How Many Chapters Does Deltarune Have, anyway?

Are there 5 chapters in Deltarune? Are there 7chapters in Deltarune? Does Deltarune have 10 chapters?? And what is chapter 0 in Deltarune? Let's unravel this mystery that no one thought was a mystery together, shall we?
0:00 Intro
0:08 Why is this even a question? Deltraune website...
0:46 Chapter Select Menu
1:07 Wait... why are there 10 chapter menu icons?
2:47 Toby only mentions up to Chapter 5... but why???
3:44 Chapter 0 Lore Implications
5:08 Chapter 0 as Placeholder Code
6:23 The Part you Skip To about the ♪ w.ogg ♪ music thing
7:33 ♪ d.ogg ♪ but there are no dogs actually
8:17 Calling it now, we're spelling out ♪ W. D. Gaste-
9:11 If this is true, I predict no "r.ogg" here's why....
10:04 What are the implications of this?
11:12 Theme of "WAKE"
12:01 Wrap up
12:16 Credits!
Andrew Cunningham's video which goes into depth about Gaster's motif and if The Man is related: • Everything About Gaste...
Mollystar's video: DELTARUNE and the Fourth Wall || THE DEVICE THEORY
[PART 1: SURVEY_PROGRAM] • DELTARUNE and the Four...
[Part 2] • DELTARUNE and the Four...
Skies Forever Blue: • Skies Forever Blue/Tob...
Brix's channel: www.youtube.com/@BrixVGM/videos
Spacecore's channel: www.youtube.com/@jacky7204/vi...
Mollystar's Serious Channel: / @m0llystars
Mollystar's Casual Channel: www.youtube.com/@molly__m/videos
My Patreon: / halfbreadchaos
My.... Merch....? store.streamelements.com/half...

[@GabrielUltraDIE]

it’s crazy how it’s been 8 years and people are still losing their mind about gaster

[@10omhz72]

its amazing that undertale has been around for a third of my life...

[@guffthebir72]

Aint no way its been 8 years. How?

[@MegaLpso]

And I'll keep losing my mind as chapters come out because there ain't no way he's not crazy important in deltarune

[@mariotheundying]

Forgetting about him would be like the fnaf community just forgetting about purple guy 3 or 4 games in, tho both of those games were the "final" game in the series but you get what I mean

[@GabrielUltraDIE]

@@guffthebir72 2015 was 8 years ago I guess

[@ivythay4259]

Since we're only able to access Ch2 for now, I'm very baffled, scared and excited for how chapter 6 and beyond are handled.

[@wobblsobble]

i cant wait to show my grandkids deltarune chapter 7 when it comes out

[@6_Apeiron]

well, it's kind of sad that toby would release chapter 3,4,5 at the same time because we won't have enough time to predict what would happen at the next chapter

[@6_Apeiron]

well yeah i know it's even better but that's my opinion

[@berthamcdurtha8554]

​@@6_Apeironyeah it would be good if they released individually kinda like bendy and the ink machine to create hype for the next chapter

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

@@6_Apeiron Trust me when I say that we as a community probably don't want that. Predictions can be fun, but games also need to fairly foreshadow stuff. Given a large part of this game right now is the mysteries the more time and information we get the more we can pull a Persona 5. The short version is in P5 there is a Traitor, the equivlent to the Knight in Deltarune. In P5 the traitor witnesses you in Ch3 and interacts with you in Ch4 giving away their identity if you pay slight attention but in Ch5 it acts as a reveal. This ends up very anti-climatic and makes the big deal of finding the Traitor feel trivial. Imagine waiting for a month or even a year. The community would analyze Chapters 3 and 4 to solve chapter 5. It is why Toby eventually has to do batch releases. Otherwise we will solve it and the impact starts to go way down. Consider how much this game shares with Undertale, as much like how P4's structure could be used to solve P5, this means Deltarune is in a situation where it is very likely trying to predict 6+ could negatively impact the community's experience.

[@donvid8969]

Extremely suspicious that you can also skip to the dark worlds in each chapter by immediately going back to bed, whereupon you 'wake up' in the Dark World.

[@RaphielShiraha64]

Iirc that only happen if you finished the chapter at least once, probably a speedrun thing.

[@LilacMonarch]

@@RaphielShiraha64 it's still an interesting choice of how to frame that speedrun thing

[@SurmenianSoldier]

@@LilacMonarch i like to imagine susie breaks into your home and drags you into the dark worlds when you fall asleep

[@qlx-i]

fuck new theory, what if the real world was not actually real and the "dreams" were

[@ChronDoc024]

@@qlx-ioh. oh no.

[@jacquespaught]

Toby also has a tendency to use 1-letter, vague filenames for spoiler songs. For example, most of the songs that play when you fight Asriel in Undertale are labeled "x", and Chara's theme is just called "c".

[@itap8880]

Indeed, I think the song names could be abbreviations, like: w - wrench (in the gears) / wake up d - double trouble / don't do this The first two non-belonging letters being w and d may be a red herring. Toby already kinda made a point about datamining his games.

[@omegahaxors3306]

Fs in the chat for people who watched chapter 2 download and saw "krisopendarkfountain.ogg"

[@HalfBreadChaos]

Sort of but not exactly. Here are all the songs in Undertale specifically that could fit this bill: mus_a2 (plays when you fight Asriel Dreemur, at the second stage where he transforms. Slowly fades out as 'you try to reach your save file.... but nothing happens.') mus_f_(6s_[number], alarm, destroyed_[number], finale_[number], intro, newlaugh, part_[number]) (these are all for Omega Flowey and likely named this way to make it obvious) mus_x_undyne and mus_x_undyne_pre ("But the Earth Refused to Die" and Battle Against a True Hero, this one still has a full name ('undyne') but the 'x' here is meant to indicate that these 2 songs are for the Genoroute, when she turns into The True Hero) mus_xpart_(2, a, b, back) (aka "Hopes and Dreams." Plays when you fight Asriel Dreemur. Perhaps the "x" is actually for "heroic" themes...) mus_z_ending (plays during the sans phonecall in a neutral ending) mus_zz_megalovania (you know this one this is... but notably though it is marked with a 'z', the full name is still there 'megalovania') mus_zzz_c ("It's me... Chara", note that it's not called 'c' but 'zzz_c'. The 'z' here might be meant to indicate the players is approaching a 'bad ending' or 'bad time') mus_zzz_c2 (plays if you refuse to cooperate with Chara and they uh... creepy-pasta at the screen before swinging your knife and destroying the world) ~~ The reason I did not bring this up in the video proper is because none of these songs are one single letter ('mus_a2' is the closest we get and does not seem to be indicative of a pattern) and because Deltarune and Undertale do not seem to share naming schemes for their songs. All of the songs in Deltarune's gamefiles lack the "mus" precursor and none of the "Weird Route" exclusive music has any special markers (for example "berdly_battle_heartbeat_true" and flashback_excerpt are not marked with any special letters or phrases, and thus blend in with other similarly named, normal-route songs, like 'berdly_flashback') "w" and "d" on the other hand, are unique amongst both soundtracks. Even "snd_b" starts with 'snd'. So why are these two so special?

[@HalfBreadChaos]

Good observation though! This was actually my very first thought when I started writing the script! Perhaps I should add it to a pinned FAQ near the top, since I under seem to have underestimated the number of game-file browsing nerds like us, haha.

[@mchsprod]

@@HalfBreadChaosIn Gamemaker Studio, asset names usually start with a short indicator of what asset it is (to distinguish assets and make it easier to reference in the code). For example, s or snd = sound asset, o or obj = object asset, ect. The thing that makes w and d more significant than snd_a2 is the lack of that indicator. Personally, as someone who uses Gamemaker, when an asset doesn’t use an indicator (like “game” instead of “obj_game”) it’s usually something important. Also, I caught onto the “w + d = Gaster” and “wdgaster = eight chapters” the moment I saw “d”, this seems very intentional (also, d.ogg = dog is just funny, whether intentional or not)

[@characookie241]

I feel like any chapters besides 1-7 would be like the Photoshop Flowey fight, outside of the ordinary gameplay.

[@superlemonslicer1224]

Makes sense, also would be very cool :]

[@Whitesnake273]

Will this imply Gaster is actually a corrupted time-space warping monster?

[@JacobHeaton-tx4gd]

365 likes 1 year gg

[@lilyofluck371]

​@@Whitesnake273imply???? dude gaster is straight up strewn throughout all time and space, there's no world where he _isn't._

[@Whitesnake273]

@@lilyofluck371 I know but what if he's a corrupted monster like Photoshop Flowey?

