#but if you want this to be kralsei it can be

[hellspawnmotel]

I can't think of a nutcracker pun

[taniamitsu]

“Don't let "them" hear”

[stainedglassthreads]

I feel like the four leads of Deltarune--Kris, Susie, Ralsei, and Noelle-are just. Somehow two different levels of queer-coded.

(Edit: Just to be clear: not saying any of this to disparage or insult shippers of Kralsei, Suselle, or Kriselle, I've just seen a lot of cool analysis about tropes, romance, and lack of choice in Deltarune and wanted to chime in with some of my own thoughts. If you ship any of those ships in Deltarune--fantastic! May you find a lot of content precisely to your taste.)

Like. On the one hand, if you're looking at tropes, they are very neatly set up into two romantic partnerships. Noelle is very blatantly interested in Susie, and Ralsei's feelings for Kris are often portrayed similarly. On a surface level, both pairings appear very clear. Noelle is a girl in love with another girl, while Ralsei is a very effeminate boy in love with a teen who doesn't appear to use pronouns. And a big deal isn't made of either pairing, there's nothing really in the way of Suselle or Kralsei on a societal level we've encountered so far. At least in terms of gender and sexuality. But if you look a little closer, it's kind of...'these are a very straight idea of queer ships', y'know?

Noelle and Susie are both girls, but one is very effeminately coded, anxious, uses magic, and is more traditionally cute, while they other is crass, crude, intimidating, and physically strong. Ralsei and Kris are gender-noncomforming, but Ralsei is a sweet pacifistic healer who bakes cakes while Kris uses a sword, and keeps being mistaken for a boy by much of Youtube and Reddit. The active one and the passive one, the fighter and the mage, the one with cute hobbies and the one who eats moss, the one in pants and the one in a dress.

And here, I start thinking of some posts I've seen analyzing how, in Deltarune, romance is used to explore how Kris doesn't really get choices. Kris has been cast as the leader and knight, and Ralsei has been cast as the healer and Princess, even if he is a boy. The leader often ends up with the healer. The knight often gets the princess as a happy ending. But Kris doesn't seem to like this! Their reactions to Ralsei are constantly lukewarm at best, and that's not getting into how Ralsei seems to be in love with his idea of Kris, while being very. Asriel-coded, who the game describes often as Kris' brother, in sharp contrast to how ambiguous Chara and Frisk's relationships with the Dreemurrs were.

If we and Kris reject Ralsei as a love interest, we can a different romantic partner in Noelle...but this choice has a bodycount, traumatizes Noelle, doesn't seem to leave Kris any happier, and it's still a kind of straight-coded ship. Now it's the knight being paired up with the apocalypse maiden, for the doomed codepedent toxic tragedy lovers out there. But it kinda makes sense too, right? If Kralsei is the expected RPG romance, then Kriselle would be the expected romance if there were no Dark World and Ralsei weren't an option. They're childhood friends and neighbors in a small town, their families used to be very close, Rudy is still very fond of Kris. They're even extremely angel/devil coded.

But the most interesting part is. It's implied that there IS someone that Kris is very interested in, either platonically or romantically. It's Susie. Kris never seems frightened by Susie when they're bullied by her, and rejects Noelle's offers to switch seats. They seek comfort from Susie rather than Ralsei after the Spamton fight, they call her their friend when Toriel calls, they share moss with her, they refuse to think about her during Snowgrave when Ralsei prompts them, they make it clear that out of all the people they COULD go to the Carnival with, Susie is the one they'd ACTUALLY want to choose.

And this is the part that drives me crazy. Because while Kris is so tightly controlled by genre and narrative, and those things would usually push them towards Ralsei or Noelle, and Ralsei keeps encouraging Kris to stick to the narrative. Susie is the one who refuses to be bound to the narrative. Susie is the character of Deltarune who is most unapologetically herself--and isn't that a very queer thing, refusing to be anyone but yourself despite everything? She says no thanks to the prophecy, until she comes around to it on her own terms! She makes herself and Ralsei learn to take their own actions, and drags Ralsei off to have fun with him instead of letting Kris choose who to with! She doesn't stay in her box of the damage-dealing fighter, she insists on learning Healing magic, even if she's not particularly skilled at it at first! Even Ralsei is forced to admit that it's wonderful that Susie is Susie, and not anyone else!

I think Kris likes Susie a lot. And part of it may be admiration. That while Kris is controlled by the player and the narrative and the prophecy and humanity and divorce and a dozen things outside their control, Susie refuses to ever be bound by anything. And Kris and Susie together happen to be the two more masculinely-coded party members, the two melee fighters, the two troublemakers. It honestly makes me wonder a little if Susie and Kris might be able to make their own ending beyond the bounds of gender expectations and romance expectations together? It would be cool. And I think it would make Kris very happy to break free like that.

[deargodhelpmeaaa]

Deltarune (lightner) ships analyzed for how likely they are to be canon. (ship whatever u want this is just what I think, feel free to comment an argument for your ship, too, I'm happy to hear you out) spoilers if u missed playing this game for the SEVERAL YEARS ITS BEEN OUT

Krusie

I think they're just friends tbh. Susie doesn't show any signs of romantic interest in Kris at all, but Kris MIGHT like her romantically. Ralsei mentions feeling warm when he thinks about the way they care about her and her tea heals Kris the most out of all of them and how much it heals is based on how much the characters like each other (Susie's tea heals 400 of Noelle's health points) and when asked who they'll take to the festival, Kris is implied to sound confused when you make them say they want to go with Ralsei or Noelle.

Susie and Ralsei's dialogue when Kris drinks Susie's tea is a little sus, too.

But again, there's no specific interactions that REALLY indicate that they really do like each other like that. Susie isn't really shown to like Kris as more than a friend, and Kris likes her, but a lot of this stuff sounds like they just like her as a really close friend...

They really do strike me as best friends. They're excited to go to the dark world together in chapter 2, and Susie is excited to go there again at the end of chapter 1. How they want to keep it a secret because it's their thing... I think that trying to say it's a romance is just reading into it a bit too much. Susie's probably going to end up with Noelle and not Kris.

