Ralsei is really cute, but I think few people note Ralsei is also… really weird. Also his unwavering kindness really does at some points diverge into a jarring level of doormat-ish behaviour.

He is a character whose very introduction to the player is odd. He introduces himself to you and Susie as someone who was born to fulfill this purpose. He only exists to meet you.

Meanwhile, he also has many callbacks to Asriel/Flowey. Let’s throw aside the obvious anagram for now (Asriel=Ralsei). He is a prince of the world, who informs you that your soul is the ‘culmination of your being’.

Perhaps more notably, Ralsei has the same huge streak of dependence/codependence the original Asriel has. In fact, he was literally born to meet you and doesn’t seem to exist for any other purpose but that.

Unlike the other characters, and despite seeming to be around the same age, Ralsei has no parents. It appears that you’re the first people he’s met and formed any kind of positive relationship around. Even his interactions with Lancer seem shallow despite the fact he’s existed in this world longer. His existence is contingent on yours.

This both literally refers to the role of the tutorial character, and possibly everything else about Ralsei.

He’s never hugged anyone before (except the training dummy).

And he also seems okay with you hitting him.

He will lecture Susie on being a proper hero, and he definitely does want the characters to be nice to him, but he is mostly non resistant. Rather than sticking up for himself, he will bribe Susie to be nicer to him with the offer of baking a cake later. He’s pretty prepared to go along with most things Kris and Susie tell him after (even with some hesitation). If you hesitate too long at the point where Susie has joined the ‘Bad Guys’ and is being fanned, he even says ‘he’ll go grab a leaf and fan you’ until you want to be a good guy again. He is that dependent on you.

(Which is also true of Flowey, who Ralsei shares a lot of lines with. Flowey is, even at his most villainous, a truly codependent person with Chara – “I promise, I can be useful to you! I swear I won’t get in your way!” Let’s contrast that with Ralsei’s eagerness to please.)

Probably the biggest warning sign with Ralsei is that he believes the only way his purpose can have any worth is if he serves Lightners. It is the ONLY way true fulfillment can be reached in his eyes.

This sets both Kris high up on a pedestal, and it can be at first readily accepted as ‘game logic’ but it seems more indicative of an unhealthy way of being.

We get this tidbit from Seam, the shopkeep, the one other person who refers to Lightners in a way even similar.

Notably, this train of thought also makes Susie uncomfortable. As it probably should. Hearing your new friends can only be ‘fulfilled’ through your existence is an uncomfortable sentiment.

(Three Former Kings, pictured)

Interestingly, despite Ralsei claiming to be a prince, we see all the royalty of the world and none of them look even remotely related to Ralsei. So what is Ralsei a prince of? Why does he believe he has this title? What knowledge does Ralsei have of being created explicitly for the existence of others?

Lastly, I want to point out Ralsei’s similarity to one of the most popular mages of all, Vivi. Vivi’s plotline is concerned with being a ‘doll’, an artificially created person, and whose plotline revolves around purpose.

Seeing as Ralsei’s current purpose is attached to the Lighteners (which is truly unsustainable, as basing your existence around someone else is), with all these elements at play it seems Ralsei has 1. a kind of messed up view of himself in relation to others 2. that his purpose and agency may be examined in this story. 3. that Kris and Susie are currently high up on a pedestal for Ralsei.