#friends. and ralsei will always listen to you and susie will always do whatever she wants

[eggrolls-and-fandoms]

The fact that Ralsei and Susie are narrative foils is not NEARLY talked about enough

[sweatertheman]

I have exhausted by daily brain cell count thinking about DELTARUNE Lore. What have I come up with?

Well, let's start with some observations.

Kris, Susie, Ralsei, and even Noelle are all capable of straight up ignoring our commands. They can refuse to perform an action we tell them to and straight up "leave the party" when it suits them. Kris will stop you from dropping the Cards in the Light World, and the narration will scold you for attempting it. Kris will stop you from walking into their mother's line of sight while carrying a ball of trash. Kris will refuse to allow you the choice to watch Susie and Noelle on a Snowgrave route. Kris, in 2 chapters, has removed their Soul from their body and, by extension, "left the party," 3 times. Kris will refuse to allow the player to tell Noelle to "Proceed" through their own voice. Kris isn't going to say it for us, because they refuse to participate. Kris is also capable of speaking and even moving without our say-so. Susie doesn't even join the party until the last section of Chapter 1, and even then she will refuse to flirt with an enemy when instructed to. She also straight up says that if you tell her to do something dumb, she'll stop listening to you. In Chapter 2, she leaves the party to go off with Ralsei regardless of whatever you choose. Ralsei is the least willing to disobey commands, which is fitting of him as a Darkner, a being with its own mind but not its own will. He does however occasionally override a descision, like insisting that Chapter 1's Susie intermission be viewed. Noelle is second least willing to disobey a command, but that's part of her character flaws. She can't say no. Even then, she doesn't just do as she's told mindlessly. She refuses to use Snowgrave 3 or 4 times and will only use it when she gets fed up with being told to use it. She then leaves the party of her own accord.

Spamton desires Kris' Soul on the grounds that it will allow him to be the one making the calls. That with it, he can see past the dark, and look into "heaven." When speaking to Spamton, they say they refuse to give up their Soul because of their friends.

Kris, despite being able to undo, ignore, and prevent our control of them, chooses to allow us to control them. They will veto a descision they don't like, but they willingly give up their autonomy. They only occasionally decide to stop us controlling them, and they always bring us back.

ACTing is an ability that, despite explicitly NOT being magic, is capable of doing literally anything. An ACT can give buffs or debuff, it can damage and heal, it can summon things that aren't there and make them disappear when not needed.

ACTs are only ever used in battle, and only by characters who are "in the party." When Susie saves Noelle from Werewires, she does it by using Rude Buster on the control wires.

When a character is "in the party" it means they can recieve commands from us regardless of whether or not Kris is up. The fact that Susie doesn't join the party for so long means that, while she is in the battle, we can't issue any commands to her directly. She is also unwilling to listen to directions from Kris. However, even after she joins the party, she retains the ability to reject our commands. Being in the party solely ditactes the ability to recieve our directions.

During either Susie intermission, Kris' Soul remains inside their body, and dialogue options are spoken directions from their mouth. Susie can barely hear Kris in Chapter 1 because they're in another room behind a brick wall, and in Chapter 2, she doesn't react to those choices because she literally isn't in the room.

ACTing is strictly necessary to beat DELTARUNE. K. Round cannot be defeated without using it, and neither can the Music Guys.

In most cases, ACTing will create a heart-shaped particle effect. This is diegetic to some extent, as the dialogue options for the Ferris Wheel reference it.

"Point and hearts come out."

Ralsei consistently preaches the value of ACTing. He claims FIGHTing is unnecessary, and insists that Susie learn to ACT, partially out of fear of what could happen if she doesn't.

Ralsei has a prevalent Heart motif, with the heart on his robe and on the big door in his castle.

Ralsei claims Kris' Soul contains the FATE OF THE WORLD. As a fitting parallel to this, the DELTA RUNE, an image representing the Propehcy of the end of the world and the heroes that undo and/or prevent it, is heart-shaped, with the three triangles and winged circle contained within.

Dual Heal, Red Buster, and Courage are all accessed via the ACT menu.

In Chapter 2, ACTs initiated from Kris' ACT menu will be more powerful than ones from Susie and Ralsei's Magic menus.

After the Goner Maker but before the Opening, a distinctly Non-Gaster voice will discard your vessel, state that no one can choose who they are in this world, then tell you your name is Kris, though that last part comes through the mouth of Toriel. This voice shares speech patterns with Chara Dreemurr.

