So, there's a lot of discussion about who the secret boss in chapter 3 is supposed to be, but there's not really any definitive answers out there. I have a theory, but let's first lay some groundwork. Big chapter 3 spoilers under the cut.
The Shadow Mantle is not ERAM. We know this from a couple things:
The Mantle was first worn by the King in our first boss battle, and it flew away upon defeating him. Some people say it's not confirmed to be the same, but looking at the shape of the mantle in chapter 1 and chapter 3's mantle game it's hard to mistake them. I don't think it's a red herring or anything like that, since the link is much too obvious. Besides, the meaning of the King's mantle only became clear in retrospect, and was not the main focus of many theories prior to chapter 3. Toby Fox himself even said " Cool Mantle Bro" during a live stream of the chapter 1 scene, hinting to future importance.
Seam talks about the Mantle in chapter 2, saying you will need "it" to defeat the next secret boss. Luckily, they are in possession of the mantle, until... They find out it's not there anymore. From chapter 1, we know it can fly away of its own accord, but it is unclear how long it has been gone. Did it fly to Seam from King's battle, or did Seam have it for a longer time, and did it leave to help the King? I'm inclined to believe the latter, since Seam does not mention the King at all during their conversation about the Mantle. (Getting sidetracked here, but the King having the mantle equipped implies he's prepared to fight something dark, which isn't us.)
Lastly, before the ERAM fight, the entity states "... and the SHADOW MANTLE that I'm holding!". It's clear the entity and the Shadow Mantle are two separate beings. Since the Mantle is only talked about as a tool, and has only been shown to actually be a Mantle, it's unlikely that it's a similar type of darkner as named characters who speak. I think it's more akin to pencils that turn into swords, for example. Unlike the previous chapters' secret bosses, ERAM doesn't turn into an equippable item, because the Mantle is already equippable. But what happens to ERAM?
Throughout chapter 3, we play the console game and encounter NPCs who we have to fight normally. In several scenes, it's revealed that the NPCs are controlling the characters in the game directly from behind the scenes. For one, it's told to you by the darkners of TV world, but when we go backstage to the Mantle game, we can actually see the console the darkners played from (complete with many controllers). This implies that certain mobs in the game need to be controlled separately. Now, this is not true for all NPCs, since there is a Tenna NPC in the "Legend of Tenna" game that is not controlled by Tenna (it could be controlled by a random darkner, but I find this unlikely given his personality), but it also doesn't do much other than repeat some lines. It seems like not all NPCs need to be controlled, and only the ones with complex reactions to the main characters should be under direct control of someone.
From this, I believe that ERAM is probably being controlled by someone behind the scenes, and I believe it's the only NPC in the game that needs to be controlled. All other NPCs in the Mantle game seem quite simple mobs who have simple scripted behaviors, but ERAM is different. It seems much more deliberate than any other NPC. And the fact that there's someone behind the scenes controlling things is also implied, with Kris asking Ramb without us prompting it:
Ramb brushes it off, which is also very suspicious. If someone is controlling the Mantle boss, it can really only be one person. It's Ramb himself. Let's take a closer look at why I believe this.
Take a look at Ramb's design. Most of it is quite straightforward, but there's one thing that stands out a lot. He's wearing this bright orange apron or overall. It sticks out like a sore thumb in his design and clashes a lot with his color scheme. What's the only defining design element of ERAM? The orange "Mouth". Funnily enough, both the shape and color of these two things are very similar. I believe it's not a mouth, but Ramb's overalls.
This point is even strengthened by the fact that Ramb's old sprite didn't have the apron/overalls, meaning they were added later, possible to tie in better with the boss fight.
Ramb and ERAM's similar style of talking. Now I know what you're gonna say: "Ramb has a British accent, and ERAM doesn't!" And you're right. Ramb's accent sticks out like a sore thumb, and has bothered me since the beginning. There's nothing really justifying the British accent, other than him presumably coming from the Cyber world (where nobody else has that accent). Yes, ERAM doesn't speak with the same accent as Ramb, but their styles of speaking are quite similar if you take away the accent. On top of that, Ramb could easily be faking the accent, or ERAM could purposefully mask it.
