#0006: Deltarune Chapters 3 and 4 Predictions!
Hello again, as you can see, I'm excited for DELTARUNE.
With less than a month to go before chapter 3 and 4 releases, I can only think about all the things I expect to be in said chapters. Almost 4 years of waiting is a good amount of time to drive yourself crazy thinking about it... I even made a game, that's how insane I went waiting!
SO, let's get some of my sanity back by un-keeping my thoughts to myself on a random list of topics and what I predict, theorize or expect for each and every one.
This also serves as an easy-to-read list of things that will age HORRIBLY by the time the game is out. So, is this an archive of the status of the UT/DT fandom?... probably no, I refuse to watch what the fandom is making outside of those big "deltarune memes" videos that are dubbed by a single person.
(That was a joke, but whatever let's get on with it.)
HOW MANY CHAPTER WILL THIS GAME HAVE?
... 7?... Why are people debating this...?
Oh, ok, that explains it. These unused text graphics are weird, so I guess it makes sense. If Toby had a clear idea on how many chapters DELTARUNE will have from the start, there wouldn't be extra graphics that are unused intentionally... right?
Nah. I'm sorry but I'm more than sure there will only be 7 chapters... of content. Let me explain.
While I'm sure Toby Fox has EVERY trick under his sleeve ready to use, I'd like to believe he's not overscoping more than what is needed. So, yeah, there will only be 7 chapters. BUT, the fact that we will get another "chapter" inside a chapter is more than plausible
Kind of like that part of "Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware" where they "go back in time" and it shows the episode screen with a "????" on it. (Is this too niche of a reference?...)
A future "chapter 0" or "chapter 8" could appear to represent a flashback or some sort of epilogue inside another chapter. It will be kind of meta, but there will not be a full "chapter 0 dlc update" of the sorts. I doubt Toby wants to keep doing Deltarune until 2040...
CHAPTER 3 WILL BE TV THEMED
...
Yeah.
Ok I can do better than that, HOW will it be themed around tv? Well, if you ask me, I think the chapter will act as an exploration of a big hollywood-esque studio.
This was reffered as a greenroom, a room used as a backstage for actors and staff to relax before going on stage. And while I'm not sure how much we will be on this room, I do think it points to the general theme of the darkworld. A group of interconnected tv sets.
Toby said that chapter 3 will be weird, and chapter 4 will be a more "normal" chapter. And this is how I think it will be weird: MINIGAME BONANZA.
NOW, I think there will be enemies and boss fights and stuff. But, it will probably lack a traditional RPG structure of going on a big central quest. Rather the big quest will be about solving a group of smaller quests that start and end rather quickly. Basically to reflect the act of "channel surfing", said mini quests represent different tv and movie genres.
NOW, that's the narrative device, but what is like, the actual story?
I have the feeling that, while chapter 1 established what Deltarune was as a concept, chapter 2 established the formula of what we'll be doing in the majority of the game.
- Kris and Susie find a dark world by surprise.
- They reunite with Ralsei in said dark world.
- People from the light world are in the dark world by "accident".
- Every dark world has a ruler
- Said ruler governs the land and protects the dark fountain.
- The guest characters get character arc'd.
- Susie connects more with said guest characters.
- There's a secret scrimblo we have to fight.
- Said scrimblo was rejected by everyone, either to fit the theme of the dark world, or to fit the story of its light world equivalent.
- Big climatic fight. We seal the fountain.
- Kris does weird shit.
- "What the fuck" ending.
Simple, right?... Well, not quite. It is still, overall, a vague description of what a chapter can be. And that's because I'm pretty sure the game will deviate from whatever formula it has going on, for example, I'm pretty sure chapter 3 will deviate hard from whatever idea we have, that's why it will be a "weird" chapter. But I do think these core ideas will be kept just because it is a solid way to build a story.
In this case, I think the chapter will be about Toriel and Susie. Yes, Susie had her character arc back in chapter 1, but I think in this chapter we'll learn more about Susie's background. In the end of chapter 2, we see her avoiding calling home. Is it because she doesn't want to talk to whoever's home? Or maybe there isn't a home or anyone to report to? That kind of stuff. And the reason why I think this is the case, iss because Toriel will be a big point of interest.
We might explore Toriel's character in more detail. Or at least, learn about DELTARUNE's iteration of the character. Her life before her marriage, her relationship with Asgore, how Kris normally acts around her, and Susie's perspective of her character. We know Susie has a clear impression of Toriel in mind. She didn't expect Toriel to remember her name, and she gets surprised when she swears in front of her. She also said something about Kris having a "good mother"...? I think everything points to Susie and Toriel getting to know each other, and Toriel learning more about Kris and bonding as family.
Basically this chapter will be, overall, really wholesome and upbeat. Like, character backgrounds aside, I think the closest thing to a "moral lesson" the characters will have, is Toriel learning to give Kris more space to grow as a person. After all, she's characterized as an overprotective mom. So, maybe she'll learn to trust more on Kris being able to take care of themself. It kind of plays well with the tv theme. Where she can say stuff like "this minigame is not safe for children!", prompting the villain to do changes to stay on air or something.
Also, the whole chapter being wholesome and upbeat is also why I think Tenna, while still an antagonistic presence, will be sympathetic and funny more than anything (kind of like Queen). Like, I wouldn't be surprised if their running gag is all about placing the actors and staff in situations that are way too dangerous, just because it would give good ratings. It would play well with the hypothetical character of Toriel being too overprotective and fighting with this producer that wants to do really dangerous things. Wait... that doesn't sound really "sympathetic", right? Well, I was trying to say he will be more of a charismatic jerk than someone you're supposed to hate lol.
... Now that I'm saying this, I just noticed something else that could happen.
