Thinking about Cyn... what’s very interesting about her as a villain is how each of the main Disassembly Drone squad (N, V, and J) are her favorites for different reasons. She has a toy for each purpose.
Take J. All the way from her manor days, J fully bowed to authority, even when it would harm her fellow drones (Cyn) or those she perhaps considered friends (Tessa). Even then, didn’t J distance herself from Tessa, and her very real hurt, by simply referring to her as “boss” and the cruel treatment by her mother as “corporate” having spoken? There were never any exceptions to these rules for her. And Cyn saw this, those predictable patterns of hers.. and had a very real reason to want to hurt J (locked in the basement by “corporate’s orders”).
When Cyn begins her whole universe domination plan, where else would J be but right there ready to fulfill orders? What, is J going to stop following a corrupt authority now of all times? If anything, J leans more into the corporate farce, continuing to justify the horrific things she does as following Corporate’s Orders. She simply twists the truth into something palatable for herself. Which makes it so very easy for Cyn take the form of J’s dead human companion, using it, and J’s performance as a sick kick, as a disguise to trick the others. She’s willing to stay silent on the reality of “Tessa” being Cyn (isn’t it so interesting the one DD who Cyn let know was J? Isn’t that so purposeful of Cyn to do?), failing to honor her old manor friend one more time. J is completely hapless and complaisant, a loyal little lackey til the end, so broken down she doesn’t see any life for herself outside the service to Cyn. She truly believes “there’s no escape, even in death”. There is nothing for J but a need to follow the leader, to do what’s best for her own self; why resist when it’s pointless? She has no drive for anything greater than that. She is completely unwilling to compromise her position for the genuine wellbeing of her team. The one time she reaches out to V is for V to join her on Cyn’s side. She is unyielding in her choice to stand by Cyn, completely unwilling to envision better for herself, let alone examine if she’s morally in the right. J is trapped in the loop of Cyn’s little games, and perhaps the worst part is, it’s J’s own behaviors that keep her truly stuck there. And Cyn knows J won’t try to break out of that. Why else pick J as her go-to lackey, out of the three main DDs?
And then V. V, the favorite little lab rat. The first victim of Cyn, the test subject, her body and mind first to be mangled into something Monstrous. The very first to have her body killed, her memories transplanted and meddled with, untold times while Cyn invented the Disassembly Drones. It’s fascinating how little we truly know about manor V; did she always have a potential for violence in her somewhere, simmering under possibly years of human mistreatment? Or was she truly just a shy, soft spoken maid, happy enough in the manor with N? Certainly, it is noteworthy that V’s manor personality seems the most drastically different than her DD one. But perhaps the reality of who she was doesn’t matter. Maybe all that does matter is that, to V, it was as if she had no choice in the new identity, this new body and role and bloodlust, she found herself in. (it does make one wonder if picking what looked like a shy little maid to first turn into a killing machine was a sick little joke on Cyn’s part. It’s sure not hard to make that conclusion).
V, believing it best for her and N’s safety, makes a deal with Cyn. Whatever, whoever, V used to be, she would lean into this new violent, agile, razor-sharp body Cyn crafted for her, cleaving metal and crushing bodies the same way her old bodies were disposed of. V’s deal was far more than simple selfless protection; she, as an individual, was absolutely terrified of Cyn. If Cyn claimed that she would leave V alone if she fulfilled the duties Cyn gave her, wouldn’t it be best to take that offer? Wouldn’t V do anything to avoid that kind of torture and fear again? She would. And she does. She pretends the manor never happened, that she never cared about N, that she was never anything more than a killing machine. To think of herself as anything else, to be honest with and reconnect with N, would shatter the sense of stability she has scraped together. It would mean acknowledging the danger rather than clinging to the coping mechanism. She is DESPERATE to not be that afraid ever again. Because it is Cyn that makes her well and truly afraid. All you need to do is compare how quick she jumps to dispose of Solver Uzi in episode 4 with how she immediately cowers when facing Cyn in episode 8. All of V’s defensive demeanor, including her almost-always-out knife hands, vanish in an instant as she becomes placating and desperate to beseech Cyn as someone who could be helpful to her again (“I can still…”). And Cyn finds V’s fear amusing. Cyn mocks V for failing in the deal (“bad job, V”), and laughs while tantalizing slowly dangling N’s heart over her own waiting jaws. V was always able to be controlled by her terror. That’s what made her such a good little weapon. As soon as she’s exhausted her usage? Well, she could always just be replaced with another more pliant backup.
And N? N is the Favorite Favorite. See, Cyn LIKES N. J is a means to an end, easy to manipulate, and V, for all her bravado, falls apart immediately at the slightest aggression from Cyn. They have so little moral and mental fortitude. But N? From the very beginning in the manor, he was brave, kindhearted, not so easily swayed. He stood up for Cyn when nobody else would, even when doing so would get any of them seriously hurt. It’s very possible he, as a naturally patient and kind individual, was one of the few at the manor to treat her with actual care and respect. Cyn found this fascinating. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that she wasn’t being wholly ingenuine when calling N a brother. After all, she found him so very endearing that she decided his whole squad should have their ability to form personalities preserved (implying that the other DDs would have been rendered fully mindless, much like the flashback N sees of his very squad in episode 7).
