r/JoniMitchell

They have always reminded me of each other.

Spoilers for all the game so far I think. But kinda mild

'River', one of Joni Mitchell's most famous songs and a classic piece of songwriting, is considered by some an anti Christmas song. I believe that the stories told within the Holiday family are, in some respect, inspired by or based on the themes of 'River', themselves being a sort of anti family at Christmas time.

The connections I will discuss consist of the following: escapism, water and ice motifs, Christmas and the holidays being out of place, illness, loss of romantic love and the loss of a child.

The songs first two verses, on the most explicit level, describes Mitchell's unhappiness in California, yearning to return home to Saskatchewan, a place where it actually snows, feeling more like Christmas. The line 'I wish I had a river I could skate away on' doubly describes her longing to escape, wanting to skate away but also yearning for the river to freeze over so that she could skate, as she spent her childhood Christmas time in. What lies beneath the surface of the text is that Mitchell spent a Christmas at 9 years old with Polio, unable to go outside. This links her inability to ice skate due to where her career and life has taken her as an adult to her inability to ice skate due to disease and being kept trapped in a hospital bed.

Many themes here are easy to link to the Holidays but, by themselves aren't sufficient proof. The most surface level connection is Christmas with no snow. The Holiday family is completely Christmas themed but it is not Christmas in town. They are out of place. The next connection here is with Rudy who is similarly stuck in Hospital, although not with Polio, and so cannot be at home with his daughter, in the holiday home (the place where Christmas is). The same point could be made more tangentially for Dess. She is in someway stuck elsewhere unable to return home whether stuck in the code or transformed into the roaring knight or whatever it may be. But we know in someway she is a 'lost girl' like how Joni Mitchell is far from her own home in the song. But, the most central character thematically is of course Noelle, the other 'lost girl' (even if there may be more). This is because of how central escapism or more accurately, escape, is to her character. She in line, with the other party members, uses the dark world as an escape from her own life, in chapter 2, whether on the weird route or not. Cybercity mirrors a city where Dess would say she would take Noelle, an area actually outside of Hometown. She is able to have unrestricted fun in parts of the chapter that she can't possibly have at home. As well, she reminisces her early childhood, with respect to Dess and having fun with Kris. However, she spends just as much time wanting escape from Cybercity, particularly from Queen. This double escapism, always missing other places, never satisfied where you are is a running theme in Deltarune, specifically with the Dark Worlds. The Dark Worlds can never be a proper refuge due to the danger of the fountains.

We get more in depth connections to Noelle in the Chorus, particularly with regards to the weird route. Granted I've not played the weird route but I know enough I think to make solid connections. Firstly, the yearning to freeze the river and liberate oneself in 'I wish I had a river I could skate away on' takes on another colour in view of Noelle's weird character. She yearns for the power she had in the dark world to return, her powers of ice, powers to freeze. Its these powers that give her the courage to try to escape Hometown in the weird route. The ice gives her determination to escape from the static she knows. Next, is the most connection that made me notice the thematic links in the first place, 'I would teach my feet to fly'. In the song, it is ambiguous whether fly means to actual start flying with your feet in reindeer fashion or flying as in to dance effortlessly and beautifully. Of course, it is the former interpretation that is relevant her, of relying only on your own body and will power (determination) to start to fly over a body of water, the river. Noelle, famously, at that lake, asserts her Kris/player given determination to grow wings and fly over the lake, a different body of water, to satisfy her own yearn for escape. In this way, the weird route seems like a very dark interpretation.

The chorus might also be the right time to discuss the water and ice motifs in general. For the dark worlds, the main object of escapism is the dark fountain. Its creation marks the creation of the dark world itself, allowing the the player, Kris and Susie to escape from the Light World (the real world) into it. It is also the entrance out, another escape. It's important that the liquid of the fountain is the vehicle, flowing delivering. In 'River', the river is also the vehicle of escape, another body of water. The difference between the yearned for frozen river and the existing liquid river is another important aspect. The difference in state marks a stark difference with interaction of the environment. The dark worlds are a kind of melted version of the light world, being practically the same location but a change of state, from light to dark, makes everything more fluid. I'm less certain on these connections as I don't think there's a chance Toby Fox was inspired to think of Light and Dark Worlds specifically because of Joni Mitchell but they are still relevant thematically.

