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chapter 7 prediction

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If Dess is the Knight but she's also in the code, then who is driving this truck??

I'm a big fan of the theory that Dess is the voice lost in the game code but then how could she be the Knight??? The person in the code feels alone to the point of uncanny scratching being a confort to them, and we know for a fact the Knight is able to contact other characters (potentially Kris and Carol, but definitively several darkeners).

I haven't really found a concrete explanation for this, but I wonder if it's a similar matter to Flowey in Undertale, with Flowey being a monster without a soul. Dess' soul then could be trapped in the code, while the body of the Knight has her memories and stuff. Then, Dess would be the Knight as much as Asriel was Flowey, technically two sides of the same coin but vastly different characters.

Now, on the topic of Asriel and Flowey... It feels a little unhinged to believe that Asriel is, currently, merged with a flower in this universe too, but I do believe that there's more to him than just being in college. My main argument is that chapter 3 seems to really bring back our attention to Flowey, having the half golden flower be one of the pictures that the game explicitly asks you to take. Not only that, in the weird route minigames one of the enemies is a golden flower. Since these seems to represent characters from the Light world, it's really interesting to me that Flowey would be one of them, and not Asriel himself.

I have a strong belief that the story will reach a major turning point in chapter 5, considering both the theme of freedom from chapter 4 and potentially getting the fifth shadow crystal this chapter, too. This, plus the fact that the Dark world in 5 will most certainly revolve around Asgore and his shop, leads me to believe that Flowey and, to that effect, Asriel, will be brought into the spotlight for the first time in Deltarune.

Bringing back ALL this to Dess, it's pretty safe to assume that she and Asriel were close. This might be highlighted by the Knight having an attack so similar to Asriel's. Because of this, I think that gaining info into one of them will shine a light into the state of the other. AKA, learning about Asriel in chapter 5 could give us more info on Dess, if we manage to unpack it properly.

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more college chara and frisk because i had so much fun with the first one lol

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I finished coloring my Mettatenna comic!!!

Plan to draw more of these two hehe

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HATE the insinuation that Kris would be evil if they weren't controlled by the player. You can argue that the default save for any chapter being pacifist is just for prophecy convenience sake, but there's truly no reason in canon to say they're a bad person.

They're ABSOLUTELY a little shit with little regard for rules or authority, but that's it. Even if Noelle could be a bit of a pushover during chapter one, when she talks about Kris being mean to her, you can tell she never took it heart. She offers to group with Kris and get chalk with them, she DOES NOT dislike them. ALSO Kris clearly values their loved ones a lot, which is evident in their reactions to the weird route in chapter four particularly. I can see this extending to their relationship with their parents and Asriel, too.

I may not know yet their deal with Carol/The Knight but I know it's not actual evil.

I love my chaotic good baby and I wish they didn't hate me </3

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Do our choices still not matter?

Or: potentially reheated take on the theme of the entire game, but i spent around an hour just thinking in silence about it and need to scream to the void

So I've only REALLY gotten into Deltarune now after chapters 3 and 4 dropped, and they've completely blindsided me in how much I love them, to the point of rivaling my love for undertale (I believe once the game is complete it will absolutely surpass it, but that is neither here nor there).

One of the reasons why I prefer these chapters over the first is how much more impact everything seems to have. Chapter one specially felt very... empty, and my favorite part of chapter two was the weird route. That very much fits in with the theme set at the beginning that our choices don't matter but then, what changed in the last chapters?

Part 1: A SOUL

I spent a while thinking it over, and it really felt to me that, for each chapter, that concept became less and less true.

Chapter 1: there's essentially one route possible, all enemies will be recruited regardless and the story is as linear as can be. The only choice with actual consequences is the item you get from beating Jevil (a character very much against the stict rules of the world? Very, very interesting)

Chapter 2: we now have two possible routes, with consequences in future chapters. We can also chose to fight or spare the enemies, and it will be reflected in castle town. We get the same deal (pun intented) with Spamton as we did with Jevil: fight or mercy have different consequences, both have a better understanding of the game world than other characters.

