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nitro-nova · 1 month ago

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Deltarune theories

Obviously this spoils all four chapters so the readmore goes straight below.

Nobody Knows the Prophecy

A lot of people have been talking about the prophecy and trying to clarify what it means. But people should realize that it was stated at the very beginning of Chapter 4 that the prophecy is missing parts. We do not have the full prophecy, and I'm not just talking about the passage that Susie smashed.

Remember that the Dark World can only be made of illusions of what's already there. If the Dark World in the church, which I repeat does not have the full prophecy, we would be violating that rule. This also means that Ralsei does not know the full prophecy either. We don't know how it was lost and we don't know why. Anything could explain it, from theft of the texts to burning in a terrible fire.

For all we know, the full prophecy could be filled with explanations for why things didn't go a certain way. What we do know is that we are almost guaranteed to misinterpret the prophecy in some way. However, I do think the chapters give us enough information to get a few things right.

We're All Destined to Die

Let's start with the hottest topic, the ending. It's bad enough that Susie, who hates it when people don't tell the whole deal, does not explain it to us. I think, however, that we already know it.

Keeping in mind that we're not playing as Kris (we're playing as the SOUL), I'd like to refer to the only source with an "ending" -- a video game Mr. Tenna based his game show segments on (bizarre choice btw, more on his bizarre choices later). It is implied in this game that the SOUL uses/sacrifices Kris and their friends, fully take over Kris's body, and obtain the power necessary to preserve the state of the two worlds. All of the heroes effectively die in this retelling of the prophecy.

There could be ways in which the foreshadowing in the videogame could be wrong. But the prophecy at the very least involves Ralsei dying. It explains a lot of his behavior, specifically with how much he enriches the lives of his friends and makes no effort to grant himself the pleasures of life. If he becomes attached to life, he will value it, and it will only feel worse as the time draws nearer. It is easier in his eyes to enrich the lives of others and keep them from knowing what will happen, all the way to the end if possible.

The problem I have with it being just Ralsei being destined to die is that it doesn't make sense for Susie to hide this information from Kris and act in strange ways unrelated to Ralsei afterward (like coming back to Kris's house after she left). However, if the prophecy is that they ALL die, then yeah, learning that stuff changes you. The decision to avoid other people knowing their fate and being affected by that is one I can understand (even if I may disagree) much better, y'know?

Is Susie the Second Hero?

This leads us to the question of whether we can deviate from it, and if so, how. Chapter 4 makes it pretty clear that the SOUL and the characters are exploiting loopholes in the phrasing of the established prophecy to work towards an alternate ending. This chapter has a lot of people speculating on whether Ralsei and Susie are misinterpreting the prophecy, and I agree with that observation. There is a defined order to a passage in the prophecy, and it goes like this:

THE FIRST HERO. THE CAGE, WITH HUMAN SOUL AND PARTS!

THE SECOND HERO. THE GIRL, WITH HOPE CROSSED ON HER HEART.

THE THIRD HERO. THE PRINCE, ALONE IN DEEPEST DARK.

AND LAST, WAS THE GIRL. AT LAST, WAS THE GIRL.

LOVE FINDS ITS WAY TO THE GIRL.

Susie and Ralsei interpreted this as points 2, 4, and 5 as all referring to Susie. It logically fits in with Ralsei's perspective if we assume Susie is in fact the second hero. The problem with that explanation, is that the second panel looks like someone else and wields a different weapon, and the fourth panel specifically uses Susie's magic icon.

Noelle is Not a Hero

Some people believe that Susie is not the second hero, and that Susie is only #4 in the above lines. I agree with that. But people go on to claim that the second hero is Noelle. I believe this is possible; if Susie can learn healing magic, Noelle can pick up a sword. It would be a cool arc, and it has interesting implications for Line 5 (Noelle X Susie in the main route, Noelle getting some SOUL transmuted into her in the Snowgrave route).

But I have a few problems with this. Firstly, the prophecy is quite specific about portrayals of the heroes. It isn't just the second hero's weapon being different, but the hair is different, too, and unless the prophecy allows for a timeskip, I don't see Noelle growing her hair out to fit the role.

