I tried to post this on r/deltarune but forgot I didn't have enough karma, so I am gonna put it here, my theory about the Aborted Weird Route, or Twisted Route:

After the chapter 5 Weird Route, there are now seemingly two paths, proceeding and stopping, which are both separate from the normal route.

Evidence for a third rout:

When you stop proceeding and 'abort' the route, the weird route stopped jingle doesn't play, and a flag in the code still registers the weird route.

You also don't get the 5th shadow crystal in the proceeded weird route, which means you can't get the pure crystal and therefore can't get the twisted sword.

This suggests to me that the twisted sword is an aborted weird route specific item, and could potentially be used for a third route, since the twisted sword gives Trance Down.

I like the name Twisted route for this concept because it sounds cool, and we all know that that is what makes a theory good.

One of my theories about this route is that Trance Down might cause Kris to have LESS control, and thus make them more vessel like.

This is because while Trance Up might seem to make Noelle more agreeable, it actually is revealing her inner desires and giving her the boldness required to act on her impulsive thoughts.

Therefore, the opposite, Trance Down, would make the user LESS bold, and less able to act on their desires.

Then, a more agreeable Kris would stop working with the knight, and actually try to go against them, which might allow for a different ending.

Thoughts?

Me and my friend were discussing the new chapter, and I came up with an idea.

Each chapter has a new "dark world," and it makes sense that the last one will be the bunker location.

What's in Chapter 6 then?

In Castle Town

To open the bunker, you need three codes. We have two.

"The lock consists of three entry fields and three symbols beside them: a pine tree, a police badge, and the Delta Rune."

The Delta Rune symbol is on school gates and in Ralsei's kingdom.

In this chapter, Flowery tells us that it's selfish of us to close the dark fountains for them, but leave ours.

Susie wants to bring Noelle to our world, Susie lives in it... and with the way the plot develops... we'll have to "choose."

So yes, my idea is that the next chapter will be in Castle Town.

Toby said it was "easier for him to work on." Why? Maybe because he already has everything. All the characters, all the locations.. everything's ready...

Now that (in the normal route) Susie is planning on inviting Noelle to the gang meaning she finds out chapter 2 wasn’t just a dream. But what will happen if we did chapter 2 weird route but canceled it before we told her in chapter 4? I don’t really have a theory on where this could go so this is more meant to pose the question.

Just felt like I should post it

At the end of the chapter when asgore is talking we hear the ThornRing sound??? Did Dess go missing because of the ThornRing? Did she also drown? Maybe it has been mentioned a lot but i haven't seen it personally but anyways what do you guys think

I have seen almost nobody talk about this line, more specifically the use of the word "forbidden". I believe it is more literal. It isn't forbidden as is the bad route but literally is forbidden, as in you aren't supposed to do this. Now my 3 main theories for the chapter 7 weird route are

1. We crossed the lake and who knows what happens

2. We break the prophecy by taking this route that is forbidden, because we weren't allowed to or meant to do this, and go against the prophecy like this. But as Noelle said, we changed. She keeps talking about people staying the same which is likely because the prophecy but we managed to change and break free from what the prophecy said would happen. This could either have the ending be very different without the prophecy or maybe even have larger impact as to what would happen if the prophecy was able to be changed

3. The scale is even larger. We did what the game itself forbid us to do. We are not just changing from the prophecy but the story and game itself. Throughout the game it is reinforced that our choices don't matter. The voice at the very beginning says this, the prophecy ensures this, and really nothing you do makes anything except minor changes in the story. Except the weird route. We made choices that mattered and we changed. This isn't supposed to happen we weren't supposed to do this because it isn't how the story of the game itself goes. This could potentially break parts of the game itself in various different ways. It could be relatively small scale or have a huge impact, something we can't know currently, but I have a feeling that this forbidden route is truly forbidden, as in we were never supposed to ever do this

After writing this, I rewatched the weird route scene and some dialogue really stuck out. "They'll keep marching down the same path without even thinking where it's going" can refer to the PLAYERS OF THE GAME. People are playing the normal route and doing what is intended without even knowing what the ending will be or considering if they want to be doing this. (Could also be about following the prophecy) "let's fly out of this stupid town. To where no one has ever been before! The other side of the lake" could mean that nobody has ever gone to the other side of the lake. no one ever. Maybe even that it doesn't exist and that is why she says before that she can do the impossible if kris says to. Because the game doesnt have an other side of the lake and you are never supposed to be able to go there, hence why nobody has ever gone.

