999 years

undertale tells a lot of stories but maybe my favorite one of the stories it tells is the story about a sad, angry, hateful child, who on being really and truly loved for the first time decided they were willing to die in order to kill anyone who could possibly hurt their family; and how by being unfailingly kind, and open, and helping and befriending the people who lash out at you in fear and despair, you can help even that child to a happier and more peaceful ending, to the belief that things can be okay

if you play a genocide run then there’s plenty of evidence that the “narrator” is the fallen child, taking control of Frisk. the ending, for one, but also the way that the flavor text etc changes, like the mirror saying “It’s me, Chara” when you look into it (also contrasting with Frisk always being referred to in the second person)

#no i am not over undertale thank you for asking #just!!! just thinking about when the game tells you that there’s one more person you can SAVE #but there are TWO people!!! there’s a second person you’ve been saving all along #just by being kind and showing a scared hurt child that things can be okay #and like. frisk doesn’t really have a character arc as the protagonist because the game explicitly acknowledges #that YOU’RE the one controlling them and acting. it’s your choices. not theirs #YOU’RE the one who is supposed to learn and grow and change over the course of undertale #learn to be kinder and more hopeful. which in my opinion is one reason why you’re supposed to give Chara your name #it’s a story about the both of you and whether or not you can progress from your initial belief #that this is a world that works a certain way where humans and monsters kill each other #and learn to believe instead that. things can be better than that. the world can be better than that. you can be better than that