I just wanted to say that characters known to sleep around, have trouble staying in relationships, and/or avoid entering relationships are not AroAllo rep in the same way that characters who happen to not be in a relationship are not AroAce rep.
Characters who are never canonically recognized as Aspec are not representation, even if we headcannon them or see ourselves in them, because they were not written with us in mind.
Characters like Todd Chavez from Bojack Horseman are written with being AlloAce in mind, even if the word Asexual was never said, he would still be ace because that's what was intended.
For characters we can headcannon as AroAllo, they are often people with relationship troubles are characters the narrative treats as less than for "sleeping around", like having casual sex is a character flaw to be fixed.
And often, their arc is just that. The character 'learns to love themself' and gets into a long term relationship. When this isn't how their story goes, they're still often considered someone who just "loves the attention" of casual sex or flirting, which is viewed as a negative.
This is not representation. These characters are not acknowledged as being perfectly normal for not desiring romance, they're treated as broken or sl*tty.
Representation does not have to be perfect. An aromantic person can be hurtful in relationships due to not understanding their identity, I've personally been there and have known people who've been there. What makes something representation and not just negative stereotypes is narrative framing.
It has to be acknowledged that the character doesn't want romance (at least in the amatonormative way) and that that is okay. When Aro people are treated as something different, it's othering experiences that aren't inherently different to anyone else's.
Aromantic people are people, we're just people with desires that aren't quite the same as Alloromantic people. We deserve depictions that aren't treated as sl*ts, broken, evil, or wrong.
They cannot see, the ink seeping into fragile sockets, soaking, staining beyond repair
One screams, pain tearing through her lungs as the inky pours in against her will
Still, they proceed.
On and on and on and on they trek, ink seeping into skin and bone
Four hands, two hearts, one soul
In the ink, there is silence
Two hands, no heart, one soul.
Two enter, none leave
One emerges an eternity before two can enter.
So what did any of that even mean?
Well, this little bit of writing is based on the end of C5WR, where Kris and Noelle submerge themselves in the lake, and a theory of who The Roaring Knight is.
The theory is that TRK is an amalgam of Kris and Noelle after WR. HEAR ME OUT-
I have personally never really believed in Dess Knight simply because it felt far too obvious, and after C5, I now firmly believe TRK isn't Dess. TRK is now known to have existed before Dess and possibly at the same time as her, and while it's still possible that she got the Gaster treatment and is shattered across time, I find another idea far more compelling.
WR is all about pushing and breaking the boundaries of the world Deltarune exists in, especially now with C5 and the lake scene. I believe that either by what they're doing in the lake, or whatever happens in C7B, will lead to Kris and Noelle becoming shattered across time together, becoming TRK and causing whatever happened to Dess all those years ago.
From this theory, I have a few branching theories/predictions on how this would effect DR as a story and the ending of the normal route.
The first option is that it technically effects nothing. The Normal route has the gang defeat TRK without ever finding out who they were or all the dark mysteries beneath the surface, having a very "well, not every question is meant to be answered" kind of vibe.
The second option is the single ending. As many of us remember, DR originally had "Only 1 ending" in it's steam description, which has since been changed to "... only 1 ending...?"
This second option proposes that this line is correct and the game only features one ending, where Kris and Noelle are shattered across time regardless of the route you choose. The WR existing at all creates TRK, but because Kris and Noelle are no longer supposed to be tangible beings, TRK manually breaks Normal Route Kris and Noelle against their will, possibly through a ritual. (Keep in mind that I assume Noelle and Kris will be in the same place, at the same time at some point since Susie wants to add her to the team in C6)
The ritual is something mentioned when talking to Catti, likely being the reason they are no longer friends as Catti got scared and left Kris to complete the ritual alone. Perhaps TRK is now preparing a new ritual, one requiring people. Through this ritual, whatever it truly is, they would force Kris and Noelle to into becoming TRK, likely creating another iteration of the time loop.
In this second option, I would have the gang still defeat TRK, but be unable to stop the ritual. So, this makes TRK stuck in a closed time loop, where they are forced into existence and sent back in time. In the past, they cause the Dess incident to occur, setting Kris and Noelle into motion for where they will be by the time C1 starts. Finally, everything repeats regardless of choice. While WR had Kris and Noelle 'willingly' become TRK much faster, it is destined to happen whether they want it or not.
What would this mean for Dess? Essentially, it makes her a red herring, but also the key to everything. If nothing happens to her, then the events of DR will never happen. But, what truly happens to her is irrelevant, all that matters is that she goes missing. Of course, this prompts the question "How did the loop start if Dess has to go missing to create TRK?" Well my friend, that is a time travel question that I'm not getting into right now. If you care that much, leave a comment and I'll reblog this post about it.
What would this mean for Gaster? This idea means nothing for Gaster, bro wouldn't even need to show up at all. For fun though, we'll say he shows up somewhere in there for something important. Have fun with it.
What would this mean for the people involved in the ritual? Well, that all depends on what they're needed for! If the ritual is something akin to Gravity Falls where no one has to get hurt, then nothing really! There is, of course, the alternative. Anyway, personally, I think TRK is collecting people who were somehow involved in what happened to Dess.
So... how did we get here? Why would Kris and Noelle be TRK at all?
That, my friend, is an excellent question!
To begin, we'll start surface level.
This funtastic image shows several examples of Kris and TRK having very similar mannerisms. TRK has horns, and is twice as tall as Kris. Twice as tall, two people stacked together. (On another note, if you look at Toby Fox's concept art for Noelle, her horns look remarkably similar to TRK's.) But these are just visual similarities, where's the real shit?
Alright, TRK and Kris are the most frequent creators of dark worlds. In C5, TRK even creates a fountain as Kris closes one. While it is known that any Lightner can create a dark world, explicitly shown with Susie in C4, Kris and TRK are the only other known creators. Still, when it comes to creating dark worlds, Queen tells us that she was trying to get Noelle to open dark worlds.
In C5WR, Noelle tells Kris that she feels like if she keeps following them, they'll drag her down to "somewhere no one is supposed to go." Perhaps this somewhere is past the boundaries of their reality, perhaps it is a time they were never supposed to be in.
She also says "You found out how to stop being Kris!" Implying that she wants us to show her how to stop being Noelle. Maybe the way they stop being themselves is by becoming someone else entirely.
Now, what the hell was my gay little poem about? That was an idea on how Kris and Noelle would become TRK, going somewhere wrong far beyond where the lake stops. The water has become something more shadowed, not ink in a literal sense, but ink in a metaphorical sense. The ink pours into them, changing them into something else entirely, TRK. Their four hands become two, their hearts disappear with the rest of their original selves, and the soul now remains inside the remnants of Kris and Noelle. Neither of them leave the water, but TRK leaves it some time in the past.
I could go on, but this post is long as hell and I doubt anyone cares here, lol. Still, if anybody wants me to yap on about this, just say so and I'll hop to it! Otherwise, I'll still come around to it, just not as promptly, lol.
