Kriselle, Ralsusie, and Self Love
I believe that Suselle is not going to work out and that the end game pairings are going to end up being Kriselle and Ralsusie.
I am certain that this is not the first time you've heard this take, the two pairings are complimentary and pretty popular. But I think a lot of people who believe in this possibility don't address the why. What would Deltarune gain out of such a tangled romantic plotline.
Which is a shame, because I feel like there's a pretty simple and satisfying narrative reason as to why these two relationships might matter to the overall message of Deltarune. And it all starts with one of the earliest 'thesis statements' the game gives us, all the way back in Chapter One:
Part 1- Man vs Self
If you have more than a surface level understanding of Deltarune's main characters, you probably already understand what I'm getting at here.
Throughout Deltarune's first four chapters, we are constantly introduced to characters who are dissatisfied with their position in life, their public image, or even their own body. Each one of these characters is worthy of a 40 page analysis of their own, but to oversimplify for the sake of clarity:
We have Kris Dreemurr, the only human in Hometown. They are implied to struggle with intrusive thoughts, their 'otherness', and their general feelings of inadequacy born from shadowing their older brother. Prior to the events of the game, they have become more and more withdrawn, no longer holding deep relationships with any of the people they are implied to have been close to in the past. On top of this, various sources in their childhood appear to have led to them internalizing the belief that they are something dangerous or wrong, and their desire to hide away from the people they care about can likely be sourced back to this belief.
We have Susie, Hometown's 'delinquent' bully. She struggles with people perceiving her as 'scary' and 'mean', backed by her poor public image despite several anecdotes from various townsfolk claiming they've never actually seen her do anything too bad. She then plays into this as a sort of defense mechanism, attacking people preemptively and acting cruel or violent to make herself appear strong, and she struggles to see herself as somebody who is capable of making friends and being loved. And even once she does begin to make friends, she seems to still believe that the people she loves will betray or deceive her.
Susie, lamenting her inability to ever connect with others.
We have Ralsei, the Prince of the Dark. He's spent his entire life waiting for the heroes to arrive so he can fulfill his predetermined part, despite fearing their predestined fate and believing that he, as a darkner, is a lesser being whose feelings should not be taken into account. Throughout the game, he struggles with his own person-hood and developing feelings. He's conflicted between pursuing his growing desires and feeling selfish just for having them, all while trying to passively nudge the other heroes in a direction that he hopes will prevent the final tragedy despite believing it is inevitable. He's caught between the roles he's meant to play, as an object that shouldn't have feelings and a guide that ensures that the prophecy passes as foretold, and the friends he has grown to care about.
He's just a Darkner. He shouldn't have feelings. They shouldn't have to worry about him.
And lastly, we have Noelle Holiday. The mayor's youngest only daughter. She's the mayor's perfect golden girl, always willing to help others out. She's friendly, approachable, innocent, and...
She's actually a weirdo. She's obsessed with anything scary or thrilling: Horror movies, creepypastas, game glitches, the school bully, etc. She's bogged down by her inability to act, always allowing others to make decisions for her and being unable to speak out when somebody overrides her, often placing her in a position where she 'needs' to be protected or saved. She bottles up all those vile, unwanted feelings and allows her life to spiral further out of her control, all while feeling envious towards those who are more capable of standing up for themselves, even to the point of fawning over somebody that she knows is a bully.
An argument can even be made for Berdly here, struggling with imposter syndrome after winning the spelling bee and feeling as though he has to pretend to return Noelle's unwanted feelings (despite the lack of those feelings actually existing) to maintain his friendship with her. But he's not a main character so this is all he's getting.
So what's the point here?
Kris, Susie, Ralsei, and Noelle all struggle with the roles they have naturally fallen into. Whether it was through bad parenting, social pressure, or doomed prophecies, they all have a role to play and they all have things about themselves that they find undesirable. This usually results in them leaning into certain aspects of themselves that they don't particularly like because they believe that's who they have to be (That weird human kid, the school bully, the naive and selfless guide, and the mayor's perfect daughter)
Several major conflicts are supernatural extensions of this idea, such as Kris being possessed by the soul and having sworn a promise to an unknown entity that conflicts with their more 'selfish' desires. As well as things like Susie feeling betrayed by the prophecy after citing it as the reason she has friends now and feels like she has a purpose moments before learning what it's all leading up to.
