This article may contain spoilers for recently-released DELTARUNE chapters. If you wish to not receive spoilers for please refrain from reading this article.
Begone! We have found fresh purpose. For the KNIGHT has appeared. The KNIGHT that pulls the Fountains from the Earth. Holy Fountains, whose shadows are creating a new world... OUR world.
The Roaring Knight, often referred to as just the Knight (often said in all caps), is the overall main antagonist of Deltarune. So far, they have served as the overarching antagonist of the firstthreechapters, and the main antagonist of the fourth.
They are the creator of the multiple Dark Fountains around Hometown in an apparent effort to summon the Titans and bring the Roaring. They are also the indirect cause of King, Queen, and Tenna's falls into tyranny and villainy, and may have connections to the strange someone behind Jevil and Spamton's madness.
They are the arch-nemesis of Kris, Susie, and Ralsei. That said, there are actually implications throughout the game Kris may have some connections to the Knight, and that they may be in league with the town's mayor, Carol Holiday.
While the Knight's appearance seems amorphous in nature, their "resting" form possesses long limbs, pointed legs, jagged shoulder protrusions, and what appear to be holes in their hands. When first encountered, they are slumped over, "leaking" something from their helmet, and have a single, circular eye hole. When screaming, they have a monstrous, head with antlers on top and an open rib cage, featuring an eye in the center. When fleeing and kidnapping Undyne, they assume a large antlered bird-like form. They also often transform into a spinning ball when quickly moving between locations. When laughing, the aperture in their helmet transforms into a laughing mouth, and multiple images of the mouth swirl around them.
Personality[]
The Knight has yet to speak, but it is demonstrated that they have a desire to bring about the Roaring; when TALKing to the Knight with Ralsei during their fight, Ralsei begs them to stop lest the Roaring should begin. The Knight generally tries to appear intimidating or dangerous. They laugh in a mocking manner when threatened by Susie.
Main Story[]
History[]
Before the Knight appeared, the Card Kingdom was ruled by four kings. However, this all changed when Jevil told the King of Spades, who bore a strong hatred for Lightners after being abandoned and forgotten in the old classroom, of the Knight's glory and power to pull Dark Fountains from the earth, inciting him to rise to power by locking the three other Kings away in Card Castle. As a result, the King of Spades, now referred to simply as "King," became the absolute monarch over the kingdom, crediting the Knight for his success and vowing not to fail them. The Knight then went on to create the Eastern Fountain. While willing to fight to his death for the Knight's cause, King appears to have been misled by either the Knight or Jevil to believe that opening Dark Fountains would turn everything into a Dark World rather than cause the Roaring.
During Chapter 1, the Knight never makes an appearance. Instead, the party learns of it from stories primarily told by King and Seam. Seam refers to the Knight as "strange Knight," and King once refers to them as "My KNIGHT" in the same way a subject might refer to their ruler as "my King," swearing not to let the Knight down. The Knight's whereabouts at this time remain unknown, and the details of their contact with King are not yet explained. Jevil mentions that the "HAND OF THE KNIGHT IS DRIFTING FORWARD" if the party beats him by fighting. Further explanation to this line is provided by Queen in the next chapter.
An unknown time after the events of chapter 1, the Knight created another Dark Fountain, this time forming a new Dark World from the library. A video of this event plays in a room in Queen's Mansion, but there is too much smoke to identify the Knight. Spamton, in his shop, makes the implication that the Knight is related to "[[Communion]]," and starts to tell Kris something about them, but mysteriously cuts himself off and desperately apologises, switching to lower case unlike his normal text. During a battle, Queen explains that any Lightner with enough Determination is able to open Dark Fountains, and that she was planning to use Noelle as a substitute Knight because the original one had taken its leave, intending to blanket the world in darkness and thus create a reality which the Lightners would enjoy. Despite using the term "Roaring Knight", Queen was seemingly unaware of the catastrophic effects (or the existance of) the Roaring would have on both the Dark and Light Worlds, and abandons her plan when Ralsei explains what would happen. This may indicate that "Roaring Knight" is a name that the Knight themselves chose.
