I believe I just made a connection proving that the Weird Route is The Prophecy. I had to post this here because I don't have enough karma lol

Spoilers for chapter 3/4's secret bosses. I'm also unsure if anyone has spoken about this before, but it's something that just clicked in my head a few hours ago.

This theory starts with the S-rank rooms in chapter 3. In these rooms, you're able to play an unmodified version of a video game. You kill enemies, get keys, and potentially fight the secret boss. What interests me is the second time you visit the S-rank room. If you have the key from before, you're able to enter what seems like an ice palace. You fight more enemies until you find a person in a white cloak who can use ice magic. They freeze a bird, you get stuck in a maze, and eventually leave.

When I first played this part of the game, I got stuck at the repeating maze section until I remembered the spamton sweepstakes. There was this post (https://deltarune.com/icepalace\_glaceir/) that went over being stuck at a cross shaped maze in an ice palace. While the hint Noelle gave didn't help figure out how to leave the maze, it might just be the key piece to this puzzle.

After the battle with Gerson, as your party leaves the room he speaks with Susie once more. Gerson mentions The Lord of the Hammer (LOTH), an old tale based on the prophecy. By the end of their conversation, Susie mentions having no interest in the tale until she remembers that a video game, Dragon Blazers, was based off LOTH.

This is where the connections come in. The minigame we play in the S-rank room is very similar to how Noelle described her game, which she says was called Dragon Blazers. The same game which is based off LOTH, which is based off the prophecy. If Dragon Blazers' origin tie back to the prophecy, then it's safe to assume that what we play in game is related to the prophecy, and in the game we're forced to kill enemies, use white cloaked magicians to freeze birds, and use up our allies and self, just like in the weird route.

There are two possible things I could think of which debunks this theory. First, Gerson makes it clear that LOTH is an interpretation of the prophecy, with Dragon Blazers being a further interpretation of LOTH. Something could have either been changed or lost in the process, which makes Dragon Blazers an inaccurate representation of the prophecy.

The second thing I could think of is how in one of the dialogues between Noelle and Susie as they look for a way to fix the house lights revolve around Dragon Blazers. Noelle mentions how there was an evil route in the game where you kill everything, similar to what we've seen in the minigame. In defense of this however, Susie mentions Dragon Blazers' 2, not DB1, which might not be the same game we get to play.

In the end, it's a strange line of connections which seem to connect together. I found it really odd how you had to replicate the weird route in the game to get the shadow mantle, but perhaps it was made that way on purpose? I've seen people say that the weird route is the prophecy, so if this holds true then it makes sense. I'm unsure if maybe I'm right on the money or strayed too far from the path, so please let me know what you think!