Okay, so first, I need to go back to the end of Chapter 1. I played through that back in 2018, just thinking the game was basically all goofs and silly nonsense, without it really getting as serious or dark as Undertale did. A few moments, but mostly it was just goofs. That is, until the very end, when Kris wakes up in the middle of the night, rips what appeared to be their heart (or soul) from their body, and throws it into a birdcage. Kris pulls out a knife, there's a murderous red glint in their eye, and the Chapter ends. Cliffhanger to keep us waiting on for three years.

Chapter 2 picks up the next day, initially seeming like it was going to address that immediately, but it turned out to be a fake out. In terms of the direct narrative of the Chapter, this isn't addressed or seen until again, the very end. This time Susie has come over to Kris' house, and while she's helping Toriel bake a pie, Kris pulls the heart/soul out of their chest again, and jumps out the window. But they return, and they go watch a movie on TV with Susie, until everyone dozes off. Then again, in the middle of the night, Kris pulls it out again, and stabs the floor, creating the geyser of a dark fountain, just like the ones they and Susie closed in the two Chapters. Presumably also creating another dark world, but that will remain to be seen until Chapter 3 is out.

The obvious conclusion from the obvious narrative is that Kris is probably the one who has been creating these fountains. Reference had been made to a mysterious knight, one also referred to with they/them pronouns like Kris (shout out to canonical nonbinary characters). Not that Kris is the only NB person in the game (though I think they're the only one in the main cast), but that feels like too much of a coincidence, especially in a game where stuff like that NEVER ends up being coincidence. These things are either a set up for a joke later on, or something important to the capital P Plot.

So, knowing there was a three year gap between Chapters 1 and 2, and there likely will be a similar one before we get more (though I hope the writing on the Steam page means Chapters 3-5 might be released at once), and given the ending, I really wanted to know more. So, knowing I'm far from the only person who obsesses over things online, I turned to the Deltarune wiki, and did some reading. It did not take long before I realized I had missed something fairly crucial in my interpretation of what was going on in the game. At least assuming the fan interpretations are correct.

That being that you play as Kris, rather than what seems to be the case, which is that you actually play as the red heart/soul that is in turn controlling Kris' every action. Something I had neglected to even consider, but seems to be accepted as fact amongst the rest of the fanbase, is that isn't Kris' soul. But rather someone else's, who is for reasons unknown, possessing and controlling Kris. And, I think the most disturbing part, Kris is aware the entire time. Aware, and in some instances (particularly in the darker “Snowgrave” route, apparently) actively fighting against the choices and actions of the soul/player.

I'll be honest, this revelation...made me feel kinda bad. I don't think it's controversial to say the idea of possessing and controlling someone against their will is morally wrong. Especially in a game that seems to emphasize that you should try to spare enemies, and help others when you can, it just makes the fact that you have to control every aspect of another living being's life feel...bad. I'd like to think that personally I didn't make Kris do anything they would regret, because I always spare enemies, help others, etc... But then I have to remind myself that I also make Kris do the stupidest things imaginable.

Like eating moss.

Repeatedly.

I just think them and Susie enjoying eating moss is a really funny recurring gag, okay! When characters talk about Kris' past (presumably prior to their possession), and all the dumb pranks Kris would pull on Noelle, or other things people talk about, it makes me think that eating moss when stuck in a jail cell for three minutes is something they would have done on their own. And that they'd keep doing it after learning that Susie likes moss too. Never mind that Susie likes to eat chalk recreationally.

The idea of Kris just being a puppet also immediately put another part of Chapter 2 into a different light. That being the arc of Spamton. He is spam emails incarnate, at first just a boss in the middle of the Chapter with some funny dialog about being a [[BIG SHOT]], and [HYPERLINK BLOCKED]. He's a salesman trying to get Kris to agree to a deal, a deal that clearly no one should make, but the only way to get past him non-lethally is to ultimately agree to the deal. And once Kris does, or rather you do, Spamton slinks away, and Kris continues along their journey.

I bet for a fair number of people, that may have been the last time they encountered Spamton. In terms of the main narrative, that is the last time he appears, aside from the aforementioned Snowgrave route (a darker route that apparently involves forcing Noelle to kill a lot of enemies with ice magic). But, do a bit of exploring like I did, and Spamton can be found operating a shop in the junk area near his initial appearance. Aside from selling equipment that looks like it have game breaking stats until you leave his shop, he has another proposition for you. Find an item in a secret room in the basement of the Queen's mansion, and bring it back to him.

It was clear that this wasn't part of the main story, so obviously I had to prioritize it while working my way through the mansion, because I love doing side quests. After finding the room in question, Kris told Susie and Ralsei to wait outside while they went in to find the item. At this point I was wavering between wondering if this was all setup for a big joke, or something dark, and you'd think this area being the creepiest most menacing place in the game so far would tip me in one direction, but I still thought it might ultimately be a gag.

Anyway, after finding a data disc in a dead automaton, I brought it back to Spamton, and he uploaded himself to it, with the instructions to put the disc back where it came from. So I went back, Susie and Ralsei again waiting outside the creepy sub-basement, and loaded the disc back in. Nothing happened at first, but then...

The [[BIG SHOT]] returned, taller and grander than ever, his aspiration of reaching to [H E A V E N] seemingly within grasp. But, still to his dismay, a puppet at the end of strings, with only the soul in Kris' body as his new goal. From there Susie and Ralsei save Kris from immediately getting killed, and thus starts the Spamton NEO fight. This was by far the hardest fight I'd encountered so far in Deltarune (though having gone back now, I think the optional Jevil fight I missed the first time in Chapter 1 is actually harder), and also the most unsettling. Even without the idea in my head that Kris was also just a puppet, it felt like there was something else, something even darker and worse behind the scenes during this fight.

