The Ralsei Files
Brief warning: I'm only like mostly through chapter 2 as of writing this. My friend who has beat the game still told me I should post this here anyway though. So I was rewatching the DELTARUNE prophecy because its cool and I noticed that the design of Ralsei's castle has the DELTARUNE symbol on it. That by itself isn't that crazy, the symbol is very commonly associated with the goat people of both UNDERTALE and DELTARUNE. What I do find interesting is that this castle specifically chooses to highlight the ANGEL part of the DELTARUNE symbol. There's four giant (stone?) wings coming off the sides. As we all know very well, Ralsei is an obvious anagram of Asriel, who is himself a reference to Azrael, the archangel of death from Islam.
Azrael's description includes that he is giant, and has many many sets of wings. Technically he has 4000 wings, but is often depicted having less like 16, 12, etc. Maybe I'm going crazy but the fact that the castle includes FOUR wings instead of just TWO to complete the motif, along with Ralsei's metaphorical connection to an angel cannonically capable of mass destruction and his literal connection to spreading the prophecy, makes me think that those wings are THE wings of the angel. And it's possible that whatever the angel's heaven is, it's contained within the castle somewhere and somehow.
Also, an important note I thought about while writing this. In UNDERTALE, Toriel, Asgore, and Asriel are all goat people and all have the DELTARUNE on them somewhere. Just like Ralsei. However, in UNDERTALE, there's more qualities that the three goat people share. They are almost all characteristically defined by their stubbornness, and their association with death/sacrifice.
Toriel is defined by her refusal to let anymore children be sacrificed for the barrier to be shattered.
Asgore is defined by his stubbornness to allow monsters to remain trapped underground, requiring the sacrifice of children.
Asriel is defined by his stubborn rejection of loss and death itself. He becomes the ultimate god of hyperdeath and gains mastery over saves and time purely in the hopes that he can spend more time with Chara.
Also, Asriel sacrificed his life for Chara’s corpse.
These associations that goats have with stubbornness and sacrificial deaths are the same in biblical contexts.
There is also the symbolism that goats have to the concept of evil/sin/the devil in the biblical context.
This can sort of be extrapolated to the goat people of UNDERTALE. I hesitate to call any of them evil, truly. A large message of UNDERTALE is showing understanding and mercy to your enemies. It would be heretical to throw that out the window and just call them evil. What is true is that in some way or another, all of the goat people are antagonists of the player.
Toriel blocks you from leaving the ruins. It is out of love, but it is against the goal of the player, and freeing every other monster in the underground.
Asgore is referenced many times, in red, as THE antagonist. The final challenge the human is tasked with before being allowed to go home. He doesn’t actually like being the antagonist, which is why I love him so much, but he still is. He must be the antagonist of the humans, because he is stubborn in being a protagonist for monsters.
Asriel is an antagonist in many ways. Flowey doesn’t really need much further description, he was pure evil. Though, that’s not really fair to Asriel since he didn’t have his soul then. But, even when Asriel had the power of ALL monster souls AND 6 human souls, he still attempted to murder the human and completely brainwash everyone else. Is it understandable? yes, and I love him to death. But was it antagonistic? Undoubtedly.
All of this to say, all of that symbolism in UNDERTALE stands in stark contrast to Ralsei, who so far, has no such associations with death, sacrifice, or stubbornness. If anything, Ralsei is the direct opposite to them, offering healing, mercy, and subservience as a teammate.
At first I was going to end the theory here and conclude that Ralsei would probably have some kind of ulterior motive but also heroic sacrifice in the future, since at least so far, I haven’t seen much at all of his backstory as a person. He kinda just appeared and we accepted him.
BUT THEN. I LOOKED AT THE CHARACTER SPRITES AGAIN.
HIS HORNS. CURVE. INWARD.
Thats not what goat horns do. I mean, it’s kinda what they do, but goat horns don’t curve inward so dramatically. Apparently this is a commonly mistaken fact, since a lot of google images for “goats” are showing ram horns. Goat horns point up and out. They do curve! but not nearly as dramatically as ram horns.
RAM HORNS:
For the length of horns Ralsei does have, his horns are curving prettttty heavy in a circular form already. At least in his talking sprite. The curve is a lot less dramatic in all his other sprites, making them look a lot more like goat horns. I’ll concede that it’s pretty hard to tell with how short his horns are and the inherent lack of accuracy 2d pixel art provides. Honestly, his horn curvature and size is pretty inconsistent throughout his sprites, at least to me. But again, its 2d. Also, I think Toby doesn’t want it to be a glaring detail, otherwise he would’ve just made them larger and more noticible. Clearly, Toby prefers Ralsei’s true identity and goals to remain mysterious.
But, that doesn’t mean that Toby isn’t capable of showing a clear distinction between directions of horn curvature. Just look at Toriel’s and Asgore’s horns vs Ralsei’s!
It makes me question if Ralsei is really even a goat at all, or if he is actually a young ram (male sheep). I think it’s pretty interesting at least how his most detailed sprite clearly shows his horns pointing inward, the opposite of the Dreemurrs horns, as well as Ralsei’s demeaner being generally opposite of the goat people’s in UNDERTALE.
I’d like to note that sheep have different religious associations. They represent obedience, and goodness. There’s a verse where Jesus says something like “I will separate the sheep from the goats”. And, Ralsei performs healing miracles/magic, just like Jesus, the “Lamb of God”. Importantly, lambs are one of the most sacrificed animals in the bible. It’s why Jesus was given the nickname. (Jesus’ sacrifice is why lambs and other animals no longer have to die in Judaic religious sacrifices anymore.) So, if I’m right, it’s possible that there could be a tragic self-sacrifice death for the sake of everyone/the world in one of the final chapters.
Ralsei being a sheep instead of goat would support the notion that he is a servant of something holy, like, say, an angel. Its also why he’s a direct counterpart to Asriel. Asriel stubbornly imitated holy power, while Ralsei is a servant of it.
Also I don’t have a source for this, but my brother who’s been a DELTARUNE fan since chapter 1 told me that Ralsei has been in Toby’s notes since before UNDERTALE was released, and was the name of his big brothers account name in some MMO.
You may be tempted to point out that Asriel’s God of Hyperdeath form shows his horns pointing inward too. However, I think it’s important to note that this form of his didn’t occur through normal means. This awesome looking form and all his cool rainbow/star moves are physical manifestations of his soul. This transformation was a manifestation of his soul power. He thought it was cool sounding to be a “god of hyperdeath” so his physcial form literally reflected this, curving his horns inwards to represent the more holy, godlike animal counterpart. In his actual child form after you beat him, presumably what he looked like when he died, you can see that his horns had actually yet to grow. What’s more, in his second god form, one that is a bit more rough and less controlled, the horns curve back up, once again resembling that of goat horns.
Anyway, really interested to see more revealed about Ralsei, his castle, and the ANGEL. It’s possible that I looked way too into this, but honestly knowing Toby’s skill in writing and how much has laid in mystery about the DELTARUNE for so long, its possible in my mind that this is relevant. It would be so awesome if its confirmed later that he is in fact a ram and not a goat.
Even if its not confirmed, and Ralsei is a goat, or Asriel’s horns still curve inward when he comes back in DELTARUNE, I don’t really care. I just had fun writing and theorizing about this. I’m happy to be playing a game with a writer so good that I don’t feel THAT crazy scrutinizing at this level of detail.
Also just because I haven't finished chapters 2, 3, and 4, doesn't mean I don't want you to add your own thoughts using information from the future!! I'll have a blast reading any thoughts that anyone might have once I finally do catch up to the rest of you!
Have a nice day! :)