Alright, So The Way I See It Right Now The Dark Worlds Run On “Neverending Story Logic”, They’re

Alright, so the way I see it right now the Dark Worlds run on “Neverending Story Logic”, they’re created when Dark Fountains are opened, but they are created already with full history and memories for everyone inside them as if they alwas existed. But here’s another important element I want to touch on…

How does this work with the mysterious entity that keeps driving people mad and creating Secret Bosses?

Like, this feels a bit too Ominous to just be a retroactively-existing backstory element, right?

And, I think… I think one of the reasons why this is so Ominous is because this is kinda goes against the rules of how Dark Worlds are supposed to work?? Like, whoever or whatever this ‘someone’ is, they are something very Not Normal and this is partially demonstrated by the screwy way they interact with the Dark Worlds.

(Also for the sake of clarity, I will be referring to this unknown entity as Someone with a capital ‘S’ for the reminder of this post. I would also be making some references to the very popular theory that Someone is actually Dr. W. D. Gaster, but I will only be using his name when directly talking about aspects of my theory/interpetations that factor in the idea that Someone is Gaster)

I think that Someone might be able to, like, ‘infect’ newly-created Dark Fountains with their own presence. Like, to retcon themself into the history of the Dark World once it’s created? Maybe they can travel to the ‘past-that-has-always-been-there’ of a Dark World even though it’s not supposed to ‘actually exist’? Or maybe they truly only exist as a Backstory Element in various Dark Worlds but are somehow also aware of the fact that they do not truly exist save for in the past and the third-person, and are working with that knowledge? A villain you could never confront under normal circumstances because they never ‘is’ and always ‘were’?

I think all of these options kinda make sense within the Neverending Story Logic while also being kinda brain-breaking in the way that they directly interact with the paradox in the center of it all, which is The Point.

And I think it all work pretty well with the idea that Someone is Gaster. Cause, like, Gaster in Undertale was stuck in a weird state of nonexistence and existence where he DID exist in the past (since his creations, most notably the CORE were still around) but somehow it’s like he never existed in the present. So him (or even just some sort of being related to him) being able to interact with the Deltarune universe only through the Past Tense and\or through Worlds that technically do not exist kinda makes sense to me???

And it also factors into one thing I’ve noticed about our Secret Bosses which is…. there are all potrayed as having been somewhat ‘corrupted’ by Someone but it’s… never really in a way that corrupts their nature as Darkners representing spesific objects?

You know, it’s not really “this Darkner is a representation of Object and therefore they are X, but then Someone came along and through their influence the Darkner became Y” as much as it is “this Darkner is a representation of Object and therefore they are X but they actually used to be Y before Someone came along and made them X”.

Like, Jevil is locked up because he has been driven mad by Someone, but also because the Jocker Card is often ‘locked out’ from many Card Games. The greater understanding of the world given to him by Someone seems to have made him more powerful and unpredictable… but powerful and unpredictable is also just what a Joker card is.

Spamton is a barely-coherent madman living in a [[GODDAM GARBAGE CAN]] because of Someone’s influence, but also because Spam Mail is often barely-coherent and usually gets thrown in the garbage (and Spamton spesifically seems to have been created by a pile of spam-emails in the recycling bin).

When Someone abandoned Spamton and left him to crash and burn, can we call that an intentional act of maliciousness on their part? Or was that simply an inevitability that not even they could stop, because Spamton is fated to end up in the garbage when he reaches his actual present-day ‘creation’?

Like, just as I can say “from a Darkner’s perspective they and their world always existed but really they are created by the Dark Fountains” I can also say “from a Darkner’s perspective, if Someone hadn’t come along, Jevil would still just be the Court Jester and Spamton would still be a somewhat incompetent Addison. But from really, without Someone’s influance, Jevil would still be a Very Strong Clown in Jail and Spamton would still be a rambling garbage-dwelling conman, it’s just that the reason to their situation wouldn’t be Someone-related.

Cause you have like the Dark Fountain kinda forming the Joker Card into a Powerful Clown that is Locked Away, and then Somone butts in like “and the REASON for why he’s locked away is MEEE”. An the other Dark Fountain is like ‘Spam Mail in a Bin’ = ‘A weird conman who lives in the trash and is both very driven but incredibly incompetent and kinda off-putting’ and then Someone makes it so They Did This to Him. But by doing that they did corrupt Jevil and Spamton further due to their otherworldly and paradoxical nature, and the knowledge they seem to hold. If Someone hadn’t interfered, Jevil might not be quite as powerful and Spamton might not be quite as miserable, but there’s still isn’t truly an option for Jevil and Spamton to remain the people they and other Darkners remember them once being.

And linking this back to Gaster… in the Undertale’s universe his situation was very much that he was… a Cause removed, while his Effects still remained. Again, even though he seemed to have been somewhat ‘erased’, the CORE he designed still remains standing and active.

And meanwhile here we have Someone as, like the way I think they operate, they’re like a rogue Cause attaching itself to Effects. Which is possible because they truly are reversed when it comes to the Darkner’s pasts. And I think that if Gaster’s goal is just, basically, to Exist within the Deltarune Universe - there’s a certain logic in the idea that he’s trying to Make Himself Exist by inserting himself into Darkner’s backstories, no matter if it keeps driving them crazy(er).

This also raises the question of like… did Someone have any agency in picking their ‘Effects’? Like, is the reason why Someone’s has influanced Darkners that ‘make sense’ for them to influance like Jevil and Spamton and not like… Jigsaw Joe and Tasque Manager is because Someone is deliberatly trying to minimize their corrupting influance by targeting Darkners would be kinda Fucked Up regardless? Or is it something that they can’t even control and it’s more that the powers of Inevitability of the Dark Worlds make it so they can’t change what the Darkners are too much?

