Deltarune: The Tea Theory 

Here's what I just thought of that no one seems to have mentioned in the comments: Ralsei's battle sprite is nothing but his clothes when he gets knocked out. Is that just because he is a Darkner? Could it be related to Noelle seeing the tea as empty? Is he some kind of shell of a goat-man made manifest by Kris's yearning for cool older brother Asriel? Who the hell knows! But it's probably worth bringing up. Wish I'd thought of this while making the video. Oh well! There are so many things about Ralsei that would be made clearer if we got to see a more normal Darkner in our party. He's a lot different from the rest of them.

Susie probably thinks Kris Tea tastes like applejuice because of the apple scented shampoo you can find in the bathroom at home. Kris probably smells like apples all the time.

I find it sweet that everyone’s Tea tastes great to Susie despite her being really mean, shows that under that thick skin she actually likes them a lot

Seeing how Kris & Noelle tea only heals 70 to each other, even if they're friends since they were kids, Ralsei tea healing 60 to Kris is actually pretty decent for a friend that you've known for only a day and a half.

Noelle: recovers 400 HP by drinking Susie tea Kris: "Well I'll be damned."

Something else is that as hard as Ralsei tries, he can't cheer up Kris after the Spamton fight, but Susie is able to cheer up Kris almost instantly.

The whole premise of drinking people-flavored tea is similar to that one story from _Wayside School,_ where the kids try ice cream that's supposed to resemble their classmates. The kids don't like the ice cream that tastes like themselves, but everyone else loves it.

Just thought of something: What if Ralsei is saying "I'm happy" because he was expecting them to have a _negative_ reaction to drinking his tea, when instead there was no reaction at all? What if Ralsei expected Kris to hate him for some reason, and was then pleased to see that Kris didn't hate it? Or maybe he's just saying he's happy because they're drinking his tea in general, I guess.

Here's my theory on Ralsei. We see him do things that most darkners can't, such as being able to travel to another Dark World without needing to be carried in Kris's pocket, and is able to persist in said Dark World without turning to stone. What exactly makes him different from other darkners? Well, we know that darkners are usually personifications of real world objects, for example, Lancer is a Jack of Spades card, Seam is a stuffed animal, and Queen is a laptop as well as an internet troll. But Ralsei? My hunch is he isn't a personification of a physical object, but rather, a concept. This explains how he's "empty" so to speak, with how his tea is just nothing for Noelle (whereas Noelle's tea actually has a flavor for Ralsei despite them being strangers). He's also "empty" in the sense that when he gets KO'd, his body disappears and his clothes fall to the ground. But what concept exactly does he personify? Well, he's a representation of who Kris wants to be. We know from how Kris got that horn headband when they were young that they wish they were a goat monster like the rest of their family. Now this part of the theory I saw from someone else (don't remember who), but basically Ralsei's appearance with his green clothes is what Kris dressed up for on Halloween in the desktop background of Toriel's school computer. It's added to with the fact that the green crayons are missing from the drawer in the hallway, as if Kris used them up all those years ago to draw the character before they made a costume based on it. It all supports the idea that Ralsei is who Kris wants to be. What makes it sad is that the Ralsei tea doesn't heal much for Kris, and I think it's because of the bitter feeling that he wishes he can be Ralsei, but can't, which is why Kris dislikes seeing him all the time in the Dark Worlds. And Ralsei essentially being a figment of Kris's imagination is what allows him to travel to the other Dark World. He's tied to Kris in a way, so he ends up in whatever Dark World Kris goes to, without having to be carried in their pocket because he's not a physical object. As to how he can persist in the other Dark World without turning to stone? Well, he's tied to the root of all darkners. His will is shaped by Kris's, and Kris is the one creating the dark fountains, so naturally Ralsei would be compatible with any dark fountain. However, an alternative theory to how he can persist in any dark world is that the fountain in his town, the one all darkners are compatible with due to it not having a will, is the one that formed Ralsei. Because of this, he doesn't need a will from a dark fountain, making him compatible with any dark fountain regardless of whether it has a will or not. Something interesting I found that's not entirely relevant is that it's somewhat like blood types; the darkners are red blood cells with different antigens and the fountains are plasma with different antibodies. The town's fountain is type AB blood in that it can receive any darkner/blood type. Ralsei is a type O red blood cell in that any fountain/blood type can receive him.

