Krerdly

Krerdly
GENERAL
Deltarune
Character	Kris
Character	Berdly
Canonical?	Fanon
Status of Relationship	Allies/Classmates/Former Rivals
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Non-binary
Also Known As	Krispy Chicken, Bluebirds, Berdkris, Kerdly, Alpha Gamers
Tropes	• Birds of a Feather • Commonality Connection • Enemies to Lovers • He’s an Idiot but He’s MY Idiot

Krerdly is the non-binary ship between Kris and Berdly from the Deltarune fandom.

Canon

Past

Not much is known about their past interactions before the events of the game. It is implied that Kris and Berdly have studied together since kindergarten. During the Undertale 6th anniversary stream, Berdly and Kris are shown to be gaming rivals. This is further confirmed by flavor text in Chapter 2 mentioning they often play video games together, with it being Berdly’s favorite hobby and one of Kris’s main interests. There are references to the two competing against each other in games and in speedrunning before, particularly with the game Super Smashing Fighters (an in-universe equivalent to Super Smash Bros.). Berdly protests that Kris "cheats" by wavedashing (the name for a high-level movement technique in Super Smash Bros. Melee), and also claims that they splice their speedruns, but this is likely Berdly being unwilling to accept that Kris is better than him. During the Spamton Sweepstakes event, a section of Noelle's blog revealed that Berdly also played on a Minecrap server with a prankster heavily implied to be Kris, adding further evidence that the two were friendly towards each other, at least when playing games together.

Chapter 1

In Chapter 1, interactions between Berdly and Kris were minimal. Overall, Berdly acts arrogant and cocky towards them. When Noelle suggests that Kris joined their group project, he quickly disagrees with the idea, though this is actually due to his insecurities rather than any dislike for Kris, as shown later in Chapter 2. After progressing through the game and sealing the first fountain, the player can take Kris to the hospital, where Rudy asks Noelle to bring Berdly by the window so he can throw something at him. If the player then talks to Berdly in the library, Kris suggests to him that he should pass by the hospital. Kris's willingness to tease and play pranks on Berdly is reminiscent of their relationship with Noelle, potentially indicating the two are in fact friends in Kris's eyes. By the end of the day, Berdly comments that he was getting worried about Kris and was glad that they were okay after being with Susie the whole day.

Chapter 2

Main Route

In Chapter 2, Berdly, alongside Noelle, finally gets more spotlight in the game itself. Berdly makes his first appearance in the Dark World in his fight against the party on the roller coaster. Berdly mocks Kris's intelligence frequently, and sees Kris and the Fun Gang as enemies during most of the events of Chapter 2. The main reason why Berdly antagonizes Kris is likely his fear that Kris is smarter than him, even if Berdly claims to be superior by calling Kris the "Number 3" student behind himself and Noelle. Even through this antagonization and rivalry, though, he genuinely wants them to join him on Queen's side, claiming he always saw some potential in them. If the player chooses to have Kris say they will join his side, Kris says it sarcastically, which angers Berdly.

In Kris and Noelle's fight against Berdly in Cyber City, if the player chooses Kris's "Check" ACT, it states that Berdly "usually only gets this mad when you play games together", implying that Kris not only plays games frequently enough with Berdly to warrant a mention, but often defeats him in said games. After Susie and Ralsei reunite with Kris and Noelle, the player can choose to have Kris give a gift to Berdly, to the shock of everyone else in the party. Berdly opens the gift to reveal a plushie of him with nipples, which he appreciates, forgiving Kris for their reunion with Susie as a result.

During the section of the game in Queen's mansion, Berdly, afraid that Susie would make fun of him for not knowing how to solve a puzzle, asks Kris to help him solve it without Susie, indicating he trusts Kris enough to not tease him (or at least not tell Susie). He also seems to get offended that Kris chooses Susie over him. Despite all of this, Berdly's walls begin to crumble, and he confides in Kris, Susie, and Lancer about how he depends on Noelle to be the number 1 student, and the insecurity he feels. He is reassured by Susie and Lancer, and, slightly misunderstanding their message, pledges to "fight for the side of ignorance".

From this point on, he is allied with Kris and the party, and after this, he takes Susie through a shortcut in the mansion so they both can save Noelle from Queen's capture. When Susie leaves him alone with Noelle after the ferris wheel scene, he apologizes to Noelle for being a poor friend (though he misunderstands her willingness to help him as her having a crush on him, which he "rejects"). His development continues after the fight with Queen, where, after collapsing from exhaustion, he refers to Kris as a comrade and "fellow bluebird" when they continue to interact with him, with Berdly thanking Kris for their concern for him. He saves Kris, Susie, and Ralsei from falling after being hit off the ledge by Queen's Giga form, using his roller coaster from their first fight. He also assembles the thrash machine, with the help of Rouxls Kaard and the recruits, that allows the party to fight Giga Queen.

