toby fox is such a good storyteller when it comes to suspense and relief. it’s like he was made for this one specific purpose he’s that good
i was thinking about sans and the theory that he comes from deltarune, and how toby managed to keep the suspense of not knowing that for years. he planned it all the way back in undertale, giving us clues we had nothing to do with at the time, the idea that sans came from somewhere else rather than the undertale world was in our minds, but we had nothing to associate it with.
then chapter 1 of deltarune dropped and just seeing sans exist in this world, suddenly things started feeling plausible. the simple act of him being there made the clues fall into place, but everything was still fuzzy enough that we weren’t really sure.
then come chapter 2 and we see the way he interacts with toriel, and the theory becomes so much sadder. if he really did come from deltarune, then he lost everything he knew (except maybe his brother, but we don’t even know that). in undertale, after learning toriels name at the end of the pacifist route, he immediately starts calling her “tori” as a nickname. it seems a little odd to have a nickname already for someone you just learned the name of, but it makes sense if he came from a world where he knew her without the door as a barrier.
then, chapter 4.
chapter 4.
spoilers from here on out because there is a moment in chapter 4 that any theorist needs to experience blind.
we get some more sans shenanigans during the first light world segment, and maybe even a bit of evidence he can teleport? (then again maybe he’s just walking between rooms like rouxls) but nothing really special.
the real first kicker is being able to look inside his house later on, when it begins to rain. everything inside seems just as it is in undertale, almost exactly it seems, though it is “a bit messy”. how papyrus would allow this is strange and very intriguing, but that’s for another post.
however, the moment i really wanted to talk about is at the end of chapter 4. after the adventure is over and you’re overloaded with feelings. you walk out of the church, mind full of theories and ideas about what’s going to happen next, and susie says that “it smells nice, after the rain”
then the first chord plays
the first chord of a melody you know, that you know
you’re transported back, in time, in place, your vision becomes distant. no way toby did this. you immediately understand the implication, immediately understand what has just been all but confirmed. for so long you’ve theorized about what the “somewhere else” in “it’s raining somewhere else” means. it might’ve been deltarune, but it might’ve been something else entirely.
the substance of the “sans came from deltarune world” theory hinged on just one extra clue. one single connection between the two worlds and the two sanses. that’s what created the tension and suspense behind the theory.
one single chord, and it was like a rubber band snapped. the release of 10 year old tension was unlike anything i’ve ever felt playing a video game.
toby fox u are a god, a genius & i cannot wait for chapter 5.
there are still theories to be resolved, and i know toby will release all of that 10 year old tension by the end of this game.