[@Keitoded]

Another connection to the wake dream stuff beyond the "dark worlds being dreams" thing is in the weird route susie and queen have this exchange. Susie: "Noelle needs to wake up!" Queen: Wake? No She Has Already Awakened Too Much Let Her Close Her Eyes And Sleep Away Into a Darker, Darker, Dream Beyond the darker darker obviously, queen also seems to be happy about this as she's smiling?? And right before this she also says noelle needs to rest... Interesting...

[@riluna3695]

This text doubles down on the idea of "Waking" being the opposite of Noelle coming to her senses for a second before the Berdly fight. "Wake" as an act in that fight has her fall MORE under our control, gaining more strength in the process (the magic stat increases). Queen also suggests that, compared to a normal run, Snowgrave Noelle is more "awoken" and it's for her own good that she "sleep" again. Very strange that the word used for falling into a trance is to "wake"...

[@royaloreo1275]

I think it's just that queens smile is her default face, and she doesn't have a "serious" face. Of course, that's just a memory from my playthrough of weird route, which I did like two years ago.

[@Sandstheskeleton]

Susie thinks that noelle should wake up from her “dream” while queen thinks she’s already too awoken that it isn’t, that she thinks she should go back into a trance, a dream.

[@Knux5577]

@@Sandstheskeleton Well, Susie is a lightner and Queen is a darkner. maybe they have different perception on what waking and sleep is? Besides, I think queen was catching onto what happened more than Susie did. Susie probably just meant that maybe she could get out of this dream and be safe, y'know? The Queen meant that she should be resting because she seemed very... hyper vigilant, anxious, scared, and ready to attack someone... which different than how she was earlier.. When Queen met up with noelle again in the snowgrave route, she probably was talking to herself and asking "the voice" if she should freeze "her" but "the voice" would not answer, because she was not with Kris anymore.... or maybe she was... mumbling about the people she already froze and calling herself a terrible person... or trying to convince herself that none of this was real... Queen was just suggesting what any mother would probably suggest in such a situation. She might've attempted to comfort her before she slept, telling her everything was gonna be alright and that she didn't have to do anything anymore.

[@Kyumifun]

​@@royaloreo1275 Well, she does have few faces where she's not smiling.

[@multigrandmarquis]

Until it is disproven, I have chosen to believe that there are 7 total chapters, an intermission after the third, two chapter-chapters of chapter five, a second intermission afterwards, and in chapter six, six chapter-chapters, and six more chapter-chapter-chapters. Not to mention chapter six's five intermissions, six intermission-intermissions, and chapter six chapter six's five additional intermissions.

[@crystallineAurora]

True!! Chapter 7 will, of course, be delayed until seven years after the release of chapter 1.

[@AnamikaTheWolf]

@@crystallineAurora ...I mean, that's only two years off.

[@Zootaloo2111]

can't wait for trickster mode

[@TyWyer]

Is this a Homestuck reference?

[@toriel1770]

Reading the word "chapter" so many times in this sentence made the word seem strange to me

[@desmondruhling]

Deltarune theorists are insane like they’ll see “w” in the files” and “d” next and it’s immediately gaster I love it

[@rarecrom]

im actually hoping so hard that the next letter is just "h"

[@Gamety75]

@@rarecrom why- wait h is the letter after g

[@ChurchOnLegs]

Dark World - D W - DingsWing Gaster, twin brother of WingDings Gaster

[@MrEggington2]

WDH? *ah yes i love why do have*

[@CH40T1CLPS]

@@rarecrom it stands for what da hell

[@mystery5906]

A thought I had when you suggested the Snowgrave Route could be the "Gaster" route: Toby Fox has insisted that Deltarune only has one ending, but what if the second route never reaches that ending? In Undertale, Sans' final attack is trapping you in the battle, and specifically his turn, forever. It didn't work, but think about what would have happened if it did: the Underground would be permanently locked in a state where Frisk and Chara are unable to act, with a trail of destruction left behind them, but all of the monsters that lived in/evacuated to New Home would be safe. Life would go on for the monsters left alive, but from our perspective as the player, the game would never actually have an ending: you fight the final boss, but you never beat them, and you never get a chance to try again. I think that the Snowgrave Route could have a similar ending, where Kris/the player gets trapped in a process that never ends, like a battle or a cutscene. There would be no "End of Chapter 7/8/9/n" screen; the only way to leave would be to close the game, and there would be no other choices for you to make upon reopening the game. The result of your poor choices throughout the game is a stalemate. There's a popular theory that Deltarune is a cyclical world, trapped in a time loop, where the world ends and then starts over forever. If that's the case, and there's only one ending, then there might be three routes in the game. The first, and the only one that would be called a proper ending, is the route where you escape the loop and take control of your own destiny. The system bending time into a donut is destroyed, and there's pie for all. The second would be remaining in the loop, repeating the events of the game forever. You would reach the end of your adventure, only to do it again, and again, and again, for all time. Finally, the third would be the stalemate I described: the world never loops, but progress is never made. You successfully stop time from repeating, but that's because you failed to conclude your journey. You got stuck along the way because of your terrible actions, and the world is paying the price for it by stalling forever. Anyways, that's my crackpot theory/prediction, thanks for reading!

[@CalvinNoire]

Imagine if the neutral route (Deltarune) will be the true route of the game

[@Knux5577]

*the Player, Frisk, and Chara. Or rather, just the Player/Frisk and Chara, since Frisk seemed to be more of an empty vessel than Kris is. People keep forgetting that the Player started the genocide route. Chara just made sure we finish it.

[@redrooster3420]

This is fascinating!!! I love how you wrote "the system bending time into a donut is destroyed, and there's pie for all" too. Such beautiful writing :')

[@CntRational]

To support this idea, one of Noelle's blog entries is about getting permanently softlocked in a game because she missed a character she was supposed to have -- the same entry also describes coming across a mysterious undocumented door that shouldn't exist. The connections to Berdly and Gaster are pretty obvious. And more generally, Ralsei also describes the Roaring as an endless night that Lightners would be doomed to roam eternally, so...

[@hoovy5147]

Hell, anything is an ending if that's where you stop playing. That's some wisdom from the narrator of The Stanley Parable. But, I would make the argument that Undertale is also in a time loop, because it's a video game. You give them everything they could have ever dreamed of, and then you take it away and wipe their memory just because you wanted to play again. That's sort of the lesson in Undertale, that's what the game is _really_ about. We all know that Undertale is really about far more than just the story that's being presented to you, after all. And so, I have no reason to believe that a time loop in Deltarune wouldn't be caused for the same reasons. I have no reason to believe that that wouldn't be the case for _every_ game. It's a beautiful thing. Undertale is really a commentary about the dissonance between the viewer and the media. It changes the way you think entirely. Topics discussed in Undertale can be found in _everything_ else. Like the fact that, because death is a minor setback, it is impossible to lose. You've only lost when you've allowed it to beat you. That was Sans's goal, to make the game outrageously unfair to drive you away in the hopes that you'd never play the game again. Undertale is one of the few games I've ever seen that literally BEGS you to never play it again. And the fact that the protagonist of _every_ game is really just my meat puppet. I ostensibly play a game to fight the bad guy, undo all their harm, and make sure they're never seen again, because I'm the good guy. But really, I play a game because I _want_ the bad guy to do his thing so I can enjoy beating him. We open windows to other universes just so we can abuse them for our own amusement. _I AM THE ONE WHO PULLS THE STRINGS AND MAKES THEM RING._ My point is that, time isn't a donut until _you've_ twisted it into one. Time will never move on for as long as you continue to play the game. It's all so simple, so obvious, and yet I would have never thought of any of it on my own.

[@CyborusYT]

D playing when Noelle "wakes up" might be Gaster getting upset in some way. Since W plays when he is interrupted by the other speaker, these songs may signify when we don't do what he wants.

[@nezrafallon4086]

If you name yourself after Kris, Susie or Noelle - Gaster responds and says "Youre about to meet someone very very wonderful" There is a 'goner' that talks to you about Susie (in undertale). Afterwards, you can find a 'crude drawing of 3 smiling figures, with the words "Dont Forget" written on it' in sans's workshop behind his house. and in the core, there are neon tubes on the walls all throughout. They are colored light blue, yellow and purple. These are the colors associated with Kris, Noelle and Susie ...I feel like Gaster, for some reason, genuinely cares about these 3 kids. If that's the case, I think Gaster might end up transcending time and space in order to kick us in the face when he finds out what we're doing in the weird route.

