SOUL
See that HEART, Kris?
That's your SOUL, the culmination of your being!
Within, it holds your WILL... your COMPASSION...
... and the FATE of the world.Ralsei, Chapter 1
The SOUL (JP: タマシイ), also formatted as soul, is the very essence of one's being. Kris's SOUL in particular plays a crucial role in the plot and progression of Deltarune, capable of sealing Dark Fountains. It is controlled by the player, who by extension, can control Kris. However, Kris is able to remove their SOUL in certain situations.
Kris's SOUL resembles a red heart symbol, with its tip typically pointed downwards. Depending on the SOUL mode, its color and its capabilities can change, such as yellow mode having the SOUL point to the right and can shoot projectiles. It is capable of shining, where it emits a white light. In Chapter 5, the SOUL is slightly smaller in the Light World, and is implied be warm from checking Kris's bedsheets, which had covered the cage the SOUL was in.[1]
It is implied in Chapter 4 that the appearance of a red, downwards-pointing heart is associated only with human SOULs.[2] As of Chapter 5, no such counterpart is shown for monsters or Darkners.
The player can move Kris's SOUL with the directional buttons/stick.
In menus such as the SAVE and the inventory, the SOUL indicates the selected option, including in the introduction, before Kris's appearance.
In the Dark World's overworld, certain obstacles or Darkners can cause the world to darken. When this occurs, Kris's SOUL becomes visible, and the menu temporarily becomes inaccessible. If Kris's SOUL is hit by an overworld bullet, all active party members take damage. This overworld damage will not take party members below 1 HP, but can still cause a Game Over.
Game Over mechanics from overworld damage behave differently between Chapters:
- In Chapter 1, if all party members have exactly 1 HP after getting hit, it causes a Game Over. For example, an obstacle that deals 20 damage can cause a Game Over if all party members have 21 HP and Kris's SOUL takes a hit.[3] Due to a bug, a party member at exactly 2 HP takes no overworld damage, which can make the party immune to overworld damage (but the party will still take 'hitstun').[4][note 1]
- In Chapter 2, if all party members have 2 HP or lower after getting hit, it causes a Game Over. For example, the above scenario now happens if all party members have 22 HP.[5] This 'fixes' the 2 HP bug.
- In Chapters 3+4, if all party members have 1 HP before getting hit, then getting hit causes a Game Over. The 2 HP bug is also fixed but introduces a purely graphical bug.[note 2]
In an encounter, the SOUL takes damage for any active party members that are targeted during the enemy's turn, though it is unseen by most party members.[6] It is restricted by the bullet board's borders, and can be can be slowed by 50% by moving and holding the [CANCEL] button.[7] It can also graze attacks to earn TP, which causes a white heart outline to briefly appear around the SOUL. The SOUL always returns to Kris after the enemy's turn ends, including when Kris is offscreen, such as versus Lancer in Card Castle,[8] or the Sound of Justice in the 2nd Sanctuary. The SOUL's appearance and function can change depending on certain ACTs, versus bosses, and Shadow Crystal bosses.
When casting certain spells and ACTs from Kris's menu, the SOUL is capable of shining to support the party, such as Ralsei's Dual Heal or Susie's RedBuster.
If all party members have negative HP in battle, or the SOUL takes too much damage (see above) on the overworld, the SOUL breaks in half and shatters, leading to the Game Over screen.
In the Light World, the SOUL can levitate and interact with physical objects. It is lightweight, as the ventilation system's breeze helps it move slightly faster. Without Kris, the SOUL is physically limited: it cannot open doors, is easily stunned by physical objects, and can be contained. If it has been damaged enough, Kris's Light World HP also goes down.
During the introduction, the voice speaks to the player, as the SOUL manifests onto the screen. It floats up and down within an empty void before teleporting away, soon reappearing as the selector tool for vessel choices.
During the fight against King, Kris's SOUL can shine its power to a party member, allowing them to cast new and improved spell. This only occurs if a party member is ordered to Talk to King.
After defeating King, Kris's SOUL enters the Eastern Fountain, sealing it with an enveloping white light.
At the end of Chapter 1, Kris wakes up, rips their SOUL out of their body, and throws it into the birdcage, trapping it. While Kris pulls out their knife, the player can move the SOUL, but cannot control Kris, indicating that Kris's SOUL is what grants the player's ability to control them.
During Kris's first encounter with Spamton, he demands to see Kris's "HeartShapedObject", presumably referring to their SOUL. After seeing Kris's SOUL in battle, he offers Kris a deal.
In the basement of Queen's Mansion, Spamton transforms into Spamton NEO, but realizes that he is still controlled by strings. He attempts to kill Kris and absorb their SOUL, believing that doing so would finally free him.
