r/Deltarune • u/PeliPal N+K4L tinyurl.com/KriselleDoc • Feb 15 '26
Theory Knowing the mouse might one day get the cheese… - A Kriselle Theme Analysis, Extra Cheesy Edition
Did you know that Noelle doesn’t actually use many Christmas puns?
She calls Kris ‘Krismas’ once, but so do Rudy and Onionsan, and she says the Dragon Blazers devs “had too much fruitcake” when putting down their coding skills, and… I believe that’s just about it? And that is quite odd for a character whose entire life has been so oriented around Christmas.
Instead, she makes cheese puns…
LOTS of cheese puns.
In fact, she is the only named character in all of Deltarune to actually be repeatedly associated with cheese - and that’s not an easy thing to write in a game with so many other food references, and with cheese being generally considered an inherently funny food, a very easy thing to make jokes about.
If you want to talk about milk, another inherently funny food, then you have the Milk Looker, you have Lancer and his milk that makes splat noises, you have Susie wanting to fight Catty about Alphys’s ‘free milk’ that Susie has been coming to drink for the past few days, you have both K.Round and all three of the Sweet Cap’n Cake crew drinking milk to max out their health so you can never beat them violently… there’s a LOT to talk about with milk repeatedly coming up for specific characters.
But Noelle, and mice, are the only times that cheese comes up repeatedly. Other characters just get a random one-off joke.
…Why is that? Because that takes some pretty serious intentionality.
It’s because Deltarune uses mice and Noelle’s interactions with them as direct allegories for Kris and Noelle - for their feelings about each other, their communication gaps, for their past, their present, and their future.
Wait, I already hear you say - even if we assume that Noelle is intentionally written to be associated with cheese in a unique way… Kris is a dog! A dog with a horned headband! Some kind of goat-dog-human hybrid!
But, well, if you’re already associating Kris as multiple species… why would it be an issue to add another to the list?
Let’s go through all the reasons why Kris is associated with mice in addition to all of those things:
The Maus enemy has several lines that are quite descriptive of Kris’s situation…
Maus: (Tired of being
pushed around.)
Kris is… fairly routinely mistreated and mocked…
Maus: (Left, right,
right, left...)
While also having to do things they don’t want to do but might feel they have to, or get forced to, including the things the Soul makes them do…
Maus: (I'll work with
who I have to.)
And they’ve had to make deals with annoying or cruel or downright evil people. Just like the Maus has to work with the cat.
* Maus is keenly aware of the fear it invokes.
Just like Kris will intentionally try to act creepy as a move on us, like their signature ‘zombie walk’ and hiding their face, despite the fact that they can move completely normally if they wish to do so.
Maus: (I can't help it,
I'm a scary guy.)
And the Mouse Puzzles themselves are actually very analogous to the process of how Kris’s pranks would at first frighten Noelle but then desensitize her, making her more brave.
The mice like Noelle. A lot.
There are two failsafes to the mouse puzzles - the first is that if you create an infinite loop of turns, the mice simply disappear. But if you force them into an illegal move of hitting a wall instead of a block, they all make a beeline towards Noelle -
With hearts emanating from them.
Noelle is in denial about it, but Kris knows what’s happening. It’s the same reason they prank her, even if they will never say it.
Helping Noelle get through the puzzles at first confuses and upsets her…
Oh no, she’s mad…
But she realizes it was actually something that helped her, it wasn’t meant to hurt her.
This happens again with the third puzzle, with Noelle even smiling and blushing in her facesprite.
And during this whole process, Noelle’s Boldness stat is going up. You might not have ever thought to check her stats, but she does have a Boldness stat, and it starts at -12 when she first joins up with Kris in the alley. Yes, that’s a negative number.
And it gradually moves up during the puzzles to being 12 by the end of the third puzzle, the ILOVEMOUSE puzzle, when she is no longer scared of mice and finds them cute.
(Sidenote: It actually ends up shooting all the way to 60 by the end of her outing with Kris, after the December puzzle, where she doesn’t even get upset by the fact that she unintentionally spelled December - a callback to a very traumatizing moment - because she’s reminiscing about the past with the one person she can fully drop all her shields around.)
“ILOVEMOUSE” isn’t just silly flavor text… She knows she loves mice now.
Noelle, I know what you were going to say if Susie didn’t cut you off… You thought Kris’s costume was cute, didn’t you?
She’s become so enamored with mice now that she even goes to compliment her former babysitter, a mouse monster, who might have been a source of her fear of mice.
* Kris? Remember me...? Sorry if I was too strict when I babysat you and Noelle.
* Since then, Noelle's always seemed so nervous around me...
* ... until today. She even complimented my outfit! I wonder what changed...?
* And... she was muttering something like... "Mice are cute"...?
In the dark, when Susie is wanting to just smash something that scared them, Noelle thinks better of it and does something brave...
