"The edge of the shadow, where reality and dream meet" has a dual meaning. As the boundaries between the player and the game gradually break down, so will the boundaries between the Light and Dark Worlds within the game's diegesis, culminating in the Roaring - which I fully expect to be the point where the game dives head first into overt meta-awareness and glitch aesthetics (similar to the endings of each major route in Undertale). What else would an apocalypse look like within the metaphysics of a video game program, but a fatal exception error? The Roaring is the edge of the shadow.
I like that interpretation. The Roaring would definitely be a good way to transition the game to that kind of state. Its always confused me to why Sans and Papyrus seemingly came to Undertale from Deltarune (Papyrus QnA and Sans bossfight dialogue) especially cause it appears Sans wants to return to Deltarune. I know it would kind of suck if this were the case but what if at the end of Deltarune you have to SAVE all the lightners by sending them to Undertale. Thats the only explanation I really have for Sans and Papyrus game hopping but we'll probably get a much better explanation for that in later chapters.
@@PlayerCarter. I'm very curious about the Sans / Papyrus issue as well, one of those things where I have absolutely no idea how the game will go about resolving it
@@PlayerCarter. If that's a serious question, the Holy Trinity is a big thing in Christianity, the Father (God), the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. Considering Deltarune's many religious connections...
@@TheAdvertisement I worded it poorly. I knew it was related to religion (ofc), but didn't know exactly what it was about. I'm certainly not an expert on that stuff, but I personally don't see many parallels with what I know.
@@PlayerCarter. Well, to word it another way. The Father, God, is on a plane above ours. The Son, Jesus, was a way for him to send his message through a vessel in our mortal realm. The Holy Spirit is considered the power that allowed the Virgin Marie to give birth to Jesus, and is generally seen as a guiding light.
Okay yeah this is pretty cool. My favorite part is that you are a Fellow Tea Genius and noticed that the baseline healing for a tea is 10/40hp so 60hp is at least mildly positive. My actual favorite part of the video was the whole "shadow meeting light" thing at the end, very neat point.
Regarding tea theory, it should be said that Noelle bud kris have drifted apart quite a bit. Kris even saying they’re friends is a small surprise to her. Not to say they dislike Ralsei but considering how much they like Susie in comparison I think Kris likes Noelle at most as a friend while they like ralsei less then that. Considering how both Susie and ralsei comment on it, the amount seems closer to indifference Susie is indiscriminate though lol
Yeah, like I said in the conclusion that point was a little weaker than I anticipated. 60hp is probably aimed at hinting Kris is uncomfortable with stuff like the acid tunnel of love instead of them outright disliking Ralsei.
2:33 you know, I've been thinking about the dialogue options in this game for a while. A lot of people talk about them as if the player has direct control over what Kris says with no limitations, but unless either the dialogue options are just an abstraction, or "the player" is a nebulous in-universe entity that represents us rather than it literally being the people playing Deltarune with no middleman attached, that seems unlikely.
I get where you're coming from. But given that it would take away from the accountability deltarune and undertale aim to give the player for their choices, it's probably just a plot hole out of necessity.
@@PlayerCarter. I don't think clarifying where the dialogue choices come from would take away from the accountability. Regardless of how much control the player has over what Kris says in-universe, at the end of the day we're still capable of making them say and do horrible things.
Yeah I guess we'll see. Most I can really say is I personally dont want that to be the case as the player's actual presence in Deltarune is cool to me. Though I certainly respect it's plausibility.@@voltekka47
Yeah, they make a great way to characterize Kris. Especially when you can tell Kris has strong feelings about something given the tone of the dialogue options.