Noelle also isn't known for inspiring hope in others like Susie is. Noelle's arc is more about finding her own voice and standing up for herself. Also, Ralsei literally met Noelle, and was asked for information about Noelle -- and Ralsei doesn't have anything. I feel like if Noelle's role was prophesied, Ralsei would know more things and explain them. It feels like there are enough conflicts and gaps to make me suspect that Noelle is not actually the second hero. If Susie needs to exactly fit, so should Noelle, right?

We should also try to think more big picture. For example, we know Carol is involved and making calls to Kris. I also believe she was calling Spamton, previously, because who else is a mysterious caller in the Dark World and is probably good at economics? We also believe December is the Roaring Knight, and may be following Carol's commands, right? Certainly something would explain how December got that way, why the investigation to find her failed, and why that could cause friction between the Dreemurrs and the Holidays. Noelle being prophesied does not give us much information about these things.

Lastly, there's Carol's actions and Kris's actions. Carol seems to perceive Susie as a threat and wants her to stay away from her entire family. But she was DESPERATE to keep Susie away from December's guitar, and so was Kris! Think about how weird it is that Kris tried to keep Susie and the SOUL away from anything that relates to December. Why is December's guitar off limits and more important than Noelle?

I invite you to the darker path. The second hero in the prophecy... is December, the Spellblade.

Kris

December -> Lost

Ralsei (possibly Asriel -> Ralsei)

Susie (fourth hero)

Noelle (possibly a fifth hero or stand-in second hero?)

December Fits the Bill

Let's start with something easy. Love certainly found its way to December, and her lover was Asriel. We know this from investigating her room and digging through her stuff and her closet.

Asriel is the only character we know who listens to religious ska and gifted the CD to December. December is a counterculture punk, and clearly does not care for this music, because it's still sealed. The only reason she would keep it would be for sentimental reasons.

December has Asriel's retainer and his clothes, suggesting that they are a romantic pair.

The second hero, the girl, with hope crossed on her heart, who very clearly wrote the lyrics in the song that Mr. Tenna certainly did not write himself. It is a song literally called "Raise Up Your Bat" and contains explicitly hopeful lyrics, even in hopeless situations

When the demon heart is crying And the blood is gushing bright, Raise up your bat for the burning fight. When your hope is slowly dying And your future's lost its rights, Raise up your bat and face the fright. Let's knock 'em dead into the night!

It Explains Carol's Actions

I mean, think about it. How exactly would December have the code to the Shelter if she wasn't involved with the prophecy in some way?

There are so many things that are explained and fit if December is both the Roaring Knight and the Second Hero. Here's how I think it could work:

In the beginning, Carol learns (likely through Alvin the pastor) that December (and possibly Asriel) are going to be sacrificed in a prophecy. Carol, who desperately seeks control and desperately seeks to secure and preserve everything in her life, who literally bronzed paper snowflakes, reacts by looking for any possible plan for protecting her child.

Somehow, Carol hatches a plan to work with Darkners and unknown others to trick the prophecy. The leading theory I have is that she attempted to experiment with making substitutes for December and likely Asriel. Asgore would likely have gone along with this plan, as he too values preserving his family, and he would've used his authority as chief of police to restrict intervention. This experiment went wrong, resulting in Dess splitting between being split off into a dimension, and Asriel being lost and "reborn" as Ralsei, with scattered information.

It seems like Rudy and Toriel are not aware of what happened, and there's clearly friction in their relationships due to communication problems. I think Asriel "being in college" is a cover story, and that Asgore was taken off (but paid with hush money) because he stopped being useful to Carol. The explanation that fits best is that Carol is still trying to find the real Dess in the Dark world.

It also explains why the fountains are being opened. Remember how the Roaring Knight is Dess? Well... If it is Dess, I don't think it is the true Dess. Remember how Spamton was interrupted in his shop by someone trying to reach out for help? I think this was Dess. It makes sense if she knew Carol was making calls to Spamton. It would also explain why Carol stopped calling Spamton -- Because she wants to RECEIVE that call.

