Remember when a UK bookstore offered visitors the opportunity to vandalize Harry Potter pages for 25 pence? They raised over £4,000 for transgender healthcare! And now they need your support. Emily, co-owner of The Bookish Type, is fundraising for her own gender-affirming surgery that's covered in every Western European country aside from the UK and Ireland. Let's help her like she helped dozens of other trans people access care in an increasingly hostile nation. Support her on GoFundMe here.
Ok, ended up doing some more detarune analysis and came to a conclusion I don't know what to do with, not as much images this time, though hopefully this works:
One of the less discussed aspects of this game's deeplore is the "other side of the lake". Its an area that has only recently become relevant as of the chapter 5 weird route, in which Noelle attempts to cross the lake using our commands as the Soul to break through the boundaries of hometown's map. Where this is going is for know unknown, but there are two camps:
The first and most popular is the bottom of the lake: The idea that the Depths, a route to the Shelter or some other mass of darkness is below the lake has been popular for some time, and the Weird route having us go down into it is promising. That being said: very little supports this, namely:
Noelle at the start of this sequence "(that if I stayed by your side any longer, you were going to drag me down with you. Drag me down somewhere no one is supposed to go.)". While metaphorical this parallel's the walk, as both Kris and Noelle walk deeper into the lake.
Jackenstein Fight: The Tutu attack has a backdrop of a series of underground chambers connected to a riverbed.
Susie's stone falling, though this seems more important to the other option
The other option is a location on the opposite side of Hometowns lake: And there's a LOT to imply this:
Noelle explicitly refers to wanting to see the other side of the lake, which is what she wants to use the Soul's power for: "If you tell me to, I can do things that are impossible... The other side of the lake. We always wanted to see what was there... Kris, let's go there."
In Man country, one of the aces finds a place at the edge of the world after "TRYING TO SEE AS FAR AS I CAN". The idea of seeing too far is a also alluded to by Spamton in his monologue at the end of his weird route fight. "YOU LOST IT WHEN YOU TRIED TO SEE TOO FAR.... YOU LOST IT...". The area also references breadcrumb glitch, a Mother 1 glitch only otherwise referenced before the Weird Route Lake Scene.
When Susie's lake skip fails, she says "We'll see how far YOU get at the lake next time." The next time either of them are at the lake on either route is at the end of the festival, where the lake scene happens. Susie may not be able to get us there, but someone else can.
The Mantle Game sees us cross a body of water to progress in board 2, one we should usually be bared from besides a glimpse. The other side of the lake remains only a glimpse for characters.
This "other side" is to me the most promising, though it begs the question. What is on the other side of the lake? This is difficult, because not even the characters seem to actually know what's there, but I've tried to document everything that seems to relate to this. Here is everything we know:
1. It is cold:
Noelle comments on the water getting colder as she progresses, from "the water's nice" to "its colder than I thought."
The ocean in Board 2 goes from tropical islands to snowy wastelands as we go further north. Like with the lake, the further you go towards the other side, the colder it becomes.
In the Smile Survey, the phrase "The Place where it Snowed" is the only comment that gets the response "You know that isn't until later.". This seems to parallel Hometown as the "Place where it Rained", which leads into.
2. It has buildings and evidence of a town/city:
"The place where it snowed" immediately compares this place with a town.
One of Noelle's backgrounds on her computer (I think) is "a picture of a far-off, snowy city."
The Ace describes this ManCountry parallel area as "Lousy Real Estate" in English. Iirc, the japanese text more specifically calls it "事故物件" (stigmatized property, real estate where a crime, death, etc. has occurred), leading to:
3. The "place" is regularly associated with evil and especially death:
Nobody seems to be there.
Going there is tied in with Noelle's fantasies about flying away, which appears to euphemistically to refer to death
Its greyscale appearance in Man Country implies a connection with Goners, who's name is a euphemism for ghosts or dead people.
The Ace senses "Nothing but evil from this place".
It is treated within the game as not a real place, perhaps connecting it to the concept of "Going Nowhere".
Another possibility is that this area is related to the city December promises to bring Noelle to, which is paralleled in Cyber World. In the Weird Route (which this "other side" is most associated) we progress by freezing everyone in a city leaving behind a dead city.