Another point on "Kris isn't so hot on Ralsei" Ralsei and the game itself are both constantly pressuring us to hug Ralsei. But Asgore tells us Kris doesn't like hugs. Also I'm view 666. Hell yeah.

Ralsei sees inherent good in everyone, so even though he's never met Noelle, her tea still tastes pretty decent to him. Noelle, on the other hand, who has lived a much different life and has much different outlooks on people, doesn't have any tea because she doesn't assume anything about people she doesn't know.

Something incredibly important is the fact you can save tea for future chapters, potentially giving you insight into how relationships evolve over the course of the game

Cinnamon is used to cover up the smell of poison sometimes so that could have something to do with the aftertaste that Noelle tasted, idk just a thought

I like how susie gains 120 from every tea except her own proving how much she has grown to like her friends

Regardless of what Ralsei may be saying to Kris behind the player's back, I think Kris doesn't like him for one very simple reason: Ralsei isn't Asriel. Sure he looks like him, sounds like him, maybe even acts like him for all we know, but that's just the problem. Ralsei is completely taking the place of Asriel, Kris' *real* brother, while constantly reminding him (just by seeing him) that he isn't his brother. For Kris, this makes simply being around Ralsei feel even more lonely than actually being alone, as it makes Kris miss Asriel that much more. ... I actually kind of relate to how Kris feels on some level. Back when Chapter 1 first came out, that scene in QC's Diner where she talks to Kris about missing Asriel... It reminded me of how much I missed my own brother, who had also moved out a few years before. When Kris drank that hot chocolate and it said their throat tightened... I feel like that hit me a lot harder then most people...

Kris's inflections are their own, but we choose what they say. By selecting Ralsei, Kris says, "Ralsei...?" As if asking why Susie would even think to bring him, not confused by their own words. They know EXACTLY why they said it. It's the same reason Kris says, "Join?!" if you select it when Berdly asks if you want to join the Queen rather than accept the proposal. We control the words, not the interpretation of them. Which makes their enthusiastic, "Perish!" concerning.

I’m weirded out by how nobody’s pointed out the opposite. Ralsei gives Kris - no - _the player_ a tutorial, indicating what keys to press and whatnot. When Susie is around for that dialogue, she’s super confused. Ralsei knows this is all a computer game.

Noelle can't use items after reuniting with Ralsei and Susie, so the only time she can drink Ralsei tea is before meeting him. I think that's why the cup is empty. Ralsei can drink Noelle tea after meeting her. I hope the healing values change as the story progresses.

I think a potential alternative is that they have a little/big siblinh relationship. Like, we know Kris likely adores Asriel, but we also know there'a an age gap, an age gap that's literally separating them. Talking to Bratti(y?) In chapter one results in her talking about how Kris would always chase after the big kids, Asriel included, and they'd ask them to go and do favors, get food, and Kris would do all this, all for the purpose of hanging out with their brother and his friends. So like, Ralsei being so Kris-obsessive, decorating their room in the Dark World like Asriel's with trophies and stars, being so enamored with Kris, following Kris always, even when Kris is fighting and doing things Ralsei hates, letting Kris lead and decide...I think it's subverting Kris' real life relationship with Asriel. Now KRIS is the cool older sibling. Ralsei gets 120 hp of admiration, Kris gets a mild 50 from their little brother tagalong. Ralsei is very very sus though all the same, so I think I'm suggesting this as harmonious of this video rather than purely one or the other

I've a theory that Ralsei is Kris' ideal self. The pink horns, Ralsei not knowing how to be himself, being the same species as Asriel, the fact that he and Kris look similar in age, and the fact that Ralsei is an anagram for Asriel. Maybe Ralsei is how Kris wants to be to his family, because being adopted, Kris could possibly have had, or is still having, an identity crisis. Which, is probably fueling his determination to creating dark worlds. Maybe Kris wants to play with Ralsei, because that's the closest they'll ever be to being Ralsei.

