u/I-am-Sharp

The cosmic conflict behind Deltarune. A four player chess match, where all of our favorite characters, and even the SOUL we’re playing as, are pawns on the board.

For further clarification, here's a more detailed description of the four factions, and how I discovered them.

Once that's done, we can start discussing their conflict with one another, and how the roles the other characters play in this.

HEAVEN

We'll start with Hometown’s religion, "Deltism", as there are some rather interesting details beside the fact that it was built around the Prophecy. For example, Asriel as a kid went to Father Alvin to confess to his sins, despite the absence of sin in the religion. Let me reiterate this. Unlike Christianity, sins in Deltism don't exist. Only crimes do. To say this is suspicious would be an understatement. No moral boundaries or guidelines, like there are in any other religion. No, just don’t break any laws, and be nice to each other.

Probably the reason why the very concept of sin is absent from the religion is because the most sinful things, like opening Dark Fountains were censored out by a certain faction over the centuries. If people forget these things exist, there will be no Fountains, which means no Knights, which means no one will pose a threat to the status quo.

Let's look at some further evidence of this:

Alvin said "We shall never know the pieces of the Prophecy lost to time."

Even with how little information we were given during the Chapter 4 sermon, it’s safe to assume that the Prophecy in the Light World is heavily simplified and somehow even more sanitized than Ralsei's abridged version was.

The sermon itself is revealing because of what it omits.

The hymn mentions nothing about:

- the Knight

- Hell

- the Roaring

- the Last Prophecy

Catty accidentally reinforces this. She remembers "Be nice to everyone." and "Anyone could become a hero." She doesn't remember the calamity, she literally fell asleep during that part. That's almost symbolic.

From this evidence, I deduced, there's indeed a faction out there that wants to keep the Lightners ignorant. Let's refer to this faction as "Heaven".

If Heaven has been editing the religion over centuries, then the only surviving moral lesson becomes "Be nice." rather than "Prepare for the end."

THE ANGEL

"BUT LO, ON HOPES AND DREAMS THEY SEND.

THREE HEROES AT THE WORLD'S END.

THEY'LL HEAR THE RING OF HEAVEN'S CALL.

THEY'LL SEE THE TAIL OF HELL TAKE CRAWL.

THE ANGEL, BANISHED, WILL

FINALLY MEET WITH ITS DESIRE."

In order to to talk about the Angel, I must first mention the Shadow Crystals. Let's see what Seam has to say about them:

"Kris, I suppose I owe you an explanation about all this. No, you no doubt have realized yourself by now...

The Shadow Crystals are far more than mere pieces of glass. In actuality, they contain a certain power.

You could call this the power of "will".

... no, perhaps "will" isn't right. The power they contain is...

The power of lost dreams.

When a strong attachment is formed... when a dream is gripped tightly... and then broken off. These... are the shards that remain."

The Chapter 4 egg room is wedged between two gold mines of lore. First, let’s take a look at the philosophers within the corridor, and what they have to say:

“What do you call a man with one eye?” “Why does the Angel make its cry?” “Who will call the girl who snows?” “I don’t know. Hahaha. I don’t know.”

All of these lines will be important in due time. Now, what I really wanted to talk about is the book on the shelf that says: “And so wept the fallen star, making rivers with its tears. Then slowly, from the bitter water, something grew. It looked like glass.”

Now, the Angel was a bit of an enigma in the first two Chapters, but in the recent Chapters we were given some much needed clues. “The Angel, banished, will finally meet with its desire.” or as the Japanese text says “The banished Angel will at last behold it’s hope.” Not gonna lie, that one gives a much more benevolent impression than the English one. This duality continues in the visual department as well. In all of the logos we’ve seen prior to these Chapters, the Angel had a round and angelic appearance, but now, we have the Mantle minigame as well as the windows of the Dark Sanctuary, where the design is jagged and demonic, giving the impression of a fallen angel like Lucifer.

So, what’s exactly going on here? We know that there are at least two sides in this conflict, Heaven is active and calling out for something, and I might as well throw Ralsei’s abridged Prophecy from Chapter 1 into the mix with this hidden gem of a line: “Only they can seal the Fountains, and banish the Angel’s Heaven”.

