okay. because deltarune is less than a week away and i never managed to find time and/or a will to make a full video on it - i'll be writing down every single chapter 4 prediction i have. i'm omitting chapter 3 because we know significantly more what we can expect so it's less fun to speculate. also ever since church dark world has been confirmed and killed any holiday manor heathen in sight my ego has been inflated to infinite proportions so i'm confident that at least 50% of my predictions will be correct. also also this is a very long and extensive list so. keep that in mind
it's going to begin right after chapter 3's ending - which i believe will be sealing the fountain - after which everyone "wakes up". because of that toriel will be more easily convinced that what she experienced was a wild dream
we will not be able to take everything with us - chairiel for example, will stay at dreemurr's. i've seen many people worry about tenna's inclusion because of that, but i don't think it's going to be that complicated. personally, i don't believe tenna is literally the tv - they're the antenna that broadcasts whatever is on the screen. while toriel would undoubtedly raise eyebrows at smuggling the tv, she would be less concerned about missing the antenna since the tv hasn't been used since the divorce anyway. but in the case tenna IS the tv, i won't be surprised if all the "kill your tv" stuff gets fulfilled
toriel will drag us to the church. my personal headcanon has always been that even after the divorce toriel and kris (and asriel?) still regularly visited the church as a family tradition, given that they're a VERY religious family. toriel and kris going together is probably a routine for them at this point - which explains perfectly why kris AND susie would end up there. susie will probably tag along because she has nothing better to do than to come back to her likely miserable home life (which i'm sure we'll get insight into in ch3, but i digress). before we get ready for the church though...
we'll have the first light world exploration segment. yes, first. the reason i believe so is because even back in 2022 status update, we've been given two different screenshots that clearly show us different points in time. it will start raining in the second segment (i'll elaborate why i think it's raining in the second one later)
i'm not sure if the fabled "light world save points" will be present in the first segment, unless we get a very unusual sequence break. we'll be free to explore the town and visit the closet as seen in the screenshot below (note the shadowguy!). because we'll have access to the closet at any time in this section, a save point in the light world doesn't seem to be needed. but who knows
i believe the "point of transition" to end off light world exploration will be the diner scene. very likely a long cutscene with a lot of insight about susie's home life and her feelings about... everything else, really
after the diner it's time to finally go to the church. now, i don't think the whole church will be covered in darkness, despite the double doors theory. everything will seem normal and play out normal
time for the first extremely specific, fanficesque prediction of the night: we'll sleep through the entire liturgy. as much as i would love getting spoonfed every single piece of information there is about the angel, the delta rune and more, i don’t think we'll be served it on a silver platter. and replaying deltarune made me remember this wouldn't be the first time a time skip like this happened. i can only imagine that after not sleeping the entire night before and then running around hometown doing fuck all, kris and susie are bound to end up really, REALLY tired. so when they get there they pass out as soon as father alvin utters a single word. it would be a fun cheeky way to conveniently hide crucial exposition from us and make us more engaged in learning by potentially visiting a dark world CENTERED around the church itself
after the liturgy is over i can see a short segment where we can walk around and talk to everyone for some flavor text. i also believe this is where we'll see this specific susie from toby's concept art (she seems to be pouring herself the sick fruit juice). we might also see the "sitting noelle", though that one is so detached from the context it could end up being anything, really (and given the background of noelle's sprite... i think it might show up in an even later section)
speaking of noelle, we'll definitely have a chance to talk to her. i think realistically we'll learn that rudy didn't end up feeling well enough to attend after all, because i don't actually believe a word he says. rudy is not getting better, he's getting worse. this leaves noelle feeling very down. after the service she'll probably go visit him right away... but not before inviting kris and susie over to her house for a sleepover. even more likely given that, from toriel's perspective at least, there has been a break-in in the dreemurr house. her invitation could be a generous offer to have a safe place to stay while the police deal with the problem as well as an excuse to invite her crush. we have more important things to attend to for now though. it's time for the youth group meeting. but when we open the backdoor... you probably can guess where this is going
what will be the escapist theme of the dark world? i can see three possibilities, or even a mix of all of them happening:
straight to the point - religion as escapism. finding solace in spiritual beliefs when life gets hard
a literature themed dark world - connections to gerson as a writer and in turn HIS weird connection to dark worlds presented as "dreams". furthermore we've been given translation sneak peeks with deliberate references to classic literature (dante's inferno and hamlet)
3. musical theming - the existence of the choir and general association with music in organized religion
