DONTSALTME69

The Roaring Knight

Not much has changed in regards to the Roaring Knight beyond solidifying our leading candidates. It's still Dess > Carol > Rudy as far as likelihood goes IMO, with Noelle as a dark horse "interesting but incredibly unlikely" alternative.

The main thing that got clarified is that the Roaring Knight has been operating for a while, something that Ralsei specifically considered strange. The first documented appearance (according to Asgore's findings) is also around the time when Dess went missing. Those two factoids really heavily point towards Dess, though this is filtered through enough unreliable narrator (Asgore's notes as described by Ralsei, who is in turn having to 'translate' through use of his knowledge of what the Light World should look like) that the answer is probably more complicated.

As for the Knight's actual in-person appearance, it seemed really out of it this time around. Like, it just careened into a wall that they absolutely should've seen coming and had to actually fight Flowery before it could escape. Considering a Holiday's the leading candidate, maybe it's a bit distracted by the whole "Rudy fell down" thing, or is injured if it is Rudy.

I've been seeing the whole Knight is a amalgamate of Weird Route Kris+Noelle theory, and while it's interesting... I just really don't get that direction out of it. Any Knight theory that distances it from the Dess sub-plot that it's been associated with (CH3-5 all had notable mention of the Dessappearance, directly or indirectly, right around the time the Knight shows up) generally kinda sucks due to leaving a gaping hole between the two sub-plots, and the Weird Route theory feels like it's got almost homeopathic amounts of association with that.

On a more meta note, the Holiday family is looking to be a dead-ringer for Lucas' family in Mother 3, albeit gender-inverted. Noelle's a timid youth rattled by loss with secret power (like Lucas), Dess is the brash sibling who went missing (like Claus), Rudy is a loving kind parent who's almost certainly not living much longer (like Hinawa), and Carol is heavily likely to end up being revealed to be like Flint, which is to say she's a parent driven by grief desperate to find her lost child that's driven away her living family in the process (or at the very least, said loss has driven her down whatever path she's currently, should her aims be less immediately 'good'). They all line up really well, so take of that what you will.

Otherwise, not too much to say. It's clearly gotta be a Holiday, Dess is still the leading candidate, and it's strong as fuck. The only real other thing of note is that it ignored Flowery's fake stats, which suggests it's able to just stop playing by the 'rules' at will, but how or if that will pay off is something we will have to wait and see on.

The Weird Route and the Nature of Reality

Well, Kris and Noelle went into the lake and skipped a good chunk of the game. I really don't think they died, that's like the lamest possible way this could resolve.

The Weird Route has been very heavy on meta-narrative. The CH2 is basically about the idea of a guest party member, on top of the obvious 'Player is a separate entity from the character they're controlling'. CH4 makes the latter part incredibly explicit.

So Noelle has functionally realized she's an NPC in a game (without directly realizing it, just like Spamton did), and has decided to use her newfound agency to abuse game mechanics. With that, she cheated us out of bounds, and hit the trigger to transition straight to Chapter 7.

(I imagine once CH7 is out, the 'Insert Side B' screen will be a load screen to transition into CH7)

That said, the entire scene leading up to the infamous Noelle lake skip more or less solidifies the nature of Deltarune's world, or at least leads me in a very specific direction.

See, Hometown is isolated. Has been since the game started. It's a motivating factor in Queen and Teena being antagonists, that they could no longer receive any outside signals. It's usually been a blind spot in discussion thus far, with the only apparent options being either boring (Carol shut down the internet) or at the time too outlandish (that Deltarune's in a simulation).

Well, the latter option is becoming more and more likely. The game UI is now a textually acknowledged part of the game universe, rather than just our tools to play. Noelle discusses how they've never seen what's on the other side of the lake, and their attempt to cross just leads her and Kris into an expanse of nothing before they force an "INSERT CH7 SIDE B" prompt. We never actually see anything outside Hometown, and are only told such a world exists by characters (who only mention it in abstract, the most detail we got is that Asriel's 'at college').

I believe that Hometown is akin to a Dark World. That its history is all just a fabrication that didn't technically happen, the same way every Dark World came into being with its own history. Deltarune is literally just a game. This also thematically ties into Flowery's own thing in this very chapter, him arguing that his Dark World bears as much weight as the one in Castle Town.

Now, that all said, its history is still real to the characters. It still matters to them, probably even after this comes to light in story. Don't use this as an excuse to stop caring about the story, otherwise I will thrash your ass.

Assorted Side Theories

The Knight's been operating for a while, as mentioned before, and Ralsei thinks that's weird. I'm wondering if this isn't the first time the Prophecy has played out, that it's an unending cycle. That a Cage, the Girl, and the Prince will always band together and follow the steps in some way. A pointy-headed one will say 'toothpaste' and then 'boy'. The names and faces are different, but the script remains the same. And the final tragedy will always unveil. Perhaps the Roaring Knight is always 'the Girl' of the last cycle, or maybe they've (being the gaggle of mysterious people involved in the 'Roaring conspiracy') already bent the Prophecy in some way before the story began in an attempt to manipulate the outcome.

There's a decent amount of evidence to point to Kris having gone to a Dark World, considering how they have a SAVE we overwrite in CH1 and they generally move like they know what they're doing when we're not in control. Other points like the CH4 Egg Room suggest something happened to Kris, and they seem to have a really big guilt complex of some kind that doesn't seem new. Dess going missing in a Dark World is the leading theory on her fate, regardless of what you believe happened to her past that point.

I think the premise of the 'cyclical Prophecy' is at least compelling, though its evidence isn't especially strong.