After the fight, Susie stops Kris and asks them if they're okay, as they seem visibly shaken in a way they hadn't been before. Now, normally I'm the sort of person that if people ask how I'm doing, or if I'm okay, I just “stretch the truth,” and say “fine,” or lie and say “yes,” even when I'm clearly not. But here, “No” felt like the right option, so I picked that, and though Kris' exact dialog is never seen (certainly an interesting choice), the others seemed real worried that Kris was screaming in a way they hadn't before. Or at least Susie was, Ralsei was a bit too quick to want to just move on, and pretend what just happened didn't mean anything at all.

From what I've read, picking “Yes” makes Kris sound strained, which I would have thought just meant they were trying to conceal how they felt. The fanbase online, though thinks it means it was another case of wanting to fight against the player's control, but I'd say either version is plausible.

I don't quite know how to feel honestly, other than that feeling of not being in control of your own life...it's pretty relatable. Even just on a more immediate basis, I have to fight against myself to get basic things done sometimes, or especially doing anything outside my comfort zone. And even more specifically, as an NB person (like Kris is) with a chronic illness, I certainly know what it's like to feel like I have no control over my body. Not that I think Deltarune (thus far) has anything to do with illness (aside from Noelle's dad), but still. Finishing Chapter 2 on my birthday, of all days, and reading up on these fan theories, it put me in a bit of, not quite an existential crisis head space, but it certainly got me thinking about a lot of things that are maybe on the wrong side of depressing.

Addendum: Thinking about it even more after writing this blog, and I realized something a bit before I was going to post it. Not only are there so many parallels between Kris and Spamton being puppets, but also... If you choose to spare Spamton, you need to cut all the strings controlling him. Using your power to control a puppet and make them cut another puppet's strings... Forcing Kris to give Spamton his freedom (even if that ended up being an empty dream) while denying it to Kris... Just twist the knife while you're at it, Toby.

At least it gave me plenty to chew on regarding the game, and theorizing about what's going on. I don't want anyone reading this to think it had an overall negative affect on me, I still love it. It just gave me a lot more to think about than I expected it would, even if a fair amount of it is still in fan theory territory. Plus it's been a good while since I've had something that let me go into this wild theorizing state of mind, and even if the theories get dark and depressing, it's still kinda fun to think about.

Maybe, ultimately Deltarune is just a big metaphor for life, and how it's so hard to ever feel like anything we do, anything we choose to do has any impact at all. Or the reverse, more uplifting theme (which feels in line with Undertale's pacifist ending), which is that having enough Determination, and enough friends to help along the way, can ultimately help you overcome almost any obstacle.

More directly to the plot though...I can't help but wonder why this soul is possessing Kris in the first place? If it's not Kris' original soul, then what happened to that one? If this new soul is controlling Kris against their will, how come they can just rip it out? And why put it back in (they do seem to struggle to move without the soul)? Why are they creating new dark worlds? Considering the (mostly) fun adventures they go on, the new friends they meet, I could see an argument to be made for the creation of more dark worlds ultimately being a good thing. Or Kris viewing it that way, as these games wouldn't exist without them. Assuming they get closed before Ralsei's warning about titans comes true (though would this really be a video game if such a warning didn't come true and have to be overcome?).

Conversely, there's nothing good to be seen about slashing Toriel's tires, which makes me think that whether it's Kris themselves, or another force manipulating or possessing them, there is something malevolent going on. Unless the idea was to prevent Toriel from driving Susie home, but the town is small enough that Susie could easily walk, so I don't think that makes a ton of sense.

A thought I had, with nothing to back it up, is maybe the soul is Asriel, trying to look after his younger sibling while at college. Or maybe Kris sent their soul to watch after Asriel? I dunno, but wanting Asriel to return from college seems to be the most important thing to them, outside of the immediate adventures with Susie and Ralsei.

Speaking of, I'm more convinced than ever that Ralsei being a direct anagram of Asriel has to be important. Aside from Deltarune being an anagram of Undertale, there's no other direct anagram names in there. Kris is almost an anagram of Frisk, but missing that F. Also, Ralsei's the only goat person outside the Dreemurr family, which again, can't be coincidence.

Maybe when Kris started creating the dark worlds, they created Ralsei to try to fill the hole in their life that Asriel left when he went to college. That's certainly a more pleasant theory than the one that Ralsei is bad, actually. But even if Ralsei ends up having some ulterior motive, the whole point of these games is finding ways to make people stop fighting without hurting them, so it's not like Kris and Susie are going to kill him or anything. The most that will happen is he leaves the party for a while, like Susie did in Chapter 1 when she was goofing around with Lancer.

At least outside whatever dark alternate path is waiting in future chapters, because I'm sure there will be something horrible people can do. I'm happy to never do any of that, and only read about it in passing after the fact.

Okay, last thing. My main hope for the future of Deltarune is that if Kris is indeed being possessed by a soul other than their own, that when all is said and done, there's some sort of amicable understanding between them. That even if what the soul (us, the players) did was wrong in possessing Kris, that we at least did it to try to do some good, and part ways on good terms. Maybe with the soul getting into that “discarded” character created at the start of Chapter 1, and Kris getting their original soul back.

Maybe it'll make those lyrics over the credits, “Don't forget, I'm with you in the dark” feel reassuring, rather than menacing like they do now.