What do we get when we put this all together? Heaven belonged to the Angel at some point, but not anymore, because it’s now a fallen angel, and also the Prophecy says the Angel is banished, and the Heroes have to banish Heaven, not the Angel, while the Angel also gets its desire, its hope, whatever you want to call it. How does this make sense? Well, let’s consider this possibility: the Heroes have to banish Heaven, because the Angel wants Heaven gone. The old system, gone.

Let me paint a picture for you: In the beginning, the Earth was chaotic and filled with shadows. Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Angel was hovering over the waters. The Angel said “Let there be light”. And there was light. The Angel saw that light was good, and separated the light from the darkness.

After laying the groundwork, the Angel established the rules that govern this world, the course of nature, if you will. Connecting the Light and Dark worlds were the Fountains, Holy Fountains. Yeah, do you remember that the theme of the Fountains in the game’s soundtrack is called "THE HOLY"? Not only that, but they also have angel wings and star faces when they turn into Titans. This is why. The Fountains are made of darkness, and they are holy by nature, but catastrophic when they overflow. Continuing the game's water parallels, water is one of the primary components of life, you can bless it to make holy water, or the water itself can be considered a blessing, and people drown in floods.

In order to prevent the Titans from ever emerging, the Angel, master of order and chaos, built Heaven as a counterbalance to Hell, setting more rules in stone. No one can choose who they are in this world, everyone is assigned a role at birth by fate.

Later on, the Angel tried to change some of the rules, to idk, give Darkners more rights or something. Heaven didn’t like it, so it sealed the Angel away. But even in this state, the Angel wasn’t powerless. The fallen star started weeping, making rivers with its tears. Over time, the bitter water of those rivers became the glass panels of the Prophecy.

The Legend of Deltarune isn’t someone’s master plan. It’s a tale written by grief and desperation.

The Angel, being a prisoner, can no longer act. But it can still dream. And the Angel’s dreams are powerful ones indeed.

Until the Prophecy is fulfilled, Heaven remains in charge. It’s a kingdom that exiled its king, and all that remains is a rigid, uncaring system that resorted to censoring its own religion to keep itself safe. It relies on the ignorance of the Lightners, hoping that no one will be able to find the truth.

Also, remember how Ralsei said even if a panel breaks, it reappears somewhere else? This could also be read as him saying that even if you prevent a part of the Prophecy from happening, the world will auto-correct to make it happen anyway. In order for this to be possible, be Prophecy has to be vague enough, so certain events could happen multiple times over the ages, and multiple characters can fit the same role.

When Gerson said that stories can be retold, he wasn’t just referring to the adaptations of the Prophecy (those being Dragon Blazers and Lord of the Hammer), but also the Prophecy itself partially playing out over and over again. Not as a time loop, but by the Roaring being prevented each and every time across the centuries, and all the Dark Fountains being sealed. This is what I call Heaven’s failsafe, always resetting the Prophecy by getting rid of the Knight, the SOUL, and the Prince, while the heroes cease to be heroes of the Prophecy, passing their roles on to later generations. In the minds of the previous heroes, this failsafe was probably indistinguishable from just saving the world and restoring order.

And yes, what I’m saying is that this probably isn’t the first time Hell tried to exploit the Prophecy for its own gain, but at this point they learned how to play the game properly, as this Knight is exceptionally strong and smart. In fact, this may be the first Roaring Knight who ever existed. All the previous Knights were weak, dumb, and were eliminated before things could escalate.

HELL

It’s clear that these demons along with the Knight are working on something big, but they seemingly have no intention of stopping the Heroes. Whether it’s someone’s life on the line, or the Roaring being unleashed prematurely, they never throw anything at us that the SOUL couldn’t handle. If I had to guess, I’d say they want the Prophecy to play out in full, then interfere at the right moment when the preparations are complete, and all of the pawns are in the right place.

Let’s go over what we know about the demons of Hell so far. The first one is ERAM, who stole the Shadow Mantle.

Let’s take a look at his dialogue before the battle. First off, he makes a distinction between Kris and the SOUL, and he also seems to imply that our chaotic little gremlin has been looking for the Shadow Crystals before the game has even begun.

But the real kicker is what he says after we beat him, as he basically admits he was here to test Kris’s emotional state and violent impulses, and then flies off saying he has work to do.

