u/Medical_Somewhere372

EDIT: Okay i somehow didnt catch that the image said "Berdly" and not Ralsei. BUT there's still dialogue (that i show in the comments) where Seth genuinely DID get called that. Mb

Interesting how the character questioning their gender gets multiple comparisons to Ralsei.... hmm.......

I wish more people could apply "Toby knows what he's doing theory" when looking at the Tralsei theory, genuinely.

You don't just compare the character questioning what gender they are... to a character who already has so many trans comparisons.... WITHOUT at least having some trans readings be on your mind, when you decide to finalize this like Toby did.

Furthermore, it's pretty interesting how: as the chapters go on, Ralsei's "Dark _" titles start to get progressively less masculine as Ralsei grows more and more.

"Dark Prince"

then it's "Dark Hero" (which her role of the "hero" is still associated with the "Prince" role, to an extent)

Then we finally have "Dark Vine"
A title referring to Ralsei with they/them pronouns of all things, and a title associated with Ralsei's growth, that's been the least masculine-gendered "End of Chapter" title for Ralsei thus far.

So it's very, very interesting, how a title associated with growth for Ralsei, starts to use they/them pronouns for Ralsei out of all things.

And then this moment of growth where Ralsei is questioning who he is... in the most gender focused chapter thus far..... and she gets compared to Seth....... in the same chapter.......

All in all, if i didn't want my audience to think that a character was trans, i wouldn't compare them multiple times to a character literally questioning their gender

I'm starting to wonder if maybe Toby WANTS us to make a connection between Ralsei and starwalker, and this makes me realize that there are honestly more connections than people may initially think?

Something that's important to realize about Starwalker is the fact that he-- in all senses-- is just himself. He usually mentions being the "original Starwalker." He's a character who's confident in his own identity. He also ends up being in a polycule with Lanina and Elnino, which already ends up making him more related to queer stuff as well. (More so in general, but still queer related and indirectly shown that he's accepting).

Something interesting about Starwalker interrupting the Ralsei Princess dress scene, is the fact that Starwalker still lets Ralsei be in the dress. He takes the role of one of the "darlings" at the top of the climb, but him being here also does not give you the option to decide if Ralsei gets to be a princess or not. Ralsei already gets to be a princess, and they're pretty happy!

Then we have the Tropical Starwalker, who literally has the colors of the trans flag. (blue, pink, and white eyes). I find it extremely important to note them here, SPECIFICALLY because of their color scheme.

Not only does Ralsei get some association with Starwalker, a character who's already confident in their identity, but we also have a scene where Ralsei is encouraged to be more confident in who they are/what they want, and pick for themselves without worrying about others, the same scene where they get called a "Princess" with a capital "P", (which already references a previous princess scene that starwalker just so happens to be in), and a Blue and Pink drink is the one that Ralsei picks?? Especially when we already have a starwalker with this exact Blue and Pink color scheme????

Starwalker (especially if you buy into the "star sticker in the light world" theory), is essentially like a symbol of self-confidence. He IS the original starwalker, and nobody and no thing can take that away from him. He IS himself, and I find it to be pretty cool how Ralsei essentially gets associated with Starwalker, in a scene where Ralsei gets to be a princess, and even possibly a scene where Ralsei gets called a "Princess," and chooses a very trans-colored drink for themselves and nobody else.

Bonus: Starwalker gets put into a princess and/or darling role during the climbing minigame. Pretty cool. Not really important to this piece of evidence, I don't think, but it IS nice to note.

Chapter 5 is the FIRST Deltarune chapter to NOT use a male gendered title for Ralsei.

Like. genuinely, THE first chapter. This makes me think that the they/them in the Dark Vine title is deliberate, and not just some fluke that Toby Fox made or whatever.

Like, genuinely, it's just: "Prince, Prince, Prince, Prince, Prince..." for the first three chapters; hell, chapter one straight up uses "He/Him" for the "Prickly Prince" title.

Chapter 4 gives Ralsei a gender neutral "Dark Hero" title....but then he literally gets called a "Stool Boy" as another title.... not to mention the fact that his "Hero" role is associated with him being the "Prince" of the prophecy..... so it's still gendering him as male.

