"Let them be flawed and let them be young." - An attempt to understand Chara.
I had never understood people who claimed nobody was right about a character except them. Even as a Tiff (KRBAY) fan (unjustly hated character), I was able to find some takes on them which I felt were correct and understood her.
That was until I started returning to the Undertale fandom, realized Chara was my favorite character (and Alphys, it's a tie), and promptly saw everyone misunderstand them in a pendulum like motion.
I think part of this that frustrates me so much is I've seen SO MANY takes on characters like Sans that seem to understand him nowadays as a nuanced character instead of overdoing his mental issues or completely ignoring them, and Chara on the other hand feels like to combat the 2021 mischaracterization we've made a path BACK to 2016.
So, I will be breaking this down into three points, in the hopes I can communicate my takes on Chara (and will try to leave all my main character analyzing until the third), plus a bonus one looking at things outside the narrative.
I would also like to say both of the first two points will sound painfully incorrect and I do plan on coming around to a perspective with both of them. I'm sort of setting up both arguments to knock them down, so bear with me, please.
POINT 1 - CHARA IS NOT A PERFECT PERSON
I feel that it is rather ironic for me to lead with this point as I was just admitting that I feel like people saying this is the problem, but I don't want to be brushed off as someone who believes in 2021 fanon.
Oh, and btw to keep my sources sited, this is the transcript I'm using: https://hushbugger.github.io/dialogue/
Chara is a deeply flawed character.
It can be inferred from this text that Chara would not have been in a very great mental state when they did fall into the Underground.
Chara most likely planned on committing suicide. There was no sign anyone who fell down would make it out alive. There are also countless themes of both depression and suicide in Undertale (I don't want to list them all out, but it's partly covered by the old "Chara is not the villain" video essay at 4:51 - https://youtu.be/MYHXpdNqdGs?si=ssCQe-2Z0Wl8Dn8D ), as well as general mental struggles.
I feel really awkward bringing this up, because I would like to be clear, CHARA HAVING MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES DOES NOT MAKE THEM A BAD PERSON! THE DEMONIZATION OF MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES IN SOCIETY IS HORRIBLE, AND ONLY CAUSES MORE HARM THROUGH MAKING PEOPLE GOING THROUGH ISSUES FEEL TERRIBLE ABOUT SOMETHING THAT'S NOT THEIR FAULT! I BRING THIS UP TO USE LATER IN DISCUSSION AND DEMONSTRATE WHERE CHARA MAY BE ACTING FROM!
This mental health state may have only been worsened by their poisoning of Asgore, due to their close relationship with the Dreemurs. I know I would feel terrible if I ever hurt one of my loved ones, much worse made them sick.
All this snowballed into them hurting Asriel. They push them, force them into the plan when they're clearly uncomfortable, and actively advocate for killing six people.
I know it can be hard, especially in this modern day and age and when we're talking about a video game to understand that. However, imagine you are a random human when suddenly a goat monster breaks down your door, murders you, and takes your soul.
Imagine what your loved ones would think of this sudden attack and death.
And furthermore, imagine what humanity as a whole would think. If they were violent when the monsters hadn't done anything, think of what they'd do now.
Chara was completely willing to murder six people, no matter what, to free monster kind and throw them into a new, likely worse war. That's wrong without question. As is endlessly quoted, Asriel admits this himself.
We can add to this by saying that they were completely going along with the Genocide route by Snowdin, helping us count down monsters. Clearly, they don't have an understanding of how harmful death is.
They don't seem to particularly care about death during the genocide route, not bothering to push back on it.
POINT 2 - CHARA IS NOT A BAD PERSON
Now, yes, all of that is true, but at the same time, Chara really wasn't that bad a person!
This section will be much shorter.
The buttercup thing was an accident! We've already stated how they must have felt terrible about it!
And yes, they MIGHT have pushed Asriel to kill people, but they were doing it to free all of monsters. Besides, humans must have done horrible things to Chara, due to the fact they were not only willing to climb Mt. Ebbot but took to the Dreemurs immediately as their family.
Besides, we're the ones who killed all of monster kind. WE pressed fight, WE kept going, and not a single thing was forced until the very end of our journey.
And Chara's the reason we were able to able to spare Asriel, as they're the only person who could've provided those memories! If it weren't for Chara, we would've never been able to remind Asriel of them. (I have mixed feelings about the video essay I linked before but I do think that point specifically was absolutely phenomenal).
A lot of the defense for Chara is based on inference. This is why I believe the pendulum has not been kind to Chara in the way it was to Sans, and that is because Chara's misdeeds are stated while we, as players, are trusted to find the interpretations that show that they were not all bad.
