i have this game now but i wanna replay Undertale first. thankfully it would be for the first time on this computer, so i don’t have to feel guilt
Also i haven’t played past the first chapter of Deltarune and i did that back when it first came out as a survey program. ive enjoyed it totally secondhand since then. i just wanted to admit that so you know that 1. im a huge poseur 2. when i play all of it for real my inevitable gushing posts are going to be 100% authentic
For a teaser so you can like mute me in advance if you need to: i tried to listen to “SAVE the World” today and had to stop because it made me start crying i am a gigantic weenie and this doofy series hits me right in the guts
Okay, this thread needs some classic hare-brained theory-crafting:
Chapter 3 and 4 Spoilers
Kris and the Knight are parallel characters. The prophecy refers to Kris as “the cage with human soul and parts.” The Roaring Knight’s animation when it opens its ribcage and roars brings to mind, well, the image of a cage, but instead of a there’s an in there, and s have been shown to be the sorta-default manifestation of darkness (from Chapter 1 all the way to the final fight in Chapter 4), so whatever soul was there in the Knight was consumed by darkness. Also, Kris and the Knight share a number poses and mannerisms (from the pointing to the soulless shambling). And there’s the fact that the Knight literally knights Kris if you win. Thus, while Kris is not the Knight, they are nonetheless destined to become it.
One could also argue that Kris and Dess are parallel characters – Krismas is, after all, a December Holiday. There are still a lot of things about Dess that We Just Don’t Know, but through the power of not reading the text wishful thinking can make some wild conclusions that are probably wrong:
The Holiday household has plenty of shoes fit for hooves (they are also obscenely rich and could afford custom-made shoes for any purpose). But Dess’s closet is full of shoes for feet — ergo, Dess may have been an adopted human (like Kris) who wore antlers to fit in with her family (like Kris).
Catti mentions that in the past that Kris and Dess once did some occult “demon summoning” or whatever. The song Raise Up Your Bat has lines about “When your demon heart is crying” and stuff like that (which Ralsei feels compelled to censor). Thus, I think Dess had some player(?)-soul shenanigans going on earlier. (This is a good candidate for a Chapter 0.)
I think that the prophecy is cyclical, with each set of heroes delaying the Big End for another cycle by making some sort of sacrifice that results in one of them becoming lost and slowly becoming the next iteration of the Roaring Knight as their soul is consumed by the primordial darkness (as I think happened to Dess).
When Asriel comes back from college there’ll be a flashback sequence explaining how things went down last time.
Carol (knowing how the previous iteration went), Kris (ditto), Ralsei (just knowing it in general), and Susie (having seen the last bit) all want to subvert the prophecy in some way — their efforts will either interfere with each other or backfire, resulting in a big World of Ruin moment (end of Chapter 5?).
Other theories/thoughts:
Kris summoned the player (perhaps at Carol’s behest?) to take over their SOUL so they would have extra power (we are the “power” that fills Kris’s soul at every save point).
Kris’s half of their bedroom does not normally look empty — rather, they decided to hide all of their personal artifacts from the player (and are deliberately hiding certain bits of information), because they know we cannot be trusted (are we a hero, or Weird-Route-pilled?).
If Gaster gains any meaningful presence in the story, beyond the margins and pareidolia, it’ll be in chapter 6.
Sans in Undertale came from Deltarune, and Sans in Deltarune came from Undertale.
The main villains of the first three chapters seem to be reflections of the main lightner trio’s parents.
Tenna correlates to Asgore, with their obsession in having the family back together and all that.
The Queen correlates to Carol: both are domineering mother figures who want to control Noelle.
I think it’s not too much of a stretch to claim that the King is a parallel to Susie’s as yet unseen abusive (?) father.
Chapter 4 is interesting in that it does not really have a chapter-specific villain. Rather, it has the recurring character of the Knight, and a final boss that pops up at the end that personifies trauma and the eschaton or whatever.
Regardless, I choose to not take this as a random exception to the established narrative formula, but rather as the hinge point where things will be flipped on their heads. The problems/stakes from this point will become more “real”. A hidden prophecy room in Chapter 4 implies that Asgore will be the antagonist of Chapter 5’s dark world, and in turn I expect there to be confrontations against Carol and Susie’s parents in the next chapters as well.
The main problem with this framework is that Susie’s family hasn’t been introduced yet (tho who knows… maybe her last name is Gaster… )
The pattern doesn’t necessarily need to be chiastic, but if it does actually happen I bet it will be.
Actual 1:1 in that final picture with me playing Malice (2004) at SBCon 2025 and everyone else around the screen enduring with these exact facial expressions.
Originally, I wanted to create a giant nonlinear interconnected dungeon … However, the result of having a nonlinear structure, made it difficult to have a linear series of story events… … So the structure was changed to be linear just like everything else (lol)
I’m in such a Deltarune mood lately. I keep listening to the OST and my YouTube feed keeps giving me Deltarune shit posts. I still need to optimize my saves so maybe I should do that sooner than later
there’s an 
in there, and 
)
