# Once Upon a Time
After Chapter 5, I had some doubts about Dessknight, but I also didn’t find any other Knight theories narratively satisfying or plausible. This led me to dig a little deeper, analysing some of the persistent themes of Undertale and Deltarune, until I found something massive.
# The Dissapearance of December Holiday
We can all agree that Dess’s disappearance is what Asgore is vagueposting about, right? If so, then there is something that only Amalgam Knight can really explain (and Amalgam Knight sucks!): the presence of a Black Shard at the scene of the crime. My proposal is that the Roaring Knight is a being of darkness, akin to the titans, born out of the lost dreams for Dess’s future when she disappeared. The Knight did not cause Dess’s disappearance, but is a byproduct of it.
# Lost Dreams
According to Seam, Shadow Crystals contain “the power of lost dreams”. Immediately, this explains the presence of the Shadow Crystals and their relation to the Roaring Knight: they contain Dess’s lost dreams. Assuming a relation between the Shadow Crystals and the Black Shard (which I don’t think is much of a stretch, but there isn’t much to evidence it as of now), the massive quantity of lost dreams not only from Dess, but from all of hometown, would’ve summoned the Knight and created the Black Shards.
The connections between Dess and the Knight are plain to see, so I won’t be going into them. Feel free to read/view the multitude of Dessknight posts out there. With H&D Theory this evidence doesn’t need to be thrown out–it still mostly applies.
# The NEO Suit
According to Swatch, the robot Spamton uses during his NEO fight is “the embodiment of a Lightener’s dream”. This proves that especially powerful dreams have a direct impact on Dark Worlds–the dream of a single person (Mettaton/Hapstablook) was sufficient enough to create a very powerful robot within an entirely unrelated Dark World. Ever since Chapter 2 released I’ve seen this as a Chekov’s Gun, and I think its about to fire.
# Visual Connections Between Dark Beings
The Knight, the Titan, and the Titan Spawn all have some very distinct similarities–the Titan Spawn and the Knight both display a distortion effect after being hurt, and all three are pure black beings with white outlines. None of them are also seemingly capable of speech, with the Knight only laughing and roaring. To me, this indicates they’re of similar natures–beings of darkness. This also sets them up to contrast Ralsei as a white fluffy boy and another creature manifested by dreams.
# Ralsei and Asriel
We all know something weird is happening here, but there haven’t been any good theories about it. Theories that Ralsei is an ordinary object like the green crayon, the horned headband, or Kris’s knife are all but disproven and ignore Ralsei’s special nature. The theory that Ralsei is the roots is also disproven due to Ralsei having a full colored portrait compared to the flowers who are semi-colored. H&D Theory proposes that Ralsei is the manifestation of Asriel’s dreams and Hometown’s hope for his success. This doesn’t necessarily explain all his peculiarities (and frankly I doubt we will get much of an explanation), but I’m not Toby Fox so I have no way of knowing the exact mechanics of it. I just think that Ralsei would need to be something really special, and I think this would qualify. Naturally, this also explains the Asriel connections with his name and appearance, something that I haven’t seen other theories do.
# Hopes and Dreams (SAVE the World)
Hopes and Dreams have been a persistent theme in both Undertale and Deltarune. In Undertale, its tied to Asriel (who we’ve already talked about) and his dream for all of monsterkind. In Deltarune, its tied to the prophecy: “BUT LO, ON HOPES AND DREAMS THEY SEND. THREE HEROES AT THE WORLD’S END”. So far, every chapter’s dark world has been themed around a form of escapism:
- Games
- The Internet
- TV
- Religion/Music(?)
- Nostalgia
I believe that Chapter 7’s dark world, paralleling Asriel’s status in Undertale as the true final boss, will be about Hopes and Dreams as a form of escapism. Really, they’re the ultimate form of escapism–they’re what has been and what could be.
# Loose Ends
# What Even Happened to Dess?
Well, I don’t know the specifics, but I believe that she is certainly the unused voice in the code. I believe that events similar to what are described in Raise Up Your Bat are responsible for Dess’s dissapearance, but believing this isn’t necessary for believing H&D Theory.
# Wait, but the Knight Was in the Light World?
I’ve always been a little skeptical of this. I think Undyne and Asgore weren’t carried to the bunker, but just lured there by Carol who they believed to be the Knight. This works perfectly for Undyne as a hot-headed cop, but it falls a little flat for Asgore after his Chapter 5 character development. As for who’s creating the dark worlds? I also just think it’s Carol.
# Conclusion
Dess disappeared becoming the unused voice in the code, this created the Roaring Knight out of her lost dreams. This caused Hometown to shift to believing in Asriel’s future even more, manifesting Ralsei (the literal opposite of the Knight). I believe this’ll lead into Chapter 7 being centered around Hopes and Dreams as a form of escapism, and Dess being saved. You don’t need to believe everything I do or draw the same conclusions as me, but I hope this idea is intriguing at the very least.
