What if Eram isn't evil..?
(they inspired me to write a long-ass answer, so i sent it to them - but i also think it's worthy of being published as a post - i also posted in on twitter: https://x.com/opisthethe/status/2078243967632544063)
The thing with the titans is that they are not sentient - and this is what defines them. They are "evil" because they are not sentient and are fear of darkness taking a physical form. Fear is often not a rational emotion - you are afraid largely when you seem to rationally process something, one needs to overcome it by processing it properly. So "evil" here is the lack of sentience. Friends are also "not smart", btw. Not the thing with Eram.
They do give the mantle, which they kidnapped themself, and drop candies to make it obtainable. So they help to overcome the challenges they themself create and then progress. In the game, they seem to want Kris or the player (or both) to overcome these challenges - "This is what I wanted to see."
About the "Weird Route" and hints to it. First, the game presents it in Ch. 3 - 4 years after the players discovered it. So as a hint it's kinda useless. Yes, Toby wanted to place it in Ch. 2, yet, he didn't - he decided not to.
Secondly, the game presents the "Weird Route" in a creepy way and as something morally repudiable ("Is it fun, Kris? Playing around like this…") and painful - killing your friends and engaging in a hard fight. Eram clearly has devil-like appearance [like Tenna and some other characters], but a devil figure would "tempt" the player to do it - and so present it in attractive way. Eram doesn't.
Instead, Kris and the player are outright threatened with the loss of agency. And (contrary to what some people say?), the "Weird Route" seems to be largely about the loss of agency, pushing until ceasing to be able to control it (even for the player!) - opposite to freedom. The one narrating the mantle game, seemingly Eram, is honest about it - "She was used up. YOU WERE USED UP." "Thank you" - for carrying out someone else's will while depriving yourself of your own, doing the dirty work - like everything else said by them, it sounds sarcastic, even the "hard work" - mindlessly killing everything around. Mindlessly…
So what the mantle game essentially gives is a warning of the loss of agency, of the freedom the 'secret bosses' seem to value, and harming the others, and the ability to toy with the "Weird Route" in a safe way without actually harming the "real" characters - maybe to unleash Kris' supposed aggressive tendencies in a safe way. This is what my first drawing I sent to you was kinda about (it sucked, eeeeeee).
[sent a drawing to decaf-soups a while ago - i don't like it, so idk whether i should post it here]
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