Yes! Someone else who believes that Kris isn’t just unwillingly possessed. I also believe that Kris NEEDS the soul for something. I personally take it one step further. Kris actively stole the soul from Gaster. I believe you’ve seen the black chestnut video. I basically 100% agree with his take on the dynamic between Kris, the soul, and Ralsei. Gaster wanted to put the soul in the vessel but somehow Kris hijacked this procedure and stole the soul from Gaster. Either to thwart his plan or, to take it a step further, directly overthrow gaster and take his place. I think this also ties back to Ralsei. I believe Ralsei is an intentional creation of Kris. The fact that the world LACKEY is highlighted in yellow might be proof of this. Ralsei is heavily hinted to be created with the Red Horn headband (Ralsei’s horns are pink, this is different from other boss monsters (Asgore, Toriel, Asriel) who have white horns. Colors are a shade lighter in the dark worlds, pink is a lighter shade of red). An item deeply personal to Kriss. Ralsei also looks like a boss monster. Kris is raised in a household of boss monsters and is hinted to have identity issues about being a human. Ralsei appears to literally be the ideal manifestation of what Kris wishes they were, a cute boss monster younger sibling who is cheerful and sweet and a joy to be around. So yeah, Ralsei is Kris’s fursona. This cute and agreeable little brother character IS the perfect lackey, and Kris is kind of in need of a lackey. I think that before the game Kris ordered Ralsei to keep us (the player) on track, to be really sweet and likeable so that we (the player) are inclined to do what Ralsei wants. Whenever the screen fades away and we look at Susie I think Ralsei and Kris are discussing strategy together. This is not to say that Kris is evil and exploiting Ralsei. I think Kris probably doesn’t enjoy “using” this idealized vision of themselves (Ralsei) as a Lackey, but Kris’s end goal or opposing Gaster is just too important to worry about what is in the end, just an object. Hell, it seems to be more important than the life of Berdly seeing how the player still opens the dark fountain in their home on the weird route.
Kris certainly needs the soul to seal the fountains at least. Also that would be really cool if Kris was the "will now be discarded" voice, they honestly fit that role the best out of anyone (if it is someone other than Gaster saying that).
Ralsei look flowey they propose, teach you about your soul they both know about the player existing they both not human and not monster they was the first species that you meet answer what will happen if a darker took a human soul if flower has the essence of die monster injected by determination to make the life what if monster dust scatter by object and open by dark fountain make create an entity like flowey or Ralsei
@@pasty188 The monster dust theory hinges entirely on us somehow not knowing about a prominent death that recently happened in town. So unless a recent death is just suddenly dumped on us out of the blue I don't see it happening. I'm trying not to be rude, but I just really hate the monster dust theory. Just because it's shocking doesn't mean it's interesting. And it would be retreading what happened in Undertale way too much despite Toby wanting Deltarune to be its own thing.
@@TheGlenn8I mean, Asriel is away, with no way of being able to communicate to them. And gerson is dead, his best ideas came from "dreams", his dust was spread on the hammer (a monster tradition mentioned once in undertale), and Alvin questions whether doing whatever he did with the hammer was right or not.
I also want to throw my own thoughts and theories about Ralsei and Kris' dynamic into the ring. With the tea, I interpret Kris' feelings of Noelle as a sort of nostalgia. They care about her, and they probably miss the time when they spent time with her. But thinking about those old times is painful. Thinking about whatever happened with Dess, remembering that Asriel is still away at college, it's not great. So I view the 70 HP benchmark as "Mostly positive feelings, but some negative memories sink in" So that would mean Kris' thoughts and feelings on Ralsei would have a bit more baggage attached to them. My personal favorite theory for whatever Ralsei is says that he is Kris' monster sona of sorts. A form they thought about being to try and feel more comfortable in their community. This would make Ralsei a living testament to an old coping mechanism Kris had, one that they've outgrown. If that did end up being true, my best guess as to how Kris feels about Ralsei is a mixture of cringing at their past actions, but also feeling sorry for him. He would be literally defined in a physical level by Kris' own mental hangups, and that's enough to make Kris unnerved by Ralsei, but not hating him
I also like that interpretation. I would still say at least the meta reason Ralsei is a boss monster is cause he's meant to play the same role that Asriel had in Undertale of having a one sided relationship with the player character, like I said in my last theory. Though for a lore explanation that would be a great reason behind his' appearance.
