User:KrispyBlueJays/Noelle Holiday

• Comment: As of right now I doubt Noelle Holiday is notable per the notability standards for video game characters, which is discussed at WP:NVGC. I agree with Pokelego999, however; this may change as more Deltarune content is released. I would recommend userfying this and keeping an eye out for sources, as I have done in the past. Gommeh ^{(talk! sign!)} 20:43, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

• Comment: Most of the article's reception is not really about Noelle, but rather about the Weird Route. Though heavily involving her, the coverage isn't really about her as much as it is about the route as a whole. This is definitely one to keep an eye on for as Deltarune develops, but as of now I'm not seeing the coverage needed for a split independent of the characters list. Magneton Considerer: Pokelego999 (Talk) (Contribs) 18:05, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

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Noelle Holiday
Deltarune character
First game	Deltarune (Chapter 1, 2018)
Created by	Toby Fox
Designed by	Toby Fox Temmie Chang Chess (spritework)
In-universe information
Gender	Female

Noelle Holiday is a fictional character in the episodic role-playing video game Deltarune, developed by Toby Fox. She is a reindeer-like teenager who resides in the Light World and is one of Kris's classmates as well as their childhood friend. She is also a major character in Chapter 2 of Deltarune, where she accompanies the protagonist Kris into the Dark World—notably in the alternate "snowgrave" route. Noelle is depicted as a shy, kind-hearted reindeer monster with a strong sense of responsibility, though she struggles with self-doubt and anxiety.

Family

Noelle is the daughter of Carol Holiday and Rudy Holiday. Her mother, Carol, is the mayor of Hometown. Her father, Rudy, is currently in-patient at Hometown's hospital, where he is recovering from an unknown ailment. Noelle has an older sister, named December and nicknamed Dess, who is implied to be missing or dead.

Appearances

Further information: Deltarune § Plot

Noelle is a deuteragonist character in Deltarune's alternate route. She lives in a house with Carol Holiday and is a resident of "Hometown", a small town home to many characters from Undertale as well as new characters not seen in Undertale.

Chapter 1

Noelle first appears in Chapter 1 as a minor character. When Kris tries to find a partner for a school project, she suggests that she, Kris and her partner, Berdly, could group together. Ultimately, Kris and Susie partner up. She also volunteers to go into the closet when Alphys realizes there is no chalk, although Alphys makes Kris and Susie go anyways.

Chapter 2

Noelle invites Susie and Kris to go to the library so that they can research for their group projects. The computer lab, where Noelle and Berdly were, is revealed as a Dark World. After Kris and Susie enter it, Noelle is captured by Queen, the main antagonist for Chapter 2. Later, Noelle finds Kris and joins their party.

Eventually, Noelle, along with Kris, Susie, and Berdly, get captured and sent into their own rooms. Susie and Kris escape, and Susie goes to Noelle's room. Susie tells her that the Dark World is just a dream and they go on a Ferris wheel ride.

Queen reveals that the Dark Fountain was created by an entity known as the Roaring Knight, and that she intends to force Noelle to open a Fountain, which any inhabitant of the Light World can do. She threatens Noelle and the party with a giant mech, but they manage to make her realize the error of her ways. Berdly then attempts to create a Fountain, but Ralsei warns him that opening too many Fountains will cause an apocalyptic "Roaring".

Kris closes the Fountain, and the four awaken in the computer lab; Noelle and Berdly dismiss the events as merely a dream.

Chapter 3

Noelle is not shown in Chapter 3, but in a secret room with a game console, it states "the forbidden path began with ice magic"; to continue in the game, the player must command a "white cloak" to freeze enemies. Both reference the gameplay of the alternate route in Chapter 2.

Chapter 4

Noelle appears at the church at the beginning of Chapter 4, where she is singing in a church choir. After questioning townsfolk about the bunker, Kris and Susie conclude that their best lead on the codes for the bunker is Noelle's mother, Mayor Carol Holiday. Kris and Susie visit the Holiday family home, where Noelle is distracted by Susie while Kris searches for a code. In the bedroom of Noelle's missing sister Dess, Kris finds a code in a guitar, but rips out their soul to prevent the player from reading it. Eventually, neither Susie or Kris get the code.

