Hope you enjoy this! It's short, but a lot of care and thought went into it. Also, thanks SO MUCH to the new subscribers and to everyone who engaged with the Kris video. The amount of attention was way more than I expected. :O I tried to make the volume balancing on this better, but I'll continue to work on things going forward. I do plan to do more DR analysis vids, but I also do hope to get more IF stuff on this channel sometime soon. More OST stuff, maybe some behind the scenes tomfoolery. You can read IF at invertedfate.com/chapters. I also have a patreon at patreon.com/dorked and a ko-fi at ko-fi.com/invertedfate if you wanna support what I do! Bokke's cool textbox generator: github.com/bokke1010/ut-style-animated-textbox/releases/tag/v0.5.8 Deltarune TCRF: tcrf.net/Proto:Deltarune Inverted Fate Blog - invertedfate.tumblr.com Inverted Fate OST - soundcloud.com/megaflamehedge/sets/inverted-fate-ost My Twitch - twitch.tv/derpisms (I'll be resuming DR streams sometime soon-ish) My Kingdom Hearts AU series, Antipode: archiveofourown.org/series/18376 Hurricane Heartbeat, my other KH fic: archiveofourown.org/series/1607731 My twitter - twitter.com/derpisms

i just realised that noelle searched “ice e real cryptid” because in her childhood, kris said that ice e was real and ate kids

That’s interesting. If it’s Dess speaking through Spamton, then maybe his static eyes are supposed to represent that he’s picking up a broadcast from her?

Noelle speaks of Dess as if she's just a memory, so I doubt that she's in college. Wouldn't she express her desire of seeing her again just like everyone is doing with Azzy? Noelle has looked up Dess' full name multiple times. Why would she google the name of a dead person? Dess doesn't have her own grave in the graveyard. Monsters are implied to still turn to dust after death, and the practice of burying an object covered with the deceased's remains still carries on from Undertale, so why doesn't she have her own grave if she's confirmed dead? Even if they never found her remains but knew of her death, they would probably have still made her a grave or something, but they didn't. Dess is most likely missing. Maybe Asgore was never able to find her, got in the mayors way, and was then fired as a result. Where she is and her state of being will probably be revealed in later chapters. Noelle is strongly implied to be part of the main cast unlike Berdly after all, so she will probably follow you in the other dark worlds, and maybe you'll all stumble into evidence of her sister's existence there? Who knows. I like to think that "I'm with you in the dark" was sung by December to confort Noelle when she was scared, and is now being sung by Noelle herself to the player, or Kris, or perhaps both. The significance of "I'm with you in the dark" would perhaps change depending on the context of the route you took or what you did, seeing as how "the same outcome that is achieved with a different set of actions, some good, some bad" seems to be a running theme in Deltarune.

I've held onto this crazy theory that the Snowgrave spell is a violent manifestation of past trauma that Noelle had repressed, and I think it may be a hint as to what happened to December. The key idea behind this theory is how out-of-place Noelle's dialogue feels after the spell is performed. Specifically, the line "I don't feel so good. I think I'm going to go home," seems odd because Noelle is in the middle of an unfamiliar city, with no bearing as to where 'home' is. I think it feels out of place because it is literally out of place; this line was not a reaction to current events. Instead, Noelle is fully reliving a moment in her past, induced by our insistence on pushing her to do terrible things, and the trance state she is in due to the thorn ring.

I think Dess Holiday possibly being trapped in the Dark World could also explain Kris opening another Dark World. Maybe the bunker is related to the origin of the Dark World and Kris now realized that whatever happened in that Bunker is related to this Dark World-Universe thing. Trying to find more clues to Dess or maybe finding Dess herself would be very important to Kris. Maybe Kris thinks finding Dess will fix everything that went wrong?

My theory is that it's Kris talking. The line '' But it sounded like they were talking to You'' When Spamton says YOU it makes me feel like whoever was talking was trying to talk directly to the player...

i guess you could say that she Dess-appeared

Theory: Ralsei states multiple times that only Kris’s soul can seal fountains despite the fact that anyone can open them. What if the Player soul came from the bunker’s dark world as an experiment in artificial souls, and when Kris and Dess explored the bunker their own souls were trapped inside. Kris only escaped because their soul was replaced by the player’s soul trapping the children in darkness. Only “Kris’s” soul can seal the fountains because it is made with pure darkness, and only it can save them, but first Kris must open dark worlds to find them. Edit: what if in in a future chapter we find them and Kris abandons us. Our new vessel will be revealed to be the one we created in the opening of chapter 1.

