It's kind of wild how much fan content people pump out for this game, especially considering it's a _demo_ that first released 6 years ago. And I'm all here for it!
I'm still chomping at the bit for new content too. Totally understand being burnt out, especially as a creator. My special interest for Toby & Co.'s works just flares up once in a while and the Ch. 3&4 for 2025 100% tweet hit in the middle of the most recent one just after playing UTY for the first time.
It's just 4 videos. There are 4 weeks in a month. Impressive yes, not taking anything away from the effort put into the videos, but you're making it seem like 4 videos (1 every week) is some insane task
I think, out of everything we can possibly know about Kris at this stage, that the most clear-cut bits are the few fleeting moments where Kris... utilizes malicious compliance, for lack of a better term, to force their will in situations where they otherwise would not be able to. I can think of four specific examples of this, most in Chapter 2: First and most obvious is in Queen's Mansion, if you try to get Kris to open the door to Asriel's search history room, Kris does so, but keeps their eyes closed. Second, attempting to play the hospital piano in both chapters results in Kris simply slamming a few keys discordantly, and in Chapter 2 Susie notes that Kris is visibly angry while doing so, which is a rare emotion from them. The other two both involve reading things in the Light World. If you attempt to read the book on caring for humans, Kris opens the book, but quickly shuts it upon seeing things that make them uncomfortable. Finally, if you read the news article about Undyne's promotion to police chief, the narration very pointedly trails off when it gets to why Asgore was dismissed because "there's no need to read any more." The shared trait between all four of these instances is that examining these things would show us, the presence controlling Kris, things that they would very much like to be kept private. Obviously examining the contents of someone's internet search history is a violation of privacy, and Asriel is where Kris draws the line on that. We know from the Spamton Sweepstakes blog entries from Noelle that Kris would often play the piano for somewhat mysterious reasons, and while they had no problem doing so where others could hear it, they outright refused to be *seen* while doing it, stopping the moment they realized someone was watching. We are *always* watching them. And finally, while their exact feelings on the topics are unknown beyond obvious discomfort, exact circumstances of their childhood as a human raised by monsters and the events that led to Asgore's disgrace and the likely reason for the divorce of their parents are both things that Kris would be fully within their rights to keep to themselves under normal circumstances. These are not things you share with strangers, much less unknowable extradimensional entities that are privy to your every waking moment for 99% of the day.
I dont agree with Kris not liking being seen when playing the piano. The hospital receptionist mentions enjoying Kris' piano (saying that they normally play it better) if we talk to her after making Kris play it implying they use it semi-regularly when she's there.
@@maykonbrasileiro761 I think so? Now that you ask, I'm not 100% sure. It's been a while since I played the game but I think there's some dialoge that points to her being able to see.
Something that is kind obscure about Kris is their interaction with Susie before the start of the game during the Sweepstakes ARG. Is a private post made by Noelle. She says she heard Susie trying to bully Kris (which has probably happened quite often) She tries to provoke Kris, who is sleeping at the class desk, by calling them an idiot, but Kris only looks when called by name. Susie then bites an apple from Alphys's table and says that if they keep using apple shampoo they will end up like this. Kris doesn't show any reaction, she tries to reinforce it, but still no reaction. Angry Susie tries to throw the apple at Kris, but they block it using the notebook as a shield. then bite the apple and look at Susie, who becomes even angrier. She grabs them by the hair and says "One day, your mom's gonna get sick of you, you little freak. And as soon as that happens..." and laughs, "Someone might make you disappear. And she'll finally realize how happy she was without you." Kris shows no reaction. Which makes her explode in anger, saying "SAY SOMETHING, YOU IDIOT!!!" Then Kris says something, something that makes Susie release them and leave the room in a hurry. And more bizarre than that, Kris, when leaving the room, opens the door to the closet where Noelle was hiding, stares at her and leaves. definitely a very obscure piece of Kris's personality as a character, but one of the most expressive so far, in my opinion.
I think in the case of Susie, Kris had some level of control (not the perfect word but it works) over it as we read on Noelle's blog. & while strange I think they actually considers Noelle a friend even if they don't realise it. Also, maybe you should have talked about Catti? They did study the occult together & act friendly in their own antisocial way. If there is anything else worth mentioning would be Kris's pranks: pretending ketchup was blood, scaring Noelle with the Ice-e thing, hiding under Noelle's bed, repeatedly prankcalling Berdly; which (excluding the Berdly one) are all kind of dark.