So, I'm pretty sure all light world characters, that enter the dark world by accident, will think of it as a dream. AND THEREFORE, Toriel will probably enter this world thinking all of it is a dream, fake, there's no risk at all! Taken away by the spectacle and the adventure of exciting hollywood hijinks.
While it is also compelling to think Toriel would protect Kris even on a dream, I also think Toriel might encourage Kris's weird crazy tv adventure, she might even join in the fun!
If you really want a more specific idea for Toriel in chapter 3, I think she can either follow Kris, or become a famous "momedian" (as Asgore puts it in Undertale). It could even give some space to do jokes about Toriel being quite the popular character nowadays. She's a true "star"!
Also, I have to mention the possibility of popular guest characters appearing in chapter 3: Undyne and Napstablook. Ngl, I think it would be cool, but I'm not sure how likely it is and what could that mean for the plot. That's why I didn't mention it until now, I don't have much to go on from.
I will say tho, if there's a reason for why I'm not 100% convinced on the idea, is the ending of chapter 2. Like, Toriel calls the police at the end of chapter 2, yet they don't arrive for so long that Toriel falls asleep. If they will be in chapter 3, why are they taking so long? I guess it could be dramatic effect or so it can be a surprise. But if that's the case, It will be a surprise because I have 0 idea of what they could do in the game. So yeah, there's that.
Also I guess Toriel could've fallen asleep really quick?... But I'm not sure that it will explained how long did it take, so I will not elaborate on this any further.
UPDATE!
So I was going to end the chapter 3 section, but Toby released a newsletter (8/5/2025) that gave me a good amount of new info to talk about in this blog, how cool. I'm pretty sure most of the new info is only related to Ch3 and Ch4, so I don't have to do my crazy predictions for chapter 5 onwards.
I'm not gonna lie, I didn't find much of it being, for sure, related to chapter 3. I THINK there's some that is related 100%, but most could be teasers for either chapter 3 or 4. Either way, I'll treat everything as information about the narrative as a whole, so I'll talk about it after the chapter 4 section.
ANOTHER UPDATE!!!
Fuck, ok, maybe writting this blog was a bad idea, because Toby just gave us ANOTHER preview. Yes, it appears deltarune chapter 3 will have a score system, for what? who knows. The game has also been rated:
"Mild Gambling Themes"?, "Mild Sexual References"?
It might be bad memory, but both of these confuse me. Is it for stuff already in ch1 and ch2? Or is it new stuff? Like, there's that "How To Draw Dragons" that has been said to have a dragon dressed "Immodestly", and chapter 1 has the whole card kingdom thing that, like balatro, could be read as a reference to gambling. But not sure how "sexual" or "gambling" that stuff is to begin with. So, IT HAS to do something with the next chapters.
Some people jumped to the idea of using the points to gamble in a casino, and also related the Points stuff to cat petters (more of that in the FRIEND segment of the blog). And I can see that, but to me, it just reminded me to this crazy theory for chapter 3 I had. I'm not gonna lie, I doubt this could happen at all, but since there are points, I guess there's no pain in sharing this weird idea.
We know that chapter 3 will be weird, but how so? Thinking about how there will be "focused on unusual gameplay elements", I tried to understand how. And A good idea I came up with is in mind goes like this:
In chapter 2 of Super Paper Mario (wii) You find yourself in a mansion trying to pay your debt, doing work and talking to some npcs to get enough money to finish the chapter.
I'm not sure if it will be about money, but some kind of score (In my original weird Idea I said something along the lines of "fame points") that you have to gather to reach the end of the chapter. There will be mini games that will act as "tv shows", and you have to partake in some to gather enough "fame points" and reach peak stardom. There's no order to do these, just, doing "enough" or "all" to get to the end.
Ngl, I was saying all of this to a friend more as a "this would be really cool" rather than "I 100% believe this will happen." But since there are points, it is no longer that far from what it could happen.
But, if you want a more likely version of this idea, I think it could work as a big gameshow. The light that covers Kris in that preview looks like it could come from a studio spotlight, so maybe this is all a big gameshow where the objective is to get enough points. Each new gameplay section gives you more points, and you're always "on camera" in front of a live studio audience.
I repeat, I'm not really sure of this whole idea on what points could mean, but whatever. I wanted to throw it out there, juussssst in case.
CHAPTER 4 WILL BE ABOUT NOELLE, GHOSTS, AND MUSIC.
I think that it is funny how, for the longest time, we've known next to nothing about what chapter 4 could even be about. Chapter 3? we know at least 10%, But chapter 4? 0.2% AT MOST.
For years people predicted that chapter 4 would be all about the light world, mostly because we've mostly seen light world screenshots relating to it. BUT, that's in the past thanks to the latest Deltarune trailer.
All of the dark world imagery we've seen relates to the church, superficially speaking. Big spires that imitate gothic architecture, an npc that looks like a priest, stained-glass windows... A LOT of things that are typically associated with a church. I think it is a really clear case of where are we going next, but, some people beg to differ.
Before the trailer, people thought it was going to happen in Noelle's house thanks to this screenshot. And some others, like popular fandom personality R.V. Pine, thinks it is still the case thanks to some details that you can read here. And I'm going to be honest with you... I'm not inclined to believe it will be anything but the church.
I'll explain why this whole sentiment is kind of dumb later. But for now, I'll cover my predictions of the two most possible outcomes for chapter 4 (that way if either is right, this blog will not age AS horribly... unless toby brings up the secret third option.)
Ok so, the dark world will happen in the church, and the biggest reason to think that it will happen in the church, is the fact we know we'll be going to church "tomorrow".
And while I think that's reason enough to believe we'll be going to church at some point in the chapter, I think that a lot of what we said before (gothic architecture, an npc that looks like a priest, stained-glass windows) would be reasonable to find in a dark world born from a church. There are other things that seem to point to this, that being those panels seen in the trailer.