Also I think it's super interesting that Kris and Noelle both like Susie a lot as people who lack control over their own lives- Noelle being super submissive and Kris literally being possessed.

Suselle

The ferris wheel scene they have together, it's implied that they did stuff together in Snowgrave. Susie blushes when Noelle gives her the chalk and they have a lot of cute, awkward interactions. Susie does seem to like Noelle back but doesn't know it yet, and it is clear to me that they're going to get into a relationship.

Kralsei

A bit weird.... Ralsei looks like Kris's brother and kind of forces himself onto them a bit since we know they don't really like him as much as we do and he's appealing to the player who's controlling Kris and not necessarily Kris themself. He still blushes around them, and if you choose to hug him on the boat and fight Spamton, he forcefully hugs Kris to distract everyone from what's going on. Not as wholesome as it initially looks, is it? If it becomes canon it will be against Kris's consent.

Kriselle

Honestly? It's possible. Snowgrave is forced and fucked up but I think even in the normal route there might be tiny hints that Noelle likes Kris a little bit.

(WHY SHE DO THAT) I might be reading into it too much, though.

Ralsusie

Not really canon, either. Again, she doesn't show any romantic interest in him, he doesn't in her. There's not a lot of grounds to stand on to say it will be canon. It seems like Ralsei is too interested in Kris (or more accurately: the player) and Noelle is too interested in Susie, who is unaware that she likes her back. I think it's a cute pairing but I really do just see them as friends and nothing else.

Krerdly

I already did a post on this but I've updated my reasoning since. I will reitorate some of my previous evidence nonetheless. JUST BECAUSE I CAN!!!

Berdly lowers the fee on the library book for seemingly no reason in chapter 1, is shown to care about Kris and views them as a friend but is only pushing them away to maintain his status as the "smart kid." They play games together and it's clear that Kris likes Berdly, too, and one of my favorite instances of this is the narration when you stare at his stupid statue for too long (skip to the 3 minute mark on the video)

He's the only character to open the present you give them and has the most heartfelt reaction to it.

He loses interest in Susie at the end of chapter 2.

And indicates that he's not repulsed by the idea of being with Kris, only turning them down because he thinks he likes Susie and that Susie likes him back, and so therefore he tries to pursue her.

and is put under the impression that they like him when they show concern for him. It is possible that they do like him romantically. It is possible that he likes THEM romantically and is just too out of touch with his own feelings to recognize it. He's really nice to them a lot more than he needs to be even when he's trying to be condescending. Obviously he values them as a friend even if initially trying to deny it.

His character development isn't completed at the end of chapter 2 and it seems clear to me that he's going to be coming back somehow. He's only just a little less hesitant to study with Kris and Susie at the end of Chapter 2. He still has that weird relationship with romance since he thinks nobody can love him without some ulterior motive, like romance. He thinks romance is super important, this massive form of intimacy and he wants it desperately, and that will hopefully be explored further and developed more.

Chapter 2 is all about him and Noelle and he gets a lot of his own individual development that is pretty separate from Noelle's and not even aided by hers, which is different from Lancer (who he's oft compared to) whose development is connected directly to Susie's. There's no reason to just throw Berdly's ass away right after chapter 2 (unless you literally forced Noelle to do that to him lmao) I think he's gonna do more in the story somehow, in some way. He's gonna develop more, and I think we're going to see more of his relationship with romance. We might get to meet his family and see more of that. Like.... he's just too good of a character to throw away IMO. Not to mention how a lot of the computer world's denizens resemble him in some way, the butlers being literally birds, Queen's mech sharing some visual simularities to him,

Spamton being an almost direct parallel to his character.... lots of things about that seem pretty sus and make me think he might be important in some way just because of that.

We also have the route where he breaks his arm which will take his development in another direction as well.

Toby Fox mentioned that the game is taking so long because he and the team need to do all these new mechanics, the branching paths, and it's very complex.

So.

Basically.

What I think is going to happen.

Is that Krerdly could happen in one or more routes where Berdly is still alive. So it hurts even more that he's dead in snowgrave. Whoops. Killed our characters' future boyfriend. My bad! Lmao! And yeah I think it's Kris who will be interested and not necessarily the player because that's less weird and cuter to me hehe haha hahaha.

I.

I.

Listen.

I might be reading too much into it because I really like Berdly and relate to him like crazy. (big shocker: the crazy tumblr girl that writes long rambly analysis about videogames and youtube and shit and constantly draws Berdly and is obsessed with him relates to Berdly)

Oh yea one unrelated theory I think that he might be the only light world character you can force Noelle to kill. It'd be kind of dumb to repeat the snowgrave route like that IMO and make it more impactful that way but maybe I just want my boy to be special IDK.

Noelle x Berdly

Sunken ship. They don't like eachother romantically at all. Berdly thinks she likes him but doesn't like her back, and Noelle doesn't like Berdly romantically at all, and even may hold some mild, repressed contempt towards him, but she still cares about him. It's made clear as day in the game that they are just friends and not interested in making their friendship anything else, unless Noelle asked out Berdly, the pinnacle of masculinity himself, (which he'd agree to since he would worry about what would happen otherwise) but heh. Yea.... like that's going to happen...

Susie x Berdly

Susie doesn't like him romantically, he loses interest in her at the end of chapter 2.

Ralsei x Berdly

They never interact and we don't know if they will interact.

Noelle x Ralsei They never really interact yet either. Later on I can see them interacting more since Toby described Noelle as "one of the main characters" but it's not going to be romantic. I think that's obvious.

We don't know the other characters well enough to say anything about them. That being said...

Dessriel

Toby Fox commented that someone was making something really similar to Deltarune and it's speculated it was in reference to omori.

We only have one comment about Dess using Asriel's jacket to back this up, as well as the fact that Dess and Asriel are friends so Kris and Noelle were friends, and everything seems to have fallen apart after Dess's disappearance. I think about Hero and Mari here, and wonder if that's what he meant in this tweet. It's possible that Dess and Asriel liked eachother romantically or were dating (I don't think we've gotten any specifics on the nature of their relationship). We don't know yet, though but it's a theory. A GAME THEORY THANKS FOR READING!!!!

