I’m Doing My Best

To begin with, we need to step back and look at a broader pattern that's been present in Deltarune since ch 1... the way the game builds concepts that aren't merely opposites, but reflections of one another.

"A LEGEND of HOPE" and "A LEGEND of DREAMS"

"A LEGEND of LIGHT" and "A LEGEND of DARK"

Hope stands to Light the same way Dreams stand to Dark

Dreams and Hope are often treated as similar concepts in everyday language. People "dream" about the future. They "hope" for a better tomorrow. But Deltarune treats these words as separate ideas

The Dark World is, essentially, a fantasy world shaped thorugh the dreams of Lightners. It's a place where ordinary objects gain form and purpose. A small, mundane environments can become entire worlds of their own.

Not to mention that the very existence of darkners is tied to the will of whoever created the dark fountain. In other words, its the place where imagination becomes tangible.

The Light World, on other hand, would be its counterpart. Its the world that represents reality. No fantasies, no magic. What's lost doesn't simply return because someone wishes it back. Dess remains missing. Asriel went off to college, so seeing him is harder. Toriel and Asgore are divorced.

Meanwhile, the Dark World is filled with the idea of escapism... of being able to forget the reality you live in and have adventures in a world created based on your desires. There's a fantasy that's more desirable than reality itself

Dreams may be born within the Dark, but reality belongs to the Light.

That's why, if the Dark World's version of this object contains the power of lost dreams, then perhaps the Light World counterpart represents the opposite side of that same symbolic relationship.

Not lost dreams. But... lost hopes

SHADOW CRYTAL DIALOGUES

If the Shadow Crystal is created when a dream is held onto tightly and then broken, then each of the visions it produces should represent something that was once deeply desired by someone... and then ceased to exist

With that in mind, when analyzing each dialogue, we should ask ourselves:

What was the dream?

How was that dream lost?

Why is the vision presented by the Shadow Crystal precisely the reflection of that loss?

"You thought you saw the television get smashed to pieces."

We can start by thinking about what Tenna represents

Tenna is born from a dark fountain created in the Dreemurrs' house by Kris, in a chapter that constantly returns to the theme of family

The Dreemurrs and Holidays families used to gather around the TV to watch the specials together, and Tenna witnessed those happy moments as well as the eventual separation between everyone and the constant arguments between Toriel and Asgore.

In other words, the television carries deep symbolism for these families

That's why when the Shadow Crystal shows the TV being smashed to pieces, we can interpret it as showing the dream of seeing the family united again, lost, leaving behind only fragments of something that can no longer be recovered

"The prophecy's text does not warp in the crystal's lens"

This is a curious dialogue because it follows a different logic from the others... here, nothing changes.

And this absence of change may carry a very important implication. No matter how much someone might dream of changing the outcome, the prophecy will always remain the same...

That's why the prophecy's text doesn't change.

The story will have only one ending, as I've theorized before

Everyone else disappeared… and you saw Noelle smiling at you, with arms full of flowers"

This is the hardest dialogue to interpret within the logic of lost dreams, because at first glance it seems like something good, because Noelle is smiling and holding flowers

But at the same time, it also makes you uncomfortable because it starts with "everyone else disappeared..." and that's the detail that changes the ENTIRE context of the scene

Well, throughout Deltarune, the past exerts a lot of influence on various characters. For example, Noelle remains deeply marked by Dess's disappearance. Asgore continues to live surrounded by memories of what existed before...

Again and again, Deltarune returns to themes of nostalgia, memories, and the feeling that there was once a simpler and happier time than the present

And with this in mind, the Shadow Crystal's vision starts to make much more sense. Because when we ask what one of Kris's deepest dreams might be, we can say it's the desire for everything to go back to the way it used to be

And it's precisely this lost dream that the Shadow Crystal shows

The quartet of Kris, Asriel, Dess, and Noelle no longer exists. The two families drifted apart, Toriel and Asgore divorced, and Rudy and Carol's relationship was likely affected by everything that happened.

However, Noelle is the only one left from those happier times, even though her relationship with Kris is now more distant than it was during their childhood.

So when the Shadow Crystal shows everyone else disappearing and Noelle remaining before Kris, perhaps it's showing only the fragments that remain of that dream...