Those panels contain the DELTA RUNE, the symbol we have seen in many places...
And look at that, we see it on top of the church, which, makes sense thanks to what we know from undertale. The DELTA RUNE has the angel as that circle with wings.
And, Castle town aside, we don't see the rune in any other place in the dark world, we mainly see it in the light world. So, isn't it strange that we see it in this (CH4) dark world? It wouldn't make sense, unless the darkworld has some strong ties to what the angel represents.
OK THAT'S A LOT OF TEXT TO JUSTIFY IT BEING IN THE CHURCH, now, what will be the theme of the dark world? besides, the whole religion thing. Well... music, of course!
Deltarune's religion so far doesn't appear to be that, spiritual, isn't it? At least, not in a way that compares to something like christianity. Which is why I think alvin mentions the fact that there's no concept of sin in it, so people don't relate this fictional religion to christianity specifically (looking at you, homophobic Toriel theory).
But, deltarune keeps mentioning something about the religion that caught my attention... Most of the time religion is mentioned or alluded to, is in relation to it's MUSIC.
This religion has a big focus on music, to the point Toriel doens't appear to have something like a bible, but a book of hymns. Asriel too seems to bee invested in his religion, hearing "religous ska", and forming part of the church's choir when he was younger.
I'm not crazy right? A lot about deltarune's religion seems to be tied directly to music... IN FACT, if you let me throw out there a really WILD theory...
This musical minigame we assume to be from chapter 3... read those lyrics... "which shall guide you the way,"... could it be that what will guide us.. is, THE ANGEL? BECAUSE THIS MINIGAME IS THE RESULT OF THE BOOK OF HYMNS IN OUR HOME?...(either that or "friendship" or "love", that could also "guide" us because "anime").
This is a stretch, I know, but we're here to give wild predictions damn it! But religious guitar hero aside, we also got this little guy.
This also appears to be an npc from chapter 4.
Not only appears to imitate the looks of a marching band hat. It also appears to be a cup (the file name also had "cup" in it), which would fit the church since they have some sick fruit juice that Kris loves to drink.
This is another thing that points to the church being our next destination. And when it comes to the music theme, we can also explain this other chapter 4 screenshot.
This spooky fella is from chapter 4. We know this because comparing the HP of the party between this and the shadow guys screenshot, it is apparent that they've leveled up thanks to closing another fountain.
Now, people debate what these enemies are. Some people say sleigh bells, other's christmas BALLS ornaments, and some say incense burners. And honestly, I don't really know which could it be. What I want is for you to look at those blue things around the enemy... those are onibis, floating fireballs used to represent spirits in a lot of Japanese media. SO, the visual representation of spirits around it... I think that is enough to associate it to the church (as a clear spiritual place to be), but the really weird shape it has... those are musical notes, right?
Like, I'm not crazy right? Those are music notes, eight notes to be precise. It is, right? I'm not crazy, right? This might be another big stretch, BUT I DON'T CARE, I SEE IT! THAT'S WHAT MATTERS!
UPDATEEEEE!!! (JESUSN'T CHRISTN'T)
We've got to see these bad gender neutral boys finally moving! And there's many weird things to note about this video: Lack of sound, the check act has a weird description, the really OBVIOUS indication to use the pacify spell, and the short "You won!" at the end and not saying how much money you got...
Let's just focus on what relates to what I was saying here, HELL YEAH, THERE'S THE WEIRD SPOOKY GHOST SOUL SHIT! "Excercism", "The living dead", I FUCKING KNEW IT! And the critical hit: Guei appears to be a chinese term to refer to ghosts, and it appears to be the intent as the ghost speaks broken chinese (people say that they're saying different things that range from "Ooo I'm a ghost" to other things... It being broken chinese makes sense in relation to the joke in the social media post).
Now with the name "Guei" and the folklore trivia, some arrived to the idea of it being based on talismans. Once again, there's no way to confirm that is true, so I'll just leave that as a "maybe". I think one of the most important info we can get from it, is that it neither confirms or denies church or Noelle's home dark world. Hooray! (Also, bringing back the priest-looking npc. Someone, based on this new info, said that maybe the priest are based on fortune cookies... Uh, in respect to cultures I don't know well, I will say that I'm not sure about THAT.)
In other BAD news for me, it appears that the musical note looking onibis looked like that only in one frame of their animation... So, maybe I was wrong all along... UNLESS...!
It appears the screenshot was edited (you can see how by the background not lining up where the enemies are placed). Did they do it looking for a good-looking screenshot?... Or, is it because it was important that they were in that exact music-note-looking frame?... It was probably the former... Or both :)
END OF AKWARDLY PLACED UPDATE.
But yeah, chapter 4 will have a big focus on music. And not only that, but the presence of Onibis and weird spooky shit seen in the trailer, I can say this whole chapter will be quite "spooky" in theming. WHICH ONCE AGAIN I CAN LINK TO THE MUSICAL THEME. Are you ready for my biggest leap yet?
Do you know what musical instrument is normally found in a church?
Yeah, depending on the church, piano an other instruments can be found when it comes to the service (Toby has even said to zun that he played Necrofantasia on his church's piano).
But you know what instrument, as a cliche, it is found most of the time, in a church?.... AN ORGAN, A PIPE ORGAN.
And, do you know which character in pop culture is commonly associated with a song played on a creepy pipe organ?....
DRACULA
THAT'S RIGHT, THE VILLIAN IN CHAPTER 4 WILL BE A MUSICAL VAMPIRE THAT PLAYS THE ORGAN AND WILL ALSO BE... uh, into religion?... Ok yeah, I'm not sure about the whole Deltarune Count Dracula thing, but it would be cool, right? Besides, it's not like we have ANY idea of what the main antagonist for the chapter could even be.
