#it references how gaster was shattered across time and space in undertale?

[spamsandsuch]

finally sat down to annotate notes regarding some canon information within deltarune (specifically elements regarding the prophecy, the purpose of darkners, how darkworlds are created, etc.) and im actually kinda glad toby is just outright supplying the lore for those things because idk how i could take note of all that if there were multiple endings/routes/choices like undertale

[forgettable-au]

WHAT IS THIS AU? HOW DOES IT WORK?

A brief (I'm lying, this is a long post) explanation post for this AU for anyone new <3

As I've mentioned before, this AU is based on the theory that Papyrus is (was) Gaster. I did not create this theory, it has existed for a long time as far as I know and I'm also not the first person to do something like this with the concept, I'll touch up on that later.

This is a LONG post, so click keep reading if you really want to check it out :D

About the Papyrus is Gaster theory

I've looked up a lot of stuff about it but I don't actually know where it originated. It's not super popular but if you're a Papyrus theorist you might have heard of it before.

It's not a super serious theory really, it's more about pointing out the weird connections and similarities between Papyrus and Gaster and giving an explanation to the many weird things about Papyrus and his lack of backstory.

Just to mention some things:

Them both speaking in capital letters, having no asterisks, their weird way of phrasing things, Papyrus being described as forgettable, Papyrus hating hotland, pretending he doesn't know about a lot of stuff ( The lab for example, he know what a lab is but pretends he doesn't in front of Sans), Gaster being related to hands and Papyrus never taking his gloves off, Papyrus weird connection with phones (his photo-graphic memory for phone calls) and Gaster's weird connection to phones also(Fun events related to phones, using the phone in the darkworlds and only getting Gaster's garbage sounds), their love for puzzles (The CORE is a giant puzzle), THAT one quote that I still find misterious “beside, it’s rude to talk about people that are listening, right? not everyone is as though as my brother”, Papyrus DOES have Gaster blasters it's pretty much canon even if a lot of people ignore it, Papyrus is very very smart he has a LOT of books, knowledge on many subjects, building stuff, and even made a shakespeare reference when he died (why is he like this lmao), he's the character with the most dialogue in game yet we don't know a lot of stuff about him, he breaks the laws of physics and of the game, he's not in deltarune the heavily Gaster connected game.

Now that's some of the things I could think about, and look, yeah I'm probably looking too much into it and these are all just coincidences and the weird Papyrus things are related to other stuff maybe not Gaster. But I still like this theory, not because I think it's real but because I LOVE the possibilites!!!

About how this AU works

Okay, so this au is basically a -pretend this theory is real and how would the undertale timeline work then!- We're giving Papyrus his backstory and I'm also making a Gaster focused story at the same time.

I will adapt basically how I think a situations like this would play out (and also add some of my other favorite ut theories as a treat)

Papyrus used to be Wingdings and then Wingdings shattered across time and space, Papyrus and Gaster are different separate people.

Actually I kind of, treat WIngdings before and after accident as different people also... you change a lot when you become an omnipresent being. So, Wingdings, Gaster and Papyrus I treat them all as different people.

"How did Gaster become Papyrus?"

He didn't "become" Papyrus just like that. After he shattered he stopped existing like he was before, he became a being in another layer of the game but physically his body was just there

I based this on how the goners and Gaster followers have counterparts that are not, uh, goners that look different or deformed and gray

Papyrus was just kind af an empty shell at first, he still kept parts of Wingdings original personality but his Papyrus personality developed on his own with time!

"How did Gaster shatter across time and space?"

Usually everyone agrees it was because he fell into the CORE

About similar content

Not here! I don't think the CORE caused his accident, it is a power source not a time and space altering machine. In this story it was some other thing he was working on, and it wasn't so much of an accident per se

If you have more questions you can check the frequently asked questions post or send me an ask <3!!

I've seen some people tell me this is a good idea for an AU and I agree!! I love this idea so much, but as I said before I didn't create this concept or theory I just love it a lot!! and was desperate for content wich I surprisingly did not found much of

I was so surprised, I really thought there would be more people that made this before but I couldn't find much, so I'm just making it myself and one of my goals is to maybe make other people like this idea and make their own takes on it !! cause i think it's neat and would love more perspectives and content

If you by any chance also like this concept as much as I do I just wanted to make this section to name some inspirations for this AU

First, you all should really see "I know that I know nothing" by linssins

It's because of this comic that I discovered that theory in the first place and really loved the concept. It's my main inspiration, unfortunately the comic is unfinished. If you see it you will definitely see how I took inspiration... Still my story and this au is a different take on the theory, it goes on a different path.

Also another inspiration for finding more stuff about the theory were

@askthesciencesquad This comic is paused but it's also a Papyrus!Gaster comic! and I was very happy to find it, it is also a very different take on the concept but I liked where it was going. The same person also has this other blog where they put a lot of Papyrus is gaster stuff :0 @deviodofmeat

Okay so that's it, maybe I missed some stuff? but if I remeber i'll just add it later, that's what's good about tumblr.

[evil-scientist]

So you know how Undertale’s Entry 17 might be referring to a Dark World/Fountain?

Well what if, since Undertale is already a fantastical realm where magic is commonplace, trying to create a Dark World (another fantasy realm with magic) inside of Undertale lead to Gaster shattering across Time and Space?

Oh and just as a fun extra, the first song in the Undertale OST is “Once Upon A Time” and the last song is “Good Night. Like a bedtime story. If we follow through this logic, Gaster tried to create a story within a story

[under-lore]

Yoshi is Gaster

For years the fandom has been theorising about the past of WD Gaster, today this mystery has finally been solved once and for all.

Gaster is non other than Yoshi from Super Mario.

Still skeptical ? Let me present you the undeniable evidence.

First of all, in Deltarune a man in a tree that is obviously Gaster gives us eggs. But why eggs of all things rather than anything else ?

Its because eggs are always associated with Gaster's true identity.

As we all know, Gaster is trapped in the void, now lets look at the most famous trope related to Yoshi in the super Mario series : The Yoshi sacrifice.

It consists of using Yoshi to jump further by sacrificing it and letting it fall into the void below.

Now you might still think this is a coincidence and that Super Mario isn’t canon to Undertale and Deltarune. But you would be wrong.

In Undertale, we can clearly see a video game console in the garbage dump.

The console which we see is a SNES.

And guess on which console did super Mario world come from ? The game where Yoshi is first dropped into the void ? That’s right ! The SNES !

But Deltarune is where it gets even more troubling.

Asriel plays super smashing fighters, and in this game, his favorite character is non other than :

YOSHI.

We therefore have proof that Yoshi really is canon in the world of Undertale/Deltarune.

Lets dive deeper into the connection between Asriel, Yoshi and Gaster.

Gaster doesn’t exist in Deltarune under this name, he only exists as Yoshi. In Undertale however he was always Gaster.

Asriel, naive child that he was, threw Yoshi into the void in the world of Deltarune when he played Super Mario world.

But remember that Undertale and Deltarune are parallel worlds, if in Deltarune Yoshi falls into the void sacrificing himself for Asriel then the same must be true in Undertale as well.

In Undertale, Asriel almost fell into the core but Gaster saved him at the last second, falling into the core himself instead.

In both worlds, Gaster falls in the void to save Asriel.

Gaster when he fell was shattered across time and space so when Asriel in Deltarune sacrificed Yoshi, a gap opened in the space-time continuum and he saw the Undertale timeline and what he had done to the Gaster in Undertale by throwing Yoshi into the void in Deltarune.

Because of this, Asriel in Deltarune became depressed and ever since that day he never loved Yoshi and eggs again because it reminded him of what he had done.

For more proof that the universes did interact with each other. We have this secret line in the code of Undertale in which we can see Yoshi/Gaster from the world of Deltarune talking to Asriel just before sacrificing himself for him.

We also see proof that Asriel knew Who Gaster was since Flowey can imitate Gaster’s face.

More evidence that Yoshi is connected to all of them :

Papyrus, who is connected to both Gaster and to Flowey (so Asriel) also happens to have an egg in his room !

Flowey has won every game and lost every game, which means he must have also played Mario World on the SNES from the garbage dump that we saw earlier and killed a Yoshi, everything comes full circle.

But there is still one more big revelation to make.

Yoshi and Gaster are both always linked to Asriel and to eggs in both Undertale and Deltarune. But what other secret does the egg hold ?

Its because the word “egg” when translated in wingdings which is Gaster’s font translates to the coordinates of the movement pattern of a knight when playing chess.

That’s right, Asriel is non other than the knight.

Everything lines up : the egg, the connection to Gaster in both Undertale and Deltarune…

The “game” that made Jevil insane was super Mario world when he saw Yoshi die and saw all the timelines just like Asriel when the universes interacted.

Spamton is a scammer to reference how when Super Mario world first came out, video game piracy in Japan was at an all time high.

To finish this off i’ll predict the secret second ending of Deltarune.

In chapter 7 if you collected all of the 7 eggs, you can merge them together into a big egg and a Yoshi will get born from it, then it will turn into Gaster, revealing the truth about Gaster’s identity. After the final battle, Yoshi will use his tongue to eat the titans before sacrificing himself one last time by jumping into a dark fountain. The roaring will have finally been stopped and Gaster will have succeeded in stopping it, being remembered as a hero.

Any naysayer to this theory is objectively wrong.

[kafkaesquekitten]

Semi-Bi-Weekly Idea 4: An Improved CORE Frisk

The above image is my concept for an improvement on CORE Frisk's design.

Their original design is functional, but flawed.

