A KNIGHT must be DETERMINED | Deltarune: A Knight Theory You Haven't Heard

Today, we're going to be looking at Deltarune's biggest mystery, the Roaring Knight. We're going to be using only hard evidence shown and told within Deltarune and Undertale to speculate and hopefully solve their motives, plan, and identity while trying to pay as close attention as possible to the themes they embody as Deltarune's main villain. Let's dive in.

attention as possible to the themes they embody as Delta Run's main villain. Let's dive in.

Okay, so a few disclaimers first. This theory includes spoilers up to and including chapter 5. I will be making this theory using facts and evidence presented within only the Toby Fox universe, [music] which means strictly Undertale and Deltarune. And finally, I'm going to put emphasis on clues one can find in an actual playthrough, which means less of this, this, this, and this.

going to put emphasis on clues one can find in an actual playthrough, which means less of this, this, this, and this.

[music] Regardless, this isn't exactly a new topic. In fact, it's quite debated already, but I feel like in a lot of online discussion, some of the merit of this mystery gets lost within the discourse. That's not to say my opinion is superior to anyone else's, of course, but I do believe to solve any good mystery, you need to engage with its message and see where it leads in conjecture with the evidence. So, I'm offering something a little different.

is superior to anyone else's, of course, but I do believe to solve any good mystery, you need to engage with its message and see where it leads in conjecture with the evidence. So, I'm offering something a little different.

I'm obviously unsure if this is 100% correct, but something inside me egged me on to continue with this direction, and I find the end result very, very interesting. Of course, I invite you all to reach your own conclusions and take everything I say with a grain of salt. I'm just an envy on the internet. So, as with any good mystery, I believe the culprit is someone who we've already met. And so, I think a good way to look at the evidence for who this person could be is to look at the most popular suspects and narrow them down. So, first of all, let's cross off these people, who we know for sure are not the knight, and look at our remaining suspects.

everything I say with a grain of salt. I'm just an envy on the internet. So, as with any good mystery, I believe the culprit is someone who we've already met. And so, I think a good way to look

December Holiday is the most popular knight contender I've seen, and for [music] good reason. Her disappearance is the event that allegedly sparked the entire plot of the game. There's also the deer horns, the baseball bat, the ball, etc. You know this theory already.

December Holiday is the most popular night contender I've seen, and for [music] good reason. Her disappearance is the event that allegedly sparked the entire plot of the game. There's also the deer horns, the baseball bat, the ball, etc. You know this theory already.

But I'm going to be completely honest, [music] I'm not the biggest fan of it.

more so because I don't believe the knight is going to be a character who we haven't seen on screen once. But make no mistake, I do not believe that this is irrelevant. Far from it. I believe that her entire disappearance is used as a

More so because I don't believe the knight is going to be a character who we haven't seen on screen once. But make no mistake, I do not believe that this is irrelevant. Far from it. I believe that her entire disappearance is used as a motive. I don't think she's dead. Yes, Noel did use the word "left" when referring to death. [music] And we know from the normal route that that word carries with it some, um, connotations.

But here I'm actually going to break one of my own rules and use the Spamptonton sweep stakes as evidence as it quite literally asks [music] us to find her.

But here I'm actually going to break one of my own rules and use the Spamptonton sweepstakes as evidence as it quite literally asks [music] us to find her.

after running away from home. Furthermore, if we come at this from a more mystery oriented perspective, the knight can't be her for the simple reason that people would notice if the girl who's been missing for who knows how long, at least ever since Noel was a

As such, it's easier to assume that Des is the one in the unused text. I think Des is more likely to be stuck in the game's code in a dark world deep within the shelter or at the bottom of the lake after running away from home. Furthermore, if we come at this from a more mystery-oriented perspective, the knight can't be her for the simple reason that people would notice if the girl who's been missing for who knows how long, at least ever since Noel was a child, came back and went to certain places in the city. We know that the knight made at least the dark fountain in the library and the one from long ago, which are probably related to December in some way. But I would be inclined to believe that people would notice if the person who caused the chief of police to lose his job and go mad would just suddenly appear again one day. I think nobody in hometown commenting about, let alone seeing Des is a bit of a stretch and one I'm not exactly comfortable ignoring for any sort of narrative payoff in a mystery story.

inclined to believe that people would notice if the person who caused the chief of police to lose his job and go mad would just suddenly appear again one day. I think nobody in hometown commenting about, let alone seeing death

[music] Carol Holiday, aka Miss Red Herring herself. I don't think it's her as well.

