#ultrakill lore

Really extensive breakdown of the new HELL ITSELF lore text, courtesy of u/kirbly11 on reddit.

GABYYYY MY PRINCESSS 💗💗💗💗

I love him so much, and seeing him in a dress is always amazing, keep drawing him bimbofied I love you guys.

Also, rendering this dress took me like forever man

The reference:

(Rushed as hell, sorry bout that)

smileOS 2.0 states that its Origin was “pre-automaton” machinery , meaning before machines that are human-like (like guttermen and literally all the machines we fight ,, minus drones) . the one thing we KNOW for Sure uses 2.0 are the terminals . i dont think using smileOS 2.0 (or anything not Nocturnal) means “less intelligent” or “less capable of feeling emotions” since we Know terminals feel boredom and dont act like emotionless machines . they still have the capability of feeling emotions , even though Nocturnal is the only one to say “limits unknown” for its Flexibility lol

its somewhat safe to assume that all wartime machines (ie guttermen , guttertanks , mindflayers , swordsmachines , earthmovers , v1 , sentries) probably use Nocturnal , since it states the Origin of Nocturnal was for wartime machines . especially greater machines (and supreme obv) , since theyre the few that get enraged (emotions) — ie guttermen , swordsmachine , mindflayers . (basically the three types of machines that have evidence of being capable of having a concrete sense of identity . mindflayers with their bodies , swordsmachines and their customization/bodies , and the gutterman poem)

we know that at least guttermen (aka the earliest wartime machine) likely use Nocturnal because of the Resource Use stating that Nocturnal needs “harvesting of living beings” AKA fresh blood and/or Just A Lot Of Blood . guttermen literally have an alive human being in their casket . that is harvesting of living beings .

v1 is the only one we know for Sure uses Nocturnal because of the main menu sharing the same style of the Nocturnal system .

new peace machines is where it gets a little confusing . the Use cases of Nocturnal in the slideshow we see in Fraud (which is of a new peace building , so we can assume the slideshow was made during the new peace era) states to “NEVER” use Nocturnal OS . so after the final war it seems they decided to not use Nocturnal systems ever (especially because they require harvesting of living beings , which isnt optimal for non-war environments) . hence why things like terminals use smileOS 2.0 , since terminals were made during the new peace era (hell expeditions) .

so what about v2 ? what about drones and streetcleaners ?

drones are known to be less intelligent , as described in their terminal entry . they probably use smileOS 1.0 or maybe 2.0 (though again , terminals use 2.0 and are evidenced to be probably smarter and definitely are more Aware than drones) . probably 1.0 , as we know that drones were cheap to manufacture and mass produced , and the Use cases of 1.0 was “whenever possible, to minimize blood use” . their entry literally says “to keep production costs low, their intelligence is very limited” , and the smileOS 1.0’s Flexibility is stated to be “very poor.”

streetcleaners either use 1.0 or 2.0 . they were made during the Long Night so its weird , they were made before new peace but not necessarily during the war part of the final war .? but since they werent built for combat like the wartime machines , it likely wasnt advisable for them to use Nocturnal as it required harvesting of living beings , and streetcleaners werent going to get that easily if they arent killing . hence they probably used smileOS (especially considering both them and drones are lesser machines . drones and streetcleaners are also the two types of machines we Constantly see in groups , as if working together . yeah obv there can be multiple swordsmachines n whatnot but drones and streetcleaners are Constantly in groups . even though the rocket launcher terminal info states that “machines rarely have the luxury of co-operation due to sharing blood with others being seen as a waste”) . maybe 1.0 , as theyre still trying to “purify the world” despite their initial purpose being obsolete now . they continue to follow old commands , which is a sign of lack of awareness and sense of self that terminals (their boredom , their entire hierarchy they made themselves amongst each other) and machines like guttermen and mindflayers seem to have . so both streetcleaners and drones likely use smileOS 1.0 .

v2 , on the other hand , was directly based off of a wartime machine who we Know uses Nocturnal (v1) . we know they reused v1’s blueprints out of desperation to make money , so would that desperation cause them to just copy over the same OS ? even though the Use cases of Nocturnal during the new peace is stated to be “NEVER.” ? even though its likely very unsafe to use Nocturnal during new peace in regards of its resource requirements ?

considering v2 is a security machine and probably had different protocols/coding and whatnot than what v1 had as a war machine , they probably didnt use Nocturnal again . especially considering the safety concerns , and they seemed to try to make v1’s blueprints into an actual new peace security bot , instead of a murder machine .

i think v2 likely uses smileOS 2.0 rather than 1.0 like streetcleaners or drones though , as we see it get enraged and have a sort of attachment to things like the knuckleblaster — which show a sense of identity ? and capability of emotion . (i’d say its not on the same level as customizing your whole body though , v2 wanting its arm back is just wanting to keep its factory state . the knuckleblaster was v2’s original arm , its not as if it made the whiplash to customize its body to what It wanted , but rather it sought out the knuckleblaster because it wanted to go back to how it was originally created to be . so its not at all like mindflayers creating a plastic body just because they want to .) since we know smileOS 2.0 machines can have enough intelligence and emotional capabilities to feel boredom and create ways of entertainment for themselves , i think it makes sense that v2 could get enraged and seek its own arm back even if it wasnt using Nocturnal systems and instead used 2.0 . even terminals show a lack of distinct sense of self/identity since terminals arent very distinguishable from one another . theyre more of a conglomerate , a group , rather than a bunch of individuals with their own identities (yk , like mindflayers . YOU GET IT BY NOW RIGHT im going crazy repeating myself lmfao) .

[ so tldr: wartime machines are all likely using Nocturnal (guttermen , guttertanks , mindflayers , swordsmachines , earthmovers , sentries) , since the oldest of them (guttermen) are known to require a living being to fuel off of . and the one machine we know for Certain uses Nocturnal is v1 (based on main menu sharing the same style as Nocturnal) .

drones and streetcleaners likely use smileOS 1.0 based on their low intelligence and sense of free will and identity (compared to terminals and machines like mindflayers) , and how smileOS 1.0 was used “whenever possible, to minimize blood use” , which matches up to how cheaply manufactured drones were .

terminals are the one machine we know for Certain uses smileOS 2.0 , and it can be theorized that v2 likely uses 2.0 as well , since it has similar levels of emotional capability to terminals (as we see terminals feeling boredom n whatever) when it gets enraged and wants the knuckleblaster back , but doesnt have such a strong sense of identity as much as mindflayers or guttermen do to create its own body or do anything of its own that isnt related to its original purpose or creation (getting the knuckleblaster back is to put itself back in its original state in which it was created to be . not like creating your own custom body , or like getting rid of your original fuel source out of guilt) . and despite not using Nocturnal , i think a machine using smileOS 2.0 could still get enraged and whatnot since we know terminals experience boredom and created a whole damn social hierarchy — despite not having as much of a concrete sense of self like mindflayers/swordsmachines … since its not as if each individual terminal is very distinguishable , outside of Tip of the Days . theyre more of a hivemind than a bunch of individuals with different personalities and goals (like the gutterman who wrote the poem or mindflayers who decide to be masc instead of fem . ykwim) . ]

… also theres the whole theory of “blood giving machines sentience because of the tree of life” thing . which i think still works . its just that the OS and each machines’ level of intelligence and mental flexibility based on their OS affects on how emotionally aware they get from blood . hence why drones are still curious ; they still feel emotions and are alive , they just arent as aware and dont have a sense of self because of their low intelligence that they get from their OS (smileOS 1.0) , which limits their emotional capabilities . thats my theory , anyway .