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Susie's daydream Inspired by the song Sunshine Is Brief (by Kikuo and si_ku.k)

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Kris and Susie at the lake

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Deltarune: What's the Deal with Ramb?

(MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR CH 3 of DELTARUNE)

Genuinely, who hell is this guy?

I spend an unhealthy amount of time overthinking Deltarune, so I will likely have an opinion, theory, or answer on practically every aspect of the game. (whether you guys get to read any of those depends on my work ethic.)

But with Ramb, the best I can add is that this is a rare case of an underwritten Toby Fox character. Borderline just a plot-device for the Ch 3 weird route.

...and maybe this was done deliberately?

Throughout Ch 3, Ramb works as a very effective bait for the fans keeping their eyes out for this chapter's secret boss.

An odd speech pattern, a distinct design, an uncomfortable familiarity with Kris, low-key kind of a weirdo, and who could forget the FREEDOM drop.

Like, come on. By his 2nd line, I'm sure most players were suspicious of this guy. Moreso, when you enter that ominous S rank lobby into an equally ominous, weird route minigame.

This has to be the guy right?

Yes, I'm still salty.

And so you keep progressing, grinding for those S ranks, chatting with the definitely-the-Ch3-secret-boss, killing some digital friends along the way.

You find out he's actually a library power strip that Kris and Asriel stole to play games way back when. He's not just any NPC, he KNOWS Kris. And in the chapter's endgame, Ramb drops the bombshell that he SAW Kris open the fountain and figures before anyone that they must've done it to have another adventure with Susie.

I never trust anyone who smiles like this.

Alright lay it on me Ramb, give me the bullshit bullets and let me kick your ass!

And then you fight ERAM, get the Shadow Mantle, and.... he's gone. For the rest of the chapter.

WHERE'S MY CRYSTAL RAMB???

A Rabbick in the S rank hall will tell you that something happened to Ramb, but you don't even get the liberty of knowing the specifics.

So what the hell? Was Ramb genuinely just some weirdo?

It actually wasn't until a week later that I found out that Ramb gets more backstory in the route where you talk with him less. In other words, the non-S rank path that secret hunters would've reset the chapter away from. Nullifying any more info on this character for most dedicated first-timers.

Rather than Ramb vanishing, he's just a block of stone in his booth. Interact with it and a Pippins will give you this:

Don't bother Kris. Ramb's already turned into stone a bit ago... He was a plug, but because you played with him like any other toy, it made him feel special. Might have given him a little bit of an ego, in fact...

Always condescending to any plan, saying "what's best for Kris?" Couldn't get rid of him, so Tenna made him "work the stand"...

Us from the Card Castle fit in fine. Him? He never really belonged. His first day at this stand, he joked "how about the usual?" ... no one laughed! Mixing drinks alone for himself, he wasn't allowed to handle the points...

No one will shed a tear for him. Inside, he was probably stone already.

... And it tells us nothing.

I'm not talking the boy-that-was-sure-a-lot-of-words type of nothing. I mean a far more mundane, miserable type of nothing.

Some have theorized that Ramb was the intended secret boss that the Knight didn't get the shadow crystal to in time.

Some also theorize that Ramb was the one controlling ERAM to have a 1v1 with Kris.

And even fewer might expect Ramb to return in a future chapter so we'll DEFINITELY know what the deal with him is!

Maybe I'm stepping my foot a bit hard here, but I don't agree with any of these. I think the point of this backstory is much sadder than we expected.

Ramb didn't know shit.

Every time Ramb talked about freedom, he wasn't even referring to the same realization that Spamton and Jevil had. Ramb wasn't aware of a grand prophecy, nor did he receive a contact from Gaster/The Knight/Carol or whoever the hell is on that phone.

Ramb placed all stock on his value and identity on being Kris's favorite. Like a parasocial fan of a celebrity. And as a result, he ruined any chance at a social life.

Funny enough, Ramb got NOTHING about Kris right.

Kris HATED playing the Shadow Mantle game. Kris didn't open the fountain for fun; it was to carry out the Knight's plan, which I'm pretty sure Kris isn't all that fond of either.

So all we've got left is this strange, lonely NPC who didn't even need a shadow crystal to be trapped in an existential rot.

He gave up on his life all by himself.

Whenever I see another "who's the secret boss of Ch 3" argument pop up, it makes me pity Ramb in a way I never have with any other Toby Fox character.

Ramb...but only thematically.

Spamton and Jevil are considered anti-social, insane rejects within their Dark Worlds. Yet because they've got the charisma and are powerful opponents, they're loved by many players.

Ramb has none of these qualities.

Other than his accent and design, there isn't much of anything to delve further into with this guy. Ramb absolutely does have some fans, but he'll never reach the same heights as the other bosses because he doesn't stand out.

Ramb's only self-imposed purpose was to help guide Kris to whatever he thinks freedom is and once we get the Mantle, he's fulfilled it, and we're never to see him again.

It's as if even the narrative wants us to forget about him.

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Why did the knight do this

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Am I the only one who thinks the Roaring Knight has some Samus DNA in them? Berdly's Dark World outfit is based after Falco, so maybe the similarities are on purpose...?

