Man

For the music track, see man.ogg.

WELL,
SPRING CHANGED TO SUMMER, AND SUMMER CHANGED TO COLD,
AND SURE ENOUGH,
I AM THE FORGOTTEN MAN.

The Forgotten Man introducing himself, Chapter 3

The Forgotten Man (JP: わすれられたおとこ), often referred to simply as the man (JP: おとこ), is a mysterious character that Kris can meet multiple times in Deltarune. He is always hidden from the player's view, making his appearance unknown.

The tree the Forgotten Man hides behind is similar to the red-leaved trees that populate Card Kingdom's Field and Forest in Chapter 1.

Profile

Personality

The narration only gives a very brief and mundane description of the Forgotten Man in Chapters 1 and 2, with his first speaking appearance in Chapter 3. He is very friendly, and offers Eggs to Kris as a gift to remember him by. He recognizes Kris as someone who's forgotten him multiple times and is seen in the Light World "waving happily to [them]" in Chapter 2. He seems to value the opinions of others, pausing in conversation frequently to inquire about the perspective of the person he is speaking to, and he has a liking for opinionated people.

The Forgotten Man is able to appear in both the Light World and the Dark World, but whether that means he is a Lightner is unknown. He tells a story about prehistoric time periods, but he seems to doubt that his story can be true, and it is unclear what it is founded on.

The Forgotten Man seems to have a confused and hazy state of mind. In his dialogue, he toys with his wording, and questions if he is getting his facts mixed up at one point. He mentions the idea that he could forget himself.

Main story

Chapter 1

The Forgotten Man giving Kris an Egg in the Forest, as man plays

Backtracking between the room with the Starwalker Bird and the darkening room, there is a very small chance (1/50 or 2%) of entering a hidden place between the two areas. The area's theme, Scarlet Forest, resets while backtracking.

This area consists of a small path leading to a tree. The music is replaced by a simple piano melody and Kris is the only one present upon entering it, regardless of who is in their party at the time.

When inspecting the tree, the narration states that "he" is behind it. Inspecting the area behind the tree reveals that there is a man there, who is offering something. If the offer is accepted, it is revealed to be an Egg. After that, inspecting where the Forgotten Man was reveals that he is no longer there. The area cannot be re-entered.

Later, in the Light World, the Egg can be deposited in Asgore's fridge. If the player interacts with the fridge afterwards, there will now be two eggs inside.

Chapter 2

Kris receiving an Egg in Cyber City's tree room, as man plays

If the Forgotten Man was met during Chapter 1, he appears in Hometown at the beginning of Chapter 2. When leaving the school to go to the library, inspecting any car in the traffic points out that there is a man in it who waves happily at Kris. Inspecting a car once more reveals nothing about the Forgotten Man.

Regardless of the party's actions in Chapter 1, the Forgotten Man can be found in Cyber City's tree room. If the Annoying Dog cutscene has already played, there is a 1/50, or 2% chance, to encounter him while attempting to backtrack between the dog dumpster room and the yellow Annoying Dog signs. The area's theme, WELCOME TO THE CITY, resets while backtracking. This room is inaccessible on the Weird Route.

The tree room contains a low tree, with the same design as the one in Chapter 1, and the music is replaced with the piano melody again. When examining the spot behind the tree, the Forgotten Man offers another Egg to Kris. Once taken or declined, the Forgotten Man ceases to exist there, and subsequent examinations reveal that "there was not a man here". Exiting the area returns the party to where they came from. The area cannot be re-entered.

Chapter 3

The Forgotten Man can be met in a hidden area known as Mancountry, which can be accessed after completing a series of puzzles. First, after completing one of The Legend of Tenna puzzles in TV World, the player must use HERO_AXE to throw a box to a seemingly unaccessible area behind a river. Later, in the area right before the frozen Green Room, if Zapper has not been LOST, a spotlight can be found which, when stepped into, prompts a Zapper to ask Kris if they are a cheater; if they answer "Yes", the Zapper will then ask Kris where they are "headed", and if they answer "Nowhere", they are brought to a cave-like area. This cave contains a lone console where the previously inaccessible area of the completed The Legend of Tenna puzzle can be reached. The box must then be pushed to press a button.

