All about Chara: The hidden protagonist of Undertale 

Hi everyone! I wanted to address a couple of comments that I've gotten many times since the video took off. First, people have pointed out that I shouldn't take Flowey's words at the beginning of the genocide route as proof of anything. And I agree that I could have worded that part better. Like many people said, Flowey ends up thinking that Frisk is Chara in every route, so even if he comes to that conclusion faster in this route, it's not really proof of anything. Still, even if we can't take Flowey's words as truth, in this case there are other major pieces of evidence (such as the mirror text and the changes in narration) that still point to the same direction. Either way, I shouldn't have used the word "control" here, since like I explained later, I still believe that the player is the one in control for most of the game. I still wouldn't discredit everything Flowey says though, since his comments aren't really contradicted by anything else in the game. When he says "You're not really human, are you? No, you're empty inside, just like me", I'm inclined to believe him, because both Sans and Undyne also make comments that imply you're not truly a human during the genocide route. Second, a lot of people have mentioned that at the end of the genocide route, Chara appears to "hesitate" and the player still has to push a button before Flowey gets killed, and thus the choice to kill Flowey would still be left up to the player. However, I don't fully agree with this. Sure, you CAN still reset the game at that point and back out of the consequences of the genocide route, but that's only a choice if you already know what's going to happen and know what to do to avoid it. The game doesn't give you any prompt like the choice between "Fight" and "Mercy". You just push a button like you would with any piece of dialogue. I personally think you're made to push a button (instead of the whole scene playing automatically) to let Flowey's previous line sink in, and if you're playing for the first time, you have no idea what will happen after you continue. Lastly, thank you so much for all the comments, likes and the 100,000 views! I'm very happy many of you have found this video useful, and that you want to see more! I definitely would like to make more videos like this around Undertale, Deltarune and other topics, it's just been a matter of finding the time. I have a webcomic that should be finishing by the summer this year, and after that I hope to have more time to make some new videos. Once new Deltarune chapters come out, I'd especially love to analyse Kris more!

I think the mirror really is the greatest proof we have for the Narrator Chara theory. The fact that it says, "It's still just you, Frisk." vs, "It's me, Chara." seems pretty full-proof in my opinion...

Have you seen the theory that Chara doesn't have red eyes, Frisk does? After all, Chara's sprite has brown eyes at all times. Only Frisk is shown with red eyes in the soulless pacifist ending. Though they might be possessed, that didn't necessarily change their eye colour if you assume Frisk's usual sprite has closed or narrowed eyes. They just opened them wide to cause the red flash, mirroring Chara's expression. Hence, Kris looks exactly like an older Frisk, including their eye colour; but they behave like Chara.

most people forget that chara died in the 2010s and that undertale could take place in the far future or the near future (unlike deltarune which takes place in the 2020s). this means that asriel didn't die by arrows but possibly gun shot wounds or worse. it also explains alphys' technology

I actually really like the wording “At this point both Asriel and Chara don’t have a soul”. The fact that Flowey and the Chara we see in genoside are just twisted shells of who Asriel and Chara actually were really makes sense. I mean, if the fandom recognises that Flowey isn’t really Asriel at this point, why can’t they consider that the Chara we see there isn’t the real Chara? That Chara isn’t the person they were when they were a living child? That they probably are just like Asriel?

An interpretation of Chara i really like is the one from the Narrachara theory. That theory has a lot of evidence in the game. For those that don’t know, the theory is that all narration in the game is done by Chara. In all routes. The narration always says you and not I with the exception of genocide. So this theory says that all the narration is Chara talking to Frisk. In this interpretation, Chara helps Frisk with many things. They translate signs written in the monster language, which they learned while living with the monsters. The narration is also almost always something Chara would know. And new home in pacifist still has a lot of hints. I just think that Chara is less direct. The narration for most of pacifist seems more sarcastic and fun, while genocide just gets to the point. Chara’s bed in genocide: My bed. Chara’s bed in pacifist: This bed feels really comfortable. If you layed down here, you might never get up. If you believe that Chara is the narrator. They never want to kill monsters in pacifist. That is very clear. They always defend monsters, saying that the dogs only want to play. Toriel knows whats best for you. And undyne is the hero who never gives up. What flowey says is also technically not evidence that Chara controls Frisk in genocide. Its just evidence that Flowey THINKS that. Maybe he could never imagine that someone with a soul could be just as evil as him, but of course, the player in genocide is. Frisk sometimes move in genocide even if you don’t control them. I think that this is where Chara controls them. In genocide Chara is forced to kill everyone including their family, since they share a body with Frisk. This isn’t good for Chara, and they become more and more evil. Some also say that all the stats you increase and LV you gain, is given to Chara, and they then become stronger. Your actions was what taught Chara what their new purpose was. After making a terrible decision that led to the death of their brother, they could no longer trust themselves, so they turned to you. In genocide you teach them, that their only purpose now if to kill, so they think you must want to destroy this terrible world that made them like this. They think you kill everyone to be strong enough to destroy the world, and not be attached to it. If only humans remain in the world, then there is nothing left worth keeping according to Chara. If you choose not to destroy the world, they feel betrayed because you didn’t kill for a greater purpose. You did it for fun. And then they don’t want you to escape consequences. At the end of pacifist after a genocide, Chara shows up. Even if it is a possibility, i don’t think they killed anyone here. They just wanted to remind you of what you did, so you never escape your consequences. Then there at least is a little justice. Chara doesn’t think you deserve this ending. Thanks for reading the long comment. My interpretation is pretty must just that Chara is a helpfull spirit that follows you, and even though they made a lot of bad choices, you can help them in pacifist. They learn that not all humans are bad, and gets over their past actions and grudges, just like a lot of other characters in the game. They aren’t perfect. They’re not the greatest person, as Asriel said, but I don’t think they are evil either.

I would also like to point out the parallels between Chara and Undyne,they share a hatred for humans,enjoyemnt of anime(the narration makes many anime references),a close bond with Asgore, do some pretty nasty things to further there cause(murder),and at the end of the pacifist run both Asriel and monster kid realize they had been over idolizing them and decide a more pacifist Character would have been better(Frisk/Papyrus). Now that I think about it maybe part of the reason Asgore started growing golden flowers was in Charas memory.

30:17 I just want to mention that the game window shakes when you are hit, practically confirming that *you* are being struck down

I hope this video helps people realize that there's more nuance to Chara than simply "hurr durr, i must destroy everything".

I'm sure someone has already made this comment before, but, laughing can be a sign of distress in those who are mentally unstable. As someone with PTSD, I myself have laughed and been so upset that I couldn't help but loop back around into thinking that it was funny, because I physically couldn't be any more upset than I already was. It can also be a panic response! You might not know, but tickling someone and making them laugh is actually triggering a panic response, most of the time- supported by the fact that a lot of people don't actually like being tickled.

