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Just an artist wanting to have a good time / Currently in college / He/they / Minors DNI

[k4e0n]

Seeing as I have a post that has somewhat taken off...

(Before anything else, minors DNI. I don't plan for this blog to be NSFW, but better safe than sorry, am I right? With that being said...)

Hello! You can call me Kaeon.

About me:

Currently in college

Male(?), he/they

Nintendo + Indie game enthusiast

Aspiring artist (typically traditional, currently learning digital)

Aspiring writer

Fan of metal and prog rock

Indie horror project fan

Current Interests:

Deltarune

Undertale: Inverted Fate

The Walten Files

Splatoon

I plan for this blog to be primarily for posting art, though I might post other things like writing pieces or speculation. I hope you enjoy what I have to offer!

P. S.

Here are some post of mine that could get some more attention:

Why the Vessel might not be the Knight

Something that probably happens after Inverted Fate

[brixbraxium]

Remembering that which is forgotten: An analysis of The Forgotten Man.

The Forgotten Man is a fascinating topic of discussion, but I feel like my interpretation is wildly different from what the fandom consensus seems to be.

This is one of those things that a lot of people disagree with me on, but, please hear me out here. I think that people generally are looking at The Forgotten Man in the wrong way.

I often see people reading The Forgotten Man as this, like, really abstract and symbolic character- a manifestation of something relating to Kris, a trauma response.

This is an extremely hot take, but I do not think that this is what The Forgotten Man is. I feel, personally, that a more literal interpretation of this entity is more accurate- and still thematically resonant. I will readily admit that this reading may perhaps be something that I am biased in seeing. Maybe I just see what I "want" to see. But I hope that I can convince at least a few people of this vision.

PHASE 1: WHY HE'S "REAL"

I feel like the first thing I want to establish is that The Forgotten Man Is Real. Like, this, to me, is the biggest reason I'm against a more symbolic interpretation of this guy.

For starters, he exists in the Light World.

And, the Eggs that he gives us are also very real, in that Susie is able to acknowledge them:

This, to me, is slightly weird if The Forgotten Man is somehow a manifestation of something relating to Kris.

If anything, it seems he's somehow some sort of Lightner. He's not part of the Dark Worlds.

But, perhaps, more importantly than that, is the fact that... he doesn't just talk to Kris.

He spoke with Noelle, too. And this, to me, is foundational in understanding The Forgotten Man.

I actually want to take a moment to talk about this in detail:

Behold, Noelle's post on Cat Petterz. In this, she recounts that she likes to use mods in Cat Petterz 2, but due to the nature of the mods, it was risky to allow eggs to hatch, since there was a chance of this leading to a crash.

She says that she was actively scared of this interaction happening. So scared, in fact, that she would play the game "wrong", punishing her pets so that they never fell in love, and if an Egg did somehow appear, she'd throw it out instantly.

Until one day. That phrasing, combined with the fact this is a link, inherently suggests that the link will explain what changed this. She used to have this fear, but no longer does, because of this one day.

So what happened?

She describes trying to get the Secret Cats by constantly grinding out eggs. Notably, this is clearly a different scenario from the one she just described- In the original post, she was talking about mods breaking eggs (leading to her fear), and in this one, she clearly is fine to do this. But, as mentioned, we should assume there's a direct relation between what happens in this post and her fear of the eggs, so we should keep reading. Additionally, she later acknowledges that this was a modded instance of the game, so we can assume that maybe the reason she's not scared is that this method of obtaining eggs should be fine. This makes sense, given there's no cat breeding involved, it presumably just picks from an existing list.

Anyway:

She describes getting an egg that's "Special". She was excited at first, but then realized the egg never hatched, and was not going to. Her fear- the fear of something being wrong, of a glitch, of the game breaking- crops up again, and she attempts to do what she always did before- to trash the egg, to get rid of it. Just like she would get rid of potentially broken modded eggs.

...But it doesn't work. She can't. She can't run from her fear this time.

She is so freaked out that she completely deletes the game and reinstalls it... and it's still there. She. cannot. run.

After panicking some more, thinking that she was haunted, she decides to do the only thing she can: She faces her fear.

And because she does this, she realizes that the Egg... is not actually scary! She brushes it, she treats it like a pet. She does the exact sort of thing she was so scared of doing before, she's actually "playing the game" properly this time.

By the end of the day, she has completely come around on this thing, and she wants to figure out how to put it online as a mod.

But, of course...

She hesitated, and we all know you can only hold onto an egg for so long.

The thing that strikes me as fascinating about this tale here is that... Did the Forgotten Man not help her? Sure, she was scared, but... she got over her fear. She was originally terrified of the Eggs in her game because of the potential for a glitch, but through her encounter with The Forgotten Man, she got over it. She was forced to face her fears and overcome them. She was helped.

You may think it strange that she didn't mention meeting The Forgotten Man...

...But how could she?

How could she write about what she cannot remember?

To be clear, I don't necessarily think the forgotten man was like, literally in her house or something, but I think it's clear this was, somehow, a real interaction the two had, even if through strange digital means.

This whole interaction is even more meaningful in my eyes, but we'll get to it later. For now, I'd like to move my attention to another scene.

PHASE 2: THE ART THERAPY SCENE

The Art Therapy scene in Chapter 4 is heavily analyzed. I understand where people are coming from. But I would like to share my own personal take on what is actually happening in this scene.

People, as mentioned before, generally seem to take a very symbolic reading of this scene. This makes sense, it's a very strange scene and it almost feels like we should be reading into it as immense symbolism, that the man is a coping mechanism for something darker.