Catti, Noelle and Kris all studied the occult at some point. I want to bring attention to this line of dialogue you can get from Susie: “You actually want to pay attention to this sermon? Jeez, look at you acting so holy. Come on, don't think I haven't heard the rumors. You know. When you and Catti were kids. Didn't you try to summon a demon? I'm surprised they even let you into the Church.”

Catti frequently uses ritual language, talking about other people’s traits, spells, vengeance oaths, etc. The game specifically brings attention to how seriously she takes the practice of the occult. So, the real question isn’t whether or not she and Kris summoned a demon. It’s “what responded?” It was ERAM.

Although, Catti herself wasn't there because (as she admitted in Chapter 5) she got cold feet and ran away.

It’s pretty obvious that Kris plays an important role of the demons’ plan, and not just as the cage holding the SOUL.

Both ERAM and FRIEND were actively watching us while we were playing the Mantle mini-game, and FRIEND's shadow cats also show up during the boss fight. I’m almost certain he has the cat/puppet twin elements, and not just because he’s a cat and also a master manipulator. Rather, these shadow cats are mere decoys, or remotely controlled minions, while the puppet master is somewhere else.

For now though, keep FRIEND in the back of your mind, because he'll be a lot more important once we start talking about the other characters.

Now, it’s time to talk about ICE-E…

“Who will call the girl who snows?”

Yeah, I haven’t forgotten about this line. The philosopher didn’t ask who will protect her or save her, but rather, who will CALL her? As if her magic will be cast on command.

There is a reason why I call this game’s Weird Route and the genocide route of Undertale evil routes. Because really, what is the Weird Route really about? Is it about regaining our agency and saving the world on our own terms? No, why would anyone think that? Is it the Prophecy’s intended way of playing out? No, why would Ralsei be so confused then? No, as Spamton correctly pointed out "I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU WOULD HAVE USED MY [Ring] FOR [Evil]... OH, [Right]. THAT'S WHY I SOLD IT TO YOU", this route was only ever about one thing. The freedom to do evil.

Now, I’m sure you’ve been wondering where the ThornRing came from. It’s from ICE-E, and I’m not just saying this because it’s connected to ice spells but also because of the pain scale in the hospital. "At zero, he’s happy. At ten, he’s happy and sweating." This, along with a couple of other clues tells us what this mascot truly is. Kris claiming that ICE-E is real and eats children. Noelle looking up if ICE-E is a cryptid. Her having constant blackouts and suppressing her trauma through forgetting. ICE-E doesn’t devour children literally, he drains away the life force of his victims. Taking the HP equals Hope theory into account, he’s literally feeding on their hopes and dreams. ICE-E is a demon, more specifically a wendigo.

At this point, I have to mention the Deltarune ARG with the now well-known question: “How long did it take her to smile?”

“Until she met Susie.” -> "Awww."

“She never did, as it wasn't her smile anymore." -> "This is where you're wrong.” The demons of Hell don’t possess, they manipulate. No matter which path you choose, Noelle’s smile is still HERS.

Then there's the question that dropped right before Chapter 5 released: "Where will it take place next?"

"The Festival" -> "That's what you want, isn't it?

Candy apples, square dancing...

That's what all of this was for!

...

Well, it was always going to be this way.

The only people that walk this path...

... are those who have their face so close to the road

they can't even see where they're going!

...

But, well.

If we're lucky, maybe there's a chance you'll still get lost along the way..."

"The Lake" -> "This is it. You only need to see her once. And you'll move on."

Where do we move on? And what does being "used up" mean, Toby? Is it meing mentally used up? Being exhausted and traumatized?

Or am I supposed to believe that both of them will just die and disappear now?

Or, perhaps, this means something else entirely...

An old self being left behind...

Like... baptism...

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but...

Notice how similar Jevil and Noelle’s language is.

"I AM INNOCENT, INNOCENT. I JUST WANTED TO PLAY A GAME, GAME. BUT THE BORING KINGS FOUND SUCH FUN TO BE A TROUBLE. AS PUNISHMENT, THEY CRAVED TO IMPRISON MY BODY. BUT I'M FAST, FAST, CLEVER, CLEVER. THEY LOST THE CHASE, AND LOCKED UP THEIR ENTIRE RACE, BUILDING A PRISON AROUND THE WHOLE WORLD. NOW I'M THE ONLY FREE ONE."