I just wanted to use this comment section to share these small thoughts I think it is both absolutely so sweet yet so heartbreaking that Toriel took Chara's body and buried them where she did. In the only place that receives natural sunlight from the surface. She interpreted Chara's want to see the golden flowers and their plan as them wanting to go home. So she tried to put them as close to "home" as she could. The game over screen. The fact that, whether good or bad, Chara remembers what Asgore said to them on their deathbed. In a neutral or pacifist route, they remember it as if they're thinking "yeah, I *am* the future of humans and monsters. I can do this", and in the genocide route, it's like they're thinking "yeah, I *am* the future of humans and monsters, and I'm going to destroy it"

10:44 I think Chara was trying to laugh it off to work through the painful feelings. We see other examples of characters trying to laugh through grief, sadness, and other painful feelings. When you kill Toriel on No Mercy Run, right before she dies, she laughs to herself realizing that you were the true ‘monster’ all along. Snowdrake’s father laughs about his son hating him, and then says “…that’s not funny”. Snowdrake is also trying to tell jokes, which could be a way of him trying to ignore his pain about his mom (and his dad). As Undyne the Undying dies, she laughs and proudly says that Alphys will be able to hide everyone from you. She even has a big hopeful smile right before she turns to dust.

I love the idea of Chara being "evil" in the genocide route because of an overload of LV, instead of just being someone irreedemable since birth Edit: wtf happened in the replies

For a 50 minute well edited video that obviously took a long time to make, this deserves many many more views.

It's nice to see a video covering all the information we know about Chara while staying mostly unbiased about their true nature, this might be my favorite one on the character even.

Very good video! I'd like to add that Chara seem to, at the very least, not be *openly* suicidal. However, one of the previous humans was. Toriels house is very "child" proofed, or proofed for a child that wants to harm themselves. The fire isn't hot, the fire tools are dulled. There's no knives we have access to. However, New Home, which is a place Chara lived, has no such messages. In fact, there's a knife in the bedroom, implied to be a gift for Chara. Wouldn't it be such a cruel joke to leave a knife in your dead, previously suicidal child's room? While it's possible they were suicidal in the traditional sense (wanting to die to no longer be around, with no intentions of coming back in any form, rather than wanting to die to come back and share a body with their brother), its unlikely they were open about it to anyone. Or, anyone besides Asriel.

Chara: "maybe you should pick another route?" Me on my umpteenth genocide run: "Chara, wake the fuck up, we got more killing to do!" Chara, the literal demon: (genuine concern) On a serious note, loved this video. A lot of people forget there is actually a deep personality to a lot of these characters and just depict them as like 2 traits from their most memed aspects. Also like how you sorted out the player, Chara, Frisk relationship there, as it was a lore aspect I was always questioning.

Not only is this a perfect and unbiased video for Chara but it also got me back into making theories.

The trinity is explained very simply by the three essential human components: body, mind and soul. Frisk’s body. Chara’s thoughts. Your soul. Frisk likely died during the fall, meaning their soul has left and mind is silent, but the body remains. Chara also died but their body is absent while their consciousness lingers, and take our soul as they lack one. You can’t put your body in the game, nor can you speak your mind outside of dialogue options, but your soul is used to control Frisk’s body. Each member of the trinity lacks two of the three essential human components in the game, and so combined we make one balanced whole. But we know also, that when entities merge in Undertale, like with Chara and Asriel, usually the one who has most of the components is the dominant one. Chara lacked a body when dead, but Asriel retained all three, meaning he had the most control and resisted to not kill any humans. At the end of genocide, we willingly give our soul to Chara, making them the dominant one of the trinity. That’s why no matter what we do, there will never be a happy ending again, because Chara has the most say in what happens now. This same mentality transfers over to Deltarune. It is clear that Kris and YOU are merged. But all we have in game is the soul, where Kris clearly has their own body and mind, and can function without our soul. That’s why they’re so cavalier in removing and replacing our soul at whim.

42:21 id like to point out that some of the stuff Chara did to Asriel that gets labelled "abusive" is just stuff people do with their siblings, like calling them a crybaby. It's not nice, but it's also not weird for someone to say this to someone they see as a brother.

based on the ACT narration in Woshua and Snowdrake's Mom's fight, I think Chara is the one providing the ACT options - but Frisk can refuse to "act" them out.

I always thought that the reason Chara fell was because they were trying to commit suicide. At 38:28, it says that Chara says a joke about "a kid who slept in the soil." I think this refers to what happened to Chara before they fell, being homeless or forced to sleep outside by neglectful and abusive parents. They hate humanity because the few memories they have of humans are all trauma-related, and every monster they have met was nothing but kind and accepting. It seems quite easy to look at this as humans bad, monsters good. It also makes sense as to why Chara never talked about humans and their time with them much, because it was all related to trauma. The only thing they liked about their village were the flowers, which Chara probably spent a lot of time near whenever they were forced to sleep outside. IDK, but I always liked that interpretation of Chara, as it humanizes them much more. I was the kind of person to utterly despise the interpretation that Chara is evil. Chara calls themselves a demon because that is what humans call evil, and they are willing to accept a human's interpretation of villainy. Demons were always described as ugly and unnatural creatures, which could just be monsters, so it is simple to see in my mind why Chara calls themselves a demon, especially in the presence of the only other human who fell, who murdered their entire family. Remember, when you kill Flowey in the genocide run, you still have to press Z to attack. You can still reset, back out, and get out without any consequence. It's only after YOU choose to kill Flowey that Chara follows suit.

Thank you for making this video. I'll also check out your comic, it looks so beautiful! I love Chara. Such a pained, flawed, complex character, with such potential for good as well. Just when I thought Undertale had no more secrets, I stumbled upon NarraChara, and everything made sense... the narration, which had been one of my favorite parts of the game, was a hidden character. One last, great secret, the best of them all. I also consider 'Once Upon a Time' Chara's theme. It's the first music you hear in the intro, it intertwines with Asriel's theme in New Home as their story is told, and Asriel blasts it during his fight... Ah I'm rambling =P What I really want to say is thank you for making more people aware of everything related to them. And getting their pronouns right.

Very great video! I like the idea that Chara wasn't always an evil demon child or something, makes things more interesting that way

To me, Chara is just a representation of the dissonance between the player and the character. Being a pretty meta game, Undertale makes a clear distinction between Frisk and the player when addressed by other characters, as shown by the interactions with Flowey and Sans. Being that the game has an overall pacifist and nonviolent message, it goes out of its way to show how much of a menace you are in the genocide route and the more explicit distinction between Frisk and Chara comes from this. The physical existence of Chara to me seems like the culmination of how removed the player in the real world is from the violence they're committing in the game. The game itself ends on a black screen, which should leave the player to see their own reflection, but instead the player is met with Chara, who represents what they've become and how ultimately removed we are from violence simply because it's being viewed through a screen. Also in terms of Deltarune, I believe it's just "the next" that we've moved on to after erasing Undertale's pointless world. That's why Kris resembles both Frisk and Chara.