ALT
So, collectively, what picture does the game paint of this landscape, The Place Where it Snowed. A snowy, plausbily greyscale, urban wasteland, most likely a city though hometown's town hall is referred to as a "city hall", making it questionable. It is a place where where people don't live and people shouldn't enter. And going there is repeatedly associated with death. This is unusual... and this is the only physical space known to exist outside of Hometown, at least during the events of the game.
Looking to other mentions of life outside hometown seems odd. Focusing exclusively on the present, Hometown is isolated from the rest of the world. Nobody has been to the other side of the lake. The internet is out, Tenna can only broadcast the same reruns on repeat since "a little while ago", Alvin only recently has stopped getting letters of condolence from fans of Lord of the Hammer. The Ferris Wheel only goes half way, a detail whose only purpose seems to be to obscure the other side of the lake. This has lead to the theory that the world Deltarune doesn't exist beyond what is visible, be it as a simulation or a diagetic video game. My original theories regarding the Place where it Snowed revolve around this, that it was a diagetic version of a glitched out of bounds area and the weird route being an attempt to restore a long removed "forbidden path" to the game, paralelling the dichotomy between The Legend of Tenna and the Mantle Game.
The thing is, I cannot believe Deltarune is purely a simulation in which only hometown exists... Why? Because (with the exception of the other side of the lake) Hometown's lack of communication with the outside world is very evidently recent. Asgore and Rudy went to college in their youth, Asriel went to college, Susie came from other towns/cities, Asgore has exotic flowers that explicitly don't grow in Hometown's climate. Repeatedly a world beyond hometown is implied to exist, at least in the past...
So Hometown has no contact with the outside world, and this isolation is implied to be an unusual and recent thing. The few crumbs we get of the world outside Hometown portray a cold and lifeless urban environment, one to which the very thought of being within is associated with death.
... an area that sounds like a Nuclear Winter? A dead world that can no longer communicate. ... And what did Gaster want to do with us...
In Short: Deltarune's hometown is "The Place Where it Rained", the only area of the world not affected by some previously unseen catastrophe, one who's affects resemble the aftermath of a nuclear war/incident (though might be a fantastical equivalent that ties better with the game). Gaster's motivation, and the goal of the prophecy, might be to restore the old world in some way. These wastelands on Hometown's periphery might be the fabled "World's Edge" described in the prophecy, but given the "Place where it snowed"'s relation to the weird route, it seems weird
NUCLEAR WINTER THEORY
This is... where my train of thought ends, there are further ideas I have that may be useful, though besides the connection with Snow and Death possibly foreshadowing Noelle destroying the world for good on the B-Side, these don't help form a solid conclusion.
I feel like this is only the first half of something proper, though of what I've been able to find myself this is where my research has left me stuck, unlike with Primordial Game. If any of yall have more ideas on where this branch may be heading, I am all ears.
To do some responses. Wanted to do these before but never got around to them:
@deltaruminations I do really like this idea. Pre Tenna TV world has a “Frozen Waste” and “Watery Basin” as part of the environment, which might reflect on the boards and thus maybe the world itself. Where the “Purple Cliffs” and “Metal Desert” fit into this idk, so I’ not sure what to think on that. Castle town is set in a valley within a bizarre landscape of cliffs. That is another thing I don’t know what to make of. Being able to tie these to a Nuclear Winter Theory would be nice, though idk.
@splatjamz My own assumptions on this is that it’s the shelter dark world, left unsealed and thus expanding as a metaphor for the unresolved trauma of Dess’ disappearance upon the town. The other possibility is that the super dark world is a product of Gaster’s experiments from entry 17, though that is also uncertain. There is also the slight chance that the super dark world and the grand fountain are the same, though what that would say idk.
Dess as a character is something I want to write a similar thing about at some point, especially as what her likely identity as the Knignt says about Dess’s character and motivations has gone largely ignored.
Glad you liked it @random-autie-fangirl. I don’t know what your headcanons are but am glad this speaks to them somehow. I largely kept this comment in my responses because the puzzle piece metaphor is pretty close to how this theory actually came about. I had two oddities and tried to see how they fit.
Good addition to the connection points. It’s in a weird position where it’s at some point between the start of the game and all of the major plot points that occurred in the past
Gaster I feel would have to have something to do with it but whether he is the cause or the one preserving it I don’t know. We just don’t know enough about his intentions regarding Deltarune yet to make any guesses besides trying to make predictions based on the behaviours of Sans or something .
