Sorry, I made a mistake: The Knight's final slash (after the "fullscreen Star attack") is performed with their left. Katana is traditionally used with both hands, maybe dominance doesn't matter? I'm not a sword nerd, it may not even matter, just leaving this here in case it does.

Without further hints, I find it hard to imagine it's regular Dess - her known, justice-oriented personality doesn't fit the Knight at all, who's a skilled manipulator. Carol seems too obvious to not scream red herring. Whoever they are, I think Kris is trying to protect Asriel.

Look up the short video series "My girlfriend turned into a worm" (Alex Herz). It's one of the cutest things I've ever seen and probably most heartfelt answer to this question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yzYSUWRsK0

... Man. Dataminers found the scene of the hand that pushes you back in Chapter 4 plays a near-inaudible guitar sound. I wouldn't take this as evidence for the Knight's identity, but it strengthens the idea of more than one Holiday's active participation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfOlGbiHxo0

Alas, I noticed at least three factually incorrect statements towards Rouxls in Chapter 4:
THIS TRANSCENDENTLY HANDSOME LAMPSHADE SHINES BRIGHTER THAN BOTH OF YOU IN A GARBAGE INCINERATOR AND HAS JUST THE PERFECT SIZE OF MOUTHWATERING HINDQUARTERS, YOU UNGRATEFUL QUANTS.

That said, I think Chess piece theory has come true with Tenna (Rook = Fraud, Tower = TV) and Gerson (Bishop/Messenger/various animals including tortoise), just not in a fully predictable (read as "boring") way.

... The dog chase and reuse of Thundersnail was really cute. ❤️

Regarding the Knight...Its shape pointing to a Holiday feels misleading. From Kris' behaviour, I think it's Asriel.
- Dess is left-handed, Knight slashes with right
- Kris studies occultism (humans can't use magic), which supports e.g. "Possession theory": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhCX7v07B08

But I'm glad Chapter 3 & 4 strongly affirm that Kris isn't a bad kid (visible discomfort in the Sword Route, protecting Susie & Noelle from the player). If they were just afraid of the consequences, they wouldn't have brought Berdly into the hospital at the chance that he awakes.

Speaking of...Someone mentioned that "Snowgrave" is an anagram of "Wrong Save". Considering Weird Route is only unlocked after using it on Berdly, I doubt this is a coincidence.

I wonder if he will wake up and the player's options will differ if you chose abort it in Chapter 4.

Not in the Weird Routes themselves, but Chapter 3 has an unused (or, rather, through normal means inaccessible) Shadow Crystal/Glass text featuring Undyne (notably, also Undertale's third boss).
https://tcrf.net/Deltarune/Chapter_3/Unused_Text#Glass_Use_Text
Hint or red herring, I think it's been left there on purpose.

It might not hint at Gaster's morality, but it's worth mentioning that Clam Girl's opinion on whether you should meet Suzy or not depends on whether you spared Undyne *, who got kidnapped in Deltarune...Is there a link? I haven't seen Chapter 3 & 4's Weird Route yet, maybe it yields some clues.

* According to https://undertale.fandom.com/wiki/Waterfall/NPCs#Clam_Girl. Note that it doesn't say that a full Pacifist is required, only that the player is "not on a Genocide Route".

Not sure if it's a coincidence, but Supersymmetry is abbreviated as "SUSY". Susie's named changed (or was intentionally obscured) from Undertale, where Clam Girl refers to her as "Suzy". Her reactions are another reason why I doubt that Gaster is malevolent.

(Reference to Ralsei's Chapter 3 explanation of the Dark Fountain resembling human-traversible black holes, from my - admittedly layman - understanding possible under the Randall-Sundrum-model alias Brane cosmology.) https://mastodon.social/@WhisperyWorm999/115046807367067728

...girl from "The Dressmaker's Doll" seeing the doll she loves being thrown out, unwanted, insulted by everyone, but the residence the doll lies in is locked, all she can do is wait for the gate to open to hopefully reach her before someone else can. This is how I feel about him.

(Copied from 💩itter, Aug 19, 2025)

Am I selfish and greedy for still asking for this? I'm glad that he's canonically single and emotionally available (and I'm eternally thankful to Toby if my request mattered), but I can't help but worry nonstop over every little thing whether it will stay this way. Imagine the...

(Copied from 💩itter, Aug 19, 2025)

It hurts so much that there's no way to reach out to Rouxls anyhow, to show him at least a bit of affection I think he craves deeply. It's not an excuse to overstep boundaries in the way he does, I just suspect he does so because he never learned what it feels like to be loved.

(Copied from 💩itter, Aug 19, 2025)

I can't hate Elnina & Lanino. They're good people and at least didn't abuse him in any way. I just hate not to know whether I should worry more or less about Rouxls now. I want to believe he just craves affection, not specifically from them, but it's so hard to say.

(Copied from 💩itter, Aug 19, 2025)

Oops, forgot to update.

"Toby... Thank you for the Ralsei/Susie kindness arc.
Thank you for implying that Rouxls' heart is free... I can't stop crying my ass off from the relief this has brought me after so many years." what I initially wanted to say. I mean it, but is this still true with Chapter 4?

(Copied from 💩itter, Aug 19, 2025)

8/ While MSG intolerance is rare and sensitisation not well understood (like patient 3/, mine was acquired), it misrepresents the current scientific consensus to call it a "myth" when at least two placebo-controlled studies confirm it. Healthline please update your 2022 article!

7/ To not promote racism, I recommend to stop calling it "China Restaurant Syndrome" - MSG was first isolated in Japan 1908 and has been used worldwide for almost as long. But please don't misuse it to invalidate MSG allergy/sensitivity itself, which also exists in Asia (see 3/. The study also references other studies in Japan).

6/ I don't want to throw around accusations of malice without proof, but show that mockery of "clean eating" trends can spiral into invalidation of people with rare allergies/sensitivities to MSG or Sodium Benzoate. We're not the same people that would sign a "ban DHMO" petition.