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I hate how people frown on Noelle for being insecure about Kris and Susie having their own time together, and at the same time argue that Kris has every right to resent and be embittered towards Susie and Noelle for being in a romantic relationship with others. Even though you actually played the game, you would clearly see that Kris is very happy for the two of them.

I also hate how some people go on about how Kris should learn to accept that Susie will sometimes focus more on Noelle over them, but then they'll say stuff like "Kris can't be in a polycule with Susie because it would make Noelle feel jealous and possessive" as if it's perfectly okay for her to do that simply because she's now Susie's girlfriend. Like, are you trying to give ammo to the yahoos who say that Suselle is toxic?! COME ON!

The comments around her always imply she won’t change.

She won’t stop being jealous from Susie, she won’t stop wishing new things to happen at the cost of everything and like…

Noelle could stop being jealous of Noelle and Kris the moment she gets close to Kris again.

Kris at one moment sees Noelle walking towards them holding flowers in a shadow Crystal. Kris wants the same too!

Noelle can start having a better relationship with normality and every day being similar when her days are along friends and people that start to really see her.

Susie can start accepting that change happens when she has people around her to walk her through those changes.

Kris could forgive themself and stop if they are loved unconditionally despite what they’ve done.

It’s like all of them can help each other with those flaws.

In chapter 4 aborted Weird Route things would again stay pretty similar, but with more dialogue variations, and Noelle is 100% convinced that she can save her dad, with what happened to Birdley. She may even be even more hoping to save her dad because she feels guilty for what happened to Birdley. Again, mostly dialogues changes, and maybe some other minor stuff.

Since Noelle created the fountain in hope to save her dad, she likely won't help in closing it, so won't be part of the party, acting as the antagonist for the chapter; she could join at the end when things turn very wrong.

My theory is that actually, toby fox is trying to frame this situation as a GOOD thing.

It's very easy to look at her literally living in the dark world and be afraid that it's a trap or is going to backfire, but today this situation reminded me of real-life situations that are analogous to hers: online fandoms*.

*(this theory might also work for other types of communities but stick with me)

There are so many stories of people who talk about their fandom being their lifeline, about making friends, having something giving their life meaning and happiness, improving them as people, and sometimes literally saving their life. As soon as Susie entered the dark world, she was given the chance to make friends and have something to really make her happy for once, and she has been improving as a person (and a lot of it was simply just giving her a proper chance)! Her literally living there seems like an analogy to how these people cling to their fandoms as their lifeline, pouring every spare moment they have into it, and it gets them to a BETTER place as a result, despite the fears of going too far; it seems quite often, that this simply doesn't end up being the case.

There's also further similarities between these dark worlds and online spaces. There are so many people out there in the world that we never get to see, never would get to talk to or even fathom that they exist, other than a vague feeling of the world being a big place with a lot of people in it. But when we enter an online community, those people suddenly come to life for us. We all get a name and an avatar, giving us form, and share an experience together that we enjoy, our dark worlds. Often some of those communities we close for good, but sometimes we keep some of the friends we made while still in them...our recruits? :) And then we find new fandoms and start the whole thing over again, just like Kris opening new dark worlds that hold new adventures and new friends. Toby hard-pushing the idea that the Darkners are real people and not just "objects" really makes a lot of sense in this context too. To some people, the internet is just a screen, but we know we are talking to real people, even if it looks a little different.

The amount of people I've seen saying "But Pink is trans :(( she was having an anxiety attack during the fight!" Spamton is also trans (and homeless and disabled) and was hallucinating and praying and begging in both routes.

Or that "Tenna was scared and overwhelmed in ch3", as if Spamton wasn't going through exactly the same thing as him for *years*. As if being trans or having mental health problems is an excuse to kill some kids or mistreat people.

Spamton is the bravest soldier of the game so far.

