WMG / Deltarune The Lightners

Berdly isn't dead and you can visit him in hospital in chapter 3.

He is comatose from the Snowgrave spell trapping his soul in the dark world and you can either leave him in peace to potentially recover, aborting the Snowgrave route, or, like the sick monster you are, you can rip out the cables to the life support system and kill him. He does whatever happens to lightners when they die (presumably turning to dust) and Kris/you absorb his soul with some chilling flavour text (pun intended)

• Berdly's body ran cold...
• And you felt filled with determination.

Mayor Holiday is Margaret Thatcher.

Which other politicians are known for being rather harsh (like an "Iron Lady") and also having a nuclear bunker just outside of town? HMMM?

Noelle’s mom resembles Gyftrot (in shape), except she also has blond hair like Noelle.

Dess also resembles/ed Gyftrot, but has/had Rudy’s dark hair.

• That could make sense if contrary to usual tradition, Rudy took her last name. Gyftrot's plight inspired a holiday like Christmas in Undertale. If something similar happened in Deltarune, that could be where the name Holiday came from, which would mean Noelle is related to Gyftrot.

Asriel is a Big Brother Bully

This is very unlikely, considering the main characters and Hometown monsters have nothing but positive things to say about him, but this is Toby Fox we're talking about now. The big twist could that Asriel is a Stepford Smiler Jerk Jock when he comes home — jealous and possessive of Kris' attention. Years of bullying, controlling, and domineering Kris has made the young human into a timid reclusive anti-social Shrinking Violet, unable to interact or mix with anyone else for fear of what their older sibling would say or do. Kris didn't do anything without Asriel, it's that they weren't allowed to do anything without him.

• Or he comes back as a bully, having mixed with the wrong crowd at college. Even worse if his college friends are an Anti-Human cult who want to harvest humans for their souls to become gods.

This world's Papyrus is the abrasive fedora-wearing dude Toby originally envisioned him as.

Sorry.

• Oh god.

Alternatively, this Papyrus dislikes puzzles and enjoys puns. Otherwise, his personality is the same.

• Papyrus makes puns in Undertale! He just hates when Sans uses them to bug him.

Papyrus isn't the brother Sans mentions.

Sans never actually mentions the name Papyrus, nor do we ever speak with him. The "distant trousle of bones" does imply that it's Papyrus, but even Mettaton and Mad Dummy got dialogue that all but confirms their existence, whereas Papyrus is nowhere to be seen or heard. He could just be a Shrinking Violet to contrast with his Undertale personality, but Toby's refusal to have Sans name his brother as "Papyrus" seems intentional.

Somewhere on the surface in UNDERTALE, there is a monster (living among humans) that discovered a Dark World.

The other classmates will play bigger parts in future chapters.

All of the other classmates, save Monster Kid, Snowy, and Temmie, have their faces in their word boxes. In Undertale, only characters important to the story had that luxury, meaning it's very likely they'll all have bigger parts to play in the story.

• The classmates with window pics will have some kind of inner darkness or problems at home. Over the course of the story, they will wind up going to the Dark World, joining Kris, Susie, and Ralsei on different adventures. While there, they'll learn more about themselves and eventually overcome their personal issues, similar to how Susie mellowed out and became friends with Kris.
• Chapter 2 further supports this theory, with Berdly and Noelle taking part.

Papyrus and Mettaton are in the Dark World

That's why they never leave their houses, despite being both extroverted characters in the original game. They're busy building lives in another world — Papyrus may be at his real home, if we accept the theory that he's a Darkner, and Mettaton having a body and fame in his.

• The existence of Mettaton's robotic body in Chapter 2 shows that at least he's been to the Dark World in the past.
  • Chapter 2's Dark World was created/opened very recently, and is set in a computer lab. It's more likely that the NEO body was just drawn up in an art program by Mettaton at some point and left there.

Undyne has a glass eye

Undyne in this world did lose her left eye. Instead of an eyepatch, she got a glass eye.

Kris used to have a pet bird.

Berdly doesn't like them because he found that really unnerving. Even though the bird's gone now, he hasn't forgotten about it, or how creeped out that made him feel.

Grandpa Semi will show up.

Grandpa Semi was intended to be Sans and Papyrus' grandfather in Undertale, but he was removed. Maybe in an alternate version of the world, Grandpa Semi will be around.

Rudy is going to die.

Let's face it, the malevolent forces at play in this world are almost certainly going to off the jolly father of the nicest, most (supposedly) innocent character in the entire game so far, especially if you went on the Snowgrave Route. Nothing good ever lasts, and nor do bed-ridden reindeer trying as hard as they can to look out for their vulnerable young child.

Deltarune is the world Sans originally came from

All the Undertale characters get little upgrades to their sprites in this verse. All of them except Sans. This is because this is the same Sans from Undertale, but not from after. This is Sans before Undertale. This is the place he cannot get back to. Whatever we three heroes do in this game will end with him in the Undertale verse. And that picture of three smiling people he has that he writes "don't forget" on the back of? That's the three heroes.

Also, when he says he hasn't met us, he ain't kidding. Since this happens before he gets dunked in the Undertale verse, he hasn't met either Kris or us, the Player/Anomaly.

