WMG / Deltarune Other

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Deltarune is an Alternate Universe to Undertale.

Hinted at several times, from Alphys and Undyne not knowing each other to Asriel being alive and attending college.

• Chara's presence seems to make this more plausible; their exact language in the Genocide ending is "Let us erase this pointless world, and move on to the next." This universe could be that 'next world'.
• Is this even WMG? It's very obvious that there are glaring discrepancies between the current state of things and the canon ending of the game, most notably the fact that Asriel is alive and apparently never died. The only possible explanation is an alternate timeline of some kind…
• Are we talking alternate timeline or alternate universe? Because there’s a clear difference there.
• Explain that difference?
• An alternate timeline would be like the difference between a pacifist run and a genocide run. They both take place in the same universe, but different actions made things turn out differently. An alternate universe would mean this game takes place separately from the Undertale verse and both coexist at once. Someone like Chara may be able to cross between universes, but both stories exist at the same time, independent of each other.
• Confirmed by Toby Fox himself in this article; http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqn3p9
• There's still the case where the whole Deltarune world is a world Chara creates after destroying the original one in Undertale's Genocide run. It'd make sense, as we already know they can somehow "create" a new world at the cost of Frisk's soul to let the player play again, and it'd explain why Asriel is still alive and they live with Toriel in the outside world, together with all the monsters. They had the power to create a world to their liking, with no humans around other than themself and those they loved still alive and safe. And nothing outside of their control, at least, until the player showed up again…
  • …If you consider Asgore being on the verge of homelessness, unable to eat, and alienated from his children "alive and safe".
  • Isn't Chara the one who laughed at Asgore getting poisoned by buttercups? Plus, the in-game descripton of Asgore's shop is pretty merciless, as well as the comment upon throwing away his flowers. Chara probably doesn't like Asgore that much, if they don't actually see him as a rival for Toriel's and Asriel's love and affection.

Related to above Deltarune is an Alternate Universe where in the Monsters won the war.

Of course, to do so, they committed genocide. The humans wouldn't have been as easily trapped thanks to Determination, so the only option was to simply... kill them all, leaving nobody to threaten monsterkind. Kris is the only known human alive, at least anywhere near where the game takes place. Everyone is under the impression that Kris doesn't know the history of what happened or anything about humans besides that they're slightly different from monsters, and nobody is in a hurry to tell the whole story. But Kris figured it out ages ago which is the cause of the mental problems plaguing them, due to unremitted abject fear of being killed, as well as the desire to excise the red soul.

Deltarune is a Stealth Prequel to Undertale.

It'll probably somehow end with a Time Crash brought about by Gaster, or some Suspiciously Similar Substitute, with whatever's left becoming the Undertale timeline.

• This would explain both characters like Alphys and Undyne not knowing each other (yet). It would also explain why Kris's story feels so similar to the story of the first fallen human Chara. Ralsei, btw, is an anagram for Asriel, so it's possible this is an alternate universe flashback, in which case the theory directly above this also applies.
  • Fridge logic also tells us roughly the latter part of this story, from filling in the gaps. As Kris actively tries to destroy his own soul at the end of Chapter 1, Chapter 2 will basically be like a genocide route. By Chpater 3, my prediction is that the reason Asriel and Chara are sharing a body in the story of Asriel's past, and the reason Susie doesn't show up in Undertale is that she stops Kris. Which would make it an alt-universe prequel, since Chara originally died from buttercup poisoning.

Deltarun is the world above Undertale.

That is to say it is to Undertale what reality is to a game like Halo. In the world of Deltarune all that exists of Undertale is a game that Asriel never finished before going off to college and the seeming references back to it are just bits he based off of people he knew in real life or pieces of his art left behind. For example Spamton Neo is based off of design work Asriel was doing on the liberary computers before he gave up on the concept hence why it's down in all the other corrupted or deleted files and unable to run on its own.

Except... for Sans. Sans recent arrival after Asriel left suggests that in his work creating the game Undertale Asriel made something real, something he never completed but which never the less exists. Due to either magic or the dark fountains Sans and the influence of Gastor are pieces of what he did create leaking through into reality.

Deltarune takes place in a timeline where monsters were never trapped underground, or the war between humans and monsters never happened.

Either it's an alternate timeline proper, or Gaster (or another party) retconned the war out of existence, replacing it with the war between Dark and Light. It's why everything seems to be the same, but things that happened in Undertale proper don't seem to be present, such as Undyne and Alphys' relationship.

The Pacifist Ending will be the bad ending.

The game seems to be pushing players heavily towards pacifism, with Ralsei explicitly telling Kris and Susie not to fight at multiple points throughout the game. Just retreading Undertale's ground seems… odd for such a subversive game, so perhaps this follow-up will subvert that idea from the first game? Perhaps one of the "neutral" endings will be this game's good ending, based on the idea that sometimes, violence is necessary.

• Jossed, at least for Chapter 1. There's no way to kill anyone outside when Susie does in a cutscene.
  • Apparently, you can make the ending slightly different by attacking everything (possible, some bosses will not allow). The differences are relatively minor, the game right from when you try to name the character, enforces powerlessness. Also, Toby has apparently been on record saying this game will have only one ending.

"Take care of your hands."

In this game, the recurring theme is that your choices don't matter. But, since Deltarune is about subverting expectations, perhaps the message is to make your own choices in spite of how bad the odds may be. Now, as for what "Take care of your hands." means, this troper is reminded of how one of the many lessons/discussions in End of Evangelion was that you have hands for a reason — so you can make your own decisions and act on them.

• Alternatively, it means a more cynical message — don't hurt your hands by putting effort into a lost cause.
• Although this might be a reminder to keep your hands healthy. Toby Fox can't play the piano anymore as constant playing as led to him acquiring carpal tunnel syndrome.
• It could also be a nod to spr_mysteryman, the likely appearance of W.D. Gaster — who has holes punched into the palms of his hands.

Megalovania will pop out at some point in the game

Would it be a Toby Fox project if that didn't happen? If not the song itself, at least it's melody might be hidden into another part of soundtrack…

There will be one superboss in each Chapter of the Game

Seeing as how there is no Genocide Route, Toby will probably want to include a very difficult fight in each chapter. It would be an easy way to include incredibly difficult bosses.

• Seems to have been confirmed by Chapter 2.

The Dark Kingdom was inspired by Magicant and its role in the plot will reflect this

So far, both games have shared the following setup:

The protagonist, under circumstances that don't quite follow any sort of obvious logic, finds themself in a fantastical, completely otherworldly place that doesn't quite seem real, but still seems to have deep significance nonetheless. The centerpiece of this world a figure of royalty that looks like and has a similar, but not identical, name to somebody in the protagonist's family, but again the relation between the two is not clear at first. As the adventure continues, the protagonist moves in and out of this world accompanied by friends, all without any obvious connection between each world as the plot progresses. The player is just supposed to accept the existence of this world as it stands, parallel to the mostly-mundane one the protagonist originated from until the game reveals how the two are connected.

Given the fact that these games are very openly inspired by the Mother series, this would be a perfect fit.

• Alternatively, instead of (or in addition to) Magicant, perhaps it was inspired by Moonside. In EarthBound, after you complete your goals in Moonside (i.e. destroying the Mani Mani statue), you "wake up" in the back room of Jackie's Cafe, in which you apparently had been aimlessly wandering the entire time, similar to how you return to the storeroom at the end of Deltarune.

Toby wasn't lying about there only being one ending, however...

He was using Exact Words. The exact ending sequence will always be the same no matter what, but the context surrounding that sequence will make it a different sort of ending using the power of the Kuleshov Effect. As a hypothetical example, let's say that the ending sequence will always involve the Angel's Heaven successfully being prevented by the heroes. However, in one storyline, the Angel has a Heel–Face Turn and the "heaven" that they plan goes from a bad to good thing, but because You Can't Fight Fate, the heroes must prevent it anyway, resulting in a bad ending. In another storyline, the Angel never has any such change of heart and their "heaven" remains a negative thing that the heroes want to prevent, making the ending bittersweet because even though the world was saved, the Angel never became a better person when we know they had the potential to. Again, these are only hypothetical, but I hope they illustrated the point; knowing Toby, I feel like he would do something like this.

• It could also be that a "bad" ending ends in a Hopeless Boss Fight you wouldn't have normally, interrupting the normal sequence of events; you can't actually finish the game until the True Ending.

The game's stance on 'your choices don't matter' and Toby's statement that 'your actions can't change the ending' are both cases of Metaphorically True.

While the outcomes may be the same, whether or not they'll be presented on a high or low note will depend on the player's actions.

• Depending on whether the player took a violent or non-violent approach to dealing with enemies, although the player can't kill them, it does result in two different outcomes, with the monsters becoming restless and Kris and Susie having to leave the Dark World for their own safety in the former, or Lancer overthrowing his father with his subjects support with the latter, allowing the two to part from the Dark World on good terms. There are also smaller things that change. Depending on whether or not you handle the superboss violently or non-violently, you either get a weapon or an armor, respectively.
  • Seemingly confirmed as of chapter 2 and the Snowgrave route. Your choices don't matter... but the choices you manipulate others into do.
• So, while the outcomes may ultimately be the same, how they're presented will depend on if the party is violent or non-violent. Of course, given The Stinger, there's a high chance that whatever's possessing Kris will undo all the efforts of the party the previous day. However, how the party deals with it will be presented in a high or low note depending on how things are played out.
  • Likely Jossed by Chapter 2, as the efforts of a SOUL-less Kris do not undo or determine whatever happened in either of Chapter 1 and 2's epilogues.
• As for the Queen, Jevil says “hell's roar bubbles from the depths” and Chara describes themself in Undertale as “the demon that comes when people call its name.” In Undertale, either Asriel or Chara filled the role of the angel depending on which route the player took. Assuming that Chara is the angel in the prophecy within Deltarune, this could mean that the Queen’s plan revolves around trying to resurrect Chara within Kris’ body, or the Queen herself could be a vessel for Chara.
  • Outright Jossed with the Queen being Chapter 2's antagonist.

Deltarune originally had nothing to do with Undertale

Toby Fox confirmed that he'd been planning Deltarune for years before Undertale was even announced. It's possible the game was originally going to be totally separate, but after Undertale became one of the most successful, critically acclaimed indie games of all time, he reworked it into the Undertale sequel/prequel/elseworld/whatever that we see now.

• Jossed, actually. According to Toby, he actually came up with Deltarune in the middle of developing Undertale.
  • You sure about that? Bonetrousle and Heartache were made originally for Deltarune. Heartache needed to be repurposed for Undertale, so it seems more likely that Deltarune came first, at least the original concept. Enough of a concept to already have two possible battle themes. (Bonetrousle was the general encounter, which is now Rude Buster, and Heartache was originally named Joker Battler and was presumably Jevil's theme.)

Asriel and the Darkners are just roleplaying

That's right, Asriel and the Darkners are just playing a game of LARPs; they're all just monsters that like to pretend they're saving the world. Think about it; no one dies, even though all of our characters are using what should be lethal weapons. These weapons are also Items Kris and Susie got in the Dark World, as is the armor. Lancer is just a Papyrus-esque Skeleton who really wanted to play, and gladly took the role of Villain, and the Spade King is just another Roleplayer who went a little too far. The Dark World itself could be real, or it could just be a building that they LARP in; and either way, Asriel teleported them there with his Magical Powers.

