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satansmayo · 7 months

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Future dark worlds

So I think most people have noticed by now that the two major Dark Worlds we've been to so far in Deltarune had double-doors as their entrances from the Light World. This is also clearly significant based on the door to the computer lab being changed when chapter 2 dropped. So I decided I wanted to analyze the different double-doors I found throughout Hometown and talk about why I do or don't think they might be future Dark Worlds. (this is gonna be LOOOOONG and also I'm definitely not the first or best one to do this but I think it'll be fun lol. Also I'm going to explain things as if the reader is caught up on all the major confirmed lore, the Spamton Sweepstakes stuff, the cancelled alarm clock app, and whatnot)

So I'm analyzing these options based on a few things: -Lore significance (if a location is significant to the overall lore of the world, both known and mysterious. So basically if it has something to do with Gaster, parallels to Undertale, potential exploration of character backstories, etc.) -Narrative weight (The impact a dark world in this location would have on the story, emotional or physical impacts on characters, previous foreshadowing, and if it would be sastisfying, important, or fascinating to the player) -Known contents (Do we know what's behind those doors? If the answer is no, then the possibility of it being a future Dark World is higher. It was very deliberate that we weren't allowed to enter the computer lab in Chapter 1) -Vibes (do I feel like this is something Toby Fox would do? Do I feel like the story is going in this direction? my own opinion and nothing more) -Isekai victims (would anyone potentially get sucked into the Dark World upon its creation? If so, who?)

So let's go over the possibilities I've found.

The second-floor door in Asgore's flower shop. -Lore significance: Asgore was heavily important to UT. Comparisons between UT!Asgore and DR!Asgore have already been made via his intro. He seems to have made some mistake that got him removed from the police force, so that could be a plot point that this story explores. Narrative weight: Yes, it would harken back to Undertale's ending. This would emotionally impact Kris, as Asgore is their father. Also, depending on how Chapter 3 pans out, Toriel might get involved as well. Known contents: Nada. The door is locked and Asgore says nothing about it. Vibes: Very much feels like something that would happen. Isekai victims: Asgore himself. Probably not any customers since the door is locked and the Knight or whoever would probably shut the door behind them, as it did with the other two.

The Church. -Lore significance: Worships an Angel, quite possibly the same Angel from the Legend ("three heroes appeared to banish the Angel's Heaven"). -Narrative weight: The Dreemurr family went to Church often in the past so this may affect Kris in some way. Also a lot of Alvin's words smell like foreshadowing -Known contents: Nope. The door is blocked by NPCs in both chapters so far. This feels very deliberate; it's not just locked, access is being actively denied to you by other characters. -Vibes: Strong yes vibes -Isekai victims: Father Alvin. Monster kid? (wears a cross). Any other church goers

The graveyard by the Church. This is technically a gate and not a door, the view of it is to the side, so in order for this to work the Dark World entrance animation would have to be different, or the Dark World would have to be created with our protagonists already there. Still, I've seen a lot of talk about this one being a possibility, so I wanted to give it the time of day. -Lore significance: It's near the lore-important Church. Possibly-important dead characters who were also dead in Undertale are buried there. The idea of this does make me wonder though, is it even possible to open a dark world outside? What are the ramifications of that? -Narrative weight: It would harken back to UT's True Lab and the amalgamates. Also Noelle's Ice-E pizza box story might be foreshadowing? -Known contents: Yes. You can enter the graveyard as early as Chapter 1. However, there are some as-yet unseen things there. Namely, the things underground. -Vibes: Idk, how much do you want to lean into Oberon Smog territory? (/lh, no shade to Jaru, i like that theory even if i don't necessarily believe it whole-heartedly). I keep going back and forth on this one, but you caught me on a "maybe" day. -Isekai victims: Father Alvin, Shyren, Snowy, maybe the Wet-Nosed Bandits?

The Bunker, AKA the bane of every Gaster-denier's existence. -Lore significance: It would take five goddamn paragraphs to explain lmao -Narrative weight: see previous statement -Known contents: One of the biggest mysteries -Vibes: Mixed bag. On the one hand, it would be very Toby Fox if we never got to see the inside of the bunker. On the other hand, I don't seriously think he's THAT much of a tease. -Isekai victims: Not sure. Whoever's down there, I suppose. The thought has crossed my mind before that there might already be a fountain down there, but I'd have to seriously think on that some more.

The Hospital -Lore significance: Unsure -Narrative weight: Rudy's failing health and the impact that would have on Noelle if he got worse or died (and we know he died in UT's universe). And if our choices to matter in regards to Berdly's fate or health, that could also be impactful. Noelle villain/redemption arc? -Known contents: Yes, we can enter in both available chapters. There aren't any hidden rooms or locked doors inside as far as we know either. -Vibes: Maybe. It would expand on Noelle and her family if that's going to continue being important (which is likely because Dess). How much can be done with a hospital theme though? (says the person with infinitely less creativity than Toby) -Isekai victims: Rudy, Mouthface (idk what their actual name is), whoever is in the east wing on that particular day (might tie in with events from the previous chapter or Weird Route?)

