Hello!
I'm going to try to talk about this theory again, especially since I added some things and explained myself better...
Something I have been looking into for a while is my old Beauty and the Beast theory – I mean, most particularly the Disney movie(s). Deltarune has already had its fair share of references to Disney movies, especially ones that contain living, inanimate objects (e.g., Toy Story, Alice in Wonderland), and you can see this in characters like Friend (Cheshire Cat), the playing cards who painted the roses red (Lancer, Rouxls Kaard, Rudinn, Jevil), or Yellow (Woody).
To clarify: I'm not sure whether or not Susie really is human (in any way), when I was making this theory I didn't have that in mind, I was more curious to know how Susie and Noelle's relationship could affect the story. The idea of Susie being "human" could either be more metaphorical or literal, nonetheless if anyone thinks that Susie is secretly related to humans I think this is for you.. Ultimately I have no idea. I just noticed there was a lot of things associated with Beauty and the Beast.
There may be some incorrect things, I might be misremembering some things or some things might be stretches. These are just my thoughts and I would really like to share them, especially to people who might be interested. I can have some trouble expressing my thoughts and some of this might seem jumbly
One of the few Disney movies majorly and particularly featuring living, inanimate objects is Beauty and the Beast; in fact, the objects are critical to the story and practically drive the story forward. So, if Deltarune uses these sorts of movies to inspire the story, Beauty and the Beast is most likely one of them.
I won't explain the entire story, but I will explain some key points that to me are interesting, even if there isn't any particular explanation:
The objects (Darkners) live in a castle (Castle Town).
Susie is very often referred to as a "beast" (especially by Catti). One of the driving points of the Beast is that he doesn't understand love and must learn to love. (Chapter 5 has been frequently talking about this: Susie not understanding love or what it is, and her progression as a character going from aggressive to more soft and understanding adding towards this.) The Beast is cursed, and the spell can only break once he learns to love (whereupon he and all the objects will turn human again). Imgur link to take a look
There have been many theories about Susie being a human, half-human, or initially human – Chapter 5 has been making some strange remarks about this (talking about how humans have tails, to paraphrase; she frequently reacts very strangely to this, Orange refers to Susie as a “human”, Ralsei remarking “Humans don’t have tails, right, Susie?” and Susie reacting by looking at her tail pensively and momentarily). She's bled, despite it being known that monsters do not bleed.
Take a peek here: Ralsei talking to Susie / Susie talking to Orange
Between Chapters 1 and 2, Rudy has some roses next to his bed in a glass dome. He asks the following: "Roses!? What is this, man? Beauty and the Beast?"
4.5. There have been many references to roses surrounding Susie and Noelle. Susie was "giving" Noelle a rose specifically in Chapter 4; (While this is stretchy: if you invert the blue and green roses on the Deltarune website for Chapter 5, it will be pink/purple and yellow) and a rose with petals falling appears when equipping the Thorn Ring on Noelle. This is the purpose of the rose in Beauty and the Beast:
"Purpose(s) To act as the Beast's hourglass during the spell by having petals fall to let him know how much time he has left to find true love and earn their love in return before the last petal falls"
Take a look at the rose stuff: Rose imagery / Rose inversion (Deltarune Chapter 5 website)
If this theory is true, this suggests that Susie and Noelle's relationship is crucial to the story in some way – BUT!! You can actually see this through the parallels between the normal and weird routes that we see in this chapter.
During the Chapter 5 ARG, asking "Where will it take place?" and answering with "Susie" would provide the following answer: "Too Late!" ( ARG image )
This is very important to figuring this out. Here's all the parallels between the weird route and the normal route regarding the lake scene:
Susie is keeping Noelle out of the water, as opposed to the weird route where she's submerged in the water.
( Take a look: Comparison image (imgur) ) ^
1.2. "Drowning Rescue (The Enchanted Christmas Midquel) In the 1997 midquel Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, the Beast rescues Belle a second time. Tricked by Forte the Pipe Organ into going into the black woods for a Christmas tree, Belle falls through thin ice into a freezing lake. The Beast rushes out to pull her from the water and saves her from drowning." Carrying Belle in the same way that Susie carried Noelle suggests that Susie essentially saved her (which is why the answer is "Too Late!", because Susie couldn't save her in the weird route). (Also, conveniently, it's a Christmas midquel)
(You can see it here (Imgur link)) ^
"This is why I want to break free" vs. "I... don't want to run away anymore." Noelle's plan of suicide/running away is strongly suggested in the weird route, while Susie keeps her from acting that out (unlike the weird route).
( You can see this Here (Imgur link)) ^
Susie getting down on one knee to give Noelle her phone (suggesting a ring-like proposal), as opposed to when we forced the Thorn Ring on Noelle. Proposals always need consent from both sides, while what happened with Kris and Noelle was the opposite (neither consented).
( Comparison image ) ^
"That's why I want... To do something crazy" from Noelle (WR) vs. "Don't you wanna do something crazy?" from Susie (NR).
Noelle talks about how Snowgrave made her feel stronger than ever before, while Susie tells her she isn't weak at all in the normal route, expressing that she's strong as is.
( Something that Noelle and Belle have in common, if I'm not misunderstanding Noelle, curiously, is:
"She dreams of a life far beyond her provincial town. A life far beyond her predictable, quiet village."
Belle talks about this in the beginning of the story, which is something Noelle EXACTLY expresses in the lake scene (weird route). Belle also uses books as an escapism, similar to how the Dark world is an escapism, especially to Susie though...