As to why Asriel dragged Kris and Susie into this session, Asriel is Kris's brother in this continuity, and he probably knew Kris was going through hard times (everyone in the Light World does consider Kris a weirdo), so he tried to make Kris a Hero this time. As for Susie, Asriel probably didn't intend to bring her along, but when Kris and Susie were alone getting chalk, it was the best time to get Kris, so Asriel had to also get Susie.

• Seems to be jossed as of Chapter 2.

Alternate universes are a big part of the story and the multiple SAVE files are a way to interact with this story element.

So while one might think that having 3 SAVE files are just an improvement to one file of Undertale, this is not actually the case. There are very minor differences to the save files in Deltarune, and this will play a much bigger role in future chapters. When the game states that your choices don't matter, they mean that they will not matter in that particular save file/AU. In fact, they will cause big changes, but only on the other save files. Therefore, we will have to constantly have to change save files and do certain things in each to get certain outcomes/endings.

Your choices may not "matter", but the game will still judge you based on the choices you make

If your choices have no impact, if there's no consequences of your actions… Will you still choose to do the right thing? Or will you succumb to your perverted sentimentality?

Your choices do matter.

"Your choices don't matter" is seemingly the main theme of this game, which seems to be true at least for Chapter 1. It even is spelled out multiple times by different characters. However, don't you think Toby wouldn't have returned the FIGHT/MERCY mechanics if they were purely cosmetical with no real consequences to story or gameplay? And don't you think Toby is capable of bringing up a theme only to subvert it or even reveal it as a Red Herring? Remember that we have experienced only one of probably somewhere between five and a dozen chapters; little more than the tutorial level. (Any weren't the ruins, the tutorial level of Undertale, too, only a foretaste of the true themes and concepts behind the game?) My evidence is this: The text that appears when you die. "It appears you have reached an end. Will you try again?" (YES) "Then, the future is in your hands." Apparently, the narrator does believe that the player has the capability to shape the future, no matter who says that they haven't. And to me, the narrator does seem to be more of an authority on the topic than Susie, Seam, or every other character that claims the player's choices are meaningless. In fact, even in Chapter 1, the player does have some degree of meaningful choice. Depending on whether they FIGHT or SPARE the King, their goodbye from the Dark World plays out differently, and depending on whether they FIGHT or SPARE Jevil, they recieve a weapon or an armor. Sure, Toby said that the ending is the same no matter how you play, but that doesn't mean the the characters and the world can't be affected by the player's actions in what comes before.

• Consider the Weird Route in Chapter 2, in which Berdly is frozen to death by Noelle in the Cyber World (due to the player's manipulations) and is completely unresponsive when everyone returns to the Light World, while Noelle is traumatized by the experience. In the normal route, Berdly is either completely fine or left with just an injured arm when all is said and done (depending on how you handle the fights with Berdly and the Queen). However, all of this happens in just Chapter 2 out of at least 7, so it's entirely possible that Berdly either leaves the story on non-Weird Route paths in a later chapter anyways (moving out of town or whatnot), but whether or not he was "killed" in Chapter 2 influences the story while he's still around, or "killing" him just leaves him in a coma that he wakes up from in time for the ending. The overall story may change, but the ending remains the same.

Your choices do matter, but not in the way you'd think.

Conside what is actually said with fatalism. "It's not like what I do matters anyway, so I may as well give up." Does that sound familiar? It should. It happens all the time to people who get a bad reputation. Consider Susie. Her chalk fetish is clearly leading to trouble, and she assumes that nothing she can do will help her at all. In fact, she fully expects to be expelled, so she figures she might as well act out. And for quite a while, any choice you get for her, you don't even get the chance to answer. From the start, you are told that nothing matters, so FIGHTing and ACTing shouldn't really make a difference. If it's all the same, being kinda violent (as much as the game allows) would have equal value to talking it out. But actually, at two key points, they kinda do. First, you can't beat the giant crowned boss except by getting it to bow. Second, Susie herself begins to realize that constantly fighting is causing her more hurt and pain.

Let's compare to Undertale for a second. Undertale gives you many choices, but two that it doesn't are if you've corrupted your save file with a Genocide route, and when you die, you are taken straight to the start menu, you do not have a Game Over asking whether you want to continue. If you say no, the world is covered in darkness. And this is in fact the choice of the game. When you downloaded, you also agree to accept the consequences. That is, you're agreeing to make the choice of "Give Up?" or "Keep Trying." Chapter 1 has a noticeably dark ending, with Kris yanking their heart out and throwing it in the cage then pulling out a knife. It is pretty identical to sparing the King or killing the guy, but context is different. In other words, Kris is led to a dark place. And you can either spare them by not giving up on their story, and continuing to play, despite the very dark tone of the very first chapter. Kris' story will have one track, no matter what you do, and it will probably for a long time get worse, but it may get better closer to the end. Or you can choose "I don't wanna play as a psycho", in which case you've killed them by not seeing their story through.

Deltarune will include Old Save Bonus with Undertale

Perhaps just as fun little easter eggs, characters in Deltarune may reference actions you might have taken in Undertale. Sans would be the most likely to do this, fitting his Meta Guy nature.

The final chapter of the game will be a revisit of the Underground, now a metaphor for Hometown

The entire last level will be a metaphor for Kris's last time they walk around their hometown one last time before Asriel returns. The Ruins is their Home, Snowdin is the west part of town by Pezza, The Lake to the right is Waterfall, Hotland and the Core is the area around the school. New Home is Kris returning home, where their dad and brother (and possibly their other friends, depending on your actions) now are in addition to their mom.

The game will end with a Reset Button

Everything is brought back to square one — not just the beginning of this game, but the beginning of monster history, erasing whatever brought things to the state they are now — but as we've come to expect, a little bit of the previous timeline will still remain, informing some of the events that the audience knows will occur later. If the reset timeline leads directly into the events of Undertale, it would make this game chronologically later than the original game, but storytelling-wise, a prequel.

Deltarune will be a giant Take That! to the people who wanted Undertale to get a sequel.

That sounds like something that Toby would actually pull off.

Someone or something is trying to create DETERMINATION in the world of Deltarune, and that's the purpose of creating the Vessel.

That's it, that's the WMG. Determination is an extremely powerful thing; the power of time travel that can be distilled into a useable form. In a world that doesn't naturally have it, the person who first gains it as an ability would be godlike in power. And we know from Flowey that when you inject Determination into an non-sentient living thing that has the essence of a living person in it but no SOUL, you get an immortal, amoral, incredibly powerful time-traveler. Sounds an awful lot like Chara, no? That's why the Narrator is so excited to hear it if the vessel and the creator have the same name, you're infusing part of yourself into it.

The moral of this game is indeed simply "What you do in this game doesn't have consequences", but it's more optimistic than it looks.

The theme of this game is that your actions don't mean anything, which, in the real world, is not true at all. However, the original Undertale sometimes called you out for still playing the game and occasionally even asked you to go outside and take a walk, so something like this is definitely not out of Toby's league. Maybe the moral of the game is that you shouldn't feel too guilty about, say, doing a Genocide Route, because even if you love the characters, they are all just pixelated beings in a computer program. Maybe even the fact that the game takes place in an another universe from the original game will fit into this: since they are just fake, fictional beings, you can put them into any situation you want and what they do doesn't matter, because a real person making the game is the only one who can decide what happens to them. It may even be a Take That! to the "video games cause violence" controversy, as what you do in games doesn't really reflect on what kind of person you are in real life. So yeah, maybe this game might have a slightly more optimistic message than we thought…

• But only slightly, huh?

Deltarune's premise is like Once Upon a Time.

The initial premise of OUAT was that the Evil Queen cast the Dark Curse upon the Fairy Tale Land, so they'll be transported to the Real World, our world, and live miserable lives.

So what if Gaster (against all odds) gained enough power, not to bring himself back, but to create a new world out of one of the timelines. Then he put all people he knew into it, but at the cost of living cursed lives where they wouldn't be all happy. For example, Toriel and Asgore are still separated, in spite of the many tragedies not happening in this new world — even though the Epilogue of the Pacifist Ending indicated them being on good terms. It's similar to how the Dark Curse in OUAT separated many people apart. Also, while Chara and eventually Frisk were beloved by the Underground, their counterpart Kris is an outsider. Undyne, Alphys, Bratty, and Catty are all also affected by it.

More proof is that Sans, a person who implied to have a connection with Gaster, seems to be unaffected by this, being relatively similar to his original counterpart. He's even still on good terms with Toriel! Two of his Followers are also shown to be completely alive.

Now, who could the savior who breaks this false reality be?

Future chapters will reveal that one world is trapped in a "Groundhog Day" Loop

Either the school day in Hometown or Kris' adventure underground will be in an endless loop, possibly with gradually revealed tiny differences to tip you off on what to do next. Bonus points if the characters don't understand why you specifically know what's going to happen or what they're going to say. No idea how or why this would be happening, but it would be a fascinating role reversal considering what you put every other character through in the first game, now with Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory.

It's a Timeline split from the time while the Fallen Child was living with the Dreemurs

Kris is the Fallen Child (Chara) grown, possibly with their own SOUL (possibly not given the ending to Chapter 1). Possibly Kris's plan to free the monsters from the Underground was less sinister than in the Undertale timeline, or the community just didn't know about how sinister it was. It's more likely Kris was unconnected with however the Monsters got freed, or more of them would know who Kris is. This would explain why Sans doesn't know Toriel and why Undyne doesn't know Alphys. These pairs grew associated because of the events that followed the death of the Fallen Child. This also helps explain why Toby was able to assure us that whatever happens in Deltarune won't impact the story of Undertale and why, no matter what happens here, whatever state we left the Undertale cast in will be how they remain.

Ralsei, I'll admit, throws a curveball into this. If Ralsei is the Asriel from Undertale and not a red herring, then he's possibly jumped ship from his original timeline (since he already knew how to manipulate timelines with his own Determination) to hopefully find a better one, where he can regain a soul (if he hasn't already) and be safe from his misdeeds as Flowey. This helps to explain his aggressive desire to be gentle and kind, as well as how he's a Prince of a land with no inhabitants.

The backstory to this universe will be more disturbing and/or tragic than any of us can imagine.

Despite the idyllic appearance, whatever needed to happen for the timeline to turn out this way was incredibly screwed up, and will hit us all in the face with the same impact as the original game's backstory. It might end up explaining why Toriel holds such a grudge against Asgore despite Asriel never dying and Chara presumably never coming into their lives, and probably also involve that bunker. That said, all of this is assuming a natural series of events are what lead to the current timeline, not forceful rearrangement from whoever is behind all this.

The real reason why Toriel and Asgore are divorced is because of something Asgore did to Kris, probably unintentionally.

While Asgore from the original game didn't have too much with a problem with humans at first in the original game, based on how he adopted Chara into the family with little hesitation, he's not perfect. Perhaps there was some kind of accident or misunderstanding, where he did something bad without meaning to. It's implied that Kris (as themself, not the player) is somewhat angry with Asgore, since if you choose to drop the bouquet on the ground in front of Asgore, the narration states that you "throw it on the ground like the piece of trash it is." It would also explain why Toriel is so obviously upset with him, as well as why Kris lives with her and not Asgore. A family incident could even explain why Kris is such an apparently quiet child, along with the apparent bullying and not having any friends aside from Noelle.

Every time Kris and co. come back to the real world, things will be a little more… off.

This process will either involve the current situation just gradually getting worse (Asgore getting evicted, Alphys' mental health and apparent homelessness getting worse, Undyne's police brutality getting more serious, etc.), or just more and more discrepancies popping up out of nowhere until things are practically unrecognizable. This could simply be an effect of the timeline just not being a good one, or the fact that it's simply unsustainable in the way that whoever is pulling the strings arranged it and will inevitably break down. Prepare for a gradual descent into horrifying madness, everybody.

