Ohh shit i think i came up with an interesting idea. presenting Ralsei Fraud theory.
we already know from old timeline theory, that deltarune in it's current state is a rerun. it is built on top of the original game, original timeline in which things are different. in there, forgotten man wasn't a cut character who is replaced by sans, along with kris's place in life not being replaced by susie. i propose the idea that the third hero is too, replaced by none other than ralsei.
it would explain a lot of weird stuff happening with him. prophecy panel with him doesn't match, along with him not using fire magic and trying to be a pacifist. it escalates further in chapter 5, where flowery directly call him an "impossibility". why is he an "impossibility"? because he wasn't supposed to exist, he is a fake being created by the prophecy to at least try to keep the story going. that's why he is able to use fire magic, because he is based on the true third hero. yet, he doesn't use it as he knows that he's an imitation of the original. hence the "what even being ralsei-like is?" thing from Ch2, even though he HAS certain traits and is an established character in the prophecy he has no clue what his own personality even could be, not because it's not established by the prophecy but because he doesn't want to imitate it, as it doesn't belong to him.
then there's the prophecy panel that depicts the third hero wearing a coat. and in chapter 1... ralsei wears two coats at the same time. As if trying to recreate what is shown on the prophecy, even though his appearance does not reflect the prophecy at all. HE IS NOT THE THIRD HERO. then, who is it? i believe that the most likely candidate is the Shadow Mantle Holder. not only he uses fire magic, but he is found in the ORIGINAL game. and holy shit, he ACTUALLY acts like flowey from undertale, unlike the timid, gay and estrogen-fueled ralsei.
the next thing that can't be left unmentioned is flowery. he is connected to flowey, thus to the Shadow Mantle holder through "Your Best Friend" and "Your Best Nightmare" duo. both flowery and S.M.H. wear a black
Mantle. flowery also calls the fuck squad fake heroes a few times in the game, and has a voice clip "you're a hero?":
* Sometimes, you need to leaf the battle... to the real heroes.
* Just realize. Flowers are the real heroes.
Hah! You thinkyou can matchmy style!?
Is that reallyjust what "HEROES"can do!?
* This isn't a safe world to play "hero" in.
worth noting that "hero" is almost always in quotations. the same guy who knows that ralsei is an impossibility also tells us that fuck squad aren't heroes.
what can i add to the old timeline theory with this new information? not only susie is a fake hero, but ralsei too is a replacement of the true third hero who is SMH. an interesting detail, is that ralsei is green and if he is indeed based on SMH then SMH is somehow connected to forgotten man. and he does throw Egg bombs at us and is the owner of the pack of cats that hunt for protein(Eggs), implying that SMH could be searching for forgotten man, as both of them were similarly cut from the new timeline. thus it makes sense for him to encourage the weird route, hell, forgotten man even "tossed leftovers in a dumpster" which are supposedly the thornring.
in general i think that flowery and pink friend monologue were added because toby realized that he fucked up with loremaxxing, and players not only have no clue who is that shadow mantle guy but also think that friend is the tail of hell and a big bad. honestly i have nothing against these patches in loremaxxing side of things because that ""Your Best Friend" - "Your Best Nightmare"" duo made me confused, too.
Let's come back to my nostalgic dream for a second. Did you hear what the third hero have said? "You will lead us to freedom"; weird route i know but that third hero is probably SMH and the omnious voice is forgotten man, so my theory gets confirmed through a dream? i fear that this dream was very accurate at predicting deltarune even if there wasn't any game footage. ALL BET ON TOBY CANCELLED IN 2028