#tenna analysis

wonderful tags by @night-creeps and @narrativecontradictions!

I feel very similarly to the above about Tenna’s future, and I have since very shortly after chapter 3 first came out.

Tenna clearly is still very much struggling in Castle Town; he’s leaning on his old habits of treating his employees poorly, taking his anger and pain out on others, and staying in denial of his own faults. he just wants to be adopted by a new lightner and leave everything behind. he also clearly wants to be a better person! he feels guilty for what he’s done, but is finding change very difficult, and still isn’t taking responsibility for his actions and how they affect others.

he feels like he’s just playing pretend because he is — Tenna’s in denial of almost every aspect of his life, and he has been for years. he’s been in denial that the whole Dreemurr family is changing and moving on from who they used to be, he’s in denial that he can’t fix everyone’s problems using distraction, fun & optimism, he’s in denial that he’s aging, he’s in denial that he treats people like trash, he’s in denial that Mike has been gone for a long time, he’s in denial that he never stopped caring about Spamton, and he’s in denial that Spamton didn’t choose to abandon him, that something terrible happened to him because of Tenna. he plays pretend in his mind because he can’t bear himself, or his life, the way they really are — which is why he needs to face his reality and all the things he’s done, not keep running from them. he can’t keep going through life not thinking about the things he finds too painful. and he can’t truly move on, he can’t fully heal, without coming to terms with himself and his past.

change doesn’t happen overnight. this is a terrifying adjustment for Tenna; he’s been the same thing for so long — a once-beloved object whose purpose was to desperately try to keep a family who could never really know him happy, at the cost of everything and everyone else. he had no choice if he wanted to survive. now he’s on the cusp of becoming something completely different to what he’s always had to be, an unfamiliar concept — a person in his own right, someone who lives for himself and his friends, no longer scrambling to find a way, at any cost, to be an entertaining object, to fight for survival just a little bit longer. someone who can just… be. just because this adjustment is going to be hard doesn’t mean he’s not going to get there in the end. he can still change, he can get better if he truly tries. but first…

Tenna needs to understand that he can find his own happiness, that he’ll still have worth even if he’s not entertaining lightners; he doesn’t need to be someone’s object to have purpose. most of the darkners in Castle Town already seem to be realizing that, but Tenna hasn’t. these darkners have been freed from the obligation of playing their assigned roles and just being a plaything for a “higher” being — they can be whatever they want to be. they’re enjoying being their own people and are content to be in Castle Town, at least for now. they're figuring out who they are and who they can be outside of their "purpose,” finding their own meaning in their relationships with other darkners, ones they never even could've met if not for Castle Town, instead of simply being at the mercy of a lightner's whims.

Tenna should get to have that too, even with his baggage. he should get to find his own sense of purpose, explore who he is as more than just an entertainer for lightners who can choose to discard him at any time, and who can never know Tenna as he really is. being around these darkners in Castle Town who are finding joy in themselves and each other could be so good for him, once he’s able to open his mind to it.

he also very much needs to heal from his past, and being cut off from everyone he's ever known without any true closure or atoning for his past mistakes is not going to do that. he needs to face himself and his actions fully, and stop repressing every bad thing he doesn't want to acknowledge. he needs to stop "playing pretend." his relationships with his employees and Kris will likely be a key part of that, but a vital, inextricable piece of Tenna and his past is also Spamton.

Tenna clearly is not the least bit over him and everything that happened between them. it's been ten years and he still brings Spamton up at every opportunity, yet can't even bring himself to say his name. he clearly cared about Spamton so much — he slipped up and admitted it himself in that cutscene — and he knows in his heart that he wronged him. but he can't reconcile in his mind that he's responsible for something horrible happening to someone he loved so deeply, all because he was selfish. so he tries to push that huge weight of anger and guilt and blame he really feels at himself onto Spamton, rationalizing that Spamton must have stayed away of his own volition, that he just ripped Tenna off and then abandoned him and never truly cared about him, because he can't bear thinking of the alternative; that something awful really did happen to Spamton, that he couldn’t come back, and, in Tenna’s mind, that he’s the one who did that to him. because at least if Spamton abandoned him, Tenna doesn’t have to blame himself — and live with that pain forever. (and at least Spamton is safe.)

if it’s still weighing this heavily on Tenna's heart after ten years, these deep feelings of regret and anguish are not just going to go away, not until he can accept the truth of what really happened. until he faces Spamton again and understands the whole story, that their care really was mutual, and explains himself, Tenna is never going to be able to let the shame go and fully let himself heal.

