Sample Text

Let's start with Kris. You know the general deal; Players would assume that Kris was just a flat template character to project onto, only to be caught off-guard when they began doing things of their own volition. Thus, people came to the conclusion, "Okay, we the player are the Soul, which controls Kris." And that... isn't entirely accurate. We have control over the Soul. But if we are the Soul, then things wouldn't make sense. Consider the first time we see Kris's room in Chapter 1.

This is the first time that we, the player, enter this world. And yet, the cage to hold us is already there in the corner. The bloodstain is there too, suggesting a history of throwing the soul into the cage. We are new to this world, but the Soul isn't. It is only our influence that has entered the picture. Furthermore, it's safe to say that this isn't Kris's Soul. Kris only seems able to fully exert their will when the Red Soul isn't in their body. The soul is an outsider, exerting its will over Kris. This leaves us with two major questions: Where is Kris's Soul? And where did the Red Soul come from?

Let's start by going over the properties of the Red Soul. As explained in Undertale, the Red Soul is indicative of high levels of Determination; The power that can turn back time and change fate. But there's something... different this time around. Frisk remembered past loops. They remembered killing, being killed, solutions to problems solved in another life. However, there has been zero indication that this is the case for Kris. When Kris does take control, they act the exact same way every time.

If you were to do the Weird Route, Kris expresses extreme anger towards the Red Soul. Yet if you were to do a normal run in another file afterward, there is no lingering resentment. The soul in their body can turn back time and take different actions, but the Red Soul doesn't belong to Kris. The only people in the know would be you... and the Red Soul itself.

It's easy to assume the Soul is just a flat template to project onto. But, very subtly, it has been doing things of its own volition. We didn't control it when it rose up to seal the fountains. We didn't perform any input to make it shine in the dark hallway of Chapter 4. The Red Soul did those things on its own, and none of us ever questioned it.

So whose soul is it? Well, let's narrow it down. The Red Soul is, without a doubt, a human soul. The amount of Determination needed to reverse time is orders of magnitude more than what a monster can physically handle, after all.

With the Red Soul existing before our involvement, this would mean that the owner of the Soul is a human being that Kris has a history with. A human that once lived in Hometown. A human that has been conspicuously absent from the story.

A human named December Holiday.

...Okay, I admit it. I skipped past some of my reasoning for the sake of narrative impact. "What the hell do you mean December was a human?" you're probably thinking.

An NPC in town makes a casual reference to the Holiday family, mentioning "The antlered girl and her sister." Implying that, between the two siblings, having antlers is Noelle's distinguishing trait. But didn't we see December as having antlers in that flashback in Chapter 3?

Yes. And Kris had horns in that same scene.

If a human were to be adopted by a monster family, and the only other human in town was also in that exact situation, it would only be natural that a certain bond would form. Kris may have worn their fake horns out of a childish fantasy of growing their own someday, but the older December may have worn fake antlers out of a sort of solidarity with Kris.

Now consider December's room. Or more specifically, her closet.

Okay, setting aside the gratuitous Red Soul imagery (which does say a lot in hindsight), is there anything else strange about the contents of her closet?

...It's the shoes. Once again, the game uses lesbians to distract players from deep lore implications. When accompanying Noelle in Chapter 2, a certain emphasis is placed on her inability to wear shoes. She has hooves, so putting normal shoes on her wouldn't make any sense. Hell, in the first Act you can perform with her, the high heels of her nurse costume cause her to immediately fall flat on her face. Reindeer and shoes do not mix. So why the hell would there be shoes in a household of cervines? Well, the answer is self-evident. You may also recall that when examining December's room, there was specific mention of "ice skates fitted for hooves". But those were in a pile of unused junk. Not only that, but in the image above, you can see a pair of ordinary ice skates fitted for humans. Hockey was Dess's thing, but she wanted to be able to include her little sister. With all this in mind, let's create a rough timeline of events.