• There's a bunch of points to support this:
  • Kris's outfit in the Dark World resembles Papyrus's.
  • Sans is defeated by making him tired, similar to Ralsei's Pacify spell.
  • Sans uses color in his text box portrait and battle sprites, unlike every other monster (other than Photoshop Flowey).
    • Toriel, too, has color in her battle sprite. She has red eyes.
  • The quick travel doors in Deltarune use the same sprite as the door to Sans's bedroom.
  • The picture in Sans's secret room has three characters on it (possibly the Fun Gang) and the words "don't forget." which is a phrase used in Deltarune. The blueprints in that room also resemble those for Lancer's machine.
  • Dialogue during the Genocide fight implies the place he originally came from isn't the Surface, unlike most other monsters, and that he and someone else have been searching for a way to 'go back,' haven't found one, and that he's given up hope. It seems unlikely that this would be the surface, given that Monsters know how to get past the barrier, they just lack the power to do it at present.
  • They randomly appear in Snowdin out of nowhere.
  • It's heavily implied in Undertale that Sans (and possibly Papyrus) is related in some way to Dr. Wingdings Gaster, whose motifs are all over Deltarune.

Sans is either a Darkner or a Lightner/Darkner hybrid

Goes hand-in-hand with the above theory. Specifically, Sans is either the same species as Lancer, or he's part-[Lancer's species] and part-skeleton monster. This would explain why he can bleed (Lancer claiming he'll turn the heroes into blood may imply that all Darkners naturally have blood), unlike other Lightner monsters. Papyrus (who's most likely a Lightner, since he just turns to dust without bleeding when he dies) is either Sans' half-brother or not biologically related to him at all. If Sans is a hybrid, it's entirely possible he was created by Gaster as some sort of experiment.

• Basically all the evidence pointing to Sans being a Darkner can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Undertale/comments/9tej2w/delta_rune_revealed_why_sans_bleeds_tiny_dr/.
• There’s another video about this theory by 2 Left Thumbs, here: https://youtu.be/EQEGp6fe1FY

The other 6 human souls are trapped in those flowers at Asgore's flower shop.

All the flowers were originally golden, but the SOULs getting trapped in them caused the flowers' colors to change. They'd be able to move around like Flowey if it weren't for those glass cases around them. How the souls ended up in the flowers is just as much of a mystery as how the player's soul ended up possessing Kris.

• But how do we know that the SOULs are going to be a significant part of Deltarune to begin with, or if they’re even there to begin with?
  • How do we know they're not? For all we know, Gaster's "experiment" (or whatever he's doing) could involve human souls in some way, including our own.
    • You've got your burden of proof reversed.
  • We do know for sure that the red SOUL is significant in some way because Kris keeps removing it and putting it back, suggesting SOUL power in general is going to get a bit of an expansion in Deltarune. For now, Kris is the only human in town, but it's not too crazy to wonder if Toby's going to bring in someone else with a SOUL to go deeper into the power it seems to have over other people.

Only Lightners who have significantly messed with timelines in Undertale have Darkner counterparts

Asriel has a counterpart (Ralsei) because he saved and reset so many times as Flowey. Gaster has a counterpart (presumably Rouxls Kaard and/or Seam, or maybe the Knight if that isn't Gaster himself) because he got shattered across time and space. Chara/Frisk could have one too; maybe their counterpart is Kris, though I doubt it since the Darkners recognized them as a Lightner. There could be other secondary requirements to having a Darkner counterpart, such as the Lightner's soul must be damaged/lost in some way, and/or the Lightner must be a monster (or at least used to be one) and not a human.

• You can't really say with certainty Gaster has a counterpart, considering he's not even confirmed to be in this game and Rouxls Kaard/Seam act and look nothing like how dominating theories see him. (Especially since Rouxls Kaard and Seam actually have Light World counterparts, and they're not Gaster, but the Rules Card and a stuffed animal.)

Toriel is the reason why Kris' name is an incomplete anagram

"Kris" is supposed to be an anagram of "Frisk", but it's missing one letter. Why is that? Obviously, it's because when your mother is a school teacher, coming home with an F is not an option.

Toriel and Asgore divorced because Asgore doesn't really understand their children

There are hints that Asgore, while genuinely a nice person, doesn't quite understand his kids. He hugged Kris and then immediately realized he isn't sure whether Kris likes that or not. He cooked Asriel's green eggs, not realizing that Asriel cared a lot about those eggs. Asgore also told Kris to send flowers to Toriel, but when you toss it from your inventory, the narration indicates Kris HATES those flowers. There might have been many, many more incidents like that we don't know about. Toriel might have caught on to the fact that while Asgore is not a bad person, he keeps hurting their children through a lack of understanding. He doesn't know what their children hate or don't hate. Toriel knew that he wasn't being malicious, but seeing the kids cry every time Asgore makes an error hurt her too much.

• Why would it matter if Kris hated those flowers? They were for Toriel. Also, he wasn't "not sure" if Kris liked getting hugs, he just forgot in his moment of joy at seeing them again, possibly for the first time in a while. If his behavior was legitimately harming his children and making them cry like you're describing, he undoubtedly would have put effort into changing it; you're honestly making him come off as a neglectful idiot. That doesn't sound like Asgore at all.
• It's implied that Toriel and Asgore's divorce was very difficult for Kris and Asriel, with Asriel getting Kris out of the house and away for their parents at the diner and a significant change in family habits afterward (all four of them stopped attending church, not just one half of the family). Anger at the flowers, since Kris probably knew Toriel wasn't going to take kindly to them, seems more a result of that than a genuine anger at Asgore; in addition, the divorce probably wouldn't have hit the kids so hard if they'd wanted Asgore out of their lives as a neglectful parent. Toriel also implies that she understands Asgore still needs to see the kids, telling Asgore that they'll "talk about" what to do when Asriel comes home, and as protective as she is, if he was hurting them presumably that wouldn't be the case.