[@CyborusYT]

@@nezrafallon4086 Ahh interesting interpretation. I meant it as "leaving the weird route" being something he doesn't want us to do, but that's very possible too. Fun!

[@sholamakinde430]

@@nezrafallon4086 when you think about it like that, gaster is kinda like another player he gets attached to the characters and mad when you do something bad to them also resetting if you name yourself gaster, no one else should be able to do that except maybe another player

[@imarandomsella.]

@@sholamakinde430that’s a weird one I like it

[@sholamakinde430]

@@imarandomsella. oh my god gaster is a player who inserted himself into the game when he was scattered into pieces he was actually just playing a different game or deleted undertale

[@Kyrikrliy]

Maybe the reason the chapter amount is so unclear is because player choices impact which chapters you can acess? Like maybe the story ends sooner under specific circumstances. Just a small theory.

[@marsgreekgod]

Toby did say there is only one ending though, and I have a feeling that is mostly true

[@somdudewillson]

@@marsgreekgod Having only one ending doesn't really place any constraints whatsoever on _when_ that ending is triggered in a playthough.

[@_pyrothegod_]

@@marsgreekgod but what if the actions you take can lead you to that ending sooner than intended? or longer even, like trying to delay the roaring

[@runius0]

@@marsgreekgod there may only be one ending, but how fast it arrives may vary

[@Kyrikrliy]

@@marsgreekgod We dont really know what he defines as an "ending" here. He may mean there is one path the story takes (this cant really be the case in an absolute way as snowgrave has proven) or just one general way the game ends. Just like how all games fundamentally end with the player closing the game, he may not mean endings like they were in undertale. He could just be refering to some major event that always is the finish of the game.

[@camchameleon4151]

As a programming student (not a great one though) it never ceases to amaze me how you’re better at reading and interpreting code than I am despite not knowing how to write it

[@HalfBreadChaos]

Part of me wishes I'd included the footage of me just.... loading save files with the display text tweaked to display the 'highestunfinishedchapter' and 'highestfinishedchapter' variables haha. I guess because I'm bad at reading code, I try to compensate by testing the heck out of things until I can prove to myself that 'this is how this works.' Where as an actual coder will try to understand the code's logic through just... reading and understanding the coding language. This works when I get stumped on a math problem too. Instead of trying to remember a formula, you can just try to reverse engineer it via a simpler math problem. (for example if I can't remember how to multiply 12/39 X 56/17, I try multiplying 1/2 X 1/2, and then using that to figure out the logic of how to multiply fractions. In this case I know the answer is 1/4, so probably we just multiply across the top (1X1=1) and then multiply across the bottom (2X2=4))

[@redrooster3420]

@@HalfBreadChaos Just want to say, as someone who has struggled with math all my life, that was a genuinely helpful explanation. Thank you lmao

[@cwolf0915]

​@@HalfBreadChaoshey I just discovered that there's an extra dialogue between toriel and kris when they walk in n out of the house n ch.1 it's so funny! Itĺ happen only twice. The 2nd time she asks if you prefer a revolving door😂

[@StoryTeller796]

​@@HalfBreadChaosI thought this was going to be genuinely advanced, secret, arcane knowledge known only to the hivemind of master programmers but then I find out it's just the same logic I myself apply to coding and I think to myself "What a wonderful world." Yes I do think to myself, "what a wonderful world."

[@paperaleks4896]

Gonna add on that d.ogg uses the same rhythm as the Merry CD from Omori (which Toby composed) and if you know anything about Omori “waking up” is a pretty central game mechanic/theme

[@josecorzo5517]

And also the protagonist have a knife in both games

[@clutteredclownery170]

jeff the killer is kris confirmed@@josecorzo5517

[@hellgazer8370]

hey, dreaming is also a massive part of omori too, so there's more evidence that the d actually does stand for "dream"

[@papsdw2]

d.ogg dogg dog toby you-

[@alefalf197]

The Merry CD also has a winter holiday season feel, which is interesting considering the Noelle of it all.

[@aarongrant1]

Since Chapter 3 could take place during night, its possible that 3 & 4 happen in the same day, meaning that Chapter 8 would be the logical final chapter Edit: Look, I don't wanna be that guy, but HOLY CRAP I HAVE NEVER GOTTEN THIS MANY LIKES BEFORE

[@insertnamehere1398]

You mean ch2 and 3.

[@D_YellowMadness]

@@insertnamehere1398 I think they meant 3 & 4 because someone's been making fountains in the mornings but chapter 2 ended with Kris making a fountain at night, which means there could be 2 fountains in the span of 1 day. Alternatively, we'll miss the morning fountain because we'll be in a dark world at the time, someone else will deal with it while we're not around to see, & the consequences will unfold with no initial input from us. Maybe Noelle will deal with it & Berdly will help her if he's alive but if he's not, she'll go off the rails & kill an entire world while we're not around to stop her.

[@TheSwagNinja49]

@@D_YellowMadness i mostly agree with this, except for the last part. WE are the ones manipulating and controlling noelle in the snowgrave route. she doesnt want to do it. if noelle were to go into a dark world alone, she wouldnt "go off the rails and kill an entire world while we're not around to stop her", because we are the ones actively causing it in the first place. if we were there on a snowgrave route, we would be the cause of her doing it again.

[@woobgamer5210]

@@D_YellowMadness but that also means that someone else other than Kris, could be making the dark fountains. Which means Kris is mimicking the actions of the Knight for some reason and is not the original

[@modmaniamadness713]

@@woobgamer5210 TRUE.

[@Deku2424]

That last sentence about the possibility that the 7 melodies are supposed to be played at the same time reminds me a lot of the Mother series. Specifically how the first 2 games have you collect 8 melodies that are supposed to be played in order. Considering how much inspiration Undertale and Deltarune take from those games it wouldn’t surprise me if combining them yielded something interesting (just that the way they’re combined would would be different).

[@D_YellowMadness]

It'd be neat if Kris' piano music is the 8 melodies combined & that's why it sounds so chaotic.

[@arloklenczon6811]

Mother 4 end credits theme confirmed: 24 Melodies

[@Deku2424]

@@arloklenczon6811 that’s a really good one! Maybe we’ll see hear it Winter 2024

[@dat_fast_boi]

tl:dr; you can listen to Circus and Dialtone together (if speed is adjusted) and that works, so this has a good chance of working too This is almost definitely the case for Circus (the song that plays outside of Jevil's door) and Dialtone (the song that plays in Spamton's shop). By messing with the speed, both songs line up perfectly. I would link a video of that here, but 1. I'm lazy and 2. there's a chance links are blocked - it's not too hard to find, though. Since both play before secret bosses, we can assume that the next 5 (or 6) secret bosses will also have a "prelude" track which can be added on to make a complete song. So not only is the notion that putting together the 7 melodies to spell "wdgaster" makes a song possible because of Earthbound, there's precedent for it.

[@pomelo9518]

Polyphony at that scale is extremely difficult. I wonder if Toby has the genius of Thomas Tallis on his side...

[@inkblooded1058]

There's also the possibility that these single-digit songs are hints towards the "secret routes" in each storyline. That would require further chapters before a conclusion could be reached. But if it's right, then that would imply that the moment the other entity claimed control from Gaster, they began the "alternate route" for Chapter 1. Which makes sense; it's pretty easy to assume that Gaster's plans were muddied by this other entity claiming control...

[@amf3118]

it seems like this entity that interrupted gaster beginning their "secret route" is trying to spell his name even tho the game doesn't allowed to, breaking from the path further and further each chapter.

[@darker8484]

that would imply that you start the "secret route" right before the berdly fight, ignoring everything that happens since noelle joins your party. that could mean that kris was being controlled by another entity and his "alternate route" started way before the player starts to control him, but honestly i would just wait until more chapters release lol

[@inkblooded1058]

@darker8484 Well, more accurately, the implications is either that the noise plays at the "point of decision" in the route - the Berdly fight is the last chance to abort the route - or that it simply plays at *some point* during each alternate route to mark that as the anomaly. But yes, as I said and you confirmed, this would take further chapters to strengthen. As of now, it's just me spitballing.

[@inkblooded1058]

@@amf3118 My thought exactly.