It is implied Gaster has seen a future in which the heroes fail, and brings in the player to create a new future where they succeed. It is also implied Kris has seen this "old future" as well.

Kris Dreemurr shares many similarities with Chara Dreemurr. A love of chocolate, a green shirt with a yellow stripe, non-descript pants, some kind of preoccupation with knives, a snarky attitude and prankster streak, etc.

Putting all this together, I present my latest theories.

For one, ours is the power to ACT. Only characters in the party can ACT, and ACTing can create things that aren't there, as well as cause anything to happen. Kris, our defacto vessel, can ACT better than anyone else, because they have the most direct connection to us. We are represented by a heart, and hearts appear when an ACT is used. Ralsei, a proponent of ACTing, has a heart on his robe, and on his big door. The DELTA RUNE, the prophecy of the heroes, is heart-shaped. The Prophecy requires that ACTs be used in order to progress. In this theory, Gaster brought in the player specifically because they have the power to ACT. They have the power to change things, to make anything happen. Spamton wants Kris' Soul in the hopes that he will be able to change things. That he won't be a slave to someone else's will.

The second part of this theory is that Kris was the one to reject the Vessel. Kris allows themselves to be controlled for their friends' sakes. While capable of removing us directly or telling someone about us, they don't, because it was their choice to allow us in the first place. In this theory, Kris already failed to save the world, but the timeline was reset. Gaster, seeing that Kris failed, calls in the player, but Kris decides to steal a second chance. While not his intention, Gaster does not object to Kris' interjection, because it doesn't matter to him. As long as they player is there, there's hope. This theory actually goes hand in hand with the first, as Gaster summons the player for the power to ACT, and Kris takes them in by their own descision, as their own autonomy is not as important as that power. It's a small price to pay. Kris, when they do remove our influence, seems less concerned with getting away from us, and more concerned with keeping us around. They could just crush that heart or stab it, or even just throw it away, but instead they keep it locked up in a cage, hidden in a cabinet, or stuffed in the couch. And when they're done making a Dark Fountain in their own living room, they put us right back in place, but not before holding up the heart, as if staring at it in awe.

anyway as i said i have no braincells left feel free to tell me why im wrong have a good nighttfftffx

[just-char]

Hey Char, been a while. I'm curious, did you play the Snowgrave route of chapter 2 and if so what were your thoughts? I played it and it makes me think of you with the horror elements, so I wondered if you gave it a go.

Hello, Bun! Long time, no see, indeed. I’m glad to hear you thought of me as I primarily associate playing Deltarune and Undertale with you (you were the one who bought me it in the first place, after all, and convinced me to play it. Even when I listen to the soundtrack I think specifically of how you enjoyed it!)

Also, Napstablook = Krickis as far as I am concerned. Where there is Napstablook, I am thinking of Krickis. On actual serious thoughts, the Snowgrave Route is certainly an exciting one. I have not played it myself (Kris and Noelle are so young and I can barely manage to play the genocide route in Undertale) but I did watch another person play through it and my thoughts are as follows: wow!

Toby Fox most definitely has a hidden penchant for horror and it’s planted all across Undertale and Deltarune (Alphy’s lab in the true pacifist run in Undertale immediately comes to mind.) It’s a lot to do with the environment and atmosphere he’s capable of building in all areas of the game creating process, whether it be music or art design or battle mechanics (I imagine with the help of others too, but unfortunately I’m not very familiar with who works on the games) and creepy seems to come easy to him! I know you didn’t ask about Spamton, but his boss battle is another fantastic example of this. That horror element is a lot more... nightmare-y, though, I suppose? What I mean to say is, it’s almost silly. It doesn’t feel as real as what’s happening with Kris actively throughout the game, or what happens to Berdly. Part of this is because fighting Spamton doesn’t have consequences (that are obvious to the player.) The worst that happens is that Kris appears to have a panic attack afterwards and is visibly upset by what they’ve been forced by us to witness, but what I like specifically about the Snowgrave Route is that this lasts and it’s really explored. The lasting consequence it seems to have on the psyche of Noelle and Kris and the implication of the entire route is horror through and through, in a fantastic, amazing, wowza way.

And now, because I am a little bit too excited to talk about this, an unedited and possibly impossible to read ramble about horror and Noelle and Kris below the cut. The way I describe the game and the role the player has might be upsetting, so please do not read unless you’re very comfortable with body control horror etc..