Asgore was the old police sergeant, trained Undyne, and shot a child by accident

This led to his early retirement, as well as divorce.

Asgore being overly kind hurt the family at some point, that's why Toriel divorced him

When we find Asgore, we discover that his flower shop is close to closing down because he keeps giving his flowers away rather than selling them. We also know that's he's generally oblivious to how Kris doesn't like being hugged and how Toriel doesn't want flowers from him. It's possible that at some point Asgore, not fully understanding the potential consequences of what he was doing, ended up doing something unbelievably generous but also incredibly stupid that put the whole family at risk: something like giving away a large amount of money saved up to a stranger's sob story, or being overly friendly to someone who wanted to take advantage of his selflessness. Given how Deltarune is its own universe, it's hard to see Asgore doing something actually malicious or intentionally hurtful, but given how in the original timeline it was his cowardice and pacifistic nature that drove Toriel away, it would be understandable if those same traits hurt her and the kids in this timeline also.

• A subset of this could be just plain old money problems, a cause of many real-life divorces, caused by Asgore never getting paid for his florist services.

"Monster Kid" in Deltarune isn't the same character as Monster Kid from Undertale

They're actually the not-Goner version of Goner Kid, as well as Monster Kid's sister.

When a Lightner is in the Dark World, they no longer exist in the Light World

Not only does the Lightner physically disappear from the Light World, they're also completely forgotten by everyone else, until they return from the Dark World, which will cause everyone to remember them again as if they never disappeared in the first place.

• Toriel says she was worried about Kris in chapter 1 because they wouldn't answer their phone.

Napstablook was with Mettaton.

The inhabitant of the ghost-looking house clearly had Mettaton's mannerisms, but told you to leave him alone, something that's out of character for someone who loves the spotlight as much as him. But you know who it is in character for? Mettaton's cousin Napstablook. It's also in-character for him to not want to be rude and tell people to go away. So, Napstablook was with Mettaton, heard you at the door, and asked Mettaton to shoo you away for him, which he did.

• Napstablook was in the police station on both days. Unless he teleports back and forth depending on where Kris is, which seems like a needlessly convoluted addition to the story from a meta standpoint, this doesn't seem likely. It is canon for Undertale that Mettaton doesn't feel like himself in his ghost form, and is insecure about whether he can be a star as is, and the body Spamton NEO uses very much resembles Mettaton NEO; more likely, this is Mettaton prior to acquiring a physical body.

Hometown will be invaded by hostile Darkners at some point, and the player will team up with the inhabitants of Hometown to fight them off.

This will lead to the characters from Undertale — Toriel, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, and Asgore (as well as possibly Napstablook, Alphys, and Mettaton) being Guest Star Party Members, or maybe even joining the party. This will also possibly be when Noelle joins the party.

• Noelle joined the party in Chapter 2, which is what the assets Toby released referred to. There is a chance she could join again for a last hurrah, though.

This WMG was inspired by Undyne complaining about Hometown being too dull and quiet. The Law of Conservation of Detail dictates that it's not going to stay that way.

• Alternatively, the attack on Hometown starts off throwing the Lightner citizens into chaos and the police (which we now know seems to only e Undyne and Napstablook) proving too overwhelmed to help, which prompts Kris to demonstrate their leadership capabilities to the entirely of Hometown by getting them to rally the townspeople into fighting back, causing them recognize and appreciate how Kris has grown and end up giving Kris a lot more respect because of it.

Noelle will involve herself with the Angel religion.

When Toby Fox posted the preview song "Lost Girl (Noelle)" to his Twitter, the video of the music included an image of Noelle from behind, wearing what appears to be a robe of sorts of pure white, and to this troper, they look rather like religious vestments. Furthermore, the concept of being "lost" can have religious connotations. Also, well, this may be an unmarked spoiler, but turning to religion after losing a loved one (which hasn't happened yet, I know, but the writing is definitely on the wall for her) isn't an uncommon practice either.

Given the hints dropped so far that the Angel may be far from a benevolent figure, it's even possible Noelle could go from friend/ally to adversary and perhaps back to ally again, sort of similar to Susie's arc.

• Fed a little bit in Chapter 2. When the Queen brings her up on the robot hand, the way she's bound looks as if she's being crucified.

Undyne was playing dumb when asked about Alphys

Considering that the town has a fairly low population and Undyne’s zealous attitude towards violations, it would be a stretch to say that she hasn’t given a presentation on traffic etiquette at least once in Alphys' class. Similar to what happened in Undertale, Undyne would probably be a fan of the passion with which Alphys pursues teaching and anime. Likewise, Alphys would be enamored by Undyne's various personality traits as well. But due to this town most likely being a religious community, there would be some level of gossip that could negatively impact their lives (or so they think), so they have to keep it quiet. For evidence:

• Undyne's reaction when asked about Alphys is that she would give her a tackle. That seems like a very understated reaction for someone who annihilated a bunch of teens at handball for something like having a ball bounce on her car.

