What's the thematic significance of Jevil, actually?
For a week now i've been turning over Deltarune in terms of themes and literary parallels, specifically the secret bosses, more specifically the damn clown who's had me in the chokehold for over 7 years now.
Because what exactly is his significance?
Shadow crystal bosses are of great importance. The Knight is the Knight, Hammer of Justice is crucial to Susie's personal development, Spamton is very clearly meant to parallel Kris's circumstances and aspiration to cut off the puppet strings and being controlled by a voice on the phone.
But Jevil? Jevil doesn't have any strong ties with anyone theme wise.
The theme of freedom is not explored from the perspective of someone trapped like Kris, and though there is some Susie thematic material with both of them using violence, it's not a big theme.
Well, Jevil sees the entire world as a game. It's all about fun to him, about what he can do, without necessarily concerning himself about whether he should.
This eventually gets him imprisoned. He however doesn't see it that way. From his perspective, the entire world's been sealed away, trapped and limited, and he's the only free one.
He's a player trapped inside of a cage thinking himself to be all powerful when in truth he's very limited in what he can do.
As many talented analysts have pointed out, the prophecy panels from chapter 4, especially "The Cage, with human Soul and parts" gesture at the power dynamic not being what the player might have initially assumed.
A cage is something that traps. That keeps sealed. To cage something is an action, not a passive state.
Not puppet, not tool, not vessel, not avatar.
Kris is a jailor keeping us in.
Kris has a lot of power in our dynamic. Without them, chances are we wouldn't even be able to experience the story. They have way more agency than they show because they willingly give parts of it up.
If they really didn't want to deal with us they'd stuff us in the birdcage and left us here. They show no issue existing for prolonged periods of time without the soul inside (see: them ripping it out to go to sleep) and they only keep us inside their body because we're in some way important to their plan, enough to put up with our control.
And even with our control, they have ways of bypassing us through tone or not saying words loud enough to be heard or even struggling against us (see: Mantle boss fight).
The playerbase though, especially in chapters 1-2 (especially during the long development periods where fan interpretation tends to run wild and solidify), may have believed they're in control. and it is shown that the soul is a powerful entity, able to invent new powers, rewind time, and control living beings housing them.
With such influence, who wouldn't see the world of Deltarune as something of a game, where we have way more influence than the characters.
Where perhaps… we are the only free one?
I AM INNOCENT, INNOCENT. I JUST WANTED TO PLAY A GAME, GAME.
BUT THE BORING KINGS FOUND SUCH FUN TO BE A TROUBLE.
AS PUNISHMENT, THEY CRAVED TO IMPRISON MY BODY.
BUT I'M FAST, FAST, CLEVER, CLEVER.
THEY LOST THE CHASE, AND LOCKED UP THEIR ENTIRE RACE,
BUILDING A PRISON AROUND THE WHOLE WORLD. NOW I'M THE ONLY FREE ONE.
But the thing is we have extremely limited choices. In universe we're a being caged inside a body of a teenager who can at any point shove us in a cage or veto our decisions to some degree.
Ralsei: Huh? Free? But you're clearly the one behind bars…
Jevil: THINGS DON'T SEEM SUCH FROM HERE, LIGHTNERS!
Jevil might be a way to confront the player about who they are as a character in the story, as well as commentary on our dynamic with kris. Especially this line:
UEE HEE! VISITORS, VISITORS! NOW WE CAN PLAY, PLAY!
THEN, AFTER YOU, I CAN PLAY WITH EVERYONE ELSE, TOO!
Like am I just crazy or is there something here?
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