This is a Timeline in which everyone can be happy — destroyed by the arrival of the player.

Related to above WMG, Deltarune is set in a timeline in which the human-monster war never happened, and the Dark/Light split plays into how this is possible. However, the player playing Deltarune has opened a window to this previously unknown possible timeline. A very dangerous window, as it has allowed influences from previous seen timelines to invade this previously separate world. As soon as the game is begun, Chara begins to invade Kris' mind, becoming the narrator once more, and taking away Kris' choices and free will, continuing to convert them into a suitable vessel as the chapter continues until, finally, at the very end, Kris can no longer fight off the foreign influence and succumbs to Chara's DETERMINATION, having their soul imprisoned as a result.

Even aside from our interference allowing Chara to mess with the Deltarune timeline, however, the screwy time-space continuum of the main Undertale timeline has left other marks. Not only does Kris appear to be an alternative version of both Chara and Frisk, Asriel appears to have two Alters himself; adult Asriel and Ralsei. These are the only characters whose number of iterations available between timelines is inconstant, and may imply that the existence of beings with the ability to LOAD and RESET has shaken up the timelines to the point that the time-space continuum itself is confused about their existence, causing Asriel to have two almost identical Alters of himself in the Deltarune timeline (one a Darkner, the other a Lightner), while Frisk and Chara only have one shared Alter among themselves, whose appearance varies between the Dark and Light Worlds, in Kris. With Undertale!Chara taking over Chris' body, this may cause issues, since traces of the parts of them that are Frisk may still be present in Kris' body, however.

Chapter 2 will be/involve a “Genocide run” in the Dark World.

Susie said she wanted to go back there with Kris tomorrow (or they could sneak in alone), and in their current state, it’s pretty easy to make the connection. It would fit perfectly with the explicit railroading, too — what better way to hammer home the player's inability to choose than making us kill all the characters we were forced to befriend/spare?

• Does the "Weird Route" count?

The story is, if only partially, going to be told in reverse

Somewhere down the line, we are going to get a chapter that unexpectedly begins in the past (perhaps not obviously at first) and we will be shown exactly what series of events occurred that lead to the parallel timeline we're seeing right now, and hopefully who manipulated them to be that way. Eventually we will figure out the critical incident(s) that caused the timelines to split, and know what needs to be done to turn things back to normal once we return to the present.

You don't control Kris for the entire game.

At one point, Kris will be fed up with being under your control, and force the SOUL into another vessel. This is who you control for a period of time, with a chapter in length being likely here. As for who this is…

• Noelle is the easiest prediction to make in this regard. In a game that constantly reinforces that your choices don't matter, Noelle's choices seem to matter quite a lot, considering that the Weird Route must be done through her and that the Queen keeps hinting at her strength (which could refer to SnowGrave, but could also refer to her being able to make choices that matter), which makes her a perfect candidate for being playable.

The Final Boss will be a Complete Monster

We've already faced one irredeemably evil guy (the Spades King), what if the Big Bad is even worse?

• Chapter 2 gave King "less irredeemable" traits; it's possible this was to make it easier to introduce a character worse than him.

In an inversion to the above WMG about a Reset Button, Deltarune is set before Undertale, but only exists because of a post-Undertale event:

Sans fixing his time machine, going back, and preventing the War of Humans and Monsters.

The driving theme will be one of Straw Nihilist vs The Anti-Nihilist

It will be made clear that Deltarune's world is doomed in some way that is literally impossible to avert; perhaps the lower-case narrator who tossed away your custom character (I'm betting that the last series of bosses, after a card game and Chess Motif of the Knight and Queen, will be someone themed after Tarot or Roulette, both associated with raw chance and fate) knows this, and is very, very bitter about it, declaring that if they have no choice, neither will anyone else. They have become The Hedonist and wish to enjoy their last days as the ruler of the world before it all dies, and even if you show them compassion, will attack you to force you to spare them from pain. The heroes, over time, will realize this — but come to understand that nothing ever truly ends, and decide to make it so that something of the world can survive. "The Angel's Heaven" is a World of Silence where nothing capable of any choice exists; not only will your choices not matter, you will not have been able to make them. By making it so it doesn't devour everyone, then, the heroes will ensure that at least there will be a new world after it all. I expect the line "freedom is what you do with what has been done to you" to show up.

When Toby said the characters in Undertale will be unaffected by Deltarune, he actually meant Deltarune won't alter the real-life game files of Undertale.

In-universe wise, the characters and world of Undertale can and will be affected by whatever happens in Deltarune.

"Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans" will play in the game.

However, it will play at a time completely unrelated to fighting Sans.

A "Demon" will be mentioned as a part of Hometown's religion

They'd basically be Deltarune's equivalent of Satan. There could either be only one Demon, or three Demons to parallel the three Heroes from the Dark World's prophecy.

• Sort of hinted at in chapter 2; Kris is noted to have looked up information on summoning demons.

"Don't Forget" will be updated in the final game to be longer.

And probably is going to be (or at least have elements of) a Award-Bait Song/Power Ballad.

• The credits do in fact refer to the song as an "excerpt".

Asriel/Flowey created the new universe

This assumes that the Pacifist Route is canon. Asriel's God of Hyperdeath seems remarkably similar to the Angel in the Delta Rune prophecy, so he probably has some connection. Maybe he became resentful about everyone getting a happy ending but him, and he thus created a world where he was a popular college student. Honestly, the sheer amount of Character Shilling Asriel is getting seems pretty suspicious. Ralsei would also fit this, as a Nice Guy and a chosen one.

The game will either introduce or incorporate Tarot Motifs

The Dark World has a motif around games like chess and poker, with many characters having card motifs about them. So with Playing Cards having been all taken up, the full game will introduce characters representing the Tarot deck, mainly the Major Arcana. The Major Arcana already have a religious theme, with cards like Judgement and The Devil, and several characters that already exist could be filled in for some roles, like King (The Emperor), the Queen (The Empress), Jevil (The Devil), Seam (The Hermit), Ralsei (The Magician), Rouxls Kaard (The Hierophant), and Lancer (The Fool). Heck, potentially all of the major Darkner characters could fit into Tarot themes. The new chapters of Deltarune will explore more of the Dark World, potentially having the bunker south of Hometown contain some sort of portal not unlike the one in the supply closet, or will deal with characters from the Dark World entering the Light World, and exploring more of it, with the mysterious mayor of Hometown potentially having a connection to, or actually being a Darkner.

• Shouldn't Jevil be the Fool since he's a Joker card, and the Fool is the predecessor to the Joker?

Don't Forget is a Villain Song.

The song is sung by one of Deltarune's potential Greater Scope Villains. The song's lyrics are veiled threats and taunts directed at Kris and their friends. "When the light is running low and the shadows start to grow" is the villain bragging about their increased powers now that they've compromised Kris. "And the places that you know seem like fantasy" is taunting Kris and Susie for retreating into the Dark World to escape their real-world problems. "There's a light inside your soul that’s still shining in the cold" is the villain bragging about having imprisoned Kris' soul. "With the truth" is the villain bragging about knowing something the heroes don't or perhaps reminding Kris of some uncomfortable truth they repressed. "Don't forget I'm with you in the dark" gives the vibes of a serial killer taunting the victim that they are hunting down in a lightless room.

• What about the “promise in our hearts”? What’s villain-esque about that? It also comes right after the phrase “with the truth”, coming off as “…with the truth, the promise in our hearts”, implying that “the truth” and “the promise in our hearts” are one in the same, or at least connected. ^note And both are what “your soul” is “shining with in the cold”.

Hometown is set in Brooklyn.

Because Jevil has a Brooklyn accent. That's it. That's my theory.

Humans in this universe are actually elves.

Santa Claus is apparently a real person in this universe, after all. It would also explain how humans know magic.

The monster who asked if it hurts to be made of blood in Deltarune is the same one who asked what a star was in Undertale.

I dunno, just a thought I had.

This entire series is building up to a special appearance from Kermit the Frog.

Kermit's song "Rainbow Connection" contains the famous line "the lovers, the dreamers, and me." We already have the Dreemurrs. Therefore, there must be another family called the Lovurrs. As to why they would appear after the Dreemurrs… maybe at some point in Deltarune, the protagonists will travel back in time or through dimensions to before the events of Undertale. That's where the Lovurrs are. And once they've met the Lovurrs, at some point in the future they'll finally meet the "me" himself.

• Evidence: In Undertale, Asriel, a Dreemurr, uses rainbows to attack in his boss fight. And since Deltarune has Playing Card Motifs with a royal family of spades, the Lovurrs could easily be a family of hearts.
• Maybe later on, there will be some choices you can make. When you meet Kermit, he'll judge you just like Sans. If you do bad things, he will proceed to curbstomp you while playing Megalovania on the banjo.^note And also, presumably, telling you to get your ass back to bed, Joel.
• Another idea: Maybe the Lovurrs are Frisk's (human) family.
• Yet another idea, maybe “Lovurr” is Toriel's maiden name,^note  it would fit with her personality making Kris one of the “lovurrs”.

The Final Boss is neither Gaster nor Chara

At this point, they're too predictable. The final boss will be someone relatively unexpected.

• Lord English: The Big Bad of Andrew Hussie's infamous series Homestuck, which Toby Fox composed music for. As a metaverse conqueror, he has decided to take over the nearest popular metaphysical franchise, knowing that they are too obsessed with Gaster to realize he's the one behind the metaverse falling around Deltarune.
• Jane Eggbert: Alternatively, Jane's genocidal streak could cross over to other worlds from the holes in the fabric of narrative-space that Lord English left behind.
• A completely random NPC or enemy in Undertale: The point is that in another universe, a normal civilian can become an irredeemable monster. There is no rhyme or reason to the roles given to anyone unimportant in the play.
• Frisk: Instead of being absorbed by Chara on the Genocide ending, Chara sends them to other dimensions to continue killing in their name.
• It is probably going to be Kris. They discarded our SOUL, after all.
• Flowey/Asriel: Well, I mean, he's neither Gaster nor Chara.

If Deltarune ends up being a Stealth Prequel to Undertale, a Scratch-like event will be involved.

As anybody familiar with Homestuck would know, a Scratch doesn't just simply reset a universe back to an indeterminate point in the past — in an attempt to create a more fruitful Sburb session, players and ancestors have their roles switched and their arrival times are shaken up on top of that. Not only that, but Deltarune was in its early planning stages around the time the post-scratch era of Homestuck was fresh — might've even had some inspiration.
As far as the characters go, Deltarune is one big Anachronism Stew — Monster Kid and Snowdrake are both in their teens, and more notably Asriel is a young adult despite his Undertale incarnation dying decades or even centuries before the event of the game — and being alive means Toriel and Asgore will age as well, and combined with the latter currently having a very much alive college classmate present, who knows if the two of them are as old in Deltarune as they were in Undertale.
Despite being confirmed to have only a single route and ending, Deltarune still makes use of a Mental Time Travel save feature in whatever Shine is. It's unknown as of writing just what makes it different from determination (apart from the game having multiple save files with slight differences e.g. Kris' room), but if it ends up playing as much of a role in the story, then maybe a large amount of Shine will be able to cause such a Scratch-esque Cosmic Retcon.
Furthermore, as many have pointed out, Sans may or may not be a Darkner — in Undertale, he is one of the very few characters who displays colours other than black and white in their battle sprites (as seen through his eye and whatever red substance leaks out of him after being mortally wounded, blood or not), and Deltarune makes sure to have only Darkners' talksprites rendered in colour. Sans' talksprite doesn't show any part of his body that has colour, and his dialogue in his fight has made a lot of people wonder if he is a refugee from another world, with just as many people taking note of that photo of three unknown people in his lab with the reminder to (not) forget.
Cosmic Retcons outside of Determination are not unknown territory in Undertale, best seen through Gaster and his followers (several of whom seemingly show up in Deltarune), and if something happens to the Light World at the end of the game, the heroes may have to face the possibility of sacrificing themselves to fuel an event that will reset and change the world in order to strive towards a better ending, which may or may not involve Sans and Papyrus travelling to the new reality and tying in to how several Snowdin residents make note of how they showed up out of nowhere.

