singularityandcats

[singularityandcats]

how chapter 4 revealed the true horror of deltarune and why it's more unsettling than undertale's genocide route

so back when chapter 2 came out and people had just discovered the weird route, i did not agree with the sentiment that the weird route was worse than geno route. as horrible as forcing noelle into "killing" others was, i didnt think it was somehow worse than watching the struggle of the entire monster race trying to face what was essentially an unkillable eldritch god (the player)

but how kris conducted themselves in chapter 4, ESPECIALLY the weird route has really changed my opinion. the darkest part of this story is not the "murders" or the manipulation or any of that. it's kris' loss of autonomy.

In undertale, it is well established that frisk and the player are two seperate beings, just like in deltarune. but what sets frisk and kris apart is that frisk doesn't seem to mind being controlled, and later down the line ends up taking actions of their own to further the player's wishes

whether its the pacifist route - refusing to die to asriel's attacks, or the genocide route - walking towards sans in the judgement hall and then slashing him for the second time to get the kill. all this without the player's input

frisk is their own person who shows their personality quirks here and there, but they are ultimately a blank slate who is willing to go along with whatever the player wants

kris is not that at all.

kris defies the player in many different ways, from small actions of defiance that twist the player's command into something literal or comedic, showing distaste towards our choices, to stopping themselves from speaking/acting by resorting to self-harm in various ways.

they want to be their own person, but they can't. and they are already scared, but they become downright terrified when the player decides to got down the weird route and involve their friend noelle.

they are fighting SO hard to not hurt her here anymore. they took their few moments of freedom away from the player to warn and comfort noelle, and now it's all falling apart right in front of them and there is nothing they can do about it.

they are shaking and cannot do anything as they watch noelle dig her own grave. they can only watch. they cannot move, cant shout cant scream. cant do anything but obey.

and the worst part is that this is no longer the darkworld. this is real life to them. kris can no longer give the comfort of the terrible things happening being just a dream, or just a prank.

the darkworld was a magical fantasy setting where you could technically claim nothing too terrible is happening. the darkners they're killing? theyre just inanimate objects in the real world. using snowgrave on berdly? he's not dead, just got a cold and recovered later in hospital just fine.

but here? this is reality.

noelle was already shaken enough by what she perceived to be a fake world. what on earth will the realisation that all of this was reality do to her? especially now that we as the player are gaining the ability to influence not just kris, but noelle too.

how far do you think she will go now that this has expanded beyond the dark world? just how far do you think a girl can be pushed by someone she considered a friend?

and by god, how much guilt and horror must kris feel. knowing they do not want this, but watching their words, their actions, their body being used to hurt those they care about. and there is nothing they can do but watch.

this is a story of a child being forced to hurt their friend, as they watch from behind the prison that is their own body. and the worst part is that noone seems to notice. noone knows.

noone is coming to save them.

[singularityandcats]

Tenner

[singularityandcats]

"Punishment works!!!" We're drowning in three to four generations of people so pants-shittingly terrified of ever being wrong that half of everyone has constructed a worldview wherein they never even consider the possibility that they could be wrong and the other half behaves like one wrong move will make anything or anyone explode violently into a million irreperable pieces. I don't think it works guys

[singularityandcats]

Having ADHD is so fun because sometimes youre looking for something that you use regularly and definitely put away in a smart and reasonable place and you have absolutely 0 hope of remembering where and finding it. And then other times ur like "hmm I need a some kind of small pointed object. I feel like i remember seeing a paperclip under the left couch cushion a month ago, i wonder if its still there" and it is

[singularityandcats]

Listen to your heart, no matter what it says.