That's an interesting theory. It makes me worry a little bit about Asriel. December, Noelle, Kris, and Asriel are all connected as a group of childhood friends/siblings. If Dess was spirited away for some specific reason, other members of her circle are almost certainly significant in some way. And we know Asriel's homecoming is expected... but not what it heralds. If anything.

I know that people talk about taking a month off, but I gotta say, it went too far with Dess Don't really have much to contribute besides dumb jokes, but I will say that the connection between the police force and Dess could be why you can specifically talk to Undyne about Dark Worlds, maybe that's why Kris wants to convince her that they're real

3:20 Dess mentions in her monologue in the city, that the group with Kris, Noelle, Asriel, and Dess, were exploring the forest near the "church" which happens to be near the bunker, it's possible Dess discovered the bunker by accident and something happened to her from there and she went missing, this is further backed up by Asgore's removal from the police force, we know the mayor of the town is Noelle's mother, Asgore was likely removed for not being able to find the mayor's daughter.

Christmas seems to be a strong theme in this game. Ch1 calls Lancer Santa Clause because of his laugh, Ch2 continues to establish Dess and the Holidays...

I think the Dess is trapped in the code theory is one that people seem to agree more and more, if it end up being true the question would be how do we save her? the Bunker is clearly a huge part of the plot and I and many people think it will be the last Dark Fountain. A lot of things seems to be conected to this bunker so far, Kris being afraid, Dess dissaperance, this causing Asgore to be fired, which also could had been why Toriel and Asgore are divorced. Dess dissapearance brought Ruin for both the Hollidays and The Dreemurs family. And Undyne being the only one that Kris have a chooice about telling her about the Dark Worlds Both chapters. Kris stabing the tires of Toriel's car was for two things, to keep Susie with them and to bring the police, they want to show Undyne that the Dark World exist and it could be becuase, as some people mention, they saw Dess being engulped and trapped on one.

Did you know that if you equip Noelle with any ribbons she mentions they seem familiar... which is interesting as there is no ribbon just laying in the computer lab meaning these exist in the Dark World itself... Dess got lost in the Dark World somehow or had an involvement at least. It gets worse when you realize Noelle and her Sister made an Angel and Noelle is an Angel in the Dark World. Angel's Heaven takes on many different meanings now.

An interesting piece of dialogue is contained in the third annoying mice puzzle. If you let Noelle fall at the beginning, she gets upsets, and says Kris is "lucky Dess isn't here", otherwise they'd be "facedown in a mousepile" Some people believe that it would be weird to talk about her sister like that if she indeed disappeared, although it doesn't really prove anything Also holy crap I didn't expect that shoutout at the end. Thank you a lot :D

I personnally interpreted Spamton as brainwashed in some way, and the "voice talking through him" as his true self trying to reach out. It seems like when Spamton speaks in lower case, it's his true self. Plus, there are no glitches and hyperlinks in his lower case dialogues, meaning his brainwash might just be a glich or corruption (Ralsei even describes him as a corrupted program). At least, that's how I interpret it all.

I had the same idea. Everyone is always like "ooooh bunker, gaster!" no... ffs. I am pretty certain that it is connected to Dess. Given that Noelle, Asriel, Dess and Kris used to explore creepy places when they were younger, I think it's pretty obvious that they might have explored the bunker as well, and maybe something happened there.

cool video, I agree with pretty much all of it lol I also want to bring up how Dess’s name gives no reaction if you enter it in the vessel creator, unlike most of the other major Lightners, which could also mean she’s in the Dark World since none of the characters there get responses either. Maybe just a coincidence but still

This might have nothing to do with anything, but I noticed that the dog burglars tried to rob the mayor's house, but SOMETHING scared them and made them go to Undyne. Is this a reference to something I'm missing? If the burglars were going near the mayor's house, that might mean there's something in the forest. And the reference to "scratching". Maybe Dess got lost on the forest and was found by that creature?