Thank you for asking me to elaborate, I LOVE to yap and I'm glad my ideas are interesting!
To begin, we'll start with time loops since I actually love to talk about them.
How a time loop begins is the most interesting question about them, and there's a few different answers depending on how concrete or nebulous you want it to be.
On the most mysterious side, there's the permanent question. This one rests on the idea that the loop has always existed somehow, and has no real "start" event outside the loop. This is a perfect self-fulfilling loop with no explanation on how it came to be if it exists by it's own existence.
The more concrete explanation is iteration. This idea proposes that the loop started from another event that created the same outcome, then became the loop. In the case of my Knight theory, the starting event would be something happening to Dess without TRK around, which leads to Kris and Noelle becoming depressed and eventually starting the TRK cycle. What exactly happens to Dess doesn't have to be the same thing TRK does to her, it just has to have the same outcome of making Kris and Noelle depressed.
(Side note, I am aware of all the other mental illness implications and allegories for Kris and Noelle, I'm generalizing to depression.)
The original iteration could have countless differences to the loop we know, all that matters is that it would cause the loop to begin. As well, the first few loops may vary slightly until creating the perfect self-fulfilling loop I've proposed. Small differences are acceptable, even expected, what matters is that the main beat is always completed once the loop starts, which is the creation of TRK.
Next, more soul things. TRK has something in their chest, usually interpreted as an eye. I'm uncertain what exactly it is, it definitely could be an eye, but I think that what it literally is is far less interesting than what it implies.
With the eye being hidden inside TRK unless they're roaring, it makes an obvious parallel to Kris's soul being hidden inside them until they literally rip it out, the sequence for which looks eerily familiar to TRK's roaring sprites.
Next is another sprite of interest, their drooping animation. When encountering TRK for the very first time in C3, this is the first thing we ever see of them. I think that the drooping animation is a very peculiar first introduction to a character we currently only know to be a menace.
The droop is defeated, uncharacteristically sullen. What really catches my eye though is the particles dripping from their face. These particles could be a couple of things, but what they most resemble to me is tears.
In this first encounter, TRK is coming face to face with Kris, Susie, Ralsei, and Toriel. This is presumably TRK's first physical encounter with the gang, in my theory, their first physical interaction with one of their old selves. These tears could be them feeling despair at seeing Kris. As well, the first thing they do upon completing this animation is go for Toriel. This could be coincidence, it could be Kris wanting their mother for comfort.
A second idea is that the particles are excess darkness literally dripping off of them. What this would mean exactly is unclear to me, but it's sure menacing as hell.
A third option is that it's snow. While I don't personally believe this one because of the left particle being stretched out and shortened like a liquid, it would be an interesting show of Noelle in TRK that isn't just the horns.
It's hard to find good gifs for this part, but if you watch the fight with TRK, you'll notice that they attack in red. (Not always, some of their attacks are black and white, but many feature red.)
To my recollection, no other enemy attacks in red, making this significant. Correct me if I'm wrong on that, but I still think their attacks being red is significant even if another enemy attacks in red as well.
TRK uses the same (or a very similar) red in their attacks as the determination soul, perhaps an indication of them possessing a red soul.
Now onto their unstable nature. Upon defeating TRK, they start to 'glitch' for a moment, like they're having trouble maintaining their form. However, we also know that the Knight isn't the only form they can take, having both a ball and flying form that look very different from the Knight form.
Then of course, is their obvious strangeness with the black and while 'shadow' they cast and in particular their laughing mouth appearing all around them when they laugh, as well as not even sitting properly on their face. (For the second point, this is because the mouth and body sprites are separate to achieve the first effect, but I still think it's extremely spooky to see their mouth jitter in places it shouldn't)
On top of all this is the inconsistency of their face, sometimes having a 'visor', sometimes having a single eye, and sometimes having a mouth. This inconsistency is a feature of their design
Another thing to bring up is them 'knighting' Kris. If you defeat TRK, you will see this animation, where TRK knights Kris before using swoon. This interaction can be read as them working together, but it could also be read in line with my theory as a symbolic moment between past and future selves. By TRK knighting Kris, they are saying that Kris will become just like them.
Unfortunately, my evidence for TRK also being Noelle is a little lacking. There just isn't a lot for me to work with on that front. Still, I'll do my best!
At some angles, TRK's sword strongly resembles a bat, something we know Dess had. While this is often seen as a point for Dess Knight, I think it could also work for Noelle as she was greatly influenced by her sister.
In C2, we can find out Noelle has an interest in 'creepy' game glitches, as well as her general affinity for horror.
Noelle makes multiple references to the Angel, a deity figure in DR. However, the Angel is also referred to in the prophecy, which none of the gang respond well to, implying something less than good. Susie specifically is put off by it's appearance, although we currently have no idea what it looks like.
However, this is not the only instance of the Angel and Noelle, with one more being potentially significant.
In Noelle's basement, we, the soul, become stuck underneath an angel tree topper, literally moving around as an angel. Noelle thinks that we're a mouse underneath and scoops us up with a cookie tray. She is the only character to handle the soul besides Kris, and it is THROUGH AN ANGEL.
I swear, there is SOMETHING going on here, I just don't know how these pieces fit together yet.
This is going into wild speculation territory, but I think the Angel is the soul, and by extension, TRK. What we see of the Angel in the prophecy is "The Angel, Banished, will finally meet with its desire." Now, this is vague as hell and could mean literally anything, but here's my interpretation for this theory.
Content warning - talk of su!c!de
The Angel, meaning TRK in this case, will be cast down by the gang. Defeated and potentially killed/destroyed. However, TRK is a being of agony, a combination of two people at the lowest points in their lives and an Eldridge abomination that led them to becoming what they are now.
In Deltarune, there are a lot of themes that allude to (or explicitly look like) su!c!de. The lake scene in C5WR especially enforces this connection to Kris and Noelle. While I don't believe any characters have made explicit reference to a desire to not be alive, the theme weighs heavy on many aspects of both the normal and weird routes. It could be that, especially in the form they're in, Kris and Noelle do not want to continue living. Their destruction could be their ultimate desire, fueling all their actions to an inevitable end point of defeat.
While deeply sad, this is a very real possibility for these two characters, especially in my theory of them becoming TRK. I don't think it's unreasonable to point out the potential implications of them drowning in the lake and becoming a terrifying entity like my theory proposes.
Still, this is an aspect that is important. It's important to recognize that su!c!de is a very real thing that happens to very real people struggling with feeling like there's no way out. It's important to see how these people get to this point and how it effects everyone afterwards.
I'm not saying that this reading is definitely intended, it's extremely dark and perhaps a bit too overt for Toby Fox to write. But I do think it's worth talking about anyway.
My theory as a whole makes TRK a deeply sad character that is a representation of the absolute lowest of two mentally struggling teenagers. While interesting as a concept, its implications paint a depressing ass picture.
What I would want to be taken from this is that mental illness can sometimes consume people, twist their lives into a strange caricature of themselves that is warped and distorted beyond recognition. Mental illness effects not just the person who has it, but everyone around them as well. Two mentally ill people can sometimes bring out the worst in each other, creating a toxic, co-dependency that brings both of them down.