Gerson pulled a Heroic Sacrifice to save the monsters

• Toriel mentions in the Golden Ending of Undertale that a monster doesn't need to wait for six humans to enter the Underground. Instead, a monster could have used the Fallen Child's soul or that of another dead human, crossed the barrier, and gotten six more needed to free everyone. In fact, this was ostensibly the Fallen Child's plan. Gerson, in this world not being a two-dimensional animation, was the one who actually completed the job. We don't know whose soul he used, but since humans are stronger than monsters, presumably he died in the attempt and used the last of his strength to break the barrier.

Chapter 1's ending is Toby's way of commenting on the "the player is a separate entity/character that controls Frisk in Undertale" theory

He's neither confirming nor jossing it. But maybe he's telling us that if the theory were to be true, it would mean Frisk is unhappy in all the routes/endings, even True Pacifist, just like Kris. After all no one would be happy to be controlled like a puppet against their will, even if it's somehow beneficial to themselves and others.

There will be a character whose name is an anagram of 'UNDERTALE/DELTARUNE'

Regardless of whether they're actually important or not.

• Spamton's name isn't an anagram, but the role he plays is. He's insane, and he sells things. Hence, he is a nut dealer.

The triangles in the Delta Rune symbolize all of Humankind, Monsterkind, and Darknerkind, not just the three Heroes

In a way, a combination of both prophecies from Undertale and Deltarune. Perhaps every human, monster, and Darkner (or at least the plot-relevant ones) will have to work together to banish the Angel's Heaven, lest they allow the Angel to "free" them by destroying the world.

The Delta Rune symbolizes something both angelic and demonic

The wings are obviously angel wings. The circle is actually an angel halo. The two upwards triangles are demon horns, and the downwards triangle is the pointy tip of a demon tail. Basically, it's an extremely simplified version of something like this◊.

• So… basically something like a DmC: Devil May Cry nephilim?

Deltarune will pull an OFF and let you/whoever you're playing as choose between fighting on the Heroes' side and the Angel's side in the Final Battle.

Not that this will change the outcome of the battle, of course, since your choices don't matter.

The Legendary Artifact from Undertale will return

It will either be legitimately important this time or the Annoying Dog will troll us again.

Megalo Strike Back will play somewhere in the game

Either the original version or a remix of it.

"Chaos" will be a recurring theme in Deltarune similar to determination in Undertale.

So far, the word "chaos" has been used in three places: Seam's dialogue when asked about the kingdom, Jevil's battle dialogue (and rather repeatedly too, not only in text but also saying it out loud), and the title of the Spade King's theme (Chaos King). Since all three characters talk about the Knight, especially with Seam mentioning chaos right after talking about the Knight^{full dialogue}Historically, this land was ruled by the Four Kings, from CARD CASTLE to the East. But, recently, a strange knight appeared... And three of the kings were locked away. The remaining king put him and his strange son into power. This land hasn't seen THIS much chaos since... Ha ha ha... Well, you don't need to know about THAT. and at least the King having met the Knight directly, chaos would likely be an element that has some kind of connection with whoever the Knight is (and possibly the Queen, if Jevil's words are any indication).

Undertale in-game is Asriel's personal project

• Asriel's computer has a videogame in-progress showing him as the God of Hyperdeath. He also has some books on the topic. What better way to process his feelings about his parents' divorce than to imagine the ultimate fear: of Asgore and Toriel losing both of their children in one night? He took inspiration from all of the monsters in-town, and making it so that Humans Are Cthulhu rather than being the weirdo that Kris is. Sans is trolling Kris when he says that he's never met him before because Asriel may have talked with him about the game and asked if it was okay to make "Papyrus" a cool dude, and everyone else gets artistic license which is why Mettaton has that bod. After all, Write What You Know is a real thing!

Chapter 3 will take place entirely within Kris and Toriel's house

• In the ending, Kris slashed the car tires and opened a dark fountain indoors. With no way to move and somewhere immediate to go to, it seems like the options are right there for us.
  • Expanding on this, it'll be Kaiju-themed, since a giant monster movie marathon was the last thing Susie turned on before she conked out.
  • Or TV-themed, and just to infuriate Susie, she ends up stuck on the boring weather channel, while Toriel becomes the giant monster in the marathon.

Toriel will suspect Susie of slashing the tires

• Toriel may already be suspicious of Susie's behaviour, hearing of her escapades with the chalk from Alphys at school. The fact that Kris left the bathroom window open would further convince her of this, since it would give Susie a clear window of opportunity to slash the tires.
  • I don't think it's very likely. In her police report, Toriel mentioned seeing someone prowling outside the window during the same time she was making the pie with Susie and Kris was 'washing their hands'. And the first thing Toriel did right after she saw it was urging Susie to stay the night and having all three of them sleep in the living room. It seems that she was concerned about the person outside, and was trying to protect Susie by having her stay inside and sleeping in the same room.

If Chapter 3 takes place in Toriel and Kris' house, Toriel will be a guest party member just like Noelle in chapter 2.

• She'll get to show off her Mama Bear tendencies towards both Kris and Susie this way. Also, most likely, like Noelle, Kris and Susie will convince her that this is All Just a Dream to prevent her from finding out and possibly stopping their future dark world escapades.
• Her outfit could possibly mirror her original outfit from Undertale, and she could have proper healing/pacifying magic to accompany her iconic fire magic (like how Noelle has an ice attack along with her support spells).
  • Undyne might end up involved as well, considering Toriel made a call to the police shortly before the epilogue concluded.

Mike will appear in chapter 3

Spamton makes an off-handed comment on somebody called Mike in his shop, who according to Spamton is a criminal and has appeared or been mentioned on TV. The Stinger of chapter 2 involves Toriel's TV being haunted by something, which means the TV will probably appear in chapter 3's dark world. Maybe Mike has something to do with it.

The town will be sealed in a barrier like the Underground.

Possibly to contain the Roaring.

There will be a character that is an Expy of Flowey.

Just like Spamton is an expy of Mettaton. Maybe in a dark world in Asgore's house? There is a closed-off door there.

Rouxls Kaard will come back repeatedly in the remaining 3 main chapters as a recurring miniboss.

He fights for whoever he thinks is the "winner", after all, so it would make perfect sense for him to ally himself to whatever new baddie threatens the Dark Worlds.

The Weird Route will lead to a Gainax Ending

Or more like a Gainax version of the ending (since there will be only 1 ending). Maybe Toby named it Weird Route (instead of Genocide/No Mercy/etc.) for a reason.

The secret bosses will be based on the Seven Deadly Sins

Jevil corresponds with pride, since he believes that he can do anything and that the cage around him is in fact around the entire world, and he's the only one outside it. I don't even need to explain why Spamton is greed. The number of chapters lines up, too.

• A case could be made for Envy in regards for Spamton. A little man looking to usurp the Player's position out of jealousy over the freedom that he himself does not have.

Don't Forget is simply a pleasant, uplifting church song played by either Noelle and Kris, or December and Asriel.

A Holiday girl singing with a Dreemur boy on the piano. All it is is a nice song that Kris remembers fondly listening to or playing, from before things fell apart with their family and they were seemingly possesed by the SOUL. Any resemblance the full version of the song will have to the story of Deltarune is going to be a poignant coincidence, nothing more. It may even possibly be a hint that Asriel/Kris had or still has feelings for their respective Holiday. As an addition, Kris gets frustrated at the SOUL not being able to play piano like they can because it is important to them for reasons beyond simply feeling closer to Toriel.

The Man behind the tree is attempting to corrupt the Light World and Dark World.

Jevil and Spamton were both corrpted by unseen individuals. We don't know anything about Jevil's contact, but Spamton's was reached through his phone. The phone which gives him his supply of Pipis, which he also refers to as eggs, that swarmed Queen's mansion when Spamton took over.
The man behind the tree is this contact. The egg we get from him is a Pipis, which then starts to duplicate when left in Asgore's fridge. By bringing it to the Light World, a corruption has started.

Spamton is Tongue-Tied whenever he mentions [Hyperlink Blocked].

Considering that Spamton is forced to change subjects whenever he starts to talk too much about certain things (like the Knight), his [Hyperlink Blocked] could also be a forced censoring of something extremely important (such as LOVE, SOUL, DETERMINATION, or the like), rather than something very questionable.

Spamton's [Hyperlink Blocked] is "LOVE".

Not only it fits in context well, links to sites about "love" from the vocabulary of a spambot would be blocked in a children's library.

There will be an end-of-chapter boss with a significant connection to Susie, and their battle theme will be titled "Red Buster" and share one or more leitmotifs with Rude Buster, the regular battle theme, as well as using Susie's leitmotif.

Because why not.

• One or both of her parents could be good candidates, especially if it turns out they really are abusing her. The fight would be a cathartic Moment of Awesome for Susie, demonstrating that she isn't scared of them anymore.

There will be Multiple Endings, but a Time Crash will cause a mix of all of them to be canon.

Similar to The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall.

There will be negative consequences of Kris opening a dark fountain at night (and with the door open too).

After all, Seam does warn you that "You should hurry home once you finish your business here. You don't want to get caught when the sun goes down…"

If Mike is the main villain of Chapter 3, he will be a Faux Affably Evil Villain with Good Publicity

To both act as a Contrasting Sequel Antagonist to King's Complete Monster and Queen's Affably Evil, and the way that Spamton referred to him by saying to "not believe everything on TV", and that he's a criminal.

Mike's full name will be Michael Rook, shortened to Mike,Ro.

Assuming the naming of the bosses is fallowing a chess theme (So far there's a king, a queen, and a knight confirmed), then it stands to reason this Mike fellow could be the rook.

The Weird Route will lead to the Good Late Middle

In Undertale, Frisk is Chara, resurrected through the combination of sheer Determination and the player's Soul — perhaps their skin is yellow because they only had buttercups from which to form a new body. Up until near the end, they have amnesia, and depend on the player to form a new personality. They are a blank slate, and in a Genocide run, it's entirely the player's fault that they become a demon that owns the player's soul and haunts every video game they will ever play. But Kris, whether or not they have a soul of their own, already has a personality… and it's not a good one. It's possible that the only way to keep them from becoming a Complete Monster is by forcing them to act like one — a Zero-Approval Gambit.

The game's one ending will involve Kris eventually dying of old age

Thus, Deltarune's plot will be like life itself: only one possible ending, but a lot of different possible middles.

If Kris picked up the banana(s), a later scene in the game will involve them.

Nothing plot-heavy, of course; just a fun little moment that requires bananas for whatever reason, and Kris is able to provide.

Kris will at one point get in trouble for collecting items from former Dark Worlds to bring to Ralsei's fountain, or be entirely unable to bring them over.

