#ralsei is questioning everything he knows right now
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It's an upgrade?
FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT
MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)
#deltarune#deltarune fanart#undertale#undertale fanart#deltarune comic#crossover#utdr#ralsei#chara#twin runes#twin runes comic#twin runes au#my art#ralsei is questioning everything he knows right now#this silly child can fit SO MANY ISSUES#also turns out they still suck at thinking things through#who thinks stabbing is a good way to put out a fire?#don't do this at home
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Hii! Just found ur blog anddd I love it. I was wondering if I could request Deltarune main 3 (Kris, Susie, Ralsei. Also romantic) hcs for a reader with adhd? Thanks :) keep up the good workkk!!
I have quite a few requests for a reader having ADHD, again, I don't have it so it might not be entirely accurate.
Kris Dreemur
-Doesn't even really notice.
-They just see you spaced put or doing something that would usually be you fidgeting.
-If you space out a lot, they'll give you a somewhat light nudge on the shoulder to get you back down to Earth.
-If you do stuff with your hands, they'll either start holding your hands or rubbing the back of one while gesturing towards what you should be paying attention to.
-If you tap your feet or something like that, they'll just rest their foot on top of your's to get you to focus.
-The most common way to get you back too reality is with snapping their fingers.
-They notice you're not really all there and they'll just be like... "Pay attention."
-Of course, they have never out right said this due to the player.
-But they do everything in their power to get you to stop spacing out.
Susie
-(Made me think of this video)
-Anyways, you'll probably have to explain to her what ADHD is.
-She knows you don't mean to not pay attention, but she can get irritated by it.
-She could be talking and you just, walk away.
-Again, she knows you don't mean it, but it can be frustrating.
-"Hey, nerd. Pay attention." Is something you'll hear more than what you would think.
-If someone talked back you to you about it, and in a good way, I'm mean more like, "How could you forget this one thing even if it's not all that important."
-She be all like, "Maybe you should do it yourself if you're going to complain."
-However if it was something truly important, she do her best to get you to focus on the task. Even if she doesn't stay all that focused herself.
-(And since you two are dating, she might give you a kiss to try and get you back.)
-She's still learning, but trying her best.
Ralsei
-Might also need some understanding what it is.
- He sees what you're more likely to be interested in rather than just hoping you listen.
-He'll try and explain things to you using those terms, but it could sometimes sound like the, "How do you do, fellow kids?" Meme.
-His way of trying to get you to stop spacing out is a light tap on your hand or shoulder. Maybe a few words to make sure you're here.
-Now Ralsei obviously knows the most about darkeners and lighteners, especially the Dark World.
-So he could be talking about something that might kill everyone if not taken with caution. It worries him if you're not listening.
-He might ask you some questions afterward regarding the topic just to make sure you weren't in the middle of spacing out.
-Other than that he isn't worried.
#Deltarune#Deltarune x reader#Deltarune Kris#Deltarune Susie#Deltarune ralsei#Deltarune kris x reader#Deltarune susie x reader#Deltarune ralsei x reader#kris dreemurr#Kris dreemurr x reader#Kris x reader#Susie x reader#Ralsei x reader#ADHD#ADHD reader
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Just felt like tossing this out: I still don't trust Ralsei. He's slowly getting better in Ch2 but Ch1? I flat out don't trust him and I have very good reason not to. He's cute and genuinely sweet, but...
The Prophecy was displayed in such a way that we are led to think that the Lightners and Darkner Prince are the party. They could be. Hell they probably are. But... Ralsei's kingdom is desolate. Even the castle grounds itself is quite literally a ghost town (both in terms of design being similar to the Blook family houses and in how barren it is of people). We're not allowed in the castle at that time or even into the inn or shops.
With how many Darkners and how long their history is implied to be in Spade King's area, I find it more probable that that Fountain is older. Our entry to the Dark World felt more like a summoning or a newly formed Fountain creating that connection. The place we first appeared is too broken up and empty in comparison to any other area of the game to be anything but the outskirts of their world's edge. Hell, the game even calls it in the Legend: "three heroes appear at world's edge".
Ralsei promised he'd be there to help seal the Fountain. It was suggested that we needed three people there. And guess what? We only had two people of the three to seal it because Lancer was busy (whether you kill Spade or not) and the throne room area was blocked off. But when Ralsei whipped off his hat this spooked Susie because he looks just like a young Asriel. We were, both Kris and the Player, were rushed out.
So instead of sealing the Fountain, the player's SOUL was... bathed in the dark? And the two Lightners saw the Deltarune world for what it was: a collection of toys. Yet we still were able to go back and this time and while it was barely a day for Kris and Susie, I'm not entirely sure that Ralsei was joking when he said he waited "so long" for them to return.
Lancer was even the first Darkner we see in the Dark World. But he attacked us. Which... isn't really something that'd keep him from joining, but his father Spade King just like Jevil was manipulated by the Knight. There's also the assumption that the Knight is the same entity that manipulated Spamton. So Lancer thinking he has to be the bad guy just goes to show how much the Knight has twisted everything up.
And then there's the fact that Ralsei said he was given the prophecy "by time and space", and when you speak with Seam about being heroes he is amused. Jevil could've seen some portents of the future but given his actions only Seam gave them any thought as time went on. And Ralsei straight up knows the mechanics of the world. He knows where the "Light World" forms of everyone are. And of course it is from him we learn about the Roaring and the consequences of making too many Dark Fountains.
I still think that Ralsei is the red horn headband Kris had as a kid. Which raises so many questions on why an artifact of Kris's childhood would be so sketchy. Clingy I understand given he lives alone and the whole macaroni manual is right out of a little kid's playbook around where I live.
So everything both in the backstory and right now as you play is being set up to either consolidate the Dark World into Ralsei's domain for whatever reason, or just plain destroy the other Dark Fountains and their surroundings. If Spade King was set up by the Knight to become just a villain in the game, to make the Card Kingdom's Fountain the target instead of the true newly formed one..
Ralsei thinks the new fountain was Spade's but it just doesn't make sense. The fountain gives substance to the land beneath them. And the fountain seen "on the horizon" isn't necessarily the one you think it is.
Ralsei clearly knows more about the Dark World and how it connects with the Light World but I have no idea if he's aware of the endgame. He just wants friends.
#deltarune#ralsei#just talking#i don't trust ralsei#character acting sus#deltarune meta#deltarune speculation#dark fountain#player deltarune#lancer is the prince of the legend#assuming the prophecy is even real#overthinking again#undertale
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(For a while now, I've been thinking about the timeline of events in the Dark World, trying to piece everything together for my headcanons. It's a bit of a struggle...)