Addition to this theory: Dess is the Knight. Trapped in the dark world, they've been opening fountains in the hope of someone stumbling in. This explains why fountains are just appearing in random locations, such as the library and school, as opposed to in the forest where no-one would find it. It also explains how fountains can be opened in the same room as Berdly and Noelle without them ever seeing them (unless we consider the Knight hides in the large closet and leaves under the cover of the fountain mist). Furthermore, the Queen takes immediate interest in Noelle as her key to opening fountains despite knowing any Lightener can do it and having Berdly ever so keen to help. In the car trip, she specifically says that she believes Noelle is strong (which is true), but she has no reason to believe this. Now consider that the Queen has seen Dess as the Knight, seen her abilities to open a fountain, and hence is certain Noelle, the sister, could do the same. There's only one small hole I can see in this theory, and that's why can't Dess leave the dark world by closing a fountain. It is possible however that only Kris can close fountains, possibly being the importance of having a human soul. Despite the Legend eluding to three heroes closing fountains, Ralsei doesn't even approach the fountain in Chapter 1, and Kris does it completely alone in Chapter 2 meaning Susie likely doesn't contribute. Finally, going back to The Legend, possibly Dess opened the first Dark Fountain in Castle Town. Hence, banishing Angel's Heaven, is referring to destroying the world made by an 'angle', a believed deceased girl who has created a world based on her imagination. This also explains Ralsei. He exists only knowing his role is to help a hero in closing fountains. This also explains why Ralsei looks like Asriel - Dess was their friend and made Ralsei in their image. There is also a lot of potential for a strong narrative here. It explains the side-bosses, who Dess would have made in her image. Jevil was made first, feeling free in an imaginary world of his creation, but later after opening the second fountain, she now feels trapped, and hence makes Spamton who desperately tries to break free. Lastly, it means that the story will culminate in letting go of this imaginary world and all the beloved friends we have made, in order to save someone very 'deer' to the characters.

I could see that maybe Kris first experienced the dark world through Dess? Maybe something went wrong and Dess helped Kris escape which is why they both initially feared the Ch. 1’s dark world in the closet and have some issues with the red bunker. Perhaps Kris is opening these Dark world to attempt to find Dess and maybe help the others get a clue for where she could have gone?? Ps. Kingdom Hearts content from you sounds veryyyy tempting to watch

Relating to the Bunker, I had a theory that ties several things together. Asgore and Toriel's divorce, Asgore stepping down from Police Chief, The Festival, The Bunker, Kris' Trauma surrounding the Bunker, and Dess' disappearance. This is my theory: The festival is a major event in town. Asgore and the rest of the Police Force provided security. Toriel took Kris and Asriel there, and the Hollidays were there too. Somehow Kris and Dess get separated from the others. They find the bunker and something happens. Kris is left traumatized and Dess is nowhere to be found. Asgore is blamed by the Hollidays for Dess going missing under his watch, and Toriel is pissed because 'something could have happened to Kris too'. Asgore steps down from the Police force and Toriel divorces him. No one believes Kris about the Bunker as seen in Chapter 2 when you go there with Susie

Okay so regarding December 25th it could be a traumatic day that haunts Noelle when dess either died or Noelle x dess and Kris discovered something in the bunker that Noelle x Kris want to forget and when dess was taken by it

Huh, very interesting theory…! I hadn’t ever connected the hidden dialogue to Dess, but it honestly would make a _lot_ of sense. And I _had_ taken Monster Kid and Snowy’s mentions of Kris regarding the bunker, as well Susie briefly asking Kris what was up with the place, to imply that either they or the Dreemurr family had _some_ sort of involvement with… whatever happened there. Personally, my bet’s on something Gaster related, based on the ambience. And since Gaster was the royal scientist in Undertale, it’d make sense if he/his family once knew the Deltarune Dreemurrs, as well. Perhaps the bunker was where Deltarune’s incarnation of Gaster first found evidence of the Dark World…? Building on this, maybe Kris, Azzy, Noelle and Dess went exploring in the bunker as kids, and stumbled upon a Dark World somewhere inside! And Dess was, for whatever reason, the only one to enter the affected room, and something happened to her inside that’s left her trapped ever since. Maybe the bunker’s dark fountain was even _sealed_ after she entered it, and she’s now stuck in some kind of limbo/comatose state, kind of like what people theorize happened to Berdly after the Weird Route. And actually, if Dess is stuck in the empty void of an erased Dark World, and that’s still recognized as an actual, physical location in-universe (i.e. she’s not full-on outside the game/scattered through the code), then it would make sense as to why Spamton - Honest John’s Existential Crisis himself - would choose to play an audio feed of her after telling Kris “there’s nothing to fear except...” *He’s afraid of the same thing happening to him.* Be it deliberately to keep him quiet, at the hands of his former benefactor, or by being left behind when the fountain is sealed. Hmmm… and if Berdly was also “left behind” when the computer lab fountain was sealed… I wonder if their similar fates could lead to something in the future.

