Everyone is saying Susie is the true protagonist of Deltarune, and I honestly agree with that.
What I don’t see brought up as often though is how she doubles as the Party Leader.
First, let’s look at where Susie stands in battle.
Between Kris and Ralsei, right? Now take a look at this.
We all consider Small Mike (or Battat as we call him) the leader of the Mikes, right? Notice how he stands in the center. Just like Susie.
This isn’t the first instance of this either.
Berdly stands in the center between his Werewire minions.
Heck, even in the Rouxls Kaard rematch, he stands in the center between the Darkners he summons.
Next, who’s the one who engages first with the final boss?
That’s right! Susie Deltarune!
Heck, even with the secret bosses…
Is it not a trait of the leader to lead the party into battle?
Next, Susie’s stats and spells. In many RPGs, the main character is the one with the best or most well rounded stats or abilities. Look at Susie’s stats compared to Kris’.
These are Kris’ stats.
And these are Susie’s.
Notice how much better they are then Kris’.
As of recently, Susie’s healing spell upgraded to Betterheal. No longer is she just the party’s bruiser, but she also doubles as a second healer. See what I mean by well-rounded?
Also, notice how Susie is capable of blatantly disobeying commands.
Ralsei doesn’t do this. The closest we get to this is Weird Route Noelle.
Except even then, she’ll do it eventually.
Wanna know why?
Because Susie isn’t supposed to taking commands from Kris.
Kris supposed to be taking them from her.
Heck, we even see Ralsei taking orders from her.
This is likely just typical Ralsei compliance, but I still feel it’s worth noting.
I’ll bet you if Kris didn’t have us as their SOUL, Kris wouldn’t even be party leader. That role would go straight to Susie.
Now for counter arguments.
Kris is the only one who can ACT
How quickly you’ve forgotten.
And if you meant Kris is the only one who can command ACTs, well, every good team needs a strategist, right? There’s a difference between strategizing and leading the party.
Ralsei stands in the center in battle when Susie wasn’t present in Chapter One.
Now here’s the thing, that was chapter one. A time where you’re still learning how fights work. Of course he’s going to handhold you. You could use the logic of Kris working with the Knight and then already knowing how Dark Worlds work, but Ralsei doesn’t know that.
Lancer is in the center when battling him and Susie in the Forest
Well, who said Susie was the one leading? Even after she joins, Lancer is the one doing most of the talking.
Plus, notice how it’s specified Susie’s joining LANCER’S team.
And what theme is playing during their battle together? That’s right, Vs. Lancer. If anything, Susie’s just helping Lancer be a better bad guy. She’s not playing the leader role here.
Noelle stands in the center after Kris, Susie and Ralsei split up.
Thank goodness I’m writing this after Chapters 3+4.
This one piece of text from the Sword Route (the route which gives you the instructions for the Weird Route) answers that completely.
Now I’m not saying Noelle’s the party leader here, I’m saying that it makes sense she’s in the center. We’re following the White Cloak.
Now, think about when we tell Noelle to Proceed in the Weird Route,
We’re being a push factor. Not necessarily a pull. When you push something, you do it from behind the object. Not in front of it. Noelle being at the “lead” makes sense here.
K_K is in the center during the Sweet Cap’n Cakes battle
I for sure thought this would cook me.
Then I remembered.
These guys don’t really have a “leader”.
Sure, you could argue Cap’n, but he’s not exactly the guy giving commands. The only real evidence of him being a leader is his name, which itself is a reference to something else entirely, Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes.
Dang, all this to say Susie is the party leader and not Kris. Rebuttal is welcome.
/silly
Haven’t you played ch. 4?