[@redrooster3420]

@@amf3118 I also wanted to say that it's interesting that the letters "w" and "d" are both in lower case! As if it's not gaster telling us these letters, but someone else trying to warn us(?) or reveal(?) to us his name for some reason, just like what you're saying!!

[@christopherhale3140]

I did want to give one small correction: when Toby said that "these numbers can be somewhat deceptive" at 0:44, he almost certainly was referring to the completion percentages, not the chapter numbers. Elsewhere in the quote he talks about how he tends to change his mind about certain details late in development, so it can be hard for him to estimate how close to being finished any given aspect of a work in progress is. Other than that, though, another fantastic video as always!

[@FlareBlitzBanana]

Both one-letter songs appear at a point where control over another is lost, W for when the hijack happens and D for when Noelle breaks out of her trance. Not much to add to that, but it's worth noting.

[@KyrieFortune]

Speaking of the number 8, in chapter 2 there is a short track that is 17 seconds long called "Digital Roots", that plays when you are exploring Queen's basement. The song itself sounds like a slowed down version of "Your Best Nightmare". A digital root is a fun and easy mathematical concept: you take a number and add all the digits together until you get a single digit number. For example, the digital of, say, 666 would be 6+6+6=18 => 1+8=9. By its nature, a digital root can never be 0, because you WILL have some number other than 0, even number like 1 quadrillion to the power of one googolplex will have a digital root that isn't 0 (in this case, it's 1). The digital root of 17 is 1+7=8. Given the elusive nature of Gaster, who knows if the eighth chapter is the previously unaccessible chapter 0...? And yes, some of you knew this already from a game where the number zero is pivotal, in fact it's the codename of the main antagonist.

[@redrooster3420]

woah this is soooo interesting and I've never heard of a digital root before, so thank you for bringing this up!! May I ask, what game are you talking about at the end there? :0

[@MisterIncog]

what's the game?

[@KrimsonKattYT]

@@MisterIncog Zero Escape: 9 Rooms, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, a visual novel/puzzle game on DS. There is also the sequel Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward on the 3DS. Both games are very rare but both received HD remakes on PC/Steam and PS Vita with "The Nonary Games" bundle. There is also the third game "Zero Time Dilemma" on PS4 and PC but we don't like to talk about that one. (It's REALLY bad)

[@KrimsonKattYT]

@@redrooster3420 Zero Escape: 9 Rooms, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, a visual novel/puzzle game on DS. There is also the sequel Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward on the 3DS. Both games are very rare but both received HD remakes on PC/Steam and PS Vita with "The Nonary Games" bundle. There is also the third game "Zero Time Dilemma" on PS4 and PC but we don't like to talk about that one. (It's REALLY bad)

[@MisterIncog]

@@KrimsonKattYT cool, thanks!

[@_Channel_Deleted_]

Randomly announcing that there will be 3 more chapters with the release of chapter 7 would be one of the subversions of all time

[@BaloonBoy7]

Or imagine if chapter 7 ends on some earthshattering moment, like the roaring has happened and everyone's like welp guess we die now, cut to black, credits roll, then "to be continued in chapter 8"

[@redrooster3420]

ahhhhhhh this would make me so excited and stressed ahahaha@@BaloonBoy7

[@buzzfoster1950]

At the beginning of chapter 1, Toriel mentions that Asriels' coming back from college in a week, so I assumed that something would happen when he came back. However that wouldn't make sense if there was only seven chapters cause he would arrive by the eighth, so if there were more chapters that would explain that.

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

That assumes 1 day = 1 chapter, but with how things are for Ch3 there is implication it is happening at night. So depending on how the chapters work it may still work.

[@petruciosxd1374]

Hmm, Toriel says "next week", so since it appears to be Thursday in chapter 1, it could be that even if chapters 3 and 4 take place in the same day, Asriel could still come home by chapter 7, right?

[@CalvinNoire]

@@petruciosxd1374 if we assume so, that means that chapter 7 takes place on Tuesday.

[@petruciosxd1374]

@@CalvinNoire The potential for "just another Tuesday" jokes...

[@Spubbily01]

My theory is that Deltarune will be live service with a new chapter released every year along with a battle pass.

[@michaelsbasement]

The Twisted Sword is ONLY accessible by aborting the snowgrave route at the point of Waking Noelle, and since thats (assuming) connected with the Gaster letters, and the Twisted Sword seems to have an ability to LOWER Trance... Which judging from Noelle gives control over her... And that the Twisted Sword can only be equiped by Kris... We would be lowering Kris' susceptibility to control... ... This is most likely the way to another Ending or something like that. Another way to push the story off the rails

[@frogmemo4153]

It could be that you can get it back in a completed snowgrave route in future chapters, but I do hope the only way is to abort a snowgrave route because it's more interesting.

[@rion2499]

Gosh, right? Since I found out about the twisted sword a part of me has been like: is there a THIRD route? Most everyone else overlooks this cause they assume we could “get the thorn ring later on if Noelle rejoins our party” but. . . What if we can’t? What if that IS the third route? What really strikes me about it, too, is how “unsatisfying” it is. (Paralleling how boring/tedious most of the Genocide route in UT is??)The route “goes back to normal” and our horrific actions are never really brought up again. Hijinks re-ensue and the only real difference is we’ve “lost” some recruits. . . Could also tie into the three save files too. . Very, VERY interesting. . . (PS: Another off the wall theory I have is that we might be able to unlock. . something. . if we successfully have 2 or 3 conflicting routes “ongoing.” Like if one save file was a “True Pacifist,” one a “Snowgrave” and maybe the final one a Neutral or “Gaster” route. . . Bonkers, but who knows? As Toby continues to tinker away on his masterpiece my brain just keeps on spinning).

[@michaelsbasement]

@@rion2499 Yeah! And Noelle said that she will figure out what is wrong with Kris, so I really dont think Noelle will join our party again, unless something doesnt work out in Noelle's plan

[@stormy1303]

That's really interesting to think about- I have no idea if chapter 0 will be a thing, but personally, I really like the idea of there being seven chapters- like the seven days of the week. But Chapter 0 could still be a possibility if, like you said, a part of the ending would be related to restarting somehow... The "w" and "d" songs do seem to build up to spelling W. D. Gaster, but I guess we'll see if that's true once more chapters will release.

[@nezrafallon4086]

I think a restart has already happened. When you reload, there is a sort of residue left over. Some characters like Toriel, Papyrus and Sans can tell when this has happened. They normally think its some sort of deja-vu In deltarune, when you talk to Onion-san, he talks to you about the song from the sea. "it's not a new song, I feel like I already heard the whole thing... but I can't remember, ya hear? I can't remember.... I can't remember..." An exact explanation of why I think is too long for a comment, but... I think the world of deltarune already took place. I do think that Gaster is the one who set events into motion, but began to care about Susie and her two new friends, at which point he tried to stop the end, but it was too late. They lost. I think a Player is controlling the knight, and there was no way to win against that opponent. Gaster, sans and a few others escaped to the world of Undertale, which is why sans is loaded up on weapons, battle tactics, and even psychological stuff and a hell of a lot of anger towards us, all to try and stop you. Along with other details, such as a goner who talks to you about how awesome susie is, which spawns a drawing in Sans's lab of "3 smiling figures, with the words 'dont forget' written on it", or Gaster saying "you're about to meet someone very very wonderful" after naming yourself after Kris, Noelle, or Susie. Even in the core, there's light fixtures throughout -- Neon tubes, colored light blue/yellow/purple (color associated with kris, noelle and susie). And now, we're coming back for round 2. Gaster is using us as a tool to prevent the roaring. He did say to us: "I look forward to creating a new future with you" right before he sends us the Survey Program. Sure, the dude has all that satanic motifs going on... but when the enemy is 'heaven' (our reality) and the angels (the players), is that really a bad thing?

[@stormy1303]

@@nezrafallon4086 That sounds interesting, though I personally don't agree with all of it- it's still interesting to think about what Gaster feels about the player, and also how exactly could the Gaster fun events in UT relate to DR's story.

[@stitchesplush]

If we get more themes like "w" and "d" in future chapters, I wonder what will happen if you mix all of them?

[@papsdw2]

itll be gasters theme

[@scars8165]

Wd gaster

[@cereal-rat]

Maybe something like MOTHER's Eight Melodies?

