#im not really sure if i should tag this undertale bc it’s really ultimately about the other game

[deltaruminations]

Some Thoughts on Memoryhead That Were Supposed To Be Mostly Related to Gaster Knight But Then I Just Got Really Deep Into Talking About Memoryhead (AKA Sad Sack Scientists Squad Theory)

(Don't worry, Alphys won't be ignored in this.)

(Also the SSSS Theory thing is a joke please dont take the "theory" thing too seriously LOL)

In my recent slapdash summary of the possible mechanisms/indications of Gaster Knight Theory (GKT), I mentioned that information from Undertale's Memoryhead could be seen as contributing to two points:

Gaster has spent time in Dark Worlds in the past (according to GKT, ones he created), and likely the ones we've seen so far in the game (not Kris's).

Gaster's desire for a "NEW FUTURE" is motivated at least in part by feelings of regret and possibly guilt.

Here's a little bit of my reasoning for that. just kidding here's way more reasoning than you could have possibly ever wanted

(This is to a certain degree a very rough draft of a section of a bigger analysis. It involves opinionated readings of ambiguous information and I don't want to set the expectation that it's solid evidence of anything, but I think it's VERY, VERY INTERESTING possibly a worthwhile read for anyone who likes in-depth emotional/thematic analysis and/or obsessive overthinking of small details lmao)

A preliminary note on Alphys

Before Deltarune chapter 1 released, bringing with it further (possible) contextualization of some of the True Lab's outstanding mysteries, it was commonly thought that Memoryhead was a manifestation of Alphys's shame and regret over the DETERMINATION experiments.

I want to take a moment here to acknowledge that Alphys and her story are often overlooked and treated with contempt by much of the fanbase, and there's historically a tiring trend of Alphys revisionism, in which indications of her aptitude and achievement as a scientist or depth as a character are arbitrarily attributed instead to one skeleton man or another.

To be entirely clear: the True Lab sequence is without a doubt Alphys's story. While it may serve secondary purposes in offering lore and fleshing out Undertale's broader narrative, the primary purpose of this sequence is to contextualize Alphys's depression and feelings of worthlessness, as well as to demonstrate the importance of her scientific work and her capacity for compassion, responsibility, and bravery. The overwhelming majority of what we experience there is unquestionably meant to illustrate how Alphys's actions resulted in pain for others, and the grief she feels as a result.

(If anyone's interested in an in-depth reading of her character, Dorked made a great video on the topic.)

That said, I'm not proposing this analysis arbitrarily. While Memoryhead as a thematic symbol does contribute to and reinforce our understanding of Alphys in significant ways, there was always room for reasonable doubt as to whether Memoryhead as an in-universe phenomenon originated with her or was meant to describe only her. With the new context of Deltarune, I think we can identify further possibilities for Memoryhead as a component of that game's story as well as Undertale's. Wherever appropriate, I'll discuss its connections to Alphys Undertale as well as potential relevance to Gaster Deltarune. I believe that understanding her story may help to inform our understanding of his as well.

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Memoryhead's nature

Memoryhead seems to be distinct from the other True Lab entities in several ways:

It appears in a group of three, rather than as one individual.

It isn’t an obvious amalgamation of identifiable monsters (or, in Endogeny's case, category of monsters) from Undertale. It doesn't comprise recognizable monster components in its sprite, attack patterns, or ACT options.

It doesn't appear in the epilogue.

It doesn't have a grave in Deltarune's cemetery alongside the other Amalgamates encountered.

(Side note: I just realized I totally forgot about Reaper Bird, who, despite having identifiable monster components, is pretty weird in their own right. They don't appear in the epilogue or cemetery, and the whole thing about Everyman is its own mystery that I can't even begin to guess at currently.)

Because Memoryhead is the first encounter in the True Lab, players are likely to take these differences for granted, as they don't know yet to expect anything else. With hindsight, however, this information seems to indicate that Memoryhead manifested via a different mechanism than DT injection.