But it doesn't have to. If we take the multiple endings path, we can show a difference between outcomes. Where one spirals and ultimately makes an irreversible choice, the other grows and changes and continues living despite everything with the help of those who care about them.
None of this is to imply that people who deal with mental illness are evil or weak, just plagued with something horrifying that's extremely difficult to fight off. TRK, in this interpretation, would be parallel to normal route Kris and Noelle, a reflection of the path they could have taken.
I wouldn't want one ending in a world where this interpretation of TRK exists. Having TRK force Kris and Noelle into becoming them says something bleak that I don't want to imply. I would be greatly opposed to the implication that Kris and Noelle cannot overcome their struggles when their struggles parallel su!c!de.
Content warning over
Overall, I could probably find even more to say about this, but I think this is a good place to stop, at least for now. I got pretty heavy at the end, but always remember that you can absolutely pick and choose which parts of this theory you believe could be true. This theory has a lot of branching paths where I stack theories on top of theories and speculate about potential meanings of them or just basically write fanfiction. I love Deltarune and all the possibilities it holds and while I may believe in one theory, I love to see all of them! I love to speculate about TRK being Rudy or Papyrus or Carol, I love to think about how Kris and the soul work! I love this community and the insane shit we cook up together to try and make sense of the fever dream Toby had like 15 years ago lol
I'd love to hear thoughts and theories in the comments! Stay silly, chat :3
Alright, so I watched a video that was calling this theory illogical, and they actually brought up points I hadn't thought of before that I can now expand upon to debunk their debunking >:3
Always remember that this is just fun theory crafting and isn't necessarily what I believe will happen. I actually don't have any one theory in mind that I think is true! Part of liking a game that isn't finished is that the ending could be literally anything :)
First up, addressing timeline shenanigans. I couldn't think of the term for what paradox comes from making time loops, but have since remembered that it's called a Bootstrap Paradox. Essentially, how can TRK exist and also turn Kris and Noelle into TRK? That's where iterations come in, see last reblog.
As for a method on how exactly going into the lake causes our two lovely teenagers to become a horrifying amalgamated monster, I have another post for that!
TLDR, there's a dark power growing underneath Hometown that I propose has similar properties to the Core in Undertale and can be accessed through the lake.
Next, there are some pieces of evidence I actually missed! Here's a nice little compilation
Other things include Noelle's scream being similar to TRK's, all the Tenna minigame shit (I haven't done this one myself so I'm not getting into it too much [I know, I'm a fake ass fan]), and Gerson revealing hidden paths literally revealed by breaking the prophecy, Gerson also encourages Kris to go in other directions than the intended one.
Overall, there's a TON of little things that I could take as evidence for this theory, but the more little details I extrapolate, the more I look like I've lost my mind, so we'll leave it here.
What I really want to sink my teeth into today is the Shadow Crystals.
First of all, using the Shadow Crystal in the Light world, where it is a shard of glass, can yield very interesting dialogue.
"You thought you saw through your hand" sounds very much like a reference to the holes in TRK's hands. "You thought you saw Susie glaring at you, coldly" could also be in reference to Kris becoming TRK and Susie hating TRK. C4's dialogue could very easily fit into the theory. I've seen some others theorize that the world Kris sees through the glass is one where they don't exist, but I think that Noelle whispering to them disproves this. As for the C5 dialogue, I'm currently unsure of it's significance.
While most uses of the Shadow Crystal in Dark worlds are easily deciphered, one perplexes me. Other instances of using the Shadow Crystal in a Dark world either let Kris see the Light world, or IRL Tenna totally shattered for some reason,
however when looking through it in the Garden, Kris sees something entirely different. Noelle is currently with her father after he fell during the festival, so this is not a glimpse into the current Light world. This also isn't a glimpse at an alternate route like shattered Tenna could be as we never see Noelle holding flowers like this. I'll keep it real with you chat, I don't know what this one means but I don't like it. Bad vibes.
With Shadow Crystals being power from lost dreams, I think they would have a VERY strong connection to TRK in this theory. Kris and Noelle are chasing a dream of breaking out of limits, going beyond what they thought was possible. If all of this is a time loop, that makes their dream pointless, lost.
I could expand on literally anything in this post, but for the sake of my sanity not slipping too much, I'll once again leave this post here. I'm absolutely sure I'll come back to this at some point though, Amalgam Knight has sunk its claws into me and isn't letting go.
Okay, maybe I've gone crazy or I'm reading too deep into this, but does anyone else think that Noelle's word choice when referring to Dess is strange?
In other instances that reference Dess, she's presumed missing. Carol especially gives the impression that Dess disappeared, with her keeping Dess's room and belongings all perfectly left the way they were. Given Carol's personality, it seems unlike her to care so very deeply about a child that merely ran away.
Rudy has more sparce mentions of his eldest daughter, but given the angel statue in his hospital room made by his daughters that he keeps as a good luck charm, he clearly cares a lot about them. Much of his dialogue is dedicated to how much he cares about Noelle and wants to get better for her sake. While his lack of dialogue regarding Dess could imply avoidance, it could also imply that he knows something Carol does not that has either allowed him to 'move on' more easily, or he is keeping secret from everyone around him.
When Noelle herself refers to Dess, typically, it reads very wistful. Longing for someone who is no longer around. She greatly misses her older sister and frequently wishes she could share something with her. In chapter 2, one of the things in Noelle's room because of her internet searches is a calendar, with every day being December 25th.
While we usually accept this as more missing Dess evidence, I think it could also hint to her having run away. This search could read as Noelle searching for if her sister has made any social media accounts or been mentioned by anyone not from Hometown. I don't think it make sense for Noelle to be looking for sightings of a missing person because, as a family member, she would be one of the very first people to know about it. However, if Dess is not actually missing but merely not here, it gives her a reason to search.
Still, this leaves the question of what truly happened. Most people seem to be under the impression that Dess is missing, and with Asgore's dialogue in C5, it's implied something horrible happened with the Dark Worlds to make her go missing.
I'm going to go into full speculation territory now, stay with me
We don't know who all was caught up in the Dark Worlds at the time. Perhaps those caught in the dark world were just the Dremurrs and Holidays. Something happened that led to Dess's disaperence, presumably something that traumatized at the very least Kris and Asgore. What if the group was faced with something awful, and with no other choices, Dess decided to sacrifice herself in order to let the rest of them escape what they were up against? After this happened, Dess disappeared, leaving all who witnessed it with different impressions of what truly happened to her.
For Carol, Rudy, and Asgore, I would say that they believe she died that day. Their grief all manifests differently, but they all give the impression that Dess will never return. Rudy appears to have healed the most, still keeping a place in his heart for Dess, but continuing on to keep loving Noelle.
