Perpetually falling over

The fact that the portals to the Dark World are fountains

[ID: A screenshot from Deltarune. Kris and Susie are in a dark room standing before the Dark Fountain, a geyser with a complex graphical pattern that glows an ethereal green. End ID]

And how it uses the exact same graphic as the vessel creation sequence’s background

[ID: A screenshot from Deltarune. The same pattern from the fountain in the previous picture is used as the background, except it is deep blue instead of green. All caps text in front of it reads: “You must create a vessel.” End ID]

Onion’s secret that they reveal to Kris

[ID: Two screenshots from Deltarune. Kris stands before Hometown’s lake, from which Onion, a large sea creature akin to an onion, appears. A shadow passes over its grin as it says, “Sometimes… I hear a song at night.” It’s face turns sheepish as it continues: “It sounds like… it’s coming from under the water. Deep.” End ID]

And the soundbyte that plays in the black screen before Kris wakes up in the Dark World…

[ID: A screenshot from Deltarune. Kris lies face-down and unconscious in a barren Dark World. End ID]

I would also like to add the Riverperson says this. You know, the person who warns you about “The man who came from the other world” and “Beware of the man who speaks in hands”

This line from if you beat Jevil by fighting him: “SOON, THE “QUEEN” RETURNS, AND HELL’S ROAR BUBBLES FROM THE DEPTHS…“ We now know this was foreshadowing Queen and the end of Chapter 2, but the phrasing of the roar bubbling from the depths definitely catches my eye.

The shadow crystals are described in your dark world inventory as ”A sharp shadow moves like water in the hand.“ Other than the naming of the fountains, it’s the most direct association I’ve found of darkness/shadow with water.

Character-wise, I can’t help but think of Gerson and Alvin, two monsters based on turtles (animals that live in the ocean and on land), and wonder if they were made turtles for the sake of a metaphor about them dwelling in both the dark and light worlds. There are certainly hints that Gerson was involved in dark worlds in the past (the bench in his honor which encourages students to dream, his old classroom being the first proper dark world we visit, his knowledge of the Delta Rune in UnderTale, and him having been an author in a game where dark worlds seem to be a metaphor for fictional stories), and considering Alvin is involved with the light world’s Angel-based religion, and is apparently planning something with Gerson’s hammer, I’m fairly sure they’ll play into the history of the Dark Worlds.

While we’re on the topic of suspicious ocean-related characters, there’s obviously Onionsan, but also, Clam Girl. You know, the one who teased “Suzy” in UnderTale, who can become a Goner in the switch version with a line that teased DeltaRune’s release, and who you get faked out for in Chapter 2 if you fail to talk to Onionsan in chapter 1.

It’s also worth considering that both Gerson and Clam Girl come from UnderTale’s water-themed area, Waterfall, which itself is one of, if not the, most mysterious areas in UnderTale. @you-can-always-come-home has some great posts about this: [1] [2] [3]

And then, there’s this bit from UnderTale: “humans are made mostly of water”. Which, yes, is just a true fact. But it’s pointed out in comparison to monsters being made of magic. And considering everything here, with water potentially = darkness and dreams… If we then look to our friend Kris, who turns pale blue in the dark worlds, and who, if they look at themself through the shadow crystal, briefly finds their hand to be transparent… Perhaps there’s something concerning there.

In regards to what the purpose/meaning of this connection is, I had two thoughts I left in the comments of that vid that I’ll share here too.

Theory 1: The dark worlds are maybe meant to parallel (or be foreshadowed by) the trash dump in Waterfall. An area full of discarded items, flowing down into an unknown depth. A place where at least one of those items (thanks to Mad Dummy) gets new life. A place Frisk falls into, much like how Kris initially falls into the dark world. idk what would actually be being said by such a parallel, though. Unless Deltarune is literally taking place at the bottom of the waterfalls in the trash dump. Somehow.

Theory 2: The dark worlds are reflections of the light world. Both in how they’re based on the light world locations, and with certain characters seeming to parallel light world characters (like Queen seemingly paralleling Noelle’s mother in some ways). And, well, you can see reflections on the surface of bodies of water. But those reflections disguise the true natures of what’s under those depths.

You know how there’s a weird dissonance between Queen saying the Cyber World fountain was just made the day of chapter 2, but the characters seem to have a history older than that, including stuff like Tasque Manager somehow recognizing Jevil’s items even though he’s from a whole other dark world? Maybe the *versions* of the dark worlds we see, reflections of the light world maintained by the fountains, are new… but the “depths” of the dark worlds are both older and connected to each other, in ways we are so far unable to perceive or explore.

First, I’d recommend reading this post by @agentravensong as well as the post of mine that they linked in that post, as they’re good context.

Now, have yourself a look at this observation by u/LimeLampShape on Reddit.

Let’s take a closer look at that “original sprite.”

You see it too, right? Rotate it 180°, and…

It’s the ocean. It’s waves! It’s WATER! 🎉 And I do think it looks quite a bit similar to what the artist was trying to portray in the LEGEND.

So… what does this mean? Does the gonermaker sequence take place at WORLDS’ EDGE? It would make sense that it would have the same texture as the fountains, which connect the two worlds and thus could absolutely be described as “WORLDS’ EDGE”.