But... at least personally, I think there's perhaps value in actually treating this scene literally. Here's what I mean.

Kris picks up their pencil. They attempt to sketch what they had seen behind the tree.

They attempt to draw The Forgotten Man, who is standing right next to them.

What is a photo but a memory?

Before we had photos, we had art.

The Man cannot be remembered, but Kris will attempt to remember him anyways by drawing him.

However... The Man cannot be remembered, even through this, and so the line errs. Because Kris is attempting to draw something that categorically cannot be drawn. To keep a memory the universe itself has decreed they cannot.

Determined, Kris does this over, and over, practicing, but they keep struggling to get it right, their hand automatically trying to draw something else instead, as though they were constantly losing track of the objective at hand.

Eventually, through sheer repetition, they learn, they learn to be faster, to get it right so quickly that there simply isn't time for anything to intervene,

And through this, they are able, just barely, to complete a sketch of The Forgotten Man, but in the process of doing so, it's barely recognizable as him. Even the completed sketch doesn't really help.

The narration pauses here. There's a (...) .

And then, it continues, describing that a Tree was painted over this, painted over it all, leaving nothing but the simple still life of the tree. Because, after all, there wasn't anything to look at in the room besides a single tree.

By the time Kris managed to successfully draw The Forgotten Man... they can no longer even remember what they were supposed to be drawing.

Our minds are designed to make sense of the present. I'm not an expert in psychology, but to my understanding, it's a very real psychological phenomenon that our brains will kind of just make stuff up to attempt to explain why we're doing what we're doing even if it's not actually true, be it our past actions or our current ones.

And, in the same way that Kris' hand "autocorrected" of a sort into drawing other things when they were attempting to sketch the forgotten man, as they forgot the Forgotten Man's existence, their brain, again, "Autocorrected". What were they drawing? Uhh... they were drawing what they saw in the room, right? What was in the room? It was just that tree, right? We should be drawing that. No clue what this monochrome thing is. This, to me, is the purpose of the narration pause. It's emphasizing that pause, that brief moment of thinking that leads to the next action.

The narration pauses, yet again, after the tree is complete. Kris gets up. It appears, to them, to the best of their knowledge, that this painting is complete.

The narration pauses yet again.

And Kris notices something. Their hand is smudged with graphite. Their hand is still moving, still imbued with the muscle memory of the initial sketches.

Kris attempted to draw The Forgotten Man. To create a symbolic representation of his existence. If they cannot maintain a conscious memory, perhaps they can create a physical one.

This is a task doomed to be failed, because The Forgotten Man is forgotten. He cannot be remembered. Not by people, and not by things.

By the time Kris manages to actually make a depiction of The Forgotten Man, proving it theoretically possible... they no longer can remember what the depiction is meant to represent, and immediately destroy it.

...And yet... in spite of all of this.

Their hand is still smudged with the graphite. Physical proof that the initial sketch still happened.

Their hand still has the muscle memory from learning to draw the man to begin with.

And, try as they might later, to unknowingly remove this evidence, to destroy the last physical proof that the Man did, in fact, exist...

They cannot wash it all away. Where am I getting at with all of this? Allow me to explain.

PHASE 3: CHOICE

Have you ever thought about a world where everything is exactly the same...

Except you don't exist?

Everything functions perfectly without you...?

The Forgotten Man lives in that world every day of his life. He cannot be remembered. He cannot be thanked for any thing that he does.

And yet... DELTARUNE tells us that his choices still matter.

Because even if he is forgotten, even if he forgets what he's done himself, even if the people who he helps are unable- despite actively wanting to- recall his assistance or his presence...

They will never forget his kindness.

Noelle may not remember that someone helped her through her fear, as mundane as it may have been.

But she will remember that she got over it. She will carry the fact that she is no longer scared with her for the rest of her life.

Because even if you are forgotten, even if nothing you do will be seen, or heard, even if nobody will ever thank you for it...

You will leave your mark all the same.

Even if that mark is a pencil smudge on someone's hand, a pencil smudge they cannot consciously explain to themselves, and a mark that can never be washed away.

Kris does not understand what the pencil smudge means, they do not understand why their hand is still twitching, what that muscle memory is learned for... but the remnants still exist, proof of The Forgotten Man's influence. Proof that he existed. He still mattered.

Despite being someone whose choices by all means "shouldn't matter", The Forgotten Man still chooses to be who he is. He still chooses to be a cheery person who just wants to help, even as the world rejects him. Because even a forgotten person's choices matter. Even if you are never thanked for your actions, even if nobody even realizes it was you who helped them, they will never forget how the end result made them feel. And that makes all of the difference in the world.

You can never. wash it all. away. No one can.

I believe, roughly, that The Forgotten Man is basically Deltarune's thesis statement on choice imbued into one character.

What should you do in a world where your choices don't matter?

You shouldn't do anything different.

Because even if you are a Forgotten Man, your help is still always appreciated from those who you impact.

PHASE 4: GASTER SHARDS

This is perhaps a jump but I want to go a step further.

It is my belief, currently, that The Forgotten Man is inherently related to Gaster. Specifically, I believe, as I have believed for a long time now, that The Forgotten Man is a different "piece" of the doctor.

Obviously, these are both strange cryptid characters with potential emphasis on memory, who speak in all caps. Additionally, if you believe Gaster to be the Mysteryman, then an easy comparison can be made between the ch1 egg room and the gray door. I hope I don't need to spend too long explaining why Gaster and The Forgotten Man are linked.

What I specifically believe is that The Forgotten Man is a different piece of him. Gaster was "Shattered" across space and time, and we do know that wasn't just metaphorical.