Closing thoughts: I am happy to see that this theory has been getting some small traction. I don’t know if I am on to something but seeing where the clues take you is the fun part of speculation.
If I do another, It’s probably be either a Dess/Knight character analysis or an iconographic analysis of the games recurring motifs and especially the elements (sorta like ink theory but without the weird alchemical aspect). That or a small FRIEND analysis, but I don’t feel there’s much to them. It could possibly be welded into the Dess analysis since both my ideas for them share a point, though I fear that may be clunky
Spamton & Pink are two sides of the same coin that is Kris
I’ve seen a lot of people complain that Pink’s placement as a secret boss in chapter 5 is disconnected or unfitting. but i think she's actually perfect for the last secret boss, especially if secret bosses are meant to symbolize a desire for freedom. Now i will yap about it for several paragraphs
several parallels are built between Spamton and Pink during her fight, which make it clear they’re meant to be compared. their designs both feature pink and gold, they both steal a body that isn’t theirs, they’re both involved with green strings, they both feature Mad Dummy in their boss fight/theme, are both puppets related to cats, and they both have odd connections to the weird route (as evidenced by the translation of Cutie Mew Mew Magic).
in almost every other way however, Spamton and Pink are opposites. Spamton’s story is a tragedy; from the start, his rainbow-colored peers don’t accept him as their own and see him as lesser for being different and less capable. he’s a broken and decrepit doll who’s had life screw him over every step of the way, he’s been abandoned by everyone he ever loved and cared about, his body has been marred beyond recognition, he’s treated as a living puppet with no autonomy or freedom, and he doesn’t get to keep his dream body or ‘fuse with his chosen vessel'. Even after being defeated by the fun gang, none of his problems are fixed; he has no choice but to accept his status as a simple puppet.
Spamton is Kris’ worst case scenario. they are terrified this is going to be their own future, they’re visibly shaken by Spamton’s fight unlike any other in the entire game.
i think the reason Chapter 2 in particular features a character which symbolizes such a depressing future for Kris is because Chapter 2’s dark fountain is created by the Roaring Knight. a character which Kris is very heavily implied to have some kind of partnership with, one where the Knight holds power and control over Kris (as evidenced by the knighting scene after their fight, and the high probability that the Knight is the person who talks to Kris on the phone and sends them orders).
the dynamic Kris has with the Knight can be compared to the relationship Spamton had with his benefactor, where he must follow orders from a mysterious voice on the phone lest he be punished (and punished he was). by this point in the story, Kris is both being metaphorically puppeted by the Knight, and literally puppeted by the player, leaving them feeling a complete loss of autonomy. this situation is opening way to Kris’ worst future. one where they are abandoned by everyone and thrown aside like an unwanted puppet. like Spamton.
in Chapter 5 however, the dark fountain is created by Kris instead. though the creation of the fountain was clearly premeditated (likely to get time for the Knight to kidnap Asgore), i don’t think it’s crazy to say that part of the reason they created it in the moment was to distract Susie from the Rudy situation. to keep Susie happy, because they don’t want her best day ever being ruined by the news.
Kris cares about Susie so, so much, and it’s clear she’s a huge part of the reason Kris can now see a future for themself where things aren’t so bad. this hope manifests as Pink.
Pink is present in Kris’ subconscious before Chapter 5 even begins. Kris plays Shop 3 on the piano in Noelle’s house, a song which is later present in the shop owned by Pink. Shop 3 shows a more somber side to Pink’s character, as she simply watches the sunset, captivated by how freeing it feels to be able to do so in her dream body. Pink herself, of course, is very much a parallel to Kris, being a Darkner and a Lightner both using the same body, who struggle with differing wants and desires and must ultimately learn to cooperate with each other despite that (which may hint towards the idea that Kris' ideal ending would be them and the player learning to understand each other, rather than one or the other being banished for good).
even though Pink isn’t really a flower, when she pretends to be one, HER rainbow-colored peers all see her as one of them and accept her with open arms, uncaring of her strange circumstances. In the end, Pink gets to keep her dream body and watch the sunset with her best friend. All things Spamton desperately wanted and never got to have, and all things Kris hopes to have. Pink is Kris’ best case scenario, their subconscious manifesting a future for them where everything ends up fine, even if just for a little while.