Solving the puzzle opens the way to another console with a Bibliox muttering next to it; on interacting with this console, its in-game avatar tasks Kris with finding their ticket (which is then revealed to have been in the inventory the entire time), which then adds the TripTicket to the party's Key Items. The ticket, when inspected, is said to contain "a map pointing to the left of a red X", a hint towards the method of accessing the Forgotten Man. By backtracking and entering a battle with a Ribbick, selecting the "CroakOnX" ACT (whose 'X' is now red), and holding the "left" input, the SOUL can walk off-screen to the left and enter Mancountry.

In Mancountry, Kris will again appear alone, this time in their Light World outfit; the Forgotten Man can be found in the temple north of the entrance, behind a tree similar to those in the previous Dark Worlds. He introduces himself as the man who is frequently forgotten; if Kris says that they will forget about him at any time in his dialogue, he will cease to exist. However, if Kris reassures the Forgotten Man that he will not be forgotten, he will continue his story. He describes how the world used to look like the simplistic island he is found at, until society developed and multiple world-changing events occurred. He then describes that the island that he is on will also disappear soon, before asking if Kris wants to meet him again. If Kris says that they don't, then the dialogue will end. Otherwise, he will explain his schedule to Kris if they wish to meet him again:

• On Thursday, he goes to sell the donuts.
• On Friday, he tosses the leftovers in the dumpster.
• On Saturday, he lets it cool on the windowsill.
• On Sunday, he harvests the wheat.
• Hold your breath, head to the left, and count backwards to 100.

Kris receiving an Egg in Mancountry, as man_nes plays

This schedule is largely a hint to the locations of each Egg in the other Chapters:

• "The donuts" are likely in reference to the Bake Sale positioned before the Chapter 1 Egg.
• "The dumpster" represents the dog dumpster in Chapter 2.
• "The windowsill" as well as "head to the left and count backwards to 100" allude to the 2nd Sanctuary's window room in Chapter 4, where the Egg room is accessed through the 100th window from the left.

After this, he asks if Kris wrote all of this down, then gifts them an Egg so that they may remember him. He warns Kris that the Egg may cease to exist soon, so they should put it somewhere, after which he suggests Kris depart from the island, since it will disappear soon. He says they will meet again, as "WHETHER 11 HOURS OR 11 YEARS, DELTARUNE WILL BE WAITING." He then disappears, and Kris changes from their Light World outfit to their Dark World outfit.

Chapter 4

If the Forgotten Man was met in Chapter 3, he appears in Hometown right before entering the first Dark Sanctuary. Once it rains after Kris and Susie leave Noelle's House, inspecting the entryway doors of QC's Diner will point out that "a customer in the back notices you. He holds up a takeout box and taps it, happily."

The normal window (left) vs. the Egg window (right)

The Forgotten Man is found around the middle of the 2nd Sanctuary, in a long room with many identical windows. Near the right side of the room, the 100th window from the left possesses an egg-like shape near the top, as opposed to the usual upside-down teardrop shape; walking into this window brings the player to a secret room, whose room transition contains the passage to the Forgotten Man. This method of access breaks several trends from the first two Chapters: the player is brought to the Forgotten Man after entering the secret room exactly 8 times, as opposed to relying on a 1/50 chance; the area's theme, The Second Sanctuary, does not play in the window room nor in the connected secret room, meaning there is no music to be restarted, and the area is accessible on the Weird Route, unlike in Chapter 2.

The room the Forgotten Man is found in, as man_2 plays

Rather than a room with a visible tree, the player is greeted by a similar area to the one in Chapter 3, with Kris appearing similarly out of place, though they now sport their Dark World outfit from the outset. The area resembles a hospital of sorts, with a Rudinn receptionist and a set of three doors. The two outer doors are locked, though the middle one, which features a small drawing of a tree, leads to an invisible, out-of-bounds area on the same screen. This room contains an NPC who asks if Kris is "here for Art Club", their canvas, a sink, the Forgotten Man, behind his usual tree and a second canvas which only appears after Kris interacts with the man.

