#leafbladie

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Deltarune has always been an intriguingly odd blend of genres.

As presented in Chapters 1 and 2, the Dark World plot is a very classic portal fantasy story. We have our group of misfit teens who get whisked away to a magical land where they are the Chosen One(s) and must to Save the World from some nebulous Evil Thing according to a Prophesy.

Indeed, we've known for a while that the Darkeners are everyday objects such as toys that are brought to life - thematically tied to escapism and play. It's the kind of story set up where you expect the protagonists to go on an adventure, learn some big lessons about themselves, and then they say goodbye to their fantasy friends and return to the "real world" as better and more mature people for the experience.

Naturally, adults can't and shouldn't know about the other world, because this is fundamentally a Coming of Age story centered on kids.

…So what initially shocked me most about the events of Chapters 3&4 is how much that portal fantasy is already breaking down and bleeding into the normal setting. Adults are being abducted. The Prophesy is not just known but tied to religion in the town. Asgore has a Black Shard and looks about to create the next Fountain. What the HECK is going on with Carol and why does she know about the Red SOUL??

(But of course, there will still be a festival arc! Can't miss that, hehe.)

Which brings me to the other genre Deltarune draws from: the small town mystery with a disappeared child and a surreal secret. The way that Dess haunts the narrative (especially the Snowgrave/Weird Route) has always had strong Life is Strange/Night in the Woods/Omori/Beacon Pines vibes but I get even more of that impression now.

So what happens when these genres collide?

Omori in particular has a lot in common with Deltarune, including having an otherworld themed around escapism and taking part in a fun heroic quest. [Implied spoilers for Omori for rest of paragraph] Also, the more we see of Kris's true personality (and I'm fascinated and endeared by the new flashes we see in 3&4), the more it seems like they're a quirky but well-meaning goofball. I could very easily see the mystery at the heart of Deltarune's backstory ultimately being similar to the mystery of Mari. Perhaps one of Kris's pranks accidentally went very wrong and got Dess killed/corrupted, and they drifted apart from Noelle for the same reason Omori can't bear to be around Basil.

(But would such a story - two kids getting in over their heads, and the trauma of that reverberating to the present - be too predictably similar to Undertale?)

I'm unsure how the Bunker fits into this puzzle, because that seems the nexus of where the genres break down the most. My current theories are all wacky stuff like: "Inside the bunker is something akin to the True Lab, where Carol (and/or Gaster??) were experimenting with SOULs but the Red SOUL got accidentally put into Kris instead of its intended vessel when they wandered in. Also somehow Dess was involved (and maybe some part of her became the Roaring Knight after being infused with Kris's original SOUL?). The fallout from this shattered the Dreamurr family and Asgore is still trying to figure out what happened."

But that doesn't explain the Dark World and what's going on with the Prophesy. It also feels a little too abruptly and incongruously sci-fi… though perhaps I shouldn't discount that given how fundamental EarthBound is to this genre soup.

What else…

So far, I don't think anything in the new chapters has contradicted my big theory post from Chapter 2! Heck yeah! If anything, a lot of 3&4 confirm pieces of it, removing any doubt that Kris's actual personality isn't malicious, and that they do care for their friends.

I think the one major aspect I'm more certain of now is what the Red SOUL wants from Noelle on the Weird Route. Given the way the SOUL can read her thoughts, some of the strangeness with missing dialog/rain after That Scene in Chapter 4, and maybe even some things people have found digging into the code… I'm on board with the theory that she's being turned into a second vessel. (Hence Kris's horror at everything, given how much they hate being a vessel themselves!)

The Red SOUL wants out of its cage, and into a stronger and more cooperative body.

And yet I still come back to the same question I was circling at the end of those Chapter 2 thoughts. Why does the Red SOUL want this? Is it trying to break free from the Prophesy? To adhere to the letter of it, but subvert the spirit? ("Love will find its way to the girl", huh…) Or is it trying to enforce the Prophesy, when in the normal route we will find a way to go against destiny?

(Or are its motives something else entirely? Like Undertale, Deltarune is in many ways a ghost story…and what does Dess want? Or Gaster, for that matter?)