And yet, vitally, she twists him, too. Cyn loved N for what she probably perceived as a bumbling and naive sort of outlook on the world. And so it is him who has his memories wholly wiped, him alone who is always left in the dark. It’s much easier to keep N as he was without those pesky memories making him question his own reality, isn’t it? So much better to keep him just like she likes him. She even tries to wipe him again in episode 7, only failing because of Uzi’s assumption of his admin. J and V play straight into Cyn’s hand if she just pulls the strings properly, because neither of them would dare speak up against her. Her enjoyment and use of them hinged on their following her, even with horrible knowledge, because they wouldn’t have the willpower to resist. But N? N’s sort of easygoing, compassionate nature completely opposes himself with Cyn’s penchant for cruel, manipulative jokes and carnage. I don’t think there’s a world where a fully aware N (knowing what Cyn has done, that WDs are fully sentient, etc) would genuinely choose to give up and serve Cyn to save his own skin, or even just to save his squad’s at the expense of all worker drones. The very thing Cyn liked about him would always make him oppose her, and, honestly, I don’t think she wanted him to oppose her! That wasn’t what he was Meant to do, he’s meant to be by her side, what does it matter if he’s opposed to it?? (“You will not talk to me because I have hurt. Your feelings,” in a condescending as hell way lol)
Anyhow! This is at least how I see Cyn’s handlings with the DDs based on the show itself. She curates them closely to be what best serves and amuses herself, and, when you look at it, she doesn’t need to do much! One follows with almost no pushing, having given up long ago; one is desperate to serve, to cling to any remaining sense of safety she can; and one is hardly given a choice to follow, by design, because allowing him to choose to do so is inconvenient.
People take to J's words on N being incapable a bit too quickly considering the fact that we actually DO see that N is fully capable in plenty of situations. He's just also self sacrificial and wanting so so badly to help J and V in any way he can.
Like. N straight up is the only one capable of actually dealing with an overheating and Solver transformed Uzi, V got fucking BODIED so fast. He had every single drone in the bunker dead to rights in the pilot if he simply didn't feel bad about making Uzi learn her dad would leave her for dead. V and J waited just long enough for N and Uzi's final stand off and for Khan to leave Uzi, which is what ended up tripping the alarms in the bunker.
Literally that's it. If N just simply didn't care as much, he'd be so stupidly efficient he'd probably leave J and even V in the dust. He's arguably the best fighter among them, and if he stopped caring, nothing would even remotely hold him back.
Respectfully and this is one of my boredpostings so y'all get forewarning that I'm just saying shit
But
MD Fandom really needs to lock in on the idea of Lizzy being cruel/violent/power tripping because not only is it fun to see but it's also not that out of the realm of possibility considering her closest friends are (V and Doll mainly) as well as some canon evidence for it being possible (her willingness to throw others under the bus for her own agenda (Rebecca at prom in the show and the "everyone for themselves" line in the comic).
Literally, I swear if she got any more power (solver or otherwise, yeah I can't really not say this post is tinted with "Solver Lizzy" shades) she'd be dangerous purely off of how selfish she can be sometimes.
rlly fascinating phenomenon to me is when a character is extremely popular, and that popularity seems understandable enough because they've got something interesting going on, and then you look at the fandom and realize 99% of their fans don't actually care about engaging with any of the things that make them interesting and instead seem to be fans of an imaginary milquetoast version that exists solely for ship and/or angst content and is so far removed from the canon character they might as well be an unrelated OC at this point
Can you draw her with her hair in a ponytsil with sparkles in it to make it look like a galazy?
And i'd love to make you not lonely, wanna speak?
since she has short hair she gets a short ponytail lol, I really like this drawing tbh. and the sparkles match her hair clip too.
anyways im not exactly lonely, just a bit bored. Thats why im taking requests lol
Originally this concept was for Chapter 6, following a theory I'd heard in which Chapter 5 concludes with Asgore, knowingly or not, kicking off the Roaring, leading to multiple dark worlds, old and new, open in Chapter 6 that we jump in and out of in an attempt to save Darkners, taking them to Castle Town, and heard Lightners to The Bunker where the entire story begins to reach it's climax.
While I do still really love the idea of seeing just a single room of a Dark world before being rushed to the next, getting glimpses into adventures we didn't have time for, Undertale 10th Anniversary Stream bonus areas style, I realize now this concept is EXTREMELY speculatory at best, hinging on a concept based on a theory based on a hunch of a pattern that has already been blatantly subverted.
So. To avoid sounding like a True Maniac by putting all my Eggs in the Titan Asgore Basket, I have shelved my Chapter 6 King Rematch concept, and instead bring to you;
Why I think Spade King, Deltarune Chapter 1's Final Boss, might be a Secret Boss and possibly even the Shadow Crystal Holder in Deltarune Chapter 5
A quick and dirty dive into the Spade King, by Emile-Hides
Strap in gamers this post is looong.
Right, so let's start by explaining why I separated Secret and Shadow Bosses. The difference isn't actually that important, but it's a good starting point as any.
In Deltarune Chapters 1 and 2 there are super bosses one can choose to fight by stepping off the storied path and Unlocking them, both interestingly with keys, the Broken Key for Jevil and the Keygen for Spamton Neo.
For defeating this cool super secret boss you are rewarded either a Weapon or an Armor, depending on if you took mercy on the Enemy or chose to beat the shit out of them, and a Shadow Crystal, a little annoying piece of glass that I will talk about Later.
In Deltarune Chapter 3 there is a Secret boss you can unlock by stepping off the storied path and Unlocking them with not one, but TWO special keys; The Ice Key, and the Shelter Key. For defeating this insanely difficult optional boss you are gifted... an Armor. Even though you have no choice but to attack this character. And what about the Shadow Crystal?
Well it turns out that's not THE Secret Boss of Chapter 3, oh no. The ACTUAL Secret boss of Deltarune Chapter 3 is the ROARING FUCKING KNIGHT, who drops both the aforementioned promised Weapon as well as the Shadow Crystal.
