u/AnotherBoxOfTapes

Unlike the image (which comes from this classic animation), this isn’t a “Ralsei is secretly evil” theory. Much of this interpretation is based on the opposite. I’ve seen a lot of predictions about what the final tragedy in the prophecy is, and while the idea that it will involve the death of one or more of the heroes is popular, I haven't seen this specific scenario brought up often, despite (at least to me) it fitting quite well with the characters’ words and behaviors so far.

Starting with what Susie says and does after reading the tragedy, her disbelief and anger would certainly fit the idea of Ralsei seemingly betraying his friends and everything he stands for. “I wouldn't let it happen…Kris wouldn't let it happen…And obviously YOU wouldn't let it happen.” could mean not letting Ralsei kill someone, or not letting things get to a point where that's likely to occur. But the part that really got me thinking in the first place is the “obviously YOU” part. Many predictions about the final tragedy don’t seem to consider this part as important as I think it could be. Why would Ralsei be emphasized here? Perhaps because the tragedy involves Ralsei’s direct actions. But obviously Ralsei wouldn't let his friends or someone close to his friends be killed, right? It's a scenario that, like Susie, you want to believe is so uncharacteristic that it obviously would never happen.

So why would Ralsei even consider killing someone? Perhaps if he was being forced into a moral dilemma in which killing is the only way to save the worlds, like the prophecy states. Perhaps Ralsei will need to stop a character from pursuing their own agenda due to them unknowingly setting the stage for the end of the worlds, but this character’s determination to see their goals through will make nonlethal prevention very difficult, if not impossible. The most obvious candidate for this character would be Kris, who’s been shown to have a conflicting agenda, but I've also seen predictions that Noelle may unknowingly make things worse in order to save her father or Dess. It could also be Susie after finding out about Kris’s “betrayal”, either joining Kris’s side or going rogue. It may even be someone outside our “main four”, anyone whose death would be especially devastating.

But what makes this interpretation especially interesting to me is how it contextualizes Ralsei’s behaviors and actions throughout the game so far. In my interpretation, Ralsei does not want to be a killer, he’s terrified of what it may mean for him to do such a thing. He knows he must become close with the other two heroes only to eventually break their hearts (or end their lives), so he tries to make the journey leading up to that point as pleasant as possible for them, not wanting to make himself a bother or make anything about himself, making it his purpose to serve the other two heroes’ needs. He hesitates to develop a sense of self, not wanting to become attached to anything. Why would he deserve anything if he’s destined to do such an awful thing and lose it all? But despite this, he can’t help but become attached to his newfound friends and develop a new sense of self, making what’s coming all the more dreadful for him. He holds out hope that being nice may eliminate the need for violence, but the more of the prophecy comes true, the more scared he gets that something devastating is coming; something that will destroy all the kindness and friendship he’s built. By Chapter 4, he desperately wants to prevent the other two heroes from learning of what he’s prophesied to do in the fear that it will ruin what they have in the present and destroy any hope of breaking the prophecy through goodwill. When Susie reads the panel, he’s profusely apologetic, bracing for it all to come crashing down, but instead, he gets to hold out hope for a little while longer.

So, what do you think? I’m not an in-depth theorist by any means, so there’s probably something big I’m overlooking. But still, I think this is an outcome more fitting of “Final Tragedy” status than some other ideas I’ve seen floating around, and at the end of the day, it’s fun to put these things out there in the slim chance it comes true and I get to say “I predicted it!”.

I also came up with a prediction of the wording: “TO SAVE THE WORLDS, THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY. BY THE PRINCE’S HAND, ________ MUST BE SLAIN.” (fill in the blank with your character(s) of choice)

I've seen a few people theorizing that the depiction of Ralsei in Tenna's intro is actually of Asriel. This is mostly based on the fact that his horns and glasses are black instead of pink and green, he doesn't have a scarf or a symbol on his shirt, and he's using a computer (which is something that's associated more with Asriel than Ralsei). It would also make more sense for Tenna to show Asriel when he says "the show that makes you scream", since Asriel's one of Tenna's original viewers, whereas Tenna's much less familiar with Ralsei. Well, I just came across a piece of info about an unused sprite that adds more evidence to this theory.

Deltarune's talk sprites are internally labeled "spr_face_[character]", where "[character]" is a character's name or first initial. For example, all of Ralsei's talk sprites are labeled "spr_face_r". But there's an unused placeholder talk sprite left in the game that depicts a similar "black-horned Ralsei" to Tenna's intro, and this sprite is labeled "spr_smallface_a". Could "a" stand for "Asriel"? A much flimsier argument is that this sprite has an expression that isn't very "Ralsei-like", whereas it could fit for Asriel depending on his characterization.

There are a lot of holes here, the biggest of which is that Toby's Ralsei concept art also features black horns, and he may have simply used a different naming scheme for placeholders. There's also Susie's dialogue about Asriel being a "vanilla nerd" which may imply he has white horns like his grown form in Undertale, and depending on how you read dialogue, these images may look too similar to Ralsei to be Asriel. But it's interesting to see this after seeing people already question if Tenna's intro shows Asriel without knowing about the unused sprite.

The screenshot is taken from The Cutting Room Floor.

driving in their car (by akanemnon)

Been revisiting Chapter 1 era memes. This one in particular has aged beautifully.

Susie reading the prophecy like:

Okay but seriously, what if the prophecy actually ends with Ralsei killing one or more major characters?

i think i may have found the origin of jerma's previously unexplained murderous hatred of santa claus

found an old toby fox interview with a...interesting interviewer

I'm starting to question who the Marvel actor in this cast is.

It was an honest mistake.