Kris and December are adopted by their respective families

Kris, Asriel, December, and Noelle have their happy fun times together

THE VERY BAD DAY HAPPENS

December is now missing, and Kris's body is now housing a Soul that isn't their own

Asgore is kicked off the force, but continues to investigate the VERY BAD DAY, implicitly with the support of Carol.

Years later, we show up

And if you need more convincing that the Soul is that of December Holiday, I want you to consider: The piano.

When under the influence of the Red Soul, Kris's performance with the piano is... lacking. At the very best, you're left picking at keys one-by-one with an extremely unintuitive interface. You can only perform a barebones facsimile of a song at most, even if you the player are a professional pianist in real life. But when Kris takes full control, it's a proper performance.

So then... what the hell was that Chapter 3 minigame?

Under control of the Red Soul, Kris seemingly takes to the guitar like a fish to water. Mechanically speaking, playing the guitar is vastly more simple for the player to perform, and the sound that comes out is an actual song rather than a novice plucking at the strings.

We, channeling our influence through the Red Soul, can barely interface with a piano. Because that's not the instrument December played. She played the guitar, and she wouldn't need any strenuous effort to use one.

There is, of course, much more to say on this matter, such as the way Carol fixates more on the Soul than Kris, or the symbolism of the 8-bit games in Chapter 3 (choosing to let Ralsei control 8-bit Kris hits different now...)

But even if this is all true, that leaves many more questions.

How can Kris exert their own influence in the absence of a soul of their own? What happened to cause this seeming swapping of souls? And how did the Weird Route get even MORE fucked up than it already was???

(I might add images later, if I can remember to. ADHD will probably have other plans.) Over time, I've begun to notice some thematic parallels between Kris and Berdly. In Chapters 3/4, it becomes increasingly evident that Kris has wavering loyalties. They're torn between helping their new friends and fulfilling some unknown obligation to The Voice on the Phone. They're working against the interests of their friends, yet can't stand to see them come to harm. Looking back on Chapter 2, Berdly seems... similarly flippant. Working with Queen to achieve some inscrutable end, his actual alliance constantly shifts throughout the chapter. An obstacle, but only occasionally so. A friend to the heroes, even if he's working against them. If we interpret Berdly's arc as being a parallel to Kris's... things get interesting.

Let's start with Queen. Much of the chapter revolves around the relationship between the overbearing and controlling Queen and Noelle. One interpretation I've heard several times back when Chapter 2 was new was that it's meant to be a parallel to the relationship between Carol and Noelle. So if Queen is meant to represent Carol, then what does that make Berdly...?

In Chapter 4, it's very heavily implied (but not outright confirmed, don't forget!) that Carol is The Voice on the Phone. Carol seems to want to use Kris and Noelle for some nebulous purpose, possibly to cover the world in Darkness like Queen intended to. This implication is a bit stronger in the Chapter 4 Weird Route ending. I'd guess that her motives are December-related. Controlling others to achieve an end that's satisfying to her. There's... a lot of meta-narrative to unpack there, but let's step back to Chapter 2 for now. In terms of Chapter 2 outcomes, most people are familiar with the Pacifist Ending and the Weird Ending. But I want to focus on a lesser-seen outcome: the one you get when you use violence to resolve the Queen&Berdly fight.

As we all know, in this fight Queen has taken control of Berdly, using his body to fight not unlike some unwanted puppet on a string. Trying to take down the 'puppeteer' without aiding the 'puppet' leads to a rather unfortunate outcome. Berdly tries to wrest Queen's hold over him on his own. Ripping the intrusive outside force from his body, he ends up seriously injured, losing the use of his hand. A result that would be absolutely miserable for a gamer... or a pianist. Cut to the latest chapters. Many people have noticed a troubling amount of references to lost hands, specifically Kris losing a hand. "You thought you saw through your hand." -Using 'Glass' in the Light World "You couldn't find your hand." -Ch. 3 Gatcha Maze "As long as Kris has a hand to help me up..." -Ch. 3 Knight Battle "The protagonist wakes up without a hand..." -Ch. 4 "Blood Crushers 2" ...and so on. So what does this mean? Let's review Berdly's possible fates. A: Because of the MERCY of his friends (Berdly seems to place a strange emphasis on this), Berdly is able to wrest control from Queen unharmed.