I like the idea that with Snowdrake's Mother, maybe it was like...a flashback for them. They expected Frisk to laugh, just like they did when Asgore got poisoned by the buttercups. And if we assume that Chara's _homicidal_ nature was caused by the increase in especially EXP and LV, then they could be laughing because that's how they coped when Asgore ingested those buttercups. It's horrible to look at. It's terrifying. And all they can do to cope is to laugh. And they expect Frisk to do so too, but...they don't. And then the following line. "But it wasn't funny." That also makes me think that maybe Chara was laughing to cope, and not out of any cruelty. Sure, they weren't the best person, but I genuinely don't think they wanted Asgore to be hurt. I dunno. :P

Awesome video I just wanna add some extra points. 1. Kris is implied to be able to play the piano and in Undertale the Music box/piano puzzle use the leitmotif of "Memory" or "His theme" and since those themes are heavily related to Asriel it's possible Chara played the piano too (I like to imagine Chara orchestrated the entire dog absorbing the artifact thing just to troll Asriel once he finally learned how to play the music box song on the piano and the heavy Dragon ball inspiration with the artifact could've been Chara making a reference but this entire scene is obviously a very meta joke) 2. The writings in Waterfall specifically mention that no human has ever fallen down which means they were written before Chara fell which in turn means Chara has a pretty good chance of knowing that they could've taken a Soul of the Dreemurrs. And the fact that Humans declared war on Monsters because of the power of absorbing Souls in the first place, it's unlikely the humans knew that control would be split or that last time it happened control wasn't split(Cause c'mon that's a pretty good deal) oh and Asriel mentions it as "Control was ACTUALLY split between our bodies" so it's unlikely they knew either andAsriel talking about "doing it together" was probably Chara trying to reassure Asriel. 3. Chara decided to poison themselves, POISON themselves. And with the same poison they hurt Asgore with. It really looks like Chara felt guilty about poisoning Asgore and decided then to sacrifice themselves and, as repentance, the same way they poisoned Asgore. 4. The person we sell our Soul to is unlikely to be Chara. Entry 17 mentions a place of complete darkness similar to the void of post Geno. Chara has no reason to want your Soul either as they seem to specifically want to stay with you as you travel to other games and continue the search for progression and power. Oh and the person uses "Interesting" instead of "Curious" even though the kind of context was the same. 5. If we redo the Asgore fight in Neutral and talk to Flowey again without meeting any new criteria then he'll question why we're here and think that we want to be friends. He gives some REALLY heart wrenching dialogue about how there's only ONE person who he could care about anymore and that even then he couldn't REALLY care about them and it's really good dialogue but something really interesting is that he says to wipe that expression of your face and that it's pissing him off (Flowey is the true original Starwalker?) What's interesting about this is that why would an expression piss him off? (I don't actually remember if he said smirk or expression) Well the only time we see Chara in person is then smiling and we know they "laughed it off" when they poisoned Asgore (Regardless of context) and Asriel tells them to smile for the camera. So we can assume they were a rather smiling child and if the expression we had reminded Flowey of Chara then... Well we had Chara's expression which would be kind of weird given the context so It's possible that Chara is the person there with Flowey at the moment and what solidified this more is that when we load up the game after pacifist Flowey is supposedly talking to Chara and it takes place in the same black void as the repeat Neutral ending dialogue. So it's either possible Chara is the one who appears whenever we talk to Flowey in the black void place HOWEVER it's also possible that Chara is present whenever we're in a battle. Asgore mentions how we have the same feeling of hope in our eyes and we use the Soul to select everything in a Battle which uses Chara's name in the battle menu. Anyway this probably doesn't change much BUT it does imply that Chara is directly part of our SOUL and not simply possessing the body of Frisk so when we sell our soul to the dark void person then wherever he brings it would bring Chara aswell. 👀 I don't know why I'm here.

I'd like to add that if we accept the "chara is the narrator" theory, they are the one who helps us [save] at the end of pacifist. I think they were a misguided child, who hated humanity. They probably hated themselves as well, since they "didn't come to the underground for a nice reason". When they came to the underground, they were met with love and care, maybe for the first time in their life. They probably loved their adoptive family (they stay silent during the genocide route when you fight the dreemurs). It's possible that their plan was to kill as many people as possible, but that's probably because they hated humanity. (This is purely speculation, but if a child literally hates everyone around them, they were most likely mistreated by others. They couldn't have lived far from mt. Ebott. They probably knew that the people they'd kill weren't the nicest.) They might have thought that killing all humans so monsters can escape from the underground was good. But their plan failed. They were confused when you first awakened them, but they had a fresh memory of humans being horrible to them and their brother. When you do the genocide route, all you're doing is proving that humans are the worst to chara. As you said in the video, it's the player who gains love and exp, but it's Chara who keeps it. You make them more violent as the game goes on. At the end, all of their friends and their parents are dead. They see you as just another violent human. They probably see themselves that way too. They can't feel anything (because they don't have a soul). So they want to end it all. But if you choose the pacifist route, you prove that humans can be good too. They never tell you to "kill them" when you choose to spare monsters. They actually help you befriend them.

24:36 Finally! someone else besides me has mentioned this! (i always used to think, Chara is the narrator speaking who we slowly drive insane with LV and EXP, frisk is just the body, and the player is the soul i.e the one who dodges) i always thought that the game heavily implies on the soul being a different character, that being the player. And the fact Deltarune also relies the same story of "you are the soul." it gave me more confidence on that fact it almost fealt like toby implimented that in deltarune to give hints that undertale had this going too.

The most scary sentence imo. "The flower's gone"

I thought this one was some high-def million views worth video when I saw the thumbnail and stuff (I don't really look at the views). And my belief got stronger while watching the video. And then I looked at the view count... You're doing a much better work then a lot of the youtubers out there and deserve more views, nice video! And as for the actual content of the video, I found some evidence to back up my own theories or headcanons you might say. Some details went unnoticed and it was nice to learn about them. So thanks about that too.

This has been the most comprehensive and unbiased video on the relationship between Chara and the Player, and I appreciate it a lot !

_"My "human soul." My "determination". They were not mine, but YOURS"_ **Pelo scream**

My personal thoughts on the Kris/Chara similarities are that, with Deltarune being a mirror world of Undertale, Kris might just be that universe’s version of Chara- a human who was adopted into the Dreemur family, with Asriel as a brother. This also makes you wonder… what role would Frisk potentially play in Deltarune? Unrelated, but just MAYBE Frisk could be the knight? Idk it’s kind of a loose theory. Just putting it out there.

