It's so interesting to me that the widely accepted theory for Deltarune is that it'll end up being Us, the player, vs. Kris in the end. I understand why this is the perspective a lot of people have- Kris doesn't rip their soul out for no reason, obviously, and based on everything we've seen, such as the Post Spamton-NEO dialogue choices, it very much seems like we have the ability to make Kris make choices they otherwise wouldn't- but it seems especially cynical to me to assume that means Kris is going to be against us, or even that there is an antagonistic relationship between Kris and the player at all.
From everything we've seen, such as Kris' room in the light world being almost completely barren, and Toriel's memory of Kris asking when their horns would grow in, it doesn't seem like Kris likes themselves that much- and with that perspective, and the knowledge via Catti that she and Kris used to try and summon demons together, I've always had the perspective that we exist within the narrative of Deltarune less as a malevolent outsider forcibly imposing our will on the world and more as a benevolent force, called on deliberately by Kris' own actions to help them reshape their life into something they like more.
I think people tend to get very caught up in thinking of UTDR as very inherently cynical stories, especially in their metanarratives, due to the Undertale Genocide route. But that isn't what these stories are- or rather, it's not what they're *supposed* to be. The Genocide route, and its Deltarune counterpart, the Weird/Snowgrave route, are *corruptions* of the existing story and world, caused not by the player's mere existence, but by the player's refusal to engage with the game the way it asks you to- for Genocide, you have to actively go out of your way, to great resistance, to hunt down and kill every single monster, despite the game telling you that showing mercy is the best option. And in Snowgrave, you have to actively push back against the existing narrative in very specific ways, using the more diverse combat system to circumvent the restrictions it has- rather than attacking enemies yourself to kill them, as that simply causes enemies to run away, you circumvent this by manipulating Noelle to freeze them all with Iceshock, preventing them from running away. Noelle DOES NOT do this deliberately based on everything we've seen, and it is very apparent from her dialogue (both internal and external) that it is unnatural to her and that we, the player, are making her do this. And in the Snowgrave route, it is very understandable that Kris would take an antagonistic stance towards us, given, well, Snowgrave, but it must be remembered that the Snowgrave/Weird route is paralleling the Genocide route, and how did that route end? With the demon that comes when you call its name ushering the world, and our influence upon it, into oblivion. That sounds to my ear awfully similar to how the Roaring has been described. Some people have theorized that perhaps the Weird route will be necessary to avoid the Roaring happening- but what if it's the opposite? That's a separate subject, though, and I'll leave it for later. Given all the very apparent parallels between Kris' design and Chara's, mirroring the parallels between Snowgrave and Genocide, it makes perfect sense that Kris would be antagonistic towards us at the Weird route's end- but in the normal route, what have we truly done to warrant antagonism from Kris?
It's very heavily implied, if not outright stated, that Kris' life before Chapter 1 is... not exactly good. Their parents are divorced, very messily, their brother is away at college, their friendship with Noelle has grown distant, and they've been unable to befriend Susie like they wanted to. But then, we show up, almost out of nowhere, and Kris is whisked away on a magical adventure, where they can be the special version of themselves they've always wanted to be. Sure, they can't use magic themselves in the Dark World, but they can ACT, which seems to be enough. And yes, we can make choices they don't necessarily agree with, like saying Kris is fine after Spamton NEO, but Kris also has Ralsei and Susie as a support network, who see through that lie- and many of us don't make that contrary choice at all. I know *I* didn't. And the crucial thing to remember- we aren't completely controlling Kris. Even when Kris HASN'T removed the Soul, they've acted independently of us. They block King's attack at Susie, they back away from Spamton NEO, and perhaps most importantly of all, is Ralsei- Ralsei, who on two separate occasions actively stops Kris from being observed by us, proving this is possible both without removing the Soul, AND for people other than Kris to do. Kris is not a slave to our will- they go along with us by choice, even when we make decisions they don't agree with. Because they DO have the power- the Determination- to resist us. But they don't. What does that tell us about Kris, and the greater narrative?
Circling back to the metanarrative point to conclude this excessively verbose post, what we need to remember moving forward is that Toby Fox is not a cynical writer- at least, not by nature. He expects you to engage with the narrative he constructs on its own terms, as any writer would, but he also wrote the Genocide route specifically to deconstruct how the refusal to do so will inherently ruin the story. As Sans says when he dunks on you, if you actually cared about being friends with him, you wouldn't be on the Genocide route. There's no reason Deltarune won't be the same. Undertale did not punish the player for playing the game, it critiqued the player for not engaging with its narrative. Our ability to Save and Load didn't make us evil- our influence being exerted on the world of Undertale wasn't inherently bad. Even when it comes to actions like killing Toriel at the end of the Ruins and reloading to spare her- this isn't evil. In fact, it is the opposite. Flowey attempts to make us think it is, but he's already been lost to the same apathetic lack of engagement that we are in the Genocide route. Our presence in Undertale is not inherently negative- without our part in that story, the monsters would never have been freed from the Underground. I have no reason to believe Deltarune will be any different.
TL;DR: Our influence over the story of Undertale was not inherently bad unless we misused it by refusing to engage with it on its terms. This led to the Genocide route. The Weird/Snowgrave route is a deliberate parallel to this. As such, there is no reason to assume our influence over Deltarune is inherently bad; it will only be bad if it is similarly misused. The same can be said about our relationship to Kris- it is not inherently antagonistic, and has no reason to be unless misused, such as in Snowgrave.
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