WMG / Deltarune The Dark Worlds/The Darkners

The Dark World is the toys from the classroom at the end of the game, and the parallels between it and the Underground and/or the game (Deltarune and/or Undertale) itself will only get stronger with further chapters. And the game might eventually actively revolt against the player.

First, the background: When asked about the Lightners, Seam says that they were "like Gods to us. Our protectors. Our creators. Those who gave us purpose" and that "one day we were all locked away in this prison... And [they] never returned". This, combined with the playing cards and toys themes, and the fact that Susie and Kris wake up in the middle of the (abandoned? Why would the young children's classroom be abandoned? Save that Fridge Horror for later) classroom, with playing cards and balls and jacks and a stuffed animal strewn all about, heavily suggests that the Dark World is derived from those (lost and abandoned?) toys. (Whether this means that the Dark World is "not real" or not I will not speculate.)

That's not the interesting bit, though.

The Darkners became bitter at being abandoned and forced into the dark, and plotted revenge on those who put them there. Who else does that sound like? The Monsters from Undertale? Yes, but who else? The characters in the games themselves. What happens to a save file, once the player is done with the game? It just sits there, on the hard drive, in the dark(?). And the characters in a game could very well be called toys, created by, given purpose by the designer and the player.

These parallels between the Dark World, UT's Underground, and the characters of DR and/or UT as game constructs will become important. I don't know which. I don't know how, exactly. Though considering that two out of three times now the characters plotted vengeance on their "Lightners"… it may be a bumpy ride, folks.

The Fountains are the equivalent of the Needles, and the half of the game spent in the Dark World will involve sealing them.

Which would make them rather the logical opposite of the Needles in plot as opposed to functioning as plot devices, but that seems appropriate. And yes, there are more to be sealed, as the King says that the Knight "pulls the Fountains from the earth".

The Darkners are human.

In the Deltarune universe, the monsters won the war and forced the humans underground. This may be why you can't actually kill anyone in Chapter 1; this revelation will be part of The Reveal the first time a Darkner is killed and their SOUL remains.

This would make Kris a "risen human" rather than a "fallen human".

Perhaps this alternate universe was created by Gaster in an attempt to free the monsters from the underground by creating a timeline where they won the war.

• So why do they look so monstrous? It's not a bad theory, but this is an obvious follow-up question.
  • Their monstrous appearances might be due to mutation from the fountains, or experiments to gain monster-like magic. Perhaps, like a WMG lower on the list suggests, bigger bosses like the Knight or Queen might look more human-like.
• there's a lot wrong with this theory. the first & most obvious piece of evidence: Darkners do not look like humans. as you can easliy see above, the person who first proposed this "theory" already answered this concern by saying that it could be explained away by either mutations caused by the fountains or mutations coming from "experiments to gain monster-like magic." I find neither of these explanations to be satisfactory 1. the fountains explanation has an abundance of issues, starting with the fact that it would quickly become a non-issue due to the fact that Kris, and most likely, other humans can seal fountains. one could argue that Kris's red soul is what allows them to do this, but the prophecy of Deltarune's language implies that it is definitely not special but just stating that Kris had to be human another problem is that there is no hinting that the fountains actually do this. also, this would make the fact that King and most likely other Darkners seems to worship the fountains. 2. this one can make more sense, but it comes with one big question: did they experiment on every single human? because every Darkner has a trait that makes them distinctly not human, often taking form of a non-human skin tone or a hole where the face should be. My second piece of evidence returns to the language of the prophecy of Deltarune draws a pretty distinct line between humans in Darkners, as it refers to Kris as a human, were as it refers to Ralsei as "a prince from the dark" My final piece of evidence is that Darkners are closely associated with light world objects. the only Darkner that can be said to break this rule is Ralsei but he's his own can of worms.

All suits of a deck of cards will show up.

I just think that if you're going to have Spades, there are probably Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs as well.

Actually, could Kris count as Heart, Ralsei as Diamonds, and Susie as Clubs?

• Well, the existence of the others is certainly confirmed, as the other Kings appear, still locked up, at the end of a pacifist run. And Rouxls, of course, is a Diamond.
• Rudinns are diamonds (their attacks and the pattern on their outfits). Hathys are hearts. Clover is a club. The three imprisoned Kings look just like a Rudinn, Hathy, and Clover. Rouxls is the card with the game's rules on it? Maybe? (Rules Card) and Jevil is the Joker. I think we have an entire deck that way, save for jacks and queens.
  • One line of dialogue has Lancer describe himself as a Jack.

Clover is the Jack of Clubs

• As of Chapter 2, Lancer is confirmed to be the Jack of Spades card. And so far, he's the only confirmed "Jack" card we've seen. Is it possible that Clover is the Jack of Clubs? She acts very different from generic Mooks, while also appearing to be somewhat young (about the same age as the protagonists.) The King of Clubs (who is in a cage) is probably her father.

When Susie and Kris return to the Dark World, there will have been a disproportionate time skip

Their accessing this alternate world via a closet was more than likely an homage to The Chronicles of Narnia, among the most famous examples of that trope, so why stop there?

• Humorously teased but Subverted at the start of Chapter 2, where Ralsei reunites with the two and claims it's been a long time. But when Susie points out it's just been a day, Ralei admits he's still getting used to having friends, so their time away only felt long to him.

Jevil is more important than he seems.

Consider that the entire game is based around the premise that your choices make no appreciable difference. Spare an enemy or defeat them, you get no experience, as they run away before dying. You will never become a bad guy because Susie keeps rechallenging you until you defeat them. Even the end, you have the illusion of a difference, with the adventure ending slightly differently with a violent or nonviolent playthrough, but really, there's even no real change there. However, there is one solitary situation where you have real choice.

Jevil.

Granted, not a huge choice. You get a weapon for a violent defeat, and armour if you pacify him. But still… your choice matters. Here in the place where Jevil invites you out from the prison. Here where the battle outright says it "Smells like Freedom." With the person who regularly says "He can do anything." Jevil's influence has the ability to defy the rules of the world you're in, to let you choose who you want to be.

Jevil is Nyarlathotep.

Multiple forms, kinda/really horrific, delights in cruelty, powerful, and all about chaos and madness.

Seam and Jevil were the two people in Entry 17

Just a small theory. What if that report where Gaster asked two persons what they thought weren't Sans and Papyrus, but Jevil and Seam?

Rouxls Kaard isn't Gaster himself, he's Gaster's Darkner counterpart.

Similar to how Ralsei and Asriel are presumably Darkner/Lightner counterparts of each other.

Rouxls Kaard is actually only supposed to be Lancer's teacher.

Why would the King fire every puzzle maker? Well, it's possible he regards it as a complete waste of time. He seems like a pretty violent guy. But if he doesn't care about making puzzles at all, why would he then hire someone to be in charge of puzzles anyway?

The answer is simple. The title is a sham. Rouxls Kaard has been promoted to an unimportant position of nobility by the King for going out of his way to do something he didn't need to. And what is that? Taking care of Lancer, or course. Given how little the King seems to want to do with his son, it's entirely reasonable that Rouxls would be rewarded for keeping Lancer off his father's back.

From there, we can work backwards to find out what Rouxls actual position is supposed to be. And what is it? Naturally, Rouxls Kaard is a Private Tutor for Lancer. As the Rules Card, it's his job to teach Lancer how things work. But because he's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, he realises that the King doesn't take care of Lancer well, and as such steps in as Lancer's "Lesser Dad".

Keeping this in mind, it's admirable how Rouxls actually tries to live up to his position when he learns the Lightners are coming by vandalising puzzles and making his own to try and stop them. Even if he's terrible at it.

Rouxls Kaard's name is a Significant Anagram related to light and darkness.

