Deltarune

Susie and Ralsei — The potential Ultimate Goods of Deltarune.

Deltarune is a 2018 indie RPG created by Toby Fox and serves as the spiritual successor to Undertale. As of now, the game is still ongoing and doesn't have a definitive qualifier for the Ultimate Good just yet, but that doesn't meant there aren't any close/potential candidates in the game already.

Plot[]

Deltarune centers around Kris, a silent protagonist being controlled by the player navigating through various Dark Worlds alongside their fellow classmate Susie and the prince of the dark, Ralsei as they try to stop the mysterious presence known as the Knight as it wreaks havoc across the many Dark Worlds they find themselves in. Will they succeed? Or has their fate already been sealed?

Potential Candidates for the Ultimate Good[]

Susie[]

One of the deuteragonists of Deltarune and one of the three heroes of the prophecy. Starting off as a cruel, uncontrollable bully who only wants to cause chaos, by the end of chapter 1, Susie ultimately redeems herself, standing up against the King of Spades and going straight. Being a main character, she is easily one of the most admirable heroes in the game so far, stopping many heinous villains such as the aforementioned King of Spades as well as Queen. She is also trying to defeat the Knight in order to stop it from summoning more Dark Fountains and terrorizing the wider Dark World. Aside from Kris/the SOUL's ability to seal Fountains, Susie is the single most powerful character, being a beast in combat and even capable of defying the will of the SOUL. She has also had immense influence on a lot of characters, as she is a very important friend(/love interest) to Kris, Ralsei and Noelle and has helped redeem Lancer, Berdly and Tenna.

As of now, Susie's arc is still ongoing and still shows various corrupting qualities mostly in relation to her wrathfulness, but there is a good chance that she will either subvert or at the very least mitigate her negative qualities enough to quality for the title in the near future, especially as the game is slowly focusing less on her jerkish behavior and more on her protectiveness, her determination to stop evil and her "contagious" hope.

Ralsei[]

One of the deuteragonists of Deltarune and one of the three heroes of the prophecy. The prince of the dark who possesses intimate knowledge of the Dark World and the prophecy. Encouraging pacifism from the player/Kris and assisting us on our journey from beginning to end. He is easily one of the most admirable and noble heroes in the story so far, possessing no corrupting qualities as of now and being determined to stop the Knight even when he's certain that there's no way of preventing whatever fate has been decided for him and his friends by the prophecy.

As of now, Ralsei's arc is still ongoing, and while he is a good qualifier in his current state, this is subject to change in the future depending on where his character goes. Even now, his somewhat passive nature and his obedience to the Lightners (to the point he has only recently developed a personality outside of them) hinders his chances to count as the most active, independent do-gooder.

Close Contenders for the Ultimate Good[]

Kris[]

The main protagonist of Deltarune and one of the three heroes of the prophecy. Being the character that we play as and control throughout most of our adventure, Kris is inadvertently responsible for many of the admirable acts we commit in the game, including defeating villains such as the King of Spades and Queen as well as defeating more powerful forces such as one of the Titans that the Knight summoned.

Ultimately what holds Kris back from qualifying is a combination of both moral ambiguity and ultimately being a pawn to the player. All of their most admirable acts so far have ultimately been done through the SOUL controlling their body rather than being of their own decision. Outside of this, various scenes where they are shown acting outside of the player's will imply that they may be working with someone nefarious (possibly even the Knight) and actively prevents us from getting into the Shelter to save Undyne in chapter 4. Because of these factors, Kris' chances of qualifying as the Ultimate Good are incredibly low, though this may be subject to change depending on how their arc goes in future chapters.

The SOUL[]

The overarching protagonist of Deltarune and the one controlling Kris throughout most of the adventure. Being a physical representation of the player themselves, the SOUL is the one who actively pushes the plot along by taking control of Kris and using them to stop heinous villains such as the King of Spades and is currently trying to take down the Knight. The SOUL also is likely the most powerful entity, due to its potential to overwhelm its enemies with sheer skill and even rewind time.

What prevents them from qualifying is that, due to being a representation of the player, their morality is entirely dependent on the player, and in the case of the hidden Weird Route, they can become a full on villain by using Kris to force Noelle to murder Cyber World citizens and even forcing her to use the Snowgrave attack on Berdly, one of her classmates and friends. Because of this, the SOUL is ultimately too morally inconsistent for the title of the Ultimate Good.

Noelle Holiday[]

The tritagonist in Deltarune. She is one of Kris' friends and classmates who is highly implied to have a much bigger role in the story than she initially lets on. Assisting in the fight against Queen among other things she does in the Cyber World, she is also the younger sister of Dess Holiday, a character who is strongly implied to have a large role in Deltarune's overarching plot, making Noelle incredibly important to the story.

Where Noelle falls short however is her actions in the Weird Route. While not done entirely of her own will, Noelle does ultimately kill several Darkners and ends up putting Berdly in a coma by using her Snowgrave ability. Aside from that, Noelle also lacks the admirable acts of characters such as Susie and Ralsei to qualify, making her too standard and inconsistent for the title of Ultimate Good.

Lancer[]

The main supporting character of Deltarune. Initially serving an antagonistic role in chapter 1, Lancer ends up redeeming himself at the end, standing up to his father and becoming a major supporting character in the ongoing chapters, continuing to help fight against villains such as Tenna as he tries to keep the main characters in his game show forever.

Where Lancer ultimately falls short however is in admirability. While he does play a major supporting role in multiple chapters, he is mostly designated to the background while the main trio do the heavy lifting, this also means he lacks the influence needed for the title as well, making him fall short in two major categories and thus unable to qualify for the title of Ultimate Good.

Gerson Boom[]

The overarching protagonist of Chapter 4: Prophecy, Gerson acts as the wacky mentor figure to Susie, appearing whenever she feels down on herself and encouraging her to keep trying, most notably he's the one who manages to get Susie to master her healing ability. He is also the single most physically capable hero so far, with speed and strength that make him a terrific opponent even for Susie, and he ends up landing the final blow on the Titan at the end of the chapter.

While Gerson is certainly admirable, has had a large impact on Susie's character and doesn't have any real corrupting qualities, he ultimately lacks the influence to qualify for the Ultimate Good due to only being a major character in one of the game's chapters (as of now anyway).