[@commenteroftruth9790]

@@cereal-rat well damn maybe

[@psycholaw4394]

Imagine the final chapter ending with a time-traveling plotline, and chapter 0 is us attempting to stop the ceration of the first fountain of darkness. Retconing the entire story The game end the same way, beacuse the 'second' ending isn't an ending at all but prevention of the begining

[@heheheiamasuperstarwarrior9281]

Crazy idea I like it

[@personita2.733]

I think there's enough Homestuck already to insert recon and game-over timeline sort of deal ngl

[@TheSkyGuy77]

Then Ralsei and every darkner just disappears

[@ef3353]

Theres some inication that we are actually in at least the second loop already.

[@0nullnil]

Like a callback to Homestuck!! That would be fun.

[@kabrito752]

It's taking 3 years for chapters 3-5 to be complete, just imagine if the game has 10 chapters lol

[@mariotheundying]

What if they're also working on the secret chapters tho and are just hiding it by just saying "yeahhh, not much happened"

[@Jessica_Schweser]

@@mariotheundyingI really hope that the case but Idk

[@kabrito752]

then the game's gonna be fully released in 5+ years@@mariotheundying

[@amiboilpon4068]

i cant wait for my childeren to play deltarune in the 2075!

[@commenteroftruth9790]

@@kabrito752 im here for it

[@mp7146]

Hell yeah! Love to see a whole vid dedicated to the hidden chapters in the code, especially from you! Thanks HBC

[@xems8910]

About how w.ogg and d.ogg might mean 8 chapters, I think that there's just too many ways for it to not follow that pattern, since we really only have 2 data points. What stands out to me is the possibility the next one could just be gaster.ogg, to complete "W D Gaster", since his first names are always initialized. The idea about how it ties in with not being able to type in the R in Gaster is cool though, reminds me of the stuff with Doopliss in TTYD. Related to how the letters might indicate the number of chapters, I thought you would mention more stuff about numbers in undertale and deltarune. Obviously 6, 66, 666, etc all have their satan and gaster connections, but 7 also appears as the number of human souls, the number of flowers in asgore's shop, and maybe could be tied to 17 since same last digit. 3 also comes up a fair bit, considering how the game is named DELTArune, you have 3 party members, 3 save slots, etc. As an Andrew Cunningham subscriber I am obligated to mention 3rd entity theory (although it would kinda suck if true i dont like it). I think the point about how both songs show up at someone "waking up" is interesting, since there's just so many connections with the theme of sleep and dreams and waking up. "Hopes and Dreams", the way that going to bed transports you right to the dark world, all the talk about the dark world being like a "dream world" (and how deltarune might get really similar to omori), the way you put enemies to sleep to spare them and how jevil talks of "going to sleep for 100 years", all the nightmare talk, the neo body being "the embodiment of a Lightner's dream", and I guess even how darkness is associated with sleep because of night. Maybe it's even all tied how deltarune came from Toby's fever dream, although that would maybe mean that it would have been a lucid dream if he was aware that he was dreaming.

[@commenteroftruth9790]

I think it would be a bit lame for it to straight up say gaster, but perhaps.

[@cloverlovania]

having the file name be 'gaster' is WAY too on the nose. toby would literally never do that

[@paradoxicaloutcome1007]

@@cloverlovania "It would be way too on the nose" Gaster's Theme is literally called "Gaster's Theme" in the Undertale sound test. A song in Deltarune being called gaster.ogg would not be on the nose at all given the precedence there.

[@cloverlovania]

​@@paradoxicaloutcome1007 i could see gaster.ogg appearing in a later chapter but definitely not in like .... chapter 3 or something as this person is suggesting

[@paradoxicaloutcome1007]

@@cloverlovania The original comment doesn't say Chapter 3 anywhere. It just says "the next one". Maybe I'm just being charitable. As far as that goes you're right, we're probably not getting gaster.ogg in Chapter 3, but it's definitely not out of the question for the next one to just be gaster.ogg.

[@D_YellowMadness]

I wonder if the concept of "Wake" in that fight is that Noelle gets stronger if you can get her to go beyond the pale while she's more aware of her actions. Like by getting her to kill her friend when she's not in a trance. If that is the idea, what about when she's fully awake & aware? Like in the light world? Will the full weird route involve getting her or someone else to kill someone in the light world where they can't ignore the consequences & their crimes will leave behind real evidence that other people can see? "Kill your mom, Noelle. She's holding you back. Making you weak." "Kill Toriel, Asgore. Your codependence is making you weak." "Kill Asgore, Toriel. He's cringe."

[@Knux5577]

I think there would be more of a reason than Asgore being "Cringe", we just don't know what happened yet. Asgore probably did [Hyperlink blocked] or had something to do with [Hyperlink blocked] and isn't as innocent as he seems here.

[@D_YellowMadness]

@@Knux5577 I don't know, man. I like him but did you see the egg incident in the grocery store? That was brutal.

[@T101Crazy]

The first Chapter, when released, was called the Survey Program. I have a feeling that us being in Deltarune is an experiment of Gaster's in some way, probably to do with how the Dark Worlds function. He is the one who connects us to the world originally. The second voice, if there is one that takes over, forces us into Kris to control them while telling us that "nobody chooses who they are in this world." Us being with Kris pushes us into being one of the three legendary heroes of the Legend. We are forced into that role by the second voice, NOT the first voice who initially connected with us. We were supposed to have our own created vessel, our own purpose, our own fate. But we were forced into Kris's. What does this mean? Take each of the optional bosses, Jevil and Spamton. Both of them revolve around the idea of "freedom." Jevil is locked inside a room alone, but considers himself free in what can only amount to a delusion. Spamton wishes to be free, to cut the puppet strings, and reach Heaven. Kris is similar to Spamton. Each of them, in some way, tries to fight the role or fate that they are in, and become free. And then there is us, the Player, who was forced into Kris's role. The Snowgrave route is, in a meta sense, OUR attempt at circumventing our role here. WE push the boundaries of the game to choose the path WE want. To CHOOSE who we are. The gameplay prohibits us from having any of the three heroes kill, so we have somebody else do it for us. We were led to believe, again in a meta sense, that a "genocide" route wasn't possible because enemies fled instead of dying back in Chapter 1. But in Chapter 2, we broke that supposed "rule" by using Noelle. By taking her ability to choose, we were able to steer off the "correct" path. I'm not entirely sure how this would pertain to Gaster, but I think the Snowgrave route is more to spite the second voice that forced us to be inside Kris.

[@NeverbitFG]

Jevil being "free of the world" may not even be a delusion! Jevil figured the only way to fight fate would be hiding from it, and what better way than literally being in a place where nobody in the "railroaded" world can get him! Of course, we can still "free" him (which ironically seals his fate, since we're destined to defeat him), leaving his attempt to fight fate ultimately pointless.

[@MinunRobotnik4]

Gaster could be wanting us to do a Thorn Ring route. That is get the Thorn Ring and then abandon the Weird route. That way we can get the Twisted Sword, which has a Trance Down effect. Which fits with the idea of waking. Maybe these songs will guide us down a secret route.

[@Noah-ky9ct]

So the songs could potentially be like the 8 melodies from Earthbound, but evil That'd be pretty cool

[@NoTrueShape]

What if the chapters 8-10 are sub-chapters that are accessible through a chapter later in game?

[@AnamikaTheWolf]

"Weird" Route exclusives, perhaps?

[@mrmissingno10]

@@AnamikaTheWolfHmm, interesting theory…

[@someone-wh2rb]

wouldnt make sense since toby stated all the routes will have the same ending@@AnamikaTheWolf

[@farlow1798]

@@AnamikaTheWolf Probably not as much as everyone would want that, Toby has stated that Deltarune will have 1 core ending no matter what you do, so I doubt he'll add route specific chapters, it is interesting but I personally don't see it happening

[@AnamikaTheWolf]

@@someone-wh2rb yeah, and he also hasn't acknowledged the existence of chapter 6 and 7. what's your point?

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

I came up with a crazy theory... but the song letters will be W D G A S T R. We already have E, Ice E. I say this non-ironically. Thinking back to how Ice E's lair ties into describing what Deltarune feels like and how this world somehow represents the Goners from Undertale despite Gaster falling into the core in Undertale. Everything with Deltarune is so off, from the mystery of Kris in the Bunker to the implications from the Apple Deflection and Whispering to Susie that Kris may have Reset before, even Dess going missing with potential for it to be in the Dark World. Or not, who knows at this point? I am worried once we get Chapters 3-5 that if we wait too long for the remaining chapters to be released we will solve the game.