"That's why I want to do something crazy. That's why I want to break free." "They'll just keep marching down the same path... Without even thinking about where it goes!"

"I CAN DO ANYTHING!"

"If you tell me to, I can do anything."

Skipping directly into Chapter 7 is absurd. It isn't merely sequence breaking. It's reality breaking. That means the Weird Route isn't just changing events.

It's changing the game's own structure. That's much bigger than Snowgrave. Noelle's no longer just using stronger ice magic. She's interacting with the narrative itself.

We know from her blog posts that she has a fascination with the creepy and mysterious, and she's a certified glitch-hunter.

She instinctively searches for cracks in systems. That's why the demons of Hell took an interest in her.

She becomes the one who understands where reality breaks. The one who understands the rules well enough to violate them. The Grand Sorceress of Chaos.

THE DELTA WARS

Now that we have a better understanding of three major factions, let's look at some of the "pawns" in this game:

Jevil

One of the major revelations in the recent Chapters for me was the fact that King never actually met the Roaring Knight. He was just told about the Knight’s brilliance by Jevil. So, how did this guy become the Clown of Chaos anyway? He was a simple jester, entertaining the four kings with his jokes and dances, until he met a strange someone, who granted him a new perspective. From that point onward, he started treating the whole world like a game, embracing chaos and becoming the Knight’s Number 1 hype man. “The hand of the Knight is drifting forward. Soon, Hell’s Roar bubbles from the Depths.”

This is one of the few times Hell was explicitly mentioned. Jevil one of the few people who joined them voluntarily, even if his only role was to radicalize the Spade King.

But Jevil didn't gain a dream. He lost one. Before meeting "the strange someone", Jevil probably believed in friendship, the court, games, purpose, etc.

Then his worldview shattered. If reality is only a prison... those dreams become impossible. What's left? Chaos.

So, he shed a tear of joy, which became his Shadow Crystal.

Spamton

People seem to believe that Gaster was the one who drove Spamton insane, which is a little unfair given the fact that he contacted Spamton after the mysterious caller already left. This is like the prime suspect in a murder case being a guy who just stumbled upon the crime scene. Given the color of Spamton’s glasses, and the cat signs all over the Cyber City, the caller was most likely FRIEND. Fun fact, if you are playing on the evil route, the cats disappear, leaving only the colors.

Let’s go over Spamton’s history with the caller. He was an ordinary salesman down on his luck, when he found a helper on the other side of the phone, who elevated him into the big leagues and even landed him a deal with Mr Ant Tenna. However, the same caller cut the contact at the worst possible moment. This caused a falling out with Tenna, which ended their friendship, and ultimately lead to Spamton becoming completely broke. He also cursed Tenna and his whole crew, essentially blaming them for his downfall, except for Mike, the only staff member who was never mean to him (which isn’t much, considering that Mike is a giant microphone who can’t speak).

And NO, he wasn't talking about the three Mikes, the green Pippin specifically said they only started dressing up as Mike after Kris created the TV World.

Prior to his eviction from the Queen’s palace, Spamton was praying to a strange machine in the basement. To say that Spamton was dissatisfied with his circumstances was an understatement. He wanted to change his fate, to become something other than a puppet of the system that cast him out, and he saw this workout-ready, heaven piercing body as his ticket for ascension.

After all, the NEO body was fueled by a Lightner’s dream, surely this will get him what he wants. Right? No, even in his new body, he remained a Darkner, so he turned his attention to the SOUL residing within Kris. He desperately wanted to become a higher being, but he has no idea how to do it.

His dream of becoming a "BIG SHOT" was lost. This is how his Shadow Crystal was created. It didn’t come from the NEO body, it just looked that way because he was blowing his nose into the damn thing.

Then there's the Weird Route.