[music] Carol Holiday aka Miss Red Herring herself. I don't think it's her as well.

Yes, the Night Sword probably is in her house considering she has a small black katana in her bedroom and Asgore specifically mentions the black shard there. However, it's not going to be her for the simple reason that it's impossible for her to have created the fountains in chapter 2 and 4 given the sequence of events. The only way she could do so is a giant ventilation system, which I mean, I guess it's not impossible, but come on, Carol. The housing crisis, Carol, the town has a bunch of Carol. Should add that we don't know for sure if the knight made the dark fountain in chapter 4, considering Asgore doesn't mention it at all, but for the purposes of this theory, let's assume that they did since we don't know if Asgore is even aware of that fountain's very existence. It seems to be lightly confirmed that Carol is the one who calls Chris, considering the fact that she arrived at the Holiday residence immediately after the voice on the phone said, "I'll be right there." She also calls Chris at the end of the weird route, which mirrors the call they get at the end of the normal route. From this, we can conclude that she has a connection to Chris and probably to the knight as well. But it wouldn't make sense that she and said knight are the same person. Also, she appears on screen in like one scene. Come on. [music]

impossible for her to have created the fountains in chapter 2 and four given the sequence of events. The only way she could do so is a giant ventilation system, which I mean, I guess it's not impossible, but come on, Carol. The

On the surface, I understand why people think about Rudy as a potential candidate. He has connections to the mayor, the police, and the church. But I'm going to be real. I don't know what this outcome would even accomplish or how it's even possible for that matter.

assume that they did since we don't know if Asgore is even aware of that fountain's very existence. It seems to be lightly confirmed that Carol is the one who calls Chris, considering the fact that she arrived at the holiday

Let's begin with the evidence. Disregarding the very big chapter 5 shaped elephant in the room, Rudy is extremely sick with an unspecified illness and thus isn't exactly strong. I personally doubt that a person who has been shown to be exhausted after coming down from a ladder, who coughs pretty much every time he begins a sentence, and who is in considerably worse shape after simply going to a sermon very close to their hospital room, would also be able to run from one end of the town to another while carrying an extremely heavy monster with no problem after overpowering an extremely capable Darkner. Twice in the span of two days.

connection to Chris and probably to the knight as well. But it wouldn't make sense that she and said knight are the same person. Also, she appears on screen in like one scene. Come on. [music] On the surface, I understand why people

We are five chapters into Deltarune, which is ample time to display a villain's motivation. So, I have to ask, in this hyperspecific scenario, why would Rudy do these things? Is it to rescue Des? To remain alive? Like, I guess these are motives, but do you really expect me to believe that this guy will put his daughter in knowing danger and try to sacrifice his best friend? It just feels very mischaracterized. Rudy has never once displayed any knowledge of dark fountains or anything regarding that day. He says some ominous lines once or twice in extremely messable scenarios, but these are such small clues that I'm inclined to believe they're more there as red herrings or that they foreshadow some other thing. So yeah, at least for now, this is not really plausible. In the time between chapters 3 and 4 to 5, I was a firm believer in this theory due to an incredibly convincing and well-researched video by Chris Crossy.

Let's begin with the evidence. Disregarding the very big chapter 5 shaped elephant in the room, Rudy is extremely sick with an unspecified illness and thus isn't exactly strong. I personally doubt that a person who has been shown to be exhausted after coming

That video did a great job engaging with the narrative of Deltarune, and I highly recommend watching it alongside this one. Its other conclusions are equally interesting, but the theory mostly claims that the mastermind is Azriel, who in actuality returned from college early and uses the image of his best friend's OC in a failed attempt to bring her back. However, ever since chapter 5 released, my belief has started to wane.

to another while carrying an extremely heavy monster with no problem after overpowering an extremely capable darkner. TWICE IN THE SPAN OF TWO DAYS.