It might even be as early as next chapter, as anyone in charge of the library might notice stuff missing from the computer room, or Toriel might notice stuff missing from her house (the book of hymns is a likely candidate).

We will fight at least one boss in the Light World.

Either a Superboss or maybe even the Final Boss. Kris (and maybe Susie) will have to deal with no longer having their equipment from the Dark World (eg weapons, armor, and foodstuff). It's possible Susie might not even have the magic she can use in the Dark World (except maybe the weak healing spell). Ralsie will probably not be there to help. The battle itself might look more like something from Undertale (or some sort of odd hybrid between Deltarune and Undertale).

• It might be a Hold the Line fight where Kris and Susie have to stay alive for a certain number of turns so help can show up.

There will be two dark worlds in Chapter 3; the one Kris made at home, and another during the festival.

Because why end the chapter at home when a festival is teased at the end of the last? At the beginning, Kris and Susie would wake up in the first; once that world is sealed, they have fun in the festival until another dark world opens. The second one would be very carnival-based, because why not.

• It was not directly stated that the festival would happen tomorrow, only that it was “coming up soon”. That could mean literally the next day, a few weeks from “now”, or anything in between, so having two Dark Fountains is not necessary to give payoff to the festival. Also, both chapters so far have had a lot of optional Hometown content for after the Dark Fountain gets sealed, so the festival could be a particularly meeting-oriented (and potentially highly story-driven) post-chapter set of content.

Chapter 3 will be an allusion to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

We know there's a guy named Mike who is associated with the TV. We know Toriel's house has both a haunted TV and references to chocolate. We know that allusions to other well-known media are something Toby Fox does in general, especially ones with the general theme of "journey into this strange world". That's it, that's the theory.

There will be a Deconstruction/Darker and Edgier take on Fix Fics in which Asriel is revived.

With Noelle filling the role of Frisk and Rudy or Dess filling the role of Asriel. Compare how Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion was a Deconstruction of its franchise's Fix Fics and Lighter and Softer spin-offs.

There will only be one ending…

…but, depending on your path, some parts are cut out, giving the illusion that different things happen in different routes, similar to Dotflow's endings.

At some point in a future chapter, possibly the start of 3, Susie will say some variation on "God fucking dammit Kris, where the hell are we?"

I'm so sorry.

• Well, Toby made the joke about the first chapter's ending an Ascended Meme (that being the joke that the reason Kris tore the SOUL out of their body and brandished a knife was to go stuff their face with pie and keep the SOUL from having any), so it stands to reason he'd do the same here.

Every Dark World will be based on something that 90s kids are nostalgic for

The first Dark World was based off of table and parlor games, kept in a cabinet in a school. While chess and cards are games that a lot of people play, the context struck this troper with very particular memories of indoor recess in elementary school — times when the weather was too bad for outdoor recess, so the teachers would take out games and toys for us to play with. The second Dark World was very clearly based on a particular era of computers, but filtered through the lens of what was available to kids on public computers in the library. Assuming that the end of Chapter 2 wasn't a fake-out, we can probably expect chapter 3 to take place in a world inspired by television — assuming this pattern holds, probably heavily drawing from late 90s-early 00s movies and Saturday morning cartoons, and possibly video games as well. This might also tie further into the game's recurring refrain of 'don't forget.'

• Even better if it plays during Chapter 3, when the two wake up in the Dark World.

Chapter 5 will be a Wham Episode in the SnowGrave route.

Mainly because it's the first day of school after Berdly's apparent death, which will be confirmed by Alphys, sending Noelle careening into a Heroic BSoD.

The game will have multiple paths, all necessary to experience in order to unlock the one singular ending.

Much like games like Zero Escape or Shadow the Hedgehog, getting every "lesser" ending will be necessary to unlock the final Golden Canon Ending, possibly having to do with the Player/the Soul amassing information from every route.

In each chapter, we will visit a part of the Dark World based on the locales of the Underground, backwards and with a twist.

Starting from New Home and working back to the Ruins, each subsequent chapter is going to see Kris and co. visit lands which mirror the sub-regions of Undertale in terms of theme design, except remixed to give the setting something fresh. This also applies to the Arc Villain we might meet each chapter, as even the bosses of Deltarune seem to be like remixed or inverted versions of the bosses of Undertale. So far to support this idea, we can link Chapters 1 and 2 to the final and penultimate areas of Undertale and their respective bosses:

• In Chapter 1, the Dark World we explore is a kingdom ruled over from a castle, just like New Home was the capital of the Underground where the King of Monsters, Asgore, resided. The Dark World kingdom ruled by the King is colorful and somewhat populated, but nobody is happy living there, as everyone hates the King and many people have been locked up by him, making the place feel rather empty at times. This parallels how New Home is implied to be a bustling capital where everyone is relatively happy being ruled over by the benevolent Asgore, but the places Frisk visits are monochromatic and seemingly devoid of life save the few monsters they stumble across while exploring Asgore's house. As many have noted, the King and Asgore are counterparts to one another in many ways, and some have compared Jevil to Sans as a hidden boss in terms of themes and mechanics.
• In Chapter 2, we visit the Cyber World, a bright digital city based on computer programs. This is a mirror to the Core and MTT Resort regions, which were similarly high-tech and vibrantly urban neon areas of the Underground. The computer-themed world contrasts against the Core, as while the Core is the most advanced part of the Underground, it's more industrial than digital, as the primary power source is steam power with some electronics scattered around. The Cyber World is comparatively more like a Cyberpunk setting far ahead of the Underground's level of technology, but both areas experience some problems concerning the quality of life for the citizens. The main bosses of this area are Affably Evil flamboyant individuals associated with machines/robots (the Queen and Mettaton) who seek to fulfill some kind of ideal dream of theirs and antagonize the heroes constantly in amusing ways. Later, we learn they are both Anti-Villains who have some altruistic reasons behind their antagonism: Mettaton wanted to bring happiness to humans and monsters alike as a superstar, the Queen thought she was making the world better for Lightners and Darkners with her actions. Both also were manipulated by some other party, with Mettaton turning out to have been playing along with Alphys' made-up scenario while the Queen seems to have been manipulated by the Knight omitting crucial information about the Fountains. The chapter's superboss, Spamton, has obvious ties to Mettaton with his obsession with making it big and going free much like Mettaton's dreams of stardom once he is free from the Underground, as well as his One-Winged Angel form being clearly inspired by (and hinted to be directly related to) Mettaton's EX and NEO forms.

So going by the logic of visiting the regions of Undertale backwards, we might expect to see Dark World areas based on the early areas of Hotland, Waterfall, Snowdin, and the Ruins next starting from Chapter 3. Some predictions of the possible takes and twists:

• Chapter 3: Instead of being a Lethal Lava Land like Hotland, the next world could could be based on a desert or even a tropical location. The boss could be some parallel to Muffet, seeing as while she was technically optional, she is the only other major enemy encounter before Mettaton in the Hotland region. Alternatively, the boss might be a Mad Scientist who parallels Alphys, another notable NPC who resides in Hotland. If the theories about the next world somehow being based on the TV playing kaiju movies at the end of Chapter 2 hold, either take could work: A Mad Scientist could exist in a Kaiju movie as the creator of the monsters or someone fascinated by them, while an antagonist based on Muffet might just be a giant spider Kaiju themselves or someone who controls a bigger monster (like Muffet and her 'pet').
• Chapter 4: A water-themed region like Waterfall, only instead of being a tranquil underwater cavern, it could take place under the sea in an Atlantis sort of setting or have the characters embark on some kind of vast ocean adventure sailing through islands on ships. The boss would have parallels to Undyne in some form, seeing as she is the major obstacle and boss of Waterfall. Likewise, the superboss for the region would be based on Undyne the Undying's fight, either as a One-Winged Angel alternate form of the chapter's main antagonist or just another hidden character who references Undyne the Undying's mechanics and premise.
• Chapter 5: Snowdin's Dark World counterpart can be an ice world taking more after Grim Up North representations of cold regions, contrasting how Snowdin was a happy Christmas-themed village; perhaps a cold mountain buried in a perpetual blizzard or an underground icy cave complex. The boss would be based on Papyrus or may even be the Deltarune counterpart of Papyrus himself if we ever get to meet him. They could also potentially mirror Papyrus' character as a person desperate for approval and wanting to be part of a respected organization — whether they end up sympathetic and likeable like Papyrus or turn out to be a horrible and pathetic person (perhaps recycling that initial concept of Papyrus as an unlikeable fedora-wearing dude into a separate entity).
• Chapter 6: The Ruins - The ruins we might see in Deltarune could be utterly barren and eerie remnants of a lost civilization, either going for a Mayincatec aesthetic or possibly a post-apocalyptic rusted cityscape look to contrast the Underground's Ruins being a quiet and charming autumnal castle setting. The boss could be a figure like Toriel who is the place's self-appointed guardian and may present themselves as benevolent and peaceful until they feel pushed to oppose Kris and the other heroes. Near the end, they will block the heroes' path to stop them from leaving or entering somewhere, much like how Toriel tries to stop Frisk from exiting the Ruins and reaching the rest of the Underground.
• Toby has stated that there will be 7 chapters altogether of Deltarune, so the final chapter might take place somewhere based on that dark, empty region before the Ruins where Frisk first wakes up. Perhaps a grassy garden/jungle-themed area to reference the flower patch they fall into, or even somewhere high-altitude meant to represent Mount Ebott itself and reversing the idea of Frisk taking a fall down to the Underground. Maybe this chapter has the characters ascending upwards out of the Dark World (since the Dark World seems to be entered via falling downward from the Light World) or climbing up to reach the mysterious 'Angel's Heaven' that keeps coming up. As Chapter 7 is likely to be the finale, then the boss/main antagonist would be the Final Boss, possibly the mysterious Knight themselves, unless there is another boss who, like Asgore, is just a prelude to the real final battle (perhaps against the Angel).
  • If Chapter 6 mirrors the beginning of Undertale, then Chapter 7 could mirror the backstory of Undertale — with the return of Asriel already being hyped up by the Hometown NPCs, it's almost guaranteed we'll be seeing him — completely alive and well, which we were simply too late for in Undertale. Thusly, the Dark World of Chapter 7 will be a hopeful, thriving community, just as the Underground was before Asriel's untimely death. It may very well be Castle Town itself, now full of satisfied recruits from all the previous chapters (or at least Chapter 1), all the better for the story's climax, a devastating death mirroring that of Asriel and Chara, the obvious candidate here being Ralsei. (It would also be all too fitting for Dr. Gaster to make himself known amidst a mirroring of the Underground's past…)
  • If a Chapter 0 happens^note see a theory about Ralsei turning on the player elsewhere in the Deltarune WMGs, then it will probably correspond to the True Lab, the secret true final area of Undertale that can only be accessed en route to the Golden Ending after dating Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys (the last of whom can only be dated in Endgame+). As such, Chapter 0 would likely take place in either Gaster's bunker to the south of Hometown or the very same mysterious Titan Graveyard region where Kris and Susie initially enter the Dark World in Chapter 1, and it would answer a lot of questions about Deltarune's world and characters before leading into the (True) Final Boss or possibly Chapter 7 (and onwards if Chapters 8, 9, and 10 are a thing).^note Whether Chapter 0 happens before or after Chapter 7 is up in the air, as it would make sense for Chapter 7 to happen within "The Angel's Heaven" itself.