But, wait, can you even call the Roaring Knight a "secret" boss? I mean, no matter what you will have to face them at the end of Chapter 3, it's just you CAN progress the story without beating them if you're not doing the Shadow Crystal Quest. And while the Armor you get from the actually secret secret boss is Helpful, you CAN do the Roaring Knight fight without it, making them more of a hidden bonus rather than anything actually important to the overarching Shadow Crystal plotline.
And what's with the keys?? Even Chapter 4's Secret Boss is unlocked with a Key. Granted it's the musical kind rather than a physical lock and key like previously, but it's still a running theme, unlocking the secret bosses is part of their central theming right??
And what about the MIKE fight??? They're secret, you need to ignore the running narrative to go fight them, their gimmick can make them rather difficult, and in one of their songs they have the leitmotif most associated with Shadow Crystal Holders, while The Roaring Knight, who gives a Shadow Crystal, doesn't???
This is all to say; I've decided for the sake of Chapter 3 Specifically to split the concept in two. A Secret Boss is a battle that must be actively unlocked by the player choosing to disrupt intended story progression, where as a Shadow Crystal Holder is anyone who upon being defeated gives a Shadow Crystal.
Do these categories have 90% overlap? Yes. Do I think the percentage of outliers will grow in future chapters? I think it's a possibility, especially given the next Shadow Crystal is the last but there are three chapters left. And I think it's very possible for Spade King to be either, so I'd rather have the option out there.
Super Boss, btw, will refer to both types of Bosses at once, just for all the many times I'll need that.
Next, let's cover the driving motivation of our Secret Bosses;
Freedom
Freedom's sort of a Loaded Word in Deltarune, especially to it's characters. Kris and Spamton crave freedom from their puppet masters, Ralsei wishes for Freedom from the prophecy, from the Narrative he's been born to follow, Jevil believes himself truly free, as he accepts the Nothingness of being a character in a destined narrative, Susie and Gerson embody Freedoms of their own, breaking free of the Prophecy's narrative, knowingly or not, and writing their own stories, choosing their own paths.
Even Nightmare, or Eram as I believe the fandom calls it, though through taunts, mentions Freedom. The Freedom not to have to choose, to give into darker desires, to push blame onto someone or something else. The Freedom of giving up control.
Obviously Freedom is coursing through the Secret Boss encounters, so for Spade King to join them he'd have to have some Freedom theming, right?
Well. Yeah. And he does. Actually quiet a bit of it.
Along side heavy association with Jevil, one of our Freedom Heads, King also has a strong desire for his own sort of Freedom, a lot like Spamton's, just held back by what he Doesn't Know about his own world.
King's actually a very interesting boss because he Subverts the status-quo before we even know it's the Status-quo yet. By being so Anti-Lightner, driven to find his own purpose without them, King actually aligns much more closely to Super Bosses like Spamton and Jevil than he does with the other Chapter Bosses.
Because yes while Queen and Tenna are antagonistic in their chapters, their end goals are still to Serve Their Purpose and provide their basic functions to Lightners, something that King has fully abandoned ever returning to. While their motivations for going against the fun gang are the same, feelings or worries of Abandonment, Queen and Tenna look to solve this by hooking the Lightner's attention again, where as King's solution is to Destroy the Lightners who left him in alone in the dark, freeing all Darkners from the subservient dynamic they endure under so that none of them shall ever be abandoned again.
Honestly, it's a pretty solid idea, almost kind of noble in a way too... But unfortunately it's not a plan that would have worked how he wanted it to.
Also quick side tangent; Another common Theme in the Secret Bosses has been a sort of back and forth between Holy and Unholy. Jevil is a Devil, Spamton wants to get to Heaven, Nightmare adopts Kris' Demon imagery and enhances it, and Gerson is the father of a priest who wrote basically an in-universe version of Veggie Tales for Teenagers.
And while it wouldn't fit the back and forth, King does have more Holy imagery; Kings are often said to be lineages chosen by God to Rule, and based on the fact that Lancer has a bike we can assume the Card Castle residents are specifically a Bicycle Standard Deck, which interestingly enough have depictions of Angels on the back.
Next we'll cover another common thread in the Super Bosses;
Mirrors of the Heroes
This one's obvious and we're not gonna take too much time explaining what I mean here; Jevil is a Counter to Chapter 1 Susie, being Violent because at the end of the day nothing he does matter anyway so he might as well do whatever the hell he wants, Spamton is a mirror of Kris which is something I'm SURE you've seen at least 5 video essays of, and there's an argument to be made on how he may parallel Ralsei as well which we'll get to.
There's also Nightmare actively taunting Kris about their violent urges/tendencies, possibly being a manifestation of those intrusive thoughts, or at the very least a solid example of them. Is this the same as the previous mirroring? Well sort of. More like Parroting. We'll get into that too.
Then we have The Knight and Gerson and this is where it's interesting. While there is argument to be had about how The Knight and Gerson could mirror Kris and Susie respectively, something something Freedom and following versus forging your own path and what not, that's not actually what I want to focus on here.
Instead, and I'm gonna divert a bit and talk about Susie here; If Jevil is Chapter 1 Susie, before she starts playing along, before she starts believing her choices truly matter, then Gerson, someone who not only believes her choices matter, but believes she alone can shape her own future, even write the prophecy's ending, then perhaps, rather than mirroring Chapter 4 Susie, Gerson is showing us a Glimpse into who Susie will eventually grow to be. A girl with hope crossed on her heart, the wielder of the white pen of hope, with the power and the determination to write her own ending.