Wouldn't any resident of hometown notice that Azriel [music] came back before the festival and was just walking around seemingly aimlessly? Wouldn't someone like Noel notice that her mom was calling Azriel a ho? Didn't anyone ever mention to Chris something like, "Hey, I saw your brother the other day at all." I mean, I guess it is possible that he didn't encounter anyone, and it's highly probable that he does have access to the Dreamer household at the very least. But he couldn't have access to the...

guess these are motives, but do you really expect me to believe that this guy will put his daughter in knowing danger and try to sacrifice his best friend? It just feels very mischaracterized. Rudy has never once displayed any knowledge of dark

fountains or anything regarding that day. He says some ominous lines once or twice in extremely messable scenarios, but these are such small clues that I'm inclined to believe they're more there as red herrings or that they foreshadow some other thing. So yeah, at least for

now, this is not really plausible. In the time between chapters 3 and 4 to 5, I was a firm believer in this theory due to an incredibly convincing and wellressearched video by Chris Crossy.

That video did a great job engaging with the narrative of Deltaroon, and I highly recommend watching it alongside this one. Its other conclusions are equally interesting, but the theory mostly claims that the mastermind is Azriel, who in actuality returned from college

early and uses the image of his best friend's OC in a failed attempt to bring her back. However, ever since chapter 5 released, my belief has started to wne.

Wouldn't any resident of hometown notice that Azriel [music] came back before the festival and was just walking around seemingly aimlessly? Wouldn't someone like Noel notice that her mom was calling Azreel a ho? Didn't anyone ever mention to Chris something like, "Hey, I

saw your brother the other day at all." I mean, I guess it is possible that he didn't encounter anyone, and it's highly probable that he does have access to the dreamer household at the very least. but he couldn't have access to the church

and very much not to the computer lab without being seen. And even if we choose to ignore some of these contradictions, themes-wise, I feel as though it covers grounds we've kind of already done here.

For a while, I had an idea floating around that the knight is actually just a darkener. If I had to pick a specific one, I would say it's the knife that Chris carries with them. This was mostly supported by dialogue as well as the

knife track being called Black Knife. But there are too many holes in this as well. This version as well cannot exactly carry both Undyne and Asgore because last I checked a knife doesn't have legs. Also, hi, this is editing

compasser. Uh, apparently Aqua knows that Chris has the knife and refers to it as a knife. Beyond that, if the knight really was indeed a darkner that was carried around by Chris and Susie, then there wouldn't have been any reason

for it not to just show up around chapter 1, wreck Ry's [ __ ] and at this point in the story, have Suzie join it.

So, yeah, another dead end. But now that we're done with those, let's use all the information that we learned and look at the the person who is the roaring knight has to be someone who has frequent and easy

access to the shelter, the school, the library, the dreamer household, and I'm going to say the church. Someone who could consistently get to these places at the times the dark fountains were made without arousing suspicion from anyone. someone with close ties to Chris

and Carol. Let's even go out on a limb and say someone generally tied to the holidays. Someone with access to sharp objects. And finally, and most importantly, someone whose motive was already presented, or at least implied within the story. A lot of the theories

I've seen floating around have never addressed what The Knight is doing this for. The topic of motive isn't spoken of unless it's gesturing at secret content or superficial similarities between the game and its inspirations. And while it can be worthwhile to tackle those

topics, I feel that it's important to talk about Deltaroon as its own body of work, Deltaroon is not the same story as the games that came before it. And so its central antagonist should [music] reflect its message and theme. The theme

hamfisted in the beginning is no one can choose who they are in this world. This is a theme which every main character has been trying to break. And so if we're trying to decipher the game's main antagonist, [music] we need to have

someone representing those themes. The knight should be a character who's convinced their choices are already nil.

