A Theory About Why Chapter 1+2’s Dark Fountains Were Made
I was watching “Potentially Important Details in Chapters 3 & 4 of Deltarune” by KazooCat_, and it occurred to me that many people might not be sure why the First two Dark Fountains were created, which checks out, the game hasn’t given us a direct answer to the question yet! Most people, including myself, are sure that 3+4’s were both made so The Knight can kidnap people who have the Shelter codes, so then why were the first two created? They must’ve had a reason, and that reason is clearly not The Roaring, as they could’ve done that right away in Chapter 1. My theory is that we already know why the first two dark Fountains were created, and that it’s the same reason as the other Chapters, specifically Chapter 3’s: To Kidnap Undyne.
With this theory the first 3 chapters were 3 separate attempts to kidnap Undyne, with Chapter 3 being a quick attempt to fix the failure of the plan that then spanned 2 days and 2 Dark Fountains.
- In Chapter 1, the plan is that Kris, and another student, go into the supply closet to get the missing chalk (likely moved by Kris or The Knight themselves earlier), deal with the Card Castle Dark Fountain, then the other student and Kris will tell Officer Undyne, who will then investigate the Supply Closet, only to be ambushed by The Knight. However, the student that goes with Kris is Susie, and she both isn’t sure if it was real at the end of Chapter 1, and wants to keep it a secret between herself and Kris. However, if you go to Undyne in Chapter 1, Kris allows you to tell Undyne everything about the Dark World, including that it’s in The School’s Supply Closet; something that’s interesting as after the next 3 chapters, we know that if it’s something Kris didn’t want to say, they’d try to avoid saying it, but they don’t, Undyne is even the only person we’re allowed to tell about the Dark World.
- In Chapter 2, the second attempt is chosen to be at the Librarby’s Computer Lab, either because it’d be a good spot for anyone to accidentally stumble into the Dark World, and report it to Undyne (as we know in Chapter 4, making Dark Fountains isn’t something that The Knight is trying to do in secret), or because on that day, Officer Undyne was right outside The Librarby, dealing with a Traffic Jam, thus, making it easy for someone to tell Undyne about it, or if she herself to stumble into it, then, The Knight can hide away in the Computer Lab’s closet, leading to another potential ambush, or hiding spot, much like how I believe the closet in the Church is being used in Chapter 4, since Kris didn’t let us open it. However, the only people to enter the Dark Fountain are Berdley, Noelle, Kris, and Susie, the first two are convinced by Susie that it was a dream, Susie still wants the Drak Worlds to be a secret for herself and Kris, and once again, Kris, only if you choose to talk to Undyne, will try and tell the truth about Dark Worlds, only to be not taken seriously again.
- After two failures, The Knight or Carol or whoever is on the mysterious phone call, plots with Kris to quickly make a Dark Fountain that will ensure Undyne will show up, leading to Kris slashing Toriel’s tires, Toriel calling the police, Kris leaving the door open, and the creation of Chapter 3’s TV World, which we know was just Tenna and Kris stalling for The Knight. But, when The Knight got there, Undyne still hadn’t arrived, leading to The Knight acting like they were going to abduct Toriel, to once again stall, hence why later, even when the Fun Gang are all swooned, The Knight doesn’t just fly over and grab Toriel, only doing the super-slow hand-suck thing. And finally, Undyne arrives, and The Knight wastes no time in finally kidnapping her, and taking her to the Shelter.
TL;DR: I believe that The Dark Words in Chapters 1 and 2 were 2 attempts to kidnap Undyne, each by planning on having kids get sucked into Dark Worlds, leave, go to Undyne, and when Undyne goes to investigate, The Knight ambushes her and kidnaps her, but when that plan is accidentally thwarted by Susie twice, Kris has to quickly manufacture a situation where the Knight can 100% succeed in kidnapping Undyne, resulting in the Chapter 3 Dark World.
This is the first real Deltarune theory I’ve tried my hardest to come up with, research, and just think about in general, so I hope it makes sense and everyone who reads it likes it! Ask me any questions, I’d love to continue thinking about any implications or potential holes my theory has!