You know those games? Those weird games that you swear that you saw years ago and then never again? Those weird and creepy and surreal and unsettling ones? Yeah, those games
People saying that transfem enby Kris is fine as a headcanon but their assigned gender has no bearing on the story irritates me so much because they just make it near impossible to actually discuss transfem Kris. "It's just a hc we're just playing toys with characters" No I'm discussing character moments and traits that are supported in the text and themes of the game, and then you're getting mad at me for doing so
You know, as much as it's clearly also to maintain the central mystery and its tension... Asgore did get a whole private off-the-cuff monologue about his motives for pursuing the secrets of Darkness, and none of them were about the missing girl, huh. It was exclusively about his personal vindication and getting his ex-wife back.
If he cared about her first-and-foremost at any point, he doesn't any longer. And that does sort of give I just wanted to protect everyone a certain... loaded quality, huh?
From what, Asgore? What did you do to protect everyone that's left everyone looking at you like this?
I'm replaying ch1 rn, taking note of Kris stuff in particular. And i reached The Bit in the ch1 library where (Light Kris) starts reading the Anime Review and then says "No no no no no no no no no" is good on it's own. But if you select "Yes", the narration switches to Shadow Kris. That realization fucking killed me. Tfw ur headmate wants to read something really fucking stupid so you switch out.
hi broski can i ask how its implied that kris sh's......... slash genuine
This isn't the first and definitely won't be the last time I get asked this, so I figured I might as well answer with my own thoughts. I debated whether or not to make this post since people started asking because, honestly, itās a lot more personal than I like to be on this blog, but I think Iām ready to dive into it!
(Obvious CW for Self-Harm)
To start, the times in canon where Kris takes out the soul, and through whatever happens before weāre put back in, their HP is visibly lower afterwards. From what I can recall, this isĀ visible at the Holiday house in chapter 4 - Both in the normal route, where Kris throws the hockey puck at us (They lose 5 HP)
And In the weird route, where they lose 10 (A whopping HALF of their HP)
Presumably, Kris knows that hurting the soul hurts themselves, so while both times the damage is directed at us, the results are the closest to on-screen self-harming behaviour anywhere in the game.
(Side note: I donāt think Krisā HP lowers just from ripping the soul out, although I havenāt checked, so if Iām wrong please lmk! Even so, the act of ripping us out LOOKS pretty painful lol)
Now for the implied stuff:
Weāve known since at least chapter 1 that Kris carries a knife around with them. While its purpose in-game is making dark fountains, some dialogue makes me think that they didn't just steal a random knife from Torielās kitchen when they started making dark fountains.
Firstly, Right off the bat in chapter 2, Toriel says this:
This establishes 2 things: 1, Kris has this knife since BEFORE any dark fountains appear (Since we don't technically know who made the fountains in chapter 1 yet), and 2, itās ātheirā knife, or at least that theyāve had it long enough for Toriel to recognize it.Ā
(Iām not even going to try to get into the Toriel bad parenting discourse here IDK why she doesn't GAF??? Does she maybe know that Kris needs the knife to open dark worlds? I think im reading too far into this im going to stop now.)Ā
I honestly don't know how much to even read into this scene because it seems to primarily be for comedic purposes/a red herring as to what Kris used the knife for that night. It still stands as an important characterization for Kris, though, that they're the type of kid to carry around a knife enough to make their mother not bat an eye at it.
It does sort of confirm what Susie says here in chapter 4,
Which, without the previous scene with Toriel, might have just seemed like an assumption, but we essentially know what sheās saying is true. Also, I see people wonder why Kris blushes here, but I think itās because Susie is teasing them about being an edgy loser, which is kinda trueā¦. Sorry Krisā¦.
Then Eram, this nebulous character that seems to have a history with Kris, taunts them specifically about a knife āgrowing dullā.Ā
This can definitely be referring to a metaphorical knife (The use of violence), or maybe opening dark worlds/escapism, but I also think it may carry some self-harm allusions, especially considering that Eram seems to know more about Krisā bad history than we do at this point in the story.
This is a bit of a tangent, but speaking of Krisā troubled youth, let's talk about the chapter 4 egg room. I keep seeing that a lot of peopleās takeaway is that Kris straight-up killed a dude, which might stem from this dialogue
I don't think this necessarily means āThis is an art therapy class for people who have murdered someoneā, more that the patients (including Kris) were there for some serious behavioural issues. (Especially when reading this line as something a troubled kid who doesn't know how to process the violence they experienced might say.) The art therapy room doesn't outright state why Kris was there, but I think itās fairly obvious that something traumatic occurred in their past that led them to need therapy. This is all to say that trauma at a young age can also lead teens to self-harm as a coping skill, so tangent over.
