A Somewhat Thorough Dissection of the Don't Forget Leitmotif
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Published 2023-12-27
Next year I'll be trying to get more videos out so hopefully I won't have another half a year gap between videos... (sorry about that by the way)
All the music used in this video belongs to Toby Fox! I tried to use the songs that each section was covering so just look at the title card for the section and you should be able to find the name of the song playing (:
Outro song: • Rude Buster Remix "Smooth Buster"
Andrew Cunningham's Gaster Motif video: • Everything About Gaster's Motif in th...
Undertale livestream VOD: youtube.com/live/rksOYId-cNA?si=fIapbc2OHMBfJQHb
I used a lot of sheet music to help me out with the video research and just general visuals. Here's where you can find all of it:
Once Upon a Time: musescore.com/user/5771981/scores/1407296
The Dark Truth: musescore.com/user/29121377/scores/10193308
Big Shot: musescore.com/playfulpiano/deltarune-39-big-shot
Don't Forget & Hometown: deltarune.fandom.com/wiki/Leitmotifs
Gaster's Theme: musescore.com/user/29283943/scores/6419282
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:06 - Beginning
1:43 - School
2:32 - The Field of Hopes and Dreams
3:13 - The Scarlet Forest/The World Revolving/Friendship
7:57 - Your Power
8:25 - A Town Called Hometown
8:51 - You Can Always Come Home
9:21 - Don't Forget
10:28 - Faint Glow
10:52 - The Dark Truth
12:05 - Until Next Time
12:15 - Dog Check
12:48 - Hometown Day
13:15 - Conclusion
15:27 - Outro
Thanks for reading [:
All Comments (21)
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I kinda messed up on my research for the Faint Glow section, sorry! The Great Door shows there, not the artwork I showed on screen. I think the Great Door can represent Kris' journey so far for the beginning of Chapter 2 so I think my final conclusion still stands but yeah! Once again, my bad. I'll try to be more careful of relying on existing information instead of memory for my research going forward [:
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The website is basically impossible to search, so I'll probably never find the post again. But a long time ago I read a really good tumblr post that argued Don't Forget isn't just Kris's theme, but is specifically a Kris and Dess connection theme. And it speculated that at some point we'll hear it played as a duet on their respective instruments, the piano and the guitar.
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FINALLY, someone agrees that don't forget is kris' motif. They're the only common denominator where it's used, and narratively it'd make sense to be theirs. Plus any other candidate either already has their own motif or just doesn't make sense to fit with it lol banger vid
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if it represents kris it would make sense for its absence in snow grave because that's not kris. think about it if frisk in undertale had a motif you think it would play in the genocide route? no of course not.
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I think Don't Forget is supposed to be Deltarune, the story/game itself's main motif; the same way Once Upon A Time is Undertale's motif and can be found all throughout the game.
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I think, if you cranked up the volume on the voice and background music, viewers potentially wouldn't get knocked out of their chairs by the incidental SFX and the next video in their cue. For the analysis itself, it feels like a nice and substantive exploration and I am curious enough to click on your future videos if they show up in my searches. 🙂
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I loved this anaylsis! Don't Forget being Kris's theme makes a lot of sense, especially since I had always assumed that it was a lullaby that Toriel sang to them lol. I think you really brought together some good context and parts of the story :)
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something very very interesting I noticed about the relation between Don't Forget and The Dark Truth, is that Don't Forget matches eerily well with ralsei's telling of the Roaring in chapter 2. Almost seems like a lightner's POV on the roaring, maybe?
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I always just thought the Don’t Forget motif was the games theme, but this is a fun theory!
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"THIS OBSERVATION." "IT IS INTERESTING." "VERY." "VERY." "INTERESTING INDEED." "BUT DON'T FORGET." "ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS" "IF IT COULD GET DARKER." "AND YET DARKER THAN DARK." -the beholder
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Great analysis! Love this work
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very interesting analysis, really good for a relatively small channel also i respect the persistent use of the bit
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I had no idea gaster’s theme was so prevalent! It’s basically impossible to remember what it sounds like without having just listened to it! Lol
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I liked how you kept on saying… “very… interesting” and “curious” very gaster of you 😅
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It's pretty rad and that thumbnail looks cool
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I find it interesting how the motif appears way more in chapter 1's Dark World than in chapter 2's. Although that might just be Toby wanting to reinforce the motif at the start of the game
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Before I came across this video, I figured that Faint Courage (the Game Over theme) was Kris's leitmotif/theme. But you've opened my mind up to the possibility of Don't Forget being their theme either alongside Faint Courage or instead of it. If you're wondering why I figured that Faint Courage would be Kris's leitmotif, it was based on vibes. Just purely their vibes.
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think the dont forget theme is the hope/happiness theme since jevil is happy in his cell, but spamton hates his body and has no hope, but this theory falls apart when you think about the area themes
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Lore of A Somewhat Thorough Dissection of the Don't Forget Leitmotif momentum 100
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It has strong themes with both memories.... and weirdly also water and wind I think. Though water and wind seem almost like DON'T forget's evil twin brother. So probably don't forget has good connotations and wind/water bad or at least mysterious connotations.
