The UTDR fandom has significantly evolved, since you can now see surprisingly nuanced and understanding takes on how Kris is working with the Knight or keeping things secret from Susie. Did you know that Kris looks away when killing Susie and Ralsei in the mantle game, but not when killing Tenna? Fucked up! My good friend Chara Dreemurr used to get CRUCIFIED for shit they didn't even do.
Being a Latin American fan of Undertale & Deltarune is so fun. No translations. No affordable merchandise. No events. And if you complain about any of it, you're being entitled, unrealistic, disrespectful, etc.
When I played Deltarune Chapter 2 on release day, Spamton scared and freaked me out SO MUCH that I skipped all of his dialogue (and obviously didn't get to know the NEO fight even existed).
Watching this stream... well, I am glad that he still evokes the exact same emotion I felt that day.
I've been thinking about the next Deltarune chapters recently, and I would like to share a speculation of mine, which is that we will acquire the Thorn Ring in Chapter 5 to use Snowgrave and/or create the Twisted Sword in a normal route (not an aborted Weird Route, currently the only way to keep the Thorn Ring).
I prefer to call this a "speculation" rather than a "theory", as I don't think I have HARD evidence for this (in fact, I'll point out possible issues with it at the end). It's just a possibility based on a few interesting bits of the game. If you've seen anything similar to this speculation elsewhere, please share! I'd love to know what people think.
Twisted Sword
The Twisted Sword is a currently unobtainable weapon. It is mentioned in the Top Bakery as a fusion between the Thorn Ring and the Pure Crystal.
As of Chapter 4, the Thorn Ring can only be kept in your inventory if you aborted the Weird Route after acquiring it. It would seem like the Twisted Sword would, therefore, be exclusive to that scenario. I will speculate on why that could not be the case later, but let's address the Pure Crystal first.
The Pure Crystal is an also currently unobtainable item, but it is likely the product of all shadow crystals combined. Its description reads "The shadow purified by the cat", referencing Seam. After giving Seam the Knight's shadow crystal, they will say this:
Now you've got three. Only two more, and we should have enough…
… to make something I think you'll quite enjoy. Now good luck… and I'll be taking that Shadow Crystal.
Seam states that they need five shadow crystals. As we've been getting one crystal per chapter so far, I think it's fair to assume that Chapter 5 will contain the last Shadow Crystal necessary to create the Pure Crystal.
So, this is probably how we will acquire one part of the Twisted Sword. What about the Thorn Ring?
Chapter 5: Flower King
I think most people in the Deltarune community, myself included, already believe that Chapter 5 will take place in Flower King, Asgore's flower shop. But I'd like to reaffirm that belief by looking at the evidence so far:
Gerson's battle dialogue regarding Lord of the Hammer parallels Deltarune itself. Chapter 5 is titled "The Field of Pink and Gold", which are the colors of Asgore and Flower King itself.
The chapter is described as "the vast garden is charred in an inferno of jealousy." The word garden here perfectly fits Flower King as well. The jealousy aspect has been theorized to refer to Asgore potentially being jealous over Sans and Toriel getting closer.
A secret room in Chapter 4 includes a prophecy with Asgore. This prophecy is named "boss3" in the files. The only other panels named like that are those referring to Queen and Tenna, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3's bosses respectively.
The Fall 2025 issue of the Undertale/Deltarune Newsletter, which. Come on.
(It's like he's mocking me...)
Anyways, if Chapter 5 takes place in a field of pink and gold inside of Asgore's shop, we'll definitely see many, many plants/flowers. And lots of plants, such as roses (which Asgore is known to gift to people), possess thorns! The Thorn Ring in the Light World is simply a normal thorn.
I believe that Chapter 5 COULD present us with an opportunity to get a Thorn Ring, no Weird Route required at all. This, in conjunction with the Pure Crystal, would allow us to create the Twisted Sword.
Furthermore, Gerson's battle dialogue also states that Chapter 6 was the last one. It would make sense for Chapter 5 to be our last opportunity to get these sorts of resources and powerful weapons, before a major shift.
Snowgrave alluded in the Normal Route?
While my main point is done, I'd like to bring attention to two parts of Chapter 4: an organikk's dialogue on the way to the Egg Room and an unused prophecy panel.
Both of these texts seem to reference Noelle. She is the one who is able to cast snowgrave, and we call for her help in the fight against Weird Route Spamton NEO.
It's interesting that an apparently Weird Route exclusive spell is referenced in the normal route, and I do believe that the prophecy refers to the normal route. The Original Game refers to it as "the forbidden path", and in the Weird Route, Ralsei wonders if an ending other than what the prophecy predicts wouldn't be even worse.
If we do get the Thorn Ring in Chapter 5, would we be able to use Snowgrave? The fusion with the Pure Crystal would only happen after the chapter is done, of course, so would we be able to use it during it if Noelle participates? Hell, what happens in the Weird Route or aborted Weird Route, where we would have two rings? Tough to say, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
(Sidenote: While researching this, I found out that if you abort the Weird Route after buying the Thorn Ring, and then defeat Spamton through violence, he will say that you should have at least bought TWO rings. Thought it was interesting.)
Potential Issues
While writing this, I recognized a few issues that could be brought up. I don't really have an answer for them, so take it as another point for discussion.
While I do believe Chapter 5 will take place in Flower King, I have to admit that I don't know that for SURE.
The Thorn Ring is so connected to the Weird Route that it almost feels weird that it could be acquired in a Normal Route, especially one where you recruited everyone. Though, aborting the Weird Route in Chapter 2 returns everything to complete normalcy, just with less recruits.
Again, while I believe that the prophecy is referring to the Normal Route (until we break it in a GOOD WAY, I hope), it could not be! The Mantle quest that parallels the Weird Route is in the so-called original game, not to mention theories that state both routes are following the prophecy in some way.
Small one, but the Snowgrave panel is unused. For all intents and purposes, it's not in the game.
TL;DR
I think that Chapter 5 will take place in Flower King, and this Dark World will grant us a Thorn Ring and the last Shadow Crystal to create the Pure Crystal. With these, we'll be able to create the Twisted Sword. The Snowgrave spell is slightly hinted at in the Normal Route, and might be able to be cast in a non-Weird Route setting.
