Kris Is ... The Earth - A Deltarune Theory
A last-minute write-up on a theory I came up with to hopefully explain the seldom-seen connections between Kris and the Earth, the possibility that the Earth is a character, and some deeper things I really didn't expect to tie into this whole mess.
The Similarities
To start off, using the apples Kris is associated with, we can begin to compare their structure with the Earth's (at least in our world).
Most crucial is the core, in both cases it's a bright, solid structure at the center. Although apple seeds don't glow, there is a reason I'm using them to draw this conclusion.
Then she BIT THE WHOLE APPLE IN HALF! Including the core. She even ate the seeds, which, um, contain arsenic if you didn't know.
The apple core is brought up in the sweepstakes, just before Susie compares Kris to an apple. While the core is the most substantial similarity here, there's more if you're willing to believe in a stretch.
The same quote mentions arsenic, which stood out to me since people usually bring up the cyanide in seeds. Arsenic is still toxic like cyanide, but it's also widely distributed in the Earth's crust. The crust, like the crust of the pies Kris absorbs or of the pizzas ICE-E advertises... As I said, this is a stretch.
It gets even more confusing (get used to that feeling!) when you consider the mantle. Not only are there the (optional) Shadow Mantle and Sky Mantle, Kris' neck cloth thing has been referred to as a mantle...and an ascot in-game.
OK, back to the "core."
THEN THE WORLD
WAS COVERED
IN DARKNESS.
Giving up at Chapter 1's game over screen shows this text, from which we can deduce that the Soul is required to ensure the new future Gaster was talking about. Since it's preventing the world from being covered in darkness, and it can glow (shine) as previously stated, the Soul has to do with light.
Similarly, the Grand Fountain is necessary for the balance of light and dark (the only one that doesn't get sealed), while being made of pure darkness. Both are contained within our characters of interest.
It may also be that, as the Earth bears the light world and dark world, Kris carries the weight of OUR world represented by the Soul.
They're not the same, of course. Kris can remove the Soul, and there's nothing controlling the Earth. Right?
There's a bit more to that second point. One thing that almost all personifications of the Earth share is caring about their residents/children, Gaia in Greek mythology for example. While it's nowhere near our control over Kris and may not even be considered control at all, one could argue that life on the planet drives the Earth to keep spinning in order to keep it alive.
But that's not a very strong idea (for now), let's go back to control.
Kris is their own person with a predefined identity, someone who doesn't just accept our influence and wouldn't normally have done what we've made them do. The game making this clear is a subversion.
The typical RPG player character is only a(n often overlooked) viewpoint or tool you experience the game's world through. They are at the center of this world, but that's more so a byproduct of the game's world revolving around the player. Normally the player character having their own identity or autonomy is accidental or an afterthought as that would get in the way of the player imbuing the player character with their own meaning. The typical RPG (or game in general) makes you go right to progress.
We all know how the expectations for this approach were handled with Kris, but it's less obvious for the Earth who isn't our avatar, in the game. In real life, the Earth's hospitable climate being the reason we can experience the world isn't acknowledged in everyday life. (Just to be clear, I'm not trying to preach or anything, I'm just drawing parallels.) Geocentrism put the Earth at the center of the world because of the life (humanity) inhabiting it, not because of her personality or something. A "personality" which we would have to come up with ourselves, AKA imbuing her with our own meaning.
To get back to the game and identity/autonomy, Kris having their own and being an actual character (so bluntly) is unexpected. There's precedence for the Earth, the planet no one expects is even alive, to be her own character, too.
Then, her heart pounding...
The EARTH will draw her final breath.
Not only described as a living organism in the prophecy, but also a her. Susie mistaking the fountain for a person in the Japanese translation. (The word for fountain in Japanese sounds like a girl's name.) The fact that one of the races in Deltarune is objects brought to life. Why not extend that to a celestial object?
An object that moves east. A character (and player) made to go right to progress. This isn't a "connection" I've pulled out of my ass, the weird route calls attention to the generic method of progression by disrupting it. Noelle has a bad feeling about you moving to the left as soon as you get her in your party, you have to backtrack - go left - to freeze more enemies, and you have to backtrack to get to Spamton's dumpster.