In a game full of significant anagrams, the odd spelling of this fellow's name stands out for not being an anagram of anything. However, if you look at his name, it contains two very interesting scrambled words. 'Dark' is obvious, but the less obvious one is 'Lux,' which is a unit of measure for how well a light illuminates a space. With light and dark being the major theme of Chapter 1, this might be a hint he becomes a very significant character later on.

Rouxls Kaard is from Alternia

His name is a joke that stretches out for six letters each in the first and last name, and he has a typing quirk that utilises fake Old English.

• But "Kaard" is only five letters long...

The Darkner villains have a Sorting Algorithm of Evil based on Chess Motifs

We've already faced pawns in the form of the Ponmen, who seem to be the most openly malicious basic enemy in the Dark World; sure, they're just following orders according to the other Great Board inhabitants, but they're still the only enemy that can't be befriended or reasoned with; the only way to Spare them is to get them to fall asleep. We've also obviously seen the King.

The Knight and the Queen are only briefly mentioned, but it's pretty safe to assume they're the final villains, and they're named after the two most dangerous pieces in chess; the pawn and the king are the weakest pieces despite the King's importance, and they were faced first. It's possible that we'll see a Bishop (possibly a Sinister Minister who would be the first major source of information on what the "Angel's Heaven" actually is, and how it's connected to the church in Hometown) and a Rook before the Knight and the Queen show up in person.

It's also worth noting that the only boss enemy faced before the King (in the course of the main game, anyway) is a Checkers piece.

• Jossed: Queen appears in Chapter 2.

The personality of the Darkners depends on how consistently the area they live in is used.

King mentions that the Lightners left him and his people behind (hence, their Dark World is in an abandoned classroom), and thus wants nothing to do with them. Queen, on the other hand, is part of a Dark World in the librarby computer lab, a place that still sees active use, and is more amicable towards Lightners, outright saying she wants to make them happy.

Given how the TV is rarely used before Susie turns it on to watch monster movies, the next Dark World ruler is probably going to be an asshole like King was.

The Spades King's rhetoric and statements were factually correct and truthful.

He indisputably was a genuinely, unabashedly awful, cruel, tyrannical ruler who deserved to be taken down, no doubt; but he did not lie about his motivations, nor did he over-exaggerate the severity of his and his Kingdom's plight. Only by way of the Card Kingdom's Fountain was it granted form — and only by its continued operation could it maintain its form. With it being sealed, the Kingdom and all of its denizens would immediately "fall into obscurity" — returning to being nothing but inanimate, abandoned objects in an unused room, devoid of agency, purpose, and life. Without the flowing darkness to sustain them, the Kingdom and its residents, in all meaningful ways, ceases to exist.

Assuming the full game intends to continue to larvely subvert and diminish player choice, to give the impression that our decisions "don't matter," the total destruction of the Card Kingdom following Kris, Susie, and Ralsei's adventures in it would be the easiest method to even out the two wildly differing endings (the Spades' King remaining in power and the denizens hating the Lightners, vs. the Spades' King being overthrown by Lancer and the Lightners being celebrated) that its storyline presents.

• Ralsei was aware of this, and what its outcome would be.

Ralsei exhibits keen knowledge of the nature of Lightners, Darkners, the Fountains, and the mechanics of the Dark World, and possibly the true nature of the Dark World. As stated above, he mentions how the Fountains create the Dark World in the legend he relates, and while the manual's contents may be extra-canon at this point, he directly states in it that his body is formed by the darkness it emits in a way that indicates clear awareness of its necessity. Consequentially, this would give a clear reason for why he didn't suggest deactivating the Kingdom of Darkness' Fountain despite it seeming so much closer than the Card Kingdom's

If that Fountain was sealed away, he would cease to exist, just as the Card Kingdom.

:This does not necessarily preclude that all his actions, statements, and motivations are based wholly on lies — there could indeed be good reason even beyond reasonable self-preservation to choose to lay the burden of sinking into oblivion onto the Card Kingdom rather than his own world — but, should any of this be true, the fact that he deliberately did not mention this to at least Susie and the player, and how incessant he was about finding a peaceful solution for dealing with people who were inevitably going to cease to exist if he and his friends succeeded should, at the very least, be called into question.

A softer take on the above; The Card Kingdom itself will cease to exist when its Fountain is sealed, but at least some of its denizens will survive.

Specifically, they will have the chance to emigrate to the Kingdom of Darkness, giving Ralsei some citizens to be a proper Prince for, finally. This trend may repeat for any further Dark Worlds journeyed to, and that have their Fountains sealed by, the player characters in the full game.

• Seems to be confirmed as of Chapter 2.

The antagonists will have Chess Motifs

We've already seen references to "The Knight" and "The Queen", and the first major boss was the King (though with a playing card motif rather than chess). Perhaps we'll also run into a Bishop and Rook in future chapters as well.

As a corollary to the above, the antagonists are Evil Counterparts to the Undertale cast.

The Queen will be a counterpart to Toriel, and the Knight a counterpart to Undyne. Perhaps the Bishop(s) and Rook(s) will be counterparts to Papyrus/Sans and Alphys/Mettaton. Since we ran into the King first, they might be fought in the reverse boss order from the predecessor, with the pattern going: King, Bishop, Knight, Rook, Queen. Bonus points if the Darkner characters have names which are anagrams of their Lightner counterparts.

Extrapolating from this pattern, the true final boss might be the Pawn, who promotes to the strongest piece upon reaching the end of the board (plus the concept of a Pawn fits in perfectly with the game's stated themes of predetermined choices). The Pawn, naturally, turns out to either be Ralsei, or Kris themself.

• Note that we already saw pawns while crossing the chessboard in Chapter 1. They were fairly weak minor enemies.
  • Uh, Jossed? The Queen was the antagonist of Chapter 2.

The Dark World is a Lotus-Eater Machine designed to trap monsters

Since human SOULs are the only way to seal the fountains, the Dark World could potentially trap monsters indefinitely with no means of escape. The Dark World that Kris and Susie encountered was conjured by the Knight by giving the cards and toys in the spare classroom consciousness. It was intended to trap Susie, but this plan was thwarted when Kris, the only human in town, happened to tag along with her. This is supported by Susie growing to accept the world because of Lancer and her wanting to come back the next day, and she conceivably might have been convinced to stay forever without Kris there to seal the fountain.

Future chapters will each feature a different monster being lured into a dark world and end with Kris and co sealing the fountain. It's also possible that Papyrus, Napstablook, Mad Dummy, and Muffet have already been lured into the Dark World, hence why they are conspicuously absent during the end of Chapter 1.

• Napstablook and Mad Dummy are out of the question as of Chapter 2, but Papyrus and Muffet are still possible.

The Card Kingdom's Fountain literally created the Card Kingdom out of the school's old, abandoned classroom.

Both the legend that Ralsei relates to Kris, Susie, and the player, and the Spade King's in-battle dialogue make unambiguous reference to the Fountain being that which creates their (Dark) world. In addition, Ralsei's (admittedly dummied-out) manual is dedicated to "the unending pillar of darkness that gives [his] body form." Until the Knight pulled its Fountain from the Earth, the classroom was merely just that, and nothing more, with no manner of tangible existence in the Dark World at all.

When it was pulled, the darkness it cast on the world from its vicinity created the Card Kingdom from the playthings that had been left there, alone, long since abandoned by the Lightners — in other words, the people who had once used the classroom, especially the children who'd made the most use of the toys and games, perhaps even creating their own shared fiction about the various pieces and cards, giving them a degree of character and personality that the new Fountain's darkness made manifest.

If so, then the whole Kingdom and all its residents only truly came into existence the moment that the Fountain did — all the history and hardships the Darkners reflect on, that make up their beings, being both half-false and half-true at once, arising entirely from the remnants of meaning and narrative that had been imposed on them by their old users.

The Dark World won't be the focus of Deltarune, but it will still play a role in everything.