Asriel will come home early

This doesn't necessarily have to happen in Chapter 2, just at some point before the end of the full game.

Something bad happened to Dess.

Some have missed confirmation of this, as a lot of dialogue confirming her relationship with Noelle is in the optional hospital scenes, but the "Dess" whom Noelle refers to frequently is her older sister. They are described as having had a close relationship: she was fiercely protective of Noelle, hitting Kris with a wiffle bat after the later scared Noelle with a story about Ice-E eating kids, which Noelle relates if you choose "She eats chalk" when talking to Noelle about Susie in Chapter 1.

Dess also helped to make a model angel with Noelle to Rudy, Noelle's father. We know that in at least one universe, specifically the one where the Undertale Alarm Clock Winter dialogue takes place, Rudy has multiple daughters. Considering that the game is hyping up Noelle to be of some importance, it would make sense to have her family life be a major part of it. Additionally, in UNDERTALE's Xbox release, talking to Sans after 1000+ particles are accumulated has him mention Asgore giving gifts to an antlered girl and her big sister. While it's not 100% confirmed, it's very likely that he's talking about Noelle and Dess.

For those wondering why Dess's name isn't Holiday themed, it's because Dess is just a nickname for December. In Chapter 2, during Noelle's heart to heart with Kris and one of the few times that anyone talks about Dess, the buttons that Noelle presses spell out December. In addition, the word Noelle froze on in the spelling bee was December.

This does raise the question of what actually happened to her. Both Noelle's and Rudy's dialogue from different parts of Chapter 2 imply that Noelle only has her parents at the moment, with Dess not being around. So… is she just not available at the moment, like Asriel, or did something much worse happen?

Dess ran away from home.

Some unmentioned events put a lot of stress on the Holiday family; potentially Rudy was sick before with the same thing that is currently slowly killing him, but it went into remission. Dess was pushed hard to help watch Noelle, who loved her, but was a younger sibling and thus a source of further stress. Being effectively turned into a parent to her younger sister on top of school and the stress of her sick father led her to run away from home. She's been missing ever since, having either chosen to stay away or been unable to return. This in turn prompted Noelle's mother to become far more strict, thinking it would help, and even when Rudy's condition went into remission, he couldn't talk reason into her.

Dess is dead.

All mentions of Dess seem to be relatively far in the past. Noelle says "I wish Dess could see this." at one point. Noelle froze up when trying to spell "December", which is similar to Dess' name in a spelling contest.

Dess died from exposure to intense or prolonged cold, and Noelle blames herself for it.

Building off of the above theory, now that Chapter 2 has revealed more about Noelle and Dess, maybe Noelle secretly feels responsible for the death or loss of her sister. This would be why she alone is truly capable of fully killing people within the Dark World: LV represents one's Level of Violence, and Noelle already believes herself to have the capability to kill. In the Weird Path, it's shown that she blacks out or enters some kind of fugue state when forced into doing something aggressive and traumatizing, so it would be reasonable to say that something similar happened during the incident with Dess that led to Noelle's discomfort with her full name. She might even unconsciously consider herself as someone that needs to be 'punished'.

One of the monsters in Sans' grocery mentions that sometimes Noelle will open the freezer door and simply stand in front of it with a neutral face. This could be taken as another reference to her family's character theming, but what if she's trying to put herself through what her sister went through? What if the Weird Route involves taking advantage of those weaknesses, making her harm herself with the Ring of Thorns, and forcing her to unleash what she claims is "a spell that I don't even know" that is in fact a representation of the most traumatic moment in her life? The spell in question is called SnowGrave, after all, and IceShock demonstrates that Dark World abilities can be inspired by things a Lightner is familiar with in their own world. Noelle might have witnessed or even caused such a "SnowGrave" before in the past.

Undyne and/or Napstablook will enter the Dark World in Chapter 3

Since Toriel called the police before falling asleep, one or both of the officers could show up at her house, only to end up falling into the dark fountain that Kris opened (especially since they left the house's door open before creating the fountain).

• Bonus points if Undyne's Dark World appearance uses her Royal Guard armor from UNDERTALE, and if she wields a spear.

Asriel isn't at college, and was perhaps never there.

He's in the Dark World. Either he is Ralsei, or he's connected to Ralsei somehow. Either way, it explains why there's a door labelled "Asriel's Room" in the Queen's castle. Since it's shown you can travel back and forth between the Light and Dark Worlds, it's possible Asriel has been popping back into the Light World just long enough to send emails or texts to his family to keep them from worrying.

• It's possible that Asriel has a room in Queen's castle simply because she saw his search history.

Dess isn't dead... she's missing.

Each of the rooms the Queen makes is personalized based on its occupant's search history. The calendar in Noelle's room has every day marked as Christmas, which suggests it was made from Noelle searching for "December Holiday" a lot. Why would Noelle be searching for her sister's name if she was dead? Answer: Dess went missing, and Noelle is still keeping an eye out for any information that might crop up.