CORE Frisk's visual design successfully communicates that they are different from Frisk Undertale, but it fails to properly communicate their origins as a 'goner'; a eldritch being condemned to immortality like Gaster and his followers.

Instead, the monochromatic color scheme and inky black eyes in combination with their otherwise unchanged design makes CORE Frisk appear as a ghost of Frisk, which isn't quite true.

By turning the stripes on their shirt into holes in their body that resemble a smiling face, and adding markings on their face that imitate tears as a reference to Gaster, I think I successfully communicated their origins of being shattered across space and time.

Personally, I'm satisfied with how my version of CORE Frisk fits in with Gaster's followers.

But what do you few think?

[entryno17]

in your opinion, how important do you think gaster will be in the plot line of deltarune? :)

OH BOY AN EXCUSE TO INFODUMP!!!

short answer: VERY.

long answer: VERY,

VERY.

i mean... gaster is the first character that appears in the game—as in, he appears seconds after you boot it up. after asking if he's "CONNECTED" he guides you along the whole gonermaker segment; not only does he serve as the introduction to deltarune, he's literally the person who announced the game itself! that seems... kinda important.

of course there's also the easter egg with smile.ogg playing while trying to use the phone in the dark world, and the weird door that plays smile.ogg slowed down by 666%... gaster is the one who asks if you want to try again when you get a game over, and he narrates the main menu before you beat the game...

there's also the fact that, like, the entire dark world itself seems to be in direct reference to gaster??

gaster had 11 lines in all of undertale, and 4/11 of those were him rambling insanely about 'darkness'. darkness as a concept is at least somewhat important to this guy, and themes of parallels between light/darkness are... pretty prominent in deltarune, to say the least. i can't go into this any further without just reciting the entirety of the plot.

OH! AND! don't forget (haha) deltarune's ending theme.

i'll set aside lyrical analysis of this song for now (just trust me it's also extremely related to gaster), and instead take the time to remind you not to forget about that funny little note in sans's garage:

it's never stated directly, but it's heavily implied that gaster was "forgotten" about. between goner kid's weird spiel about non-existence and the fact that gaster barely seems to exist at all to anyone but his followers, it's safe to assume that gaster being shattered across time and space effectively erased him from reality, thus causing him to be 'forgotten'.

don't forget is the main leitmotif throughout deltarune, appearing in 9 different songs in the ost. if it is related to gaster like i assume it is, that's another point for gaster being extremely important lol.

BUT! his influence in the game goes even deeper than that, believe it or not!! this is a bit hard to explain so bear with me, but gaster is directly present throughout the inner workings of the game. i'll be quoting some stuff from tcrf.net because it explains this better way than i can lol.

The window captions used throughout the game use upper and title case variously, to denote context; the 'light world' sections use title case (eg. "The Beginning", "The Return") and the 'dark world' sections, along with everything else, use upper-case (eg. "THE DARK", "CONTACT", "DELTARUNE").

Internally, most of the game's assets are named using a similar though distinct convention of upper/lower case. Unlike the window captions, the "Dark World" assets, like the "Light World" assets, use lower case, abbreviated prefixes (in Undertale, these were the only prefixes used). Allcaps prefixes/names are only used in the following contexts:

• CONTACT and everything associated with it • The logo screen and main menu (both versions of it) • The game over ("FAILURE") screen • The dogcheck room • UNUSED

These are effectively all of the "out-of-bounds" sections of the game, as it were, with the exception of the ending credits.

okay so... we already know that gaster directly appears in the CONTACT sequence, the main menu, and the game over screen. as for the dogcheck room and 'UNUSED'—both of those can only be accessed through hacking/datamining, and gaster's connection to unused/datamined content in general makes this VERY relevant to him.

anyway, here's a table of these prefixes:

Variable names within allcaps objects also follow this convention, mostly being in allcaps as well, in addition to sometimes utilizing slightly more verbose terminology. One notable counterpart for a common local variable is EVENT, used in place of con (condition).

someone that speaks in all caps and often uses stilted, somewhat verbose vocabulary... sounds familiar, right?

HE CALLS DOGCHECK "SONG_THAT_EMERGES_FROM_A_SLEEPING_DOG". this is not relevant to the point i'm trying to make at all but i need as many people to know this fact as possible.

that's not the only place gaster is hiding, though! there's also some weird, unused rhyming text that seems to describe the mystery man sprite!! basically, gaster's presence is weaved throughout the game and he undoubtedly plays a major role in deltarune—inside and out.

let me loop back to the start of all this. it's pretty widely agreed upon that gaster is/was in cahoots with chara, and their partnership led to the creation of deltarune's world; we're obviously missing a lot of information about this since we've only played the first chapter, but this seems to be what's going on.

chara speaks repeatedly about the creation/destruction of different worlds at the end of no mercy, and deltarune is pretty clearly a separate world based on undertale's world. at the moment, it's anyone's guess what exactly they're trying to accomplish together—chara is also implied to be the person who 'discards' your vessel, so their motives probably don't align in some way. the point is, the world in deltarune was created.

considering all of this... i'm pretty confident that the "SURVEY_PROGRAM" we played is gaster's 'experiment'. as in, literally all of deltarune seems to be at least partially his doing.

... I THINK THAT MIGHT BE IMPORTANT!

[joost8910]

Deltarune: The two Knights theory

MAJOR spoilers for Deltarune Chapter 2 ahead. Strap yourselves in, this post is a long one.

So, as the title suggests, this theory postulates that there are not one, but two knights in Deltarune: The Old Knight and Kris.

The New Knight, Kris

As we see at the end of chapter 2, Kris creates a dark fountain right in the middle of their living room. Presumably, they could have created the fountain in the library in between the end of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2. This would make Kris the Knight that Queen refers to.

“The Knight” “The Roaring Knight…” “Today, It Deigned To Create This World” “Reaching Its Long Hand Into The Sky” “It Coursed Its Will Into Its Blade” “And Made” “Thrusting The Fountain From The Earth”

[Image: Queen overlooking holograms showing a hand and a knife]

The blade shown in Queen’s cutscene is clearly a knife, much like the one Kris uses. Given that Queen confirms the cyber Dark World was only created today, Kris’s soulless moment at the end of chapter 1 fits into that timeframe.

Knight is a Title

Going by the continuation of Queen’s dialogue:

“This Power Of Determination…” “Is This Not Something That All Lightners Possess…?” “If One Was Simply” “Determined Enough” “Could Not Anyone Make A Dark Fountain?” “So Then” “If The Knight Has Taken Its Leave” “Then I Will Simply…” “Make New One”

Queen’s theory is that any sufficiently determined Lightner can create a dark fountain. This would make such a Lightner a New Knight.

It’s possible Kris only becomes the New Knight after chapter 2. Queen’s dialogue could be what gives Kris the idea to make their own fountain.

Escapism as Possible Motivation:

u/_snout_1’s theory on reddit postulates that Deltarune’s main theme is about escapism. Kris using the dark worlds as a form of escapism fits as a probable motive behind their actions to create more dark fountains. So despite Ralsei’s warning of the Roaring, Kris makes a new fountain knowing they will seal it by the end of the day; playing as a hero.

(Or maybe Kris is just getting possessed during the soulless scenes, but that’s less interesting imo)

 Why the Old Knight is NOT Kris:

The reason I theorize there’s two knights is because of King Spades, Jevil, and Spamton.

If Kris was the only Knight, then I think at least one of these three would recognize Kris. While King Spades could believably fall for a disguise, I don’t think Jevil would. I admit that is purely speculative, but I think the best evidence that there is a Knight separate from Kris comes from Spamton. 

[Image: Spamton saying “KRIS, DID YOU KNOW THAT THE KNIGHT…”]

[Image: Spamton distorted, saying “No, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to --“]

When asked about the Knight, Spamton is about to tell Kris something before suddenly his text shifts from all uppercase to proper case usage and he apologizes profusely. I believe the Old Knight somehow knows they are mentioned and stops Spamton from revealing anything. This also hints at the Old Knight being the one who helped Spamton’s career in his backstory.

 Spamton’s Backstory:

The NPCs in the trash heap after the Spamton NEO fight talk about Spamton’s backstory. They talk about how someone over the phone helped Spamton become a [[BIG SHOT]]. Eventually, the help Spamton was receiving disappeared and his career fell apart as result.

 Gaster’s Connection to Spamton

[Image: the final NPC in the trash heap] From the last trash heap NPC’s dialogue:

“The day he was to be evicted from the Queen’s mansion,” “I went to his room to check on him…” “But he wasn’t there.” “There was only a phone hanging off the handle” “He must’ve left in the middle of a conversation,” “Because I could still hear someone on the other end…” “…” “But when I put the receiver to my ear…” “There was nothing but garbage noise.”

Garbage noise is the same phrasing used to describe the sound that plays when you use your phone in the dark world. This sound is mus_smile, which plays during Undertale’s Entry No 17. This is strong evidence for Gaster being involved here.

 Eggs, The Old Knight, and the many fragments of Gaster

Recall back to Undertale: this particular Gaster follower

[Image: the Gaster Follower that holds a small head]

“They say he shattered across time and space.” “Haha… How can I say so without fear?” “I’m holding a piece of him right here.”

This confirms here that Gaster himself is not whole. There are at least 3 main pieces of Gaster in Deltarune that are important here. The Voice that talks to us at the beginning and in the twitter, The Man that gives the eggs, and The Old Knight

The Voice matches Entry 17’s speech patterns of VERY, VERY, INTERESTING. As well as the music playing being AUDIO_ANOTHERHIM, with Gaster’s theme in Undertale being mus_st_him.