My theory for what the antagonist could even be (besides musical Dracula), it's some sort of "false prophet" that is saying weird or absurd "Prophecies" in the name of the ANGEL. NOW, this is a big stretch because that would imply that this prophet has knowledge of people from outside the darkworld... but, I don't think that's too weird or impossible.
From what we know, characters from the dark world have memories of the lightworld. Queen not only does know about noelle's search history, but EVERYONE'S search history as long as they used the laptop in the library. This is why both Jockington and Asriel have a room in the mansion. So, as long as the object the antagonist represents has interacted with people from the light world, they will have an idea of who they are.
And that's besides the point that maybe, characters like Jockinton will fall into the dark world this time. I don't want to say that "I predict 100% that Jockington and Catti, the most popular character options, will be an have an active role in chapter 4". They don't have voice bleeps despite having portraits, just like other minor characters so far... but, I like them. They're cool, I want them in a darkw orld. So, I predict 60% that they will be in chapter 4, why the hell not.
Either way, I think the character that we'll see for sure in chapter 4 is Noelle.
Not only it appears Susie and noelle will develop a strong relationship (either romatic or platonic), but noelle has strong relevance to the Deltarune plot. The whole spamton sweepstakes was just an excuse to give us more Deltarune from Noelle's perspective. Even the new sweepstakes update gave us a preview into Noelle's friendship with Catti and the whole cat petters game (more on that later).
I Think it is safe to say that Noelle will appear in chapter 4, to give us a lot of context about her past and relationships so far. It is no wonder people believe that Noelle's house could be chapter's 4 dark world location... Speaking of which...
Not gonna lie, I think the strongest clue to the next dark world being Noelle's home IS the fact that a lot of the sweepstakes previews are about Noelle, and also this screenshot... There's no reason to believe there will be unopened gifts in a church, but in the home of the "Holidays"? OH BOY, that makes sense!
But, that's about it, isn't it? Yes, R.V. Pine's whole theory and all that, but even that is based on the idea that noelle's blogs will be used as a parallel to the events of chapter 4.
It will rain, and Noelle talks about raining in her blog. How "rainy days are perfect to play Cat petters", the weird game that has been mentioned in teasers in the spamton sweepstakes. Therefore, we know it will play a role in the plot of the game. That's why there's so many mentions and puns about cats in the recent newsletters and previews.
There's also the whole "ice palace" being mentioned, and people believe it will be a location in the game. And, if we we're being honest, there's no easy way to imagine how something like that could come from the church or Kris's home. SO, it would make sense for something like that to be in the home of the girl associated with ice and cold.
And, if you let me add to this, it might make sense as the whole thematic package of Ch3 + Ch4. In chapter 3, we explore the home of one of the protagonists, and in chapter 4, we explore the home of another protagonist. It kind of makes sense! Even more if we take into account how chapter 1 and 2 both take place in buildings made for studying, and us getting distracted from said studying.
I think the main problem with this for me, is the fact that so far we have no reason to believe we will visit Noelles home. Like, why would Susie or Kris want to hang out there?
Kris was a close friend of Noelle, but it all seems to indicate that it was the case BECAUSE of Asgore's relationship with Rudy. Both families became so united because of their friendship, and Asriel, Dess, Noelle and Kris used to hang out because of that. I'm not saying that they weren't REAL friends, but that something occurred that broke that relationship between the two households. That could either be Dess's disappearance/death, whatever got Asgore out of the police force, or maybe a combination of both and a secret REAL DRAMATIC third thing. In any case, everything points out to the fact that everything might either get worse or better.
Rudy is in a more than possible death bed, Toriel hates asgore with a burning passion, Noelle and her mom have a really strained relationship, and Asriel leaved Kris to deal with everything by themself... so you know, REALLY fun stuff all around.
I'm pretty sure the story points to Kris and Noelle bonding and fixing their broken relationship, And that might lead to Kris eventually going to Noelle's home. But so far, it doesn't appear like we've reached that point yet? I think we need to develop their relationship more before "Kris wanting to go to Noelle's home" becomes a thing. The same goes for Susie. So far they're in good terms, and they CLEARLY want to hang out more, so I'm sure Susie might be up with going to visit Noelle. But It's because they both like each other so much, that I'm sure both are too shy to take initiative, unless Kris forces the situation to happen.
AAll of this is why I'm not a fan of this angle people take. It's mostly based on vibes and not about the material present in the teasers, as if it can't be the church because "it doesn't make sense". It relies On the idea that Noelle's home will contain enough things that will represent the church imagery, and the light world section will obviously lead us to Noelle's home as parallel to the blogs. And because both Jockington and Catti will OBVIOUSLY be in the chapter 4 dark world, people also like to add "Catti and Jockington don't look like people that would go to church!"
You think Kris and Susie look like the types that go to church...?
And that's besides the point that we don't know if Catti and Jockington would ever be in a dark world. So even if it was a reasonable perspective, it is just based around the idea that Catti and Jockington have a role in the story to, again, parallel the story present in Noelle's blog. But you know who DOES go to church and has an active role in the story of this game??
NOELLE.
NOELLE WILL GO TO CHURCH AS SAID IN CHAPTER 2!
It's no mystery, it's no secret. People will go to the church and, probably, we'll be able to learn more about what people do in said church, including Noelle and her family. AND LOOK AT THAT!
We have new context clues about Noelle's past and its relationship with the plot and mysteries of this game. All while church stained-glass windows appear by clicking funky cats with angel wings.
LOOK, OK, LOOK: I do like the idea of Noelle's home being the next dark world, I don't think it is a dumb theory, or dumb concept. IN FACT, I will be happy if that's what we got (But if I'm being honest, I will be happy to get more Deltarune no matter what that means).