Noelle and Kris have 1 thing in common that's HUGE. They're both "missing" (put in quote bc it's unknown where Dess is) their siblings and are hurting because they were so connected to them/looked up to them. I don't know where I'm going with this, but I think it's key to something.

Spamton is an interesting fellow, a peculiar chap, a strange jackanape, an interesting young man, a strange individual, and quite possibly even a funny little guy

I'm not sure about Dess speaking through Spamton, as the other time he goes staticy is when he mentions Mike, and it seems clear he's the only person so far in the series who knows Mike. However, I do agree with the rest of this theory, that Dess likey went missing, is maybe even presumed dead, and is likely trapped somewhere.

I'm a bit late but i have a pretty simple theory, i think that the bunker was the first dark world portal. Kris and Dess (I doubt Asriel or Noelle were there, Kris seems to be the only person with a reaction to the bunker), being curious children, went to go check out the bunker. As they opened the door, they saw the ominus darkness like what we saw in the closet. Dess, as the older child there, ventured in, while Kris stayed behind. As Dess got confused about the seemingly infinite space inside the bunker, she decided to go back. The doors of the bunker then slammed shut, like the closet door, and Dess falls into the Dark World. Since the bunker is such a dark and gloomy place, it's dark world is likely even gloomier, leaving Dess trapped in the darkness. This would explain the "Is anybody out there?" hidden lines (Though I'm not sure about the 'scratching part'). Kris, seeing their friend get trapped in the bunker, calls to undyne and asgore. When they open the door, they only see the inside of the bunker. An investigation begins, Asgore and Rudy explore the bunker, and Noelle is brought to stand by, feeling scared.. Rudy might have either gotten sick from the chemicals inside the bunker, or an strong snowstorm prevented the search's effectiveness, leading Asgore to call of the search. I personally believe it is the ladder, while a snowstorm wouldn't explain Rudy's illness (other than pneumonia ), it would explain Noelle's obsession with the cold. The Mayor gets infuriated with Asgore, firing him from the police. This would also explain Kris's hesitation to enter the closet, they step back, scared. Then after Kris enters the dark world multiple times throughout chapter 1 and 2, they realize that the portals can be crossed safely, and that Dess could maybe be saved. This leads to them ripping out their soul and creating a new portal, likely being pushed to do so by Susie after her idea to bring the dark world inhabitants to the light world. Kris would be even more motivated to find Dess after chapter 2 as well, after exploring the dark world with Noelle. The small comments about Dess that Noelle makes were probably also influencing Kris's decision to open another portal. They care about Noelle, and finding Dess would make her happy, make Rudy happy, and maybe also bring Asgore back to the police. sheesh that took a while, thanks for reading, and great video! (somebody please fact check me i just finished deltarune 2 days ago)

Crackhead theory that doesn’t really have any evidence it’s just funny to me: Dess is the second voice in the survey program.

Another thing I wanna note is that Noelle is specifically involved with the Snowgrave route of the game, freezing monsters to their death. She specifically possesses snow rings even before she was on our team, and every time she became “stronger”, she wears new rings which possess stronger ice/snow related powers. Especially considering the secret dialogue of the iceshock attack at the light world around the end of Snowgrave. *I also realized just now that DT chapter two was released 3 months before December*

I think Dess fell into a Dark World and Kris and the gang saw it happening but didnt realise at the time what happened, police did not understand either, but when Kris saw the dark world himself he realised everything. We can attempt to warn Undyne about it in both Chapter 1 and 2, Kris even points out that someone can fall into it, but Undyne doesnt believe it. At the end of Chapter 2 Kris slices the tires and Toriel calls the police, Kris opens the door and opens the dark world. I believe Kris did it so police could fall into the dark would and see what is going on themselfs. Chapter 4 and 5 will possible be about saving Dess if Kris's plan doesnt fail.