To reitorate before I go: Remember even though I said your ship is unlikely to become canon I'm not dissing it and you're not a bad person for liking it at all, like what you like, ship what you want (but know where to draw the line of course, be normal, JESUS). So yeah no shade on anyone this is just what I think, aight?

[patchwork-crow-writes]

Thoughts on Kris x Ralsei

This is so long I had to split it up into parts - this is Part 1, which looks into how the roles that Kris and Ralsei are given contributes to the idea of their romance. As more parts are written, they'll be linked below in this handy-dandy TOC!

Part 1: And They Lived Happily Ever After <- (You Are Here!) Part 1.5: I Believe Your Choices DO Matter Part 2: A Pair of Star-Cross'd Lovers Part 2.5: In Another World, We Could Have Been (Just) Friends

Okay, so.

Wanted to elaborate a bit on my viewpoint of this ship, because I don't think it's something I've ever really discussed before and I think it's actually a very interesting dynamic (or at least has the potential to be, depending on where the rest of Deltarune goes).

So, Kralsei is cute, isn't it? It's fun to hug the fluffy boy and watch him melt into incomprehensible stuttering and blushing. All the little signs he's really, really into Kris, all the cute little snippets of dialogue you can initiate with him, all the alone time they spend together, in both chapters... honestly, the game makes it hard not to root for this pairing.

And yeah, it's cute... in a very surface-level, don't-think-about-it-too-hard kind of way. But once you start thinking about it... hoo boy. There is. A LOT to unpack here. So much more is going on just under the surface, and once you see it, it's difficult to un-see it. And in my opinion, it makes the Kralsei dynamic so much more nuanced, more compelling, and potentially quite tragic.

Now, a disclaimer: it's fine to like this ship on a surface level. No real harm is being done, these are fictional characters and it doesn't matter what reason you enjoy it for - if it provides comfort to you and gets you through, then more power to you! This is more me sorting through my thoughts on the subject and is not a judgment on how others approach it. With that said, and in the spirit of full disclosure, this will go into slightly uncomfortable territory - picking apart the idea of destined love, the deconstruction of common romance tropes, how outside manipulation might play a part, and even the potentially incest-adjacent nature of the relationship. If you don't want to deal with any of that, you can stop reading right now, and that's okay. Please continue to enjoy Deltarune in the manner that is best for you, and thank you for your attention thus far :)

If you're still with me, then please click the read more and we'll get started.

Part 1: And They Lived Happily Ever After

The first thing you have to understand is that Deltarune is utterly determined to cram the notion of Kralsei down the player's throat. The game is not subtle about this in any way, shape or form. Everything from the narration, to the dialogue, to major game events, to item interactions, and even the roles that Kris and Ralsei play both in the story and the party, serves to reinforce the notion that these two are very likely to end up romantically involved with each other in some way.

Let's look at the characters first. Kris is portrayed as the noble knight - stoic, unwavering, courageous, a natural leader - clad in medieval-inspired plate armour and wielding a sword and shield. And Ralsei is the archetypal princess - demure, dainty, kindhearted, nurturing - who uses magic to heal his allies and pacify enemies.

I did not mistype there - Ralsei is a prince, but the characteristics associated with him are more commonly found amongst female healers in JRPGs. Think Fina from Skies of Arcadia, or Marle from Chrono Trigger (minus the temperment), and you might have an idea of what I'm on about.

Think of knights and princesses for a moment. Imagine St. George slaying the dragon to save a helpless damsel. Imagine Lancelot and Gwenevere. Robin Hood and Maid Marion. Link and Zelda. Squall and Rinoa. Every single fairy tale involving an imperilled princess and a knightly rescuer. For a more modern take, imagine The Bodyguard. Ness and Paula. I could go on, but then we'd be here all day.

Suffice it to say that there is a pretty entrenched tradition surrounding these archetypes - a male-coded, phsyically-adept, courageous, stoic, action-oriented figure, is paired with a female-coded, magically-adept (depending on the medium of course), less-physically-capable by comparison, emotional, and more passive foil. The (male-coded) knight protects and rescues, the (female-coded) princess nurtures and soothes.

It is a very, VERY emotionally-charged dynamic, by its very nature. Through their acts of service to their protectee, the Knight displays their devotion and care for the Princess, and is in turn emotionally-enriched and cared-for. There is a great deal of physical and emotional vulnerability between them, and it is therefore ideal for romance stories.

Look at Kris and Ralsei again, through this lens. Kris is immediately put into the role of Knight, and Ralsei quickly establishes himself as a classic Princess. Almost instantly, before you've even become aware of it, you've made the connection - they're going to fall in love, because that's what ALWAYS happens in these stories. Ralsei supports and encourages Kris, both in dialogue and in battle, and Kris...

...Kris, uh...

...they...

...hug Ralsei sometimes...?

...they... they give him a ribbon...?

...no, that can't be right.

But it is right, for two reasons. One, Kris doesn't have to do anything. The roles are already established, and Ralsei is playing his part like a pro. And two, Kris doesn't do any of those things in the first place - you do. It's the player who hugs Ralsei, who gives him the ribbon, who picks the dialogue options, who makes the connections. You're the Knight in this scenario, not Kris.

Because Kris doesn't get to make that choice. Kris has to do what you tell them to do. And many of us have already jumped to the conlusion that this romance is happening, becuase that's what always happens. The Knight and the Princess fall in love. They get married. They live happily ever after.

So we ship them, because hey, it's cute, and it's easy. I can't stress enough how easy the game makes this. I'm fairly convinced that Ralsei was designed by comittee, like the Funzo toy in that one episode of the Simpsons. Like he was created with the sole purpose of being the most disgustingly adorable, lovable, awkward little cinnamon bun that ever existed. Like he was created to generate the maximum emotional response in players. It's the cuteness response dialled up to 11, and we are almost hard-wired to want to protect this little bundle of fluff from any and all danger, because lookit how sweet and adorable he is! The glasses make his eyes look all big, his fluffiness is reminscent of that of baby animals, he stutters and fumbles his way through dialogue, and you just want to scoop him up and put him in your pocket or something.