[@feshpince7181]

Something tells me that, after all the Undertale theorizing, and how deep he KNOWS his fans dig into his code and game files, that he's already prepared for a scenario like that and will implement certain story twists that completely subvert anything we, as a community, could come up with.

[@birdflox1337]

It's a stretch, but the W in the first song might have the same meaning as it does in WD Gaster, aka "Wing". It could theoretically be tied to the Angel's Wings.

[@CyborusYT]

That would make the next one "Ding" which seems... odd

[@lowrngy]

3:00 Isnt it written in one of the status updates that he will release the game “with the price of the first five chapters”? Presumably that implies that we will buy the game when Chapters 3-5 come out (with a reduced price), and chapters 6 and 7 will then subsequently come out and will be available for free for the people who have already bought the game. At least I think. Maybe I’m wrong here.

[@krysidian]

Really glad you covered the two one-letter songs that have been plaguing my mind for quite some time. Most people including me thought d.ogg was a simple pun but it didn't really fit into the situation it's placed in and together with w.ogg it does get really suspicious. The song seems to be directly for Noelle, since it has some resemblence to another song by Toby called "Merry CD" which plays in Omori. It's christmas themed and could therefore very well be a direct reference to Noelle. This whole thing is quite odd and I'm sure Toby is gonna pull something weird using the Chapters at some point instead of just using them release the game over time. Either more unexpected chapters or stuff like chapter hopping. The weird comment by "Gaster" in the first chapter menu being "preperations are complete" (when you copy a file to all slots) feels like forshadowing that chapters will becomep art of the actual meta narrative.

[@PANGPOWER]

I wouldn't be surprised if when the full game releases it all gets subverted and there are no longer any chapters, it's just one mega chapter.

[@mailboxi3230]

I think there’s something to be said for the fact that d.ogg comes from Omori’s “Merry CD” made by Toby Fox. Itself being a Christmas themed song in the game with that connection to Noelle. Maybe w.ogg is Kris’ waking up and d.ogg is Noelle (or Dess’?) waking up?

[@suicune3776]

I know you keep saying you're not a coder, but honestly, I am a coding student, with your attention to detail and your incredible design decisions in your videos, you are already super good at it!

[@hggs4466]

Half bread chaos casually going further into insanity as he attempts to complete a puzzle missing half it's pieces but still somehow discoving clues which change everything

[@GredemonAnims]

Having more than 7 chapters would be a dream come true. Or maybe some chapters are only accessable in certain route(s)? We have no choice but to wait and see, I guess.

[@verbugterherrderdunkelheit6086]

Hiding an entire Chapter behind a split path is very unlike Toby in the context of Deltarunes design. There is optional stuff, but that's more side jokes, additional dialogue and a secret boss at most. Seeing how much time Toby spends on Chapters it's simply not worth the effort.

[@Disorder2312]

At this point it would look like Toby plans to keep developing this game for the rest of his life. Or i mean, until he gets old.

[@verbugterherrderdunkelheit6086]

@@Disorder2312 I think Toby wants to do something else than Deltarune in his lifetime

[@Disorder2312]

@@verbugterherrderdunkelheit6086 You don't know if it's true or not, and what's more important is that it's irrelevant to my statement.

[@Disorder2312]

@@verbugterherrderdunkelheit6086 Since you don't answer anymore, i just want to explain: I never argued what he wants or will do. I said what it would look like if Deltarune had more than 7 chapters. I don't have to explain this, just like you shouldn't ignore that part of my statement. Another confirmation that people only think about that part of the message they want, and that's the reason why they misunderstand everything.

[@alexwalker5716]

I just thought of something that (worryingly) supports the "Weird Route = Gaster Route" Idea: Andrew Cunningham's video about the Gaster theme points to his motif showing up in the songs for both Noelle and the secret bosses. and the Weird Route (for the only chapter it's in so far) revolves around Noelle and forces you to fight the secret boss. I don't really know what that means for the story, but I do have one wildly speculative Idea. what if the fabled Gaster Boss Fight only happens at the end of the Weird Route, because it messed up his experiment or something and he wants to undo it and start over. if that was the case, there really could be only one ending even with both routes, because you'd have to do a normal playthrough afterwards anyway. (although maybe some effects of the weird route could carry over after restarting) maybe that's what chapter 0 is for? I don't know. not really much evidence for this (just like anything involving Gaster) so this could be anywhere from almost correct to completely impossible. I'm just smashing Ideas together to see if they make sense.

[@ghengiroo4143]

The Weird Route being the “Gaster Route” kinda makes sense when you consider how the first voice (aka probably Gaster) was going to grant you a mindless vessel while the second voice forced you to control someone with free will who could resist some of your actions. Perhaps the second voice was trying to stop Gaster?

[@somerandombruh7240]

there's also the theory that gaster is creating the universe of deltarune as a simulation, and on the snowgrave route, you are killing everyone, breaking everyone and your choices DO matter (opposite of non snowgrave, since fighting/sparing wont kill an enemy). His name appearing in letters might be a hint to the player, warning the player that gaster is trying to stop you from continuing this path, which does kinda make sense with w.ogg, considering that it plays after the 2nd narrator (in your case, chara) abrupting gaster from the gonermaker.

[@synthwaverider]

It's interesting that the Wake action actually causes Noelle's magic to rise. You'd think by Wake-ing up she'd lower her magic as she's breaking free from the murder fueled powering trance but the opposite happens. Especially when Dark Worlds have the theme of dreams, then you'd really think Waking up would relate to getting weaker inside them. And then comes the fact you can only do it against fighting Berdly, a fight that getting a higher magic number doesn't really help you. The whole thing is just odd.

[@Polygloid]

Chapter 3: "..ogg"

[@indigopines]

HBC, I need to tell you, I personally have a difficult time deciphering TTS, but the minute I see you've uploaded I rush to the nearest quiet space so I can fully concentrate, and it's worth it every time 👀

[@Testling172]

I've put some good thought into the question of "How Many Chapters Are Going To Be In Deltarune," and I can confidently say: At Least 5

[@janLilin]

Finally, someone else is talking about how Snowgrave is connected to Gaster! I'm officially not the only one! I wrote a lengthy theory a couple months ago that talked about how w.ogg and d.ogg and flashback_excerpt.ogg inextricably tied Gaster to the Weird Route, but it didn't get much attention.

[@anon4305]

I'd like to hear your theory

[@ef3353]

Just use a text to speech and make it a vid, since no one likes reading nowadays.

[@janLilin]

@@anon4305 It's pretty simple, in hindsight, but I lumped it in with some other topics. Here's an incredibly brief summary: The part that concerns Gaster is the fact that flashback_excerpt.ogg inarguably has Gaster's Theme as the most prominent leitmotif, and "w" and "d" can be seen as the first letters of his name, W.D. Gaster. In addition, since "d.ogg" is played before the Snowgrave Berdly fight, this ties Gaster to two Weird Route-exclusive tracks. Gaster seems to be taking the role of some kind of scientist in the DR universe, conducting an experiment with the soul we control. He seems to be outerworldly, as indicated by his presence on Twitter. If we assume that the second voice in the Goner Maker is *not* Gaster, then that would create a convincing argument that Gaster only cares about you, or your soul, and *not* Kris. And as part of an experiment, particularly on creatures, you want to expose the subject to different types of stimuli to analyze their reactions. One key point the game hammers into your skull is that your choices don't matter. And yet, we're able to force our way past that and cause the Weird Route. I'd like to raise a question, though: When we froze the first Virovirokun, *who made the choice?* It certainly wasn't Kris, they didn't do anything of their own accord. It could of course be us, but if our choices don't matter, then it logically follows that it shouldn't matter if we chose IceShock or not. Someone *else* made the choice, or at least aided you in making it. I believe the Weird Route is Gaster subtly pulling the strings to give you a choice in the world, one which has actual, profound meaning. His actions, giving you a chance to truly end the life of a Darkner, has a ripple effect that lets you make Noelle, a character also tied to Gaster, strong enough to kill a real Lightner. And by the end of it all, right at the culmination of the chapter, his theme plays again, nearly unmodified from the original, to remind you that he's around.

