#saint-ton

𝔚𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔦𝔣 ℌ𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔬𝔴𝔫 𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔢 𝔦𝔫𝔣𝔩𝔲𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔡 𝔟𝔶 ℜ𝔢𝔩𝔦𝔤𝔦𝔬𝔫? ℌ𝔬𝔴 𝔴𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔦𝔫𝔣𝔩𝔲𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔰𝔢 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔯𝔶?

Bosses!

(the text underneath is just the descriptions from the images :] )

KING / THE POPE KING

IMG TEXT - The Pope King after following the religion of the deltarune for his entire darkner life, waiting for an Angel that’ll ‘never show’. Fed up with abandonment from both the lighteners and his Angel, it was no surprise that when the Holy Knight showed itself. King became endowed with something new, a figure who gifted him a Sacred Fountain. King, in a show of dedication to his new cause, usurping the other Popes / Kings and instated the Knight as the new holy entity, himself becoming the anointed Blessed King. He betrayed the other Popes / Kings, now holding onto the sliver of purpose he derives from his newfound religion, he sits ruling over a Kingdom with a false God.

My goal with King is to have him be someone who was disillusioned with his faith, due to never seeing it 'fulfilled' in his eyes. So naturally, when something else comes along (this case, the Roaring / Holy Knight), he'd rather switch to another religious purpose instead of confronting his own reliance on religion to bring him purpose in his life.

Also, he looks like a hamster/mole because he was kept in a hamster cage in Castle Town in the OG and Moles are blind (blind to his actions that are anti-faith, like idk overthrowing your fellow leaders in a coup isn't very peace and love of you)

Also, the reason for there being four popes/kings in this is because the Darkner's concepts of religion are an exaggerated and unguided version passed down from the views of the lightners. This was something forced upon them without their understanding of its basic concepts (e.g. one pope). Most darkners wouldn't describe themselves as religious because the Deltarune's existence in their lives is more like a 'why is the sky blue?'

QUEEN / BISHOP

IMG TEXT - Queen (bishop) is the computer lab’s new computer, bought to help code the local church’s website. She places herself on a high pedestal as she believes that since she’s the object the ligthners use to spread the deltaurne’s word. This has led to her parroting most of what the website says- even if it's a gross oversimplification. No small town church website will have the whole bible on it, so she fills in the blanks, usually with herself. She sees herself as the ultimate figure on all things Deltarune. She sees the Deltarune religion as a means of exerting power. And is unwilling to acknowledge any hypocrisy that the religion has or her own. She thinks the knight is all part of the deltarune- because it has to be or else she will have gotten something wrong, and she can't do that- since she’s apparently ‘the expert authority on the deltarune’.

Queen in this AU is meant to show the side of religious leaders who use their faith to give themselves more power, whilst not fully understanding the religion itself and its guidelines. Queen doesn't necessarily do this out of malice. She's aware that she's filling in the gaps in her knowledge with whatever 'feels right'. Since only having access to the church website, the base her beliefs off isnt a lot to work with. (the rest of the internet being heavily firewall-ed) Queen also pushes down any uprisings against the Deltarune heavily, since it's the thing that gives her power, and by giving her power, she can protect not only herself but also those she cares for- like Noelle. She will not give that up. So in a way, she's also a commentary on how marginalised people who are given power sometimes oppress people the same way they too would be oppressed if they didn't possess the powers that put them in higher positions.

Since all the darkners are considered 'lesser' than the lightners they serve. (Obviously they're not really- since technically the lightners are no different from the darkners in a meta context). Queen still retains a lot of her OG personality, with more of a focus on being 'holier than thou' - and she exclusively listens to church parody covers.

