A giant post about Noelle Holiday's Relationships - 1
The people in Noelle's life tend to think about "What would be best for Noelle?" but never ask her what she thinks would be best for her.
It's funny in a very tragic way that she is very loved, there's no doubt of that and yet everyone treats her like she is too fragile to be involved in their plans, like a damsel in distress: She can't be an active actor in her own story, she has to stay still and be "the goal", her happiness is the "goal" of her loved ones and yet everyone is struggling to see her as capable of choosing for herself.
Carol (and Queen too, if we think about Chp 2) is the biggest example of this, I don't doubt that she loves Noelle, but her way of loving is intentionally or not hurting Noelle. She is very strict and controlling, and I think it's fair to say that she likes things to be as they were: For both Holidays and Dreemurrs to be friends again and for Dess to be back, for everything to freeze and stay as it was.
Rudy is harder to figure out, since we have so little information of him in Noelle's day to day and also in their own house- But I think that could be intentional. Rudy's warmth/presence isn't felt at all in the Holiday's house and I almost wonder if it's because he and Carol aren't doing so well recently/after the incident, or if it has always been that way. I think that genuinely he tries his best to guide her towards self-confidence, but that he himself also struggles with asserting his opinion. He is very outspoken and a jokester but when it comes to Carol we don't get this sense that he wants to see her soon, we know he wants to be home for Noelle but not exactly because of Carol NOR Dess.
In fact I think he never even mentions Dess in any of his dialogue (I'll have to check), so either he doesn't like reminding Noelle and Kris of Dess, or HE can't stand the topic himself. I think he likes to avoid heavy conversations, always distracting Noelle with other things because that's all he thinks he can do in the state he is in.
Even Berdly, bless his heart, in BOTH routes assumes that Noelle isn't with Kris because she wants to but because they did something to trick her- And we know for a fact that in the more serious and dangerous situation he would throw his own safety away just to save her. I don't think Berdly has ever had a genuine crush on Noelle, I think it's more likely his perception of relationships has been twisted in some way due to his childhood neglect and insecurities: He starts liking someone, even if platonically, and instantly gets attached to that person because he doesn't seem to have many friends,- And when he does get a friend, or someone who tolerates him, he assumes that person must have a deeper motive/feelings for him, because he can't imagine someone wanting to hangout with him simply because they simply like him as a friend.
But even with all that being said: Berdly still fails to interact with Noelle as her own person- He does treasure her friendship more than anything, but he (AND CATTI-) sees her as someone who can't decide for herself and would easily be persuaded and manipulated-
Which we of course know is far from the truth, Weird Route proves that Noelle is far more strong-willed than everyone likes to proclaim, it takes a lot to push her into that state of compliance and even then she is still taking things at her own pace (she doesn't stick to Kris after Snowgraving Berdly, she goes away to recollect her thoughts, she isn't acting like a perfectly obedient puppet even if she helps when we call her name- She is doing what she is told but isn't at all being compliant about it, she even seems to kiss Susie as she becomes, in fact, even more assertive)
I think it's really intriguing how Noelle is written. From everyone on the Holiday and Dreemurr distancing/Dess Missing Drama, she seems like the one with the ""healthiest"" mindset when it comes to accepting new things coming into her life. Yes, she misses Dess of course, and she misses the simple times where everyone got along-
But she isn't holding an iron grip to her past like Carol, nor avoiding it like Rudy, she isn't trying to move on and live on as quickly as possible as Toriel- And nor is she THAT obsessed like Asgore that she would go out of her way to try and force Kris to hangout with her again.
She is hurt, deeply so, she wants to find her sister not only because of course she cares a lot about her and misses their time spent together, but also because she knows something happened, something probably otherworldly.
Even Toriel who seems very mature has her own sense of desperation when it comes to completely avoiding her past, she wants to move on quickly so it doesn't hurt her anymore- But without thinking and without a plan, she isn't rationalizing how her kids might feel or if this sort of "Speedrun To Happiness" isn't going to hurt her too on the long run (I find it very suspicious that she isn't bothered at all about her Tv being gone, along with other house objects- Either it was overlooked by the devs, or this is one unfortunate sign of Toriel's deeper mental health).
Asgore is just too obsessed with going back to how things were, that I think that's exactly what pushes Toriel away. He thinks that after proving everything he'll just... Hmmm... Earn her back...?
[I ACCIDENTALLY HIT POST AND I DIDN'T STOP WRITING MY THOUGHTS-]
I'll be back to talk about Kris later because their relationship with Noelle is FASCINATING. But rn I'm at work.