Throughout Chapter 3, the Knight is mentioned a few times by Tenna, who believes that if he stalls the party in TV World for long enough, the Knight will make sure he can be watched by as many people as he wants. Nevertheless, he ultimately agrees to return Toriel to the heroes even though it is not what he believes the Knight wants. Immediately afterwards, the Knight arrives and slashes both of Tenna's arms off at the shoulder simultaneously, striking him down; if the party has not recruited all of TV World's Darkners, these injuries prove fatal. The Knight casts a beam of light from the hole in their right hand in an ostensible attempt to abduct Toriel before Susie confronts them with her axe and initiates a battle. Even if the party "defeats" them, the battle will end with everyone being knocked out by the Knight. With the little strength she has left, Susie grabs and pulls on the Knight's leg in order to stop them from taking Toriel, but Officer Undyne suddenly appears and intervenes with her spears. Distracted from Toriel, the Knight transforms into a birdlike form and quickly abducts Undyne instead, flying away despite her protests and taking her through a Great Door to the Light World. Toriel and Ralsei remain in the Dark World while Kris and Susie follow the Knight all the way to the Shelter. The Shelter's doors shut behind them, leaving Kris and Susie locked outside. After Susie leaves, Kris examines the shelter's code lock, and the doors crack open right before the chapter ends.
At some point during Kris and Susie's investigation of Noelle's house, the Knight creates two Dark Fountains inside the Church: one inside the Lobby and another inside the Main Hall. When Kris and Susie enter the Dark Sanctuary the Knight is waiting near the Dark Fountain, quickly incapacitating Susie with a barrage of black knives and leaving Kris to attempt to give chase. Even if Kris avoids the subsequent knife attacks on the way up the stairs, they apparently choose not to attack upon reaching the Knight and are ultimately struck from the platform to fall with Susie to a lower area. As the party works their way back toward the Fountain, they can ask the Old Man about the Knight and learn that a figure with a knife fled through a door above his study. Along the way, the Knight is directly mentioned in a phrase from the Prophecy, "THE KNIGHT WHICH MAKES WITH BLACKENED KNIFE. SHALL DUEL WITH HEROES STRIFE BY STRIFE." Below the words, a stained glass panel depicts two hands encircling a knife. Their actions in the previous chapter are alluded to in another prophecy panel, this one depicting a television with a diagonal slash through its screen below the words "THE LORD OF SCREENS, CLEAVED RED BY BLADE." If prompted to think of the Knight when Ralsei asks Kris to close their eyes, Kris imagines the Knight beginning to remove its helmet, but immediately tries very hard to think about Jockington & Temmie in nonsensical situations and then remembers they can just open their eyes to end the vision. The party must later avoid another, slower knife-attack barrage by the Knight as they climb up to confront them, but the Knight escapes through a Great Door, and the party is forced to seal the Lobby Fountain to seek a way into the adjacent Dark World inside the church's Main Hall.
In the Main Hall's Dark Sanctuary, the party endures another knife-attack gauntlet to reach its Fountain, where the Knight once again blocks the way. Despite Ralsei's warning, the Knight launches five knives downward into a pit and creates an additional Dark Fountain inside the preexisting Dark World, causing a Titan to begin hatching. The Knight is nowhere to be found after the Titan's defeat. With the last Fountain sealed, Susie is surprised that the Knight is not present in the church, although Kris chooses not to follow prompts to open a closet door at the Main Hall's far end, even though a large person could easily fit inside.
In Battle[]
Attacks[]
The Knight cycles through 5 main attacks. Each one has a few variations that cycle each time the attack is used.
Crystal Barrage: The Knight sends out a spread of crystals that reverse direction a little before exploding into six shards, three of which will travel further and last longer than the others.
The second time, shards will be slightly larger and all will travel the same distance.
The third time, the crystals split into two shards in a random set of opposite directions. These then turn red and home in on the SOUL.
Knife Dance: The Knight summons knives horizontally, vertically, and diagonally, each locked on the SOUL. After a small delay, each one instantly slashes across the Board in the direction it points.
The second time, a ring of blades will surround the SOUL and move around the Board while the previous pattern occurs
The third time, the ring is gone, but the knives are summoned in much quicker succession.
Board Rend: Repeatedly, the Knight slashes the Bullet Board in half either horizontally or vertically, pulls the halves apart, emits several bullets from the gap, and then pulls them back together. Do note the slash across the Board will still damage the soul.
The second time, the Knight randomly switches between vertical and horizontal slashes.
The third time, the Knight randomly switches between vertical, horizontal, and diagonal slashes, though the diagonal slashes seem to be less frequent.
Sword Tunnel[1]: The Knight lengthens the Bullet Board before disappearing, and sends two rows of swords inward from the right of the screen with a narrow gap between. The gap will slowly shift up and down throughout the attack. After some time, the blades will all stop and turn toward the Soul, before telegraphing multiple slashes.
The second time, the blades will slowly start to bend and twist in a nightmarish spinning corridor throughout the attack, turning counter clockwise.
The third attack is identical to the first, just faster and with a smaller gap.
