CHOICE THEORY and the ENDING of DELTARUNE

My theory is that the ending will always be the same, but what we have done up to that point will give it a vastly different meaning, kind of like in chapter 2

I think that the "your choices do not matter" statement serves the same function as Flowey's "in this world is to kill or be killed" quote. The point of those is to provide the player an expectative to subvert/break. We subvert Flowey's thought by doing a true pacifist route. We will subvert the "futility" of our actions by sparing in Deltarune.

Should be noted that in Undertale the prophecy was that "the underground will go empty" which is true in the pacifist and genocide routes. They can hardly be considered the same ending, but it is fulfilled either way. Both prophecies involve an angel too. However, it is not fulfilled in the neutral route so maybe we shouldn't trust that Ralsei's prophecy will be fulfilled either. I think you are on point about the theme though. I also hope to see a new angle to that message in the typical Toby Fox manner.

10:20 "If you go down the Weird Route, Kris does obtain the one thing they've always wanted: Freedom." Not really. Kris is shown to be visibly distraught after freezing Berdly, as noted by Ralsei and Susie before entering Queen's Mansion. The Weird Route is a consequence of our choices. We're still making them, and Kris is still carrying them out.

Actually, i think ending is something, that happens between the saves: and routes are not supposed to be called "endings". We see on green screensaver in Deltarune Ch.1 that our saves, all three of them, are important... Something, like in the end we need to combine all possible routes to defeat something multiversal, something that crosses timelines.

The short answer is, having one ending doesn't mean having one route. This is just like with real life. You are going to die in the end, but you can live it however you want. Unless... Well, just stick to that explanation.

The "ending" theory I've always liked is that it's a combination of Sonic Adventure's character stories, and Undertale's reload after Neutral Pacifist to get to True Pacifist. Basically every save file in the game is designed to be used for a different route in the game, and the end of each individual file will be different, but they are not the "true" ending to the story. They all leave something out, and they all end badly because they all have individual flaws that spiral out of control. I imagine the 3 files would be Pacifism, Violence, and Weird. When you complete each ending, it unlocks a sort of "final story", where all 3 timelines collide in some way and open the way to the real end to the story.

One flaw in your theory is that, without knowing later paths, we can't say that they aren't entirely diverged. Maybe in chapter 3 after the weird route there will be an issue with Berdly being "dead", when Undyne inevitably shows up in the dark world. At the end of the day we just don't have enough details to know if the weird route is its own path or not, so we can't really say for certain. Toby got us good with that one for sure though, as until I really thought about it I also ascribed to the notion that they were the same path in the end, with "minor" changes. But Berdly being dead in the library would be a MASSIVE change, that would no doubt alert Undyne to something happening.

I haven’t watched the video yet but I really enjoy one theory I saw that states that the weird route is actually gonna be part of the “good” ending. As we’ll need Noelle’s (and potentially whoever we manipulate next) strength to defeat the Titans and save the world. It creates such a cool moral dilemma. Like, can you justify the weird routes and all the atrocities committed if it meant saving the world? It’s very fascinating.

I think there is more to the neutral path then people are accounting for. there are some secrets you only see in a middle bath

if you think about it, Chapter 1 worked basically like Chapter 2 did but on a micro scale, with the only difference being how the King ended up, but Chapter 2 kinda did the same thing but on a far bigger scale, i think that's gonna keep happening, on bigger and bigger levels of divergence but always leading back to the same point The blue bead may be ripped off, but the others continue on their destined path

ive got a theory that the weird routes will have a big effect on the ending, in the weird route noelle was basically power leveled to a point she can dish out insane damage, way more than any other character we know of, and assuming this is the same on potential future weird routes where more and more characters are power leveled to a "perfect" self (max leveled) we can amass a VERY powerful group of characters, assuming the rauring and the titans come and the world is covered in darkness in the ending, perhaps the light world covered in dark during the rawring gives the lightners their dark world abilities in the light world, meaning the very powerful weird routed characters could potentially have a chance against fighting a titan, i also have a crackpot theory that potentially we could use multiple save files to get these perfect selves, like what if a future weird route leveled birdly? he cant be leveled up if hes dead, so potentially the perfect selves could be sent outside of time like gaster to bring them all to one timeline (perhaps the normal timeline? or maybe one thats been prepared to welcome the perfect selves?) i think it would be really cool if you had to complete every weird route before finishing the main route to get a change that brought legendary (and traumatized) versions of the characters, and i really hope the weird route is for a good cause, because it feels too cruel to have it be for a bad end and i think it would be an interesting subversion of expectations

Oh god… what if the weird route is us as players Insisting that there must be a different ending, and doing all of that heinous manipulation just to force things to change 😨

Anyone else notice how the rings that you give Noelle in the weird route have a side thingy labeled ‘trance’? As well as the fact that ‘proceed’ is like a sort of trigger word to make her do stuff? Hmmmm

from what we know atm, recruiting is implied to affect castle town throughout chapters, which would fit your definition of a high-level choice (affects what's happening in a future chapter) at this point we don't know if castle town will have a bigger relevance, but i wouldn't completely disregard it as plot-irrelevant since the darkners we spare are 'recruited' and the "If you recruited the right characters, the band can play a new BGM for your town!" line from 2022 status update implies that who you recruit will end up shaping the town itself

You are a small channel, but I am glad I stumbled upon your "ultimate theory" video from a few weeks ago. You have a great voice and great editing, with very cool and helpful visuals. I hope your channel blows up soon, loving the content!

I believe that the "one ending" means that in the end, no matter what you do the roaring will happen and the world of deltarune will be destroyed. Not that our choices don't matter at all and we can't affect the other characters in deltarune. What our choices do is change the last living moments of everyone in hometown. We could either make their last days absolutely awful or help them live their last few days happily. It's kinda sad when you think about it. Knowing you can't save anyone no matter what you do, but you can at least make their last few moments better

I think it's one ending but with the implications of what happens beyond that is depending on your final choice. I think the ending is going to be you having to fight Kris to let you leave. I think Kris summoned you to help them make friends specifically probably just Susie and I think they are going to realize if you leave it's all going to go away like what happened with spamton after the phone guy left him. Inb4, you say you are the one controlling kris, and they don't like it. Kris has full control, they stop you from showing the trash orb to torial they can remove you when they wants to they clearly can take action whenever they want to. Kris did have the bird cage ready for you. I think it's heavily implied that you are giving suggestions and Kris is choosing to follow you kind of like what you did with Susie in chapter 1 and 2 and how Noelle can still hear you despite kris being knocked out in the weird route.

well, the thing about the Weird Route is, despite being TOLD that they're free, Kris isn't any more free than they were on the main route, they're still under your control, YOU are free to make choices, but they aren't

I think that choices do not matter for the characters. But ours matters.