Even if the Darkeners never show up, the adventure in the closet basically kicked off Susie's arc. Alternatively, they will show up but as "imaginary friends" or something.

The Knight has taken Jevil's and Spamton's SOULs

That's one of the reasons why both Jevil and Spamton have gone crazy, as well as why Spamton is obsessed with taking Kris' SOUL and is seemingly terrified of the Knight. Alternatively, Gaster could've been the one who took their SOULs, that is, if he himself isn't the Knight in the first place.

The angel doll will show up as a Darkner

They'll play an important role in the story even if they're not the Angel from the prophecy (though the heroes could still mistake them as such). They may or may not end up being Ralsei's Arch-Enemy (since it's implied that Ralsei is the Darkner form of a headband with demon horns).

Every chapter will have a different version of the "Dark World".

The Dark World is reminiscent of the Underground that we know, but it's apparently a lot smaller and there's some not-subtle implication that the Dark World isn't real at all. Every chapter will follow the same basic format: protagonists fulfill a prophecy by falling into a strange world, traveling through it, and defeating its ruler.

One of the main reasons Seam is so nihilistic is because he expects to be thrown away/abandoned

Borrowing from the theory(ies) above that the Darkners are formed from the toys in the abandoned class. Seam is a ripped up, raggy stuffed animal, no longer cute. If the abandoned classroom and the items in it see use again (if 'the Lightners return'), while the other Darkners (eg the playing cards, the checker board, etc) are still in relatively good condition, Seam isn't. So Seam expects the Lightners to throw him away. Hence why he states that whether it's the by the Lightners or Darkners, he's doomed either way.That also explains his view about the items he sells/collects: it's just a hobby to him. He doesn't have any attachment to any of it. Just like he expects the Lightners to treat him.

Seam is a ghost haunting a toy cat. Possibly a cat ghost.

Most ghosts choose fabric things full of stuffing as bodies, so if there are ghosts in the Dark World, it would follow that they would possess something similar.

Jevil and Flowey are connected somehow.

They are the only characters in their respective games to become Suddenly Voiced. That can’t be a coincidence, right?

• Mettaton is also Suddenly Voiced when he transforms into his EX form and says "oh yes".
• So is Tasque Manager, even if all you hear her say are letters of the alphabet.

Rouxls Kaard is a Darkner human

He does have a more humanoid appearance compared to other Darkners we've seen so far (Darkner monsters), though there are still some differences between him and Lightner humans like Kris, Frisk, and Chara. Rouxls could potentially have a backstory similar to Kris' or Chara's as the only human living among monsters.

Dark Worlds form in neglected spaces, and can only be truly destroyed if they see regular use again.

Sealing the fountain isn't enough. If the area continues to go unused and neglected, the 'real-world' counterparts of the Darkners won't be able to serve their original purposes, and the area will linger on. This will allow Kris and Susie to visit Lancer and the others again…

...Until the classroom gets cleaned up, as the school decides to put that space to good use again. The room gets repurposed, and all of the cards and games inside picked up and put away properly, as well as getting played with once more. This puts a bittersweet twist upon matters, for while they're bringing joy to the Lightners once more, this also cuts off your ability to revisit that area of the Dark World.

Perhaps this gets driven home by seeing one of the young monsters Toriel teaches carrying Seam around school, giving the old plushie the kind of love and attention they thought they'd never have again.

• Jossed: At the start of Chapter 2, Kris gathers up all the toys/cards/plushies/etc. and brings them into the supply closet, where their Light World forms disappear, and they become inhabitants of Castle Town. Further jossed a little later, when a Dark Fountain is found in the librarby computer lab, a room that likely sees at least semi-regular usage.

Jevil has Determination

Either the "strange someone" Jevil met injected some into him, or he can generate his own Determination like Undyne. That's why he's always yammering about how he "can do anything", as Determination is the power to change fate. Jevil might've even gained the ability to SAVE before Kris arrived at the Dark World, which could be what made him start seeing the world as a game.

• If he could save before Kris entered, then how did Seam manage to lock him up?
  • He could have been tricked into overwriting his SAVE after being locked up, probably by means of his thinking that he tricked the Kings into locking everyone else up.

We'll meet the second Joker in a later chapter

Assuming Seam isn't the second Joker (since his Light World form is a plush toy instead of a card), they may or may not be Jevil's Distaff Counterpart (twin sister?) who looks like a little angel, as opposed to Jevil who's a devil, speaks in all lowercase, and is always lamenting about how they can't do anything because they're scared their choices will have consequences.

Seam replaced the second Joker as the court magician

Either the second Joker got fired, quit their job on their own, or had something else... bad happen to them so that they could no longer be the court magician. Seam was hired as the new court magician in place of the original one. This could be a parallel to what happened with Gaster and how he got replaced by Alphys as the royal scientist, which is kinda ironic considering Seam's similarities with Mystery Man who may or may not be Gaster.

Jevil isn't defying the game's "your choices don't matter" theme

Jevil is saying he can do anything because he believes his actions don't have consequences, so he's free to do whatever he wants without getting punished for it (he did end up getting locked in the cell for causing chaos, but he still thinks he's above consequences since he claims it's everyone else who locked themselves up and he's the only free one). In other words, he believes his choices don't matter, so he actually fits the game's theme perfectly.

If Kris' other classmates end up becoming party members, then future Darkner bosses will be the antagonist of their character arc.

• The Spades King shares many similarities with Susie. Both are violent, angry, and bully others (Susie bullies Kris, the King bullies Lancer). In a way, Spades King is a dark reflection of Susie, her worst traits taken to horrific extremes, and Susie attacking him to save Lancer marks the start of his defeat. So if Kris' other classmates join "The Fun Gang", it's not a stretch to have Darkner bosses that represent their flaws and issues or "inner darkness":
• The Queen seems to be a foil for Noelle's overbearing mother; wanting what's "best" for her and for her to realize her full pontential, but going about it forcefully while not listening to what Noelle really wants. In the good route, the Queen finally relents after Noelle gets fed up and finally stands up for herself.

The game will have successive Dark Worlds, united by a theme of abandonment.

Noelle's father will die at some point, and you'll have a chapter dedicated to a Dark World forming in her house, because it no longer feels like a true home to her. The last chapter in the game will be in Kris' bedroom, and will be based on Kris feeling abandoned by Asriel.

Rouxls Kaard isn't as incompetent as he seems

Rather, he was deliberately trying to undermine the King's rule the whole time.

The next Dark World's segments will reference more literature works (and perhaps their movie adaptations as well) about children wandering off into mysterious magical worlds.

Alice Allusion is aplenty in the first chapter, but it doesn't really need to stop there. Works that could be referenced:

• The Chronicles of Narnia (adding onto this, maybe Narnia Time logic will apply next time Kris and Susie go there)
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (might or not evoke Dystopian Oz)
• The Neverending Story
• Coraline
• Can’t forget about The Nutcracker, since there is a Christmas-themed character (Noelle) in the game.
• Chapter 3 could be a Charlie and the Chocolate Parody, adding on to the theory that Chapter 3’s main villain will be a TV named Mike. The Dreemurrs do seem fond of chocolate, after all.

The Dark World is created specifically to help children overcome their issues

The Darkners are specifically stated to wish to be in service of the Lightners. Throughout chapter 1, Susie was in the exact sort of situation she needed to break out of her issues with being unable to express herself in a way aside from fighting. Both her and Kris also had thsir issues of lacking friends adressed, and their adventure made them become closer to each other. In Chapter 2's teasers, the dark world has changed for some reason and we know that Noelle will be going through a rough time.

I propose that the dark world's true purpose is to help children who are struggling with something, and that the next chapters of Deltarune are going to use this in order to help the different people who have shown to have these issues in Kris' class. I also believe that Kris will have their own dedicated chapter, and that The Stinger is foreshadowing what Kris' potential issue may be.