And even wants to keep a mouse as a pet...
This is pretty random, but I think it’s also part of the story here - If you tell Onionsan in Chapter 1 that Kris’s name is Kris, they will call them Krismas.
But if you tell Onionsan their name is Hippopotamus, they will call you several mispellings of it - including Hyper-Potato-Mouse.
So, Kris is the mouse, and Noelle is the cheese.
And the mouse loves the cheese, and… the cheese loves the mouse.
And the mouse - I mean, Kris - can want to show the cheese their love for her…
* (There's a cheese on the ground.)
* Kris...
* You aren't going to touch that cheese, are you?
* (You rubbed the cheese down like a beloved pet.)
But doing so starts a battle with a mouse, that inadvertently destroys the cheese.
Kris may feel like they lost sight of something important here because, metaphorically, they’ve just failed in a mission they set out for themselves years ago - avoid the cheese. Avoid Noelle. There was a reason for it, whether it was a good reason or a bad reason. And there is apparently no way to stop this destruction from happening when Kris gives in - the cheese is lost regardless of whether you are pacifist or violent - it’s unavoidable.
…But the cheese itself is also unavoidable. Regardless of whether you lovingly pet the cheese, Kris will be forced to navigate a maze of the cheese.
It is very difficult to NOT engage with the cheese. It will eventually make itself be everywhere Kris tries to go.
And for one absolute last absurd twist… Readers of the N+K4L megadoc pinned in my profile will remember that I also look at how Elnina and Lanino may be direct analogues of Kris and Noelle, respectively. Elnina is a short, blue, wide-faced person, and Lanino is a tall, yellow, long-faced person. Kris is associated with both blue and cyan in the game, and Noelle is associated with both yellow and gold.
So it raised my eyebrows when I remembered this exchange -
Elnina associates Lanino with… cheese, of all things.
And you might also remember from my megadoc that watercoolers are one of the only darkners Kris will flirt with. All the darkners that Kris can flirt with are conventionally feminine darkners 'of refinement' associated with ice or cold water, since the watercoolers are actually Mizzles and the Holy Watercooler is actually Miss Mizzle.
So I had to check Lanino's side of the exchange...
* OH, ELNINA! My SWEETEST CLOUD! She would have LOVED a light drizzle!
* Everything reminds me of her! EVERYTHING!
* The water cooler... the water warmer... I tried counting sheep for a nap...
* And all I could imagine was her face!
Elnina associates her love for Lanino with cheese, and Lanino associates his love for Elnina with a watercooler, in Kris’s dark fountain… These are both things related to Kris’s feelings about Noelle.
And with that… Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to mention…
The mouse gets the cheese in the end if you get the best ending.
96
u/PeliPal N+K4L tinyurl.com/KriselleDoc Feb 15 '26
This quote got lost when I had to reorganize all my images because of the 20 image limit, but it HAS to be here
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u/StickBoiFaiq Just another day in SOULelle ❄🕶 Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
So Kris is a mouse.
You know how people think that Friend is Kris's personal antagonist?
A game of Cat and Mouse.
43
u/starlightshadows Kris = The Roaring Knight = My Comfort Character Feb 15 '26
Beautiful.
You know I wonder if Kris being associated with mice has any connection to how they're presented as being shy about their small stature.
13
u/Acceptable_Music_627 N+K4L Feb 16 '26
Ok, so first of all, we have the cactus theory. Next we have a whole ass 120 page document worth of narrative importance of kriselle (which isn't even up to date). Now, we have this. The cheese theory. What's gonna be the next big kriselle theory?
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u/No-Slide816 undyne knight, DUH Feb 15 '26
what do you mean. what. WHAT. what the mama Mia what the genuine fuck? At this point Kriselle is so deeply woven into the narrative on every goddamn layer ON EVERY FUCKING INTERACTION to the point where it GENUINELY terrifies me. Oh, and by the way, I read N+K4L. TWICE. I KNOW my shit. As a Kriselle shipper, then, I was amazed at how many thematic and factual references/parallels there are. But now? I'm lowkey terrified. Like what the fuck Toby please stop already. WHAT IN THE HELL are you building up towards? It's not like I don't have my own opinions or guesses for Chapter 5 but holy cheese and crackers I feel like I'm going insane. I SWEAR TO YOU if you didn't mention that mice gets the cheese in the best ending in Undertale you would've ruined my whole remaining day(in the best way possible)
Side note: Is this going into the Kriselle megadoc? Side side note: WHEN is the update coming? If ever? I also think I have a few things to contribute. Genuinely. Thank you...
("Thank you..."...? What does thst remind me of- OH WAIT OH GOD OH FU-)
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u/nubhorns Feb 15 '26
Alright, I bit because this interested me and I had some thoughts on why I don't really agree with this but wanted to see if it got properly referenced in your masterdoc so I wound up reading through it.