Someone who has already been completely sucked into the escapism of the dark world. Someone to whom the real world has already been completely corrupted.

someone who also works on a similar principle to the player and is a parallel character to us and our relationship to Chris. A character with some kind of lost dream or some kind of disconnect from their body as they

possess a shadow crystal. A character who could enact a plan across time [music] and space, being at least aware of the soul's actions. a character somehow tied to Desessa's disappearance who plays the role of a slave to destiny

who through will does something crazy. No one can choose who they are in this world.

[music] Okay, so I'm guessing about half of you rolled your eyes at the back of your skull and the other half are simply not watching the video anymore as a lot of Noel Knight theories have been tainted with the flavor of character

assassination that is usually only reserved for cupcake Pinkie Pie. But stay with me. First of all, a clarification. I do not believe that Noel becomes the knight solely in the weird route. That would be dumb, stupid, and bad. Being forced to play a

different route to understand the basic story doesn't feel very appropriate for a game of this tone and caliber. Yes, Delta Rune is a meta mystery, but it's a competent story way before that. In Undertale, for example, the No Mercy

route only expanded on the themes that the true pacifist route has already shown. It didn't present any extremely important thematic or narrative information that couldn't be understood from the other route. Beyond that, Toby has always stated that there is only one

ending, and I don't think he's lying or japing in the sense of, "Ah, well, the weird route isn't an ending because then it loops into the regular chapter 7 and then you place a dock or some [ __ ] like

that." And even then, the weird route is so specific and hard to find, it is impossible to uncover it by accident. So to hide the identity of the main villain of your mystery story in what is akin to

a creepy pasta route is just bad writing. This is Toby Fox we're talking about, not Scott Coffin.

I'm shadow. However, examining the ending of Weird Route and its counterpart scene in the main route will possibly highlight the differences and lead us to speculate what comes next. In the Weird Route, Chris and Noel drown together. The scene

begins with Noel talking in the typing [music] style usually reserved only for Chris's thoughts and the narration. Noel talks about how Chris has changed and that they stopped being Chris and specifically regards that she wants the same thing to happen to her. It's

important to note that in the weird route, the player decides that Chris and Noel will be going to the festival together. As a result, never actually see Rudy during the festival. And as far as he's concerned, nothing particularly

romantic is happening to his daughter, Ergo. As far as we know, in the full weird route, Rudy never fell down. It is only shown that something happened to him when it's aborted. In Undertale, the term fallen down also has two

connotations, and I think the game will at some point go for the much darker one. I think Rudy is going to die in chapter 6. Same chapter in which Noel finds out that the dark world isn't a dream

and something changes. Noel either takes a part of the soul or simply gets the power of will.

Whether it's out of a desire to plunge the world into darkness and endless escapism, or a genuine desire to see her sister and father alive and breathing again, it's impossible to know. The only thing that will actually be different

between the weird route and the regular game is that in the regular game, Noel becomes a knight out of her own valition, while in the weird route, we effectively force her to do it.

Regardless of what we do, she becomes the knight. She becomes determined. If such a situation could take place, Noel could control her actions, at least from when the soul appears, Ergo, a little bit before the beginning of chapter 1, and thereby control her

vessel, her own self, at the corresponding point in time which she chooses. The rules of saving and loading are already pretty different between Deltaroon and Undertale. We already know that Chris is able to do whatever they please without input from the player,

even when we aren't looking. Basically, Chris does things without the soul without a set time limit. Who said that the monster can't do the same? My theory is that the roaring knight is a determined, soul-filled version of Noel,

which can possess Noel throughout the entire game, allowing her to create dark fountains and take on a different appearance in the dark world. It is somewhat unlikely that present Noel is aware of what Night Noel is doing. The

reason I'm making this outlandish claim right now is because there is a lot of evidence to support this.

With this hypothesis in mind, a lot of things suddenly click into place. First of all, if anyone from the city sees her around the places the dark fountain spawned at, even paranoid people like Asgore, there's no reason anyone would

actually suspect her of acting strangely. The supply closet. Noel is usually the one who helps Alfus get the chalk. The library, she went to study there just a bit before Birdley. The dreamer household. She lives nearby and has been coming to it ever since she was

a child to the point where they considered giving her a key. And lastly, the church, why she was just there. In fact, we never actually see her leave.

