I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the whole “kris is Miserable with you controlling them” thing bc it makes playing the game. A lot less enjoyable both routes imo bc even if you’re doing pacifist people go “oh but ur still bad for Playing the Game and Controlling Them” which I think is. A weird angle for a game to go? but youre ideas have certainly opened me up to it more theyre just so well thought out
oh i dont think kris is miserable on an ordinary pacifist route. we are controlling them, but the choices we are given depend on their thought processes. when you look at the ralsei dummy in chapter 2, there's no reason for us, the player, to be looking at it with intent to take a bite out of it. i was personally expecting the option to hug it again. the choice to eat it comes from kris. if we weren't there this is a decision kris would be making anyway. because they're a weird kid and they're perfect in every way
for someone under the control of a mysterious outside force, kris has a lot of autonomy already. aside from snowgrave, where we impose our will on them and take complete control and they probably dissociate to hell and back, our "control" is pretty limited. we tell them where to go, what to look at, who to talk to, etc., but everything comes from somewhere inside kris. and what i meant is, in chapter 2 they seem to have realized they have a lot more wriggle room than they initially thought. like when they close their eyes upon entering asriel's room and stop us from learning why asgore was removed from the police force. also, how some characters remark that they sound sarcastic etc on certain dialogue options.
i think kris is having a good time and is enjoying making friends and going on adventures. they genuinely love all their new friends (or, old friends they're getting a chance to reconnect with). it may be unsettling to be controlled and they probably are experiencing some anxiety about whether or not their friends like them or if they like them-controlled-by-you but i mean... the controlling force is letting them eat moss. and they get to go on fun fantasy adventures and save the world (? because i dont think sealing the fountains is a good thing but we're not going to worry about that right now). some stuff is very scary, but i dont think kris is miserable, per se.
when i said they'll gain back their autonomy, i meant they'll find more loopholes to exploit. and they'll realize our control of them isn't so absolute as it may seem on the surface. because like i said, we really don't have that much control over them ^^