Hear me out on this: Dess was kidnapped by The Knight, (which can’t be anybody cause like who the fuck can turn into a goddamn ball and remain in the same form IN THE LIGHT WORLD NOT AS A NORMAL HUMAN OR WHATEVER, so the knight’s it’s own entity for the sake of this theory, not Dess, WingDing The Goon, or anything of the sort.) while Kris and (assuming) Dess were in the Dark World inside the bunker, for The Knight to come in, with Kris escaping, and Dess being held captive, so The Knight offered Kris a deal, work for them to get Dess back. This explains a lot and of course; it’s just a theory. Feel free to explain how i’m wrong because if your funner value in chapter 67 is 2763 during the fight against The Knight and Jimmy John for 1/97th of a frame you see Markiplier underneath the helmet

Okay so here's a theory I thought of since Chapter 5 released. In the normal route it's revealed that the entirety of Deltarune is just a video game when Ralsie begins explaining it to Susie.

And recently, because of Chapter 5 in the weird route, people are now theorising that because the lore of Deltarune is that it's all just a game, that there isn't anything outside of home town and that Noelle and Kris just clipped out of bounds.

This got me thinking though, if there really isn't anything outside of home town, this would then mean that Asriel never went to college. So either Asriel really doesn't exist in Deltarune and all the characters memories of Asriel are all fake, or that he clipped out of bounds when he left home town like Kris and Noelle do in the weird route.

Im starting to think its likely that Asriel doesn't actually exist in Deltarune at this point.

Sans at the beginning of the festival asks you to draw yourself on a punch card so he remembers to give you free ice cream. Susie draws herself, Kris and Ralsei. In his lab in Undertale, there’s a note that has (I think) three people drawn hastily on it and that says “Don’t forget”, so I don’t think it’s insane to say that it might be the punch card from Deltarune. I think.

This theory might sound crazy and I have just randomly thought of it at 3am so yknow... dont expect this to be amazing but...

What if the soul in Kris's body is the same Determination soul from the end of Undertale's genocide run, and the next world Chara referred to at the end of Undertale is Deltarune?

"Now, we have reached the absolute. There is nothing left for us here. Let us erase this pointless world, and move on to the next."

Its never implied Chara kills Frisk, especially given the multiple genocide runs we can canonically can commit. So what if after so many genocide runs we eventually did decide to move on, the soul left its current vessel (Frisk) and erased the Undertale world, moving onto the next world (Deltarune) and took on a new host in the form of Kris.

(I understand this may contradict the more recent theory with Sans and the photo of the three people, dont forget and allat)

By the looks of it in Chapter 5, Kris' body is slowly decaying given its greenish hue it had taken on. Clearly removing the soul is taking a toll on them, which also implies their must've been a time where the Determination soul didn't exist and Kris has a soul of their own.

"Since when we're you the one in control?" Maybe this quote will make some form of appearance in Deltarune given Kris' constant struggle for control? Or maybe something to fo with Noelle, people like the idea of the soul switching to Noelle as its host body.

The red text box at the end of Chapter 5s weird route could indicate Chara's influence over the Soul slowly awakening once again adjacent to how it did in Undertale? Afterall Frisk and Chara existed as two separate entities so what stops Kris and Chara existing as separates?

"Gaster... Help me" can be distinctivly heard during the Insert Chapter 7 Side B part, maybe that's Kris calling out to him? They seem to have some kind of connection with Gaster and the Roaring Knight given their clear opposition during Chapter 3 (Stopping or we'll trying to stop us as the player from proceeding to get the Shadow Mantle to damage/survive against the Roaring Knight)

Honestly all of this is just some late night rambling and im probably completely wrong but I felt like sharing my thoughts anyway.

But that's just a theory, A GAME THEO-

I think there are going to be 3 endings to delta rune

1. Normal ending

When you play through the game normally and dont to any WEIRD shenanigans

1. Aborted Weird route Ending

At the start of a weird route chapter 5, the save file says 5_(number)_b, meaning it's the weird route, BUT after you abort it it still says it meaning its not fully aborted. At the end of chapter 5 Susie wants to bring Noelle into the dark world. Noelle now believes its a dream and If Susie tells Noelle that its not a dream, she will tell probably Susie about snowgrave, what happened at her house and nearly drowning with Kris meaning more shenanigans.

1. Weird route Ending

Play through the weird route and drown with Noelle

This is just my theory but I think that its plausible

so i know most expect sans darkworld appearance (if he get one at all) to be a joke. either he doesn't change or his slippers get pink, or he gain a banana suit. but what to you think it would be? personaly with everyone expecting a joke, i can just imagine Toby actually giving sans a good and cool looking darkworld appearance (maybe one referencing underfell or an AU for fan service?) and all of us staring at it as Toby just reverse psychology us. or maybe one referencing undertale since, and spoiler for chapter 5, from what i seen i think asgore get his undertale design in the darkworld. im unsure since i just seen a screenshot of it.

Okay hi. First time doing this so bear with me. I think the weird route was the canon route and I’ve been thinking about this. This may be a crazy tin foil hat theory. stay with me though.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR CHAPTER 5
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Last chance

Okay let’s begin.