Motives-wise, it also makes sense. Noel was probably there when death disappeared and feels guilty about whatever happened there. This can also explain why Chris doesn't hurt the knight. specifically in chapter 4 if [music] we manage to pass the sword

climb section. Because of the weird route, we know that Chris is deeply disturbed by the thought of hurting their childhood friend. Heck, Queen even chooses Noel to be a Neo Knight in chapter 2. And now, because of chapter

5, we know that Noel is already amazing at masking how she truly feels. Now, I'm assuming you have a lot of questions, and I'm going to try to answer as many as I can.

This is the most pressing question and the truth is my answer to this is a bit convoluted right now. As I mentioned, I think the knight is some kind of combination of the soul and the well. We also see it morphing within itself,

changing shape every 2 seconds, melting, etc., which is a bit reminiscent of the amalgamates from Undertale. I'm not claiming that night Noel is one of them, but it does seem to imply that there is some switching of control here. Argo, I

think Chris coughed for the soul inside the knight as a sign to end the battle before any side gets too hurt. Note that Chris only allegedly attacks Susie and Rousey when the knight is legitimately defenseless. Chris cannot bring

themselves to see their friend hurt. I think it's safe to say that Noel can't usually carry both Undy and Asgore and run really, really fast, although she is in the track team. But again, the knight is not just Noel. It is Noel with a

soul. If we look at Undertale, why we already know that a fusion between a human soul and a monster soul can not only cross the barrier, but still have enough power and magic to kill a bunch of humans. From this, we can conclude

that a fusion like that is physically strong. This is how the timeline went. Noel stays behind at the church and makes a dark fountain. Note that we only see Noel leave the main room of the church and not the building itself. Afterwards,

to hang out with Susie and Chris occurs. Then, when she is grounded by Carol, Noel sneaks out of her room, a thing we know for a fact Chris taught her to do, and goes to the church. We don't exactly

know when the knight arrived at the sanctuary, as Rousece isn't around to sense its presence at the very beginning. It's not unreasonable to say that the knight simply arrived before or after Chris and Suzie. It may actually depend on if the player chose to go to

Castle Town first or to Noel's house first. To add to this, the knight [music] has been shown to have a want to kidnap Toriel, something that would somewhat motivate it to create a dark fountain and lay a trap in a place where

she'll likely be. The choir practice that was only cancelled when the rain started. My thought is that right now Chris and Carol are trying to do everything they can to protect Noel. Ergo, they try to make sure the knight doesn't get hurt,

which means keep the soul away from any interaction with Noel or with the knight. This would entail separating Noel and Suzie in certain locations, as well as getting Tenna to keep the fun gang busy. Okay, this question is going

to require some explaining. So, for some reason, a lot of people think that the knight must be someone Gerson taught since Gerson is alive in chapter 4. And RC notes that darkness patterned after the memory of a loved one [music] tend

to only appear in very specific darknesses. Because of Alvin, we know that Chris and by extension Noel were not his students.

And this line implies that the knight has to be someone Gerson knew when they were alive. So, I guess this theory is debunked. Well, sucks to be me. Hold it.

We weren't actually told what kind of darkness a darkner like Gerson can exist in. Furthermore, we don't know if Gerson was actually like this when he was alive. Note that in Undertale, his laugh is different. Please remember that in

this world, Gerson wasn't a warrior at all. He was a famous author who created a very popular book series adapted into a video game franchise that Noel really loves. And if the knight had to have known Gerson, then our suspect pool is

like three people. Therefore, I think there is enough sufficient evidence to say that this theory is not debunked.

This section sucks at Hey, so this section may sound a little heated and angry, but we're all here to have fun.

Okay, with that said, the Undertale and Deltin community are the most annoying [ __ ] people alive when it comes to this, as none of them have heard a song outside of a video game possibly ever.