They even have a "morph ball" form and everything.

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OK SO I HAVE TO GET THIS THEORY OUT CAUSE I CANT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT (deltarune spoilers)

SO… I don’t think Asgore has a shadow crystal.

First of all, shadow crystals are transparent in dark worlds and look like glass in the light world, so they are not exactly black. Most importantly, you can see through them!

When you defeat the knight susie gets part of their weapon broken off and when you pick it up you get two items: The Shadow Crystal and the Black Shard.

The black shard’s description says it’s “A small chip of extremely hard glass. Oddly, it's nearly opaque.”

It is glass, just like the shadow crystals, but it’s nearly opaque, the very opposite of transparent!!

Many people assumed that the knight’s sword is made out of shadow crystals since we obtain a shadow crystal when we pick up the shard susie broke off. I think that it is in fact made of black shards and the knight simply dropped a shadow crystal for us/kris (for a currently unknown reason).

Sooo if black shards aren’t shadow crystals, why does Asgore have one? Hard to say, but I think he might have gotten it from the time that Dess disappeared. I believe that the knight is most likely Dess (it could also be Carol) and I think that when Asgore was still searching for her when he was the chief of police, he either found the black shard and took it as a clue or he encountered Dess/Carol/Whoever is the knight and got the shard in a similar way susie did.

So there! This theory is already based on a ton of assumptions and other popular theories so it very well could be wrong. But I wanted to get it out there because I think that Asgore’s black shard being a shadow crystal doesn’t make sense when there is a Black Shard item in the game, which clearly isn’t a shadow crystal (or at least the typical kind we get from secret bosses).

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are you seeing this shit.

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Stars and bedrooms? Deltarune analysis/theory

Noticed how both Asriel and Dess have glow in the dark stars in their room…considering Dess has Asriel's retainers, shirt, and old drawing I wouldn't be suprised if she gave him a few stars for his room or vice versa. Pretty cute idea if that's the case

There's also the fact that Kris's bedroom in Ralsei's castle has many stars and besides the fact it's meant to imitate Asriel's room- could also kind of fit into that connect between Kris and Dess as they supposedly had a friendship as well and it's possible whatever happened to her (possibly becoming the knight, being stuck in the darkworld or code, etc) was something caused or witnessed by Kris.

Alternately it could be connected to how (going off the Dess = Knight theory) both Asriel and Dess's boss forms use some form of star attack during their battles.

Lowkey also could be the more normal answer of a fun design choice LMAO

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sister savior

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so, uh, those new chapters eh?

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guys i might've figured something out i'm pretty sure the roaring knight's roar sound effect comes from noelle's scream below are 3 audio files, one is noelle's scream sound effect, one is the same but slowed and pitched down, and one is the roaring knight's roar

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speaking of things no one talks about,

susie's eye glows red when she makes a dark fountain.

i never really paid any mind to kris' red eyes - i thought it was just a cool feature of their character. but if susie's eyes glow red here too... it seems it's more important than we thought.

it's not JUST something that happens when you make a fountain - kris' eyes glow red when they rip out the soul in chapter 1, when they jump into a dark world, and when they fight the holder of the shadow mantle. the mantle holder even says their goal in fighting kris was to see their eyes glow red. what could it mean...?

it would be really funny if it turned out determination actually WAS red after all this time.

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So what the hell is up with that bird?

When Undyne comes to our rescue at the end of chapter 3 the Knight takes this birdlike shape and carries her away, eventually taking her to the shelter.

The shapes the Knight takes are most definitely clues as to it's true identity: it takes the shape of a baseball and its weapon looks like a bat possibly indicating it's Dess

or perhaps its weapon is meant to be Carol's katana if you're a Carol!knight believer

I've theorized before that some of the Knight's poses look similar to figure skating which may be another sport that Dess enjoyed.

All of this is for sure connected - Toby "Foreshadowing" Fox doesn't do coincidences and I believe he deliberately left these clues for us. So where does the bird fit in?

I've done a lot of thinking. Connecting the dots on parallels between Deltarune and Undertale, taking into account the reverse Undertale theory and the connection with Undyne

and I believe I figured it out

we're looking for a bird somewhere in the utdr universe that carries Undyne (who in Undertale lives in Waterfall)

jk I have no fucking idea lmao

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I've been reading way too much into everything about the Knight and one thing that immediately caught my attention was the way it poses. I think everybody agrees that its weapon is either Dess' bat or Carol's katana but both of those are supposed to be used with both hands so the poses don't match the way either of them are used. People are joking about auramaxxing but genuinely, it seems almost like it's a dance. And then it hit me. We know that Dess plays like. every sport. She's particularly associated with baseball and hockey (thanks Kris for beating me up with a hockey stick) and we know for a fact she has at least two pairs of ice skates - one in her closet and one under her bed.

So what if the skates aren't just for hockey. What if she also does figure skating? Look at the Knight's poses next to figure skaters.

And obviously ice skating is a winter sport so it really matches the Holiday theme.

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My Roaring Knight