#blacksmith squad

"A miracle to the mind,

The courage to break your binds.

You slip into a world, all so new,

And here you will live, before you knew."

After a bit of work, I’m very happy to announce that, with my amazing mutuals and collaborators @irriska and @dearmizumi, the daily Blacksmith squad @3idiotsandarainbow is now live!

I’m not an expert on characters like Murder and Horror, so those who are who happen to come upon this can correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ll try my best to answer.

For Killer, the answer is a very big yes. In his comics, Killer thinks to himself things like how he can’t be Sans, because Sans wouldn’t kill Papyrus—and this is one of the reasons why he knows he’s “different.” In asks, it’s revealed that Killer doesn’t think he has earned the right to be called Sans again or to ever change his name from Killer. He talks about how he wants to change in his Good Ending—how he wants to be Sans again, and begs Color to help him with doing that.

(To which Color seems to think the way to do that is to somehow fix Killer’s soul—suggesting that the way Killer’s soul was unwillingly changed without his consent had a major effect on Killer’s sense of identity and perception on himself. On top of that, his code—like in a video game, meta sense—was altered from his normal coding to “k1ll_sans,” and we see that code seems to be tied to, potentially “active,” depending on what state (Stage) his soul is in.)

On top of that, there’s the whole “two personalities” thing. A lot of debates in the fandom on what exactly this is supposed to be or represent, but most seem to agree that it is dissociative in nature—so the idea of this character, Sans, having developed a dissociative disorder due to the events of this timeline (Something New timeline) isn’t too far fetched.

According to Google, “Dissociative disorders are mental health conditions that involve a loss of connection between thoughts, memories, feelings, identity, behavior, and surroundings. They can involve involuntary escape from reality and are often linked to breakdowns in memory, awareness, identity, or perception.”

So yes, Killer does not consider himself Sans—or at least, not the Sans he was, and he seems to consider himself different from both alternate timeline Sanses and especially from alternate universe Sanses. This whole identity has a very big hold on his day to day life—Nightmare can use it to override his choices, perceptions, thoughts and emotions. Killer relies internally on these two “personalities” on making his own choices.

He seems to experience black outs and loss of control of his own body when encountering something that triggers his soul into Stage 4 (or when something triggers a flashback that winds up triggering that Stage).

He talks about himself in Stage 3 in a very removed, detached way—not as if it’s a different person entirely, but in a way that suggests that he either doesn’t have control over himself when in Stage 3, or that he doesn’t see any issues with anything he does when in Stage 3 or why he shouldn’t do it or not want to do it because it makes sense to him when he’s “like that.”

He talks about himself when in Stage 2 in a very similar—only with less emphasis on “immediately kill me” and more on “don’t trust me when I’m like that. Ever.”

For Horror, it’s to my understanding that he doesn’t really have any reason or need to consider himself not Sans—Horrortale doesn’t seem to dive much into AU stuff canonically. I do know he seems to have some type of amnesia and/or memory issues, as well as seemingly a bit of a personality change—but that seems to be due to both his skull injury, his current situation and environment, and the trauma of his attempted murder and betrayal of his two friends.

But his identity and sense of self seems to be mostly intact—he is Sans, even if he may or may not remember long stretches of his life before the events of Horrortale.

As for Murder, he also seems to have an intact identity and sense of self—he is Sans—but just different, thanks to time, trauma and stress, as well as his own actions and choices driven by his own desperation. I remember reading somewhere that he just doesn’t like who he was before.

As for Delta and Color, this one’s a little tricky, as not only has that type of stuff not been very picked into in their canons (and Delta has very little), but they also absorbed human souls—souls that belonged to entirely separate, developing beings with their own personalities, senses of selves, experiences and memories, and therefore likely their own motivations, desires, narrative and interpretations of events, goals, dreams, and voices.

I know Gaster still calls Color by “Sans” in the canon Othertale material—but like Horror, it’s not actually canon that Color ever leaves his universe and starts meeting and interacting with other alternate universe characters, besides his encounter with Core Frisk in the Void. He’s also aware of alternate timelines, but not alternate universes.

Not to mention—Color (or Sans) would’ve realistically spent about two decades of his life completely trapped in the Void and isolated from the rest of the world, both physically but also in their own memories.

The person he was doesn’t even exist or matter to anyone else in Othertale. This is bound to cause some identity issues, on top of the dissociating and daydreaming that the trauma and stress and just loss of everything he knows is bound to have—already with the six human souls layered on top like a fucked up identity cake.

We know that superyoumna has said that the souls is not like “multiple personalities,” but adding traits on top of Sans (possibly in a way that makes Color), and we have seen a few drawings of that in action—“you’re filled with Kindness”—and although nothing obviously changed other than the color of Color’s flames and eyelight, it does seem have an almost possessive effect on Color and his behaviors when that happens.