During the battle with Queen, Kris's SOUL can once again shine its power on another party member, allowing them to cast improved spells. However, Kris cannot enhance any of Noelle's spells, as she is not present.
At the end of the Cyber World, Kris's SOUL enters the library Fountain, sealing it with an enveloping white light.
Inside the Dreemurr residence, upon turning on the bathroom sink, Kris removes their SOUL and trap it in the cupboard. Kris temporarily leaves the bathroom, then after some time passes, they later return and reinsert the SOUL.
After Kris, Susie, and Toriel all go to sleep, Kris wakes up in the middle of the night and once again removes their SOUL, then shoves it in the couch. Once Kris makes a Dark Fountain, they retrieve the SOUL and reinsert it into their body.
During the Desert Board, narration from The Legend of Tenna inquires if the party is ready for the physical challenge within the pyramid. An 8-bit version of the SOUL appears as a selector for the question prompt. In the Island Board, it similarly appears at a selector prompt when interacting with the binoculars from land, interacting with the cracked conch, and attempting to purchase Lancer for full price.
In the Sword Route, each time the Original Game starts up, Kris's SOUL briefly appears on the screen before being overlapped by HERO_SWORD's sprite.
Unlike with the other enemies in the Original Game, taking damage against the Shadow Mantle holder physically harms the real Kris and can lead to the SOUL shattering.
Kris presumably seals the Dreemurr residence Fountain with their SOUL between the Chapters.
In Noelle's House, Kris tears out their SOUL while reading the shelter code hidden in Dess's guitar. With the SOUL out, Kris descends a staircase and throws it in a gift box in a small, closed off room and leaves. Afterwards, the SOUL can float out of the box and enter the vent. It can push lightweight objects, such as empty gift boxes, Santa Claus figurines, and small bells, the latter which can reward an achievement.
In the kitchen, the SOUL can interact with the sink or bump into the piano keys. Being near Kris, in Kris's line of sight, or interacting with certain objects causes Kris to capture the SOUL and return it to the small room. If the player waits in the kitchen area, an unknown person on Kris's Cell Phone can mention that the SOUL is necessary for something related to the Dark World.[9] In the Japanese translation of Deltarune, this line seemingly indicates that Kris cannot enter the Dark World without it.[10][11]
The SOUL eventually reaches the basement, where it can short-circuit the breaker or cause the large stereo to play Lost Girl. The former prompts Noelle and Susie to investigate, and Susie knocks over a Christmas tree, causing the SOUL to become trapped under an angel ornament. Believing it is a mouse or another critter, Susie and Noelle take the SOUL to the living room.
While trapped under the ornament, the SOUL can move it slightly while the two converse until they leave, and it escapes the angel ornament. Upon returning to Dess's room and nearing the guitar, the SOUL gets stunned by Kris's hockey puck. The noise alerts the girls, and Kris quickly hides in the closet with both the SOUL and the guitar.
In the closet, the SOUL tries to reach the guitar by moving gift boxes and nudging into Santa Claus figurines to distract Kris, who tries to knock the SOUL away with a hockey stick. Eventually, the SOUL makes it to the guitar, making enough noise to prompt Susie to open the closet, who reprimands Kris for not searching for clues, and takes the guitar. Once the two girls leave, Kris opens the closet and calls what seems to be the same person they were speaking to earlier in the kitchen. After the call, Kris shoves the SOUL back into their body, and the game continues as normal.
In the Dark Sanctuaries, the SOUL gradually becomes capable of shining in the darkness. At the end of the 3rd Sanctuary, Kris's SOUL shines brightly for the party to advance towards the Knight.
The party eventually fights a Titan, damaging it and creating an opening in its head. Susie and Kris jump inside of it, falling and revolving together into the darkness. The SOUL manifests from Kris's body and floats between the two of them, before emitting an enveloping white light, which seems to defeat the Titan. Afterwards, Susie mentions the SOUL for the first time, and refers to it as a "red heart thing".[12]
At the end of the Chapter, the SOUL is seen inside the birdcage in Kris's room while Kris tries to sleep. Similarly to the ending of Chapter 1, the SOUL can be moved around inside the birdcage.
Kris removes their soul to create the Flower Kingdom Dark Fountain in Asgore's Flower King shop.
In Chapter 4's Weird Route, after Kris removes the SOUL from their body to prevent the player from learning of the code inside the guitar, Noelle asks Kris to join her in her room to discuss the previous day's events. The SOUL can then explore the vent to find the two conversing in Noelle's room.
The SOUL is subsequently transported into the text box via a dialogue choice, and the player is given the option to tell Noelle to "Proceed" or not; choosing the former results in the SOUL roaming free in Noelle's room and being able to re-enter Kris's body. If the ThornRing was reequipped to Noelle, afterwards, Kris enters the bathroom, throws the SOUL in a trash can, and aggressively kicks it around. When Asgore knocks on the room's door to inform Kris that Carol ordered everyone to leave, Kris re-inserts the SOUL into their body.