When we look at it this way, this vision becomes sadder. Noelle smiling with flowers can now be seen as something painful to witness. It hurts to know that this dream is lost. It hurts that a similar tragedy happened that ended up marking and pushing everyone apart.

Even though her smile might seem to carry a connotation of happiness at first glance, we can't overlook how it's surrounded by the absence of everything that should have been around it. The flowers also reinforce that melancholy as well

They're beautiful, but also ephemeral... and ch 5 repeatedly draws attention to the fact that flowers don't last forever. They're associated with memory, with transience, with things that can't simply be preserved forever...

And it hurts even more because Kris and Noelle still care about each other, yet neither of them seems willing to openly acknowledge it...

"You thought you saw toys strewn on the floor/You thought you saw the computer lab/You thought you saw the lobby of the church"

The Dark World is a world of fantasy created from the will of its creator. So these visions can be interpreted as the Shadow Crystal showing what remains once the fantasy ends

GLASS DIALOGUE

It wasn't only because Glass is the Shadow Crystal's counterpart that I started associating it with the concept of lost hopes.

There's a much more specific piece of evidence within the story itself, and it comes from Noelle during the Weird Route:

* It feels like... I've just been watching myself through glass. * Watching someone else move me through my life. * That's why I want... to do something crazy. * That's why I want... to break free. * But, I can't. I couldn't. * Because I'm just Noelle. * A Noelle that has to do Noelle things. * Just like Kris has to do Kris things... * But Kris... you changed. * Kris, YOU actually changed! * You found out how to stop being Kris!

It's curious that Toby Fox chose the word Glass specifically. After all, Noelle could've described the same feeling in different ways. For example, she could've said that she feels distant from herself, always trapped in the same routine, tired of doing what's expected of "Noelle", unable to escape the role assigned to her. Instead, she compares the experience to watching herself though glass

Furthermore, she says she's "watching someone else move me through my life." So the problem isn't a lack of awareness, because she knows what's happening and has the desire to "do something crazy" and wanst to "break free." But she lost the ability to turn that will into action

Noelle was also the one who noticed that Kris is acting differently. With our influence, they're talking more, acting differently, and even their voice has changed.

But the problem is that Noelle is wrong to believe that Kris has REALLY changed, because this change doesn't mean Kris has managed to break free from the constraints of doing "Kris things".

In fact, this change came precisely from their ability to "act" having been lost. During the Weird Route, Kris becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the control we exert over them

In other words, Kris is less and less capable of deciding who Kris is

That's what makes the choice of the word glass even more interesting. Noelle is describind a situation in which someone remains present, still conscious, and still capable of observing their own existence, but no longer occupies the place of an agent within it. They're there, but something else is conducting their life.

So if we connect the word glass to what Noelle is describing, we can formulate a more specific hypothesis:

Glass shows what happens when you lose the ability to act on your own life.

You still exist, but you start to feel like you no longer have control over where your life is going. You can still see the world, but you feel like your presence no longer has the same power to affect it.

And that's exactly why I interpret the power of Glass as lost hopes.

If a lost dream is the fragment of something someone deeply desired and that was eventually broken, then a lost hope can be understood as the moment when someone stops believing they can still do anything about their own reality.

And this makes even more sense when we go back to ch 3 and 4, when Gerson says that Susie possesses "the white pen known as hope." This fits Susie particularly well because, from the beginning, she is the one who most challenges established rules.

She was the one who created S-Action and R-Action

And in moments that seemed hopeless... she comes up with solution that weren't expected

And that connects directly to the prophecy, which gives us a very specific condition for the final tragedy to happen:

In other words, the tragedy happens when hope, the belief that there's still something that can be changed, is lost.

So now, let's look at the dialogues shown when using Glass though one specific question:

What happens when you lose the ability to act on your own reality?

“You thought you saw through your hand.”

You continue to exist within reality, but you no longer feel you have the power needed to interfere in the direction your life is taking. That's why seeing through your hand represents precisely the loss of the ability to interfere in reality

"You thought you saw your mother holding someone else."

It's as if you've lost your place in the world. Reality continues functioning even if you don't interact with it. It's as if someone else has taken your place... even in your family

"You thought you saw Susie glaring at you, coldly..."

As I said before, Susie is the character who challenges the rules, and her relationship with Kris is very important for understanding this dialogue.

In ch 1, Kris acts outside our control to immediately protect Susie against King's attack. It's precisely this moment that begins to transform their relationship, making them closer.