And I would argue that the romantic aspects of Deltarune's story are probably more thematically relevant than people tend to assume, that it isn't a simple romantic subplot but rather ties directly into the main plot of the game and the message(s) it's trying to send.
Part 2- Failure at the festival
Susie and Noelle are pushed as the primary romantic pairing from the very beginning of Deltarune, hinted at by Noelle's odd behavior and distinct interest in the school bully as early as chapter 1.
Then, in chapter 2, a good portion of the plot centers around Susie rescuing Noelle from her room and taking her on a romantic ferris wheel ride, where the two grow closer in an undeniably romantic way.
In chapter 4, Noelle and Susie grow even closer as Kris and the Soul fight over the guitar shelter code. This all culminates in Susie proudly announcing to Carol's face that she's taking Noelle to the festival tomorrow. That'll show her!
And so, the date is on, it's just that easy. Or is it?
So yeah, I believe all of this romantic buildup with Noelle was primarily to make Susie's inevitable fall hit that much harder. A light world section dedicated to Noelle and Susie growing closer and a dark world section dedicated to Susie getting excited about all the wonderful things the prophecy has given her, all to end on this:
I firmly believe Susie is not going to show up to the festival, that she's going to spend the festival day with Ralsei instead while Kris and Noelle are forced together in the light world as a way of both re-initiating Kris and Noelle's friendship for the later acts of the game while also setting up for Noelle to fall into the upcoming dark world(s) and get more involved in the plot.
Except... that's not even the reason I think Suselle is going to fail. This is a bump in their relationship, it's definitely going to devastate Noelle to have yet another person 'leave her', but there is theoretically nothing stopping them from coming back together once the drama is over and the danger has passed (assuming they both survive, anyway).
And yet, I still argue that it won't happen. Because there is a fundamental flaw in their relationship that chapter 4 puts on full blast: Noelle and Susie barely know each other.
From what we know of the their dynamic, they have interacted somewhat in the past but do not regularly talk to one another. Noelle expresses curiosity as to what Susie is truly like in chapter 1, and though she has talked about Susie to several people, she has not really talked to Susie until the beginning of chapter 2.
Despite this, we can identify the inciting incident of their mutual crush. At least, on Susie's side of things. Noelle gave her a pencil once and was nice to her, when nobody else was. That's it. That's the entire origin story of Susie's crush. She's so used to people hating her that this one small act of kindness was enough to make her admire Noelle.
Noelle's crush on Susie predates canon by quite a bit, but we can not point to a singular incident that caused her to develop her feelings. But we can address why she likes Susie, and while there are several reasons for that, the most obvious one is:
She wants to emulate her strength.
Noelle feels powerless. She can't stand up for herself, she can't tell people no, and she's afraid for people to know who she really is. Susie is powerful. She doesn't care what other people think, she isn't afraid to speak her mind, and she's proud of who she is.
(Even though we, as players, know that isn't true about Susie at all. Most of her strength comes from a place of insecurity, a belief that she has to lash out at others first before they do something to hurt her)
And... around Susie, Noelle tries to copy her. Instead of donning her usual 'nice girl' mask, she tries to act tough and take Susie's lessons to mind in an attempt to impress her. And her attempt to do so in chapter 4...
Followed by an immediate subject change when Susie doesn't react the way she expected.
It doesn't go so well.
Susie, similarly, tries to hide her true self around Noelle. She acts nicer, constantly walking on eggshells and acting uncharacteristically nervous. Even though Noelle would ideally want Susie to treat her exactly the way she treats Kris, Susie doesn't act like that around her at all.
Of course, chapter 4 is the start of them growing more comfortable with one another. Noelle begins to nerd out a little about her interests, Susie meets her halfway and starts acting more like herself, and everything seems to be going well.