• Of course, she might still be dead, but if she is, the Holidays don't know that.
• Maybe Dess went missing in a snowstorm, and that's why Noelle does things like go to Sans's shop and stare into the open freezers, trying to use the cold to jog her memory of the day her sister vanished.
• Implicitly confirmed in light of the Spamton Sweepstakes event in Deltarune's website; Typing the word "dess" in the website's directory path will lead you to a page displaying a red guitar. An audio file will play once the guitar is clicked. The file name itself? "findher".

If Dess is dead, Noelle was the one who killed her.

Noelle is reluctant to use IceShock, and when you/Kris push her into using SnowGrave on Berdly, she has an awfully specific line. Maybe she's "cast a spell [she] doesn't know" before, and it's what led to Dess's death.

On a more hopeful bend, Noelle got over her "December"-related trauma in the Pacifist/Neutral Route, or is at least able to say it, unlike at the spelling bee.

Remember how Noelle got over her fear of mice after spelling out "ILOVEMICE", even telling Kris she now found them strangely cute? There could have been a form of Subliminal Seduction in the buttons being pressed. Perhaps the same could apply to when she was spelling out "DECEMBER" while reminiscing with Kris, especially since finally spelling it out in full is exactlty what she couldn't do at the spelling bee.

Dess is trapped in the Dark World.

There is unused dialogue hitherto added in every chapter by a person that is seemingly crying for help. In Spamton's shop, we actually hear a line from this dialogue by someone seemingly speaking through Spamton's body.

Lightners who are different from their Undertale counterparts have been to the Dark World, and the trauma has changed them.

A robotic body all but stated to be Mettaton's, built to "fulfill a Lightner's dream", is found abandoned in a Dark World dungeon in Chapter 2, and Mettaton was reduced to a worse recluse than Napstablook. Perhaps every character whose personality has significantly changed from Undertale has been through a similar ordeal?

• It's more likely that the discarded robot body was just a drawing he made in a computer's art program, considering that Alphys, who built the body inUndertale is an ordinary teacher in Deltarune.

The person who slashed Toriel's tires and the person she saw prowling around were actually two different people.

Clearly, the person who slashed Toriel's tires is most likely Kris, who slashed them while having another one of their "episodes". However, if Kris was the one Toriel had seen sneaking around outside, it seems likely she would have been less inclined to get the police involved, since she knows Kris does this sometimes, and probably would not want to indict her own child.

The identity of this second person may possibly be Noelle, as she is their neighbor and has quick access to their house, and has also been very suspicious of how Kris has been acting recently. It would also be a good segue to get her involved in Chapter 3.

• It's also possible the person she saw creeping around was Asgore, approaching the house, creeping around and observing from a distance, but never getting close. Possible reasons for that: 1) He wants to go to his (former) family, but doesn't know what to say, 2) he knows that he will not be welcome if he does approach them, 3) Toriel took out a restraining order, so Asgore is legally required to stay a certain distance from the house.

Sans' Dark World form will be exactly the same as his Light World form

Regardless of if he's actually a Darkner or not.

At some point, other citizens of Hometown will get involved with the Dark World and will discover what Kris/The Player has been doing there.

They will discover What You Are in the Dark (pun not intended) and their opinions of Kris will change accordingly, depending on your actions.

Clam Guy and Clam Girl are the same character

They're genderfluid/bigender and can shapeshift to change their appearance depending on how they want to present.

Aside from more LGBT+ representation, this would also have lore implications such as Gaster followers/Goners and their non-gray counterparts (like Goner Kid and Monster Kid) being the same characters all along, meaning their gray appearances (presumably from Gaster influencing or even possessing them somehow) are only temporary, and that Gaster can straight up teleport living monsters around if he wants to.

Berdly is stuck in a suspended "fallen down" state at the end of Chapter 2's Weird Route.

When a monster dies, their body turns to dust. But before that, there's a short period where they're in a comatose state that's referred to as being "fallen down". Because Berdly was frozen in the Dark World, his body in the Light World is reacting accordingly, which is greatly extending the fallen down time.

• Considering it's implied that Kris stuffed his dead body in the computer lab closet, when Berdly does die and turn into dust, it would be difficult to find out what happened to him… unless Kris tells someone, or Susie or Noelle put two and two together.

Undyne will lose her eye in the Dark World

Assuming she doesn't already have a glass eye or something.

Noelle is set up for Trauma Conga Line, Despair Event Horizon, and perhaps Face–Heel Turn

Her older sister is missing or dead, her father is almost certainly going to die during the story, her mother is strict and neglectful, and she feels deep infatuation to someone that does not seem to feel the same way at all. Despite finding some strength in her adventure in the Dark World, she continues to be scared and weak in the Light, and was the most enthusiastic supporter of staying in the Dark World entirely. Once the other shoe falls — once her father dies and she realizes the hopelessness of her crush — she will become an agent of the Titans and a core component of the game's Anti-Escapism Aesop.

