Deltarune: Chapter 1 Ending Explained

"Deltarune" is the follow-up to "Undertale," the immensely popular indie game created by the one-person team of Toby Fox. "Deltarune: Chapter 1" was released for free back in October 2018 by Fox, who later said that he is working to finish the rest of the chapters. Fans have noticed that the title of the game is an anagram for "Undertale," but Fox has confirmed that "Deltarune" does not take place in the same world as "Undertale."

The first chapter of "Deltarune" follows Kris and Susie, two students who discover the mysterious Dark World in their school's supply closet. The two characters meet a wizard named Ralsei, who reveals that the three of them are meant to bring balance to the forces of light and dark, according to a prophecy. The trio helps the conniving Lancer overthrow his father, the king. Kris and Susie return to the normal world, where they promise to return to the Dark World the following day. They return home, where the ending cutscene of "Chapter 1" plays out.

The first chapter concludes with a short cutscene of Kris convulsing in bed before falling onto the floor. They continue shaking until they stand up, rip their own soul out, and throw it into a cage in the corner. Afterward, Kris pulls out a knife and their eye glows red in a menacing fashion. The game cuts to credits after this, providing no real explanation about what just happened to Kris. 

While this is the end of "Chapter 1," Fox has announced that more chapters are coming, so this is more of an end-of-season cliffhanger than a proper ending. Fox also said that he might rework "Chapter 1" for the final release of the full "Deltarune" experience, so this might not even be the definitive ending of chapter one.

This cliffhanger ending has caused a number of wild fan theories to be made about what exactly the ending means. A popular theory is that Chara, a character from "Undertale" with the ability to possess and control people, is the one controlling Kris. In a lengthy post by u/Redditsufan on the "Undertale" subreddit, they explain that Chara is an omnipresent force that is inherently tied to the player character's soul, so while Chara may reside in the soul that Kris rips out, Chara wouldn't exactly be the one controlling them.

While there are multiple important characters in "Deltarune," the only one directly impacted by the ending (as far as fans know) is Kris. 

Kris is the player-controlled character and while the ending scene might imply that they are going rogue, some of the screenshots shared by Fox of the upcoming chapters show that Kris is still in the player's party. In a post polling what people thought the ending means on Reddit (the joke answer of Kris just wanting pie received the most votes) u/blaze_warrior17 theorized that the ending was more meta than it appears. 

According to blaze_warrior17's theory, Kris is rejecting the player's input and rebelling against the structure of the game itself. They wrote, "by throwing [the soul in a cage they are rejecting the player's choices/control, following the game's running theme of 'your choices don't matter.'" This theory has proven to be popular among "Deltarune" fans, and other commenters have heartily agreed with blaze_warrior17's take.