If you mess with Noelle with the eletric barrier & she mess back, she comments that Kris looks very hurt on their face. Just to add to the list of independent Kris reactions!

I'm really not liking the implications of our choices overriding Kris' personality and free will. Don't get me wrong, it's a brilliant story telling mechanism, but it's also kind of sickening

Alternative theory: If you're familiar with someone, their tea tastes normal because you're used to the taste a lot more. After all, knowledge of oneself is the ultimate familiarity, and that heals very little. Maybe Ralsei reminds Kris of Asriel. This would also explain the childhood friend exchange - these two are already pretty familiar with each other, so they don't get the same boost as with the brand new friendship/secret distant crush that everyone else has with Susie.

The part about Ralsei is very spot on. I'm one of those people who took every opportunity I had to be affectionate towards him. And finding out Kris barely likes Ralsei, if even that, and that I basically have been forcing them to act lovey dovey to Ralsei because _I_ liked him had been VERY shocking. I won't be doing that anymore when replaying the chapters... I'm still gonna be in control of them, cause it's the point of the game, but I don't have to torment too much them while I'm at it lmao

It’s so cute that Susie really likes all of her friends teas 🥺 there’s also a lot of theories on why Kris doesn’t have a stronger reaction to ralsei’s tea; but remember Noelle only has 10 more points than ralsei, and Kris has known her for many years. It’s more of a neutral reaction than a bad one, which still says something, but maybe not as negative as some are theorizing.

Oops. I forgot two things that demonstrate Kris feeling strongly about Susie. This is pretty important because I don't think the tea should be used as irrefutable evidence of anything by itself. 1) Kris defends Susie from the king with no player input. 2) Kris glares at Monster Kid for insulting Susie in the chapter 1 "post-game." Kris hasn't been seen to protect anyone else like this. So we already had hints that Kris cared about Susie, probably more than most people. I find this all to be very interesting given that Ralsei is immediately loyal to Kris while Susie has to spend an entire chapter being reined in. Makes me feel sorry for Ralsei, regardless of what he may be up to. Maybe Kris relates to Susie since they're both viewed somewhat negatively by most of the town.

I think Ralsei is trying to keep Kris under the player’s control but also keep Kris happy. Kris is distressed by being under control of the player but Kris is also the one creating the dark fountains & thus creating the situations we mainly control them in. After the Spamton NEO fight (in non snow mercy route) I think that Kris is projecting onto Spamton, probably realizing that if their strings were cut like they cut Spamton’s, something bad would happen (whether this is having to face the real world without fantasy or some actually physical harm, take your pick). So Kris hates being controlled by the player but at the same time doesn’t want the dark worlds to fully stop. So Ralsei lets Kris take a break from the players control while also being in the dark world, trying to convince Kris that this is the right thing to do (i.e. Kris reassuring themself). think this gets a negative reaction from Kris because Ralsei is essentially the mediator of Kris’s own internal conflict. I think this also makes sense with Ralsei’s speech about sealing the dark fountain at the end of chapter two. Kris wants the escape but understand that they have to return to the real world sometimes. Plus they can only break free of the player’s control (& create new worlds) (& meet Asriel again) without another entity in the real world. (Again this is just a theory)

It's interesting how at this point Susie feels like the only hero in the story despite the first impression of the characters having suggested the exact opposite

"Now you're the creepy kid Infront of me!" My favorite deltarune quote

Maybe Ralsei likes "you" not really Kris. I mean, Asriel and Chara got along pretty well while alive.