This could also be used to explain why Ralsei looks the way he does as well as why Lancer never really joins the party. Lancer was intended to facilitate Susie learning to deal with a friend possibly hurting her and solve the situation without resorting to violence. I believe Noelle's focus will have something to do with adjusting to her father revealing his illness or possibly dying, as well as gaining confidence in herself.

In the future, I expect Kid, Berdly and Snowy to also have chapters focusing on them. Berdly's chapter will deal with his inability to form relationships and why he places so much priority on his studies. As the resident Jerkass, it makes sense that he might get a redemption arc, especially as Toby like to deconstruct things. Berdly would be a deconstruction of Intelligence Equals Isolation.

Snowy would have his struggles of not being good enough as well as the working through his mother's death. Snowy I'm not as sure of, but I think there is some material to work with, considering his Undertale counterpart was The Woobie.

Kid is the largest "I'm not sure" on this list. They honestly just seem like the closest to Kris aside from Noelle and Susie, and I feel like they'll have a larger role, considering their previous role in Undertale as a supportive friend to Frisk.

I also completely expect Asriel to be involved somehow, but time will tell.

An ICE-E costume will show up as a Darkner

Foreshadowed by how Kris told Noelle in the past that "ICE-E is real and eats kids".

Before he became the duke of puzzles, Rouxls Kaard was in charge of tutorials

The rules card is the one that teaches you the rules of the game, his puzzles are incredibly simple, and he was the one who was in charge of raising Lancer. Also, there's something fairly poetic about the actual puzzle masters being forced to make tutorials to make ends meet.

The desk that Susie kicked will show up as a Darkner

Foreshadowed by Alphys saying "treat school property like you'd treat people" as a response (not that Alphys necessarily knows about Darkners, she likely doesn't anyways considering how she was fine with sending Kris and Susie to the supply closet). The desk Darkner may get angry at Susie for kicking them earlier, and if they're too aggressive, she may even be forced to actually "aim for the vitals".

Jevil's shtick about knowing he's in a game isn't meta at all

Or maybe it could be. But it actually is more likely Jevil is aware that his world is constituted of games, like cards, checkers, chess, puzzles, and the like. Every other Darkner in his world treats it all so seriously, but Jevil is the only one who knows it's all a big game and treats it like such, which makes everyone creeped out.

A future dark world will take place at the hospital.

Wherein you'll be facing Darkner representations of not only medical supplies and equipment, but also germs, viruses, and other illnesses. The world will culminate in facing the embodiment of whatever sickness is afflicting Rudolph Holiday, and depending on the route, you'll either cure him or send him into critical condition.

Defeating Jevil, Spamton, and the rest of the secret bosses in the full game would allow them to appear and aid you with Deltarune's final level or boss

Whether you defeat Jevil using the Pacify spell or not, he gives you a piece of himself, either in the form of his tail or the Devilsknife form. The same can be said for Spamton with either the Dealmaker or the Puppet Scarf. If you have any of their items in your inventory, these characters will make one 'encore' appearance and help you out in the climactic finale of the whole Deltarune story, as a nice little reward for beating a Super Boss. It would also explain why their items cannot be sold.

Potential Secret Boss concepts that could appear in a future chapter

Assuming Toby Fox and the team keep up this trend. Feel free to add more, guys.

• A Conspiracy Theorist who rants and rambles about W.D. Gaster, The Knight, the game, and random stuff. A kind of character that would keep players guessing on what stuff they're saying could be real and what isn't. This guy could also be used as a way for Toby Fox to poke fun at people who overanalyze his games.
• A character who has been touched/contacted by the mysterious entity who may have also interacted with Jevil and Spamton, but is still sane or at least lucid enough to act in a "normal" manner. When they're about to reveal too much, they suffer from some sort of memory wipe or another abnormal happening that keeps them quiet.
• Kris’s Devil horn headband becoming a Darkner in chapter 3. Since they were the headband to feel more like they belonged with the Dreemur family, they would be a boss monster^note the Dreemur family’s species who call themself “Kris”,^note would likely be nicknamed “Kirmp” or “Kimp” and would call themself the “real Kris”. They would fight you in order to take Kris’s place in the Light World, defeat would result in them realizing the error of their ways, and to accept the fact that they are not the real Kris. The item you’d get would be either A Horns of Barbarism Helmet (pacifist), or a double-bladed sword^note either on the same end, or as a Double Weapon (violence).

A Super Boss in a later chapter will turn out to be a total joke in their battle.

They'd look tough and dangerous and might be hyped up within the chapter itself, but they'd turn out to be a Paper Tiger when the player fight them and be ridiculously easy to defeat or spare. The real challenge would be figuring out how to trigger the encounter itself.

Queen from Chapter 2 is not the "Queen" mentioned by Jevil

After all, Jevil never confirmed that they're one and the same, and Toby is a known Trolling Creator. Maybe Chapter 2's Queen is a Red Herring.

• Seam speaks happily of the Queen's return at the end of Chapter 2 that seems to refer to the Queen that showed up in Castle Town. That doesn't entirely rule out the notion that Jevil was still referring to a different Queen, but it looks unlikely.

All the bonus bosses will be demon themed in some way

• Jevil is obviously a devil.
• Spamton is obsessed with making deals, tries to take Kris' SOUL, and his NEO form's wings look like demon wings.

Alternatively, the bonus bosses will shift from being more demon themed to more angel themed each chapter

Hence Jevil being 100% devil themed, while Spamton talks about heaven a lot and has a mini angel version of himself yet is closer to being more demon themed. Chapter 4's bonus boss will be halfway between demon and angel themed, and Chapter 7's will be 100% angel themed.

All the bonus bosses made costly wishes granted by the strange someone.

Each such Shadow Crystal holder desired some form of freedom, but ended up losing freedom and going insane as a result of their respective wish:

• Jevil loves playing games and wished to be able to play them all the time. The strange someone revealed to him that the world he lives in is just a game.
• Spamton wished to be a big shot, but he reminds us how that went down — he realized that he became a puppet in the process.

If the next Dark World is TV/movie-themed, the Arc Villain will be a director.

The Director will be fiercely interested in giving the Fun Gang (and Toriel) the spotlight as stars in their movies. Susie's fantasies about being Susiezilla and wrecking a city will turn out to be foreshadowing her role in the Director's kaiju movie.

The bonus bosses will be based on the Five Stages of Grief (in mixed order)

As for the remaining 2 bosses, either they won't be based on the stages of grief at all, or they'll be based on the lesser known seven stages of grief (there are multiple versions out there, so it's unclear which one Toby will base them on, if at all).

So far Jevil seems to be based on denial and Spamton on bargaining.

Swatch is the Darkner form of a (presumably not free) drawing program, and Spamton is an adware disguised as a free bootleg version of said program

So Spamton is the impersonator that Swatch mentioned.

Chapter 3 will take place in a city kept "safe" from Kaiju by an Arc Villain named Rook

At the end of Chapter 2, Kris creates a Fountain of Darkness in the living room, where a TV is playing a Kaiju movie. This will inspire a Dark World that looks like a wasteland inhabited by Kaiju, who kept the Darkners in constant fear until a figure named Rook (to go with King, Queen, and Knight who are all named after Chess pieces; this means there would also be an Arc Villain named Bishop, but that's for another WMG) created a Citadel City that the giants cannot attack. However, to keep the city as safe as possible, citizens of Rook's city must sacrifice many of their rights and constantly abide by strict laws, leading to them being miserable, but they accept it because the alternative of facing the monsters outside seems worse. The plot twist is that some people are living happily outside the city (either they were thrown out as punishment for violating Rook's laws, or they intentionally escaped because they couldn't stand Rook's oppression any longer), and the Kaiju aren't actually that dangerous, because they only move in very predictable patterns and won't attack unless directly provoked (since they were born from a movie in the Light World, and movies always play out the same way each time you watch them), with the climax involving the heroes taking control of one of the Kaiju and using it to fight Rook.

