What’s this, a new video of mine in less than
six months? This must be some kind of miracle! Welcome viewers, I’m VivatVeritas and today, I
want to talk about freedom. Obviously I already talked about the idea of control at length
in my first video, but freedom is something a little more specific. Freedom encapsulates the
actions that all the characters take, all the choices they make, and the way that these actions
and choices affect the world around them. So, why am I talking about freedom? A big reason for
this is because a lot of people have been talking about how the idea of choice impacts the game
(including myself), but mostly on the theorising side. Instead, I want to take a bit of a closer
look at the intricacies of the choice theme, of freedom and how these can work together even
though they seem pretty similar at first glance. The idea of “freedom” is intrinsic and almost
auxiliary to the overarching theme of choice, like the concept of merit was auxiliary
to the overarching theme of kindness in Undertale. In order to be kind to people, you
need to decide whether or not they deserve it. Likewise, in order to make your own choices you
have to have freedom. As we saw in Undertale, though, maybe kindness can be extended to
people regardless of whether they deserve it or not. Can you make choices if you don’t
have freedom? Do your choices matter whether or not you have freedom? These are the questions I’m
looking to answer today. Join me, won’t you?
Much like my previous videos, it’s not a bad idea
to see how Undertale handles its themes compared to Deltarune. These two pieces of media are
clearly in conversation with one another, and I think there’s definitely some things we can glean
from Undertale to help us in our understanding of Deltarune – the foremost being the way that
a given theme is proposed to the player.
In Undertale, this is clearly the “Kill or be
killed” idea that Flowey posits to you. It’s a theory that Flowey has understood and internalized
thanks to reset after reset – that is to say, it’s supported by saving and loading being
diegetic. I promise I’m not going to use that word as often in this video, but it’s important
for now. Anyway, since saving and loading is part of the world, Toby is able to use it to
comment on the themes, to wield it as a tool in exploring the “kill or be killed” thesis.
If you can reset time and space, does any of it really matter? Do these people even matter? If
they don’t matter, if they don’t have any meaning or worth, then why should you be kind to them?
Of course, the pacifist route is all about proving that idea wrong, proving that these people and
their lives do matter even if they can be reset. It’s not to kill or be killed – these people,
their bonds and their hopes and their dreams, matter. In the No Mercy route, the theme is
reinforced. You can save and load and kill and as long as you keep going, keep killing,
then you won’t be killed. If you’re willing to destroy these people and their lives,
then you can win. You can get stronger. None of it matters, all that matters is
getting stronger and having that power.
Compare this to Deltarune. The first question
would be, naturally, what is this spoken thesis? Are there any initially antagonistic characters
that say an ominous line to you and then you gradually learn more about them and it turns out
they’re mostly a kinda complicated kid? Hmm…
Oh, hi Susie! Your choices don’t matter, huh? So,
you’re telling me than nothing I do matters?
Huh.
Well, we’ve answered one question at least. So, what next? Undertale’s use of the “kill or be
killed” idea is similar to Deltarune’s use of the “your choices don’t matter” idea and, as Undertale
uses that idea to explore the routes and operation of the game, perhaps even what the game is
interested on commenting on in a diegetic manner.
Obviously, it’s very early on in Deltarune’s
journey so I don’t think we can really tell fully. However, we do already have some
pieces of the puzzle and using those we can get a bit of an idea as to the structure of
this theme. The big piece of this is, of course, the route difference between the games. Undertale
has the pacifist and no mercy routes as well as the infinite (uniquely interesting) neutral
endings to allow the player to come to their own conclusion about the thesis of the game
and whether they wanted to put in the effort.
However, in Deltarune there’s a pretty big problem
with that. Although we have different routes, we only have one ending, one destination.
We can already see that in Chapter 2; regardless of the Weird or Normal path, you
still take Susie home and Kris still makes the Dark Fountain. It doesn’t matter what you do
in the dark worlds, the ending is the same. So, it is kind of seeing that your choices don’t
matter, but I think most people would agree that these two routes are still different in
some way even if the endings are the same.