I think there was a scene where Ralsei offers kris his scarf but kris ignores him and say they prefers susie's jacket

More interesting is that Ralsei can’t fake being healed. It’s an insight into his character, he likes everyone genuinely, he has good intentions

My understanding of the characters is: Noelle: can sense the player's influence like how a person senses a ghost in a horror movie. Susie: Can ignore and act on their own. Susie may have more free will than Kris. Ralsei: Is the players imaginary friend. We love Ralsei more than Kris and Ralsei gets his affection primarily from us. Kris is a unwilling middleman for our teetee with Ralsei.

If the theory on Ralsei telling Kris information while the player is focused on Susie is correct then it should be noted that in the Snowgrave route Kris refuses to think about what Susie is doing, so no dialog could happen, potentially altering things in future chapters if this theory is correct.

I feel like Kris having a lower opinion of Ralsei is representive of both the disparity of how the Player and Kris have differing values, as well as potentially just Kris not wanting Ralsei around, because he reminds Kris of Asriel, which makes Kris only miss him more. Which is an understandable thought to have as a kid. I also doubt that it's showing Kris as completely indifferent. It's showm that Kris has an...odd way of showing affection (Kris doesn't like Hugs, tends to pull pranks) as well as constantly being distant towards others, including their own parents to an extent, so Susie could be the exception rather then Ralsei, and Kris just needs more time to warm up to the facisimile of Asriel.

Noelle's non-reaction to ralsei tea actually continues a bizarre pattern in chapter 2: characters other than kris and susie barely seem to register ralsei's existence. nobody introduces themself to him, and only mention or respond to him when he directly addresses them or is directly related to what they're doing. Queen repeatedly forgets he's there, and even during the giga queen fight she still doesn't seem certain that there even was a third member of your group. the main exception that i can recall is when you see him and Susie eating cotton candy together and Noelle asks who she's with. it kind of seems like she recognizes the resemblance to asriel but it's not entirely clear. neither Berdly nor Noelle ever bother to introduce themselves to him or ask who he is, which is characteristically dickish for Berdly but strangely rude for the meticulously polite Noelle. It almost feels like something is actively preventing them from taking notice of him

It's interesting how Susie consistently heals 120 HP for every tea aside from her own.

I'm pretty sure Ralsei is the Darkner of Kris's old devil horns costumes he wore as a young child, assigned many feelings about Kris's complicated, uh... humanity. Along with personifying some of Kris's feelings of wanting to be a monster and his family. ...hell he could he Kris's former soul made manifest.

It makes sense for Kris to not be as close to Ralsie than Susie cause 1. They literally just met in a dream full of whacky magic (compared to the world he grew up in) 2. Ralsie has been shown to be a bit too nerdy for Kris' liking (and a bit too pushy) 3. Kris knew Susie far longer being that they grew up in the same town and school

Can we talk about how cool the idea of character-based teas is? I hope there are recipes! Also, I agree that Kris feels lukewarm to Ralsei, because Kris drinking the tea is 60 and when you chose to go with Ralsei to the festival, they are confused,*not hateful*. So while Kris could like Susie more because of how she cheers them up and how Kris is the most comfortable going to the festival with Susie but that doesn't mean Kris doesn't like Ralsei, I think it means they are neutral or just seems Ralsei as a casual friend. Edit: I guess Kris could have mixed feelings, I see your point now.

I wonder if Ralsei is trying to make us like him so we'll be more likely to do what he recommends us to do in the future like not getting the banana in the boat part

Kris not liking Ralsei makes forcing them to hug him and other things really feel kind of icky.

a possible explanation for ralsei's reaction to noelle tea; before we're able to give ralsei noelle tea, he spends a lot of time with suzie that we don't get to see, and i think it's totally plausible that she told him a bit about noelle, possibly prompted by him so that he could tease her about the very obvious crushing from both sides as she continues to be oblivious.

Regarding Ralsei being "empty". It also seemed to me that through the chapter some characters disregard, ignore or don't really acknowledge Ralsei's presence for some reason. Noelle doesn't really speak with him that much and Queen just forgets about him in the castle scene and then when you battle Giga queen she asks if there was a third member in the party.

