#i've made a lot of dumb swings but this might be the dumbest

[deltaruminations]

i threatened to do a post about this so here is my drastically over-thought rationale for why roast chicken house could make a good little brother gaster theme even though it's almost certainly not actually going to be that. gonna try to be quick and dirty with this since, again, it's probably wrong lol. formally this is not a Theory it's just for fun

HYPOTHETICAL USE CASE

Lil bro’s bedroom, first introduction to him. The scene is goofy and awkward.

This might not be a “personal” theme so much as a situational one. Or, maybe it's specifically a “little brother” or “wingdings” theme and not necessarily a WD Gaster The Scientist or Shattered Gaster theme

LEET MOTIVES

here are the leitmotifs i’m hearing. many of these are imperfect quotes and I'm not really interested in trying to “prove” them by any objective measure. i try to be decently critical with this stuff and i don't personally think these are the world’s biggest stretches. we're talking about art. at a certain point this shit is just subjective okay you can think I'm wrong. it's fine. just humor me for a bit

Gaster's Theme (0:14-0:16, 0:28-0:30). more of a “Gasteresque” I guess. it's structurally very similar, the third note just isn't hitting that eerie seventh or whatever (but it's still “accented” or emphasized by the syncopation which to me is enough to be evocative)

Don't Forget (0:22-0:24, 0:36-0:38)

Man.ogg (bassline, as well as melody in 0:41-0:46). this is probably the stretchiest one but it's real to me. idk try just listening to RCH all the way through and then immediately listening to man and maybe you'll get what i mean

Faint Glow (guitar) (0:46-0:55)

LEET MOTIVE OVERANALYSIS

Gaster's Theme is obviously relevant, to, “Jaster,”

If we accept this as a Gaster, then it's a friendlier and less mysterious variant. It leads the main, more obviously cheerful melody but rather than repeating eerily it just plays once and then sort of meanders aimlessly around itself before leading into Don't Forget. There's a sense that its meandering “resolves” into Don't Forget.

Reading: Gaster's Theme here evokes gaster and leads the track but doesn't fully reflect the Classic Experience (eerie, mysterious, repetitive) and is much looser, maybe closer to the Darkness Falls arrangement; after one gasteresque, it “wanders” around this idea of half-step walk-ups (the start of Gaster's Theme), but doesn't repeat the actual motif. It sounds kind of aimless, like maybe this person lacks direction or isn't sure who he's supposed to be (not literally, because Gaster's Theme is there – unlike in man.ogg – but in the sense of identity or expectations or whatever).

Don't Forget is whistled cheerfully and happily. It's capped by a sort of whimsical, playful flourish that starts high and then descends in a way that almost feels like it's going on longer/lower than it “should.” I don't know how to put this lol. After the first repetition, Don't Forget + descent lead into the latter part/instrument change/man.ogg

Reading: Don't Forget maybe represents something that gives lil bro meaning or direction. At this point in time, he's especially cheerful and happy about it, suggested by the cartoonishly chipper whistling. Whatever Don't Forget represents is associated with a “descent,” which is just as cheerful but slightly “off.” There's a sense that maybe he doesn't understand the gravity of it yet.

In the latter melody, headed by man.ogg (melody), the tone becomes slightly dreamier with hints of melancholy, and the instrument switches to one that reverberates, maybe calling to mind shattered gaster’s piano. The bassline for the whole track might also call to mind that of man.ogg, though it's more developed. man.ogg (melody) leads directly into Faint Glow (guitar).

Reading: man.ogg is seemingly the theme for Tree Man, possibly a result of gaster’s shattering. The presence of Tree Man and Gaster's Theme in one track might be consistent with the idea that they were once a single personality. The motifs parallel one another within the track in that both lead their respective parts. The main melody could be more reflective of his outward presentation, and the latter part could be hinting more at an internal melancholy. This latter part, led into by Don't Forget + its descent, and played on a more "ethereal" or gaster-y instrument, could also foreshadow the result of that descent.

Faint Glow (guitar) is. It's there, maybe. idk lol

Reading: Faint Glow (guitar) is the hardest thing to meaningfully analyze because Faint Glow is currently an enigmatic track to begin with. Faint Glow itself seems to feature a back-and-forth between a guitar (dess instrument?) and a piano (gaster or kris instrument?) which is resolved by a music box or glockenspiel or whatever that is (noelle instrument?) which could suggest dialogue or conflict between dess and gaster. The piano and music box both play Don't Forget but it isn't really clear if that guitar part is referencing anything (The Door??? idk) or what exactly it means. But its presence here could theoretically suggest connections to dess and foreshadow dialogue/conflict with her after he shatters. But also [shrug] i don't fucking know lol

FURTHER OVERANALYSIS

RCH as a whole is a piece that's overtly cheerful and bouncy on paper but could be interpreted as having a certain subtext of melancholy or loneliness. The chiptune instruments contribute a sense of playfulness and maybe youthfulness, but also evoke the sadness and smallness of nostalgia, and the short length of the notes combined with the very simple, sparse, understated composition (just a bassline and a melody) seems to evoke loneliness or emptiness under the happy melody – there's negative space, literal silence, permeating the whole track.

This could be compared to Bluebird of Misfortune, which uses similar techniques in combination with a sadder melody to clearly communicate melancholy and smallness; or to Friendship, which is also a cheerful, relatively restrained chiptune track, but uses instruments and countermelodies that linger and layer to create a fuller sound; the combination of cheerful melody and negative space in RCH, in comparison, sounds dissonant.

“Youthfulness” and “loneliness” are both relevant concepts to sans’s little brother, who seems to be around kris's age (maybe asriel's age at the oldest) and apparently struggles to make friends without help.

The dissonance between outward cheer and implied melancholy might be consistent with how gaster typically presents himself as positive and enthusiastic while seemingly masking some amount of pain. Cheerfulness, friendliness, and whimsy are also traits that are notably prominent in Tree Man, a character who may also be read as fairly “sad” in implication (whether or not he feels that way) and seems associated with “gaps” or “emptiness” in memory or knowledge.

IN CONCLUSION

roast chicken house is probably a dogcheck