Note that INV Frames are reduced to .25 seconds for this attack, making the final sequence where the knives fly across the battle box extremely risky depending on where you are. This is balanced by the attack only doing ~22 DMG per hit.
There is currently a bug where the Knight will repeatedly use Blade Hallway instead of initiating it's final attack. The Knight will continue to use Blade Hallway until either the player dies or it's remaining HP is depleted, the latter of which ending in the game crashing.
Sanguine Slash: The Knight centers a slash on top of the SOUL, before cutting across the whole Board. This attack repeats, with each two slashes adding extra cuts from 1, to 2, to 3, to 4. The slash with 4 cuts only happens once.
The second time, the attack repeats with 3 slashes, and then four, omitting the single and double cuts for more of these.
The third time, or when the Knight reaches a certain HP threshold, the attack repeats with 3 slashes, and then four, omitting the single and double cuts for more of these. Afterwards, a rotating single slash appears that the Knight slashes multiple times, This variation only seems to happen when the Knight has about 75% of their HP left. After this attack, they use Crystal Nova.
Crystal Nova: The Knight moves into the center of the screen, and begins to pull crystal projectiles towards the screen, first in a random pattern, and then a swirling pattern, summoning them from two opposite points on the screen. and begins spewing crystal projectiles, starting with 8 in a star pattern, before bursts of 3 stars are unleashed in a random spread. These crystals then burst into shards, similar to Crystal Barrage, before the Knight then makes a diagonal cut through the center of the screen to finish the attack. This attack will only occur once the Knight's HP reaches 75%, and afterwards they can be attacked to end the fight.
Special Traits[]
Susie and Ralsei will drop to -999 HP if they have their health reduced to 0 by the Knight, instead of the usual negative health value of 0-(base hp/2) that they would be set to in other fights when reduced to 0. The text SWOON appears instead of DOWN when this happens.
When this happens, Susie/Ralsei will not auto-heal at the end of each turn as they would in other battles when downed.
Though Kris still gets "DOWNED" with a "normal" negative HP value, they also will not auto-heal between turns.
If Chapter 3 has not been beaten yet, losing to the Knight progresses the story instead of rendering a game over screen.
Additionally, the game over screen is altered - you are given the option to progress the story via defeat, or to go back. There is also unique dialogue from the voice. (which changes depending on various factors)
The Knight will take more damage from Ralsei and Susie than from Kris even if Kris's ATK stat is higher than Ralsei's and/or Susie's.
Kris's damage dealt to the Knight increases greatly when Susie or Ralsei are SWOONED, and increases greatly again when both Susie and Ralsei are SWOONED.
If the battle is beaten without taking a single hit, flavor text will mention that Kris coughs, drawing a head-tilt as a response from the Knight.
Strategy[]
The Knight is the only enemy in Chapter 3 that cannot be SPAREd, meaning you are forced to FIGHT them. While winning is not required to progress, it is not impossible. The Knight's attacks, while difficult, are always in a set pattern. If you're able to memorize this pattern, you'll have the upper hand. It is recommended that you save your items in the previous boss fight with Tenna, so that you may have a reliable method of healing. You can also use the ACT HoldBreath to speed up the SOUL, and dodge attacks more easily (This ACT can only be used once, but is in effect for the whole fight after use).
If you lack the Shadow Mantle, backtrack to the to the save point at the beginning of the Cold Area and save. This way, if you lose you won't have to fight Tenna again before battling the Knight.
The Knight's attacks deal massive damage without the Shadow Mantle equipped, likely enough to oneshot a character. While they can be endured with a high enough defense stat, they still deal significant damage, and you can only afford to take up to a few attacks without healing, depending on the attack, and which character receives the attack. The more heavy hitting attacks requires the characters to be near or at max health to survive, even if they have solid defense.
Because Rude Buster deals more damage than normal attacks in this fight, it is a recommended strategy to have Kris and Ralsei DEFEND to build the necessary TP to use Rude Buster. It is also important to know that pressing the interact key just before Rude Buster hits an enemy can increase its damage significantly. Alternatively, Kris's main attack does more damage if Susie and/or Ralsei are down, but having only one character up is inherently risky and this strategy is not recommended unless it's the only viable option left. If you do choose to resort to this however, it would be wise to equip the Shadowmantle on to Kris, so they may have enough defense to survive the Knight's attacks alone.
In order to end the fight quicker, you will need to maintain a good supply of TP to keep fueling Rude Buster. Because of this, using Ralsei's Heal Prayer may be a bad choice compared to a healing item.
However, if you enter the fight with the Devilsknife equipped, it reduces Rude Buster's TP cost from 50% to 40%, which will allow enough leeway to use Heal Prayer without immediately making Rude Buster too expensive.