[@_-Lx-_]

All remote security I ever had thinking I had a general concept of the basic structure and intention of this game were just promptly shattered. I now am gonna end up completely paronoid about whether we can trust anything the game or Toby says about it, what is legit evidence and what is a distraction, how much is a genuine promise and how much is absolute gaslighting. The game could be 2 demos and a single final one payment release and no chapters, or it could even be 11+ Chapters long, I have zero clue what to believe anymore, what is the normal route or what is the gaster route. I have no safety in anything anymore, the entire game may very well be a series of false leads that end up as one of the most insane ARGs of a metanarrative ever told, and that just makes me thinking it's possible for the ending Toby had as a feaver dream back in 2012 to be along the sorts, because that's the only possibility that sounds as mindblowing and insane to me as he described his obsession with making the game a reality. I have zero clue of what is even real anymore about this series, aside from the fact that SOMETHING connected to Gaster is related, but only Toby knows what, genuinely, he probably hasn't even let his own Team know in case of potential leaks. Regardless, this video has made me more hyped and fearful for the potential insanity this game awaits, maybe all the patterns so far are real, maybe they're just to give us a false sense of security, maybe they're real and this details are to make us unsure, regardless, I am now more eager than ever to see where this madman takes us with the future of this game, as I now feel like I have a slight possibility of understanding options for how this man has seen FREEDOM himself, and is eager to shatter our minds the same way he has. Regardless, if there ever was a contender for a piece of media to be a subversion of ITSELF? DELTARUNE is the prime suspect

[@SiffrinISAT]

What if there is only one ending, that being chapter 7, BUT you can just... continue? what if that's the meaning of ch 8-10? Fighting to go PAST that ending?

[@greyscaleadaven]

One idea I thought about from this video is what if each save file unlocks a different version of chapter 0? Like we know all of the worlds of each save file are slightly different, what if doing different routes in each one that break the game (i.e. One Snowgrave, One Thorn Ring Only, and One Egg Only for example but idk the scope of what's beyond Ch. 2) correlated to unlocking a secret chapter for each file? I could see toby making getting to Chapter 0 on each file like a different part of the puzzle, and the player has to complete all three weird routes to unlock the full ending of the game. It would add up with there being no coded data for anything beyond Ch. 7, and would make sense as to why they'd label them differently. That's just a guess though. Interesting topic! I can't believe that so many discoveries are still being made about these games 2 years after their current chapter releases. That WD thing kinda blew my mind, because I had no idea w.ogg was even a track, let alone that it paired thematically with d.ogg like that. Strangest sentence out of context. I just thought d.ogg was a dog joke ngl lmao

[@BryceDixonDev]

Kinda surprised I haven't heard anyone talking about how the eggs might just be a Chrono Trigger reference. In Chrono Trigger, when you obtain the actual Chrono Trigger, it's also called the Time Egg and it's stated that "no one knows what will happen when or if it hatches. Maybe nothing, maybe something."

[@Solibrae]

The place in Chrono Trigger where the Time Egg is used almost looks a bit similar to the rooms in DELTARUNE wherein you get the Chapter 1 Egg too, with a lone tree standing in the middle of an outstretched bit of land.

[@wingedmirage4226]

My thoughts are that Chapter 0 is probably going to be a flashback prologue that shows what happened to Des, why Toriel and Asgore split, etc. So it'll be very short and probably won't appear until late in the game. As for chapters 8-10, either it's the "true" route that brings you to the ending, or these will be alternate versions of chapters brought on by doing the Snowgrave route. The changes brought on by Snowgrave may eventually snowball so much that new chapter scenarios are needed entirely.

[@Orangyy_]

Seeing another HalfBreadChaos upload fills me with DETERMINATION!

[@wingedcatgirl]

"Is this the theme of 'waking', or another motif for Gaster?" As always, my response to a dichotomy is "both" - Gaster is waking up.

[@xxblackkzoruaxx5971]

i love the way your theory videos are structured

[@D_YellowMadness]

Chapter 0 could take place Before the Story started. Before we were given control of Kris. If so, I imagine either we'd have no control & it would purely be a series of revelations or we'd have control but no body. Alternatively, it could be a chapter running alongside the existing story, in which we play as the vessel & alter things without ever directly interacting with Kris, Ralsei, & Susie & that's why it has no number. Because it's a side path that can't be chronologically categorized with the others. Maybe one that takes place entirely in places the player wasn't looking in at any given time. Actually, if that's the case, it would mean we could potentially meet Kris & Ralsei or even sometimes Susie but just never when the player is looking. Although that whole concept would imply that we'd be controlling them through a different means & would implicitly confirm the theory that there's a middle man between us & Kris. We'd just be using a different middle man unbeknownst to the original middle man. After all, the player can't be "not looking" because we are the player & have to look to play the game. Having a different middle man could mean having different options though. After all, we may make the decisions that determine the run but the voice speaking through Kris pretty clearly lays out an alleged motive in the weird route. To make Noelle (and maybe eventually someone else) stronger. Whomever the voice may be, they seem to only help us manipulate Noelle because it lines up with their own motives, whatever those may ultimately be. I imagine they wanna control Noelle for some secret goal, similarly to how Chara (despite being controlled by us) was controlling Frisk at times. After all, we don't make Frisk move during dialogue & we don't land the last hit on Sans. We don't kill everyone during the ending of a corrupted pacifist run & we don't finish Flowey in a genocide run or destroy the world.

[@ChuckleDuck]

Excellent brainrot and incredible editing as always. Very nice!

[@crazygamingoscar7325]

This video was WILD. imagining there being 10 chapters is crazy, and WD gaster initials would be INSANE if it actually happens

[@joeystewart5169]

Something I'd like to mention as I've watched Andrew Cunningham's video MANY times is that the "Moderate" was not about having a moderate gaster reference, but being a moderate *case of brain rot in hearing gaster in it* He did say it's possible but not plausible all things considered, however that also isn't a disprove of man = gaster

[@Mr.guy54967]

I actually LOVE this stuff, please keep making it, they're the BEST wait for new chapters

[@srenten]

Wait, what if when you get more of the single letter songs, you can combine all them into one song, and you get a new song? I tried combining w.ogg and d.ogg and it didn't sound like much yet, but maybe it will sound better when you combine ALL of them. Guess we gotta wait and see.

[@godbroccoli11]

I think Chapter 8 is “R” Let me explain; As you established, each chapter likely represents each letter of “WDGASTER” W 1 D 2 G 3 A 4 S 5 T 6 E 7 R ? As we know, trying to type the “R” in “GASTER” takes us back to the very beginning so what if we take that literally? This would mean Chapter 7 will loop us back around to Chapter 1, and we need to somehow break the loop. Since typing “GASTER” is what causes us to restart, the only way to stop looping is to ensure we don’t spell “GASTER” in the first place…. Right? I actually think it’s the opposite. I think we’re looping because we *can’t* spell “GASTER”. Only when we successfully spell his name and get to the end of it can we put an end to everything. So until we figure out the clues laid out for us in each chapter to break the cycle can we finally stop looping back at letter “E” and get to “R” Toby saying there will be “only 1 ending..?” likely alludes to the fact that looping back to the start isn’t an ending at all. After all, something that goes on forever can’t be said to have an end. The obvious thing that leads to an ending? Breaking that infinite cycle, for good. So until we can find a way to Chapter 8, we can’t beat the loop. An obvious answer for what gets us to Chapter 8 would be the “weird” route, the one path where to don’t do things as intended and in an odd way, a way that seemingly goes off course from the usual, infinitely repeating path. Which may be a red herring, and perhaps we have to do the cycle each unique way to know how to truly break free. (Maybe a normal run in one save slot, weird in another, and a true run in the last? That’s a theory for another day though).

[@MrFell.]

That's the best theory i have ever heard on this topic, ever!

[@hsd6716]

i cant imagine gaster would be particularly mad about the snowgrave route after all, its a survey program he wants to see what "answers" you choose

[@redsphinx113]

another thing i like about d.ogg is that its a cool guitar drumbeat it could tie into Dess like Noelle snapping out of the trance is spurred on by some memory related to dess, and that's why it sounds like that (like Blood Crushers The Band) (yeah i'm grasping at straws, with little to negative evidence but i'm slowly going abSOULutely insane)

[@BlazingImp77151]

having more than the 7 makes sense. so far its been 1 per day, with an upcoming night chapter. but asriel comes home "in a week", so we need about 7 days including chapter one (so 8+ chapters), or to skip a day.

[@quince5892]

I couldve sworn I remember Toby saying that he'll work on chapters 3-5, release them bundled, and then work on chapter 6 and 7.