And so, we're more than happy to fulfil the role of the Knight to Ralsei's Princess. Whether Kris actually wants to or not. Because it does become increasingly obvious that outside of our influence, Kris is still their own person, with their own goals and desires, but no real agency with which to pursue them. Would that we could know what they truly want, but we are never presented with an opportunity to find out.

The thing is, Kris is not particularly... knightly. They play pranks on their friends, they swipe sweet treats from their mother, they seem to enjoy getting a rise out of people, and particularly from Asriel, if the story about "dropping the lizard into the pit to jump higher" is any indication. They sleep through class, yet by Berdly's grudging admission they are the "third smartest in the class". The only reason they go to church is so they can drink the "sick fruit juice". They don't seem to have any issue with prank-calling their mom, while she's taking about them with their tutor, while they're standing just out of sight, while they're balancing a trash orb on their head.

Nothing about this behaviour screams "Knight." If anything, it would make more sense for Kris to have become a Rogue-type character upon entering the dark world. So the question remains - why is Kris forced into that role? And to what extent is the seemingly "fated" romance between Kris and Ralsei part of that role?

Folks, we have barely scratched the surface here. If I keep writing here this will become a novel, so I have to stop for everyone's sanity. But I will follow up soon, looking into the ideas of Purpose and Destiny and how they relate to Kralsei in-game. If you've stuck with me up to this point, let me just say thanks, because wow I wrote a lot here, and it's probably a bit rambly and says the same things two or three times, but I just. Had to get this onto the page in some way or another, so... here it is.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next one :)

[star-light-shadows]

A comprehensive explanation of why I think Suselle will likely not happen and Kriselle is the true end-game pairing.

I personally do think there's a pretty strong chance of them falling through in the end. While I do think that they are far from the most interesting pairing possible, it isn't solely because of that. There are a lot of details that to me suggest that they are not truly meant for each other like it may immediately seem. And Noelle's "romantic destiny" may actually fall to someone else.

Starting with major details that strongly suggest the pairing isn't going down without a hitch, Susie is very strongly suggested to only be interested in Noelle as a friend. The character teas tell us that Susie feels equally for Kris, Noelle, and Ralsei, and while you could say that this is before the Ferris wheel ride, even after that in the chapter epilogue, when talking about bringing Ralsei or Noelle to the fair, she says that Kris would obviously be there, not getting/caring about the concept of how dates work. By all means it seems like Susie just wants to have friends. Frankly there's a massive chance with how she's portrayed that she's AroAce.

Even bigger than that, tho, is how Suselle is pretty clearly portrayed parallel to Kris x Ralsei, and there is some pretty damn obvious lore that makes it very clear that Kralsei is not going to turn into a proper end-game pairing, even being describable as a downright weird ship on-par with pseudo-incest. So if Kralsei is seemingly being pushed by the game, but is most likely going to fall apart at some point, I feel it's incredibly likely that Suselle is too.

In fact, while I wouldn't go nearly as far as to say that it's toxic, I think this comparison shows that we shouldn't shy away from acknowledging that some aspects of Suselle as it's been presented may be unconducive to the two being in a proper romantic relationship.

The biggest thing that leads me to think these two aren't end-game material is that there are a lot of details that suggest to me that Noelle's crush on Susie is best described as "misplaced."

The primary target of Noelle's attraction for Susie is very often displayed as being for things that Susie simply isn't beyond the surface. She simps for Susie as a rough and mean bully who slams people into lockers and would push her over before laughing at her. A presentation that Chapter 1 thoroughly establishes as being a defense mechanism, not what Susie is really like. And she's the one person Susie wouldn't bully anyway as a result of the Pencil thing, something Noelle has to be told. Noelle doesn't want/expect Susie to soften up to her at all.

The other half of how her feelings for Susie are presented is basically the part of her that admires Susie for what she wishes she had. Being brave, unafraid to break the rules, generally being strong. And while that's all fine and dandy for a romantic relationship on its own, Romantic feelings that consist of that and thinking they're hot for reasons that aren't actually true, when put together create a situation that can only be described as Noelle having a crush on the IDEA of Susie, rather than who Susie actually is.

Now I don't expect this to turn into something toxic or obsessive, quite the opposite, I expect this to be something Noelle will begin to realize as her crush on Susie begins to actually FADE the closer she gets to Susie. (Something Susie will be totally fine with because she just wants to have friends.)

So who else would be Noelle's romantic interest? Well, I was talking before about me not thinking Suselle is interesting, and while that's still not my main argument, I think it's important to explain a little of why. Noelle and Susie seems painfully bland as a pairing to me mainly because it doesn't feel like it brings anything out of the two characters. Whether romantic or not, the best relationships between two characters are going to bring out the best parts of the two characters. Both in the realistic-romantic-viability sense and in the character-writing sense.

While they might not be romantic, an example of this I'd like to bring up is Susie and Ralsei. Their personalities complement each other perfectly to the point where they bring out each other's best qualities. Susie is snarky and crude and her love language is largely comprised of playful teasing, but is also very empathetic with a big heart. Ralsei is kind and tolerant of others, making him the perfect "victim" for Susie's love language, but is noticeably lacking in empathy. Ralsei makes Susie more open to affection while Susie teaches Ralsei to be more assertive. Ralsei acts as the voice of reason, but in emotionally charged situations Susie makes up for Ralsei's lack of empathy. Plus, Susie is the one Lightner who doesn't see Ralsei's similarity to Asriel, likely being the one person who sees Ralsei as his own person, something Ralsei has been shown to struggle with himself.

Not dissimilar to this, there's one character that consistently brings out the best pieces of Noelle's character. And it's Kris.

