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Elefantasia, The Darkner You Need to Address! or, Sexual Violence in Deltarune

DISCLAIMER: If you’re going to read this post, please do so with an open mind. Here is your warning for heavy topics ahead: rape, incest, and CSA. Most of these characters are minors in a story that concerns itself with growing up and therefore puberty, so there’s a delicate line here. I’m doing my best to handle everything as respectfully as possible. THIS WAS WRITTEN AND POSTED BEFORE THE RELEASE OF CHAPTER FIVE.

This theory on Kris’ possible experiences with sexual violence will validate a few controversial theories and propose even more polarizing ones. Here we will assume Dess is the Knight and the player is a separate entity from Kris. These may be proven wrong in the future, but I do believe much of the rest of the analysis will still stand.

Hometown is puritan. Undertale gives the impression that monsters are particularly progressive compared to humans (“Not in front of the human,” Toriel says when Undyne and Alphys, two female monsters, go to kiss, rather than not in front of the child), but little shows that the same is true in Deltarune. I would go so far as to call Hometown conservative. Deeply religious, obsessed with preserving the status quo, always overlooking obvious cries for help, especially from children. It’s the kind of town where if abuse happened, everyone would band together to cover it up. One of those cultures where they turn a blind eye to horrible things happening right in front of them. Hometown citizens en masse overlook any flaw in their system because it’s the system they’ve always had (even if it might be, perhaps, destroying the people they care about). Hometown is likely somewhere in New England which associates it with colonialism, something rape culture is a major aspect of (there’s a lot to say about colonial themes in the game, but that’s for another essay). We see a prophecy of a facsimile of the town labeled ROOTS right before art therapy- Kris’ trauma has something to do with something deep in the roots of Hometown.

The player is given complete, absolute control over Kris. The player thinks to themself, if Kris really didn’t want me using their body to do these things, they would stop me. It’s not literal rape, but it’s a very obvious metaphor once sat with for more than three seconds. (Playing this video game doesn’t make you at home a metaphorical rapist, by the way- it’s a piece of art. It’s like sympathizing with a twist villain in a scary movie. It’s fiction. It’s art meant to make you feel weird.) This combined with the other powerful people controlling them, it would be easy to say Kris is thematically molested, rather than literally. However…

Deltarune has given me the impression Kris (character: a self-harming, mentally disturbed kid defined by their autonomy being ripped from them by more powerful forces and people) has been sexually abused in the past. They “can never wash it all away” after art therapy. Kris was “USED UP.” A lot of the narration in the game is extremely uncomfortable and I can’t believe it was all accidental. With this in mind, there are a few possible culprits the game suggests. This is an overview of the possible offenders.

Kris is extremely uncomfortable just looking at a picture of humans they don’t even recognize, and they’re in part a projection of both Frisk and Chara, one of whom is heavily implied to have been abused by humans and the other is widely interpreted the same way. Approximately 21% of adopted children have been sexually abused before adoption.

The first thing we ever hear of Dess is Noelle cheerfully recounting a time she was physically violent towards Kris. Yes, it was with a whiffle bat and probably didn’t hurt, but it still sticks out that that’s the first ever thing we learn about Dess, that she wasn’t afraid to put her hands on them. Kris and the Knight have an uncomfortable, extremely secretive relationship that causes Kris distress. There’s not much to say here that hasn’t already been talked about; everyone knows Kris and the Knight have a weird relationship.

Carol… doesn’t really need an introduction. She is introduced intruding on Kris’ personal space and making them more visibly uncomfortable than they’re ever shown to be. She’s the most powerful person in town. According to Noelle, she “just loves red heart-shaped objects”, implying she has some sort of desire for Kris’ SOUL. Kris shows major secrecy around Carol, is isolated when with her, is uniquely afraid of as well as dependent on her. Carol gives Kris special attention, oversteps boundaries, is close with Kris’ family, touches Kris when they’re clearly uncomfortable with it. Carol touching Kris’ shoulder felt “like ice”. These are all textbook groomer and victim things. Also, she seems to be orchestrating some kind of relationship between Noelle and Kris. Many cases of COCSA come about from a groomer forcing two minors together, which is the whole point of the weird route.

It’s easy to miss because literally everyone around Hometown claims otherwise as fact, but there is very little evidence Kris even likes Asriel as a person. Every comment about how Kris must miss Asriel so much is heard from characters who have proven over and over again to fundamentally not understand Kris at all. Most of the things they say are obvious misreads, why would this be the only different one? Kris is shown to only start being comfortable with Ralsei after they’ve distanced him from Asriel in their mind. The idea that they look alike is laughable, Susie confuses them and Kris points out physical differences. They stop letting the player be rude to him. When the player asks Kris to pray for Asriel, they put their hands together and say his name blankly. Susie comments, “At least pretend to try.” Okay, maybe they don’t want to do something that intimate in front of the player, but they were very intense about their prayer about Susie. Final thought here is, how many already disturbed kids would adore the brother everyone unfavorably compares them to?

Checking Asriel’s church clothes provides the narration “*These clothes hold no power over you any more.” Power is a loaded word in Deltarune. To memory, this is the only instance of the word “power” being used in the light world. Could be a gender thing, sure, but Kris being nonbinary isn’t shown to be a source of stress outside of certain interpretations of the weird route, and especially not in the light world, so I’m inclined to believe it’s something else. One of the only people to actively describe Asriel’s actions is Pizzapants, and most of the things he says are downright misogynistic. He likes to describe their high school years together like stereotypical frat bros and while he’s obviously being pathetic and trying to make himself sound cool, it raises potential red flags that it was in his head at all. Many cases of abuse aren’t from just a one-time perpetrator and one-time victim. Often, they have a very complicated relationship. Kris often acts secretive about Asriel, which many fans have noticed and interpret as Kris having done something to hurt Asriel. I think it makes sense but I read it the opposite way. A lot of victims, especially in the cases of incest, feel like they have a secret to protect.