For Noelle herself, I think she feels deep down that Dess is dead, but desperately doesn't want to think that. She misses her sister dearly and will take any opportunity to deny what seems obvious. For her, the idea that her sister is still out there, just never returning home, hurts less than the possibility that she could never be home again. In describing it as Dess 'leaving', she is able to believe that her sister didn't die that day, merely went somewhere else.
Finally, we have good ol' Krismas. What exactly Kris believes isn't clear, but given that they stop reading Asriel's letter after just the words "My Dearest December," I don't think they handled it well.
Speaking of that letter, I don't actually think it was a "love letter" like the narration tells you. Kris is extremely hesitant to read the letters and forces the player to stop just two words in. As well, the narration explicitly states that Kris has already read this letter.
It's clear that Kris doesn't want to read it, but this reads much more as something very painful for them to read instead of simply melancholic or sad. I think that when they describe the letters in Asriel's drawer as love letters, they are trying to persuade the player to not make them read the letters.
So what am I implying about this letter here, what am I getting at? I think that this is a "goodbye" letter. Some people, myself included, will write letters that will never be seen by the person they are addressed to. Particularly, if that person is no longer alive or in their life. It's impossible to know if Asriel believes that Dess is dead or missing, but I think it's extremely possible that this letter was his way of expressing grief so that he could move forward. I don't think that Kris would have read their brother's love confession before Dess went missing, and certainly not after. However, as an expression of grief, Asriel might have chosen to share this letter with Kris, perhaps in hopes of aiding their own grief.
Overall, I don't really have much to say here. This post was spurred by me thinking that a single word of Noelle's dialogue was an odd choice and it kinda spiraled into how grief has manifested for the people who were in Dess's life. Still, I'm very serious about that letter, I do not think the letter Kris opened was a love letter. It's absolutely possible that Asriel loved Dess, it's even possible that there were some unsent love letters in that drawer, but I don't think that the specific letter Kris picked up was one. They seem far more upset than they would be if it was just that.
Yep, there's four version of this piece. I could do more if I really wanted to, but I don't lol.
So, this piece is about my two boys Atlas (Purple Elf) and Judah (Gold Wolf) and how they're parallels of each other. The two are very similar in many ways and their stories are about what redemption really means.
Atlas was a child soldier who fought for The Crown until he eventually underwent a magical transformation and joined the Rebellion as an adult to fight against The Crown under a new name.
Judah was cast out from his home at a very young age and learned to manipulate people to survive. As he rose through the ranks of The Crown, he become more and more obsessed with power until he was taken down by the Rebellion. It isn't until months after being imprisoned that he truly starts to change.
Despite having 22 years on Atlas, Judah doesn't change until after Atlas does. Judah is a reflection of how much worse Atlas could have been while Atlas is a reflection of what Judah wishes he could have been.
Of course, this piece is pre-redemption Judah, so they just hate each other here lol.
This is the reference image, and it's been spread around so much that I cannot find the original source! I hate that. But oh well, I guess
Sketch, inspirations, and absolute yap under the cut.
I had a vision while I was in the shower today and rushed to dry off so I could sketch it down before I forgot. I then spent the next 3 hours fighting off passing out because I NEEDED to see it through and I'm a hypersomniac
I was inspired by quite a few things I had vaguely in mind that I'm now finding surprisingly difficult to track down, but here's the ones I could find!
The image in my head that I can't track down is a figure that's shattered into several more figures of themselves, they're cracked in the middle so the other selves are in a lineup
I swear there's some image out there that I'm thinking of, I just can't recall any specifics about it 😭
I didn't actually look at any references before or while drawing, just freeballed it and looking for the images now, like 7 hours later.
Anyway, the words are lyrics from Big Thief's Not, which I've been listening to a disturbing amount these past few days. (Seriously, I listened to it for 7 hours yesterday, 3 hours while drawing this, and another 2 hours just sitting around after I slept.)
The song majorly resonated with me in a lot of different ways, I just had the vision for one of them. This piece is about being transgender and the desire to not be. It's about the ideas of soul and body and how a body can't always reflect a soul.
Blue actually isn't used in this piece to primarily represent masculinity, although that is a part of it. Blue is a calm, serene color that manages to be bright but soothing. I think it fits myself well and makes the gradient I wanted work.
Purple is complicated. It isn't what was truly desired, but it's close. It brings the body closer to the soul, even if they still don't fully match. It's the compromise for never being able to have what you want. Still, it is better than going without.
Pink is the societal expectations placed on an incongruent soul because of the body they inhabit. It's the rules and restrictions projected onto an unwilling participant.
Red is the pain of visibility, the pain of showing others that you are different. With pink, there is denial. There is conforming to expectations and suffering in silence. With red, there is no denying. It's the burden of trying to shape a body to match the soul inside it. It's the proof that there is something trapped beneath flesh that wishes desperately to get out.
Blue words are: wanted, mess, bed, thirst, ricochet, and cave. Wanted is the desire to be one's self. Mess is the internal chaos of grappling with an identity that doesn't match expectations. Bed is the self, thirst is the burning desire to be free of Red burdens. Ricochet is cascading effects of being yourself, cave is the hollow emptiness in being forced to deny the self.
Purple words are: really, hand, and healing. Really is in emphasis to 'wanted', the two words make a phrase, and while 'wanted' may stand alone, 'really' pairs with another. Really is an extension of blue, but not quite the same. Hand and healing are both the interventions to bring the body closer to the soul, the actions that align them closer together.
Pink words are: purse, revealing, ricochet, and nameless grave. Purse is expectations forced on to you, written over your own story. Revealing, ricochet, and healing are all tinted with pink, stained by expectations and stigmas. They are words willingly misinterpreted, joys ignored, pain taken as proof of opposition. Nameless grave is literal. It is the graves of those who are buried with names that were not their own, held down even in death. It is the fear of every trans person I've ever met, that we will be buried in costumes and remembered as falsehoods.
Red words are: haunted, blanket, and hunger revealing. Haunted is pain, exhaustion. Blanket is cover, hiding something beneath because you cannot bare to see it. Still, covering it is a cruel reminder of it's existence. Hunger is want, the want for things to match and the burning of knowing they don't. Revealing is vulnerability, the showcasing of shattered glass with no defenses left. Together, hunger revealing is the showcasing of the most painful desire one has.
Not and nor can be read many ways. It can be read as lying, that "it" is all of these things. "It" can be the feeling of dysphoria. Or, they can be correct. "It" can be the simple feeling of being yourself. "It" can be what defines your identity, and how the suffering you experience isn't what defines it. You could mix them, "It" can be identity while not and nor are lies, making identity something painful that is heavily influenced by the experiences of suffering. It's all of them, it's none of them.
Overall this piece is going for a feeling more than an actual interpretation. It doesn't have to be literal, and it means more than what I've said. I'm a big symbolism and metaphors guy, sue me.
Here's the final and sketch side by side if you want to look at them that way :)
Not gonna lie, I do wish period products were more gender neutral
Not just for the guys like me, but for all the young girls who felt like they lost a part of themselves when that first time came.
For all the girls who knew they were counting down unknowable days until they were no longer allowed to be themselves first, coveted only as a "flower".
