Interesting that Eram/Nightmare says "we both have work to do" to Kris/the player, implying that whatever it is, its role in the story is not done. And potentially that it's even aligned with Kris the same way the Knight is.
(TELL ME IF SOMETHING SEEMS UNFINISHED! IDK HOW WELL I PROOFREAD THIS…)
This is realistically intended to be adaptable into video essay format whenever I please, though I don’t have a YT I’m posting on right now, so we’ll see if that happens pre-chapter 5 lmao.
If not then, it likely won’t happen at all since I’ll prob get my answer when it comes aha
TLDR / TEENSY DISCLAIMER
Important bits in orange if you’re not a big reader! I wouldn’t call this a crackpot theory… but I might start grasping at straws? Sorry if I talk about nothing. That’s why I’ll highlight stuff. Every part is also structured in itty bitty paragraphs cus I think it makes reading feel easier lol.
PART 1: HERO_SWORD
I actually saw this get talked about in that new Ramb video (if you’ve seen it it’s by Cammy) which thoroughly shocked me.
If you bothered reading you’re probably already familiar with the sword route (or if you’ve played chapter 3 at all) and know what HERO_SWORD is… if not it’s your little character in the chapter 3 games like Mantle and Legend of Tenna.
Since this is about the sword route, it matters that HERO_SWORD is controlled directly by the soul in Mantle, rather than us controlling Kris to play the game like in Legend of Tenna. At the end of the sword route when HERO leaves the digital world into the dark world, they are still our vessel. Only when they pan off screen after one of the few endings you can get do we gain control over Kris again.
We see Kris’s soul leave their body to enter the game, but we never see it return to their body after aforementioned endings. This means it can be assumed that as long as HERO is off the screen, we are not using it as our vessel. So what happens to HERO after?
Well the consensus we’ve all been lead to believe is that it has a mind of its own as long as we aren’t using it. This idea is initially backed up by a conversation you have with a rabbick outside the back room.
This would make sense in hindsight! That being if HERO even left the room to begin with. Only in one possible ending to the sword route does HERO walk through the one doorway in the back room. In the one when we attempt to attack Kris/Kris and Susie, it walks towards the player (us) and disappears offscreen. In fact, in the ending where we swing at Susie, HERO comes right back from that bit of the screen, not through the doorway. This is where it exits again after, meaning it never even leaves the room.
EXTRA (VERY IMPORTANT!)
And theoretically if it is true that HERO can become its own darkner without the soul, the rabbick’s line is still inconsistent as that would still mean we left the room before HERO did. Meaning the rabbick couldn’t have seen them before us!
Also also! If you tell Susie you DON’T enjoy the Mantle game, HERO will completely disappear in front of us. After all that mind you, the Rabbick’s line NEVER changes.
May I add, it’s likely this “Kris” never did anything to Ramb, as the rabbick treats the other Kris as something normal, and only something they bring up like in an “Ah! I almost forgot!” sort-of way.
So if this theoretically debunks HERO as the “Kris” that the rabbick saw… then who? There must be another candidate, and for me…
PART 2: ERAM / WEIRD ROUTE TALK
Indeed boisengirls, I think it’s Eram (you already knew it was getting there… you knew this was an Eram theory!)
Eram being a darkner that is similar in appearance to Kris would make sense! As they are clearly tied to Kris’s red headband, a core part of their identity as a kid when they lost it (presumably in the shelter, as Mantle implies its connection to the shelter).
I also do believe they’re tied to Ice-E but I need a whole section to dedicate to that lol
This would also explain why they act like they know Kris so well, and know about the weird route, and act like they know what Kris wants. Because in theory, they knew the way Kris behaved as a child before the initial presence of the soul. This is a little iffy it’s just a potential connection.
I’m not sure if this was already obvious, but the ENTIRE Mantle game/sword route was an allegory for the weird route. It’s meant to introduce players to it by having you take a digitized version of it and being forced to feel what it’s like to traumatize Noelle and Berdly (Ice Mage aka White Cloak which is deer in the game files and the Blue Bird whom the Mage must kill for you).
And Eram as Mantle’s final boss, goes ahead and insists you take it! This could imply Eram as a final boss of the weird route but ehh I digress.
This sections a bit short so here are some pics I deem necessary proof I’m not blabbering.
First pic: the antlion you take a picture of described as “fangs of youth” while representing Kris’s headband. I know someone with fangs…
Second pic: the shelter door really is a block of ice with a headband on it! Huh. do tell.
Also Eram just HAS horns. I hope I don’t have to further imply they have connection to the headband.
PART 3: ICE-E
This part of my Eram theory came last in my thought process mainly because I thought it was dumb at first. But after being open to the idea I’ve concluded it’s gotta be true.
Maybe you’ve seen this already if you’re in deep with Deltarune theories! I wanna open with some pics of Noelle’s blog + other relevant images now so I can reference them and we’re all on the same page.
So if you picked up on it if you didn’t already know. Both these Ice-E related images mention one of the track names in Eram’s boss fight and their name in the code:
“she burned out ice-e eyes” as BURNING EYES
and the Nightmare text on the word search is obviously… Nightmare. The name Eram is called in the games code.
Also the word search name is Eram and Friend colored! So cute.
But geez there’s more? Yeah. The pipes in chapter 3 during Tenna’s messed up minigames towards the bossfight include blacked out Ice-E silhouettes moving in between them. This is also during the cooking minigame where fire is falling.
I see people talk about this being an ode to a bunch of other things, but if you combine it with all the other Ice-E bullcrap and the fact that these are a bunch of shadow Ice-Es surrounded by fire. Then I think the meaning points to Eram.
Plus if you backtrack to the shelter door, it is a block of ice with a headband on top.
PART 4: SYMBOLISM
The thing is, initially I disregarded the Ice-E connections because I thought it was useless and served no purpose to the actual meaning of the weird route/sword route or the plot of the game in general. But I think it now does after some thought!
Through the blog we can see that the memories Noelle has of Ice-E are poor, and they also include Kris scaring her. Kris’s random motivation to scare Noelle is just another harmless allusion to the weird route where we hurt her for real. Both that box and the headband are tied to those kinds of memories for Noelle. Is that why the Mage stops moving in the hallways leading up to the shelter when she sees you going the right way?
It represents Noelle’s fear in the weird route towards Kris. And Eram is seemingly a darkner made of multiple symbolic objects that reference an allegory of the weird route. It makes sense that they suggest you take it. Ice-E is also a block of ice. Snowgrave vibes I suppose but I don’t know if that actually matters.
It’s also true that we’ve seen darkners (cough cough Gerson cough cough) who aren’t represented as objects in the light world, and rather as memories. Though I think Eram is both the box and the headband, all I’m saying is we shouldn’t confine ourselves to a certain criteria the creation of a darkner must follow. Plus if they’re in the shelter truly anything is possible!
Eram is probably just a darkner made of these objects and the memories attached, which is why they look reminiscent or similar to Kris, enough to confuse a rabbick.
PART 5: FINAL
Thanks for listening if you got here! I think if this gets at all well received I should just make a video on it lol. But as long as it’s out there, I’m satisfied with my valiant contribution to the Deltarune theory mixing bowl.
Friend is Mike Ramb was kidnapped okay bye
also haha if dess is knight and kris is eram then kris+dess is knight+mare (eram) so they make nightmare together and thats why it’s called nightmare theory (im joking)
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