Deltarune isn’t a horror game but its premise mirrors one in multiple ways and I find that very fascinating. It is almost more unnerving that such horrible experiences are masked by the fun, whacky outer layers. One could play Deltarune and never find Jevil or Spamtom’s boss fight or play the Snowgrave route and remain blissfully unaware of what lurks beneath a very normal (if occasionally dark!) adventure story.

Despite this, there is a lot to be said about Kris and the player’s control over them, as well as some choice words from Noelle about Kris’ recent behaviour and demeanour. It’s hard not to assume that Kris is possessed by us. We can force them to say things but they can react to these dialogue choices and become visibly upset at the actions we force upon them, so even playing the game as intended without discovering anything remotely below the surface, it’s impossible to ignore what actually playing the game and controlling Kris does to them. Essentially, stripping away all of the scariest parts of Deltarune doesn’t matter, because its actual premise, where you play, not as Kris, but as an entity CONTROLLING Kris, is in itself horrific! Kris is a child, at most sixteen and I certainly believe younger than that, and no amount of drawing them weirdly tall and lanky and emo-y can change that.

Possession and inability to control one’s self are heavily utilised in horror. When you consider how many times you’ve watched someone be tied down, forced to witness whatever is happening to them in real time, or the general horror and gore associated with demon possession in even current mainstream movies like The Conjuring (or even a mix of both! Media that explores being trapped inside the body without any control while being possessed and the effects it has on your mind is not common enough) it’s easy to see the connections between a lot of horror tropes and Kris’ ‘problem’. Only thing is, we’re directly perpetuating this horror every time we play. We are the demon! We are the person who is strapping someone down and forcing them to witness horrific things by our hand! I mean, it’s just fantastic. Deltarune is by no means a horror but it certainly feels like it. I suppose that’s the power of implication!

Being more specific to the Snowgrave route (I promise the previous ramble was related!) the player extends this control to Noelle, arguably the most vulnerable and ‘helpless’ character in the game so far besides Kris themselves (and even then, that’s in a much more literal way.) unlike Kris, who physically has no choice, Noelle feels as though she has no choice. She’s a pushover and unable to prevent who she perceives as her childhood friend from forcing her to do things she doesn’t want to. Her relationship with her mother seems to play into this complex. Noelle has always been one of my favourite characters— even with what little we see of her in chapter one, she makes a lasting impression and it’s not surprising that people wanted her to be a party member in this chapter. (The irony!) But this newest chapter also furthers an interesting trait of hers, namely, her fascination with fear. She enjoys being scared, she gets a rush from being in dangerous situations, feeling unsafe. She says so herself, though she uses more external situations to explain it (scary forests, etc.) It certainly explains her crush on Susie, but in the Snowgrave Route, it really works against her. Or, we use it against her. At a first glance, what we do to her in the Snowgrave route is awful, and then, the more you think about it, the worst it gets (usually a trademark of excellent horror and great writing in general, in my opinion.) not only are we playing into her deepest insecurities (because remember, it’s not Kris doing this, or us playing AS Kris, it’s just we, the player) we are actively abusing her as a person. We force her to fight. We force her to hurt people. We do all this for power. And we do all this while simultaneously doing it to Kris as well! And forcing Kris to be our mouthpiece, forcing them to hurt their friend who they presumedly love and care for! Unlike Susie and Ralsei, Noelle’s opinion of us cannot affect our journey and she is easy to control, so we do it. And once again, these are kids! They are children! We are not fighting Sans Undertale to the death, we are actively abusing and controlling children, much to the detriment of their mental health and the physical health of those around them.

Details such as the watch and the blackened “conversation” we have with Noelle in the hospital really only add to the experience. The implication that Berdly has been seriously harmed and potentially killed by what we’ve done to him (or more accurately, forced Noelle to do to him) is handled really interestingly from the younger persons perspective, where he simply doesn’t wake up. I could really go on and on, but unfortunately time is a constraint and I don’t think what I’m saying is very easy to parse anyway.

To summarise: Snowgrave Route good. Very well-written. Deltarune is a horror in disguise, but I will continue to put my hands over my ears and pretend everything is okay, just like Mr Toby Fox would like me to do. Thank you very much for the ask, I hope you’re doing well! If you have any thoughts of your own, please share them with me. I’d be delighted to hear your opinion as a writer (horror or not.) :]