Painting practice idk, couldnt decide if I wanted the Lamb. Patreon has speedpaint ~

[singularityandcats]

people are getting high as fuck on new stupid drug called "night drawing" its making them stay iup all the goddamn night drawing. and brother let me tell you. the drawings. not even good

[singularityandcats]

Echoes

Saint: "So you are also an Echo?" Watcher: "Indeed." Saint: "Why did you remain?" Watcher: "I had no desire to leave." Saint: "Neither did I. I knew my pilgrimage would never be complete, and there are still lost souls who need my help. What is your reason?" Watcher: "I have no reason. I just had no desire to leave." Saint: "So you just observe the sands of time slowly slip away? You have never once tried to make a difference?" Watcher: "I once helped a lonely Echo ascend." Saint: "An Echo ascending?... This is unprecedented... How did you do it?" Watcher: " I do not know how, all I did was be there." Saint: "Being there for someone does a lot more than you may realize." Watcher: "I knew I wanted to see their story end." Saint: "Bringing closure to others and to yourself I see..."

[singularityandcats]

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE WHEN NOBODY IS WATCHING?

idc if this is “unrealistic” and “could never happen” shut up i need them to make out sloppy style

[singularityandcats]

[singularityandcats]

⚠️ ((MASSIVE WATCHER SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING AND ALL OF THE POST-GAME))

Some assorted ramblings about Watcher lorestuff. These are mostly concerning the Second Ending; I might make another post later. shrugs. I don't want to posit these as the "Correct" readings or whatever, just the ones I'm currently fond of. Hopefully you get something out of this.

The Kingdom, a Distorted Reflection of The Void Sea

A Triple Affirmative?

The Prince's "Kingdom" exists as an alternative Solution, a distorted reflection of Ascension, as the title suggests. The language used to describe its glorious vision is strikingly reminiscent of language around the Great Problem:

"Imagine: a single substrate… Life!Throughout all time! Nothing lost. No one lost. A living memory of all life, forever! From bug to god, all as one. None above the other. A TRUE end to the pattern. That is my vision."

– The Prince (Rot Friend!)

I mean, I'm not sure how much more explicitly Prince can state it. Its Kingdom is THE solution, in its eyes. A catalog of all things, living forever, free from the struggles of the Cycle. And this Solution is farther-reaching than any we've ever seen; the (Prince's) Rot Engulfs everything. It does not discriminate between bug and god, between rock and carbon, between microbe and macro-organism. All are welcome in its Kingdom, and that Kingdom is ever-growing.

Of course, I am speaking from a theoretical standpoint here; I am not advocating for the Kingdom as a "true" Solution. I don't believe the Great Problem can ever be solved; it is against the nature of the world. But perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. Regardless, I believe the Kingdom to be untenable.

Certain regions in Watcher cannot be infected, which may suggest this Solution is not as all-encompassing as it seems. But Watcher plays with the fabric of space and time and the realms between the material and the Void, so this may be a moot point. Regardless, I'd rather focus on Philosophy than Practicality.

This "Solution" is Thoroughly Undesirable; we wish to leave the carnal plane of suffering and repetition, not bind ourselves to it forever!

Sure, nothing will be "lost", but who will be there to appreciate the memories of its little amalgamation? The Prince? And what of the ingredients it has ingested? Digested into soup of flesh, where all are one, and all are nothing.

This Solution, naturally, is presented as an alternative to Ascension, a side-stepping of the Great Problem. But I have a slightly different proposition:

The Kingdom is the Antithesis to the Ascension, just like the Rot is the Antithesis to Void Sea.

Ascension Versus Assimilation

The nature of Ascension is vague, but one possible interpretation I find of note is a melding of one's many disparate selves, no longer separated. A fullness of Self, and a fullness of perspective, freed to move on to world beyond the Carnal Plane. Even with more collective interpretations, I do believe each moving part is of equal significance. It is a mural of stained glass; an integration of many pieces arranged to form a greater whole.

Each piece fits together, but each piece is distinct. There is a harmony to this, and no one is above the other. A freedom from the struggles of the carnal plane and the oppression of the Cycle.

In the Kingdom, however, these many pieces eventually blend into an indistinguishable mass, equal by nature of their assimilation, rather than integration.

"Oh, you have brought sundries? You can leave them here if you wish, as a contribution. My processes will dissolve them to their base components and those components will be added to the mass. Nothing to waste, every bit counts!"