About Kris’ delivery when picking Ralsei in response to Susie’s question, it should be noted that Kris is still confused even if you pick Noelle. This indicates that Kris was not confused because of how they personally felt about Ralsei, but that they were confused because of the implications of Susie’s question (that is, choosing between two of their friends). Susie even gets defensive afterwards, saying that she didn’t mean anything weird by asking the question. Also, I’m not so sure that Ralsei is having Kris astral project in order to spend time alone with them and talk about sinister things. In the Weird Route, when asked to close their eyes and think about what Susie’s doing, Kris refuses to do so. Once Susie comes back, Ralsei frantically asks Susie what she was up to. This seems to imply that Ralsei’s primary motivation for getting Kris to astral project is wanting the player to know how the story is unfolding in places that they cannot get to.

Hmm Kris not liking Ralsei as much as the Player is very interesting tbh. I hope we see more of that in the future chapters..

7:34 In Chapter 1 it is 100% confirmed that Ralsei is aware of the player. He has a line of dialogue that tells us to push Z on our keyboard (or some other button on our controller) and Susie goes something like "Huh? Who's Z?"

When tea is the most important lore item

I feel like that Susie’s dialogue comes off as her being the friended the kris but Ralsei’s gives the impression that he’s the friend of the player.

Well most players *are* projecting onto Kris. Everyone I've seen loves Ralsei *cough* yourchoicesdontmatter *cough* so it's make sense for Kris someone who doesn't like being controlled by the player when being forced to hug, complement or listen to someone he doesn't *know* and or trust/like he wouldn't be very happy

I believe in the theory that Ralsei is an imaginary friend of Kris brought to life by the Dark World. I think Kris’s reaction to his tea being so poor could be because at the end of the day, Kris feels that Ralsei isn’t real. If the theory is correct, Ralsei’s origin wouldn’t be anything more than a replacement for Asriel, and that just makes Kris feel worse about them.

Yeah, Ralsei seems pretty suspicious, specially in the second chapter. Which doesn't mean he has bad intentions but i'm really curious to see what's up.

I think the reason why Kris doesnt have a strong reaction to Ralsei Tea is because not only may he have mixed feelings about Ralsei, but also for his brother, Asriel. "But those two are brothers! They can't hate each other!" While yes they are brothers, that doesnt mean they haven't been in sibling fights before. We don't know how Asriel acts with Kris. Sure, the town says Asriel was the golden child of the town, but that's just what the townspeople saw. Maybe Kris knows more about how Asriel really is. "But Kris' throat tightens when you drink the hot chocolate!" Yes. That is true, but that's more for nostalgia than anything else. You can have a nostalgic reaction about things you don't like anymore simply due to the memories associated with them. Also, when inspecting the bookshelf at home at the beginning of Chapter 2, it says the how to draw dragons book was taken out by your brother, not Kris. Can Asriel be different than from what the townspeople say? I mean, his Undertale counterpart is also Flowey of all people, so who knows.

I think the reason Noelle doesn't heal much from Ralsei tea is because of that scene where Susie and Ralsei are eating cotton candy. Since she likes Susie i think that Noelle might think that Ralsei is trying to date Susie, which would make Noelle jealous.

I also think the aftertaste Noelle gets could have something to do with the fact that she and Kris used to be on good terms, but now they're a bit more distant. It's sort of a quick recap of the way their relationship developed

Regarding Ralsei drinking Noelle tea: Recall in Chapter 1, on the walk to the castle with Lancer, he believes a darkner's purpose is to assist lightners, and it is fulfilling to do so. So even if she's a stranger, he just likes lightners in general.

I'm excited to see how people's tea dialogues change in future chapters.

I think the fact that Noelle has reactions to items she would otherwise never encounter simply indicates that she'll be back in the party in the future, since you can still hold onto all those items and use them in future chapters.

