Why I don’t like JaruJaruJ (as a theorist)
I’ve been a fan of Jaru’s work ever since 2022 and I watched his videos on time loop theory and Deltarune being an alternate timeline. Even if I don’t agree with a lot of his theories, I was able to respect him regardless.
That’s changed. His recent Asriel’s Dust 2.0 theory has stirred much ire from the Deltarune community. This is because it cherry picks evidence while ignoring blatant counter evidence, uses evidence for Asriel Knight as if it’s not also Dess Knight evidence, reduces Dess to “popular rebel girl”, reduces Kris down to “jealous younger sibling who wants Asriel’s attention”, refusing to refute Player Soul theory outside of “lmao gamers can’t flirt”, accidentally implying that Dess would mentally torture her sister in a blatantly romantic way, and so much more. The greatest crime this theory commits is what I consider the cardinal sin of internet theorizing: saying that all evidence against your theory is just the author lying to you and a “clever misdirect”. Examples include Ralsei saying “Darkners patterned after a loved one TEND to appear in specific darknesses”, the Knight having antlers, Carol saying “YOU are welcome here anytime”, and Raise Up Your Bat. The reason this is bad should be obvious. If everything is a misdirection, then you can make an argument for anything. I could say the Roaring Knight is actually Nightmare Knight from Cucumber Quest and that anything disproving that is just a misdirect from Tricky Tony.
Jaru’s mindset is a product of an incredibly harmful mentality first seen in the FNAF community that believes that the author of a mystery is a malicious trickster who rewrites the story when people get it right and is the enemy of the theorists. In actuality, if a theory “gets it right”, Toby will remain quiet as the theorists are left in uncertainty until the new chapter drops. There’s also a belief that the popular theory is always wrong, no matter what, because Kris Knight was wrong. What makes Dess Knight different is that only people who are relatively deep in the fandom would really know who Dess is, meanwhile she’s only mentioned a total of 5 or 6 times in game. The current equivalent to Kris Knight is not Dess Knight, but Carol Knight, because like Kris, she is blatantly tied to the main plot in a way we don’t understand yet. Also Kris Knight theory got all the evidence right outside of Kris actually being the knight.
Another misunderstanding Jaru has is what in Deltarune is actually a misdirect. He’s completely convinced Asriel is dead in Deltarune because it would be shocking, however Asriel being alive is already a twist on what we know. Why would Toby use the same plot point twice? Many Deltarune fans are seemingly traumatized by the opening of chapter 2 because it killed the “Kris will kill everyone” theory, but where would the plot of gone if that was true? That would just be a lazy rehash of the genocide route and toss aside all the interesting things chapter 1 set up. It also serves as characterization for Kris and shows us that they seem creepy but are just a weird kid.
What makes Jaru so infuriating as a theorist is that what he is doing isn’t trying to guess what happens next in Deltarune, it’s attempting to cram the heart shaped peg that is Deltarune into the triangle shaped hole of the story HE wants it to be. Many Jaru defenders will say that his critics don’t like that Jaru is challenging the popular fanon theories, but other theorists, such as CammyboiG and Spookydood, have done so and not received as much hate. The difference is that other crack theories, such as Toilet Theory or Woody Theory, acknowledge and try to work with the themes of Deltarune. Meanwhile Jaru seems to be actively fighting against it because he’s too pretentious to write his Asriel AU fanfic.
To put it as nicely as possible, Jaru’s theories are some of the only ones that I’d consider “what if Toby wrote a bad story” theories. “Dess Knight is too obvious” do you know what foreshadowing is? Stories don’t just jerk in random directions to dunk on the audience, why would any writer do that? Jaru’s theories actively spit on Toby Fox’s writing abilities by insinuating that he’s so uninspired and uncreative as to make pointless contrivances to get one over on the player while lazily repeating the same story he told in Undertale. I dare say he just doesn't like Deltarune and he's in denial about it. I don't hate Jaru, I'm just frustrated that he's refusing to think about Deltarune's message beyond control and your choices not mattering. You have creative potential, Jaru, but I recommend you just write a book or something like that to get your ideas out there.
At the end of the day, Deltarune is not a math equation or a trolling contest, it is a STORY with something to say. So if you want to make a theory about it, then you need to think about what that thing is.
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