(Mainly, this is regarding Spamton. I've been assuming that he became a "Big Shot" in 1997, as I'm sure many other people think too. However, at some point during this era, he stayed at Queen's mansion, and was evicted once he fell from his fame. The thing is, I'm a firm believer that Queen was not a part of the library originally, instead belonging to the unused classroom which is why she has history with Darkners there. My headcanon is that she was the classroom laptop, and was donated to the library when Gerson passed away. And according to Alvin, Gerson's death was only "a few years ago". Additionally, in the unused readable version of Ralsei's manual, Deltarune takes place in the year 202X. I personally believe this year to still be the case. So this would mean that Spamton's big shot era lasted quite a while in order for him to briefly stay at Queen's mansion as it was a relatively recent addition to the Cyber World.)
(But then this raises another question... What about Jevil? In the sweepstakes Q&A it was confirmed that Spamton and Jevil had interacted, playing games that Spamton tried to cheat in. So did Spamton visit Card Castle himself before Queen and King divorced and she moved to the Cyber World? I guess with Spamton's nature as spam e-mail, it would make sense for him to be able to travel between any Dark Worlds that have a computer. That also means he could have visited Chapter 3's location in person at some point, thanks to Asriel's computer, right? But, back to the topic of Jevil, if this interaction occurred between him and Spamton, that would also imply that Jevil's imprisonment had to have been within the past few years, too.)
(And regarding Spamton again, my final question... His interactions with Noelle, sending her spam emails and the code that became a Pipis in her Cat Petterz 2 game. When did this happen? How old was Noelle supposed to be at the time? If Spamton became a big shot in 1997, and Deltarune is currently in 202X, then his interaction with Noelle could not have been before his big shot era, as she wouldn't have been born yet. So, that probably means it was after his fall from fame, right? With Gerson's death being "a few years ago" I'm personally interpreting this as being 5 years ago at maximum. But I'm not entirely sure. This whole thing still confuses me...)
(Feel free to contribute if you want to help me figure this timeline out. If I forgot any details or misinterpreted something, please let me know. Sorry if this post is a bit of a mess, but I just wanted to put my thoughts out there before I forget.)
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One thing about Ralsei is that his idea that “darkners are meant to serve” appears to be in direct contradiction to the very existence of dark worlds. When dark worlds bring an object to life that object now has freedom and complete agency over their actions. If darkners true purpose was to serve then the freedom dark world gives is directly contradictory.
More curiously is that, as of chapter two, it’s clear Ralsei seems somewhat uneasy about idea of serving lightners and he appears to be slowly growing into more of his own character.
This of course prompts the question of where Ralsei is getting this idea from, because no other darkner seems to really care about it. Whoever Ralsei is getting their information from is likely the same person convincing Ralsei that the dark fountains need to be sealed away, given sealing away dark fountains removes the agency of darkners, thereby forcing to server the lightners.
One possible clue could be that Ralsei is “Prince of the Dark” and therefore a king of the dark must exist as well. However as of right now, there is nowhere near enough know about Ralsei, his past of where he is getting so much information on dark fountains on.
I don’t believe Ralsei is truly evil, or that he even believes everything he says; it seems far more likely that Ralsei has someone else who has spent most of their life fairly isolated and is regurgitating the teachings of someone who holds more malicious intentions.
#deltarne#ralsei#deltarune theory#ralsei deltarune#I know people are probably going to go on about king of darkness must be gaster in some mad deeplore hype#but honestly I feel like there's likely to be a more real character who is causing this#gasters entire thing is that he's hidden and doesn't really appear#whatever character is holding influence over ralsei seems significantly more likely to appear in a future chapter anyways#autumn's thoughts
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INTERROGATION: Spade King
(Transcribed by Prince Ralsei)
Kris raps the bars.
KING: We have NOTHING to talk about.
RALSEI: Um, actually, Mr. King… we do have something to talk about. You see, Lancer—
SUSIE: Shut up. Let me do the talking.
RALSEI: Um… but I was thinking we could try a more, um, diplomatic approach? ….Kris, why don’t you decide?
KRIS: …
RALSEI: Kris?
SUSIE: You good, dude?
KRIS: Uh. Let Susie do the talking.
RALSEI: Okay, Kris. If that’s what you think is best, then… tell him, Susie!
SUSIE: Yeah. I will. Hey. King Loser. You still care about your son? Well, here’s your chance to prove it. He’s missing, and some grey guy said it was ’cause of you.
KING: I know not of which you speak.
RALSEI: You… don’t?
KING: No.
SUSIE: Heh. Liar. Owe it to Lancer not to hurt you and all, but… you’re really pissing me off, you know? He could be anywhere right now, probably alone, lost and confused, and you—you won’t even—hell, do you even care about him at all?!
KING: Watch your tone, Lightner!
SUSIE: No, YOU watch your goddamn tone! You know, I’m so #%&ing sick of you! It’s not like you can just hand Lancer off to Queen just because he’s just not your problem anymore! You really want to have a son? Better start acting like it! I mean, he won’t even talk about you! And you go and tell me to watch my tone? I get I’m not the greatest friend ever, but at least I’m there for him! I wouldn’t ever abandon him just ’cause he’s not who I want him to be! He’s my friend! And if something happened to him, I—I know I wouldn’t just sit sulking in some stupid hamster cage. I’d go out there and GET HIM THE HELL BACK. You got a problem with that? Huh? DO YOU?
RALSEI: Susie… are you okay?
SUSIE: Yeah, it’s whatever, I just—I’m gonna ask you one more time. Have. You. Seen. Lancer.
KING: …yes.
SUSIE: …
KING: …
SUSIE: And???
KING: Patience. He came bearing a warning, of a threat on my life, and intending to defend me.
SUSIE: God, you don’t deserve him.
KING: Hah hah hah… it was empty words, girl. He could not have stood his ground, faced with a true threat to me.
SUSIE: …yeah he could’ve. Really could’ve. Trust me.
KING: Hm.
SUSIE: So… you tell him anything after that?
KING: Indeed.
SUSIE: Like???
KING: That he could and should not guard me. Don’t look so surprised—if someone were trying to attack those my son cared about, do you really think it would be safer for him to stay close to them? No. If there was a true threat to my life, the smartest thing would be to stay away.
RALSEI: What happened then?
KING: My son left.
RALSEI: Oh.
SUSIE: He say where he was going?