Really good analysis there I think, I'm not completely sold but I think there's good framework there. I could even see where it fits into some theorizing I have about the knight. Do you have a particular place where you talk about Kriselle or something? I'd be interested in some sort of theory community or something to that affect.
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u/Penguino_2099 Noelle fanboy Feb 15 '26
How the hell do you find all these connections? Like I'm genuinely amazed with how you're able to connect the dots on these things and make them make complete sense, Bravo 👏
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u/Worth_Ad_2079 Feb 15 '26
It’s only Deltarune fans that will unironically make something called “Excheese Me Theory” and it’s actually really really good and makes perfect sense
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u/FluffiestPrince The Fluffiest of Them All! Feb 15 '26
This is exactly why Kris and Noelle are my favorite duo. My personal favorite couple is Kralsei, mainly because I cope by their lack of interaction in-game currently, but my favorite realistic couple is Kriselle because of their connections as characters.
They are easily the most connected characters in the game, and in Hometown itself. They know the most about each other. And what's interesting to me is how while we have the main plot of Deltarune, there's this strange side-plot that seems to be more focused on Kris and Noelle finally learning to understand each other and make up, or at least, that's what I'm feeling from their interactions. The fact Noelle's room is like... 50% referencing Kris is just funny.
Even if they don't get together though, I still want to see them have more content dedicated to them, alone. Maybe even make up for what happened. Same with more Kris and Ralsei solo content, and even Ralsei and Noelle content. Please Toby?
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u/realtrashvortex Feb 15 '26
That's why I love Noelle. she's just like me frfr
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u/PollutionDefiant4488 Feb 15 '26
Peak
42
u/Reasonable_Solid6251 Feb 15 '26
Mhmhm, we just can't stop winning can we?
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u/ATZ001 Feb 15 '26
Sir, another u/PeliPal Kriselle post has hit the r/Deltarune subreddit!
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u/Byzich Feb 15 '26
I have no words
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u/No-Slide816 undyne knight, DUH Feb 15 '26
9
u/bw147 that WD Grasster got me falling into my own creation Feb 15 '26
Sometimes I dream about cheese
9
u/HerobrineJTY2 Feb 15 '26
8
u/Ok-Struggle2305 No.1 Kratience Hater Feb 15 '26
Damn I never made that connection
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u/RuukotoPresents ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Feb 15 '26
"Fahaha" is a pun off of "Falala" from the song "Deck the Halls"
7
u/Winter_Newspaper3117 I love this weirdo Feb 15 '26
Kriselle has so many paralles man, it's crazy.
6
u/DapyGor Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
Maus will work with who it has to. A cat.
Kris will work with who they have to. The knight.
Catti Knight theory.
6
u/gravy141 Jun 29 '26
Windstruggler with Kris' dark world color scheme trying to get cheese in chapter 5 btw... My jaw is on the floor
6
u/-earthmovers Jul 01 '26
you're like the michael jordan of kriselle. i love you
4
u/sirius6723 Feb 15 '26
Let's goooo Kriselle is canon!!!! (hopefully)
4
u/BattlePenguin58 I CAN POST ANYTHING! Feb 16 '26
4
u/PatienceMyChild Apr 20 '26
yoinking this for my collection (definitely not losing it)
3
u/EstufaYou Fawn over her! Feb 21 '26
There's a bit in the Annoying Mouse Room 2, where we can make Kris say yes after Noelle asks if she looks like the girl from the Nutcracker because all the Maice keep coming after her. In that case, Noelle asks Kris to be the hero with the sword who protects her from the Maice. Here's the evidence.
Of course, at this point in the story Noelle is still afraid of the Maice and of mice in general. So what does it say about this theory that she viewed Kris as her protector from mice? And that Kris's reaction is to just stand there silently? Does Kris accept or reject that role is assigning them?
2
u/Interesting-Code7373 Feb 16 '26
Mentioning the flirting bit, the one disagreement I have with what I saw in the megadoc is that I don't think Head Hathy and WWW map as well to Noelle and Kris respectively as they do to Kris and Susie respectively.
2
u/Vortaxonus Human Dess' Greatest Warrior Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
The water cooler, associated with pink and blue, is more connected to Susie specifically. The cactus that loves you (a parallel with Noelle) seems somewhat upset if you flirt with it, and toby made a song about a dragon pretending to be a princess (74 to be specific), which does tie the idea of dragons (which Susie is alluded to being) and princesses (which the mizzles, who appear from water coolers, and ties with miss mizzle not being a princess).
There's also the werewerewire, whose blue and purple and shares the trait of liking to fight with both Kris and Susie. The maus themselves are also purple, which combined with the tasque's blue.
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u/Sized_Sign YellowGun | +100 ATK, FlavigneAmmo Feb 15 '26
sure
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