This is a theory that, previously, I felt very iffy on, but have come to believe more firmly over time. I'd like to thank my friend @mr---person for assisting with theorycrafting this and coming up with parts of this.
In order to get to the actual idea being proposed here, I have to get some context out of the way first, so without further ado, let's begin. This is a bit of a long one, but I think it's well worth it.
PHASE 1: The Sword Route matters
I'm going to start by establishing that the Sword Route is, for whatever reason, important.
You know, the route is weird. When I first learned it was called the "Sword Route", I was kind of put off by it. I felt like the name didn't make much sense. It's more of a sidequest if anything, right?
The main thing I am going to try and establish here is that the Sword Route is more than just an ominous foreshadowing side quest that results in us getting the Shadow Mantle- which is optional armor that merely makes certain fights easier.
See, the more I think about it, the more clear it becomes to me that it is actually that important. For starters- the name itself. It is called a Route. This alone is kind of significance. It's not the mantlequest, it's not the sword quest, it's not S Rank Progress or anything, it's... the Sword Route.
Further, after defeating the Mantleholder ("ERAM" as I will refer to them for the rest of this post for brevity), they declare "We both have work to do!" which somewhat insinuates that we will meet again.
There's also the /chapter5 stuff:
We cannot be absolutely certain, but it does seem that the size of the numbers indicate something akin to "Weird Route prominence". The 2 is massive because the Weird Route exists. The 4 is pretty small because ultimately the Weird Route only changes like, two scenes significantly. The 5 is larger, implying the Weird Route will cause more changes there.
What's fascinating, then, is that the 3 is as big as the 2. Given that the sound effect for clicking on the 3 is the sound that Eram makes, and the "Not applicable, but..." text from /chapter3, it seems to me that the reason the 3 is so big is because of the Sword Route.
If you ask me, the Sword Route on its own kind of doesn't even get close to Ch2's variations. Sure, it's something that affects the entire playthrough of the chapter, but, like, it doesn't really affect the main story at all, and seems pretty self contained on the surface.
It's also not even part of the Weird Route, nor the Crystal Path, strictly speaking... and yet, it's as big as the 2, which is... fascinating.
I think, though, the biggest slam dunk for the Sword Route being "Important" is, of all places, found in Jackenstein's fight.
See, one of the boards used for Jackenstein's attacks is this:
Those who have come before me have pointed out that the symbols in the background can be interpretted as symbols of key things in DELTARUNE.
There are two crowns, one of which highly resembles the chess symbol for a queen, there's a chess knight, a tower of some sort, a flower, and a dagger/sword.
Some have interpreted the Sword has a symbol for Chapter 6, but I don't actually think that's accurate.
A more niche interpretation of this is that it's actually a map.
You start on the King crown.
You can either pass through the Queen (the Purple line) or skip the Queen (the Cyan line).
You can optionally touch the Sword on the way to The Knight.
But, no matter what, you must pass the Knight, then the Tower, then the Flower, then collect the key.
If you don't allow line intersections, then the Sword also must come before The Knight. (You can of course go right and then down from The Knight, but this would require you to double back.)
When you recall that you actually skip Queen entirely on the Weird Route, I actually feel very confident in this interpretation. You can skip Queen, but you can't skip King, Knight, Titan, or the Ch5 boss.
I think, then, that the meaning of the sword is obvious- it's the Sword Route. You can optionally collect the Sword on the way to The Knight.
To me, the fact that the Sword Route is represented at all in this sort of symbolic representation of the game's general mapping is kind of massive. This, if nothing else, has me absolutely convinced The Sword Route does deserve its name, even if we cannot understand fully what is significant about it.
So, now that we can be pretty confident the Sword Route matters, I think we should start looking into everything we know about it in order to try and predict where it's going next.
PHASE 2: ERAM
This is going to be a re-treading of my prior remarks on Eram.
If you've already read my previous post about that, you can skip this section without issue. I actually go into more detail in that post, but I'm going to summarize my thoughts here. If you find this analysis interesting, please go check out that post, too.
Basically: I think the Eram fight is "about" the Kris/Player dynamic.