We should also, with a grain of salt, note that dataminers found a full version of these calls in multiple chapters, which to me feels like a deliberate choice that the dev team is making multiple times. They have been making other deliberate choices for things in the game project files. It looks to me like project file text is part of the ARG; it's how the team is representing Dess being lost/scattered in the aether.

It's possible that Carol is instructing this knight to open Dark Worlds (or Carol is the knight and doing this herself). It's also possible that the knight is out of control, and Carol is trying to handle it.

It Explains Kris's Actions and Secrecy

December being lost in a substitution experiment helps explain why Kris is helping Carol. Imagine the shitload of life-ruining trouble it would bring Carol and her family if word got out that she was experimenting with Dark Worlds and practically murdered her daughter in strange experiments based on wild misinterpretations of an incomplete doomsday prophecy? It could also be that Carol is promising to get Asriel back for Kris, and that would further motivate Kris to follow all of Carol's instructions.

I feel like Kris has been involved with the Dark worlds for longer than we know, and it explains why Kris would open a Dark World despite the warning that the Roaring could happen. It suggests that Kris (and Carol) know much more about the Dark Worlds than say Ralsei. While it looks to us like they just really wanted to play with Susie more, it's clear they were actually doing this to lure a police officer to the Dark World. With the deadline approaching, I think Carol is out of ideas, and is opting to use Undyne as a stand-in for sacrificing Dess.

It Explains Asgore's Actions

It is possible that we're going to Asgore's Dark World to get the Shadow Crystal he found. He never stopped looking for Dess, and he is clearly still trying to hang on to Toriel and feels like he will lose her for good. In other words, he's about to tell her everything. Sending us there would remove the only evidence he has that threatens Carol's operation.

All of this information hinges on December (and likely Asriel) being prophesied to die, and then being lost. There's a chance that I could be wrong, but I'm here through process of elimination and questioning everyone's behaviors and motivations.

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nitro-nova · 2 months ago

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Name: Yorgle

Debut: Adventure

Dragons are such a staple of fiction and fantasy, it's hard to imagine a time when they were not part of human imagination! But that's the world people lived in before 1980. That fateful year, Adventure released for the Atari somesequenceofnumbers. This is a game about a square going on an adventure. Though this charismatic square may have been the hero, it was someone else that captured the hearts of gamers... it was the Dragon. And his name was Yorgle!

To be honest, dragons tend to bore me with their designs, usually using the same design aspects I've seen sooo many times before... so when I see one that's a weird seahorsey thing, I am rejuvenated! And better yet, his name is Yorgle. Yorgle! Official lore states that Yorgle, among the game's three dragons, is not ferocious.

But wait! Don't take that as an invitation to mingle with Yorgle! He is not ferocious, but he is- and I quote- "just plain mean". If you asked Yorgle for an autograph, he wouldn't give you one, and he would say "ah, put a sock in it, bub". Mean! He's lucky he looks so funny, otherwise I wouldn't let him hang out at my house and degrade my mental health with his harsh words.

When he opens his mouth, Yorgle looks less like a seahorse and more like the proverbial "freakin' duck"! The dragons in this game have the ability to eat our handsome square hero, and you can actually wiggle around in his stomach afterward, since the closed-mouth sprite has a transparent belly. That's weird but a fun little detail. It feels like a toy feature!

From what I can tell, there have not been many official "redesigns" of Yorgle, the most notable being this one from The Sandbox. And learning about this one made me realize that The Sandbox, which I once knew as a very cool mobile game about physics and creativity, became some metaverse nonsense for nitwits to play with their NFTs in. Yuck! Let's return to the past before that existed.

I mentioned other dragons earlier. There are three! The yellow Yorgle, the green Grundle, and the red Rhindle. Here they are if they were singing in a glee club and Yorgle was off beat, making the other two disappointed in him. Grundle is mean and ferocious, but Rhindle is the most ferocious of all! No mention of him being mean, though. I guess it's implied.

Maybe it's just because of Homestar Runner, but Yorgle is iconic to me! I would love to see this funny dragon appear more often in the modern day, in GOOD games, and of course, resemble his classic seahorsey self! Atari has been letting various developers revitalize their franchises recently... we may be entering a new age of Yorgle! Or at least an age where we get a new mediocre look at Yorgle. I'll take what I can get!

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