This is where it kinda gets personal for me. Now, everyone has different motives for self-harming (obviously), but when I was younger, I kind of used it as a controlled form of punishment, if that makes sense? Like, whenever I fucked up severely and had all these emotions bubbling over, I would S/H because in my mind it felt like atonement. If I had caused someone else pain or inconvenienced them, I felt like the only way to āeven it out, ā so to speak, was to make sure I also hurt. I say this because guilt can be a HUGE motivator for habits like that, and guilt is seeming to be a big theme in Krisā character arc, with their promise to Carol and whatever the hell the egg rooms mean. So, I guess that makes my final reasoning as to why I think Kris would self-harm, that it would be out of guilt.
Looking back at how I phrase my first post, I donāt really think (at least right now) Toby Fox is writing Krisā behaviour specifically for peopleās main takeaway to be āOh yeah this kid is definitely cutting themselfā, but given the circumstances and everything we know about Kris so far, I wouldn't be surprised if itās ever alluded to more clearly. I also would be happy for this to be all that we ever get in terms of crumbs, because itās more of my headcannon right now than a proper ātheoryā or anything.
Also let me know your thoughts/if you disagree/other things I may have missed! I love this game and love reading your reblogs (as long as you donāt talk about your S/H methods or habits, please stop doing that shit)
Definitely the handwashing marathons/ "Kris just...does this sometimes" show that Kris frequently spends extended amounts of time in the bathroom running the tap.
also, a theory I subscribe to is that Toriel's "Kris... is that a knife? NOOOOO" is not linearly happening but instead is a flashback to them being found self-harming, similar to the falling down sequence in Undertale being a flashback. It seems like an outsized reaction to Kris eating all the pie.
basically no "theory" or prediction positing that the darkners have to be sealed away or remain objects forever has been able to explain in a satisfying manner why the darkners don't get to exist but the lightners do.
there has always been, in my opinion, a dissonance in this conversation, where players treat kris / susie / noelle / etc as if they are somehow more real when to Me, and everyone else reading this post, they are just as real as ralsei / lancer / tenna / etc because they are all fictional characters coded onto the game Deltaruneā¢ in my nintendo switch. why do WE want to uphold the dichotomy between them so much?
in the context of escapism, it just sort of... feels strange, doesn't it? deltarune doesn't even posit the idea that dark worlds are always good; the main gameplay loop has been entering these fun, fantastical dark worlds in order to close them, which disrupts this idea of the all-consuming fantasy.
more over, ralsei's entire arc has been about accepting personhood!!! ralsei learns to accept all the likes, dislikes, desires, and fears that come with being alive. and stripping that away... would just kind of really suck???? tragic/sad endings are fine and good - i'm not saying things can't ever end sadly - but i simply have never gotten the impression i was playing through a tragedy on deltarune's normal route, even post-chapter four.
hope is so instrumental to this game, so while i'm willing to be surprised, i really can't imagine a satisfying conclusion where the hope is squandered for nothing that doesn't feel like a hypocritical rug-pull.
why is the light world what gets to be "real" in a game that is meta!!! the fact deltarune is a game interested in the meta-narrative, by its nature, calls into question why one gets to be any realer than the other when neither of them are, in fact, real. it's a really strange hang-up to have!!! and i would argue deltarune is trying to criticize this, and has been since chapter one.
ralsei telling lancer that darkners derive all joy from serving lightners is supposed to make you go "?????" because the alternative is frankly irresponsible!!! to uncritically establish that there is a class of people (darkners) who love serving others (lightners) is Bad!!!!! it's also not even true, lancer is proof that the reverence darkners have for lightners is a learned trait, not an innate one.
chapter five also introduces a profoundly blurry variable into the mix: the FLOWERS. where do they fit in the dichotomy? (spoiler alert: they DON'T!!!!) flowery is RIGHT that it's unfair for the fun gang to have final say on which fountains get to exist and which don't. why do they - WE! - get to decide who gets to be alive and who doesn't?
ralsei really is the foundation of why i find the idea that darkners WILL be sealed away forever really upsetting. like, yes, i am a ralseihead, but the entire character arc happening there centers around embracing personhood and individuality!
things that happen in the dark worlds matter. susie's character growth, yes, but - hello!!! weird route!!!!!!! and, not even in WR, but chapter 2's fighting route has berdly fry his arm in the battle versus queen, and that carries over into the light world! the church is fucked UP post-titan fight!!!
i, frankly, don't even think deltarune is About escapism. it's just using it as a means of exploring it's actual themes of nostalgia, autonomy, and change - which dehumanizing the darkners goes firmly against in the main story.
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