ERAM is able to do actual, real damage to Kris. They physically recoil whenever it happens. If Kris were trying to beat ERAM alone, they would surely fail, especially if they only had one try. One single hit would likely snowball into several more, and trying to perform well while actively being shocked would be effectively impossible. And, ultimately, barring potential Kris SAVE File shenanigans, one death is all Kris has- Eram kills you for real.
This is where the Player comes in- we are able to focus entirely on the game itself, learning the fight, issuing commands to Kris.
We, too, could not beat this fight alone- On some level, we need Kris to even play the game to begin with- While we are able to control HERO_SWORD outside of the game, it is ultimately Kris who (of their own accord!) plugs the Oddcontroller in for us, and we see with the Shelter that Kris is able to control HERO_SWORD somewhat- I don't think Kris could just set the controller down.
Ultimately, both parties need to lock in. Kris needs to lock in and push through the pain even though it hurts to execute the commands we're giving them, and we need to focus on the fight itself and funnel our inputs through Kris to attack the enemy.
This, then, is why Eram remarks about the burning red flames in Kris' eyes, because the only way we beat them is by working together.
Basically, I think the fight is about The Player and Kris. The fact that Kris is an autonomous person who has their own ideas and goals is, sometimes, a hindrance, and gets in our way when they do their own thing- but, at the same time, it can be a strength, as our ability to directly command our vessel seems rather limited. It's Kris who is able to plug in the oddcontroller, for instance. We can't actually direct Kris to use items in that way directly.
With this general interpretation of the Eram fight established, I'm going to take a further moment to look into the other character relevant for the Sword Route, who I think we tend to overlook: Ramb.
PHASE 3: RAMB ANALYSIS
Ramb, Ramb, Ramb... There's a lot we could say about Ramb, but I'll try to keep it brief and focused on what we're actually interested in today.
It's been suggested at times that Eram and Ramb are one and the same. I don't think this is the case.
The thing is...Ramb doesn't know, like, anything. To me, that's kind of what defines him. He talks big game, he talks about Freedom and Big Shots and about how the Original Game is everything Kris dreams of, and yet... he doesn't really seem to be connected to the deeper mysteries.
He doesn't have a Shadow Crystal, and while he talks big game about freedom, unlike with, say, Spamton, we don't really get the impression Ramb knows specifically what Kris is dealing with.
Ramb makes a big point of saying how he wants what's best for Kris, and that Kris will love the original game more... but is that even true?
Kris... doesn't exactly seem super enthused by the game. They look pale at times, especially when we kill the HERO_AXE and HERO_SCARF, and they kind of almost die to Eram.
Ramb also talks big game about how the Original Game has real freedom, and isn't just a linear quest from A to B... except, if anything, MANTLE is actually more linear than The Legend of Tenna.
Both games have explicit, defined objectives- in MANTLE, it's to GET STRONGER and kill every enemy to eventually obtain the item at the end. In TLOT, it's to collect the various items around the map to eventually get to the Physical Challenge.
The thing is, The Legend of Tenna actually does give you choice. There's always more objectives than are necessary. You only need 3 keys, but there are actually 4 (5 on replays!). You only need 3 pictures, but there are 4 you can get. You can choose which ones to get.
Comparatively, in MANTLE, you simply have to defeat every enemy. The only meaningful choice that Mantle provides you is that you can choose to die and stop playing.
This is, perhaps, a larger discussion, but my point is that Ramb is kind of just... wrong, about the original game being more free. And even if he was correct, Kris doesn't seem to be enjoying it that much.
I do actually think Kris wants to keep playing, but it's not because the game itself is Fun, but rather because Kris is searching for the Crystals and likely believes that this may lead to one. (There's more I could say on this but I don't have the time to.)
It's also quite clear I think that Ramb doesn't know anything about what's really going on backstage.
For starters, there's no reason to believe Ramb gave Kris the OddController. Surely he would have taken credit for giving it to us, since he prides himself on doing what's best for Kris. Also, he was keeping watch for Tenna.
Further, after Board 2, he denies anyone else being Backstage, and seems confused when Kris asks:
Which, sure, could be him lying, but I really don't think he is.