[@Rainey_Weather]

I'm not sure if this is relevant or not, but in OMORI, Toby made a song called Merry CD, or Another Holliday, that contains a major leitmotif of the main melody of d.ogg. I feel like it could be argued both ways on weather this is relevant or not. On one hand, the song title is "Another Holliday" which not only links d.ogg to Noelle, but also possibly to Another Him. But on the other hand, its in a completely different game. Personally, I believe the former.

[@greatsaiyaguy8868]

I didn't really pay attention to what was going on in the thumbnail when I clicked the video so when you mentioned the W and D songs a wave of dread flooded over me when I realized what was coming.... great video!

[@CookieOfChaos123]

HBC posted again!

[@HomeWingGamer]

Honestly with the way chapters correlate to in-game days in Deltarune (as far as we've seen), i could easily see extra chapters like this being a sort of Ben Drowned situation where performing a glitch or exploit to skip to another chapter leads to an odd sort of gamestate, like one after the world falls to darkness or even to the day before chapter one to show what caused us to take over Kris.

[@nuwrox1779]

HBC you are a genius, I dont know how you keep making these theories so good!

[@tetrisbit]

i'm always happy to see you upload. thanks for being the best dela-tuber. been watching since spamton became a cat.

[@sirexilon49]

Another potential reason for a "chapter 0" existing is that in programming arrays are pretty much universsally indexed from 0.(ie the first element of an array is array[0] instead of array[1])

[@Qsie]

Considering "w" plays during the waking sequence... I'm thinking the w stands for wake. Even if it sounds like wind?

[@supertonic64]

The end card screen made me think of something as well. In Earthbound Beginnings and Earthbound, there's a song called "Eight Melodies," which is a combination of all the melody fragments that you collect throughout the game. It would be a very interesting Earthbound reference/callback if Toby was trying to do this. (Reference to the Eight Melodies song from Earthbound below) kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWm6hI2tjZernsk

[@jma0645]

9:07 can't wait for gaster true name to be revieled to be gasterro but the followers just call him gaster because he asked them to because he dislikes it

[@NoTrueShape]

WOOOOOOOO HALFBREAD UPLOAD!!!!!! LETS GO!!!!!

[@tristarnova3454]

I do think there might be a false ending that will end the story at chapter 7, and will force us to restart, since my best guess chapter 8 will have us meet asriel, and he’ll be important to get the actual ending, given the chain of events, so as such we may get our battle with the knight in chapter 7.

[@PatTheFox]

Oooh,another video! I do understand that burnout is a thing,and take any breaks you want,its just that I kinda missed the channel:)

[@faokie]

It's preparing us for the true final boss, W.D. Ice-E

[@Goallpeashooters]

I have a feeling that Tobby intended for there to be 10 chapters, but cut the material down to the bare minimum when he realized how long it was taking for Chapter 2 to be finished. The chapters cut were likely filler chapters that have been condensed into the seven chapters that we see.

[@HalfBreadChaos]

Part of me wonders if he's being so cagey on it, because he's leaving himself wiggle room in case he feels the need to add/remove a chapter here or there. But I don't think I have a solid enough grasp of his production process to really analyze such a hypothesis.

[@Goallpeashooters]

@@HalfBreadChaos yeah, that's kinda what I was getting at. Guess it'll be a mystery till it ain't no more.

[@TeamSprocket]

I think Chapter 0 is very possible to be a real thing, because OFF has a Chapter 0 and Toby is a huge fan of OFF. Maybe not something selectable from a menu, but a story event.

[@user-qt9ek3us6i]

yeah a chapter 0 might happen though i do think it's most likely placeholder code there. computers start counting from 0 so if he didn't have that, the code would reference chapter 1 as chapter 0 and chapter 7 as chapter 6, which isn't very readable. so if chapter 0 happens as an off reference (good game btw) it'll likely be unrelated to that code.

[@kingfishyiii5338]

Thank you for making this video. I always thought there being 10 chapters was likely, and this video definitely strengthened my faith in it. Although, personally, I don't think the different song files spelling out eggman's name is at all likely, but its a neat idea.

[@d0lvl0]

Love your vids so much!

[@georgewebb9074]

Nice analysis

[@nautil_us]

WD being WAKE/DREAM would be very interesting, I'd love to see a wake dream Deepdive!

[@poppip10]

i like to think that gaster isn’t actually behind most of what we see in deltarune, and his main relevance is due to his death spreading him and his works all across space and time, leading to some of his entries and research ending up in the world of deltarune. i’m pretty sure that everyman (yes that guy) would have happened to find them before being exiled for researching “dark science” (the study of how dark worlds and fountains work, apparently something gaster was trying to tap into according to entry number 17). he then would try to seek recognition by becoming a children’s pizza mascot (ice-e, of course) but he soon realizes that people think he’s a freak. this causes him to snap, deciding to find people who care about him once and for all, opening dark fountains across the town in secret. (also i’m pretty sure that whatever is behind those red doors has something to do with it, considering the garbage noise.) all the darkeners consider him as the all powerful knight, while he doesn’t have a single clue what he’s even doing, hiding away to give out eggs (i mean he’s a bird so…) to anyone determined enough to seek him out. ok i think i just typed way too much and kinda derailed the topic but yeah great video halfbread!

[@feshpince7181]

Gaster is literally the entity we "connect" with at the beginning of Chapter 1. In _specifically_ Chapter 1's save file menu, he also says some very odd things depending on what you do on that menu. We know this is him because his type speed and manner of speech is exactly the same as shown in "Entry #17", just in a normal alphanumeric font and without his signature, disjointed speech sounds. He also appears every time we die in Chapter 1 to offer us another try, or says the world is covered in darkness if we choose not to try again. In Chapter 2, he no longer appears every death, but he still appears and says the same thing if we choose not to continue after a death. This is indisputably Gaster. I've noticed a lot of UT/DR fans these days love to try as hard as they can to distance Gaster from the lore with arguments like "He isn't actually canon", or "He was only a special event in UT, not meant to be taken seriously.", despite _direct references to him and Deltarune_ being added to the Switch port of UT just a couple of weeks prior to the Chapter 1 shadow drop. Gaster absolutely, definitely has some form of major control or oversight of our journey in Deltarune, and will be a major entity that determines what this game is even about. Him secretly being Ice-E and going insane, while pretty funny, isn't the kind of vibe I think Toby's going for with the character. I feel that, if we ever get anything comical or funny with Gaster, it'll be LATE game, if at all. Personally, I think he'll only be used in a serious context, keeping the sillier side of the game separate from anything directly tied to him, aside from maybe the way characters like Jevil and Spamton act, which is both funny and disturbing. He's definitely involved with whatever affected them, too. I'm not sure what you meant by the Everyman stuff, or Gaster being a bird, though. He's probably not a bird.

[@jackalope_kracken1856]

You're definitely my favorite Deltarune channel, thanks for making this great video!

[@legomaniac4689]

Why is deltarune so complex??? It’s fun to deep dive but I wanna know stuff, I wanna have answers

[@verbugterherrderdunkelheit6086]

It's basicly a puzzle for which we only have 2 pieces and are not even sure there are more than said on the box.

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

It isn't that it is complex, we are trying to get late game information when we aren't even 1/3rd of the way through the game.

[@TaskMaster369]

I don't need to watch the video to know if it's good or not, but I'll watch it because it's good.

[@KyoshiCadre]

Was not expecting to see OFF in this video to the point I had to comment. Enjoying the video!!! Very interesting look into the inner aspects of the possibility of the game. I like the idea of chapter 0 after chapter 7 because of the timeloop theory

[@cat.2260]

ngl you're the most entertaining tts youtuber i've seen, keep it up

[@thefoxking4463]

maybe the chapters yet to release are the friends we made a long the way

[@Fluffkitscripts]

I just thought of something- the game stresses pretty heavily that We are NOT Kris. They’re separate. What does it mean that the intro voice specifically says “Your name is Kris”?

[@samgeorge1452]

It kinda depends on who we think the intro voice is. My money is on Kris, so "Your name is Kris" is literally just Kris themself telling them that we are now in control of them. After all, while we are not Kris, no one else in this world is aware of that, so in a way our name is basically Kris.

[@HalfBreadChaos]

I was very very tempted to point out... the voice says "your name is...." and then we wake to hear Toriel say "Kris." But that doesn't necessarily mean that's how the voice was going to complete that sentence.

[@marianmazilu5572]

You have unironically the best text to speech technic. I dont know how ypu do it, but I can feel so much personality behind that robot voice

[@sagacious03]

Neat anlysis video! Thanks for uploading!