When Spamton confronts us as we’re about to seal the Fountain, it’s obvious that something has changed, as he doesn’t mention Heaven or the SOUL a single time. His ambitions shrank from "piercing Heaven" to just controlling a single Dark World. Well, you may remember that when we visit the basement in the normal route, there is someone else beside us. In that route, Spamton didn’t have the opportunity to meet FRIEND, as we triggered the Boss Fight right after putting him inside the NEO body. But on the evil route, he took his sweet time changing forms, so FRIEND could have talked to him and gave him further insight on Hell’s plans. Through this, Spamton realized there is another way to achieve his goal. Not by ascending, but corrupting what he can, and ruling over the chaos.

Although, I can’t help but notice how towards the end of the fight he becomes really annoyed and aggressive. Maybe because he’s starting to realize that for the demons of Hell, he became disposable. Perhaps his last line of dialogue ("is it cold in here or is it just me") doesn’t just refer to literal cold (as Noelle was about to finish him off), but also a sense of abandonment. At that moment, he was feeling the same loneliness and despair he felt when his mysterious caller stopped answering the phone. FRIEND has abandoned him yet again.

The Knight

"I’ve lost all sense of time.

How many days? How many hours?

If someone told me years had passed, I’d probably believe them…

Back then, the sun would rise…

So many wonderful things would happen, and time had meaning.

Breakfast… staying up late to watch TV…

Here…

I don’t eat or drink anymore.

I don’t even know if I’m awake or dreaming.

Or if I’m dead or alive.

There’s nothing but pitch-black silence.

…But I hear that sound.

A scratching sound I hear from time to time.

You might not believe me… and this voice might not reach anyone…

But every time I hear that sound, I feel like this voice is reaching someone.

To whoever is listening… if you can hear me… thank you."

"There’s only one thing.

That is memory.

Memories of my own life…

Maybe that’s all I am right now.

A collection of memories…

…

If that’s the case, there’s only one thing I can do… just not to forget… right?

“Don’t forget.”

I have to keep telling myself that…"

The unused dialogue in the game’s code was expanded with each Chapter. My guess is that this is a flashback. A memory of a girl who was trapped in a black void, unable to die and forced to think endlessly. She was just a regular teenager, she didn’t have any meditation techniques to protect her mind from the erosion, or her heart from sinking into despair.

Beyond a certain point, any voice, or any sound felt like salvation. And when she was already halfway gone, someone responded to her call. Someone who didn’t just want an obedient pawn out of this, but a champion who internalizes Hell’s ideology.

So, the girl started listening. She started learning. She started mimicking FRIEND’s laughter. In the meantime, her body was transformed, as she became something more than a Lightner. From her tears, a weapon was formed that felt like it was made from opaque glass. A blackened blade than can cut reality itself.

At some point, the world stopped making sense, but never did it completely not make sense to her either, as her final, bitter tear, containing her lost dream, became a Shadow Crystal. Swearing to hold on to her memories, she fused the crystal inside the Black Knife, as a memento from the moment when reality itself became her enemy.

Gerson

"What do you call a man with one eye?"

While I don’t have much to say about Gerson, he is rather unique as a secret boss. The reason why his Shadow Crystal exists is because he did a thorough research into the Prophecy and ultimately came in contact with forbidden knowledge, while he was writing his fantasy series, Lord of the Hammer, which was based on the Legend of Deltarune.

While each Chapter provides a little insight into the Prophecy, but what’s important is that he stopped while writing Chapter 6. And this is the key word. Stopped. “The story, it became so grand, so overwhelming, some say it swallowed up the author himself.” Well, it did and it didn’t at the same time. On one hand it swallowed his personal life, and he grew distant from his family. On the other hand, it didn’t consume his mind, considering that he’s still holding on to his sanity.

The reason why he’s still sane is because he realized he shouldn’t dig any further. At some point, there was a line he didn’t cross, a price he wasn’t willing to pay. He couldn’t write the ending of the story without losing himself in the process. Despite his efforts, his determination, he couldn’t finish his life’s work. So, he shed a tear of despair that turned into a piece of glass.

A piece of glass he didn’t notice. Years later, in the Dark Sanctuary, he said when he found the Shadow Crystal in his drawer, it looked like whoever put it there really wanted him to use it, and I guess that makes sense. Considering who the Roaring Knight is, they probably wanted to return it back to him.

Pink

The Mew Mew figurine isn't merely an object. It's effectively her body.

"Names... that's what everyone always thinks about.

But what defines you is...

your body, isn't it?"