The Man that gives us the eggs is likely the Mysteryman sprite we’ve all come to love

Given that the narration vaguely describes him in each scene “Well, there is a man here” As well as how he disappears in each scene is very similar to the Mysteryman in Undertale. It’s also possible that each instance of the Egg Man is a separate fragment. Maybe the eggs themselves also contain small pieces of Gaster? Very speculative there.

The Old Knight’s best evidence for a Gaster connection I’ve already shown with Spamton’s section. However, there is another piece that many others have pointed out. EGG in WingDings is EGG

One Side and Two Up: matching the movement of the knight piece in chess.

 Additional speculation about the Old Knight’s connection with Gaster

The Old Knight either is a fragment of Gaster or has a fragment of Gaster like the follower in Undertale does.

If the Old Knight is a piece of Gaster, then one of their goals is most likely to become whole again.

If the Old Knight has a piece of Gaster, the same goal to make Gaster whole again could very well apply. Or, the Old Knight is against making Gaster whole so they can abuse the piece they own for some unknown purpose.

 Summary and Closing Thoughts

Based on what Queen has said, Knight is more of a title than a singular entity. The title applying to a sufficiently determined Lightner that creates a dark fountain. This makes Kris another Knight as shown in the end of chapter 2.

Evidence from Spamton shows the original Knight is a separate entity from Kris.

There is also evidence that links the original Knight to Gaster. We don’t know the exact connection, but given the Gaster was shattered into pieces, I believe the Knight either is or has a piece of Gaster.

That’s my theory on the Knight(s)! I’m very excited for how the plot develops in further chapters. 

[tsukihimeyfan]

Undertale Headcanons (mostly about Sans)

6 years have passed since the release of Undertale, and there’s still so much we don’t know, especially in regards to Sans. I didn’t write much for Undertale’s anniversary last year, mostly just reblogged other people’s gorgeous fanart, but I’ve been mulling everything over and I wanted to write a bit about everything we know, everything we don’t, and my takes on how those threads connect, in honor of Undertale’s 6th anniversary and the release of Deltarune Chapter 2. Here we go!

What we know:

1) Sans was most likely some kind of scientist, as evidenced by his workshop, his quantum physics books, and this statement:

Key word “our”,  meaning he was most likely involved in obtaining those reports somehow.

2) Sans was somehow involved with Gaster, the previous Royal Scientist who built the Core and who “shattered across time and space”. The biggest evidence to support this is of course his use of the infamous “gaster blasters”

Most likely, he worked alongside Gaster while studying the timelines, and he is the other person Sans is referring to when he said “our reports”. The only other possibility would be Alphys but she, unlike Sans, never once insinuates that she has any knowledge of alternate timelines or the power to RESET. She also mentions that you seem familiar if you RESET after befriending her,

Unlike Sans, who keeps whether or not he experienced any déjà-vu hidden (probably out of a sense of self preservation)

3) Sans has dealt with Flowey’s RESET BS before, and probably remembers enough to know he’s dangerous. If you reset enough times after battling Asgore, eventually Flowey will tell you this little gem:

so Sans has confronted and killed Flowey for his timeline shenanigans several times. Also, during a normal playthrough Sans tries to warn you about Flowey

I know he later says that “someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on [Papyrus]”, but am I supposed to believe that while telling his brother about the flower giving him “encouragement, advice, predictions”, Papyrus never once mentioned that this flower was golden?? No, Papyrus being Papyrus he probably told Sans ALL about his little golden flower friend. So why be so cryptic about it? Why warn you at all? I believe Sans remembers or has figured out enough to know that the flower is dangerous, that it has hurt Papyrus before, so he tells you to keep an eye out for it, and he does so in such a way that, were Flowey to overhear your conversation (which little Mr follows-you-everywhere-you-go totally could), he’d be unlikely to suspect that Sans knows anything.

4) Sans dealt with RESET shenanigans for far, FAR too long - I made a post a while ago about exactly this, but the TL;DR of the matter is that Sans has had to deal with at the BARE MINIMUM around 70 years worth of RESETs. And that’s being extremely generous, with the more likely number being over 130 years. 

5) As a result of the aforementioned exposure to time hijinks, he’s most likely struggling with at the very least dysthymia, if not actual Major Depressive Disorder - It’s never explicitly stated, but the signs are all there, some better hidden than others. If you call Undyne at the Snowed Inn she tells you that she usually doesn’t sleep over at Papyrus’ house because Sans gets up constantly during the night, repeatedly waking her up.

This could of course have been done on purpose as a prank to make her lose sleep, but it seems a little too mean-spirited for him. Usually his pranks are completely harmless, like whoopee cushions or leaving a red ring around your eye or telling you he’s selling fried snow (without ever actually letting you waste money by buying it). Taking the fact that he naps constantly during the day into account, as well as this statement by Papyrus:

then we already have 2 of 5 criteria from the DSM-5 (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders created by the American Psychiatric Association) required to diagnose Major Depressive Disorder: fatigue/loss of energy and insomnia. Other criteria exhibited by Sans include:

Constant hopelessness

Not feeling interest or joy from things he normally would (aka anhedonia)

and Altered appetite (if we take what he says at face value, it seems like he is eating more than ever, since he says goes to Grillby’s to eat every 30min or something like that, but we never see him actually eat anything even after ordering, and some conversations with Grillby’s patrons seem to indicate maybe he actually has a decreased appetite, and is hiding it by feeding his meals to the Dogi when no one is looking)

There’s also this dialogue for the Ugly Fish, which directly contradicts what Sans said previously about his eating habits.

The game doesn’t give us direct proof for any of the rest of the symptoms, like thoughts of death or excessive feelings of guilt/worthlessness, but it is quite possible that someone in his position would struggle with those things as well, and in any case what we do have evidence for is enough to make me fairly certain that he’s dealing with a disorder on the depressive spectrum. Also, we may not have a time frame for his symptoms but as stated before he’s been facing Flowey’s bs for literal decades, so he’s probably had these issues for quite a while, and it’s undoubtedly affecting his life since he can’t bring himself to put more than the least possible effort into anything.

6) Even with everything I’ve already explained, despite finding life so pointless that he’s pretty much given up on finding happiness or in doing his best at anything for himself, the poor guy still does his best to provide and care for Papyrus. He’s basically his hype-man, he defends him from anyone who insults him, he supports him in every endeavor (both emotionally and financially), he makes sure that he has every luxury they can afford (even if he doesn’t buy any for himself), he does his best to spare him from harsh truths, and so much more. It’s part of why I love him so much; despite the world continuously trying to stomp out his empathy, he still cares deeply about his loved ones and will go to great lengths to help them.

This includes Toriel (besides making and keeping his infamous promise to her for as long as he could, he also supports her however he can in every neutral ending)

(and some of you still wonder why Soriel is a thing)

Also Alphys (he seemingly helps feed the amalgamates and he supports her wholeheartedly during the Queen Alphys neutral ending)

That’s pretty much everything we know with any degree of certainty about Sans. Time to head into...

Headcanon territory (continued under the cut)

1) How much does he remember? - I’d say Sans must remember SOMETHING of the previous timelines. Many people argue that because Sans always seems to talk about his knowledge of your actions in relation to things he can observe, like your expression, he remembers nothing. Others argue that his level of intuition is so uncanny that he MUST remember everything. However, I believe that the actual truth is somewhere in the middle. We know that other monsters have at least a sense of deja-vu, 

so Sans must likewise remember at least that much. Perhaps his knowledge of timelines, LOADs and RESETs or his experiments with Gaster allow him to dig up more memories than others could (or at least actually pay attention to what those feelings of deja-vu are telling him without dismissing them as most of the others do), which would explain how he’s able to tell exactly how many times in a row he’s killed you and give you a warning when you’ve killed Papyrus in a previous timeline.

2) So why keep quiet about his deja-vu? Why not be like his brother and make it clear that he has vague memories of you? It’s as I said at the beginning of this post - self preservation.

We’ve established that Sans is most likely aware of the threat Flowey poses, that he knows of timeline shenanigans, that he can keep track of events between LOADs/RESETs and that he’s very smart (and even used to be a scientist of some sort). A person like that could probably infer that the reason Flowey&Frisk RESET so much is because they “have to see what happens”. So what can he do, with his very limited power, to reduce the amount of RESETs as much as possible?

Simple - he gives them as little variation as possible so that they’d have no reason to RESET anymore. He hides his knowledge so that the anomaly can’t go “oh look! this dude remembers, so he could have a different reaction every single time! How fun! =)”

We know Flowey at least found great joy in the changes brought about by the presence of someone who actually remembered. So much so that he was willing to do nearly anything to stop you from leaving

In light of that, of course Sans would keep anything he knows as under wraps as possible. This is why I’m very reluctant to believe he only “figures out stuff from your expression”.

3) How much of a threat is Sans to a Pacifist Frisk? - many people speculate that Sans would be useless in a fight against an opponent with no EXP, since they believe his KARMA will not work at all against such an enemy, leaving him with only his natural 1ATK to work with. I, however, don’t think that’s true.

Sans’ KR can do a maximum of 40HP of poison/drain-damage, plus 30HP of damage per second of contact with his attacks (due to his invincibility cancel) at LV19, so clearly the HP lost is not exactly equal to your LV. If we say that KARMA is a form of retribution for your crimes, as it appears to be,

then we can assume that KR does more and more damage the more EXP/LV you’ve earned, yes. However, I don’t think KR would do NO damage at LV1, and I don’t believe that Sans’ most powerful weapon, the invincibility frame cancellation, would disappear.

