peebiss

Have you ever thought about Pacify? Really thought about Pacify? Why is this spell even here. In UNDERTALE, Monsters became sparable when low on HP. In DELTARUNE, this extremely niche mechanic almost nobody uses was elaborated into what we might call a Whole Thing, with the Tired mechanic.

As we all know, TIRED enemies can be spared with Ralsei's magic, Pacify. Enemies become tiredwhen they're on low HP, or when certain ACTs are used against them.

When Chapter 1 of Deltarune released, I thought this spell was extremely interesting, because it effectively gave us a way to spare people who didn't want to listen to reason. It made sense to me that making a story where everyone can be befriended is, perhaps, limiting, and so this spell was here to open a bit of narrative freedom and have characters who cannot, while still letting us show mercy regardless. In Chapter 1, this is how Pacify is used- It is the only method we can use to spare Jevil, and in a non-pacifist run, it's the way we beat king.

But then it kind of just... stopped being used in this way. Starting in Chapter 2, ACTs that enable Tired, or enemies that are already Tired, began appearing, and Pacify kind of fades away into being a mechanic first and foremost rather than a narrative device.

But... I don't think that's the truth. Pacify is still strangely relevant narratively, and after my Rude Buster analysis, I'm inclined to read more into the spell's existence and its potential importance to the larger narrative. For starters, in Chapter 1, Ralsei explains the existence of this spell to Susie:

Which is framed mostly as a joke and a warning to use the Warn action against enemies.

But... it's not a joke. In what is, personally, my favorite little piece of Susie characterization in the entire game, if you didn't spare everyone in Chapter 1, then the King fight ends differently. There is no crowd of people to sweep King away- instead, Susie distracts him, and Ralsei casts Pacify, leading to this exchange:

This exchange always stuck in my head, because it demonstrates that Susie pays more attention than we might think, and remembered the earlier conversation about Pacify. At the time, I thought this might be it, that this was just a neat way of Toby showing that Susie listens.

But the fact that Susie remembers this spell comes up again, in Chapter 4. Against the Sound of Justice.

This is, of course, does not end up happening- Ralsei comes in, and defeats the Sound of Justice, which was just a statue and not the actual Old Man.

But this instance really got me thinking. Maybe I'm just thinking about things too much, but it strikes me as important that, yet again, the fact that we can use Pacify to spare foes who are unwilling to listen to reason is a thing.

And so, I get back to my ultimate point: Why is this spell even in this game?

So far, we've yet to truly be in a situation that feels like it absolutely REQUIRES Pacify to work narratively, and in general it rarely comes up. Even in regular combat, it seems most players forget about this spell. Evidently enough, the game feels the need to remind you that this spell exists in chapter 4??

(Seriously, Toby. Were the playtesters that bad?? We know what Pacify does...)

Evidently, Pacify is pretty niche as a mechanic. It does add mechanical nuance to sparing enemies, and I really appreciate it, but... I find it hard to believe that its mechanical implications are the reason it's here.

So far, there have only been 2 characters who we need to Pacify in certain contexts. And really, only one of those is "real" to me, because I fully think there could've been some other way King was defeated. And even with Jevil, that could've been an ACT.

So... I think there's something else. I think the fact that we have the ability to Spare people who Don't Want To Listen is important. It's brought up as an option in Chapter 4, it's emphasized in Chapter 1.

My personal bet right now is that Pacify is going to be used on someone later in the story. Someone we don't want to hurt, but who will not listen to reason. Like how Susie didn't want to hurt who she thought was the Old Man but clearly he was unwilling to talk. My bet? I think we're Pacifying The Knight at some point later in the story. The Knight is explicitly someone we cannot ACT against, but given who the Knight most likely is... we kinda don't want to actually hurt it. At least Kris wouldn't want to.

Also, it's fitting for Ralsei to be the one to finish the fight, because that gives him more agency in our quest against fate. It feels fitting to me, at least...

It's also maybe possible it's someone like Asgore, I guess, or maybe a SOUL-Shined Pacify could put a Titan to sleep or something, I'm not 100% all in on it being The Knight, but that makes the most sense to me. Regardless, I'm confident this spell is important. Time will tell if I'm right, I guess...