KING: No.
SUSIE: Well, did he—
KING: I have answered your questions, Lightners. We have nothing more to talk about. Begone.
SUSIE: Argh! Fine! You’d better hope we find him.
The Heroes of Light leave the dungeon.
SUSIE: Man, something about that felt… weird.
RALSEI: What do you mean?
SUSIE: Dunno. Unfinished.
KRIS: Wasn’t telling us something.
SUSIE: Huh? Kris? You think he’s hiding stuff too?
RALSEI: Oh. Why ever would he do that? Hmm. Um… maybe we could try going back and being… politer?
SUSIE: Nah. Let’s just look for Lancer.
RALSEI: Okay!
SUSIE: Hey Ralsei?
RALSEI: Yes, Susie?
SUSIE: You know you can stop writing everything we say down now???
RALSEI: Oh! Right! Haha.
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WHATS THE ANASTASIA ARC???????
AHAHAHHHAHA
OKAY OKAY!! THIS IS LIKE. IF POISON FAMILY BECOMES A BOOK OR ANYTHING THIS IS WHAT IT'D BE ABOUT!!! or at least it'd be the first part of it
tw for the same stuff as the last post
basically, as an excuse to get Polonium out of her way because Po-210 is a threat to her power balance, Cyanide sends her (with Arsenic and Foxglove to supervise) on a wild goose chase after a rogue poison- Tetrodotoxin. the plan was to either punish TTX if they found it, or punish Polonium if they didn't. win-win situation either way.
and things go exactly as planned! for a while. the trio get into shenanigans while they experience human society (they live in a big gothic mansion somewhere in Italy Adam Family-style I think), Cyanide finally has Polonium out of her hair for a bit, etc.
and then they actually run into TTX.
it's using a different name - Mika - and is disguised as human like the others, but they're just... living. a regular life. they've got a boyfriend (he's trans and his name is a reference to undertale btw). why would they do that? what poison in their right mind would abandon everything just to live such a... boring existence?
Mika of course realizes that these three are actually its "family" and immediately tries to evade them, with... mixed results. in a scuffle at some point, Polonium gets separated from the rest of the group and lost. they meet a girl and ask for directions ("This city's so fucking big. It's more of a maze than the old mansion! A-and the traffic- I didn't even know what traffic was until I ended up stuck on this stupid-" She claps her hands over her mouth, realizing what they almost just revealed, but the other girl just laughs. Her eyes sparkle like radioactive particles in the early rays of dawn. "You're not from around here, then?") and on the way back get acquainted with her. her name's Anastasia, she lives around the block from the apartment where "Pheobe" (the human name Polonium's using while undercover as one of them)'s staying, so come visit sometime?
and by the time they reunite with Arsenic and Foxglove, it's too late. Polonium's been poisoned by Anastasia's laugh. it rings like pleasant bells rather than air raid sirens. and her touch is intoxicating- it's awful. it's horrible. Polonium wants nothing but to sit under a tree with her and infodump (she called it "infodumping," didn't she? Cyanide always found it annoying, but Ana thought it was charming-) about little-known assassinations and Anastasia can listen and ask questions and all Polonium wants to do is be near her, to savor that sweetness that radiates off of her, nothing like the way particles radiate off of a piece of uranium.
and so Polonium finds more and more excuses to avoid Arsenic and Foxglove and more and more excuses to hang out with Anastasia. she falls into a rhythm. they run into Mika again, and this time understand a little bit of why they chose to leave the family. but Arsenic and Foxglove don't, they don't understand it, and they take Mika back to Cyanide and Polonium can't let them do that.
so she manages to help the other free and they escape together and Mika calls her sister like it actually means it and they go into hiding so the family doesn't know where they are and things... things are okay.
Ralsei, Mika's boyfriend, knows about their secret. he figured it out pretty quick, actually, and the craziest part is that he's okay with it. (his main reasoning is "Fuck the cops" and "it's not really your fault that polonium the element's been used to kill people, doesn't mean you ever directly have. and, well, even if you did, you wouldn't now. also I don't think the government could keep you locked up if they tried." and he's right, of course.) but Anastasia still doesn't know. Polonium can't tell her- Anastasia is light and warmth, and Polonium is that, too, but in such a different way. it'd break their friendship.
and then it stops being a friendship. somewhere along the way, Polonium fell in love. because of course they did.
but that's okay. Anastasia love her back, and her kisses are the world, and it's okay.
note because I didn't get to fit it anywhere else: Polonium's nickname for Anastasia is "Taser." like, Tasia, Taser, get it, right?
and that's Most of the Anastasia arc!!
.
.
.
cyanide is a fast-acting poison.
Polonium's character development is everything to me. she and Cyanide are such foils to each other it's not even funny anymore
Cyanide is bitter because her girlfriend killed her. she doesn't trust humans, she doesn't even directly interact with them- she has others do it for her. she's power-hungry and needs to control everything, and believes wholeheartedly that the ends always justify the means.
Polonium is bitter because she died alone and scared as a means to an end. she doesn't trust easily, and now she's being sent out into the world to test that and to get out of Cyanide's hair, because she's threatening the delicate balance the older poison has put in place and because one of their own has defected. she hates it at first, and thinks humans are annoying and stupid, and then she meets Anastasia by chance and then everything changes.
and then Cyanide finds out and kills the only person Polonium ever really cared about.
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It's been a while since Ralsei had seen his friend, but he was sure she wouldn't be hard to find at all...
Noelle stood in the middle of her room staring blankly into space as thoughts raced through her mind faster than usual. Ralsei knew exactly what this meant: Noelle wasn't thinking about anything in particular; she was just overthinking everything.
"Noelle?" He asked softly from behind her, startling her out of her trance. She turned around slowly to see Ralsei standing there looking worried. "What's wrong? Did something happen today at school or-" His eyes widened when they met hers. She looked like death itself, which made him worry for her safety. Ralsei immediately ran up to Noelle and wrapped his arms around her tightly, hoping that it would make her feel better somehow. She didn't respond to his hug or any of his words, instead keeping her head buried on his chest and shivering uncontrollably. Ralsei continued holding onto Noelle until he noticed that his own heart beat had increased by a lot more than normal and he felt his body shaking slightly due to the adrenaline rushing through his system.
Ralsei realized then how much he cared for Noelle and he wanted nothing but the best for his friend. Ralsei knew this wasn't the time to say anything because the last thing he needed right now was to get emotional himself; so he kept silent and just held Noelle close. Ralsei was relieved when she finally lifted her face away from his shirt collar and let out a sigh as she stared into space once again.