After all, LV is a quantification of your capacity to hurt others. You start at LV1, not LV0, since even at LV1 you’re perfectly capable of killing people. You can even be LV1 after having killed a monster (specifically a whimsun). And that’s not even taking into account how complicated and hard to dodge his attack patterns are.

Therefore, little LV1 Frisk with their miserable 20HP would near dead after only half a second of contact with his attacks (which would deal 15HP of damage), AND I bet they’d have to deal with at least 1-2HP of extra drain/poison damage every turn.

So yeah, if he chose to fight Frisk as soon as they came out of the Ruins, Sans would most likely still be one of the hardest battles in the game.

4) Does Sans care for Frisk? - I’ve seen a lot of debate about whether Sans ultimately feels anything for Frisk or not (in Pacifist timelines of course, he undoubtedly hates you if you kill Papyrus and he judges you harshly if you’ve killed people),

particularly because even if you’ve got 0 EXP, even if you’ve gone to Grillby’s with him and bought his hotdogs and had fun together, this still happens

So he realizes you’re the anomaly, and therefore a threat, no matter the run. However, I think he says this because, at this point, even if you’re LV1, you could still turn around and kill people. You could even completely decimate the population of Hotland and the Core, Genocide style. So this is most likely both a warning and a *cough* “kind” suggestion to behave. 

However, I think Sans does eventually change his mind, and it’s probably at this moment:

at this point, you’ve gone through the entire underground without killing anyone. There’s literally no reason to kill anyone anymore, since there are no encounters in New Home (unless you go back and hunt the few monsters remaining in the Core, though I’m not sure if spawns still happen there after Mettaton. I couldn’t find anything clear) so he’s probably pretty confident that you’re a pacifist. I believe at this point he allows himself to trust you

Look at that: he tells you you’re loved, and that he believes what’s in your heart will most likely be the right thing for everyone. It’s actually very sweet of him...which makes going back to kill people at this point even more screwed up and heartbreaking imo.

Then there’s this little tidbit from Asriel while he’s holding everyone’s souls, which I feel is the biggest piece of evidence:

After all, Asriel doesn’t strike me as a very good liar. Even as Flowey the whole “friendliness pellets” thing was sus af in hindsight. And what reason could he have to lie at this point? If Sans didn’t love Frisk, all Asriel had to do was not mention him by name, just like he didn’t mention Asgore. In my opinion, this is proof positive that Sans must have at least some positive feelings for Frisk (this makes the soulless pacifist endings even more horrifying now that I think about it omg Toby why must you hurt me in this way)

5) Why doesn’t Sans stop you from killing Papyrus during a Genocide run? - I’ve seen people call Sans cold or uncaring because he only ever intervenes in the worst case scenario, but we’ve already established that Papyrus is one of the few things Sans can still bring himself to care deeply about. So, why doesn’t he stop at least Papyrus from confronting a blood(or dust in this case)-thirsty psychopath?

I have 2 theories about this (though they are non-exclusive, in fact they most likely both impacted equally on his choices). The first is that Sans, who canonically can teleport together with other people, helped warn the Snowdin residents of the incoming threat, and he was assisting in the evacuation efforts when Papyrus backtracked to confront the human, leaving him alone for long enough to kill him.

The second is that Sans knows from experience that there’s just... no point.

(look at his anguished expression in that last image, jeez)

As we’ve said, Sans has been dealing with this time problem for a very long time. Since we know for sure Sans can tell when Papyrus has been killed in an alternate timeline, I’m certain that at first he did try to protect him, before deciding that it’s both hopeless and too painful.

I imagine it went a little like this: near the beginning of Flowey’s loops, Sans did his absolute best to protect him without Flowey realizing what he was doing, and likely succeeded. Sadly, the only thing Flowey would’ve had to do was to LOAD his save file and find a way to circumvent Sans’ interference. Then do that again. And again. And again, for every one of the hundreds of times Papyrus was killed. Eventually, Sans must have realized that not only was there absolutely nothing he could do to stop it, but that trying would just lead to him probably witnessing Papyrus’ death himself, helpless to save him, making it doubly painful.

He probably tried to tell people a few times, to ask for help, but that likely stopped pretty quick. Telling anyone would just cause them mental and emotional pain without being able to change anything, so he probably decided to spare them from the knowledge and just...bear with it.

After a while, broken, beaten, and terribly alone, he likely just... gave up on trying to change anything or even putting more than the bare minimum amount of effort into anything. After all if it all was gonna reset without warning, why bother?

Why do his best at his job(s)?

Why bother trying to build anything?

Before a Determined being, nothing lasts and nothing matters.

6) If all that is true, why does he try to stop you at the end during Genocide? - I’ve seen people argue that Sans fights you for revenge or to save himself from dying once the world ends, but I have to strongly disagree. If it was petty revenge, he would just kill you every single time you kill Papyrus after all. It’s also very unlikely to be self-preservation, since as we’ve said he’s most likely suffering from depression: he has no hopes for his own future, no ambitions, no will to accomplish anything except maybe see Papyrus happy. Why would he suddenly sprout a desperate desire to survive out of nowhere, enough to drive him to fight a literally unwinnable battle, possibly hundreds of times? I find that hard to believe.

The most likely answer is that, if you destroy the world... Papyrus would never come back, and neither would any of his friends. Every time you kill them, he at least has the dubious comfort of knowing you’ll probably bring them back during your next run, but not this time. If you win this time, you’ll take the timeline with you, and he’ll never see them again (huh... that sounds a bit familiar:)

So he fights.

Despite knowing he can’t beat you.

Despite realizing his only hope is that you get tired and give up

Despite coming to the fight with the knowledge of every single previous failed attempt

Despite having to exert himself to the bone

He fights, and clings desperately to the slim chance that you’ll try to be better

He doesn’t mean not to come back to the Underground at all. After all, that’d mean that Sans would be stuck in a world where his brother and most of his friends are dead forever. Most likely, he wants you to not come back to this Sans, to this timeline. He wants you to RESET, and to make better choices next time. He wants another chance for Papyrus to be happy, even if it’s for a short while.

I feel like his very last words, revealing the only thing at the forefront of his mind during his last moments, is what’s most telling of the truth:

As with everything else he does, it’s all for Papyrus

In conclusion (TL;DR), Sans might not be an epic hero fighting for the good of the entire world like Undyne, but he’s a deeply hurt individual struggling basically alone to survive a horrifyingly bleak situation, who despite simultaneously coping with a serious mental disorder as a result is STILL a fundamentally kind person, who does his best to spare his loved ones from the worst outcome, is always willing to help his friends and family to the best of his ability, and who, despite his best efforts to the contrary, still cares so much, to the point of even giving the benefit of the doubt and coming to care for the same anomaly that might doom him.

That’s the core of who Sans is, and that’s why I love him so, so much. It makes me hope that the True Pacifist ending really is the “True Ending”, and that somewhere, he has finally found peace, relief, and a future free of suffering together with his loved ones.

(*Note: this art was made by greenbudbowl on Deviantart)

[dvckssauce]

((spoiler warning)) The Shadow Crystals.

- Each secret boss, being Jevil and Spamton, carry Shadow Crystals.

- Each of those bosses are psychotic in their own special way. Jevil speaks in riddles but he’s clearly aware that it’s all a game. Spamton speaks about the Angel’s Heaven and the connotation with freedom, also referring to the game.

- Both bosses are also recognized as being sane and behaving normally as they did BEFORE encountering SOMEONE, which I feel is obviously Gaster because…

- Jevil has rambled TO Seam before and Seam repeats back the “darker, yet darker” reference to Undertale’s Entry No. 17. And with Spamton, the Addisons address the “garbage noise” at the other end of the phone line that Spamton left hanging, which is ALSO a reference to Gaster in Undertale.

- I think each Shadow Crystal is a fragment of Gaster in SOME form, when presumably, “he shattered across time and space.” (dialogue from a Gaster follower in Undertale)

- It’s also important to note that these Shadow Crystals do come with special dialogue whenever you’re looking through them, and you’re allowed to look ONCE. Let me list the interactions:

- 1. “You thought you saw the computer lab” - In Cyber World Ch. 2

- 2: “You thought you saw toys strewn across the floor” - Dark World Ch. 1

- 3: “You thought you saw through your hand” - In the Light World

- 4: “For some strange reason, for just a brief moment… You thought you saw Susie, glaring at you coldly… But when you moved the glass away… You see her looking at you, smiling and making a rude gesture.” - In the Light World with Susie

I just find it unusual how the Glass/Shadow Crystal behaves, with showing the Light World while in the Dark World, but then showing alternate situations while used in the Light World?

And the phrasing of Gaster shattering into pieces and having interacted with these characters at some point before they went insane? As if they’re being corrupted?

edit: I forgot to mention the Shadow Mantle, which is a craftable item using Shadow Crystals that Seam brings up by saying

- “But don’t let down your guard. I feel your next opponent may be… Hm. In reality, it may be impossible to win. Unless you use the power of the Shadow Mantle. Here, it may look like an old scrap of cloth, but… I can’t find it. Did someone…take it?”

What do you guys think?

-edit: I will also include the fact that Spamton had found the crystal inside of the NEO Machine. When or how, I have no idea. But Jevil had it anyways, so I’m stuck on this.

[gaylordscooterbrighton]

Why the CORE is a wormhole and not a nuclear reactor

okay so I was like "damn obviously the CORE is like a nuclear reactor since it "smells like ozone" and provides a shit ton of power and is literally called the CORE."