I think both are equally possible, but as predictions and theory crafting goes, one seems more based around the vibes of "it can't be THAT simple". I'm just more into what seems obvious, we know where we are going, it's just that we don't know what that means in detail yet.
NOT AN UPDATE, I JUST FORGOT ABOUT THESE DETAILS OOPS.
While searching for images for a later section in this shitpiece of a blog, I found some datails in the holiday 2024 newslatter relating to chapter 4 that could indicate towards chapter 4 being in Noelle's home... Which, uh, yeah lol.
In the chapter 4 section of the newsletter, we find dialogue and some sprites that could be in chapter 4, 2 pixelart christmas trees to be precise. Is this imagery that reference the Holiday household? Or is it just sprites meant to fit the holiday theme of the holiday newsletter? I don't know. But taking into account it is pixel art, it might be actual sprites we'll find in the game. And yes, it is hard to imagine how can christmas trees be found on a church of all places. SO I'LL GIVE YOU THIS, NOELLE HOME DARK WORLD BELIEVER, YOU GOT THIS ONE DOWN.
And yes, there's dialogue snippets, some say what characters are saying what, and others not. Notable things:
- It appears Susie is talking with someone, and that someone responds "I Wike you two Swusie!" while doing a voice. Could this be, Noelle? (Because, you know, she likes Susie), Or a new character? If it was someone like Ralsei, I don't see a point in hiding it. So I go with either a new dark world character, or a light world character that we wouldn't expect to say something like this to Susie of all people.
- Susie offers to give toys to Lancer. Could these toys be, from christmas presents? From a Holiday themed darkworld? (See? I'm neutral about this).
- Berdly is inviting someone to the festival. People jumped straight to the idea that Berdly is inviting Kris, mostly because it would be funny. Tho I'm also inclined to believe it could be Susie? Not only do we know the seed of a crush has been inplanted in berdly in chapter 2, but he also says "Listen. It disgusts me to say this, but... As an ACT. Of CHARITY". And while berdly has been a jerk to Kris in the past, I think it could also fit Susie since she has an even worse reputation than Kris. BUT, I do think Berdly would invite Kris to the Festival after Susie was invited by Noelle. So either works to me.
So yeah, I think there's solid clues for a Holiday Home Dark World here. But like I said, I'm fan of both ideas so, as long as we get invited to the festival by the bird I'll be happy.
Jesus, that's a lot of text, and I only gave my predictions about the general idea of the chapters we'll be visiting... We haven't even got into the what the light world holds... ah yeah, the light world segments.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'LL DO IN THE LIGHT WORLD
Yeeeeeeeeeeeaaahhhhhhhh, if it wasn't obvious, I don't know what we'll be doing in the light world segments. I think is 100% IMPOSSIBLE to do, besides "well be going to the Church/Noelle's home".
Trying to predict those parts of the game involves, essentially, predicting what the actual story and narrative of the game even is. And I'm sorry, but I can't predict what story Toby is trying to tell. So I will not delve into specifics regarding the light world. I'm more than sure that it will be cool and fun, there's no doubt about it, but that's as far as I go.
This is also why I avoided talking about what a secret boss we could encounter. That is so lore dependent that It makes my head hurts. So let's continue into theory crafting from things we got actual clues about, like...
WHAT THE HELL IS FRIEND.PNG
This, son of a dog, is only known as "friend" (as the object is named "DEVICE_FRIEND" in the code.) And we had no idea what it could even be.... until the new and old sweepstakes pages arrived.
In the old sweepstakes pages, those eyes jumspcares people in one of the pages, by pure chance while clicking a chair a ton of times.
And in the newest page "/rarecats", we find this game were clicking cats give us points based on their rarity (all based on a list provided by Noelle in the blog post that lead us there). And, with the lowest chance of happening, clicking in a cat results in this fucking thing jumpscaring you like total jerk again.
That file is named "Cat009", so people and I believe that this is a cat.
And as we can see in that cat poster, the colors correspond to the eyes of DEVICE_FRIEND. So, with only two relative points of information, we can confirm that it is, in fact, a cat.
...
I know, that's underwhelming. But we really have no idea of what it could even mean for the story, we just know it is something that will "happen" in the game. People believe that it will appear in chapter 3 and 4 because it is being shown in pages related to teasers for those chapters. And another thing that might explain why we'll be seeing this cat friend there, is the presence of cat petters.
This "Nintendogs" rip off is about taking care of Cats that are born from eggs (Like a Digimon!... Or Tamagochi, I guess). That's about it.
Thanks to the sweepstakes, we've learn of what the game is about little by little. AND, because of it being info from the sweepstakes, I guess it means that it will have a pay off in the game at some point. For the longest time I didn't have a clue for what that could even look like, until this latest update, where Friend was found IN relation to Cat Petters. So it is either a cat FROM the game, Or the darkner born as a representation OF the game itself, or something totally unrelated.
This point was also used in that Noelle's home Dark world theory, because cat petters has been mostly mentioned in relationship to noelle. But I do think that friend will be involved in the long run, not just as a character in a single chapter or limited to a single dark world.
We have a peak of DEVICE_FRIEND in chapter 2, which as far as we know, has zero Cat Petters content for it to appear. So I'm pretty sure FRIEND is not attached to a physical copy of the game to beggin with, and that makes sense following the "DEVICE" naming convention for things outside of deltarune proper. I'm pretty sure Toby is trying to indicate, whatever this is, as something not bound to the limits of the dark worlds.
And I'm pretty sure Toby outright confirmed that, whatever this is, is something not attached to Spamton. People speculated that maybe that creepy smile was just a weird supernatural thing Spamton did. But we encounter FRIEND even in the alternate timeline where Spamton was erased, confirming that it is, in fact, something else...
