i feel like (Our) control over kris and noelle is psychological on their part, at least to some extent.
kris does all this sneaky bullshit to wrest some control from us, ripping us out to play the piano, twisting our dialogue options to do/say what he wants, shit like that...
but then just casually fucks around with susie of his own volition, like he forgot we're supposed to be controlling him.

as for noelle, we definitely have some sway over her, but i don't think it's some eldritch mind control bullshit, even with the thornring, she's just a sadomasochistic pushover. regardless if you have the ring equipped to her, she'll still do the whole "looks like another enemy, should i freeze it?" shtick when encountering berdley, implying that's not caused by the ring's trance effect, that's just entirely her.
though, maybe things'll change once whatever that red dot is comes to fruition.