Also I'm pretty sure it's said that the core runs on geothermal energy but forget that for now cause I want to talk about this :)

Assuming the Underground is about the size of 1 small city of 1,500 (very rough estimate it's impossible to know how big or small it actually is), and uses 18GW of power per year, a nuclear plant could produce power for 1/18 of a year. A fusion power plant would be impressive and very royal science-y, but would only produce power for 1/4.5 of a year. Even with a really small population like 300 or something, and a really small power consumption, the entire underground would probably not have power for more than like 5 years.

If you "fall into" a nuclear reactor, you probably would not be "shattered across space and time."

You know what would cause that though??? A black hole or worm hole.

Black holes notably release a shit ton of thermal energy, perfect for a scifi energy gathering scenario, and more importantly bend space and time.

A REALLY common term used to describe traversal through a wormhole is a shortcut, or more formally an Einstein-Rosen bridge. Cool!!

Anyways it would explain more about Gaster's death. Also it would just be cool. There are science-fictiony ways to keep wormholes open which involves a hypothetical unknown "exotic material" which would need a lot of negative energy to keep the event horizon from collapsing, or something. Giving very photon readings negative energy if you ask me. Also I guess it would be dark, and therefore no photons.

Entry number seventeen "dark darker yet darker" would make a lot of sense referring to a literal black hole. This obviously doesn't explain how a wormhole could be contained, but it would be a VERY impressive feat and also magic literally exists in undertale so not impossible.

Anyways this would explain how falling into the CORE would cause time and space fuckery, and it would also explain the massive amounts of inexplicable power it provides.

my sources are terrible, I also failed Physics and never took Astronomy. Ask me for them

[skellfamily]

Gaster and Giygas

I want to talk about Gaster and possible connections between him and the Mother character, Giygas. Giygas is an important character in the series so if you don’t wish to be spoiled on him, be warned!

I’ll start with the most obvious connection and what first got me thinking about these parallels. The music in that plays during the vessel creation. This track is called ANOTHER HIM, a reference to him.ogg, Gaster’s theme in Undertale. The static-y sounds made at the beginning and at other parts are clearly inspired by Giygas’ battle music. 

The Mother series is a big inspiration for Toby and there are a bunch of references to it in his games, so incorporating aspects of Giygas’ theme into Gaster’s doesn’t seem like much by itself. However, after digging a bit, I might’ve found other possibly intentional parallels between the two.

Between Mother and Earthbound, Giygas goes from being a conflicted alien with a score to settle with earth, to an all-powerful being consumed by hatred, becoming evil itself. His physical self and his own mind is destroyed - he’s left in a state of pain and madness, losing pretty much all sense of his old self. Giygas’ goal (insomuch as his fractured mind could have one) in Earthbound was to subsume everything in darkness. He must be contained within something called the “Devil’s Machine” in order to keep him somewhat stable.

One big theme of Gaster is darkness. Entry number seventeen is entirely about darkness. If you die and refuse to continue, he’ll tell us the world is covered in darkness (in Deltarune’s files, the music that plays during this is even in allcaps, AUDIO_DARKNESS.ogg). On a more symbolic level, Gaster is implied to be a rather dark and ominous character. He is also linked to the number of the beast, ie the Devil’s number. His unused battle stats are all groups of six, the typer values for entry number seventeen and the intro of DR are 666, Mystery Man is encountered at a fun value of 66, etc.

Giygas turns into a being who spans time and space, simultaneously existing in the past and the future, just as Gaster was shattered across time and space, seeming to exist everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

The next piece of evidence requires a bit of background. It pertains to the Memoryhead amalgamate. MH has been speculated to be a piece of Gaster (here’s a good post that goes over the theory). There are a number of things that point to this:

the “name” given upon first encountering them is 6 blank character spaces

their bullets look like Mystery Man’s head 

their initial ACTs - ITEM/CELL/STAT - are copied directly from the overworld menu which suggests they are aware of the medium like Gaster is (more of a stretch but it’s also the only case of allcaps ACTs in the game, that’s how it is in the menu too obviously but allcaps text is associated with Gaster...)

they are not based on any monster we see in the Underground and their forms resemble a skull (they are called Memoryhead after all)

they are associated with technology - “Smells like batteries,” they make dial-up noises, the path to sparing them involves using your cell phone to hear them; Gaster was the creator of the CORE, the technological marvel of the Underground

Well, you get the idea. There’s a good chance the MHs are related to Gaster somehow. The Memoryheads and the way they glitch out, in turn, bear a resemblance to Giygas’ strange form and his constant shifting and swirling during the final battle of Earthbound. Both are beings whose very existence is agony - Giygas saying he’s sad, “It hurts," crying that "It's not right," while the Memoryheads like the other Amalgamates is basically a half-melted corpse whose dialogue is always shaking, which in Undertale is indicative of a strong emotional state (in this case presumably pain, fear, and/or sadness).

(speaking of the amalgamates, the theme that plays during the Memoryhead, Lemon Bread, and Reaper Bird fights sounds similar to the music that plays during the second phase of Giygas’ battle and in the Cave of the Past)

Then there’s Papyrus. His battle body has an emblem on the chest, taken from the Starmen enemies in Earthbound. Starmen are a major part of Giygas’ army, tasked with carrying out his commands (the nature of their relationship to Giygas is unknown; are they simply mercenaries, were they created by him, something else?). Normally I would brush this off as a little shout-out and that might really be all it is, but it gives me pause. They could have put that little symbol on any character yet specifically chose to give it to Papyrus. Papyrus, who has some sort of connection to Gaster, whatever it might be. 

Finally, you have their names. GiyGAS, GASter. Not the most elegant ‘proof’ but it could explain Gaster’s fairly odd last(?) name.

I admit that a lot of this ‘evidence’ could well be 100% coincidental - I’m not sure myself that these are intentional. And even if some of them are intentional, it’s possible they are just references and nothing more. Still, I wonder if they might have deeper meaning, if Toby is going somewhere with these parallels. If he is using elements of Giygas as inspiration for Gaster’s character, it could lead to very interesting places.

[dteamhugs]

sunshibe powers ref sheet!

i made my boi a reference sheet of their powersss because they would probably need explaining if they used them one day and like, nobody would know what is going on, y'know.. i really need to get around to making them a normal ref sheet... but it's so boring.. a powers ref sheet on other other hand, yanno heh they don't belong to any world, they're just my sona. they're me. i'm them. anyway, i know their quadrupedal skeledog forms look very bad, but that's why i don't use them too often heh this is sorta related to my dumbass undertale headcanon... it's so unbelievably stupid and i love it so much,, you know how the annoying dog absorbs stuff? yeah. they end up in the dog void. he's a gateway to the void. the dog void. what if that's how gaster was shattered across time and space. he was absorbed by the dog. :0 ok i'll stop talking now.

[undertale-a1ien]

What's the overall premise of the AU Crack is from? Have you made anymore character designs? Has he seen the multiverse?? :00

Okie Dokie so here’s Papy’s design for my au!

In this AU he’s the captain of the Royal Guard!!! Buuuuuuuuuuuuut, he’s much more serious then his Undertale counterpart. (Btw I forgot to label this but the top design is his 1st design -while Crack is missing- and the bottom on is his 2nd design -after Crack stops being missing-)

I’m going to answer your questions under the cut because it might get a bit long and I don’t want to make a super long post because those are a pain to scroll through-

What's the overall premise of the AU Crack is from?

Okay, so when W.D. Gaster was shattered across time and space from falling into the CORE, a fragment of his soul remained. When exploring the sight of his death Alphys found this fragment, kept it in one of those soul capsules (that the human souls were in - in Undertale), and then kept it in the SECRET LAB for storage. A couple years pass and Alphys starts up the Determination experiments again but is only able to create the amalgamated. However, instead of being super sad about it, she gets frustrated that it didn’t work. After about a week of her still making no progress, she realises that she won’t be able to make any real progress without some help. Alphys then searches through all the files left in the secret lab to try and find a way to bring Gaster back to life (because the amalgamation thing is obviously *not* working). During this, she finds a file on Sans that was written by Gaster himself. After a while she finds that Sans and Gaster are really simular and so maybe- just maybe- if someone where to- I don’t know... combine their souls... it might just be a way to bring Gaster back from the dead. (I tried to make that sound dramatic but Idk if it actually worked xD). Anyways, I’ll spare you the details because it gets pretty bad- But Alphys ends up getting Sans into the lab and (with the help of the amalgamates) is able to preform the surgery and combine Sans’ soul and the fragment from Gaster’s soul (see the reference sheet for Crack to see what the soul looks like). 

Okay so some other stuff happens (if you want to hear about it feel free to ask-). But for rn I’ma stop there because this is (what I would call) the first “arc” of the au and I think this would just be a good stopping point. 

Have you made anymore character designs?

So I actually have ideas for the designs of all the characters, however, since I don’t really know how to draw any character besides Sans and Papyrus, those are the only two that I have rn ‘^u^ 

Has he seen the multiverse?? 

I have *no* clue- Like, I know that he defintally will at some point, I just haven’t really thought about it that much ‘^u^

But I can guarantee you that if/when he does, Papyrus would not let *any* other Sans near Crack unless they can prove to him that they’re not a threat. If they can’t.... then things could get ugly *very* quickly...

[determinationisnotcrash]

Gasterblastober Prompt 3: A Moment of Fear

This takes place in my variant of the Blaster AU (in other words, on the Surface one year and a bit after Undertale), shortly after the situation with Wingdings Gaster was resolved.

When dressing up for Halloween with Asriel, Papyrus (in the ‘horned skeleton’ partial Blaster form he’s stuck in) causes the goat to flash back to one of his worse Resets.

