Very good points ā honestly, almost every single main character in UT/DR is capable of doing pretty terrible things, but weāre not meant to judge any of them solely for their worst actions under the worst circumstances. Weāre supposed to have compassion & mercy for them all, and help them be the better people they all can become through kindness.
Something else thatās a bit of a double standard regarding Spamton that I donāt see people ever point out is that on Undertaleās No Mercy Route, Gerson supplies Frisk (a child even younger than Kris & Noelle) with weapons that he knows theyāll use to kill others, despite the fact he knows Frisk is unable to do anything to harm him anyway (because heās in his shop, and he knows the rules of the game wonāt allow us to fight him there). Mettaton has his dictator ending where he forces people to worship him or else makes them ādisappear,ā and children likely are not exempt; and of course on Undyneās dictator ending, she has no qualms about harming children either. Asgore has already killed at least six children by the time Undertale starts, despite the fact that, as Toriel points out, he didnāt have to do that to free monsterkind. This doesnāt make any of them horrible, irredeemable people at their core, this makes them all flawed people put in terrible & inconceivable situations, who are making choices accordingly.
On the Weird Route, Spamton is actually hiding ā we have to actively go out of our way to a somewhat hidden area to seek him out in the first place for him to offer the ThornRing, and he literally tells Kris itās a decision they will regret for the rest of their life. This doesnāt excuse what he does, but people really like to act as if he shows up and manipulates us/Kris into using it. Spamton has the ring on the normal route as well, yet he doesnāt bring it up at all unless you beat him up after he first introduces himself ā and even then, he still wonāt sell it to you, he just chews you out and leaves. Heās also the only character in the game who heals Kris for free during battle no matter the circumstances, even when theyāre using violence against him.
Iād also like to point out that even when Spamton takes over the mansion on the Weird Route, he doesnāt seem to actually harm anyone himself; all he really does is put pipis everywhere as traps (as well as changing the paintings into himself, lol), even though he had ample opportunity to hurt people and take his own revenge as NEO on the people he was angry at while we made our way to the Fountain. This isnāt to say he did nothing wrong, of course, just that he doesnāt actually do anything worse than characters like Mettaton, Undyne, or Asgore, as previously mentioned. (Something else interesting that I wanted to point out, even though itās not technically ācanon,ā is that thereās a funny implication that what Spamton actually would do after successfully taking over Cyber World completely is host the Spamton Sweepstakes, not go on his own revenge murder spree.)
And despite Spamtonās heartbreak and anger towards Tenna (we all remember ākill your TV!!!ā), he wonāt actually hurt him, either, after seeing him againā even after being insulted and sprayed with foam. Supposedly his āworst enemy,ā and all that matters to Spamton is knowing that Tenna really does care about him after everything.
As for trying to kill Kris, this is something that almost every single character in the game tries to do at some point. Queen does it, Tenna does it, the Mikes do it, most of the flowers do it, Pink does it (for a very similar reason as Spamton, in fact), almost every single recruit does it. Even Berdly technically does it. Even though everyone has their own reasons, that doesnāt change the fact that they can ultimately all kill Kris, a teenager who (most of the time) isnāt even trying to harm them in return. Spamton is not at all unique for this, either.
And yes, even characters like Flowey ā who killed his loved ones multiple times over by the time we meet him ā are worthy of being saved & treated with kindness. Even he doesnāt actually get left behind, and he gets to heal, even just a little, after Undertaleās pacifist ending; we get to see him doing better, having friends, and even showing some kindness to others (even without a soul) in the Undertale Alarm Clock dialogue.
Spamton is no different, and the narrative clearly wants us to empathize with him and help him heal too; this is even illustrated by the PuppetScarfās description (which of course, you only get if youāre violent towards Spamton)ā
This check text is both because it greatly lowers Ralseiās healing ability, and because in the version where weāre kind to Spamton, he instead becomes the Dealmaker ā vastly more powerful, and one of the best armors in the game, even 3 chapters later. In the pacifist version, we are helping Spamton heal, and he helps Kris and their friends heal, quite literally, in return. Spamton can only have his epiphany about āthe greatest deal of all: friendship!!!ā if we choose kindness.
And even if we donāt, even if we hurt him, Spamton still dedicates himself to becoming the Fun Gangās strength, to helping them ābreak their own strings.ā
There is no actual, valid reason that Spamton is any worse than the rest of the UT/DR cast. Not liking him is perfectly fine, as it is for any character, but he is not some uniquely irredeemable monster, as many seem dead-set on seeing him as. How anyone can take that message away from a game like Deltarune will just never make any sense to me.