That's why Chapter 5 is such a huge outlier, and i wish that more Tralsei deniers would understand this. This is literally a first in the entire game where he DOESN'T have ANY male gendered title.

It's even more ironic because like, with the fact that Artemisia is a plant that has a history of specifically being a women's medicine, and the fact it's literally named after one of the primary Greek Goddesses of childbirth and nature and transitions.... meaning that since this title is literally one of the most woman-associated plants you could name Ralsei, it ironically ends up being a moment where Ralsei is arguably MORE femininely gendered in their Chapter 5 titles in total, than they are masculine-gendered.

And it's just so saddening to see how many people just go: "Well uhm, this title is just a mistake by Toby, im sure we'll get He/him ralsei titles in no time!!!!" When this is literally a significant and deliberate change made by Toby AND his literal dev team composing of multiple trans people.

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Stuff like this is also the reason why people trying to use the Japanese translation as a counter-argument just doesn't work. This is still the first time we don't get masculine gender titles for Ralsei at ALL in a chapter, meaning that a trans reading is still perfectly available to Japanese audiences, lmao.

Also like, i MIGHTT be posting here a bit too frequently, and im sorry if this is starting to get excessive or count as spam, but I genuinely gotta post this because these tralsei ""counter-arguments"" are driving me insane-

Anyways, for the last thing i wanna say: I find it really damn odd that people have thought to ONLY look at the pronoun scenes in Japanese, and nothing else in Japanese. So now im honestly curious as to what both of the Ralsei Princess scenes could possibly say in Japanese, and if they strengthen Tralsei arguments or not?

I'm sorry, but it's quite difficult for me to believe that the trans allegories were unintentional and that we're reading too much into things.... when this is the same game with lines like: "Non-men are A-Ok too."

This entire area is clearly about how Kris has been forced into masculine gender norms over the years (like being essentially stuck in Asriel's shadow so often), and especially the lines of dialogue here where they get told "you look rather big," and the the next line instantly jumps to asking if they've started working out, even though Kris never really expresses a want to do that, which just reads as if Kris is once again, being forced into masculine gender norms, with people assuming that they'd want to work out.

Combine this with the fact that Kris seems to be back in their light world clothes (the same green and yellow colors that Asriel wears), and that just ties even more into the fact that this room is associated with Kris being forced into Asriel's shadow, and being expected to be like Asriel (in a sense of male gender norms). Especially with how Kris literally gets told to "stop growing up," which is literally telling them to stop growing and to just remain the same as they were before.

All in all to say, this is such an explicit queer reading, that it's just genuinely so difficult for me to think that the trans-coded readings for Ralsei were just completely unintended, and that, "the curtains are just fucking blue," when this is the same game that goes THIS into detail with it's queer theming, regarding it's already trans/enby characters like Kris.

Genuinely curious as to what y'all think about this possibility.

I like the idea, given that it would be Ralsei being more offensive and learning how to stand their ground, that would directly correlate to them learning how to express their identity regardless of what others or the prophecy may think

One thing that's also interesting is how Ralsei using their hands typically gets shown as a form of expression for the character. Ralsei uses their hands front and center in order to use fire magic, and they also use their hands to emote during the princess dress scene.

Ralsei using their hands is seen as a form of self expression for the character, so it's really interesting to see how Ralsei standing their ground and using fire magic is essentially like expressing a deep part of who they are, and it's also wholesome to see how this moment was brought out for their desire to protect their friends :3

Does anyone else notice how incredibly gendered the actual prophecy is???

Genuinely, all of the heroes are incredibly restricted in their roles in some way. Susie is forced to be "The Girl"; Ralsei is forced to be "The Prince"; and Kris is quite literally forced to be seen as a Cage. "The Cage," being especially gendered, given that the Kris and the SOUL have parallels to Kris' queer identity as being enby, yet their body being restricted.