Maybe she lost in a snowstorm, that is why Noelle is Kinda afraid of ice things and why is her stronger power and snowstorm type that kills people, the fact that the song "Lost Girl" calls like that is very curious, and maybe when she dissapear they thought she died and the bunker is like her tombstone, perhaps she is in there or she was in the dark world all the time. What it's sure is that someone is missing, Dess, Gaster inclusive the real Kris, maybe we would have the answers in the next chapter, maybe not....

This is a killer theory. It’s so convincing that until proven otherwise I’ll accept it as fact.

I really like your theory. I actually thought the person calling for help was Kris.

There's now updates about Noelle's backstory in the deltarune arg websites. Can't wait to hear about your thoughts/theories about this

Hope you're all having a good Saturday morning so far! ❤️

I initially thought the unused text was from Everyman or something. Very interesting…

With it being hinted that Asgore has a thing for Noelle's dad, Rudy, and may have even had an affair with him in the Undertale universe (going off his dialog from the unreleased winter alarm clock on the official website), I kinda wonder if his infidelity led to him losing his job, wife, and even possibly whatever happened to Dess and Kris.

Interesting, I commented a similar theory yesterday with a video called "could berdly survive snow grave." It was about asgore's connection with Dess Holiday disappearance and cause of Asgore and Toriel's separation. Hmm, I wonder if the underlining storyline is the Town as a whole needs to be healed from a traumatic event from the past. Remember Seam said in Ch. 1 lightners and darkners lived I harmony.. but something happened. It is the player choice to either heal the town or to just bring more suffering.

Dess.. ember, huh? This whole time I thought all the cold and holiday had to do with the December motifs, but something more about Noelle's sister may make much more sense. Personally, though, I'm a little curious about how December puzzle got into the Dark World. Was it Queen, or can Lightners influence them that heavily?

I think “don’t forget” is sung by Dess to Noelle like a lullaby to calm her down and support her from wherever she’s trapped in because of the “I’m with you in the dark” line especially

You know, I never really actually thought of Don't Forget being from Dess's point of view and perhaps that might be a song that she might've once sang to comfort her sister and that could be something that comes to play later the more we find out about Dess.

This might be a Stretch but due to the gaster sound effect at the bunker, and spamton’s connection with gaster, maybe gaster abducted december?

The real reason why December is being spelled in the part with Noelle is a wordplay Noelle's name is derivative from Noel (said the same way), which is actually the French name for Christmas this explains the December 25th date in her room, and would explain why she does ice magic Edit: some typos

If you observe the ring you steal. You see the question is someone in it? when inspecting it on a unfortunate route. For some reason no one seems to have noticed this. That might be where a certain someone is

Guys guys, noelle's scared of december. That means chapter 3 is going to be released at december. This is so epic, oh my god guys. We leaked chapter 3 release date

I love some of these comments. Goes to show how much a community can pick apart all the details and theorize if they truly care about it

I kinda hope the bunker is an abandoned meat factory/storage room so we can draw parallels to the sound Test room.

Your videos tie together the things I'm too stupid to notice, and you do it without sponsors or obnoxious 10 minute mark padding. Godspeed dude.

I like the theory that the voice calling out into darkness/through Spamton is your creation that was cast aside at the beginning of Chapter 1. Whether that's the case or not, Toby's definitely setting things up regarding Dess and Noelle, so I can't wait to see where it goes.

Personally, I think she had a hard time spelling December because of past trauma, not because the word was hard to spell. She would have known how to spell it since it was her sister's name. On a side note, wouldn't be surprised if Dess was the actual dark knight. I know Kris is portrayed at the end of two as the dark knight but this could A) be a dream sequence or B) be a side effect of learning that all lighteners have the ability to make a dark world.

Apparently the Japanese dialogue moreso aligns with Asriel's speech patterns. Which is .. pretty interesting.