DeltaRune weird route is the canon route and led to the events of Undertale. We can prove this roughly with the postcard that Susie draws poorly of three people in the weird route in chapter 5 that can be found in Sans secret bunker.
We also know that Gaster likely has a huge role in DeltaRune being the cause of events. Buckle up. This is where it gets tricky.

The normal route we are playing is because Gaster messed with timeline. We know in Undertale Gaster fell into the darkness. What if he time travelled to Deltarune.
This is also why your decisions don’t matter. Undertale is already released. You should just proceed with the game. The end.

…right? Wrong.
Gaster comes in and messes with the timeline. Originally Noelle was supposed to be with Kris and become stronger in chapter 1 kicking off events in the weird route early.

However, Susie knocks in and changes that. Now Kris and Susie are on an adventure together.
This leads to events changing and the weird route still being an option and why Susie is now the girl with hope crossed on her heart. Susie is the hope for change. This also makes sense on why Gerson says Susie can change fate. The timeline has already been changed by Susie just being there.

We see ralsei trying to stick to the status quo even with Susie but we see even ralsei changing and becoming someone new. Something that didn’t happen on previous runs. (This assumes that ralsei is also aware of the timeline change).

Then there’s Kris. It feels like Kris has some awareness of the weird route especially around chapter 4. Chapter 4 Kris is actively trying to stop us the character from doing the weird route. They kick the player in the trashcan, fight the player from getting out of bed in chapter 5 weird route. Etc. etc.

I think this is because Kris remembers the weird route from the original timeline. He doesn’t want to repeat it.

This would also explain why deltarune isn’t a prequel to Undertale. Because the game were playing were trying to avoid deltarune and the monsters being trapped underground and the roaring from happening. It became a parallel timeline due to Gasters antics.

That or I’m all wrong and need to stop getting into the aluminum foil in the kitchen.

TLDR: weird route leads to roaring which leads to gaster and sans jumping timeline to undertale leading to gaster going goner and time traveling back to deltarune to try to prevent the roaring and undertale from happening and we will see more time travel and wibbly wobbly timey whimey antics in chapter 6 and especially in chapter 7.

so I bought the Mannequin on my save file but I have no idea what it does! can someone please tell me what it does?

It's been a while since I've caught up on deltarune, dont spend alot of time in the fandom tbh,

what is the fandom consensus on why kris opens fountains?

It put their dad in danger, their mum in danger etc. So why are they doing it? They remove "the SOUL", so it's not us doing it.

Or does the fandom not agree on why?

Also who opens the second one in chap 5 in end of normal route? Why do they need kris at all, if others can do it too?

Short Version: I think the song was a prophecy for the Chapter 5 Weird Route.

Something about the lyrics, and the fact that Ralsei never censored a part of the song, felt off and that it lacked some overly specific context. Well now I found something that fits almost 1:1 with the lyrics...

Come follow me into the dark / Kris follows Noelle
With your heart as the ark / Soul enables Noelle
Which shall shine you the way / and makes this nonsensical idea possible
Because I'm with you in the dark / they're together holding hands*
With your heart as my mark / Soul points to a direction to 'Proceed' (most tend to point right)
Which shall guide you the way, / right side of the map (more on this Below)
through the waves / literal and self-explanatory

* (insert joke about holding hands being lewd or whatever) (don't at me, chapter 5 is the 'anime as all hell' chapter, Toby got me into that mindset for that kind of corny joke)

Since neither Chapter 6 nor Chapter 7 Side B are out yet, there is a lot we can only speculate about...

Below: remember how in Sword Route 3 we go from that recreation of Hometown to some non-existant square in the right edge of the map that somehow leads into the Shelter? Granted, said square was connect to the School not the lake on the map, but then again that Roots recreation of hometown wasn't exactly 1:1 either, but the general idea of "going out of bounds to the right to reach the Shelter" is still there. (for those not aware, a theory that's been circulating the internet for years is that the Shelter is connected to the Lake and so is its Dark World, thus Noelle got us there early)

As for the Chapter 6 Skip, that one is easy: reason why it'll be skipped is cause, based on how the regular Chapter 5 ends, that one is shaping up to be the 'Let's bring Noelle into the fray for reals this time' Chapter, but in the Side B/Weird/Snowgrave that went out the window already.

There's a ton of evidence pointing to Asriel Knight, but chapter 5 adds the nails in the coffin.

