A typical breakfast. Typical clothing. Typical day plans. When suddenly, everything goes dark...

You wake up hours later in the home of a stranger, chained to the bars of a large cage in his basement. Only he's not really a stranger. Not quite. You had seen him all over, practically every single day, if you were paying attention, you could catch a glimpse of him just out of sight, staring you dead on. Shortly after your first encounter with him, your things would go missing. Little trinkets here and there, nothing too valuable, but they were disappearing all the time.

He tells you it's because he loves you, but you're trapped, locked away in the dark. You should hate him, you should be disgusted with this man. But as I said... you've known about him for quite some time. And to be perfectly honest... you kind of liked all the attention he was giving you. And if you were being Really honest, if he never spared you a passing glance, you probably would've wound up being the one watching him.

Having you in his home like a little songbird, he looked so proud, so pleased with himself. Really now? He was so happy, and it was all because of you. Sweet. Simple. You. You felt so special, and that's when you made your decision. You loved him. You loved him and that was all there was to it.

He thought he was in control, that he had the woman of his dreams all to himself, but by morning, he came down to check on you and found your cage wide open with nothing but your chain left behind.

He thought you had escaped him, he panicked, bolting up the stairs and heading towards the front door, stopped in his tracks at the sight of you, peacefully standing in his kitchen, cooking breakfast for the two of you.

"Good morning." You cooed. "I made you an extra big portion." You were kind, sweet, considerate, but all he could think was "How?" "How had you gotten out of your chains?" And why did you stay...?

I’ve always seen his father as a neglectful man, kinda like “meh, my son is a screw up, but so what? if he fucks up again i’ll throw a little money onto the problem and everything will be fine.”

But his mom? People either see her being the same as his dad or the complete opposite. I’ve personally headcanoned her as having the same disposition as Charlie: rebellious, wild-spirited, and overwhelmingly confident in herself.

Though, Mrs. Dalton is a complicated character that I’m still trying to understand. I was thinking that her spirit may have been stifled during her marriage to Charlie’s dad? It’s possible that she could’ve started self-medicating to dull the unfulfilled desires she had to throw out the window the moment she said “I do.”

She was forced to domesticate the wildling inside of herself to play the role of an adoring wife.

Even so, Mrs. Dalton holds onto the habit of being blunt, especially when she’s had more than enough to drink. She isn’t afraid to challenge her husband’s authority—not in front of her kids, but rather in private.

Mr. Dalton says that she’s a “loose cannon” or “a bomb that’s bound to go off any second.”

Charlie was always there to stick up for his mom and would come to her defense even when he was just a little kid.

Every time Charlie visits his family, the first thing he does is ask his mother if Mr. Dalton is treating her right. Of course, she’ll just flash one of her hollow smiles that never seem to reach her eyes, reassuring her son that he had “nothing to worry about” but they both knew that was far from the truth.

Mr. Dalton fears that Charlie is gonna end up just like his mother.

Reading it these days is different from reading it 30 or 60 years ago; I have a computer and internet access and I can immediately just look up whatever the hell the Elves are talking about when they thank some mythic figure; I don't recall how much of this was in the Hobbit, and of course if you read really far back you certainly didn't have the Silmarillion.

One thing I'm noticing this time, because of the preocupations of the time in which I'm reading it, is the immediate focus on Bilbo's pity for Gollum, and for that matter the pity felt by the elves and Gandalf for him as well.

Somewhere buried deep beneath it is one of the central tensions of modern Christian theology, which is that God provided us with wills of our own, and the capacity to act, in some small way, against him, and then immediately became infuriated and filled with rage when we used such things.

I'm not well familiar with the textual history of the Silmarillion, but if you read it it's hard to explain how Illuvitar and Morgoth are different; Morgoth seems merely to want Illuvitar's position.

One wonders why Illuvitar gave the Ainur the capacity to create disharmonious music in the first place.

I feel like there is something in this impulse that perhaps might be somewhat embedded in British culture, but I kind of felt it as a kid and never much liked it, which equates disharmony with wickedness. I think there's a lot of this in Chronicles of Narnia as well.

Actually, as a child I often thought the description of heaven in the Book of Revelation sounded profoundly unpleasant. Constant chanting, constant light, all aimed at satisfying the ego of a being which, quite frankly, should not need such things, no time to be alone and think your own thoughts, it just sounds unpleasant.

I guess Tolkien was a bit divided on the nature of Orcs and Trolls in his private writings? He would sort of have to be, because there is this kind of fundamental tension between the Christian belief in a universal pity and forgiveness, and the Christian belief that disharmony with God is inherently a form of wickedness.