My vision is such: The Forgotten Man is everything that Gaster- the "main" gaster, the one who speaks to us all the time relating to DELTARUNE, who I will henceforth refer to as "Gaster Prime"- is not.

Gaster Prime inherits Gaster's scientific side. He is an extremely big picture thinker, obsessed with HIS DELTARUNE. He wishes to CREATE A NEW FUTURE with us. He wants a personal connection with the player, he wants to change the world, he desperately needs to share his creation with everyone. Gaster Prime understands, deeply, What he is doing and How to accomplish it. But in the process, I believe that he maybe doesn't understand for Who the mission is being done or necessarily Why. Maybe on a technical level he understands "why" he is doing this, but I think he maybe doesn't understand it on a deep personal level. He sees DELTARUNE as the NEXT EXPERIMENT, as his project.

In stark contrast, The Forgotten Man is everything that Gaster Prime is not. He is, perhaps, the more emotional side. He is very scatterbrained and rambles about things that maybe don't matter. And he doesn't necessarily seem to understand What is occurring or How to help. The way the Valentines Letter is phrased kind of makes it seem like he's just going off of vibes. But what he does understand is the emotional motivation. He understands, deeply, that he wants to help someone. Even if he doesn't understand what that really entails, he just wants to help someone. He sees the small picture, he understands Why this matters and even if he doesn't know the exact details he feels this and understands "who" it matters for, even if he doesn't actually know specifically who that actually is.

Gaster is, at least in some respects, an author figure. I would personally argue that the way that the general community has come to understand this is flawed, but I think it's undeniable that he is, on at least some level, an author. I believe that The Forgotten Man is a foil to him in this way.

Gaster is a visionary. He's very big picture. He is the voice of the creator who wishes to see their work spread, to see how people treat it. He personally announces the release of every new DELTARUNE chapter, he talks to us at the end of Chapter 4 to aurafarm about HIS DELTARUNE, he's very in your face and he desires to create big change with our help. He's the extrinsic motivation. He is motivated by sharing his work with the world and seeing what the world thinks.

The Forgotten Man, on the other hand, is the more intrinsic side of creation in this metaphor. He does what he does not in the name of some massive vision, but simply because he believes it to be right. He understands the value of simply helping someone- one person- even if he is forgotten by the masses.

PHASE 5: A PERSONAL ANECDOTE

To attempt to give an actual example for what I am talking about, in hopes that it makes my point clearer, I'm going to share my own personal story.

Years ago, in 2020, there was this really niche youtube webseries I became really invested in. I'm not going to name it for a handful of reasons, but know it was very small scale- I think the channel only ever had, like, 20k subscribers.

Eventually, a discord server for this webseries was created, and I went there. (I was actually the very first person to join it...) I met a lot of people there.

The times changed, and eventually that webseries was cancelled and came to a premature end. The discord server was shut down, and all that remained was the splinter server that I had created for my friends in the main server.

I still talk to those friends. In fact, if it weren't for some of those friends, I don't think I would have been able to create The Disciples of Aren Geih. The other developer for our game is someone I only met because of this series.

I know people who are getting married. Because they met in the splinter server I made. Because of this niche webseries.

Needless to say, my life trajectory was completely altered. I know many people whose life trajectories were completely altered.

Because of this random youtube video series that nobody's ever heard of or cares about.

When the original creator set out to create this series... they could not possibly have known what they were doing. They could not possibly have anticipated how many lives would be positively impacted by their work. Even now, it's hard for me to really appreciate just how impactful of a decision it was for me to get invested in that series.

I will readily admit that I am biased here. It is entirely possible that my own opinions on creation, on art, and my own experiences, are clouding my judgement here.

But when I see The Forgotten Man... I see this. I see so much of this.

W.D Gaster, The "Prime" Gaster, the "main" gaster, in my eyes, is the side of the creator that yearns to be popular, to achieve success, to be "the Next Toby Fox" or whatever. To change the world, to be recognized, to be known.

But you don't need to be all that to make a difference. Even if you cannot be Gaster, even if you cannot be a world changing global phenomenon, even if you are forgotten... Your choices still matter. The things you create, the things you do, they still matter to someone. You can never know how many lives you will affect when you do something nice, when you help someone, when you create something. So even The Forgotten Man's choices matter.

As a creator, I often feel like these two sorts of philosophies are at odds. There is always a part of me who yearns to be seen, to have my work be recognized, to "succeed". But there is also the part of me who is okay with maybe not getting into the spotlight, because I know, I have seen, that even the most niche media of all can completely change someone.

The extrinsic desire to share vs the intrinsic desire to create.

Gaster Prime, the in your face visionary, and The Forgotten Man, the apparent afterthought.

PHASE 6: FURTHER THOUGHTS

I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that this sort of theming appears elsewhere in DELTARUNE, and from Toby Fox.

Queen makes a point of pointing out that ANYONE can create a Dark Fountain if they are simply determined enough to do so. I cannot read this in a way that is not basically Toby Fox telling you, "Anyone can create good art".

Gerson's stories of Lord of the Hammer were only created because he simply wanted to entertain his children. A simple story, for such a simple purpose, spiraled into something well beyond him.

This is the majesty of words. And, in my eyes, the majesty of The Forgotten Man.

There is also the obligatory A Message from Toby Fox.

A Message from Toby Fox

#INDIELiveExpo　https://indie.live-expo.games/Twitter　▶︎　https://twitter.com/INDIE_Live_ExpoYouTube ▶︎　(JP) https://youtu.be/EeeAxz71mDw　　　　　

I am not going to recount the entire thing here, but I feel if you watch this (Which you should, if you haven't already), you will see how this relates to what I'm talking about.