If that's the case we could take that view back with us to Chapter 3; Where Nightmare is a Reflection of Kris' past, their violence, their trauma, their suppression and rage, the Knight is likely to be Kris' future. After all they are working together, it's not completely out of the question for them to become an antagonist, an obstacle in our way. They are already driving the story, the prophecy, forward, toward the ending.
Let's take that to our final hero; Ralsei. Spamton would be his Past Reflection; a Darkner tied to fate, someone who knows more than they ever should have known, frozen by their knowledge with indecision on what to share. The strings pull them along, they can only say so much, do so much, reach so high, want for nothing. They fight for change, they hope for change, they pray for change.. but it never comes.
Spamton's previous Partnership to Tenna could even reflect Ralsei's partnership to Susie if you perhaps believe Susie is not part of the original prophecy, as Tenna and Spamton have no real reason to have interacted. Tenna is an old Television, Spamton is an Email, as far as real-world meetings go their objects have no means of interfacing with eachother, much like Ralsei and Susie if say Susie wasn't supposed to be part of the prophecy. And yet they became Friends, Partners, Comrades, what have you. Tenna MATTERED to Spamton, so much so he was willing to share what he knew, what the voice on the phone told him, despite having many hesitations about it. This lines up with Ralsei as well, he's scared to share what he knows, terrified and hesitant to speak of it, overwhelmed with his knowledge and what it all might mean and what it might do to Susie, how it might Hurt Her.
So then, what about King? Well. His mirror to Ralsei is very evident, especially sense Chapter 3 and 4's release.
Ralsei made it abundantly clear in Chapter 3 he fully believes he will one day no longer be of use to Kris and Susie, and they will leave him. He both starts and ends the chapter not just implying but basically telling us to our faces that he does not believe he has any staying power, and that he is Expecting to be Abandoned one day. To serve his purpose and be tosses aside when he grows obsolete
This almost perfectly reflects Spade King; After being sentenced to Hamster Life in the Castle Basement instead of being left alone in the unused classroom, King still refuses to play nice with Lightners because he believes that even this Castle Town is Temporary, that they will eventually abandon him again, that to Kris and Susie he and everyone else in this town are nothing more than playthings, toys to be left when they become bored of them. Objects that inevitably become obsolete.
So Ralsei and King have similar worldviews, that no matter what, to the Lightners they are simple Distractions, nothing worth truly ever caring about, but they go about these ideologies very very differently. Where Ralsei has fully resigned himself to this fact, to the prophecy being absolute, to his role in the story being that of a smiling sidekick, King refutes this reality. He fights to subvert this dynamic, his fate, he denies playing along, he refuses to give in, he fights dirty, in the dark between the lines, because even when outmatched, he refused to give in, to lose as he was expected to do.
Does this mean, like Kris, I think Ralsei will become an antagonist fighting the Lightners in some sort of Darkner rebellion? No. HOWever, taking a step up a level, away from Darkners and Lightners, and instead to the Prophecy, we can see a lot of King's ideology already developing in Ralsei.
Chapter 4 gave us some GREAT Ralsei moments, the most impactful of them, to me at least, being when, despite it all, he chooses to Hope, to believe, and to fight in the vain attempt the Prophecy he's been living under his entire life Can be changed. That his role CAN be subverted.
I think in a way this is Reflective of King fighting to be more than just a Toy to be tossed away. This too is Ralsei fighting to be more than a Character in the Story, to face his role and break it, to change his Purpose, to pursue his very own in fact.
A fresh Purpose, one might say.
Another quick sidebar; You may notice that Nightmare being Kris' Past and The Knight being their Future happen in the same chapter. This isn't really anything too important but I do find it interesting that the only chapter with a separate Secret and Shadow boss is Also the chapter where the change from Past to Future reflections happen.
Now this one has a bit less weight to it but in the past two bosses I've noticed a new pattern or theme emerge;
Proving Yourself
Between Gerson and The Knight there's some weight suddenly being put on our Heroes to Prove Themselves in these Shadow Boss fights.
The more obvious being Gerson, though he says he was going to give Susie the Axe (hammer) regardless if she won or lost, you do still only get it by winning, as Susie herself is determined to prove she's worthy of it.
The Knight then doesn't actively challenge Kris in anyway, but if you do manage to beat them, they acknowledge this, knighting Kris after the battle. Now if this is Kris or US the player being recognized as Worthy is up to debate, but the point still stands someone here proved themselves to the Knight, wither it be Us as Strong or Kris as Loyal comes down to Kris Slash Theory I think.
So then what could Ralsei possibly have to Prove to King? Well. A lot actually.
For one thing, King is. Well. A King. And Ralsei is a Prince. And while not entirely relevant to much in the actual narrative, King does question Ralsei's capacity to Rule,
There's also, of course, his worldviews. King believes there is no point in fraternizing with Lightners, that Friendship with their kind is but a waste of time, where as Ralsei truly believes if we are just Kind Enough something good will surely come of it.
King is, interestingly, the first Enemy who cannot be spared by the player, and even after surrendering and being show Kindness by Ralsei, he continues to attack, taking the party out in a surprise rush with his new found health, and, if you did beat him with violence, taunting Susie that one more hit from her would surely kill him, which is exactly what he expects of Lightners; Cruelty for those who refuse to play along.
The previous Shadow Boss, Gerson, interestingly paced us out; Took our healing items, our party members, heck even our ability to just give a character a shitton of HP via hacking, and made us simply survive a set amount of turns with dodging and TP management.
Now Fun Fact; You CAN finish Chapter 1's Spade King fight Without doing damage to him. The fight will always end on turn 15 regardless of what you did for those turns.