It is also recommended to use items that increase TP such as TensionBow, TensionGem, and TensionMax.
If the above does not help you enough, another strategy is to sacrifice Ralsei. Use Ralsei to defend and farm for TP as long as possible, but if he is Swooned, allow him to remain that way. If Kris is defeated, they are only Downed, and can be revived with regular healing items. This allows you to save revive mints for Susie who is the spearhead of the attack. While you may gain less TP due to Ralsei's defeat, you will save on healing items which can greatly extend the longevity of your healing items, which may be the boost you need to get to the final attack.
Quotes[]
Pre-Battle[]
[Tenna]: Audience, would you please stand up and clap for our winners!!
[Tenna]: For outstanding kindness and bravery, the Lightners have won...
[Tenna]: The GRAND PRIZE!!!
*Tenna puts Toriel down*
[Tenna]: Here you go!! She's all yours, folks!!
[Tenna]: How wonderful!! The family's all together again!!
[Tenna]: Now you can all finally[Sentence ends abruptly]
*Tenna's arms are cut off from behind before he finishes the sentence, 5500-6000 damage, his screen turns to a lost signal, and he falls downwards*
[Susie]: T-TENNA!?
*Lightners move forward*
[Susie]: Who... WHO the hell are you!?
[Susie]: If... if you don't tell us who you are, then...
*The Enemy proceeds to take Toriel, Susie intervenes*
[Susie]: Like hell we're letting you take her...!
*The Enemy moves back to the boss arena*
[Susie]: Kris! Ralsei! C'mon!!
Battle[]
[Check as Kris]
Kris analyzed the enemy! [First use]
But Kris couldn't learn anything.
Kris points into the distance. [Second use onwards]
Nothing happened.
[Hold Breath]
Kris held their breath. [First use]
Their heartbeat quickened.
The SOUL now moves faster.
Kris held their breath... [Second use onwards]
Kris smiled.
Nothing happened.
[Talk as Susie]
Susie talked to the Knight!
[Susie]: I don't know what the hell you are, but...
[Susie]: Leave Toriel alone! You hear me!?
[Susie]: ...
[Susie]: ... Fine, you don't wanna listen?
[Susie]: Then we'll just. Have to do things the hard way.
(Susie will not ACT any more.) [S-Action disappears from Susie's MAGIC until the end of fight]
[Talk as Ralsei]
Ralsei tried talking... [First use]
[Ralsei]: Please... please don't do this...
[Ralsei]: If the Roaring happens, then... then...
[Ralsei]: Please... stop...!
(... but nothing happened.)
Ralsei tried talking... [Second use onwards]
[Ralsei]: Please, stop...
(... but nothing happened.)
Unsorted[]
[Susie]:Heheh...[Turn 6]
[Susie]:Didn't... think we'd still be standing, did you?
[Susie]:Thing is, you actually..[Turn 7]
[Susie]:You actually messed up, picking a fight with US!
[Susie]:You? You're all alone...[Turn 8]
[Susie]:Me? I got... Kris and Ralsei behind me.
[Susie]:Even... even if you knock me down...[Turn 9]
[Susie]:As long as Kris, Ralsei, are here...
[Susie]:As long as Kris has got a hand to lift me up with...[Turn 10]
[Susie]:Heh... you're never gonna win, you hear me?!
[If Kris and Ralsei are down]
[Susie]:As long as I'm here to lift them back up...
[Susie]:Heh... you're never gonna win, you hear me?!
[Susie]:So... give up.[Turn 11]
[Susie]:You know you can't win... so... give up![Turn 12]
[Susie]: ... You won't even.. [Turn 13]
[Susie]:... say a thing, huh...
[Susie]:... heh ... heheheh...[Turn 14]
[Susie]:Man, I'm done talking,
[Susie]: ... people like you... just piss me off.