I think the one speaking by the spamton diolog is spamton before he was insane

The fact noelle finds spamtons shop familiar and nostalgic makes me believe it has something to do with Dess. So Spamton can hear Dess and believes she's talking to us.

The idea makes sense. If you talk to the Wet-Nose Bandits, they say they: "(We were getting ready to sneak into that big house over the holidays...)" "When we were attacked from the shadows, by something MERCILESS!" (Fearing for our lives, we all ran right into Officer Undyne's warm, loving arms...)".... A big house? During the holidays? Noelle's family seems rich, so she'd have a big house & nobody else has a "big house". So maybe the thing from the shadows has a connection to the Holiday family & was nearby to attack? Anyway, neat analysis video! Thanks for uploading!

Your voice activated some neurons in my brain and idk why but for some reason I feel like I met you in a past life or something

I have nothing to add but this is a great theory, it really seams plausible

sorry to leave all these comments but it's been absolutely surreal to hear these theories and ideas I've had myself, echoed by someone else, on this channel. Not a single other channel has posited the sort of theories and connected the dots that I see on this channel, it's wild

I have a feeling that Toby is going to take the namesake pun one step further and release the next chapters on December Holiday. Wouldn't that be awesome.

I bet Dess is the Knight and her opening the fountains is her attempt at leaving the dark world.

This seems very interesting. Also, did you know that there is a save point "Kris" that appears before you replace it with the first save point in the dark world? Could that referrencing to Kris has entered the Basement in the real world with Dess?

Man all these theories got me hyped for the other chapters to come out To solve this mistery.

God i hope chapter 7 takes place in the bunker I mean it has to, right? Wait What if the bunker is were kris and the player became connected? What if kris’s trauma with the bunker only happened recently

I was thinking about this exact same thing all this time and finally someone put it into words! I didn't connect it to the voice in the code tho but it does make a lot of sense. Super cool theory, keep it up!

ok, there are a BUNCH of places i feel like we could learn what happened to Dess. i've KINDA been putting together a list of posable dark worlds(like a nerd.... a lightnerd). so, i'll just copy paste the ones about the Holiday fam here: 1. Noelle’s house. Literally everyone thought ch2 was gonna be in the hospital, but that just wouldn’t make sense. We’ve already seen the whole hospital. There’s nowhere for the dark world to be. It would make more sense for the chapter about Noelle’s dad(and dess!!!) to take place in noelle’s room. Idk, i just really like that idea :) 3. The bunker. Now, this is chapter 7 stuff. I bet the whole cast(kris, susie, noelle, berdly, and asriel) are gonna explore inside that thing. I bet there’ll be a BUNCH of gaster stuff :) 5. The mayor’s office. More noelle. Maybe some stuff on why dess died(or left) those are all of the ones that kinda have to do w/ noelle & dess :/

Dess being dead or missing is why asgore lost his job.

I always thought that 'Dont Forget' wasn't sung from Dess's perspective, but was a song sung to Dess. "When the light is running low, and the shadows start to grow..." well we know that Dess is somewhere dark and secluded, and that she's scared and alone "...And the places that you know seem like fantasy..." we also know that whatever happened to Dess did not happen recently, from both the spelling bee Noelle and Berdly took part in elementary school, and the context that nobody ever really brings it up suggest that the incident happened quite a few years ago, possibly 5 or more. "...There's a light inside your soul, that's still shining in the cold..." Hope, Dess is trying to keep her hope that someday she'll get out, that she can survive and everything will be okay. I would think that someone like Dess would be very used to being knocked down and getting back up, with what we can surmise of Mother Holliday and her personality. Dess, despite all odds, has determination. Now whether any of this has anything to do with Gaster, or the bunker, or even the mysterious knight always mentioned, or heck, even Mike, I have no clue.

damn i ust thought she was ness earth bound

I always found it weird how Noelles reactions to Spamton related things are always like... "Feels familiar" or something along those lines?

this interpretation is so dark, yelling out into the abyss with nobody there to awnser

Just popping by to say that your voice acting for those hidden lines was good!