And even if he hadn't recognized Spamton, he just saw that person *SPEAK*. So obviously it wasn't just a rat or creature. And even if it were a rat, don't fucking spray foam on rats????????

Tenna is not the victim in this scene, and nothing he did here was right or justified. Tenna just said that he's alone and wanted someone to help him, so Spamton left Kris's inventory (even they were surprised) just to try and help him. Saying that everything is okay or that it's justified because he's struggling and overwhelmed is the same as saying that all of Susie's abuse/bullying/death threats against Kris are justified because she also has struggles and a bad life. I will never understand how so many people feel bad for the character who is verbally abusing and not the character who is being verbally abused in this scene.

But if he did recognize him I would thought he would refer to Spamton more directly or something.

At the same time, I think it can be read as Tenna discriminating Spamton because of his condition (independently if he recognized him or not).

Like, let’s say someone encounters an ex that now lives in the street, or an ex that was disfigured after a terrible accident. They somewhat recognize them, but because of their bad state they don’t get close to that person, or they don’t accept that person in their home or their lives anymore. That really really sucks… because it’s not like they have to go to be back together but at least show some respect???

I really like to think that Spamton likes to hang out with us, at least.

But I've thought about it some more, and I've come to realise there's more going on here than we're being shown - indeed, considering the way that Deltarune only permits us to witness certain moments within its narrative while skipping over others, and how our limited perspective is itself tied to Kris, it becomes obvious in retrospect that there have been key moments in the development of Susie's feelings to which we have simply not been privy. For instance, all we see of her in Castle Town is her getting ready for her big date, but we haven't seen the preperation leading up to that moment. We haven't seen her and Ralsei discussing it, as doubtless they did while Kris wasn't there. For all we know, they could have spent the entire night hyping Susie up for this date, and we simply wouldn't be any the wiser.

And yet, even this isn't the full story, because once again our perspective is tied to Kris's, and so in a sense we see what they see. And so, after spending the full day at the festival with Susie and Noelle, and then falling asleep on the bench next to them while they talked for HOURS - hours we did not get to witness, mind you - we are seeing not just what the game only permits us to see, but also we're seeing this development the way that Kris themself is seeing it - as a bewildering escalation of Susie's feelings towards Noelle that have seemingly come out of nowhere, and are now threatening to sweep her entirely out of their reach. We are witnessing Suselle as this all-encompassing event that's seeping into every single aspect of their time in the dark world - see how Susie won't flirt with enemies if instructed to (ignore Pink), and that she'll suddenly wear ribbons after spending four entire chapters refusing to, and how she's constantly being called away in the service of deepening her devotion to Noelle.

And if we witness all of this, coming from the emotional gut-punch that was Chapter 4's conclusion, and feel slightly knocked off-balance by how rapidly this relationship has blossomed... well, wouldn't you say that perhaps we are being invited to consider this development through the eyes of somebody who may well not have wanted it to progress so quickly, so suddenly, so violently? Are we not being invited to perceive this through the eyes of somebody who, despite everything, still isn't quite ready to let go of their friends, and fears above all else being left behind and forgotten about?

I think I would only add to this, that I clocked that Susie liked Noelle back in Chapter 4 when all the Holiday mannor segment happened and the comments she did after it in the dark world.

I remembered joking about how Susie thinking in Noelle’s house because of the couch of the church (that was old and ugly and NOTHING like Noelle’s) was a clear sign that Noelle lived in Susie’s head rent free.

Of course is very subtle, and I NEVER imagined they would freaking confess next day in the festival. That took me by surprise and I agree it feels very rushed. But it’s because all what you have just said.

However, Susie potentially returning Noelle’s feelings was already hinted in several ways, and I was surprised that some people said there was “zero” clues that Susie liked Noelle because that’s just not true.

Susie is just not very open about these things and this also makes sense with her characterization and strengthens this situation that: “Your perception of this game and these characters is limited”.

Something like this happened to me in the trivia game of chapter 3.