Sounds weird but I bring you a theory that might be something youāve never wondered before. Itās something Iāve been researching for a while and I had assumed things that were only farfetched theories until nowā¦ I think Iāve figured it out for the most part and I can actually call this a theory.
Soā¦ first you gotta ask yourself, does red mean DETERMINATION? It is true that it never defines red as determination, however it is heavily implied by all the times you save and die and it sends a message āYouāre filled with determinationā. But never once in the game it colors the word āDeterminationā with red. In the genocide route when we save after killing all monster in the area it says determination colored in red, but since this route is when chara is more active while interacting with all all the words said by them are colored red so thatās not something I felt I could use as a solid proof to say āyes red means determinationā
This question led me to research for a line in game where the other souls are mentioned, how do we know the other colors like orange and blue for example, mean bravery and integrity? So I was remembered of the small ball game at snowdin, thatās where the answerās gotta be.
To my surprise, only after winning every single one of the flags we get this message
This is where we can confirm what eacch color means. Butā¦ whereās the red?
This is the only message that we get after the definition of each trait
āBall gameā?? Determination is not a ballā¦ much less a gameā¦ right?
Nowā¦ why exactly is that colored in red? What does it represent?
Going back a little, when you first encounter this ball game, when you approach the hole it gives us this message:
So now we have HOLE colored in red.
The reason of why it took me so long to realize what this meant, is because you have to think outside the box to figure it out in a way it made sense. And then the answer clicked insids my brain.
What if the combination of all traits, is what makes determination?
The text is implying that once the game is won, only then you can āwinā the ball game and get the RED text. But you can only win the game by getting all other traits first. As the text mentions:
āUsing these you were able to win at āBall Gameā ā having the words āBall gameā colored in red.
Now letās apply this in game.
The first time we play, we all mostly got a neutral ending, wether we screwed up the begining by killing a single frogit since we thought this was a normal rpg (like I didā¦) or by just not getting all the ādatesā with papyrus, alphys and undyne.
Tecchnically the neutral ending is made to leave us, as players, unsatisfied, we want a better ending because we know monsters deserved better, we want them to be free, so we look for a way to make that happen.
Through our journey in the underground we make friends and have unforgettable experiences with monsters, ssometimes we get a neutral ending because we were kind but lacked integrity. Maybe we befriended everyons in our oath but forgot to persevere and missed alphysā dateā¦ butā¦ only, and ONLY after achieving all these dates and only after befriending everyone is that we can truly āwin the gameā getting our beloved pacifist ending.
Only after being patient with toriel at the start, only after being kind to the people we meet, only after being brave against undyne, only after having the inyegrity to spare floweyā life after everything he did to us, we persevered through the underground trying to find a true ending something that we might have misses to give monsters the freedom they deserve because thatās what we think is FAIR, we want to bring them justice.
Only after all that we manage to face asriel dreemurr who is literally infinite times more powerful than us, and through our determination (both friskās and charaās) we manage to get our pacifist ending.
This is where I was singing victory, like āYES I FIGURED IT OUTā but then I thought if this is supossed to represent the game and is supossed to imply that by getting all the traits in that we get determinationā¦ then whatās up with the genocide routeā¦
Thereās nothinng kind, or fair, or brave about the genocide routeā¦ soā¦ how can determination be a combination of all traits.
This is where I was stuck for a long time, but I kept my theory and assuming I was right, if I was in the right track, I was clearly missing something. I just had to found what was itā¦ and then I found it.
The FIRST time you get the red flag you get the rainbow text, as shown above, it defines that by gathering all traits you get determination and won the game.
But what happens when you get the RED flag a SECOND timeā¦ something different appears:
It doesnāt say like.. āDETERMINATIONā in red with a definition. Of course, we already stated that determination was a combination of all traits, so what does this mean? And why only after the second time we get the rainbow text does it change?ā¦
Well, this is the gameās way to represent our ātrue natureā we are, sadly, very curious, and usually after doing a pacifist route, we go to make a genocide one, or not only a genocide route but we go and experiment with the game, killing whatever quantity we feel like, getting to the end with a certain amount of LV to get a different line of text, we lose all consideration for the characters and just see them as a way to get a different line of text, not as our friends, but as tools.
Soā¦ this is where my speculation became theory:
Determination is both, a combination of all traits and the mere desire of being determined enough to get as many āred flagsā or āendingsā as possible so we can see all different lines of text we continue to being ourselves but not in a good way, we simply reveal our curious nature and desire for more.
Determination can be used for good or evil, but both count as determination wether itās used to revive once and again and again only to get a different ending, or to refuse death and survive an attack with infinite stats. Though I have to say, the good kind of determination sounds more powerful to me.
Sure we get determination for the smallest littlest things but the TRUE determination that will allow us to make the impossible possible, is gained by either gathering all traits, or just having the desire of keep going forwards not taking into account your intentions