To the point that he’d disregard others boundaries and others saying no in an attempt to be kind, almost in the way a friendly but excited child would—like, for example, very tightly and very suddenly hugging Cross even as Cross struggles, attempts to push Color off, tells him to get off, and calls him a freak.

For Delta, we do see the Bravery soul and Sans communicating—with Bravery encouraging and picking Sans up when his grief and depression stops him from wanting to keep fighting anymore. Gives me the idea that Delta is almost like a fusion from Steven Universe.

In comparison to killer’s, dust’s, and horror’s rooms they’ve earned through time, “loyalty,” commitment or effort, or simply status—it’s really nothing. But in comparison to all the other dirty, empty, blood stained cells it’s heaven—and maybe the other prisoners hate or envy color for it.

killer paints over the scratches and notches in the walls, cleans up mold, replaces the locks, covers up the old blood stains that were allowed to dry—his? Someone else’s?

He brings in scraps of warm things to work as bedding, blankets, pillows—lays out a rug or two on the cold stone floors, tries to clean them as best he can. when returning from missions or raids he comes back with stolen gifts—crayons, coloring book, pens, paper, a board game.

things he’d immediately take away or destroy if any other prisoner was caught with them.

he replaces the cold, hard metal with some clean, leather cuffs—doesn’t want the metal digging into Color’s fragile bones and causing fractures—makes the chains a bit longer and looser, so color has more range of movement without having to worry about choking himself or straining his wrists and shoulders.

maybe he can’t bring color a lamp or anything—too big, no plugs or electricity in any one cell—but maybe he brings color some glow in the dark stars. killer doesn’t like looking at them too long at night, but it’s one way to avoid reminding color of the void—whatever keeps color from slipping away inside himself.

Is Nightmare the shortest of his own gang? Because that would be fucking hilarious. It just looks like he’s an evil little kid whenever he’s standing next to someone.

He isssss, he’s so damn short man

And tbh I usually just go for deciding heights visually rather than specific numbers cause numbers are my greatest enemy (ironic considering my love for biostat shhshshs)

And yes Nightmare is the shortest, not just in his own gang, but the entire multiverse (excluding Ink who would be shorter), the only ones who have Nightmare’s same height are Dream and Blue hcchhchvhc

Here’s a helpful visual guide

Nightmare only comes up to his gang’s shoulders (and keep in mind that my Nightmare wears heels) so his actual height is a bit under the shoulders for his gang dhhdhdhdh

“nightmare takes color captive, intends to ‘corrupt’ him/use Color (aka the souls) for his magical abilities such as healing and shielding, killer likely the one convincing Nightmare to keep Color alive” has some very interesting ideas and concepts to explore and potray within it.

killer has to do and say a lot of Not Good or Morally Right things to and for Color to keep him useful and obedient enough to live while also attempting to shield Color from the worse of it all (or inflicting the Worse himself both because he’s conditioned to when ordered and offering to do it himself out of a strange mix of attachment, not wanting Color to become fully like him, but also being a lil too possessive and territorial and distrusting to let anyone else do it or trust them to do it “right”),

the distance between Color and Killer whenever Killer’s SOUL is in Stage 2.

Color’s attempts to get through to the Sans parts in Killer and trying to get Killer’s SOUL back into Stage 1 for at least one moment—at least in the beginning, before color possibly became more focused on trying to survive by keeping everyone else alive instead of attempting escape.

Possibly even having the influence of the Kindness soul become so loud and frequent that it drowns out all the other souls’ and even color himself at points, especially if the way the souls influence color is eventually noticed and used against him, perhaps conditioning him for something via twisting and using the Kindness soul—which used to belong to a human child, possibly the youngest of the souls.

It also presents opportunities to explore color and the souls through a lens of plurality in interesting ways. Potentially even upsetting or triggering ways depending on what’s portrayed, thanks to the potential involvement of children—even if not physically, maybe even not exactly knowingly on part of the other characters in the story.

explores how plurality or did/osdd1 can make people vulnerable in different ways, such as the vulnerability of child/little parts (or souls in colors case) despite being in adult bodies, even if the soul can’t exactly take full control of the body, but can passively influence color.

Also in large part because, we know that Color’s body is only still physically moving around because the six souls’ magic keep it going (and their power can just easily cause it to crack splinter and dust if overused), but I also like to think about the way the souls’ traits adapt to situations in attempts to keep color alive—not only physically, but mentally, emotionally, and psychologically as well.

I’ve already briefly talked about how i think the influences of the Perseverance soul and the Patience soul are big reasons why Color managed to shoulder through the almost complete isolation of the Void, Patience the reason why Color has some level of emotional stability and regulation at all—Integrity holding up Color’s sense of self.