And while one could argue that Susie doesn't really restricted by having her role be "Girl" as counter-evidence, I'd honestly argue that this would be more of supporting evidence rather than counter evidence. Susie is honestly the most free in terms of her identity and expression of who she is, while Ralsei is currently still hiding parts of himself, and Kris still gets dysphoria and is literally having their body controlled by the SOUL. Hell, the prophecy even still does this to Susie to a degree, by literally stating that she HAS to wear ribbons, and trying to show Susie with a sword instead of an axe (which is also interesting as axes are considered to be a lot more masculine than swords; it's almost like the prophecy doesn't want her to be GNC....)

Looking at the restrictions like this, you start to notice just how extreme the prophecy is.
"You must stay in these gendered restrictions, or you're out of the tale." The prophecy wouldn't consider you to be one of the heroes anymore, and Ralsei (who lives by the prophecy) would fear that everything would fall apart.

What's even more interesting to me is the fact that when Ralsei first introduces the prophecy to us, he actively removes these gendered restrictions for Kris and Susie, yet decides to still keep those said restrictions for himself. Kris just gets to be a "Human," and Susie just gets to be a "Monster," but Ralsei HAS to be a "Prince." He could have easily placed his role as being a "Darkner," but he instead decided to force himself to be in the role of "The Prince."

It's not like the idea of being a princess doesn't mean anything to Ralsei either, as they seem to be quite afraid of expressing their desire to be a princess if others don't want them to. Showing that it clearly DOES mean so much more to them than just "only difference is how you present yourself" like Ralsei said. (If anything, it seemed much more likely that they were just starting coming to terms with the idea of genuinely being a princess and what that could mean, rather than not thinking much about it.)

When you think about it, Ralsei has essentially been assigned male at birth by the prophecy, being forced into the role of a prince since the start of their very existence.

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Analyzing the prophecy like this is honestly one of my favorite parts about this theory! (Besides the adorable transfem ralsei art). Especially given the fact that the prophecy is quite literally a religion in Hometown*.* The Tralsei theory is also just my favorite theory in all of Deltarune, due to the parallels it has with real life trans experiences that a lot of people who deny this theory often ignore.

I mean, just think about it if this theory were to be true:
A trans person being forced to live as their AGAB, because of a strict religion that also forces their enby friend to be restricted, and their GNC cis friend to not be GNC either? Said trans person also wants to break away from the religious restrictions placed on them desperately, but can't due to their fear of what horrible things could happen if they do?? And when seeing someone who isn't restricted by such religious burdens, someone who decides who they themselves get to be and what their identity is, not letting a religion decide for them, that trans person can't help but get envious at the freedom that unrestricted person has?????

Can't also forget about the fact that said trans person would be afraid to express themselves and their identity due to what others may think as well! (Princess Scene).

Deltarune genuinely has the potential to make one of the most beautiful stories about trans experiences. It genuinely saddens me how many outsiders to the theory don't bother to look into irl trans parallels that the theory has, and especially the already existing trans allegory/trans coding that is present within Ralsei (whether Toby's team intended it or not).

The prophecy being so gendered for everyone is also important, as it makes the trans ralsei theory means something for all three of the heroes in the fun gang. Everybody is tied down by SOME gendered expectations and roles, which also ties into my last point i want to make here.

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The prophecy affecting everyone is also one of the biggest reasons why I don't think that the prophecy will be JUST changed by Ralsei being a princess. What I think will truly happen is that:

By all the heroes being free of their restrictions, only THEN will the prophecy be able to change, or have the best chance to change. With Susie already being free in her expression, but also with Kris not being a cage (or at least, working with the SOUL in a similar fashion to Pink), and with Ralsei not having to be a prince.

Finally, tying this all back to the irl trans parallels is really cool! The idea that being that, The Fun Gang in Deltarune not having to be forced by cisnormative restrictions on gender, would directly tie into the idea of how, trans and GNC people not being forced into strict boxes by religion, and it's ultimately a really good thing to happen, seems like it could really be an amazing story for trans people. Trans Ralsei theory is quite honestly one of the best theories for Deltarune in terms of it's queer and progressive themes. Feminine boy Ralsei could technically work for this as well, but I really do find Trans Ralsei to really sell the idea the best, given that this would a case of a trans person actively being forced to not transition due to religion.

Trans Ralsei is just my favorite Deltarune theory ever, in terms of its themes :3