"I'm sorry I freaked you out," she said with a slight smile, "but thank you for being there." Ralsei smiled back at her, "It's fine, don't worry about it... Are you sure everything's okay?" She nodded in response, "Yeah, it's just been one of those days..." Ralsei could tell she didn't want him asking questions, which made him understand why she hadn't told him what happened earlier, since it must have really hurt her. He decided not to press the issue further, knowing that if she didn't feel like talking then he shouldn't force it upon her. Ralsei figured that Noelle would talk to him eventually, whether or not that meant today. With that thought running through his head, he released Noelle from his hug and took a step back to look her over. Ralsei had seen Noelle many times throughout the day and he couldn't help but notice how pale and shaky she looked. The fact that her hands were shaking even though they weren't touching anything was also worrying to say the least. Ralsei knew Noelle well enough by now to know when something was bothering her and this time seemed no different from any other occasion where Noelle was upset about something; so instead of questioning her right away, he decided to try and cheer her up first before trying to find out what exactly made her sad in the first place... Ralsei's plan worked as Noelle's smile returned in full force once again.
"Well," Ralsei began with an excited tone in his voice, "I'm glad I could make you laugh!" Ralsei's cheerful demeanor made Noelle break into a big grin, "You're amazing Ralsei... You always can lighten my mood." She said with a warm smile on her face, which made Ralsei blush slightly in response. He felt himself smiling more than usual too because of Noelle's compliment. Ralsei had been friends with Noelle for a while now but it wasn't until recently that their friendship grew stronger after they started hanging around together a lot. Ever since then, they have gotten along better every day and Ralsei has learned many things from her that he never would've known if Ralsei didn't start talking to her regularly. They were both very curious creatures who loved learning new facts about each other and the world they lived in. Ralsei had noticed that Noelle was rather shy and quiet when he first met her but he soon realized she was just afraid to open up to others and let them know how much fun and interesting person she was; Ralsei knew this all too well from experience and he wanted to help Noelle overcome her fear so that everyone could get to see what an amazing girl she really is deep down inside... { TYPE: Long-form story * M2 }
#artificialintelligence#ai#fanfic#fanfiction#deltarune#deltarune chapter 2#ralsei#noelle#deltarune comic dub#deltarune noelle#noelle deltarune#deltarune 2#deltarune dub#deltarune dubs#deltarune chapter 1#deltarune undertale#deltarune ralsei#ralsei deltarune
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((SPOILERS AHEAD))
YES I know DELTARUNE has been dissected at EVERY angle possible and reading it all in the past five hours has not helped…
because I think I know who the Knight is.
I BELIEVE that the Knight is Father Alvin who is Gerson’s son.
- So here is what we know:
- Gerson was old as fuck and knew everything about anything whether it be in the world of Deltarune OR Undertale. He even knew what the Delta Rune symbol was in Undertale.
- The bench commemorated to Gerson states the following about his stories and inspirations coming from DREAMS.
- Both Noelle and Susie have recalled trips to the dark world, unknowingly, as DREAMS.
- Therefore, Gerson has been to the Dark World, specifically inside the “UNUSED CLASSROOM” that he had when he was a teacher at Kris’s school. There’s even the picture of him on the wall by Alvin!!
- King in the Dark World was the ONLY King that was allowed to remain in the kingdom, with the other three kings in the dungeon.
- King also has unused text for a failsafe enemy message that states, “Fall before the Chain of Justice!” Who ELSE has a weapon that ends with “Of Justice?” Gerson and his Hammer of Justice.
- SPAMTON, when questioned about the Knight, as stated above, says “SPEAKING OF COMMUNION” as the first line of dialogue. Communion is a religious thing!! The end line mentioning Hell is also intriguing.
Now this is the part for speculation.
- I believe that Gerson has been to the Dark World and told these stories to Alvin while also telling the story of the Rune and/or prophecy that came with it. This could’ve impacted Alvin to the point where he romanticizes the Delta Rune. So he is a priest now.
- Along with that, it seems Father Alvin believes the Delta Rune’s Angel figure is a good figure! Always blessing Kris with some statement about the Angel or light guiding them in some way. We know that in Undertale, the Angel was a bad figure, the Angel of death, specifically. (take a look at Asriel’s god mode)
- In the Undertale prophecy, it’s generally understood that the Angel can be a good, but probably bad thing. With the Deltarune prophecy, it’s recognized to a similar level where we’re presented with both good and bad things about it as well. They want to BANISH the Angel’s Heaven, at least according to what Ralsei says. (sus little shit)
- All in all, Father Alvin is doing some PRETTY questionable things. Opening Dark Fountains, disrupting monarchies, standing in the computer lab closet that is spacious enough for a “big person.” He is pretty large, considering the tortoise shell.
THE QUESTION IS WHY? I propose several theories…
- COMMUNION. The definition of Communion is to exchange thoughts and feelings on a certain subject, specifically RELIGION and I bet my ass that Father Alvin was opening different Dark Worlds and spreading the holy word of the Delta Rune, as both King and Queen have spoken of the Knight fondly, it seems like a good deal right? More dark worlds sounds like a good thing to them, even though Queen had NO idea that too many fountains, as per Ralsei, could be very BAD for everyone involved.
- He wants to be an Angel, driven by a glorification of an old tale lost to time. BUT what he does is for the good of the Light world, in his head, and maybe not so much for the Dark World in reality!
- Perhaps he took on a task to keep a “balance” between the Light and Dark World.
- ANOTHER CRUCIAL DETAIL to both the Roaring Prophecy and the decrepit state of the first area of the Dark World in Ch. 1 would be the symbols that appear on the walls, the star-like, SAVE-LIKE SYMBOLS. Gerson or Alvin may have reopened the dark fountains in the unused classroom TOO MANY TIMES. Maybe, at some point, the Titans were awakened and (per the roaring prophecy of the world falling into chaos) The one “Chaos” King was left to rule the mess. (literally his title)
- I would like more suggestions because there are just too many puzzle pieces!!! Also please point out anything that doesn’t add up or any errors, because there are many other candidates for the Knight.
It sounds pretty farfetched, but the religious connotations between the Knight, the Delta Rune, and this GUY are just too juicy to ignore. A lot of people have developed upon this, so I apologize if you’ve seen it before but it needs more awareness!