Spamton wanted to become a Lightner

This may have been what he meant when he talked about wanting to be a "real boy", as well as why he wanted to take Kris' SOUL.

Mike was one of the people who offered Spamton a TV deal

Hence the foreshadowing of Mike potentially being a TV-based boss. When things started going downhill for Spamton, Mike bailed on him instead of offering help.

Queen is Lancer's birth mother who abandoned him after he was born.

So by Seam and King, we know that Queen was once Queen Spade, but after Lancer's birth, Queen ran away and started to rule over her own kingdom. Her defeat made her realize that being a lone ruler wasn't as great as she imagined, so she decided to reunite with her son. King is offended that she thinks she can reclaim him after all that time.

The Dark Worlds always technically "exist", with or without the Fountains.

The Fountains and the objects within the area it's opened just influence how they look.

Time works differently in the Dark World.

Both times now when a Dark World has been sealed and the characters return to the Light World, characters have noted they are surprised at how late it has gotten. While this could simply be brushed off as the characters losing track of time, it's also possible that time simply moves slower in the Dark World. The only exception to this is Ralsei's dialgoue at the start of Chapter 2, but he brings up his own counterpoint - this was the first time he's ever had to wait for people to come back, so any amount of time would seem long.

• Going along with this theory, if Dess actually is missing and trapped in a Dark World, by the time she is found, Noelle will be older than her.

Chapter 3 will have 2 main antagonists

One of which is Mike, the Darkner form of the TV foreshadowed by Spamton and Chapter 2's ending, as well as the more obvious antagonist; another being Rook (assuming the theory about the bosses being based on Chess Motif is indeed true), the Darkner form of the remote control and the true mastermind in control of Mike, who may even be initially overlooked by the Heroes (especially if Rook is smaller than Mike just like their object forms).

The Dark Worlds are each formed from the inner desires and fears, fantasies and memories, of their visitors

• Chapter 1's Dark World largely grew out of Susie: her loneliness, her fear of rejection, and her family issues all became major themes to her, even if they were sometimes too subtle for the player to notice. It offered her a playground to vent her violent tendencies, while at the same time helping her grow out of them. Lancer represents Susie herself as a younger child: trying hard to be edgy and bad even then, but still a cheerful and ultimately good kid, whom the world hadn't yet chewed up and spat out — all the more reason for Susie to be so affected, at first annoyed (reminding her of what a bratty tryhard she herself used to be) but ultimately won over. Most importantly, Lancer still loved his father, the King — who is then based on Susie's father or other parental figure, whoever it is responsible for the increasingly blatant hints that not everything is right at her home. She probably picked up her "Quiet people piss me off" line from home as well: hearing the King use it was the greatest single catalyst for her growth.
• Chapter 2's Dark World stems from what Noelle is going through: a City of Adventure, just the sort Dess had promised to take her in one day, with the sights to see and fun to be had, the fearful thrills (the mice, mainly) she could experience in a largely safe environment, and getting to play as a captured and vulnerable princess to be rescued by a brave and handsome knightly hero. The Queen represents her mother: a controlling, oppressive force with very little idea of what Noelle thinks or what she would actually like of her own life, but ultimately a well-meaning and a decent person, unlike the genuinely rotten King. She, too, gets to grow stronger and to stand up to the Queen in the end, likely leading to her managing better with her own mother from here on… unless you go through the Weird Route, in which case her fantasy is turned against her into abuse and false growth.
• Chapter 3's Dark World, then, will be born out of Toriel: a Crapsaccharine World that's all sweet and kind on the surface, yet cracking and crumbling from within. A realm born out of the kindness and soft-heartedness of a mother and a teacher, offering enemies to either set back to straight and narrow, or to violently vent her stress upon (leading to this chapter's Weird Route). The Arc Villain — perhaps named Rook, as many others have theorized — is based on Asgore: an Affably Evil seemingly-nice guy, in deep denial about how much things have changed and how the world can no longer be salvaged. He'd rather impose himself upon the lives of the heroes than let them close the fountain; smother the world in darkness instead of facing the truth; just wanting things to go back to how they used to be back when everyone was happy, unwilling to admit that this is no longer possible, unwilling to accept the sadnesses and joys of the future. It's only natural that Toriel will tell him off.
• Future chapters will follow the same formula. They may involve Asgore (seeing Chapter 3 from the opposite perspective), Undyne and Alphys, Sans and Papyrus, other classmates, and finally, in the final day, Asriel himself.

Queen's Light World counterpart is a Solitaire computer game.

Thus explaining why she continues the Playing Card Motif established by Lancer and King in spite of being native to the computer-based Dark World of the second chapter.

There will be no dark world in the Hospital.

Because it would be redundant with the disease and hospital-themed enemies in chapter 2.

• Uh… those are specifically based on computer viruses and anti-virus programs.

Darkners do have SOULs

Unlike the colorful human SOULs and the white monster SOULs, Darkner SOULs are black as they lack "light" (mentioned by the Don't Forget song and Spamton), which may be determination or something else.

Queen does play a lot of mobile games — but only the ones she had to buy.

While she did lie about only playing them, it would be a cool twist for her to avoid the games of the allegedly free sort.

The Angel's Heaven is what Dark Worlds are supposed to become

It's specified that the Heroes are supposed to fight against the Angel's Heaven, not the Angel. What's more, it's shown that Lightners may come to prefer Dark Worlds, as Noelle and Berdley did, and nearly caused the Roaring. The idea is that, in effect, Dark Worlds are supposed to grow large enough to provoke the Roaring, at which point the Titans come to separate the Dark World as a new universe in its own right by disrupting the fabric of the old, with the Darkners native to that world becoming the first of its new inhabitants (thus, Ralsei was leaving out that those were leftover Darkners, since the new world's inhabitants become Lightners who don't need a Fountain to live), and casting away the corpse to the Void Between the Worlds. It's called a Heaven, because the creator of that world's fountain is its Angel, and to them, the world they created to escape their old is a paradise (the remnants of the world left behind are, of course, Hell). Ralsei is being cagey because he didn't want Noelle to hear the whole truth, and possibly decide the old world can go screw itself, especially if she could use her powers as an Angel to revive Dess and Rudy.

King will die a redemptive death

It's clichéd but not impossible.

A Darkner with determination can create "light fountains"

As in portals that allow Darkners to enter the Light World. None have been created so far, as Darkners (presumably) naturally lack determination. Opening a light fountain and entering the Light World may have been Spamton's goal, with him planning to get the determination he needs from Kris' SOUL.

There will be at least 2 more characters that resemble Lancer, King, and Queen

Like how Lancer and King have spades over their eyes and Queen has a heart over hers, one of the new characters will have a diamond over their eyes and another will have a club over theirs.

The angel doll's Darkner form will resemble Dess

It would parallel how Ralsei resembles Kris' brother. Bonus points if the angel doll Darkner's name is an anagram of December.

Queen knew about Noelle's potential for violence

"Poor Noelle She Would Love Hitting All These Cars"

The potential themes for the Dark World from chapter 3 onwards

The end of chapter 2 heavily implies that this next Dark World will most likely be something along the lines of Trapped in TV Land. If we go by the locations in Hometown, we could see some new ones based off a specific theme.

