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emnine · 2 months ago

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But alas it was not programmed

or an honest to god can't believe i am doing this, is this real life holy shit i am so excited ralsus analysis of chapters 3 and 4

Contains spoilers for both chapters, both main route and secret boss so unless you want everything thoroughly spoiled don't read. Also contains details of chapter 2.

The script dictates the play

Chapter 4 was VERY VERY INTERESTING. I will return to 3 when it comes to minor details on the development of the ralsei/susie relationship, but 4 was what cemented my view on this.

extremely shortly before the new chapters released I did snowgrave for the first time and discovered I am a weenie who can't cope with doing any bad route in toby fox games (i do want to see what happens if you make the fusion item of the thorn ring, so I will let noelle slap me and take it like a champ. im sorry kris). But it also brought forth details I had previously not considered, specifically when Susie goes into Noelle's room.

In chapter 2, if you return to the banner with the ferris wheel once ral and susie are in your party, Ral comments on how Susie must be thinking about her ride with Noelle, and he says this even if you refused to watch the scene take place (which I know because I did exactly that). Susie is not thinking about her ride with Noelle. She's thinking about the etymology of the word Ferris. Ralsei knew this event was going to happen even if he can't send the player to witness it.

When I did Snowgrave, Susie exits the same door she entered. This means there probably was no Ferris Wheel, since it does transport the two of them from a Point A to a Point B in the normal route. Ralsei seems very agitated about this and this is one of the hints we get that was thoroughly reinforced in the new chapters that he knows what events are supposed to take place and he can notice the actions of the player have made the prophecy go off course. He specifically asks Susie what she did with Noelle. My personal take is that since the weird route is you faux-emboldening Noelle by using Kris as a conduit to brainwash her into "taking what she wants" even through aggressive means, that thinking it was all a dream she took what she wanted and kissed Susie. Her refusal to tell Ralsei and then telling Kris she'll let them know later indicates to me that she's probably trying to protect his innocence and/or his feelings. I think Susie felt very cool in that moment and liked that kiss, because it's a boost to her poor self confidence to feel wanted by a pretty girl like Noelle.

Notably in chapter 4 we learn that the prophecy can get incredibly specific with the events that happen within it, down to details like Lancer calling Ralsei "toothpaste boy". Given Ralsei instinctually knows so much about how events are supposed to play out, he absolutely knows about how the relationships between the heroes will develop... which I am convinced is the reason he says "Susie must be thinking about her ride with Noelle".

And then you enter the second temple and find out

LOVE FINDS ITS WAY TO THE GIRL.

Suselle is a foretold event of the prophecy. It's scripted. He is worried about what Susie and Noelle were doing because there was a possibility one of the events that are supposed to happen isn't happening, and susie being vague about it leaves that question unanswered. Love finds its way to the girl, so after the Ferris Wheel he checks that off the To Do List of prophecy events.

Even the way that is phrased, Love finds its Way to the Girl, sets the girl as a passive receiver. I already saw someone say it as Ssuie finding love, but that's not what the prophecy says! The prophecy phrases it as "Love finds its way to the girl"!

That is the reason all of the scenes with Susie and Noelle are so saccharine and inoffensive, they have no conflict or development other than a cutesy but bland hangout. That is why you can simply speed your way past them both times they happen, once by outright skipping the scene, which has no consequences, and one by just touching the breaker and the guitar quickly (you only get all the dialogue if you stay still and wait for a long long fucking time). It is events playing out like they're supposed to play out. It is the trains following the track. I have seen people phrase the ferris wheel and this hangout as evidence that "susie and noelle are obviously intended to be shipped", and it's like, yes, exactly. That is what the prophecy says. That is what the game wants you to think.

But there is a problem

Dragon-shaped wrench

Susie does not do prophecies.

The guts stat is accepted fandomwise to be an indicator of how much the party member is up to defy the player. Susie has always had the highest Guts stat. You have never been able to tell Susie what to do. Susie doesn't do the prophecy the way it is expected.

She recognises the girl with her heart crossed with hope as herself, and she doesnt recognise the statue noelle had in her room as herself. But that Susie is using a sword, and our Susie uses axes because it's cooler. When Ralsei and her argue and make it out of the argument and he promises to be more honest, he states outright that the bows and ribbons are meant to be worn by her, which fits with the fact that she was put into bows as a kid. But Susie is gnc, she doesn't want to do bows, and so she doesn't. She is a hero, and embodies the core features of one, caring and bravery and perseverance, but she's also messy, aggressive, and loud. She is still the Hero of the Girl with her heart crossed with Hope, but she does that her own way.

She does follow the core beats of the prophecy, but at every step there is a twist to it, a subversion, because her will is just that strong.

Even if you explicitly tell Susie to flirt with Noelle in the Ferris Wheel (say something romantic), she doesn't.

Even if you tell Susie that Kris will take Ralsei to the Festival so she can invite Noelle, Ralsei is her first choice. She starts considering Noelle after it is abundantly clear that he cannot be there. She even brings this up in the susie noelle hangout in chapter 4, mentioning explicitly that there's this boy from another school she invited and he couldn't go.