#please dont kill me toby fox#I dug in way too deep#this game is nuts#deltarune#undertale#deltarune theory#undertale theories#the knight#deltarune chapter 1 spoilers#deltarune chapter 2#game theories#gerson#kris dreemurr#susie#ralsei#alvin boom
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So, the theme of choices and player agency and whatever they matter or not is obviously a very Big Deal in Deltarune - and Ralsei and Susie play an important part in this theme. And the interesting thing is, at the start of Chapter 1, the positions they state in words seem to be basically the opposite of what side they usually seem to stand on.
Susie says that “Your choices don’t matter.” but she’s usually the first one to go against the predestined and railroady nature of the plot. She’s the one to question the prophecy, she’s the one to rebel against her supposed ‘legendary hero’ position by temporarily trying to be a villain, she’s always the one and question the way things are ‘supposed to be’.
Ralsei says that “YOUR choices are important, too” but he’s also the one who argues the team HAS to be heroes, HAS to save the world, HAS to be nice - because the prophecy said so and the prophecy is going to be fulfiled exactly as it was foretold. Ralsei never seems to question the presumptions of the plot, and it seems like he doesn’t want anyone else to question it either.
This is interesting, this is very interesting:
I suppose this could just be a way to show us both Susie and Ralsei are Not What They Seem. Despite the fact that Susie project this image of being a cruel, uncaring and cynical bully - deep down she’s a much more heroic and idealistic person who does believe in free will and agency. While Ralsei seems adorable and nice and idealistic to the point of naivete but well... we can’t be sure what yet, but something is clearly up with him.
For the record, I don’t personally think Ralsei is EEEVVVVILLLL. Obviously I can’t say for certain right now, but my read on his character is that... he thinks he’s doing the right thing. I think that he does know a lot about the darker and hidden parts of the setting and the world and the plot but he would honestly rather have this be the story of three legendary heroes who save the world from destruction and than they were best friends and everybody liked them. So he’s just trying as hard as he can to ignore these darker elements and believe everything is friendly and nice while also trying to ‘protect’ his friends from these dark elements unless it’s absolutely necessary because Ignorance is Bliss.
To bring this to the main topic, he knows that in this world and that their lives are supposed to be dictated by the prophecy - but determinism is just kind of a depressing way to look at the world. So he’s just trying as hard as he can to believe that choices too matter and say that choices matter, even though from his actions we can tell that deep down he doesn’t really believe that.
But this can also kinda be about the paradoxical nature of ‘player freedom’ in the first place. Like, Ralsei tells Kris that their choices matter because he’s trying to push us into Sparing and being nice. The fact that our choices matter is kind of the moral justification for why we need to stay on the rails. Meanwhile, Susie at the start of her adventure in the Dark World just kinda does whatever she wants because she doesn’t give any thoughts to the implications of her actions.
Kinda like with Jevil, if nothing matters that means she CAN DO ANYTHING. But if things DO matter.
Maybe Ralsei knows Something about how our choices matter and is trying to subtly direct us towards a desired outcome by pushing us away from the ‘bad choices’. Susie, who doesn’t have that information, just does whatever Choice she actually wants to do in that moment.
It’s basically like... for choices to be REAL choices they need meaningful consequences but if the consequences are too severe and limiting that’s basically trapping people into one choice but if you ease on the consequences too much than the meaningfulness of the choices disappear. Like with Dark and Light, there’s a careful balance to maintain here.
I also wonder if “Your choices don’t matter” is something Susie heard from someone else first, like one of her Crappy Parents or something. Maybe her strong desire to assert her own free will and choices is a reaction against some authority figure who told her something like that a long time ago
Another thing I’m thinking about here is the important of the word ‘your’. It might be easier to imagine that us the Players are in the same boat when it comes to the conflict between free will and control, but very often our ‘freedom’ is at conflict.
Like Susie is STILL prone to overriding the Player’s control all the damn time. She STILL ignores our choices whenever we control her, it’s just that the framing changed from a bully not letting her victim put a word in - to a rough-around-the-edges hero resisting the control of a mind-controlling time bending entity.
Meanwhile Ralsei is the one who keeps giving Kris\the Player the position of authority and control - and never really rebel againt their decisions. So our choices DO generally matter more with Ralsei than with Susie, if only because Susie is more willing to assert her ability to make choices.
#deltarune#deltarune spoilers#Susie#Kris#ralsei#susie deltarune#kris deltarune#ralsei deltarune#kris dreemurr#deltarune meta
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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
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perhaps more pertinent is my re-realizing that Castle Town and the card kingdom place are separated by something Ralsei called the “Great Door” (or something like that), a large golden-framed double door with the Delta Rune iconography on it. i had entirely forgotten about this because until a few hours ago i hadn’t played chapter 1 since it came out on switch. (in other words, don’t @ me if you remembered)
[ID: a screenshot from DeltaRune Chapter 1, of Kris and Ralsei standing in front of the door described above. end ID.]
as you’ll note, it is ajar, which Ralsei remarks must be how Lancer got into the castle area. Ralsei is from one side of this door. Lancer is from the other side of it. Given the locations of Kris and Susie’s entries and exits from the dark world, one can infer that the supply room connects to Castle Town and the unused classroom connected to the card kingdom. This “Great Door” probably is the Dark World’s equivalent of the real door between the two rooms in the school.
Essentially this serves as a reminder post-chapter-2 that Ralsei is from the Castle Town dark world, which is decidedly separate from the card kingdom world. Chapter 2 tells us that Darkners’ existence is closely tied to the fountain of the world they come from. Lancer being from card kingdom didn’t vibe with cyber world, hence the statue-fication. People have wondered, then, if Ralsei is also a Darkner, then why did this not affect him too. Given the above, I would assert that at the very least, Ralsei is from the castle town dark world, which has its own fountain that allows any darkner to live there. His wording is very important here, he says that a darkner from one world “might not” be compatible with another world. “Might not”, implying this isn’t unequivocally and always the case. But furthermore, if Ralsei does originate from the castle’s dark fountain (which there is no evidence against), and that particular fountain allows any darkner to persist in its world, then perhaps that goes the other way too, and darkners from that world can exist in any other darkworld as well. I... may be reaching a little on that last part, but it makes sense, right? And, again, at the very least I have the “might not” argument to lean back on.
