Archetype & Foil Theory - Despair Time & 'AltDRDT'
Preface: I dislike the placeholder 'AltDRDT' and will be using Knight's Game in it's place for the entirety of this post. Also the entirety of this post will not be written when it is posted ! So the initial preface does not actually mean anything if you are reading this now.
Similarly, I will also be referring to the Knight's Game characters by the animal they are associated with in the Chinese Zodiac & not by the usual names assigned to them by fandom. I just find this an easier & less clunky way to recall them. ^^'
I will translate this post into written text at a later point. TL;DR all the despair time & AltDRDT characters parallel mainline game characters & the death order does as well.
Spoilers Ahead.
Knight's Game Animal Visual Guide:
Disorganized Rambling:
Both chapters so far have already substantially paralleled key elements of THH. These parallels are often presented through a 'deviant', non conventional lens.
Chapter 1: Sayaka Betrayal, Makoto Accused first, Min doesn't like her talent (Leon), Xander worked super hard for talent (Sayaka), Xander is a red haired rebel who used to do something with his hair he now refuses to do on principle (Leon), Min wants to try something unrelated to her talent (Leon), Xander idolized a blue haired character he knew before the game (who also knew him [Sayaka]), a 'purple' 'smart character' who didn't talk much before helps the protagonist during the investigation, something unlucky happens to the protagonist which partially results in an aspect of the case or the murder itself, a stabbing in the stomach occurs.
Chapter 2: Smaller timid character grapples with gender identity, tough guy & timid character conflict, Arei was bullied in the past and tries to change (Chihiro), victim is hung up (Chihiro), character has a 'personality change' during the trial (Toko), character becomes obsessed with another character and stalks them, Ace grapples with a life he feels responsible for the loss of in his past (Mondo), Ace did not feel he was capable of changing and becoming a better person (Mondo), David 'tampers' with the case (Togami), Levi is outed for murdering multiple people prior to the killing game (Toko)
Several characters also intensely reflect aspects of mainline characters, either directly or by inverting them.
Not comprehensive: Teruko is miserable because of her luck (Makoto), Charles suffers as a result of his family legacy (Togami), Eden aids the protagonist after the aftermath of the first case (Kyoko), Veronika obsesses over fiction to the detriment of others (Hifumi), Rose has borderline psionic powers (Yasuhiro), J lied about her name (Celeste), Whit has a strong 'intuition' (Sayaka), Veronika is easily bored (Junko), David is dedicated to upholding the ideal of another to the detriment of his own humanity (Mukuro)
Regarding the Knight's Game cast, while we know next to nothing about them personally we can make inferences from the unofficial side content as well as their designs & the chinese zodiac motif.
For the 'tiger' character, she is in demeanor obviously very similar to Akane's surface level personality and we can extrapolate that she is likely a fighter of some sort based on her design. Her 'zodiac foil' is the horse which based on the zodiac motif theory would be the host. Akane's most notable action as a character within DR2 is attacking the host in chapter 3 and Nekomaru sacrificing himself in order to protect her from dying. Notably, dragon's parallel is Nekomaru & is almost certainly Tiger's brother, making a sacrifice of this nature much more believable.
Also notably, we are currently at 11 cast members, placing the Knight's Game KG at chapter 3 of DR2 - where Ibuki would have already died and been killed by Mikan. This would put that sacrifice at some point either in the events immediately prior to the memory wipe OR during the first chapter we are going to see. This would also notably place Dragon as the victim in the following chapter, allowing for him to have an adequate amount of screen time prior to his death as proposed by this theory.
This means Sheep, Mikan's parallel, would have killed prior to the memory wipe and that for some reason she was not punished for this crime. (Potentially suggesting a trial was never held for her murder or that it could not be completed.) Sheep is foils with Ox, who is Hiyoko's parallel and much like Xander & Charles to Teruko, is placed adjacent to Teacher in the cast art, alongside Rabbit who is often shown to be positive towards Teacher, is so far suggested to be closer to him than other students and would be his foil within the zodiac. Xander was the one to begin to start the killing game and betray Teruko. Much like Xander, Sheep may betray Teacher and begin the killing game by killing ox, also playing into the motif of a 'wolf in sheep's clothing.' Alongside this, Sheep has Whit's color pallet, who would be the DRDT mastermind according to this theory - even more notably, pink is a recurring color of significance in Danganronpa as a whole and is often associated with despair as it is the color of blood. As evidenced by Xander & Mai, despair is certainly no stranger to reccuring color and design motifs.