So. What if we had to do that again. 15 turns of Super Boss level onslaught attacks without Fighting Back? The fastest Pacifist Jevil fight is, I believe, 16 turns. Given King's connection to Jevil, I think that'd be a fun tie back to him, though it may be a little easy for our supposed last Shadow Crystal Boss, especially given the uptick in difficultly with The Knight, so it'll probably take more if there is a set turn limit. Sans takes 22 turns, I believe, for reference, so somewhere in that ballpark would be fine.
When I say without fighting back I don't really mean King challenges Ralsei to prove his ideals by not fighting back or something direct like that, I think it's more likely King DOES something to Ralsei that prevents him from fighting, at least physically. Maybe he takes his Weapon or maybe he breaks the UI akin to Asgore in Undertale, which would be a good way to tie him to Chapter 5's potential Asgore-based central theme.
This could then lead to Ralsei potentially learning or making use of an Attacking Spell. This theory has some merit, as unspareable enemies become more common, Ralsei's attack being very sub-par compared to our other two heroes, and the fact that we've seen him use Fire Magic, he just doesn't give us access to it in his Magic Menu from Some Reason.
Now obviously something Key like unlocking a Spell wouldn't be locked in an optional Shadow Crystal side plot, so most likely Ralsei would unlock the spell earlier in the chapter, but perhaps refuse to use it? This could be for several reasons, the most interesting to me being that the Prince from the Dark in the Prophecy is depicted using Fire Magic. There's a chance Ralsei refuses to use it because it's strong, because he fears we wouldn't choose kindness if we could just blast shit with Fire. Maybe he thought locking a tool like that away would bring about a different ending?
King then has the potential to teach him different. Not actively, like Gerson did to Susie, but just by being his Stubborn, Lightner hating, Falsely Surrendering self, perhaps he could lead Ralsei's will to change.
Side note; I think it'd be fun if, like Sans from Undertale, the battle had a sort of False End, where King surrenders like he did in Chapter 1, where showing him mercy results in an immediate Game Over. It'd be in character for him, and let's all be real; It's cool as hell when Sans dunks on you and I so badly want to see another character use the player's desire for Friendship and Mercy against them. And who better than someone who has already canonically done that!
Now we actually need to go back in my statements just a bit for our next point;
The Last Shadow Crystal
So, as you may or may not know, in Chapter 4 upon delivering the Shadow Crystal from The Knight fight Seam says;
The fourth then being Gerson's, which we don't give to them this chapter, as Susie prevents us from going to Castle town after the Church Dark World is closed, and even if you reload to go back to Castle Town and do the silly Mike Game, Seam's Shop is blocked off with Tenna Rope.
So, this implies this next Crystal will be our last, that in Chapter 5 we finally reach the end of this odd quest Seam honestly didn't believe we'd manage through, and receive our reward for five, optionally six, super bosses defeated.
And like. We still don't know a Damn Thing about these Damn Crystals.
We have HINTS, sure, the Fallen Star book in Chapter 4's Egg Room mentioned something that looks like glass growing from tears. We have the Knight in Chapter 3, who gives us that chapter's crystal, crying when we first approach them. We have that one shithead Pippins' weirdly victim-blaming speech about how "No one will shed a tear for him" about Ramb who was CERTAINLY giving Shadow Crystal Holder energy and had ties to the Actually Secret secret boss of the chapter.
We have Implications as well. You can look through the Crystals in the Dark Worlds and see their Light World counterparts, the Unused Classroom, the Computer lab, the Dreemurr television broken. You can see through Kris' hand which is just one of many hints about the potential for Kris losing that sometime in the future, along with seeing Susie glaring at them coldly, possibly leaning more to Kris being an Antagonist and their collaboration with the Knight coming to light in the future. Most notably you can look at the final prophecy with it and see that no matter what angle you look at it from you never see it change.
But we don't have a single SOLID bit about them. Even Seam, the character we're GIVING these gems too, hasn't really told us what they ARE or what they're DOING with them or what they do ON THEIR OWN.
It's completely unclear what Jevil and Spamton saw through their crystals, as Jevil was said to change after meeting with a "strange someone" and Spamton after he "found someone, or someone found him", implying their worldviews, what they seem to know about the world of Deltarune as a whole (possibly that it is a Video Game), came from that Someone rather than something the Crystal showed them.
Okay so Knowledge beyond their comprehension that drove Jevil and Spamton to Madness came from a Someone, not the Crystals. But the Shadow Crystals also show the future? And Reality? But aren't something Jevil or Spamton actually used to gain the knowledge of the Future and Reality they Have.
But someone WANTED Gerson to USE his, but if using it just shows the Prophecy or the Future then what would that do sense he, like Spamton and Jevil, clearly already KNOW the Prophecy and thus the Future like they did before they came across their Crystals????
And on TOP of not knowing EXACTLY what these little pieces of glass even DO, we ALSO don't know!! Where they're coming from!!!
Despite the previous mention of the Knight crying just before we obtain a crystal from them, and a not previously mentioned but well known fact that Gerson saw the Knight fly through his study before he found the Crystal in his desk, we're still not 100% that the Knight is the one handing them out.
Mostly because of Spamton's crystal. While we never get told how Jevil got ahold of his, Seam says outright that Spamton's was "in the old machine", Mettaton's Neo Body, and questions aloud if "perhaps, long ago, that old machine was very important to someone", and then waves that off as "Just a Hunch"
Does this tie to Shadow Crystals being Tears again? Maybe. Does this mean the Crystal Spamton had was created by Mettaton's tears? But if that's so and the Shadow Crystal holders are meant to be Beloved or at least have something dear to a Lightner, then WHY did the Knight hand deliver one to Gerson??? AND WHY DOES JEVIL HAVE ONE???? WHO CRIED OVER A DECK OF CARDS????
