cathode screaming into the void

The thing is, Spamton & Tenna already are being portrayed as a doomed relationship in the game…. on the Weird Route. That’s part of the purpose of the Weird Route — to show an alternate timeline of how this story can go if we do “weird,” fucked up things, putting the characters in bad situations they should never have been put in, and prioritizing power and LOVE (Level Of Violence) over compassion and actual love. This gets reflected in Spamton’s storyline; he sees us hurting people in order to get stronger, and this reinforces his worldview that had already come to be pretty twisted by the things he’s been through — it just proves to him that the only way not to get hurt in this world is by being bigger and more powerful, and hurting other people before they can hurt you. He seizes the chance to gain back the power that was taken from him (and even more), and he continues the cycle of abuse that he experienced with his benefactor by selling the Thorn Ring, which is then used by us to abuse Noelle in a similar fashion. Spamton thought “helping” us was going to keep him safe from the same fate as the others, but instead, his hubris backfires on him, and when he gets in our way, we use Noelle & the ring he sold us to kill him.

This also, of course, makes spamtenna inherently doomed on the Weird Route because Spamton’s death is a direct consequence of it… and the direct consequences of the Weird Route tend to be negative, obviously.

This is contrasted by the Normal/Pacifist Route, where we’re supposed to save Spamton and give him the chance to heal, by showing him kindness and mercy really do exist. Literally all he needed in order to choose to completely dedicate himself to helping the heroes do good was seeing that there are people who do want to help, who could actually care about him, even a little. And he’s so excited at even the possibility of that, that he immediately wants to be the Fun Gang’s friend and protector; even if he can’t be free, he wants to help these kids be free. Spamton still has a lot of care in his heart for those willing to find it, as well as the desire to be cared for. He just never thought that would be possible until the Fun Gang comes along.

So, the Weird Route represents hate, cycles of violence and abuse, being controlled by higher powers (Noelle by the player, Spamton by his benefactor — and the WR also represents oppressive queerphobia, funnily enough), and achieving power through violence, while the Normal/Pacifist Route represents love, freedom, autonomy, compassion, mercy, and healing instead. Spamtenna being inherently doomed on the Weird Route would then make the contrast of them finding each other and reconciling on the Normal Route make a lot of sense, right? Thematically, a spamtenna reunion would also represent defying the Prophecy, fate, & control by higher powers, as well as writing new endings — things the game very clearly wants us to strive for, as is basically outright stated, especially throughout chapter 4 — because Tenna was supposed to die according to the Prophecy, and the Benefactor, who is seemingly a pretty powerful entity, obviously wanted these two separated, as well.

We’re also clearly supposed to be picking up on all the clues that neither Spamton or Tenna ever wanted to be separated from each other, and that they still deeply care about & miss each other, even now, 10 years later. When you pay attention to how they actually feel about each other underneath their facade of “hate,” it’s very obvious. Before ch3 even came out, we got this Valentine from the Deltarune newsletter:

This clearly reads like Spamton is heartbroken after a breakup that he never wanted to happen. In the Japanese version of this Valentine, Spamton says “What’s going to happen to the things we built together?” and as @maybe-a-gatto-or-a-catto noted in this post, “The Japanese word for "build" here is kizuku. It’s a word that can refer to building concepts like building a relationship or a family. Putting it in context it would likely refer to their relationship and the things surrounding it like the "set" and pipis.”

This was a clue about the reason Spamton is actually angry at Tenna — not because Tenna “made” him sign the contract (because it’s implied Spamton did actually want to do that & he wasn’t really forced into it), but because he falsely believes Tenna changed his number and abandoned him and everything they’d built together when Spamton needed him most, after he lost everything and was transformed into a puppet. This is further implied with the Weird Route SNEO dialogue about calling people for help, but no one ever picking up.

Spamton also immediately comes out of the inventory when he sees Tenna kept his pipis and says he wishes Spamton could be there for him, and Spamton is literally shaking with excitement that Tenna really does care about him.

However, this is unfortunately extremely bad timing for Tenna to be faced with one of his very worst fears being confirmed: that something terrible really did happen to Spamton because he signed Tenna’s contract. Tenna had just said he was at his limit, and that confirmation pushed him over into a full-on panic, and he reacted in an unfortunate way. This overwhelmed & panicked response does not mean Tenna actually meant the things he said, and in fact, the very next day, he breaks down and admits how guilty he feels about ignoring Mike’s warning, admits that he cares about Spamton, that he wanted to help him & to be big together, that nothing has even felt real since Spamton left, and that he could never forget him (this scene is quite likely after Tenna recognizes Spamton in the pipis scene, and Spamton is most likely hearing all this from the inventory).

This is not someone who is ready to or even wants to move on at all. It’s clear that neither of them actually want that!

And it’s not even just in-game content pointing towards the fact that this story will lead to a reunion, but a lot of bonus material as well. If you look at everything from the Spamton Sweepstakes as well as the game itself, Toby has put an incredible amount of effort into this relationship for years now — again, way more effort than an ultimately doomed ship would ever need.

We also have merch, and the way merch is represented is actually very important to Toby — he has said he wants all his merch to “improve the game.” Why, then, have the Tenna plush designed to specifically have matching proportions with Spamton when none of the other plushes do? Why approve of and draw attention to them being sold as a pair and pictured in cuddly poses together? Why bring Spamton up in the ad for the Tenna figurine (that Toby likely voice acted), and imply yet again that Tenna still misses Spamton under his denial?

Why approve of Fangamer using Spamtenna at all for marketing if this is truly a doomed relationship? Toby doesn’t make merch solely for money, otherwise he would actually be making that highly demanded merch of Lightner characters. Again, he’s adamant that all merch should “improve the game,” meaning Spamton and Tenna being a pair/couple improves Deltarune to Toby. I think Toby also absolutely knows how cruel it would be to use spamtenna to make money without planning on them ever actually being together in-game; as someone deeply involved in fandom culture, he is very much aware of what queerbaiting is, and would not do that to his audience. That alone convinces me of a reunion, personally, if I’m honest.

I also am still certain that this dialogue added to the 10th anniversary version of Undertale — which is clearly supposed to make us think of spamtenna with the term “business partners” (Spamton & Tenna are the only ones in Undertale or Deltarune) — is a nod towards how they truly feel about each other, as well. There would be no reason to even reference “business partners” in such weighty dialogue if not to imply something about those two. Humans and Monsters who loved each other were separated from each other by outside influences who didn’t think they should be together, and this is a parallel to spamtenna being forcefully separated from each other by the Benefactor. They didn’t want to be separated, and they wouldn’t be “enemies” if they hadn’t been manipulated into it.

There’s no reason for spamtenna to be doomed in order to “ground” Deltarune, especially because they’re already doomed on the Weird Route. Everything, including the game’s themes, lines up with a reunion and reconciliation happening at some point.

Toby Fox is choosing to repeatedly emphasize how much Spamton & Tenna still care about each other, extending this storyline way beyond what it needed to be for a simple past doomed relationship. It would not be good writing to create more scenes to continue to give us hope for them to get back together, only to say, “Actually, you shouldn’t have hope, they’re doomed,” when there is absolutely no reason that they need to be when they’re both alive and clearly miss each other. Deltarune is literally about hope and writing new endings, after all.