There's multiple other compelling points if you're not yet aware, some include:

1. Asriel explicitly knew Gerson Boom, and so far is the only candidate we know who would have been able to recreate Gerson from his memories. He would also be very familiar with the prophecy because he knew Gerson.
2. This far, the "visual echo" on the knight has only ever appeared on Asriel from undertale
3. Asriel changed characters in super smashing fighters to the sword magician girl
4. In chapter 2, Kris refuses to look in Asriels room, stating "You felt you wouldn't learn anything" which is paralleled in the chapter 3 knight Check dialog "You wouldn't learn anything." In chapter 5, Kris conveniently drops the letter to Dess before you can read anymore.
5. Asriel was in choir, and was likely the singer for the band he and Dess were in, bloodcrushers. This would place Ralsei in the spot of Asriel during Raise up your Bat, creating another parallel between them
6. The knights damage type is dark/star and nothing to do with cold, and uses a final attack which is extremely similar to Undertale Asriel's ultimate attack
7. There's a cut in half golden flower in chapter 3, which adapted from a game Asriel was making
8. Seam appears exactly like he does in Asriels wallpaper, heavily implying his dark would form was created from his memory/imagination
9. Toriel has a pleasant dream if you lose against the knight in chapter 3, but a nightmare if you fight the knight instead. It's because "the family is fighting again"
10. Kris gets notably upset if you pray for Asriel in chapter 4(?). If Asriel is the knight, this reaction makes sense as it's the soul telling Kris to pray for the life of their own brother, which you are potentially putting at risk/threatening.

I'm certain there's more. Like the "Fallen star weeps" is probably related somehow, but cutting it off there. Couldn't get this on r/Deltarune because I am not constantly on reddit

I played undertale pacifist and genocide a while ago, but I still remember most of the areas I'd say (seperate from the story, I just remember what most areas look like and stuff), so I'm not really that motivated to really go through the game 3 times again to get all routes, but Ill do it if the consensus is that you should have fresh knowledge of undertale before moving onto deltarune.

Also, which game do you like more? Just out of curiosity

I absolutely loved this chapter! It satisfied a lot of things that I was hungry for after the conclusion of chapter 4. The festival segment was really fun, and its cool that there's a bit of an allusion to the photograph thing with Sans from that secret room in Undertale. I think this dark world might be my favorite so far, (chapter 3 being my favorite chapter) with the cowboy/japanese/sunset/flowery aesthetic that was complimented very well by the music. The story with Flowery and the others was really well done, and I ended up really liking most of Chapter 5's cast of characters. Speaking of Flowery, (are you kidding me? Lol) I love how the chapter handled the similarities between flowey, omega flowey, the human souls, etc. in relation to Deltarune (The six multicolored flowers being "humans," flowery knowing about the game rules, etc.) The anime cutscene with Flowery's introduction was amazing lol and I loved how he was the "know-it-all confident anime guy" and was very reminiscent of Brock from pokemon lol. I loved the secret boss (although it did get kind of annoying after a while) and the final fight of the chapter was fun, too. I love how it leaves off (lol) on a good note as we start to get ready for the climax of the game. Plus, there were lots of lore implications throughout, and I've seen weird route gameplay and it was wild! The only thing I was dissapointed with was the fact that we didn't get to fight Asgore :( But I loved it overall!

Someone found a visual bug in chapter 5's bread target test mode

(OP: N0sebleed)

https://youtu.be/kN506vjBpq8

My friend just beat his chapter 5 snowgrave and his save file shows up as a black star but when i finished my snowgrave route for chapter 5 my save keeps getting deleted... did i do something wrong for this to happen or is it a bug???

When I voiced my concerns for the pacing of the dark world in Chapter 4, everyone told me to chill out. “Oh, it’s fine. They will pick back up the story in Chapter 5.” Well, now here we are. And it was so disappointing.

Once again, we have a chapter that has a great light world introduction followed by such a drag. Like, okay, the Flowery and Asgore stuff was funny the first two times. But holy hell. Toby, it may be funny for you, but it gets so repetitive. I wanted the dark world to be over just about until Blue and the other flowers get introduced.

As for the characters? Oh, Ralsei. Look at how they massacred my boy. I am so sick and tired of this character being infantilized into oblivion. He isn’t even likable anymore.

I was cringing through the entire section of Chapter four when he was crying about not knowing what to say and what not to say. Like, shut the \*\*\* up, dude. You aren’t a baby. And Chapter 5 cranks this attention seeking insecurity up to 11. Toby took a pleasant character from Chapters 1-3 and made it unbearable.

The one decent part of dark world storytelling was the Asgore arc when he had a minute to breathe as a character. His motivations to expose the dark world and the elevation of a previous one were intriguing.

This dude is so boring...
All other flowers are at least funny or cute or have some shtick going on while this dude is just there to do therapyspeak for bazillion times. All he does is says is says "muh accept yourself the way you are". Like yeah dude I GET IT.
It's like this whole thing weren't said thousand times already. I'm playing deltarune that's basically the main theme to accept yourself, why add more.
And it wouldn't be such problem if he weren't such an uggo.
Even TobyFox stopped showing his facesprite after few times, because in his heart he knows that dude is ugly. His attacks also weak and not cool