Noelle's whole arc in Chapter 2 is about becoming mentally and emotionally stronger, right? Well, while most gravitate to connecting this to Noelle's admiration of Susie, when you look at how this arc actually plays out in the story narratively and mechanically, It's actually Kris that has this affect on Noelle. We see her boldness stat go up as we trek across the Cyber world with just her and Kris. She becomes bolder as a result of fighting alongside Kris and enduring their playful pranks. Noelle may admire Susie for her strength, but being around Kris is what brought that strength out of Noelle. (As well as her playful and goofy side.)

This deep effect Kris has on Noelle is the entire basis of the Snowgrave route, just twisted and warped. So isn't it interesting that this corrupted version of Noelle and Kris's relationship is multiple times characterized as an abusive romantic relationship?

Plus, in the epilogue of the Snowgrave route, despite everything that the player, through Kris, did, she monologues about how she wants to investigate what's going on with Kris, knowing that something is wrong, that the friend she knew would never do what happened, and vowing to figure it out and help Kris. Showing an incredible level of personal dedication.

Kris and Noelle go through a lot of interpersonal development in chapter 2, significantly more than Noelle and Susie do. Kris knew Noelle as a close friend in the past, but they seem to have had some kind of falling out. Despite this falling out and an air of emotional uncertainty around the two, several key moments with Noelle make it explicitly clear that Noelle deeply longs/longed to be close with Kris again.

"Yep! That's right! We're friends!" (It's. . . surprisingly nice just hearing Kris say that.) (Kris hasn't given me a gift like this. . . since we were little kids. . . Are they saying they want things to go back to. . .)

The "dating shoes" dialogue is especially interesting with this context, as it almost makes it seem like there are deep feelings between the two that even They don't understand.

And Kris brings out by far the deepest pieces of Noelle's character, even by her own direct admission. Her conversation with Kris late into Cyber City brings her history with Dess to the table, one of the more narratively interesting parts of her character, and at the end She says

(Kris is the only one who knows how weird I am.) (It's not fair, y'know!? Everyone knows how weird YOU are. Fahahaha.)

Simultaneously saying Kris is the only one who understands her, and that she truly likes Kris's open weirdness, to the point of believing it to be admirable rather than to be ashamed of. (Which honestly is probably something Kris needs to hear.)

While this may be venturing a little into fan-fictiony territory, Kris and Susie are superficially similar enough that I wouldn't doubt that her crush on Susie somehow stemmed off of her feelings for Kris in Kris's absence.

Overall, there's just a lot going on between Kris and Noelle that suggests something deeper than just friendship. Romantic undertones, estranged but longing to be together, bringing out the deepest pieces of each other, knowing each other better than anyone else. . . Unlike her crush on Susie, being based on a defense mechanism, Noelle likes Kris for who Kris is, even more than Kris themselves.

They're practically the perfect couple, only in the making.

Childhood friends to lovers is a common trope, and it's very characteristic of this game's emotional complexity to have two who've drifted apart be the ones destined to be. Not every love story is as simple as "Immediate crushing -> Confession -> Dating."

[ask-kfc-gang]

Welcome to Ask KFC Gang!*

My silly little blog that will definitely not make me cringe when I look back at this in 5 years!

KFC Gang is a fanmade trio, made of the 3 protagonists from Toby Fox's hit games UNDERTALE and deltarune. This Ask blog mixes what could happen if they merged into 1 universe!

Account ran by: @truekrisdreemur

As this is my first time making an ask blog, of course I'm not the best at it. There are some things I failed on my part to tell you guys some important things, and some general disclaimers so below is some things you should know before you start asking some stuff.

*on hiatus rn

Routes

Frisk and Chara never went down the Genocide route. They only played through pacifist, then was taken to the combined universe.

I do want Frisk and Chara to know what happened if they did kill everyone eventually, right now I just want to make this a silly ask blog for now, I'll add some lore implications down the line when I feel like it but right now, it's just shits and giggles.

As for Kris, also no weird route.

Pronouns

KFC goes by They/Them. I don't care. If you're one of the people that say "He/She goes by that because it's a self insert" you're the problem in this community.

Absolutely, nobody knows that the SOUL is possessing KFC.

Kris has been going by They/Them since (from what I can tell) before Kris was friends with Noelle.

Frisk, even after their name is finally known, is still being called by They/Them

Chara is called by They/Them regardless of their name you chose for them.

Ships

In terms of shipping, yes. However, Frisk, Chara, and Kris will not be shipped together because they are siblings, regardless of biological or adoptive reasons.

Anyways, here's an unnecessary list of the ships I'll be using in my blog (more to come soon)

Kralsei (Kris x Ralsei)

Suselle (Susie x Noelle)

Papyton (Papyrus x Mettaton)

Alphyne (Undyne x Alphys)

Soriel (Sans x Toriel)

Qurouxls (Queen x Rouxls)

Swaque (Swatch x Tasque Manager)

Spamvil (Spamton x Jevil)

Dark World Designs for UT characters

I'm going to using my own designs for the dark world. Except maybe Frisk which I'll use the Twin Runes design, I'm not sure.

Flowey/Asriel siutation

Think of it as Deltarune Asriel gained the memories of Flowey and now he's dealing with depression. /hj

Timeline

Simply put, this takes place after Frisk and Chara's Pacifist ending and Chapter 7.

More will come soon

[snailythefan]

I also genuinely enjoy the idea that Ralsei is genuinely trying to endear himself to Kris, and it is just Not Working. Kris is struggling against the Player the same way a character might struggle against being forced to love their "destined soulmate" and that is so engaging. Either Kris feels weird about Ralsei's similarity to their brother, or resents the fact that Ralsei is a dream they outgrew, or simply doesn't like him because they do not vibe with him. So Ralsei is struggling to make Kris at least like him, the Player is struggling to reciprocate, and Kris is fighting against them both. Delicious.