I wonder if the narration for snowdrake’s mom being laughed at might actually be hinting at Chara “laughing off” Asgore being sick, with the “you can’t stop” and “tears run down your face” it might be able to be interpreted as the memory of what they did in the face of overwhelming emotions

Thank you for making this, it makes me really happy to know that the fandom still cares after all these years

For anyone curious, on 29:25 there are 234 9s on the final attack. If anyone knows what that number is, feel free to share.

Fun fact, after Flowey kills Asgor, the player has to press the enter button to end a bit of dialogue and that then causes chara to kill flowey. It is the last chance you have to quit and reset and avoid the no mercy ending.

35:00 I'd argue that chara isnt a demon by nature it's that they see themselve as one, in the game the narrator gets more negative the more you kill which clearly shows that these killings affect chara. She isnt someone who always enjoyed killing in fact it makes her depressed, we only teached her that the gain of power is the only thing that matters. I mean in the second genocide run she straight up calls you peverted for your actions because you arent even gaining power anymore so she can't understand why you'd kill these people for no reason.

This is good breakdown of the different facets of Chara. (though even more proof of Chara being the narrator has come out since that original Tumblar post) I do want to offer a small but important correction, while the start of the scene is indeed on auto pilot, where Chara has taken control, when Flowey turns his face into his original face in a bit to get Chara not to kill him control is suddenly given back to the player, requiring the player to continue. In other words Chara does hesitate and this prompt is the last chance you have to back out of the Genocide route without corrupting your save.

I don't like when people blame Chara for genocide. Geniside is the only one rout that you can't do axidantly, and it only the player choose to go in that rout. In that way the true villiam is player

Just something I'd like to mention about "Kris Chara and Frisk" debate (it's not my original theory but it's a theory I agree with) Red eyes don't necessarily mean "possessed" or "Chara", as we never see Frisk's eyes. Funnily enough, we always see Chara's eyes, which are never red. So, the most likely possibility is that Frisk's eye color is red. (oh and iirc there's also a small bit of Kris' eye showing when they and Susie are falling into the dark world and it's red too, meaning that possession doesn't change eye color)

33:03 Honestly, I think the beginning of Deltarune's chapter 2 makes the "Chara shows Player they are not above consequenses by scaring them off and doesn't harm anyone* (*except a pie, perhaps)" all the more plausible! Very good Chara video! Made me quite nostalgic. The narra!Chara theory was what got me interested in the Undertale in the first place ;))

I believe in the Frisk is Dead Theory. As the title says, it's likely that Frisk's SOUL actually perished and the SOUL that we using is supposed to OUR SOUL. It's literally the exact same one that controls Kris and why Possessed Kris keeps on "remembering" Undertale. The implications of this are huge as it suggests that Gaster has always been controlling the scenes. But the narrative weight of this Theory is good too as it implies that Pacifist Chara is simply pretending to be Frisk all along and eventually gained love through their new body!

35:24 Its also important to know that chara clarifies that they don't understand these feelings anymore, this setimentality, which proves that they weren't some heartless human who had no sypathy or empathy at all but that they don't feel such emotions anymore

Thank you a lot for sorting things together, sometimes ot gets really confusing with so much theory material, to the point I forgot some parts of the game itself. Also, it was very new to hear an explanation for how that possession of Frisk from Chara happened. Even though it doesn't involve the same mechanics as the resurrection of Asriel as Flowey with determination, it ties well with the speeches during genocide. Btw, in 29:10 ,iIronically, even at this point with Chara, you can still just close and reopen the game for no acknowledgement of them. Even there, the player is still in control up to the last speech.

I think with Toby’s writing we get a lot of like, fairly good reasons to assume Chara isn’t evil- but has had a life where they have had a lot of good reasons to be nice. Chara wanting to free monsters and destroy humans aren’t mutually exclusive. Also I think the buttercup thing is a really strong argument for them being a traumatized kid. Them seeing that they’re poison and using it is really the only interpretation that makes sense to me.

0:50 "CHARA" is also the default name you will see if the game cannot find your name data, and in most promotional material 1:47 As the years have gone by, the extreme interpretation of Chara has become more and more unlikely, given new concept art and stances by Toby. I will adress those if they come up, or at the end 4:45 That wqs an amazing trick 7:41 Thanks for talking about it, because most take it for granted and don't say where it's stated 10:49 Reflexive laughter when incredibly stressed is very common on children and teens I know of. I interpret it that way. I often see people laugh in funerals. 12:16 I personally believe that they mistakenly used them in the Pie, and thought to use their own life to guarantee the Freedom of everyone who ever did good to them. In a very twisted and unhealthy manner, of course. 14:28 This is my interpretation. Unless Chara is the worst at mind modelling ever, there's no way that they intended to do that diplomatically, but I also doubt they would feel THAT strongly about killing humans given their personality at the end of a No Mercy run. Carrying a corpse is no way to make humans cooperative, especially bigotes humans. I think they wanted 6 ASAP, display superiority to guarantee peace, then immediately break the barrier and hold the line until they asserted themselves. Of course, that failed. PoorCommunicationKills. 15:22 Notes: Undyne is described in the same terms by Monster Kid, and is replaced by Papyrus as their Hero. Also note that Frisk had our guidance, Flowey's advice, and unlimited attempts. Kind of unfair to Chara, ngl. 15:44 It's possible, but it could also be them genuinely trying to back off and Asriel becoming convinced by that act. We know that even soulless Asriel had a strong moral drive. But I don't discount it, it may be so. 17:42 Actually it would be us, but Flowey does not suspect it. I think Flowey is projecting here a bit too, but yeah, these are the first times you explicitly interpret the narrator as Chara, even if I think they were the same all along. 18:51 Alsothe brand name bar on Toriel's fridge. 19:29 Papyrus took the longest. Sans was themost dangerous 20:52 The narrator fails to speak until the flowey fight. If you immediately go back, they will guess that the flowers broke your fall. Your MASSIVE DT woke them up. 21:33 And Asgore already had at least 5, probably 6 human souls 23:59 He shows them to a human with the same shine of hope in their eyes. He keeps the "Mr. Dad Guy" sweater... 24:12 The more you kill or are in proximity to death, the easier it is to distance yourself. The less it hurts. It becomes easier to hurt others. That is quantified by EXP and L.O.VE. Chara currently is both on a second-hand soul (which barely gives them bonus emotions) and sharing *19 LOVE* with a passive puppet and YOU. I would not say that's a good asessment of someone's personality NGL. 24:24 YOU did, of course. This is, as far as the early fandom was concerned, not Frisk. This is merely mainchara. Chara (the "true name" for the human who is represented by spr_truechara) is speaking. mainchara has all traces of their personality removed, with one exception. "You just remembered something funny". This came after the first concepts of Deltarune, so we should see this. 24:34 There we go 25:40 I think you are teaching them, not unlike how one would guide Le Batteur, but with more information and choice. The average geno run player closely resembles Flowey, more than any other character 26:10 I jumped the gun. My bad 26:49 You do have to hit Enter in Flowey's case. If you instead hold Alt+F4, you can cancel the run at no consequence to yourself. Make no mistake, Chara was holding back, just a bit, until you nodded to see what happens next. 29:17 The japanese text says something more like "Who told you you could order me around?" or something along those lines. One can find MANY clarifications to MANY lines if they read the japanese text as well. Particularly in DR. I would recommend The determinators tumblr blog, but know that you will need to find their masterpost, as one can no longer input pages into the URL to find the content due to going dash only. 32:06 I mean, mainchara's body was already walking past puzzles by the time you meet Papyrus. That's merely LV 7 or so. And the narrator was already opening books at random pages in LV 1. Just that they now have become conviced in their guide. You can cancel No Mercy rught up to Flowey dying. There's no recent event where you go ordering them around against their will 32:53 Not necessarily. They just don't think you should get to enjoy the Freedom. Younthink you are above consequences. As far as they know, you should be able to play in the surface, not knowing the game ends there. They are just taking that away from YOU. 36:28 Here we go 37:27 This was confirmed by WordofGod to be from Asriel. The rest of the points stand. 37:56 I need to read that one. I mainly read determinators' post about it 38:50 I love how it's so disturbing that LV1 Chara is practically losibg their mind and forgetti g they are not the obe performing the actions 41:36 Concept art shows them being sociable with Asriel. The alarm clock dialogue make them out to be efficient and caring, something impressed upon their family. And they are one of four characters (Chara, Kris, Susie, Noelle) who are forbidden from appearing in non-group merchandise, because it would sabotage "what they represent", in Toby's words. mainchara is not subject to that restriction. What could possibly be as important as Kris' struggle with YOU and agency? As Susie's stellar character growth? Noelle's suffering and quest to save Kris? Murderchild? No way, dude. They are important to the message of Undertale. Know this. 42:05 Darn jumped the gun again 45:34 They are close friends with Catti. They even summon demons together (and Kris click on poppups about it) 45:51 Kris, the Kris without us in them, and the one who opposes our actions during CH2, seem to care a lot about Susie. Please check determinators for full breakdowns. I recommend autoscrolling to about a year back, or find someone who stockpiled links, like me.