One thing about Tenna that I find really interesting is how he reflects Toriel (I'm thinking especially of Undertale!Toriel). It's a little more clear how he obviously reflects Asgore (his nostalgia, ignorance, and neediness), but he's also so Toriel too as a consequence of Kris making the fountain. I want to discuss their connection and how Tenna highlights Toriel's struggles and flaws.

Chapter 3 reveals, despite its obviousness, that darkners are objects given form by the dark fountains. And this is present throughout the chapter, but it's especially represented by the chapter's main antagonist, Tenna, who perfectly embodies the problems that come with being an object.

But despite this, it's emphasized that they are people, that is, their pain, feelings, and emotions are real. They are real, they are people, yet what they are in the lightworld continues to influence their history and identity. However, Tenna, as a character, carries this influence to the point where it encompasses almost everything about him, from his personality and design to his motivations and goals.

Tenna is a person, but it seems he's really just trying to be just a TV. He exists in this weird place, where he objectifies himself but at the same time wants to be part of the Dreemurr family, which is itself something more than being an object

And it's very interesting to compare this with the other two bosses from previous chapters. First, regarding their designs, if you told someone who knows nothing about Deltarune that these three characters represent real-life objects, I assure you it would be very difficult for them to say what Queen represents, and to a lesser extent, King. However, they would probably immediately know WHAT Tenna is, since everything about him screams "tv"

Like he is a TV Head, his face is literally TV, TV pin and TV buckle lol

Now, comparing their respective Darkworlds, we also see this: King's Darkworld is a medieval fantasy realm, Cyber City is a futuristic city, while TV World is a television studio. It's worth noting that Tenna built this studio, and TV World is full of televisions or has many allusions to television.

Even their roles in the Darkworld we can see this. Queen, another electronic device like Tenna, is uhh a queen, while Tenna is a TV show host.

And finally, their goals. I've already discussed this in another post, but in short, what King and Queen wanted transcended their nature as Darkners, while all Tenna wanted was to be used again as the object he is and what pacified him was Susie promising him another family to see him.

So we have darkners like Queen and King, whose nature as objects influences their design, personality, and goals; however, they have something more beyond that. And we have a Darkner like Tenna, whose life seems to revolve around what he is in the lightworld. Everything about this character screams "TV" in a way not seen with any other character. And this is probably an intentional decision by Toby, because, as I mentioned before, chapter 3 is the one that introduces the problem of the Darkners' "unreality" and their nature as objects, and what better way to represent this than by having the chapter's antagonist embody it?

And it's not just this, it's as if Tenna himself sees himself more as a television than as a person. In other words, Tenna self-objectifies.

Self-objectification is seeing yourselff as an object to be used instead of as a person. Which is funny to say about literally a television in a living room, but bear with me, even though Darkners are objects, it has been said over time that they are People. And that their nature as objects is an influence on their character, but it's NOT EVERYTHING. However, when one sees oneself primarily as an object, as in Tenna's case, one's value is tied to how useful one can be to others, which often has devastating effects on self-esteem and self-perception. Which is precisely what happened to Tenna.

Tenna is very insecure about what he is: a CRT TV, which is currently considered worthless and obsolete. Tenna has internalized this fact so much that at the end of his battle he calls himself "junk" and throughout the chapter he tries to get you to tell him he has worth in various ways. For example, all the times he asks you to say "I LOVE TV."