In general, while Ramb does want to help Kris, I think it's quite clear he doesn't really understand the greater ramifications of what Kris is dealing with. I really don't think Ramb knows what the Shadow Crystals are, and I really can't see him being, say, Eram in secret. Eram seems way too knowledgeable in a way Ramb simply isn't.
What is perhaps the most interesting about Ramb, though, is what happens to him at the end of the route. For the third Board, Ramb is almost fully petrified.
He asks us to push him out of the way because he can't move, and we carry on. This is actually really emphasized. There's like a whole animation of him being pushed and everything.
Toby could have just had him already be in position for us to walk past, or something, but, no, he's in the way and must be pushed.
What is fascinating, then, is that... he's not there anymore when we're done.
He's just gone. No trace. This is never explained. There is only one piece of information we are given, and I want to spend some time specifically on this point, because it's very important.
PHASE 4: WTF HAPPENED TO RAMB???
No, seriously, what? He's just gone. In the normal route, he's petrified in his little booth, but, in the Sword Route, he just entirely disappears.
The only piece of information we're given is from this Rabbick NPC in the backstage area:
This Rabbick claims to have seen something relating to Ramb, but gets sidetracked by Kris' appearance, questioning that they just went past.
I have seen many interpretations of this line, with some people suggesting that HERO_SWORD killed Ramb as they left. This is a bit questionable, since surely the Rabbick would be terrified of Kris if they just saw "Kris" kill Ramb, but, there's something much more important here I seldom see talked about.
How did this Rabbick even see anything?
I don't have a good map of the area, so forgive me for the bad quality here, but, remember:
Ramb is a statue over at the X. The Rabbick is out in the hall.
How did this Rabbick see anything relating to Ramb?
They're in different rooms. There's like, 2 corners between them, and a closed door, and the Rabbick is down the hall. How did they see something relating to Ramb, especially when it is explicitly told (and shown) to us that Ramb actively cannot move.
I think the implication simply has to be that he was taken. He was kidnapped. Something moved him. There's really no other way to slice it. The question is... why? Who would do this?
This is where we leave the realm of grounded speculation and have to "live a little" so to speak. I might lose you here, but please, hear me out.
PHASE 5: THE ERAMB AGENDA
I am going to propose the following:
Eram is, on some level, some sort of spirit that requires a host
It was originally using the Shadow Mantle as its host when we find it in Chapter 3.
After we defeat Eram, it needs a new vessel.
It chooses Ramb as its new target, stealing him in the process. Eramb.
This is generally unsubstantiated, but I think it actually makes a lot of sense.
For starters: The Eram boss we fight is purely referred to as "Shadow Mantle" in the game. Not, like, MantleHolder, they're just Shadow Mantle. It's arguable how much we should read into this, but given that the speaker says they're "holding" the mantle, a direct interpretation of the mantle itself being alive feels weird. However, if we're saying the Mantle is being puppeteered or otherwise controlled, this makes more sense.
Secondly: Why is Ramb a plugboy? It's a strange design choice. I suppose it's relevant to his backstory of specifically not being a typical toy, but it's a bit of an oddity. Werewires/plugboys have the recurring theme of being controlled, which feels perfect for this kind of narrative.
It could just be nothing, but it feels fascinating to me that Ramb is specifically a species known for having a second, stronger transformation they can be turned into when controlled by something else.
Thematically, I think this also has a lot of potential as well. If we were to do battle with this were-Eramb form as a 1v1, then Eramb kind of functions as a parallel to Kris.
Kris and The Player vs Ramb and Eram.
The difference being, of course, that at this point so late in the story, Kris and The Player will likely be allies, whereas Ramb is the biggest Kris fan of all time and would do anything in his power to resist and help them. If you buy into the Eram analysis from earlier, this is a direct extension of what the Eram fight was already doing in my eyes.
In a sense, Eramb I think would be a 'dark' reflection of what we could do with Kris, forcing them to act against their will- the sort of thing we actually do do in the Weird Route.
Additionally, consider that Ramb would almost certainly be using Electric Attacks in this form.