B: Neglected by his friends that are busy trying to strike down their foe, Berdly tries to free himself on his own and is permanently wounded. C: Fully succumbing to manipulative forces, Noelle is compelled to use lethal force on Berdly. "But wait!" I hear you say, "Didn't Chapter 4 reveal that Berdly survived Snowgrave?" Well... there's a certain detail that comes to mind. Let's go back further. To the True Lab of Undertale. ENTRY NUMBER 6 ASGORE asked everyone outside the city for monsters that had "fallen down." Their bodies came in today. They're still comatose... And soon, they'll all turn into dust.

In Chapter 4's Weird Route, Berdly is comatose and unresponsive. Now, consider the fates of the Amalgamates in the Deltarune timeline. In the absence of the Determination experiments, the comatose monsters all withered and died, their dust buried in the graveyard. While he wasn't immediately killed by the spell, Berdly is not long for this world. This leads me to believe that in the future chapters, three possible fates await Kris. I speculate that they'd look something like this: A: The compassionate actions of the player somehow cause Kris's friends to learn of Kris's "promise", and they help them break free of their binding obligation to The Voice (and/or control of the SOUL). B: Left to their own devices, Kris resorts to desperate measures to break free from the control of others, ultimately losing a hand in the process. C: The player commands Noelle to kill Kris, allowing for full control over a new vessel: Noelle, who is more powerful and more compliant than Kris.

So that glam rock concert. Setting aside the rabbithole that is the lyrics obviously being about Dess/Knight, there's something that's been troubling me... The song incorporates the opening four notes of Megalovania. (At least, it sounds that way to me. I haven't heard anyone else mention this, but in fairness I haven't been looking that hard for people's responses to the song.)

Also the line about "your heart as the ark" stood out to me. I'll just list a few lore reminders and let you paint the picture yourself. -- A SOUL can absorb SOULs that are not the same type as itself. -- In Undertale, it's mentioned that a human absorbing a monster soul is theoretically possible, but has never actually ever happened, and indeed doesn't ever happen. So we don't actually know what such an act would result in. -- There is some form of biblical calamity incoming.

At the end of the Tenna fight, when rapidly swapping channels after the final attack, the TV cuts out at Channel 66

Toby really did lock the 3rd Shadow Crystal behind the "Most fair Undertale fangame" meme, huh? (not really a lore observation, but sheesh. i'm gonna get carpel tunnel at this rate.)

So um. What would have happened if Toriel woke up? There was this lingering implication that if she did, she would know what was happening, and that nobody would actually be able to stop her from... doing whatever she'd do in response.

So, where to begin on the subject of ENA: Dream BBQ Chapter 1? I think a good starting point would be...

1: The Title Character Herselves, ENA

Right from the very first trailer, we could all tell: This ENA is different from the one we know from the webseries. Some say that this is a different ENA from before. Others suggest that perhaps something changed her. Maybe it's something in between. For the purposes of this post, I will be referring to this ENA as being her own individual, with no connection to the previous ENA until proven otherwise. The ENA of Dream BBQ will be simply be referred to as ENA. The ENA of the webseries will be referred to as "Ur-ENA"

So, we have a salesperson with a bit of a short temper. But as we experience the world through her eyes, there are some questions that come to mind. The first of which is, "What is her job anyway?" Well, right off the bat, there's some troubling implications. She appears to be after a "Boss", who has gone into hiding, and whom ENA and Froggy refer to as their "Target". The obvious interpretation is that ENA is a contract killer of some sort. But... there is room for doubt.