RIGHT???? RIGHT?"?!?!?!?!? THEY MAKE ME INSANE

It's such a delicious dynamic mostly because IT MAKES ME SO SAD!!!!!!!!!!!! I want my boy to be loved so much but ough *falls to the floor*

My best scenario is of course them ending in good terms, as friends that can see eye to eye, as Kris understanding they themselves are loved as they are, and Ralsei being loved for who he ends up becoming (not as a part of Kris, not as a darkner born to serve, but as someone with their own hopes and dreams! as his own person!)

that is of course speculating farrrrrr too ahead of what deltarune might do in the end but. hm. I CAN DREAM and mr Fox has my trust in that he can deliver a satisfying narrative conclusion to all the themes he put on the table so uhm. Crossing my fingers the kralsei endgame is as I hope.

Also i couldn't stop thinking that Kralsei is a very funny ship in the sense that you need to leave space for jesus the player lmao

I feel that only kruselle shippers also share this special relationship with the player and their ship lol... don't we love that weird route folks.

[the-meme-monarch]

iirc, doesn't the game make kralsei references?

not that i can think of, aside of ralsei’s awkwardness around kris, if you take it that way. i thought that when you gave the freeze ring to him he asked if you were proposing, but he actually just says ‘it’s beautiful…’ and the ‘are you proposing’ was faked. and with how he just says ‘…’ when you give him the thorn ring he may not mean it being beautiful in a wholehearted way.

i took ralsei’s awkwardness as just him not knowing how to reconnect with kris since he was their old headband(or green crayon). but even if ralsei Does like them, kris clearly doesn’t feel the same, ralsei tea only gives them like 60 hp, where noelle’s gives them 70 and susie’s gives them 120 (kris tea gives ralsei 120 hp, so whether it’s romantic or not kris Does Not like him the same degree he likes them). and susie says they sounded confused when she asks who you’d want to go on the ferris wheel/ to the festival with with and you have them say ralsei.

kr/alsei literally feels like the same premise as fr/ans in that ‘the playable character is a stand-in for the player so im going to ship them with the fan favorite’ which I’ll say again and again forever and always Kris Isn’t The Player, frisk and chara are also not the player

and again ralsei looks like a boss monster, like the rest of kris’ family. and his name is an anagram of asriel, who is kris’ brother. it doesn’t jive for me

edit: ANND when noelle first sees ralsei she says to kris ‘hey that guy looks like your brother’

[starrrbitz-movedtonewblog]

hi. Wanted to ask: as someone who does not consider chara and frisk to be siblings or in any way related, would it make you uncomfortable if i still interacted with your content since I ship them? Dont wanna overstep anyones boundaries here so pls lmk :] have a good day

Thank you for asking this question, as so few even bother to do so. Yes I am quite uncomfortable with shipping the two of them, as I consider them siblings due to the canon having them have the same adoptive mother. Also I consider it weird to ship two children together as it can go too far with shipping culture.

So yes, I do not want anyone who ships the siblings together interacting with my UT art. I should maybe be more direct about this in my posts. I will block you if I can find you, so thank you for sending me this to let me know.

While I'm here, charisk, friskriel, charasiel, krisriel, and kralsei shippers please do not interact with any of my utdr content.

[its-gjera]

Deltarune Theory

Ralsei doesn't have a crush on Kris

The fandom has pretty much accepted that Ralsei has a huge crush on Kris. But I don't think that's the case and I'll explain why.

We all know about the tea theory right? (JUST HEAR ME OUT OK??) If you're not, then you should familiarize yourself with it before reading this post.

I've seen a lot of interesting Kralsei content featuring Ralsei having some unrequited love for Kris. This is because of the tea theory.

Here's what happens when Kris drinks Ralsei tea:

They only receive 60 HP and have no reaction. Indicating that Kris' feelings for Ralsei aren't all too positive.

That's interesting and all, but... it seems that everyone has completely overlooked what happens when Ralsei drinks Kris tea:

He receives 120 HP and comments about how it tastes like blueberries.

Sound familiar?

Here's what happens when Ralsei drinks Susie tea:

Just like with Kris, he receives 120 HP. The only difference is that Ralsei comments about how it tastes like grape juice instead.

Does this mean that the Toothpaste Boy is also crushing on Susie?

Well. Here's what happens when Noelle drinks Susie tea:

She receives a huge 400 HP and wonders if they sell it in gallons. It's pretty much no secret that Noelle has a crush on our favorite purple dinosaur.

So if Ralsei is crushing on Kris... then why doesn’t he receive more HP?

It may be that Ralsei's feelings for Kris are more platonic than they seem.

"But why does Ralsei behave Like That around Kris?" You may ask.

There are other theories. Such as Ralsei not knowing how to handle his emotions due to being isolated for so long. Another one being that Ralsei is the red headband Kris used to wear and Ralsei is simply happy to serve his purpose again. And the strangest theory yet is that Ralsei is actually crushing on the Player, not Kris.

Or Ralsei is just simply Like That.

Who knows what is true. Truth is, idk either.

Conclusion:

Does this mean you should stop shipping Kralsei? No. You can ship whoever you want regardless of theories and even canon. (as long if it's not harmful of course)

I like this ship too. It's cute. But this is just something I noticed that a lot of fans have overlooked in favor of just Kris' reaction to Ralsei tea.

And who knows? This could bring some interesting dynamics for Kris and Ralsei.

[amberheavendremurr]

So apparently, the OST used when both Kris x Ralsei were riding the Swan boat on the Acid River is called 'Acid Tunnel of Love'!

Now there are people going around saying that this doesn't mean romantic and crap-

Well then...

I am gonna pretend I didn't hear that cause I can literally see this ship being close to canon (Alongside Susie x Noelle) cause Toby Fox legitimately implied it in front of us in Chapter Two of Delatrune so many freaking times!

You can't tell me that Kris hates Ralsei cause they both stuck with each other whether or not it was the PLAYER's doing cause it is his will as well!

The only thing he doesn't do unless we force him is genocide and stuff like that!

So yeah but you guys think what you think cause we all have our opinions and all!

I am looking forward to future chapters with more Kralsei and Suselle content cause y e s

I just hope the next chapter doesn't take three years-

>:3

(P.S. Please don't take this to heart and attack me for this cause I just stated my opinions and beliefs and stuff so yeah! You guys are free to ship and think whatever you want cause I respect y'all very much!)

