So, like, the thing about Ralsei is that he says that Darkners arenāt really ārealā and exist only to make Lightners happy and that their own needs and emotions are secondary at best. But in terms of his behavior it usually just manifest as his horribly low self-esteem and self-sacrificial behavior. Heās usually very accommodating and considerate of other Darkners, much happier to acknowledge their feelings and personhood rather than his own.
The biggest and most obvious exception is his āyou just have to accept youāre useless now (:ā speech to Tenna at the end of Chapter 3.
But even then...itās like, at the start of Chapter 3, Ralsei was the one most susceptible to Tennaās guilt-trip and the one who talked the two Lightners into taking part in his show.
It's not like he's not considerate of Tenna's feelings, and it's not like he doesn't want the Lightners to help him... the two main things that changed is, well... first things first just the fact that the Dark Fountain was right there and sealing it is always one of Ralsei's main concerns. But also... it's because Tenna opened up about his feelings and it became clear to Ralsei just how much he's motivated by anxieties that mirror his own....
Itās kind of the reverse of Susieās arc with Tenna through Chapter 3. She starts out extremely hostile towards him (probably because he just kinda bursted in on them while she was having an extremely emotionally fraught time and immediately tried to make everything about his Fun Silly Game Time)
But the longer she gets to know him and calmed down from her original rage, she started to obviously feel kinda bad for himā¦
She reverted to rage when it turned out he has secretly kidnapped Toriel, but once he opened up about his motivations and his feelings, she was the one who actually validated his emotions, actually found him a solution that treated him like a person. Clearly because she saw a lot of her own pain in him.
Itās likeā¦ Susie was put off by Tenna initially, but once she starts seeing herself in others, itās makes it easier for her to be kind and understanding towards themā¦ but Ralsei is kind of the opposite of That?
When he sees other Darkners as strangers, as different than him, that makes him more likely to be kind and considerate towards their feelings. To just follow his instincts to be Nice to them and encourage that niceness in others. But he has such a low opinion of himself and such a lack of self-worth, that once he starts recognizing himself in the otherā¦ that actually makes him more likely to be unkind to them in that sickeningly sweet way he is unkind to himself.
The more Ralsei relates to another Darkner, the more likely it is for his fucked-up philosophy about Darkners to affect how he treats them. Ralseiās whole self-image is so fucked up that his empathy consistently makes him less kind to other Darkners.
