#nochoco

Undertale is a simple game, and I mean that in the best way possible. Being able to communicate difficult subject matter through simplistic means is very wonderful. Undertale expertly weaves its mechanics into its narrative to bring its gameplay and narrative to new heights. The FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY buttons function both as gameplay mechanics and as a part of the story. These button contextualize how you interact with the world of Undertale and how certain characters may perceive you. The mechanics help tell the story and the simplistic nature of them allow for Undertale to relay its themes in an easy to understand manner. However, for as straightforward as Undertale relays its story through core mechanics, many narrative elements such as backstory are left purposely vague. Specifically, there are no real hints whatsoever as to why Frisk climbed Mt. Ebott, and all that is known for Chara’s reasoning is what Asriel states: That it wasn’t for a very happy reason. In Chara’s case, this reason is most often interpreted as their hatred for humanity, but the separate nature of these assertions by Asriel lead me to believe they are not one in the same. So Undertale gives almost nothing to work on for these reasons, but then I considered the meta aspects of Undertale, and came to a possible explanation. What if we are meant to take Mt. Ebott as the game Undertale, and the reasons Chara and Frisk climb Mt. Ebott to be representative of the reasons we might play Undertale.

This seems like a huge leap in logic, and I have a lot working against me, so I might as well start with why I think Mt. Ebott is representative of Undertale as a game. The game of Undertale does not start until Frisk falls into Undertale, and your ability to influence it, except by true resetting, does not end until Frisk either leaves Mt. Ebott or Chara destroys the world. Given that Flowey needs to explain to Frisk what their SOUL is, and Toriel needs to explain how to peacefully resolve a confrontation you might have in the game through the ACT feature, these mechanics are likely not present outside of Mt. Ebott. Flowey also makes several references to Undertale being a game, and how they are tired of playing it. So I believe given all of this, that Mt. Ebott is meant to serve a representation of the game of Undertale. If Mt. Ebott is meant to serve as a game, then could it very well be the reasons that Chara and Frisk would climb Mt. Ebott be representations of why they would want to play Undertale?

Before I continue, I would like to point out that I subscribe to the theory that the choices presented in Undertale are meant to represent Chara and Frisk’s desires. Tumblr user @nochocolate has a wonderful theory in the works about how the different choices you can take are representative of Frisk and Chara’s desires. In the Undertale release trailer we see the game advertised as it allowing you to spare or slay the monsters, we can make strange friends, and we decide their fate. The duality of these choices then puts Chara and Frisk at odds. So then, why would either of them want of them want to play Undertale? Well in the case of Frisk, it is to make friends. If you’ve spent even 15 minutes browsing Undertale theories, you have likely come across the “Orphan Frisk” theory. While I think the theory has some validity, it is very much like the “Blue’s Raticate” theory in that there’s not much significance to the story from knowing this fact. However, combining the “Orphan Frisk” theory with what I have established so far, we might see then why Frisk wants to make friends. At the very end of the True Pacifist route, the route in which you have sided with Frisk’s choices the most, Toriel offers them the choice to stay with her. However, if you choose to stay with her she will remark on how Frisk is a very strange child, if they had said that earlier none of this would have happened. However, if we continue with the choices representing Chara and Frisk, and look at the beginning of the game, the two choices with her were “Nothing” and “When can I go home?” The latter is most definitely Chara’s desire, they always desired to get the surface, even in death as we see at the end of a Genocide route. That leaves the former as Frisk, content with just being with their new parent. Even if you choose not to stay with Toriel, the game ends with a picture of Frisk with all their new friends. Seeing as Undertale was heavily marketed for this, it would definitely seem like making friends would be a reason for Frisk to want to play Undertale.