This, dear reader, is just a quick look at my personal Annoyance with Shadow Crystal Lore. Is it becoming clearer by the Chapter? Yes, of course, we have very good evidence at this point at the Crystals are some sort of manifestation of a Lightner's Grief or Abandoned Dreams or something similar. However, the WHY of who has them and the Double Why of the Knight having one (making one???) in Chapter 3 is still mind boggling.
Thus, I would like to give one to Spade King, because Spade King is, first and foremost, a massive Yapper.
YES all Chapter Bosses monologue at you it is totally part of their entire thing Queen even jokes about looping her dialogue at you HOWever. King is very special in the Exposition Department to me because he's Still Fucking Doing It.
Every chapter so far you can go down to the basement and visit King in gay baby jail and he, despite claiming to hate Lightners and not wanting to fraternize with them, will give us new info about his connections to characters like the Knight, Jevil, Queen, Seam, etc., while if you talk to Queen after Chapter 2 she... Offers to let you drink her acid. Cool, but not lore relevant.
King's speech is very verbose, during his boss fight he says exactly why he is doing what he's doing and does so clear and cut, he wears what he knows and doesn't know about the Knight and Jevil on his sleeve, and he LOVES to brag about or lord something over the Fun Gang, something he knows, something he has, especially when it has to do with the Knight.
He's EXACTLY the kind of guy we want to tell us about this useless shard of glass and what he saw and who gave it to him while he kicks our ass into next Tuesday.
"BUT EMILE" cries a theoretical Straw, "CHAPTER 5 IS SUPPOSEDLY GOING TO TAKE PLACE IN FLOWER KING, HOW COULD SPADE KING GET TO FLOWER KING EMILE"
Multiple ways that both tie into this section thus why it's here instead of anywhere else but we're going to focus on one okay so Look. Lemme ask you something.
How is Ralsei getting around the Dark Worlds?
You could say Kris has him, whatever he is, in the secret pocket we don't have access to that they also keep their knife in, True, but then why don't we ever see him Leave their pocket as a little piece of glitter like Rouxls does in Chapter 2? Why does he have to Find and Catch Up To Us after we enter the Dark World instead of just Spawning in with us? Why does he act like he hasn't seen us in years at the start of Chapter 2 when he's theoretically been in Kris' pocket the whole time, and Darkners supposedly have awareness of the world around their Light World Counterpart based on Tenna and Ramb's dialogue in Chapter 3?
And WHAT is with the Grand Fountain? A Dark Fountain that gives off a special Darkness that allows all Lightners to maintain their form under it?? How???
Well. By being connected to other Dark Fountains.
I'm suggesting then that Ralsei is using the Grand Fountain in Castle Town like a Teleporter, thus how he's able to be in every Dark World, but never With Us when we arrive, as he instead has to run from that world's fountain to where we are.
And maybe King, after escaping his Cell in the basement, takes to the Fountain as well. He honestly probably didn't know how it works, sense his current character trait is being out of the loop, much like Asgore in the Roaring Conspiracy, but regardless, he ends up teleporting to the recently opened Flower King Fountain, or wherever the fountain may be, allowing him to play as the Super Boss to Chapter 5.
This point is in the Final Crystal section because it ties back to my previous point of King being a Yapper. Wouldn't it be SO nice to have him just TELL US he used the Grand Fountain to get here, giving an indirect explanation on how Ralsei gets around, and a single new piece of lore on how the Grand Fountain Works?
And wouldn't it be fun then if just as he's giving us new info, it's no longer relevant? King's always been on a delay for info anyway, trying to scare us about Queen and the Knight, but only after we've fought them, so it'd be kinda fitting for him to have a shadow crystal and tell us all it showed him, just for us to never get another one after it, or for him to finally explain how Ralsei is getting around other Dark Worlds, just in time for the Roaring to start, allowing Ralsei to just walk around town with us.
Seems like a fun end to his character.
Next we should probably address the game play elements of these boss fights;
What would a Rematch even Look Like?
In the Proving yourself section we already sort of discussed the idea of Ralsei having to survive an onslaught of King's strongest attacks without fighting back to "prove" his ideals to King, or perhaps more to himself, which I think would be a fun counter to Gerson's fight where you can only beat him BY attacking, but what actually would that be?
For one, why just Ralsei? Wouldn't the rest of the Fun Gang be there? Well... No. Kris fought Nightmare alone, Susie fought Gerson alone, I think it's only fair Ralsei fight King alone, and what a fitting guy for Ralsei to fight alone huh? The guy who took advantage of his kindness to hurt him and his friends.
But HOW do we get Ralsei alone with Spade King? Well my original thought was Ralsei just wouldn't be with the group in Chapter 5, that the main party would be Kris, Susie, and Noelle, and we could maybe check in on Ralsei here and there. Maybe he stayed behind in Castle Town for Royal Reasons, maybe he's mixed up with Flowers and held somewhere with Asgore, maybe the Grand Doors to Card Kingdom opened, causing some of the Grand Fountain to flow into the abandoned Card Kingdom and make a mini fountain. Maybe King escaped his hamster cell and is hiding alone in his empty castle, sense Chapter 4 taught us Fountains can split off eachother and there is a slight hint the Grand Doors to the classroom may open again.
But, wait, that can't work, sense WE, the player, the soul, are with Kris. Well maybe Kris can send us off, like Ralsei sometimes has us do with Susie, most notably when she fights Lancer in Chapter 1, right? Well, actually, interestingly enough if you pay attention during the fight, after an attack the Soul doesn't go to Susie, it goes up over Lancer's head to the Top Right, up to where Kris and Ralsei's cell is. This is more noticeable during the Gerson fight where we can see just slightly off screen the Soul re-entering Kris after an attack.