In it, a feral GB!Papyrus gives Flowey a cruel and unusual, but entirely deserved death. As such, content warnings apply for extreme violence. And JoJo references.

For Gasterblastober, which is by @gbpack-discord

Papyrus’ House

The horned skeleton let his classmate in, bony tail wagging with excitement in preparation for all the delicious treats they would get. No matter how old they were, they were never too old to go trick-or-treating! Asriel in particular had to make up for six years’ worth of missed treats!

“What are you dressed as, Asriel?”

The self-proclaimed God of Hyperdeath puffed his chest out proudly as he spun around, revealing the Sword of Luck and Pluck attached to the sleeveless blue tank top with shoulder pads to make his slender frame appear bigger. “Jonathan Joestar, of course! I had no idea how to dress, considering, y’know, I’m already a monster. Alphys gave me the suggestion!”

His friend was enthusiastic, but… a bead of sweat slid down Papyrus’ skull. “It’s Halloween, not a cartoon cosplay convention. Why don’t you go in your robes as the God of Hyperdeath?”

Asriel face went so red, if the lights were switched off, Papyrus swore it would illuminate the room. “R-reasons. Anyway, what’re you going as?”

“Glad you asked~ The Great Papyrus is in casual clothes before you now, but soon, you shall be amazed, as he transforms into a bone dragon knight! It’s as radical as it is cost-effective! With my Blaster-like mutations, and everything. All I really needed to design were the armour, helmet, and wings.”

Even after all this time, he still had no idea why he had Blaster-like features now. But horns, paw-like feet, claws, and a tail were unobtrusive enough from his daily life, so there wasn’t really any reason to go investigating. Especially with his final year of high school around the corner.

He ran into his room, disappearing from Asriel’s sight, then returned wearing armour. “The armour is customised Royal Guard armour-” The skeleton turned around, revealing the very mobile wings, “the wings are courtesy of Alphys’ assistance, and most importantly of all…!” Papyrus plonked the helmet he was holding on his head.

At the completed look, Asriel went as still as a statue. A Gasterblaster-like helmet…!? The design brought to mind the lower points of his Resets. Given how awful his Resets past the first few were, that was really saying something. Out of the entire Underground, the most terrifying one of all wasn’t Sans, but…

***

Flowey dodged a rain of sharpened bone attacks, but the moment he thought he avoided it, his enemy made them change course, homing in and piercing through him. “Blugh…!” Blood spewed from his mouth and vines.

This was marginally better than the last hundred times – then, he had been torn apart by claws and fangs outright! This was frustrating! This ‘boss’ wasn’t something he could defeat once ‘triggered’!

He could easily take Papyrus in his ‘base form’ and kill him as easily as an infant, but once he started mutating, it was the end! But there wouldn’t be any achievement unless he killed him as that bone demon creature!

Papyrus’ face had pushed out into a vicious muzzle, filled with razor-sharp teeth. His gloves and boots had been shredded by cruel claws, whereas the remnants of his battle body hung off him. The hellbeast he had become looked like a cross between a skeletal werewolf and a dragon – still vaguely humanoid, but the resemblance to the person he once was ended there.

Flowey had a secret weapon, too: DT he stole from Alphys’ lab. He couldn’t steal the souls from Asgore, but with this…!

A surge of power and pleasure coursed through his body as he grew to enormous size, dwarfing the freshly mutated bone dragon. Green (but otherwise human) hands appeared, forming finger guns. From the ends of the digits, missiles launched out!

Papyrus leaped out of the way and dashed across the walls of New Home on all fours, trying to evade the missiles. But Flowey knew his exact movements – this ‘script’ he had experienced before!

The beast jumped to the Judgement Hall, unintentionally scattering the dust of his older brother. The moment his paws made contact with the floor, the foundation shattered! Barbed vines wrapped around him, constricting him like a vice. A gasp escaped its jaws, as they tightened further.

Flowey brought his face up to where the skeleton was suspended, leaning towards him, his face mere millimetres away from Papyrus’. “I’m the one who’s the Player here. You’re just a stupid NPC.”

Papyrus opened his maw, as if to answer, but then bit down on the flower. Hard. Flowey mentally cursed. Of all the stupid things he forgot to account for! The flower screamed and dropped him to the ground, before falling to the floor himself. Papyrus pinned the flower’s face down with a claw, causing a further screech of pain.

The DT leaked out of him, Papyrus lapping it all up with a blue magic tongue. Drool seeped out of his maw as he hungrily continued to consume the substance, tearing up Flowey’s vines with his free claws to obtain more.

The dragon’s body shuddered and grew as he took in more and more of the substance, the remnants of his battle body all but exploding off as he became more and more draconic.

With his elongating neck, he continued to methodically rip open every last part of Flowey and extract the substance within, dagger-like teeth and claws easily piercing his ‘skin’ as painfully as possible. The turquoise substance his tongue left on the flower burned like acid.

Then, once Papyrus had drawn all he could from the flower… stuffed the soulless creature into his jaws. Slowly, but surely, the jaws started to compress – letting the flower know exactly how he was going to die, and just how excruciating it would be.

Out of every possible timeline he had encountered, and ever would… Flowey had never been more scared in his life. Then and there, the flower learned the true meaning of fear.

***

“ASRIEL!”

The splash of ice-cold water snapped the former prince back to reality.

Papyrus, his helmet removed, laughed in relief. “Thank God…! You were staring into space for ages! I thought I would have to use a 23rd bucket!”

“Haha… sorry, you really were terrifying.” Asriel’s chuckle was nervous, but deep down, he was pleased.

Such a situation no longer had the potential to occur. Resets and anything associated with them were no longer possible. Thanks to their achievements, this world was free from the curse of Determination. No one would treat real people’s lives like a worthless game. Papyrus would stay as Papyrus.

The horned skeleton in question bowed his head in apology. “I’m sorry for frightening you – this costume is clearly too much. I should donate it to a horror house later. But…” He stroked his bifurcated jaw. “What can I go as last-minute…?”

A mischievous smile crossed Asriel’s face. “I have an idea…”

***

“So cool, mister…!”

“Do it again, do it again!”

“As you wish, here we goooo…!” Another twirl of Papyrus’ head, and the top hat went spinning through the air again, drawing a cheer out of the crowd of children who gathered around him. It drew an arc, before landing right where it was earlier. It didn’t have a razor like in the source material, but it was just as fancy and entertaining to use.

ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ

Suddenly, purple projected menacing symbols started hovering around the area – those weren’t illusions created by the atmosphere, they were actually 3D hologram projections! Papyrus and Asriel, turned around, and at the sight, they grinned. Looked like some people had the same idea for costumes…!

Mettaton, RG01, and RG02 were dressed in the fabulous Pillar Men outfits, each of them practically glowing with over-the-top fabulousness. No, wait, they were just literally glowing and sparkling. That was MTT™ bishounen sparkle spray for you!

At any rate, he decided to play along – Papyrus issued a very convincing “KYAAAAAAAAAA! They’ve awakeneeeeed!”

Asriel added onto that, “Even the Great Papyrus is afraid!”

[sage-nebula]

DELTARUNE

So I’ve finished one (1) playthrough of Deltarune, and as a result I figured I’d go ahead and write up my thoughts. Note that I’m actually writing this at 11:53pm on Wednesday, October 31st; I’ve just queued it to post now. This is because I’m both respectful of Toby’s wishes to wait 24 hours, but also because I want to write up my thoughts before I forget them. (And it’s already been a few hours, so I REALLY hope I don’t forget anything . . .

So! Deltarune spoilers below the cut! You’ve been warned!

First, just to get this out of the way: I firmly believe this to be an alternate universe to Undertale, rather than a prequel or a sequel. Specifically, I believe it’s an alternate universe where the monsters were never sealed underground to begin with. I have a few reasons for this line of thought:

Asriel is still alive, and seems to have grown up healthily and happily. This is the biggest reason why I believe Deltarune can’t be a prequel or a sequel to Undertale. If it were a prequel that took place before the monsters were sealed, Asriel wouldn’t have been born yet. If it was a sequel, he’d be stuck underground as Flowey. While there is a version of Asriel underground(?), we know that Toriel and Asgore’s Asriel is off at university (. . . supposedly). He grew up happy and healthy, meaning that he never died and was turned into a flower. This could only happen in an alternate universe / timeline.

If this was an alternate history where they were still sealed but Asriel grew up underground, Undyne and Alphys would know each other (and be in love), but they don’t. If you talk to Undyne about Alphys, she makes it clear that she and Alphys have never met, asking who Alphys is and then assuming that she’s committed some sort of crime. While this is setting up for a Meet Cute™ between them, it more importantly tells us that nothing that happened in Undertale happened in this universe, which is why they don’t know each other. Along those lines . . .

Sans and Papyrus have only just moved in, and have only just met the other characters. Specifically, Sans has only just met Toriel and Alphys within the past day or so (if he is telling the truth), and Papyrus has apparently never met anyone (we don’t even get to have Kris meet him :’( a tragedy). If the events of Undertale had happened, they would all already be acquainted. Since they’re not, we can assume that this is not a sequel. Moreover, it also can’t be a prequel because we know that Sans and Papyrus “just appeared one day” in Snowdin; they didn’t settle there with the other monsters, meaning that this can’t be a situation where Sans and Papyrus went with the others to be sealed underground. They came later. So, not a sequel, and not a prequel.

