A Real Dealmaker
Back with another post! So... what's up with this? While the Normal Route's ending and the Weird Route of this chapter have taken all the attention, and deservedly so, there are smaller moments like this one that have gone under the radar, due to not fitting neatly into the larger mysteries of Deltarune. However, pedant and no-lifer that I am, I think it's worth examining this brief interaction in its entirety and what it can tell us about Kris, Seth, the Knight, the Prophecy, how Dark Worlds work, how flowers work, and a whole lot more! The first thing we must establish about this deal between Kris and Seth is the chronology. For the vast majority of Deltarune, from Chapter 1 to Chapter 5, we are following Kris around and seeing the world from their perspective, or a rough approximation thereof. There are very few moments where Kris is shown to be beyond our control within the main game, and here they are in order: 1. At the very end of Chapter 1, when Kris puts us in the cage and pulls out his knife and looks super duper scary... before going downstairs to eat some pie 2. At the very end of Chapter 2, when Kris sneaks outside using the bathroom window, slashes Toriel's tires, and creates a Dark World inside their living room 3. At the beginning of Chapter 4, while Kris is inside the Holiday house, in order to prevent us from accessing the bunker codes early, as well as taking the time to drink some chocolate milk and play the piano 4. At the very end of Chapter 4, when Kris climbs out of their window during the night while the Knight(?) speaks to them on the phone 5. At the very beginning of Chapter 5, when Kris climbs back into their room right as the sun is rising and gives us back control While this deal may have been cut at any point, it is most likely option 5, given the impossibly narrow time windows of options 2 and 3, the risks inherent to option 4 (sneaking into Flower King in the dead of night while Asgore is sleeping in the same room probably isn't good tactics), and a simple swipe of Occam's Razor to decline option 1. This means that Kris most likely entered Flower King during the day, either through the front or the back, while Asgore was busy making preparations for the Festival, and made contact with Seth.
The second, and FAR more interesting part of this mystery, is HOW the deal was even made. Recall that the flower Darkners are considered living things unto themselves, but lacking in agency or sentience while in the Light World. However, it is shown that Asgore's hopes and dreams and memories are imbued onto his "little ones", and so there IS a way for information to be conveyed across the two worlds without necessarily creating a Dark World. So, this leaves us with two possibilities: 1. Kris spoke to Seth in the Light World as a flower, and somehow arranged a deal with them, despite them being presumably unable to respond on account of being a flower 2. Kris created the Dark World of Chapter 5 early, met up with Seth, arranged the deal, then sealed the Fountain again so as to cover their tracks Both explanations leave something to be desired, in my opinion. Option 1 requires certain leaps in logic, that flowers can hear and understand what is said to them in the Light World and perfectly understand and recall that information in the Dark World, and that Kris is aware of this property of flowers within the Dark World. Option 2 requires a Dark World to be created and at least partially explored by Kris, alone (or perhaps with the Knight?), make contact with Seth specifically, strike the deal, be escorted to the Fountain, convince everyone including Flowery that the Fountain will be reopened soon, seal the Fountain, and return to the Light World without anyone outside noticing the black smoke coming from Flower King. It could very well be that Kris struck this deal at a different point in time, such as option 4, but then that still requires similar leaps in logic, such as Kris being able to speak to a flower at night while Asgore is snoring in the same room as him, and option 1 requiring Kris and the Knight to have meticulously planned the entirety of Chapter 5 three days in advance, which reeks a little too much of "everything happened the way that it did because I said so" sort of writing, which I'd like to believe Toby is above. I'm not sure how to reconcile this with the information provided, but I am very open to discussion and debate! Had to split this one into two parts because apparently Tumblr has a character limit or something. (Also, bonus observation; because we know that Kris and Carol are working in tandem with the Knight, it could be the case that Carol called Noelle away by telling her that Rudy had suddenly fallen ill as a means to get her away from Kris and Susie so that they could go on their Dark World adventure uninterrupted, although whether or not Rudy genuinely fell or Carol is lying to Noelle or Carol is otherwise abusing her husband's poor health is currently unknown.) Anyway, to finish, here's what Seth idolises:
