THE DIVORCE THEORY is a Chapter 3 prediction centered around the nature of Spamton, Tenna, and, if time permits, Mike.
As the name suggests, the theory is that the three were in a polyamorous relationship, but have since cut ties with Spamton.
Believe it or not, there's... a CONCERNING amount of evidence suggesting this is the case.
(THE FOLLOWING WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR DELTARUNE CHAPTERS 2 and 3!!!)
For the uninitiated...
The name "Tenna" originates from the Spamton Sweepstakes page "deltarune.com//d_a_m_n_y_o_u_t_e_n_n_a". On it is a crossed out image of the Dreemurr household's CRT TV, and the following text:
"THAT DAMN [Boob tube]!!!
YOU'RE THE ONE THAT SHOULD BE HAVING A [Refr3shing n1ghts sleep] IN THE [Recycling Bin]!!!
EVERYTHING IS HIS
EVERYTHING IS HIS FAULT.
...PAY....
EVERYONE IS GOING TO
EVERYONE IS GOING TO PAY [5 easy payments of $9.99] UNTIL THEY'RE ALL IN THE [Disposal Area] BEGGING FOR MY [$#&*]!!!
EVERYONE... EVERYONE EXCEPT...
(in black text, which must be highlighted) ... Mike..."
(For reference, a "boob tube" is slang for a TV set)
Clearly, there's animosity from Spamton toward this "tenna" figure, and some complicated feelings toward Mike. It's worth noting that Mike is distinguished from the open hostility Spamton shows Tenna, in a tone that's almost *mournful*. We can see more evidence of this in a few places:
"Alright, Ana, that's cool and all, but..."
Up 'till this point, I've demonstrated a purely antagonistic relationship between Spamton and Tenna, which I don't think anyone would argue against at this point. HOWEVER, the crux of this theory is that this antagonism stems from a much more personal conflict.
But first, we need to address the elephant in the room...
yeap hes gay
Look, I'll skip over the the SpamVil fuel, as much as I like it, and just head to the two places it was confirmed:
no, i dont know why the list broke either. leave me alone
Okay, that's cool and all... but... is Spamton poly?
This one's a little harder to prove, as polyamory doesn't seem to come up at all in DELTA--wait, shit, hang on.
There's actually more than one piece of evidence for this, but the other is... MUCH more layered, so we'll get to it. However, there's still this little valentine from Ralsei, which says, "I'm not sure if you're the type of person that only likes to have one Valentine...". While this CAN be read as "more than one valentine CARD", it can ALSO be read as more than one partner. That's right, Noelle/Susie/Kris truthers still have a chance. What who said that
Anyways, onto the main event, the meat and potatis, the big and the shit, the. spam ton
A rather peculiar item of the Sweepstakes was this cutting board thing? The actual item is unimportant, but what IS important is the text provided. It's heavy with connotations of love, marriage, and... divorce?? And on top of this, the name itself implies a relationship status of A PERSON, A NOTHER PERSON, and SPAMTON. Here are some standout lines:
Of note are, the marriage and divorce mentions, the word "commemorative" which should immediately be ringing alarm bells in your brain, and Spamton threatening to become "player 3" of this relationship. It's more evidence for Spamton having a polyamorous streak, essentially. The idea is, again, Spamton/Tenna/Mike.
How does this connect to Tenna? OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOOHOHOHOHOOHOHOOHOHOHOHO
The aformentioned DAMN YOU TENNA page has the rather peculiar image of the Dreemurr TV scribbled out.
A surface-level analysis of this is yet more evidence of Spamton's disdain for Tenna.
But. But but BUT.
Notice what's actually scribbling the TV out: Bright red streaks...
... red?
"AS AN ADDED [bonus], WE WILL PROVIDE A [red correctional marker], SO IF YOUR RELATIONSHIP GOES [South of the Border!], JUST CROSS OUT THE [Mr.] OR [Mrs.] [as needed]!"
... ah, fuck.
Yeah, so Spamton 100% used the fabled "red correctional marker" to "cross out" Tenna. It's Spamton speaking on the DAMN YOU TENNA page, after all...
And if that wasn't enough, do you remember how you actually GET to this page?
... through the item description of a wedding ring.
This is the final piece of evidence I'd like to offer. The findings detailed were initially presented on the TENNA SUPERTHEORY post by R.V. Pine I linked at the top of this page. I'll pretty much be borrowing her findings.
Spamton has a rather interesting valentine card from the Winter 2024 newsletter:
Let's examine the language of this real quick.
But it's all led up to this.
The very first line, "TO THE [ ] THAT [curs3d] MY" makes the peculiar decision to omit who the target of the card is. It seemed to just be two blank spaces...
... right up until Discord member Vert demonstrated that, with the right font (8BitOperator+Bold, the font used on the Deltarune site), you can PERFECTLY fit the word "TV".
So, uh. What the fuck.
... There's more, by the way.
While I was looking for the image of the valentine for this post, I remembered that all newsletters are officially archived here, including the Valentine's issue. I also remembered that the page has the unique functionality of randomizing MOST of the valentines, so almost all of them are archived. The exceptions to this are, of course, the mystery valentine and Lanino and Elnina's valentine. These two cards were exclusive to E-Mail, meaning a very small amount of people actually received them.
So, I poked around the source code looking for the Spamton card--surely it'd come up with the others, right?
...
WHERE THE FUCK IS IT????????
Yeah, so, uh, apparently JUST that Spamton valentine was also E-Mail only????
Further, this valentine is the only one of Spamton's with the "Rare" probability attached. The other two are normal. (source)
Considering the only other letters exclusive to E-Mail have been the card with information on Chapter 3 and the card from honestly-who-knows, it's safe to assume that these E-Mail exclusives are hidden the way they are because they have information regarding unseen content, particularly Chapter 3.
SO, this specific valentine, with the TV included, is hidden because *it has information about Spamton and Tenna's relationship*.
Before I reach my conclusion, I'd like to clarify maybe the biggest sticking point of this theory:
Mike's involvement is kinda tacked on as of yet, primarily because we know piss all about him. I'll be honest, the polyamory angle was something I only started warming up to recently. However, there's actually a pretty good reason for Mike to be involved: Spamton, and nearly ALL of his story, is *optional*. For the story of Chapter 3 to focus on a failing marriage, the game would need a failsafe in case the player hasn't gone down the [BIG SHOT]'s path(s). Mike, a Chapter 3 character, is the solution to this predicament; he provides a window into the Tenna/Spamton/Mike shitfuckfest even without the guarantee of the player knowing all there is to know.
Now, time to close this out for real.
I'm big on thematic analysis. I can't say I'm very GOOD at it, but I like to try.
One of the most interesting aspects of Chapter 3, I feel, is a dark world exploring the tumultuous nature of the Dreemurr family. Further, the fountain itself was made when Kris coursed their will into their blade--it'll be a reflection of their thoughts, beliefs, desires.
Who's to say Kris' thoughts on Toriel and Asgore won't also materialize?
Something that's been brought up--mostly as a joke--is the irony of Lanino and Elnina's valentine being so DRENCHED in love in the context of Toriel and Asgore:
But, really, this HAS to be intentional, right? I mean, people have been speculating on the discarded flowers--the symbol of the ailing love between Asgore and Toriel--might be the next Shadow Crystal holder since Chapter 2 dropped. There's a ton of precedent for The Divorce™ to be examined through this chapter's Darkners.
So what if the antagonist was also divorced? What if a point of empathy we're meant to have for Tenna--as most Toby Fox antagonists have--is that he's in the most tragically funny relationship we've ever seen? It could serve as really good foil potential for Toriel/Asgore!
This is not to suggest Tenna or Mike can't be evil, like many have made headcanon out of. It simply means that Tenna will have more than two dimensions as a character.
Of course, this wouldn't be the first time one of these three has had explicit parallels to one of the Dreemurrs, or even just individual lightners in general. Indeed, Dark Worlds, as reflections of the struggles of our core cast, has already been a recurring theme in DELTARUNE proper.
(The remainder of this analysis comes courtesy of my very cool and epic sister, who put a lot of things into words that I was struggling with earlier.)
Queen, for example, serves as a mother figure to Noelle (and, arguably, every other Fun Gang member, but that's besides the point); while Queen is NOT a one-to-one parallel to the unseen Mayor Holiday, she serves as something of an outlet for Noelle's complicated feelings toward a controlling figure in her life. Prior to the end of the normal route, Noelle admits she can only "say no" to her father and Kris. This eventually culminates in her standing up to Queen when she attempts to goad her into making a dark fountain. "You think listening to YOU makes me happy!?" She bellows. "No! I'll never be happy! Not if I'm controlled by you!". Is it that much of a stretch to say this development will translate into her relationship with her mother in the Light World, too?
My sister clarifies that familial parallels aren't necessarily GUARANTEED on a per-chapter basis, but family is already a central theme of DELTARUNE as a whole, between Susie's seemingly absent parents, Noelle and Kris' broken families,
Further still are the obvious parallels between Spamton and Kris. To reiterate, these comparisons are not meant to be one-to-one, as that would be reductive of both Spamton and Kris' individual characters; Spamton wants control because he's power-hungry, while Kris wants control because they're no longer sure if people ever really liked *them*, or if this paragon caricature of them is what people prefer (and, y'know, being a meat-puppet to god themself is kind of a living nightmare in its own right, let's be real). That being said, even divorced from the divorce angle, the negativity and betrayal Spamton feels for Tenna is almost surely emblematic of the negativity Kris feels for their family's issues. Tenna, after all, is not just any TV, but the *Dreemurr*'s TV.
So let's talk about that TV. THIS TV, this room, this house:
(this image is a mockup taken from The Spriter's Resource, so some details like Chairiel are missing.)
One of the defining characteristics of the Dreemurr TV is that it's *abandoned*. Between Chapters 1 and 2, it goes from "not even plugged in anymore" to "dusty". The TV is, like with stereotypical American living rooms, the centerpiece of that room, and represents a "functioning" family unit. It being unplugged and caked with dust suggests the very life has been sucked out of the Dreemurr household. I mean, it's not like Kris and Toriel, the only ones left to actually live there, are hanging out on the couch watching TV or playing Super Smashing Fighters or anything, and Kris is already implied to have a strained relationship with their mother, betraying to her the same aloof, untalkative persona they do to *everyone* in Hometown. The house may not be empty by DELTARUNE's beginning, but it may as well be without Asgore and Asriel.
This is also why the first time the TV actually turns on is so significant: Susie and Kris hanging out, watching TV, shooting the shit, it represents the life being brought back into the Dreemurr house. It's even more significant that Kris chooses to open the Chapter 3 fountain in the living room when recontextualized as, perhaps, Kris trying to rekindle a sense of togetherness--not in their bedroom, or the bathroom, or just outside the house where they'd have had plausible deniability, or anywhere else. They--or rather, Toby--chose to open the fountain in the evolving symbol of the Dreemurr family and Kris' connections with others.
The plot of DELTARUNE seems to suggest things get *better* for everyone, better than the monotony of the current status quo: school, work, rent, boredom, depression, alienation, absent parental figures across the board... I'm not saying the conclusion of Chapter 3 is gonna be about fixing Tenna's marriage, but wouldn't it be nice for everyone to know they'll be okay in the end, regardless of whether they go back to the way things were before?
Up to this point, I've been paraphrasing my sister's analysis, but this last point is something I feel needs to be repeated in its entirety:
"whenever i personally look at deltarune theories, i like to ask one particular qualifying question: where does this theory fit into deltarune overall— not just as a game, but as a thesis? is this theory made more feasible by how it expands upon what deltarune is trying to say? and as far as taking the divorce pill goes, i think the answer to the above litmus test is a resounding yes. above all of the actual evidence, analysis, and speculation lies this fact: deltarune is a story about fictive worlds and their relation to empowerment and self determination.
in its simplest form, the story of deltarune is about kids attempting to navigate a slew of complex emotions and relationships— and one of the most integral ways that kids (and adults!) accomplish this is through play, whether thats storytelling, roleplaying, creating, or whatever else allows them the freedom of self expression and proximity to automomy. both of these are inherent to the dark worlds which kris, susie, noelle, and berdly use as sandboxes for exploration and processing complex emotions; they undergo development, they form new relationships. they come out markedly different as people.
the dark worlds arent necessarily meant to represent a one-to-one stand in for one/dimensional concepts like “fictional worlds” or “roleplaying”— because obviously, these worlds aren’t meant to exist as something exclusive to fiction or dreamscapes— but if, at the root of deltarune is the exploration of these dark world spaces and characters as vehicles for character growth, then the divorce theory as it currently stands could potentially slot very nicely among the pieces that aid in pushing that central thesis forward."
All this to say, Spamton is the most divorced man in DELTARUNE, which makes Asgore's situation even sadder now that he can't even claim fame to that. Oh well, there's other guys.