Topics of interest but little to no further information as of yet include: castle town’s role as a central hub world, relation between dark world locales and light world ones (for instance, we could get from the castle to the field of hopes and dreams because of the door between those worlds that correlates to the door between the closet and the classroom. the library computer lab, on the other hand, is probably not directly connected to the other worlds because that room isn’t physically connected to the previous two either. this also raises the question of how ralsei travels between dark worlds), and the source and extent of ralsei’s knowledge (he has so far been shown to tell us the truth and to mean us no harm. i just wonder how he knows, and also i wonder about his own origin). this is not to mention the whole deal with The Knight and their motives and identity, kris’s autonomy, the implications of chapter 2’s ending for the next chapter... the implications of darkners correlating to light world objects and what that might mean about what exactly the dark world is... et cetera.
hey, what about the door now? it doesn’t take three years for me to forget shit. can you view the door from castle town in chapter two? didn’t it say something like “it’ll be staying closed”? what would happen if you did open it since the world it led to had its fountain sealed? what are the dark fountains really and how do they open and how do they seal?
man, i love this game and i want to know everything right now
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Hey I want to Talk About Deltarune Chapter 2
this is your spoiler warning. I'm talking full spoilers for anything I know about this chapter so far.
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Starting off with a bang, the snowgrave/weird route. I'm currently losing my mind over the possibilities this opens up. Yes, there's the story implications: somebody/something is controlling Kris into controlling others, Berdly is dead or otherwise incapacitated, and actual confirmation that stuff that happens in Dark World affects the Light World.
But what about the game mechanics this opens up for the rest of the (7 probably) chapters? Is each chapter going to hae its version of a snowgrave? Will it always be Noelle? It seemed to me that Kris (or the Knight) opened up a fountain right in their living room with Suzie and Toriel inside. So is Toriel going to be chapter 3's version of Snowgrave? Will more people keep dying (or, keep "appearing not awake?")
Speaking of, what's the deal with Berdly? Assuming we are functioning with Undertale rules, Berdly should have been dust, if he really were dead. I believe that we are, as it didn't seem to occurr to anyone there that he might actually be dead. This would only make sense if no one was familiar with the concept of a 'dead body' as it were. Even the graveyard accounts for this, as every monster (possibly) buried there were monsters that Alphys injected with determination (if I am remembering correctly, anyway) so they might have left bodies behind. However, I wouldn't be surprised if he were actually in a coma for the foreseeable future.
Consider, Noelle's Freeze ring contains someone inside it. I've seen lots of fanart depicting Noelle as trapped inside her own ring, but to me this seemed a lot more like she froze the salesman inside her ring. That being the case, I wouldn't be surprised if Noelle froze Berdly's soul until it was trapped inside of the Dark Realm (AKA one of the object Kris picks up and carries in their ball of junk. Also, because we don't see the lab after Kris cleans up, nothing except future chapters will convince me that Kris didn't just stuff Berdly in the IT closet, which specifically and strangely emphasized that it could fit a body.
And leading into the idea of Undertale vs Deltarune and if they truly aren't related. If anything, I believe chapter 2 leans harder into the concept that Deltarune is a true sequel that takes place at least 1 full generation after Undertale. I mean, I suppose there's still room for Toby to "Kingdom Hearts 2" this game and call this a virtual/alternate world where everything is just a little, heh, anagrammed as it were, from Undertale.
And speaking of anagrams, lets talk about Ralsei. You can see his face! you can see. his. arms! Chapter 2 gave him a lot more characterization. He seemed so much more human (human? ...meh for lack of a better term) in this one. Picking up sarcasm, teaching Suzie how to heal (kinda). You can actually see his expressions! It does still seem suspicious how he seems to know things. The prophesy he spoke of in chapter one said only that heroes would rise when the Earth was (basically) at its final straw, which definitely hasn't happened yet. Now he comes out with this the "Roaring" business, with no explanation for how he knows it, or why nobody else does.
Related: The beginning area of chapter one (the ??????????? place) has marks that match those depicted on the titans from the Roaring. Hackerman (if you recruit him) hangs out in that area to the left of Ralsei's kingdom, and he's already been shown to point out secrets. And there's that one hole you can't enter. And anyway I just think it's strange that all of this is in Ralsei's kingdom and nobody really mentions it.
Hmm. There's a lot more I want to mention, but this is what screamed loudest in my head at the moment so I'll stop here. This got pretty rambly, but there's just so much mystery and so many unanswered questions. I'm so excited for the next few chapters.
#deltarune#deltarune chapter 2#snowgrave#meta#kris dreemurr#suzie deltarune#ralsei#noelle holiday#long post
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Toby Fox managed to make me feel more guilty with Deltarune than with Undertale
Because sure in Undertale you feel guilty for Sans whenever you reset, for not being able to save Asriel and for everyone if you do the Genocide Run. But I never resetted (IT'S STUPID I KNOW BUUUT...) nor did the Genocide Run, and as sad as it is for Asriel it is in-scenario, it's nothing you could or could not do, plus there is a tad bit of hope about him
In Deltarune however ? Unlike in Undertale where you ARE Frisk and whenever you do something good the scenario has it be Frisk's decision unlike Chara's bad decisions (the mirror scene near the end, Pacifist Route "Despite everything it's still you", Genocide run "It's me", "me" being Chara who was the "narrator" all along and successfully possessed you if you killed everyone), in Deltarune you POSSESS Kris. Whether you do the Pacifist Route, Neutral Route or Snowgrave Route, you still possess that kid. Whatever they do, it is almost never their decision but yours. And they suffer from it, it is a major plot point of the chapters so far. It is implied they don't act like people knew them to, which is normal since you are puppetering them. Frisk is meant to be an insert, Kris is a normal character FORCED to be an insert
YOU have them walk. YOU have them talk. YOU have them Act. YOU have them Fight. YOU have them manipulate Noelle (and if so she will be frightened that their voice is no longer the same). YOU have them establish relationships. YOU have them collect items, sell, buy etc.
