlds. Normally, the timeline is just an A to B line.

But when the Over World gets put into play, things are different. With the Player witnessing things from outside, those events are locked into place- anchoring points of sorts. This means that if the Player sees or experiences an event, it can't be reset. This is because of the distinction between Kris and the Player. Kris, being part of the world, would pull everything else back with them- otherwise there would already be a copy of Kris there, and that would break things immediately.

But the Player, upon arrival, hadn't existed until then. So while they can go back in time, they don't actually pull the rest of the world back with them. This is why they saw themselves at the Heaven/Hell gate split- they hadn't pulled the edge of the timeline back. As mentioned earlier, encountering themselves directly, with the added notation of directly changing the timeline by altering their past self, would likely cause an error in the 'gateway'. But things like this, where their past self is left unaltered, are stable, and will remain in place.

Since the Player witnessed and directly influenced the disconnection of the SOUL, it is a fixed event. If they were to alter it, then things would just revert to an earlier state before the attempt to change it. Paradox protection of sorts. If the Player never disconnected the SOUL, then they would have never been there to stop themselves from disconnecting the SOUL. Another error in the timeline.

I will say that the particular situation you bring up is interesting. It could have many implications. However, for the time being, the Player is not going to stop themselves from disconnecting the SOUL- likely only to encourage it- and none of the in-"game" characters can change it either...

———

"I’m guessing gaster will be the reason why player will go back in time again"

"Wait player will go back in time again. how far back will they go?"

Firstly, Gaster may be involved, but that remains to be seen. We'll see sooner or later.

Second, it could be a variety of possibilities. Could end up going back to the beginning of the story. We have no idea.

———

And now we return to asks from after the most recent story segment. If your ask from before that point wasn't responded to, I sincerely apologize. There's just too many of them to get all of them in one post with a reasonable size. This on its own is a whole AAR segment on its own! (Also back to the usual indicator for between questions, eight lines instead of three)

————————

First, a few of the reaction "asks".

"Ooh things are getting interesting!!"

"I’m excited to see what happens next!"

"Ooh it’s about to go down!"

I'm glad I can make the story enjoyable enough for you all! It's honestly fun to write whenever I'm not dealing with writer's block ._.

————————

"I wonder what will happen now" (x2)

————————

"Wait so where did player sleep when they were at Kris and Toriel’s house" (also x2)

Probably either the couch or one of the chairs. Pretty simple. (Though I will say I get the confusion.

————————

"Yay you’re back!"

Yeah, kinda ^-^; I still have lots of stuff going on and Christmas break was more hectic than I thought. But I'm still gonna do my best...

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"'You went off-topic. Again. You do that a lot. Can you just, for once in all these interactions, just get the information out?' Lol player is literally all of us"

...isn't that the point? XD

But seriously Gaster is the master of monologue. Susie could probably just sneak behind him and scare him to give him a heart attack and win. We don't need three hours of riddles and stuff when you're gonna explain it anyways with five minutes of actual information.

But of course, such is his character and personality.

————————

"Player: I know I said I wanted to be a part of this game but this is not what I was expecting"

Player: sees the game doing stuff without them Also Player: WHY DID I GET SUCKED INTO THE GAME THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN

I mean seriously, you see a game doing weird things and don't stop to think "hey that's weird maybe I should just not mess with it"

and instead say "oh cool I want to mess with it and put myself in"

and then are surprised when you are literally put in.

In all seriousness though, you hit the nail on the head.

————————

@hypnonerdcookiepatrol:

"So the player is staying in the dark world"

For now anyways. :)

————————

@prhthezanko:

"At long last, we end up at the part where we decided to see things through. But now, this is when it all changes, right~? Will the Player get the timeline control again since Kris should be disconnected? Or will there be some unintended side effects of meddling where you shouldn't? Time will tell, and reality shall break.

Determined to see the end, the Player ventured recklessly, but now, they will face the consequences of their actions, and the consequences shall be seen by them firsthand. Will Gaster keep them there because the soul is needed for his plan, who can tell~?"