While the weird route is weird and backtracking to progress is just another way the player is going against the intended path, I believe it is no coincidence that in that same route, a blue, spherical object has been torn off its set path.
For us and Kris, this track is dictated by the game.
For the Earth..?
Her existence revolves around it,
the center of her world.
I didn't forget that this is the similarities section. But what, or who, could be a Sun-like figure in Kris' life?
It seems obvious in hindsight. The contrast is one of the very first thing you see after getting through the intro.
It's Asriel. Think about it:
- Golden boy of the town / Star of the solar system
- Kris lives in his shadow / the Earth literally revolves around it
- Star motif (carried over from Undertale)
- Colors the Sun is most commonly associated with appear in his UT design (white fur, green & yellow sweater)
- Would carry Kris to school / Sun "carries" the Earth with its gravitational pull
- The Moon, the Earth's satellite, reflects light from the Sun / Ralsei's appearance and name "reflect" Asriel, also he fucking follows (orbits) Kris in the puzzle where they revolve around the center
- The astronomical symbol for the Sun is a shield with an inner circle or "boss" / Asriel is a boss monster
Here are some of the symbols in question. (Mercury isn't important.)
One thing I should mention is that the Earth is represented by another symbol, aside from this one.
The globus cruciger.
Though this symbol doesn't appear in the game, what's interesting is that it translates to "cross-bearing orb" and Kris (Cross Applesauce) originates from the name Christopher (Χριστόφορος), meaning "Christ-bearer."
(And following ICE-E's quirk (as pointed out by Pizzapants) of turning I's into E's, Kris would become Kres. An alternate form of Gaia is Gaea, but this is most likely a stretch.)
Something else is that this variant looks a lot like the Venus symbol, just flipped upside down basically. In fact, the actual planets are called sister planets due to their physical similarities. However, this theory is about the Earth; why would I bring in Venus?
You see, Venus was not always thought of as a planet, or even a single entity. As the third brightest object in Earth's sky, depending on its position, it was called the Morning Star or the Evening Star. "The morning star" is one meaning behind the word/name Lucifer in the Bible, alongside "the planet Venus" or "light-bringing."
And that part about the planet thought to be a star...
What did Kris' dark world room look like again?
A flipped version of their brother's (again, figuratively the Sun, a star) light world side, packed with stars.
Speaking of the dark world, here's Kris wielding a shield like the symbol for the Sun. (Their light world sweater could also fit here, but more on that later.) It's not round, and there's no inner circle...
OK, away from the shield. Look at their skin. Blue. Blue person. Fellow bluebird. Tea can taste like blueberries. You know where else the color blue is brought up? The goner maker.
The classic RGB, and cyan. Not only is cyan part of CMYK, it's very close to blue. No real reason to include it, especially when the choices are already sparse - is what one might think at first.
It starts making more sense if we take blue to be the Earth's color and cyan Kris's. While Kris may appear blue, their battle icon is cyan, matching with their CMYK team mates (Magenta - Susie; Yellow - Noelle; Key - Ralsei probably). The distinction is there because, as the vessel and creator are assumed to have different names, despite their similarities, they are not the same. Funny thing if you do give them the same name, though.
OF COURSE
OF COURSE.
OF COURSE THEY ARE THE SAME.
There's something I've been neglecting to mention. The original Earth symbol AKA the solar cross.
To understand the significance of this symbol, we have to go deeper. The depths of what separates these two characters from the rest, beyond this back-and-forth of connections.
They're both different. Kris, a human in a town of monsters – the Earth, a habitable planet in a barren solar system. Part of what makes them "human" or "habitable" is the water that makes up their body or surface.
Water, also known as
darkness.
The Crux
What's the point?
Sure, these similarities are eyebrow-raising, but they're not that substantial. They are relatively unstable stepping stones leading towards an unknown conclusion.
Still, I believe this shaky foundation must mean something, that it must have been put there for a reason. This section contains a calculated guess as to what that reason could be.
Here are two noteworthy panels from the kinda important legend of DELTA RUNE in the DELTARUNE game that I'm bringing up again. So, the Earth will die, in the same prophecy that foretells the arrival of heroes who will save the world? The planet that holds up the dark world, light world, all life and the fountains, isn't that important to restoring balance? Hey, it's the logic of an ancient prophecy from a video game, doesn't need to make total sense. It's not as if there are any hints on what the consequences of the Earth's death could be...