– The Prince, when brought an item

Its dialogue does not change based on item. This frustrated me, but in hindsight, I believe it serves to further my point. The details do not matter to the Prince; everything is broken down to its base components and assimilated into the Mass.

A World without Death, but also a Story without Continuation.

Opposing Forces

"As with all great deeds, my work is not without great challenge. It has taken eons and the light fades. The paths close and change. I can almost feel... a will... at odds with my own."

– The Prince

My buddy gandolph said something really insightful about the nature of the Rot we see in the Watcher. They've said it better than I can, so I'll just leave this here:

(this is all inference. just one reading of many)

I find this extremely compelling, and I'm big into the idea of the Rot and the Void Sea acting as opposing forces as well as foils.

"...If you leave a stone on the ground, and come back some time later, it's covered in dust. This happens everywhere, and over several lifetimes of creatures such as you, the ground slowly builds upwards.

So why doesn't the ground collide with the sky? Because far down, under the very very old layers of the earth, the rock is being dissolved or removed. The entity which does this is known as the Void Sea."

– Subterranean Teal Pearl

Rot is an unmitigated growth, often compared to cancerous cells. It is life without termination; a construction with no completion. It builds and builds, grows and grows, assimilates and assimilates...

The Void Sea counteracts this force by dissolving this unmitigated growth and allowing new life to spring forth. To allow for new birth, there must also be space for death. For change.

Where Rot remains, Void moves forward. The Kingdom would keep its inhabited trapped in this world for all eternity, whilst Ascension seeks to ferry them to the next.

Unfortunate Evolution:

Unfortunate Evolution is an interesting segment, and I feel it illustrates this dichotomy between Rot and Void quite deftly. Once you enter, you cannot warp out, giving this a Cinematic sort of feel. I do believe it is meant to parallel the entrance into the Void Sea at the end of the basegame, just... twisted.

The use of zero gravity signifies a relation to Iterator Internals, but I think the drastic shift in movement is a purposeful parallel to swimming in the Void Sea. This movement is harder to control than swimming, though. You can't move very far forward without pushing off a wall or throwing something or otherwise utilizing pre-existing momentum.

You "swim" upwards, in contrast to swimming downwards into the Void Sea

Unfortunate Evolution feels cold and desolate, still and quiet, like a corpse. In contrast, the Void Sea, as liquid, feels brimming with life and movement.

You're teased with a glimpse of the "Rot worm", though it's initially sectioned off from you, rather than a being sharing that same space.

As you venture into the open space, the background is dark and dilapidated. Contrast this with the increase in Light as you venture further into the Void Sea, especially with how many lights you see. Illumination versus Obfuscation.

The biggest difference is perhaps in the results of these meetings.

The Void Worm guides you towards enlightenment, facilitating your journey towards ascension. It interacts with you, bringing you with it, cutting your string, and then it allows you to complete your journey. You swim into the light, ascending, and the game ends.

The Rot Worm, meanwhile, tells you nothing, takes you nowhere, and hardly even seems to acknowledge you. You swim past it and end up at a portal that takes you back to Outer Rim. And then you continue on like nothing ever happened. It's... notably Anti-climactic, at least to me. But I believe that is the point. The Rot Worm (and UE by extension) is only an imitation of the familiar; a fleeting distraction in a much longer journey.

...Or, it was like that for me, at least. Maybe it's not intentional, but I think this reading is very neat. The Rot has no enlightenment or salvation or even ending to offer you. Just an indiscriminate consumption of all in its wake and the stagnation that follows.

The Conclusion:

Therefore, the Prince's "Enlightenment" is antithetical to its very being. There are many ways to interpret the ending, of course. Perhaps this was a counteraction from the Void Sea, restraining the Prince in its hubris and re-establishing the cycle of death and rebirth. Was this a conscious act, or simply a natural occurrence? I'm unsure. Alternatively, but not mutually exclusive to this reading, is the suggestion that the Prince was "paralyzed from its contradictory existence", as gandolph stated.