...holy crap you just wrote that description they have on the back of the book what the peck

Anyways, we'll just have to see how it works out with the Player in the mix. We don't quite even know what we're dealing with in the first place! So yeah, definitely gonna be a tough part to write.

I will say that I'm gonna try not to go down the path of Chronology (another really good fan-continuation to Paper Trail, go check it out), so while there may be bits and pieces inspired by that, it's not going to be that at all.

So yeah, this one may take a while to write. I need to figure out a lot of unknown factors.

That being said, I'll do my best to make sure it's a really good part. I sadly can't guarantee anything (since I personally have no idea how good it is until I post it and see reactions), but I will strive to do my utmost.

————————

And with that said and done, Anonymous Ask Responses #20 comes to a close. I hope you all understand how difficult it may be for this upcoming story part, plus college difficulties on top of that. However I do have a few ideas already, so it may come out sooner or later depending on how much I can weave together.

Thank you @prhthezanko for continuing to send interesting asks with pretty much every iteration of AAR, and sorry if I do miss your asks sometimes ._.; and also thanks to all the Anons, the asks do keep me somewhat motivated (even though I'm pretty sure there's a few asks that are from the same person, hah).

Hopefully the next part of story will be good, as it definitely is gonna be a tough one to write. But until then, I'll see you all later!

[lancerious]

Hey I'm self-reblogging this because I completely forgot Undertale existed when I first answered this ask. This will be all the platonic relationships I like from UNDERTALE. Admittedly, I like pretty much every single platonic relationship in Undertale lol, so this will be a list of the relationships I like the most.

Keep in mind that I haven't played Undertale, at least not yet--believe me, I plan to someday--so my knowledge will be limited.

Anyway, here we go! Again, this list isn't in any particular order.

First is none other than the skelebros, Sans and Papyrus. I. LOVE. THIS. DUO. Sans and Papyrus play off each other SO well, and are both absolutely hilarious. They're each really funny on their own, but once you combine them, their funny level is off the charts. I can definitely understand why there are so many comic dubs & drawings of the two of them.

Next is Undyne and Frisk! Or the player lol, however you see it. I'm mostly talking about the route where you befriend Undyne, but I like her pursuit of you, as well as her battle. Undyne tries to be a good friend to Frisk, which I like. She shows just as much determination while being a friend as she does when she's hunting you down.

Sticking with Undyne, I like her relationship with Papyrus! You might assume she's keeping Papyrus out of the Royal Guard because she doesn't believe in him, but she's doing it because she doesn't want Papyrus to get hurt. Papyrus has a heart of gold, and honestly wouldn't fit in the Royal Guard. I really admire how Undyne puts Papyrus's safety before what he wants the most.

Alphys and Mettaton! Mettaton was created by Alphys, so they already share a special connection. I think Mettaton tries to protect Alphys at some point in the game? Like I said earlier, I haven't played Undertale before, so I'm going based off the little information I do know. Whether Mettaton protects Alphys or not, they both have great chemistry.

Alphys and Sans! Okay, I admit this one's more of a speculative relationship than anything else, but I remember seeing a theory about how Sans and Alphys work together as Royal Scientists. I'm not sure if this is true, but just in case it is, I'm adding this duo to the list.

The first controversial platonic relationship on the list is Alphys and the Amalgamates. I know the Amalgamates are a result of Alphys's doing, but even so, Alphys tries to amend her mistakes. She takes care of the Amalgamates, entertains them, and just tries her best to make them happy. I know this is a fairly controversial topic and often makes people see Alphys in a sour light, but I personally like this relationship and think it deserves more positive attention.

Another controversial relationship is Toriel and Frisk, and by extension the other fallen children. Yes, I know Toriel isn't the most moral character. I know she's fairly questionable in some aspects. But I honestly think she did try her best given what she could do. I mean, she told Sans to look out for Frisk. Who's to say she didn't tell Sans to watch over the other fallen kids? Or another Undertale character who happened to pass by? Again, I'm not the expert on Undertale, but I think this relationship is often seen in a very negative light, and I think it should receive more positive attention too.