...or not.
Yes, Deltarune probably doesn't take place in 1999, what matters is that the year 2000 brings to mind the Y2K problem and the fear surrounding it, like thinking that the apocalypse would come. That "a terrible calamity would occur." The Earth becoming still after her death is also more believable than absolutely nothing changing. It doesn't get brought up in the prophecy because preventing the destruction of the world is more important and the primary goal.
Yet, after all is said and done and the heroes banish the Angel's Heaven, the motionless corpse of the planet remains a problem. There has been speculation as to how catastrophic it could be if the Earth stopped spinning for a few seconds, never mind an entire future!
Even if Deltarune's world is more resilient, every character would have to face the fact that things won't be the same anymore. That something believed to be a constant support for eons could suddenly die and stop moving. Friends and family would have to deal with an unstable reality so different from what they once knew.
If someone had the power to prevent this from happening, wouldn't it be their responsibility to do the right thing?
Someone who is already so similar to her, they could take on the mantle. To become a vessel for the world and bear the cross.
Where does (a variant of) this symbol appear?
Just before and during the creation of Kris' fountain.
This cross, I believe, represents the Earth's blood (?), darkness.
But if Kris were to take her place, how do they inherit this darkness? It's unlikely that any old human could do just because they have water, even Kris in their current from probably couldn't explode into a planet. There would need to be some sort of transformation, a metamorphosis perhaps, to make them more... habitable.
A terraforming process, achieved by sealing, or rather, absorbing the dark fountains.
Slowly transpiring in the background, presented as something you need to do to go home and save the world with no way to back out. It does seem to be necessary, but there are some unintended consequences. Unintended to us and Kris, that is, but intentional to the Earth, who wishes to seal Kris' fate.
Her influence runs deeper than you'd think.
Down to the depths.
(The text isn't that important, I just wanted to get that background and thought the text was fitting enough for the part where I claim that Kris is absorbing the Earth's essence.)
Imagine it (with a lot of assumptions): the Earth knows that her time is almost up, but doesn't know if her children will persist. Perhaps she sees herself in one of them, someone who has similarly been marked by the darkness.
Sensing the arrival of a new variable, the SOUL, something she can give Kris to help prepare, something to seal the fountains with, she interrupts the goner maker. The Earth discards the vessel planned to be our host, and instead hides us inside Kris. She shares some of the wisdom she has gathered from her millennia of living.
This viewpoint is based on the reality of Deltarune's world.
Light and dark have lived in balance for millennia, but what really is this balance?
It seems to be the Lightners being above the Darkners, literally and figuratively. They are gods that can use and abandon the Darkners as they see fit, while the Darkners have no choice but to fulfill the "purpose" from the Lightners whose existence goes against their own.
The Darkners are shackled to the dark worlds and the nature of their object. A world they would get to rule doesn't exist, even in the Roaring that results from too much darkness, the Darkners would simply turn to stone. Oh, and their choices are to move to Castle Town or stay in a dark world that disappears once the fountain is sealed.
You might think, well, King's plan would have been a bust, but not only did Queen learn that the Roaring would end the world, before that she was pretty good at trapping, controlling and even seriously harming (see Berdly's arm) the Lightners who are apparently stronger than her. Yet, she is still confined to the dark and the root of her motivation is still wanting to assist the Lightners.
(The secret bosses don't win, either. Jevil turns into an item and Spamton dies or also turns into an item if they don't stay lonely or homeless in their dark world.)
The Earth must have seen this lack of choice play out many more times, not just with Darkners, but in Lightner society. Spectating from the very bottom of the hierarchy, holding up the world containing the children who use and hurt her by making fountains, among other ways. Despite this, it is in her nature to care for and protect her children, even if it comes down to putting one through the same hell she lived through to keep the others alive.
But Kris won't stand for this, right?
They have friends and family who will miss them when they're gone, dark worlds they want to explore, and more.
Hell, if they know about their relation to the Earth on some level, a part of the reason they might've ripped their soul out and created a fountain are wanting (to feel in) control and screwing with that relation. They're the one taking out and putting back the soul, not someone else forcing it onto them. They're creating a fountain from the Earth, who can't exactly stab herself.