I don't want to get too deep into guessing at the mechanisms underlying its existence. There's not a whole lot to go off of right now. My best guess based on context clues is that it's a byproduct of DT extraction, rather than injection -- it occurred when Alphys and/or Gaster extracted their own DT. However, that brings up a lot of further questions (ex. who made the blueprints/machine? Was Gaster "erased" from existence/memory in the Undertale universe, or did he simply disappear one day and no one brings him up anymore?), and I don't know if we're (read: I'm) prepared to answer them yet.

For our purposes right now, I think we just need to take for granted that Memoryheads manifested out of Alphys or Gaster somehow, reflect bad memories held by one or both of them, and keep moving.

(Kind of silly, but another aside: the Amalgamates in Undertale seem to be a direct evolution of an idea found in Toby Fox's first video game project, the Halloween Hack -- a ROM hack of Earthbound. As many others have noted, Deltarune seems to be in many ways a re-examination of ideas & themes first explored in the Halloween Hack. I'm not sure if that actually means anything in this particular discussion, but it's among the reasons why I went specifically for a ROM hacking metaphor and not a general programming or game development one and also i just think it’s cool.)

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Memoryhead encounter

Attack pattern

Memoryhead has one bullet type and pattern (depicted above). This bullet is (to my knowledge) unique to it.

There are a number of things about this attack pattern that, when taken together, could be considered reflective of Gaster, specifically:

It's been noted many times by fans that the "face" sprite used in the bullets strongly recalls the eyes and smile of spr_mysteryman.

They are sometimes placed outside the visible bounds of the bullet box, existing beyond what's expected to be the intended plane.

Because of the timing of the bullets' placements & transformations, several identical instances of the face appear simultaneously across the box, yet no two concurrently-appearing faces are ever in the exact same state at the same time.

When attacked, Memoryhead actually becomes stronger, gaining HP far beyond the maximum.

For an emotional analysis: the rapid and randomized placement of the bullets, as well as the faces' erratic writhing motions, evoke unpredictability and unknowable intention. The crude simplicity of the faces abstracts away relatable features, leaving only the eerie, jittering smiles to suggest that they either delight in attempting to harm the Player, or that they're so far removed from "humanity" as to lack recognizable emotion or intent.

For perspective, we could compare this against Everyman -- while its sprite is also abstract, simple, and a little unsettling, with a featureless, unemotional face, its round, bipedal form and expressive movements inspire a certain amount of sympathy and even pity.

I also find it interesting that the Memoryheads dissolve away just before their attacks and then reconstitute just after. To me, this lends the impression that they are either becoming the bullets in some way, or hiding from them. Again, this is ambiguous. We could take it a few different ways.

It might seem bizarre to discuss the characterization of a magical bullet that presumably has no inherent consciousness, personality, or agency. However, I believe the choices in emotional storytelling here (as with all sources of Gaster Lore in Undertale) are in conversation with Deltarune's choices for him, especially in his direct "appearances," and how we as previous Undertale Players look at & interpret that information.

ACTs/Dialogue

Memoryhead is fundamentally connected to phones, as well as the concept of "connection" in general. Before the CELL act is used, it plays a dialtone and offers only visual noise in its speech bubble, as though it's calling and waiting for someone to pick up. After that point, it offers some peculiar dialogue:

Notably, it can only be spared by picking up the phone (allowing them to entreat the Player) and then refusing its advances. Accepting them results (IIRC) in an instant game over.

It's obvious how Alphys is reflected in an entity themed around connection, that can only communicate by phone -- phones are used throughout the game as a device (GET IT????) to explore facets of her anxiety, anxiety that both led her to make regrettable choices and was further exacerbated by the effects of those choices, and prevented her from seeking help when she needed it.

Gaster's connection to phones is less concrete. There may be some visual indicators in the battle sprite, which I'll get to in a bit.

I also think the dialogue here could be very telling of something that doesn't explicitly indicate either of them -- but if we hold that it might be descriptive of Gaster, then it could be seen as an indication that he's involved in the corruption and/or betrayal of the Dark World secret bosses.

