Lancer (Deltarune)

Lancer is a major character in Deltarune.
==Canon Overview==
Lancer is a major enemy and NPC in the Card Kingdom. He initially appears to attack Kris and Susie in the Kingdom of Darkness(/supply closet), introducing himself properly by interrupting Ralsei's big speech on his flaming, training-wheels-still-on bicycle. He aims to defeat the Lightners to aid his father in protecting the Card Kingdom's shiny new Dark Fountain.
Throughout the Card Kingdom, Lancer ineffectually attacks, pesters, and otherwise hangs out with the party. He mistakes Susie threatening him for her giving him pointers on how to be a scarier bad guy, and his admiration of her in turn leads her to warm up to him. She joins forces with him after being hurt by Ralsei's criticism, and the two get into many shenanigans together: Sharing Lancer's treetrunk salsa, coming up with theatrical self-introductions, "tricking" Kris and Ralsei into designing a machine to thrash their own ass, and half-assing the construction of said machine. Once either bested in combat by Kris and Ralsei or convinced to stop fighting them, he follows along with the party.
However, when he realizes that Susie intends to fight his father, Lancer betrays the party and has them thrown in jail, afraid that his new friends and his father will kill each other and hoping instead to keep anyone from getting hurt. He confronts Susie when she escapes from jail, but the two ultimately prove unwilling to fight one another. Susie reassures him that she will find another way to deal with the king, and Lancer departs to help persuade his father.
Unfortunately, Lancer's persuasion fails, and the Chaos King takes him hostage against the party. Lancer attacks his father and flees. After the boss battle he returns: If the player has defeated any enemies, he does so after Ralsei Pacifies the king to warn them that his attempt to get help from the other Darkners didn't work and that they all have to escape; and if the player has not defeated any enemies, he arrives with all the citizens of the Card Kingdom to overthrow his father and become the new king, sentencing his father to time-out in jail.
Lancer has a minor role in chapter 2, where he moves to Ralsei's kingdom and then accompanies Kris on their adventures in the Cyber World as a key item. In the standard route of the game he also serves as the object lesson that Darkners cannot exist for long in incompatible Dark Worlds, weakening and becoming petrified. He is restored to health after returning to his new home, and adopts Queen as his new "girldad". He provides commentary on whatever is going on when checked in the Key Items menu. One such line of commentary provides a clue to the existence of the alternate route where the player grooms Noelle, but Lancer has no role in the rest of said route, instead napping in the inventory with the flavor text "Innocent boys are asleep."
According to the Darkners of Card Kingdom, Lancer is generally perceived as an annoyance by the people and has no friends, but only because the King of Spades forces everyone to do whatever he says. In the Card Kingdom's pacifist ending, the people say that they have warmed up to him after seeing how he and the party interact. His exact age is unknown, but he has to be 15 years old or younger, as he only rides a flaming bicycle because he is too young to get his license. His proposed name for the main characters' team is "The Lancer Fan Club".
His design was inspired by the artist Kanotynes' playing card character designs.Third of all, credit for the designs of Lancer, Rudinn, Clover, Hathy, and Jevil goes to @kanotynes , whose unique art has just been inspiring me forever. Actually in a way her art is the inspiration for this game in the first place. - Toby Fox on Twitter, posted 2 November 2018 (retrieved 29 March 2018)
==Fandom==
Thus far, Lancer is largely well-liked by fans. Many of Toby's friends who helped him with the game or otherwise cheered him on in development state that Lancer is thus far their favorite, and upon the demo's release unveiled their fanart of their special boy.oh, i forgot!!! i actually DID make this a while back!!!!!! can you guess who i like best - Chess on Twitter, posted 1 November 2018 (retrieved 19 December 2018)
===Fan Theories===
Fans who believe Ralsei to be a liar or traitor also tend to believe that Lancer is the actual third member of the prophesied party, as he could fit the description of a "prince from the dark".
===Common Pairings===
* Lancer/Susie
==Fanworks==
Fanwork depicting Lancer engaging in friendship activities or wacky Team Rocket-esque shenanigans with Susie et al are popular, as is fanwork featuring him having family bonding sessions with walking shitpost and fan favorite Rouxls Kaard. Based on the King of Spades' behavior prior to his boss battle, it is also popular amongst fans to portray the king as abusive towards his son, either as an effect of the King's being seduced by the mysterious Knight and/or Queen mentioned by a handful of characters, or the King being portrayed as evil from the get-go.
Post-chapter 2, there has been an influx of fanart featuring Lancer and Queen interacting.
===Fanfic===
* Ace of Spades - fabric_hands
* Mystery Social Science Theater 202X - light_rises
===Fanart===
* i'm so glad that everyone finally gets to meet the wonderful rowdy boy who is 5, Lancer! - splendidland
* I've got to osmose my afternoon milk! - morbart
* Meanwhile in Kris' pants. - naxlevelnat
* Untitled comic - POPPYR0CKZ
* Attention, dads! - cupcakeshakesnake
===Meta===
==Archives and Fannish Links==
* Lancer (Deltarune)-tagged works on AO3
==References==
Category:Deltarune Characters