• While I'm on board with Noelle probably undergoing some serious stuff over the course of the game, it's weird to label her crush on Susie as hopeless — especially given that Susie gives reciprocal attention in the Pacifist Route. Maybe instead Love-Obstructing Parents comes into play with her overly strict, mayoral mother?
  • You've got your goggles on. Susie never really reciprocated the crush: her being Oblivious to Love is beginning to form up into a part of her character, and she was just looking to make another friend, in her usual awkward way. Noelle, on the other hand, is nursing an enormous infatuation towards a person she barely knows anything about — hasn't even really talked to her before Chapter 2 — seemingly more concerned with what she thinks Susie is like, what she wants Susie to be like, rather than what Susie actually is like. The ferris wheel reflects this, feeling like something the Dark World built specifically for her, seeing as the entire realm was keyed to her and her desires from the beginning. Susie just went along for the ride, fairly clueless. If you go examine the ferris wheel picture earlier in the city, her priorities are made clear. No, from the way things are looking for Noelle in general, I think it's just going to be another fantasy for her: yet another reason to reject the real world, which only has sorrow for her, and escape into the bliss of dreams.
    • You're the one with goggles on. Susie's awkward about it, but clearly shows Noelle positive attention, even if it is platonic. Given that this is the first time they've ever really interacted, confirmation that Susie is a relatively kind, interesting person who wants to spend time with her — which Susie does say she wants to do — is not a discouraging thing for a young person really engaging with their crush for the first time to hear. It's not bleak just because Susie doesn't fall for her instantly. A long-term friendship never going anywhere, maybe, but Susie herself hasn't given Noelle one reason to think that there's no chance for her. There is a reason for Noelle to do what you say, it's just not the one you supplied: she still thinks everything that happened in the Dark World was a dream, and that everything Susie said was a result of her own wishful thinking instead of what Susie actually believed. If Susie starts interacting with her similarly in the real world, however, their relationship could really begin to evolve.

Berdly comes from a neglectful household

During the flashback explaining his Freudian Excuse, Berdly mentions how forgettable he was as a child, with some people even forgetting his name. This may have even extended to his parents; perhaps in his early years they barely paid attention to him, only feeling proud of him for the first time after he won the spelling bee. Maybe that's part of why he feels such an obligation to stay at the head of the class: his academic accomplishments are the only things that get him any semblance of love from his family. This might even extend to his name: they couldn't even be bothered to think of a proper name for him when he was born, so they just took what he is and slapped a suffix on it.

This is supported by Queen's treatment of him and Noelle: While she mostly acts as an overbearing, but ultimately well-meaning motherly figure to Noelle, much like her real mother, with Berdly she's rude, she avoids him as much as possible, and she frequently misnames him, whether accidentally or intentionally. If she's not just a reflection of only Noelle's mother, this might be indicative of what his home life is like.

Someone is going to try and use the Dark Worlds to save Rudy.

Noelle already mentions that it would be nice to cure her father through magic — given that the Queen gave her a pin for the express purpose of establishing another Dark World, who's to say Noelle wouldn't try if she became aware of healing magic like Ralsei's? Alternatively, if one reads Kris as purposefully prolonging the time they have with Susie and their mother by opening Chapter 3's Dark World, Kris might open a Dark World in an attempt to show Noelle that they care.

Asriel is a Human

Specifically, this Asriel is the world's version of Frisk. It's not like the Dreemurs are against adopting Humans (after all, Kris is one). The fact that Noelle doesn't see any similiarity between Asriel and Ralsei, that Kris doesn't really want to get too close to Ralsei, and that Susie doesn't mention that Asriel looks like Ralsei when seeing Asriel's web room, all point to Asriel not being a Goat Person, but something else, and the most likely choice for that is a Human.

• Not sure the "Kris doesn't want to get too close to Ralsei" thing is a fact. Several dialogue options give you the chance to become fairly close with him, and when your determination is 'away' from Kris, it always cuts back to Ralsei and Kris talking about...something. Also, why was Susie so stunned by Ralsei's real face if he wasn't familiar?

Asriel is dead, and Kris killed him

"He's at college" is the cover story the Dreemurrs have been telling everyone to avoid having to break the entire story. It was an apparent accident, something like the "buttercups" prank from Undertale, or perhaps Asgore left his police firearm unattended (which would also explain why he retired). In any case, Toriel blames his negligence for their son's death, far more than she blames Kris. She understands it was an accident but can't forgive him.
Why such a persistent story? Possibly because of Kris's already uncomfortable reputation in town, or their already questionable mental health. They told Kris that Asriel got better and went straight off to school, but Kris already suspects this is a lie. The book will never be returned, there's nothing in Asriel's digital room.
But the upcoming college vacation is a bit of public information that they don't know what to do about, and Toriel's trying to decide what to do — try to keep the ruse going, perhaps by saying Asriel had some problem and couldn't come home, or use this moment to come clean? "Going to the diner like old times" was Asgore's way of trying to say that he wants to be there when it happens; when Asriel does not come back as scheduled and she's going to have to explain it.

• But Toriel wonders aloud to Kris if Asriel will still enjoy his time at home after being away. They're the only ones in the car, so why even bring it up if Asriel wasn't coming home? Also, Asriel's room does have something in it — if you go back once Susie's in the party again, she'll comment on the contents of the room. It's just that Kris refuses to look at it.

There's no dark reason Kris refuses to look into Asriel's room in the mansion.

Would you want to see visual representations of your college aged brother's search history?

Dess was a human and Noelle absorbed her soul.

