incredibly elaborate bit me and @iclimbtreestofeelalive came up with while i was playing pokemon Y iii couldn't pick if i should put this on the art blog but whateverr hello if you scrolled down this far sorry for the long post okay i love you
hi broski can i ask how its implied that kris sh's......... slash genuine
This isn't the first and definitely won't be the last time I get asked this, so I figured I might as well answer with my own thoughts. I debated whether or not to make this post since people started asking because, honestly, it’s a lot more personal than I like to be on this blog, but I think I’m ready to dive into it!
(Obvious CW for Self-Harm)
To start, the times in canon where Kris takes out the soul, and through whatever happens before we’re put back in, their HP is visibly lower afterwards. From what I can recall, this is visible at the Holiday house in chapter 4 - Both in the normal route, where Kris throws the hockey puck at us (They lose 5 HP)
And In the weird route, where they lose 10 (A whopping HALF of their HP)
Presumably, Kris knows that hurting the soul hurts themselves, so while both times the damage is directed at us, the results are the closest to on-screen self-harming behaviour anywhere in the game.
(Side note: I don’t think Kris’ HP lowers just from ripping the soul out, although I haven’t checked, so if I’m wrong please lmk! Even so, the act of ripping us out LOOKS pretty painful lol)
Now for the implied stuff:
We’ve known since at least chapter 1 that Kris carries a knife around with them. While its purpose in-game is making dark fountains, some dialogue makes me think that they didn't just steal a random knife from Toriel’s kitchen when they started making dark fountains.
Firstly, Right off the bat in chapter 2, Toriel says this:
This establishes 2 things: 1, Kris has this knife since BEFORE any dark fountains appear (Since we don't technically know who made the fountains in chapter 1 yet), and 2, it’s “their” knife, or at least that they’ve had it long enough for Toriel to recognize it.
(I’m not even going to try to get into the Toriel bad parenting discourse here IDK why she doesn't GAF??? Does she maybe know that Kris needs the knife to open dark worlds? I think im reading too far into this im going to stop now.)
I honestly don't know how much to even read into this scene because it seems to primarily be for comedic purposes/a red herring as to what Kris used the knife for that night. It still stands as an important characterization for Kris, though, that they're the type of kid to carry around a knife enough to make their mother not bat an eye at it.
It does sort of confirm what Susie says here in chapter 4,
Which, without the previous scene with Toriel, might have just seemed like an assumption, but we essentially know what she’s saying is true. Also, I see people wonder why Kris blushes here, but I think it’s because Susie is teasing them about being an edgy loser, which is kinda true…. Sorry Kris….
Then Eram, this nebulous character that seems to have a history with Kris, taunts them specifically about a knife ‘growing dull’.
This can definitely be referring to a metaphorical knife (The use of violence), or maybe opening dark worlds/escapism, but I also think it may carry some self-harm allusions, especially considering that Eram seems to know more about Kris’ bad history than we do at this point in the story.
This is a bit of a tangent, but speaking of Kris’ troubled youth, let's talk about the chapter 4 egg room. I keep seeing that a lot of people’s takeaway is that Kris straight-up killed a dude, which might stem from this dialogue
I don't think this necessarily means “This is an art therapy class for people who have murdered someone”, more that the patients (including Kris) were there for some serious behavioural issues. (Especially when reading this line as something a troubled kid who doesn't know how to process the violence they experienced might say.) The art therapy room doesn't outright state why Kris was there, but I think it’s fairly obvious that something traumatic occurred in their past that led them to need therapy. This is all to say that trauma at a young age can also lead teens to self-harm as a coping skill, so tangent over.
This is where it kinda gets personal for me. Now, everyone has different motives for self-harming (obviously), but when I was younger, I kind of used it as a controlled form of punishment, if that makes sense? Like, whenever I fucked up severely and had all these emotions bubbling over, I would S/H because in my mind it felt like atonement. If I had caused someone else pain or inconvenienced them, I felt like the only way to ‘even it out, ’ so to speak, was to make sure I also hurt. I say this because guilt can be a HUGE motivator for habits like that, and guilt is seeming to be a big theme in Kris’ character arc, with their promise to Carol and whatever the hell the egg rooms mean. So, I guess that makes my final reasoning as to why I think Kris would self-harm, that it would be out of guilt.
Looking back at how I phrase my first post, I don’t really think (at least right now) Toby Fox is writing Kris’ behaviour specifically for people’s main takeaway to be ‘Oh yeah this kid is definitely cutting themself’, but given the circumstances and everything we know about Kris so far, I wouldn't be surprised if it’s ever alluded to more clearly. I also would be happy for this to be all that we ever get in terms of crumbs, because it’s more of my headcannon right now than a proper ‘theory’ or anything.
Also let me know your thoughts/if you disagree/other things I may have missed! I love this game and love reading your reblogs (as long as you don’t talk about your S/H methods or habits, please stop doing that shit)
berdly trying to woo kris (who genuinely doesnt like him in that way) only to fail horribly every single attempt. this works on them more than literally anything he couldve tried originally. they are personally horrified by this discovery
Kris is lucky that deltarune doesn't have the undertale-style 'new phonecall dialogue for every room you're in' and also that the only visible contact in their phone is like. Their mom. Because the last thing they need on top of all the other shit we put them through is us calling everyone they know in every possible location we can just to see all the dialogue. Kris put the mysterious voice giving you orders on the phone I want to see what they have to say about the grocery store
"You're always nicer when it's just the two of us" but like. It also applies to kerdly. Because Berdly absolutely lets his guard down around them, not before they tease him and rile him up a bit and he yaps and flaunters a bit in front of them, but eventually after all of that, they just chill together and enjoy each other's company :]
suddenly got this idea, and I felt compelled to draw it lol
Not sure if Gerson would be on castle town at all, but it's fun to think about it
transcript in case my writing it's too bad lol:
K: So you finally return! care to explain why did you cast us into oblivion?
G: I left because I fucken died, son!
K: WHAT?!
G: sorry you were left there in my old classroom, but not much I could do about that, y'know?
K: then why?! or rather HOW are you here?!
G: ahh! that's a good question!
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