Why can Ralsei seemingly teleport to any dark world? Why does she not turn to stone in any dark world?
Here's my theory. (Spoilers for Deltarune chapter 5 and also Revolutionary Girl Utena.)
When the prophecy describes the "prince" as being "alone in deepest dark", and when Flowery describes a "darkness beyond [the fun gang's] imagination" that is "stirring underneath the town", they are both speaking literally.
There is a literal reservoir of darkness beneath Hometown.
Graphic design is my passion.
When a dark fountain is opened, it lets out some of this darkness beneath Hometown. This is analogous to how pressurized water can erupt through the surface of the Earth in the form of a geyser. (Think: how many times has darkness been likened to water?)
I posit that this is where Ralsei's object is located. Because Ralsei's object is in this reservoir of darkness, a little bit of Ralsei comes through in every fountain. This is why Ralsei can appear in any dark world. Perhaps it is also why Ralsei's body seems to by less corporeal than the other darkners': she is sort of astral projecting it from the deep darkness like Anthy projects her body out of her coffin in Revolutionary Girl Utena.
(I should clarify that I believe that "the depths" from which "hell's roar" bubbles out of and which is depicted during the goner maker sequence, the "reservoir of darkness" that I describe here, and the "deepest dark" that the prophecy describes the """""prince""""" as residing in, are all different words for the same thing.)
We are left with some questions.
How did this reservoir of darkness beneath Hometown come to be?
How long has it been there?
How did Ralsei's object get there?
If all the dark fountains in hometown come from this reservoir, then what is unique about the "grand" fountain in Castle Town that allows any darkner to survive in it? Why is its darkness more pure than any other fountain's? (Perhaps it has something to do with who made it? Perhaps it was made by someone whose will was so weak that it did not contaminate the fountain and make it biased towards one sort of darkner or another. Hmm. We know that a SOUL is the "font of someone's will" as per Ralsei. We know that a fountain is made by "coursing [your] will" into a sharp object and striking the earth. Maybe castle town was made by someone with no SOUL. But, if that were the case, then Lancer should not have turned to stone in TV world because Kris made the fountain with their SOUL stuck between the couch cushions. The uniqueness of Castle Town's "grand" fountain is the biggest question mark in this theory for me so far.)
I speculate that Kris left Ralsei's LW form (which I believe is Kris' horned headband) was left behind by them when they fled the deepest darkness during the Dessapearance. Maybe this is part of why Kris seems to be so conflicted about Ralsei: she is a reminder of the worst day of their life.
what ralsei does with her hands is so important to me
call it a pattern more than a hard rule - but often, whatever's desperate enough to be expressed finds its way into the hands. thought, coalescing into action. affection, pooling into touch. fear, stalling into hesitation.
which may well be why i'm so fascinated by the way ralsei stows hers at the back
kept like that, they're removed from the situation - too far back to reach or interfere, merely ever cinching around what was antecedently given
ralsei is the ultimate embodiment of hands tied.
the prophecy's "prince" from the dark, meant only to assist and interpret, never to do. then comes chapter 5, and - SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT! -
suddenly... her hands are everywhere...?
her hands help when she wants them to and clench when she doesn't
her hands twine with kris', guiding them both through a puzzle she would've ordinarily waited to see solved first
her hands push flowery away
they swat at him, also!
her fingers pluck up the drink vouchers, eyes gleaming at her favorite among them
they help themselves to a bit of cheese, purely on a whim of taste
her palms cast an offensive spell for susie, instinct overriding a lifetime of learned passivity
and... loveliest of all... her hands fall naturally to her sides. loose and comfortable. tasked with nothing whatsoever, only where they happen to be.
in the wake of it all, ralsei kneels by the water, palms pressed together, praying like begging, begging like praying - doggedly convinced this is the far shore of who she can be.
and if the water answers at all, it does so with a reflection. one whose hands protected and defied. the change plain to any with eyes.