Man I hope any of this makes sense it’s like 4AM lol.

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Deltarune’s Hidden Graffiti Artist

Here’s a quick thing I noticed that I haven’t seen anyone comment on yet:

[Image transcript: Kris and Noelle looking at a graffiti drawing of a tree. The text box on screen says “(The room between… There is a room between.)” End image transcript]

[Image transcript: Kris and Susie standing across from Bratty in a Hometown alley. On the brick wall is graffiti of Ice-E’s head and graffiti of Everyman, labeled with his name. End image transcript]

Deltarune now has two instances of cryptic graffiti in the game. Obviously the graffiti itself has been noticed by most players, but what I haven’t seen anyone point out yet is that two of these drawings use the exact same color:

Here they are isolated from their backgrounds and placed side-by-side to better illustrate:

To me this implies that these two graffiti pieces were made by the same person. However, one is in the Cyber dark world and the other is in Hometown. Since we have yet to see a confirmed case of a darkner existing in Hometown without reverting into an object, it’s safe to assume that there’s another lightner who’s going into dark worlds besides the Fun Gang.

This raises a lot of questions, like who this person might be or what purpose this graffiti serves.

So far we’ve only been able to read the tree graffiti, which mentions the “room between.”

[Image transcript: Kris and Noelle looking at a graffiti drawing of a tree. The text box on screen says “(The room between… There is a room between.)” End image transcript]

If this text is meant to mimic the artist’s speech then it can be inferred that the artist does not speak with any sort of readily-identifiable quirk like all-caps or a special font.

In Undertale, hand-written messages generally mimic the author’s style of speech:

[Image transcript: Frisk reading a note left by Papyrus. The note, written in all-caps in a papyrus font, reads: “HUMAN!! PLEASE ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI.” End image transcript]

However, this is not always the case. For example, not all of Sans’ written messages in Undertale follow his speech quirks.

[Image transcript: Frisk reading a note from Sans. The note reads, in all-lowercase sans serif font: “didn’t you just say not to bring it back to my room?” End image transcript]

His note on his sock does mimic his font, writing style, and speech sounds.

[Image transcript: Frisk reading a note, presumably written by Sans, in all lowercase standard font that reads: “the truth is that you got owned, nerd……” End image transcript]

But the note on his treadmill (presumably written by Sans) only mimics his all-lowercase writing style but does not use a sans serif font or his speech sounds when read.

Given that the identity of Deltarune’s artist is likely an intentional mystery, it’s not surprising that the text on the tree drawing doesn’t reveal much beyond standard font and capitalization, which 95% of the characters use.

The main thing we can infer from the tree graffiti is that it refers to the tree in Chapter 2 where you find the egg.

[Image transcript: Kris standing behind a tree. The narration says “Well, there is a man here.” End image transcript]

Was this graffiti a warning from the artist? Were they looking for this room themselves? Or could it have been an open invitation from the person inside? After all, the man behind the tree seems like he might be happy to see you.

[Image transcript: Continued from the image above, Kris is still standing behind the tree and the narration says “He might be happy to see you.” End image transcript]

We have seen evidence that the tree man might exist in Hometown as well. If you interacted with the man in Chapter 1 then “a man” will appear in one of the cars outside of the Librarby.

[Image transcript: Kris is looking inside of a car outside of the library. The narration says “(There is even a man inside this one.)” End image transcript]

This could make the tree man a strong candidate for being the artist, although there are other possibilities.

Besides the tree man, we know that there is the Knight and the “strange someone” giving out Shadow Crystals who’ve interacted with dark worlds. We don’t know if either of these people have directly set foot in a dark world yet or if they merely meddle from the outside. We also don’t know if these are three distinct individuals or if two or more of these roles are being filled by the same character.

Another possibility for the Artist’s identity, potentially overlapping with the above candidates, is Alphys. Not only do we see her standing in this alley in Chapter 1 but the files also refer to this area as “bg_alphysalley”, even in Chapter 2 when Bratty is standing there instead of Alphys:

[Image transcript: A screenshot of UTModTool with the sprite for the Hometown alley background opened. The filename for the background is “bg_alphysalley” End image transcript]

One could also argue that the writing next to each drawing lines up with Alphys having historically bad handwriting, although as far as I know she has no proven history of artistic aptitude.

[Image transcript: Frisk is reading a note from Alphys. The narration says “(It’s hard to read because of the handwriting, but you try your best…)” End image transcript]

(notably, Alphys’ letter in the image above is another example of a written message not using a character’s usual speech sounds when read)

On the other hand, the scribbly graffiti text could simply be a limitation of the pixel art or a way to prevent us from knowing what it says until we read it.

Conveniently, both Alphys and Bratty block our path from being able to walk up and examine the Hometown graffiti text directly. Given that the tree image had a message to read, it’s likely that the Hometown graffiti will also have a message when we get the chance to examine it.

Based on the subjects depicted in each drawing, it could be inferred that Ice-E, Everyman, and the tree man might share some connection or at least be viewed as equally-noteworthy entities/cryptids by the artist.

I could throw out other possibilities of who the artist is, like a runaway Dess, but I would be dipping into pure speculation at that point. We don’t have a lot to go off of here other than that the Artist exists and has almost certainly been to the light and dark worlds before.

I was going to make this discovery part of my next big theory post, but since that’s taking forever I decided to make this a standalone. I wonder if anyone out there can springboard an interesting theory off of this revelation.

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deltarune deltarune theory

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ut-stella

10 months ago