However, I personally feel like that is still
tackling the primary idea, the “your choices don’t matter” idea. So, what else is the weird
route telling us? All we have to look at so far is the Snowgrave route at this point, since that’s
the only bit of any kind of Weird Route that we’ve seen so far. Hell, we don’t even know if the
Weird Route will continue in other chapters or how it will manifest. For now, though, we can
compare Snowgrave to the normal route. There doesn’t seem to be a massive difference between
the normal and pacifist route in Chapter 2. Noelle is obviously the central figure, and the normal
route is about a cool happy fun time! Noelle seems to be generally enjoying it once she gets
a bit more comfortable going on an adventure, talking to Kris and Susie more, and she
does seem to take some comfort insofar as liking things being solved easily.
However, obviously the main differences lie between the normal and the Snowgrave
route. Noelle is treated very differently, both by the game and the player. The angel motifs
are ramped up to a hundred, from the Thorn Ring to Spamton’s dialogue, and she goes around freezing
people under your control. Obviously the “under your control” bit relatives more heavily the
“your choices don’t matter” theme which is the bit that I focused on in my first video,
but I think there’s more to it than just that. What she’s doing is going around not necessarily
killing people, but the main visual is freezing people. She was made specifically for ice magic,
and I think that’s relevant because the fact of the matter is that the enemies can’t run away from
this like they can with the others’ attacks. They can’t dodge. They try to run away but they can’t
because then the Snowgrave route doesn’t happen. You need to get stronger. You need to always
find them if you want to do the specific route. You need Noelle to get stronger and you obviously
go through all of this and once you’re done with Snowgrave, Noelle wants to understandably get out
of there as soon as possible. She wants to wake up from this nightmare, but as we see, after we wake
up… she can’t escape it. It follows her. We follow her. Just like the enemies that she froze, she
is also unable to escape, both the consequences of her actions and the demon plaguing her.
And thanks to that analysis, here comes the answer to our question. What is the way Toby
manifests the message of freedom? What we’re looking for here isn’t just freedom - this
freedom manifests, in all routes, as escapism.
The Dark Worlds are clearly meant to represent
some form of escapism. I had a whole section about it in my previous video but suffice to say each
character has their own reasons for not wanting to be in the “real” world and taking comfort in
imaginary lands. They all don’t feel like they fit in anywhere, and they all have these flaws and
faults that they can fight head on in the Dark World where everything is nice and simple.
Something else that’s very interesting is the non-Dark World sections, which I feel
like less people have been talking about, and honestly is what inspired me to make this
video. There are two elements here I’d like to examine. The first is a place known as the
Bunker. Most of the interest around the bunker stems from its possible connection to Gaster as
well as just generally theorizing what could be through those massive doors. However, I think its
existence itself is intriguing enough. After all, isn’t a bunker a place where you go to
escape something bad, a disaster perhaps? Considering the Bunker is likely going to
be relevant, and a bunker is somewhere you escape to, I think it’s going to be a pretty
important location at the end of the day.
Another important thing is the layout of Hometown.
I’ve seen one or two people point this out, but there are a couple of entrances and exits
from Hometown, or at least parts of Hometown that we can’t access. One of these is the
road to Noelle’s place, the one blocked off by giant gates. As that’s going to Noelle’s and
the mayor’s house, it’s unlikely that it’s also a way out of Hometown, at least by car. The other
is a road that’s currently blocked off by police tape. It’s not clear as to why or how, but it
could have something to do with Asgore’s firing, but apparently there isn’t much crime here which
is… interesting. So, the only exit out of Hometown (at least accessible to the public) is being
blocked off, so no one can leave. Of course, the real reason it’s being blocked off is because
Toby doesn’t want us going out of the town because this is a video game with limits, but there are
definitely other ways to do it other than having a traditionally oppressive force actively impede
people from leaving. I’m not exactly saying that Undyne is stopping anyone from leaving, more
so the fact that it is very effective visual shorthand for us not being able to leave. It’s
also noteworthy that this is used by Earthbound, a piece of media that Toby has been heavily
inspired by in the past. Kris, and by extension all of the others, can’t leave Hometown.
So, escapism is our latent theme. The enemies can’t escape us, the characters escape into Dark
Worlds due to their inability to leave or progress their character arcs in Hometown. Good work team!