There are likely more examples, but I hope you get the point.

CONCLUSION

As I said, maybe this reading is just my own biases and ideas clouding my judgement.

But I really do believe that The Forgotten Man truly does just want to help.

I really do truly believe that The Forgotten Man is, in a sense, DELTARUNE's commentary on choice distilled into one character.

And, I think I do believe that The Forgotten Man is meant to be a sort of foil to Gaster, a reminder that even if you feel your voice is not heard, you should still do what you do anyways.

[k4e0n]

Chara Doodles

Thought I'd finally draw one of my favorite characters of all time since I needed to draw them for a college project and I didn't really have a solidified design for them.

Some notes:

Generally rather boyish design bc I headcanon them as AMAB and transfem (or at least they would've been if they were actually able to grow up)

POV: You took the last crinkle cookie

Charisk freaking rules, man

On top of 9, I like to think that they'd like other upper-limit numbers that exist, such the limit of 8-bit integers

Though I thought of their melty face as their 'scary face' when I was younger, I'm now of the belief that that's a product of their reincarnation and that their actual 'scary face' was something more mundane, but still unnerving and bordering on unnatural. It also served as an inspiration for one of Flowey's expression, just like how he adopted the mindset that he thought Chara lived under

Inspired by this post. Despite their laugh never being written out, based on how the Dreemurr kids take after their parents in their speech, it stands to reason to think that Chara would've inherited Asgore's 'ho-ho-ho' just as Asriel has Toriel's 'hee-hee-hee'. But more than that, I like to think they specifically have an ojousama laugh given how passive-aggressive, almost smug some of their dialogue is

As much as we meme on the 'Why did Chara do that' sentiment nowadays, let's not forget that they were responsible for for at least some parts of the Genocide Route, even before the world is erased

Was considering drawing them polishing their knife, but I thought that'd be a bit too complicated

churro

[k4e0n]

Morning bump

[k4e0n]

Chara Doodles

Thought I'd finally draw one of my favorite characters of all time since I needed to draw them for a college project and I didn't really have a solidified design for them.

Some notes:

Generally rather boyish design bc I headcanon them as AMAB and transfem (or at least they would've been if they were actually able to grow up)

POV: You took the last crinkle cookie

Charisk freaking rules, man

On top of 9, I like to think that they'd like other upper-limit numbers that exist, such the limit of 8-bit integers

Though I thought of their melty face as their 'scary face' when I was younger, I'm now of the belief that that's a product of their reincarnation and that their actual 'scary face' was something more mundane, but still unnerving and bordering on unnatural. It also served as an inspiration for one of Flowey's expression, just like how he adopted the mindset that he thought Chara lived under

Inspired by this post. Despite their laugh never being written out, based on how the Dreemurr kids take after their parents in their speech, it stands to reason to think that Chara would've inherited Asgore's 'ho-ho-ho' just as Asriel has Toriel's 'hee-hee-hee'. But more than that, I like to think they specifically have an ojousama laugh given how passive-aggressive, almost smug some of their dialogue is

As much as we meme on the 'Why did Chara do that' sentiment nowadays, let's not forget that they were responsible for for at least some parts of the Genocide Route, even before the world is erased

Was considering drawing them polishing their knife, but I thought that'd be a bit too complicated

churro

[k4e0n]

Kris Doodles

Been way too long since I've drawn them. Chap 3+4 has only made my endearment to them all the stronger.

Some notes:

Stubble + stockier build b/c a) nonbinary people can still have gendered features, b) I feel like AFAB interpretations of Kris are more common/prominent than AMAB interpretations (at least here on Tumblr) and I think that could be balanced out more, and c) I headcanon them as transfem but having never really done much to express that b/c they depressed af

Kris Deltarune🤝Adeleine Kirby: being the only human character of their source material

What was the deal with the 'SMILE' option in the S-Rank vending machine in Chapter 3? Was Friend just chilling in the delivery box?

AroAce Kris truthers, I love you and you have cool ideas, but considering the repeated references to romantic and/or strained relationships in Chap 3, I can't help but think of them as someone that yearns deeply for their crushes (their friends), yet is deathly afraid of said relationship turning out just like their parents

I think Mario Maker would fix Kris, gives them a new outlet for their creativity while also providing a new way of pranking their friends (especially Noelle)

Really big fan of the broadened scope of agency they have now, I've only been more convinced that we only have as much control over then as we do because they allow it

Just generally really proud of the one in the middle with the sword swing

[stay-determinated]

My take on the genocide Frisk

[k4e0n]

'The Unforgiven II'

Spent most of yesterday finishing this up so I could upload it today. The grass was tedious, I imagined a different angle for the shot initially, and I think I could've handled Chara's verbal outrage in the background a little better, but I'm still satisfied with how this turned out.

Even though I've yet to play Undertale, I'd be lying if I said it didn't have a profound affect on me when I was younger. Not just in a personal sense, but also in terms of my taste in stories, and I think Chara is the biggest contributor to that. I thought NarraChara was the coolest thing ever when I was younger, and even if I don't believe in it as strongly as I used to, what we do know about them and and how they haunt the narrative is still more than enough for them to be my favorite Undertale character.

I think part of my adoration for them is from how, even if it was because of info on them we didn't always know, I felt like I could relate to them. Not because I also wish death and destruction upon the human race, obviously, but rather because of my own needs for completionism and efficiency. Perfectionism is still something I struggle with to this day when it comes to my creative outlets, which makes it all the more fitting that it was the rosy-cheeked completionist that I grew attached to.