And, well, wouldn't you know it, but there's an unused armor called the Sky Mantle that provides resistance to Elec/Holy attacks:
It's stats are kind of... abysmal, but 50% resist to Elec would probably be worth it in a fight like this, especially a 1v1 with Kris. Plus, who knows, if it does get used, it could easily be rebalanced. It feels fitting to me to use another elemental mantle against Eram when it was our defeat of Eram that provided us with the Shadow Mantle to begin with.
Overall, I think the idea of Eram using Ramb as a vessel for a rematch later on is fitting enough thematically and Could work...
PHASE 5.5: MANOR SIDE THOUGHT
I simply must continue my Holiday Manor Chapter 6 Agenda, and point out that Eram's "Secret Hiding Place" is specifically within the Ice Palace. It could make sense, then, that we cross paths with Eram once more in Chapter 6 if the Manor Dark World conspiracy pans out....
PHASE 6: THE TRUTHNUKE
I was already well aware of the Wer-Eramb agenda before, but I didn't consider it that likely. It was a fun idea, and while I hadn't heard the player specific arguments before, it felt like it was missing something.
But, you see, I have come to a horrifying realization. A realization that makes me unreasonably confident that it's happening. Maybe it's nothing, maybe I'm reading into things too much, but this final detail is the one that made me convinced I absolutely had to make this into a longer post.
The Freedom Motif.
It's in Jevil's, Spamton's, and Gerson's music. This makes sense. Further, for every battle with the Freedom Motif, the flavor text "The air crackles with freedom", or some variation, is part of the fight.
It is worth noting that The Knight lacks both the Freedom Motif and this flavor text, suggesting the two are indeed linked. It's not just cute phrasing- they're connected, or perhaps even somehow the same.
There is another instance of this sort of language being used, and it's with the Sound of Justice, the strange Gerson statue we do battle with in the Second Sanctuary.
This time, it's "The air crackles with sound". This makes sense, since the Sound of Justice is directly connected to Gerson, who is a secret boss, but the Sound of Justice itself is not a secret boss.
But...
Wouldn't you know it?
There is one other instance in this game of the game saying the air crackles with something.
And, of all places... it's when you use Susie's ACT against Werewerewire.
Look.
I was aware that this existed for a long time now.
But I always wrote it off as a coincidence. But when you consider it in the context of Eramb, it feels to me like a slam dunk. You can argue that this isn't actually flavor text, per se, but rather narration describing the effects of an ACT- but honestly, I don't care. This, to me, is the nail in the coffin, a detail hidden in plain sight.
And when you actually look into Werewerewire more... You start to see something else.
Werewerewire specifically is a Werewire that has absorbed the wire- fused with that which controls it- to become stronger.
It. Became. Stronger.
And, regular Werewire's check, too, how is that described?
It's sleepwalking through a nightmare. "Nightmare" is used in relation to certain assets relating to the mantle fight, and while this may just be a reference to the Links Awakening fight of comparable nature and name, "ERAM" itself is just "MARE" backwards. I think a connection between Nightmares and Eram is pretty solid.
CONCLUSION
Look. I'm sorry. I've seen the light. It's just happening. I can't un-see it. You can say that this isn't that strong of a connection, you can say it's a coincidence, but...
The way the Sword Route itself is clearly more important than we might think?
The way Ramb just completely disappears, with the circumstances being specific enough to where we can be reasonably certain he was taken?
The fact that Ramb is specifically a darkner type known for being controlled by other things?
The fact that the ultimate form of said Darkner literally references the air crackles with freedom, and has SWORD-Route/Weird-Route style language?
The fact that doing this would perfectly follow up what, in my eyes, the overall thematic purpose of the Eram fight is?
My final project for my art class and my take on the hypothetical final boss of deltarune. Probably my favorite thing I’ve ever drawn. The lighting of the fountain and how I drew the knight’s sword are my favorite parts
My drawings are usually inspired by music I listen to. In this case I was inspired by AT WORLD’S EDGE by coffee burger and Eye of Oblivion (A World Above Your Dream) by Claire Noelle (and honestly the rest of that album because it’s peak) Go listen to them!