I'm a big fan of the narrator Chara theory. Though, some of the stuff they say is kind of really sad, especially considering the implications of them climbing Mt. Ebott for an "unhappy reason" and "hating humanity." It could be interpreted that Chara may have been abused before they fell since the check dialogue for the faded ribbon is "If you're cuter, monsters won't hit you as hard." I don't know about you, but that seems like it may come from experience...

i cant believe just how much there is to an indie game made by a guy in his early 20s. i was a diehard fan of the game in 2016 onward, and to this day im finding out new, big things about the game. I never realised i didnt understand what the story of the first human was until i saw this video. mindblowing

I think this is one of the best Chara-narrator explanations I have seen. I appreciate that you aren't super biased. Some people get so mad when someone likes evil-Chara or totally-not-evil-Chara, but to me it feels like Toby left it vague on purpose. Maybe Chara was a troubled child with a good heart, or maybe Chara was totally evil all a long. It adds to the fun for the character you get to name after yourself to be able to fit whatever idea you like best.

Thank you, finally someone who acknowledges all of that ! I sub. By the way, there's also the fact that, just like Chara, Kris wears a green pullover with one yellow stripe, though the shades of green and yellow are the same as Asriel's pullover and not Chara's. Also they both like knives and both seem to not like humans since Kris immediatly closes the book about humans in Chapter 2. And I also think that the end of Detarune Chapter 1 sheds some light on what's going on in the soulless pacifist ending. People think that Chara went to kill everyone. But that's what they want you to think. In Deltarune, we thought that Kris was gonna kill people. But all that threatening stuff was just a prank and they actually just went for that pie. I think that Chara did the same. They threatened us with these shining red eyes, and just like Kris, they made their left eye shine brighter with that white particles effect. But actually, I think they simply went for that pie, just like Kris, that Toriel left for them at the beginning of the cutscene. Not that much of a bad ending it seems. I think that the fandom takes both Kris and Chara a lot more seriously than they themselves do. They're both big pranksters. The picture might have also been a prank. I mean it's just a picture. It's not like they've shown Chara surrounded by six piles of dust. In fact, it seems like a photo so they probably all just took a happy photo and Chara crossed their faces with a red pencil as one of these twisted pranks that they often like to do. If they took the time to take a photo together, it's likely that Chara actually spent time with them, and didn't plan to kill them at all. If they did, they likely would have done it right away, long before the other characters even considered taking photos with them. Oh actually. I just rewatched the scene and remembered that, long ago, I was thinking that they crossed the faces of their friends because, since the photo appears if you decide to not stay with Toriel, they've became distant with their friends and they don't really see them a lot anymore. If you think about it, the sepia colors really give a vibe of a memory of the past, and I think that basically in both pacifist and soulless pacifist, not staying with Toriel results in Frisk/Chara not really seeing their friends anymore. And since in soulless pacifist, it's Chara who can be a bit weird and kinda twisted sometimes, a bit like Kris once again, not Frisk, they decided to cross the faces of their former friends, as if they were gone, because they're gone from their life. So there you go, that's my thoughts on why Chara may not be so bad.

This is a great video but at 17:30 you make a notable mistake. You assume that chara must be “in control” because flowey thinks Frisk is them… but flowey ALWAYS thinks Frisk is them. Its kind of the crux of the entire True Pacifist ending.

I think you nailed it; I like to think that Chara was a troubled child who was brought back for one of two purposes, enforced by the player (similar to the “Deltarune” prophecy having two fulfillments): either to finish what was started to consume the monster world with the hatred Chara had for the humans (and learn it’s equally futile), or for a second shot at companionship through Frisk’s adventure, kinda like having your hand held and being forced to accept the brighter side of life. Both compelling endings in my opinion.

