User:TheFlamingX/blogs/Rudy Knighting

The content of this blog was written after the release of Chapter 4

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It smelt like Lou Dog inside the van, oh yeah

— Sublime, Garden Grove

I think Rudy Holiday is the Roaring Knight. Now, this isn't necessarily because I think there's an overwhelming amount of evidence that points towards him, rather, I believe in Rudy Knight because the dominant theory of December being the Knight has some pretty big holes. And I certainly believe Rudy to be the second best Knight candidate. Having said this, some days I do feel like Rudy is just the best Knight candidate, full stop. It depends on my mood.

Anti-Dess Knight

Kris is working with the knight

There is an enormous amount of information that is adjacent to both Dess and the Knight. But a lot of the theories that suppose Dess is the Knight don't provide a great explanation to the issue of Dess very clearly being the lost girl. Kris is working with the Knight, as well as Carol. Kris knows the Knight's identity, since they prevent us from removing their helmet, and Carol presumably does as well since they're working as a team. But Dess can't be lost if Kris and Carol know who she is. Character motivation is an important part of any story, and if Dess is the Knight, then Kris, the Knight, and Carol are a really strange collection of characters. Perhaps I haven't looked very far for them, but I really don't think there are many good motivations for Kris outside of Dess-related trauma.

I've heard some people say they're trying to fulfill or mess with the prophecy or something, but I don't see why that group of people would so wholly concern themselves with that goal. Remember: Kris is working against Ralsei and Susie on their quest. They don't want to get their friends involved, but they do think the objective is important enough to still work against them. In the concluding scene of Chapter 4, Kris is on the verge of jumping out of the window to talk to Susie, until they are reminded by Carol on the phone of their promise. They're emotionally torn. I don't think any motivation as indistinct as modifying the prophecy would get Kris to act as they do. Plus, it makes keeping Dess a mysterious character serve a more traditional role in the story. "The sister that went missing ten years ago has left a scar on the town" feels more believable than "the sister that went missing ten years ago is the main antagonist". Deltarune's a story, after all.

Another idea is that Dess is the Knight, but is still in need of saving, or is still lost. The big take I've seen on this is the Dess Possession theory, but frankly? I just don't buy it. It makes a lot of claims that don't have much backing them up, and I think if it really were Toby's intention for the Knight to be possessed, there would be more evidence directly indicating possession. The theory feels like it starts at the conclusion of Dess being the Knight, and then views all evidence through the lens of "Dess is immutably the Knight" as opposed to "to which Knight does this evidence suggest". Maslow's hammer, if you will. Dess is the most mysterious character, and the Knight is the most unknown character, so people feel compelled to fit them together (despite her being the Knight going against what Dess is).

Point is, Dess Knight has some major issues in the "how" department, and a lot of theories go with:

• Step 1: Dess is the lost girl
• Step 2: ???????
• Step 3: Dess is the Roaring Knight
• Step 4: Profit

...and I have yet to see a theory that gives step two an airtight answer. Until that happens, I feel compelled to find a simpler solution.

Rudy Knight Evidence

And here Rudy is, as what I believe to be the second best Knight candidate. Unlike Dess Knight, which lacks a good answer to the question of why she would even be the Knight, Rudy is flush with reasoning: that being finding Dess. Now, Rudy doesn't really have lines like "I MUST FIND DECEMBER HOLIDAY. I AM THE ROARING KNIGHT.", and he doesn't really make much mention of Dess, but it is not out of character for the disappearance of Dess to weigh heavily on his mind with how deeply he cares for Noelle. Toby revealing that Rudy worries about his missing daughter is an easier jump in logic to make than the Knight being a split personality that is both not in it's right mind, yet also capable of reason, and also devoid of personality, while also being quite cocky.

But I can't just say it would make sense for a character to do something: if a character really is supposed to be doing that thing then Toby will include evidence for it in the story. And there are quite a few pieces of evidence sprinkled around that do in fact suggest that Rudy may be the Knight. I'll be bringing up these points in order of most convincing to least convincing.

Undertale Clock

The first piece of evidence isn't even from Deltarune. Lol! Anyways, a stretch goal of the Undertale Kickstarter campaign was an alarm clock app, with dialogue from various Undertale characters. The app ultimately ended up being canceled in favor of developing Deltarune, but some of dialogue was released on the Undertale website. Asgore's dialogue is of particular note, because he spends half of it talking about the Rudy of Undertale. Much like in Deltarune, they appear to be close friends, and Asgore dialogue laments his immortal, unageing life as he witnesses Rudy grow old and eventually die. The fact of note from this: Rudy grows old. He doesn't die from some disease at a middle age.