You could say that "I LOVE TV" means "I LOVE TENNA" because he is, uh, a TV. However, in this part, during the fight with the Weather Duo, we see that "I LOVE TV" refers to "I LOVE WATCHING TV."

Which is, literally, the function of a television, literally, the sole purpose of a television is to be watched. Saying you love TV doesn't mean you love Tenna as a person, but rather that you love what Tenna can offer you as an object. This purpose and function is what he has invested all his self-worth in. He can't see his own worth, so he desperately needs you to tell him, to confirm that he has it, because he can't see it himself.

And this is worse considering that Tenna can't do anything to change the fact of what he is. Tenna can change as a person; however, absolutely nothing he does will change what he is in the Lightworld, so the fact that he bases so much of his identity on what he is is incredibly damaging to his self-perception and self-esteem.

Other instances where I think Tenna objectifies himself are how sometimes instead of saying "me" he says "TV"

And all of this affects how he interacts and his relationships with other Darkners: if you see your worth in how well you can serve your purpose to superior beings who don't even know you exist, it's a perfect recipe for becoming obsessed with fulfilling that purpose.

We have very little information about Tenna's relationship with the Weather Duo, even though they're supposed to be old friends, and with the Mikes, most of what we know about their relationship is from what they themselves tell us. Tenna, in general, speaks very little about things in the Darkworld; he speaks very little about himself, because when he does talk about himself, it's usually about the "Dreemurr television" and the moments he "spent" with them. Almost everything we know about him, other than this, is because other characters tell us.

The only exception I can think of where Tenna speaks about events in the darkworld is the contract with Spamton.

So his relationship with the darkners closest to him is generally complicated and distant, and his relationship with his employees isn't the best either. It's not surprising that the most important people in his life are probably the Dreemurrs, whom he basically considers family and lives to entertain.

This, I believe, caused a cycle where Tenna prioritizes the Lightners, and this prioritization leads to his estrangement and isolation from other Darkners. This causes Tenna to feel alone and seek comfort in that connection with his family. However, the only way Tenna can connect with them is by being a television. Ultimately, due to his lack of connection with other Darkners and lack of self worth, Tenna feels that his only way to be loved is by the Dreemurrs, by being nothing more than a tv. That is the only way he can be “worthy”

And all of this culminates in Tenna not wanting to be in Castle Town and wanting to be given to someone else, where he will be used as a television again. And again, compared to the other bosses, he is the only one who doesn't want to be there.

dont like what i have to say? literally just scroll. please and thank you (^_^)

people who think tennas > only < way to get better is by giving him to mettaton are completely missing a decent chunk of his character.

he needs to find his own worth and value as a person and not just an object. he actively objectifies himself throughout the chapter to avoid his feelings ("wish I could go but im just a big electric box attached to the wall!") and giving him to someone who doesnt know he exists as a person and only sees him as an object to be used will not help in the slightest with that. it will actively make him worse.

one of the only ways that can help him with that is by keeping him in castle town with the hope that spending time with other darkners can help him realise he is more than his purpose. he also needs to reconcile with others (mostly his former employees and spamton + mike [the real one]) to lift some of the heavyness of his guilt off of his chest and be finally able to move on from it.

in summary giving tenna to mettaton (reminder that he doesnt know he exists) will only enforce his self objectification and only viewing his worth by how well he performs, and is only just reinforcing his tendency to run from his mistakes instead of owning up to and growing from them.

I like Berdly and my friend likes Mr. Ant Tenna.

I am a fervent believer in Spamtenna reconciliation too, so I think it’s on Tenna to seek him out and ask for forgiveness not the other way around.

(This is not meant as an attack btw. Tenna is my main guy but I love and care a lot about Spamton too ❤️)

I enjoy reading your deltarune analysis! I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Hi!! I know this ask is from a few months ago, but I’m just now actually going back through my askbox for the first time and seeing this, so I hope you don’t mind if I answer! (Sorry for the delay!)