No, Black Knife is not Lost Girls. It doesn't have the secret boss motif or the cucumber crest motif or the sepharoth constipated [ __ ] I will be looking at the motif plainly presented within the song Black Knife as God

intended. And if you disagree with me, I have a degree in music. [ __ ] you.

[music] [music] [music] While this is the main motif used in Black Knife, the other tracks this motif appears in are seemingly unrelated to the night. If this was any other game, that would have been fine. But Toby Fox

doesn't just use light motifs like that. He uses them very carefully and very intentionally. So, when do these tracks first play? The door is the very first time we see a door to a dark world. The chase is the very first time we see a

soul on screen besides the opening vessel creation and the very first time we can take damage. And of course, [music] Black Knife is the first time the Knight is physically shown to the player. Toby is trying to show us that

the Dark World Soul and the Roaring Knight have something tying them together, which could mean nothing. Also, since I had nowhere else to put this in, this is kind of speculative, Rory. But I am like 99% sure that the sound the knight makes

when it's hurt is just a filtered version of Noel's scream. Check it. And now we are very, very close to the end. At last, there's the So, in the Prophecy, the knight isn't actually mentioned all that much. In

fact, they're only mentioned once, and it's not incredibly important. But there is another force that is spoken of a lot more and is a little more unclear. The girl. Now in Ri's version of the prophecy, which we see in the intro in

chapter 1, the illustration plainly depicts Suzie. But in the sanctuary, the image used resembles both Suzie and Noel. This is an intentional choice, I believe. Although the first one so far refers to Suzie, and I have no idea how

to tie the rude Buster to Noel, I'm convinced the title of the girl is meant to fit both of them. Let's explore the second hero, the girl with hope crossed on her heart. This is a very clever play

on words as Susie aspires hope in others and learns the value of friendship and staying true to herself. [music] But I think what is interesting about this sentence is the part that isn't mentioned as it is very clearly derived

from the sentence cross my heart and hope to [music] die which means to take an oath. But the part about hoping to die is not mentioned. I wonder if it's because we know someone who kind of hopes to die. love finds its way to the

girl and the image displays the girl with a heart in her chest. Now there is one OBVIOUS INTERPRETATION OF THIS BUT there is also the interpretation of a level of violence from Undertale and in the context of this theory could

symbolize Noel acquiring a soul. So what does it actually mean that these two are interchangeable? Well, I believe this serves one of two purposes. This either showcases how the weird and the normal route both lead to the same ending or

just maybe hints at something a little different. Just as the title of the girl is interchangeable between Susie and Noel, maybe the title of the knight is the same way. Maybe both Suzie and Noel have the potential to become knights.

But if I'm trying to claim that Noel is the knight, then for that to be possible, we would also need Suzie to be referred to as a knight at least once.

And that has never happened. Finally, let's address a certain piece of symbolism in the weird route. In chapter 4, when we equip the thorn ring on Noel, an animation plays with something in game described as a rose forming within her. However, it doesn't

really look like a red rose at all. It looks like a soul. And I wonder if the only other character who has a soul would have anything to say about this.

One could say they are the only one who knows The Shattered Rose's true meaning. Thank you for watching.

[music] Hi, thank you so so much for watching this video. This is like the first video essay I've done in like 10 years. Uh, and the first video on this channel. I don't know if I'm going to do any more

to be completely honest. I just really wanted to get that out there because I was really really passionate about this theory. And as you can tell from my soundtrack choices, I'm very very passionate about who done it and

mysteries. Um, if I ever make more videos on this channel, I have one more that is deltain related and is related to the big narrating elephant of the room that I didn't discuss, but I also want to talk about more things like I

have a few essays already written about Full Metal Alchemist and other such stuff. Uh, yeah, let me know if you'll be interested in that. Um, sorry that this video is such a disorganized mess.

I was just really really passionate about it. And uh I would love to hear your comments. If you have some evidence that refutes or supports this theory, I will love to know. Uh I'd love to know your theories as well because again, I'm

not perfect. I'm just very passionate about this. Uh thank you all so much for watching and have a lovely day. Bye-bye.