I choose to believe that Chara is not the villain, and that only YOU the Player can fill that role. I also choose to believe that Chara becomes more closed off but not sadistic over the course of and at the end of the genocide route and that Chara still has emotion. Also, the final Flowey kill at the end of genocide is not Chara , there is one last pause, a chance for the player to back out. Meaning Chara hesitated. As for Chara’s actions after genocide, there is no evidence that they killed anyone. It is likely a message to remind you (the player) of your sins. I believe that Chara being evil goes against the message of the game , which teaches you to be open minded and to expect more than meets the eye, as well as to grow as a person. In a lot of ways I think that everyone grows in the pacifist route, even Chara, who clearly helps you with their narration and helpful tips. In the genocide route, I feel that while they may help you, they feel they don’t have the power to stop you so they don’t try. I know that they are reluctant to help you because of red text, which symbolizes deep negative emotion. On a another note, when Chara is finally powerful enough, I would think that they wanted justice in a similar fashion to the buttercup plan. And by severing your connection to the game, that would serve as the justice. I feel very strongly about this because people who view Chara this way are not thinking openly. Either way, Chara is not the villain, undertale doesn’t NEED a villain. It is YOU who presses MERCY or FIGHT. And yes, I watched judgment boy’s the truth about Chara, but that is an insightful video with stock loads of evidence. Anyways, hope you see this. ;)

I think chara really did love their family in the underground. I believe they had compassion and empathy but not very much. I think that they really hated humanity though and after death they lost their "soul" and all that remained was their hatred for humanity which was too strong to be erased which is how chara remains in the genocide route at all. I also think a similar thing caused asriel to be so evil as flower. Missing his soul caused him to feel nothing. He didn't have this strong hatred but he went insane with boredom and stuff which resulted in him eventually just killing someone. Just to see what'd happen then he'd reset right away. I also can't remember if it's fanon or canon that he could reset before frisk fell but I think it is so yeah

I'd like to think of the reason for chara waking up is that the soul of the player appeared inside their body. The soul is technically the one who is choosing whether to attack or spare. Throughout the player's adventure, the confused chara is learning from your actions, as well as narrating. When at the end of pacifist, the player "loses" their soul to frisk, which gets bounded to their body after the barrier is broken (frisk is finally able to control their movements, and is able to tell the people their name). In a way, frisk is a culmination of all the monster's hope, along with the player's soul and determination. Once the game ends, you are left soulless in the underground, though your power and determination stays with you (hence why you can still restart, but frisk is assumed unable to). This leads you to do the genocide route, because nothing else to do, right? When you kill enemies, chara is able to learn faster than in pacifist (due to their negative nature). And even starts taking over some actions (such as skipping puzzles). This /could/ mean that they retain some of their memories after the reset, though it might be more likely due to their impatience to "level up". Eventually at the end of the game, you fall into a short coma (similar to meeting asriel in pacifist) where you finally meet chara. Since you are in chara's body, they have enough stats and are powerful enough to continue on without a soul, thus they decide to kill you. Though they don't really, because they barter with you later. However, chara has accumulated enough power to not be affected by a reset (or to reset the world themselves, though you still retain your memories, obviously). Chara is not 100% evil though, because if you complete the genocide again, they are confused. Back to the first encounter, once you do pacifist route (likely to beg for forgiveness to your conscience), chara appears at the end. I believe that chara is always bound to the human soul, though since in the first pacifist they learned to be nice from you, however they retained their memories, so they can appear after the second pacifist ending (likely when frisk is sleeping, or maybe just once, depends on how you interpret it), which inevitably makes you feel guilty about the genocide (if you still don’t feel anything, why'd you waste your time completing pacifist again?). There is also the chance that chara retakes themself in pacifist after the barrier breaks, and takes on a new name, frisk; however, the player is still in control until frisk leaves the underground, which counters this theory a bit. I could explain that but all this theory-making is making me tired. All in all, I believe that chara is the culmination of her own body, similar to how flowey exists from asriel's life-dust-particles. The player's soul then magically appears inside of them, due to them "finally getting to play this game they heard of called 'undertale'". The mind/spirit of chara observes the player's soul and how it interacts with its environment. This either leads them into a slight path of good, or a terrible path of evil power and destruction. Edit: Removed counter-intuitive parts that contradicted each other, this was a lot to write

Ooh, this was a good video. I'd forgotten a lot of this, and more of it was new to me. I always thought that the player had corrupted Chara, so it was cool to see such a good backup of that theory!

Chara outright tells us their soulless and calls the player out for acting like their above consequences.

Is no one talking about how they say that flowey “Confirms” that in genocide route chara is controlling frisk I don’t get that, flowey is always one to make assumptions, who says this time he’s right

Personally, because I never had the heart to do genocide to the monsters, I would only do pacifist, but after floweys comment I felt really bad, and so I deleted the game after one last true pacifist ending, and I made sure all the characters would stay happy because if I was in their place *I'd feel the same.* but, honestly, if chara's actions are based of the players, and I *was* a player, *chara was never evil.* But that's just me.

Loved this video! I'm so glad there is a video that really dissects the clues about Chara's character (heh) and explains the theories in a non-biased way. It's especially refreshing because most everyone gravitates to the one scene at the end of genocide and believe that is all there is to it. For my personal headcanon, I believe when Chara was alive, they were deeply traumatized by some past events with humans, leaving them with a hatred of them. However, when they fell into the underground, they grew to care for monsters due to the royal family's care for them. They became loving parents and a brother to them. Their trauma doesn't go away. They aren't always the nicest and have different than usual responses to guilt (laughing at that kind of situation is actually a common trauma response), but they still love their family and all monsters. Perhaps too much. Due to their trauma and love for the monsters, they came up with the plan to free all monsters by sacrificing themselves to use their soul. I don't think when they went up to the surface they wanted to kill every human present. I think they were just overcome by anger due to their past and wanted to quickly eliminate all the humans in the area to further the plan, but were stopped by Asriel. Perhaps during their struggle for control, Chara felt anger towards Asriel too. This was the plan, wasn't it? Why is he fighting them? This anger hangs on up to the point where Asriel returns to the underground and proceeds to die. While Chara feels grief and regret at causing their brother to die, they also feel such anger at him for resisting them and causing the both of them to disappear. Had they lived, it would be a passing thing, like a fight with your sibling. But since they both die, those mostly unwarranted feelings can't be resolved. Chara's soul disappears, but these hateful feelings stick around... Cut to later when Frisk falling wakes them, or rather the lingering essence of Chara, up. This essence has no real soul to control it and only old feelings fueling it - it's mostly confused by its continued existence at first. But if Frisk (or rather you) chooses to go the genocide route, the essence grows stronger into an almost undead being itself, representing all the hatred and malice Chara felt at death. Not the true Chara. Your brutality of the monsters feed into this lingering anger, making it grow stronger, until it basically has control of Frisk entirely. Since Chara's love of monsters died with them, and this isn't a being with a soul, it has no qualms with killing every thing. It just wants chaos for the sake of it. It wants entertainment and to complete the warped version of a traumatized child's goals. In the end, it is just a demon. Also, I read the comic and it is so good. Love the interpretation of Chara!