W.D. Gaster and Alphys. W.D. Gaster was the Royal Scientist before Alphys, so I imagine these two characters interacted before W.D. Gaster "vanished into time and space". That, and I just love W.D. Gaster, lol. I had to include him somehow.

Asriel and Chara. Pretty much everybody loves Asriel and Chara. I don't think I need to say much here, lol.

Sans and Frisk. Yeah I know, there's Sans's boss fight, Megalovania, etc. What I mostly want to focus on is how Sans judges you. Of all the characters who have the best idea of your morals and what you've done, it's Sans (yes there's also Flowey too but I'm talking about Sans here). The music that plays at the Judgement Hall is super chilling but enchanting at the same time. I just love seeing Sans state your stats, and Sans's relationship with Frisk overall.

I FORGOT TO INCLUDE PAPYRUS AND FRISK. PAPYRUS AND FRISK ARE BEST BUDDIES FOREVER. THE END. OK I'M DONE EDITING THIS POST NOW.

And that's the list! Once I play Undertale, my opinions may change, so here's what you're left with for now. I'm sorry I forgot to include Undertale in the initial post. My brain's been super focused on Deltarune for a very long time, so my bad >-<.

I know your not big on shipping, so I wanted to ask,

What are your favorite strictly platonic relationships in UTDR?(besides Lancer and Susie obvs)

Ooooh, this is an interesting question! I haven't thought too much about it, but there are some platonic relationships I do like. These aren't in any particular order :P.

First is Susie and Kris! I really like seeing Kris and Susie slowly bond together over time. At the beginning of the game, Susie bullied Kris to no end, but they're honestly legitimate friends by now, and I'm sure their friendship will only increase the more the game progresses.

Next is a bit of a controversial one, but I really do like the relationship between Kris and Spamton. Sure, Spamton tries to kill Kris and their friends by the end, but for some time, Spamton was a silly little man. Did Spamton have malevolent intentions? Yes. But Spamton doesn't try to outright harm Kris until he turns into NEO, at least from what I remember. For a while, Kris is just interacting with a desperate and corrupted salesman.

Another platonic relationship I like is Noelle and Berdly, and by extension Noelle and Kris. Noelle is honestly a character who gets along with everybody, and I really respect that. Berdly seems like the type who doesn't have many friends, so being buddies with a kind and patient person like Noelle is definitely positive. And Noelle and Kris have known each other for quite some time! They used to hang out a lot from what we know. Some more background on their friendship would be cool to see!

This next relationship isn't really positive lol, but I LOVE how Swatch and Rouxls Kaard get along, or should I say DON'T get along. Most of it is due to Rouxls Kaard's arrogance and silly nature. I don't think we've seen those two characters interact directly--again, at least from what I remember--but boy, I would REALLY like to see that.

Another controversial platonic relationship is Jevil and Kris, Susie, and Ralsei. Jevil was definitely dangerous and certainly could have killed those three--I for one had to spend hours to get through his boss fight--but I don't really believe it was of purely malevolent intent. I think Jevil was trying to show them the truth, was trying to help them be free. Jevil had long since been insane, and his perception of right and wrong was twisted. And in the end, if you battle him the right way, he warns you about Queen before any other character. Nice!

Sticking with Jevil, I REALLY like his backstory with Seam. I can't say for certain if Jevil and Seam were legitimately IN a relationship--hello, Seavil fans--but for the sake of this post, I'm going to assume they were just friends. Close friends maybe, but friends. The pain of having to lock Jevil away must have been soul-crushing for Seam. Those two worked together, and knew each other really well. It's a shame their friendship had to end in such a somber way.

Rouxls Kaard. Rouxls Kaard and literally everyone. No, I will not elaborate.

This is more of a "hoping they become buddies later on" platonic relationship, but man, I really like the dynamic of Spade King and Susie. I really think Spade King is similar to Susie personality-wise, and they could genuinely get along if not for the current...issues put in place (Spade King despises Lightners, Susie despises Spade King, etc). But even now, seeing those two go back and forth is still refreshing with every playthrough.