However, interpretations are not strong evidence, and the Undertale fandom isn't exactly known for its critical thinking. This leads to the reason the pendulum hasn't been as kind, Chara is a deeply subjective character by design. By analyzing them through exclusively hard stated things, it's a lot harder to stop demonizing them.
This all takes me to my third point.
POINT 3 - CHARA IS A PERSON
This point is exactly what you expect.
I believe the first point I used was too analytical. It views Chara too harshly and doesn't try pushing back on itself.
I believe the second point I used was too lenient. It's meant to be a pushback on the first by ignoring any sort of critical pushback.
And most importantly, I want you to all read over what the first one said while remembering Chara was a fifth grader.
...
Yes, Chara did objectively bad things. They didn't think their plan truly through. However, they lacked the life experience and brain development to do all the things we seem to expect them to be able to consider or comprehend.
I think fandom, and we as a society as a whole struggle with understanding children don't understand things on the same level. Just because all that I said sounds like a horrible decision, I have a hard time believing Chara was older than eleven.
Not to mention, as we mentioned, Chara has many underlying mental health issues. Ignoring whatever humans had done to them, we at least know they were willing to die for their plan. Even if they had succeeded, they wouldn't have come back, and they would've known that.
They were in a terrible place when they fell down, and while I am not someone who believes Toriel and Asgore are irredeemable parents and the worst of the worst, I also think there's not a single timeline where the two of them are equipped to handle someone with issues like Chara.
An eleven year old with severe mental health issues will make stupid, bad decisions and hurt people without wanting to. And claiming that they're just a bad person without explaining that what happened wasn't maliciousness or lack of care or being rude but rather the rational of an elementary schooler willing to commit suicide is, or at least I find it to be, irresponsible at best.
This is why I think calling Chara a bad person is not correct. They were not a bad person. They were deeply flawed, but it was never their fault. Not once was any part of their mindset something they just did because they were a bad person, but it was due to a lack of support they experienced.
And we can tell from them wanting to free monsterkind that they did care about their loved ones. Without a doubt, Chara never wanted to hurt Asriel, or Toriel, or Asgore. The thing is, despite their good intentions, they did. That's why they're so flawed.
Another thing I've never seen ANYONE mention is that Asriel was a boss monster. If Chara wanted, they could've convinced Asriel to kill himself instead, for them to take his SOUL, and complete the plan with ease, but they didn't. And that's because even if they wanted to or realized they could, they didn't want their brother dead. Once again, Chara cared for the Dreemurs, enough to kill themselves. They just didn't realize it would only cause harm.
Chara is an incredibly nuanced and complex character, and they're incredibly easy to misunderstand. All this to say, it's easy to understand how they were misunderstood, and continue to be.
POINT 4 - CHARA AS IN PLAYER CHARACTER
Now that we've covered Chara in the narrative, I want to do one last thing.
I think there is a lot of insight to be gained based on analyzing Chara as a character. But too often, I think we all forget to analyze characters outside of their narrative.
Undertale is an amazing story. I genuinely find it to be one of the best written things, generally, to be made in our century, and that's for a reason. It's funny, it's heartwarming, it's heartbreaking, and absolutely amazing.
However, it's still a story. Every character plays a role within it.
Chara's role is a reflection of you, the player. That's why it's so important they're a child. They see what you do, and they take after you. It's why they're so flawed, and not inherently good or evil at the start of the story.
When you open up Undertale for the first time, you can't be called a force of good or evil. You're just there.
In the netrual endings, you don't do much for the narrative. You come to the underground, you make friends, you don't, but it doesn't do much of anything in the end. In the same way, Chara doesn't do anything.
In the pacifist ending, you make friends, you help your friends, you work to make things better. And in response, Chara helps you save Asriel by helping him remember everything. You treat everyone like people who deserve love, and Chara helps you see Asriel as more of a person in return.
And in the genocide ending, you erase lives without care, turning the game into a series of statistics to kill. And in response? Chara tells you everyone you need to kill. They develop a similar calloused attitude towards death, and erase the entire world itself.
In conclusion, Chara is not good or evil. They are a deeply flawed character, and are just a person until you come along, perfectly imperfect in their ways, who really just needed proper support and to be taught the affects of their actions.
And that's the point, as they reflect you. They copy your actions. You make Chara who they are by the end of a route.
So please stop saying they're innocent or they're a bad person okay byeeee
(also really sorry if I came off as rude in this! I know using terms like "I think" or "I believe" is wrong in these sorts of things, but I don't mean to come off as too headstrong or rude :) I probably didn't get Chara right in this either, but I don't think we'll ever reach a point where we perfectly understand Chara, since they're not a linear charater)