Kris receiving the fourth Egg in the 2nd Sanctuary

Interacting with the canvas prompts the player to draw something, at which point Kris will attempt to create a pencil sketch of "what they saw behind the tree", starting over and drawing the same shape continually due to repeated errors. Eventually, they successfully finish their sketch and paint a tree over it, leaving the canvas and picking up an Egg from a nearby easel. The Forgotten Man, the other person, and the second canvas will then disappear, and Kris can leave the area. Optionally, you can interact with the sink again to get additional dialogue describing Kris washing their hands.

Outside of Deltarune

In ISSUE 5 - Winter 2024 of the Newsletter, three random Valentine's Day cards were included in the email version of the Newsletter. Among them was a single exceedingly rare card from an unknown sender. It begins by wishing a happy new year, then asks the recipient "HOW IS DELTA RUNE?". The card talks about time, love, and forgetting things, saying that every day can be a day of love "IF YOU BELIEVE IT SO". The sender also mentions wanting to help someone, but cannot remember who.

The card's closing words, which mention washing one's face and getting dressed, are later echoed by the Forgotten Man in his Chapter 3 dialogue, along with his reflections on memory and identity.

Trivia

• The tracks playing in the background of the hidden rooms are not present in the official Deltarune OST. Internally, they are referred to as man, man_nes, and man_2.
  • man and man_nes were originally created as fan songs for Yume Nikki, titled "waltz of seccom masada" and "waltz of seccom masada (8 bit)" respectively. They were part of a collection of songs called "made up yume nikkis" that was posted to Toby Fox's Tumblr.
• The Forgotten Man may be related to spr_mysteryman, a secret character in Undertale found in a similar fashion.
  • The areas the Forgotten Man resides being "[rooms] in between" are similar to the fake hallway leading to spr_mysteryman's room that may appear if Undertale's fun value is set to 66.
• In Undertale's True Lab, there is a room filled with refrigerators. Before turning on the lab ventilation, the fog in the area changes the protagonist's interactions with the refrigerators to vague assumptions. One of these interactions describes "something in the shape of a man", which may be an allusion to the Forgotten Man.
  • Another interaction describes something that "feels like a tree, ripe with delicious fruit", which could possibly allude to the tree the Forgotten Man hides behind.
• In the Fangamer FAQ during the Spamton Sweepstakes event, when asked if Pipis are eggs, Spamton says that only he can refer to them as such, but that "A WHITE ONE" is "SURELY [another man's treasure]." This may be referring to the Forgotten Man and the Eggs he offers.
• The Forgotten Man's appearance in Chapter 3 heavily references the Forgotten Man from EarthBound Beginnings/Mother, as they both have multiple questions with Yes/No responses revolving around the theme of being forgotten.
• The Spamton Sweepstakes page https://deltarune.com/window/ is a direct hint to the Forgotten Man's location in Chapter 4, as the 18th window on this page has the same visual difference and leads to a different webpage, similarly to the in-game version.
  • Similarly, the 36th window on https://deltarune.com/windows/ leads to a webpage titled "ROOTS" depicting a tree. Its URL spells out "lost where the forest would grow", implying that "Lost where the forest would grow, the children followed the pointed tail" is the correct word order for the mixed-up sentence the Organikk NPC in the 2nd Sanctuary heard.
• The voice appears to consider obtaining an Egg from the Forgotten Man an "issue", as obtaining an Egg in PlayStation versions of Deltarune bars the player from gaining the "COMPLETE WITHOUT ISSUE" trophy for the Chapter the Egg is obtained in.
  • The trophy may be using the definition of "issue" used in certain legal or genealogical contexts, where "issue" refers to descendants/children. By that definition, eggs can be considered the "issue" of whatever creature laid them, and the trophy may be literally acknowledging that the player is completing a Chapter while not having obtained an Egg in that Chapter.