i'm still standing (i think)

I also appreciate fitting Rudy in to Hinawa's role. Even if he's not dead early on, he has ALL the death flags, and basically I can see him MAYBE holding on long enough to have ONE final heart to heart with Noelle or Dess, or even Kris, to apologize hiding the severity of his illness to protect their feelings, and putting so much pressure on Kris to fill his shoes in Noelle's life (which meant putting them up against Carol, which only lead to her getting her claws in them and exploiting them towards her own ends)

Fun fact, I hc Dess as a trans girl whose deadname is in fact Claus (y'know, as in Santa CLAUS, see it's still holiday themed). Her motivation for disappearing would obviously be very different, on account of Rudy being very alive when she went missing (judging by him being the last Holiday to drift away from the Dreemurrs, it makes sense that was around when his illness left him bed-ridden)

I don't see Dess Knight as going through the same transformation as Claus to Masked Man. For one, she actually still displays what feels like a full personality, even if she has her Big Roar side (which still seems to be subservient to her "knows what the fuck she's doing and is taking active steps to mitigate the harm she does to the Fun Gang while biding time for [?????]" side)

The other reason is that I hate it when a character becomes an antagonist cause they get brainwashed and then corrupted, and defeating them is all about saying "I know you're in there you have to fight back" at them until they stop being evil. I think it's more complicated for Dess. She's already set up to be a foil for Susie. What does that mean? It means that, Dess was a person who was filled with dreams, but devoid of hope, as opposed to Susie being named by Fate itself as the one with the most hope. Dess pursued a million different interests but didn't commit to any, save the guitar and (maybe) baseball, though the bat seems more a symbol of her being quick to violence and exercising physical power over others. The Knight's weapon literally manifests as a bat before shifting into a sword (with a bat-like pummel)

She seems to hold a certain degree of fondness for Kris, but clearly believed in corporal punishment when she disapproved of their actions, and did so with little hesitation. Which carries over to the Knight's willingness to beat the fun gang to within literally an inch of their lives, even though it'll share a quiet, almost intimate moment with Kris as it blocks them from going back when the final prophecy is revealed. The way forward is painful and unfair, but we have to move forward together, Krismas

So yeah, there's clear signs that Dess Knight is In Control in ways the Masked Man isn't. Which isn't to say it has real freedom, or wasn't worn down from her already precarious mental state through years of sensory deprivation. Being tortured into embracing the Knight's role is a distinct possibility

Which is why I don't think Dess Knight will face the same fate as Mother 3's Masked Man. The reason is that I don't like the fandom's insistence on Damseling Dess. Whether it's "possessed by Gaster/FRIEND", "SOUL stuck in Unused while her body is being puppeted", "A figment of Kris's imagination" (with Dess being dead all along). It's all so lame!

Instead, utdr has another antagonist that it can parallel better, and that's Flowey. Flowey being something of a response to Mother's Porky, who grew bored of endless time travel just like Flowey did

Like Asriel becoming Flowey, Dess likely became the Knight unwillingly, at least at first, and ultimately embraces the role because, like Flowey, it embodies the main thesis that the game will ultimately disprove: No one can choose who they are in this world. The Knight may be truly hopeless, but Deltarune has already set up the possibility that the one who carries the hope capable of saving the world may even bring that hope to the hopeless

MAYBE the Knight will die in the Weird Route? Noelle has already Snowgrave'd one self-described "Knight in glow-in-the-dark armor" after all. It's honestly either the Knight, or Carol. No other potential Lightner targets make sense as a motivation to initiate the Weird Route. Something which, it bares reminding, starts with Kris, being Foreshadowed in their own Dark World, and only Kris would think to take the first step by backtracking to make Noelle nostalgic for their old exploration adventures. They may have second thoughts later, but they're definitely on board at first

When I think of who Kris would be worried they'd need protecting from, those two are the only ones I can think of as known actors as of chapter 2. And Normal Route post Spamton Neo even has Kris freaking out over the consequences of cutting their own "strings" like with Spamton, in their case that would be their Phone Voice (which is either the Knight, Carol, or both). By that point it's already too late to start the Weird Route. So, that's worth considering

Oh yeah, speaking of Kris, the only pick that seems comically out of place is Kris as Boney. Like I get the Lucas/Noelle similarities, but let's be honest Kris is the main character just like Lucas, this is their fight for sure. But then, I wouldn't know where else to place Boney. Ralsei maybe? It's sketchy. Boney is such a unique party member, which is part of his charm, but doesn't translate well to Deltarune

First off, these parallels with mother 3 are why I am a hardcore dessknighter. i don't know HOW that's going to play out, and i only put the brainwashing thing there because that's how it went down in mother 3. also, another big reason i put kris as boney and not lucas/any of the other main protags is because even if they're the main playable character (or so it seems), they're HEAVILY associated with dogs and doglike behavior for some reason (that one ACT where they have ears and stuff, their dog costume in the Tenna fight, them whining at one point iirc, and probably more that I don't recall atm).