• A restaurant -- either QC's Diner or ICE-E's P"e"zza -- creating a food-themed world.
• Asgore's flower shop creating a massive jungle world.
• The church hosting a heaven-themed world.
  • Or, taking a less general approach, the fountain might appear in just the music room, creating a world based on musical instruments.
• Sans's grocery store, turning his aisles into isles.
• That locked door to the west of the closet, which leads to the school's gym, where there will be a sports themed world. (Probably the setting of a character arc for Jockington.)
• The graveyard turning into... a much spookier graveyard, maybe with some elements of the underworld to contrast with the above church Dark World.
• The mayor's office, a snowy tundra with an Ice Palace where Noelle's mother resides.
  • Alternatively, an office-supply theme.
• And of course, the last Dark World will almost certainly be in the mysterious bunker.

Spamton is small from being thrown into Queen's acid lake, and was once the same size as the Addisons.

Spamton has a dialogue line that refers to "burning acid", another where his bracketed text is begging for help from something burning him, and he's also afraid of being caught by Queen's henchman but doesn't specify why. During the swan boat ride Ralsei asks Queen how someone could vacation in the tiny homes she has built along her acid lake and she replies "Shrink From The Acid", which implies the acid can either magically shrink you or the shrinkage comes from being burned by it.

Tasque Manager is similar to Jevil and Spamton.

Like both of the chapters' minibosses, she has yellow eyes, actual voice lines, and can control the shape of the combat area (though that's mainly just a boss ability). She also acknowledges Jevil outright. Given her status as a regular miniboss and lack of a shadow crystal, however, it's unlikely she's had any contact with Gaster. Due to being the Task Manager, she knows all of the programs that are running on the computer; she may have obtained the information Gaster gives to the minibosses by intercepting Spamton's contact with him.

Spamton will return if…

…You did not do your part of the deal (in Pacifist/Neutral), where you 'promised' him to get the Disc from the abandoned Robot in the Queen's basement. In Chapter 3, he'll be so mad at you for betraying him that he'll create a very difficult boss fight that wouldn't normally happen otherwise. During the fight, his body will slowly turn to stone (as Darkners can't live outside their fountain area), but he won't care as he is driven by [Revenge] to kill you and your allies. If you have done a Weird route (and therefore beaten him as Spamton NEO), or a Neutral run where you defeated him in his base form through violence, or you did his side-quest and beat him as Spamton NEO on the standard route, he won't appear.

• Going by the Fridge Brilliance that Rouxls Kaard was able to outlast Lancer and have a decent measure of actual agency in the Cyber World by virtue of being a rules card (which is meant to be read, and therefore wouldn't be too out-of-place in a library (which is where the Cyber World was located)), then Spamton, as an embodiment of intrusive and predatory advertisements, would fit in just fine in a TV World. He would probably take a long time to turn to stone, if he even turns to stone at all.

Queen wanted Noelle partially as a Replacement Goldfish.

Assuming she's Lancer's mother, it's clear she wasn't in his life until the end of Chapter Two. It's possible this wasn't by Queen's own choice; even if she knew where he was, Chapter Two shows us what happens if a Darkner tries to cross into a kingdom that isn't theirs. Maybe she was (at least subconsciously) projecting her sadness about the situation onto Noelle and trying to make her a replacement for the son she was separated from.

Spamton and possibly Jevil are being manipulated by Flowey, or Flowey's AU counterpart.

Admittedly, the only possible link I've observed between Jevil and Flowey is that they're two of the only three characters to be voiced during a fight, Mettaton NEO being the third. However, there's more signs pointing towards a potential connection between Spamton and Flowey.

• The song that plays in the Queen's basement is called "Digital Roots", which is a slowed down, deepened version of Photoshop Flowey's boss music, "Your Best Nightmare"
• There are blue monsters in the basement that attempt to bite you when you pass by them. If you either sit idle for a minute or attempt to use the cell phone while outside of their aggro range, their eyes will look upward to face you, the player, and a grin will appear on their faces that's eerily familiar to that of Flowey.
• In some locations in the basement, you can catch a glimpse of a face with a wide, toothy grin with crazed eyes that match Spamton's eye color, but otherwise is almost a dead ringer for the Photoshop Flowey-esque grin that appears on the TV in the Chapter 2 ending.
• Throughout the basement, you'll notice that the walls and floors are covered in vines.
• Look at the "strings" that control Spamton NEO. They're thicker than one would imagine puppet strings to be, but more importantly, they're green.

While of course, nothing is set in stone, this feels like too much to be a mere coincidence.

Mike wears the same glasses Spamton does, but with swapped colors.

The eyes of IMAGE_FRIEND have the colors of Spamton's glasses but swapped.

The main villain of Chapter 3 will be named Rook, and they will have three heads and personalities.

...and Rook will transform into a Kaiju for their boss battle, requiring Susie to become, well, Susiezilla so that the heroes can defeat them.

• Don't we already have a Darkner (Clover) that fits that exact description, though?

Spamton NEO was truly free, the strings didn't symbolize anything.

Notice his behavior during the Weird Route. He doesn't use any "obvious scammer" slang, he seems completely sane (besides being a borderline sociopath), and he doesn't care about the strings that let the Strange Someone(?) puppeteer him. The flavor text also reads "The air crackles with freedom" in both of his NEO fights, which shouldn't work if he's being controlled by someone. The answer?

There is no puppeteer. After becoming NEO, Spamton finally achieved his true freedom. He was free of his metaphorical strings. However, as the NEO body was a literal puppet, he was instead rewarded with literal strings. And the body couldn't possibly work without them, as we see if we try to spare him. Even the narration calls them wires, not strings. His death after losing his wires? Not symbolic of anything, it's just reality ensuing as a machine that needs wires to work can't work without them. Spamton was just too insane and obsessed about cutting his metaphorical strings that when he saw literal strings (or rather, wires that just happen to be placed like strings), he finally snapped. Ironically, after finally gaining the one thing that he wanted the most, he threw it all away because he didn't think he actually gained it.

• Spamton does use "obvious scammer" slang in SnowGrave like "ESTEEM CUSTOMER". There is a person actually controlling the strings according to the narration, "It pulls the strings and makes them ring". The Puppet Scarf, which is made of Spamton NEO's strings, feels "like guitar strings", and Spamton NEO's strings are called strings by both himself and the narration multiple times. "The air crackles with freedom" also occurs in the Jevil fight, and Jevil also isn't free since he's trapped in a jail cell.

Spamton became successful by using ad/malware.

But once the updates stopped coming from his benefactor, and antivirus programs were able to detect and remove it, his entire business fell apart.

The Light World was also created with a fountain.

The Deltarune world was created with a fountain from the real world, just like the Dark Worlds are created with fountains from the Deltarune world.

Seam had an encounter with the same "Someone" that turned Jevil and Spamton to madness.

Seam clearly knows what the Shadow Crystals are to some degree more than the player does — he wouldn't have asked you to find them in the start of Chapter 2 if he didn't. Perhaps he actually has one himself that he keeps hidden, much like the other two Crystal Holders. Both Jevil and Spamton also have a fair amount of strength, even if the latter less so at least on his initial encounter. Perhaps Seam also does as well after his encounter, although given his nihilism, he may not see a point in fighting. Perhaps the "Someone" is what brought him down the path of nihilism in the first place after an encounter, much like how Jevil became more of an Anti-Nihilist.

Spamton is sexually frustrated and might have done it with Tasque Manager.

I'm just gonna say right ahead that this is pretty fucking cursed, so know that I Warned You.

So we all know how Spamton is a Sir Swears-a-Lot with more than one Double Entendre to his name ("ENL4RGE YOURSELF", "Hochi Mama", the list goes on). He also claims that he and Kris want "HOTSINGLE" and that one of the perks of freedom is "SOMETIMES IN THE MORNING, A LITTLE [Hyperlink Blocked]". Hyperlink Blocked could stand for Choices, but it could also stand for LOVE, (which fits with Spamton's Slut-Shaming of Noelle on the Weird Route, claiming she and Kris were making [Hyperlink Blocked]), which means that Spamton says that while free, you can have morning sex. When saying this, Spamton does a grasping gesture with his arms out, which looks like… something, alright. This also fits with Spamton being an ex-celebrity. In fictionland, rich, popular guys will often have a lot of Ms Fanservices at their service. When he went from Riches to Rags, he lost all of it.