This is definitely another controversial one: I really enjoy the dynamic amongst Spade King and his citizens in Chapter 1. The Darkner citizens fear Spade King to no end, and most are forced to attack your party. Well, all of them are forced, but not every Darkner outright attacks you. We even see a Rudinn who refused to fight get imprisoned later that same chapter. It's super sad, but incredibly interesting at the same time.

And for the final few platonic relationships, we have the one and only Lancer! I won't mention Lancer and Susie again, but I will mention other platonic relationships.

Since I've already mentioned this before in my Lancer document, I'll simply state it here: Lancer and the Darkner citizens in Chapter 1 has got to be one of the saddest dynamics ever. It's even making me sad thinking about it :(.

Lancer and Kris/Ralsei. Lancer may like Susie the most, but he gets along with Kris and Ralsei too! Both Kris and Ralsei do their best to treat Lancer well and be as kind and friendly to him as possible, and I really like that. Lancer deserves those three, for sure.

Lancer and Queen! What interests me most about this particular one is the fact that Queen...doesn't really know how to be a parent. Queen's a computer, while Lancer's not. They're both very different characters. It'll be interesting to see how they get along as the game progresses!

Okay, I know I already mentioned Rouxls Kaard, but I need to mention this specific relationship. Rouxls Kaard may be the king of goofing up, sure, but he does legitimately try to be a good father to Lancer. He might complain about Lancer from time to time, but he does care and wants to do his best. Part of it may be because of Spade King looming behind the scenes, but honestly, I think that's a minor reason. Rouxls Kaard seems to be a character with a lot of heart, even if he messes up a lot.

And finally, last but certainly not least, Lancer and Spade King. What can I say about this father/son relationship that I haven't said already? Spade King may be a...questionable parent, at least from what we know, but he does care about Lancer. He wants what is best for his son, even if his methods for showing it are highly controversial. And seeing Lancer care for his dad after everything he's done is so heart-warming. I really want these two to establish a proper, genuine, healthy father/son relationship by the time the game ends.

Well, that's everyone I can think of! This list ended up being longer than intended lol. I guess I had a lot to say.

Thanks for the question! I enjoyed answering it :)!

[theriverdraws]

DELTARUNE RAMBLING/THEORY AGAIN:

I guess it's a bit of a rant as well but it's not that serious lol I'm just theorizing.

I think we can all agree it's pretty confirmed that Gaster is heavily involved with Kris' whole deal, whatever it is, but I actually did read other theories about chara also being involved (even if I don't agree with it), or just another third entity controlling Kris in general.

And while I understand it a bit better after going through some versions, it didn't really change my mind, I don't think chara is involved.

Here's the thing, deltarune isn't connected to undertale directly, definitely in some ways, that's why Gaster is here, but Ut!Chara being involved in it would mean that the world of Deltarune would be directly connected to an undertale no-mercy route, and if what Toby said still holds up, he doesn't want this to be a direct sequel/prequel to undertale, so this couldn't be the case. Gaster works because he's barely an undertale character tbh, so it feels less connected if that makes sense? So him playing a bigger part wouldn't be an issue.

Also since Chara and Kris already have very overlapping personalities in some ways, it would get confusing very quickly. Which actually brings up another point:

What about a deltarune version of Chara? All the other ut characters have them.

Have you considered Kris is this alternate version? They have very similar personalities despite probably growing differently, both adopted by the dreemurrs aswell, and while Chara is the true meta name of the fallen child, you can name them whatever you want so Kris could just be deltarune version of Chara. AND if that is the case then it wouldn't make sense Kris being posessed by dr!Chara if they technically are them.

There's also a bigger possibility that Chara is just dead, since there is no one to help them like in undertale. Or that Chara is living their best life with Asriel in college idk, I just think it's very unlikely that an alternate version of Chara is also a dead devil child with similar goals as the ut version, despite the very big differences the two worlds have?