Honestly, the whole pipis scene in chapter 3, despite seeming funny at first, is actually really sad when you know more of Spamton & Tenna’s backstory, as well as the fact that this can be their last ever interaction before Tenna’s death. Before that chapter 5 cutscene from the winter newsletter and finding out about the Japanese translation of the pipis scene, I was actually mostly convinced that Tenna didn’t realize that was Spamton, because what he said to him was pretty upsetting if he did know; but finding out that Tenna already suspected something terrible had happened to Spamton, on top of Tenna saying “How, it can’t be?” in Japanese (instead of basically just gibberish in the English version) — I’m now 99% convinced Tenna realized it was him.

I’m also very willing to bet that the version of the ch5 cutscene we saw only happens in the version where the pipis scene did as well. Tenna is seemingly extra upset and trying to find a way to calm down when he goes looking for Pluey for an antenna massage, and when “Mike” wants to quit and says Tenna treats people he works with like “trash,” Tenna just has a complete breakdown about Spamton, who was not actually mentioned at all; but if Tenna already had that guilt at the forefront of his mind, it makes sense that that could trigger it. And this isn’t Tenna’s typical “that little spammy mailman ripped me off!” breakdown from ch3, either — this time, Tenna is actually almost completely honest about how he feels, or at least a lot more honest than he had been. He opens up way more about his own guilt for what happened, his anguish, admits he wishes he could’ve helped Spamton so they could’ve been “big TOGETHER,” and even talks about how, ever since Spamton left, everything has felt fake, & like he’s just playing pretend.

This is all huge progress for someone who’s as in denial & repressed as Tenna! But it’s not just that — Tenna also (again, in the Japanese version; @maybe-a-gatto-or-a-catto pointed this out) suddenly switches from using a derogatory pronoun for Spamton in ch3, to a neutral one in this cutscene. We have to wonder what changed since ch3, then? And I think the answer is that Tenna is finally actually coming to terms with the fact that Spamton really didn’t scam him, and probably didn’t mean to abandon him for good when he ran away, because he saw Spamton in the pipis scene and realized something terrible really did happen — but Tenna completely panicked and forced himself into denial again in that moment, and coped by calling Spamton names (and spraying him with foam).

(the rest is under a read more because this was a bit longer than I thought it’d be lol)

What I'm impressed by especially is the fact that Tenna's narrative is so goddamn flimsy that he can't help but reveal in his rant, done purely to cope with the stressful situation he is in, that it's always been about the "abandonment" and never about getting ripped off because he actually knows very well Spamton didn't. He is blaming EVERYTHING on Spamton running away. All his qualms are the fault of Spamton running away... Not because he is actually crooked.

And I think it's funny because I figured this out before the newsletter. That stupid fuck revealed it even before all those layers of denial were removed in a moment where he was the most honest about what happened than he was ever before. He lets out some honesty when he is genuinely upset about Spamton promising him to teach him how to use technology and that never happening; he asks where he is, rather than complaining about getting ripped off. He still thinks those promises to help him out of obsolescence were very genuine!

And this is the only thing he can TRULY convince himself of. Yes, he knows in his heart it's false, but this is the only rationalization that makes any semblance of sense. It isn't his fault Spamton ran away! That was his choice!! He would have always been there for him, but he just REFUSED it!!! But this is all just to cope with just how guilty he feels for choosing the phone... For making a mistake that meant Spamton is going through something terrible...

But I also wanna share that I think that Tenna is trying to convince himself the call Spamton made before running away, meant absolutely nothing. His story made no fucking sense to me until I realized he is literally just constantly contradicting himself because he just cannot help but be honest about some events because of his guilt. He mentions Spamton went pale but that's exactly where it goes wrong; it proves there was someone behind the phone. But then for whatever reason he says there was nobody there?? And that's where he says he got ripped off??? BECAUSE there is nobody there? He could've said they hung up, but he didn't. He's actually saying there was nobody there ever and that means he got ripped off.

