runeilinear's theories n' stuff

This was originally a much longer essay about the shadow crystals but it got so complicated that there's no way I'd finish it before Chapter 5 comes out. So instead I'm plucking out a prediction and posting that on its own.

There's a strong association between the shadow crystal quest and basements. Spamton NEO and the Mantle game in particular feature basement areas with a song called Digital Roots and BIT ROOTS respectively. We can infer from this and some foreshadowing from Chapter 4 that these are previews of a future song simply called Roots.

We know that Flower King is almost certainly the dark world of Chapter 5. A song called Roots would fit in with a plant-themed dark world, of course, but more importantly...

(The back door is blocked... You can only see through the basement window.) (A corkboard is covered with tons of papers, and documents litter the floor...)

... Asgore's basement is full of documents about Dess's disappearance.

I believe that not only will this basement affect the dark world as a whole, but that accessing it will be tied to to the shadow crystal quest. In fact, I'd bet getting into this basement will require having all five shadow crystals.

This is going to lead into the major turning point that splits the crystal route from the normal route, likely involving Kris confronting their past and choosing to turn against the Knight.

A small prediction about Chapter 5 since it seems like it's going to come sooner than later.

If you talk to Rudy after church in Chapter 4, he admits that he's exhausted but that he's going to go to the festival anyway.

At minimum, the festival will have Asgore upset about Toriel and Noelle worried about Carol. We know Asgore is very close to Rudy and that Noelle relies on him when she's upset by Carol, so they're going to turn to him for support.

The exhaustion combined with the stress of the drama could be what pushes Rudy into a terminal condition. Asgore would blame himself, which is what gets him to hide away in a Flower King dark world.

It ends any festival fun and sets up a theme of regret, loss, and guilt, which ties into not just Asgore's life but the Dess and Kris backstory implied by the conspiracy board in his basement.

Spoilers for all of Deltarune.

If you're reading this, you already know that Deltarune is a strange game that's doing strange things with the player and the player character, Kris.

At first, Kris comes across as a blank slate for the player to project onto. Their face is obscured, their clothes are unremarkable, and you can't hear them speak. But as the game goes on, it becomes apparent they do have their own personality and character.

The first chapter ends with Kris tearing out their soul, which remains in the player's control. The next chapter has Kris interfere with the player's dialogue choices. Some kind of distinction is being made between Kris and the player, but what is it? What's the player's relationship to Kris?

The popular interpretation is that the player is literally controlling Kris, forcing them to obey their commands like a puppet. Why did such an extreme interpretation become so popular? I can't speak for everybody, but to me the proof was Spamton.

Spamton is a puppet looking for freedom who fails when his strings are cut. After the fight, you get a scene of Kris having a breakdown. Such a strong reaction implies they're in a similar situation. And who could be their puppetmaster but the player?

With that context, you can conclude the soul represents the player controlling Kris from within. Kris interrupting the dialogue represents their resistance against their personality being overriden by the player. The game is building up to Kris being freed from the player's control. It all makes sense with the information we have.

... Then the next two chapters come out and throw everything into question.

Is Spamton just a metaphor for the player and Kris when Kris is involved in their own dubious phone-based conspiracy? Was all that talk about freedom referring to the player's control or the Prophecy? And can you call Kris a puppet when they easily defy the player? The dynamics are so different that some would argue that the player is the one being trapped.

With all this ambiguity, is Spamton still a good reference to describe Kris and the player's dynamic? And if he isn't, is there another reference we can point to?

As of Chapter 4... no. The game makes an unambiguous distinction between the player and Kris during the weird route, but is that an early reveal or an aspect of the route?

If we exclude the weird route, the rest of the game refuses to make a clear distinction. The game ascribes Kris's thoughts and feelings to "you". There are moments that may reference the player's influence, but it's unclear.

(For example, it would make sense if Kris's lack of expression is a byproduct of the player's control... except Noelle thinks it's strange that Kris is more outgoing than usual.)

Chapter 3 comes closest to acknowledging the player. Tenna's video game is about the characters playing as versions of themselves, including a sequence where Susie does a bad job pretending to be Kris followed by Ralsei playing mini-Kris very carefully. The end of the backstage version has mini-Kris being controlled by the player separately from Kris.

But Susie and Ralsei controlling mini-Kris is depicted in light-hearted terms. The backstage game has the boss frame it in terms of Kris's repressed impulses. The worst thing you can do out of the game, stabbing at Kris and Susie, is optional. It suggests some kind of division, but not what that division is.

We already knew there was a division because of Kris's conflict with the soul. But now that we can't declare the soul to be Kris's puppetmaster, we have to consider the rest of the symbolism associated with it.

Kris is a character who struggles with their identity and self-esteem. Their side of the bedroom is empty of anything but a bloody cage, they're implied to feel guilt over a mysterious past event, and they struggle to accept their own humanity.

