One thing that Toby Fox’s previous game,Undertale, did incredibly well was leave the story rather open-ended, leading to tons of fan theories and speculation, even though the game was well and truly finished.
That makes for a perfect storm withDeltarune, a game released episodically over the span of years that appeals to that same crazy community, leading to some of the most speculation for any game ever.
In between the release of Chapter 2 and Chapters 3 and 4, tons of fan theories, ideas for how the story would go, and various headcanons all got thrown around, and we have even more stuff to chew on now.
I’ll be covering the mysteries that we have some key info on, whether they’re persistent ones from the previous chapters, or new things that the most recent chapters brought light to, and gave us quite a bit of info to theorize about.
8Who Is On The Phone?
Mystery Number
After feeling the need to explain that Darkners are objects in the real world in Chapter 3, I feel like Toby made the voice on the other end of Kris' phone a mystery, just to test the fanbase’s ability to extrapolate from context clues.
It’s almost definitely Carol Holiday instructing Kris to make dark fountains, sacrifice the police, and not forget their promise, as seen especially by Carol coming home early right after Kris tells the caller about Susie getting the guitar.
For even further evidence,the ending of the weird routesees Carol speaking to Kris on the phone, far more directly this time, with the voice in the dialogue being well and truly Carol’s voice.
This implies quite a few things, namely that Kris making the dark fountain at the end of Chapter 2 was likely a direct instruction from Carol, and also implies that they’re both working with the Knight.
7Who Is The Knight?
Cleaves Red By Blade
I think that it’s quite funny how different theorizing on the Knight’s identity is now compared to before Chapters 3 and 4, where previously anyone in the game was a candidate; there’s only a small handful of candidates that fit now.
Namely, the antlers on its head and association with Carol heavily imply it’s someone from the Holiday family, and unless you believe a sick old man or grumpy woman would be aura farming in the church, it’s likely December Holiday.
Quite a bit of evidence can point to this specific person, and most theories nowadays that claim it’s anyone else are more focused on trying to disprove the signs pointing to Dess instead of showing any real evidence that it isn’t her.
She’s been missing for so long, presumably was trapped in darkness for years, which could have given her the armor and sword made of pure darkness that we see in-game. Plus, her attitude lines up really well with what we see the Knight doing.
6Who Is W. D. Gaster?
Darker, Yet Darker
One of the only mysteries that persists from Undertale isjust who exactly W. D. Gaster is. We know he made the CORE in Undertale, before falling into his creation and being shattered across time and space, but that’s about all we know for certain.
That said, he describes something eerily similar to a Dark Fountain in Entry #17, is most definitely the voice in the intro to Deltarune, and general traces of him are plastered throughout the game. Describing all of them could take up an entire article on its own.
His purpose in the story is given quite a bit more detail through just a couple of scenes in the new chapters. Namely, he helps you out and lets you get back to the fight quicker if you try to beat the Knight, curious to see where this experiment will go.
This, and his intrigue at the end of Chapter 4, desiring to see “My Deltarune"come about sooner rather than later, shows he’s more of a cautious observer, watching everything we do, but he isn’t afraid to interfere if he feels it may be necessary.
5What Happened To Kris?
Well, There Is A Man Here
For the character we possess throughout the entire game, we probably know less about Kris than any other main character, though Chapters 3 and 4 gave us quite a hefty insight into what might have happened to them.
The Man behind the tree is most definitely a man from Kris' past, their mind obscuring his true form by either shrouding it in darkness or covering it up with a tree from the day their adventures with Susie and Ralsei started.
Wesee the egg room in Chapter 4, intimately describing a scene after the incident, of Kris going to art therapy, their hands moving uncontrollably, creating a mess of scribbles that eventually form into a still life of that tree.
The man may have been someone who tried to help Kris, going by his mysterious nature and desire to give them more clues into what happened in their past, and we know for a fact these two are connected, now.
4What Will Chapter 5’s Dark World Be?
The King’s Chariot
One of the most surprising parts of every chapter is how frequently the next chapter’s location is made pretty clear, first with the dog in the computer lab in Chapter 1, then Kris making the fountain in Chapter 2. Chapter 4 has given us plenty of hints.
Namely, the prophecies detail events from each chapter, and one of them is “The Flower Man, Trapped in Asylum”, which pretty obviously refers to Asgore and his currently closed flower shop, Flower King.
While there’s a chance the Dark World could still take place at the festival happening the same day,Gerson describes Chapter 5as “The Field of Pink and Gold”, which to me, can only refer to a field of flowers.
Therefore, it’s pretty much all but confirmed that the next chapter will have us exploring a flower-themed Dark World, meeting Asgore inside it, and attempting to help him escape from his asylum.
3What’s In The Shelter?
The Darkest World
At any point in time, we typically believed there were only a couple of fountains active; the one for the current chapter, and the main one that Castle Town is located by. But apparently, that has never been true.
Underneath our noses, the Shelter that has been making the same noise as Entry #17 but slowed by 666% contained a Dark World, and we can see the Knight run inside there with Undyne at the end of Chapter 3.
Additionally, we see Kris enter it just before the chapter’s conclusion, and we find out that there are a few symbols on the door: a pine tree, a police badge, and the Delta Rune, all of which seem to correspond to a character.
Given the Knight’s adamance about trying to abduct her, we can assume we’ll be able to visit the shelter and see what happens when Toriel, Undyne, and one of the Holidays come to visit in Chapter 6 or 7, as the Knight’s plans come to fruition.
2What Will The Shadow Crystals Do?
The Pure Crystal
One very important piece of information we got from Seam after ourclash with the Knight in Chapter 3is the knowledge that there are only 5 Shadow Crystals in total, and after that, we’ll likely fuse them into the PureCrystal.
We’ve only seen the PureCrystal referenced once, in the item fusion menu, showing that it creates the Twisted Sword when combined with the Weird Route-exclusive Thorn Ring, an item only Noelle currently possesses.
Given that the Black Shard that drops alongside the Shadow Crystal when Susie clashes with The Knight takes form as a weapon for Kris, it can be assumed that the Pure Crystal will also take form as some sort of weapon for Kris.
We know that, at the very least, the Shadow Crystals will likely be incredibly important to completing the Weird Route and getting the Twisted Sword, and will most likely make the main route far easier with the weapon they create.
1What Will Happen In The Weird Route?
One Final Clash
While predicting Deltarune’s story hasn’t gone particularly well for anyone in the past, I think it’s pretty laid out what is going to happen in the Weird Route, as Toby has pretty much laid all the thematic cards on the table.
To put it simply, the Weird Route is about taking control of the narrative that we aren’t supposed to have, a narrative that is usually only able to be controlled and changed by Susie, someone who cares deeply for Kris and Noelle.
Throughout the Weird Route, we take more and more control away from Kris and Noelle, while distancing ourselves even further from Susie, and it’s pretty set in stone now that the final conflict in this route will be against her.
As we take control of Noelle through the soul we implanted in her, we will likely be forced to pit her against her crush, and overcome Susie as the final obstacle to our path of complete narrative destruction.