Onto other stuff, trans Ralsei believers won crazy hard in CH5. I'm not 100% on trans girl Ralsei specifically, the evidence could easily point to Ralsei coming out as genderfluid or bigender or some other flavor of non-binary, but yeah I think they're probably on the money now regarding Ralsei being trans. Honestly, my sole issue now is when the heck is Ralsei gonna have a time to come out? Just my sort of mental map of how the next couple chapters'll play out doesn't leave Ralsei many openings to come out as any variety of trans. Have to wait and see, obviously.

I saw some people suggest that what Susie's doing at the end of the chapter is what happened to Dess at some point, that Dess also chose to live in a Dark World before she went missing. It's compelling, Susie and Dess have been placed parallel with decent frequency, but specific enough that I wouldn't incorporate it into my understanding of anything right now.

Normal_NPC seemingly killed Onion and is serving them up as Takoyaki. We just got Happy Town from the UT's Fun Value Sound Test, so maybe we're going to the Meat Factory soon. No Trouble Dingle, unless that's the Weird Route noise. Non-zero chance that Onion's actually alive and this is just a fake-out, this is bizarrely grim for such a minor throwaway line.

Also Gaster's a pirate now for some reason. Neat. Doubt that'll turn out canon, but maybe when/if we meet him in person someone will make a joke about it. Like, Gaster awkwardly doing pirate talk in an attempt to alleviate tension that falls incredibly flat, or something.

Predictions for the Future

Onto my actual predictions, Chapter 6 will open with Kris heading to Castle Town as usual (probably after Kris does some spooky SOULless stuff again, but not sure what it will be this time). Probably before Noelle gets there.

My first not immediately obvious prediction is that Seam will be our (first?) bonus boss of the chapter if you have gathered all the Shadow Crystals thus far. They've been part of the quest since CH1 and CH5 has dialogue that has Seam talking about beating the crap out of anyone who fought them. They'll take the last Shadow Crystal and then challenge us to a battle for the Pure Crystal. After that, they'll hand it over and give us our last bit of info on what the Pure Crystal is for.

The actual Dark World of Chapter 6 will be in the Holiday Manor. It has an almost conspicuous amount of Darkner material and direct ties to what's probably the most important sub-plot in the mandatory story. We also need to confront Carol at some point, and Susie is already going to fill Noelle in the Dark World stuff next chapter. The sole argument for anywhere else is that Rudy might be in the hospital after 'falling down', but that's a logistical argument that can be easily side-stepped. Rudy could just say he'd rather die at home than in a stuffy hospital room and that's would justify why he'd be there.

Obvious stuff that needs to be done in CH6 include: Noelle finds out about Dark Worlds, and probably makes the CH6 one (seeds are laid for that one already). We get direct information regarding Dess' disappearance, likely told to Susie specifically since she explicitly doesn't know about it. Susie gets the code out of Dess' guitar in full. Kris' agenda with the Knight is brought to light, potentially meaning a Susie boss fight of some kind? CH6 Dark World is the Ice Palace that's been mentioned a couple times.

While I don't think Carol actually is the Knight, I do think that Susie will probably come to that conclusion. Carol seems to be meant as 'leading suspect' for a first-time player A lot of our evidence is stuff Susie isn't aware of, but she'd probably clock a connection between "Carol stopped me from using Dess' guitar", "Carol probably has access to the Shelter by being the mayor" and "Carol hates me for some reason" and come away thinking Carol is the Knight. I imagine Carol would be there for this accusation and just go "Okay but how did I get to the church so fast?" and Susie promptly deflates.

We will, however, get a Carol boss fight. She's basically Deltarune's equivalent to Asgore (UT's Asgore specifically), being generally hyped up any time she's mentioned as being a big fucking deal and all evidence suggests she's going to come into conflict with us eventually. We may not know what she's after, whether it's finding Dess or killing the Knight or what-have-you, but I'm expecting her to be the penultimate boss of the chapter. Probably with the Lost Girl motif in her battle theme?

The actual final boss of CH6, I feel, will be a rematch with the Knight. This time we'll have Noelle and possibly Carol on our side (depending on how things shake out), and that will let us get the advantage to actually 'win' the fight. Probably will also use the many unused attacks the Knight has, though they'll be re-tuned to be less punishing probably since this is a mandatory fight you have to win in this scenario.

I do not expect Carol to survive CH6 though. Rudy's almost certainly biting it this chapter, and honestly Carol's survival chances are only barely any higher than his.

I'll also say that FRIEND will probably have a more notable role in this chapter, at least as much as actually talking to us. Noelle has some implied association with FRIEND through Cat Petterz, and the fact there's a prophecy panel regarding the "Tail of Hell" that goes unremarked upon (meaning it is not just a joke, since they don't give a punchline) and FRIEND being one of few viable candidates to be said "Tail of Hell" would make CH6 be the best place to start doing something with it.

I don't necessarily think that FRIEND is actually the true main villain that's gonna replace the Knight, or that it's gonna even be a part of the mandatory plot, but I do think that FRIEND will have some level of importance. Shadow Crystal sub-plot's final boss? We'll find out when we get there.

As for Gaster, DEVICE theory received textual mention in the main story, so the groundwork is being laid for his appearance later. He's seemingly been conceptualized as a Deltarune character first then got information about him scattered in Undertale for foreshadowing, so I trust that Toby Fox has a plan for him. Like FRIEND, I don't necessarily think Gaster will be the true main villain that replaces the Roaring Knight, but I do think he's gonna be directly important and appear in-person.