Chapter 3: while not SUPER consequential, we now have minigames??? We can totally just waste time in the green room replaying mini games and even if there's no reward is quite a big freedom over the more linear story of previous chpaters. It's also much easier to stumble into the weird route on accident, as many players will get access to the secret rooms just because they wished to do good on the boards.

Chapter 4: we get to fully roam around??? Without Kris?????? Admittedly we are still playing by their rules, they keep the leash very tight in terms of what we can do outside of their body but still!!! There's a lot of secrets you can miss in vent section by choosing where to investigate or not. Also, I'd be remissed to not mention Gerson, Susie and the overarching theme of the chapter of forging your own path.

It seams that the very structure of the game is really supporting the idea that the grand finale of the story will involve fighting the prophecy in some way. That our choices do matter, and that the ending of our heroes will be a reflection of those choices, for better or worse.

Small aside, I also find interesting that the one who says our choices don't matter and discards our vessel is (allegedly) not Gaster, but (allegedly) Chara. Considering how invested supposed Gaster is in our journey, and him often giving us the option to either retry or give up, I believe there is sort of a power struggle between these two characters too, with each having their own agenda.

Part 2: A CAGE

Thinking it over, the very concept of a videogame just gives us, the player, so many choices. What was that even about, then? I began to question whether that message was meant for us at all, or it was meant for Kris all along.

They are the ones who woke one day with an entity they are painfully aware of controlling their every move, action and words. It's them whose choices truly don't matter, because the one calling the shots is us.

I thought it was a little tragic, then, that the more freedom WE gained the more restricted Kris became. And then I kept thinking (awful habit). I realized Kris, too, was breaking out of this cage.

Chapter 1: like with the player, they don't get much say here. Their only defiance is right at the end, when they pull out the soul and do whatever they do when our screen fades to black.

Chapter 2: now, they don't really fight us this chapter until the end again. Even on the weird route, the follow with our commands. However, there is a small moment. Upon defeating spamton neo in the normal route, Kris seems to be visibly shaken, to the point where both Susie and Ralsei take notice. Once asked if they're okay, given Ralseis response, it seems Kris' reaction is much more dramatic than the simple yes/no options we got to choose from. I believe this is Kris being able to express MORE than what we allow them to.

Chapter 3: continuing from the previous chapter, if the player chooses to invite Berdley to the festival, Kris is very much against the idea, to the point of repeating his name over and over. Funny scene, but also stablishes that Kris got to repeat this word, to speak, without out input. But my main point is on the final S-rank game. Kris not only reacts to killing Susie and Ralsei, they also attempt to control the game character themselves and moves Susie out of harm's way when we even get close to her. While yes, for this section we control videogame Kris, the soul is still inside them. They've managed to move on their own accord without having to rip us out.

Chapter 4: I feel this whole evolution is the most visible here, since we get to see Kris doing stuff (stuff they've hidden from us) very clearly. Not only that, but after continuing on with the weird route they have a MASSIVE reaction. They hurt the soul, even when that hurts them. They also get to play the piano without our input. When we control they are... not good, but the second we pass the baton to them they can play beautifully. We have been told how they've always been good at the piano and they now get to show it in spite of us.

Overall the biggest tell for me is their reaction to the weird route, from carefully hiding their defiance to complete and open disgust at our actions. We chose to play Deltarune, but Kris didn't get to choose to be our vessel. Whether because of our increasing freedom, the power of friendship or their own determination, Kris is fighting with all their might to be free from our influence.

Closing thoughts

So what does this all mean? Honestly, I don't know. These could just be clever framing to support the main theme of the story or it could be foreshadowing for a final battle between control and freedom.

I don't even know if this all wasn't discussed in detail in the first 24hours of the game dropping, I fear I wasn't quite in the fandom trenches then (or now, for that matter). I just hope this whole thing made the slightest bit of sense, but it has either way been nice to put all my thoughts on paper. I am 100% open to discussion or any corrections to the facts.

TLDR; both the soul and Kris are independently fighting the notion of "your choices don't matter", with effects growing per chapter. Even if not a great clue in discovering the secrets of the game, I feel there's value in analyzing this developments, if nothing to appreciate the thought that has been put to every bit of the game.