I can think of a few options: 1: Kris has mixed feeling about Asriel; both missing interacting with him as a child, and being bitter towards him (possibly for leaving?). 2: Kris acknowledges that Ralsei is his own creation and therefore can't think of him as an actual friend. 3: Since Ralsei may be aware of the player [heart shaped object], Kris might see Ralsei as enabling their puppeteer (since Ralsei is your tutorial and influences your actions). If Ralsei is taking Kris aside to talk to him in private, it could be that Ralsei is telling Kris to make the dark fountains so Ralsei can have more friends in his kingdom. Because we don't know Kris' motivations, or if they're ever truly in control, we can't be sure of Ralsei either.

I think that ralsei's job is to pacify kris and try to prevent him from acting out against the player's wishes. In the real world the only time kris gets to spend alone, they rip the player's heart out of themselves and attempt to gain back control. Every time kris should be doing this in the dark world, ralsei is there to pacify them and distract them from doing so.

Maybe Kris doesn't like Ralsei either because he resembles his brother or because he wants to close the fontains

My theory on what this means: Noelle doesn't find any liquid in her cup because she thinks that the dark world is only a dream, to her Ralsei isn't just a stranger, he's a figment of her imagination. Kris's mixed reaction to Ralsei is because he reminds Kris of Asriel, reminding him of his feelings of abandonment alongside memories of their new adventures.

A simple explanation for Noelle's reaction to Ralsei Tea can be that she simply never noticed him. As far as I can recall, the only time she even so much as acknowledged his existence was when she said she was supposed to walk behind Susie, as if to tell Ralsei to move out of her way.

personally i perceive the reason for the +60 heal when kris drinks ralsei's tea as them still trying to test the waters with ralsei, not knowing how he acts/who he is yet since they've only just met. kris has known susie for a while outside of the dark world on account of being classmates so i'd consider it natural that her heal amount would be higher after she and kris properly became friends. it's a similar situation with noelle's tea, while being significantly lower than the +120 heal susie's tea gives kris, they still have history together even if they aren't exactly "friends" so her tea gives them a +70 heal. the +60 doesn't mean that kris /doesn't like/ ralsei. it means that, since they only met ralsei YESTERDAY, they're trying to figure ralsei out, trying to figure out how to handle him too since ralsei has a very obvious crush on and interest in them. if anything i'd say the +60 means kris likes ralsei relatively well and even feels rather comfortable around him, considering noelle is kris' childhood friend and her heal is +70.

I'm happy you didn't randomly add gaster in this stuff like every other theorist does

I interpreted Noelle's, "it's empty," comment as evidence that Ralsei, while perhaps slightly more, 'real,' than characters like Lancer, is still ultimately just an illusion/manifestation from Kris. Noelle doesn't have any strong opinion towards Ralsei because she doesn't really, 'exist,' to her in the same way he does towards Kris and Susie. Susie has a positive reaction towards the tea because, while not her personal manifestation, she's been there since the beginning and has a stronger bond towards Kris' idea of who Ralsei is. Kris has a mixed opinion of Ralsei because, while he is reminded of positive experiences with Asriel, Ralsei is a bitter-sweet reminder to Kris that life has moved on, and he can never get that time with Asriel back.

If anyone has ever read Wayside School, this reminds me of when Mrs. Jewels brought ice cream flavors named after each student over 30 days. The student whose ice cream was being served couldn't taste it, because it's what they taste when they're not tasting anything at all, but everyone else loves it and can taste distinct flavors.

Normal human beings: cool dialogue Deltarune lore enjoyers: this tea defines their relacionship with each other

Ralsei is a lot like Undertale Sans if you think about it. Guiding the PLAYER to do the right thing.