Where does Tasque Manager fit into this? Well, even ignoring her, uh, design, Spamton NEO's attacks have the same ID as Tasque Manager's, and the Mannequin reduces damage from both Spamton and Tasque Manager, which implies that they have some history with eachother. Adding that with the thing mentioned above, it seems like there may have been some benefits in their relationship.

Yes, this was pretty cursed. Let Us Never Speak of This Again.

Spamton isn't imitating Swatch's look; it's the other way around.

Swatch may be prompted to talk about their fashion sense, black suit, and colored glasses, which they'll then mention gets imitated by certain people for the sake of getting into the basement robot. There's a chance, however, that it could be Swatch imitating Spamton's style.

• Both are bird-like salespeople working for Queen (or used to be in Spamton's case), and both sell "Big Shot Bowties". Swatch sells them properly, but only with the brand names noticeably removed, while Spamton sells Frayed Bowties he claims are "EXCLUSIVE OFFICIAL SPAMTON". Naturally, if Swatch is willing to act as Spamton's replacement bowtie-selling salesperson in the mansion, why wouldn't they take his look too?
  • Spamton's bowties carry the hidden effect of defending against "cat-types" like Tasques and Tasque Manager. Swatch's bowties don't carry this effect; maybe that's why Spamton is a "cat-type" according to in-game files — it connects him to both the avian butlers and the cats in the mansion.
• Spamton's old appearance can be seen in both the alleyway you fight him in and the ambiguously-canon Fangamer merch, where he already has black hair and rosy cheeks. A far cry from the single-colored Addisons, and lacking his puppet-like "jaw hinges" on the merch. So if it's established he had much of his current look before his sales tanked, why would he dye his hair and add a dash of color to imitate the head butler when he was still officially part of Queen's court? We also don't know the timeline of things, so when the two decided to wear their colored shades, it could've been either case.
  • Maybe he felt like it would help him fit in. Or his Dealmaker shades were his only attempt at impersonation, to comical effect.
• Speaking of Fangamer merch, on the advertisement for Spamton's "SPECIL Fun Pak", we can see Spamton angrily censor every other character's face except his own, and he initially blocks Swatch off the most. We knew the resentment goes both ways, as Spamton is referred to as a former "valued customer" and Spamton will frantically tell you he can't go to the Mansion himself because "THE MEN INSIDE WOULD [...]", but now we also know it's especially the case for Swatch, compared to the many Swatchlings with generic eye-censors. Something would have to make Spamton single the head butler out the most, and besides being his replacement, stealing his entire ensemble and claiming it's Spamton that's the faker probably pushes it.

• A poster besides Spamton's dumpster-home shows a picture of how Spamton looked when he was successful, which is just how he looks now without the Dealmaker shades that have the closest connection to Swatch, possibly Jossing this theory.
  • How does it joss anything?

The boss of Chapter 4 will be a Bishop.

In keeping with the Chess Motif the bosses so far have shown, it would only make sense for a Bishop to appear. His chapter could focus upon the Dark World created by the church, and he could be a extremely mystical Darkner who has created a cult-like sect around worshiping him. Similarly, the Shadow Crystal holder of his chapter could be the one Seam mentions after bringing him Spamton’s Shadow Crystal, as he mentions a "Shadow Mantle", and, as we all know, mantles are robes worn by extremely powerful members of the clergy. The Shadow Crystal holder in question would be an extremely deranged Darkner who was once a former priest, but has thrown aside his belief of any deity demanding proof that they exist in any form, in part due to "Someone" asking him to question if deities really exist. The Shadow Mantle is the robe he wore while working with Bishop, and its presence will cause him to regain some of his sanity, making him easier to fight. As for why he is encountered in Chapter 4 and not Chapter 3 as Seam thought, Seam's prediction was thrown off by Kris creating the TV Dark World.

• There's also an unused item, the Sky Mantle, that appears to be a version of the Shadow Mantle but connected to Pure Crystals (another unused item) instead of Shadow Crystals. The description of the Sky Mantle specifically states that it protects again holy attacks, which are very likely to be related to a church-related Dark World.

• This could also be the chapter where Catti and Jockington have an important role, as they're the only other classmates to have class portraits. Catti specifically because she had been mentioned to study the occult. Jockington could take the form of a magic staff or a halo.

Seam will be contacted by the strange someone who talked to Jevil and Spamton, possibly even being a superboss in a future chapter.

Out of the two existing superbosses we currently have, we know that they both came into contact with a strange someone and are aware of their reality (via the Shadow Crystals). Given that Seam seems to have an in-depth knowledge of Shadow Crystals, and that they know both superbosses, it seems they have extensive knowledge of things that they shouldn't. How long until it catches up with them?

The G in Spamton G. Spamton's name stands for "Spamton."

His name is literally Spamton G(Spamton) Spamton.

Spamton originated from a dot-com company Mettaton owned that fell far and hard when the bubble burst.

Spamton's favoritism for the late '90s and his downfall sometime after that runs parallel enough to the timeline of the dot-com bubble (which lasted from 1995 to 2000), and the fact that a lot of real-world dot-com businesses ran on a "get big fast" model aligns with Spamton's sudden rise in fame back in the day and his obsession with becoming [BIG]. Perhaps in the Light World, he was a mascot for Big Shot Autos created during its heyday as an online car site, and when the bubble burst, the company ended up changing hands before ultimately becoming a spam outlet, which manifested as his Faustian Bargain and Riches to Rags backstory in the Dark World.

As for the heavy nods to the Undertale version of Mettaton, maybe that character's Deltarune equivalent was the original owner of the site, and their traits and desires rubbed off on the business — and in turn, Spamton. It'd also explain the Deltarune version of Mettaton's despondency in the Light World, being crushed by the sharp decline of his business and how it made his dreams infeasible.

Ralsei's fountain is a Soulless Shell.

It's soul or whatever the Titan equivalent of a soul is has been removed from it somehow. This is why all darkners can live in its world while in other dark worlds only darkners that reflect it's fountain's will can survive and why it is made of "pure darkness", it's just a source of darkness without a will to modulate it.

The chapter 1 enemies will make a grand return in a more powerful form in the final or second-to-final chapter.

Just as Final Froggits, Whimsalots, and Astigmatisms are all superfied versions of Froggits, Whimsuns, and Looxes.

• Rudinn and Hathy already have superfied forms that could be reused, but what would the others be like?
  • Maybe Jigsawry's superfied form would be the Tutorial Masters.

The Swatchlings are Swatch's children, and they also helped make the NEO body.

Swatch is MS Paint. The Swatchlings are colors. Where do those colors come from? MS Paint. As in, the Swatchlings come from Swatch. Plus, the Nobody used MS Paint to make the NEO body, and if Swatch helped, the Swatchlings must have helped, too.

Darkners preexist their fountains.

People in the dark worlds talk about events that occurred before their fountain was created all the time. If IMAGE_FRIEND is Mike, then he was able to exist and visit the computer lab before his fountain was created.

The Secret Boss of Chapter 3 will be the Book of Hymns.

Seam says you will only be able to beat that boss if you have the Shadow Mantle and the Sky Mantle (which is presumably a modified version of it) grants resistance to Holy damage, which fits a religious enemy. The book is one of the closest objects in the room to the TV and the fountain site, meaning it will be one of the few darkners inside Mike's fortress. It's also the most relevant object in the room to the lore, being written by the church and containing hymns to the angel. This also relates to the religious themes set up by Spamton.

A future chapter's main boss, continuing to follow the theorized Chess Motif, will be a group of characters representing Pawns.