This overly familiar way of addressing Kris and the way they both question Kris' actions in a kind of mocking way are very similar in both characters.
Lastly, what really cements this (pun intended) for me, is the interactions you have with Ramb before the final Mantle game. Ramb is half petrified and is standing in the way of the game. The way he encourages Kris to push him aside so you can continue to the game really rubs me the wrong way. It's a very deliberate interaction trying to convince you he's not threatening, not involved, not mobile. To me, this is the final proof of this theory. It's added to make a point, and on the surface this point is something along the lines of "Ramb cares more about making you happy than his own wellbeing", but it's also trying to prove a point that Ramb can't be as involved as much. There's a couple things that are fishy about this. Ramb is half petrified, but clearly was able to still get the game prepared for you before you entered. Sure, he could have started petrifying after he finished, but let's look at his sprite when he's fully petrified (when you don't play the secret game).
Even though he's supposedly fully petrified, there are still colored pixels. It's peculiar and definitely has some meaning. I think he's still conscious at this stage, and has been fighting off the petrification for most of the chapter. When you play the Mantle game, he is still standing at the end, and is probably still fighting off the petrification, whereas in this sprite, it seems he has given up earlier. How is that possible? Well, let's take a look at the Leitmotifs in BURNING EYES. There's three as far as I can tell.
Card Castle/Chaos King. This connection is quite obvious, since the last time we saw the mantle was in Chapter 1's boss fight.
Burn in despair! This one is a bit more vague, but since it also plays in the Knight battle, and we need the Shadow mantle to beat the knight, this connection makes a bit more sense.
Battle against a True Hero. This one stuck out to me the most. What is the connection here? Undyne is defeated but refuses to die, and her Determination keeps her form from succumbing to her fate.
There's a pretty interesting parallel here. We don't know anything about the Determination of darkners yet, but it seems like Ramb's determination to get you to play the game is keeping him from petrifying.
What happens to Ramb after we finish the game?
Although Ramb is supposedly petrified to such an extent that he can't move anymore, he is nowhere to be found after we kill ERAM. Yes, I'm using "Kill" deliberately here. When MiniKris is damaged in this game, the real Kris gets damaged as well. When MiniKris exits the screen and walks around, it's implied his attack will harm Susie if it would have hit. Taking these two things together, we can assume attacking ERAM also hurts whoever is playing behind the scenes. Since Ramb is gone after the game, something must have happened to him. This is further confirmed by the Rabbick in the S-Rank room saying "Ramb was..! Ramb was..!" after you kill ERAM. It probably means that in the process of obtaining the Shadow Mantle, Ramb was killed. Or.. "Used up".
Is Ramb really doing all this to make you happy?
Ramb is the only character trying to get Kris to play the secret game, touting its higher degree of "Freedom" compared to Tenna's game. Anyone who has played the Mantle game, knows that this is not true. There's no more Freedom in this game than there is in Tenna's game. There's really only one thing for you to do, and that's killing everything and Proceeding. Yet Ramb keeps implying Kris will only have real fun in this game. Throughout the chapter, he is insistent that Kris should play this other game. Even though it's in a gentle, polite way, it seems very pushy.
What's in it for him? Clearly, playing the game is part of some plan, something that is further implied by ERAM saying "Thanks for all you hard work, Kris!", after which Kris is "used up". It shows that Ramb/ERAM are just using you for their own goals. What's this goal? Freedom, probably. The reward for completing the game is obtaining the Shadow Mantle. The mantle is the only thing that gives you a chance to stand up to the knight, a fight that is scripted to end a certain way. It's giving you a chance to go against something that's already predetermined to happen. Maybe Ramb/ERAM's goal is to give you the Freedom to change the narrative, the prophecy, or Kris the Freedom to break free from those that are trying to control them.
That's about all I have for this theory, let me know in the comments what you think!
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