The badge within Sans's workshop is Deltarune's most overlooked Chekhov's Gun by a wide margin. It's one of three Undertale items that's strongly implied to originate from Deltarune—the other two being the "Don't Forget" photo and the ICE-E wordsearch. Yet, I've seen very few try and explain why Toby Fox felt the need to give it such significance.
From what I've seen, most people's first instinct is to assume it's Asgore's old police badge. However, this explanation requires several assumptions and leaps in logic to make even a lick of sense. And given these issues only grow larger if it's Undyne's or Napstablook's, we're sorta just left to conclude that it belongs to Sans himself.
So... why would Sans own a badge in Deltarune? And why would he have this badge with him when he, in an implied rush, made the hop over to Undertale's universe? That's up for you to decide, and I'd love to hear some ideas! Although, I've had my own theory for some time now:
Sans is a currently undercover detective. This idea perfectly explains not only the badge but effectively every quirk of his in Deltarune: how he's new to town, why he's so cagey about background information, why his store is closed at strange times; and why he deflects any questions about said closings. And that's not even getting into Sans's well-established "dumb and lazy" facade that he puts on in Undertale to hide the fact that he's always collecting information. After all, this behavior had to start somewhere, right? And given even his own brother never fully sees past the act, Sans must've had a whole lot of practice prior to showing up in Undertale.
Assuming my theory is true, an obvious question arises: What is Sans investigating? Deltarune isn't particularly bereft of mysteries, so that's a bit of a loaded question. However, if I had to choose one mystery that seems most closely aligned with Sans's area of expertise, I.E. spacetime, it would be the presence of dark fountains in Hometown. This connection may seem strange at first, but I'd like to remind you that W.D. Gaster, a character who's inseparably linked with dark worlds, was "shattered across time and space." Darkness and spacetime are inherently linked concepts within the UT/DR multiverse.
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I understand people who, based on the way Gaster refers to the encounter as the Forgotten Man as an "ISSUE" in the PlayStation trophies, assume that this must mean some kind of opposition between Gaster and the Forgotten Man. However i think this argument is based on some important assumptions that need to be addressed as such.
The most important thing I want to point out is that the "ISSUE" observed by Gaster ISN'T the Forgotten Man himself, but the Egg he gives to Kris. You can go through the entire cryptic conversation with the Forgotten Man in Ch3 and refuse his Egg at the very end, the chapter will be accounted as "being completed without issue".
Encountering the Forgotten Man doesn't seem to be the issue, but receiving THE EGG is.
Which makes sense given the very first time the "Egg" appears in DR, as a error handler during the GonerMaker sequence ; "Egg" is the default option given to any of the question Gaster asks you while creating your avatar, in case for some reason DR bugs out and doesn't register the actual answer you gave.
the "Egg" in DR is an error handler, something that appears when the game failed to receive or give an information it is supposed to get or have. in other words, the Egg is the representation of an error occuring in relation to whatever the Forgotten Man gave to Kris ; the Egg is quite literally an issue in the program.
And this would make sense with the very-much-confirmed fact that the Forgotten Man seemed to be linked to some kind of memory repression for Kris (c.f. the Therapy Room in Ch4) ; they saw "something" behind the tree, and chose to draw a tree over it to hide it, effectively forgetting about it.
In that case, maybe the "Egg", the error handler meant to represent something that the game wasn't able to register in any way, is how the game chose to represent something that Kris has forgotten and is unable to recall. Maybe even literally fragments of that memory they repressed, now rendered as Eggs because they can't conceive the fragments on their own without getting the full picture.
That would mean that the issue Gaster is talking about might not be the Forgotten Man, but the Egg itself (which are quite literally already described as "issues handler" in the intro of the game)... or maybe even the fact Kris is remembering something they shouldn't remember...
Given the Forgotten Man's connection to Dess's disappearance though the "Lost where the forest would grow, the children follow the pointed tail" phrase that is clearly connected to the Forgotten Man according to the the 2025 Sweepstakes Update, and the state of Dess TODAY as the Knight and her CLEAR connection to Gaster, maybe Kris starting to remember more about what happened behind the tree could be considered by Gaster himself an "issue".
Anyway. I personnally think jumping to the conclusion that "Gaster and the Forgotten Man are enemies" is a bit too hasty, especially when it seems to be implied that the Forgotten Man has so much more going on about him, and the connections between him and Gaster really don't stop at that "COMPLETE WITHOUT ISSUE" trophy.
i'm seeing theorists that i look up to and respect make some crazy assumptions about Wicabel (of all people), claiming that she must be some kind of parallel to Gaster, and while they're talking and presenting their thesis i can't help but think "there's no way they're right, this is too stupid. I need to reread Wicabel's dialogue to prove to myself i'm not crazy."
so i go to a website with all of the Deltarune dialogues in it, i go in the index to find Wicabel, and there i see that her enemy ID is 66.