what darkners can we expect? this one is harder to guess, because up until we recently we have gotten no sneak peaks into chapter 4's dark world at all. the only enemy we knew of was cup walka because that little guy never fit into chapter 3's tv theme anyway
the main boss
my answer's going to be boring, because i'm going off of the chess theory, but so far i'm leaning towards the "bishop" as the main antagonist of the chapter. sadly, i have no idea what item they could even correspond to in the light world, it'd be like throwing darts blindfolded. because of that it's also hard to think of any concrete goal or motivation
secret boss
equally hard to crack, but strangely has more to work with. the difference between ch3 and ch4 secret boss predictions is that we are far more familiar with the objects inside the dreemurr household, meanwhile we have no idea what the interior of the church even looks like. but if i were to take a wild guess? i like the idea behind the angel doll made by kris and asriel. we have the themes of being a discarded item (the doll was never finished because kris and azzy kept making the wings too big) and being connected to the church (literal angel doll). we also have compelling parallels for the vessel and the player (with angel!player theory in mind) and a nod to an arts'n'crafts angle of the youth group (something i'll briefly mention with cup walka)
i want to also mention the sky mantle that has existed in the game since chapter 2 demo, but has never been used. the most notable thing about it is that it protects against elec/holy attacks, which correspond to element 1 in the code. said elemental pair has also been alluded to in the spamton sweepstakes qna - where spamton lists it alongside puppet/cat (spamton's element), dark/star (possibly ch3 secret boss?) and death/scythe (likely being jevil's). and though spamton calls it thunder/light instead, it still corresponds to elec/holy - in this case thunder being a synonym for electric and light always being used in religious context (alvin calls upon the angel to "light [kris's] way"). what's interesting is that we already have a mantle item that we know of - the shadow mantle. though that one is also unobtainable (and doesn't even exist in the game files to begin with). we've been told by seam it's the only way we'll be able to defeat chapter 3's secret boss - perhaps we can repurpose the shadow mantle into the sky mantle later? especially given that the two secret bosses might be of opposing elements (dark vs light)
guei
the first enemy we've seen. they seem to be inspired by the chinese spirit of the same name. their entire appearance seems to be based on the symbol as well (connections to a literature theme)
this guy
i have no idea what their role could possibly be. they seem to be waiting by the "jockington grows the beard" for whatever reason (giving guidance to the fun gang?). their light world counterpart seems to be based on hostia shared during the holy communion
cup walka
our favorite little marching soldier. its feather reminds me of hats marching bands wear, which could support a music oriented dark world. as for its light world counterpart - i think it's an arts'n'crafts creation made at a youth group meeting. looking about it closer, everything about its design SCREAMS like something a bored kid made during the youth group session. a red solo cup with googly eyes, popsicle stick legs and a fake feather glued on top. a marching soldier born from the hands of a believer, climbing to the top in endless pursuit of reaching HEAVEN
a silly addendum to cup walka - i am convinced this is where we'll see roast chicken from toby's bluesky shitposting. probably as a small chance encounter similar to the annoying dog in giga queen's appearance
who will join us in the dark world? again, i don't have anything innovative or anything, but;
catti
she has been long set up as an important character. for one - she has an actual talk sprite. but seriously - catti already has a lot of potential as a character not just in her own right, but how she can bounce off of our protagonists. she's very much a baby goth - she finds her cheerful family annoying and, in real teenage angst fashion, feels like she cannot find any common language with them. we know that she's interested in the occult, even sharing her findings with noelle. we also know she studied occult with kris, something they seem to be very interested in as well. there's a theory that makes the connection between a certain poppup interaction, kris's interest in the occult, and us. some theorize catti was involved in whatever ritual brought us to deltarune in the first place - whether it summoned us directly or through someone else. i feel like it's a very interesting concept that could be expanded upon more. the connections to the occult also give room for some fun glimpse into her character, especially when contrasted with a quote unquote holy place. i can imagine her being less than enthusiastic about the youth group meeting only to turn it into a dark fantasy adventure that lets her express herself more freely
another part of her character is her supposed rivalry (or maybe just plain disdain) for susie. it seems bad enough to the point where susie will avoid her at work. and since susie is the actual main character of this story, having her and catti actually confront each other would be perfect for character growth. i can totally see catti relentlessly antagonizing susie the entire time until we get the staple "aren't you wondering what susie is up to?" moment from ralsei where we see them having a little heart to heart. maybe have a conversation about how susie could never fit in anywhere until she started going on these adventures, and catti realizing she's not as bad as she seems. in my eyes they have more in common than they'd think
jockington
being completely honest, i didn't think much of him prior to the trailer and new screenshots. i knew he would be there because he and catti are a package deal, but truthfully i couldn't figure out his role. well...