I'm someone who tends to associate songs I like to characters I'm mentally ill about, Chara being no exception. For The Unforgiven II, I specifically associate it with they feel about Asriel in the immediate wake of the buttercup plan failing (minus the romantic undertones). Their slow realization that Asriel was just going to run away escalating into what was likely their most volatile, unrestrained, and rawest emotional breakdown in a very long time is just exquisitely angsty (this piece by @carlyraejepsans didn't help). Not to mention how Asriel likely had to not just witness it, but also literally experience it firsthand. Thus, I think The Unforgiven II is very befitting of that aspect of their character. Hell, I could imagine the entire Unforgiven trilogy befitting Chara, with the original reflecting their reason for hating humanity and III reflecting the remorse towards their actions after seeing how they've affected the Underground (at least under NarraChara).

Anyways, that's everything I wanted to say for this post. Happy 10th, Undertale. I'll get around to playing you someday.

(Also, from left to right, top to bottom, Chara's words in the sky are meant to be 'WE CAN'T DIE HERE', 'THEY ALL MUST DIE', 'GO BACK', 'ASRIEL WHY', and 'I HATE YOU')

[k4e0n]

Morning bump

[k4e0n]

'The Unforgiven II'

Spent most of yesterday finishing this up so I could upload it today. The grass was tedious, I imagined a different angle for the shot initially, and I think I could've handled Chara's verbal outrage in the background a little better, but I'm still satisfied with how this turned out.

Even though I've yet to play Undertale, I'd be lying if I said it didn't have a profound affect on me when I was younger. Not just in a personal sense, but also in terms of my taste in stories, and I think Chara is the biggest contributor to that. I thought NarraChara was the coolest thing ever when I was younger, and even if I don't believe in it as strongly as I used to, what we do know about them and and how they haunt the narrative is still more than enough for them to be my favorite Undertale character.

I think part of my adoration for them is from how, even if it was because of info on them we didn't always know, I felt like I could relate to them. Not because I also wish death and destruction upon the human race, obviously, but rather because of my own needs for completionism and efficiency. Perfectionism is still something I struggle with to this day when it comes to my creative outlets, which makes it all the more fitting that it was the rosy-cheeked completionist that I grew attached to.

I'm someone who tends to associate songs I like to characters I'm mentally ill about, Chara being no exception. For The Unforgiven II, I specifically associate it with they feel about Asriel in the immediate wake of the buttercup plan failing (minus the romantic undertones). Their slow realization that Asriel was just going to run away escalating into what was likely their most volatile, unrestrained, and rawest emotional breakdown in a very long time is just exquisitely angsty (this piece by @carlyraejepsans didn't help). Not to mention how Asriel likely had to not just witness it, but also literally experience it firsthand. Thus, I think The Unforgiven II is very befitting of that aspect of their character. Hell, I could imagine the entire Unforgiven trilogy befitting Chara, with the original reflecting their reason for hating humanity and III reflecting the remorse towards their actions after seeing how they've affected the Underground (at least under NarraChara).

Anyways, that's everything I wanted to say for this post. Happy 10th, Undertale. I'll get around to playing you someday.

(Also, from left to right, top to bottom, Chara's words in the sky are meant to be 'WE CAN'T DIE HERE', 'THEY ALL MUST DIE', 'GO BACK', 'ASRIEL WHY', and 'I HATE YOU')

[k4e0n]

Why the Knight Might Join the Party in the Future:

My Pre-Ch3+4 Knight Thoughts

As a Chess Theory believer prior to Chapters 3+4, thus thinking that the Knight would be the main antagonist and boss of Chapter 5, I also predicted that Chapter 3 would be best time to properly introduce them, giving them an adequate amount of screen time to hype them up from that point until Chapter 5.

I'm sure you can imagine how elated and shocked I was to be more right than I ever could've imagined.

But that's not all. I also believed that the end of Chapter 5 would mark a turning point of the Knight's character that would eventually result in them joining the heroes in stopping the Roaring. Why? For the time, because I thought any other direction their character could take would be boring/underwhelming.

It'd be really disappointing if they died, since then the main villain that'd been hyped up since the beginning wouldn't even be physically present in half of the game, chapter-wise. If they lived, I guess they could have stayed relatively static and double down on keeping the Roaring going, but that didn't feel in line with how Toby writes his characters, so I doubted they'd still serve as main antagonist. And for similar reasons as them dying, I didn’t think that it'd be sidelined into a Castle Town NPC like the other Chapter Antagonists after their respective chapters are over. So the Knight getting a redemption arc was the only real avenue I could see Toby going down with their character.

My Present Knight Thoughts

Skip to the present day, and this prediction of mine seems to have gotten all the more likely even if Chess Theory has been found dead in the Bronx. Not only do the two most likely Knight candidates have pretty reasonable redemption arc potential (talking Dess out of whatever self-destructive reason she has for doing what she's doing or convincing Carol that saving Dess doesn't have to necessitate putting the world at risk), but I believe we have a much more explicit hint to this scenario being a thing in the future. That detail being...

(Screenshot from Snapcube)

The Knight has their own damage number color when they attack Tenna.

Damage numbers are only colored when a party member attacks an enemy. Each of the Fun Gang gets their own color, and even Noelle and Gerson get their own unique colors.

(Screenshots from Snapcube)

Makes it all the more peculiar that Toby chose to give the Knight its own red damage numbers (which also strengthens its overall connection to the color red) and also made the damage they do to Tenna vary from playthrough to playthrough.