Leaving the topic of Chara behind, I also do not think there's any other third entity controlling Kris, heck I don't even think Gaster is controlling them. And by controlling I mean posession, I definitely think Gaster plays more of a puppeteer role, but I don't think he has any control over Kris without the soul inside them, without our help. Therefore it isn't some shady figure doing those fountains, it's just Kris.

And yes most of you already knew this and it's obvious BUT I think it's fair some would doubt that Kris would do the fountains willingly, and that's because of the snowgrave/weird route.

Like, first of all, why would Kris do the fountains on a normal route? Well it's a form of escapism, and they want to share this world with their friends right? So they have enough reasons to make fountains in a normal route. But why would they make a new fountain after a snowgrave route??? Why would they put the soul back in their body??? It's not like they weren't emotionally affected by this, you can see by the observations of characters around Kris that they are very much traumatized.

So, some people think that's why there could be a third entity making Kris do these fountains, like Chara or Gaster, and I don't think it's a dumb assumption to make but I would argue it's far from the case here.

The thing is deltarune plays a lot with the relationship of the player and the protagonist, that's one of it's themes, we're gonna learn a lot more about Kris in the next 5 chapters, so we don't know the full extent of their goals. Sure the motives behind the fountains are somewhat "sweet" and sad in a normal route, but what if there's more to it? What if this SOMEHOW could help Kris' problem with the soul controlling their body? Or it could be just something else entirely, the thing is - we can't judge Kris' actions too quickly.

Now, I don't think they are malicious because there isn't a single Toby character who is purely "evil" and just for the sake of being "evil", but just how certain people blaming Kris or Chara for the snowgrave route or genocide route is just a form of shifting the blame off themselves - I also think shifting the blame out of Kris' actions is also just shifting the blame away from them for the sake of keeping them "pure", when we really don't have enough information about them considering we're getting 5 more chapters in the future, and Kris could definitely be an even grayer character than we think. And so by just treating Kris like they would never do certain things to achieve their goals, specially in this awful situation they are in, filled with desperation and lack of freedom, I think we would be cutting off a lot of potential in their character.

And I think thats about it? I also don't think Kris is the knight just because if they were, there would be quite a bit of plot holes but I mean, it isn't impossible.

[butt-watch]

Deltarune Chapter 2 Theory

DELTARUNE SPOILERS AHEAD

I'll put under a read more, but just in case it doesn't work. Here's your warning to block "#delatrune spoilers" or scroll really fast.

Spoilers for end game and bonus boss, and a long ass dump of all the ideas I have in my head before I forget them. So, sorry if I got anything wrong or it's a mess.

I've seen a lot of theories flying around, but haven't seen this one yet. (Sorry if it is already out there and I just haven't seen it, I'm sure somebody will already have put it together better than me.) This is just some funky ideas I've been throwing around, because I'll be honest here, I love the main 3 so much, and would be sad to see any of them turn out to be evil like so many theories are suggesting.

Maybe I'm just trying to be optimistic, maybe it's the weird nb kid deep inside me latching onto a kindred spirit, maybe I'm on to something.

So here's the thing. I don't believe Kris is the knight.

I know, I know, but stay with me here.

There's no denying that at the end of the chapter, Kris created a new fountain, and with it, likely a new dark world. But I'd like to argue, this is the first one they've created. My evidence is shaky, but I think there's something there that could blossom.

I'll start off with the simple fact that multiple characters who have met the knight, Spades King especially, didn't recognise Kris at all, and you would have thought they'd recognise the person who's been feeding them so much information. You do also have a couple of dialogue options with the king this time, and definitely with the Queen, so it seems strange that neither of them recognise the voice of their Knight in shining armour.

This is where stuff starts to get a bit flaky, but also, a lot more intriguing.

At the end of the chapter Kris opened a fountain, and the night before, we saw Kris remove the soul inside them and brandish their knife. Assuming that Kris spent that time without the soul creating a fountain is a fair assumption to make, and I think it's possible that was Kris's intention, perhaps they have some connection to the knight, and knew how the fountains could be opened. But, they were missing one important ingredient.