After seeing all these videos about the topic, I have an interesting hunch that somewhere along the line, ralsei and susie are going to have a falling out and we're going to have to choose one, and the player will naturally want to pick ralsei, but kris is going to pick susie, and think the way kris acts towards susie is a good indicator of this. Also this is unrelated but something i barely hear people talk about is why kris opened the door in the chapter 2 ending before creating the new fountain, i think it's a easily missable but very important detail, as it's one of the few things kris deliberately does on their own.

what i think about "noelle drinks ralsei tea" is that ralsei thinks that everyone is good, thus no matter who's tea he were to drink he would always get at least a pleasant reaction. noelle isn't the same way, and since she hasn't heard of ralsei, she gets a neutral reaction from it and doesn't see anything in the cup.

Hilarious how noelle drinking susie drink heals 400 instead of the usual 120 for literal most of susie’s reactions

another thing of note: Noelle has no reaction to the fact that Ralsei looks like Asriel, even though Noelle would be familliar with Asriel since he was friends with her sister I wonder if it's like a Xion KingdomHearts kind of thing where he actually looks different to everyone who looks at him, and people with no opinion of him just seem him as a vague shape or doll, or might even not see him at all, since noelle claims ralsei tea is invisable to her

Noelle thinks Ralsei tea is 'empty' because Susie told her it's a dream. So she thinks Ralsei isn't real.

it's a nice meta thing about relationships in rpgs. the game pushes you twords ralsei but kris clearly does not like him and might even find him annoying. while it does the same with susie but kris is fine with her. so it shows kris cares more about susie while the player more cares about ralsei.

I'm so glad I filled the second half of the storage with 3 of each flavor of tea now

Very interesting, I wonder if the tea reactions will change over time. Perhaps Kris doesnt like Ralsei as much because he wants the fountains sealed? After all Kris IS the one opening them in the first place and even though Ralsei mentioned the world could literally end if Kris opens more, they still open one at the end of chapter 2. We also dont know all that much about Kris and Asriels relationship besides what other people tell us, maybe Kris feels bitter about Asriel for leaving them and projects that onto Ralsei. It really makes you wonder what does Kris REALLY think.

Hey I just had an idea. What if Chris only gets healed for 60 because only 1 half of him (the player) has a positive connection to it while the other one (the knight) probably hates him considering only because of ralsey they are sealing the fountains

I like how Susie says "Hell yeah!" to literally every single tea.

That was an awesome video, I love seeing people talk about these characters.

The thing about ralsei having a reaction to Noelle's tea, I think it's because the Darkners were made to help the Lightners, as stated by himself. So that's probably I reason he knows her, or at least has a reaction to it. Could also be the reaction he has for all Lightners. (Not for Kris and Susie, since he spent the most time with them.)

Maybe Kris feels that Ralsei reminds him of Asriel, and Kris has some kind of repressed anger towards Asriel for not being around in his life anymore since he went to college.

A simpler but related explanation for Kris' distaste for Ralsei (Tea) is that he's so very nearly Asriel, but _isn't._ No matter how hard he tries, Ralsei can't replace Asriel, and no matter how hard they try, Kris can't help but compare the two goats and find Ralsei lacking.

Got your video randomly recommended and I gotta say you have a very pleasant and relaxing voice ☺️

I personally thought Ralsei resembling Asriel was bittersweet for Kris, which is why they have a mixed reaction to his tea.

3:19 - to add possibilities 3 and 4, I think either Susie (and/or Kris) has talked about Noelle to Ralsei, since the two of them had that time together at the fair while Kris was with Noelle. Or that Ralsei sees Noelle as a sweet and soft person from their little interaction/ proximity, he does seem more sociable than Noelle, which could be why her tea heals him more than his does for her.

I mean, Ralsei did at the very beginning of the game tell Kris "That your choices matter" so that probably rubbed salt in the wound of being controlled by an outside force. I would've liked Susie far more on the other hand, because she actually seemed to care about Kris, not brushing them off after the neo spamton fight, and validating that Kris doesn't have choice

Ah, they use they/them! According to Toby. It's not like with Frisk or Chara where it's slughtly up to interpretation. Kris specifically uses they/them.

These theories make the snowgrave route ALOT more terrifying...