(we'll get to this later)
father alvin
alvin's inclusion is too obvious by this point. his connection to gerson (and by proxy the dark world mystery), knowledge about the angel and the delta rune, as well as the set up in chapter 2 - all make it obvious he'll have a bigger role in the future. and what better chapter to utilize him other than the church?
i am genuinely invested in his character, knight or not, and would love to see him join the adventure as well. as for his role, ideally i'd see a man of faith such as him easily persuaded by the fantastical reality the dark worlds provide. maybe he could be manipulated by the antagonist, whoever it might be. and personally, i'd love to see him challenge our involvement in the story. given that monsters worship the angel and the legend seems to be against it, i can see him making us question whether we're doing the right thing or not. and no matter how he got to that conclusion, he… might be right, for all we know. and i think that would be a perfect foil to ralsei's outlook on the legend. that's right we're getting ralsei and alvin parallels baby. both characters devoted their lives to their faith, and i would love to see ralsei's resolve slowly break as he sees himself reflected in the old man
and all this doesn't even cover alvin's daddy issues and a VERY likely gerson subplot
noelle
although i said before that i can see her leave soon after the service to see rudy, i'm also 100% convinced she'll join us as well. we have to keep in mind she's someone gaster calls "VERY VERY WONDERFUL" (a grace only kris and susie get - even ralsei doesn't get the same treatment). she's a main character, too. her importance will only increase with each chapter. not to mention the weird route follow up
we also have to mention her angel imagery. whether you believe in angel!noelle theory or not, it's there. excluding her from an angel-oriented dark world is pretty much impossible
as for the weird route - i believe that the new spamton sweepstakes gave us a definitive answer. deltarune.com/chapter5 gives us numbers from 1 to 5 - each representing the chapter. if you visit any other chapter site except chapter 4, you are told whether something is "applicable" or not. the applicable in question is the weird route. we know this, because clicking number 2 from /chapter5 redirects us to d.mp3, the track that plays right before we fight berdly in the weird route. the size of the numbers seems to also indicate how impactful/important the weird route will be. 1 is incredibly small, 2 and 3 are equal in size (chapter 3 is seemingly "Not Applicable... But..."), 4 seems smaller... but chapter 5 seems even more significant. but how does any of this make me convinced noelle will be in the dark world? it's because the number is visible. chapter 1 and 3 are the only ones hidden in the darkness, because noelle won't be present there. she seems to be the key to the game-breaking nature of the weird route
(as a side note. i've always joked about holiday manor believers being crazy... but i'm willing to hear them out on chapter 5)
with that aside, let's go back to the actual dark world. again, i cannot feasibly predict the order of events, what we'll see and etc. we'll definitely learn more about the angel and the religion as a whole - potentially making theories like player!angel apparent, or maybe still keeping it ambiguous. either way we'll definitely get some crucial exposition. i've also seen people speculate that we might learn something about the history of monsterkind (maybe humankind too?), which i would really love
another hope of mine is to see the inclusion of the amalgamates. the mention of the objects buried with them seems deliberate, like something being set up. and while the church on the surface isn't connected to the graveyard - well, the items are buried beneath the ground, just like catacombs, aren't they?