[kooki914]

What do you think about the deltarune ships?

Like... all of them? Isn't that kind of a lot? Basically any two characters can be paired into a ship, but I'll keep it simple and just list the deltarune ships I personally have. If something isn't listed assume I don't ship it in deltarune.

Suselle - they're adorable together and chapter 2 made me love their dynamic even more. I think they're THE deltarune ship and I want to see them thrive!

Kralsei - really cute! A lot of potential there that I hope gets explored more in later chapters.

Soriel - A carry-over from Undertale

Alphyne - Another carry-over from Undertale

Asgoriel - Only as a crackship in Deltarune, I wholeheartedly don't think they'll ever be back together LMAO

Seavil - They're bitter exes you can't convince me otherwise. I want them back together-

Suitless Trio - Rouxls, Seam and Jevil as a poly couple. Blame @meowchela for me shipping this.

Spadesgore - I think Asgore and Spade King's potential dynamic is super interesting and they act as such good foils for one another that I can't not see them as meant for each other anymore. I dug myself into this hole and I'm never crawling out. I'm gonna keep digging. I want these two to kiss and hold hands and be happy together because Asgore deserves someone who overcomes negative feelings towards him and shows him that he's worthwhile just for being himself, and Spade deserves a metaphorical punch to the gut by being forced to confront his prejudices against lightners and start to see them as people again.

Queenie x Spade King's ex wife (aka Lancer's biological mother) - Don't ask for context. Just. Trust me on this one.

[stainedglassthreads]

ralsei-NO WAIT, SUZIE!!!!

I’m just taking this as an excuse to do both, so!

Susie

Favorite thing about them: She’s so soft and emotional and genuine under her scary exterior. She cares for her friends so much. She doesn’t really understand how Darkners turn into items but she’s sad when Lancer isn’t around and so so happy when he does reappear. And how ecstatic she is to show off her healing magic, or how she takes the time to get Kris smiling after the Spamton fight. I am very soft for characters like her, who care so much more than you’d expect.

Least favorite thing about them: I hope her not realizing Darkners turn into items is going somewhere. She’s not a smart kid, but that just seems. A bit oddly dumb of her? So I kinda hope there’s a reason she can’t figure it out and it’s not just a running gag.

Favorite line: Probably when Lancer says he wants to be like her and she just goes ‘You want to be… like me?’ It’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship and her character development, but also shows some vulnerability, because so far, we’ve gotten the impression NO ONE likes or looks up to Susie. Susie confronting Snowdrake and MK outside the bunker was also great. And in terms of comedy nothing tops ‘What would Kris do…? (Eat moss/point and hearts come out)

She’s just a goldmine of great quotes okay.

brOTP: Is it not obvious? Susie and Lancer.

OTP: I think think Krusielle (Kris, Susie, and Noelle) is an underrated dynamic. I want all three to be weird together.

nOTP: Uh, don’t really have one? Not one I have very strong feelings about, anyways.

Random Headcanon: In the fancomic Paper Trail, Susie was always hungry and eating weird stuff because no one ever bothered telling her she was a carnivorous species of monster, and she recounted a memory where she got so hungry she broke down and ate the class pet in kindergarten and felt so guilty, and there was a scene where Noelle told her and told her about services she can use to get the food she needs even if she’s poor and Susie just broke down going ‘this is… normal? I’m not a monster?’ Technically not mine but I loved that concept.

I also like the theory Susie grew up in a human community, or even knew Kris in that community before the Dreemurrs adopted them.

Unpopular Opinion: Uuuh… none really.

Song I associate with them: I think she’d sing along really loudly to Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult.

Favorite Picture of them: Don’t got one.

Ralsei

Favorite thing about them: How thoughtful he is! He makes rooms for Kris and Susie with more care than Queen does, he tells Kris(us) that we don’t need to explore all Castletown bow we can take a break, he banishes Kris and Susie until they do their homework… he’s not perfect at it. But I genuinely don’t think he’ll pull a Toriel and try to trap Kris snd Susie in Castletown. He wants to provide them with a place to escape, but not at the cost of their lives and relationships in the Dark World.

Least favorite thing about them: When is a Lightner going to comment on his similarity to Asriel? When are we going to address the elephant in the room? When?

Favorite line: When he remarks how wonderful that Susie is herself, and wonders what being Ralsei-like even is.

brOTP: Uh. Don’t really have one I feel strongly about yet.

OTP: Same. I only really enjoy a ship if I enjoy the dynamic of the relationship, and Ralsei is so passive with everyone that he just… isn’t even noticed by a lot of people. Makes it a little hard for me to get invested in any ships with him as of now. Maybe that’ll change in the future?

nOTP: Again, no strong feelings here. I guess I don’t love Kralsei, because his devotion to Kris in canon can easily turn into that thing I hate where a character has no personality beyond loving and supporting another, but I don’t have any particular vitriol for the ship. I think I’d prefer to see him figure out what being ‘Ralsei-like’ means before he gets into a relationship, especially with Kris. But I don’t think I hate it enough to call it a nOTP, per se, it’s just not what I really want to see from the character.

Random headcanon: I like my weird baseless speculation that Chara made him based off of their idealized vision of Asriel, just like how Flowey was projecting his idealized vision of Chara onto Frisk.

Unpopular opinion: There is a huge spectrum between ‘sweet little cinnamon roll’ and ‘evil mastermind, satan incarnate,’ you guys… and several mysteries surrounding him become kinda obvious if you just think a little bit.

Song I associate with them: Canary in a Coal Mine by the Crane Wives feels applicable.

Favorite picture of them: Still don’t really have one.

[acaciapines]

About Kris & Ralsei content; congrats, you're not alone! I am also itching severely to make some content I have yet to see! I have both purely analytical (my Quest for Canon Kralsei) and fanfic stuff (...probably my Deltarune LPS Popular-inspired high school drama AU) in the works.

I was wondering, actually, if I could quote or recommend some of your fics in the Quest for Canon Kralsei, specifically because your work "can I be closer to you?" (...I think that was the title) really helped me figure out the love triangle-y (love angle, actually, but I digress) nature of the relationship Ralsei has with Kris and the Player.