Now Toby’s answered our question, it’s time to answer his. Just as we had to consider the worth
and merit of those around us and our actions in Undertale, we have to ponder a question that’s a
bit difficult to do sometimes. Is escapism good?
We’ve got a couple of positions already laid out
for us from the characters we see in Deltarune. Asriel already has a history of creating stuff,
whether that’s drawing or video gaming, and Kris seems to take after him especially in their
desire to learn magic, a thing that is not real in Hometown, I guess. Asriel feels more important
because he is someone who has managed to actually “escape” Hometown. He’s free in a way that no
one else in this town is yet he still comes back. Maybe you can never truly be free, or maybe he’s
not as interested in freedom as Kris is. It’s not like he has someone pulling at his strings…?
We can only guess until we meet him later.
Ralsei, on the other hand, seems to encourage
the plot of the Dark World very much, but only in moderation. It feels like he
needs to have control over the situation, he doesn’t want people opening too many Dark
Fountains, but it is important to remember that he is the most passionate member when it comes
to fulfilling the prophecy. Ralsei’s kind of weird because he’s not escaping in a traditional
sense. With the Dark World representing escapism, he’s just… part of the fantasy, so his perspective
feels more representative of ensuring his own existence and purpose. I’m sure there’s more
there but honestly Ralsei is such a complicated character, and his motives are pretty hazy.
Most of the other Lightners share a relatively similar position, that of “escapism is great”
which is understandable considering everything I’ve said about them in this video. This is a
net positive for them and honestly, who can blame them? The thing about this perspective is that
just because the characters endorse escapism, it doesn’t mean that Toby does as well. After
all, this wish to escape, to lose yourself in a fantasy, is the very reason that the Snowgrave
route happens. As mentioned, the Snowgrave hinges on the escapism that Noelle desires from
reality, as well as the trust she has with Kris. She believes that all of this is a dream, so
there are no stakes. Her choices don’t matter.
So, how does that relate to us? I’m a believer in
the player as part of the Deltarune experience, soon to be if not already diegetic in some
form. Hell, I did a whole video on it. And, unfortunately, to answer this question we’re
going to have to talk about ourselves for a bit. When Undertale launched in 2015,
the general age of the audience was, if my channel analytics are anything
to go by, around 15 years of age. This is obviously an incredibly influential and
impressionable time in a young person’s life (finally my Psychology degree is helpful), and
this is partially to thank for the meteoric rise of popularity that the game had. The themes that
Undertale contained alone, such as friendship, hope, and dreams, really spoke to a lot of people
who were going through pretty scary and new things in their lives. There’s a reason that the phrase I
used at the start of this section (DEISY) had the impact it did. I, personally, was no different. I
was having a pretty rough year by my standards of a 16 year old and although I didn’t really
fit into the edgy teenager stereotype, I was definitely grappling with a lot of
miscellaneous angst. Undertale came in a period of my life where I didn’t have much hope,
where I felt alone, and I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. The game really impacted
me in a lot of ways, and the fact that it’s been by my side ever since really speaks to the impact
that it had on me and a lot of other people. Something that is interesting about Undertale
is that, in the true pacifist route, it kind of catches people on this sense of connection
by making sure that this character isn’t you. You’ve projected yourself onto this character and
the game is aware of that and reminds you – hey. This is a human in this world. I wonder if we’ll
see an extension of this theme any time soon…
Anyway, the sheer emotive connection that so
many people did and still do have with the game is reflected by the very… unique way that the
fandom manifested especially at the start. There were a lot of weird teens (affectionate) being
very passionate about a unique piece of media which was a wonderful little cocktail of what we
in the industry call “cringe”. I kept most of my cringe to myself, deep in my heart, because I was
deeply ashamed of my crimes. Everyone was talking about Undertale, whether good or bad, and a lot
of people used it as a coping mechanism. AUs, OCs, self-inserts, you name it and the Undertale
fandom made it. It was this very aspect that was brought into the cringe spotlight,
though most of it was relatively harmless (if a little… unpolished). If you ask anyone
vaguely associated with Undertale what their favourite alternate Sans is, congratulations!