Spamton being an example of Kris' worst self/future doesn't mean he isn't deserving of kindness and safety though, quite the opposite. Kris’ self improvement journey is mirrored by the fact that showing Spamton kindness at his lowest will reward the player with the Dealmaker, an item which reduces Puppet/Cat damage by 40%, greatly helping to defeat Pink (aka help her in her self discovery journey), while choosing to hurt Spamton will just give you the Puppet Scarf, a near useless item that doesn’t help at all with Pink’s fight. the same way being shown kindness by Susie and Ralsei was the only way Kris got motivation to keep going despite all the bullshit happening in their life.
on the other hand, doing the weird route will make Spamton, a manifestation of Kris’ worst self, a mandatory boss. He will become HIS worst self, he will hurt others and accept his role as a puppet if it means he can gain freedom in some small way, before being killed, leaving the player with a Puppet Scarf no matter what. An item which will either be, again, completely useless for defeating Pink in an “aborted” weird route, or won’t be utilized at all in a side B weird route, as Pink is completely inaccessible, with Kris’ hopes for a better future being completely destroyed and their life ending in a similar way to how Spamton’s did. their worst nightmare came to fruition.
Please save and share this info where possible. This report has since been removed by Amnesty International due to legal threats of libel from JK Rowling. This information is no longer easily accessible.
“And if you’ll give me 40% of the MOST POPULAR VOTE, I’ll give you my SPECIAL REWARD... A year’s supply of NON-GLOOBY SLIME!!! Never or BARELY used!!!” Tenna concluded his speech with a huge smile, jetting his hands up in double peace signs.
The crowd roared in confused enthusiasm as Tenna gave a gracious flurry of low-FPS bows, pausing only for the occasional stink-nose at his audience plants who weren’t throwing enough 3D roses.
Eventually, the room fell silent. It was Senshi’s turn to speak.
He puffed out his chest, took a long, sweeping look over the audience… and shook his head.
“I can see not all of you are eating properly.”
The crowd murmured with embarrassment.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s time to take the turkey out of your icebox. I have seen the ingenious technology with which your people store food... and I have also seen the waste which results from such convenience.
“The food you take had a life. Beasts grew fat on the grass of the field, plants grew from the sun’s rays, and mushrooms grew from minerals in the cracks of caves. And yet, it sits in your iceboxes, collecting moisture until it perishes.
“Eat what is given to you. Because its life will make you stronger, too.”
Without another word, Senshi left his podium and stepped away from the stage. The crowd murmured in confusion. “Is he really like that?” somebody said. “I only remember reblogging the photosets of him tripping and showing ass.”
--
Back in the Green Room, Tenna wrung his antennas nervously.
“Y-y-you think they liked me!? They HAD to!! I mean, I don’t know what Asgore was thinking, getting that weird haircut and running that food waste campaign, but… YOU thought I did good, didn’t you, Kris?”
Laios nodded aggressively, a streak of blue face paint peeling from his forehead.
“You did AMAZING, Tenna! By the way, now that we’ve seen all your insider campaign secrets, do you have any more videos of Susie? Especially her tail... If I could get a look at that, I could finally tell if she’s a dinosaur or --”
THWACK. Fake antlers butted Laios’s head.
“LAIOS?? Weren’t we dressed up to help SENSHI???” Marcille hissed, gesturing awkwardly with her hooves.
Suddenly, Tenna turned to the two adventurers.
“Hey, WAIT a second. SOMETHING’s not right here...”
Laios and Marcille held their breath.
“Where the heck are my POINTS!?”
Just then, the door opened. Chilchuck took one step into the room, whistling and holding a large bag.
Everyone turned to him.
Chilchuck paused, took a step backwards, and closed the door.
“CHILCHUCK!!!” yelled Tenna.
“How come Chilchuck got to stay Chilchuck!?” yelled Marcille at the same time.
--
Meanwhile, in outer space somewhere, some guy was making out with a rock.
Are YOU gonna let THE GOVERNMENT tell YOU what YOUR GENDER is? That doesn't sound like Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness to me! PROTECT your individual FREEDOMS and call your senator: we want the GOVERNMENT to stay OUT OF OUR PANTS! GENDER FREEDOM NOW!
Two men in your neighborhood are married... to EACH OTHER? Congratulate them for exercising their AMERICAN RIGHT to follow the footsteps of our FOUNDING FATHERS! They've got a fully AMERICAN spirit of FREEDOM and REBELLION! GOD BLESS THE USA.