Even then, she only takes Noelle as an affront to Carol, that is the last straw, what convinces her to invite her.

So love finds its way to the girl. But does the girl want it?

Boom Boom get out the way

The ghost of Gerson Boom is the secret boss fight of Chapter 4, a fight you do with Susie and ONLY susie. Considering Gerson is the first character we see shatter the prophecy holograms, which is very clear symbolism for taking things in your own hands, I'm convinced the reason he tests her and the weapon being for her is because Gerson can see that she's the one who has the strongest Guts. That she is the one that can show the gumption to do what he wants the youth to do: Take up the pen and write their own stories. Take fate into their own hands.

The dialogue in the Gerson fight is quite bluntly parallel to the major beats of the chapters, with specific turns of phrase and subversions. Obviously, the heroes don't "stop the dragon" by slaying it; they "stop the dragon" by befriending her and showing her the value of connections with others. Considering that, the fifth chapter onwards is really interesting.

Field of Pink and Gold... Pink and yellow are the colors susie's and Noelle's names and attack numbers show in the Dark World. The garden is burnt by the flames of jealousy. There is so much going on here. You have Kris there, seeing their childhood friend be gooey with their new friend. You have Noelle seeing Kris and Susie bond fast. You have Susie, insecure about the history Kris and Noelle have... You have Susie mentioning "the boy from another school". Often, perhaps. We can't know yet, of course. None of this may be true lol. But it gives me a gut feeling. And after the fifth chapter... Nothing! An open end! And Gerson asks Susie... What does she want? You have the controller, choose what to do

Going back to Susie and Ralsei.

All the way in Chapter 1-2 we have Ralsei being shocked and interested in Susie's impressive will. In the latter though there is an interesting thing he says, admiring her "selfish" tendencies, her just doing what she wants. And now we are seeing--- repeatedly--- that that's not just a seed planted in his head from observing her, but that Susie wants him to exert his will, to be "selfish". She gives him cake, and tells him to eat it all, that he deserves, at the very least, a slice. That he deserves a nice room, like the ones he has given them. Interacting with her across chapter 4 you do see her considering furniture to put in his room.

In chapter 3, if you ask her how she's doing rather than Ralsei, she's still anxious about the dark world not being real, but then she says: I wish Ralsei understood that doesn't matter that much to me. If you ask Ralsei how he's doing, he compels you to buy her some ice cream in his name, because he worries about being insufficient for her, though she desperately wants to have him around to the point she is willing to shatter the Last Prophecy to make it happen.

Contrary to the susie noelle hangout and the ferris wheel, you cannot skip these things, other than the "normal" skip of making text go by really fast. You get to see them argue, you get to see them fight for each other, you get to see Susie telling Ralsei that he can be player one; you see her promise to him that she won't let the Last Prophecy happen, filling him with wanting to live, with wanting to hope!!!, you get to see her invite him to the festival, initiating herself, regardless of what answer you gave her in ch2. Optionally, you can see them playing videogames together, you can see her giving him the cake, though she's very food motivated, you can see her deciding that he needs proper furniture, calling bullshit on his self deprecation, and all the way in chapter 2 you can see her cornered because she finds his face cute...

But Ralsei is not yet selfish.

I think he feels quite tortured. She is so nice "it makes his heart hurt". And I think on some level, this is because he knows that it's not what says in the script. That Susie should be with Noelle, because Love Finds Its Way To The Girl. But now he has all these new ideas... He feels like he can have his own opinions, be his own person. He's told it's okay to be sad. He now has to be, at least, conflicted about his own role versus his wants. And the game is very, very clear that Susie and Ralsei influence each other, often for the betterment of both of them.

Now, has anything explicitly romantic happened yet? No, there is no kiss, and no i love you. But is all that not love? Holding your bloodied hand to the face of someone you care for, an intimate touch to boot, telling him that it will be alright, that you're willing to break fate for his sake? That he will never be left behind? Admitting to finding him attractive and being taken aback by it? Learning his magic and wanting to perfect it? Finding things to make his home a little warmer because you know what it is like to be somewhere empty and sad? Is it not love to want to get someone else to do something nice for her, because you can't do it, as much as you want to? Is it not love to feel your mindset change because this person you care about introduces so many new ideas it makes you feel alive again?

Stories get boring with repetition

Tenna and Gerson actually touch on narratives growing boring and dull when you can predict them. Brother, fucking NO ONE saw ralsei and susie coming because everyone was so fixated on the predictable. Oh, it's alphys and undyne again. Oh, it's definitely gonna happen, just look at the ferris wheel. Meanwhile the story itself states emphatically that you should look beyond what you can initially see. Search, analyse. It was so subtle that I thought it was serendipitous, that toby was too dumb to realise what he was writing. I am beginning to think otherwise, and the wider reaction to it tells me so. It was unpredictable. It was not the story that gets old because it's so repetitive.

And with that I close this rant.

#genuinely changed my whole perspective #it might be real??#ralsusie #deltarune #deltarune chapter 3 #deltarune chapter 4

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