I didn’t realize Dess’s disappearance could be linked to he Dreemurr’s divorce and the credit song

First off I want to say I respect you a lot because your incredibly dedicated to details people miss and your subscribers!Also I had a theory that I’m not confident in and I think it has holes 😅.Some people say the mysterious man behind the tree is Gaster,but something doesn’t add up. So apparently Jevil met Gaster going by the story,and went insane afterwards.Shawm,(the shop guy who’s name I’m not spelling right)said ”As the court mage, and his only companion, I was forced to lock him away... Or, rather, lock US all away, in his own words. Since that time, the strange words he's said have stuck inside my cotton... And my view of this world has become darker, yet darker.”We all know that line at the end but it makes me question that did Gaster’s alleged influence on Jevil somewhat pass on to Shawm,is that why Shawm feels like he doesn’t have much purpose in life?Ok now Spamton,a theory is the guy on the phone with him was Mark who might be Gaster or is influenced by Gaster,so that means Gaster’s influence again allegedly can be reached through one of his followers.FINALLY,back to the mysterious man behind the tree,you can only talk to him alone,just Kris.If this is Gaster why doesn’t he make Kris insane?Unless Gaster already has control of Kris.Because at the beginning of game,the voice that talks to you before you starts said "Are you there? Are we connected?" In which you are because your speaking to him. So I think Gaster most likely is already influencing Kris through YOU the player,because we know for sure that Kris and the player are two separate entities .Now my only plot hole with this theory is why hasn’t Kris had any influence on his friends?Dang that was long but hey your really cool again btw!I look forward to seeing more awesome theories!

I hate to tie Gaster into everything, but since I'm pretty sure a slowed down version of mus_smile plays in the "bunker" area, and there's this stuff about it being so dark... yeah, I can't help but think about him

Spamton second voice is just whats left of his sanity speaking. This is why it apologize when he tries to tell kris about the knight. It'd be strange if toby left no hint to show spamton caught a virus, and its the only one we got. Plus,there is no reason why Dess could speak trough Spamton. But I'm now almost convinced Dess is indeed the voice in the code.

Hmmm, I had my own idea....perhaps Dess is the Knight? As for the trapped person, they could possibly be the Vessel we made at the start and then discarded. Gaster's role in this would be unchanged. I dunno, is it plausible? Asking the expert here.

You know the funny thing is on the end of that dialogue when you ask him about being friends he'll say but if he was calling for help I think he was calling for you and of course he looks at you and most people probably assume it's at the player character Kris. I wonder if he's looking less at the player character that you use in the game and more like Monika he's looking directly at the player.

all this, combined with the fact that the dialgoue was "cut", and spamton was intercepting her signal, makes me think something gaster-ish happened to dess. which would be unironically really cool

I don't think Dess is dead. Mainly because we don't see her gravestone anywhere amongst the other graves, nor even an unmarked on. Being that she is the Mayor's daughter, it would be quite weird for the 'dead daughter' of the Mayor to not have her own gravestone. Not to mention that the Holiday family appears to be quite wealthy or of upper class, based on the fancy gates that Noelle is seen standing before in Chapter 1, so it wouldn't make sense they couldn't afford a gravestone should Dess be deceased. There's also the fact that, if you go down to those weird bunker doors south of the office (Post-Cyber World) in Chapter 2, you get a cutscene between Snowdrake and Monster Kid. They mention something along the lines of how Kris was spooked or frightened out of their minds and was seen fleeing away from the bunker, to which Snowdrake remarks about 'don't be a weenie like Kris'. There's also the fact that Noelle mentions how she, Kris, Asriel, and Dess all used to explore a lot together in their childhood in the forest by the church quite often. Adding what Noelle mentions how she got into scary movies and occult-like stuff (Catti at the diner mentions Noelle once asking her about spells/curses/etc) because of Dess, it's safe to assume that the group loved looking into mysteries and strange things around town as kids. Taking all these little details, what I like to believe is that Kris and Dess both went to the bunker by the forest to investigate, probably with Noelle accompanying them too. They probably found the doors open at that time, and Dess--being the oldest in their group--decides to go into the bunker first to ensure it was safe for the Kris/Noelle to go in with her. Without any warning, the doors slam shut behind Dess where she ends up disappearing to the Dark World. Kris and Noelle both panic, trying to get the door open, but to no avail. Eventually the two end up trying to report the incident to the Chief of Police, which is Asgore at the time. However, Asgore's search is futile as they are unable to find Dess or any traces of her ever leaving the town. The Mayor, furious and distraught over the loss of her daughter, ends up firing Asgore from his position, leaving Kris' family to struggle with bills (you find out that Kris' family is indebt from having a phone call with Toriel before you and Susie head to the library together). The finances puts a strain on Kris' family, and eventually the parents divorced. Noelle is traumatized from having to lose her sister in such a strange incident that she ends up distancing herself from Kris almost entirely, leaving Kris to rely heavily on Asriel for any sort of emotional support. So not only did Kris lose two of their childhood friends, but also felt responsible for divorce between their parents as well, which is probably their main motivation for ripping open a fountain in their own home at the end of Chapter 2 in the first place. Probably thinking that if they find Dess, everything could be fixed. I mean, they learned from Queen that any Lightner can rip open a fountain as long as they had the willpower and determination to.