There's a connection between the incident that lead to Dess' disappearance/death (presumably involving the bunker) and the Noodle Incident mentioned by Seam ("This land hasn't seen THIS much chaos since… Well, you don't need to know about THAT.")

At some point in the future, we may come across a book that will teach Kris and company what a sugarplum is.

The "power" described by the nearby SAVE point will reflect whether or not we've read that book.

Deltarune is about the creation of a video game world, specifically a game called "Delta Rune".

And each chapter represents or will represent various "inspirational mediums" that might go into the creation of a game or a story.

• Chapter 1: Playing with toys
• Chapter 2: The Internet/Technology
• Chapter 3: Might allude to being focused on television.

The three save slots (and the ability to copy saves) become integral to the plot.

The sheer drama that the narrator gives when copying and deleting saves sparks a red flag. The fact that you can copy a save at all is a blaring alarm. There are many ways to integrate SAVE-COPYing:

• During a major plot event, the Big Bad deals so much damage that the save file itself is corrupted. In order to beat this, you have to (1) copy your save over to another file, (2) watch very closely at what the Big Bad does before they completely wreck the game files themselves, and (3) use your precognitive knowledge to interrupt and defeat the Big Bad before they can even strike.
• The corruption begins to affect the save file permanently, and you have to copy the game onto another file in order to play the rest of the game untainted.
• A puzzle in the later chapters requires you to create multiple copies of the save in order to progress; if you choose one option, it will show the solution to the other option and then save so you can't take it back. Then, the game will deliver a player punch by revealing that each time you copied a save, you were creating and brainwashing all of its inhabitants to play the specific roles of their originals, and when you deleted a save, it caused the Roaring.
• The Big Bad is so metaphysical that they will begin playing the game themselves on another save file, and you'll be forced to delete their save to prevent them from speedruning faster than a human player possibly can and unlocking the NG+ content that lets them enter and ruin your save.
• The save files are actually parallel worlds, so the characters will eventually come into contact with one another. This is actually required in order to progress, as one of the last Dark Kingdoms is actually a neighboring save itself.
• The game remembers every single time you copy and delete files, and will call you out on it for the ending.
• In order to achieve the true ending, you have to beat the game three times, achieving a different ending on each save file, which will cause the three save files to combine into a single file which can no longer be copied or deleted.
• If you edit the save files with the number [4], you can unlock and play a fourth save file.

The soundtrack for one of the later chapters will feature a collaboration with Camellia.

In Chapter 2, Lena Raine and Marcy Nabors were directly involved in the arrangement and transcription of "Cyber Battle" (in the case of the former) and "Attack of the Killer Queen" (in the case of both), suggesting we may see more collaborative tracks in the future. If that's the case, then Camellia seems like a likely candidate to appear; he's worked with Toby and Temmie several times in the past (the soundtrack for Dweller's Empty Path was a joint effort between the three of them, and Temmie designed the cover art for two of his albums, Blackmagik Blazing and U.U.F.O., the latter of which has a track co-composed by Toby), and he's clearly a fan of Undertale and Deltarune as he's created several remixes of tracks from both games packed with references and easter eggs.

The Knight's Leitmotif or battle theme will be some variation on "Nightmare Knight."

Toby's referenced his old fan-tracks for the game in both of his works in the form of Cap'n, who resembles Noisemaster in Deltarune, and taking bits of his theme for Noisemaster to make "Metal Crusher" in Undertale. In addition, pieces of "Nightmare Knight" can be heard whenever Kris and Susie open the entrance to a Dark World for the first time and in "The Chase." So it's not too much of a stretch to assume that a knight-themed antagonist would reference Nightmare Knight in some way.

Seam will be a superboss

Seam will be the last superboss

Considering Seam's apparent knowledge about and gathering of the Shadow Crystals, and considering their background as a court magician powerful enough to have regularly sparred with Jevil, it makes sense to think that the game's building up to an optional battle against them, possibly based around whatever they're collecting the Shadow Crystals for. Seam probably won't be an outright villainous bonus boss, but could probably challenge the heroes to a fight to "prove how powerful hope really is" (or something to that effect) given their nihilism. Their post-fight rewards could even be constructed from the Shadow Crystals to complete the apparent arc.

This game will get a T rating from the ESRB.

Calling it right now.

• It already has.

Undyne will play a role in Chapter 3

We saw that Toriel called the police after Kris and Susie fell asleep. So when Undyne arrives at the Dreemurs' house, she'll be in for a surprise…

Noelle and Berdly(?) will return as playable characters in a later chapter

Especially considering that it's possible to lose your armor to Noelle (even Jevilstail) when she leaves, so she'll end up getting pulled back into the action at some point, giving you the opportunity to reclaim your gear. Berdly might come back too, though that may change depending on whether you killed him or not…

Rouxls Kaard will be the equivalent of Sans in the Weird Route

And when we fight him, he will drop his accent completely.

An art-themed Dark World will be a later chapter, and Asriel is likely to gain Character Development in it

Past Dark Worlds have been about escapism; the first world was about toys and tabletop games, the second was about the Internet and videogames, and it's implied that the third will be about television. Art fits along these lines; it is typically done by people for fun, so it's entirely reasonable that an entire Dark World will happen and it will involve art.
Asriel will most likely be involved with the Dark World in some way; he has a overdue library book called "How To Draw Dragons". While he's probably taken the book specifically for pornographic reasons, the fact that it's a "how to draw" book in the first place makes it extremely likely that he's learned drawing skills from that book itself. Asriel too, is said to be in college. Many college students can attest to stating that they have very large student loans that they had to pay off in college, and taking artistic commissions is a very common way for college students to raise money to pay off student loans. It makes sense for Toby to reference this too, as Deltarune references a lot of things recent with culture.
Where will this Dark World be located? Well, it could happen in Asriel's and Kris's room itself. While a Dark Fountain was started in the Dreemurs' Residence, it was only in the Living Room, which connects to the hallway. Since it's in that room only, the bathroom and the two other rooms in the Living Room aren't affected by that Dark Fountain, similarly to the relationship between the closet Dark World and the chapter 1 Dark World. That means the Knight might very well start a Dark Fountain right on the head of the Angel depicted on the carpet itself.

Some possible situations that arise from this may include:

• Asriel might ask Kris to help him with moving his stuff from college into his room, which causes him and Kris to accidentally fall into the new Dark World with all of their stuff that they might be moving to their room.
• More knowledge of what Asriel has been doing on college campus, perhaps even info that might shake things up a bit.
• Swatchings reappearing, completely different from the ones you met in Chapter 2 and which do not know of Swatch themselves.
• Parodies of Adoptables and closed species, maybe even a chance to look at the darker aspects of those artistic concepts;
• Asriel will probably meet his fictional sona for real.
• General art-related jokes and puns.

Toby Fox's first tweet foreshadows the ending to Deltarune.

The very first tweet that Toby Fox ever posted reads "The edge of the shadow, where reality and dream meet." It was sent in 2011, the year when he claims he had the dream about a nonexistent game's ending that inspired Deltarune. Though he didn't say when in 2011 the dream occurred, given how Toby already hinted at Deltarune as far back as two months after Undertale's release, it wouldn't be that outlandish to assume that the tweet's wording is somehow relevant to this game's plot, given its mentions about a shadow and liminality, both of which sound as if they'd be relevant to the Dark World and the Legend.

Future Weird Routes will be intermittent.

As in, only some of the chapters will have them. It wouldn't be a Once per Chapter occurrence or even Once Per Every Other Chapter. The whole point of the Weird Route is the player being opportunistic, and biding their time in between. Making it a pattern will make it seem as though it was 'planned' by The Powers That Be. Whereas, having a mostly lighthearted story where it occasionally dips into horror territory without any pattern, rhyme, or reason will enhance the creepy factor.

Besides, making players go on a Wild Goose Chase for the Weird Routes in chapters that lack them seems like a very Toby thing to do.

There will be a Weird Route every other chapter.

Which is why every release after the demo adds exactly one even chapter. The current release adds chapter 2, the future release will add chapters 3, 4, and 5, and the final release will add chapters 6 and 7.

• If the final ending is meant to be the same no matter what, a chapter between Weird Routes could allow the odd-numbered chapters without Weird Routes to engage in Merging the Branches or Cutting Off the Branches to get the overall story back on-track.

There will be a Weird Route in every future chapter, but…

They won't be dark like Chapter 2's Weird Route, or at least not all of them. After all, nothing about "Weird Route" implies Darker and Edgier. If anything, it's probably the opposite, i.e. an Easter Egg route, so future Weird Route(s) could perhaps be Lighter and Softer than the corresponding chapter(s)'s normal plot. Consider also that taking the Weird Route allows glossing over a significant amount of Chapter 2's plot (it just happens that that plot was not dark, and the Weird Route's was very much so). Perhaps the Weird Routes will ultimately end up being some sort of commentary on speedrunning? If so, perhaps the final Weird Route in Chapter 7 will subvert the pattern by lasting significantly longer than the regular plot.

The Undertale sound test tracks refer to Deltarune.

Happy Town refers to the town, Meat Factory refers to the place the vessel was built, Gaster's Theme is a no-brainer, and Trouble Dingle could refer to anything really.

Snowgrave is meant to be metaphorical for calculated cyberbullying.

Consider the fact that Chapter 2 is meant to be taking place in a computer world, with the library's computer lab being a stand-in for the Cyber World. With Kris and Noelle behind computer screens, Kris has the perfect opportunity to be a jerk by manipulating Noelle into making decisions and purchases that they promise will help her, but ultimately make her worse off for them. It's not as easy to pull off in real life as it is behind a computer screen unless Kris and Noelle had some kind of already-established toxic relationship, which seems unlikely, as Chapter 1 implied that the two of them were more mutuals than outright friends, and Noelle has her sights set on Susie. Spamton NEO is the result of what happens when Kris' sources to worsen Noelle end up coming back at them.

Chapter 2 will be the only chapter with a Weird Route, but by doing it, you will start a series of events that will wildly throw the story off-course

.Since Toriel called the police over her cut tires, it will be rather likely that Undyne will come to her house and enter the dark world within. However, in the Weird Route, she will be likely preoccupied with a much more important case: The death of Berdly. This will mean that either she will not be able to act as a factor or Napstablook will instead. And that's not even factoring in how Noelle was affected by the Weird Route's events.

Each Shadow Crystal Holder will be more central to the main path of their chapter than the last.

You can go through the entirety of Chapter 1 without knowing about Jevil. Spamton, on the other hand, has one mandatory encounter on Chapter 2's normal route; he only shows up again if you follow his instructions and go looking for him, so it's easy for an unknowing player to brush him off as a random miniboss. If this is part of a pattern, the future Shadow Crystal Holders could go from being a side-villain that has multiple main-story appearances, to The Dragon of the chapter's Arc Villain, to maybe even being the Arc Villain themselves. The last one could even be the Big Bad or Greater-Scope Villain of all of Deltarune and possibly even Undertale. They could still all be Superbosses by means of fighting stronger versions of them (or, like Sans, they just don't fight you unless certain conditions are met), it's just that you'll be seeing each of them more and more as the game progresses, going from hidden characters to a central part of the story as it goes on.

Note that this only applies to the content of the main path that's needed to beat. Spamton is obviously important in the Weird Route of Chapter 2 in a way that's hard to top serially, but the Weird Route is a hidden alternate path.

The Broken Sword will be repairable or at least useable in some way much later in the game.