You’ve inflicted them with immense psychic damage (mine was just normal Sans because I’m a
purist in case you were curious). The point is, so many people attached themselves to this game
in a manner that was, frankly, pretty unhealthy at times. It made a lot of wonderful, interesting
art, but it also consumed people, friendships, and communities. Taking the good with the bad was
something a balanced Undertale fan had to accept pretty early on. It’s not a surprise to consider,
then, that the follow-up to this cultural titan for teens (a teen titan if you will) might
have a bit of something to say about escapism.
To be honest, part of the reason this theme
of escapism stands out so much to me is that I’ve been very connected to pieces of media in the
past, and I can recognize maladaptive habits when it comes to said consumption of media. It’s grand
to have fun little explorations, but sometimes the media can consume you back. You can be so blinded
by your love for a piece of media that you ignore warning signs, whether that’s from the piece
of media itself or the people around you that are into it. You’re willing to take more, look
past flaws, and accept toxic ideas or behaviours when you’re super attached to something. It’s
kind of like its own form a toxic relationship, and I think it’s no accident that in Deltarune
itself this connection is specifically highlighted using toxic relationships, whether that is between
Lancer and King or Noelle and us. Those are just the ones that are in plain sight – it’s likely
that Susie has a bad relationship with her family, I could hardly call Kris’ relationships
with their family as healthy and happy, and whatever Ralsei has going on seems pretty
suspicious but he is a fluffy boy so who knows. I personally am really fond of how the relationships
between the protagonists impacts the world and the plot, much like in Undertale. The way that
Deltarune talks about escapism using just the Snowgrave route itself and the way that the
relationship between us and Noelle represents the relationship between us and the game is super
interesting, and I think tells us something about the way that this theme of escapism,
much like the theme of merit in Undertale, will affect Deltarune in the coming chapters.
Notably, I believe that the oddities in the game, the ways that escapism can go wrong, will be
reflected in further relationships being tested by the fiction we find ourselves in. The next
Dark World seeming to be the Dreemur household holds houses of potential for exploring these
relationships, especially an aspect that many who got attached to Undertale would be interested
in – a strained relationship between parent and child. It will be interesting to see how the
relationship of Kris and Toriel is explored in the game, as well as the potential that Ralsei
has to impact said relationships due to his quite obvious proximity to Asriel. Perhaps he will act
as a mirror to Kris’s relationship with Asriel, or even Toriel’s relationship with him.
I’ve heard many people claim that Toriel will be the Noelle of Chapter 3 insofar as
enabling the Weird Route in this chapter, and I do think that’s quite possible due to how
much she seems to care about Kris even if it is a little misguided at times. I certainly don’t think
she’ll be an antagonist, and frankly I’m very much looking forward to the way that Toriel interacts
with the Dark World in general, but I digress. It is inevitable that Toriel’s relationship with Kris
will be compared to hers with Frisk, Chara, and Asriel and we may even be able to recontextualize
a lot of what we know about Chara and Asriel’s relationship with their parents from Undertale.
At the end of the day, both Undertale and Deltarune are about relationships. Whether that’s
the relationship the characters have with each other, the relationships we have with them, or
the relationship we have with the game itself, the games are inherently tied to these
relationships and how they impact the themes around them. Just as the themes of merit
and kindness required establishing and examining relationships in Undertale, the themes of
escapism and freedom require establishing and examining relationships in Deltarune.
After all, our choices may not matter, there only may be one ending, but there’s something
more important than reaching the end.
Well, that’s another video done on both of our
ends. I hope you enjoyed it! If I had a nickel for every time I started a video script and the
end result was “the real thematic analysis was the friends we made along the way”, I’d have
two nickels, which isn’t much but it’s weird it happened twice, right? Yet again this was a
video born from a very specific piece of evidence that ballooned out of control and became something
much bigger than itself. I did also realize about half-way through it was much better summarized
by Andrew Cunningham in his first video, but restating exactly what he’s said in the
past is kind of my brand at this point. I hope this video contributes something unique and
relevant to the discussion surrounding the past, present, and future of Deltarune. Thanks
again for watching, and the continued positive response my videos have gotten. It’s
a pleasure and an honour to be making them.
Until next time, I’ve been Vivat
Veritas, and I’ll see you again soon.