SAINT-TON

IMG TEXT - Spamton in this universe is not a spam email but a religious Insta comment (joking here- he’s a religious spam email). Being the smallest Addison, he didn't have much confidence- his wings were small, and so was his ability to fear monger about the oncoming raptures, like the others were able to do. One day, he gets a mysterious vision- and is gifted the opportunity by a false god to become its prophet, its puppet. He takes up this opportunity and becomes ‘the angel prophet”, where he went on to spread a massive amount of misinformation. Everyone around him assumes he speaks the will of the Angel. He soon comes to make a deal with Tenna, now able to spread more religious propaganda through the TV’s connection to the lightworld. Toriel started to have the TV on more as it showed more religious programs. Yet, when his partner finds out the facade, he comes clean. Attempting to share his secret, he's suddenly cut off. A book of scripture calls his name, and within an instant, he knows he's been cut off. So he runs. Slowly, he starts to morph into a puppet. Exactly what he was on the inside, a mouthpiece and doll for a false god. speaking in psalms, living in a garbage can, still attempting to grasp onto the fame he had prior. Leading failed cult after failed cult, even having to chop a finger off to fake his death after a particularly bad one. Freedom is a dream he wishes he could grasp again.

Saint-Ton, like Queen, uses his religious position to get what he wants in life, but where he differs is that he's held to the ties of the Benefactor. Who, in this case, is a false God trying to usurp power through the guise of being 'the Angel'. Using Saint as it's mouth peice to spread its own version of the Deltarune.

Saint isn't thrilled to do the things that the benefactors ask of him, but he separates himself heavily from it: 'it's just something I have to do to get by, everyone does things like this.'

When the Benefector gave him the offer for all of this, he also gave him a new pair of mechanical wings, getting rid of the flesh'n'blood ones (GUYS THIS IS SYMBOLIC FOR THE FACT THAT HIS ROLE AS THE 'ANGEL'S PROPHET' IS JUST AS ARTIFICIAL AS HIS WINGS), giving him two Halos since he's 'better' than eveeryone now, he deserves two.

I'll explain more about him later- cuz I will be here all day if I get into this-

ANTVERSARY TENNA / DEVNA

IMG TEXT - Antversary Tenna was gifted as a wedding present to Toriel and Asgore by Rudy. Toriel was originally not happy with the idea of having a TV in the house, due to her upbringing. However, Asgore had twisted her leg and managed to convince her to allow him to have it. Mainly marketing the idea that Toriel could play her church choir videos on the TV. She could not, however, as whenever she’d attempt to run the tapes, they’d malfunction. Already displeased with the fact that she had a TV, she opted to start calling it a ‘devil box’ because why else would it not play the damn tapes? Later, he changed his name to Devna to appear less ‘demonic’. After Dess disappeared, Saint-Ton, alongside her, Devna was blamed for influencing her to run away. Fearing he may affect her children, Toriel locked him away in the garage. Devna became discouraged to perform, no more rehearsals, no more scripts. He and his employees tend to just waste away the day waiting for something to change. Devna became an isolating recluse. He often follows Toriel's strict rules in an effort to prove he wasn't a "Bad TV".

Devna, my beautiful beaufifulk boy, if you know my twitter you'll know how much I adore this man.

But anyway.

Devna is meant to be a stand-in for those who are born in opposition to the religion they're raised under. Dev is seen as something inherently demonic within the eyes of the Deltarune, therefore, he is expected to be demonic himself. This expectation weighs on him heavily throughout his life. Thinking every action he dose is in some way 'self-serving' or 'evil', which in a way is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why try to be good when people will never see you that way? But he does try at first.

During his younger years, Dev was fixated on appealing to Toriel- she was the only person he ever wanted approval from (he saw her as his mother), everyone else wasnt as important compared to her. So he'd pay little attention to them beyond being their boss. Yet, nothing seemed to work in terms of getting Toriel's approval.

However, when Saint showed up and gave Dev (at this time Antervsary Tenna) a deal where, in exchange for screen time, he'd make Toriel like Devna. They'd work together, with Saint giving Dev insults 'helpful tips' on how to change everything 'appeal' to Toriel more. This is where Dev got the stage name 'Mr Devna', which Saint nicked named him off 'Devil Tenna', which Devna never knew was the origin of said name. Dev later adopted it as his full name.