i dunno if you've talked about this before but the entire structure of chapter 5 centering the party as the antagonists i think absolutely says volumes about what kris is feeling about their role at this point
yeah absolutely... its fascinating how much flowery seems to Dislike kris. like, kris created a darkner who knows all their sins and is actively judging them without ever quite giving the game away
Some people get upset at the fraud Knight jokes but at the end of chapter 5 they confirm that this is kind of canon. Part of the Knight’s power is because they exploit the video game mechanics. They “ignore” Flowery’s fake stats, they use cutscenes to their advantage, etc. We’re basically fighting a cheater.
So this begs the question… how can they do that in the first place?
In Deltarune, the video game mechanics for the most part are exclusive to the dark world. Things like battles, magic, etc. only happen in this place. To sum it up, it’s the diegetic equivalent of the “game” part of the game, if that makes sense.
But Ralsei reveals in chapter 3 that this is all an “illusion”. The way the dark world works, as Ralsei described, is that the dark fountains turns places so extraordinarily dark that Lightners will begin “seeing things” and “feeling things”. This creates the “fantasy” that is the dark world.
So what if the Knight is somebody who can see in the dark? Like, what if they can see everything as it is in real life.
This is why they can exploit the rules, by straight up not playing along. At least, not entirely. This gives them a clear advantage over everybody who goes to the dark world, including us.
You can’t get beat up by a literal flower, can you? To them, they just smashed a TV. To them, they just cut a flower in half. In our perspective, they attacked actual characters.
Every time they show up, the Knight “kills” escapism, both literally and metaphorically. Well maybe that’s because it’s not escapism to them. They can’t see the illusion.
Eyes have been a subtle motif of this game. The Knight itself even has an eye inside of its chest. Maybe it gave them this ability in the first place.
This would make them an interesting foil to the heroes. These characters that we care about so much, the villain sees them for what they are. Objects. Because of that, they’re mentally detached to them.
Dark worlds also act as a parallel to dreams. So if this theory were true, wouldn’t the Knight be a lucid dreamer? They take advantage of their dream and do whatever they want. Just something to think about I guess
“i have to listen to my body’s needs” secret boss fight written by person who has chronic and disabling wrist pain which has fundamentally changed his relationship to his hobbies and his job <- i care it as someone who has also had chronic pain in my wrist/hand for 5 years
another thing i tend to think about with this. i also just think in chapter 5 there's a theme of care and dependency. the flowers have extreme guilt over being taken care of by asgore. flowery conceptualizes himself as weak and useless. in the dark world, his fantasy, he tries to return the care given to him to asgore to "make up for" asgore taking care of him when he should've died decades ago. it's an extreme example, but i also resonate with his feeling.
when your body or mind puts you in a situation where your reliance on other people becomes really explicit, you're trained by the world to see that as shameful or to see yourself as deficient. your efforts to ignore your needs just to avoid "being a burden," will leave you worse off. you punish yourself because of deeply internalized ableism.
regardless, even by virtue of being a living thing on this planet, you are already designed to need others. you have to listen to your body's needs even against a society that teaches you you shouldn't. you have to be okay with the fact that you have needs. sometimes your needs are different or are greater than the person next to you, and all you can do is listen to your body and turn to others when you need them. you're still a person when you need people.
when toby says this:
it's interesting to me how much he uses the language of deltarune to express this feeling. your hopes and dreams slipping away, and bitterness growing is literally the explanation we get for shadow crystals (and so wept the fallen star, making rivers with its tears. then, slowly, from the bitter water, something grew. it looked like glass). this is also the crushing feeling when you lose a sense of control when you're in pain, when you can't do things the way you want, the way you used to. but when you find yourself still able to fly, you do so because you've adapted. you've listened to your body. you've learned that listening to your body means changing the pace, letting yourself be cared for, letting yourself be helped.
as far as toby's said it, having to expand his team has made deltarune a better game. chapter 5 is so expansive because so many people helped to make it. Pink's fight has sprite work from guest artists, music with Camellia, bullets programmed by Toby's team. She is, to me, a love letter to Deltarune's development process as a whole and how it has shaped Toby, and a reflection of the kinds of thoughts Toby has shared with us about developing Deltarune alongside pain. I also think it's a beautiful follow-up to Gerson's themes of storytelling and authorship (letting go of "perfection" + accepting the contributions of others = both about rescinding control and embracing perseverance). Pink is also so much more than this, but I've been thinking about this a lot.
gracieabrams
origamiaround
gummygunk
germansingergirl
theartofmadeline
yousharknotpass
pixelskylines
amandla
prguitarman