Toby writes dialogue to give us information. If Rudy's disease is both natural and fatal, then he'd still have it in Undertale (probably) and Asgore would've said Rudy died young. If it's natural but not fatal, then the argument of Rudy's death being foreshadowed (a common anti-Rudy Knight argument) loses a lot of ground to stand on. If it's not natural: where does it come from? Why is Rudy sick? A Rudy Knighter may suggest that his disease may be tied to certain off-screen activities... or maybe even... on-screen, yet masked activities?

There's also the fact that this might be one of two Deltarune characters to be mentioned before the release of Deltarune (the other being that Goner that mentions "Suzy"), but I can't get a good timeline on when the dialogue of the Undertale Clock was written/published, so I can't verify that fact.

Rudy's Disease

Despite often being depicted as bedridden, Rudy can walk around by himself.

While we're on the subject, what exactly is Rudy's disease? Talking to him in Chapter 1, he says they found "something", suggesting the presence of symptoms, following it up with saying they're doing tests, suggesting they don't know what it is yet. He never makes any mention of being in the process of receiving treatment. He also expresses little concern for the disease, at least in front of Kris, and is able to attend church in Chapter 4.

The matter of how long he's been afflicted by this illness is a bit difficult to answer. The disease has yet to be identified, yet no concern is displayed towards this fact, implying it's only been a few days. In addition, when Kris first visits Rudy, his manner of speaking suggests that Kris has not yet visited them, and that Kris might not have heard of the disease yet. On the other hand, Noelle thinks to herself in the Chapter 2 Weird Route "why [does Kris] keep coming", even if you didn't visit the hospital in Chapter 1. Now, while this could be spun into a "Rudy is a liar" type of deal, a liar that is trying to hide secret meetings with Kris from the player (an angle that would do wonders for the Rudy Knight agenda), the dialogue most likely is Toby forgetting to make a flag for meeting Rudy in Chapter 1. Since if you talk to Noelle in Chapter 1, she asks the same thing, while only referring to only a single case.

Regardless, the disease being a recent development still works in favor of the Rudy Knight agenda. It means that the development of Rudy's disease lines up with the appearance of Dark Fountains and Dark Worlds in Hometown, hinting at the idea that Rudy is involved in the appearance of Dark Worlds. It also suggests that maybe the same disease will eventually befall Kris? Though the Knight has maybe done things outside of just opening fountains that could also get him sick, but I'll get to that later.

Connections

So: we've reasoned out that the disease has probably only came up in the past week or so. Given that Rudy's wife and best friend are tied up in this, for what reason would they leave Rudy out? The plan has likely been brewing for at least a little while, given that both Carol and Asgore have entire corkboards dedicated to the matter. When Asgore explains it to Kris, he describes it as something that's "been" happening. This doesn't really say much to it's exact duration, so I guess you could make the counter-argument that this has only been for a few days... but that feels like an extreme interpretation for the sake of disproving Rudy Knight. There's also the fact that Carol's corkboard is in the room she shares with Rudy (Noelle refers to it using the plural possessive "parents'"), which means Carol would have to hide it from him if he weren't involved, which makes non-Rudy candidates less likely.

I suppose we don't have a hard answer as to what the plan or goal of the Carol and associates is, so we don't know what exact role they would need Rudy to fill. But we can reason out individual character goals. Given the character haunting the narrative, Dess, it stands to reason that most character motivations may be tied to saving her. Carol does care for Noelle, even if she is outwardly cold, which by the associative property, should also apply to Dess. Kris's habit of handwashing suggests a feeling of guilt for some event in the past (though irl compulsive handwashing is usually a symptom of OCD, and less so trauma... Kris has OCD theory?!?), likely something related to Dess. Asgore was removed from the force over some ever mysterious event, and if it were the Dess case, I could see him wanting to redeem himself and make things right. Anyways, if they're all doing it for Dess, then Rudy would fit right in.

Asgore and Kris's motivations are very dependent on a bit of a specific interpretation of their actions, and while I feel as though these are reasonable interpretations, it's also possible to interpret these actions in completely different ways, ways that don't lend themselves to Rudy Knight. Rudy and Carol's motivations are tight though.