It was Froggy who first refers to The Boss as a "Work Target", very specifically using English words, that "wacky language" as he calls it. He may have coined this phrase without necessarily knowing the connotations of referring to a person as a "Target". This is brought up by Theodora the Genie, who asks ENA, "Do you even know the ingredients of that word salad?"

But, for reasons we'll get into later, it wouldn't be particularly surprising to anyone if ENA was hired to kill someone. Not after the incident.

CHEESE AND RICE, ENA

As you talk to more and more people in the game, it becomes clear that this ENA is universally despised. Even a lot of the more agreeable characters tend to have some hint of resentment in their words when speaking to her.

This brings us to what appears to be the underlying theme of Dream BBQ: Sin and Forgiveness. ENA has evidentially committed some unspeakable act in the past, some great Sin that has made her known throughout all the worlds. As to the severity of this Sin? We get a hint when ENA first lays eyes on the Bathroom, a place that has been referred to as somewhere where Sins are absolved and Truth is revealed (seriously, two of the stalls have a damn confessional window between them).

"A giant bathroom? Uggh... It's not enough for this many bodies. I hate myself."

This seems to be heavily implying that ENA was apparently responsible for a horrific massacre that occurred in the past. An act beyond any hope of redemption, hammered home by the conversation with Theodora if you actually make it to the Bathroom.

When first speaking to Theodora, she mistakenly forgives ENA's Sins briefly, which immediately mends the gaping wound in her body. Whatever is going on with Human(?) ENA, it seems clear that the wound is representative of guilt rather than a literal physical injury. Ultimately, Theodora offers to fulfill one of ENA's Asperations, and you're presented with the only dialogue options offered in the current version of the game. You're given a list of choices, but you quickly learn that desires are never fulfilled, nor quenched. Any option that would immediately bring ENA peace is doomed to fail for one reason or another.

Like the rest of them... Like the rest of them... A blissful life? No, that aspiration is beyond what ENA is capable of herself, and cannot be granted.

Eternal happiness? No, the natural order of things cannot be changed.

Frank's forgiveness? Refuted outright, in a way that implicitly says "You know perfectly well why you cannot have that." Punishing the Moon? No, the only one that deserves to be punished for being born is ENA herself. All that ENA can aspire to is to perform the task that she has been given. Nothing more. You leave with more questions than you entered with.

Despite all this, ENA carries on with an unwavering faith in G0D and destiny. Several of her interactions bring up matters of faith in a way that seems to... agitate people. Perhaps they see her penitent ways as a means to evade the consequences of her past actions. Perhaps they may even be right. Regardless, ENA seems to find comfort in the idea of an inevitable fate outside of her control.

(And now for the super speculative part that has me going off of 'vibes' more than anything concrete.) As for her Sin, well, my personal interpretation is that the Incident occurred due to ENA being negligent rather than malicious. I could be way off, but the intense weight of her guilt feels like it comes from a 'personal failure', a mindset reflected in her extremely adamant work ethic.

When attending the Purge Event, even though it's for the sake of reaching the Bathroom, she seems completely devastated by the thought that she is on some level slacking off while on the job.

Her limbs get tangled in gnarled branches emerging from her heart. In these moments, she is fighting against herself. Are the branches restraining her from performing her duties, representing her intrusive desire to lose her worries in the vore disco Purge Event? Or are the branches the opposite, her sense of responsibility unnaturally forcing her not to partake in any of the frivolity?

Honestly, it's too soon to tell exactly. Regardless of the specifics, my personal takeaway is that her work ethic probably stems from some disaster that she could have averted if she were more dutiful. Yet she is still at odds with herself, perhaps yearning to live her life in the carefree way that she (probably) used to. Anyway. That's my analysis/interpretation of ENA herself. But I'm not done with this post yet. We've barely touched the subject of...

2- The Genies of the Doors

Beyond each Door lies a land governed by a Genie. In keeping with the 'digital' theming of the series, I've taken to calling each land beyond a Door a "Domain".

Beyond the Lonely Door is the Domain of the recluse Theodora.

Beyond the Crowd Door is Domain of the deviant Pierro.