So, we can't leave Kris, or at least be THAT far from them, sense we return to them after every enemy attack, so they'd have to be there for a Solo Ralsei fight, which is a problem, as unlike with Gerson where we'd all be in agreement to a Friendly Spar, there's No Way In Hell Susie would let Ralsei fight Spade King alone.
Well, then, what if she didn't have a choice? Along with Spades and Chains, one of King's many themes is also Cadges. I mean, he's been in one for 3 chapters now, he locked the other Suit Kings in Jail during Chapter 1, and two of his four whole attacks are titled Cadge, being a Spiked and a Chained Cadge. So what if he captured Susie and Kris somehow? Used the same feigning defeat tactic as he did in Chapter 1 perhaps and trapped them, leaving Ralsei? It wouldn't be the first time a villain forgot to set a Cadge aside for him after all
So that's it? It's just a harder King fight with Just Ralsei, our squishiest party member? Well yeah. I dunno when you last saw King's boss fight, but I think it has a lot of potential to be rather difficult if his attacks just Went Faster.
I'm no game designer, nor have I actually fought any of the Super Bosses for myself because I'm Bad At Games, so I don't actually have a strong concept to this, but his Chain Attack with the red lines telegraphing where it'd come from does mimic Asriel's Chaos Buster in Undertale, and I find his Chained Cadge attack where he drags the hitbox around in a random pattern to be very interesting, especially when touching the sides of the box also does damage. I think if any of King's attacks went quicker or had more bullets he could be a pretty difficult boss.
"BUT EMILE" whines the previously mentioned Straw, "WHAT ABOUT THE SOUL COLOR EMILE WHAT ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER EMILE"
Well I personally think the Soul color won't change for Chapter 5, for a plethora of reasons I won't get into for now, but if we MUST address the Newsletter image, then fine.
So back in Spring 2024 we got an official Undertale/Deltarune Newsletter with this image in it
And for SOME reason beyond MY comprehension, the vast majority of Super Boss theory crafters take this random flower image as gospel for the next Soul Color change being Purple, and sense the next boss is our Last Shadow Crystal Holder, clearly THEY have to use the Purple soul because after that we won't have any more Super Bosses right? Right??
Well, wrong. On multiple fronts.
For one, even after the Shadow Crystal plot line wraps up we could still have Secret Bosses. Hell, King could very well be a non-crystal holding Secret boss. I already mentioned the concept of King escaping, opening the Grand Doors, and running away to hide in an empty Card Kingdom. Perhaps Chapter 5 will be a Chapter where, like 2, we go to Castle Town twice; Once before the chapters main dark world where we can hang, get acquainted with the changes Chapter 4's Darkners have made, and optionally learn of Spade King's escape from his Prison, and once after the main adventure where we can return to Seam our last Shadow Crystal, and optionally chase after King now that the Grand Doors to Card Castle are open.
I'm thinking something more akin to the Mikes Secret Boss fight, completely optional with no affect to the story, just a little bonus fight like in the Battle Dojo, with a little sprinkle of character growth for King even, and a little glimpse into an Empty Dark World, as Card Kingdom's Darkners are all in Castle Town.
This would make him still a Secret Boss without having to make him a Shadow Boss, along with continuing the new trend of a Secret Boss that Doesn't have a Shadow Crystal, thus letting the Shadow Boss of Chapter 5 doing some Purple Shit to you. Though I personally don't think they're going to.
BUT. To counter my own back peddle; I actually think Spade King has a really strong chance to use the Purple Soul Mode.
For one, every reused Soul mode has been Different, upgraded in some way. Yellow had a charge shot, Green had an octagon instead of a square defense, even in Undertale there was a gimmick change from Papyrus to Sans with the Blue Soul, with the latter battle changing gravity, making it so you had to jump downwards, left, or right rather than just straight up
So what pray tell could Purple, the mode where you are on Rails, on Strings, with Limited Movement, do to up the anti?
Imagine with me for a moment a world where King does not grab the hit box and instead throws his chain directly into the soul, stabbing us onto his Chain of Justice that he whips around, that you have to keep up with and stay on, all while jumping from one chain to the next to avoid his bullets.
Oh and actually on that note of King's Chain attack, that's pretty rare, right? For the Hitbox to be moving like that? But it's so weird you know I feel like I've only ever seen the box actively moving in one other fight... what was it...
Huh. But I'm sure that's nothing.
Also side note; Muffet and Spade King are also both not Toby Fox designed characters. Muffet was designed by Michelle Czajkowski as a Patron reward and Spade King was made by Kanotynes for a School Final. This, too, could mean nothing.
Finally, I'd like to touch on a Speculative topic;
The Weapon
I hate do assign you reading, especially this far in the post (thankyou for reading this far if you have my god I'm so sorry), but just so I don't have to talk for ten years about why this section is just the Weapon and not like the Armor or the Loot, go watch this Goldpro Video about what the Shadow Crystals may lead to. I'm a very firm believer in this theory, and this next part is very deeply rooted in it.
If you don't have 20 minutes to spare in the middle of an already Very Long Post, I'll skip all the evidence and just say the assumption; The Shadow Crystals combine to create an item called the Pure Crystal that Malius can then fuse with ONE of our Four hero's best weapons, The Black Shard, The Justice Axe, The Thorn Ring, or whatever Ralsei will get from Spade King, to make an Ultimate Weapon, possibly to fight the last Secret Boss, possibly to fight the Final Final boss, possibly to subvert the Prophecy and get a Different Ending, possibly just for Funsies.