In his narrative, he gave all his life advice so he could get Spamton's secret to being a big shot. And well, he seems very aware that the phone was the key to that. Someone is behind the phone and they caused his success. But Spamton panicked from whatever he heard from that person after signing the contract. Tenna is trying to deny that whatever Spamton panicked from, is what that terrible thing Mike warned about could cause. He realized whatever was behind the phone could be a danger to Spamton. This person behind the phone is NOT happy with him sharing his secret. So now he is pretending he got ripped off by Spamton; he promised Tenna to give him the secret to being a big shot, but that secret never existed at all! He ripped him off! This is another way of him pretending nothing happened to Spamton... If his panic meant nothing, he is perfectly fine. If there is nobody that would want to hurt him, he is perfectly fine. If he is perfectly fine, Tenna did nothing wrong. If he is perfectly fine, Spamton is safe and isn't going through something terrible because of Tenna.

But again his narrative is flimsy. It makes no fucking sense and his guilt makes him contradict himself. Good job boobtube i love you

Okay I am SO sorry for not answering these asks from like 5 months ago, Cat!! I’m only just now actually looking through my askbox because I usually just get bots. But let me answer now lol!

It is so interesting that Tenna’s first instinct is to say Spamton “abandoned” him, instead of to say he scammed him or ripped him off, even while still trying to maintain the scam narrative in his head… It’s definitely another indication of what Tenna’s true beliefs are underneath the story he tells himself, the one he can’t truly let himself question without completely breaking down. Because I do think — even knowing deep down that Spamton probably ran out because he was scared, and not because he was tricking Tenna — that it’s quite likely Tenna is angry at Spamton for running and “abandoning” him, even though it doesn’t make much rational sense; when has Tenna ever been rational anyway, especially in grief or pain?

I think he’s angry, hurt and confused because Spamton ran when he got scared, instead of staying where he belonged, with Tenna, who could’ve actually helped him, who could have protected him from whatever made him so afraid in the first place (he really couldn’t have, but of course Tenna thinks he would’ve been able to). Because if Spamton had just fully trusted Tenna and stayed, nothing terrible would’ve even had the chance to happen to him. I really do think that’s why Tenna is actually upset with Spamton in the deepest part of his heart; bargaining/blaming is pretty common while grieving. Tenna will always blame himself the most for “making” Spamton sign that contract by “sweet-talking” him into it, but I do think he’s actually being emotionally honest in a way when he asks, “How is it MY fault HE ran out on ME!?” and, of course, follows it up with, “I could have helped him! I WOULD have! We could’ve been big TOGETHER!”

I was also really confused about Tenna implying that nobody being on the phone when he picked it up meant that Spamton had ripped him off. Like, if he was with Spamton signing the contract, he must have heard the phone ringing, right? How would Spamton have faked that? (I’ve also always been really curious if Tenna heard complete silence, a dialtone, or “garbage noise” when he picked up the phone, because saying “there was nobody there!” is really unclear.) I had honestly wondered if “That little freak ripped me off!” was sort of a separate statement after saying that nobody was there, and Tenna was instead implying that Spamton had ripped him off by running and not fulfilling the contract, but that probably doesn’t make much sense with the way it was worded. Your interpretation makes a lot of sense, though — Tenna knows there must have been someone there, someone who was likely a danger to Spamton, but he can’t let himself believe that if Spamton is still supposed to be “safe,” in Tenna’s mind. So he lies to himself once again, that there was never anyone on that phone at all; just another reason “everything feels like playing pretend” since he lost Spamton.

Something else that could play into this is a theory moskvishacreates had… The narration in the Z-Rank room specifically makes sure to note that the phone is unplugged, and I wasn’t completely sure of the reason why; one of my theories was that it had never been plugged in in the first place, and this was pointed out to further imply to the player that something really unnatural was going on with the phone. Misha had the idea that Tenna may have actually noticed when he picked it up that it was unplugged, and this really scared him, because he had just heard it ringing. If that’s true, Tenna would have even more reason to stay in denial and pretend to himself that it somehow was all just a scam, because he has no other way to explain it that doesn’t absolutely terrify him — and that would mean Spamton was in danger in even worse ways than Tenna had ever imagined.