Potentially unrelated but still notable: within the story of the zodiac race itself, the monkey, sheep and horse work together in order to win the race. The horse is the host and the monkey is a character already immediately entrenched in mischief due to both demeanor, parallels to both Xander and Min's designs (as well as parallels in side content art, their design literally being swapped with theirs) and her association with XF-Ture tech. Not to mention his proposed parallel being Nagito. These two characters being paired with Sheep in the context of working together to 'win the race' in a killing game, who is potentially the first killer we'll be seeing, is certainly an odd string of coincidences in any case.
The dog is paralleled to Fuyuhiko who's bodyguard he grew up with sacrifices herself for him as a result of him lashing out over the murder of his sister being covered up. Dog is currently best known for his potential relation to Teruko and if the cases do reflect one another then this would be a case which occured before the memory wipe - giving the author ample opportunity to explore Dog's relation to his 'sister' (Teruko) while exploring the erased memories. While not explicitly related nor confirmed, it is speculated that Dog is a bounty hunter and at the very least Dog's design and present promotional art clearly depicts that he has some association with the military. The dog motif further emphasizes this.
Regarding the zodiac foils themselves and whether or not they are reliable: while tenuous at the moment, they are not entirely unsubstantiated. Teacher and Rabbit are often paired in positive relation in official art. Dog is deeply suspected of being Teruko's older brother and Dragon is very likely Tiger's brother. The two both potentially being protective brother's who try to protect their sister's that are always getting in trouble could very well be explored within the text. Mouse and Monkey are both design swapped and paralleled to Min and Xander, the first victim and killer as well as the (IMO) most blatant foil pair within their respective entry. Tiger, who is paralleled with Akane, could from what we know very believably have a disposition which would lead her to conflicting with the host frequently. Ox and Sheep both have very explicit horns in their designs and this could very well be a nod to them frequently 'butting heads.' No substantial connection between Pig and Snake occurs to me at the moment, as we have seen next to nothing regarding both characters however they are paralleled to Gundham and Sonia which I think is notable at least.
I would also like to note that I did not parallel Teacher to Hajime because I believe he much more intensely parallels either Monomi or Chisa. Hajime also has another character which very intensely parallels him which we already know about: Mai Akasaki.
Both completely normal people with presumably no talents who are simultaneously upheld as 'gods' by those around them or at the least deeply idolized. Albeit for very different reasons. A significant theme in both of these characters stories is of course aldo that they grapple with whether or not they want to adhere to the 'rules of society.' For some reason or another, these characters are also blamed for a killing game.
It is called Knight's game because I do not know what you could design a horse mascot as other than a knight chess piece. Maybe a zebra, for the 'mono' design the stripes would lend to. Zebras are not horses but are adjacent. I do not know. A horse mascot is kind of funny to me.
All mainline parallels for the Knight's Game cast are either based on design elements or speculative elements of the story which have no actual basis so this is entirely unsubstantiated lol. I'm arrogant to a detrimental degree so I'm secure in my conclusion regardless and feel gratified by how many connections I incidentally spawned from what is an intensely miniscule amount of content.
Can we please begin tagging this series as Knight's Game instead of AltDRDT. This is not a realistic ask since it is already ingrained but I do not like AltDRDT lol. I'm not sure why it's just difficult for me to attach to.
I feel similarly about most common names for the characters. I'm actually a bit surprised by how long it took for a large portion of the fandom to notice the Chinese Zodiac motif after the designs were released. Though I suppose some design aspects which were rectified later on makes that much easier in retrospect that it would have been at the time. Still, they do have obvious placeholder names, at least IMO.
Here's a link to my Zodiac post which explains the motif in more detail. I am not inclined to do so here. ^^'
Thanks for reading, apologies for the visuals not being translated ATM; I'll get around to it. I hope this was engaging, helpful or insightful. : ) Be well and take care. 🎉
@bronze-ocs
This post indirectly answers your ask. At the very least it gives my current death order predictions. If I feel inclined to I'll also make a separate post for those individually where I explain my thoughts on them in more detail. ^^' I hope you enjoy anyway.