…you'd think a prophecy would know a better knot than that, wouldn't you?
ralsei's none the wiser. ask her, and she'd vehemently insist she can't alter a thing - least of all herself. but why ask at all? just take a gander at those mitts; they tell you plenty.
save some faith and belief for yourself, too, princess
I know things are scary because they're going to strike us down with their powerful kicks, but here's what YOU (yes, YOU READING THIS RIGHT NOW) can do
Kriselle Knight feels like the Deltarune fandom had mass amnesia and forgot literally everything about chapters 3 and 4. And even 2, for that matter. Literally "the curtains are just blue" but for the Knight's sword-bat, ie., the one part of their introduction that repeats every time you restart so you don't forget it. Also I guess Kris and Noelle never having had Gerson as a teacher means nothing too. Or the Knight now being confirmed as having made Cyber World, aka the one with the Baseball Moon, which is all about December fulfilling a promise to take Noelle to a cool city
But no, pretend all that didn't happen, it's just more Hype and Aura no matter how bad it makes the story. Be for real
This is especially frustrating because there already IS a perfect theory for where the Weird Route is heading:
And that's Kriselle ANGEL
Like, it makes SO much more sense that this is a path towards them both becoming the Angel. Or at least a candidate for it, just like there are multiple candidates for who "The Girl" could be. The role of the Angel has not actually been stated as to what it DOES, past being eventually banished (perhaps out of bounds?) and meeting with its desire. And an amalgamate of Kris and Noelle would likely look discernibly unlike either of them, that both Susie and Kris would find it unsettling
And unlike Kriselle Knight, it DOESN'T involve any time travel bullshit, nor would it require the game to just either assume every player does the Weird Route (many do not) or that, even if they don't, it simply always existed anyway. In this way they become what the Angel is on this fucked up Side B route, as opposed to whoever it might ultimately be on the Normal Route
Kris' relationships with ALL of the Holidays are genuinely some of the best in game.
Kris × Noelle
I literally, literally CANNOT shut up about these two, all that they shared and all they wished they could share. The way they've understood each other in ways no-one else has ever done.
This isn't even about Weird Route/Side B Kriselle though those two are perfection in an entirely different way
Kris × Dess or just Kris AND Dess if you're boring (/j)
I do NOT mean this in the 'Oh she groomed them' way. In an alternate universe these two could be and would be peak. We KNOW they had a really close bond and imagining Kris finding / being told about DessKnight and helping her because they love her or they love each other is such perfect angst. Just please give the fanfiction "(K)nights in the Dark" a read if you're interested. It's the perfect characterisation for both Kris and Dess and how their relationship could and should come about.
It also fits the greater themes surrounding Kris and especially Chapter 5 to feel like a second choice compared to Asriel.
A childhood crush on the cool older girl next door, who is the one person to truly understand their feelings of othering and innate differences to others, later becoming requited feelings (or not) would fit "Krismas and Dess" so well.
[Personal headcanon: DESS came up with Krismas because it sounds like something you'd call a younger kid. While I'm a firm believer in young Noelle calling out to "Krismas" and using the nockname to death whenever we see them interact and whenever earnest feelings are involved she uses "Kris" not "Krismas"]
Kris & Carol
Especially in a scenario that includes both DessKnight and Kress this dynamic is perfect.
Workimg with her to save December while also making Carol feel bad for burdening Kris with so much yet at the same time having Kris be pushed to do all these things by Carol...
Genuinely S-Tier
Those are the best but even Kris and Rudy is great.
He's the father-in-law that never QUITE was, the uncle that is dying and the man whose daughter Kris tries to help/save and whose family they try to repair. All while feeling guilty over not having visited him and especially about keeping everything relating to the Roaring Conspiracy secret from him AND Noelle.
At the end of the day, I want (NEED) Kris Holiday to be a thing at some point in their life, they deserve it.
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