This analysis was great as always; I think it does a great job on understanding Kris as a character rather than a lore piece, and also as a complex human being
This might be a stretch. But what if ralsei in essence is supposed to be that younger version of kris who wanted their horns fo grow in. The kid who wanted to be like their parents turned into a darkner and given an identity separate from kris.
I'm a strong believer in Ralsei's light world item being the horns headband, and him thus representing who Kris feels they want or need to be in some way
10:21 I don't fully buy into third entity theory but we need a far better explanation for why Kris themselves would slash the tires and open a dark world. And so far, I've not seen any good explanation. Does Kris want Susie to stay? Uh, yeah. But why would they immediately go to slashing tires rather than just like... asking first, at least. I'm not saying Kris is the most emotionally intelligent character, but I'm sure they would at least make that attempt when it's clear Toriel really likes the fact that Kris has a friend now. Does Kris want the police to show up and see a dark world? Well, Kris isn't stupid (in fact they're supposed to be quite smart), so if they did, they could just call the police themselves with a fake emergency. That's the obvious solution here rather than the ""200 IQ"" solution of slashing tires, hoping Toriel notices, and hoping she also calls the police. Being a troubled kid doesn't really explain that. Does Kris hate Toriel? We have absolutely no indication of that, but maybe? I guess Kris pouts when Toriel holds their hand on the way to school, but that's about it. I generally doubt that Kris truly hates her. Does Kris want Toriel to be sucked into the dark world? Maybe, except there's no good reason to expect that during the snowgrave route. Why risk it? Does Kris want to spend more time in a dark world? Well, we've seen more indication that they are extremely worried about them and fully buy into what Ralsei said about the Roaring. So no, that doesn't make too much sense for them to risk it. If it's truly Kris doing it, then there has to be some explanation that goes beyond them being a smol bean who loves their friends and wants them to stay or something trivial like that. We know Kris is a troublemaker, but this goes quite a bit further. Something is up with them that goes beyond normal kids' worries and it's definitely not just our influence that worries them.
My personal headcanon is removing the soul gave Kris the "no-feeling" state that Flowey had (as it is implied that the reason flowey couldnt feel was due to the lack of a soul), Kris then thought of what exactly to do after removing the soul, making their actions affected by their state (And thefore not counting the wellbeing of Toriel in the plan.), which shows up as Kris slashing the tires.
This isn't solely related to Kris, but I will take a moment to comment on something I find generally poor about analysis of not just Kris, but of "young" characters in general, and young people as well. "They're just a kid" "They're a child", these phrases almost feel thought terminating. It's not that age is unimportant, but rather that an exploration of how a character or persons age impact them deserves more nuance than that. I think you provided that nuance in several ways, and I also think part of your intent in using those statements was to chip away at the argument that Kris is somehow a secret evil villain, which I understand and appreciate. My key point is that age does not impact all of us in the same way, nor do we all share things at any particular age. People are radically different in their youth, elderly years, childhood, young adulthood, mid-life and so on. Self-awareness, personal preferences, knowledge, experience, though we may see patterns in these things at particular moments in many peoples lives I think we want to at least dive into why someones age is relevant without saying "they're JUST a child". Kris's relative youth, I think, influences them through a lack of life experience. They've had a chaotic life that hasn't left them with enough time or bandwidth to healthily develop a relationship to themselves or other people, leading them to struggle with certain burdens and act irresponsibly at times. All that said, the frame I utilized there is probably a given to most people, and its content ultimately isn't very different from an articulation where "Kris is an edgy teen, we're all edgy teens" is emphasized. I suppose I have an issue with how the point is worded more than anything, and I can also appreciate that many of us relate to Kris, and teenage angst in general. I do hope that simple phrases don't lead to anyone to conclude their analyses of Kris's character (or real-ass people) and its aspects so thoughtlessly, though. Thanks for the video V.V, best of luck stuff our UA-cam stockings with wonderful Deltarune vids, we love you and wish you luck 💜✨
One puzzle piece I think is missing from our understanding of Kris: Undertale was entirely driven by the differences in the SOULs of humans and monsters. To some part this is a contrived way to parallel RPG protagonists and players, but... I think that difference will be echoed somehow in Deltarune. The second floor of the library has to have really spicy stuff in it, after all, and it's not a coming of age story without having SOME parts of yourself you can accept not being able to change. Plus it's a way to unpack the comedic misunderstandings toriel got from learning about humans through a library book.