Flavor Text[]
similarly to the titan's flavor text, the knight's flavor text connects to an attack (besides the encountering text)
The Roaring Knight appeared. [encountering]
You felt something hovering close behind your head... [knife dance variation one]
Suddenly, the north wind blew fiercely. [board rend variation one]
Your vision narrows. [sword tunnel variation one]
Your chest feels tight. [sanguine slash variation one]
You felt lightheaded. You saw golden stars... [crystal barrage variation two]
Suddenly, the north and east winds blew fiercely. [board rend variation two]
Your vision narrows. ... Your head is spinning. [sword tunnel variation two]
You feel surrounded. [knife dance variation two]
You felt your chest twisting. [sanguine slash variation two]
You felt lightheaded. You felt a migraine coming on... [crystal barrage variation 3]
Suddenly, a tempest. [board rend variation three]
Your vision narrows.... The world revolves around you. [knife dance variation three]
You feel cornered. [sword tunnel variation three]
Your heartbeat becomes twisted. [sanguine slash variation three]
Susie grew pale. [Knight's HP reaching Threshold]
Susie was hurt and beaten. [If Susie was swooned]
Ralsei became a pile of fluff. [If Ralsei was swooned]
Kris kneeled in silence. [If Kris was downed]
Susie struggled to give some kind of warning. [If Susie is swooned after the Knight's penultimate attack]
The Knight's hands glow a strange color... [Preparing the final attack]
The enemy suddenly letting down their guard! [After the Knight uses the final attack]
Kris coughed. The enemy slowly tilted its head... [After the final attack, if no damage was taken throughout the entire fight]
Though it could be just an oversight, this text appears even if a hit was taken during the final attack. This occurs if no hits were taken throughout the rest of the fight.
Relationships[]
Jevil[]
Through dialogue with King, it is revealed that the Knight could be a potential candidate for the unknown person who told Jevil the information that drove him insane. [2] While unclear, it seems Jevil has encountered the Knight or has otherwise found knowledge of the Prophecy, enough to illustrate to King the Knight's role and "brilliance". Seam still draws a distinction between the Knight and a "strange someone" who could've approached Jevil and shattered their worldview.
Seam[]
Seam refers to the Knight as "a strange Knight" and associates them with the events that led to King's control over Card Kingdom, laughing that the land hadn't "seen such chaos" since a time later revealed to be Jevil's descent into madness. If the party obtains the first two chapters' Shadow Crystals, Seam hints that their next opponent may be their end, and that the only way to defeat them is with the Shadow Mantle, implying an awareness that the party would face the Knight next; they offer hand over the Mantle but are surprised to find that they don't have it after all, ruefully setting aside any possibility that the next opponent can be defeated without it. They comfort the party if the Knight is not defeated, somehow knowing that the encounter happened and philosophically noting that "we all know there's no winning there" but appreciating having had the fun of pretending for a little while. If the party does defeat the Knight, Seam starts their prepared statement but cuts it off in astonishment upon seeing the Shadow Crystal. If the Knight was defeated without the Shadow Mantle, Seam is even more gleeful, laughing that the party "might be even sicker than that old clown" to accomplish such a feat and lamenting that they were not there to witness what must have been a terrific battle. Either way, they are amused to be feeling hopeful after the victory.
King[]
Despite never meeting in person, King holds high admiration for the Knight, and was willing to do anything to further their objective, even if it meant fighting to the death. He is surprised if the party reports that they defeated the Knight, sullenly framing it as a rare show of mercy and asking what the Knight was like. He loses his temper when the party can only report that the Knight was "kind of... you know."
Queen[]
Queen, like King, held high admiration for the Roaring Knight. She was very interested in a video depicting the Knight creating a Dark Fountain and projected an ASCII image of a knife being stabbed downward to illustrate the event. Since the original Knight had "taken its leave," she wished to find a Lightner who could serve as a substitute Knight and create more Dark Fountains in imitation of their actions, believing that this would safely blanket the world in darkness. She abandoned the plan after Ralsei explained what the Roaring would actually entail.
Tenna[]
Tenna was told that if he kept the Lightners busy for the Knight as long as possible, he could have all the viewership and attention he desired. However, he chooses to defy the Knight and attempt to give Toriel back to the party, which results in him almost immediately getting seriously injured and potentially killed by the Knight.
Kris[]
The Roaring Knight appears to have some sort of familiarity with and connection to Kris as during the Sword Route, it is heavily implied that Kris was the one who told Tenna to keep the party busy and away from Toriel on the Knight's behalf. Kris tries to make HERO_SWORD retreat from the game's version of the shelter and moves away from the game if defeated by Eram, potentially trying to avoid acquiring the item that could make a battle against the Knight easier. Notably in their fight, the Knight refrains from swooning Kris and does less damage to Kris if they are targeted in their attacks.