In Chapter 2 we get an explanation from the Queen about how dark fountains are created, and with it a word that has largely been missing from Deltarune.

That's right, good old Determination.

Fountains are created when a determined Lightner plunges a sharp object into the ground. And here's where the theory comes in. I believe prior to the end of chapter 2, Kris didn't have Determination. Throughout the game, they've been filled with various sources of power, from Fluffy Boys and Mean Girls, to Cat signs. But at every save point we've been missing the signature Determination.

The closest we get is at the end of Chapter 2, just before the fight against the queen, when "a certain power" is alluded to.

And that lack of Determination, would have made opening the fountain impossible for them, after all, Queen spent the whole game building Noelle's determination high enough to open a new fountain. A smidge of determination doesn't seem to cut it.

So how did Kris get the determination?

Through the good old power of Friendship. Through the trials with their new friends, Kris has gained determination, even without the soul inhabiting them. And even though that started as half a joke (only half), whilst writing this post and trying to find screencaps, for the next section, I realised it's actually more likely than I suspected.

And that brings me to everyone's new favourite:

Spamton. During his dialogue and initial boss fight he offers a deal, rewarding Kris with [[Hyperlink Blocked]] if they accept. As far as I'm aware you're forced to accept the deal. (If anyone else tolerated more than a few minutes of smashing no deal like I did and managed to get a different outcome, kudos to your perseverance.)

What is [[Hyperlink Blocked]]? Well I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this. I believe it may well be Determination or something similar.

During the initial confrontation, Spamton refers to the players Soul as [[HeartShapedObject]].

But prior to the boss fight against Spamton NEO, he has no qualms about saying SOUL.

I've seen a lot of people theorising Spamton is being censored, and I agree that definitely seems to be the case. From a meta standpoint though I think it's interesting that the [[Hyperlink Blocked]] he mentioned so much in his first encounter doesn't seem to be mentioned at all, now the he has slightly more freedom of speech. I personally believe it's because revealing whatever Spamton was offering would have given too much away.

So how does this come back to the power of friendship? Well, upon defeating Spamton, whether through ACTing or beating the crap out of him, he realises the real treasure was the friends we made along the way.

He suggests that together, the three of them could "break their own strings"

Following the fight, there's a moment, where Susie notices that Kris is acting out of sorts. Whichever option you choose, it's obvious that Kris is shaken by the event, even going as far as to yell the answer if you let them admit how they're feeling.

The similarity to Kris's own situation, being puppeted by the player is a valid reason for the response. Whatever shook them did so with enough effect that the fear showed despite the players control. Either that, or Kris has something they didn't have, more control. More... Determination to overcome the soul.

That last part is reaching a little, which is saying something, given the amount of shaky evidence presented in this post, so I want to wrap this up mostly with something slightly unrelated, but still a Kris theory.

Why do they open the fountain?

There are a lot of theories, about being a pawn for Gaster, being an asshole, etc.

I'd like to think Kris is just a weird kid who's gotten caught up in a mess they don't really understand. They created a scenario where Susie would be forced to stay the night, and opened up a new dark world, that Susie, their friend, expressed a want for before they left the dark world.

A place where they could get away from their lives for a little while and have more adventures together. And I can understand the reasoning, opening a new fountain isn't bad, I mean, as long as they close it at the end, nobody gets hurt and they have more memories. Where's the harm in that? Right?

As much as Kris obviously wishes to be free of the soul's control, that very soul has helped them make real friends. It's taken them on adventures and well.

Somebody had to let it out before the morning.

So to summarise, the strongest power known to man is a group of lonely teenagers, if you run through a peaceful game murdering everything and then blame a video game character for the decision you made, I'll kick your ass, and I guess I'm a Kris stan now, oh god.

[atomi-cat]

None of what you've mention, goes against Mat's theory. In his vid, it shows multiple needles. A stereotypical scientist is never satisfied with just one test. And Sans helping out Alphys in the labs isn't far fetched either. Reading the entries made in the true labs, one is Alphys and the other could be Sans. Alphys hiding the amalgamates, think about Sans and Papyrus hiding with them too. All in all, none of goes against eachother. I'm just glad he showed the tumblr post that people ignore.

