Vsa Pieldepapel

you know it's bad when even people who like suselle found the confession abrupt. Obviously, i am not that, so to me it was especially jarring, considering how even at the very beginning of 5, when the skinwalker is already in effect, Susie still makes a note to kris that if things go well, they'll get another chance to get the bunker code, only to become as obsessive of noelle later as noelle was of her in the earlier chapters (the most grating part of her character).

But not only does that happen, but there's several instances of weirdness that I continue to be indecisive as to whether they're intentional or not. This post lays out the argument about them being intentional; what they are and why they could be there.

Anti-Susie

upon seeing Susie wearing a ribbon i capped the sprite and sent it to a friend captioned: ABSOLUTELY NOT. While under the assumption Toby is just stupid I am deeply disappointed, the truth of the matter is in my file, Ralsei immediately pointed out that he thought Susie not to like ribbons. He points this out even *after* Susie has already requested to wear a ribbon, which is, in itself, a red flag.

Susie's opposition to ribbons was a core symbol of her as the prophecy-breaker; the person who enacted her will regardless of "fate". I believe if the skinwalker is present there intentionally, this abrupt, one-night turnaround is meant to bring attention to how out of character she is. This is the reason Ralsei, too, brings attention to it in-universe. And it is but one instance of Susie doing a heel-face turn on several aspects of her character.

Susie has not really demonstrated any specific attraction to any one character. By the end of chapter 4, despite the sequence in Noelle's house, she still isn't doting over her in any way that stands out from how she does with everyone else. Then in one night she's suddenly flustered and excited and nervous-- despite Noelle not being her first choice to the festival, which she points out to Noelle herself, while at her house. In the span of morning to dusk of one day, she calls her day with Noelle "one of the best days ever", says that it keeps getting better, and insists that she really, REALLY likes her back.

And yet

-During the date, Susie still brings up how it was special to be alone with Kris at the diner.

-Upon consuming the tree cake in the DW, which in its description is said to taste like joyful memories, Ralsei and Susie think of each other. If dating Noelle truly was one of the best days ever, why did she not think of the ice cream they shared, and instead thinks of the cakes Ral makes?

-Susie's "idea of love" is naive and confused at best; and she emphasises that it requires that someone like you first, implying a substantial aspect of her infatuation is Noelle being infatuated with her,

-Susie says she can't stop thinking about Noelle's... heartbeat. Not anything particular about Noelle's appearance, or personality. Just her heartbeat upon holding her. Weird.

But there's more. Despite Susie's emphasis on rejecting traditional femininity, the minute Kris (and the player) enter castle town immediate focus is placed on Susie's appearance -- especially on her failure to conform to femininity-- and her nervousness and excitement about dating noelle. This ties directly into the ribbon. Susie has always been depicted in suits and other "boyish" clothing. She has strong, assertive, loud demeanor.

Why is everyone in the dark world being so emphatic of Susie gushing over Noelle, Noelle's name being in her every breath?

When Ralsei first makes rooms for Kris and Susie, Susie's door is shaped like a crown. The crowns always stood out. Jokingly I said Ralsei was calling her his princess. Now it turns out Flowery repeatedly addresses her as a princess, and you can dress her as a princess. She never opposes this, nor is she particularly visibly upset about it.

Despite questioning Kris' red heart, she accepts exposition about UI elements without flinching.

She retcons her reason for bullying kris from the explicit connection to their family and Toriel in all prior chapters and Newest Girl Girl, to being about thinking Kris and Noelle were dating. So not only has her current self changed, but also her retroactive understanding of events.

And this, in fact, seems to intensify across the chapter: At the beginning she still tells Kris she'll search for the bunker code, but near the end all of her interactions alone with the flowers are to have shallow one note expositions about love with Noelle. When you first equip the ribbon on her, she wears it as a bandanna, and is later shown with it on her head.

Just, what?

Sequence Breaking

It is at this point that I bring up that 3-5 were originally meant to be all delivered as a single package. Under the presumption that this was intentional, then, was the intent for us to jump immediately from one to the next, and be put off by the abrupt change in tone and characterisation? Is Ral pointing out all the ways in which she acts off and things are off -- despite being consumed by it himself, on some level, meant to remind you of how things were just yesterday?

And if so, what happened in the interlude between 4 and 5?

In my "Off the Rails" Ralsusie analysis of 3 and 4, I posited that Suselle is the "love finds its way to the girl" event of the prophecy. At the time my hypothesis was that Susie was then going to wield the pen of hope and reject that for herself. That would be Susie of course; not the skinwalker. We also know now that the field of pink and gold being scorched by the flames of jealousy wasn't about Asgore and Noelle as I initially thought, but Ralsei feeling jealousy and apprehension of Flowery-- Interestingly, over Susie's attention...

But wait. The fields weren't scorched by the inferno of jealousy. Ralsei has fire magic, and yet he did not burn everything down. But he was substantially pettier and more bitter than his usual self, almost uncharacteristically so--

Things are Weird

The Weird Route has an alternate outcome. Kris and Noelle can drown in the lake. The screen fades to white, and they are forcefully rolled back to-- The suselle scene at the beach.

While it continues to play out, it is intercut with Noelle's awareness that she could not defy fate. That because the player did not input "Proceed" sufficiently quick, Noelle alone could not change the set outcome. Only the player, whom she understands as Kris, has the agency to oppose it.

She still romances Susie, but the intercut scenes and her prior monologue about observing herself going through the motions imply that in this instance, she is acutely aware that she could be free, and couldn't do so. These thoughts exist, but are not outwardly expressed whatsoever. Instead, she posits to Susie the question as to whether she should run away, sequence break-- and then turns the possibility back and refuses to do so, wanting to stay for Susie's sake.

When you use the Shadow Crystal while the party's all together in 5, you can see "Susie at a window, unkempt and glaring." Noelle describes watching herself as if from behind glass.

Susie's resolve at the end of chapter 4 is to defy fate at whatever cost, so that the final tragedy does not have to occur. She leaves Toriel's house and canonically heads to the Dark World.

And then the following morning, a skinwalker.

Here's the crackpot hypothesis: What allows you to reach SIDE B is your power as the player. Susie does not have this power.

Susie wants to defy fate. Susie tries to defy fate. The next day, who is at the Dark world is The Girl. The girl who wears ribbons. The princess. The girl that love finds its way to.

Susie says Ralsei is "chattier" when Kris is not around. Ralsei stood up to fate by obeying her command to remove his hat. The other thing that everyone is emphatic about in the DW, besides susie being utterly besotted with Noelle, is that Ralsei should be wearing a hat. The hat is forced upon him twice. Ralsei wanted to believe things should change, just as Susie did. She inspired key steps he took toward his own personhood. She was the one to urge him to make his room his. Ralsei believed. Ralsei stood up to fate. Ralsei broke the rules. The universe quickly reminded him that he should not do so-- Or Everything Breaks Apart.

Ralsei prays for Kris. Ralsei prays for Susie, and prays, desperate already, for things to change. They don't. Love finds its way to the girl. The princess with her heart crossed with hope. And her ribbons.

Quick final thoughts

This in itself is an appetizer for a grander theory about the prophecy and the game making sure things stay on track across all media that takes after the prophecy; from Dragon Blazers to Lord of the Hammer to Deltarune itself. The theory's being worked on with two very dear friends, but it's still at the workshop. This post is solely my thoughts, though they definitely were a part of it. Look forward to it being cooked! Needless to say there's lots of interesting stuff with this idea of the game "railroading" everyone by force so that things play out how they're "supposed to"...