There's a book about how to take care of humans in the library, so there could be multiple humans in the town. It's never mentioned that the Dreemurrs were the only people to take it out. It also wouldn't make sense for a public library to buy a book which only one family in the entire town has interest in. Noelle was scared when Kris once faked bleeding while another monster in the town is implied to be unfamiliar with blood, so it could be that Noelle knew what blood was from Dess. Dess is implied to be somewhat of an Expy of Ness (who is human), her (nick)name is only one letter removed from "Ness", and they both are examples of Batter Up!. In Undertale, Sans calls Dess "the antlered girl's sister", implying that Dess doesn't have antlers herself. Noelle sometimes freezes like when she is scared when staring at Sans' freezers, which implies Dess died from frost and that Noelle was present at her death. It also would make sense that Dess would be declared missing instead of dead if her soul was absorbed, since human souls can't be destroyed or decay unlike corpses, so a dead human's soul must be absorbed or hidden for a Never Found the Body scenario to occur. Noelle is inexplicably powerful in the dark world and monsters with a human soul are very powerful. At one point in the Snowgrave route, Kris and Noelle are filled with power at the save points instead of just Kris, which implies that Noelle also has some of the power that allows Kris to save, which could be human levels of determination like in Undertale or another power that comes from human souls. Noelle seems to be possessed by something at times in SnowGrave and the Queen mentions her having "awakened", which could mean that Dess's soul is dormant inside Noelle but is awakening through killing, perhaps similar to Chara in Undertale.

The disappearance/death of Noelle's sister is why Asgore is no longer chief of police.

I've seen this theory once or twice on Discord, but I'm surprised no one has posted it here.
I think that whatever happened to Dess led to Asgore no longer being chief of police. I can't say for certain if this was by his own choice or not. On one hand, it is the child of his best friend, Rudy. He probably knew Dess very well, and failing to protect her could've led to him quitting the police force in shame. On the other hand, it's all but stated that Noelle's mother is the mayor of the town, and it's possible she had him removed from the position because she blamed him for what happened. This would also explain why the mayor is enacting policies that reduce the need for police in the town, like Alphys said in the epilogue of Chapter 2. From her point of view, the police can't be trusted to keep people safe, so she's made it so that they are no longer needed.

Sort of a follow-up, perhaps Asgore's removal from his position as police chief is why he and Toriel split up? We know that in Undertale, his behavior after Chara and Asriel died pushed Toriel away from him. The loss of his friend's child might've done something similar. I have no evidence for this, except that so far there are no other events in the town that I can think of that would lead to this.

As for if Dess died or just disappeared, it's hard to say. On one hand, Rudy makes it fairly clear that he, Noelle, and her mother are the only people in their household by the events of the game. On the other, if Dess was dead, then why isn't there a grave for her in the graveyard? Hopefully there will be more info when more chapters are released.

• It is canon that Asgore makes rash decisions in the heat of emotion, like when he declared war on any human that fell into the Underground and came to regret it. It's possible, since Rudy obviously means a great deal to him, that he did the same thing when whatever happened to Dess took place.

Pizzapants is Mike.

For starters, Burgerpants has his Badass Boast from Undertale's Genocide Run, which Spamton references in his dialogue.

I can't go to Hell. I'm all out of vacation days.

TOO MANY EXCESS VACATION DAYS?? TAKE A GODDAMN VACATION STRAIGHT TO HELL

Why is Pizzapants so slightly, slightly happier than Burgerpants? He seems to like (or at the very least tolerate) his co-workers more, he's so slightly more satisfied, but he still doesn't pursue his dreams. Why? Well, he might be a [[Little Sponge]] in the Light World, but he's a [[BIG SHOT]] in the Dark World as Mike, a gameshow host. Dark Worlds basically serve as escapist fantasies to Lightners, and if Pizzapants stumbled upon a Dark World, presumably TV-themed, where he could become everything he ever wanted, he'd love it. He's a bit happier because he knows that when ICE-E's closes down, he could become a world-famous gameshow host. He would get praise from the Darkners by being a Lightner, which helps them fulfill their purpose and serve a Lightner. Assuming Mike is the TV Darkner from the end of Chapter 2, he might even wear the TV head as some sort of mask. He eventually meets Spamton, helps him become BIG, before abandoning him for some unknown reasons (assuming it's Mike who helped and then abandoned Spamton). And when the Delta Warriors come to seal the Fountain, Pizzapants/Mike will do anything to stop them, becoming the next Arc Villain.

Library Monster is related to Berdly.

They have a suprising amount in common.

• A. they both are commonly seen in the Librarbry
• B. they both have blue feathers/skin
• C. due to the colouration around their mouth, it's plausible that Library monster is a bird, just like Berdly.

despite being few in number, these similarities mean a lot. do you know any other bird monsters in either Undertale or Deltarune?

The Red Bird Monster seen at Grillby's is the Undertale version of Berdly.

We already know from the XBox Port and the Alarm Clock Dialogue that Noelle and Dess live in Snowdin (and Rudy did, too, before his death). It's only fitting that Berdly, who was friends with Noelle, would live there too. And we see a bird in Snowdin... as a nobody hanging out at Grillby's, providing as a shitty translator that does not understand what Grillby is saying. Not only this fits Berdly, who claims he's smarter than he really is, but this is his worst dream coming true; Losing everything he ever had by parting ways with Noelle. Him changing from blue to red can be just one of the differences between the two worlds, like Undyne still having both of her eyes and the Amalgamates being dead.

Kris slashed the tires so Susie would stay longer.

Similarly to Kris pulling out the knife (and terrifying the player) only to use it to eat a pie, Kris was the one who slashed Toriel's tires, but they did it because, since it was getting late, they knew Toriel might insist on driving Susie home and wanted to pre-empt that. It worked, given that Toriel clearly didn't want Susie going home alone with someone prowling around outside.