I’d imagine they’d all have different methods of keeping Color alive—even if it means smothering his mind in a haze, shoving any other trait down. Like, Kindness can shield and heal Color and others—it’s apart of the soul’s magic even—but Kindness never stops being kind, never stops Color from giving himself and everything he has away constantly.

Perhaps it thinks it’s helping Color, stopping him from being alone and forgotten and abandoned by being good enough to remember—or perhaps it’s not really developed enough to do much complex thinking, just doing what a child’s idea of what a kind soul is supposed to do—but it does that at the cost of Color’s physical health. His mental health, his emotional well being. Even his sense of self, his boundaries—his sense of right and wrong.

Some will push forward hard in captivity—like Kindness—some will linger in the background—Patience and Perseverance. Others start fading more and more with time—like Justice and Integrity.

Others will go completely silent, smothered so deeply under the stronger soul’s influence—Kindness—like a heavy, thick, fuzzy blanket—Bravery. Because Bravery’s influence becomes no longer beneficial in staying alive or safe, so it is smothered by the one that says hush, give, be good.

Kindness is the loudest and last to go quiet — precisely because it thrives under forced giving. It wants to soothe, it wants to fix, it wants to trade suffering for affection.

Nightmare loves this — he exploits it: the more Color is forced to heal, forgive, comfort, the more Kindness roots deeper. If anything, the endless cycle of softening and using actually strengthens Kindness’ influence.

When Color gets used up and breaks, Kindness pulls him back up: try again — be good again — give more. This is why it’s so strong when he’s freed too: it stayed alive by never shutting up.

Patience holds on second longest — it’s the quiet buffer. It numbs the worst parts, dulls the pain, lets Color wait out the nights when Killer doesn’t come, when Nightmare’s threats loom.

Patience is the trait that made Color survive the Void for decades. It’s survival through stillness. But unlike Kindness, Patience doesn’t push Color to act — it keeps him docile, compliant.

It doesn’t die, but under so much forced activity (the constant healing, forced touch), Patience can feel smothered — only flickering up when Color’s too exhausted to move.

Perseverance is stubborn — but ironically, it can turn inward to make Color keep enduring the same patterns.

Where Kindness says give, Perseverance says don’t break. They work well together — which is why Nightmare’s exploitation makes Perseverance blend into Kindness like a hidden spine.

It never fully goes out — but if Color stops believing there’s anything better at the end of the suffering, Perseverance can grow cold, just brute routine: breathe, exist, survive.

Bravery should fight back. It should drive Color to resist — lash out, escape, bite back. But in an environment like Nightmare’s castle, where every rebellion ends in horrific punishment or someone else paying the price — Bravery gets starved.

The more Color’s kindness is rewarded and his fight is punished, the more Bravery fades to a dull ember. It doesn’t vanish, but it gets buried under Kindness’s louder be soft, be good.

Sometimes, a sudden flare happens — a sharp tongue at Nightmare, or defending another prisoner — but it flickers fast, snuffed out by fear.

Justice hates Nightmare. Hates Killer’s submission. Hates how the rules are bent and broken. But Justice needs power to enforce itself — and Color has none in that cage.

So it tries at first: pushing Color to speak up, to heal the wrong people, to help other prisoners even when forbidden. But Nightmare’s punishments make Color too afraid to keep defying.

Gradually, Justice grows quiet. It might manifest in little sparks: telling the truth when lying would keep him safer. But mostly it goes dormant — waiting for a day when Color has the strength to balance the scales.

Integrity is the glue that should hold Color’s sense of self steady. But Nightmare’s entire exploitation is designed to shatter that self.

Every forced submission, every coerced affection — it all chips away at Color’s belief that he’s still himself inside.

Integrity tries to keep the pieces together — to remind Color: I am me. This is what I believe. This is who I am. But the constant breaking blurs the line: Is this me choosing? Or me being shaped?

Of all the souls, Integrity is the one that risks going silent — not dead, but muted — leaving Color unable to tell where the real him ends and the conditioned parts begin.

Because Nightmare feeds on helplessness.

Kindness, Patience, Perseverance — these make Color useful and pliant, so Nightmare nurtures them by rewarding their outcomes (obedience, healing, soft devotion).

Bravery, Justice, Integrity — these threaten the control, so they’re starved. Any flare of them is punished or twisted back against Color until the soul stops reaching for it.

When Color escapes — it’s Kindness that dominates at first. It floods Color with guilt for leaving, urges him to give himself to new protectors.

But in safety, the others can wake up again:

Justice first — seeing Nightmare’s crimes through clearer eyes. Bravery when someone reminds him he’s allowed to be angry.