If the party manages to defeat the Knight, Susie and Ralsei are suddenly attacked and "swooned," but Kris is spared; after this, the Knight rests their blade on Kris's shoulder and Kris kneels beneath its touch like a squire being knighted by a superior, strongly suggesting a connection between the two. If the player gets a no-hit fight until the pre-Crystal Nova attack turn, a line of text will say: "*Kris coughed; *The enemy slowly tilted their head." This suggests a subtle communication or signal from Kris to the Knight. By the end of Chapter 3 the shelter door that was locked to Susie slightly opens if only Kris is nearby after the Knight goes in before them. In Chapter 4, Kris is called by a "mysterious voice" that references the Knight's abduction of Undyne and their plan to open a Dark Fountain in the church, as well as something about Kris owing the voice on the phone due to a promise, if this voice is the Knight themself it would mean they are in close contact and are actively working with Kris for unclear reasons. for the remainder of the light world sections Kris proceeds to actively sabotage attempts to get the code to the shelter where the Knight fled. Within the Dark Sanctuary Kris refrains from attacking the Knight despite Susie's urging if they successfully get near them and subverts prompts which have the potential to reveal information about the Knight. If prompted to think about the Knight while closing their eyes, Kris thinks very hard about Jockington instead, and turns the knob of the church closet door in which the Knight might be hiding but does not open it.
Gallery[]
Roaring Knight's idle battle sprite
The Knight before laughing at Susie
The Knight roaring before the battle
The Roaring Knight's sprite when doing their final attack
Ditto, Roaring
Ditto, Animated
The Knight clashing with Susie
The Roaring Knight with a chipped blade
The Roaring Knight laughing at Susie.
Roaring Knight facing away.
Trivia[]
The Knight’s hands are mentioned a strangely high number of times.
The Knight's battle theme, "Black Knife" has instruments similar to "Burn in Despair!," the theme of Asriel's second phase in Undertale and a melody with similar notes to "Lost Girl", as well as carrying "The Door" motif
During their entrance, the Knight appears to be left-handed, as they wield their Sword in their left hand during their Chapter 3 fight.
it should be noted that Noelle, Dess and Carol Holiday are all implied to be left handed, with Dess's mouse being on the left of her keyboard, Noelle's in a similar fashion, and Carols's katana in the Holiday kitchen being hung with the handle facing right, which would be the correct traditional orientation if the owner were left-handed.
However, the Knight switches the Sword to their right hand when attacking with it, and often attacks with their right hand while holding the sword in their left, so the Knight may actually be right-handed or possibly ambidextrous.
The Knight is the only boss that drops a Shadow Crystal which doesn't have any requirements to encounter.
Though the Shadow Mantle is recommended, it is not strictly necessary to encounter or beat the Knight.
During the fight, Revive Dust/Mint, when used by a character with the Blue Ribbon equipped, heals swooned teammates to full HP rather than 25%, this is because the Blue Ribbon takes the large healing that the Revive Dust/Mint uses to revive swooned teammates and increases that, making the healing amount large enough to heal to full HP. This does not occur when using the Revive Dust/Mint on Kris due to them not being swooned.
If the player no-hits up to the crystal nova attack, secret dialogue will appear reading: "Kris coughed. The enemy slowly tilted its head". (Note: it is possible that the condition for this is instead no party members being downed throughout the entire fight)
If "defeated", Kris is merely forced to the ground, in a manner reminiscent of Accolade, or 'Knighting'.
The Knight has a helmet, a detail revealed in a Chapter 4 dialog if Kris, closing their eyes "in general," is prompted to think about them. However, Kris forcefully redirects away from the vision before the Knight finishes removing the helmet.
The Knight and its fight share elements from other media and characters.
It bears a striking resemblance to two of the Titans depicted in Ralsei's explanation of the Roaring.
The absence of light in its design could be a reference to Necrozma from Pokémon or the Dersites from Homestuck.
One of the Knight's projectile types looks similar to the rough shape of a fleur-de-lis and the Mind Aspect held by Latula and Terezi Pyrope from Homestuck.
The Knight's final attack, Crystal Nova, strongly resembles the 'Hyper Goner' attack from Asriel in Undertale, and its projectiles (and those of crystal barrage) resemble those of the 'PK Starstorm' attack from the Mother series.[3]
Some of the Knight's attacks, namely the Sword Tunnel and the final part of the third version of Sanguine Slash, resembles Sans' final attack in Undertale.
If you modify the game and then manage to deplete the Knight's entire HP bar, a unique animation of the Knight fleeing the battle will play, as if you had defeated any normal enemy through violent means, but then the game will crash as there is nothing programmed into the game code for what happens next.
There is currently a bug where the Knight, after reaching it's threshold, will not initiate its final attack and will instead use Blade Hallway consecutively until either the player dies or its remaining HP is depleted, the latter resulting in the game crashing. This makes the boss impossible to defeat therefore making it impossible for some players to obtain Chapter 3's ShadowCrystal.[citation needed]
The death text of Susie and Ralsei during the Knight’s fight are both, likely, references to Mother 1 and Mother 2 respectively. Susie was hurt and beaten is the exact same as the fainting text in Mother 1, and Ralsei became a pile of fluff is the same as the fainting text for Teddy Bears in Mother 2.