"But didn't you said that friend is a cat from Cat Petters? If it is, why do you now say that it doesn't need Cat Petters to appear in a dark world? And doesn't that mean cat petters might just not be in Deltarune at all?". ONE THING AT A TIME, GEEZ GIVE ME A MOMENT.
First of all, yes, it is something Cat Petters related. And I believe this, because Cat Petters will be used as a way to introduce, whatever this thing is, in chapter 3.
While we don't know how much of the house will be engulfed by the dark world, we know that Kris and Asriel have a copy of the game. If Friend is in fact related to Cat Petters, then I have the feeling we'll meet FRIEND and learn its relationship to Cat Petters. And if its relationship to cat petters isn't explained, then maybe it will be elaborated on chapter 4.
FRIEND appeared in both chapter 3 (old sweepstakes) and chapter 4 (new sweepstakes) teasers. And knowing that FRIEND also appeared on chapter 2, maybe it will be the first Darkner (after Ralsei) to be able to move between darkworlds with no problem.
So, yeah. If Friend is a character in the story, it might be part of the bigger picture.
Besides all of this, there are people that make links to FRIEND being based on the japanese lucky cat (Because of how everything we've seen from them has been in relation to RNG (chance). And while I'm really into the theory, I don't want to theorize based on stuff that isn't seen in the game.
AND YES, I SAID MUSICAL DRACULA IN DELTARUNE, BUT THAT'S DIFFERENT, OK? I made that up myself, and I refuse to have this blog age horribly because of the work of OTHER people.
... Wait, if that one R.V. Pine theory becomes canon, would that mean it made this blog age horribly? uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Anyway.
I'M NOT PREDICTING CHARACTER ARCS
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, taking into account chapter 3 and 4 will be far from the end, it is pointless to actually go in depth about what exactly will the characters do or learn. Susie and Toriel will bond, we'll learn more about Noelle's and Kris's past... what else?
Susie will just learn to make friends, and deal with whatever trauma lead her to be a bully in the first place. We know she has some form of history with Kris, so we might learn more about it.
We'll learn more about noelle's backstory and relationship with Kris. We might even see her and Susie have another date/romantic moment. Because that would be really cute. (they will kissss???????!???)
They'lllll doooooo stufffff maybbbbee?????????????????
I guess Ralsei is the only character that wasn't mentioned that much in this blog, and that's because, I'm pretty sure "Ralsei develops his own identity and agency" is just the most commonly accepted point of his character. Tho, if Kris IS the knight, we might just see Ralsei either confronting them about it, or encouraging him to keep doing it. THAT will would point ralsei in a clearer direction for the future.
...
AW FUCK I FORGOT ABOUT THE FUCKING KNIGHT-
THE KNIGHT IS... !
Yes, we finally arrived, the knight debate.
I think Toby Fox is fucking evil, and this screenshot is the proof. First he implies EVERY lightner could be the Knight, the being opening the dark fountains.
AND THEN BAM, JUST LIKE THAT, KRIS CROSS APPLE SAUCE OPENS A DAMN FOUNTAIN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT LIKE IT'S NOTHING.
People assume Kris is the knight, because that's the obvious answer to what we've seen on screen. BUT TOBY KNOWS HE'S FANS ARE FUCKING NUTS, AND WILL ANALYzE EVERY DETAIL.
First of all, if Kris is the knight, when did they made the fountains in chapter 1? How did they learn about creating dark fountains before ralsei told everyone? Why and how did they know everything would fall in place for chapter 3?
All questions that can perfectly be answered and make sense, yes. But also questions that invite you to think and imagine the possibilities. What if, somebody else IS the knight.
And while I could go and explain how likely each and every character in Deltarune is as the knight, I frankly think that would be a waste of time. Because, no matter how much we love each and every one, most of these guys are probably irrelevant to the plot. SO, I'm sorry, I will not rant about how Burgerpants/Pizzapants is the knight... (Wait, fuck, that's another theory someone else made that can make this blog age badly, FUCK.)
So we'll talk about the two main perspective, Kris being the knight, and kris NOT being the knight.
If Kris is the knight, we'll be dealing only with the "why" part of the mystery. Why would Kris do something like this?
And I think answering the "why" would go onto Kris's character and character arc in the overall plot. Ngl, I'm not sure I want to go into that can of worms, specially because that goes beyond chapter 3 and 4.
So I'll say that, while we might not get an aswer for why is Kris doing all of this, we will get the asnwer for who the Knight is really fast. Like, either by the end of chapter 3, or the middle of chapter 4, we will see Kris oppening another dark fountain. Like, if Kris is the Knight, WE WILL see more scenes like the end of chapter 2, that's a given! There's no reason for toby to avoid doing that, right?....
And ok, I'm pretty sure Kris's character will be explored in these chapters, we might get a better idea for what the direction for this character is. But you can say that about everything else, that's just what happens when a story is storying. But if you ask me, Kris's motivation and character will be kept vague for a while, only to be explored closer to the end of the plot (not in the first half of it...)
This can age badly if Kris as the knight randomly decides to explain themself to the player, or a character outside of kris does it. Oh well, you can't have everything.
If Kris isn't the knight, then we'll get confirmation of it sooner rather than later. Either by characters confronting kris about doing this, or by another knight appearing in chapter 3. That's why I'm confident in saying that if we don't know who oppened Ch4's fountain, then Kris CAN'T be the knight, as the mystery will remain as "who" is the true knight.
There are people that debate who the knight could be, some even debate how many knights there are. And while I think it is a cool creative excercise, I think it is ultimately futile to debate or especulate with the information we have. So far papyrus hasn't even spoken once, so I'm not really sure there's much to go from to validate the idea of him being the knight.