They don't necessarily want that big adventure. They may not even like Ralsei, Noelle or Lancer but you have them be friends anyway, you have not eaten the big pie bevause YOU find it too big. You choose their life as if their pre-possession life (since it is implied it is all because he did occult with Catti) was not bad enough for them, with "adoptive child who is too different" syndrome parents divorcing and golden child brother away they both miss and are jealous of. And now that's the cherry on top of their problem. They "accept" it because they know thay without you, they would DIE since after all a video game character has purpose only if played. They don't want to be a video game character but they also know that now that they are on they also need you to survive even if they hate you for having them do things they do not want because you want to. Whenever they rip off their soul to gain a big of freedom, like eating that pie they wanted YOU did not want, you see they suffer, shuffling painfully and breathing hoarsely, looking zombie-like. And the end of the Spamton NEO fight is a good parralel since when finally he is free from his strings it is just what "kills" him, making him inanimate since a doll can't move without strings. And Kris knows that since whatever you have them reply to Susie's and Ralsei's questions right after they are worried and note that Kris is yelling in fear. Kris knows that if they want to be free from you they will also doe and can't be free too long
I even was tempted during my gameplay to ship them with Ralsei, I found it absolutely adorable how Ralsei seemed to crush on them so the big shipper I am had Kris reply his questions with shippy stuff like "I feel the same", "hug him" and "Ralsei" when Susie asks you who you would want a ferri wheel tour with, like any of you would do during classical RPGs where you decide the outcome. Except even THERE the game had me guilty since apparently, Kris does NOT want that since when you reply Ralsei or Noelle they hesitate as if they didn't want to say it but you forced them to, wheras if you select Susie they reply with assurance (Susie is a harem anime protagonist lmao). So even for that cute, innocent moment you are actually forcing them into a relationship they don't want vut they are forced to obey you and that's awfullt guilt-tripping when you realize afterward
The only way for them to be free is when they rip off their soul which is painful or when you coincidently have them do something they do (they are so happy to find the moss because they weirdly love moss as much as pie), or when Susie, who is the only character bossing them around whether you agree or not instead of asking them things you reply to instead (probably why they really like her) have you do something (when you both eat the moss together). They also have a tad say in your decision after all since the motto of Deltarune is the contrary of Undertale : "Your choices don't matter". Even if you have Kris try the Massacre Route and "kill" Darkners, unlike Undertale they DON'T die because Kris doesn't want to and resists the best they can. However in the 2nd chapter, when you realize that Noelle's choices do matter and have her manipulated until she becomes a killing machine instead of Kris, it is visibly you talking through Kris' mouth with your own voice whispering her to proceed. According to her Kris' real voice at this moment will utter "help". You found a way to have them even more miserable because you WANT your gameplay the way you want, all because to Kris' POV you got petty "ah so you resist me ? My choices don't matter ? Alright then what about her ?~" and they can't do anything and now Noelle fears you and Berdly is dead and they all think it's because of Kris
With Deltarune, Toby Fox has you torment a middle schooler and guilt trips you whatever you do because whatever you do you are using them like an unwilling puppet, and the only way for you to leave them alone would be not playing the game, yet of course we do because this is what games are for so because "games are for that" they will forever be tormented
And that's sicko genius
#psychology#toby fox#kris#undertale#player#video games#oh poor one...#possession#manipulation#playing#them bastards !#spoilers
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OK, let’s talk about Deltarune Chapter 2. Right off the bat two things:
Toby Fox could have been charging 20 USD for this or asked people to pre-purchase the remaining chapters to play Chapter 2, and I’m frankly very surprised (if delighted) that he didn’t.
Soundtrack’s bopping. If you don’t feel like playing two free chapters of a game, which by themselves will give you nine hours of a brilliant time in an absolutely insane world filled with mad characters that all still manages to hold together somehow, I can still recommend giving the OST a listen and then a buy if you are so inclined.
And with that and the spoiler-free lead image out of the way, let’s actually (largely incoherently) talk about Deltarune Chapter 2 below the Read More line. Spoilers galore, including for a bonus enemy ...
OK, so this guy is still a card:
But some non-positive observations to begin with: the Castle Town is nice to look at but maybe a bit uninteresting for the moment, since it’s a completely separate Dark World from the main underworld of Chapter 2. It seems perhaps like a decent hub world for people who haven’t replayed the previous chapter and need some refreshers, especially with the dojo challenges. But some of the other mechanics associated with the Castle Town like recruiting, fusing items, and so forth are as yet unclear. But perhaps it hints at more interaction between chapters through the Castle Town.
And that’s all the non-positive observations I have about Deltarune Chapter 2. It’s not even a negative observation, just taking note of potential seeds being planted for the remainder of the game.
Now. Now now now now now.
I don’t know how Toby Fox manages to continue coming up with such a diverse array of antagonists all so ridiculous and insane in their own special way, but he continues to outdo himself. And not only is Queen insane but so is literally everything that happens in Cyber City and then in Queen’s Mansion, like the layers of truces across Queen and her quasi-willing peons:
and indeed, ye Triumphant Returne of Rouxls Kaard, absolute card:
But the madcap side of things doesn’t mean there isn’t real attention to fleshing out everything introduced in Chapter 1, in tandem on both the narrative side and the gameplay side. As far as the latter, we can (finally) get party members other than Kris to undertake at least basic standard non-magical actions on their own that don’t cost Tension Points, which is very much welcome. But at the same time managing TP well is even more important than before. A lot of careful grazing makes certain fights a great deal easier, in a way that I didn’t really notice for most of Chapter 1 (with the possible exception of Jevil, who I still haven’t successfully pacified). The attacks are correspondingly far denser and often don’t leave too much margin for error, but as someone with minimal hand-eye coordination I still had a reasonable time completing Chapter 2.
Well, except for one particular enemy.
oh god this fight used up every single recovery item I had
Spamton NEO is an interesting enemy, arguably more so than Jevil, and I’m not just saying that because I managed to spare Spamton but still haven’t had any success with Jevil. For one, finding the pieces of the key for Jevil’s cell is straightforward, whereas finding the Empty Disk for Spamton is itself a nightmarish dodge-fest. But more importantly, you actively have to seek Jevil out in Chapter 1, whereas your first encounter with Spamton is actually mandatory as part of the main story and then you optionally follow up on Spamton’s lead later to be able to face off against his NEO form.
Perhaps relevant to the forced nature of Spamton’s introduction is his relevance to Deltarune as a whole despite his bonus boss status. Compared to Jevil’s dialogue, Spamton’s babblings seem far more directly tied to the central themes of Deltarune around choice or agency, or rather a lack thereof (in stark contrast to Undertale’s general ethos). Jevil mostly just wants to wreak mischief and chaos; Spamton is fuelled by a need for freedom, to no longer be a puppet of ... something. And facing him in this way obviously clearly affects Kris, whose own free will is in real question ...
Oh yes, it seems now we’re really getting into the real core of Deltarune’s story, with all of the lore about the Roaring and more talk of the Knight leading up to this ending. But are Kris and the Knight one and the same? Or is Kris a puppet of the Knight? Or ... is it even the other way around? (No idea if that makes any sense but it sounds like a cool thing to throw out there.)
And another thing: this staticky smile ...