For all the tomboys forced to conform because of an arbitrary medical event.
For all the women that feel themselves held back by organs they had no choice in living with.
For all the women who have only known a period to be crippling, to take their ability to live away from them.
For all the girls who never got to experience femininity without sexualization.
For all the girls whose first "period" wasn't one at all.
I was looking at CoreStrings art and it made me start mourning a fictional relationship with a fictional character so I made this art about it. Feel pain about it.
Also, if anyone with some damn skills wants to draw this better than I ever could, please do 😭
Okay wait, I was listening to Dark, Darker, Yet Darker and had an idea
What if Gaster is just an example?
(This post contains spoilers for Undertale and Deltarune up to Ch5)
We all know that Undertale was made as a proof of concept for the story Toby Fox really wanted to tell, and we can see this in the characterization of the monsters in the Underground. They all exist to fill their role in the story, wrapping things up in nice, neat bows.
Deltarune is much more complicated, with characters being far more textured and nuanced, sometimes acting "out of character" or "against the narrative". We don't see characters completely out of the story with the single exception we know and love, our main man Gaster.
Our mystery man only exists in one room, until interacted with, when he fades away into nothing. With the aid of the Gaster Followers, the fandom has come to the general consensus that Gaster was the original royal scientist who fell into the Core, shattering him across time and space and almost entirely erasing him from reality.
Gaster's story serves zero purpose in Undertale, he is a mystery for the sake of it with no real reason to be there. That is, unless you consider him the proof of concept for something much larger in Deltarune.
Hear me out here. The two biggest mysteries in Deltarune as of right now are the identity of The Roaring Knight and what happened to Dess. If you've seen my recent Deltarune posts, you'll know that I believe TRK is Kris and Noelle amalgamated together
What my theory lacked was an explanation of how Kris and Noelle become shattered in the first place. This brings me back to Gaster.
Gaster was shattered across space when he fell into the Core, the heart of the Underground, the source of their power and energy.
When Flowery is sliced in half by TRK, he says
"Everyone, listen carefully to me. Us plants, are neither Darkners nor Lightners. We are living beings... ... that take on new consciousness in the dark. We can feel things others can't understand... Something horrible is stirring underneath the town. A darkness beyond your imagination."
Whatever is beneath the town, it's powerful. So powerful that Kris and Susie would not be able to imagine it. Does that sound familiar?
What if, by going into the late, Kris and Noelle find a way to access the darkness beneath the town? What if that powerful energy building below their home holds the same reality bending properties as the Core?
Yes, what I am suggesting is that Kris and Noelle essentially walked into a growing core in the lake. Gaster, the humble mystery man, serves as a set up for the concept of being shattered across time and space by forces more powerful than we can understand, and while he may not have directly impacted the story of Undertale, TRK has certainly made an impact on Deltarune.
And just because we're having fun here, lets point out some similarities. Obviously, they've both got the holes in the hands, but their visual similarities go deeper than that.
Both have uncanny, wide smiles, vacant eyes, black and white designs with sharp shapes, and lines that seem to split them apart. What I find most interesting in their visual similarities is two key points:
One, they can both change size. TRK is known to have several different forms that all vary in size, and Gaster becomes larger and is head slightly elongates when he's interacted with.
Two, they both seem to split their chest. While TRK very obviously has an open ribcage when they're roaring, Gaster has a far more subtle line through the white on his chest. If this were simply clothing, this line would make no sense. However, if we interpret him as we do TRK and assume that all of this is part of him, it instead appears that his chest has been split open as he disapears.
I'm sure there's more to be said on this, but I'm actually exhausted right now and don't have the energy to keep yapping. I may come back to this another day when my body isn't trying to give up on me, but for now, let me know your thoughts!
In reference to something I've seen quite a bit on posts about AroAllos talking about the stigma we face
I want to clarify that this is a topic with nuance, and obviously AroAces also face stigmatization and marginalization. What this comic is about is people who feel the need to comment about their own struggles on posts not made for them.
While yes, AroAces are underrepresented, this should not be brought up to discredit AroAllos talking about the erasure and stigma we face as a result of being AroAllo and not AroAce.
AroAces get more representation and visibility because AroAllos are viewed negatively just because we don't experience romantic attraction in turn with sexual attraction and this experience is unique to us. Dismissing what we go through only furthers the stigma.
Please remember that different identities have different experiences and someone talking about theirs isn't an invitation to look for who's "more oppressed".
I decided to make some more character references since I've got a bunch of characters who still need one, and the two I chose to start with are Judah and Percy!
Judah is my morally confusing son who isn't actually morally confusing at all, I just excuse everything he does because he's my son lol. No but seriously, he's a guy who's been through a lot but ultimately became a horrible perpetrator of abhorrent shit. Then he gets kicked off the throne and does a ton of self-reflection and tries to be better. His story is meant to parallel another character's story and showcase themes of nuance in redemption.
Perseus, Percy, is my lovely son who's just a ball of joy! He's a happy lil guy and his whimsy was not at all dulled by getting his face slashed up by another magically corrupted character. Obviously, he has his struggles and isn't always perfectly forgiving, but he doesn't like to have his time consumed with hate. He is the ball of energy counterpart to his QPR partner CJ, who is extremely low energy. They're total opposites who probably shouldn't work as well as they do, but they don't care :)
This is my second time ever drawing locs, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! Of course, there's still room for improvement, but I'm just happy to have tried. For the longest time, Percy remained in my head because I was too scared to try drawing his locs. I always thought, "My artstyle is too developed now, I can't really draw them badly without looking problematic" but I want to think that with the research I'm continuing to do and the effort I'm putting in, others can see that I'm making a sincere attempt to be better. Continuing to avoid drawing black hairstyles because of my lack of experience will only become more of a problem, especially as I seek to make my social media a safe place where others can feel seen.
What finally pushed me into drawing Percy was my pride piece this year, where I included him in my first sketch without thinking about it. I debated over including him when the time came to properly sketch him, but I decided that it was long overdue for me to draw him. He's one of my favorite OCs and it makes me sad that I've avoided drawing him out of fear. He's a happy guy who makes me happy and I want him to make others happy, too!
I apologize if any of this comes off weird, I just try to be very conscious of how racism can effect my actions without me even thinking about it. My fear of being perceived as racist ultimately held me back from drawing my characters of color, ironically making me be a lot more racist than if I just took the first step forward. I want to be better, I want to show that I am trying to unlearn that shit and include the people I care about in the media I make.
They cannot see, the ink seeping into fragile sockets, soaking, staining beyond repair
One screams, pain tearing through her lungs as the inky pours in against her will
Still, they proceed.
On and on and on and on they trek, ink seeping into skin and bone
Four hands, two hearts, one soul
In the ink, there is silence
Two hands, no heart, one soul.
Two enter, none leave
One emerges an eternity before two can enter.
So what did any of that even mean?
Well, this little bit of writing is based on the end of C5WR, where Kris and Noelle submerge themselves in the lake, and a theory of who The Roaring Knight is.