Asriel having abused Kris could be a domestic translation of his actions as Flowey. For example, Asgore being a flawed King translates to Deltarune as a former well-meaning corrupt cop. “Undyne is part of the establishment,” Toby Fox says in the anniversary stream about her UT self, so in DR, she is a literal police captain. Asriel is very much capable of being incredibly sadistic for his own amusement, we’ve seen it happen up close, we’ve played an entire game where that was one of the driving forces. It is tempting to insist Asriel would never do such a thing, but, for one thing, that’s the entire point of this interpretation, abuse like this happens all the time in real life within families from people you would “never expect,” and, two, we haven’t even met Deltarune’s Asriel. We know almost nothing of substance about him as a person.

Kris is generally wary of adults and shrinks from their physical contact, and they’re suggested to have a fear of growing up (they are the only teenager in hometown who wears a striped shirt, associated with childhood). A lot of art with child heroes and adult villains has the theme that grown-ups are the real monsters and kids are victims by virtue of being kids and, by design, not having the autonomy they deserve. Deltarune seems to be going in a similar direction. This theory sure seems to enhance that interpretation…

In this theory any of these people could have abused Kris, and the most upsetting interpretation is all of them did. Have you ever watched Baby Reindeer? It’s a Netflix series about one man’s experience with abuse, written by and starring the man himself. There’s one scene where he opens up about his trauma and says, “That’s what abuse does to you. It made me this sticking plaster for all of life’s weirdos. This open wound for them to sniff at.” I feel like it belongs here.

Going off an earlier statement about Hometown being puritan, Asriel was the town’s precious little golden boy, Carol is their mayor, Dess is gone and almost never talked about, why would they say something? Kris is a self-harming teenager in a town that doesn’t even try to understand them. Remember that Kris’ trauma has something to do with the ROOTS of Hometown.

What does that do to a person? Being abused by your biological family, then your brother, then a family friend, then another family friend, then your autonomy placed in the hands of some unseen force, in quick succession?

For one thing, Kris self-harms. This is suggested all over the games. How do you play with a power strip? Well, you can stick a fork in it to electrocute yourself. Ramb’s head even looks a bit like a fork. He insists he’s Kris’ favorite, implying they “played” with him a lot. Kris likes chocolate and is likened to a dog constantly. Kris’ self harm manifests in the dark world as them harming others. This is most obvious in the weird route, but Ramb insists he knows Kris so well that he knows better than anyone that their idea of fun is violence. Also, Ralsei is likely some sort of projection of Kris, and expresses a desire for them to hurt him several times.

Noelle’s masochism and Kris’ self-harm externalizing combine and clash and create the weird route. It’s crucial that this is not something either of them would actually want to pursue. Kris is accused by ERAM of enjoying yesterday when all of their solitary actions suggest they are miserable. Noelle thanks them for it and is apparently looking forward to seeing Kris tomorrow. In the normal route, Noelle confesses she likes scary things, but she likes the “good kind of scary.”

I think it is incredibly ridiculous to deny there is any romantic, and yes, even sexual, theming to the weird route. I wouldn’t even call it subtext; most of it is just text. Spamton calls Noelle Kris’ “Side Chick” and a “Hochi Mama.” You have to declare Noelle and Kris are something other than friends, to which the Addison decides they must be getting married, in order to continue the route. It’s all very overt. The plot of weird route is forcing one child to force another child to do horrible things. Consent is pushed to the brink at every turn. Noelle begs “Kris” to listen to her cries as “Kris” tells her to proceed. d.ogg, which plays when you confront Berdly in weird route, is a slowed version of Raise Up Your Bat, generally agreed upon as Dess’ theme (or the closest we have now). “Kris” forcing Noelle to kill Berdly parallels what the Knight (so, Dess) has done to Kris. Noelle is the closest Kris can get to revenging themself on Carol and Dess. Weird route is a projection of Kris and Noelle’s worst “desires.” The whole point of the dark world is it’s a wish fulfillment, even for the fantasies you would never, ever pursue in real life.

The rose animation infamously being changed to a shattering heart is an interesting point against but I don’t take it as evidence against solely because none of the rapey dialogue shifted. Just the visual was changed and only enough that it could preserve the original intent. Therefore, I think the rose scene was changed not because people interpreting it as a rape allegory are sick perverts, but because it was a misstep for players to interpret it as a literal rape scene. Like, it’s still a kid forcing themself onto another kid in her bedroom.

On a more hopeful note, this is why Susie’s friendship is monumental to Kris’ development. She’s likely never considered the existence of Kris’ biological human family, has no idea about the player, seemingly only heard of Carol until the events of chapter four, never met Asriel. She’s the only person Kris even encounters without at least one of those relationships coloring their dynamic. Susie talks a lot about her friendships saving her from past bad experiences, but it’s so clear that the same thing is happening to Kris with Susie.

Closing thoughts- I don’t know what to make of two obviously sexual visuals in the game that have no apparent source. The water cooler attack looks uncomfortably similar to a human egg being fertilized, and the spawn enemies are very clearly fetuses. Definitely conspicuous, but I have no idea how to track them.

I’ll conclude with this. I know this is an unpopular theory but it is a real one. I know the Internet is resistant to explorations of CSA and incest in fiction, especially when it’s not textual, but these are subjects that do deserve to be talked about. Undertale’s no mercy route is near-universally referred to as the genocide route. If it’s acceptable to liken part of Undertale to literal genocide, why is a sexual abuse reading of Deltarune “edgy bullshit?”

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