I saw that Salt Route AU thing, and I gotta say you guys arenāt going nearly far enough with it.
Like, yeah, as a dream the creator had, I can see why it would be haunting and striking, but if you were to actually do a Weird Route with Spamton in Noelleās role, Spamton wouldnāt be just a meek submissive who just went along naively with whatever Kris (you) wanted.Ā
Like, imagine a Salt Route with Spamtonās canon personality.Ā
Spamton is, at first, thrilled that Kris is helping him, just like he is in-game. He goes along gleefully with you because he has an allyāor maybe even a friendāfor the first time in God knows how long.Ā
Even the eliminating his fellow Darkeners in the name ofĀ āgetting strongerā would give him a thrill. Donāt forget, this is the same guy who sells you the Thorn Ring in the canon Weird Route. What makes you think heād object to murder?Ā
And these are the very same Darkeners that rejected him, so he could even view it as a twisted form of retribution. Take the moment where he kills the Addison, for instance. Why wouldnāt he be positively giddy at being given the go-ahead by Kris, to finally be strong enough to hurt the people who hurt him? He would be elated.
Somewhere along the way, he realizes just how tight a grip you (Kris) has on him. That he isnāt he one making these calls to [kill or be killed], he isnāt the one calling the shots, itās you deciding everything and controlling him. And he realizes heās been made into a puppet all over again, except itās not the Voice on the phone pulling the strings, itās Kris (you), the kid standing right next to him, the kid he thought (in some twisted way) was his friend.
Thatās what drives him to despair. Not the killing but the fact that youāre the one making him do it. And when he tries to resist you (like Noelle does in the Weird Route) and realizes he has no choice but to obey, thatās when he regrets the horrible things heās done. In the most twisted case of reverse psychology ever, he now desperately longs to take back the things you told him to do, and even feels sickened at his earlier glee. Because when he crashes down from the emotional high of that sweet, sweet [Revenge Sauce], he realizes that not even his own emotions are safe from your influences. Even what he feels is determined by you.
And when he realizes the Lightener he thought was giving him his freedom has essentially enslaved him, thatās when he just breaks. And at some point, his demeanor changes from railing against you to worshipping you, praying to you like he did to the machine in the basement. He goes full-circle, and you become his new voice, his new heaven.
Essentially, in this route, he replaces his old god, the Voice on the phone, with a new one, the Voice in his ear.
And this time, no oneās ever hanging up.
I have written a fan fic based on this post. Links are below:
Archive of Our Own link is here.
FanFiction.net link is here.
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