And lastly, beyond the Horse Door lies the Domain of a fresh corpse.

Therein lies an interesting issue: Genies, while powerful granters of desires, can be killed. Not only that, but one person you can question at the start of the game has this to say: "No Pierro the Genie, no town." This implies that their existence somehow reshapes the world around them, fitting for such powerful entities. So... what does that imply about a Genie getting killed? The game branches twice in the first chapter. The first branching moment is whether to go to the Purge Event or to complete all the sidequests to unlock the Humanboard and ascend to the orb in the sky. These two branches end up leading to the same destination, the nexus outside the Bathroom. Here, the game branches a second time...

If you fail to cross the river (or interact with the puking guy on the other side. fuck that guy he made me do even more runs.) you end up taking a roundabout path to your destination, and you ultimately find that Theodora, the Genie of the Lonely Door, has died at the bottom of what seems to be a well.

But hang on... If you successfully cross the river and go directly to the Bathroom, Theodora is alive and well! In the well! So what gives?

Well, after your meeting with her in either branch, the world begins to change. Places begin to lose their definition, becoming either distorted or changing into pure white geometry. Landmarks become clipart drifting in the air. Real estate investors swoop in on the newly freed up land. The Domain of Theodora is no more, and the Lonely Door is closing.

Many of the people are gone, replaced by familiar strangers.

...I would like to take this moment to point out that the main theme song of the game, Anemoia, is a word meaning "Nostalgia for a time or place that one has never known."

Anyway, this inevitable loss of identity seems to imply that no matter which route you take, Theodora dies. Whether you're too early or too late, ENA doesn't find out who or what killed the genie. Between this and the murder of the unnamed third genie, there is some malicious entity just barely out of sight, slaying genies for unknown reasons. When considering what this could mean for the story down the line, I recall a certain line spoken by a certain goblin of a girl.

"Rude entities like you get punished for the sins of others." Someone is maliciously reshaping the world. And if these acts are as disastrous as they seem, then ENA is in a prime position to take the fall in their stead. She's already known to have caused some kind of calamity, and she's attempting to seek audience with the genies as they're actively being killed off. Should we meet with Pierro in a later installment, I imagine that things will take a swift downturn from there. It's a shame we don't know anything about the third genie...

...or do we? *Vsauce theme*

3- The Shadow of Ur-ENA

The connections between Dream BBQ and the webseries are few and nebulous... but they are there if you look in the right places. The Extinction Party is mentioned by one of the taxi driver's heads, and the location of that episode can be briefly spotted behind one of the doors of the Purge Event. The Domain beyond the Lonely Door starts morphing into the setting of Auction Day. But there's one point of connection that's been nagging at me... and it's pretty obtuse 🐬

Dialing a hidden phone number, we're met with Phindoll....'s answering machine. The message explains that he's looking for some kind of employment. Perhaps he suddenly lost his job? Who was he working for back when we saw him last? ...Oh, yeah. Runas. That wish-granting entity... on the other side of a... Door... ... The Great Runas might be fucking dead, guys.

We've now seen implications that this game takes place before Auction Day... but after Temptation Stairway. If linear causality has any role in this story, it's as a horrified onlooker.

Of course, this can be reconciled if Runas turns out to be the new genie that replaces the murdered one. But dialogue early in the game suggests that temporal shenanigans may be afoot. After all, the low-poly lady at the desk claims...

"You are too late! The Boss isn't even born yet!"

She's... a very blunt, straightforward person. None of her other lines are nearly as ambiguous and confusing as this one, so I'm inclined to take this line at face value. We are in no position to be making assumptions about how concepts like time even work in this setting. So what does this all mean? ... ... I dunno. We only have chapter 1 to work off of, after all.

But if Runas was in fact the murdered Genie, then there is one suspect in particular that pops into my mind. Someone who has met Runas. Someone who was... unimpressed. Dissatisfied. And found herself trapped inside his domain for a long, long time.