I guess really what I kind of chafe at, and I think this is a constant tension in Lord of The Rings even in the first few chapters, is the sense that one should listen to and admire one's betters, and that to disagree with them, or resent them, or rebel against them is a sign of wickedness rather than, frankly, a fairly natural set of impulses (Particularly in the Children at whom these books are aimed!)

Touch has a memory....

Stories written upon hearts .....

Do not proceed until you've beaten Chapter 5, if you have or don't care, feel free to look ig.

So, fun (sad) fact regarding Flowery's Scarf for those who are unaware, both Susie & Ralsei have interactions when the scarf is broken post-Flowery's Death, these reactions are sadly never seen in-game (barring Susie's since she is the only one who remains in your party when it does become the BrokenScarf), Ralsei's however is probably the saddest to me considering their reaction to isn't "silly" or "apathetic" or whatever, it's just... reverence.

Which, i guess it does make sense, considering Ralsei was actually disheartened by Flowery's Death & their inability to save him, adding to the fact that Flowery did have respect for Ralsei + did actually reach to Ralsei, despite their outbursts towards him (something caused by Flowery in order to make Ralsei question their self-worth & identity as a whole, the only real reason why Ralsei even swipes at Flowery to begin with is because he knows that Flowery is right, they're just having a hard time accepting that they are genuinely unsatisfied with themselves.)

I get people joke about "ohhh he's bullshitting about not being able to heal Flowery because he hates him!" or whatever, but i honestly find ISSUE with it considering that there is an actual reason (& probably an implication) as to why Ralsei is unable to heal Flowery, because they were cut down in the real world, indicating that Healing Magic is unable to heal grievous/serious wounds in the real world... which could mean something for a certain father on his death bed & a lost girl that would no doubt become desperate to save his life.

Also, generally speaking, this is the first time that the Delta Warriors have actually witnessed someone die in addition to knowing it is impossible for them to be saved due to Asgore's absence, so it'd make sense why their reactions to the BrokenScarf is one of reverence.

(While yes, Tenna does have a near death experience, he is at least saved due in part to the others helping Susie (& Ralsei), thus preventing his end, of course, that is IF you RECRUIT everyone.)

Flowery's case is honestly the more unfortunate (& unavoidable scenario), as there really isn't any way to save him anymore, not without (specific) Light World Intervention, details mentioned by Asgore in early chapters & kind of "elaborated" upon thanks to the Flower Shop at the end of Chapter 5, these being:

Special Conditions regarding Soil

Special Lighting (as seen with the lamps at the end of Chapter 5, which are only in Chapter 5 & not in Chapter 1? granted i checked the wiki page for "Flower King" & didn't see the lamps above the flowers, which makes me unsure if that element was cut out of the wiki's image or what).

Considering that these flowers likely come from deltarune's version of Mt. Ebott, i guess that would make them require extreme conditions in order to survive..? Someone who knows Flowers could likely better explain this.

Because of them being plants & the Dark World functioning the way it does, the sunlight in their Dark World is not real, and any actual real light has been choked out by the Dark Fountain's Darkness

(ADDENDUM) While not related to topic, this kind of made me realize how DANGEROUS the Roaring truly is, besides the obvious dangers that are the Titan & it's Spawn, the sun being blocked out means that plants & other organisms which produce oxygen will no longer be able to do so, which would eventually cause the entire planet to suffocate as a result, well... that and it would likely become incredibly cold & everyone would freeze to death. Either way, main point is... Roaring is MEGA bad for EVERYTHING, ESPECIALLY plants & organisms that need sunlight to produce oxygen.

Just... a real heart breaking state of affairs, i can only hope that Kris comes back to Asgore's Garden & tries to tend to the flowers, the least they could probably do for his absence, although, chances are they may not.

Anyways, this is what my mind pictured when it came to each character's reaction to the BrokenScarf:

(Personally i want to doodle this but I need to set up my drawing tablet again for that.)

Even if Kris/the SOUL is telling them to wear it, it was Ralsei's choice to accept it, it's what Flowery would have wanted for them anyways.

My daughter came to visit today,

But I was locked inside my head,

Just staring out at clouds of grey

And begging God to strike me dead.

She sits beside me and talks to me,

She holds my hands; she tells me things,

But that I'm locked up, she cannot see,

I'm a butterfly, but I have no wings.

I'm talking away but she cannot hear,

I make no sound because my lips are sealed,

I want to ask her to ease my fear,

So that's what's inside me can be revealed.

She wheels me out to sit on the deck,

The clouds have lifted, the sun shines down,

Whilst inside my head, I am going berserk,

I'm so trapped inside the face of a clown.

She is leaving now, she will call next week,

And maybe the others will come to call,

But what's the point when I cannot speak,

I'll just wheel myself down this lonely hall.

@Ambrose Harte