#stellarniksanalyses

[stellarnik]

Have been thinking a lot about Noelle-Player and Spamton-Benefactor parallels recently

Other versions of the art and analysis of the parallels under the cut

The benefactor and the player both manipulate Spamton and Noelle with the promise of helping them become free/become stronger. However, they only provide them with a very surface-level type of freedom and strength. Additionally, the benefactor and player both keep a queer couple apart, the benefactor by cutting off Spamton’s communication with Tenna, and the player preventing Noelle and Susie from forming any close relationship in the first place.

Not only that, but both the dynamics between Spamton and the benefactor and Noelle and Kris in the weird route mirror an abusive heteronormative relationship, and also involve a trans character being forced into a traditional gender role they do not want. With Noelle and Kris this is pretty obvious, with Kris, an androgynous non-binary person, being forced into a traditionally masculine role by controlling Noelle, while she does everything they say, like how traditionally women are expected to “submit” to their husbands.

With Spamton and the benefactor it may not seem as obvious at first, but Spamton is a trans man being forced by the benefactor into a more traditionally feminine role. (For anyone still not convinced that Spamton is trans, I highly recommend watching this video). Think about how women are traditionally expected to be financially dependent on their husbands. We know that Spamton was fully financially dependent on his benefactor, since the moment they abandoned him his sales dropped, and he was eventually evicted and became homeless.

This contrasts to his relationship with Tenna, where Tenna says that he gave Spamton life advice, and was probably teaching him skills that would help him become more independent. Similarly, in the normal route, Susie helps Noelle become stronger in the real way, learning to stand up for herself, unlike in the weird route where, while her magic is becoming stronger, she is still under the control of the player.

Furthermore, in the weird route, Spamton repeats the mistake of relying on a higher power to gain his freedom. He enables the player to abuse Noelle, similarly to how he was abused, hoping to escape his circumstances. It’s a cycle of abuse.

All of this links to how the weird route forces characters into limited roles that they do not want, while the normal route is about defying the roles pushed on you and challenging the idea that “you can’t choose who you are in this world.”

Finally, these parallels can lead to some theories on how the weird route may progress in future chapters. One idea I thought of is what if the player convinces Noelle that Susie doesn’t care about her at all, similarly to how the benefactor made Spamton believe that Tenna abandoned him, to separate them further?

[stellarnik]

SO… THE WINTER NEWSLETTER VIDEO

I have a lot of thoughts about it.

So we know that Mike (the REAL Mike) knew that Spamton signing Tenna’s contract would have consequences, and Tenna asked Spamton to sign that contract anyway despite Mike telling him that something bad would happen.

Now, I’ve seen some Tenna slander because of this scene, and some people are quick to jump to the conclusion that Tenna cared more about being big and not becoming obsolete than he did about Spamton. However, I disagree with this take, and I feel like a lot of people don’t take into account the greater context behind his actions.

First of all, Mike’s warning was kind of vague. We have to remember that Tenna didn’t know exactly what forces Spamton was dealing with, he didn’t know the true power that Spamton’s benefactor had, and he didn’t know exactly what would happen to Spamton if he signed that contract. Furthermore, he is a dark world boss that is literally able to bend reality to his will. Perhaps, he thought that whatever the consequences of signing the contract were, maybe he could protect Spamton from them, maybe he could help him. To put it simply, he assessed the risk behind making him sign it, and thought it was worth it if it meant he could be big with Spamton.

If Tenna knew exactly what would happen to Spamton, he would NOT have asked him to sign that contract.

Secondly, we have to remember that Tenna becoming obsolete means he would get thrown away, which would probably result in him LITERALLY DYING. He wanted Spamton’s secret to being big so he wouldn’t DIE. The fear of death can make someone do the wrong things if it means there’s a chance they could avoid their death.

Now, I am NOT trying to paint Tenna as an innocent victim here, his actions were still wrong, he still chose the phone instead of Spamton, but it’s important to understand the context behind WHY he acted the way he did.

We can clearly see here that Tenna feels immense guilt for asking Spamton to sign that contract, despite being aware that there would be consequences. But then, he immediately redirects the blame towards Spamton, Now, I do NOT think that Tenna truly blames Spamton for what happened. I think Tenna is fully aware that he is partially to blame for whatever happened to Spamton (and actually, since Tenna doesn’t know that the mysterious benefactor was behind all of this, he probably thinks it’s entirely his own fault).

Earlier in the video, when Mike/Battat calls Tenna out on the way he treats his employees, it is shown that Tenna has the tendency to avoid facing his guilt and the consequences of his actions. Whether it’s by completely denying it, or in the case of what happened with Spamton, trying to pin the blame onto somebody else.

He tries to tell himself that Spamton is the one to blame for what happened, because it's easier for him to put the blame on someone else, than to face the fact that something horrible happened to someone he loved, and that it was his fault.

So yes, Tenna is a VERY flawed individual. However, the idea that his own ambition and being big was more important to him than Spamton is just blatantly wrong. He makes it very clear here that he cared about Spamton, and he definitely still does (I mean he literally talks about him like every 5 seconds).

