Every time there’s a new Deltarune chapter there’s a new wave of ‘next chapter we’ll be controlling someone other than Kris!’ or ‘we’ll fight Kris in the Vessel as the final boss!’ theories, but. 

It’s been noticed that Kris doesn’t look very... well... when the Soul is outside their body. Their movements are noticeably strained and jerky. And they always seem to make a point of putting the Soul back into their body when they’re done doing whatever they’re doing. Even if we’ve done things they seem to clearly dislike, such as Snowgrave. It’s also been pointed out that, despite seeming shaken and horrified by Snowgrave, Kris makes no attempt to seriously resist us or remove the soul. 

I’ve considered this before. Wondered if Kris is only capable of removing the Soul at night for some reason, and physically cannot do so during the day or in the Dark Worlds. Or if they believe their friends like the Soul more than they like Kris themself, and feel permanently removing or resisting the Soul would result in their life becoming worse. I think think those options are plausible and worth keeping in mind for future chapters. But I’m also wondering just... does Kris need the soul to stay alive? 

(rest of theory under cut, addresses themes of suicide and self-harm)

If any character was going to be revealed to have been killed in the past as a plot twist, I feel that Kris is actually the most likely contender, far more than Asriel or Dess. (Suffice to say, evidence points towards Dess being missing, there’d be WAY more gossip and drama if golden child Asriel were dead all along, and the Birdcage and Bunker indicate that Kris may have been missing their soul for a very long time. Furthermore, Susie calling Kris a zombie could be some subtle foreshadowing for later on. Not that I think Susie knows, but still.) 

So, if Kris is already dead, and they do decide for some reason to fight us to get us to stop possessing them once and for all... that’d be a race against time, right? If they are dead, if the reason they keep putting the Soul back in their body and don’t seriously rebel even in Snowgrave is because their soul is necessary to stay alive... Kris fighting us like that and winning, or Kris running off without us while we possess Susie or a Darkner or whatever, isn’t a matter of ‘Kris skips off merrily to do their own thing, for good or for ill’. It’s a matter of Kris is slowly dying and is completely fine with this. 

Suffice to say. If we were forced to possess someone else and try to ‘confront’ Kris. Rather than it being them bravely defying the big bad player or use trying to stop the eeeeevil Roaring Knight, I’m concerned that it would be because Kris has come to terms with neither them nor us remaining in the world any longer.