A MASTERPIECE OF A VIDEO!!! I USUALLY CAN'T SIT THROUGH A 20 MINUTE VIDEO ALL IN ONE GO BUT I DIDN'T EVEN THINK ONCE TO LOOK AWAY FROM THIS. THANK YOU SO MUCH I WILL DEFINITELY BE COMING BACK TO THIS AND YOU WORDED THINGS SO PERFFECTLY IN WAYS THAT MAKE PERFECT SENSE TO MY SILLY LITTLE BRAIN!

maybe the reason chara's encounter is so weird is because the battle screen is only for monsters.

Omg, I know this video is already a few months old, but I remember watching your comic videos years ago. Ita crazy (in a nice way) to see you again after so long!

I love all these small details in undertale! I have a Sans tatoo with a "stay determined" on my forearm! Nice video! 😊

This video popped into my feed a few days before it turned one year old, and I have to say thank you. Your AU/comic and this video really helped with figuring out how Chara went from "not the greatest person" to an abuser/manipulator. For the past 2 years, I have been trying to figure it out, with the only concrete conclusion I had was the pie incident being the trigger. I now, I get it. Again, thank you.

very pogchamperstastic video, i will listen to it in work tomorrow 😎

Personally ive always found that the narration of the Amalgam Snowy fight was Chara laughing in what is a scary situation, showing their natural coping mechanism is laughter at horrifying realities. I feel as if this shows some sort of sociopathic/psychopathic tendencies to laugh at others misfortune. Whether they actually find joy in it or not is up for interpretation.

this video is one of the best structured and explained (with proof) undertale lore videos I've seen! thanks!!!

29:56 I've always thought it was a combination of Frisk's and Flowey's determination that awoke Chara's spirit

We ARE chara, we name them (mostly) after ourselves in undertale and she represents our determination to get the genocide ending as we are controlling frisk and could stop at any moment. The fandom and people in general like to point them as the villan instead of facing the consequences of feeling bad because we just killed all the people we befriended out of pure curiosity.

Chara: *Thinks they're in my game forever* "Since when were you the one in control?" Me: *Deletes save* Chara: "shit"

I was just recommended this video on the deltarune topic, I hope more people get to see this. It’s very well done. I hope you continue to do more stuff.

I am a proud Chara supporter, as you may see by my account. I have thought of something that proves that the player exists. One: Flowey telling you, who he presumes to be Chara, to let Frisk live their life, which implies that they weren’t in control since the beginning. Two: Chara having a story in the first place, as well as “Chara” being short for Character, as shown in the code, where Frisk and Chara are labeled as “Mainchara” and “Truechara”. This implies that you control Chara, controlling Frisk, while nobody knows you even exist. Characters are controlled by the player, after all. Third: The end of genocide. You have a choice between erase and do not, despite them leading to the same result. If Frisk is never in control, then who is making that choice? YOU. You are the cause of everything. And, also, Chara’s shirt colors are intriguing… Other than the fact that the stripe on their shirt is either crème or yellow, depending on how you look at it. Chara’s shirt colors are Green and (sometimes) yellow, representing Kindness and Justice. Frisk’s colors are blue and purple, representing Integrity and Perseverence.

So if you name the main character as Chara but do Pacifist runs over and over will you influence Chara to be a better person?

theres an way to reset your save file of undertale, meaning if you delete it the genocide ending does not overcome the pacifist one press Windows key+R type in: %temp% windows explorer will open then press Alt+Up arrow in the file, search the file called UNDERTALE (yes its like this) then just delete or pass to other file that you want good playthrough!

This is really cool I love your interpretation of Chara more than any others as it just fits the narrative of Undertale! Also is it possible if you could make an analysis video for Frisk in the future?

Chara : “Ok, ill return this world in exchange for your soul.” Player : *PROCEEDS TO DO THE GENOCIDE ROUTE THE 2ND TIME AND MURDER EVERYONE* Chara : “Ok, you’re just a psychopath.”

What an awesome video. It's really informative. Thank you for putting this together!

Chara when I delete the save data to deny responsibility of my actions: " >=( "

I think that the theory of the player controlling Chara who controls Frisk makes a lot of sense, since in the weird route of Deltarune that is exactly what happens, the player controls Kris who controls Noelle, there is again a trio of characters.

Side note. When Asriel is in angel form, on his arms are these upside down hearts with oscillating dots. They are very similar in nature to the invisible tree in deltarune. Maybe asriel/ralsei have a "hand" in creating the dark worlds?

I am SO glad this video not only just doesnt goes “chara is evil and horrible and demon!!! Rahhhh bad child!!” But also doesn’t excuse every single one of their behavior and try to make it seem like there was some innocent deep down good will intention behind it. Sometimes people, especially abused kids, can make bad choices and mistakes with bad intentions. Sometimes they lack empathy. That isn’t *wrong* to show. Chara being a mean or toxic kid is not the end of the world, honestly, I think if the case of Chara being a bully was true, it would be STILL sad…because they could’ve had a chance to become better, to grow up and learn how to treat people and themselves better, maybe even learn to forgive humanity for whatever they did to make them hate it, but their life was taken prematurely by their own failed plan. EVEN WITH THIS, there has been more shown to chara’s character other than being a huge meanie head! That means there was always potential of growth, and it was taken away. Chara is not some evil shithead, but to try and take away the mistakes they have made too also mischaracterizes them.

great overall video, but i think you should've added what happened in snowgrave route, how the player controls noelle and kris against their will, and even when kris is down, noelle can still "hear" their voice, the player's voice. plus when you're with ralsei and he says why dont we sit and think about what susie is doing, in snowgrave route it doesnt happen, so theres that too

I really enjoyed this! As someone who played and watched other people play, I felt I had a good grasp on the story as a whole but I felt like I gained some clarity still watching this and your drawings brought some of it to life as well. You can draw really well!

Your video is very good and well made!! You deserve so much more views! You just got yourself a new subscriber

Thank you for this video. I’m pretty new to the fandom and was confused about a lot of things and lore. This made me understand it all a bit more :)

I really like the idea that Chara isn't evil, just very troubled. After all, we see Asriel do some horrible things but in the end he is redeemed (and everyone in the fandom loves him). I feel like Chara is the same, only we are never directly shown their redemption. We have a skewed view of Chara because the only time we really meet them is during the genocide run where the player is directly imbuing them with the mission to kill everything and become stronger. I like your point that it would be much more in line with the themes of the game if Chara was not just some absolute evil. In the genocide route, the player abuses Chara's pain to _transform_ them into an absolute evil.

Great video. I’m at a loss for what Kris truly is and I’ve been desperately wanting more answers. Someone tell Toby to hurry up so we can give him money!

