Lightnerds

Lightnerds
GENERAL
Deltarune
Character	Noelle Holiday
Character	Berdly
Canonical?	Canon
Status of Relationship	Close Friends, Classmates
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Friend
Also Known As	Smart Fighters, Berdelle, Noerdly

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Lightnerds is the friendship between Noelle and Berdly from the Deltarune fandom.

Canon

Overall relationship

Noelle and Berdly are close friends and have been for a while, presumably ever since they were little. They are classmates and school partners, and Berdly views her as his only friend. She is the only person among his classmates that he doesn't rebuff, although he continues to boast and calls her the second smartest student, as he still views himself superior. Berdly rarely, if not never, takes her feelings into consideration, as seen in the beginning of Chapter 1 when Kris asks to join their group, and Berdly rejects this idea, stating that Kris would only weigh them down.

When meeting Noelle while she's visiting her father at the hospital, Rudy will let her know how much he doesn't like Berdly. Though Noelle defends him a bit, Rudy jokes that she should tell him to stand by the hospital window so he could throw something at him.

Chapter 2

During their time in the Dark World, Berdly and Queen try to no avail to rebuild a perfect world. Noelle does not comply, leading to an altercation between them.

After defeating Berdly for the last time, Kris and their friends find out that Berdly's superiority complex originated when he won a spelling bee against Noelle as a kid. Though it is all but stated that Berdly only won because of elimination, as Noelle is visibly a deer in the headlights when asked to spell out the word "December".

After Berdly joins the party, it is revealed that Noelle helps him study, and deep down, he views her as better than him. This leads Berdly to the conclusion, while still oblivious of Noelle's feelings for Susie, that Noelle has feelings for him. He does not return this apparent crush, however, and tells Noelle not to be jealous as he has feelings for Susie instead. This leads to Noelle grabbing Berdly and shaking him, but this minor rivalry does not last as when they leave the Dark World, they figure it was just a dream and stay on good terms.

Fanon

Most prefer Noelle and Berdly to be platonic, as both characters have romantic feelings for Susie, greatly implying that Noelle is lesbian.

Though many have acknowledged that it would make a lot of sense for them to end up together, given that both seem to think that the other is crushing on them, many have deemed the possibility of Noelle catching feelings for any guy to be unlikely at best.

During the hiatus between Chapter 1 and 2, it was common for fanworks to depict Noelle snapping at Berdly and letting him have it for his constant jerkishness. Some darker takes on this idea even have her physically beat him up. These all quickly stopped when Chapter 2 actually canonized a hidden scene of Noelle possibly killing Berdly, which caused a number of his haters to feel bad for him. Many fans have noted that Berdly detractors should've been careful what they wished for.

After that incident, more heroic portrayals of Berdly became common as a way of coping with the horror of the scenario. Oftentimes, Berdly would come back from SnowGrave stronger than before and take revenge on Kris or the player for forcing Noelle to cross the line to outright murdering him.

Gallery

Noelle grabbing Berdly

Close-up of Noelle and Berdly

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Berdly & Noelle tag on AO3

TUMBLR

Lightnerds tag on Tumblr

The Lightnerds tag on Tumblr