(Screenshots from Guavamations)

I highly doubt this is just due to Tenna being a character that is also an enemy in battle nor because you were still in battle like at the end of Weird Route Spamton NEO. Tenna's boss fight would've already been done at this point; the cutscene of Tenna being attacked starts from the overworld, not battle. Plus, there are multiple instances of enemy characters (and even party members) being attacked in an overworld cutscene where attack numbers don't appear.

(Screenshots from Snapcube)

Weirdly enough, I believe this is the only time in the entire game where damage numbers appear in a in a cutscene, period. There are instances of the MISS and MAX health graphics (as well as SWOON) in overworld, but Tenna losing his arms is the only instance of the game actually calculating an amount of damage to be displayed outside of battle or an overworld bullet hell sequence.

But yeah, aside from showing just how powerful they are (similar to their attack that does lasting damage to the battle box), I don't see why this detail would be included if not in preparation/foreshadowing that the Knight may join our side in battle by the end of the game. Whoever they are, and assuming they're not the final boss, I could totally see them joining the Heroes in their fight against the Prophecy. Maybe not as a proper fourth party member, but at least as an assist in the same way Gerson was.

(Screenshots from Snapcube)

Gerson was able to do his own ACTs prior to him joining the party against the Titan. Could that one pose of the Knight indicate something similar?

[psychobyrd]

Ragatha solves gun violence

[chiya-eltanin]

hm. dont usually put my own two cents for theories but somethings been kind of annoying me recently so yeah. ralsei thoughts.

i really dont like the idea that ralsei is a specific object. especially not with newer stuff from chapters 3 and 4.

For starters, most people that try to figure out what ralsei is in the real world are basing it off of this appearance

however, I feel like there's plenty of evidence to point to this not being his real form, right? People have already pointed out that his original shadowed form isn't fully consistent. It's possibly the most obvious when you compare his singing animations in both forms. His hat form makes what was later 'revealed' to be his ears look more like hair?,

Ears don't really split the same way that hair does, and theres other examples of hatsei having this kind of spikyness to his 'ears' that hatless ralsei doesnt have.

even the fangamer plush makes his ears spiky!!

its a pretty major part of how hatsei looks, and its certainly been talked about before. And then comes chapter 3+4. And we have plenty of evidence that ralsei is a shapeshifter, and I have seen literally nobody talk about it????? huh?????

Oh, and the hat casting a shadow on him makes no fucking sense because he goes onto wear SEVERAL hats in chapter 3 and he's normal????

also I know its like. A funny bit, but HE TURNS INTO A HORSE

WHY THE FUCK WOULD KRIS'S HEADBAND TURN INTO A HORSE???? WHY WOULD A GREEN CRAYON TURN INTO A HORSE???? WHY CAN HE DO THIS????? THIS ISNT A COSTUME THATS NOT HOW THEY WORK????? WHERE WOULD HIS BODY GO.

not to mention that changing shapes was literally his ability in the legend of tenna game???? he plays it off like 'oh every character has abilities i can turn into a box' but he can also turn into a dog? since ralsei was the only one who read the manual it very well could be an ability given to him since the real Ralsei is also a shapeshifter.

It would also explain why ralsei draws himself in his hat form

thats closer to what his natural form is. Dont have any screenshots on hand right now, but he's got two lines in chapter four (if you leave him lying on the ground for too long, and right before they find the first fountain) about how much longer he can 'keep this body for' that make it very obvious that he's only using a form that looks cuter to appeal to us. Him being a shapeshifter would also explain things like

His face being a deliberately made abstraction would also make this interaction make a lot more sense. Pre chapter three, I assumed Ralsei based his face on Asriel to either try appealing to Kris or as fanservice for the player/red soul, however, now that we've slowly started learning more about Ralsei, it's beginning to seem more like Ralsei just wants to have a face and more distinct appearance, like the lightners do. However, because of how dark worlds work, he can only base it off of what already exists, with that already existing 'model' being Asriel, although with modifications to make himself cuter— pink horns and eyes, and his usual glasses. It's why Kris is always quick to point out differences between them, and why Ralsei is embarrassed at being told that they look similar, he didn't have a choice other than be based off something that already exists.

Alright, so Ralsei is a shapeshifter. He still has to have some equivalent in the Light World though, since that's how Dark Worlds work. He was literally about to tell Susie what he was before getting interrupted, and Toby Fox is deliberately dancing around the topic.

However, I think the answer is actually pretty obvious. Ralsei is a being of 'pure darkness', which is why he can exist in any Dark World, unlike Lancer and Rouxls, who need to be objects that 'belong' in their respective worlds. His form is made up by the original dark fountain, and he describes himself as a 'Prince of the Dark'. Characters in the Dark World know about what happens to and around their real world equivalents, but Ralsei in particular seems to be especially aware of all of Susie and Kris's actions and movements. He doesn't need to be brought in by Kris like Lancer and Rouxls do, and he always appears in the Dark World a few moments after Susie and Kris do, while somehow almost always having pretty intimate knowledge of how the world came to be. Ralsei is also the most adamant on being depended on by Lightners, even more than people like Tenna. He talks about how a Darkners role is to be used by Lightners and to make them happy, and his character development in Chapter 3 especially goes into how he wants to be needed and how he's afraid he's slowly developing his own personality, and why he believes darkners shouldn't do that.

So, taking all of that into account, I feel like the most obvious answer for what Ralsei is is a shadow.

He's a literal prince of the dark. It explains why he can shapeshift, since shadows can be made to look like anything— I'm specifically thinking of things like shadow puppets, and why when he gets knocked out he seems to literally disappear, returning to the shadows. A shadow is also the most dependant on light, shadows literally cannot exist without light, or they'll just be darkness. It even explains his empty room.