Dess is alive and lives in the big city

In chapter two, Noelle mentions that her sister Dess has promised Noelle to take her to the big city one day, away from Hometown. At the time of chapter two being released, we don't know about what exactly happened to Dess; She's classified as "missing", but we have no further details on what exactly happened, and Dess doesn't have a grave in the graveyard, meaning that neither the characters in game or us, the players, are 100% sure that she's dead.Dess is actually alive, and she has ran away to live in the big city to escape her mother's strict, controlling nature and because she wanted more out of life than she could have in the Hometown. She didn't take Noelle with herself because they were both very young, and Dess thought that Noelle both wouldn't understand why they were leaving, and because running away to a big city without any means would be difficult for a teen, especially with a very young sibling in tow. Years later, Dess has heard the news about Rudy's illness getting worse, and she will reach out to Noelle through mail, telling her that Noellle is old enough to run from home and handle herself on the way to the city, and that once she arrives, she can live with Dess, who now has a job and her own home, and can offer Noelle both safety and means to live.Noelle will face a difficult choice in her character arc- Should she stay in Hometown with her strict, stifling mother and face the death of her father, but also be able to stay close to her new friends (and maybe continue her relationship with Susie), or run away and live with her sister, disobeying her mother and leaving her friends behind for better future opportunities and finally seeing her sister after all these years, plus not having to be there for her father's death?

Rudy named Kris.

Asgore is terrible at naming things, and the Holiday family have Christmas-themed names. When the Dreemurr family adopted a human child, Asgore couldn't think of a name, so he asked his friend Rudy for help. The first thing he thought of was "Christmas" (and maybe it even was Christmas when the child was adopted), which was shortened to "Chris," and then became "Kris." This is also why Rudy calls them "Krismas."

Asgore keeps Dess in his freezer.

In his stream, Toby said "What is the deal with this place anyway? Why does he have bushes in the freezer like ice cream?". One column of Asgore's freezers is bigger than the others and covered with plants. Asgore blocks it with his body, preventing Kris from accessing it. Noelle sometimes opens the freezers in Sans' shop, connecting Dess' disappearance to freezers. Berdly's frozen corpse does not turn to dust, so a monster body hidden in a freezer wouldn't dust. Asgore is hiding Dess' body in that freezer. Perhaps he even is hiding a living Dess in a Walt Disney-style arrangement.

The kids will all get passing grades on their projects.

It's implied that the troubles of the Dark Worlds will spill over into the Lightners' world - particularly with Undyne complaining that the town is too peaceful and quiet; a sentiment that is usually followed by a disaster in a Be Careful What You Wish For kind of way. Kris, Susie, Noelle and Berdly, plus anyone else the party picks up in the meantime will get to battle in full view of everyone, in the process proving that Kris can be a leader, Susie can be compassionate and Noelle can be brave. In a comedic moment after their victory, Alphys will declare that all four of them get passing grades on their collective group project. Berdly is confused, and Alphys explains that the purpose of group projects is to foster cooperation and teamwork, which the four of them clearly show they'd learned by how easily they came together to save everyone. Kris and Noelle are pleased, Susie is amazed (maybe asking what that 'little cross' next to the A is about), and Berdly - who had essentially wasted time actually doing the school project - is annoyed.

Toriel will enter the Dark World in Chapter 3.

The setup of Kris unleashing a Dark Fountain inside their house at the end of Chapter 3, where the only other people there are Toriel and Susie, seems to imply that Kris has no qualms with putting their mother in close proximity to the Dark World. This may mean that Toriel will have a greater focus in Chapter 3, and will likely get a Dark World redesign like Noelle and Berdly did. Though, whether or not she could be a player character like Noelle, a menu character like Lancer and Rouxls Kaard, or an enemy character like Berdly remains to be seen.

Mayor Holiday's first name is Clarice.

• Since her husband is named after Rudolph, and Clarice is the name of his namesake's Love Interest in the Rankin/Bass Productions films, this would be an obvious name choice.
  • As supporting evidence there is a message for Asgore by someone called "C" warning him about his rent. This has been theorized to be Mrs. Holiday.

Papyrus will be an Expy of Skulduggery Pleasant.

Yes. That's right. The reason we've yet to see Papyrus is because he's actually a skeleton detective, who unlike his Undertale counterpart is a Badass in a Nice Suit who uses magic. He'll take on Kris (or Noelle) as his apprentice, helping the player out during Chapters 4 and 5. Much like his inspiration, he even has a Superpowered Evil Side, who in this case is The Knight who also serves as an antagonist. However, it's possible that Papyrus might actually be one of the Knights, and will serve as a Big Bad Friend when he's finally exposed as The Knight during Chapter 5.

Asriel and Flowey will be a Composite Character in this game.

Asriel retains his brotherly bond with Kris, his ability to feel emotions and his powerset from his True Final Boss fight in Undertale but also has Flowey's sociopathic and nihilistic personality in addition to being a Big Bad Friend who outright helps Kris if they choose to pick the evil route. This effectively ensures that fans won't end up treating Asriel and Flowey as a Decomposite Character due to how some fanworks portray the two as completely different characters instead of a cohesive, nuanced whole.

---