She dismisses names. She says the body defines identity. That's exactly what someone who spent years bodiless would believe.

So, what was her broken dream? I think it was to find somewhere to belong.

She already lost a dream before entering the Flower Kingdom, that being to be accepted in the Light World.

Throughout Chapter 5 she discovers beauty, friendship, purpose, acceptance.

Then immediately after defeating her:

"I'll be graduating from here soon."

"I'm not just ready to leave my friends behind yet..."

Now she knows she's leaving this world as well. She's trying to enjoy the sunset while she still can.

"The sunset... It's breathtaking."

"Will it ever be this beautiful again?"

Sunsets traditionally symbolize endings. Not death necessarily, but the end of a beautiful day. Everything she talks about is temporary.

The Flower Kingdom. Her friendships. Her body. Her happiness. She knows all of it is about to disappear.

What awaits her in Castle Town is... uncertain.

Ralsei

"And there's one with like, ummm, horns?

He's honestly SO cute.

I mean, there, like, aren't any pictures, but like,

IDK why, I just imagine him, as, like, cute!"

- Catty Cattenheimer

It’s time to talk about everyone’s favorite fluffy boy, Ralsei. The Prince from the Darkness, also known as the horned prince. One thing we’ve all been wondering since Chapter 2 is what his Light World object could be… he doesn’t have a Light World object. At least, not something physical. Instead, he came from the town’s collective unconscious. I mean, Asriel is Hometown’s golden boy, so it makes perfect sense why they would imagine the Prince from the Prophecy to be just like him.

This leads to my next point: Ralsei and the Grand Fountain aren’t creations of Gaster, but rather, they are creations of the Angel, meant to aid the other heroes on their journey. As we move forward in time, Castle Town is slowly becoming a place of worship for the Angel. As we bring Darkners back here, the power of the Grand Fountain grows as a result, which in turn fuels the architecture. Architecture that honors the Angel, if we consider that the Castle has wings similar to the Delta Rune.

Back in the Light World we saw the Lightners worship Heaven through hymns and myths, and what’s happening here is admittedly a little different. Ralsei is building a community that offers comfort, and safety to the Darkners. He isn’t demanding faith from them, but he’s gathering followers for the Angel nonetheless.

Remember, the Prophecy leads us all the way to the Angel’s release, but then it has to deal with whatever awaits on the other side. As such, one of the Prince’s duties is ensuring that the demons of Hell don’t get the upper hand. For example, Hell wants Noelle to be the Second Hero due to her docile nature, fascination with the creepy and mysterious, her powerful ice magic, and glitch-huner talent, all of which they could exploit for their own gain. The Angel on the other hand wants Susie to be the Second Hero due to her brute strength, bravery, and unique resistance to demonic manipulation.

So, what’s Ralsei’s stance on Heaven’s failsafe which I already explained? Well, as the Angel's creation, Ralsei's purpose is to guide the Heroes towards the Last Prophecy, not the failsafe. He was hoping that being nice to everyone, recruiting enough followers for the Angel and growing Castle Town would somehow change the Last Prophecy, only to see his hopes shattered in Chapter 4, as it stayed the same.

Back in Chapter 3 though, he was still holding on to the failsafe as a backup plan. To preserve Heaven's order, all the Fountains must be sealed, and both the Knight and the Prince must be gone. And we know how little Ralsei values himself. In fact, he was ready to be banished along with the other Darkners, he made peace with the possibility that he will never see Kris and Susie again, if it meant the Last Prophecy would be delayed. Only to come face to face with an opponent who was way too strong and too smart to beat.

Then we get to Chapter 5, where we see Ralsei praying:

"Please... let everything be all right.

Please... have mercy on them..."

Those aren't generic words of hope. They're phrased as a petition to a higher power capable of granting mercy.

Then Flowery asks:

"Praying?"

And Ralsei confirms:

"Every chance I get, I pray."

The scene never names the recipient, but given Castle Town's increasingly Angel-centric symbolism (the church, Tasque Maanager as the priestess, the architecture resembling the Delta Rune, etc.), the Angel is the obvious candidate.

The interesting part is what Flowery attacks. He never argues that prayer is false. Instead, he questions its usefulness.

"How much you think your prayers help?"