Your coworker has a different RELIGION from yours? Well, that's just INTERESTING and you should talk about it on your UNION-APPROVED LUNCH BREAK. The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA was FOUNDED on Freedom of Religion and ANYONE should be allowed to seek the AMERICAN DREAM!
You think someone might be in this GREAT country ILLEGALLY? NO YOU DON'T! No one is in this country illegally! The minute anyone steps on our SOVEREIGN SOIL they're your FELLOW AMERICAN and where they come from is NO ONES BUSINESS.
This is an illustrated guide I made as part of my co-admining work at The Middle Eastern Feminist on Facebook! It will be published there shortly. The technique that is displayed here is a genuine one used in psychology - I forgot the name and couldn’t find it again so if you know about it, feel free to tell me! Some could say: “Yes but you can use that technique for instances of harassment other than Islamophobic attacks!”, and my reply is: Sure! Please do so, it also works for other “types” of harassment of a lone person in a public space!! However I’m focusing on protecting Muslims here, as they have been very specific targets lately, and as a French Middle Eastern woman, I wanted to try and do something to raise awareness on how to help when such things happen before our eyes - that way one cannot say they “didn’t know what to do”! I’d like to insist on two things: 1) Do not, in any way, interact with the attacker. You must absolutely ignore them and focus entirely on the person being attacked! 2) Please make sure to always respect the wishes of the person you’re helping: whether they want you to leave quickly afterwards, or not! If you’re in a hurry escort them to a place where someone else can take over - call one of their friends, or one of yours, of if they want to, the police. It all depends on how they feel!
For my fellow French-speakers: I will translate it in French and post it on my page as soon as I can :)
Please don’t hesitate to share this guide as it could push a lot of people to overcome bystander syndrome!!
Lots of love and stay safe!
PS: I you repost this cartoon of mine on twitter or instagram, please add me in the post so I can see it, with @itsmaeril :)
If you're in Maine or Philly or wherever the fuck Vance claimed DHS is going next, I BEG you to look at the rapid response and mutual aid networks and how they've been built in Portland, Chicago, and the Twin Cities, and start building your own version NOW.
Download signal if you haven't already. Pick a resistance pseudonym. Make a proton email that has no indicators to your real name. Start buying and printing whistles and whistle zines.
Organize your school patrols and foot patrols NOW. Talk to your community and your mercados and your Hmong and Somali grocery stores, ask them what support they need. Get "ICE are not welcome here" signage for businesses and homes. Familiarize yourself with the difference between an administrative warrant and a judicial warrant.
Learn how to take down a SALUTE report. PRACTICE salute reports. Learn, memorize, and embody radio etiquette for rapid response work.
Pick your lane: rapid response or mutual aid-- you can't do both, because rapid response often puts you in direct contact with ICE. They've been taking down plate numbers and leading responders back to their own homes here in the Twin Cities.
Remember that being under siege is a marathon, not a race. Try to remember that while your neighbors are being kidnapped in their underwear, from their own homes.
Meet your neighbors. Attend your city council meetings and demand separation ordinances NOW. Tell your congress people and representatives not to give ICE more money.
Prepare yourself to see high school children being stopped and harassed. 5 year olds being used as bait for their mothers. Old men being dragged out of their houses in underwear and Crocs simply because all of them are not white.
Be flexible, be ready to pivot on a dime as situations change. Be ready to be paranoid. Be ready to be distrusting of every Texas, New York, California, or Illinois license plate. Be ready to be suspicious of EVERY out of state license plate. Dark sedans and SUVs with extremely illegally tinted windows. Unreadable or missing plates.
No one will save you, save us, or save our neighbors but ourselves. No one is coming to help or protect us but us.
Hey, Angeleno here to add: look for or start mutual aid groups that buy out your vendors, jardineros, tradespeople, helping support the most vulnerable members of your community from making the choice to stay home and safe or provide for family. We’re still doing this here and it helps.
“ICE NOT WELCOME” signs are great for solidarity and breaking morale, but please make and help pass out signs stating a home or business is private property. Make sure your business has an area explicitly for employees only. What we’ve seen in the last week makes all this seem like sticking a post-it on a viper and none of us know where we’re headed now, but it’s easy to do and could make a difference. It’s made a difference here.
neildownbutcooler