I think you’re an amazing writer, and I'd love to promote you and your works.

okay first off: thank you for throwing me right back into my childhood bc i was SUCH an lps popular fan and just lps fan in general. i love those little plastic guys so much. making a deltarune lps popular au sounds like a RIDE and i will be sure to read that if/when it gets posted bc im so curious as to where that would go.

and krisralsei! my krisralsei journey happened entirely on accident when i was writing can i be close to you and realized that like--ralsei's relationship with "kris" aka the player was Not Healthy and the player did not see ralsei as her own person but more as a prize that was won--and as i kept writing i was like. wait a second. ralsei has been called boyfriend this entire fic and HATED it so. so she needs to be girlfriend yes? yes? and the more i wrote the more it wouldve felt weird to NOT have it in. and then i was like 'oh my god they've always been mirrors of each other in my deltarune canon and THERE IS SO MUCH GOOD STORY HERE--so. krisralsei <3

tho my true krisralsei will be explored one im done writing i know im not well and can then post it's epilogue homegrown hearts this line from kris in can i be close to you sums up my feelings on them pretty well:

i dunno how i love you

like if its romance or friends or whatever

but i love you

all of this to say: hell yeah go wild man! i'm truly honored that you find me such a good writer and that my fics helped you figure out how krisralsei would go! so long as you credit me (and send the post 2 me bc. i want 2 read it dfgdfg) i'm totally cool with my work being used! using quotes from fics of mine to explain points is i think one of my like. biggest goals as a writer. i just want to inspire other people! thats what storytelling is ABOUT.

[patchwork-crow-writes]

More Thoughts on Kris x Ralsei

This is a continuation of my prior post on the subject, inventively titled "Thoughts on Kris x Ralsei". This is Part 1.5, because it adds on to Part 1, but isn't really substantial enough to be its own standalone thing.

If you wish to read any of the other parts in this series, here's a handy TOC linking to all the parts written so far!

Part 1: And They Lived Happily Ever After Part 1.5: I Believe Your Choices DO Matter <- (You Are Here!) Part 2: A Pair of Star-Cross'd Lovers Part 2.5: In Another World, We Could Have Been (Just) Friends (Future parts to be added as they are written)

Part 1.5: I Believe Your Choices DO Matter

I wanted to add a bit onto my previous ramble about Kralsei, on the nature of how Deltarune heavily encourages you to invest in the pairing. On that post, I did receive some feedback saying that many of the options to "flirt" with Ralsei are largely optional. And that's entirely correct! Most of the interactions ARE entirely within your choice to accept or refuse.

...but take another look at some of these choices we're offered, and you'll start to see something interesting. Let me show you what I mean.

So, we have the tutorial battle. During this battle, Ralsei will instruct you to hug the dummy (which looks just like Ralsei, a fact that will become important in a moment), so that you can practice ACTing. You hug the dummy, lesson's over. But then you see another option: Hug Ralsei. You choose it, Kris hugs Ralsei, who lights up like a fluffy christmas tree. That was cute, wasn't it? And hey, guess what? You can do it again! And again! And again! In fact, I'm pretty sure that hugging Ralsei is the only action you can perform repeatedly that won't force him to end the tutorial. (feel free to correct me if this is wrong!)

Here the game is teaching you some things, quite separate from the battle mechanics: One: Ralsei is huggable. Two: he really, REALLY likes being hugged. Three: there will be situations specifically tailored to allowing the player to positively interact with Ralsei. The game (and perhaps Ralsei himself) is priming you to expect more of these little interactions, and if you're receptive to that, you'll start looking for them.

And you won't have to wait long, either, because the next example I want to talk about is the ribbon. Picking up the ribbon in the treasure box will prompt Ralsei to give a tutorial on armour and equipping. He'll suggest you equip it to Kris, but you can choose instead to equip it to Ralsei, who will make a comment about looking cute.

There are many ways to avoid this dialogue - don't open the treasure chest, equip the ribbon to Kris, don't equip the ribbon at all. But here's the thing: the game assumes the player is familiar with the conventions of RPGs. You always open treasure chests. You always equip better armour as soon as you get it... and you will usually equip your strongest armour onto your most frail party member. And who would that be in this scenario...?

Why, if it isn't Ralsei... what are the odds of that?

Deltarune does something rather sneaky here: it uses player habits from other RPGs to ensure that a dialogue option that is ostensibly "optional" is in fact much more likely to be seen by a large number of players. And if you're trying to avoid that dialogue, it's because you're aware the dialogue exists and are going out of your way to ensure it doesn't happen... which more than likely means you already triggered it on a prior playthrough.

(This then primes a receptive player further, by saying "look, Ralsei says cute things sometimes when you try equipping him with stuff!" Which is probably how a lot of people stumble onto the Snow Ring interaction: "Are... are you proposing?")

Not enough for you? Okay then, to Chapter 2, and the return of the Dummy!

There's an option to return to the dummy at the beginning of the chapter - specifically, after Ralsei asks you to return to the abandoned classroom, but before you actually go there to orbify the room's contents. Interacting with the dummy prompts a yes/no choice on whether to hug it. And here, you can choose no, and "walk the path of fluffiness no longer".

But interact with it again, and you're given the same choice again. Say no again, say no ten times, or a hundred, but you'll always be given the choice again... UNTIL you say yes and hug the dummy. Then a text box will appear proclaiming "you're all hugged out." The choice only becomes closed when you accept hugging the dummy; until then, the choice remains open.

Of course, once you do hug the dummy, if you go back to Ralsei, he'll make a comment about not needing the dummy anymore, and how he'd rather you "practice on the real thing..." Which is a pretty unambiguous statement to unpick.

So what's the point I'm making here, exactly? Only this: You DO technically have the choice to not initiate these interactions, but the choices you ARE given are weighted towards initiating them, in one way or another. And for some of these options, it doesn't even matter what you choose... but we'll get to that in Part 2 proper.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next one :)