Wow, I watched the video and then was pretty surprised to see how few people have seen it. Very underrated video, I'd say

Here's a thought on Noelle getting healed 400 hp by Susie tea. We obviously know she has a crush on her, but 400 could almost be seen as obsessive. If 50 means acquaintance and 120 is pretty much best friends then 400 seems like a huge jump for just a crush. We know that Susie likes all of her friends, including Noelle, equally and doesn't necessarily seem to like her more than a friend at this point. We also know that Noelle is very close to her dad who will most likely die in future chapters (why else would he be in the hospital, they even have a graveyard so we can look at his grave and be sad later). Your choices supposedly don't matter, but the Snowgrave route is incited by the player and apparently does have some consequences. In conclusion, I think her father's death will make Noelle snap. She'll then try to heavily cling onto Susie who doesn't reciprocate her feelings which will be her final straw before she goes snowgrave on the whole dark world by herself anyway. Maybe this is too dramatic, but based on the evidence I could definitely see this happen

YOOO that ralsei theory is so good!!!! i never noticed the "talking behind the player's back" thing, super cool!!

The empty tea is a joke because Ralsei keep getting forgotten in chapter 2.

Oh my god why have I never heard about Ralsei sending the player away to have conversations with Kris. This is insane.

For this part: 3:13 I personally think that when Ralsei meets anyone he just has a good opinion on them by default. Sure they basically never talked but this is Ralsei, i think he basically has a nice opinion on everyone.

I think Kris in a weird way, likes having the player around. Because better or worse we helped Kris make a genuiene new friend (aka Susie), Kris may not agree with us all the time and tends to remove us to do... naughty things... like eating a full pie without sharing or slashing toriel's wheels so susie cant leave the slumber party even if she wanted too But Kris always puts the soul back in its place meaning at least in some level, he likes us taking the wheel for some stuff Thing is Ralsei hogs our attention and makes us focus less on Kris Also, Kris kinda hates Asriel, not completely i mean he is their brother, but Asriel was mad popular and succesful while Kris wasnt, so They are 100% jealous of Asriel, and Ralsei is Asriel 2 basically Hopefully as Kris understands Ralsei isn't Asriel no matter how similar they look they are not the same person, once Kris understands that i belive he'll start to like Ralsei more, not Susie levels of course, but at least Noelle levels Oh yeah also the Dark Fountain stuff, is either Ralsei telling Kris to do it just so Ralsei can have more subjects and more power (notice everyone levels up after each fountain is disabled) or is Kris wanting to have more and more adventures with Susie and the player

I like that noelle thinks kris tea tastes like cinnamon, I wonder if that aftertaste is secretly butterscotch :p

Kris actively avoids looking at Asriel's personal castle-room, and seems to avoid looking into Asriel-related things in general. And Ralsei looks and acts like Asriel, right? (Or may even _be_ Asriel, etc.) So maybe that taints Kris's opinion of Ralsei from being wholly positive - the tea is bittersweet, just like Kris's view of Asriel

Alright, so here is my theory to this topic about ralsei's tea. As we know, ralsei is considered a rather odd "darkner" (he can go into other dark worlds for example, and knows a lot about the light work) A theory I've seen somewhere else, is that ralsei is simply a horn headband (coming from that Toriel talks about that kris had those as a kid and she can'tfind them anymore. Furthermore, we know that asriel has no horns in undertale, and even if he grew some because he got older, they aren't normally red like they are in the game. That would also explain further how he can go in every dark world and was also in cyber world for some reason, as Kris would keep the headband with them...) So, as for what this would mean for this? Ralsei doesn't actually exist, therefore the 10 HP for Noelle. Susie doesn't know that ralsei doesn't exist (as she for example also doesn't know that lancer is just a card), therefore she just treats him like a friend like the rest. For Kris, well, he probably knows that ralsei doesn't exist, but still likes to be reminded of asriel (I mean, he keeps the headband with him all the time)

wonderful video and really thought provoking theory!!