"[Trash heap]! YOU KEPT IT! YOU REALLY DO CARE!"

!!CHAPTER 5 SPOILERS!!

Based on this interaction people have noticed with the mannequin:

Tenna has spent his whole life serving Lightners, he loved the Dreamurrs and cared deeply about them, but they never loved him as a person.

They never viewed him as a person.

To the Dreamurrs he's just their TV, an object. As a Darkner of course he loves to be their TV, it's Darkners' purpose to serve Lightners. But loving a higher power that doesn't even view you as a person isn't love, it's worship.

"Worship isn't love. It's distance, dressed as devotion. You can't hold someone from a pedestal."

Every Darkner we meet, we bring back to Castle town. Because in Castle town they're not just possessions, they're people.

Darkners in Castle town aren't living for a higher power that doesn't view them as a person, they're living with people who are equals, people who view them as people. The Darkners we bring back to Castle town are living for themselves for once, and the people who care about them don't need to be The Almighty Lightners, because they actually care about eachother as friends and equals.

But Tenna feels lonely.

He wants to be wanted, he wants to be wanted by Lightners. He has lived his whole life based on the idea that the only thing that matters is being loved by the Lightners, that the only thing that matters are the Lightners, and it's not easy for him to just let that go. He's so focused on being cherished as a Lightner's object that he doesn't even see that people like Susie actually care about him as a person.

He feels lonely in Castle town, but giving him to Mettaton just doesn't feel like the right thing to do. It's giving into his idea that the only thing that matters is being a Lightner's object.

Mettaton is thrilled to have Tenna, to have entertainment. But Mettaton doesn't know about the dark world, he doesn't view Tenna as a person.

Tenna struggles with letting go of the past, he holds onto the memory of being watched by Lightners and he wants to get that feeling back. He doesn't want to move on from being a Lightner's object, he just can't fathom the idea of living for himself.

Giving him to Mettaton is the quick fix, the short term happiness as opposed to a long term solution. It's the Dreamurrs all over again. What happens when Mettaton eventually discards him like the Dreamurrs did? Will he just find a new Lightner to worship? How long will he chase the idea of trying to recreate the past of being someone's TV?

Isn't it better to live for yourself, than to worship someone else who doesn't even see you as a person?

I feel like in Castle town, he can learn to live for himself, he can learn to see that the people around him actually care about him as a person, and that he's loved for being himself.

Sure, it's not easy to move on from trying to impress people who don't see you and to realize that people care about you. Of course he will feel sad and lonely, healing and recovery and moving on isn't all sunshines and rainbows, but I truly think that he can find a real happiness with people who care about him.

Tenna art by @9Aaaalt29 on twt

its fun

i can do literally whatever I want

cons of writing

Everyone's talking about the weird route right now, which like HOLY shit. The prophecy can be broken. There was no flower man trapped in asylum. However I feel obligated to point out we may have an actual way to defy fate itself in the main route. I'm talking about Ralsei.

He believes that all Darkners have their own purpose that can not be deviated from. And he believes the prophecy cant be changed, but despite this he wants it to at all costs. The ominous broken panel from Ch.4 is one example, but I'm also talking about who Ralsei wants to be.

His unhappiness with who he is is pretty damn clear .We see more of this with the switch back to the "Dark Ralsei" form. His own displeasure with how he looks.

LITERALLY shoved into a closet by Flowery, and forced to wear something he does NOT like anymore. Symbolism is a literary device writers can use to communic-

This really shines in the butler suit scene. And the status text shows how deep into self-hated Ralsei really is, with ignoring his own wants and needs.

None of this makes him happy. None of this is what he really wants. Chapter 5 shows us that in pretty damn plain text. But funny enough, before the entire story starts back in castle town there's a secret little cutscene that shows why there is all of this discomfort.

She isn't fully there yet. Still deeply repressing herself and only agreeing when its what other people want. But its still her truth. Its what she actually wants for herself. All of her past desires of liking plushies, knitting, and baking fall more into place. Especially with the scene with Flowery.

Being figured out by the one person you hate the most has got to be infuriating. The blue and pink colors has got to be the least subtle symbolism, but the furious blush about being called Princess REALLY seals the deal. Even Asgore sees it. This was in a more literal sense of hiding away from him physically, but still it works on two levels. (The neutral pronoun change in this and the status text is even more of a sign. To be fair I do think this is a transfemme thing, a lot of trans people switch to something more neutral in our early stages.)

What if you can choose who you are in this world? What if by doing so, you can defy fate itself and break the prophecy? If the prophecy isn't true anymore could it still predict the future? If "the prince" isn't a prince anymore not just by identity but in the most literal sense, could this be the very thing to change the future? This would be excellent thematic writing. The only way to save the world is to love, change and accept yourself.

Stories can be rewritten and retold, and I think Ralsei will do so with her own story. Isn't that lovely? Isn't that wonderful?

Edit: HOW DID I FORGOT ABOUT THE LOST GIRL MUSIC IN CH4 HELLO?????