The theory is that TRK is an amalgam of Kris and Noelle after WR. HEAR ME OUT-
I have personally never really believed in Dess Knight simply because it felt far too obvious, and after C5, I now firmly believe TRK isn't Dess. TRK is now known to have existed before Dess and possibly at the same time as her, and while it's still possible that she got the Gaster treatment and is shattered across time, I find another idea far more compelling.
WR is all about pushing and breaking the boundaries of the world Deltarune exists in, especially now with C5 and the lake scene. I believe that either by what they're doing in the lake, or whatever happens in C7B, will lead to Kris and Noelle becoming shattered across time together, becoming TRK and causing whatever happened to Dess all those years ago.
From this theory, I have a few branching theories/predictions on how this would effect DR as a story and the ending of the normal route.
The first option is that it technically effects nothing. The Normal route has the gang defeat TRK without ever finding out who they were or all the dark mysteries beneath the surface, having a very "well, not every question is meant to be answered" kind of vibe.
The second option is the single ending. As many of us remember, DR originally had "Only 1 ending" in it's steam description, which has since been changed to "... only 1 ending...?"
This second option proposes that this line is correct and the game only features one ending, where Kris and Noelle are shattered across time regardless of the route you choose. The WR existing at all creates TRK, but because Kris and Noelle are no longer supposed to be tangible beings, TRK manually breaks Normal Route Kris and Noelle against their will, possibly through a ritual. (Keep in mind that I assume Noelle and Kris will be in the same place, at the same time at some point since Susie wants to add her to the team in C6)
The ritual is something mentioned when talking to Catti, likely being the reason they are no longer friends as Catti got scared and left Kris to complete the ritual alone. Perhaps TRK is now preparing a new ritual, one requiring people. Through this ritual, whatever it truly is, they would force Kris and Noelle to into becoming TRK, likely creating another iteration of the time loop.
In this second option, I would have the gang still defeat TRK, but be unable to stop the ritual. So, this makes TRK stuck in a closed time loop, where they are forced into existence and sent back in time. In the past, they cause the Dess incident to occur, setting Kris and Noelle into motion for where they will be by the time C1 starts. Finally, everything repeats regardless of choice. While WR had Kris and Noelle 'willingly' become TRK much faster, it is destined to happen whether they want it or not.
What would this mean for Dess? Essentially, it makes her a red herring, but also the key to everything. If nothing happens to her, then the events of DR will never happen. But, what truly happens to her is irrelevant, all that matters is that she goes missing. Of course, this prompts the question "How did the loop start if Dess has to go missing to create TRK?" Well my friend, that is a time travel question that I'm not getting into right now. If you care that much, leave a comment and I'll reblog this post about it.
What would this mean for Gaster? This idea means nothing for Gaster, bro wouldn't even need to show up at all. For fun though, we'll say he shows up somewhere in there for something important. Have fun with it.
What would this mean for the people involved in the ritual? Well, that all depends on what they're needed for! If the ritual is something akin to Gravity Falls where no one has to get hurt, then nothing really! There is, of course, the alternative. Anyway, personally, I think TRK is collecting people who were somehow involved in what happened to Dess.
So... how did we get here? Why would Kris and Noelle be TRK at all?
That, my friend, is an excellent question!
To begin, we'll start surface level.
This funtastic image shows several examples of Kris and TRK having very similar mannerisms. TRK has horns, and is twice as tall as Kris. Twice as tall, two people stacked together. (On another note, if you look at Toby Fox's concept art for Noelle, her horns look remarkably similar to TRK's.) But these are just visual similarities, where's the real shit?
Alright, TRK and Kris are the most frequent creators of dark worlds. In C5, TRK even creates a fountain as Kris closes one. While it is known that any Lightner can create a dark world, explicitly shown with Susie in C4, Kris and TRK are the only other known creators. Still, when it comes to creating dark worlds, Queen tells us that she was trying to get Noelle to open dark worlds.
In C5WR, Noelle tells Kris that she feels like if she keeps following them, they'll drag her down to "somewhere no one is supposed to go." Perhaps this somewhere is past the boundaries of their reality, perhaps it is a time they were never supposed to be in.
She also says "You found out how to stop being Kris!" Implying that she wants us to show her how to stop being Noelle. Maybe the way they stop being themselves is by becoming someone else entirely.
Now, what the hell was my gay little poem about? That was an idea on how Kris and Noelle would become TRK, going somewhere wrong far beyond where the lake stops. The water has become something more shadowed, not ink in a literal sense, but ink in a metaphorical sense. The ink pours into them, changing them into something else entirely, TRK. Their four hands become two, their hearts disappear with the rest of their original selves, and the soul now remains inside the remnants of Kris and Noelle. Neither of them leave the water, but TRK leaves it some time in the past.
I could go on, but this post is long as hell and I doubt anyone cares here, lol. Still, if anybody wants me to yap on about this, just say so and I'll hop to it! Otherwise, I'll still come around to it, just not as promptly, lol.
Thank you for asking me to elaborate, I LOVE to yap and I'm glad my ideas are interesting!
To begin, we'll start with time loops since I actually love to talk about them.
How a time loop begins is the most interesting question about them, and there's a few different answers depending on how concrete or nebulous you want it to be.
On the most mysterious side, there's the permanent question. This one rests on the idea that the loop has always existed somehow, and has no real "start" event outside the loop. This is a perfect self-fulfilling loop with no explanation on how it came to be if it exists by it's own existence.
The more concrete explanation is iteration. This idea proposes that the loop started from another event that created the same outcome, then became the loop. In the case of my Knight theory, the starting event would be something happening to Dess without TRK around, which leads to Kris and Noelle becoming depressed and eventually starting the TRK cycle. What exactly happens to Dess doesn't have to be the same thing TRK does to her, it just has to have the same outcome of making Kris and Noelle depressed.
(Side note, I am aware of all the other mental illness implications and allegories for Kris and Noelle, I'm generalizing to depression.)
The original iteration could have countless differences to the loop we know, all that matters is that it would cause the loop to begin. As well, the first few loops may vary slightly until creating the perfect self-fulfilling loop I've proposed. Small differences are acceptable, even expected, what matters is that the main beat is always completed once the loop starts, which is the creation of TRK.
Next, more soul things. TRK has something in their chest, usually interpreted as an eye. I'm uncertain what exactly it is, it definitely could be an eye, but I think that what it literally is is far less interesting than what it implies.
With the eye being hidden inside TRK unless they're roaring, it makes an obvious parallel to Kris's soul being hidden inside them until they literally rip it out, the sequence for which looks eerily familiar to TRK's roaring sprites.
Next is another sprite of interest, their drooping animation. When encountering TRK for the very first time in C3, this is the first thing we ever see of them. I think that the drooping animation is a very peculiar first introduction to a character we currently only know to be a menace.
The droop is defeated, uncharacteristically sullen. What really catches my eye though is the particles dripping from their face. These particles could be a couple of things, but what they most resemble to me is tears.
