#listen if you're skimming the post because it's long please at least read papyrus' part

[claire-starsword]

Some observations about Deltarune (The Unused Classroom, Dark World, Ralsei, and the Dreemurr Siblings)

The layout of the room, from left to right, does reflect the journey in the Dark World, starting in a purple field with a plush shopkeeper, then crossing the checkers board, and finally reaching Card Castle to the east. Notably, Card Castle corresponds to the shelves on the right, which are the only dark thing in the room even when the lights are on, so that might be why there’s a fountain of darkness there? 

More importantly, there’s absolutely nothing here that corresponds to the starting area, or Ralsei and the town he was waiting for us. Do those places correspond to the closet instead? Or somewhere else, even? After all, there’s a transition effect when you enter the Field of Hopes and Dreams that doesn’t play anywhere else (you know, that Touhou-like effect where the song’s name shows up on the screen for a moment. It crashed my computer twice, so it really got my attention).

So I feel there are actually multiple dark worlds, all connected to some dark place/room. That’s why most of the game has that Alice in Wonderland feel that just, doesn’t match the starting point which is way creepier with those eye puzzles.

That would also explain why Ralsei calls himself a prince despite not having anything to do with the Card Kings, he’s from a completely different kingdom/world. Actually, Ralsei is much more about classic RPG vibes: his town is basically shops + inn + a castle, he talks of a huge prophecy and declares you a hero, and is the ultimate tutorial/exposition/support party member.

Also, a thing that has been bugging me about the prophecy: why is the fountain on Ralsei’s kingdom okay, but others are bad and must be closed? Is Ralsei’s world the original one? They speak of it as a matter of balance, so is there a light fountain too? Could other light fountains open? Could a light fountain be closed? Is someone going to threaten to destroy the lightners’ world this way?

I dunno about those questions and this is getting long, so let me get to the main point: if I’m right, and the first fountain does correspond to the closet, then, what the hell is that closet? We only see papers on it, and even before the fall, it’s already clear that there’s something wrong with it, given how long it is. Has anyone else ever been on that closet? Has Gaster made experiments in a damn school closet? 

Hot new theory: the game’s last boss is Gaster and you fight him in a terrifying battle in the middle of darkness that never ends... until Papyrus the Great School Janitor turns on a light switch, dispel the whole thing, and berates his father/brother/creator/who knows at this point for pranking kids with time and space. This is Papyrus’ first and only appearance in the whole plot. All is saved.

I’ve gotten away from my point again, if I ever had one.

Either way, it makes sense for the start of the game to be so utterly barren, if we think that the closet is empty, or almost empty. But it doesn’t explain Ralsei’s town. What could there be in a closet that resembles RPG settings and Asriel? Actually, Asriel is in college, right? And everyone talks about it like it is a fairly recent thing, so maybe he was still in high school the year before. In the same school. He could have left something in the closet that led to Ralsei’s creation. Heck, he could have left a goddamn RPG character sheet on that thing. We could losing our minds over Ralsei the Anagram when it is just another show of Asriel’s brilliant naming skills. We are cursed to spend every single game dealing with Asriel’s OCs, forever.

The question that raises is, did Asriel do it purpose, leave something/someone behind to keep Kris company? Some people have been commenting on Ralsei being sort of a doormat but, he does stand up against Susie at least once, and also calls out Lancer on some dumb things. The only person he sticks around no matter what is Kris. Even if you fight every monster, he will stay, and even if you ruin his manual, he’ll just say he can do a better one later. It sorta reminds me of how Asriel stuck with Chara’s plans even when he was uncomfortable, and then blamed himself for not going with it all the way. Ralsei could have been made to be the ultimate partner for Kris, especially how Kris doesn’t seem to have friends.

It might have not been intentional, though. Maybe Asriel just left something about himself by accident in the closet, and along with Kris’ feelings of missing their brother, that became Ralsei in the Dark World. After a whole game of ‘Asriel misses his sibling and projects them in someone else’, now we get the opposite. What a family. What a mood.

It would tie into the game’s theme of ‘don’t forget’ though. A toy or memory stored in a closet, forgotten. A classroom no one uses anymore. A scientist no one remembers or at least talks about. A world of people whose purpose is to serve lightners, and yet have been abandoned by them. It might be that the Dark World is just a bunch of things abandoned in the dark, along with the old hopes and dreams said things had on them. Like a collection of old make-believe games.

If it happens to be anything along these lines, I’ll absolutely love the game and own Toby Fox my whole soul (likely literally. We’ve been playing with souls too much in this, it’s not gonna end well for us).

(Fun fact: Several parts of this theory/ramblings was inspired by the fact that in 2015 I made a cheap Gaster toy with a sock and then proceeded to forget about him for all of last year I think, only picking him up from the closet because of the new game. Given the whole talk about closets now, I can’t help but find all this uh, interesting)

(If I ever trip into something in this house and don’t return, you know what happened)