i do think we'll get a glimpse of the knight in this chapter (assuming it's not kris - but then again if it's them we'll learn either way). assuming the chess theory is correct they're next in line as a boss, and chapter 4 is a good set up for it
now, what about Jockington Grows The Beard? people have pointed out that the texture on jockington is the same one as the tree from lostwheretheforestwouldgrow - which is also a slightly altered texture from IMAGE_DEPTHS, which in turn is also used for the texture of the fountains... yeah safe to say they're all related. i believe that jockington's beard will lead us to a darker world. the trailer gave us two scenes from chapter 4 in which kris and susie are noticeably off-color. and mind you - they have their regular color palette in the jockington screenshot. given the connections between the dark and the ocean you could easily compare it to how the deeper you go, light doesn't reflect the same, so all the colors become a different hue
additionally to the darker world - who on earth could've possibly opened a fountain within a dark world? i had two predictions, one probably more likely than the other. the first one - i could totally see alvin opening one out of spite and due to his own faithful delusion. but that wouldn't explain why jockington grows the beard. so the second, far more likely one - is that jockington did it. and that's his big break this chapter. jockington is very obviously perfect. he has no real issues, and everybody loves him. so of course the reason he'll open a dark fountain isn't because he has family struggles like all the main characters - it's because he wants to grow a beard. because he cannot do that as a snake. once he finds out you can make more dark worlds he'll gladly take the opportunity, because unlike berdly in chapter 2 he didn't get a scolding from ralsei. or hell, maybe he won't even care. i can envision the entire scene going like... we defeat the main boss, and as we're off to seal the fountain we realize that jockington isn't with us. and then we hear a deafening roar and a flash of light on the horizon. we'll probably race against time to seal the darker fountain lest the roaring comes prematurely
after everything is done, we close the fountain and once again find ourselves in a normal room. i can see ralsei using pacify on alvin, catti and jockington like (i believe) on noelle and berdly in ch2 - but he might leave noelle be this time. i can see alvin leave in a rush to process, what he thinks were, angelic visions of heaven which would then give us the opportunity to take all the items with us. this is where the second light world segment happens. this time, it's raining. i assume we'll be free to explore the town again, to check up on anything new and bring back all the darkners to the closet again
time for the second extremely specific, fanficesque prediction of the night: we'll visit the apartments. maybe. not only did there exist an unused room corresponding to the apartments in chapter 1 demo (fun fact - just like toriel's room and an area behind the gate to noelle's house!), i also believe susie lives there. i often see people mistakenly call it just snowy's house when the building itself is an apartment complex - i mean i don’t know why, i find it quite simple. and given susie's reaction in chapter 2 i find it very likely she's also a resident. i don't actually believe susie is homeless like a lot of people do. neglected, underfed and without a room of her own, sure, but i don’t think she literally lives on the streets. i could totally see us briefly getting in because susie has to get something from her home for the sleepover or something. i've seen a really cool concept of that by shadowkristal which made me yearn for something like this in game even more. in the case something remotely close to this happens, i can see it being a point of transition like the diner scene, after which we're locked into going to the holiday manor
we arrive at the manor and hang out with noelle, probably discussing what happened during the church. i like to think this is where the making chocolate and gamer moment concept art will appear (and maybe the sitting noelle, given the background of her sprite?). we'll also finally meet the mayor and get a significant lore drop about dess and the circumstances which she disappeared in
i did promise i'd say why i believe it's raining in the second segment. and it's because of the screenshot below. i believe that the rain will soon turn into storm - which causes a power outage that leads to the moment depicted. i can't... really tell you what's going on there and what cliffhanger we'll end up on this time. but maybe, just maybe, it'll involve a certain lost girl
and that's about everything i could think of! if you don't follow me and for some reason still decided to read through... thank you?! i suppose?! we'll see how much of this will end up correct LMAO
...
and yes i think berdly is asking kris out to the festival
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