Snowy’s mother, Shyren’s sister, and the leader of the dog pack are all just dead, rather than amalgamates. In Undertale, monsters who had “fallen down” (i.e. were dying) were taken to Alphys, who experimented on them with Determination. This resulted in them becoming amalgamates; they survived, but melted together and became deformed. But in Deltarune, if you visit the graveyard to the southwest of town, you discover graves for these monsters (and Gerson, RIP). It appears that while they were taken to Alphys for Determination experiments in the Undertale universe, they simply died in the Deltarune one, presumably because there was no Royal Scientist to take them to this time around (given that, instead of becoming the Royal Scientist, Alphys became a teacher here instead). 

Toriel and Asgore are divorced. This cannot be a prequel, because while Toriel and Asgore did separate prior to Undertale, they separated after the banishment in Undertale’s canon. However, it also cannot be a sequel, because Asriel is alive and well. Therefore, for the two of them to still be divorced and Asriel to be alive, this has to be an alternate universe. What drove them apart this time one can only wonder, but this does tell us one thing: it wasn’t just the death of their child(ren) and their reactions thereof that drove Toriel and Asgore apart. Their marriage was never meant to last.

There are probably more things that point to this being an alternate universe rather than a prequel or a sequel, but those are the things that come to mind immediately. While I might not be exactly right about what specifically makes this an alternate universe (that it’s a world where the monsters were never banished, but instead continued to live on the surface), I still think that’s the case, and will continue to think so until proven otherwise. And honestly, I think this is the best thing Toby could have done. A prequel would have ended sadly no matter what Toby did, because the monsters would have ended up sealed underground and we’d likely have to witness the deaths of two children thanks to buttercup poisoning and awful humans. That’s a pretty downer note to end a game on, but Toby would have to if he wanted to make this a prequel. At the same time, while I’m sure there’s story potential in a sequel because I can’t imagine humanity will take the sudden freedom of monsters very well (it’s implied in Undertale’s prologue that it’s been long enough that most humans have forgotten monsters even exist, so to suddenly see a bunch of monsters running around would no doubt freak them out), a game that’s nothing but politics and peace treaties created by a child wouldn’t be very much fun to play. But an alternate universe gives Toby tons of creative freedom to make a new story, even if some of the characters are familiar because they’re alternate universe versions of themselves. This was a really brilliant move on his part (though that shouldn’t be surprising, because this is Toby Fox we’re talking about). 

Anyway, enough about that. On to other thoughts!

I still think the mysterious being that talks to us in the beginning is Gaster. It has to be Gaster. First of all, we’ve always had reason to think of Gaster as a potentially dangerous person; that he was lost to his experiment and shattered across time and space aside---that he was a brilliant scientist, and the Royal Scientist before Alphys aside---the Riverperson tells us to “beware the man who speaks in hands.” That’s not specifically about Gaster, but I seem to remember something in the game’s code that suggests it’s probably a reference to him. The Riverperson told us to beware Gaster, and we should have listened, but our curiosity got the better of us. Curiosity killed the cat? No. Curiosity killed the humans. That said, we don’t have proof that it was Gaster yet, but I . . . I still believe . . . (Plus, the original pallet for our vessel was the Gaster Follower pallet, wasn’t it? HMMM . . .)

That said, the being that possesses Kris at the end is very obviously Chara. The red eyes, the smile, the knife . . . all of those things point to Chara. And it’s not that much of a surprise, in a way, because the shirt that Kris wears has the same colors as Chara’s shirt (and their hair is the same, et cetera), but I also have to wonder why. Why did this happen? I’m assuming it happened when Kris noticed their SOUL behaving strangely at the end, while standing in front of the fountain, but I don’t get why. I’m wondering if maybe I made something wrong, if I made a wrong decision, if I made this happen somehow despite that I didn’t kill any monsters (Susie did, once, but not by my will), and I never did a genocide run in Undertale at all, much less on this computer where I don’t even have the game downloaded . . . except . . .

Thinking about it, I don’t think this is something I (or anyone else) did wrong---I think that we were all headed toward this ending, provided all endings lead back to the town and Toriel’s house in the end. And the reason why I think this is that we were told twice that our choices don’t matter. We were told this by Susie when she stopped Kris from answering at the start, but we were also told this by the mysterious being at the very start of the game when he discarded the options we made previously. The only one who seemed to counter the idea that our choices don’t matter is Ralsei, but while I haven’t done multiple playthroughs to confirm, I think that might only impact what happens during the showdown with the king. If you’re kind to all the monsters, they come and save you, and if you’re not, they . . . don’t? I’m not sure, I’ve only done one playthrough. But it might be that your choices only have impact in the dark kingdom; in the surface world, your choices don’t. So while you can effect how your last moments in the dark kingdom turn out, you can’t affect the ultimate ending where Chara takes over Kris’ body and rips out their soul to stuff it in the birdcage.  I still want to know why that happened, though, even if it wasn’t through any fault of mine.

On that note, the anagrams. “Delta Rune” is an anagram of “Undertale” and we been knew about that for years now. Ralsei is an anagram of Asriel, and my friend SB pointed this out to me because I didn’t notice it at first (and she was RIGHT ON THE MONEY HOLY SHIT). But Kris . . . it looks like an anagram of “Frisk”, but it’s missing the F, and while “Frisk” does have more consonants than it’s easy to make an anagram from, I don’t think Toby simply tossed the F off without thought. I think he did it because while “Kris” can be an anagram of “Frisk” without the “f,” it’s also an anagram of “Risk”, meaning danger. There’s a risk of danger with Kris, and we encounter that danger at the very end, when Chara takes over. But why? Why did Chara take over? I need answers, Toby! 

Speaking of answers that I need, I need to know what’s going on with Asriel. Asriel was supposedly off at university, yet he’s also very clearly Ralsei. Yet although she appears shocked, Susie doesn’t call him out on this, and you’d think she’d know given that she knows Kris’ mother, and therefore she has to be at least familiar with the sight of Asriel. Moreover, there’s no indication that Kris reacts at all, which is particularly strange since, although Kris is mute, Susie could have noticed Kris’ surprise. But there is none---there isn’t any reaction at all. So what’s going on there? Why is Asriel in the dark kingdom if he’s also off at university? What---what is going on?? 

Back on the Chara topic for a moment: I checked the mirror both at the start of the game and at the end. The flavor text was “it’s just you” both times. Nothing changed. So why did Chara take over Kris?? 

I love Susie. Really, all the characters ended up endearing (I would die for Ralsei / Asriel), but I loved Susie’s development. Toby does such a wonderful job of creating characters, and he really knocked it out of the park with Susie. I really love how it wasn’t spelled out that the reason she behaves so aggressively is because she’s lonely and no one wants to befriend her, so she pushes them away so she can act like it doesn’t hurt her, but rather shown with how she reacted to befriending Lancer, and how she felt when he wanted to be like her, and how hurt she was by his seeming betrayal. That we even got to see her development by her eyes becoming visible in the end was icing on the cake. Susie was a brilliant character, and I loved every bit of her development. Even in a game as short as this one, she really shined. ♥

Burgerpants continues to be an absolute fucking delight, and I love that he was apparently best friends with Asriel before Asriel went off to college. If there isn’t tons of fanart of the driving around town “picking up chicks” I’m going to be sorely disappointed.

Both of Lancer’s dads suck ass and I’m so glad that one is in permanent time out and the other is going to shape up his behavior (albeit for the wrong reasons, but we’ll take what we can get.

The gameplay is FANTASTIC. I love, love, love that it’s still recognizably Undertale, but that Toby has also made enough changes to it that it feels like a new experience. Because you know, that’s a problem with some game series: Either the gameplay is too samey and it feels boring, or it’s so radically different that fans of the original can’t enjoy it. But I feel that Toby struck the perfect balance with Deltarune, and I really love it. 

The music is fantastic as well. I love the remixes of certain songs (THE UNDERTALE LEITMOTIF IN THE SAVE SCREEN MUSIC, HHHHHH), but the original songs are also great. From the battle theme, which is a bop, to that end credits music . . . is that Temmie singing? If so, her voice is BEAUTIFUL. And if not, whoever the singer is has a beautiful voice. I need to watch the credits again, both to hear the lyrics again (there’s something really soul chilling about the song ending on something akin to “I’m here with you” after seeing Chara take over Kris, gotta say), but also to pay actual attention to the credits this time, and just to hear the music again.

ALL OF THE CAMEOS HAD ME SO HHHHHHH IN THE BEST WAY!!! And the things that we learned about them! Actual, English language confirmation that Sans is the older brother! In-game confirmation that “Azzy” is in fact Asriel’s canonical nickname! SEEING MONSTER KID HAVING GROWN UP TO BE MONSTER TEEN!! All these things are so freaking great. But also, where is Napstablook? Because that was clearly Mettaton in the ghost house. If that’s Mettaton . . . where is Napstablook? Where are they, Toby?? 

I made this and everyone was wrong about it, it’s beautiful:

There’s so much more I feel like I should say, but my mind is still buzzing and jumping all over the place. All I have to say is this: When I learned it was a demo, I expected it to take me thirty minutes, tops. But even allowing for the fact that I had to take a thirty minute break and also pause periodically to do work things, Deltarune took me my entire eight hour shift at work. Toby was right to call this “chapter one” at the end; even if it’s not completely polished yet, it already feels like a full (albeit short and with a cliffhanger) game. That Toby blessed us with this for free when there are plenty of indie developers that would have charged at least five bucks for this just goes to show how generous and kind he is to his fans. I mean, to be fair, the man has made a boatload of money off Undertale, to the point where he probably doesn’t have to make another game if he doesn’t want to (which might also be why this is so goddamn good; he didn’t make it because he needs the money, he made it because he wants to make it), so it’s not like he necessarily needs us to pony up the cash. I won’t be surprised if there’s not a Kickstarter for Deltarune (but maybe there still will be, idk). But he still could have charged, and we still would have paid, but he didn’t and so we didn’t have to. He did that because he genuinely wants us to play this game, and he really appreciates us as his fans. I mean, I’ve never spoken to him, so maybe I’m reading way too much into his actions, but this, combined with the fact that he’s never shamed or acted embarrassed of the fandom, leads me to believe that Toby Fox truly respects, cares about, and appreciates his fanbase, and that makes me even happier to support him as a creator.