They'll be pretty weak or have simple attacks when alone, but a real threat when fought all together. They'll either rule as an oligarchy or democratic council in their respective Dark World. There might even be an individual focused on commanding the others, one focused on damage and one focused on healing with blue, pink and green Color Motifs as direct parallels to The Fun Gang.

Nubert has mind control/memory manipulation powers

It would explain why everyone inexplicably seems to know him and why "Everybody Loves Nubert".

The "Green Room" shown off in the new teaser is the dark world equivalent of Kris and Asriel's room

Both rooms have a signficant star aesthetic, the two couches represent the two beds, and the reason why a Maus is outside of the cyber world is because of Asriel's computer.

Tenna is both the Darkner of Kris' TV, and the Rook in a chess set

His name refers to him being a tower, after all. So he'll be fought on top of a giant transmission tower.

The Chess Motifs only apply to dark worlds that were created by The Knight.

Which is why (assuming that Kris is a Red Herring) Tenna's name doesn't seemingly correspond with any piece.

Every Shadow Crystal holder will have elements of Amusement Park of Doom in their battles.

Jevil's arena resembles a merry-go-round and one of his attacks is themed after one, while Spamton's fight takes place on a rollercoaster. This themeing will continue with future Shadow Crystal holders, with amusement park rides or attractions being parts of their battles. A couple examples:

• A Haunted House attraction
• A funhouse full of wacky mirrors
• A drop tower ride for a High-Altitude Battle
• A water-related ride or attraction, such as a water slide, log flume, lazy river, etc
• A ferris wheel, which could fit if the secret boss has some relevance or connection to Susie and/or Noelle.

The final Secret Boss will be Seam.

Seam notes that he himself seems to be seeing the world in "darker, yet darker" ways, and he's the one holding onto the Shadow Crystals when you deliver them to him, technically making him a "Shadow Crystal holder". In the card theme of the first chapter, Seam fills a similar role to Jevil - the second Joker, who fills the major arcana role of "The Magician" rather than "The Fool". Perhaps the close proximity to the Shadow Crystals will corrupt him further, with him trying to help Gaster manifest due to their similarities as the former Court Magician and Royal Scientist respectively. Or maybe he finds a Shadow Crystal himself and challenges Kris as a way to alleviate some boredom while giving it to Kris in a roundabout way.

One Dark Fountain will be open at the Church

Religion is a source of comfort (and some would say, escapism) for many, especially adults. And what better way to unleash the Angel's Heaven than a Dark World open at a place where the Angel itself is worshipped. Considering this is good climax material, it would take place either in chapter 6 or 7, with either Father Alvin or known choir boy Asriel (or both) as Guest-Star Party Member. In that chapter we would finally also known the identity of the Roaring Knight or more about the proper Roaring.

The Bonus Bosses of each chapter will have a theme of the stage moving

Jevil was fought on a carousel, moving around and around, and Spamton (at least in the normal route) was fought on coaster tracks, moving forward. What I'm thinking is that maybe future bosses will be fought with the stage going down, up, backwards, and maybe even left or right for a Mother inspired background.

Chapter 7 will feature a Boss Rush of the previous Bonus Bosses...

...if you stop at the last moment on each of their quests (Fixing Jevil's key, loading Spamton onto the disk, ect.). Of course, they'll be furious that you put in all that effort only to stop at the last hurdle, and they'll "Reward" you with a tougher version of their already tough battles...you get what you deserve, I guess.

Mike is dead, or at least Spamton believes so.

Why else would he ask if Mike was seeing his success after you defeat him violently, especially after he asked if "heaven" was watching earlier? Given the wording on the "d_a_m_n_y_o_u_t_e_n_n_a" page ("everyone is going to pay except Mike"), it can be assumed that he was in the same group as them once, so maybe it was a criminal organization? When Spamton's success was on the rise, the mob could've set their sights on him, but Mike took the fall instead to protect him; Spamton believes Mike got killed for what he did, but he could still be alive and in hiding somewhere...

Chapter 3's secret boss will be a Corrupted Character Copy of Woody

The wording for the segment of the April 2023 newsletter is a tad odd. Why state that the cowboy segment is being "cancelled" rather than just "cut"? Could it potentially mean that the show is being cancelled in-universe? And, in Toy Story, what is Woody a toy of? A character from a cancelled cowboy show. In addition to this, Toby has had a strange obsession with a Toy Story fansong he created on Tumblr called "Friend Inside Me"... could it have relevance? And could that title refer to the Soul, a "friend" inside Kris? And let's not forget the entire thing the dark fountains do, that being bring objects to life. Chapter 1 even focused on that being done to Toys! The character could also work to play into Deltarune's themes if we take into the idea of the pullstring, which incorporates the same string iconography as Spamton, as well as its function, which controlls the toy and makes it say a set series of phrases, which could potentially be used as an "emphathic subversion" of the whole idea of set dialogue options. If the voicebox itself is also a character, potentially even Mike (which would line up with his name if it is supposed to represent "Microphone"), it would create a very direct parralel to Kris and the Soul's relationship.

The chapter 3 dark world will be themed after the Tv, the roaring 20s and the golden age of Hollywood

We saw through the spamton sweepstakes, the main trio wearing what looked like mobster attire. So, I think the theming for the third will revolve around the tv, the goldenn age Hollywood, and the 20s since gangsters were really prominent during that time.

Chapter 3's main villain will be a homage to Asgore in some way. Either a more sympathetic Expy or a twisted Foil.

Eh, kindof a stretch... But if we believe the theory that Queen is a representation of Noelle's feelings towards her mother or even the theory that Spade King is a representation of Susie's father, then perhaps Chapter 3's villain will follow a similar trend. Toriel will very likely be involved in Chapter 3, and many people believe Undyne will be as well. And if there's one thing the two have in common... it's their connection with Asgore. Undyne was his trainee, Toriel is his ex-wife. We'll get to explore Toriel's feelings towards him, and maybe even learn about the fate of Dess Holiday (which may have been a factor in their divorce). Having worked with Asgore, Undyne may also reveal something new about the Dreemurrs' past. Namely, about the incident that forced Asgore to resign.

• Bonus points if Undyne somehow gets along better with said villain while Toriel is openly wary or antagonistic!

Spamton's plan all along was power.

If you have sympathy for Spamton, I won't have any here. This theory can be considered a Poison Oak Epileptic Tree.

When you defeat Spamton violently in a Normal Route or after having aborted a Weird Route, he will mention the ThornRing, either telling Kris that he could have sold them this item earlier in the former situation, or sold a second one in the latter.

In the Normal Route, Spamton claims he wants freedom, but this word can have many definitions depending on the person you're asking: freedom of movement for someone who was locked away their whole life or the abolition of oppressive structures are two definitions among many others. But for a character like Spamton, who knows that the world he lives in is a game, but who's too frustrated to think outside the box, "freedom" can also mean "power".

In the Weird Route, where Kris is under the SOUL's control and Noelle becomes their weapon, Spamton has nothing to fear and can concrete his plan. In the Normal Route, however, Spamton knows Kris is not powerful enough to set chaos in Cyber World, so he takes a more sneaky approach by exploiting their fear of becoming the puppet of the SOUL, and by ensuring himself that Susie and Ralsei are not there, as they could call Kris out of his scam. His desire to steal the SOUL is not only to have an infinte source of energy, but also to cheat death and find the better approach against Queen and her forces to conquer Cyber World and take his revenge.

The goal is not to say that Spamton doesn't have real issues nor that his desire to become NEO is to recover some mental health, but I think that his speech about freedom is mostly an act where, as any good salesman, he has to be convincing anytime he's watched. His defeat in the Normal Route may be the realization that he's really weak, and so that his dream of becoming a [BIG SHOT!] is dead, so he prefers to "leave" with dignity.

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