Specifically, this could go in at least two ways:

• It is a Lethal Joke Item played straight. There is a way to use it on exactly one boss to skip the boss encounter, similar to skipping Muffet's fight with a Spider Donut/Spider Cider. Either the boss is the only person the sword actually works on (somehow) or merely seeing the sword makes the boss surrender. Such as if the boss recognizes it as half of a powerful artifact and deems the party worthy of victory for having obtained it, clueless that Kris really just bought it from some deranged salesman's literal garbage shop.
• It's a subverted Lethal Joke Item. There will be some bizarre way to fix it and it's exactly as overpowered as it's claimed to be… the catch being that this can only be done by the endgame and through a very difficult sidequest harder than the final boss, to the point where there's pretty much nothing worth using it on.

The Delta Rune is incomplete.

There's an element to it that has been hitherto omitted in every in-game depiction, representing a fifth being of prophecy. Either the Heart Symbol containing the rest of the rune seen in the icon of the Deltarune executable is actually part of the rune or there is a fourth triangle, similar to the Tetraforce.

The B.ShotBowtie actually does give you +50 DEF.

The only catch is that it has to be fully intact. The ones Swatch sells got the brand name cut off, while the ones Spamton sells you are simply frayed because of the conditions they were stored in.

The Shadow Crystal holders will be fought in inverse order to their Undertale Genocide Run counterparts

In Chapter 1, the bonus boss was Jevil, a small jokester with meta-knowledge of his existence; a role comparable to Sans at the end of Undertale's Genocide route. In Chapter 2, the bonus boss was Spamton NEO, who's clearly analogous to Mettaton NEO, the penultimate Genocide route boss. Should the pattern continue, the remaining five holders will be comparable to Muffet, Undyne the Undying, Mad Dummy, Papyrus, and Toriel, in that order.

• Considering that Toriel's battle theme in Undertale was originally composed for Jevil, this could also tie in with the above-mentioned "Seam will be the last superboss" theory by having Seam act as Toriel's Shadow Crystal counterpart, being the red joker to Jevil's black. Since Seam and UT!Toriel are substantially different in characterization, their shared background as powerful mages who were isolated from someone once very dear to them as a result of hardship (Jevil and UT!Asgore, respectively) could be highlighted here. The latter could even be used to make Seam UT!Toriel's antithesis, much like how Spamton's character arc was the direct opposite of Mettaton's.

The Shadow Crystals/Glasses show you a world where you don't exist.

• When Kris looks through a glass in the light world without Susie, they can see through their own hand, because it doesn't exist.
• When Kris looks through a glass in the light world with Susie, they see Susie glaring coldly when in reality she is smiling, because without Kris she wouldn't have recieved her character development in chapter 1.
• When Kris looks through a shadow crystal in the King or Queen's dark world, they see the light world area they are in, because without Kris (if the theory that Kris made the fountains is correct) who created their fountains, those dark worlds wouldn't exist.
• When Kris looks through a shadow crystal in Ralsei's dark world, nothing happens, because it is the one dark world that Kris didn't create.

Zera was the one who gave Seam the Yoki doll.

Granted, this isn't likely to be plot-important as from an out-of-universe perspective, the doll was probably just intended as a cute little Easter Egg referencing one of Temmie's other creations, with no deeper connection beyond that. In-universe however, it would make a lot of sense for Zera to have been involved, as he has an obvious fixation on Yoki and is able to travel between worlds, as shown in Escaped Chasm, meaning he could have potentially visited Card Kingdom at some point. That game also features a similar Yoki doll that appears in the reclusive girl's home near the end of the game, and while there's no explanation given to how it got there, it can only be found after Zera has already shown up inside her house, so it's not out of the question to assume he put it there too.

There will be an Omega Ending.

Either you actually need to fill the three save slots with saves where you played neutral, pacifist and Snowgrave to get the truest ending or there will be an ending similar to the post-genocide pacifist ending in Undertale.

There is a third route.

Namely, a route where you abandon Snowgrave after recieving the ThornRing, since the TwistedSwrd which requires the ThornRing to craft, which (at least, as of now) can't be kept in the inventory if you kill Berdly, making this the only route where you can craft it. The TwistedSwrd gives the same Trance effect the ThornRing gives to Noelle, probably letting you make them do something they would otherwise not do, changing the course of the story.

There is a secret bad ending for taking enough "weird routes"

As the Flavor Text of the toy with beads guided on tracks will change on the Weird Route (which will say the blue bead is broken off), it may imply that there's an ending where forcing yourself off the regular route will leave you worse off than if you just went with the predetermined story.

When the full game, all 7 chapters, comes out, it will cost money and have a hidden Piracy/KeyGen Route, should you pirate the game, where you play as Spamton.

Pirating the full game gives you a deliberately glitchy, broken, and messy route where you play as Spamton. All the enemies are Addisons and all the dialogue talks about how great the full game of Deltarune is.

• If not a full on route, then likely some anti-piracy feature having to do with Spamton will be implemented.

When the full game comes out, there will be at least one 'secret' chapter after the confirmed seven, which will be part of the 'true ending'

If you complete certain requirements, perhaps such as using multiple saves in certain ways (see above), finding all the secrets and completing the full game at least once, you will unlock a secret chapter that will allow you to achive the true ending much like Undertale's True Pacifist route.

The Weird/Snowgrave Route Will end with the player being a Sealed Evil in a Can

Ralsei will ambush you and tear out the SOUL from Kris, then put you in a White Void Room before force-saving the game, in effect bricking the save file on purpose. Thus, only one ending - as the game has become Unwinnable by Design in the bad route, with no hope of seeing credits.

The Weird Route will be a Downer Ending where Kris dies with a Be Careful What You Wish For.

During the Spamton NEO fight on the Weird Route, he states this:

YOU THINK MAKING [Frozen Chicken] WITH YOUR [Side Chick] IS GONNA LET YOU DRINK UP THAT [Sweet, Sweet] [Freedom Sauce]? WELL, YOU'RE [$!$!] RIGHT! BUT DON'T BLAME ME WHEN YOU'RE [Crying] IN A [Broken Home] WISHING YOU LET YOUR OLD PAL SPAMTON [Kill You]

For those who don't understand Spamton's Electronic Speech Impediment, he claims that the Weird Route will ultimately give Kris some kind of freedom, but it will leave them in a "broken home" where they regretted not letting Spamton kill them when he had the chance. You know, Spamton, the Shadow Archetype for Kris' conflict with the SOUL, something Kris is aware of given how they behave after the Normal Route fight? The exact same Spamton who is murdered by Noelle at the end of the chapter?

What we can gather from this is that, at the end, Berdly's death will cause a Butterfly Effect that will ultimately let Kris gain their long-desired freedom from the SOUL, who will leave them alone. However, the consequences of this will be the fact that the Dreemurr family, if not all of Hometown, has been damaged beyond repair, with Kris ultimately realising that this was a mistake and that they should have let Spamton win back at the Cyber World. And then, in one cruel twist to rub salt in the wound, Kris ends up dying themselves. Maybe frozen by Noelle, given that Spamton died the same way.

It's also worth to note that you still get the Puppet Scarf after the Weird Route Spamton NEO fight, which might mean Spamton is Not Quite Dead (a WMG for another day). However, besides Kris surviving, this WMG barely changes (from the information we know).

Chapter 3 will invoke No Fair Cheating in matters concerning getting the Thorn Ring early in the previous chapter

A glitch in Chapter 2 allows for a text-overflow that allows the player to purchase the Thorn Ring before entering Cyber City, which had already been taken advantage of by speedrunners. Chapter 3 might swipe it from you (or from Noelle if she has it, even if she's nowhere near where you are) if you either didn't kill enough people to have gotten it from Spamton (or indeed, didn't kill anyone at all) and/or if you had killed Berdly while Noelle's max health was lower than 166, forcefully abort the Weird Route.

• To add to this, the level of failure will differ depending on how the speedrunner did the Snowgrave route. Utilizing v1.09's save bug and only killing one enemy before freezing Berdly will result in him being completely unharmed while taking a route where you kill more enemies and acquire the Freeze Ring will be equivalent to the neutral run's moment of Berdly frying his arm.

Chapter 3 will begin with the characters already in The Dark World.

Considering we saw Kris open a new Dark Fountain in their living room in the ending of Chapter 2, it's safe to assume that Kris and Susie will awaken in the Dark World at the start of the next chapter and there won't be any wandering around in the Light World at the start, unlike Chapters 1 and 2.

The Dark World is all carbon monoxide poisoning.

Something something gas leak.

The Holders of the Shadow Crystals in each chapter are based on characters from Home Movies.

This is mostly joking, but some of the similarities are striking:

• Jevil is Jason. Both are short and a bit chubby. Jason's hair is curled in a way that slightly resembles a jester cap. Both have five-letter J names. Both are comical Cloudcuckoolanders.
• Spamton is Brendon. Both are short and skinny, with long, pointy noses and slicked-back, spiky hair. Both have seven-letter, two-syllable names ending in "-on." Both are deceptively intelligent (in Brendon's case, it's in the sense that he acts surprisingly adult for an 8-year-old), and they both want to be big shots.
• If this is true, then the next ones will likely be based on, in order: Melissa, Coach McGuirk, Paula, and Mr. Lynch. (Feel free to add more.)

The "5 Shadows" Light puzzle in Chapter 2 all represent things their respective characters fear most

In Chapter 2, the third spotlight puzzle shows spotlights/shadows obviously connected to various characters:

• Blue: This one could be Berdly's or Kris', depending on how you want to interpret it. It's a big blue bird, so obviously it relates to Berdly, so...
  • Berdly: A big, round, silly bird, smiling like an idiot. Represents his insecurity/inferiority complex, or rather, his fear of being seen as weak or stupid. His egomaniacal bluster is just that: bluster. When it really comes down to it like we see in the Snowgrave route, he can be a really true and noble friend, but without that pressure, he's always trying very hard to be smart and cool because he's scared he isn't.
  • Kris: Same answer, a big, round, silly bird, smiling like an idiot, but the other way around. Kris isn't afraid of Berdly's inferiority complex, they're afraid that unlike Ralsei and Susie, they can't manipulate their way past Berdly without making a mess: yes, it's a big, dumb, blue bird, but it's much larger than Kris themself. Berdly is the only opponent Kris has to face in combat, and in the Snowgrave route, Berdly dies and Kris has to be the one to tend to his corpse.
• Magenta: A house, for Susie. It's in the shape of a house because Susie is afraid of her home life, either because she's afraid of an abusive/neglectful parent or because she has no home at all and doesn't want anyone to know about it (the same way she doesn't want anyone to know about her tail).
• Yellow: A sunburst/fire, for Noelle. Her sister's death/disappearance had something to do with a fire.
• Orange: A Wall, for Monster Kid, who hasn't joined the party yet. The shape is depicting the top of a wall at a diagonal angle; Monster Kid has no arms, they're afraid of falling (which is itself a reference to their falling in Hotland during Undertale)
• Green: Trailing cape, for Ralsei. I'm not 100% on this one, it's a very plain, abstract shape to interpret, but mainly I think Ralsei's fear is the fear of being discovered, or "unveiled". He's clearly got something he's trying to hide from Kris and the Player, so he'd naturally fear The Reveal.

"Mike" doesn't only refer to Mike from the Big Shot soda commercial, but two other Mikes along with him

Which builds on the theme of "characters with the same name but different lives." Explained in detail, with links and pictures, here: https://www.crestofflames.com/blog/spamton-gaster-and-two-mikes/To sum up:

• The obvious Mikes are Big Shot soda Mike, and Michael from The Office (US). The third more obscure Mike is another Mike Scott, the lead singer from the Waterboys. A folk group who released an album and scored a movie in 1997, both of which have lyrics that line up with the themes of the game strangely often.