oh thank god someone is finially talking about this

Holy crap I just realized when Noelle is talking about Dess the letters she steps on spells out DECEMBER.

Unless KRIS did something bad to DESS in the bunker and had a trauma... And we are their alter ego and Asriel went to university to escape what happened to DESS but Noelle isn't there with the three of them when in the bunker... So she thinks that DESS is just missing...

I highly doubt this would happen, but I think it would be really interesting if Dess was trapped and corrupted like Jevil and Spamton. She would want to escape, and that could make her want to take a deal from the mysterious voice on the phone.

I think the dialogue in the files is from the discarded vessel from the start of chapter 1

I'm starting to think Dess is Deltarune's Gaster. We only find hints of both of them and they both are connected to main characters we interact with including possible family members.

Im personally in the category of people that thinks the Vessel is saying those lines. But I think Dess is definitely key to several events around town.

That text is news to me. We do hear you, whoever you are!

yes!!!!! Im so glad someone else thinks it's dess singing don't forget!!! it would make so much sense if that was the case

I always had a speculation that December is behind that locked door. It just seemed fitting ad I cannot explain why

I believe another piece of evidence for the "dess is missing theory" besides the calendar in Noelle's room is the wardrobe next to it. When examining it in a normal run through chapter 2, Susie will comment on how she has never seen Noelle wear anything like what is seen in the wardrobe. I think this supports the idea that Noelle is searching for her sister who went missing by looking up what she last saw her sister wearing before her disappearance. Maybe I'm just looking too much into it as well

I think Dess fell into a dark world that is more dangerous than the others and becomes an angel that rebels against her dark world knows as “the angel’s heaven” and it opens up during the roaring.

toby wouldn't leave scrapped dialogue with that much lore in the files without expecting the fans to find it, and deltarune chapter 1's initial presentation lends to the game being very meta with some of its clues. those definitely mean something

"Where am I? Hello...? Anyone...?" The Japanese goner text is similar to Asriel's speech patterns. Also. This isn't the first time this happened. Flowey used a similar text back in Undertale.

I'm certain now that whoever is trapped in there, and actually thinking about it there's a good chance it IS Dess, is heavily tied to and related to the ending. Maybe this is all to free this person. Toby mentioned in an interview that the game's ending is based on a fever dream he had in 2011, that he's wanted to bring to life ever since. It must be somethin complicated and high concept. He's very adamant about it, it seems. I'm so excited, especially knowing that it was something that literally came to him in a dream. Better yet, the kind of weird and crazy dream you have when your brain is burning up trying to fight an infection.

i think dess is in the house with the windows that show darkness except for two pairs of eyes, that says you hear scratching if you inspect the window

I wonder if in one of the later chapters, the bunker will open via some secret objective, kinda like with the snowgrave unlock. And it will reveal that Dess was trapped in there the whole time

Do you remember, 25th of December

What I've noticed is that, there's no mention of dess when talking to or about Rudy, who's in the hospital, leading me to believe the fate of Dess doesn't have to do with diagnosed illness. If ralsei has anything to do with Asriel then I bet that Azzy and Dess did visit Darkworlds and it went wrong and Dess didn't return..

"HUH??? WHAT?? NO, I DIDN'T HEAR ANYTHING JUST NOW!!! ... BUT IT SOUNDED LIKE THEY WERE TALKING TO YOU."