Except, again, it doesn't.
Despite the fact that this is supposed to be the big Suselle scene of the chapter, the game puts quite a bit of emphasis on anything but them. It focuses on Kris and the Soul. It focuses on the background conspiracy stuff. It focuses on Dess and her absence.
And, most importantly, it focuses on Noelle's history with Kris. And Susie's relationship with Ralsei.
Both of these things are brought up by the other half of their duo, treated as a source of jealousy for a seemingly platonic relationship with another person that they don't understand. And both times, the person under scrutiny hides the truth about what the other person means to them.
There are even cut sprites of Susie crossing her arms and blushing, which seems to have been originally planned to be used in this scene. It almost directly calls her a tsundere with the sprite name, too, which wouldn't be fitting for the way Susie treats Noelle at all. (https://tcrf.net/Deltarune/Chapter_4/Unused_Graphics/Characters/Party) <- (Link because I ran out of images lol, but it's there)
I believe this all speaks for itself.
This is immediately followed by Susie poking at Noelle and Kris's history. I won't go into all the reasons that I see their dynamic as some sort of half-developed childhood crush gone wrong, if you're involved with the fandom at all you've probably been exposed to at least one massive wall of Kriselle proof already (or possibly the infamous Pelipal doc, you know the one). Kriselle fans, such as myself, are completely incapable of talking about their ship without infodumping.
Look, they're both blushing! How normal and platonic of you.
This line is dropped after Noelle nervously stammers over her explanation of her complicated history with Kris, insisting that they're just neighbors. Note Susie's eyes being narrowed with suspicion, unsatisfied with the explanation she's receiving. Both Susie and Noelle see ferris wheel rides as something romantic, which makes the mutual blushing here particularly interesting.
But that's not what's important.
What is important is that Susie and Noelle, despite interacting the least out of the possible pairings you could create by combining the four main characters (except for Ralsei and Noelle, but nobody is arguing they're going to be a canon pairing) are spending their very limited time together that should go towards building up their relationship talking about their relationships with... other characters?
On top of this, there are several scenes where Noelle blushes around Kris or thinks deeply about how much she misses them. And Susie and Ralsei aren't much better, constantly thinking about the other when they're not around and blushing in several scenes involving the other person.
I find it hard to believe so much emphasis would be put on these two 'ship ruining' relationships, relationships that are undeniably much deeper than Susie and Noelle's at the moment, without being written that way with a specific goal in mind. Especially since the story seems to be pushing Noelle and Susie apart instead of further together with prophecy-related developments. It's not the sort of writing I would expect from the main romantic pairing of a game, at the halfway point of the story.
Something else is going on here.
Part 3- To be seen is to be Loved
The primary flaw between Susie and Noelle's relationship is that they don't see each other for who they really are.
Susie doesn't know the real Noelle, because Noelle is afraid of showing her. She pretends to be more confident, more violent, and generally 'cooler' because she thinks that's what Susie wants her to be. Despite the fact that Susie likes Noelle for her nice, gentle side. The side that showed her kindness when nobody else did.
Noelle doesn't know the real Susie, either. She believes that Susie has secretly always been really nice, deep down, and her current relationship with Susie seems to be validating her belief that all Susie needed was the right person to bring this side out of her. She doesn't know about the Dark World adventures and how Susie's grown as a person.
And in doing so, in hiding who they truly are and not seeing each other's uglier sides, they're putting themselves into a pretty dangerous position: A relationship built on the ideal versions of one another formed in their head.
Does that really seem healthy to you? She barely knows her!
Noelle is using Susie as a source of much needed confidence and strength. Her life is kind of falling apart. Her sister is missing, her mom has grown distant and cold, her dad is dying, and her childhood friend seems to want nothing to do with her. Everything is the same, except for the things that keep changing for the worse, and it's making her desperate.