“Well then, what if I don’t want to play Undertale to make friends?” Someone might ask. That’s where Chara comes in. While by process of elimination we could easily leave Chara’s reasoning for wanting to play Undertale was to slay monsters, that would be ignoring all the other possible factors given the unique way that Chara is presented within the game. First up to note is that Chara fell before Frisk and they are dead before the start of the game. I do not think it is any coincidence then at the end of a Genocide route, the Player is effectively dead. When you restart the game you are in a void similar to the one that Flowey described after they committed suicide, but you have no way to reset under your own power. The Player as a result of acting on all of Chara’s desires have ended with a fate similar to them. This makes me believe there is a greater significance to the fact that Chara is dead at the start of Undertale. Many remark at the uniqueness of Undertale amongst RPGs, and games in general for having a pacifistic route available andthat route is encouraged to be taken by the game. So Chara would then represent the refusal of that choice, to play Undertale as “just another RPG.” We name Chara at the beginning of Undertale, that is the typical expectation of RPGs, to name our own character. At the end of a Genocide route they refer to us as a partner, and while they are our character, they are a distinct entity. They allow us to interact with the world, and in exchange we help them get what they desire, “HP. ATK. DEF. GOLD. EXP. LV. Every time a number increases, that feeling… That’s me.” Chara is not interested in anything else that Undertale has to offer, whether that be quirky humor, puzzles, or friendship. However, they do likely have a craving for sweets, which might help explain something else about them. Chara hungers, not just for sweets, but for numbers. The Player cannot summon Chara unless they are LV 20, the maximum possible LV in the game, and only obtainable by killing every encounterable enemy in the game. If the player misses even one, Chara cannot be summoned. From this, we get a more interesting read on Chara. Not only do they want to kill monsters, they want to kill all monsters. However, they would have done this at the start given the opportunity. So initially the reason they wanted to climb Mt. Ebott was to be strong. They even remark in the end of a Genocide rout that “Together, we eradicated the enemy and became strong.” They tricked Asriel into helping them with their suicide so that they could gain the power of a human/monster hybrid.

Becoming strong through increasing numbers, grinding through endless swarms of enemies, Chara could very well be meant to represent a common mentality of RPGs before Undertale, wanting to be the strongest possible, with the high numbers as an immortal record of your accomplishments. At the very end of the Genocide route, Chara remarks “There is nothing left for us here. Let us erase this pointless world, and move onto the next.” But as we stated, Mt. Ebott isn’t just a place in the game of Undertale, it is the game of Undertale. There’s nothing left because the Player through their DETERMINATION has transformed the world of Undertale into “just another RPG.” Considering all this, Chara would seem to be an insatiable desire to conquer every RPG. Falling into the underground is representative of them viewing Undertale as "just another RPG," one to be conquered, and then going onto the next one. If the Player attempts a genocide route again, they will comment on how their reasoning for playing is different, that they have a perverse attachment to this world. If you attempt a True Pacifist route after completing a Genocide they even steal away the happy ending. All this suggests they believe that the game of Undertale has exhausted any use for them, and they want to go onto the next world to complete and destroy.

While these two roles would suggest a yin-yang relationship of different, but equally valid experiences, Undertale as a game appears to want you to side with Frisk over Chara. There is no tutorial on how to fight, it just expects you to know, because that is the expectation of most RPGs. The Player get the happiest ending, usually another indicator of a preferred path by the game, by doing True Pacifist. Another good indicator of preferred endings in RPGs is the strength of the character, and in this case the Player controls a stronger character in True Pacifist than in Genocide, because Frisk is stronger than Chara. Sure Frisk’s LV is lower, but they have much more DETERMINATION, seemingly able to reform their heart instantly after it is shattered against Asriel while Chara displays no such ability. Difficulty of the game is another good way to see when the game might be forcing you to go alongside some different path, and Genocide is by far the most difficult path in the game. The game actively makes you want to stop playing it by trying to make an emotional appeal to you through Papyrus, Undyne is literally reborn with even greater power given to her by the world to try and stop you, and finally Sans literally cheats to try and frustrate you enough into quitting. The game is screaming at the player to stop playing, even Flowey who at first encouraged this, realizes their folly at the end. Finally, at the very end you help Chara, a zombie child villain, who thinks themself a demon, hates humanity, manipulated their brother, commits many other senseless acts of violence, and is just about every other RPG villain cliche in the book, destroy the world. Chara is a villain in the world of Undertale, no doubt. While there might be a tragic explanation for why they are this way now, there is no excuse for these actions.