Followed by:

"Maybe you already have everything you need.

Why not just put your faith in yourself?"

Ralsei's response to that is revealing:

"If I let myself go like you,

I could burn you down in an instant!"

Ralsei isn't weak, he's restraining himself, and he also explains why.

"Only because it would make everything worse."

He's terrified that acting outside the Prophecy, even for a good reason, could destabilize everything. He's choosing restraint over victory.

But Flowery suspects an ulterior motive:

"It's because you wanna see if I can win, right?

If I can stop you, and defy fate."

That would suggest Ralsei isn't merely afraid, he's curious, he's watching, testing. He wants to know whether fate can actually be broken, even though he doubts it.

"No one can do the impossible."

Flowery answers:

"Says the impossibility himself."

That line can be read on multiple levels. If Ralsei is simply an ordinary Darkner, it sounds like sarcasm. However, if Ralsei is an anomaly, as I assume he is, it becomes much heavier.

Flowery is essentially saying:

"You, of all people, shouldn't be telling me what's impossible."

For Ralsei, faith isn't certainty, it's necessity. He may have doubts. But without faith, his entire worldview collapses. And for the record, we know that Ralsei has access to fire magic.

"I could burn you down in an instant."

If Ralsei truly is much stronger than he usually lets on, then this scene quietly establishes that he's constantly holding himself back, not because he can't win fights, but because he believes winning the wrong way would lose the war.

This is also why I think, on the Weird Route, Ralsei could become the final boss. If Kris and Noelle abandon the Prophecy and side with Hell, Ralsei's reason for restraint disappears. From his perspective, the worst-case scenario has begun to unfold, and using his full power would no longer "make everything worse", it would become the last remaining way to oppose it.

Carol

Carol behaves as if she's preparing for something she doesn't fully understand. She knows the Knight kidnapped Undyne and Asgore, and given what she said over the phone "police... sacrifice... next week..." "church... tonight", she's not only preparing a sacrifice of sort for Monday in Chapter 6 (Chapter 5 takes place on Sunday), she also knew where the Dark Fountains emerge, and was planning accordingly.

Let’s just come out and say it: Carol is arrogant and delusional. As the mayor of Hometown, and the head of the Holiday family, she is used to people obeying her without question.

She believes that she can handle “supernatural nonsense”. She is convinced she can save Dess and turn things back to normal if she is the one in charge, but in reality, she is a useful idiot, someone who can be manipulated by the demons rather easily, and is too late to realize she's been playing right into their hands.

While the Weird Route is perferable for the demons, they'll be making their move soon enough. Once we get to Chapter 6, all the prep work Kris, Carol, and the Knight were doing will pay off.

Toriel

There's a lot of evidence suggesting Toriel knows more than she lets on. At the beginning of Chapter 4, the game draws attention to the fact that she refuses to call Carol by name, even after Rudy corrects her, hinting at the possibility that the two mothers had a falling out at some point. Also, checking her after the Knight fight results in different text based on the outcome. If you got your ass kicked, she’s sleeping peacefully, but if you managed to break a shard off the Black Knife, she’s having a nightmare.

But the actual smoking gun is a variable in the game’s code called “toriel”. This variable is set to true by default. However, if you hack the game and turn it off, it turns this monster in the Mantle mini game into a black deer. Keep in mind a Dark World reflects the will of its creator, and therefore the TV World reflects Kris’s psyche. In this same world, we saw on the doors that Toriel is the one setting parental locks, so this enemy, which most likely represents the Knight, turning from a deer into a generic monster is probably due to her reframing a traumatic memory. She was trying to keep Kris in the dark as a means of protection.

This puts her firmly within Heaven's alignment.

LAST PROPHECY

What was on the panel Susie broke? Well, let's look at an earlier panel first: "LOVE FINDS ITS WAY TO THE GIRL." Given that all Prophecy panels are written in all caps, this gives it a double meaning. We all know what "LOVE" stands for.

Also, the panel has the girl's sprite with a heart-shaped object (most likely the SOUL) in it.

Both Susie and Noelle can fit the girl's role, but that's not all. Susie, just like Noelle, has the power to break reality in some way. In Susie's case, she can break the rules of the game by either ignoring them, or find a workaround. Her magic also got all the more powerful, she now has a competent healing spell, as well as one that can Pacify multiple enemies at once.