10:11 I am around the same age we would expect Kris to be and trust me when I say if i heard of someone doing that I wouldn't even be surprised anymore
I do not understand how anybody can believe Kris isn't being controlled. For god sake, he didn't remove his soul during Snowgrave, failed to warn anyone of the danger his possession represent after Snowgrave, and Toby Fox as been throwing as many red flag as he could to make souless "Kris" be as menacing and evil as possible. Not a single one of souless Kris's actions have been what we would expect Kris to do, every single one has to be explained away by wild supposition and ultraspecific theories.
Tbf, we have never seen Kris rip their soul in a Dark World. Maybe there's a reason they can't do that there? There's also the fact that Kris could very well not be able to speak clearly with no soul.
An ODD question, but WHY are those shelves empty in Kriss's room? He could put ANYTHING on them. Trading cards, action figures, an interesting ROCK. Sure, his brother put a trophy there, before he'd ever existed. SO WHAT? That don't make them trophy shelves. He's gone so far into not competing, that he didn't DO anything? Is that rebellious nihilism, or is he that depressed... the kind of depressed that walks up a mountain that nobody, EVER, comes back from?
As someone who is completely burned out from Deltarune, it is absolutely insane that you could do a video every single week.
It's kind of wild how much fan content people pump out for this game, especially considering it's a _demo_ that first released 6 years ago.
And I'm all here for it!
I'm still chomping at the bit for new content too. Totally understand being burnt out, especially as a creator.
My special interest for Toby & Co.'s works just flares up once in a while and the Ch. 3&4 for 2025 100% tweet hit in the middle of the most recent one just after playing UTY for the first time.
Burned out homie there's only 2 chapters how can you be burnt out
you have 4 videos were you ever not
It's just 4 videos. There are 4 weeks in a month. Impressive yes, not taking anything away from the effort put into the videos, but you're making it seem like 4 videos (1 every week) is some insane task
I think, out of everything we can possibly know about Kris at this stage, that the most clear-cut bits are the few fleeting moments where Kris... utilizes malicious compliance, for lack of a better term, to force their will in situations where they otherwise would not be able to. I can think of four specific examples of this, most in Chapter 2: First and most obvious is in Queen's Mansion, if you try to get Kris to open the door to Asriel's search history room, Kris does so, but keeps their eyes closed. Second, attempting to play the hospital piano in both chapters results in Kris simply slamming a few keys discordantly, and in Chapter 2 Susie notes that Kris is visibly angry while doing so, which is a rare emotion from them. The other two both involve reading things in the Light World. If you attempt to read the book on caring for humans, Kris opens the book, but quickly shuts it upon seeing things that make them uncomfortable. Finally, if you read the news article about Undyne's promotion to police chief, the narration very pointedly trails off when it gets to why Asgore was dismissed because "there's no need to read any more."
The shared trait between all four of these instances is that examining these things would show us, the presence controlling Kris, things that they would very much like to be kept private. Obviously examining the contents of someone's internet search history is a violation of privacy, and Asriel is where Kris draws the line on that. We know from the Spamton Sweepstakes blog entries from Noelle that Kris would often play the piano for somewhat mysterious reasons, and while they had no problem doing so where others could hear it, they outright refused to be *seen* while doing it, stopping the moment they realized someone was watching. We are *always* watching them. And finally, while their exact feelings on the topics are unknown beyond obvious discomfort, exact circumstances of their childhood as a human raised by monsters and the events that led to Asgore's disgrace and the likely reason for the divorce of their parents are both things that Kris would be fully within their rights to keep to themselves under normal circumstances. These are not things you share with strangers, much less unknowable extradimensional entities that are privy to your every waking moment for 99% of the day.
I dont agree with Kris not liking being seen when playing the piano. The hospital receptionist mentions enjoying Kris' piano (saying that they normally play it better) if we talk to her after making Kris play it implying they use it semi-regularly when she's there.
@@NovatoExtrue, but does the receptionist have eyes? (honest question i really dont remenber)
@@maykonbrasileiro761 I think so? Now that you ask, I'm not 100% sure. It's been a while since I played the game but I think there's some dialoge that points to her being able to see.
10:14 not Da Devil from Da Bible lmaoooo 😭 im happy to see a fellow SnapCube fan also being a great Deltarune theorist/content creator
thank you so much for continuing to feed the kris-shaped void in my soul 😭😭
I LOVE KRISPY KREME DREEMURR
Something that is kind obscure about Kris is their interaction with Susie before the start of the game during the Sweepstakes ARG.
Is a private post made by Noelle. She says she heard Susie trying to bully Kris (which has probably happened quite often)
She tries to provoke Kris, who is sleeping at the class desk, by calling them an idiot, but Kris only looks when called by name.