However, there is one thing I have failed to mention so far: the Neutral routes. These routes likely represent why the Player might play Undertale. The Neutral routes are where the player has the most control, they are not as limited in the options the Player must take in order to beat the game. Flowey comments on how he tried to get all the different endings, and it seems like any Neutral route in that sense could represent curiosity, another big reason to play Undertale. What happens if I do this, this way, with these limitations? Frisk and Chara’s purposeful ambiguity in gender, them representing the choices the player can make, and the multiple pathways within the Neutral routes all lead me to believe that the reason for them both falling are representative of two reasons you could play could play Undertale. Chara represents pre-Undertale RPG mentalities, wanting to be strong by defeating enemies, that is why they fall into the Underground first and are dead before the game starts, as Undertale’s preferred route is pacifism. Frisk therefore represents fully embracing Undertale, setting these characters you’ve grown to love free from your control, and realizing that although you won’t see them again they are happier now. The player then is the mediator force between these two ideas, and can even reject them if they decide.

Side note: although I do think Undertale wants you to play the pacifist route, that does not mean I think we should shame others for playing Genocide. As much as I care for the vibrant cast of characters, what people do in the game is no indicator of who they are in real life, and I know many who play Genocide who are perfectly nice people. Please do no shame them for wanting to play it how they want to play it.

”@nochocolate

DARWIN ROUTE, FEB28 2K16

“snas the skellyman” - nochoco - a chat member

“genocide is beautiful” - nochoco - figure out this context

“it’s also canon and confirmed” - nochoco - talking about gyftrot is a photoshop flowey costume

“i just need to git gud” - nochoco - fighting glyde

“KILLDRAKE” - snas the skellyman - when discussing on snowdrakes genocide importance

“dogs are not real people, they are actually GODS” - peppermintbee

“do i look like the type of person who wouldn’t eat somebody in front of them” - nochoco - when eating the snowman piece infront of them

“heh ahAH HAHAH AH” - nochoco - when making a sucky pun about greater dog’s death

“Undyniable” - teenysweater - when yubelchan and i were discussing how the human who owned the fallen ribbon died. the undyne ending came up.

“sand & san” - basically the whole chat - yubelchan typed Sand when typing about who’s reporting to undyne

"dubs are like... their own thing. it's like a book vs the movie adaption in my opinion" I feel that isn't a fair comparison because the reason movies tend to be worse than movies is because there's room for interpretation in visualizing for movies, not so much for dub vs sub” - floweytale - an unnecessarily detailed part of the dub vs sub circlejerk we had

“you turned chara’s sick burn back on them” - nochoco - when Pappy rus does the “why did you berate yourself so loudly” thing when you select WHat a LOOSER!!!!

“ rip nochoco's perfect record of no friends” - reallygaycat 

“All their jokes were dead baby jokes, and no one has having it.” - peppermintbee - when discussing chara’s dream to be a comedian

“YEAH THAT HECKLE IS SO WEIRD” - FloweyTale - figuring out chara’s intentions

“time to catch up with the SKELETON DISCOURSE” - nochoco - after finally reading the entirety of the chat

“it’s so sugoi and nice-u” - nochoco - when i say that the undyne section is my fav game part

“NYAAA” - nochoco - undyne’s laugh

“like a dog muffin” “awwwwOOOOH” “so cute” - nochoco - expressing her extreme feelings for photoshop/omega flowey

“chara discourse, FF discourse, sub/dubs discourse” - the entire frikkin chat - a bunch of debates we had