They're part of a conspiracy involving the Knight, but have come to care for Susie and Ralsei. Chapter 4 ends with a depiction of Kris having to choose between their loyalties. And every time they do something for the Knight, they remove their soul.

Symbolically, Kris's removal of the soul represents their self-hatred and allegiance to the Knight. The process of removing it is depicted as bloody and painful, and they've been doing it since before the game begins.

Kris accepting the soul would thus represent them overcoming their problems and choosing to side against the Knight. But how does that make sense if the soul represents the player's control?

That leaves us with the dialogue system. Deltarune lets you choose what Kris will do or say, like other games. But as mentioned before, Deltarune is different because your choices can be wrong.

This is typically indicated by Kris carrying out your choice in a funny or insincere way, implying that these choices are out-of-character for them. They don't want to say that video games are their life, they don't want to go with Noelle or Ralsei to the festival, and they don't want to pray for Asriel.

In some cases, they'll even interfere with the player's choice. They'll cover up an attempt to discourage Ralsei's personhood with a cough, for example.

It's proof of some kind of disconnect between the player and Kris. But again, there's a catch: just as there are wrong choices, there are also correct choices.

Kris does want to go to the festival with Susie, they want to comfort Ralsei when he's upset, and they want to tell Alvin he had a bangin' sermon. Kris will say these things sincerely, because they are in-character for them.

But why? If the point is to demonstrate the difference between Kris and the player, why design the system like this? If the player is meant to be forcing these commands onto Kris, why aren't they upset about every choice? What's the significance of picking correct choices?

Let's take a step back.

Deltarune is a game about fiction. Metaphorically, the dark worlds are to the light world as fiction is to the real world. Susie learns to become a better person by engaging with fiction. Ralsei struggles with whether being unreal makes him unimportant. He's wrong because while fiction might be less real, it's still important to take it seriously.

Because video games are interactive, it's natural to think of the player character as "you". But it's easy to overdo it and lose track of the player character's personality and story because you've projected yourself onto them. In the worst case, the player character becomes nothing more than an empty vessel for the player.

It's not intrinsically bad to play as a self-insert, but it often is. Most stories aren't written to make sense with a random person from Earth in them and it tends to get gross when a self-insert is used for a power fantasy or romance.

This is what Deltarune is criticizing through Kris. The game obscures Kris's personality so that it can catch you out for not paying attention. Failing to understand Kris is a failure to engage with the game. Even the character creator at the beginning of Chapter 1 sets this theme up with questions of whether the vessel has the same mind as you.

But... if the solution is to separate the player from Kris, what does that imply? That you should distance yourself from a player character? That you should only play as a character without a personality? That doesn't make any sense.

You take a player character seriously by paying attention to their personality and storyline. You imagine yourself in their place, guessing at what they feel and think. You might start roleplaying as them, making choices based on their desires rather than your own. You can even do this with characters without much personality to begin with, like Link from Zelda or the main characters from Pokémon.

And that's exactly what Deltarune encourages. You pick correct dialogue choices by understanding Kris. The more you think like them, the easier it is. Even if you make a mistake, it tells you something about them. You could have been doing this from the beginning of Chapter 1.

The goal of Deltarune is not to separate from Kris, but to become them.

The game is sending a message about how to engage with a story, just as it does with Susie and Ralsei. The questions the game poses at you about identity and control have a real answer more nuanced than simply kicking the player out of the story, an answer that can be applied to games other than Deltarune.

Because of things like that one Rudinn in Castle Town knowing the player's name, I think the player does still exist in the game. Not as a separate character, but the light and guide mentioned in Don't Forget and Raise Up Your Bat. The player represents the soul because as you reduce the distance between yourself and Kris, you resolve their inner conflict.

Failing to understand Kris or choosing to ignore them increases that distance. The less you care, the worse it gets. The player goes from Kris's guide to a mere controller representing a soul they hate. And if you take it too far, you get the weird route.

You break the game to carve out a separate identity with Kris's soul, engaging in a romantically-themed power fantasy with Noelle. But in the process, you lock yourself in as the villain of a psychological horror who can't make meaningful decisions without ending the route.

I can tell you what choices are wrong, but I can't say what choices are right. I don't even know how the game will have you prove that you understand Kris. But I would make a distinction between choices that are out-of-character for Kris and choices that make Kris upset. They might not like fighting Spamton, but doesn't he represent a problem they need to confront?

And speaking of the man, Spamton might be a metaphor for Kris and the Knight, but I do think he's related to the player. Not as a description of what the player is, but as a warning of what the player could be. Which is why his fight is followed by an important choice and why he's mandatory on the weird route.

I could say a lot more, but I'll save you the ramble and stop here.