Very good points — honestly, almost every single main character in UT/DR is capable of doing pretty terrible things, but we’re not meant to judge any of them solely for their worst actions under the worst circumstances. We’re supposed to have compassion & mercy for them all, and help them be the better people they all can become through kindness.
Something else that’s a bit of a double standard regarding Spamton that I don’t see people ever point out is that on Undertale’s No Mercy Route, Gerson supplies Frisk (a child even younger than Kris & Noelle) with weapons that he knows they’ll use to kill others, despite the fact he knows Frisk is unable to do anything to harm him anyway (because he’s in his shop, and he knows the rules of the game won’t allow us to fight him there). Mettaton has his dictator ending where he forces people to worship him or else makes them “disappear,” and children likely are not exempt; and of course on Undyne’s 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 didn’t have to do that to free monsterkind. This doesn’t 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 — 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 it’s a decision they will regret for the rest of their life. This doesn’t 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 doesn’t bring it up at all unless you beat him up after he first introduces himself — and even then, he still won’t sell it to you, he just chews you out and leaves. He’s also the only character in the game who heals Kris for free during battle no matter the circumstances, even when they’re using violence against him.
I’d also like to point out that even when Spamton takes over the mansion on the Weird Route, he doesn’t 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 isn’t to say he did nothing wrong, of course, just that he doesn’t 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 it’s not technically “canon,” is that there’s 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 Spamton’s heartbreak and anger towards Tenna (we all remember “kill your TV!!!”), he won’t actually hurt him, either, after seeing him again— even after being insulted and sprayed with foam. Supposedly his “worst enemy,” 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 doesn’t change the fact that they can ultimately all kill Kris, a teenager who (most of the time) isn’t even trying to harm them in return. Spamton is not at all unique for this, either.
And yes, even characters like Flowey — who killed his loved ones multiple times over by the time we meet him — are worthy of being saved & treated with kindness. Even he doesn’t actually get left behind, and he gets to heal, even just a little, after Undertale’s 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 PuppetScarf’s description (which of course, you only get if you’re violent towards Spamton)—
This check text is both because it greatly lowers Ralsei’s healing ability, and because in the version where we’re kind to Spamton, he instead becomes the Dealmaker — 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 “the greatest deal of all: friendship!!!” if we choose kindness.
And even if we don’t, even if we hurt him, Spamton still dedicates himself to becoming the Fun Gang’s strength, to helping them “break their own strings.”
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.
