About

The Hometown Butcher is a popular fan theory from Deltarune: Chapter 5, which implies that the town resident referred to as "Striped Bird" or "Normal NPC" killed Onionsan and turned them into takoyaki for the town festival. The theory has led to several works of fan art and videos about the theory.

Origin

Throughout the chapters of Deltarune, you can talk to Onionsan^[1] at the lake who mentions hearing a mysterious song coming from the depths of the lake and says they're going to investigate it. However, if you go to talk to Onionsan at the end of Deltarune: Chapter 4 you instead see the striped bird, more commonly known as Normal NPC, standing in the circle where you would normally talk to Onionsan saying "Don't wait, don't wait. Especially, the don't. Wait, don't. Wait… don't!!!". In Deltarune: Chapter 5 on the normal route the striped bird will have a food stand setup at the festival that offers fried dough balls of octopus (takoyaki). When offering one to Susie she mentions that it tastes like raw onion. This has led to the theory that the striped bird killed Onionsan and turned them into takoyaki to serve at the festival.

Spread

On June 27th, 2026, YouTube^[2] user Efe posted an animation which recreates The Medford Butcher meme from Young Sheldon using the striped bird and Onionsan. The video received over 156,000 views in over two weeks.

On June 28th, 2026, YouTube^[3] user Gloop posted an in-depth analysis video of the striped bird and Onionsan's disappearance and talks about the possible connections to Gaster. The video received over 421,000 views in over two weeks.

On June 29th, 2026, Twitter / X^[4] user JUICCBOX posted fan art which uses the Blank Room Soup meme with two striped birds feeding Kris takoyaki and Gaster hiding in the shadow in the background. The post received over 199,000 views and over 32,000 likes in over two weeks.

On June 30th, 2026, Twitter / X^[5] user dustifang posted fan art of the striped bird dragging the carcass of Onionsan to butcher for the festival. The post received over 209,000 views and over 20,000 likes in nearly two weeks.

On July 3rd, 2026, YouTube^[6] user Origami Yume Nikki posted an animation of the Butcher Vanity meme with the striped bird and Onionsan. The video received over 27,000 views in over one week.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References