Looking at all this information, one would think, or hope, that Kris won't replace the Earth. No man is an island. How long would they last through this hell until the cycle repeats? Surely they're sensible enough to realize how terrible it would be and find a better way.
...There is still cause for concern.
For one, there's the problem of where that darkness they're apparently absorbing is going. The whole party levels up with each sealed fountain, but this value is called fakelv in the files... And surely there would be some side effect from the darkness residing in their body/soul, and if not, it's not impossible for someone who, say, benefits from more darkness, to figure out where it's going to.
Then there's the fact that Kris does care for their friends and family, and the world.
They can tell Undyne about the dark worlds.
Huh? A super-dangerous alternate world in the Library?
More are appearing? People might fall inside…?
They bring up the world being in danger to the kings, unprompted.
What, you say? Your world is in danger?
And they seem to take the hero biz seriously, judging from the Talk options at Seam's Seap.
We're legendary
Ha ha ha …
So you are the "heroes" who are going to seal our Fountain?
Of course they can care for the world and also not want to give up their life when there has to be a better way, but it's something to consider.
Another thing to consider is that we don't know Kris' background. If I'm right about the goner maker and darkeyes, what else could they have been involved with that might influence their decision or future?
Even I don't know how deep this really goes... But I have another guess!
Unused dialogue and suspicious merch
If you've gotten this far, chances are you know the unused dialogue/error handlers I'm going to be talking about.
Let's get one thing out of the way: Gaster. I've connected some of these to Kris for the sake of the theory, but in all likelihood they're probably about Gaster because these lines are unused and rhyme and are kinda Gaster-y in general. For the sake of the theory I also connected the man himself to this mess via Greek mythology nonsense, which I'm shrugging off here.
(The parallel is that Gaia created the Hecatoncheires, giants with a hundred hands, and one of the co-creators of the Wingdings (Gaster - man who speaks in hands) font is named Kris.)
The first line is the "The pain itself is reason why." one. Again, probably Gaster, I just wanted to include it because something something face cuts and pain, darkeye and planet hell.
The second one needs to be read in full.
You've come again to this wonderful place.
Now tear off the mask beneath your face!
Let me tell you, I spent a WHILE wondering what the fuck a mask beneath the face could be. It turned out I WAS getting somewhere by putting every-fucking-thing about this game through a Kris-and-Earth lens AND getting ticked off by strange merch descriptions.
Bingo. The shirt is mask. This probably ties into the Kris star thing, but that's not important. More importaner is that this means that the chest is a face. You have some designs where that's the case, like Knight Knight, Mysteryman and an unused God Asriel design.
The chest doesn't have to be a face, the original line could be referring to the mask literally beneath the face as I've heard some say. These people do not have the same kind of brainrot as me. According to my rot, Kris' chest/body is a face for:
- "The mask beneath the face" to be the soul, which they tear off/out
- Mystery valentines letter dot-connectings
(But, if you squint your eyes, and, you squint your heart... For some reason, you feel you could understand it)
squint your (face organ) and (chest organ)
NOW, PUT ON YOUR COAT AND WASH YOUR FACE!
OR, PUT ON YOUR FACE AND WASH YOUR COAT.coat and face are interchangeable
also the letter mentions the new year, the earth completing a full revolution around the sun
- Another link to the Earth, as her entire surface is considered a face. (The face of the Earth)
While we're at it with the face and chest organs, here are a few fun little comparisons.
Kris: Red Blood
Earth: Dark Blood (darkness, just roll with it)
Kris: Red Eyes
Earth: Dark Eyes (the puzzle eyes are called darkeye in the files)
Kris: Red Soul
Earth: DARKHEART
"her heart pounding"? This motherfucker right here. The DELTA()RUNE. The red heart is Undertale's logo, the dark heart is Deltarune's. HEART is an anagram of EARTH. Cool. I guess it explains some dialogue from both games, since the Earth is pretty old.
And fulfill the ancient prophecy, foretold by time and space.
That emblem actually predates written history. The original meaning has been lost to time…
Does this mean that the Earth also has a soul? I have no idea. So far it's just been hearts, but I wouldn't be surprised if she did. Like a middle ground between probably soulless Darkners and ensouled Lightners. One might think it's guaranteed because she has enough determination to keep spinning (and enough to preserve for a while in UT), but soulless Kris has enough determination/willpower to make a fountain, so it might be a darkheart thing.