During Susie's fight against Lancer, when his turn begins, the SOUL enters the bullet board from Kris's general direction off-screen. In the Undertale 6th Anniversary Stream, Toby Fox confirmed that this is intentional.[13]
The SOUL
The yellow SOUL
The green SOUL
The purple SOUL
The orange SOUL
The SOUL holding an umbrella
The long SOUL in the Jackenstein fight
The SOUL wearing a tutu in the Jackenstein fight
The SOUL's avatar in The Legend of Tenna
The SOUL running away with a pair of legs
Kris tearing out the SOUL from their body
Kris re-inserting the SOUL into their body
Kris inserting the SOUL inside a balloon
The party and the SOUL pushing through the Knight's blades
The yellow SOUL attacking Pipis shot by Spamton NEO
The green SOUL using an axe to shield against the Hammer of Justice
The SOUL during the introduction
The SOUL shining in the dark
The SOUL shining within the Titan
The SOUL in the Deltarune logo
- Two tracks in the DELTARUNE Soundtrack have lyrics that mentions the SOUL's ability to shine: Don't Forget[14] and possibly Raise Up Your Bat.[15]
| Game edition | Version tag | Changes |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1&2 Demo | v1.07 | Added the functionality of holding [CANCEL] button during attacks to slow the SOUL, allowing for more precise movement in battle.[7] |
| v1.08 | Holding [CANCEL] button through the start of an attack no longer slows the SOUL, allowing it to be held constantly while remaining at full speed. Pressing [MENU] and [CONFIRM] button during an attack plays a sound and toggles SOUL-slowing. | |
| v1.09 | Removed the SOUL-slowing toggle with [MENU] and [CONFIRM] button. | |
| v1.19 | Fixed the SOUL escaping from the box during the Lancer and Susie battle when she gets up from being attacked. |
- ↑ If a party member's incoming damage is 1 or lower, then the overworld damage flyaway is skipped. The originally intended code is not obvious, but this may be an off-by-one bug (intended for "lower than 1 damage" so a party member already at 1 HP correctly does not show a flyaway) or a mistake where "incoming damage is 1 or lower" was meant to be "HP is 1 or lower" (same effect), but not both.
- ↑ If incoming damage is 1 or lower, then the overworld damage flyaway is now set to 1 instead of being skipped. An extra check (that has been present since Chapter 1) prevents overworld HP from going below 1 even after a damage flyaway. For example, if an obstacle deals 20 damage and there are two party members with 30 HP and 120 HP, then getting hit by the obstacle four times will display the damage numbers 20 and 20, 9 and 20, 1 and 20, and 1 and 20, leaving the party members with 1 HP and 40 HP. In previous Chapters, the party member at 1 HP would not display two extra 1-damage flyaways.
- ↑
(Bedsheets. They are slightly warm.)
— Narration, Chapter 5 - ↑
It's a heart or human-soul shaped pillow, depending on your opinion.
— Narration for inspecting heart-shaped pillows in Noelle's House, Chapter 4 - ↑ gml_globalscript_scr_damage_all_overworld script, line 47, Chapter 1
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyYbcPbCj94&t=12m33s
- ↑ gml_globalscript_scr_damage_all_overworld script, line 50, Chapter 2
- ↑
(He hit me in the face with a tornado...)
— Noelle, if HP is less than max vs Berdly, Chapter 2 - 1 2
While dodging bullets in battle, you can now hold the cancel button (X key) to move at half speed.
— @UnderTale on Twitter, September 30, 2021. - ↑ gml_Object_obj_lancerbattle2_event_Step_0 script, line 637, Chapter 1
- ↑
... Kris... dark world... no soul... can't...
— Caller, Chapter 4 - ↑
タマシイ…ない… クリス…やみのせかい… はいれな…
— Caller, Chapter 4 Japanese localization - ↑
While in English, "can/cannot" is its own verb, Japanese typically expresses this by instead modifying the original verb itself, so we actually now know what "can't" in the English version was referring to--the full phrase was "can't enter."
— duxarcana on Tumblr, July 01, 2025. - ↑
... Hey Kris, what's the deal with that red heart thing...?
— Susie, Chapter 4
Is that... your... - ↑ UNDERTALE 6th Anniversary So We Play DELTARUNE Chapter 1 For Some Reason - LIVE! (02:22:35) on YouTube
- ↑
There's a light inside your soul
— Excerpt from Don't Forget
That's still shining in the cold - ↑
With your heart as the ark
— Excerpt from Raise Up Your Bat in-game lyrics
Which shall shine you the way.