The contradiction of the Prince's Self and Ego versus the unification and equality of all life. The contradiction of its pursuit of enlightenment and cataloguing with its mindless desire for consumption and assimilation. The contradiction between their inherited imperative and its implicit nature.

At the Prince's Coronation, its Kingdom crumbles. Karma Flowers engulf its corruption, and so life is born anew. In a way, I suppose its blessed substrate has been achieved, just not in the way it expected. The rot will be consumed, just like the dust before it.

sorry for poor organization. here are some more thoughts:

A Prince Versus a King

Okay luna this is really cool, but like, isn't the Prince just a datamined name anyways? does it being a 'Prince' instead of a 'King' even matter?

great question guy I made up in my head just now. Everything matters, of course, but here are my thoughts on it being a 'Prince' specifically:

The Prince is likely meant to serve as a foil to Spinning Top (Echo Friend), as the Prince is a nascent consciousness, and ST is a child. Naming it 'Prince' strengthens this connection.

The Prince is not a child, however. Children learn and grow. Children eventually become adults, and they move on. We see this with Spinning Top. As we accompany on them on their journey throughout space-time, we prompt the self-reflection necessary to process their memories and accept the next chapter in their life. (There's a whole post I could write about ST and their insight into Echoes, but that's for another time.) By its very nature, the Prince can never move on. It does not have Self reflection, because Self is all it can ever truly know. All it learns is assimilated into the mass. Like I said, its attempts at enlightenment are contradicted by its nature as Rot. Hence, they serve as foils.

The term 'Prince' may suggest an attempt at humility, which is deeply ironic, but understandable. Prince proselytizes about its world of equality, but inherently this cannot be, because it has placed itself at the top of everything, implicitly, by assuming its way is best for everyone. A Kingdom needs its ruler, and Prince has graciously accepted such a role.

I think my favorite reading, however, is that the Prince is simply yet to succeed its Throne. That there is some point it hasn't reached, something still left to achieve. Perhaps once its Kingdom's construction has completed?

The Ending, then, serves as its "Coronation." A crown of Karma flowers for the freshly-appointed King. An Elegy to Ignorance.

[singularityandcats]

i genuinely think ocd is incredibly underdiagnosed bc i will see people posting what are obvious rituals, compulsions, intrusive thoughts, spiralling, hyper morality, etc and its like Have You Considered This Might Be An Issue

[singularityandcats]

That’s it, that’s all I got. Happy Valentine’s Day, tumblr, thank you for tolerating me.

[singularityandcats]

Baa-Lamb-Tines Day Cards

Guarenteed 100% rate to swoon your valentine😌🫶

(I was laughing so hard doing these LOL)

[singularityandcats]

it's getting much harder for him to deny it.

(small scene I'm writing for Trod)

[singularityandcats]

some fucking resources for all ur writing fuckin needs

* body language masterlist

* a translator that doesn’t eat ass like google translate does

* a reverse dictionary for when ur brain freezes

* 550 words to say instead of fuckin said

* 638 character traits for when ur brain freezes again

* some more body language help

(hope this helps some ppl)

[singularityandcats]

Real big fan of prey animal symbolism, love characters that are constantly running but they don't know what they're running from, characters that run because that's all they know what to do. Characters that refuse to accept their place in the foodchain, biting and clawing their way up in desperate rage. Characters who are constantly afraid, anxiety lives in their veins, who live in a world where to lay down would mean to perish. Characters who only know how to show affection by exposing their necks and stomachs, by giving themselves to the one's they love, a lamb preparing itself for slaughter. Characters that when finding themselves trapped, will scream and bite and kick like an animal that's cornered and destined to be eaten, leaving all thoughts behind but their own survival.

I love you rabbit stuck in a snare, i love you deer in the headlights, i love you buffalo that tramples it's own kind as it runs away from a predator, i love you pig who's own tusk grows into it's skull, i love you wounded and cornered animals

[singularityandcats]

A skeb I received from mobufundoshi on Twitter! I think Natalia came out adorable here. 🖤