Unlike Susie and Ralsei, Kris doesn’t get SWOONED when their HP falls below zero during the Knight's fight. Instead, Kris loses a normal amount of HP rather than instantly dropping to -999 with DOWNED effect.
Speculation[]
The antlers closely resemble those of the Holiday family, leading many to believe that they are likely Carol, December, or even possibly Rudy.
When first summoned, the blade may resemble a wiffle ball bat, which lends more weight to them being related to Dess.
The holes in their hands and gaping ribcage are somewhat reminiscent of stigmata, fitting the Christmas connection the Holidays share.
The code to the Bunker, which the Knight goes to at the end of Chapter 3, is within Dess' guitar.
The code itself, which starts with "122", could possibly end as "1225" - which as a date (12/25) marks Christmas.
A similar code can be found in the TV World parental locks, near the end of the chapter leading toward the wasteland where the Knight is encountered, reading "1225".
When putting 1225 Points into the Ball Machine in CH3, it sends you to an easter egg location in which the player is implied to lose their hand. The implications of this are dubious, but it further reinforces that December is in some way important.
Noelle's username in the sweepstakes blog is Holidaygirl1225, which initially introduced the connection between the Holiday family, and the number 1225.
The battle theme, "Black Knife", includes notes that in some parts mirror the motif found in "Lost Girl."
Carol appears shortly after Kris phones an unknown person to report that Susie has Dess's guitar, with the person responding that they would be there right away. Kris had previously been on a speaker call with an unknown person who had a similar jagged text bubble and insisted that Susie should be prevented from getting the guitar and the shelter code in it. Carol is also very interested in "red heart-shaped objects", collecting throw pillows shaped like human souls, and states when talking to Kris that "you" are welcome at her home anytime, emphasizing the "you" with red text; the person on the phone stressed that a soul was very important to Kris for an unexplained reason involving Dark Worlds. Carol also has at least two katanas, one of which she has taken to work before.
Although it would be difficult for Carol to travel from her house to the church and open the Fountains before Kris and Susie arrive, the Holidays' basement plays a version of the same sound heard near the shelter, opening the possibility of a passageway that would allow Carol to reach the church quickly.
However, an interest in Kris, who is the only one able to seal Dark Fountains due to their human soul, might be counterproductive if the Knight intended to start the Roaring.
The Knight's Crystal Nova attack also hints to a relationship to Asriel, which would make sense if the Knight was Asriel former best friend and perhaps implied love interest.
As stated Earlier, Asriel could potentially be the Knight, referencing Similar instrumental motif from "Burn In Despair!" From Undertale, being present in "Black Knife." -The theme played during the Roaring Knight Fight.
While physically the weakest candidate, Rudy had time to leave the hospital after Kris and Susie's visit and reach the church while they were busy at the Holidays' house, after which they cannot check whether he is still in the hospital because it is closed due to rain. He is implied to be supporting the "you know what" in which Asgore is involved along with Carol, and Asgore can be seen examining a "black shard" in the Holidays' room. Rudy is thin and gaunt, evoking the Knight's skeletal appearance, but is nonetheless able to leave the hospital for short periods if he saves up his strength. He is also tall, making him a potential candidate for the "large person" able to fit inside the computer lab closet and the church closet that Kris does not open.
The Knight may also be Asgore, who is heavily implied to be obsessed with the events surrounding Dess Holiday's disappearance.
Asgore has a conspiracy board in his basement similar to the one in the Holidays' room, and is being supported by Carol and Rudy in an unexplained project of which Toriel disapproves; he may be involved with the unknown reason for Carol's suspicious behavior.
He is physically imposing and therefore a candidate for the "large person" able to fit inside the game's various closets.
Susie speculates that the Knight is someone who knows the mayor, goes to church, and has something to do with the police. Asgore, the former chief of police who is involved in an unknown project with Carol and often visits the church at night, fits all three criteria.
He handles a "black shard" while in the Holidays' room, although it is not clear whether he had it with him or found it there. The Black Shard that Kris can obtain is a chip of the Knight's Black Knife, implying that someone associated with Asgore's shard has some connection with the Knight.
As counterpoints to this theory, Asgore has horns rather than antlers, and a prophecy panel appears to depict him as the "Flower King" in the kingly mantle and crown he wore in Undertale, potentially suggesting that his Dark World form might not resemble the Knight.
