"Artest thou one of my admirers, worm?"
... It's pronounced "Rules."
WARNING: This page is NOT spoiler-free.
I have currently completed DELTARUNE chapters 1, 2, and 3, though I need to go back and 100% Chapter
3. I'm taking my time with the game due to the wait time between chapters.
Spoilers from 3 will
be mentioned, so if you haven't played the game,
TURN BACK NOW!
ROUXLS KAARD (pronounced "Rules Card") is a character from the indie game
DELTARUNE created by Toby Fox. He earned his position of
Duke of Puzzles through
process of elimination because
King fired everybody else, and Rouxls is actually
dogwater at making puzzles. The first time you encounter him, the
"puzzle" is just
a single box that you push into a slot RIGHT NEXT TO IT. The game's
first chapter was released on October 31, 2018. I had no idea what to
expect going into this game, but I knew I loved UNDERTALE and everything
about it. The story, characters, and art of the game made me happy; I'd recently celebrated the
UNDERTALE anniversary with friends, watching the orchestra. After that,
I gave DELTARUNE a go. And since then, Rouxls Kaard has absolutely
ruined my life. I have never been
stupidly obsessed with a fictional character the way I have with this
utterly foolish man. I want to grab him and shake him... and yet, here I
am.
From the DELTARUNE wiki:
"Rouxls Kaard is a tall, humanoid Darkner. His head is diamond-shaped, and his face consists of two
eyes, which droop downwards, and a large mouth, which has a dark streak on its left side, giving him
a slightly melted look. Rouxls's hair as well as his outline are white in color, and his clothing
and skin are the same royal blue. When in his shop, Rouxls appears black instead of blue. He wears a
suit with epaulets in all of his appearances, but occasionally adds a hat or accessory to his
outfit. He is considered physically attractive by some characters, while others mock him for parts
of his appearance.
Rouxls is very opportunistic and
egotistical, always striving to improve his own standing by becoming second-in-command to a powerful
ruler. Despite this, he has no strong convictions, and can be convinced to change sides by being
beaten in battle. He claims to be the Duke of Puzzles, but is an incompetent puzzle maker— all of
his puzzles are very simple block-pushing challenges. He also vandalizes clues on puzzles he did not
create, in order to make them "harder."
Rouxls tends to irritate other characters, who describe him as weird and unbearable. He has a habit of inserting himself in other people's plans when he is unwelcome, and is described as someone who "will appear even if unhired." His accent and complicated wording also tend to be confusing and grating to others. Despite this, Rouxls is often able to convince some Darkners to aid him or fight for him, though they usually abandon him after growing tired of him."
I deadass cannot believe this is the man I've been obsessed with for almost EIGHT YEARS.
Why THIS character? What the hell, Mavis?
Shockingly, I hated this man at first. You probably don't believe me. I get it. When I first encountered Rouxls Kaard in-game, I read his dialogue and asked:
Mavis asking the real questions.
I was SO confused when I encountered Rouxls Kaard in his opening scene; his big debut, as he would
probably call it. I thought the way he talked was ridiculous and I
instantly wanted out of that room. When it dawned on me that
he was the one that did calligraphy graffiti on the puzzle solutions in the Scarlet
Forest,
I wanted to fight him IRL. I would not blame Kris and
Susie if they wanted to obliterate that man
from the moment he opened his mouth.
So, what happened? You hated him, but you have this shrine...
I saw fan art of Rouxls in various places, mostly on social media. I'm an avid art and video game enjoyer, so my friends and I were pretty hype about DELTARUNE's release. I realized one thing about the fan art I was seeing...
A lot of artists were drawing Rouxls Kaard and making him hot.
It was at this moment I knew: I was COOKED.
Yes, you read that correctly. I sat with myself and stewed in this feeling that I was finding this absolute manfailure of a character attractive. I looked further into his character, and had a cursed moment of clarity:
- Rouxls cares about Lancer, and even has the title of "Lesser Dad" since Lancer's real dad kind of sucks. Rouxls pretends not to care, but he fails at this miserably. You get this information in his dialogue when he asks you how Lancer is doing, and it's done in a way that reads genuine care and concern over obligation.
- Rouxls Kaard's estimated height is a whopping 9 feet tall. I have a weakness for height/size differences. It also makes sense since Rouxls is not human, but a Darkner. Darkners come in many shapes and sizes, with Rouxls being no exception to this.
- His dialogue is actually really funny. When playing Chapter 2, I did NOT expect to find out that he says "So thou hath beateneth The Crappeth out of Me." if you defeat him violently in his boss fight. WHO SAYS THAT?? BE FOR REAL.
-
He's canonically BISEXUAL and
POLYAMOROUS! (Thank you so much, Toby Fox; I am both of these
things, and it feels GREAT knowing a favorite of mine shares
pride flags with me.
)
... All of the reasons above made me realize I liked Rouxls. As unbearable and dramatic as he is, he's a funny and endearing character.
After that...
Over time, I accepted that I liked Rouxls, and began drawing him occasionally. It eventually led to me creating a yumeship of Rouxls and my main OC/persona, Mavis. And being who I am, I decided to make my own fandom food. There's nothing more fulfilling than fictional character brainrot, right?
I'll be honest: I owe it to Rouxls for Mavis' creation. If not for him, Mavis would not exist. I initially created Mavis for the purpose of yumeshipping, and eventually they became their own character: A solid OC with a story of their own, but with the added bonus of being able to ship them with fictional characters I'd taken a liking to.
Mavis started out as a Deltarune fan character, a Darkner based on a tarot card, specifically The Moon from the Major Arcana. With Rouxls being a living ebodiment of a Rules Card, it made the most sense to me to have Mavis be something similar, but with their own unique identity. I felt strongly about this, especially if the two would be paired together. My art, my writing, and my character design and development skills have come a LONG way thanks to this foolish blue Shakespearean Slime Man.
For those reasons, Rouxls holds a rather special place in my heart among my chosen plethora of
fictional characters. Does it speak poorly of my taste in men? Absolutely Maybe. But either
way, I learned that cringe culture is dead, and
I can do what I want. Imagining yourself hanging out and being loved by
fictional characters is a radical act of self-love. Making yumeship content of Rouxls and Mavis
helped me feel better about myself and
helped me develop a healthier self-image. Even my
therapist showed approval when I told her about my interest in
yumeshipping; wild, right? She said that imagining yourself being
loved and wanted will eventually lead to you being
kinder to yourself and having
better self-esteem. (I do like the thought of Rouxls growing as a
character and being in a happy relationship, too.)
So I'm going to keep adoring Rouxls Kaard the way I do. Anyways, check out my LITERAL real-life "shrine" of this fool LOL.
I think this says a lot about me, too:
Thanks for reading!
If you're scared to be "cringe" or open about loving fictional characters: Go, you have my blessing.
Be yourself. I am; it's great and absolutely worth it.
Yumeship Art Gallery
Arranged from newest to oldest!
Art by Me
Art by Others
Coming soon!