Notice how in this screenshot, the word ‘TOGETHER’ is capitalised, not the word ‘big’. Tenna is putting emphasis on him and Spamton being together. He loves Spamton, he cares about him, he wanted to be with him, and going back to what I said about Tenna being afraid of dying due to being thrown away, how are he and Spamton supposed to be together if Tenna is thrown away? (Also, this reminds me of a theory I have that Spamton wanted to sign the contract because he thought that if he tells Tenna his secret, he might be able to help him avoid his fate in the prophecy. After all, that mysterious benefactor helped Spamton escape his fate of being a failure and made him successful. The thought that they both were trying to prevent Tenna’s death, Spamton by trying to stop the prophecy, and Tenna by avoiding being thrown away, so that they could be together… UGH it makes me sick).

Honestly, this just reminds me of when we first heard their backstory from Tenna in the S-Rank game, and some people immediately villainised Spamton and treated Tenna as the victim, but now it’s the other way around. But we need to remember, Spamton and Tenna are both very nuanced characters, and we shouldn’t label one as the innocent victim and the other as the one fully to blame. They’re both flawed individuals who made mistakes, and I said this before but I will say it again: We have to remember the CONTEXT behind their actions.

Tenna and Spamton both love eachother so much. They both wanted to defy fate so that they could be together, but were split apart by forces outside of their control.

Now a little bit of theory stuff:

We know that Mike warned Tenna that there would be consequences for making Spamton sign the contract, but what if he also warned Spamton? This would explain why in the ‘damn you Tenna’ page of the Spamton Sweepstakes, Spamton says that everyone will pay, except Mike, because Mike tried to stop his downfall. But Spamton signed the contract anyway, because he cared about Tenna so much and wanted to be big with him, and perhaps thought he could find a way to stop the prophecy. This is also why I don't think Tenna forced Spamton to sign the contract, I think he genuinely wanted to do it, thinking he might be able to avoid the consequences, or that at least he would have Tenna by his side to help him deal with the consequences.

Secondly, do you think this scene is what Toby's friend was talking about when they said "What's the opposite of 'I miss Tenna?'" I think this could potentially be the case, especially since right after, Toby said they meant it as a joke.

Anyway, that's all for now.

[stellarnik]

I think I know who Spamton’s benefactor probably is, and I wanted to talk about my theory and also why I really don’t think it’s Gaster.

In the goner maker sequence at the beginning of the game, Gaster tells us to create a vessel, but is interrupted by a second voice. This second entity discards our vessel, and they’re the person who first introduces the notion that “No one can choose they are in this world.”

Gaster allowed us to make a vessel so we could choose who we want to be in the game, but the moment our vessel was created, the second voice intervened and cut-off Gaster’s communication with us.

Now, let’s look at Spamton and Tenna’s separation. Spamton and Tenna both had a similar goal, they wanted to escape the limitations placed on them as darkners. Spamton wanted to be more than a spam email that’s destined to fail without outside help. Tenna wanted to be more than just the TV, and wanted to truly be part of the Dreemurr family. But most importantly, they wanted to be together, even though as a spam email and a television, they “weren’t supposed” to be together.

However, they were punished for this by being forcefully separated, and Spamton was unable to contact Tenna, leaving him to believe that Tenna changed his number and abandoned him.

Spamton and Tenna tried to choose who they wanted to be, but the moment the contract was signed, the benefactor intervened and cut-off their communication. Sounds familiar?

Therefore, it makes sense for the second voice in the goner maker to be the benefactor, since they seem to believe in the idea that you can’t choose who you are in this world, and actively intervened to make sure the player stayed on the “correct path”, therefore it makes sense they would punish Spamton and Tenna for falling out of line too.

The theory that Gaster is the benefactor never quite sounded right to me because of this, since Gaster doesn’t seem to have this same belief. In fact, he actively encourages the player to make their own choices, and not just in the goner maker sequence. He never intervenes to change how the player completes the game, even if you do the Weird Route, he won’t intervene.

If you fight the Roaring Knight again with a chapter 3 completion save file and fail, Gaster will talk to you. Now, the player wasn’t supposed to beat the Knight. This is made clear in the game, especially with Seam saying it would be impossible for you to win (without the shadow mantle) and Gaster even says that your loss is guaranteed, but despite this, he still gives the player the choice to go back and try again.

Even if you don’t have the shadow mantle, making the fight close to impossible, he still gives you the choice to try again.

If you lose on the Knight’s last attack, he even encourages you, which is the closest he ever gets to intervening, but still, the choice to try again is completely up to you.

So the main difference between Gaster and the second voice is, well, Gaster is a scientist, and Deltarune is his experiment. He gives the player choices, and observes what choices they make and what effects those choices have, and the last thing a scientist would do in an experiment is intervene and skew the results.

The second voice, on the other hand, takes away the player’s choice, and actively intervenes to make sure the player and the characters stay on the set path.