i think the idea that ralsei is callous toward kris / just brushes their discomfort off after spamton neo is kind of... a weird takeaway? he clearly attempts to distract them when they're in a panicky state. when kris says "yes", he assumes when susie questions him on it that kris doesn't want them to worry, so it's best not to overly fuss over them and give them space on the subject, instead offering to distract them with the appeal of nice things. when they yell out "no", he actually directly asks them if they're okay and try to soothe them. if you hugged him first (obviously making him assume that hugging is okay), he also hugs them to calm them down. when ralsei's first attempt to distract them doesn't work in the "yes" route (something susie notes bc they still have goosebumps even though they're hungry now), ralsei tries to offer his scarf or some comforting, tactile sensation. kris feels well enough from just that offer to turn around and tease susie about getting her jacket. (same with post hug, they tease susie about getting one after they're hugged; that's not the behavior of someone who was just made uncomfortable by a hug that happened a second ago.) lastly, when susie runs off, ralsei doesn't just leave kris there; he turns toward them directly, and says, "i think everything will be OK, kris." (this is in response to "no" with a hug). that's clearly a direct attempt to comfort them at the end, even after the mood has lightened up. susie, who was rather attentive toward their body language during that cutscene, makes no note at all about ralsei making kris uncomfortable during the scene, either. we KNOW she would do something if she thought ralsei was stepping out of line because she does exactly that with mk and snowy at the bunker. kris's behavior also doesn't resemble the idea that they were made uncomfortable, as every time after ralsei says or does something kris ends up teasing susie or laughing at something she said right after. i think people let ralsei's dismissiveness toward SUSIE'S comment (not kris's behavior, like people assume) color the way they saw that scene. while it is certainly interesting that he dismisses the idea that spamton's fight meant anything, i think extrapolating the idea that that response is definitely because he doesn't care about kris and is trying to gaslight them or whatever is a bit hasty. it's very possible he's in denial that it meant anything. it's also possible that he is hiding it "for their own good", so to speak. we don't know why he dismissed it. was he a bit awkward about it? could he have handled it better? sure. but, i really don't think the way that he addressed KRIS specifically was at all suspicious. he either respected their decision to not open up or talk about it ("yes") or made an attempt to comfort them when they were visibly distressed ("no"). it's true that he instructed them not to "think about it too hard", but i think that legitimately was him trying to comfort them. like... the advice of not to dwell on it. don't worry about it. that sort of advice. while he may not think what spamton was signifying was a big deal (or maybe it WAS, and he doesn't think this is the right time for either of them to know about it), he clearly cares about the fact that kris is distressed because he actively makes attempts to help them. the whole "why shouldn't we think about it?" from the fandom is... projection. people assume that's how kris feels, too, but they don't give any indication of that during the scene.
That's a great analysis! I honestly regret setting out to untangle such a mess that is Kris' relationship with Ralsei in the video, as the theory was ultimately about their relationship with the player. I think you make some great points!
I think tea theory has been misinterpreted for Kris generally disliking Ralsei. I think it was more intended to call into question things like the acid tunnel of love and how Kris just doesn't want to be forced to third wheel the player and Ralsei.
why are people always like "kris and Noelle are childhood friends" noelle doesn't view kris as a friend according to that one dialogue with the addason, like she says that they're close but she wouldn't call them a friend, and if tea theory is true then then the feelings mutual because noelle heals 70 when drinking kris and kris heals 70 noelle
They always hung out in their childhood equals childhood friends in my opinion. I get where you're coming from, Noelle does question if they are friends, but they undoubtedly have fond memories of each other from the "good old days".
could the deltarune symbole represente the geno nutral and pasifict timlines and the angel is the player and the player called the angel of death could be a ref to the genocide timeline
The deltarune symbol/prophecy does have a double meaning of pacifist and genocide routes. Though that doesn't include neutral cause the underground must go empty.