His insistence that his only role is to help the Lightners, the way that people can never find anything notable about him (asking swatch for specials his suggestion for Ralsei is based purely on how he dresses and Queen literally forgets to get him a cage), and his ability to be in any dark world (since there's literally nowhere without shadows) all seem to point towards Ralsei being a shadow.

Ralsei being a shadow also means he's literally with you in the dark, could probably straight up not exist if the world was plunged into darkness, and also makes him a weaker version of a titan (explaining the 'prince' title. not quite king, but noble nontheless).

[k4e0n]

Susie's Hypocrisy

People always point out the obvious dramatic irony of this moment, but I've not seen many people talk about how...

...Susie's also guilty of the very sin she speaks of.

(in order, screenshots are of gameplay from Kirbopher and SnapCube respectively)

[k4e0n]

'Why weren't we better?'

Despite never having played any of the KH games, though that could change with the Switch ports, I've held at least a passing interest in the series ever since around the time of KH3's release. I'm well aware of the many issues 3 has narratively, as well as many other questionable writing decisions throughout the series, and this drawing was inspired by one of the ways I thought it could've been better. That being, what if Aqua's new Anti-form was a more permanent development for her character, rather than just something to justify her boss fight?

Not only do I think it'd be cool as a visual reflection of what she's been through, how she's changed as a person, and how she's still standing in spite of it all, but I think it'd also be interesting to see how the dynamic between her and the rest of the Guardians would change proceeding her fall to darkness. This would also coinside with few other small changes like having Aqua's fall to darkness be slightly more of her own volition than what happens in canon (something I might depict in the future) and her boss fight ending with Sora and Riku tricking her into entering a door back to the Light Realm when as she continues to attack even after being defeated.

Her arc throughout the rest of the game would revolve around her trying to unlearn the puritanical mentality regarding light and dark she internalized from Eraqus' teachings and starting to accept her dark side, likely in the form of the other guardians empathizing from their own struggles with darkness. Through them, she'd realize that she's more so just resentful of everything that went wrong between them during BBS that to them all being trapped in their own limbos for over a decade (which is what the title of the drawingnis in reference to). I could see her developing a particularly strong bond with Riku because of that--two Keyblade Masters of different eras bonding over their respective journeys of accepting their darkness and rectifying their mistakes (even if one of them did much more severe things than the other).

From there, Aqua would begrudgingly join the the rest of the heroes, the prospects of saving Ventus and Terra and killing Xehanort essentially being the only things keeping her going. She'd scoff at the idea of actually participating as one of the Guardians of Light in the Keyblade War, thinking herself a lost cause after her fall. She'd also start being more openly antagonistic towards her old friends (including Mickey) as though they abandoned her, though she'd also admit at some point that she recognizes how unfair that is to say when it was her choice to stay in the Dark Realm on multiple occasions. She'd hate herself for ever thinking so cynically towards her friends and would generally think herself unworthy of being their friend because of it, as well as feeling like she failed them/as a Keyblade Master and that they wouldn't like how she's changed from her time in the Dark Realm.

I definitely think I'll come back to this idea in the future.

[k4e0n]

One Last Prediction: The Angelic Scripture

I had a thought yesterday when watching Phisnom's stream of Chapter 1 as he was making a bingo card for Chapter 4. His idea inspired by his chat of the fruit juice in the church becoming a literal red sea location got me thinking of the Judeo-Christian inspiration the religion of the Angel has. Such inspiration may imply that it has its own holy book or equivalent to the Bible/Torah/Quran that details how the Angel created the world. With this in mind, it got me to wonder: could we potentially live out the stories of the Angel's holy text as part of the Chapter 4 Dark World? Assuming that the holy text is in the room when the Dark Fountain is created, I certainly think it's on the table.

Furthermore, I think that such could also double as an opportunity to learn how the Deltarune timeline diverged from the Undertale timeline. While I will say that I thought Game Theory's last video on Deltarune was on the safer side, one thing I did get out of it was the continued association of the Delta Rune with the monsters. No matter if the monsters get trapped underground or not, they eventually adopt some spiritual interpretation of the Delta Rune--the Angelic prophecy in Undertale and the Angelic faith in Deltarune. We don't know much about the specifics of the Angelic faith as of now, but I think it's possible that it could portray the Angel very similarly to Undertale's interpretation, albeit not in the context of the Underground.

I bring this up because if there was any moment that would've led to this difference in interpreting the Delta Rune, it probably would have been the Human-Monster War. Perhaps, in the monsters' eyes, it was the Angel that prevented the war in the Deltarune timeline (even if that isn't literally what happened), leading to the founding of the Angelic faith. Thus, assuming that the 'sepia tone Legend addendum' continues to be a trend in each chapter, I wouldn't be surprised if we learn of that event in the form of an alternate version of the Undertale intro that quickly diverged into how the war was prevented.

Also, as one other completely unrelated prediction, I can't help but wonder if the next name of the Deltarune application will be called. Assuming that the pattern of 'stages of video game builds' continues, I'm thinking that 3 + 4 will be 'EARLY_ACCESS', 5 will be 'FULL_RELEASE', and 6 + 7 will be 'DLC'. For Chapters 6 + 7 specifically, the fact that they've never really been acknowledged outside the game makes me think that Chapter 5, diagetically, is meant to be the end of the game, but something will happen in it that leads the story continuing further intended. Thus, it would technically be a 'DLC' expansion of the game.

What do you think?

[k4e0n]

Why the Vessel might not be the Knight

I've been thinking about this for a while, but I've never seen anyone else bring it up.