And then Susie shows up. The new girl. And Noelle grows extremely attached before ever getting to know her, inventing excuses for her cruel behavior and crafting narratives of saying just the right thing to break through Susie's shell and find herself a partner for life, somebody who she can keep by her side so that she doesn't have to worry about being alone.
The thing is... once you see the similarities between Susie and Kris, it's hard to not think this crush is a little bit of a rebound. Susie's a social outcast that's outwardly cruel to people, which lines up perfectly with Noelle's childhood experience with Kris and their pranks. She hides her eyes with her bangs, likes to mess with people, and is generally distant and unapproachable.
And once Noelle and Susie start to grow close, the things that Susie does that Noelle sees as fun or romantic are merely echoes of her past with Kris. Susie scares her and makes a joke about the severed hand, which gets a laugh and a blush out of her. Susie picks up Dess's guitar and Noelle immediately jumps on the opportunity to have Susie play her a song, despite music being something she explicitly does not have experience with.
While also making several comments in chapter 4 that are clearly about Kris's piano playing, as well as privately blogging about it.
And we already know from the weird route that, given the opportunity, Noelle will pivot hard to taking Kris to the festival instead of pursuing Susie.
While some might argue that this is on account of conditioning in the weird route, I do not see it that way. After the chapter 2 weird route, Noelle is scared out of her mind. She's horrified both at the possibility of something being wrong with Kris that's making them act the way they did, but also at herself for the actions she took in her 'dream'. The actions that she enjoyed, deep down, despite knowing they were wrong. She's scared that it was all real and shows zero interest in Kris with any of the post-dark-world chapter 2 interactions despite still having the thorn ring on.
It's only after hearing Kris's real voice, after hearing proof that they genuinely care about her and want her to be safe, that she bursts into tears and grows confident enough to make a move like this. All after successfully convincing herself once again that the whole thing was a dream.
This is her real self, these are her real feelings towards Kris. The thorn ring didn't make her fall in love with Kris, neither did the conditioning, it was their own actions that moved her. And while she wasn't going to invite Susie to the festival anyway, she's far too nervous to attempt something like that despite her crush, the fact that she was talking to Rudy about Kris instead of Susie speaks for itself. Her priorities changed.
And also one of the only people she feels comfortable saying no to.
Unlike her relationship with Susie, her relationship with Kris is built off of comfort and familiarity. Kris and Noelle are well aware of each other's oddities. They have complicated opinions on one another, both positive and negative, and both still greatly like the other while not having strictly positive feelings.
Throughout chapter 2, Kris is required to scare Noelle with mice repeatedly to progress through the puzzles. While she initially reacts with frustration and fear, she grows to love mice by the end of the third puzzle and starts to perceive them as cute. This has lasting effects, and even comes up as a mandatory part of the chapter 4 Suselle house scene, further emphasizing its importance. Because that's their dynamic in a nutshell.
Noelle is scared of Kris's pranks, but she likes being scared. Noelle isn't sure if Kris ever liked her, but proof that they do is enough to make her ask them out. And Kris cares deeply about Noelle too but has never complimented her and seems to avoid her every chance they get. Their relationship has its ups and downs, but it endures.
Oh, so THAT's why Kris played with an electrical socket as a kid...
And Kris's use of pranks to help Noelle overcome her fear is their way of making her stronger without her forcing herself, exactly what caused her to pursue Susie in the first place. She doesn't have to put on a front or change who she is, she's just... more confidently Noelle. Just as she herself holds deerly onto her memories of Kris, down to naming her cactus after them, despite the fact that she's convinced it was one sided, and looking back fondly at all of the pranks even though she doesn't think she should.
There's no idolization of each other, no putting people on pedestals and excusing away their flaws, just two people who genuinely love each other for who they really are.
And on the other side of things...
How DARE he belittle himself like this?
We see the exact same thing, told to the player in an even more direct manner. And since it's so direct, this section doesn't need much explanation.
Susie and Ralsei are much louder characters than Kris, and they get significantly more screen-time than Noelle, so this is hardly going to be a hard sell. It's been happening the entire game, but chapters 3 and 4 especially cover Susie and Ralsei's dynamic. Specifically, the way they tear themselves down while building each other up.
