oh HELL, i can’t believe it took me this long to realize.
when you hug asriel after his fight, it’s not asriel saying he doesn’t want to let go, otherwise it would have his talksprite next to it. It’s probably not frisk either; they don’t say anything directly, not even when they’re telling asriel their name earlier in that scene.
it’s got the narrator’s star next to it, so it’s the narrator saying it.
that’s chara hugging their brother vicariously through frisk for the last time, saying that they don’t want to let him go.
the whole “chara’s a demon child” thing is personally really boring to me because the truth is way more complex: just like the Underground as a whole, the way you play the game profoundly changes chara, and the way they think about the world.
it’s just way more obvious in the No Mercy route because they literally have to show up in person and get you to Stop.
I CANT BELIEVE I DIDNT REALIZE THIS IN SO MANY YEARS I'M HAVING A CRISIS RIGHT NOW
