Requiem of Time

OG picture:

The original version:

Asgore mentions that an incident happened one day that caused him to feel extreme guilt. He mentions in chapter 4 (I think) that all he wanted to do was protect everyone. He wants to prove that he did the right thing. But we also know from chapter 5 that no one blames him for what happened.

So we know that:

Something happened that threatened Hometown enough that Asgore felt the need to protect everyone

He made some sort of decision that he believes was correct but also caused something bad to happen

He believes that the Dark World is involved but can’t prove it

No one blamed him for what happened, but he felt that they held him responsible for it

He became obsessed with the Dark World and proving that he was right

He found a black shard during his investigation

His obsession alienated him from his wife and children, leading to his divorce

He was removed from the police force, though it’s unclear if this was a punishment for whatever decision he made or if he wasn’t able to perform his duties after becoming obsessed with uncovering the truth

What could have happened in Hometown that was bad enough to drive Asgore to prove his innocence but not bad enough for anyone to think he was guilty in the first place?

I think a lot of folks have assumed that the bad thing had to do with Dess’s disappearance. But Dess didn’t disappear; she left. How could that be Asgore’s fault? And if it was, why would Rudy and Carol continue to associate with him if he had somehow caused their daughter to leave?

We know that there is pain behind Dess’s absence. Her room is preserved and no one is allowed to go in; the implication is that nothing in the room should be changed. Noelle is terrified of her mother seeing someone else touching Dess’s guitar. Noelle doesn’t know the shelter code is in the guitar, but she’s still afraid of her mother’s reaction, meaning that she’s expecting Carol to be upset because of the guitar itself. If Dess was just backpacking across Europe, I don’t think there would be as much weight behind her belongings.

Did Dess leave before or after the incident? Did the incident even have anything to do with her or was she tangentially affected enough to leave?

There’s also the possibility that Noelle only believes that Dess left and the people around her are hiding a more tragic truth. That would beg the question: what does the rest of Hometown believe? Does everyone but Noelle know that Dess didn’t leave on her own? Or are a select few keeping that secret from the whole town?

We know that Carol and Kris are scheming something together that involves opening multiple Dark Fountains. We know Carol is aware of the Soul. We know Carol is letting Asgore work at her home, but it’s unclear if she’s also involved in his investigation. We know Carol investigates the shelter on her own, as Rudy states in chapter 5. So if anyone is keeping a secret, it would be those three. But Asgore doesn’t appear to know about the connection between Carol and Kris, so there could be another level of deception happening.

There’s also the fact that Kris doesn’t have their own Soul. Kris physically suffers when they take out the red Soul they do have, so we know that there isn’t a second Soul of their own in their body. We the Player can control the Soul and by extension, Kris; the presence of the red Soul in their body gives us that control. Kris must remove the Soul from their body to act on their own and it’s clearly not an easy or pleasant thing to do. They forcefully fling the Soul into the birdcage and the gift boxes, which indicates at least frustration if not outright hostility towards it. Kris does not like the Soul. They don’t see it as part of themselves.

So what happened to their Soul? There are so many things that must be somehow related:

The Incident

Dess’s disappearance

Asgore’s fall and obsession

Kris, the Soul, and Carol

The Dark Fountains

The Darkness under Hometown

The Shelter

The Roaring Knight

The Prophecy

If I had to take a wild guess, the danger to Hometown that Asgore was trying to prevent has its roots (no pun intended) in the Dark World’s existence. Asgore prevented the disaster by somehow sealing the Dark World away, maybe in the shelter.

Dess is missing because of the Dark Worlds—either she was swallowed by them or willingly went in and didn’t or can’t come out. It could be that she entered the Dark World and Asgore, feeling pressure to save his town, knowingly sealed it before she was able to escape.

Kris was somehow involved and feels responsible, so they’re working with Carol to save her by causing the Roaring; perhaps covering the whole world in Darkness will make it possible for Dess to return. They have to keep this plan between them for obvious reasons. The Soul is necessary to do this. Kris somehow removed or lost their own Soul to become a vessel for the Player.

Maybe Kris wandered into the Dark World first and Dess went in to save them? So now they feel indebted to her and are willing to go to great lengths to save her, too.

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