Chara laughing when asgore is sick being not evidence of them not caring about their dad, but the start of their evil dad is a neat idea

Loved this video!! Your comic really helps with putting together all the pieces and helping it all make sense, while also looking amazing, hope to see more vids from you ✨

The way that the game defines a beginning, middle, and end that all together link the gameplay with the story makes Undertale a masterpiece. The beginning acts as a tutorial for the player, an introduction to the Underground for Frisk, and a crossroads for Chara. I agree that Chara most definitely wasn’t always the demonic spirit that most make them out to be; they were a troubled child learning how to live and love others when they died prematurely as part of a plan to bring closure to a trauma that led to a hatred of humanity (which is perhaps also the reason why Chara when to the mountain in the first place). However, Chara’s description of what it was like coming back when Frisk fell down indicates a sort of slow reawakening. Chara is confused as a result of the strangeness of becoming a spirit, their thoughts come back to the plan because that was the last thing on their mind before they died, and since Chara is tethered to Frisk and thus Frisk’s experience in the Underground, Chara develops in response to everything Frisk sees, thinks, and does. Thus, the Ruins “teach” Chara who they are, so when you leave the Ruins, Chara guides Frisk from then on through narration, memories, themes, and more. The ending concludes Frisk and Chara’s relationship, whether it’s pure bliss and joy shown both overtly and covertly (Chara doesn’t directly appear for Pacifist, because we know they’re alright since everyone including Asriel is as happy as they can possibly be), a missing resolution in which Frisk always remained true to themselves (Neutral), or a complete manifestation made possible through the accumulation of power at the cost of the entire world and everyone (monsters and humans) living in it. Only in the genocide route does Chara directly appear, and with the power gained from Frisk’s dark path, they finish what Frisk started in the only way they knew how. In all the main endings, Chara is fulfilled, but how that happens and who they become is determined by the player. The player is static, indifferent to the world of Undertale, and almost reminiscent of a God who acts through a “faceless” human that only the omniscient are aware of. That is how Undertale beautifully creates a dynamic and nuanced story that invites the player to be an active participant, recognizing itself as a video game and using that self-awareness to get through the screen and convince the player to think for themselves and make meaningful choices (which is why characters will call you out on predictable or irrational decisions, especially when it comes to saving. i.e., the Hard Mode fakeout is perhaps the funniest and most meta joke for the audience of professional gamers and online viewers)

here from twitter, this is good stuff👍

My interpetation of the Player-Frisk-Chara triangle is that at the beginning when Frisk falls into the Underground he might have gone through an amnesia, then Chara wakes up, but can't feel anything, because of the loss of all good that was left in Chara's Soul Then Chara possesses Frisk, but because Chara doesn't feel anything, the Player stepped in and controlled both of them And if the Player chooses to go on a Pacifist run, Frisk slowly remembers everything and recovers from the Fall, and over time he overshadows Chara Then at the end Chara fully leaves Frisk and then the Player also lets him go (If the Genocide run happaned before that Pacifist run, then Chara from the Genocide run Takes over Frisk after the Player stopped controlling him and kills everyone...so it's a Genocide run, but on the surface) If the Player tries a Genocide Run then the Undead Chara slowly overshadowes Frisk...but at LV. 20 Chara kills Frisk from the inside and Morphs his body into what Chara looked like before death And fully takes Controll of the body The Player is seperated from the body and can try to stop Chara, but because Chara didn't only take the body, but all the Powers the Player gained The Player couldn't do anything about the destruction of the world, but after a while of trying to go back Chara finds us and asks if we wanted to go back the the World And decides to make a deal of making the Player sacrifing their Human soul to Chara, and Chara brings back the world and all of it's paople for the Player to try a different route, but Chara tricked the Player, because if the player doesn't have a soul, Chara can view them at any time, and get a chance to ruin the Pacifist ending, by taking controll of Frisk after the Player stopped controlling him and Chara goes on a Genocide on the Surface Wow, that was a lot...if anyone read the whole thing...thank you for listening

This reminds me of a theory that claims Chara psychologically abused Asriel, which surprisingly makes a ton of sense I believe Chara themselves is traumatized, and because they never really healed, they turned out to act in an abusive manner as a coping mechanism

This video itself was very interesting, but I also want to add that I really enjoyed the comic illustrations throughout the video. The art style is really cute to me and I feel really fits the undertale vibe and I just really like it a lot and find it charming.

btw, while it is implied that Chara has taken over; they aren’t the one who’s actively killing all the monsters. that would be the both of us. they have taken over, but only to assist *their partner.* your will is their will, after all. if you abort a genocide route, there is no complaint to be heard. they will embody whatever it is the player decides to embody. and do note that during the genocide route it’s a lot easier for Chara to take over since we are actively enhancing their spiritual presence through LV. we’re essentially playing as them and not Frisk up until the end. but we make them swing the knife until they can do it on their own.

it's been so long since i saw anything related to Undertale my memory of everything has become really fuzzy, and the fact that i was pretty young at the time doesn't help either. this makes for a great refresher, thanks

I have one problem with this interpretation of Chara’s infamous monologue. Firstly, as Chara addresses the player, when it lists off a bunch of stats and then says “that feeling… that’s me”, that implies that, in a meta sense, Chara is supposed to be seen as the living embodiment of the satisfaction of watching a number go up in a video game, regardless of what horrible things are happening in that game. Not just Undertale, but any video game ever. In a sense, as if Chara (or rather, whatever your own name is) was with you all along, and it is essentially your id. Then, that big final like that it shouts at you as it does its infamous “creepy face”, it isn’t worded in a way that implies you had power over it but you let it get too strong. It specifically says “since when”. As in, the way it sees things, never. You, who went through with playing this objectively evil playthrough of this video game, you, who either did it out of a sense of completion or a sense of accomplishment or experimentation or even enjoying doing horrible things without real world consequences, have been Chara’s pawn all along. You, the player, were in fact the one being played from the very beginning. The idea of Chara as a troubled but open ended child might vibe pretty nicely with the ideas of the rest of the characters in Undertale, but in a way I think trying to treat it the same way as the other characters is kind of missing the point. It’s the black sheep, the odd one out, the one that doesn’t fit. The one, singular character that cannot be understood or reasoned with. The one example of real, genuine evil in a game chock full of moral complexity and nuance, one that only works so well due to being a manifestation or representation of the player’s own dark desires. Where I think this shines most is that Toby himself has stated on record that he intended for people to generally name Chara each’s own name, which not only aids the little mind frick at the end of the pacifist route, but also sets it up so that at the end of Genocide you’re essentially staring your inner demons right in the face as they mock you for being unable to ignore or surpass them. There is merit to a lot of the things you say here, but I do think that the interpretation Chara as anything but an utter sociopath kind of loses out on the whole “you, the player, are and always have been a mere slave to your own evil urges all along, and the consequences are irreparable” aspect.