The Angel wants a girl it cannot lose to Hell. One who cannot be corrupted by the demons.

My prediction is that the destroyed panel describes the final sacrifice required to complete the Prophecy.

Everything else in the Prophecy points toward increasingly specific roles, and Susie's reaction only makes sense if the missing line reveals the terrible cost of saving the world.

So, here's what I think the Last Prophecy is:

"THE LAST PROPHECY. THE STORY'S END.

AND THEN. WHEN ALL HOPE IS LOST FOR THE TALE

THE FINAL TRAGEDY UNVEILS.

TO SAVE THE WORLDS, THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY.

THE GIRL WILL SACRIFICE THOSE SHE LOVES, AND BECOME THE GRAND SORCERESS.

ONLY THEN, WILL THE WORLDS BE SAVED."

This is the end goal of the Prophecy.

The seal holding the Angel in its prison. Broken.

Heaven. Banished.

The demons of Hell. Beaten.

And things can begin anew.

Ironically, Susie is the least lawful person in the cast, yet she may become the ultimate defender of the world's law. The Grand Sorceress of Order.

GASTER

Before moving on to the man himself, I wanted to talk about the old song coming from the sea. From Onion’s dialogue in Chapter 2, we can work out a few important details: the song is ancient. It’s tied to the sea, not the lake. And the fact that Onion forgot, despite having heard the whole song, is suspicious.

Fast forward to Chapter 4, and Onion is nowhere to be found. What’s even more alarming is that the Gaster follower from the library shows up, and starts repeating the words "don’t" and wait "over" and over again. Now, it’s pretty obvious what this guy can or can't say is limited for some reason. It’s almost as if he’s trying to tell us to “Run as far away as you can.” but he just can’t find the right words.

And the fact that Susie can hear the song, and it sounds like it’s on the other side of the lake now, means that whatever is playing the song has crossed a certain barrier, and is now fast approaching.

Also, the Gaster follower made some fried dough balls out of Onion after they lost the fight with FRIEND. "Your life shall not be wasted. Thank you for your sacrifice, Onionsan."

But according to Susie, that didn't happen on the Weird Route for some reason.

I think it's important to take a look at the machine Gaster used to create the Vessel. It's called gonermaker, which does line up with the Vessel's sprite being monochrome. Now, goners do show up in Undertale a couple of times, but encountering them is a RARE occurrence, and even then, they usually vanish when you leave the room they’re in. They aren’t organic parts of the world, they’re more like errors that need correcting. One of them, Goner Kid, describes what being a goner feels like: “Have you ever thought of a world, where everything is the same, except you don't exist? And everything works perfectly without you. The thought terrifies me.”

It seems like goners exist outside of the established system. In Deltarune's case, having a vessel who isn't an ordinary human, but one that doesn't need to abide by the rules of the world would have been ideal for us. Then Heaven saw what he was trying to do, and was like: "Know your place, trash".

I don't know whether or not Gaster expected to be caught by Heaven. But he did. And now, everything works fine, with Kris keeping us on a leash and everything. Except the Vessel doesn't exist. However, if the Roaring ends up weakening Heaven's control, the Vessel, a being that exists and moves outside of the bounds of the Prophecy, will return.

Going back to Gaster himself, he seems to be taking a rather distant, hand-off approach. Regardless if we pursue the Weird Route or any other route, his goodbye message remains the same. The only different one is in a no achievements timeline, which also involves getting all of the eggs from the forgotten man. Even then, he’s more intrigued than annoyed.

Also, the SAVE system in Deltarune is noticeably different from the one in Undertale. The game has 3 SAVE slots, which means Gaster oversees at least 3 timelines at once, possibly more, maybe even all of them. It seems like he’s very much content as long as his ideal future is achieved in at least one world, so he doesn't really care if the plan blows up in his face in all the others.

After all, losing a couple of timelines to Hell would mean valuable data for him.

There’s a fanmade theme, The Lost Scientist, from all the way back in 2017, with a line that I think perfectly sums up Gaster’s character:

"WHATEVER THE CASE, I'M IN THE BUSINESS OF OBTAINING THE RESULTS. I AM A SCIENTIST."