I've been thinking about the villains of deltarune a bit. Mainly, I saw someone making comments about Flowery and how "he's actually right" that I disagreed with and wanted to pin down why, and that led me to thinking about the nature of dark worlds and fountains and stuff.
The way I see it, fountains and the protection and making of them, represent a denial of reality in some way, and this is reflected in every main villain who defends the fountains. That's what ties them all together thematically: refusing to acknowledge some kind of harsh truth.
The King refuses to accept that it's natural to eventually part with lightners, and that he was never betrayed because their attention was never something he was owed. Queen stubbornly believed that she could somehow magically fix everyone's problems by herself and make a utopia where everyone would all be happy. Tenna refused to acknowledge that the "glory days" with all the people sitting around the tv laughing and having fun together were over and never coming back. The Flowers refused to accept that they could never replace the family that Asgore had lost, could never replace his real life connections to people. And while there was no obvious dark world ruler in Ch 4, I actually think that chapter represented Ralsei having her own "rude awakening." Her own waking up from her fantasy.
Up through the past 3 chapters, Ralsei was very insistent on sparing everyone, and getting to chapter 4 her dialogue implies it's because she had hoped that maybe, if she was just kind enough, everything could be solved without... something.
My guess? The fantasy was that everything could be solved without any killing. any sacrifices being made. without darkners needing to lose their lives in the process of the fountain sealing. But obviously we see better than that. When fighting The Knight and The Titans, there is no mercy. The Titans literally can't even comprehend what mercy is. The harsh truth that I think Ralsei had to face in that chapter was that the roaring cannot be stopped by friendship and kindness. It just can't. And Flowery losing to the Knight and failing to stop the fun gang only goes on to prove this extra hard.
And every time, the decision to allow the fun gang to close the fountain is paired with an acceptance of those harsh truths, or through being forced to accept it in King's case. Queen accepts that there's no way she can make Noelle happy and fix all her problems. Tenna accepts that his time in the limelight is over. Ralsei accepts, or at least gets close to accepting, that kindness is not strong enough to save the world in the end, and is only kept in that belief by Susie. The flowers accept that they can't replace Asgore's real connections, and that perpetuating their own fantasy will only make everything worse for everyone in the end.
And Flowery... he has to accept largely the same thing that Ralsei did. That friendship can't save you, in the end. In fact, I think this is WHY Ralsei hates Flowery so much. Because she sees in him her own naivety, that deep down she knows is wrong. She sees another person making the mistake of thinking dreams can defeat other dreams, that friendship and mercy can save everyone and stop the roaring. And she sees in real time as the results prove exactly as she fears.
And all of this begs the question: what reality does the closet fountain deny? Who's fantasy is it sustained by?
Well, I think originally, it was Ralsei's fantasy. That everyone could all just get along and be friends and it would fix everything. That's why all the darkners can stay there. Anything else would break the fantasy. But now, I think it's moreso Susie's fantasy instead. Her denial of the fact that her adventures with the others cannot last forever. Her belief all of her darkner friends will get a happy ever after with her and Kris and Noelle.
As long as she continues to deny the reality that her adventures with Kris and the others are finite, I think the roaring will always be at risk of happening. The only way to truly definitively prevent it is to say goodbye to the fantasy. It's fitting that the Titans, the manifestation of the roaring, are only defeated by sealing the fountain. Literally ending the dream and waking up to the real world.
That's what the roaring, the titans, and maybe even the Knight are. The dark world is all dreams, and they are the nightmare, the deepest, darkest dreams of all. That's why Flowery's power of friendship fails to stop the Knight at the end of Ch 5. Dreams cannot end dreams, even nightmares. The only way to end a nightmare is, well, to wake up.
So, ultimately, my takeaway is: I think the end of Deltarune will be all of the Darkners being sealed away forever. Never to return. That's the vibe the game is giving me. As long as they continue to let themselves fall into fantasy, their eventual doom is all but guaranteed, ever to be staved off, never to be over. To destroy the roaring, you must be willing to destroy the dark itself.
And that would explain the "only one ending" thing too. If all the darkners have to vanish, in the end, then… well, it wouldn't matter what happens to any of them along the way, would it? Recruiting them might temporarily spare them, but in the end they would have to face the same fate regardless. And Susie and Kris and even Noelle would be left feeling just as empty without them.
And this is I think why Susie can't end the roaring. Even Kris can't. Only we, as the Soul can. None of these characters, on their own, are willing to face the realities around them. For all their strength, the allure of ignoring the real world in favor of fantasy is just too strong for them.
Anyways sorry for the long post. Deltarune is a pretty cool game and I'd like to see how it ends.