At face value, Memoryheads' dialogue seems to simply be entreating Frisk to join them, the Memoryheads, among their legion of constituent memories. Allow them to hurt you, so your bad memory of that pain can join them.

While there's value in that interpretation, I also think that having the Memoryheads appear in a group (as I said, this is unique among True Lab entities) is intended in part to obscure an alternative reading: the Memoryheads' dialogue actually reflects the contents of its memories -- of its source's painful experiences.

From that perspective, we learn that whoever spawned the Memoryhead may be haunted by some form of corrupted connection. They were, perhaps, drawn into some kind of movement or group and now regret their participation, and/or they themselves recruited others into such a group (could we consider shadow crystal holders such a group?), depending on whether you see the dialogue as being their words or someone else's.

The fact that refusal causes the Memoryheads to lose interest could suggest a few different things, but among them is the idea that the entreating party was looking for easy targets. Simply asserting "no" may have been enough to cause them to lose interest and move on. The memory holder may regret, among other things, that they said yes to something, or that someone else said yes to them.

Another very specific sub-detail of ACTs I think is worth discussing is the Bad Memory (described as a piece of Memoryhead itself) that's placed in a Player's inventory upon using the ITEM option.

The Part Where I Ramble For Several Paragraphs About Bad Memory

A seemingly obtuse detail of the Bad Memory is that consuming it in most circumstances will result in 1 point of damage -- but consuming it when HP is at 3 or lower results in a full heal. Mechanically, this makes it a useful last-ditch healing item for late game battles, but narratively? It's definitely a strange choice -- in theory (and acknowledging that most Players never do this in practice), consuming Bad Memories over and over again slowly depletes our energy, but once we approach maximum vulnerability, one more Bad Memory will unexpectedly make us strong again. I think we could say something there about healing through the long, painful process of confrontation, and also about the risks and inefficacy of stewing endlessly in regret.

The Bad Memory cannot be dropped, as it always "comes back." However, it can be put in the Dimensional Box for storage, sold at the Tem shop (the only shop that will purchase items), or consumed.

From an emotional storytelling perspective, this could be taken to suggest that the memories comprising Memoryhead can only be dealt with through compartmentalization, externalization (i.e. "sharing" it with others by communicating about it), or confrontation of the memories internally and in solitude.

These aren't equivalent options. Compartmentalization causes it to be out of the way, but still taking up valuable space; externalization requires carrying the memory for a time, but when the right opportunity arises, we can release it to someone who finds it valuable (just as Tem is willing to pay money for Bad Memories); internal confrontation can lead to great healing, but it demands vulnerability, may be painful, and without caution, could put us at risk.

It's very obvious how this reflects Alphys's character growth. She compartmentalizes the outcomes of her mistakes down in the True Lab, hiding them away from others, while forcing herself to care for them on her own without support. Repeatedly confronting that regret (as well as provocation by Flowey) breaks her down until she's at her most vulnerable and most exhausted, and then she faces a choice: to either admit to what she's done, or end the grief herself. Admitting to her actions allows her to move on, while providing something tremendously valuable in return: for the Amalgamates and their loved ones, the opportunity to finally reunite; and for the Players, a treasure trove of information and arguably one of the best sequences in the entire game.

How does any of this reflect Gaster's character or story? i was going to editorialize on this a bit and then realized i was drifting too far into the minimally-evidenced opinion zone so instead i’ll just say maybe we’ll see parallels between Alphys’s bad memories and Gaster’s Bad Memories develop over time.

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The Sprite

This is where the biggest indications of a relationship to Gaster Deltarune and possible indications of his activities in Dark World MAY, ARGUABLY, be found. This section also touches on some of the most ambiguous information and the shakiest conclusions. Bear with me here.