Alternatively, the Knight may also be Papyrus, who appears to be isolated and in a bad mental state during the events of the game, and has many connections to the Roaring Knight and it's dark words. Though often taken lightheartedly, there is quite a bit of evidence for it.
While in Undertale Papyrus is shown to be sociable, in Deltarune Papyrus hasn't left his house for 3 chapters straight, while we hear a "distant trousle of bones" that slowly fades until disappearing completely in Chapter 4, during a time when the Knight would be at the church.
In Undertale, the word Bonetrousle seems to mean something like "annoyed" or troubled" as Papyrus is mentioned to be "slightly bonetrousled" with the protagonist's escape. this would imply that Papyrus is not in a good mental state when we hear him at the door.
Dating Tense! and Black Knife have a very similar chord progression, with 0:12–0:18 in Dating Tense! being the exact same as 0:36–0:39 in Black Knife.
On Undertale's 9th Anniversary, the newsletter included an interview titled "The Number Nine" where the interviewer asks the main cast what they think of the number nine. Sans makes the "Seven Ate Nine" pun, which Papyrus takes to heart and exclaims he refuses to believe Seven Ate Nine. Alphys brings up that it is just a pun, to which Papyrus proposes the counterpun "Five Sicks Seven", making Seven a "MISLED ANTIHERO" and Five the true villain, "AN IRRESPONSIBLE DOG OWNER". while Undyne says that if Seven loved Nine they just felt like they was doing what they felt they needed to, but Toriel disagrees calling Seven weak and saying duty is no reason to harm another. Sans proposes that if Seven is a misled antihero Negative Seven could be "a villain who thinks he's good". Papyrus however claims Sans is starting with the wrong premise and that the number order is how they should figure out Negative Seven's motivation: Negative Seven Negative Eat Negative Nine. They debate what Negative Eating is but eventually acccept Toriel's idea that it is cooking. Alphys's formula tells us that Negative Seven is Papyrus who made Sans(Negative Five) cook for him, and Papyrus is suprised about being the villain, so Sans says that maybe he is just someone who seems like an enemy but is actually a good guy, which worries Papyrus even more saying why would he ever seem like an enemy. This brings up the idea of Papyrus being a twist villain who thinks he's good.
This would make Papyrus Negative Seven and a parallel to Seven, with 7 being the amount of confirmed chapters there are in Deltarune.
When battling the Knight, the Roaring Knight defeating Ralsei or Susie will drop their HP to -999, connecting the Knight to the number nine and by extension this interview.
The Knight is implied to have a liking for hiding in the closet, as both in Chapter 2 and 4 there are closets described as large enough for someone to fit inside. Kris, even if prompted, will not open the church closet in Chapter 4, blocking any investigation as to whether there is someone in the closet after the church's Dark Worlds are sealed. In Undertale, when you interact with Papyrus's closet, he will say "THERE ARE NO SKELETONS INSIDE MY CLOSET!!! EXCECT ME SOMETIMES." The Knight is also implied to be a "large person" in these dialogues, and Papyrus is quite tall and is referred to as "the tall skeleton" by Doggo in Undertale.
Bonetrousle and Black Knife have the same percussion.
In Undertale, Papyrus states his trash is named Trashy and lives inside a garbage can. Trashy exists as a Darkner in Deltarune.
Papyrus and the Knight have the same identical wine-glass body shape.
The Roaring Knight's ribcage opens up when it roars, again implying it is a skeleton.
In the Undertale Kickstarter OST, there’s a unique track called “PAPYRUS’S COOL SONG” that features distinct “hoo” sounds. The very same “hoo” sounds appear again in “You Know What This Is” from the TobyFox.net OST, where they echo a leitmotif from another Toby Fox composition made for Cucumber Quest, titled “Nightmare Knight.”
Just like the Knight, you are not required to beat Papyrus in Undertale, as after a few losses, he will give you the option to not battle, which itself is similar to the Voice’s dialogue after resetting to beat the Knight with Shadowmantle.
The Christmas tree though a clear reference to the Holidays, may also be a loose reference to Papyrus’ residence in Snowdin Town in Undertale, where he and Sans’ house was more Christmas themed than the other houses.
It is implied, though not outright stated, that the Knight works for or is somehow connected to Gaster and/or the Voice. The validity of this implication is questionable, but no evidence has been provided stating whether it is true or false, so it is currently unknown.
↑It was he, the clown, that told me the Knight's brilliance...About the fountains' glory, and how I would rise to power. Funny little man. How his jokes and dances made us chuckle. A shame that he had to be tricked away, by his closest companion. the magician, Seam, who's smile has gone empty since that day. - King, after conversing with him in Chapter 4, and selecting the JESTER option