That's why seeing Susie glaring coldly at Kris could represent that, upon losing the ability to act on their own reality, the trusting relationship between them would remain distant.

"You thought you saw Susie in a far-off window, unkempt and glaring" [After abandoning Weird route in ch 5]

I also want to connect all of this with this dialogue, which seems to be very similar to the previous one

By the time we reach the point where the route can be abandoned, a lot has already happened...

Kris and Noelle have both been forced into situations neither of them wanted to be in. Kris has repeatedly resisted the control imposed on them, and both characters have endured immense psychological pressure

But abandoning the Weird Route doesn't necessarily mean everything that happened simply disappears. Even if Noelle insist that "nothing changed", there's no easy way to erase what the two of them experienced.

Kris won't forget what they were forced to do, or how many times they tried to stop things from getting worse. The damage remains even after the route itself is abandoned.

And it's precisely in this context, when using the Glass, that Susie is seen from afar.

That's especially important because she's the characters who represents safety for Kris... she's their LIGHT

And the most extreme parts of the Weird Route happen when Kris is left alone with Noelle, precisely because Susie isn't there to intervene

So if we once again consider Susie as someone who can act, break rules, and find new paths, then seeing her, even from a distance, becomes a symbol of hope to Kris might still be able to regain their autonomy. But now, compared to the previous vision in the Pacifist/Neutral route, that hope feels much farther away.

That’s because Kris has now experienced just how much control WE can take away from them. The realization of that loss makes the possibility of regaining agency feel EVEN MORE distant. That’s why Susie appears so far away in this new vision, after the Weird Route has been abandoned

"You thought you saw Noelle close against you, whispering."

This was the hardest dialogue to interpret, and I spent a long time thinking about it, which significantly delayed me finishing writing this theory

First, it's interesting to note the contrast that exists with the previous two dialogues. While Susie appears farther and farther away, Noelle is close to Kris...

And the reason for this might lie in analyzing Noelle...

She is perhaps the character who most clearly embodies the experience of wanting change while being unable to believe she still has the means to make that change happen

She says she's just a "Noelle" who needs to do "Noelle things," just as Kris is a "Kris" who needs to do "Kris things." Therefore, she can't see a way out of the role that's been built around her.

Yes, Noelle has her own desires, including the explicit wish to "do something crazy" and "break free," but the recognition that she wants to escape isn't accompanied by the ability to do so.

That's why I interpret her closeness to Kris as a form of identification. In a situation where Kris loses the ability to act on their own reality, Noelle can recognize something in them that she experienced herself. She knows what it's like to remain conscious while something else seems to be steering your life.

Her own identity is already surrounded by expectations about being a good daughter, being a good student, and doing what a "Noelle" is supposed to do

Then the Weird Route pushes that to the point where she's literally being driven forward by the command Proceed.

Meanwhile, Kris is dealing with an even more extreme form of interference, whether it's coming from us or from whoever is controlling them through the phone

Within that context, Noelle appears close precisely because, in a state of lost hope, she's someone who can recognize what it means to be a passenger in your own life...

This also explains the contrast between the two characters. Susie is distant because she represents what's been lost, the possibility of acting. Noelle is close because she represents someone who shares the experience of having lost that possibility

That's why I think the vision of Susie after the Weird Route is so important. Her distance shouldn't necessarily be read simply as "Susie likes Kris less". The Glass could be showing something much more internal:

The more Kris is confronted with their inability to control what's happening, the more distant the possibility of recovering that autonomy seems. Before the Weird Route, there was still some hope that Kris might be able to stop things from going any further.

After seeing just how far our control can go, and realizing that even resistance may not be enough, that hope can feel much more remote

CONCLUSION

The Shadow Crystal contains the power of lost dreams, the fragments that remain when something deeply desired is broken. That's why its visions reflect what's left behind by those dreams:

The shattered television, the empty remnants of former fantasies, a childhood that can no longer be recovered.

The Glass, meanwhile, may contain the power of lost hopes. Not the loss of the thing you dreamed about, but the loss of hope that you can still do something to reach it. That's why its visions revolve around transparency, displacement, distance, and separation

You're still present. You can still see your life. But you can no longer fully interact with or change what happens next

In other words, a dream can be broken, leaving behind a shard.