i cannot do this anymore theorizing is hard /lh
"A majestic sword with a white feathered hilt" (item with the same name)
(Halo allegations :)
"Halo, are you listening?" (quote from it)
"Halo, goodeye!" (quote from it)
--linked to spinning, revolving, circles. we don't know what "spinning" is about yet, but "circles" in general should be commonly linked to "rings" now, and for a Darkner with such heavy Angel imagery, maybe it's using "rings" because of the "ring of heaven's call"
"Winglade rotates aggressively" (flavor text)
"Winglade molts and revolts" (flavor text)
"You oppose the revolution?" (quote from it)
"Viva la revolution!" (quote from it, SPARE)
"To spin, is to trust" (quote from it, SPARE)
bullet patterns
--linked to eyes (still doesn't know what the fuck that one means)
despite being "the witch's familiar" (RECRUIT), is never seen fighting with her
doesn't turn to stone in the alternate Sanctuary, but seems to turn into an item instead (????? something about swords being pencils but also being sometimes alive something about the SOUL)
double meaning of "revolution", Winglade doesn't like "Authoritarianism" (RECRUIT), yet it is a familiar??
"The flapping of wings and pages fills the room" what if wings in general are meant to be symbols of pages in DR
the entire "cleave your own path. cut your own way. me? my way is in your way. it's your way or the high way." fucking dialogue. is that an "In My Way" reference?? what does it give "will follow you to the utmost"??
local blade with wings can't decide if it doesn't ponctuate its sentences correctly (not ending them with a period) or if it doesn't capitalize its sentences (literally only in the "my way is in your way" dialogue)
idk man Winglade feels like a representation of the player. if you believe Player=Angel and SOUL=pen/sword. even the ring connection works. the "rebellious" aspect of Winglade could be taken like a representation of a player's disruptive behavior in a game with set boundaries and rules.
my biggest issue with this (aside from not knowing what to do with the whole "spinning" thing) is why. i would have no problem with this if Winglade wasn't just a random enemy. why is a random enemy taking the shape of the Angel of the Delta Rune and is having sword/pen imagery.
and it's the familiar of Wicabell, the "fun" witch with bell imagery
I mean it does pop up in the church it would have been even more strange to have nothing angel related though it's weird to see it on a normal enemy !
This is a great post.
i'm seeing theorists that i look up to and respect make some crazy assumptions about Wicabel (of all people), claiming that she must be some kind of parallel to Gaster, and while they're talking and presenting their thesis i can't help but think "there's no way they're right, this is too stupid. I need to reread Wicabel's dialogue to prove to myself i'm not crazy."
so i go to a website with all of the Deltarune dialogues in it, i go in the index to find Wicabel, and there i see that her enemy ID is 66.
i cannot do this anymore theorizing is hard /lh
"A majestic sword with a white feathered hilt" (item with the same name)
(Halo allegations :)
"Halo, are you listening?" (quote from it)
"Halo, goodeye!" (quote from it)
--linked to spinning, revolving, circles. we don't know what "spinning" is about yet, but "circles" in general should be commonly linked to "rings" now, and for a Darkner with such heavy Angel imagery, maybe it's using "rings" because of the "ring of heaven's call"
"Winglade rotates aggressively" (flavor text)
"Winglade molts and revolts" (flavor text)
"You oppose the revolution?" (quote from it)
"Viva la revolution!" (quote from it, SPARE)
"To spin, is to trust" (quote from it, SPARE)
bullet patterns
--linked to eyes (still doesn't know what the fuck that one means)
despite being "the witch's familiar" (RECRUIT), is never seen fighting with her
doesn't turn to stone in the alternate Sanctuary, but seems to turn into an item instead (????? something about swords being pencils but also being sometimes alive something about the SOUL)
double meaning of "revolution", Winglade doesn't like "Authoritarianism" (RECRUIT), yet it is a familiar??
"The flapping of wings and pages fills the room" what if wings in general are meant to be symbols of pages in DR
the entire "cleave your own path. cut your own way. me? my way is in your way. it's your way or the high way." fucking dialogue. is that an "In My Way" reference?? what does it give "will follow you to the utmost"??
local blade with wings can't decide if it doesn't ponctuate its sentences correctly (not ending them with a period) or if it doesn't capitalize its sentences (literally only in the "my way is in your way" dialogue)
idk man Winglade feels like a representation of the player. if you believe Player=Angel and SOUL=pen/sword. even the ring connection works. the "rebellious" aspect of Winglade could be taken like a representation of a player's disruptive behavior in a game with set boundaries and rules.
my biggest issue with this (aside from not knowing what to do with the whole "spinning" thing) is why. i would have no problem with this if Winglade wasn't just a random enemy. why is a random enemy taking the shape of the Angel of the Delta Rune and is having sword/pen imagery.
and it's the familiar of Wicabell, the "fun" witch with bell imagery
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The best proof that we're living in Hell is that it's 2026 and people still haven't figured out that Undertale and Deltarune don't make even the slightest attempt to judge your actual morals.
i think everyone should give a try to Enzoul's CONNECTION theory.
it's a relatively short google doc (in english) that i consider very concise, interesting and meaningful.
at a time in which the DEVICE theory is taken for granted and rarely questionned, it's important to be aware of its limitations and how alternatives can open doors and reveal paths that were invisible in the DEVICE theory paradigm.
