#tralsei

Why is the first response to a theory somebody doesn’t like “actually that’s not a theory it’s a headcanon?”

There is a big difference between the two and there is some overlap but not much.

A headcanon doesn’t affect the story or characters in a meaningful way and could absolutely be true right now and just probably won’t come up. For example, I think Kris is AFAB because Susie doesn’t question the bloodstain in their room, Aqua is analogous to young Kris and is female and asks Seth about their gender (which seems to be how she learns about nonbinary), and Man Country implies Kris identified as a man at some point, which could have coincided with their headband they wore to be more like Asriel, whom they seem to idolize. But I’m not saying this is gonna come up and be important and change the direction of the story, so it’s a headcanon. However, if I were to build a case that it is of tantamount relevance to the characters, like Ralsei Tampon theory or something, it would be a theory! A kind of shitty theory but still a theory.

Theories just say that they fill a hole in the story or will come up later. They answer mysteries that are relevant to the story and characters that can change the plot as is or moving forward. For example, Ralsei being trans. Ignoring all the evidence, this absolutely would defy the prophecy by taking the prince out of the equation and therefore be extremely relevant and affecting to the story if it were true. Ralsei being a trans girl is actually invalid as a headcanon if you ask me, because it has such major story implications. It is much better described as a theory. I personally find it to be a strong theory, but it’s okay if you think it’s weak. The headcanon version is that post game Ralsei comes out as trans, but the theory that Ralsei is going to transition during the events of the game is absolutely a theory even if you think it’s bad.

Here’s a theory everybody thinks is bad: Asriel’s dust.

But this could not possibly be a headcanon! Asriel being dead completely changes the story! A theory is not a better version of a headcanon and a headcanon is not a worse version of a theory, they are two completely different things.