Chatty Skull Imagery

i was gonna include images in this section but i think the post is too long and tumblrs mad at me now and doesn’t like my pictures so. sorry :(

Memoryhead's battle sprite is commonly seen to resemble a brain with a spinal cord curling underneath, and I wholeheartedly agree. I'd also argue it looks like a cartoon speech bubble -- this was actually how I initially read it when playing the game. These are both consistent with its memory theming and communication through the cell phone.

In addition to the above imagery, I've also seen arguments that it resembles a skull speaking on a phone: (imagine static image of sprite next to animated one lol)

This becomes a little more apparent in the animation, as its bobbing motion gives the impression of the skull's mouth opening and closing. While the phone aspect of this is immediately consistent with the ACT options, and "head" would certainly refer to a skull more literally than a brain, there's still some ambiguity as to what, if anything, the use of a skull could mean.

It's possible that the suggestion of a skull is simply meant to contribute to the eeriness of the image. However, I feel that Undertale's precedents for skull imagery tend toward greater nuance. Sans and Papyrus are introduced early on as cute, charming characters, subverting common associations with humanoid skulls. The more frightening instances of skull imagery -- the DT extractor, God of Hyperdeath's ultimate attack, and Gaster Blasters -- recall an animal or monster's skull, not a human's.

These latter examples are also arguably meaningful beyond their unsettling nature: the DT extractor (as well as Flowey X's resemblance to it) and God of Hyperdeath's attack are both tied to Asriel's death and incomplete resurrection, while the Gaster Blasters have something to do with Gaster I Guess (or at least demonstrate a connection between him and Sans and bolster other indications of his skeleton-ness).

If we hold it to be true that a humanoid skull is present in Memoryhead's sprite, and an unsettling one in particular, then it may not be too much of a stretch to think there's narrative or symbolic intent underlying that choice. It doesn't automatically follow that it's an image of WD Gaster speaking into a phone, but it does seem to raise that as a possibility. I should mention, too, that this is consistent with what I feel to be a running theme of obfuscating information about Gaster, as well as influencing our interpretations of that information, through the emotional language of eldritch unease and the abstraction of his character.

HIDDEN SECRETS REVEALED!!!!!!!!!!

Last but not least, we have what is possibly the most crucial and also wildly opinionated interpretive "evidence" of the analysis: Memoryhead's faces. I'm still skeptical of this myself, so make of it what you will.

Some fans have raised the possibility that Memoryhead's faces are depictions of the secret bosses. This is based on their belief that Jevil and Spamton's faces can be seen on the left of the sprite.

(Image created by u/TheQueen0fNowhere, found in thread linked above)

This would suggest that the secret bosses are the constituent memories in question, or at least representative of them.

As cool as this possibility is, there's clearly a lot of room for doubt. I've listed a few possible issues in the Caveats section at the end.

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Synthesis WRT Gaster Knight

There's a great deal of storytelling around Memoryhead that seemingly points to it being directly connected to Gaster in some way.

If Memoryhead is a reflection of Gaster's bad memories, then it suggests that he feels some amount of grief, regret, or guilt over failed and/or "corrupted" attempts to connect with others. This may have involved manipulation, of which he may have been a victim and/or a perpetrator.

Deltarune's current trend for secret bosses holds that they've all "lost themselves" and experienced some form of hardship and pain (maybe excluding Jevil lol he's just having a good time) as a result of interacting with the unseen Roaring Knight and receiving Forbidden Knowledge from them. Spamton's story in particular heavily invokes the imagery and symbolism of phones as a medium for connection, and explores the inherent vulnerability of trusting or depending on others.

Some admittedly pretty ambiguous imagery in Memoryhead's sprite may be very directly tying it to Deltarune's secret bosses, in turn potentially tying them to Gaster. While less explicit, the specificity of the themes, imagery, and symbols in common between Gaster, Memoryhead, and the Secret Bosses still suggest that Memoryhead could connect the two... wait... con... connect... oh my god

Memoryhead also serves to underscore major aspects of Alphys's experience of regret and trauma, specifically due to actions that were motivated by duty to and love for her society, but were marred by incomplete knowledge and exacerbated by a reticence to admit to her mistakes or seek help.