In this first encounter, TRK is coming face to face with Kris, Susie, Ralsei, and Toriel. This is presumably TRK's first physical encounter with the gang, in my theory, their first physical interaction with one of their old selves. These tears could be them feeling despair at seeing Kris. As well, the first thing they do upon completing this animation is go for Toriel. This could be coincidence, it could be Kris wanting their mother for comfort.
A second idea is that the particles are excess darkness literally dripping off of them. What this would mean exactly is unclear to me, but it's sure menacing as hell.
A third option is that it's snow. While I don't personally believe this one because of the left particle being stretched out and shortened like a liquid, it would be an interesting show of Noelle in TRK that isn't just the horns.
It's hard to find good gifs for this part, but if you watch the fight with TRK, you'll notice that they attack in red. (Not always, some of their attacks are black and white, but many feature red.)
To my recollection, no other enemy attacks in red, making this significant. Correct me if I'm wrong on that, but I still think their attacks being red is significant even if another enemy attacks in red as well.
TRK uses the same (or a very similar) red in their attacks as the determination soul, perhaps an indication of them possessing a red soul.
Now onto their unstable nature. Upon defeating TRK, they start to 'glitch' for a moment, like they're having trouble maintaining their form. However, we also know that the Knight isn't the only form they can take, having both a ball and flying form that look very different from the Knight form.
Then of course, is their obvious strangeness with the black and while 'shadow' they cast and in particular their laughing mouth appearing all around them when they laugh, as well as not even sitting properly on their face. (For the second point, this is because the mouth and body sprites are separate to achieve the first effect, but I still think it's extremely spooky to see their mouth jitter in places it shouldn't)
On top of all this is the inconsistency of their face, sometimes having a 'visor', sometimes having a single eye, and sometimes having a mouth. This inconsistency is a feature of their design
Another thing to bring up is them 'knighting' Kris. If you defeat TRK, you will see this animation, where TRK knights Kris before using swoon. This interaction can be read as them working together, but it could also be read in line with my theory as a symbolic moment between past and future selves. By TRK knighting Kris, they are saying that Kris will become just like them.
Unfortunately, my evidence for TRK also being Noelle is a little lacking. There just isn't a lot for me to work with on that front. Still, I'll do my best!
At some angles, TRK's sword strongly resembles a bat, something we know Dess had. While this is often seen as a point for Dess Knight, I think it could also work for Noelle as she was greatly influenced by her sister.
In C2, we can find out Noelle has an interest in 'creepy' game glitches, as well as her general affinity for horror.
Noelle makes multiple references to the Angel, a deity figure in DR. However, the Angel is also referred to in the prophecy, which none of the gang respond well to, implying something less than good. Susie specifically is put off by it's appearance, although we currently have no idea what it looks like.
However, this is not the only instance of the Angel and Noelle, with one more being potentially significant.
In Noelle's basement, we, the soul, become stuck underneath an angel tree topper, literally moving around as an angel. Noelle thinks that we're a mouse underneath and scoops us up with a cookie tray. She is the only character to handle the soul besides Kris, and it is THROUGH AN ANGEL.
I swear, there is SOMETHING going on here, I just don't know how these pieces fit together yet.
This is going into wild speculation territory, but I think the Angel is the soul, and by extension, TRK. What we see of the Angel in the prophecy is "The Angel, Banished, will finally meet with its desire." Now, this is vague as hell and could mean literally anything, but here's my interpretation for this theory.
Content warning - talk of su!c!de
The Angel, meaning TRK in this case, will be cast down by the gang. Defeated and potentially killed/destroyed. However, TRK is a being of agony, a combination of two people at the lowest points in their lives and an Eldridge abomination that led them to becoming what they are now.
In Deltarune, there are a lot of themes that allude to (or explicitly look like) su!c!de. The lake scene in C5WR especially enforces this connection to Kris and Noelle. While I don't believe any characters have made explicit reference to a desire to not be alive, the theme weighs heavy on many aspects of both the normal and weird routes. It could be that, especially in the form they're in, Kris and Noelle do not want to continue living. Their destruction could be their ultimate desire, fueling all their actions to an inevitable end point of defeat.
While deeply sad, this is a very real possibility for these two characters, especially in my theory of them becoming TRK. I don't think it's unreasonable to point out the potential implications of them drowning in the lake and becoming a terrifying entity like my theory proposes.
Still, this is an aspect that is important. It's important to recognize that su!c!de is a very real thing that happens to very real people struggling with feeling like there's no way out. It's important to see how these people get to this point and how it effects everyone afterwards.
I'm not saying that this reading is definitely intended, it's extremely dark and perhaps a bit too overt for Toby Fox to write. But I do think it's worth talking about anyway.
My theory as a whole makes TRK a deeply sad character that is a representation of the absolute lowest of two mentally struggling teenagers. While interesting as a concept, its implications paint a depressing ass picture.
What I would want to be taken from this is that mental illness can sometimes consume people, twist their lives into a strange caricature of themselves that is warped and distorted beyond recognition. Mental illness effects not just the person who has it, but everyone around them as well. Two mentally ill people can sometimes bring out the worst in each other, creating a toxic, co-dependency that brings both of them down.
But it doesn't have to. If we take the multiple endings path, we can show a difference between outcomes. Where one spirals and ultimately makes an irreversible choice, the other grows and changes and continues living despite everything with the help of those who care about them.
None of this is to imply that people who deal with mental illness are evil or weak, just plagued with something horrifying that's extremely difficult to fight off. TRK, in this interpretation, would be parallel to normal route Kris and Noelle, a reflection of the path they could have taken.
I wouldn't want one ending in a world where this interpretation of TRK exists. Having TRK force Kris and Noelle into becoming them says something bleak that I don't want to imply. I would be greatly opposed to the implication that Kris and Noelle cannot overcome their struggles when their struggles parallel su!c!de.
Content warning over
Overall, I could probably find even more to say about this, but I think this is a good place to stop, at least for now. I got pretty heavy at the end, but always remember that you can absolutely pick and choose which parts of this theory you believe could be true. This theory has a lot of branching paths where I stack theories on top of theories and speculate about potential meanings of them or just basically write fanfiction. I love Deltarune and all the possibilities it holds and while I may believe in one theory, I love to see all of them! I love to speculate about TRK being Rudy or Papyrus or Carol, I love to think about how Kris and the soul work! I love this community and the insane shit we cook up together to try and make sense of the fever dream Toby had like 15 years ago lol
I'd love to hear thoughts and theories in the comments! Stay silly, chat :3
They cannot see, the ink seeping into fragile sockets, soaking, staining beyond repair
One screams, pain tearing through her lungs as the inky pours in against her will
Still, they proceed.
On and on and on and on they trek, ink seeping into skin and bone
Four hands, two hearts, one soul
In the ink, there is silence
Two hands, no heart, one soul.
Two enter, none leave
One emerges an eternity before two can enter.
So what did any of that even mean?
Well, this little bit of writing is based on the end of C5WR, where Kris and Noelle submerge themselves in the lake, and a theory of who The Roaring Knight is.