Susie then bites an apple from Alphys's table and says that if they keep using apple shampoo they will end up like this. Kris doesn't show any reaction, she tries to reinforce it, but still no reaction.
Angry Susie tries to throw the apple at Kris, but they block it using the notebook as a shield. then bite the apple and look at Susie, who becomes even angrier.
She grabs them by the hair and says "One day, your mom's gonna get sick of you, you little freak. And as soon as that happens..." and laughs, "Someone might make you disappear. And she'll finally realize how happy she was without you."
Kris shows no reaction.
Which makes her explode in anger, saying "SAY SOMETHING, YOU IDIOT!!!"
Then Kris says something, something that makes Susie release them and leave the room in a hurry.
And more bizarre than that, Kris, when leaving the room, opens the door to the closet where Noelle was hiding, stares at her and leaves.
definitely a very obscure piece of Kris's personality as a character, but one of the most expressive so far, in my opinion.
kris uses they/them pronouns btw
Kris uses they/them pronouns
@Micah_silly Thanks i will edit that
In my first language we don't have neutral pronouns, I must have forgotten to change to them
0:16 EVERY WEEK OF WHO!?!? 🦌
I think in the case of Susie, Kris had some level of control (not the perfect word but it works) over it as we read on Noelle's blog. & while strange I think they actually considers Noelle a friend even if they don't realise it. Also, maybe you should have talked about Catti? They did study the occult together & act friendly in their own antisocial way. If there is anything else worth mentioning would be Kris's pranks: pretending ketchup was blood, scaring Noelle with the Ice-e thing, hiding under Noelle's bed, repeatedly prankcalling Berdly; which (excluding the Berdly one) are all kind of dark.
This analysis was great as always; I think it does a great job on understanding Kris as a character rather than a lore piece, and also as a complex human being
no way a vivat veritas upload ‼️❗️
alliteration fans tweaking rn
My hyper fixation is coming back
This might be a stretch. But what if ralsei in essence is supposed to be that younger version of kris who wanted their horns fo grow in. The kid who wanted to be like their parents turned into a darkner and given an identity separate from kris.
I'm a strong believer in Ralsei's light world item being the horns headband, and him thus representing who Kris feels they want or need to be in some way
Okay, that "Da Devil from Da Bible" joke got me more than I was planning.
10:21
I don't fully buy into third entity theory but we need a far better explanation for why Kris themselves would slash the tires and open a dark world. And so far, I've not seen any good explanation.
Does Kris want Susie to stay? Uh, yeah. But why would they immediately go to slashing tires rather than just like... asking first, at least. I'm not saying Kris is the most emotionally intelligent character, but I'm sure they would at least make that attempt when it's clear Toriel really likes the fact that Kris has a friend now.
Does Kris want the police to show up and see a dark world? Well, Kris isn't stupid (in fact they're supposed to be quite smart), so if they did, they could just call the police themselves with a fake emergency. That's the obvious solution here rather than the ""200 IQ"" solution of slashing tires, hoping Toriel notices, and hoping she also calls the police. Being a troubled kid doesn't really explain that.
Does Kris hate Toriel? We have absolutely no indication of that, but maybe? I guess Kris pouts when Toriel holds their hand on the way to school, but that's about it. I generally doubt that Kris truly hates her.
Does Kris want Toriel to be sucked into the dark world? Maybe, except there's no good reason to expect that during the snowgrave route. Why risk it?
Does Kris want to spend more time in a dark world? Well, we've seen more indication that they are extremely worried about them and fully buy into what Ralsei said about the Roaring. So no, that doesn't make too much sense for them to risk it.
If it's truly Kris doing it, then there has to be some explanation that goes beyond them being a smol bean who loves their friends and wants them to stay or something trivial like that. We know Kris is a troublemaker, but this goes quite a bit further. Something is up with them that goes beyond normal kids' worries and it's definitely not just our influence that worries them.
But could Kris call the police themselves with no soul? We haven't seen them talk while having no soul.
Also, calling could risk waking the others up.
My personal headcanon is removing the soul gave Kris the "no-feeling" state that Flowey had (as it is implied that the reason flowey couldnt feel was due to the lack of a soul), Kris then thought of what exactly to do after removing the soul, making their actions affected by their state (And thefore not counting the wellbeing of Toriel in the plan.), which shows up as Kris slashing the tires.
I can't wait for the Kris character relationship analysis
This isn't solely related to Kris, but I will take a moment to comment on something I find generally poor about analysis of not just Kris, but of "young" characters in general, and young people as well. "They're just a kid" "They're a child", these phrases almost feel thought terminating. It's not that age is unimportant, but rather that an exploration of how a character or persons age impact them deserves more nuance than that. I think you provided that nuance in several ways, and I also think part of your intent in using those statements was to chip away at the argument that Kris is somehow a secret evil villain, which I understand and appreciate.