Speaking of Kris, fuck it, let's say they have this too. It would explain Spamton's "heart on a chain" dialogue ("little sponge" also works for the fountains) and makes Kris ripping out the soul while standing on the DELTARUNE rug in Chapter 1 more interesting. Additionally, it recontextualizes Toby's comment. "I feel very blessed that the player of the game thinks things like “Kris! I wish I had a plush of Kris so I could open it up and see what’s inside!”" I went from chalking it up to general Kris weirdness, to human weirdness, to fountains and finally the heart thing.
And King's quote. "By the Knight's will, I shall shatter your heart to pieces!" The Knight is making fountains which is probably bad for the Earth's heart, and Kris's? Probably not about this, actually, but by including this quote I've inserted King's entire text after you try to talk to him with Kris! Just scattered around the post.
OK, about time I wrap this up before it devolves into rambling.
Clarification, a lot of clarification
YOU CAN SEE YOUR REFLECTION IN A PUDDLE, BUT...
DON'T LET A BODY OF WATER DETERMINE YOUR SELF-WORTH!!!
Some tangentially related Papyrus call dialogue to set the scene.
If you thought something was off while reading, hopefully that's brought up here.
Why the dots in the title?
"Kris Is The Earth" would have been misleading, the dots leave room for a more accurate summary, albeit less attention-grabbing or more complicated, like "Kris Is Like The Earth" or "Kris Is Meant To Replace The Earth."
The item that points to Kris' very "nature" is shampoo anybody can apply.
The apples are probably one of the weakest connections, but I thought I'd include it because it was one of the first that led me to start thinking in this direction.
The world and the Earth seem to be different, why is Jevil's track and quote about the world revolving/spinning included?
The world still brings to mind the Earth. I think the distinction is important in most places, but for Jevil it's vague theming that might be important later. Plus he calls the party Lightners, even though he recognizes three members, one of which is a Dark World-being. I don't think Jevil is worried about the specifics.
Dark World Kris is meant to reference Ares from the Brandish series, not the Sun.
I'll admit, the Sun shield thing is strange, but both can be true. The Varik resemblance is interesting for another reason, though. His ultimate equipment is the Sol Armor, Star Shield and the Planet Buster... but what I really need to get into is the HALLOWEEN HACK. Here's an excerpt from the making of document.
What do Varik's eyes look like anyway?
IDENTITY CRISIS?
One of the things you'll probably notice and be confused by is the identity crisis I put in there. Because I was lazy, Varik appears to be Ness at the death screen, and plus the game starts in Ness's bed with Varik dreaming that he's Ness. So anyone else would probably be like… well, I'm lazy, people are just gonna think I'm lazy!
Hey, but that's not all there is to it!
If you didn't notice, there's a huge number of additional spots in the game where a comparison between Ness and Varik are made. Some old lady in Twoson misremembers Ness's name as yours… Ness in Magicant mistakes you for himself… Varik is referred to in the dialogue multiple times as "Giygas slayer," and another thing…
Dr. Andonuts mentions "Varik's eyes… his eyes" twice, once when you first meet him and another time at the end. Who do you think he's talking about, really?
And finally…
Ness isn't in the museum, but Varik's nameplate is under where he should be. And look, he fits just fine up there. You can actually just walk onto it. Hahahaha.
So what do you think that means? Make of it what you like.
I know, Toby has grown since that hack, but it's still pretty interesting since the identity crisis idea has been carried into future projects. In Deltarune, while the player won't immediately (or ever) make the Kris-Earth connection like with the Varik-Ness confusion, there's double the identity crisis to make up for it!
Instead of the Earth, the player will confuse Kris for a) themselves (there was even a dialogue change from 'Kris' to 'You' for the Hot Chocolate text) and b) Frisk/Chara.
If sealing the fountains is part of the Earth's plan, why do Toby (in the anniversary stream) and Spamton (in the weird route) say that you're stealing them?
I could always be wrong about the Earth's motivation. Barely anyone thinks she's alive, let alone a person who does things for a reason. Some actions and text might indicate full-on stealing indeed, such as Kris stealing stuff from Noelle's room and this text.