Alright, so I went back and watched the video, since at the time when I answered the last I only watched the video once.

I’m not sure what about pointing out the needles visual in the video has any relevance to what I said in my last post. Where did I say that Gaster wasn’t a dedicated scientist, or that he didn’t do multiple tests? That’s something scientists do. Call it a stereotype if you want, but it makes sense for a scientist, ANY scientist, to do multiple tests. That’s done to collect data, with the hopes that the tests will create results. Whether or not it’s the results that they want is left up for debate.

Actually, Sans being the other author is something I do agree with as a definite possibility. I have a recording of when me and a friend did a playthrough, so when Matpat brought up that half of the entries are in lowercase, I went back and checked the footage I recorded a couple years ago. And he’s right. Some of the entries are in fact in lowercase almost all the way through (there’s one I found that had a randomly place Capital I when all the others were lowercase, so that could’ve been intentional or a mistake).

But with all that being said, this doesn’t answer what I was confused about before. How can Sans be one of the other monsters that saw what happened to Gaster if he’s half of Gaster? How would he have been there with Alphys if Sans and Papyrus suddenly came into being in a completely different location, in a completely different timeline where Gaster no longer existed as himself? Sans wouldn’t have been present for that if he appeared into being after the accident had already happened. For Sans to be present for that, he would have already had to exist before Gaster was shattered, meaning that he wouldn’t be half of a destroyed monster. Again, he still could have come from a part of Gaster, but that would mean he had to have been around before the accident. Before Gaster was shattered. And so far, no where in Matpat’s theory does he state that Sans and Papyrus predated the accident.

Alphys’s nervousness about how Sans knew her even before that revelation near the end never came across to me as they were hiding what happened to Gaster, because at this point in time, she no longer remembers Gaster. No one except for Sans and Papyrus (and to an extent the player) would know about that. If she remembered Gaster even after the accident, why wouldn’t the game hint upon this? In the entry, she says “the blue prints”. Not “his blueprints”,  “they’re blueprints”, or even “hi…t-the blueprints”. To me, something like that would give a much bigger indication that she’s trying to stay quiet about the incident. 

The game also makes no mention about Papyrus and Sans hiding out in the lab. We know that Sans has a connection, but Papyrus’s connection is left unclear. Granted, the game also never says one way or the other if Papyrus knows about the true lab or not. He only mentions that he’s seen the bag of dogfood in Sans’s room before, but that’s not enough to confirm what he knows about the True lab, since the bag of dogfood is on the first floor when those phone calls are made, not in the true lab. I think for this part, we may just need to wait for part 3, since matpat might address this. 

I’m also confused what your last comment is in reference to.

So, for now, I’m still confused about this theory.  But, part 3 isn’t out yet, so for all I know, maybe all of this will be concluded and answered in the final part. Still looking forward to it, even if I’m still confused about all of this.

I noticed the other message you left me, so I’ll answer that here, as well.

In the very first entry. This is what’s stated:

ENTRY NUMBER 1: This is it… Time to do what the King has asked me to do. I will create the power to free us all. I will unleash the power of the SOUL.

Asgore knew about the determination experiments, because unlocking the power of the SOUL was his idea. And you’re right. Asgore didn’t know about the amalgamates, and no where in my last post did I say that I believed that Asgore knew about the amalgamates before the player entered the True lab.

To recap, this is what I said about that: 

If the “Gaster is the skelebros” theory states that Sans and Papyrus are two halves of Gaster, and Sans and Papyrus seem to know more about the incident then they let on while no one else remembers Gaster, why would it be such a stretch to theorize that the two monsters could have been Alphys and Asgore? Maybe Asgore didn’t know the full extent of the determination project (or about the resulting amalgamates at the time), but he did know about it.