After waking up, though he does not realize the Cyber World was real, Berdly keeps his positive development. Though he instinctually rebuffs the prospect of studying with Kris and Susie when Noelle mentions her inviting them to the library, he stops himself, and agrees with the idea of trying it. If his arm was burnt in the Dark World by Queen's wire, Noelle picks up his books for him, and he thanks Noelle for always helping him.

Snowgrave Route

Chapter 2's alternate route, known as the Snowgrave route, involves Kris (controlled by the player) manipulating Noelle into freezing enemies throughout the Cyber City area of the game. Eventually, the pair run into Berdly, who notices something is off about Noelle's demeanor upon seeing her. He immediately attempts to save Noelle from "Kris", but if the player forces Noelle to cast the SnowGrave spell, Noelle enters a trance-like state from the power of her magic, and the spell encases Berdly within a solid crystal of ice. Kris is clearly shaken by this, as, upon meeting back up with Susie and Ralsei, Susie immediately notices something is troubling them and attempts to ask them about it before being cut off by Ralsei.

The route continues with Spamton having taken over Queen's mansion, and Kris fighting his NEO form by themselves in order to seal the fountain. After the fountain is sealed, Kris, Susie, and Noelle wake up together in the library, but Berdly stays asleep. He is presumed to have died, or potentially to have "fallen down", referring to a comatose state that monsters enter shortly before death.

Quotes

“Sorry for the lack of posting. I accidentally deleted Minecrap and it took all day to figure out how to get it to work again. Fortunately the prank caller helped me get it back and now we are playing together.”

— Berdly on Noelle's blog about the prank caller heavily implied to be Kris

“* BERDLY - He usually only gets this mad when you play games together.”

— Kris's "Check" dialogue in the second fight against Berdly

“Th-then... we can... how about we... have [Susie] go in the other room, and, solve it, together?”

— Berdly to Kris during the puzzles in Queen's mansion

“You're cheating!! J... just like when you w-wavedash!”

— Berdly to Kris after solving a puzzle in Queen's mansion

“Kris, your deep concern for me... is dextrose. But stay sanguine, my fellow bluebird. I'll find some way to help you yet!”

— Berdly to Kris after the fight with Queen

Fanon

Krerdly was virtually nonexistent as a ship until Chapter 2 when, upon the chapter's release, it grew considerably in popularity. It is a running gag that people start shipping it ironically, as a crack ship, until it eventually grows on them. It is a common secondary pairing for Suselle shippers, likely as part of the common fandom trope known as pairing the spares. On AO3, it is the most written relationship involving Berdly, and fourth-most written romantic relationship involving Kris.

Fanwork that involves the two in a relationship usually represent them as a “cringy” gamer couple, making fun of the idea of Berdly being an idiot and Kris having a crush on him nonetheless. This stems from the two's strongest connection in canon being as fellow gamers and (at least in Berdly's eyes) rivals, as the two are demonstrated to frequently play games like Super Smashing Fighters and Minecrap together. Most of the time, Kris is portrayed as the smarter and more skillful half, with Berdly struggling to beat Kris in any game the two play together when Kris is trying, much to his dismay. This leads to the frequent trope in shipping fanwork of Kris letting Berdly win for once, which leads to Berdly being overjoyed at besting his "rival" and Kris finding his reaction cute. Another common trope is one of the two (usually Kris) kissing the other while playing against each other in a game, to distract and/or fluster them and gain an advantage.

Many pieces of fanwork also play into Kris's nebulous relationship with the SOUL (and, by extension, the player) by having the SOUL object to Kris dating Berdly. Kris, whether in opposition to the SOUL's opinion directly or not, chooses to date him anyway and often finds its protests funny. In canon, the SOUL is heavily implied to be the mechanism through which the player controls Kris, seemingly against their will. Since Berdly is often seen as little more than annoying by many players of Deltarune, art involving this trope uses this connection to joke about how the average player would likely react to Kris dating Berdly.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Berdly/Kris tag on AO3

Berdly & Kris tag on AO3

FAN ART

Krerdly hashtag on Instagram

FOURMS

r/Krispychicken community on Reddit

TUMBLR

Krerdly tag on Tumblr

Kris x Berdly posts on Tumblr

TWITTER

Krerdly hashtag on Twitter

Kris x Berdly posts on Twitter

Trivia

• During the Spamton Sweepstakes event, Berdly received prank calls from an anonymous person, implied to be Kris due to their known prankster nature. They eventually started playing Minecrap together, to which Noelle commented it was cute.
• During the Spamton Sweepstakes event, a twitter user named Keucher donated 20 dollars with a message that simply read: "krerdly"

Gallery

Kris giving Berdly the gift in Cyber City