I can’t wait for chapter two (or the full game), whenever it comes out. I expect it’ll be a while from now, but who knows; maybe Toby is farther along on the project than we know, and we’ll see it around Christmas time. Either way, this is the best Halloween present I could have gotten, and I’m so grateful. Toby Fox is brilliant, and I’m so happy that I decided to pick up Undertale three years ago (and that I purchased the collector’s edition for Switch despite already having it on Steam, and that I dressed as Chara for Halloween today---something which, mind you, I’d been planning for over a month, ever since the CE for Switch was announced and I preordered it, knowing I’d be getting the locket; truly, it was fate that caused Toby to release Deltarune on a day I was already cosplaying as Chara). 

I love this series, I love Toby Fox’s creations, and I knew I was right to be impatient for the day Toby would announce he was working on a new project. I knew he wouldn’t disappoint, and I’m so, so happy I was right about that. ♥

[leonhaxor]

Hello, yes, welcome to a Deltarune Theory

So, we all know how Gaster was the royal scientist for King Dreemurr. Built his greatest creation, the CORE - which we know that is a massive power source - and that Gaster famously "fell into his creation." Most interpreters thin it's the CORE he fell into, but it's not exactly elaborated upon. We also know what whatever he fell into, he basically became a glitch in the system of UNDERTALE's reality.

Do we really know HOW his CORE works, though?

The CORE was Gaster's greatest creation. Which, as far as we ever knew, was an absolutely MASSIVE energy reactor that provided power to all of the Underground. These are the facts here. Judging by all the lava, it'd be safe to say the power source was geothermal in origin.

The thing is, as far as 'greatest creations' go, this seems a little bit... too mundane. Yes, it's massive. Yes, it looks like Shadow Moses and Hollow Bastion had a lovechild (the castle in KH1, not the variant with an actual town around it). Yes, the overworld theme there is a banger. But at the end of the day it's still a glorified power plant. To his credit, it's unknown how long it actually took him to make it, as well as the implied time period they were sealed away being at least around Medieval Times, if not further back.

But even then... what about the CORE could shatter Gaster's existence across time and space (assuming it was the creation at all)?

Monsters can die to a lot of the same things any other living being can die to. There might be certain allowances, based on what kind of monster they were. If the CORE was geothermal in nature, if a fire elemental was to fall into its workings... well, barring the "drop of water in an ocean" possibility, it's highly likely they'd survive intimate contact with such high levels of heat. A monster that may or may not be a skeleton, like Gaster is widely believed to be? Probably has a melting point.

With the heavy implications that his fall into the CORE spread his essence across time and space, and the specific attention to getting those details across... would a fall into a mere geothermal reactor, no matter how large, actually spread one's being across existence in such an anomalous manner? What would set it apart from dying in literally any other part of the Underground, where monsters turn to dust instead?

As we have seen in both UNDERTALE and deltarune, a Fall is an *incredibly important thing*. Chara/The First Human fell into the underground, arguably fucking up everyone as badly (if not more so) than the human wizards of old who trapped monsters in the Underground. The six human children that came after did the exact same thing, leaving only their SOULs and their gear behind for Asgore and Frisk, respectively, to use. Frisk... well, they too fell into the Underground, and gave us the means to interact with that world.

What do monsters call dying of old age in their culture? Falling down. You know who also did this by the time we're in Chapter 1 of deltarune? Gerson. There’s a book in the  The one person alive who knew what the delta rune was, and who has been getting an awful lot of mention for a dead turtle, but I'll get to that later. Note that there was a distinct difference in the way that it was described for Gaster - he “fell into his own creation,” but he did not “fall down.” Humpty Dumpty might have been pushed.

But the point is, Gaster's own fall is fascinating because like in the context of the human children's falls, his Fall marked a beginning of a story (most obviously, Alphys', but I'm not sure that's where it ends), and the context of an end (such as Gerson's fall in deltarune, and his posthumous reverence by the community that he was from, much like the Followers do).

...so, what exactly might be the cause for Gaster's non-existence, regarding the CORE itself? How exactly did any of that end up being relevant?

Let's talk about deltarune's story for a second.

Recall that the Knight has been referred to by Spade King in crimson text... which, if you recall, is rather similar in color to that of the human SOUL in Kris.

But what kind of creature could this Knight be, to fight the Spade King and instill such profound loyalty within this monarch? When he is so powerful, so cunning, so ruthless, as we see him in his boss battle (as well as indirectly, though his effect on the Darkners' Kingdom)? What if I told you... 

Ahem.

Jokes aside, we do have to consider what kind of monster this Knight would have to be, one with the power to create the Holy Fountains. One that we haven't actually seen onscreen, and have heard even less of than King. Except... we might actually have seen someone, or rather something, that DOES have ties with the Knight, or at least his ability to manipulate the Fountains.

Kris.

Or rather, their SOUL.

Or even more specifically... a SOUL that we simply control.

Let's walk back a bit from the stinger, and work our way from there.

Here's a picture from the final scene we have so far in the Dark World, specifically of the “fountain” that we encounter. 

If you are viewing this in-game, the pattern is constantly scrolling diagonally, along the same line but in different directions. If you pay attention to it, you'll see this strange symbol that looks like a chinese fingertrap with spades on the ends.

Now take a look at this picture from the vessel creation screen. It’s been taken from just before the other menu items appear, for maximum clarity. 

Note how, while there is a constant rippling effect from the center, not unlike water in a pool, we can clearly see that there is a shape being distorted.

One that bears a striking resemblance to that of the fountain itself.

Both times we see this pattern, texture, whatever you prefer calling it... there is a brief interval where we see it, before a *Red SOUL* is seen in the center of it. And, directly afterwards, we are shown a white light that encompasses the entire screen, before we are brought into the World of Light.

Curiously, in the earlier variant, the screen turns white from the center x-axis and outwards, where the second one turns white from the center y-axis and outwards. Not entirely sure of the significance of the differing choice in axis, but I think it has something to do with the context of each entry. The first is our entry into the game, or rather the prologue, while the latter is our entry into the epilogue.

I believe that the former is representative of the SOUL's entry into the CORE, while the latter is representative of it returning from the depths of the Dark World.

Yes, you read that right.

I believe that the entirety of this game take place inside the CORE.

Between the curious reactions to entering his name into either of the inputs, along with all of the references to sounds and words associated with him, most people think Gaster is the narrator in the opening sequence. Or Chara, according to @Squigglydigg's initial theories playing the game. But while that'd be interesting to explore, I'll have to go a third route for the moment, as I believe there is more evidence to back this idea up.

I might as well address the name input easter eggs before I go farther. Neither "Frisk" nor "Chara" happen to elicit any sort of unique response from the narrator whatsoever. If you name Gaster as the Vessel, the program soft resets. But if you name him as the Creator... it shuts down immediately, before you can truly enter the "R."

I believe that this narrator we are introduced to is actually a program designed by Gaster himself, made to oversee the CORE's operations.

If Gaster is named as the creator of this vessel, the program crashes. Note that this name is also used as that of the SAVE file's profile. As far as we know so far, the vessel's name is inconsequential. It's been hypothesized that this vessel will become relevant in later chapters, but it is unclear if and how it would actually be used.

My current thoughts as to what the creator has to do with this program... is that whoever is actually using the program is in some form of VR simulation. One that, as suggested by the cage at the end of the chapter, is meant to trap the player. I’ll get more into how it tries to do so in the next part of my hypothesis.

I haven’t forgotten about the "Chara" figure at the end of the chapter. I think this is actually a clue to the true identity of the Knight, or at least the World of Light's equivalent. Recall that the one in the Dark World is never seen, but is able to summon the Holy Fountains of Darkness. King, in his fight, has an odd hatred for Kris specifically, calling them the specific name of "Lightbringer" for the first and only time so far in the game. Picture the act of what the Knight *does*, bringing forth a fountain of shadows from the Earth. When Kris stands before that castle fountain, it erupts into light (and is presumably destroyed, but then again, we don’t actually see the aftermath of this action).

The Knight is implied to be obscenely powerful, in both conventional combat and enough to create dark fountains, enough to make King into a willing and eager servant. If we look back at UNDERTALE's genocide route, we see Flowey (who in terms of power and personality greatly resembles King) eagerly supporting "Chara" in their slaughtering of the Underground. And, by the time we have defeated Sans, we've made them into a truly unstoppable killing machine. Note how the Knight's colortext has a unique red and black gradient effect, representing their ties to the darkness while also bringing to mind the infamous red text that accompanied our player-made killer's thoughts. Thoughts laid out in simpler text rendering, but noticably brighter hue than that associated with the Knight.

Also recall the words of Seam the Shopkeeper, should you defeat Jevil. He heavily implies that Jevil is only a taste of what is to come, that later enemies will be even more powerful than that reality warping madman. In the world of UNDERTALE, what has proven more powerful than a human with high LV?

Apart from human error... not much comes to mind, honestly.

In the next part of my Game Theory(TM), I’ll be going over what I think Ralsei’s part to play in all of this really is, as well as what the CORE actually *does* to generate power for the Underground.