Integrity most fragile — but if trusted people (like Delta, Epic) help him rebuild his sense of self, it can return as a spine under the soft skin Kindness left behind.

That being said, it’s quite possible that even when the other souls return—slowly waking up now that Color is safe, and they’re no longer being shoved down—that the others don’t trust Color, even more than Color no longer trust himself. Because he muffled them, muzzled them, allowed Kindness to hush them up.

I believe I answered this here, but as we all know the Bad Sanses are not canon. It’s just Killer and Nightmare, maybe Cross and XChara at some point who left/escaped either on their own or with Dream’s help, so it’s really only Killer in canon who Color is rescuing.

But if Bad Sanses were canon, or it’s an au where Dust and Horror are there, Color absolutely would offer to help them too. He’d make sure they know that they have someone in their corner if they ever want to take the option, but he wouldn’t force them—so it’s ultimately up to Dust and Horror if they want to take Color’s help, and if they do, it’d likely be based on many factors.

(And yes, he’d still offer his help even if Dust and Horror weren’t kidnapped like Killer was, but made deals with Nightmare. Because he knows what coercion is.)

For example, Horror still has his brother and AU back home. He’d want their safety from Nightmare ensured. Does Color have the means to assure him of that? There’s also the fact of: would Horror and Dust trust Color?

The bond between Color and Killer and why it’s different from others Color has helped (for example, there’s even some old abyss sans cstuff im talking about with toffee about how Color helped saved Abyss!Sans after Abyss was kidnapped by Nightmare), I’ve already talked about in many, many posts; highlighting their similarities and differences. These two are basically mirrors.

If Color grows to create a bond with Dust and Horror would probably depend on certain factors, and I would definitely recommend checking out @3idiotsandarainbow (centered all around this concept) if you haven’t already, but he’d help them too if they were there.

This is probably one of those things where there’s multiple outcomes and timelines, failing or succeeding or something neutral. For one thing, Dust and Horror may have to somehow found out about Color’s existence and presence.

And then they’d have to get through any response that sparks out of Killer—not only is Killer a bit territorial, not only does one or both of them knowing this information if Killer didn’t want them to make him think he’s lost some control and is now in a vulnerable position—which means he’d probably try to find a means to regain some control—but there’s also the matter of: will they talk?

Will Dust and/or Horror tell Nightmare about Color, or whatever else they know? There’s no way Nightmare doesn’t know about Color, of course, but he may not know about any meetings, any communication, any conversations, any plans to escape.

So basically, it comes down to trust. Not only between the Murder Time Trio—how far is Killer willing to go to keep this under wraps? What is he most concerned about—keeping control, his possible potential freedom, not losing Color just yet? And more—but also between Color & Dust & Horror.

Dust & Horror knowing about Color, especially anything specific, puts Color in danger. He has to trust them not to tell—which I highly doubt Color is too concerned for himself, anyway.

Other than just generally being a brave person with enough magical power to back it—Killer doesn’t intimidate him in the slightest, Horror and Dust aren’t going to either, and although Color is cautious with Nightmare, he at least has a chance in terms of magical prowess.

It’s moreso others Color is worried about—the souls, his friends back in the Omega Timeline that im sure he’ll keep under wraps for a long time, and of course: Killer. But also—he’d be worried about Horror and Dust as well.

I doubt he’d blame them if either of them told about him to Nightmare, but he’d seek to avoid it and not want it to happen for Killer’s safety. (If this isn’t the first time Color has lost a Killer, especially in a similar matter, even more desperate and panicked—even if he tries to remain calm.)

And then of course, Dust and Horror would have to trust Color—a stranger. A stranger who apparently means something to Killer, who they may or may not trust themselves. And this stranger is..what, trying to get Killer to leave Nightmare?

Trying to change him? Trying to play the hero and ‘fix’ him? What does Color want, and why would he want to help Dust and Horror, as well?

On top of that. What does Killer get out of this? Why’s he doing this? Does he actually want to leave, or is he just playing around with that Color guy? Does he actually give a shit about him, or is he the latest toy? Or is he just Killer’s powerful magic weapon to ensure his ticket to freedom, or maybe even revenge, against Nightmare?

Is this an elaborate trick—they agree to try and leave with Color and Killer, only for Killer (and possibly even Color too) to turn on them at the last second? Playing as a mole for Nightmare, trying to “test” loyalty?

On top of all of that, there’s if Dust thinks he deserves help enough to try and leave—why would anyone help a murderer like him? And Horror, what about his brother? Can Color ensure his brother’s, if not his whole AU’s, safety from Nightmare in any capacity?

So i suppose it ultimately comes down to if the four of them are willing and able to trust eachother enough, and if Dust and Horror are willing to take the risks that attempting to escape poses.