If we hold it to be true that Memoryhead can represent meaningful storytelling for both characters simultaneously, then we have reason to think that their stories may also be in some way parallels. While this isn't the only conclusion that could be drawn, it does seem reasonably consistent with Gaster's characterization in Deltarune -- assuming that we both recognize and are willing to trust that characterization. We do, after all, have indications that he's capable of manipulation in pursuit of a cause.

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Assorted thoughts that aren't immediately relevant but I figured I'd make note of them anyway

There's a pretty clear allusion to Deltarune's Man in the True Lab but I didn't really get into it because idk the most concrete thing it really tells us is that Lab Related to Gaster and i feel like it's already been fairly self-evident for years why traces of him would be found in the lab. it's literally the habitat asgore made for his pet scientists and filled with important enrichment such as a kitchenette and fun toys with which to commit well-intended atrocities. of course gaster worked/lived there lol i do personally think the language of an undescribed "man" (like, not mysteryman or everyman or snowman, simply A Man) is being used to indicate that Gaster Our Good Friend Gaster (the "actual" guy, who's incorporeal and may have kind of a dispersed perspective but retains contiguity of consciousness) is present in an area, as opposed to just remnants or echoes of him. but i think that's a justification post for later

Others have pointed out the similarities between the Shower Creature in the True Lab and the things that shoot bullets in the "??????" area (spooky supply closet area) in Deltarune. I do not have any real idea about What This Means in particular but it's another interesting connection to keep in mind in the future.

Oh boy the DR team did sort of reference the shower curtain in Spamton Sweepstakes didn't they

Sort of related to that, I do have some vague opinions about the possible nature of the Watching Man (see Wiki article above) who approaches menacingly only to sweetly tuck Frisk in and peace out. but i feel like i need to spend more time on other stuff before I can even begin to justify those, and even then i'll be swinging for the fences i think

i was also going to postulate on how memoryheads name being blank also means stuff maybe but then i forgot and now im too tired. but an empty space for a name could be consistent with our guy. honestly i think the stuff around gasters name is really interesting in general esp if we consider it alongside the isolation and erasure (both possibly self-inflicted) and what it might say about his relationship to himself (deep unease at the very least, id guess lol)

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Caveats

I want to acknowledge some important possible pitfalls in these interpretations with regard to GKT:

Most obviously, it remains to be seen whether any of the secret bosses from future chapters are represented among Memoryhead's faces.

Kris's fountain in general could potentially destabilize many aspects of GKT as I currently see it. Concerning Memoryhead in particular, the logic here assumes that Gaster (from his perspective) previously interacted with Deltarune's secret bosses. If we do see the secret boss of Kris's (or any other characters') Dark World represented, then what does that mean? Does it mean that Kris opening their Fountain is something that happened in Gaster's past, and is not a new twist in the Deltarune universe's trajectory? Does it mean that Gaster somehow visited those Dark Worlds as well? Right now, I'm not sure what we can make of that. While I'm not sure it would necessarily disprove the general idea that Gaster has some regrets about the secret bosses, for some reasons, it would destabilize many of the ideas laid out here.

The above two thoughts lead to another possibility: that Gaster wasn't opening Fountains himself, but was somehow simply interacting with the secret bosses on the side. Again, not sure what to make of that right now.

There's another possibility for why both Alphys and Gaster seem to be reflected in Memoryhead: perhaps Memoryhead is a manifestation of bad memories she has about him, and not directly reflective of his thoughts or experiences. I chose not to get into this because it begs a lot more questions that are hard to answer and i think the above interpretations pretty successfully counter-indicate it. but also the idea of that honestly just makes me feel very ":/ ok" (listen im very earnestly trying not to woobify the guy but i also think his flaws and potential for villainy are likely more nuanced than outright malice or a disregard for other people or whatever.) But anyway i figured i should acknowledge it