This sort of serves as an extension of the theory that, like Undertale, there are multiple timelines of the game's story that the player is dropped into after reloading their file. This is evidenced by a line in one of Gaster's tweets during Ch1's release and unused dialogue of Susie.

Though the Susie dialogue being unused and not being explicitly about timelines does hurt its credibility a bit in my opinion, it's easy to see how it echoes her Ch2 game over dialogue (@ 2:59). Combined with how her unused text is presented (deeper text sound and after-image effect), many people interpret it as a glimpse into a previous timeline, one where Kris ended up dying.

The Gaster tweet, on the other hand, is much more convincing. Him saying that we're going to help create a 'new future' implies that there was once an 'old future,' one that likely free of our influence.

Taking both these details into account, we can infer that there were other timelines of Deltarune that played out without the player, which always resulted in something going wrong (or Kris dying at least) to where Gaster tries to get our help.

The important thing to grasp from this is that the Roaring/the world being consumed by darkness (as evidenced by not continuing after a game over) is the default result of any timeline without our influence. If Deltarune really is an experiment, then the player is meant to be its independent variable.

So why is this important? Again, if we are the only new factor in this experiment, then everything else would be a constant in all previous timelines. This includes the Roaring, as stated before, as well as the Roaring Knight.

Under this idea, the Knight cannot be the Vessel because the vessel only exists(?) when we enter the picture, while the Knight has been a constant throughout all timelines, always there to guarantee that the Roaring happens.

Feel free to add your own thoughts.

[k4e0n]

Just reblogging this again before everything changes on Wednesday

[wowitsverycool]

do you guys ever think about how newest_girl single-handedly recontextualizes kris and susie's dynamic to the point of casting suspicion on the times where people would initially assume that kris was afraid or taking on a passive role in the presence of susie

[wowitsverycool]

i do. i think a lot about the implication that kris purposefully baits certain reactions out of susie. i think a lot about the implication that they are more in control of their relationship than susie realizes.

i think a lot about how well kris must understand susie. about how their actions often seem to guide her a certain way, lead her certain places.

i think a lot about how susie knows that kris would obviously be wherever she was. how she questions the choice between ralsei and noelle, but knows kris would be there for sure.

i think about how kris takes one last look at susie before creating the chapter 3 dark fountain.

....

and then i think about the deltarune trailer. i think about how kris, fully armored, reaches out and pulls susie up from the ground, turning her from a shadow into her dark world sprite.

...interesting, huh?

maybe we should all start thinking about it.

[patchwork-crow-writes]

This was a tag-ramble but I actually have more thoughts on this than I thought haha

This is such a fascinating angle to consider how Kris relates to Susie, because as you say it completely recontextualises that initial scene where she shoves them into the lockers. What we took for fear might actually have been a performance for her benefit - to make her feel strong, and to focus all of her attention upon them.

And this adds a strange, almost lion-tamer-esque dynamic to their relationship, because it's almost like Kris is daring Susie to cross a line and actually hurt them, but at the same time they seem to KNOW that she won't. That transforms this interaction from one where Kris is the passive victim into one more akin to a matador goading a bull. Kris would be the one in control in that situation, and that's interesting, because that'd be the ONE area of their life where they actually have something approaching meaningful agency.

They would have POWER over Susie in this regard, but they use that power to build up and validate her, rather than tear her down like everyone else.

Of course, a friendship/relationship built on such a dynamic as its foundation would be quite unstable, and there's a risk that Kris would pander to Susie's worst impulses in their attempts to appease her. But that's also what makes their it so interesting, because that potential is always there - despite how buddy-buddy they are now, there's always a chance it could slip back into that codependent bully/victim dance we saw at the beginning of Chapter 1.

I will be keeping a very close eye on their relationship during the next few chapters - you've given me a lot to think about here!

[lividria]

hey anyone who believes in galacta knight being in star-crossed world i found more ammo for the theory on accident browsing wikirby, and like it's more than just the similar design aspects i've seen everyone talking about i might have something of substance here if you want it

if you saw one of my previous posts you'd know i'm trying to solve kirby lore, and this obviously led me to the wikirby page on galacta knight and specifically aeon hero in super clash, and i ended up reading one of the citations which was a translation of some japanese video where aeon hero's discussed, and right towards the end, check this out

Also, although the dark version is a hidden boss exlusive to online, the direction for the moment of his defeat also ended up being something special. After that point, he will wander the netherworld, and then one day, he will descend upon some world, somewhere, won’t he? I’m looking forward to the day where we will meet with him who traverses time once more!

what i'm getting at here should be self-evident, especially when factoring in that i haven't seen an image of this but wikirby also says that you can see a jamba heart floating around in one of galacta's wormholes in super clash as well, obvious comparison to star-crossed world's crystal heart

and this is definitely a coincidence but i also saw this

Aeon Hero's Japanese name, 淵源を巡る英雄 ("Hero Crossing the Origin"), appears to be derived from the Japanese name of the track that plays in the final corridor of Soul Melter EX in The Ultimate Choice: 淵源を巡る回廊 ("Corridor Crossing the Origin"). It's also similar to his Japanese Kirby Star Allies Boss Caption, 時巡る戦士 ("The Warrior who Crosses Time"), which is a reference to the Japanese name of "The Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy Ever", 時巡る銀河最強の戦士 ("The Greatest Time-Crossing Warrior in the Galaxy"). The key connecting factor is the usage of 巡る (meguru), meaning "to cross".

that's a lot of crossing, clearly he's gonna be called the greatest star-crossing warrior in the galaxy or something in star-crossed world lol