And while we are talking about multiple knights, I personally find the idea to be quite funny. Because it is obviously born from the fact that there's no evidence to back any other character as the knight, except for Kris. Like, if you ask me, multiple Knights would be SO Much fun, but ultimately every version of the theory fails to sell the concept
The concept of the knight as a singular identity is interesting because it is about a character following a straight plan. Everything is happening for a reason, we just don't know what that reason is. The multiple knight theory essentially proposes that every character is opening dark fountains for their own personal reasons, disconnected from the rest. It, once again, exists as a way to validate the lack of motivation or logic behind the knight's actions so far.
BUT DESPITE EVERYTHING... hear me out.
This Gravity Falls episode, but multiple knights. So he have the knights act as a secret society, with the evil bad guy as their leader... I'm 100% sure that's not going to happen. But imagine if it is tho? That would be sick as hell.
But yeah, If it isn't obvious, I'm more in favor of Kris being the knight, JUST because that's what the story is obviously pointing out. But I do like the idea of Kris not being the knight more, that's for sure. Idk, despite what Toby wants to make us think, I'm more than sure Kris isn't THE antagonist.
While we are on topic, I just wanted to point this video out, how we have really similar views on who the knight is. I Just find it funny how she has a section "debunking" the reasons for why Kris couldn't be the knight, and the best she can come up with is the equivalent of moving a goal post.
- "The fountain was made the same day": Well, the fountain being open at 3 AM of the same day counts.
- "The scrapped opening animation would've oppened with everybody, including Kris, running towards the Knight": Well, it would've been non literal, like many other openings.
- "The fountain had to be oppened with Berdly and Noelle already inside the computer lab": Well, nothing indicates that it had to be that way.
These are not bad, per se, it's just nothing actually debunking anything. It is ONCE AGAIN conjectures based on vibes and "logic" rather than evidence. Like, two can play that game.
What if the dark fountain in the abandoned classroom was made at the same time Susie and Kris stumble onto the locker? Someone had to close the door, right? What if that someone closed the door, and then went to create a dark fountain in the next room. NOTHING in the game indicates that's not a possibility.
Like I said, so far we have zero clue on what's really going on, so whatever theory will have depends more on "what we think it would be cooler" more than anything. So framing this rebutals as debunking is a bit silly. Like I said, I feel like we're in the same page of people overthinking, but there's no need to validate that. We've seen kris opening a dark fountain, that's more than enough proof to think they're the knight.
But, yeah. Either Kris is the knight and we'll get a direct answer as soon as possible, or Kris isnt' the knight and we won't know who made the next fountain.
There's also the possibility of Kris being the knight and is kept vague even after the ending of chapter 2, but like I said I think that would be weird UNLESS it is supposed to be debated as a real mystery.
THE ICE PALACE
I think everybody forgot about the ice palace thing from the sweepstakes. Is it a real place? Just a weird analogy? I don't know, nobody knows. I've mentioned it in the chapter 4 section because, yeah it makes sense for a chapter that COULD happen to be Noelle centric.
But, like I said, there's no clue or idea for what this could be in the game. So, my best guess is that it is either an actual location, or just another analogy for Noelle's relationship with breaking games.
THE WEIRD ROUTE
You thought I forgot to mention this in the chapter 3 and 4 sections, didn't 'cha? :)
I didn't mentioned it because the weird route is about being a really "weird" and out of nowhere thing. You're breaking the game and things go in a different direction, so predicting this would need to stablish exactly what will happen in both chapters. And that's not really my thing.
Thankfully, we can speculate on a few new things that have been teased recently.
In this page ("/chapter5") from the sweepstakes, we find this page with a visible 2, 4 and 5, an invisible 1, and a barely visible 3. All in different sizes too.
Now, I'm pretty sure nobody knows what exactly could this mean, or why is it under the index "/chapter5". I'm sure that it being under "/chapter5" could mean nothing, but everything else HAS to mean something. And we can get a clue by clicking on the 2. It starts playing d.ogg, the audio that plays when you confront berdly before freezing him to (plausible) death. So maybe these numbers relate to the chapters and the weird route. And we have another clue relating to this...
If you go to "/chapter1", "/chapter2" and "/chapter3" you'll find text saying either "Not Applicable" (ch1 and ch3), Or "Applicable" (ch2). And from what little we know, chapter 1 does not have anything resembling the weird route, yet chapter 2 has. SO, the obvious pattern here is that chapter 3, like chapter 1, does not have a weird route. And chapter 4 and 5, as they're visible in the page like chapter 2, will also have a weird route.
Now, if you remember what I said a moment ago, I said that chapter 3 is barely visible (by taking a screenshot, you can edit the contrast and brightnest to see that it is, inded, not totally invisible). Why is that?, well... if you go to "/chapter3" and hold the left arrow key for a bit...
Yeah, FUCKING NUTS, RIGHT? So, chapter 3 will have some weird shit in there, we just don't have any idea as to what.
There's this chapter 3 playstation achievement that says "Complete chapter 3 without issue". And while to me it reads as maybe "complete chapter 3 without getting a gameover once" or something, people theorize that it might be something related to the fact Susie can be anagram'd to "Issue". Is that intentional? Coincidence? Can you finish chapter 3 without Susie?
We know that chapter 3 starts with susie sleeping, so, maybe we can just go pass her and finish the chapter without Susie in our party... And that somehow relates to the weird route. I swear I've also seen people say that it could mean "Kill Susie" or whatever, but I don't think we'll be doing a berdly to susie of all people in chapter 3...
From all of this info, I think the best we can gather may be that Noelle is directly involved with the weird route. Chapter 1 does not have noelle in a darkworld, "Not applicable". Chapter 2 has noelle, "applicable". Chapter 3 does not have noelle, "Not applicable... but". It is just a pattern that might as well be a coincidence, but taking into account how much the sweepstakes centers on noelle, it wouldn't be too crazy to think that it's going in that direction. But we can only see how much of this is true if we either, get a teaser showing more noelle being involved, or play the game ourselves.