Now to take those ten years I saved not explaining the Pure Crystal Theory and instead waste it on an entirely DIFFERENT tangent;
Have you noticed none of the Super Boss Weapons fits their Hero's typical Weapon class?
The most obvious is Susie's sense we get actual Visuals for them, with Jevil transforming into the Devilsknife both during and after the fight, and the Justice Axe being Center Stage before and after the Gerson fight. Despite both being Susie weapons, and the latter even being called one, it's very clear that neither of these weapons are Axes; the Devilsknife is a Scythe, and the Justice Axe is a Hammer.
The same goes for Ralsei's weapon; The Puppet Scarf. While again called a Scarf it is just Spamton Neo's strings knotted together into a Rope. Technically it works as a Scarf, I suppose, the same way a bucket could be a hat. You could say those Strings could be thread, thus just making it a Knit scarf that hasn't been knit together yet, but Noelle comments that the Strange Strings "Feel like guitar strings" when you try to equip it to her, implying a more wire like texture and thickness. It also, like Susie's weapons, has a Visual, and it looks like This btw
The most obvious example of this is Black Shard because it's exactly what it says it is; a Shard. It's not a Sword, it's not even Sword-LIKE, it's "a dagger-like shard of the Black Knife". It's actually SO different from Kris' usual weapons that it even has it's own UNIQUE icon in the menu rather than the Sword icon.
If you follow the Weird route there's even a possibility this could be true for Noelle as well, as we see in Malius' fuse menu combining Noelle's Thorn Ring with the Pure Crystal to make The Twisted Sword. This may be Noelle's final weapon, which would also be a different weapon class than all her previous weapons, which are interestingly only available to you in the Weird Route at all.
What does this mean for the Chapter 5 secret Boss? Well that if they do end up giving Ralsei a weapon, it probably won't be just a Scarf. It may be something Scarf-Like, or vaguely Scarf Shaped? Something you could wear wrapped around you, but not a Scarf.
Like say... A Chain?
"BUT EMILE" cries that damn straw that I hate, "SPADE KING'S CHAIN OF JUSTICE IS CONNECTED TO HIM IT'S HIS TONGUE ARE YOU SAYING RALSEI CUTS OUT KING'S TUMMY TONGUE??? WHAT HAPPENED TO PACIFISM???"
You know who ELSE gives us something that looks like it's attached to them when defeated through pacifism? Something that, like King's Spade tipped chain, shows what card they are?
Like Jester like Chaos King <3
Now sit with me for a moment Theoretical Straw and also Patient Reader, and imagine with me, a Chapter 5 where Spade King is our Shadow Boss, where the weapon he gives you is his Chain of Justice, renamed The Justice Scarf. Where Susie and Ralsei are now Warriors of Justice with matching weapons of Justice, like True Heroes.
And Kris, oh Kris, still being caught in Double Trucies, is left with a Black Shard, a dagger-like rough chunk of another's blade, a weapon not even fully their own. A reminder that they aren't really a Hero. That they're not fighting for Justice, that they're not here to save the world because that's what is right. Like a reflection of their weapon being a Shard of another's blade, their motive too is not their own, their will is not their own, they are not their own.
Imagine with me then, dear Reader, that our heroes have their falling out. That Susie learns of Kris' alliance with the Knight, of their help bringing of the Roaring, of their assistance of the inevitable march of final prophecy. And like the Shadow Crystals show, Susie glares at Kris coldly, for they've betrayed them, betrayed all of them. She is confused, she is hurt, she is angry,
But she forgives them. Because of course she does. And so does Ralsei. Because of course he does. Because they're Heroes and they are Just, but mostly because they are Friends, and they trust Kris.
Now imagine dear Reader you have the Pure Crystal, and it is time to Upgrade ONE of our Fun Gang's weapons to be its strongest. And you have free reign over the choice of which weapon, and thus possibly the very ending itself. And for one reason or another, you choose Kris
And from that comes Kris' ultimate weapon;
The Justice Sword.
And THAT, dear reader, is my Theory. Or perhaps concept? Thought exercise? And why I believe that, out of everyone we currently know about in some way or another, Spade King has the highest chance of being our last Shadow Crystal Holder.
Does that mean I actually think he will be? No, not really. While I love this idea, up until Gerson all the Super Secret Shadow Bosses have been Entirely New Guys that we'd NEVER heard of before, so I think it'd very unlikely for anyone to really point at a pre-existing character like Friend or Flowey or Spade King and say they'll for SURE be the next Shadow Crystal Holder, because there's no way you could go back to Chapter 1 and predict Spamton G. Spamton, we couldn't even get who Mike might be right.
But! I really love the idea, thus why I posed the alternate possibility of him being more like a Optional Mini Boss post Chapter 5 like the Mikes are for Chapter 4, just for Funsies.
If you have any questions, comments, counter arguments, just general Straw Nonsense to say to me, my ask box is open. But you have to be very very nice about it, I don't wanna hear anything in bad faith. I know the kinda character I'm upholding here, I know what the fandom thinks of him, let's all be nice about it.
This post took me a very long time to draft so while I don't normally say this uh. If you liked it. Consider reblogging? Even if you don't Agree 100% with my conclusion I would still really appreciate it. You can counter argument me in the tags if you want to I read those too.
Thankyou so much for reading this BEAST of a post all the way if you did, and also thankyou if you just skimmed it that's totally valid as well.
See you all next year when I get proven very wrong and immediately post my original concept of Spade King as a Secret Boss in Chapter 6
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