If anything in that could be misinterpreted that I was hinting that Asgore knew about the amalgamates, then I apologize for any confusion. That wasn’t my intent. What was my intention is to point out that since Gaster used to be the royal scientist before Alphys, Asgore would know Gaster, and would know that he was also running experiments on determination, up until Gaster was scattered across time and space.  Asgore didn’t witness the how the determination injections affected the amalgamates, but why is it so unbelievable that he may have been there to get one last look at Gaster before Gaster “fell into his creation”? That’s mostly what I was asking about.

I mostly pointed out the possibility of Asgore being one of the monsters witnessing Gaster’s demise because Asgore does have a connection to Gaster, even if it’s a small one. It still doesn’t change the fact that neither of them would remember Gaster, because upon being scattered across time and space, also resulted in Gaster being in both existence and nonexistence; being stuck in a reality “where no one remembers him”. A line of dialog that one of the Gaster followers mention.

I’ll admit a lot of this is speculation, since I still don’t know the full story, and I’m mostly going off of what the game has presented. But that’s what Matpat is doing, too. Speaking of which, like I said earlier, I’m still waiting to see what he has to say in part 3, since that video could clear up some of the things I’ve been asking about. 

[mar64ds]

You could say Undertale also carries that theme and you're right, it definitely has characters that feel really lonely and kindness and friendship is what helps them, but I wouldn't say that's the main issue every single main character faces, Undyne doesn't really feel lonely for example

Meanwhile in Deltarune...:

-First of all you have Kris, who doesn't really have friends at the beginning of the game, Asriel seemed to be the person they were the closest with and now he's not here and they are all alone. Kris seems super disconnected from everyone and it seems like the player is the one that is making them connect with others more, but that's not really themself, and I'm sure if anything that could make them feel more lonely. Susie seems to be the one person they are truly befriending since Susie never lets the player make choices

-Susie is pretty obvious, her whole arc of pushing others away and learning to trust others and be a good friend. She was clearly a lonely miserable kid before chapter 1, now she is a really good friend and is surrounded by people that care about her

-Ralsei has been alone all of his life waiting for Kris and Susie and is slowly learning what being a friend really is like, there is a lot of mystery in Ralsei but this kid is extremely lonely and I still think that if he's hiding anything that isn't really great it's not out of malice but out of not wanting to be alone again (kind of like Flowey in some way)

-Lancer was a lonely kid that not that many people in the kingdom liked, his dad sucks as well, Susie and the rest were his first friends and that friendship is what helped him stand up against his dad

-Noelle feels really scared and lost in general and without her sister she feels more lonely than ever. She only becomes more confident in herself when she's suported by her friends, similar to how Lancer standed up against his dad thanks to Susie and the rest

-Berdly is scared of the idea of being out in the world alone without Noelle, his only friend and the one that helps him have good grades. Berdly is a good kid despite his flaws, he just needed someone to tell him to be better and he actually tries to be better when he's offered advice by people he trusts. Berdly feels less lonely, less scared and less pressured, so he improves himself a little bit

-Jevil and Spamton. Secret bosses that are hidden away from everyone. Jevil was locked away from everyone else, he was really bored and he just wanted to play with someone, as deadly as his games can be. Meanwhile Spamton feels abandoned by his old friends, which is a really important fact about his entire character, as well as how trapped he feels being a puppet

-Dess. Now this one is just speculation so far, but Dess seems to be lost and we know that in the game code there are messages of someone calling for help as well as Spamton projecting a similar message at some point ('Can anyone hear me? Help') that he specifies it wasn't him talking, it was someone else talking to Kris. Dess could be completely lost and all alone, very relevant for this loneliness theme

-Gaster. You know, the forgotten character, the character that doesn't even exist anymore, who is more lonely than that? Who is the perfect character to talk about this topic? Who conviniently seems like the most important character in the lore of this story? Yeah

-This is me being silly but there is one character that has always made pretty clear ever since Undertale that he feels really lonely and that funny enough hasn't showed up in this game yet, he's the only main Undertale character that hasn't either been named or had a bunch of dialogue, it sure is strange huh

Who here thinks loneliness will be one of the major themes in deltarune because I do