Knight Traits

Rudy gets juice splashed in his face for his wisecracking

Perhaps more important than the traits of Rudy are the traits of the Knight. Let's look at what we know the Knight has: antlers, armor that comes off, a cocky personality, an ability to shapeshift, an alliance with Kris, a bat-ish sword, and armor that exists in the Light World, among other traits. Let's knock some of these out in a lightning round: Rudy has antlers, Rudy can wear armor, Rudy would benefit from shapeshifting, and Rudy is on good terms with Kris. I don't think the famous bat sword is that bat-ish, since it's not completely blunt when it "is a bat", and even then, if it was supposed to be a batsabre, wouldn't it look like a bat more often? Maybe that's a weak argument, but regardless, Rudy is Dess's father and since we're assuming he's doing it for her, it could still be an "everything reminds me of her" type of deal.

On the matter of the armor existing in the Light World: the Black Shard is the only item in the entire game to be the same across the Light World and the Dark World. Does that not suggest that from whatever the shard comes from is also unchanged between the Light World and the Dark World? Given that the Knight's sword seemingly materializes from their armor, that would suggest that the armor also exists in the Light World. It would certainly explain how the Knight is able to outrun Susie to the bunker at the end of Chapter 3. Out of all Knight candidates, the armor existing in the Light world benefits Rudy the most, as he is the most incapable without it.

Another line that particularly stuck out to me, that perhaps goes against the point I made in the previous paragraph, is a line said by Susie that suggests that the Knight is weak in the Light World, to which the Knight responds with laughter. Susie may just be making unevidenced claims, as many of us in the fandom do, but the difference between us and Susie is that Susie is written by Toby Fox. Such a line feels like a strange inclusion when it was Susie who saw the Knight's speed at the end of Chapter 3, and who would seemingly have the most reason to think otherwise. Additionally, laughter when faced with an uncomfortable truth fits Rudy's characterization.

Strange Anger

I couldn't fit this in another section, but it's still a strong piece of evidence: if Rudy meets Susie for the first time in Chapter 4, he responds very negatively, with subsequent queries on the matter resulting in silence. Out of all the pieces of evidence, this is the hardest to fit in any other theory. What reason does Rudy have to be so mad? Rudy Knighters say it's because of all the yapping Susie was doing during the Knight fight, and with no established relationship, Rudy takes the opportunity to act aloof. If Rudy meets Susie in Chapter 2, he'll be friendly, and if they've previously met in Chapter 2, he'll be friendly in Chapter 4. This behavior defies all explanation, except for that of Rudy Knight, so if Rudy Knight isn't real, I'm interested in see how this behavior is explained.

Theory

I'm running low on time to finish writing this blog, as Chapter 5 is a mere two tomorrows away, and this part is very speculative anyways, so pardon if it's a bit indecisive. This is an assumption of what the story will be. Given what we know, these are the "reveal predictions" or whatever, if Rudy were the Knight.

Dess was involved in some supernatural event in which Kris was implicated, and is now UNKNOWN. Asgore understands the nature of the event, but is unable to convince others of it and is ultimately removed from the police force. Kris, having been present, and Rudy and Carol, being Dess's parents, believe Asgore but are unable to pursue a solution due to the supernatural nature. The discovery of the armor of the Roaring Knight (or some other initiating event) brings Carol, Kris, Rudy and Asgore to work together to try and find Dess by understanding Dark Worlds. They determine her to be in the bunker, but find the bunker to be different from other Dark Worlds. They begin to voyage to the edges of Dark Worlds (or some other limit of Deltarune's cosmology), seeking to better understand the nature of Dark Worlds. Rudy ends up contracting a "Dark disease" from these expeditions. I guess that would mean Rudy is the only one who can use the armor, for whatever reason. They determine some experiment or ritual is what they need to recover Dess, with that being the "police sacrifice" the person on the phone mentions.

Having laid it out, this makes me realize that Rudy Knight doesn't really aim to answer much on the matter of what is going to happen, and instead focuses on explaining what has happened. It also leaves a lot of unexplored plot points, such as the nature of the bunker and the vessel, to be answered. Because it doesn't touch on these, other theories that are more metaphysical are still compatible with it. Rudy Knight is a theory ultimately about character motivations.

Conclusion

Even if Rudy Knight doesn't end up being true, I hope that this compilation of evidence is still useful for other theories or predictions about Deltarune. Plus, it'd be interesting to see how I've managed to misinterpret all this evidence. TheFlamingX (talk) 22:45, 22 June 2026 (UTC)