Alternate route

During Chapter 2, the player can initiate an alternate route (commonly referred to as the "Snowgrave", or "weird" route) by backtracking and forcing Noelle to freeze every enemy encountered. Spamton, a spambot normally encountered in an optional sidequest that leads to his secret boss fight, sells the powerful Thorn Ring to Noelle, which she can then equip. Subsequently, during the battle with Berdly, the player orders Noelle to use her new spell, Snowgrave. After initially resisting, she freezes Berdly whole, becoming shaken by her own actions and too exhausted to participate in Queen's plans. Ralsei informs Queen of the Roaring preemptively, which prevents her battle. With the Darkners' absence, Spamton is able to take over Queen's mansion and attempts to stop Kris before being frozen by Noelle as they seal the Fountain. In the Light World, Berdly is found in a coma, leading Noelle to question if the events in the Dark World really were a dream. Chapter 2 ends identically to that of the normal route, with Kris opening a Dark Fountain.

Chapter 3 proceeds as normal, but in Chapter 4, Noelle asks Kris if they can talk privately after Kris removes the soul. Entering the ventilation system, the soul overhears a conversation between Kris and Noelle, where it is revealed that Kris took Berdly to the hospital the previous night before visiting Noelle. During their visit, Kris claimed the Dark World was just a dream and removed a thorn—the Thorn Ring's form in the Light World—from her hand. The soul then enters the room, takes control of Kris, and directly communicates with Noelle, revealing to her that the soul can read her thoughts and that the previous events actually happened, before forcing the thorn back into her. Afterwards, Kris furiously throws the soul in a trash can and beats it up before Carol orders everyone to leave the house. The chapter continues mostly unchanged until the end, when Carol leaves a phone message for Kris, telling them that Noelle is looking forward to seeing them at the festival tomorrow.

Merchandise

Noelle has been featured in merchandise based on Deltarune from Fangamer, alongside a pin set featuring other characters.

Concept and creation

The first concept art of Noelle was created by Toby Fox in 2014 or 2015, with Temmie Chang creating concept art of Noelle in different outfits. Noelle has a reindeer-like appearance, as well as being the age of a teenager. As development progressed, her design was refined by other artists on the team. For her Chapter 2 design, artist Chess created additional concept art for Noelle, noting her design was "really cute." During the implementation of Chapter 2, programmer Fred Wood became closely involved with Noelle's gameplay sections, stating he "got really attached to working with Noelle throughout the Cyber City" while programming the mouse-based puzzles she interacts with. In the development of Chapters 3 and 4, lead programmer Sarah had to recreate Noelle's house sequence three times, with even Fox noting that the design was "annoying to make" because of a "new mechanic being introduced." Noelle is frequently implied to be a lesbian character, as she has a significant crush on Susie, with Susie having a crush on Noelle, too. However, she has not been explicitly stated to be a lesbian in Deltarune in-game text or by Fox himself.

Reception

Noelle Holiday has received praise and positive reviews from critics. GameRant writer Julián Jorge describes Noelle as "a sweet girl that learned how to stand up for herself" and Julián Jorge specifically highlighted her dynamic with Susie, describing their relationship as "one of the best romantic stories in both Undertale and Deltarune." Checkpoint Gaming writer Erielle Sudario has also noted that Susie's "blooming crush" on Noelle contributes to the emotional weight of the story in later chapters. Susie's rough reputation, however, creates tension with Noelle's family.

Critics have analyzed the role of Noelle in the alternative route as an important shift in the narrative of Deltarune. The "Weird route" has been characterized by critics as "dark and disturbing" by corrupting Noelle into killing everything, moving the narrative focus to psychological abuse rather than physical violence. The player controlling the character Kris is making Noelle stronger by forcing Noelle to use her "IceShock" spell to freeze the enemies. Writer Heidi Kemps of GameSpot called the route a "dark and disturbing story of abuse and manipulation," saying it is "shockingly raw and terrifying." Kemps specifically compared Noelle rationalizing Kris's commands while being manipulated to real-world emotional abuse. A.V. Club writer William Hughes believed Deltarune's Weird Route focuses on a "twisted romance," as well as psychological coercion, manipulation, and abuse. Hughes described the route as conveying the player controlling Kris taking on the role of a "domineering, possessive, controlling partner" toward Noelle, coercing her into using her fatal magic under the pretense of making her "stronger." The emotional impact of the weird route has been compelling and shocking, with GameSpot writer Heidi Kemps stating that thinking about Noelle's suffering in the snowgrave route "still makes me feel terrible."

References

This page will be placed in the following categories if it is moved to the article namespace.

Categories:

• Undertale and Deltarune characters
• Anthropomorphic animals in video games
• Anthropomorphic deer
• Female characters in video games
• Fictional characters who use magic
• Fictional characters with ice or cold abilities
• Fictional lesbians
• Fictional students
• Fictional superhuman healers
• LGBTQ characters in video games
• Teenage characters in video games
• Video game characters introduced in 2018