˚₊‧꒰ა 𓂋 ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

device_ralsei theory/image_ralsei theory

the deltarune community has been puzzled by our favorite toothpaste boy from the beginning. ralsei quickly established himself as a unique darkner and for years people have been trying to piece together why he is the way he is. today, i come to you with a theory that can answer all of our questions about ralsei and a few predictions for how the story could be affected if it were true.

so… what is ralsei? when considering this question, there are two key facts that debunk pretty much all the leading theories for ralsei’s light world object equivalent:

1. at the beginning it’s clear that kris and ralsei are strangers.

1. this explains the amount ralsei tea heals kris. kris doesn’t feel close to ralsei until chapter 4’s ending. ralsei also doesn’t seem to know much about kris. he does know their name at the beginning of chapter 1, but he knows susie’s too for some reason.

2. this fact debunks items like the red horns headband (implied to be ERAM), kris’ knife (i like the theory that the knife is their shield), or kris’ monster-sona, because that darkner would know more about kris.

2. none of the tv world darkners know who ralsei is.

1. ramb references both spamton and jevil, and explicitly mentions knowing king and queen. none of the darkners in the tv world recognize ralsei or are familiar with him.

2. this debunks theories like the green crayon or clumps of dreemurr fur, because darkners of either of these objects would have relationships with the tv world darkners.

so… what theory could explain all of ralsei’s special darkner powers like “sensing” dark fountains, changing form, flying (albeit only short distances), as well as his extensive knowledge of the prophecy and inner workings of the user interface? what other darkner, or darkner-adjacent creature, has the ability to appear in multiple dark worlds with no consequences, change form, and is implied to have knowledge of the prophecy and deltarune as a game world?

image_friend.

my theory is that ralsei is a device made by gaster, just like image_friend.

gaster having a hand in ralsei’s creation could explain why he looks like a boss monster/dreemurr without knowing kris or the dreemurr family. it explains why he has knowledge of the soul, why he understands battles from a mechanical standpoint, why he can hear the battle music. he can go to any dark world because he is more than just a darkner, he is created from darkness itself. if ralsei is the prince of darkness, gaster could be the king.

what impact would this theory being true add to the plot? if ralsei were a creation of gaster’s, a wonderful creation made to keep control over the fun gang and make sure the prophecy is being fulfilled one way or another, it raises the possibility of ralsei being loyal to gaster first and foremost. it could create an interesting push and pull between what ralsei wants and the role he was created to fulfill. ralsei could eventually be faced with a choice of falling in line as gaster’s pawn or staying true to himself (or herself… #transfem ralsei ftw) at the end of the story; potentially when the angel (the player) meets with its desire (meeting gaster)?

now that i’ve established my theory and listed some evidence (going thru similarities between ralsei and image_friend), i want to poke some holes in my own theory and encourage people to fill in the gaps. or poke further holes! please tell me what my theory is missing! this is my first real theory, and i know i can improve. here are some issues i can find with device_ralsei theory:

1. i cannot come up with a reason why gaster would want a device like ralsei. to control the prophecy, maybe? to disrupt the prophecy? to keep an eye on kris? it’s really impossible to know without understanding gaster’s motivations and larger role in the story.

2. ralsei obviously is not labeled a device in the files like image_friend. this is a major point against my theory, but he could be lacking that label internally to avoid spoiling the story.

3. while image_friend shares similarities with ralsei, it seems to operate very differently. we’ve never seen it speak and are still unsure of its true form. why wouldn’t ralsei also just be eyes and a mouth like friend is? to serve a different purpose, maybe, but if ralsei is monitoring the fun gang for gaster why would he need image_friend?