"Box of Heart Candy" - It's not yours. Will that stop you?
But I actually figured this out without needing to rethink that motivation. Stealing could also mean taking something that was meant for sharing, like the pie. In this case Kris/the soul could be stealing the darkness from the fountains that was meant for the whole party.
"Only they can seal the fountains" from the prophecy implies that all three of the heroes should be able to seal them, not just Kris. The art of Susie, Kris and Ralsei standing in front of a fountain also seems to indicate this, while Ralsei doesn't get anywhere near a fountain in-game and even says that only Kris can seal them.
What I think this means is that the Earth giving Kris the Soul messed with the prophecy's plan and made it so only Kris can seal, or steal, the fountains. I got this idea based on Susie's dialogue when you try to go back without seeing her room. "Damn, all you wanna do is run off and steal cake." This is after she eats the cake Ralsei made that was meant for sharing.
Cake representing darkness seems odd, but there's some evidence for it. Top Chef's dialogue from earlier putting the night as the counterpart to the cake, Ralsei making cakes from his cauldron probably filled with darkness/dark magic and the cake (top/spin cake, like the Earth's movement...) heals everyone while the darkness levels everyone up. Speaking of levels...
How is Kris solely absorbing the darkness when every party member levels up after a fountain is sealed? A vague variable name most players don't know about is not good defense.
Admittedly, there are times when it seems like other characters might transform as well. As stated, the heroes level up and they end up in control of a single body that combines their powers (to defeat Queen). The very, very wonderful trio's colors combine to make black, darkness. Kris and Susie in particular get the closest to the fountains and there's some text that points out how inseparable they are.
However, other characters just aren't as closely related to this specific mess. To answer the original question, the soul absorbing the fountains is Kris's, it still resides in Kris. Even when the soul appears during Susie's fight against Lancer, it comes from the side of the screen where Kris would be. Their friends leveling up actually adds fuel to the fire. If the fountain empowers their friends, who don't have the fountain-sponge in their bodies, how does it affect Kris who does?
...the Earth's blood?
It sounds cool, works for the similarities that lead to Darkheart and makes the Halloween art where Kris is a vampire more interesting. (Cake = darkness works for Ralsei's costume too, I guess.)
You say Kris sealing the fountains is bad, but what else are they supposed to do?
Nothing for now. If they want to go home and prevent the destruction of the world, them's the breaks. It sucks, let's just hope there's an alternative.
How can you be so sure that the Earth knew she would be dying and that the soul was summoned?
She most likely knew of the prophecy, it's ancient and was whispered among shadows, and she would have been able to sense the soul that was probably connected to her waters. I think it's a safe assumption to make.
Why doesn't Kris react to the symbols that supposedly resemble their eyes?
The cliffs area is already pretty out-of-place compared to the rest of the game, Kris having a reaction would have probably been overkill. They don't react to Ralsei taking off his hat either, for what it's worth.
"...what else could they have been involved with that might influence their decision or future?"
The Bunker? Dess?
You have to understand, comprehending this theory has used up all of the brainpower that might've went to other parts of the game. I now know less about where those plotpoints might be going than the player who doesn't even know what a Dess is, so I avoided mentioning those things. I just can't figure out how they're related.
Why does the symbol on the Earth's heart appear so often in the game?
I don't know exactly. Something to do with "Its very nature is shrouded in darkness." I guess it could also be the equivalent of the globe symbol being used for logos and such, but there's still the question of how this symbol came to be known.
The theory requires too much suspension of disbelief.
I know. It's been years and no one else has come up with this kind of fanfiction. Some have gotten close, postulating that the Earth is alive or that Kris is the world, but not quite like this. Maybe it would have been better to let this go and save myself from the disappointment, but the alternative was ignoring it.
Maybe I've made a mountain out of a molehill, but it really feels like I'm onto something. If not, feel free to tell me how wrong I am!
TL;DR: Kris is somewhat similar to the Earth (who is a person) which clearly means they're meant to osmose to planethood and replace the Earth after she dies; as part of this terrible plan, the Earth put the soul inside Kris to help them use the fountains for the transformation; the DELTA()RUNE comes from or is a heart that both Kris and the Earth have.