My key point is that age does not impact all of us in the same way, nor do we all share things at any particular age. People are radically different in their youth, elderly years, childhood, young adulthood, mid-life and so on. Self-awareness, personal preferences, knowledge, experience, though we may see patterns in these things at particular moments in many peoples lives I think we want to at least dive into why someones age is relevant without saying "they're JUST a child". Kris's relative youth, I think, influences them through a lack of life experience. They've had a chaotic life that hasn't left them with enough time or bandwidth to healthily develop a relationship to themselves or other people, leading them to struggle with certain burdens and act irresponsibly at times.
All that said, the frame I utilized there is probably a given to most people, and its content ultimately isn't very different from an articulation where "Kris is an edgy teen, we're all edgy teens" is emphasized. I suppose I have an issue with how the point is worded more than anything, and I can also appreciate that many of us relate to Kris, and teenage angst in general. I do hope that simple phrases don't lead to anyone to conclude their analyses of Kris's character (or real-ass people) and its aspects so thoughtlessly, though.
Thanks for the video V.V, best of luck stuff our UA-cam stockings with wonderful Deltarune vids, we love you and wish you luck
💜✨
WOOO DELTACEMBER LETS GET HYPE
Hell yeah , DeltaruneDecember! Can't wait for Berdly video!
One puzzle piece I think is missing from our understanding of Kris: Undertale was entirely driven by the differences in the SOULs of humans and monsters. To some part this is a contrived way to parallel RPG protagonists and players, but... I think that difference will be echoed somehow in Deltarune. The second floor of the library has to have really spicy stuff in it, after all, and it's not a coming of age story without having SOME parts of yourself you can accept not being able to change.
Plus it's a way to unpack the comedic misunderstandings toriel got from learning about humans through a library book.
Wowzers, vids all December long? I must be a tree-like monster decorated by teens to deserve such gifts!
8:32 you cut off the note bend resolving the musical tention in that piece, and have therefor sinned against all mankind. How could you?
@@jupitersky I was wondering if anyone would notice that. I accept my judgement
i was just thinking about your videos wtf. cant wait to watch this
10:11 I am around the same age we would expect Kris to be and trust me when I say if i heard of someone doing that I wouldn't even be surprised anymore
MERRY KRISMASSSSS
Neat analysis video! Thanks for uploading!
Ohhhh, Very Excited to see more of your content
I love alliteration
A worthy rival to Donkey Kong December
This does make think that Kris may not be the Knight and really only opened a dark world just to spend more time with Suzie
We'll have the next chapters before next December ends, so you'll have plenty to talk about next time!
Great video! Can we get a Berdly analysis too?
krips
GUYS KRIS IS REAL LOOK!!!!!!!!.........😑
Do you plan to make theory vid onthe new deltarune inspired game Tsunagari chess school?
@@japan-flanders1078 I haven't looked into it much, so probably not for now.
Hi Vivat, would you be able to increase the narration volume in subsequent uploads? I love your vids but they can be hard to hear sometimes
Sorry, I actively turned this one up and it sounded fine from my speakers! I'll bear it in mind next time - I prefer to err on the side of caution.
@@Vivat_Veritas Hopefully it's not just me, maybe a second or third opinion is warranted lol, appreciate the reply!
I do not understand how anybody can believe Kris isn't being controlled.
For god sake, he didn't remove his soul during Snowgrave, failed to warn anyone of the danger his possession represent after Snowgrave, and Toby Fox as been throwing as many red flag as he could to make souless "Kris" be as menacing and evil as possible. Not a single one of souless Kris's actions have been what we would expect Kris to do, every single one has to be explained away by wild supposition and ultraspecific theories.
Tbf, we have never seen Kris rip their soul in a Dark World. Maybe there's a reason they can't do that there?
There's also the fact that Kris could very well not be able to speak clearly with no soul.
kris uses they/them pronouns btw ^-^
An ODD question, but WHY are those shelves empty in Kriss's room? He could put ANYTHING on them. Trading cards, action figures, an interesting ROCK. Sure, his brother put a trophy there, before he'd ever existed. SO WHAT? That don't make them trophy shelves. He's gone so far into not competing, that he didn't DO anything? Is that rebellious nihilism, or is he that depressed... the kind of depressed that walks up a mountain that nobody, EVER, comes back from?