"WORLDS' edge" is the edge between the game and the real world and it will be involved in the ending.

It's called "WORLDS' edge", meaning it's the edge between multiple worlds and not just the edge of one world. Toby's first tweet ever is "The edge of the shadow, where reality and dream meet." which was posted in 2011, when Toby had the fever dream that he said inspired the ending of Deltarune, so the tweet was posted about the time he conceptualized the ending of Deltarune. Likely, the characters will do something trippy there in the ending, like affecting or transcending to the real world.

Alphys knows that Susie's drinking her milk but pretends not to

Alphys isn't being easy on Susie's misbeaviour because she's a wimp, but because she knows that Susie's home life is sucky and that school is probably the only place she's really safe. She knows that Susie would never actually ask for help or accept it when offered, so she leaves milk in the alley for Susie under the guise of it being for a stray cat.

Hometown is a Town with a Dark Secret or Uncanny Village.

The more you really look at Hometown, the "Light World" the more things just seem off. Let alone the really suspicious things like the weird bunker and Dess' disappearance being something only Noelle ever talks about, if the internet in the town is down, why do Berdly and Noelle go to the computer lab to study? Why is Asriel only coming home at this time—what about summer vacation? Why does the hospital only have two rooms? Just how long has Asgore been able to operate a flower shop without actually selling flowers, anyway? Something is going on there, something weird.

The Weird Route will end with Kris trying, and failing, to fight the player.

Every chapter’s Weird Route will involve hurting one of their friends in some way, angering Kris more each time. Eventually, they will reach a Rage Breaking Point, break free of the player’s control, and try to fight you directly. The player then responds with “Since when were you the one in control?” and defeats Kris easily. The game continues as normal after this, with the same ending as a normal playthrough, meaning that everyone was ultimately put through so much trauma and grief at the player’s hands for nothing.

Chapter 3's Weird Route will involve manipulating Toriel's maternal instincts

Some people would think that with Toriel in the group, any suspicious action the player forces Kris to do that seems incongruous to their usual behaviour would ring massive alarms for her, and so we won't have opportunities for another Weird Route, but here's my theory:

Toriel will join the gang and she will start to take over the role of leader because she's the adult and she knows best. She will resolve the puzzles for us if we allow her (like Noelle freezing them if we pressure her) and she'll have an ability that allows us to escape (crippling our recruitment). The turning point will be when the gang has to split, and she decides to go with Kris, then there'll be the option of having Kris stand up to or relent to her infantilizing; if we do not stop her and allow Kris to take damage, she'll become more and more aggresive to protect them.

• Keep in mind that Toriel had just called the police at the end of Chapter 2. We never saw them arrive. Now then, we know from Undertale that Toriel knows fire magic and Undyne (a policewoman in this universe) is weak to heat. Doesn't it seem likely that Undyne would be the victim of a Chapter 3 Weird Route?

The Weird routes will be the end of the Delta Warriors

Chapter 2 introduces the opportunity of Guest-Star Party Member duos of a mage and a fighter (Noelle and Berdly), and with Toriel and (most likely) Undyne being the next ones, and the theories that Cattie and Jockington will be next, it strock me the specific pattern, but then I remember: our main party also has a mage and a fighter, Ralsei and Susie, and it seems that, by virtue of Kris' previous history with them, the mages are the ones more in risk of being manipulated by the SOUL. Into what? Harming the fighter, even killing them, if Berdly is an example.

If this pattern continues on in other chapters, my theory is that the goal is breaking Kris' will by traumatizing them to the point they no longer would even need the SOUL's input (kinda like when Noelle didn't recognize Berdly and thought him as just another enemy). Breaking their will for what goal? Most likely manipulating Ralsei. Ralsei, as a Darkner, seems to be overly eager to please the Lightners and Kris most of all, so if Kris is insistent enough Ralsei might be pushed into whatever they tell him to do. What would he be pushed to do? Hurt Susie.

Susie has always been the wild card of the party. At first she's uncontrollable, she's able to reject certain armours and weaker weapons, and she even learns to ACT on her own. She seems like the kind of person that might throw a wrench in the works, so if all the Weird routes are grooming us into eliminating her, that brings into question, who would benefit that? If the theories that deltarune is just one big experiment, the clearest answer is Gaster. He wants to see if a vessel's will can be broken, and whatever his plans are, they might benefit from having Susie off the picture.

After all, Toby Fox said that this game is supposed to be about befriending everyone, so why would he put the option of another genocide route(s) if his plan was to have only one ending? Simple, "your choice doesn't matter" is a case of reverse psychology. There's no better way to get a gamer into trying to break free of the script than telling them they can't. Just look at all the people going through the Snowgrave route already, despite everyone saying it's an even bigger Moral Event Horizon than Undertale's genocide route. Because it's like Sans said: we're not doing it out of malice, or boredom, we're doing it because we can, and therefore we gotta.

The optimal route is bringing as many Lightners to the brink without pushing them over it.

One of Malleus's items requires the Thorn Ring to create. The item isn't craftable anyway for now (it also requires a Pure Crystal, which as of yet cannot be obtained), but if it was, the only way to have a Thorn Ring in your inventory at that point is to do most of the Weird Route but not kill Berdly. (You must have the Thorn Ring equipped to Noelle to kill Berdly, and Noelle then immediately departs with the Ring.)

What if this item, rather than a troll, is a hint? What if doing that is actually the best possible outcome in the long run? And what if the best outcome overall comes from similarly starting-but-aborting other Weird Routes in later chapters?

The game will end with the player committing a Heroic Sacrifice.

At the end of the game, to resolve the main conflict (and set Kris free for good), the player will have to do something that severs their connection to the world. While it would still be possible to replay the game, that would, as in Undertale, be condemned by the narrative as endangering the world again.

The framing of it would depend on the route. In the regular and more pacifistic route, the player would have befriended everyone and earned Kris' forgiveness, leaving all the characters grieving the loss. If the player has done the Weird Route(s), it would be depicted more as an obligation on their part, the only way for the player to redeem themself. The characters would be a lot more broken, angry, and conflicted afterwards. Some of them would wonder if the player was aware of their impending fate and trying to prevent it, others would just bid the player good riddance.

Alternatively, all the characters, regardless of route, would forget the player entirely.

The next Big Bad will be the main antagonist of the next 3 chapters.

Toby will subvert what we expected from the setup of the first 2 chapters, and instead introduce a more prominent main villain that will play a bigger role in the plot of the full game.

ICE-E will play a major role in a future chapter.

He's been name-dropped and appeared in likeness enough times to count as foreshadowing at this point.

Each time a new SOUL gimmick is introduced, it will mechanically vary from how it worked in Undertale.

Just like with the addition of the yellow SOUL's charge shot, each SOUL mode will have a slight change from its original variant.Possible changes for each SOUL mode:

• Blue
  • A gravity-flipping mechanic, à la VVVVVV.
  • The player can perform a ground-pound, instantly landing the SOUL on the platform below them.
  • A double-jump
• Green
  • You can move freely, and the direction of the shield correlates with which direction you last moved towards.
  • Pressing the action button lets you perform a parry with the shield.
  • You're still fixed in place like in Undertale, but the shield can be fully rotated at any angle around the SOUL.
    • Likely with the mouse on PC.
• Purple
  • Rather than having vertical movement limited to rows and free horizontal movement, movement is limited on both planes, essentially confining you to a fixed grid.
  • The same as Undertale, but with the lines are rotated 90 degrees.

Rudy will die at some point.

He clearly doesn't look like he's doing well, bedridden in the hospital and coughing when laughing too hard.

Queen's Mind Control Devices will be a Chekhov's Boomerang.

Eventually, someone will use them to control an important character as a major plot point.

The actual divergence between the Undertale timeline and Deltarune is Chara's plan (partially) succeeding.

In Undertale, Chara commits suicide but lets Asriel take their soul to cross the barrier to get further souls. This plan ends up failing when Asriel refuses to fight back against the humans who attack him thinking he killed Chara.

In Deltarune, however, this event plays out differently. Asriel, for whatever reason (maybe Chara was more manipulative or was nicer to Asriel and thus more trusted by him) does not resist Chara's control as much when the humans confront the pair of them. This allows Chara-in control of Asriel's body-to kill the attacking humans and take their souls. Using this power, Chara is able to break the barrier, but that's not enough for the first fallen child. As in canon, they hate humanity and thus seek to destroy humankind on the surface with the goal of clearing the way for monsterkind. Here is where Asriel finally resists Chara's control-but by this point it's too late to save most of humanity. When the monsters emerge from Mount Ebott, they find Asriel distraught and a world where most humans have been destroyed in an instant.

The monsters, having no other real option, begin to establish themselves on the surface. Kris is one of the few surviving humans and is taken in by the Dreemurrs in part as atonement for unwittingly unleashing devestation upon humankind. Asgore perhaps is more reluctant to do so and the split between him and Toriel, as well as Kris' hostility towards him, is born out of this-the last time a human became part of his family it mentally broke his son and Asgore is not always the best at staying rational when faced with catastrophe so it's very possible he lashed out at Kris for reminding him of Chara and what Chara did to Asriel.

This brings us to Asriel's absence from the game-maybe he's not at college at all but getting some kind of psychological counseling. It's also possible the game he was designing which is implied to literally BE Undertale was created as a way of coping with what happened.

Deltarune's later chapters will need to be completed anachronistically to get the True Ending.

There might be a reason why Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are being released simultaneously. After obtaining the first two Shadow Crystals, Seam mentions that the Chapter 3 superboss will require an item called the Shadow Mantle to defeat, only to look for it and find that it's not there, wondering if someone took it.

What if the someone who took it isn't found in Chapter 3, but instead in Chapter 4 or 5? Perhaps, even, one of the latter two chapters' superbosses. After defeating them, doing a fresh start in Chapter 3 would provide you with the Shadow Mantle needed to defeat its superboss and earn its Shadow Crystal, and swapping between chapters may end up being necessary to get the True Ending—getting puzzle solutions or items from a later chapter, and bringing them to prior ones, perhaps with the multiple save slots thrown in to truly complicate things.

• Toby said there would only be one ending, though.

There will actually be 8 chapters.

While it has been confirmed that only 7 chapters will exist, surely there must be something gain from defeating every Superboss in the game, right? Maybe it's possible that Chapter 7 will only be the final chapter if you just complete each chapter each normally, and that if you only complete the chapters, the Knight (or rather the Grandmaster)'s plan will succeed and everyone dies. However if you complete each chapter and defeat each superboss, you unlock Chapter 8. During this secret chapter, The Angel -upon witnessing The Roaring that begun in Chapter 7- descends upon the planet with full intent of cleansing the planet of all sin. Grandmaster Gaster's plan to lure The Angel to the planet by causing The Roaring is designed to convince the angel that sentient life on the planet is evil, and therefore deserves to die.

Grandmaster Gaster knows of course that he'll die too, and reveals during his fight in Chapter 8 that he deliberately orchestrated Kris's possession by the SOUL and manipulated them into defeating his minions, The Knight and several individuals he drove mad to make the SOUL strong. Once the SOUL is strong enough, Gaster intends to kill Kris and absorb the SOUL into himself to destroy the Angel once it finished cleansing the planet before ruling over the purified planet as it's new god. If that fails and dies, then the Grandmaster's machinations would ensure that Kris and their party would be strong enough to fight The Angel and save all life from being destroyed.

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