Hello, sorry if this ask is just repeating questions youve already heard before but ive been thinking
Unfair hierarchies is a theme that deltarune is very keen to explore, some in more fantastical ways, the way the light world exists above the dark world and the unfair level of power lightners hold over darkners, even susie who is in general somebody who deeply cares about the darkners in her life still holds a massive amount of power over them. But also in more mundane ways, the power adults hold over children and their lives, the main cast are only in the positions they are now because of the ways the adults failed them or exploited them.
My older player centric readings of deltarune posited that the real world would be a layer above that, where in the normal route our "character arc" so to speak would be about us trying to bring ourselves to an equal level as kris the same way susie seeks to become ralsei's equal and relinquish the power we hold over them, and in the weird route we'd elavate ourselves, becoming a toxic "adult" force in this children's lives, asserting our power over them the way characters like carol do.
However as I opened myself up to krissociation and other plural kris readings ive realised that self denial is also a theme deltarune loves to explore, characters will repeatedly deny parts of themselves in favor of trying to be what other people say they are. You cannot look at the closet scene in chapter 4 where kris beats up their own heart with a hockey stick and not come to the conclusion that the soul represents a part of kris that they seek to repress, among many other details that im sure i dont need to tell you about
So.. ive come to ask myself how can you have both of these ideas be true at the same time.
The saint reading comes close but its not quite what im looking for. Ive tried to rationalise it while talking to a friend by comparing it to the layers of reality in Umineko (a vn with a character commonly read as transfem and multiple plural ones. the best way i can describe it is that youll come out of it loving beatrice(character) and thinking ryukishi(author) is a bit of a coward). The soul is a piece on the gameboard-layer, and from the gameboard perspective is an autonomous being and part of kris, but from the meta-layer the player holds that piece, tho we cannot make it do anything that it/kris wouldnt oridinarly. The problem with that explanation is that in Umineko the layers of reality are very metaphorical while in deltarune they are very litral (despite what early chapter 1 theories had to say about the dark world being just pretend) and the characters on the layer above very much have to grapple with the power they hold on the layer below.
So basically...? how can you formulate a reading that keeps both in mind. i do think krissociation folk are closer to doing that, but i havent really found a reading that clicks in my brain quite right. Im so sorry if this is a topic youve gone over before
Ty for sharing this is all very interesting and gets to the heart (heh) of a lot of thematic elements, I have a few thoughts:
I personally really don't like most narratives that try to compare the dynamic between real people and fictional characters to the dynamic between oppressors and the oppressed, I think it's very silly when fictional characters ultimately exist to communicate certain ideas and play certain roles in a story, but if a narrative were to do that, I don't think the person viewing a narrative should be the "oppressor" analogue, it always leads into stories that guilt you for enjoying them (sidenote: I fucking love OneShot for this because in that game your engagement with the narrative and love for its characters is vital to achieving the best ending)
If anyone in real life is the oppressor class for fictional characters, it's the people who construct a narrative, the people with material power over how their lives and how they're portrayed, which can lead into some really good analogues for other kinds of oppression if done well! this game will end in 205 clicks. is the first example that comes to mind, where a queer-coded villain is trapped by the fact that the narrative will never allow him* to be truly, openly queer, which at that point is hardly even an allegory for queer oppression, it's just portraying real-life queer oppression being enforced across narrative layers
As for seeing Kris's SOUL as part of them and as a "game piece" held by the player at the same time, my personal view is that Deltarune is a role-playing game, and most crucially role-playing is an act of becoming; Kris isn't you, but in playing the game you become Kris, or at least a part of them; the game puts you in their shoes, makes you relate to them, makes you feel what it's like to be Kris, and in their case that includes a strong degree of separation and conflict with the self, which the narrative makes you experience as a separation and conflict with Kris
And in the other direction I think in that act of becoming, you leave a small piece of yourself in Kris too, not only through the choices you make, but through how you interpret them, how you project onto them, how you see yourself in them, meaning each player ends up with a slightly different Kris by the end; I think this is true for any role-playing game, honestly, but Deltarune in particular seems interested in calling attention to those themes rather than taking them for granted; I think dark worlds touch on this a lot, too
To put it another way, when you play a role-playing game, you do influence your player character, whether through actions or interpretation: Your love will become theirs
But in the act of becoming, your character has just as much power to influence you, as the narrative puts you in their shoes and makes you relate to them, makes you think like them: Their love will become yours