The theory is that TRK is an amalgam of Kris and Noelle after WR. HEAR ME OUT-
I have personally never really believed in Dess Knight simply because it felt far too obvious, and after C5, I now firmly believe TRK isn't Dess. TRK is now known to have existed before Dess and possibly at the same time as her, and while it's still possible that she got the Gaster treatment and is shattered across time, I find another idea far more compelling.
WR is all about pushing and breaking the boundaries of the world Deltarune exists in, especially now with C5 and the lake scene. I believe that either by what they're doing in the lake, or whatever happens in C7B, will lead to Kris and Noelle becoming shattered across time together, becoming TRK and causing whatever happened to Dess all those years ago.
From this theory, I have a few branching theories/predictions on how this would effect DR as a story and the ending of the normal route.
The first option is that it technically effects nothing. The Normal route has the gang defeat TRK without ever finding out who they were or all the dark mysteries beneath the surface, having a very "well, not every question is meant to be answered" kind of vibe.
The second option is the single ending. As many of us remember, DR originally had "Only 1 ending" in it's steam description, which has since been changed to "... only 1 ending...?"
This second option proposes that this line is correct and the game only features one ending, where Kris and Noelle are shattered across time regardless of the route you choose. The WR existing at all creates TRK, but because Kris and Noelle are no longer supposed to be tangible beings, TRK manually breaks Normal Route Kris and Noelle against their will, possibly through a ritual. (Keep in mind that I assume Noelle and Kris will be in the same place, at the same time at some point since Susie wants to add her to the team in C6)
The ritual is something mentioned when talking to Catti, likely being the reason they are no longer friends as Catti got scared and left Kris to complete the ritual alone. Perhaps TRK is now preparing a new ritual, one requiring people. Through this ritual, whatever it truly is, they would force Kris and Noelle to into becoming TRK, likely creating another iteration of the time loop.
In this second option, I would have the gang still defeat TRK, but be unable to stop the ritual. So, this makes TRK stuck in a closed time loop, where they are forced into existence and sent back in time. In the past, they cause the Dess incident to occur, setting Kris and Noelle into motion for where they will be by the time C1 starts. Finally, everything repeats regardless of choice. While WR had Kris and Noelle 'willingly' become TRK much faster, it is destined to happen whether they want it or not.
What would this mean for Dess? Essentially, it makes her a red herring, but also the key to everything. If nothing happens to her, then the events of DR will never happen. But, what truly happens to her is irrelevant, all that matters is that she goes missing. Of course, this prompts the question "How did the loop start if Dess has to go missing to create TRK?" Well my friend, that is a time travel question that I'm not getting into right now. If you care that much, leave a comment and I'll reblog this post about it.
What would this mean for Gaster? This idea means nothing for Gaster, bro wouldn't even need to show up at all. For fun though, we'll say he shows up somewhere in there for something important. Have fun with it.
What would this mean for the people involved in the ritual? Well, that all depends on what they're needed for! If the ritual is something akin to Gravity Falls where no one has to get hurt, then nothing really! There is, of course, the alternative. Anyway, personally, I think TRK is collecting people who were somehow involved in what happened to Dess.
So... how did we get here? Why would Kris and Noelle be TRK at all?
That, my friend, is an excellent question!
To begin, we'll start surface level.
This funtastic image shows several examples of Kris and TRK having very similar mannerisms. TRK has horns, and is twice as tall as Kris. Twice as tall, two people stacked together. (On another note, if you look at Toby Fox's concept art for Noelle, her horns look remarkably similar to TRK's.) But these are just visual similarities, where's the real shit?
Alright, TRK and Kris are the most frequent creators of dark worlds. In C5, TRK even creates a fountain as Kris closes one. While it is known that any Lightner can create a dark world, explicitly shown with Susie in C4, Kris and TRK are the only other known creators. Still, when it comes to creating dark worlds, Queen tells us that she was trying to get Noelle to open dark worlds.
In C5WR, Noelle tells Kris that she feels like if she keeps following them, they'll drag her down to "somewhere no one is supposed to go." Perhaps this somewhere is past the boundaries of their reality, perhaps it is a time they were never supposed to be in.
She also says "You found out how to stop being Kris!" Implying that she wants us to show her how to stop being Noelle. Maybe the way they stop being themselves is by becoming someone else entirely.
Now, what the hell was my gay little poem about? That was an idea on how Kris and Noelle would become TRK, going somewhere wrong far beyond where the lake stops. The water has become something more shadowed, not ink in a literal sense, but ink in a metaphorical sense. The ink pours into them, changing them into something else entirely, TRK. Their four hands become two, their hearts disappear with the rest of their original selves, and the soul now remains inside the remnants of Kris and Noelle. Neither of them leave the water, but TRK leaves it some time in the past.
I could go on, but this post is long as hell and I doubt anyone cares here, lol. Still, if anybody wants me to yap on about this, just say so and I'll hop to it! Otherwise, I'll still come around to it, just not as promptly, lol.
Let's go pride art! Close ups of each character under the cut :)
All flags used are in the alt. text :)
Also, yes. This is, embarrassingly, my first time drawing locs 🥲
I've always felt really intimidated by POC hairstyles because 1, I don't want to offend anybody and 2, I've never done them before and thus have no confidence with drawing them
But I can only get somewhere by starting and I don't want someone to see my work and feel that this is just another space that won't include them.
Perseus is a character I've never drawn because I always wanted him to have locs, but I've never drawn locs before. But I love Percy and I want others to see the I love him too :)
(Also, I've now seen debate online about the word "dreads", with some POC saying it's derogatory and others saying it isn't. I only saw this after taking all my screenshots, so it still uses the word, but I've used 'locs' for the text of this post to be safe. If this word is truly offensive, let me know and I'll edit this post once my tablet isn't dead :))
Things changed/added include some minor mistakes, color tweaks, light & shadow, and trans color's on Percy's earrings because I totally forgot that he's trans, lol
This is a second version and not the original because I've been turning into goop lately and wasn't sure originally if I would have a day when I'd have the energy to add more before pride month was over. Thankfully, I've scooped up enough spoons to make my babies prettier :)
Let's go pride art! Close ups of each character under the cut :)
All flags used are in the alt. text :)
Also, yes. This is, embarrassingly, my first time drawing locs 🥲
I've always felt really intimidated by POC hairstyles because 1, I don't want to offend anybody and 2, I've never done them before and thus have no confidence with drawing them
But I can only get somewhere by starting and I don't want someone to see my work and feel that this is just another space that won't include them.
Perseus is a character I've never drawn because I always wanted him to have locs, but I've never drawn locs before. But I love Percy and I want others to see the I love him too :)
(Also, I've now seen debate online about the word "dreads", with some POC saying it's derogatory and others saying it isn't. I only saw this after taking all my screenshots, so it still uses the word, but I've used 'locs' for the text of this post to be safe. If this word is truly offensive, let me know and I'll edit this post once my tablet isn't dead :))