... Ah yeah, the size difference between numbers. Ngl, I have less than a clue for what that could mean and if it relates, in any way, to the weird route.
The best idea we have is that maybe it represents how "Big " each chapter is. Chapter 1 is short. Chapter 2 is big, Chapter 3 is as big as 2. Chapter 4 is bigger than 1 but smaller than 2, 3 and 5. And chapter 5 stands in the middle of 2 and 4. Toby has said that 3 + 4 is longer than 1 + 2 so, it kind of checks out. But I'm not sure what does that mean taking into account that this differs from player to player. Besides Toby said chapter 4 will be a "standard" chapter. What does that mean? Is chapter 1 the standard?, Or is it chapter 2? who knows.
Other idea is that the size represents the impact of the weird route. There's none in chapter 1. Chapter 2 has frozen nuggets. Chapter 3 does not have a weird route you choose to do, instead, you'll deal with the consequences of chapter 2. Something like that. I do like that idea, and it does seem like something Toby, as the writer, can objectively say about his story. So maybe that's it?
As you can probably tell by now, this whole section was a mistake, there's nothing to actually predict. AND DON'T YOU DARE LIE TO ME, we ALL knew that there was going to be more weird route shit. "MAYBE the weird route is only for chapter 2", YEAH I DIDN'T BELIEVE ANY OF YOU SAYING THAT CRAP. Toby knew that the moment he placed something like the No mercy route in Deltarune, the fandom would start wondering about what the future holds. That's why he wrote "Only one ending?" on the steam page, because even if that's true, who knows how wild everything will get in the road to that single ending.
Anyway, uhhhh there will be more weird route! Yeh. :)
FRIEND INSIDE ME?
I LIED, HERE ARE PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF DELTARUNE.
Ok yeah I said I wasn't going to say predictions for stuff beyond chapter 4. But, I guess it doesn't hurt to archive my thoughts of what the future holds, based on what we know so far with only two chapters and so on. So, here's a "small" list because this blog is way too long already:
- Susie will fight Kris. As the closest friend, it seems like an innevitable thing on the weird route.
- Ralsei isn't evil. But he might be an antagonist in a chapter, most likely by circumstance.
- Susie and noelle will kiss. Toriel will not be able to stop it this time.
- It would be really funny if berdly ended up being a party member for some reason. He has the portraits and the voice bleeps, it could happen!... (It will never happen).
- GASTER IS REAL. He probably has the design seen in most fanarts. It will be revealed later that his original design was different, but it was changed because of how popular the character is.
- Penumbra phantasm will not be in Deltarune (Saying this so it can age horribly).
- Papyrus will only appear at the end of the game, that's the joke.
- The weird route going forward will no longer involve "Killing" all the enemies, it will probably have way more specific steps to trigger.
- Rudy will OBVIOUSLY die. BUT, it is so obvious he will die, he might not???. We know Rudy died in undertale, and seeing his death here could say a lot about the story and themes. But because this is an alternate universe, his current state might be just a reference to his undertale self rather than a real death flag. But, yeah, 98% sure rudy will die.
- I'm pretty sure monsters don't turn to dust in this universe. It is being kept vague for a reason, And that reason might be that it is a plot twist for undertale players, or what happens when a monster dies here is REALLY important for the story.
- I'm pretty sure Asriel will finally arrive at the end of the story, I doubt he will be involved in the actual narrative and darkworlds. It wouldn't surprise me if the end of the game is asriel getting to talk with Kris for a bit.
- ALSO, Asriel is alive, I'm not sure there's a way for something like Asriel's death to be kept a secret from everyone in town.
- Megalovania will be in the game.
- Sans will never enter a dark world, unless at the end when everybody in town is in a dark world because of the roaring I guess lmao.
- Noelle might be presented as the "real" angel in a chapter, but the angel might turn out to be something else...
- B... Burger... P... P-Pizzapants WILL BE IN A DARK WORLD. There! I said it! Leave me alone!!!!!!!!!!!!
THAT'S IT, I'M DONE FOR THE NEXT 3 - 4 YEARS.
There, I said all I have to say, for now.
I doubt anyone will read this whole thing. But if you somehow did: Thank you. I love this game, and I'm so excited to see what's comming next.
As you can tell by now, I LOVE DELTARUNE, AND UNDERTALE. And like I said at the start, I made a game because of how much I like them. So it's no surprise someone like me made a whole thesis about what could happen in the future. I keep thinking about it, everyday. And sometimes, I feel like I overthink about it more than I should ...
I started Tales From The Other Side as a way to express my feelings towards the games that changed my life, and that includes both Undertale and Deltarune. In a way, the only thing I worry in regards to future Deltarune content, is that it might invalidate any excuse for my game has to exists. Toby Fox will make a game SO GOOD, any other quirky indie rpg will be useless, as he did everything there is to do in the genre.
But, in this blog I just kept going on and on about ideas I didn't like or just thought it would be unlikely or silly. When it comes to my personal taste, Toby Fox isn't the perfect writer. Nobody is. Only I can do what I want to see in this world. And that's beutiful, isn't it?
No matter what happens, what becomes true or not, Deltarune will be awesome. Like any art piece, what makes it interesting is to see the self expression of someone else that isn't you. Someone that can make awesome tunes, characters, and moments that stay with you for years to come.
More deltarune isn't the end, just the beginning.
It is also the beginning for 100 more years of Kris's gender discourse. THEY'RE NON BINARY, IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?!?!?!? THEY HAVE A NAME, BACKSTORY, AN PERSONALITY. THEY'RE THEIR OWN CHARACTER. BESIDES, NOBODY USES PRONOUNDS THAT AREN'T NEUTRAL WHEN REFFERING TO THEM. READ THE ROOM, GUYS!!!!!