At the end of both choruses we get a short line 'I made my baby cry' and 'I made my baby say goodbye'. On the surface, the baby seems to be about her boyfriend that she has broken up with and is causing her upset. But, if you know more about Joni Mitchell, you'd know that years later it was revealed that she gave birth to a daughter as a teenager she had to give up for adoption. Another song in the same album 'little green' is about this, its meaning conspicuous for year before it was leaked to the press. Like with the polio earlier, underneath the surface, also describes her yearning and lament for her lost daughter. This interpretation easily folds in with the Holidays. They of course have a missing or dead daughter in Dess. This is the first line that could be analysed as coming from Carol's perspective, besides 'singing songs of joy and peace'. While, Rudy must obviously be just as distraught, Carol's motivations in the story, as an antagonist, revolve around her reuniting with Dess. Its this yearning that makes her a worse mother to Noelle, although I'm sure she was plenty flawed beforehand.

The third and fourth verses explicitly describe the breakup. The third describes her boyfriend easing her more anxious or neurotic traits whereas the 4th describes those same traits making her a difficult lover, causing the break. All family members are in a stated relationship Carol and Rudy, Noelle and Susie and December and Asriel (ignoring Rudy and Asgore 💞). I think both Carol and Noelle could be described as being the more neurotic or 'selfish and sad' or 'hard to handle' in comparison to her husband/girlfriend whose way more laid back. We see Susie soothe and relax Noelle, make her less uptight, but not so much, for Noelle's, parents but its the only kind of relationship they could possibly have, in my mind, given their stark difference. It also seems like their relationship is falling apart in some way although we don't really see them together. But, it seems like a good guess that Carol's strictness and neuroticism is driving her apart from her ill husband. So far, we see no real train in Noelle and Susie's relationship. This theory is primarily thematic instead of predicting in game events or lore, but if the connection between the Holidays and this song is real, it could imply such a break. There's been discussion between a conflict between Susie and Noelle in Chapter 6, where Noelle wants to use the dark world to keep Rudy alive while Susie wants the dark world shut down from fear of the prophecy. If this were the case, it certainly would be a rupture due to Noelle being 'selfish and sad', reverting to the less cool, more sensitive version before properly bonding with Susie. Does Dess and Asriel's relationship reflect this too? Who knows. I would suspect if one of them were too neurotic for their relationship it would be Asriel, who is firmly not a Holiday.

There are a couple of more general connections to be made too. The first is aesthetic being the juxtaposition of gaudy Christmas aesthetics to melancholy. 'River' starts with the melody of Jingle Bells before the song begins, marking the setting of Christmas before describing her sadness. The Holiday house share this juxtaposition, covered in Christmas decorations but no joy to be found. The second connection is that Dess owns both a pair of Ice Skates and an acoustic guitar, two iconic objects of Mitchell's. Of course a piano would be more appropriate her given its a piano song but it is peculiar that Dess has an acoustic guitar in the first place when she's totally electric- feels like it marks a more melancholy aspect to her. And, I guess, Noelle shares her long blond hair with Joni Mitchell.

As a theory, I'm not sure how likely it is. Of course, a theory based only in themes is hard to prove as it can never come true. Second, there's no indication that Toby Fox has listened to Joni Mitchell at all let alone would he be a fan. He is, of course, a songwriter and Mitchell is beloved by songwriters. And being a songwriter, I think its entirely plausible that when crafting a Christmas themed family he had a listen to quite a few Christmas songs to draw inspiration from and 'River' being likely the most thoughtful Christmas song, left a big impression, ripe to draw emotional inspiration from. Toby Fox has very evident inspiration from his predecessors in his own medium, rpgs, as well as Homestuck, obviously, but, with the breadth of his influence, its definitely worthwhile to look further away, at music, film, books, for more connections that may not be clear to all fans. Deltarune deserves the care and attention to its thematic inspiration imo, even if you don't agree with my Joni Mitchell theory here.

In collation, the 'River' and the Holidays share problems with wanting to escape their current situation, whether its restriction inside Hometown and the game world or the hospital, the loss of family and breakdown of relationship or their weakness and emotional fragility. On top of these themes, they are connected by motifs of Christmas, melancholy, bodies of water and their change of state between solid and fluid.

So what do you think? Does this connection hold water or are Joni Mitchell's songs just so universal that you can find one to apply to just about anything? More importantly, do you feel any element of Deltarune can be linked back to a piece of media that you know more about than me or most people, given that its neither a game nor a webcomic?

Do go listen to 'River', its not very long and might connect you to Noelle closer :).

And, sorry if its confusing that Joni Mitchell's Blue cover photograph has been recoloured to Kris rather than Noelle as would be more apt. Joni Kritchell is funnier unfortunately. And Kris is the pianist.