The school's entrance/main hall -Lore significance: meh -Narrative weight: We've already had a dark world in the school, though further in. Is this necessary? -Known contents: Yes; it's literally one of the first places you see in the game -Vibes: Seems unneeded and redundant, but I wanted to consider it, however briefly, for the sake of thoroughness. -Isekai victims: All students, Alphys, Toriel (second round?)

the gates of hell Ice-E's P"E"zza -Lore significance: God I hope not but that one video by HalfBreadChaos at least got me thinking (here's a link if you don't know what I'm talking about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftQNVAY6KeU ) -Narrative weight: Noelle's Ice-E trauma courtesy of Kris. Would also have minor connections to UT? -Known contents: Yes, it can be entered in Chapter 2. -Vibes: please no -Isekai victims: Pizzapants, all other employees, customers

The Holiday family's house. Much like the graveyard, this is a gate at an angle, so it doesn't quite fit the bill, but I still wanted to consider it. The front door to the house could also be a double-door for all we know but that's pure speculation. -Lore significance: Noelle's mother having icy vibes seems important in a deeper way. Noelle's potential status as an angel (or the Angel) also gives her lasting importance beyond chapter 2. -Narrative weight: It's important for a lot of characters. It's Noelle's home, Susie's heavily implied love interest's home, Kris' childhood friend's home. Kris has also been there in the past. It would have an impact on the player as well because a lot of players want to know more about the Holidays and Mayor Holiday's importancce and power has been heavily hinted at multiple times. -Known contents: We haven't been past the gate and know next to nothing about the house itself (I think the only thing we know is that there's a piano in there somwhere and that's not much) -Vibes: Seems plausible Isekai victims: Noelle and Mayor Holiday. Maybe Rudy if he's able to go home (unlikely).

The locked doors in the main hall of Ralsei's castle. -Lore significance: A Dark World inside a Dark World? Sounds like Roaring time to me. And consider: "But what if it could... get darker than dark?" Alternatively, this could just be Ralsei's way of entering Dark Worlds disconnected from his own (like Cyber World), and if that's the case then this would be less possible probably. -Narrative weight: We would be coming full-circle, with our adventure starting in the castle and a late-game dark world (because I think it would be late-game) being in the place where we began. It could also pose a threat to the Castle Town we've helped to create and populate (in a Mercy run). -Known contents: Nothing. It's locked for now (side-note, I'm kinda surprised Ralsei doesn't mention it or ask Ralsei why it's locked when you interact with the door. Just seems like something she would do. Or that Ralsei doesn't try to explain, like he does with the barred off staircase upstairs past the gang's rooms.) -Vibes: I can totally imagine this being the fountain that completely topples the balance of light and dark into Roaring territory. It would probably by chapter 7. However, I'm hesitant to say that I'm 100% confident in this, more like 75%. -Isekai victims: Anyone in the castle, really. And they'd probably all turn into stone pretty quickly. Which... happens to be a part of the Roaring prophecy.

Alright, so that's all of the candidates gone over. I think the two most likely candidates are Asgore's flower shop and the Church. Now it's time to discuss the most likely candidates, what order I think they'll come in, and how many more Dark Worlds we're going to visit. That last point might seem odd - there are five more chapters, so four more dark worlds not including chapter 3, right? Not necessarily. I forget who it was, but I remember a Deltarune YouTuber floating around the idea that chapter 4 might be an "intermission" of sorts. Basically a chapter where we don't get a new Dark World. Instead, we just explore and hang out in Hometown with Susie and visit Castle Town. I really like this idea, but it's pure speculation as of now (Speaking of, this is the pure speculation part of this theorycrafting session, so keep that in mind). I can also imagine chapter 7 going one of two ways. Either a particularly bad dark fountain gets opened for the climactic dark world, or there are multiple dark fountains opened and we need to deal with several smaller dark worlds in the final chapter. In the former case, the dark fountain would either have to get out of control very quickly, or it would have to be created in such a way or location that the darkness would immediately overflow. In the latter case, there being multiple dark worlds open at once would cause the balance to shift. Maybe we'd have a time limit in which we have to close them all, or maybe we're too late no matter what we do.

So, with all that out of the way, I'm going to present a few formats that I think the future chapters could take. Due to the unknown variables, I will be doing so in a convenient, hastily cobbled-together two-way table that I made in Google docs.

Which one of these do I believe the most? ...eh, take your pick, honestly.

They all have their plusses and minuses, their points and their flaws. I don't want to get attached to any of these ideas either, since any number of rogue elements could prove me wrong once we get the next three chapters.

Since I kinda need something to close out this post which is more impactful and thought-provoking than that indecisiveness, I guess I should address something I mentioned in the beginning. I posited that maybe the bunker already has a dark world inside of it. Evidence to this point includes: -it plays the Entry Number 17 music slowed down (dark, darker, yet darker) (dark world cell phone audio) -many aspects of its design and vibe are prime dark world potential -Kris seems to know something about the bunker, so if you believe Kris-Knight or that Kris has been to Dark Worlds in the past, this could have merit (I'm not sure how much I believe those theories, but still, food for thought) -It would just be really cool

However, there is a massive flaw with this idea: Ralsei. He claims that the balance of light and dark is shifted by the creation of another dark fountain, and then in chapter 2, he says that he "felt a dark presence" and came to Cyber World to help Kris and Susie. Therefore, he would almost certainly know if there was an active dark fountain in the bunker, and he would have mentioned it by now (it's not the kind of thing you can neglect to mention due to there not being a good opportunity). And I doubt he would be unable to feel the dark presence due to it being too far away or something.

The only way for the bunker to already have a dark world in it and for it to make sense for Ralsei to not bring it up is if he does know and is actively keeping it a secret. Either because he is working with the person making these dark fountains (or at least the bunker fountain), or because that one is actually good to have around... somehow?

I'm a lot more hesitant to accept "Ralsei evil" than some people are, so this doesn't really compel me. So, much like every UT/DR theory I've ever come up with by myself, it looks solid at first but falls apart if you point in its direction too assertively. Still, it made me think. Never hurts to consider this kind of thing.

And with those four hours gone, hopefully I'll be able to think about something else again. Sorry if it's bad Tumblr etiquette for my first post ever to be something so heinously long, I'm new to this lmao. To all 3 people who made it this far in this monster of a post, congratulations for surviving my ramblings.

May the hymn of the Angel sing thee to thy rest.

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