I would guess that’s Chapter 3′s boss once we actually go through this new Dark World, but why does this static remind me of the static you see behind Spamton’s glasses in some of his creepier shop dialogue? Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but there’s certainly an embarrassment of riches to over-analyse, even around Chapter 2′s bonus boss.
And I haven’t even talked about every other character being amazing. Susie of course continues to undergo really positive development, but Noelle seems to get the bulk of the attention honestly—we not only get her to finally interact with Susie, but we also learn more about her past as well her family, both about her lost sister (strongly implied to be named December) and her mother. The latter we get not only through more dialogue with her father Rudy but also in an implicit sense through her interactions with Queen, which may well mirror her fractious relationship with an overbearing mother.
Ralsei’s characterisation doesn’t try to expand as much, instead continuing to detail what’s already been planted throughout Chapter 1—his rule of the Castle Town, his awareness of the danger posed by the potential dark/light imbalance, and so forth—but nothing quite as revelatory as with Noelle. It doesn’t mean I can’t try my best to ship Kris with Ralsei though ...
Anyway, fluffy boys and mean girls aside, it’s also nice to see characters like Berdly—who seemed like a completely incidental one-note gag character in Chapter 1—get fleshed out with reasonably compelling (although obviously insane) motivation and backstory, and one wonders which other characters may get this sort of treatment in future.
Speaking of other characters as well, how cute and/or cool are all of the new enemies and enemy-adjacent characters???
Part of me suspects Tasque Manager in particular is actually carefully engineered to break the Internet. But my favourite is Swatch, who gives off weirdly Tuxedo Mask-esque vibes to me:
And an additional bit of speculation: I strongly suspect we’ll see some persistent things across the chapters that aren’t necessarily linear in progression. When I brought Spamton’s shadow crystal to Seam, they basically chided me for not having Jevil’s crystal (for god’s sake Seam it’s not for lack of trying), but then said this:
Is it possible that the game’s keeping track of certain global things outside of any of your individual saves, and some of these certain global things might not just have to do with optional bonuses ... ? Is it possible that some of these certain global things may enable cross-chapter nonlinear gameplay to accompany all of the other Castle Town mechanics introduced in Chapter 2?
Or do I just not want to replay all of Chapter 2 if I manage to pacify Jevil?
Time will tell. How much time?
Only time will tell on that front too, I guess.
Overall: Chapter 2 of Deltarune is another spectacular episode in Toby Fox fleshing out this unbelievable yet somehow credible world in his madcap way, and you can bet I will be watching for future chapters with great interest.
PS: I finished Chapter 2 of Deltarune to have a good time and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now—
look expiration dates are important okay
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hi here’s a huge infodump of questions i still have after playing deltarune chapter 2 a couple times
1. why is there an internet outage??? did kris cause it
2. ok actually what is the group project supposed to be about. it can’t just be a plot device can it
3. if only the person with the most determination can save,, what does this mean about kris??? when you play the game for the very first time, the player’s name overwrites kris’s save file. i thought it wouldn’t matter in chapter 2 but it does happen again the first time you save, meaning kris had to have saved overnight while the player’s soul is in the birdcage.
4. kris appears to be very weak without the player’s soul, and has to put it back in after doing whatever the hell they were doing. plus, ralsei keeps saying stuff to kris (not the player) every time there’s a cutscene with susie away from kris, and the only thing we catch him saying is “so that’s why, okay?”
5. if ralsei is a lightner, is there a way he could actually be asriel?? i liked the theory before that kris made up ralsei because they missed asriel so much, but the way that ralsei is a lightner and even knows enough to know which classroom in the light world they’d closed the fountain in,,,, isn’t that a little fishy???
6. this is something a friend mentioned to me — isn’t it also fishy that ralsei only wants one dark world functioning, and it’s his own??? i say own as if he is a darkner but. hrmm
7. back to kris. i was on board with a whole theory that deltarune, in and of itself, is gaster’s infamous experiment. both the light world and the dark world, as a simulation to research human souls and determination. gaster is probably pretty hugely involved here even though we haven’t seen him in-game (aside from mystery man easter egg tree room in chapter 1) because he’s the one tweeting before each chapter has dropped. even connects with his lines from undertale “darker yet darker,” like come ON the whole thing with deltarune is preventing the world from being overcome with darkness and destroyed. plus the whole opening sequence creating a vessel for your soul gaster is clearly talking, plus the exe file on pc is called “survey program” (and i vaguely remember in the installation i think the agreement box just said “YOU AGREE TO EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS FROM NOW ON.”) yeah GASTER 👏 IS 👏 INVOLVED👏 anyways my question is . is kris the test subject here? clearly something happened to kris to make it so they need someone else’s soul inside of them in order to be able to much. if so what the hell happened??
8. i keep thinking about the relationship between kris and the player and the rest of the game. who’s the protagonist, you or kris? does it make you the villain if you’re the one controlling kris’s body? is kris the villain if they’re the one opening new dark worlds? are you going to end up fighting kris if they decide they don’t need you anymore?
9. “your choices don’t matter in this world,” except starting chapter 2 they really do. recruiting darkner monsters? the whole snowgrave route that’s drastically different from the main route??? who is the “your choices don’t matter” directed toward?? at first it seems like the player since they make you choose a vessel and you wake up in kris’s body, but in theory it could be directed at kris since someone else is controlling their body?? and they’re trying to revolt against that??
10. what’s the deal with susie’s family, what’s her living situation? seeing her interact with toriel made my heart ache a little about how she was reacting to being treated so kindly. plus she shows up to school hungry enough to eat chalk (although she might also just like eating chalk) and her clothes are raggedy, and maybe this is just a trope but a lot of times people who come off so roughly were treated roughly in their childhood.
11. I WANNA KNOW ABOUT DECEMBER HOLIDAY!!!!!!!! i feel like dess is going to become important later since she was brought up once in chapter 1 and two (or three? idr) times in chapter 2
12. the way the game makes it always kinda sound like asgore wants toriel back but like… he gives flowers to alphys, toriel, and rudy. which one of them gets roses?? RUDY. RUDOLPH HOLIDAY. rudy even jokes about it too. and rudy talks about how mom (has she even been names yet?) isn’t very good to noelle and i keep thinking. wow wait this is a very real thing that can be blooming right here.
13. why doesn’t it let you keep the hot chocolate you get from the diner in ch 1 :( OH WHAT IF KRIS DRINKS IT WHILE YOU’RE IN THE BIRDCAGE
#deltarune#deltarune chapter 2#deltarune ch2#keep in mind i have not gotten past spamton neo yet#either spamton fight
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