I saw this in the lyrics of one of the first songs in the movie, and I thought it was really interesting - This is talking about a book that Belle enjoys:
"Ah, Belle Good morning, I've come to return the book I borrowed Finished already? Oh, I couldn't put it down have you got anything new? Not since yesterday
That's alright, I'll borrow, this one That one? But you've read it twice Well, it's my favorite Far off places, daring swordfights, magic spells, a prince in disguise (< Remind you of anything?) If you like it all that much, it's yours"
This might all be a complete stretch, but you know, it's just interesting to me Also, this is such a minute, stupid detail but I mean... Belle's signature color is yellow... Haha )
Even before Chapter 5, Noelle has been saved multiple times by Susie; in fact, Susie's presence heavily disrupts the execution of the weird route (so to speak):
In Chapter 2, the start of the weird route is the player exploiting the fact that Susie is separated from Noelle – the weird route can't happen if Susie and Ralsei are on the team.
In Chapter 4, Susie's ability to distract Noelle falls apart in the weird route.
Little saves, such as Susie actively choosing to save her from the room she was being kept in by Queen, also saving her from the plug guys, and Susie saving her again from when she was tied up against the hand.
While I can't say it's exact, Noelle is captured and kept in a luxurious room by Queen (similar to how Belle is captured and also kept in a luxurious room), though this is just a sketchy, mild detail.
As the story passes in Beauty and the Beast, Belle and the Beast spend time together and progressively become closer, while the Beast becomes softer and more affectionate – we've been seeing this since Chapter 2 with Susie and Noelle.
In Chapter 5, Susie is getting dressed up and prepared for the date by the Darkners, even trying to stylize her – this exact scenario happened to the Beast before the ball, where the objects were attempting to dress him up and stylize him. See here
Now, this is something that really has me curious: I'm not sure if the "ball" has already happened or will happen (especially because Susie is seen preparing the castle for Noelle at the end of Chapter 5).
In the castle, Belle has her room given by the Beast (Susie is seen creating Noelle’s very own room in Castle Town at the end of Chapter 5). The Beast asks her if she's happy staying here, and even though she says she's happy staying here (The Castle/Castle Town), she admits that she desperately misses her father, who is very sick. (Noelle and Rudy) The Beast is heartbroken and realizes he must let her go; he tells her she's free to leave. Belle thanks him and leaves. The candle object (Lumière) asks him, "Why did you let her go?", to which the Beast replies, "Because I love her", ultimately understanding love.
(Less relevant, but a continuation: After that, the Beast is pretty much hunted down, particularly by Gaston, who becomes jealous upon realizing Belle has feelings for the Beast... He claims the Beast is evil. The Beast essentially loses his will to fight back and feels incredibly heartbroken because of Belle's departure. Then, his strength comes back as he sees Belle come in, begging for Gaston to stop and yada yada Gaston stabs the Beast with a dagger. Of course, as everyone knows, Belle kisses the Beast and says she loves him, and he becomes human again.)
(Also, for clarification: I don’t think Deltarune would be copying the story, I just believe that it may take inspiration to form something entirely unique - So some things align, some don’t)
These are my bullet point thoughts for when I think about this theory:
Susie and Noelle's relationship is genuinely more essential and important to the normal route (as well as themselves) than most can imagine.
Susie may be part-human, or has something to do with being a human. OR it could be simply metaphorical (I don’t know)
Maybe it's a puzzle piece to other theories, or maybe for figuring out what may happen next – it's strongly worth analyzing.
Some of my little conclusions based on all of this:
I think when the rose's petals fall down in the weird route, it already suggests that it's "too late" for Susie, but that's my personal idea. I mean, the prophecy is "love finds its way to the girl," and love isn't finding its way to the girl in the weird route because we're constantly excluding her from Noelle... This ends up affecting the prophecy in a really negative way (ultimately leading toward Noelle's despair and drowning in the lake, as well as most likely diverting from the prophecy entirely).
And I'll give you another thought: I'm not sure if the objects are, were, or ever will be human, but in my opinion, when it talks about the curse being permanent after the last petal, a part of the curse is "the objects being objects forever." I think if this applies to Deltarune, it actually means Castle Town disappearing or the dark world disappearing entirely, leaving the objects to be... literally non-living objects forever... I can only imagine this means a few things:
The ending of the prophecy has something to do with the dark world or Castle Town disappearing (which has been occasionally suggested/implied in Chapter 5), and I believe in the normal route Susie is supposed to defy this, while the weird route actually might keep it that way because we're keeping Susie out and/of Noelle, who is incredibly important to the story and erasing a part of Susie's prophecy ("love finds its way to the girl"). So, that's why the petals fall and it's why she's "too late." Noelle also developed Susie's character in a way; Susie has changed positively with Noelle, who is also basically introducing her to the concept of love, eventually leading to her understanding of it.
Just to add something small and just a personal tiny theory of mine: I noticed that Noelle and Susie are particular about each other’s heartbeats. Susie has hope crossed on her heart, and if what I’ve said about Susie saving Noelle, Susie has given Noelle hope which I think diverged Noelle from “running away”
To add to the rose motifs, there’s a ring called the GildedRose – It’s a ring with a rose motif that has its thorns pointing outwards so as to not hurt the wearer. This could also have something to do with that… Deltarune Wiki link to the GildedRose