I find it funny that people use this scene for Kralsei when he drops this line during it.
Ralsei initially considers Susie's brash attitude and general rudeness as a flaw, only to later accept it as being a treasured part of who she really is. Even as Susie grows into a happier, kinder person these core aspects of her personality do not change. And Ralsei doesn't want them to.
The two of them have a rapport unlike anything else in the game, their back and forth in each individual chapter serves as the primary source of contrasting view points and also cute, fluffy friendship moments that make the heroes feel like a genuinely well rounded group of friends. While Kris and Susie match each other's freak and get along extremely well, Ralsei and Susie compliment each other's vastly different personalities and build up the other's self esteem whenever they begin to fall. They challenge each other's internalized beliefs and come out of it stronger.
"You've finally been able to... be yourself" -Ralsei
"Hey, you've changed too, dude" -Susie
"I suppose I just... started appreciating you more, Susie" -Ralsei
Nothing here needs to be romantic for it to be meaningful, but when you start to account for all of the blushing, and the jealousy, and the way they bounce off of each other... it's hard not to see something there.
So what exactly am I getting at?
Part 4- The Point
"No one can choose who they are in this world."
So stop trying to be somebody else.
Deltarune is a game with a pretty strong emphasis on Love. There are plenty of romance plots, romance subplots, background relationships both functional and broken, and even an alternate route that seems pretty heavily focused on repressed romantic feelings. And one of the main things I think it's focusing on is what a character gets out of a relationship, and what they themselves bring to the table.
Susie and Noelle have real, legitimate romantic feelings for one another. But these feelings are based on surface-level masks and ideal versions of each other that they built up in the head despite their limited interactions.
Not to say a relationship between them couldn't work, but that it is likely to experience extreme turmoil, both from learning that the person they've been crushing on is different from what they initially saw in their potential partner, but also because they both seem to have gained feelings for each other coming from a place of low self esteem and loneliness.
Susie growing super attached to the first person in Hometown to show her an ounce of kindness when she feels worthless and Noelle using Susie as a lifeline while her life crumbles around her are both things that have caused their relationship to balance on a tightrope. They're slowly and carefully opening up around one another, getting to know the other person on a deeper level, but they're still ages behind everybody else and it doesn't seem as if they're going to have time to fully connect before disaster strikes.
Meanwhile, the game spends time where they should be growing closer to put emphasis on the relationships they already have with Ralsei and Kris respectively. Their relationships with these two characters have gone through plenty of turmoil already and have only come out stronger, even if they themselves don't see it yet. They've argued, they've fought, and maybe they've even hated each other at certain points of their respective journeys... but they understand each other on a deeper level because of it, and there's nobody that they'd rather be with even if they try to deny it.
The game has stressed how comfortable Susie and Ralsei feel around each other, as well as how comfortable Noelle feels around Kris. Everybody drops their masks, opening up more and being more genuine without worrying about how they're being perceived.
Susie finally gets to be herself, Ralsei allows himself to embrace his person-hood, Noelle allows herself to act weird and reminisce about their shared past, and even Kris seems to show off more of their personality when they're alone with Noelle, pranking her at every opportunity.
And I believe that's the statement Deltarune is trying to make about Love. That if you only see people for who they appear to be and not for who they really are, if you only love the perfect versions of them, your relationship might not survive the ensuing arguments and reveals.
Real Love requires people to see each other, to communicate with one another, and to be comfortable being themselves instead of putting on an act to try to impress their partner. Real Love requires you to acknowledge your partners flaws and shortcomings and love them anyway, to not expect them to change who they are and for them to not want you to change in turn.
You don't need to be a better person, you need to be a better you.
Nobody can choose who they are in this world, but your life partner should be somebody that loves you for you, somebody that makes you love you for yourself. You shouldn't have to force love and you shouldn't have to lie to them to maintain it.
And that's exactly what I see in Kriselle and Ralsusie, and why I believe that's the direction the story is heading.