More Deltarune Thoughts (And Life Update)
6/22/2025
Once again, potential spoilers for Deltarune Chapters 3 and 4. But this post will mostly talk about Chapter 2.
First of all, a life update I guess since
I've only really posted about it on status.cafe:
I got the job at the elementary school! I turned my
2 weeks in at work today, so my last day will be the 6th
of next month. Just in time to go visit my sister for her birthday
the following weekend before I (hopefully) start. But I've got a lot of
homework to do before my start date can be set in stone.
Also, unfortunately, my car battery's shot. Did a stupid
last weekend and left it running without the engine on for
a little too long, and it's just gone kaput this weekend.
Had to jumpstart it this morning to get to work, and again
to get home. I should have just enough money in savings
to buy a new battery, hopefully I can get that tomorrow
before my next shift on Tuesday, but it kinda sucks because
I was saving up to get a Switch 2, and I'll have to start
from zero again most likely. But at least I had the forethought
to save anything at all, otherwise I'd be pretty damn fucked.
At least I'll be making a decent bit more at the school than
I am now, even if the hourly rate is a bit less than my current rate.
It'll be more hours, bearable hours that hopefully won't
leave me exhausted and in agony within a couple hours, and
it comes with plenty of benefits. So here's to getting my life
back on track.
But enough about me, let's talk about the other
Kris's adventures.
Or, well, this entry will mostly focus on the Holiday sisters.
See, I started (or really continued) another playthrough
starting from Chapter 1 almost immediately after finishing Chapter 4-
I wanted to get a continuous save ready for Chapter 5 next year, and
also just wanted a refresher- and after Berdly's... confession?
I just had some thoughts.
By now, we all know that Dess's full name is, in fact, December.
It was pretty obvious beforehand, but it's nice to have confirmation.
So during Berdly's monologue, seeing Noelle struggle to spell December,
it was already implied, but knowing it for sure brings a whole new weight
to it that was only really glossed over in that scene. But it also puts
another scene before that, when Noelle and Kris are solving puzzles in the city,
into a newer, bittersweet light.
It's the scene were you and Noelle are solving that long walking puzzle together,
where she starts to talk to you (or, really, to Kris) about Dess, about how Dess
always told her she'd bring her to the city, how she'd dried Noelle's tears
with Asriel's jacket after a scary movie. I don't think I noticed this in my first
playthrough of Chapter 2, but then again it's been years since then, but if you
pay more attention than I had back then, you'll realize that the word Noelle (and only
Noelle, you're only pressing blank forcefield switches) is spelling is... December.
I'm not even sure if she realized it, but given she never commented on it, she probably
didn't.
It just... I don't know how to describe the feeling it gives me in hindsight, kind of a bittersweet
melancholy, I guess? Not only is the game telling us Dess's name is December without telling us,
but it holds a lot of impactful symbolism for Noelle. The spelling bee Berdly talked about in his
monologue probably wasn't too long after Dess disappeared. Still grieving, it's only
understandable that Noelle shut down, and couldn't speak, when told to spell her
missing sister's name.
So in that earlier scene, when walking with her, opening up to her friend
just a bit about her sister... without realizing it, she's spelling her name.
I wouldn't classify it as "moving on" fully, but to me it symbolizes overcoming
her grief to the point that Dess's name is no longer such an emotional trigger for her.
And really, all of Chapter 2 is about Noelle overcoming her fears, and standing up for herself.
And that little scene oh so subtly builds on that theme, with or without us, the players,
realizing that.
But even though Noelle didn't notice, and I didn't notice at first... I think Kris
probably did. They tend to be pretty perceptive. They didn't say anything, but I'd like
to think that in that moment, they were at least a little proud of Noelle.
Little by little, she's regaining her strength. Queen was absolutely telling the
truth when she said that Noelle is strong. It's just that Noelle needs to realize
that for herself.
So... there's even more Deltarune rambling for y'all to enjoy. But one more
thing, while we're on the topic of Dess, the theory that's on everyone's lips:
Is Dess the Roaring Knight? I... can't really say for sure if I'm
fully convinced, but there is a little bit of evidence backing it up:
Dess is really the only character in the story that's unaccounted for, that we know of.
In addition, it's stated that she's an athlete, and when the Knight first draws their
sword in the Chapter 3 boss battle, the animation resembles swinging a bat.
There's also the antler-like horns, and the unexplained relation with Carol.
My iniitial theory, after Chapter 2's ending and long before 3 and 4 came out,
was that Kris was the Knight. I mean, we saw them create a Dark Fountain, didn't we?
But... it is stated by Queen that any Lightner can make one with enough Determination,
and we even see Susie do so in Chapter 4. It's also possible that that explanation
in Chapter 2 is how Kris learned to make a Dark Fountain... if it weren't for
one other thing.
Kris isn't the Knight, but they're seemingly working with the Knight,
and Carol. To what end, there's really no way to know right now. But I also want
to say that I don't think Kris is evil, even if they do turn out to be one of
the antagonists. I think they're... misguided? Manipulated, at worst.
Despite our control over them, they do seem to have fun on their Dark World adventures,
and who can blame them? They're a hero, they finally have friends, people that
(would) listen to them (if we weren't controlling everything they do and say)...
I think their motivation, if not to find Dess like I theorized in my last post,
is to just... keep adventuring. Keep having fun with their friends, keep
playing the role of heroic knight... or Moss Finder. And honestly, I couldn't
blame them. Their home life's pretty rocky, their parents don't seem to
understand them or notice that something's deeply wrong with them, the only
friend they really had before their adventures was Noelle, and the two had been
growing distant recently. They're probably 17 at the oldest, and what
teenager wouldn't wanna keep skipping school and an uneasy home life
for super cool fantasy adventures? Susie seems to be of the same mindset at
the end of Chapter 2.
Man... I said "one more thing" and then wrote a whole ass essay. After the
first whole ass essay I just wrote. Is it obvious that I'm seriously
hyperfixating on Deltarune lately?
But really, one more "one more thing," before I start getting
yelled at for TAKING TOO LONG:
I find the piano motif throughout Chapter 4, and the constant reminder that
the player notably can't play the piano, very, very interesting.
That's all. Until next rant.