What Makes Gerson Great | Undertale/Deltarune Character Analysis 

Hey, guys! I had to unlist the Undertale Yellow video due to a glaring audio sync issue that I hope to fix. I'll try to get it back up soon. Do you want me to edit in voice acting in post? I can try, but it's not required. More analysis videos to come once I decide which topics I'm tackling next! I do need to finish that Ven video at some point. My Patreon can be found here: patreon.com/dorked and my Ko-Fi is here: ko-fi.com/invertedfate My Undertale webcomic is at invertedfate.com/chapters (the last few chapters are not on the site yet but will be eventually). My Sonic video is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HmZ2-yA1aEA.html

Gerson's "...I know you can't here" is absolutely an underrated badass line, and a very clever use of Undertale's meta nature. But the followup line, "Knowledge like that is the only reason I've survived so long," is just as interesting to me, because it implies that *all humans* in Undertale's world operate on the same "player character logic" that our actual player character does. And now I'm just imagining a massive human army marching on a monster refugee camp, only to be stopped by Gerson setting up a shop directly in their path, and all the humans curse his name because they can only interact with him in the shopkeeper menu and thus can't get him out of the way. Hilarious.

It’s so cute to hear Undyne talk about him like “He’s a real hero! ^-^” Then Gerson is like “Undyne has done such a long way since she was a kiddo”

its also kinda interesting how gerson is the "hammer of justice" and undyne the "spear of justice", I think that shows how undyne wants to be like gerson

Gerson might be a crafty, lovable, badass war vet. But nothing he does or says will ever be as cold as "I can't go to hell. I'm all out of vacation days."

People always tend to overlook Gerson as 'guy that sells junk we can then spend at the tem shop', but I like the fact Toby put some extra lore about the Boss Monsters in his post pacifist dialogue. He's one of my favorite shopkeepers behind Burgerpants, and his dialogue in the no-mercy route feels fitting for him in a sense.

It is my headcanon that Undyne’s big bright smile at the end of her No Mercy Fight is something she picked up from Gerson. I could totally see him show a big bright smile to those who he’s successfully kept safe from danger.

I love this old geezer, especially his dialouge in genocide. The fact that he is aware of him basically being immortal due to his shopkeeper status is not something many pepole seem to appreciate.

Gersons Genocide diologe ("I know you can't here" line specificly) is the definition of a Giga Chad energy

Gerson is such a cool character for how niche he is, even having a mild prevalence in Deltarune. And the Genocide run’s depiction of him is nothing short of amazing. I love this analysis, and this character. Great job!

I've always loved Gerson's unabashed stance against the player in the geno route. A canonical war veteren exploiting the laws of his universe to taunt our inability to harm him has always been one of my favourite examples of Undertale's more "meta" characters screwing with the player, especially since it makes sense diegetically due to how familiar he is with humans and their restrictions. It's also for the reasons listed in the video that Gerson (especially DR Gerson) is always my go-to Gaster swap when it comes to the realm of AUs, and one I woefully don't see explored too often. The concept of a character versed in creating works of fiction eventually realising that they ARE in a work of fiction... ughjsidfaodj I'm a complete sucker for that trope

Gerson’e response to him being threatened on a genocide run is something I love and hate at the same time. I love the gigachad energy from his knowledge and not backing down from the players threat. I hate we can’t fight him and have him roundhouse kick us out of the game. 😭

A quick theory. What if the delta rune literally lost it's meaning, as in, Toby saw it in his dream but forgot what was its meaning. Also, i forgot that he is fine with helping Frisk. I wonder, does he just not care anymore, or does he have some hopes regarding them

Gerson Boom: Hammer of Justice Survived the human-monster war Inspired Undyne to join the royal guard The only character who recognizes Frisk is a human and doesn't attack or put them in any sort of danger One of the only monsters who recognize the surface isn't all sunshine and rainbows "There's a lot of Flowey's out there." Isn't afraid of you and tries to buy time for other monsters in the genocide route Namedrops Deltarune in Undertale Is f'ing dead in Deltarune but still seems to play an important role in the narrative

Gerson is, I feel, one of the most interesting mysterious character of Undertale. I don't know why, but I was always fascinated by his knowledge of the shop mechanic, and Temmie Village. I hope he will be in the spotlight (at least a bit more fleshed out in Deltarune, even if its just by some lines of dialogue by other characters)

Gerson in Deltarune seems like he'll be such an interesting character in terms of the past. I feel he'll have a similar role to Chara; I think he's going to have started some sort of 'chain reaction' long ago. His fantasy book series may have been based off his own experience with the Dark World, after all.

Gerson ? Thats a name i havent heard on a long while

I love that joke where he says you can't attack him in the Genocide route because he's a shopkeeper

As someone who has watched several playthroughs, TONS of fanworks, and several lore videos, but I dont think I've ever seen anyone analyze Gerson so deeply. There's so much covered in this video I've heard of, yet so much I haven't. For how much fan works focus on when asriel was alive, I'm surprised that Gerson isn't brought up. I love how much you focus on and correct the history of undertale lore, giving us beautiful insights that more people should really pay attention to.

i love gerson, he’s my favorite non-main character. glad you made a video to help spread his popularity and how interesting he is

I know a lot of people like to clown on this theory but the concept of Gerson’s essence being infused in his buried hammer, and that hammer potentially becoming a Darkner in some capacity is just so cool to me. Be it as the Knight or in some other role. I just love Gerson, I’m really looking forward to his role.

"I know you can't here" is such a cool line. You can't hurt him, and he knows it. You, the genocidal child that nothing can stop, is at the mercy of that old turtle's sass, and he knows it. Incredible.

thanks for doing a video on gerson! i’ve always thought he was really underrated. undyne’s line about “he fought in the war… and survived!” as being something praiseworthy has stuck with me since i first played because it feels kind of horrifying. she doesn’t detail any real feats of his, so the very act of getting out alive being “heroic” is worrying. it always makes me wonder just how brutal and onesided the war must’ve been. also, really interesting catch on the gerson/gaster parallels! i don’t know what it could mean but it feels too convincing to be an accident.

Something interesting that could also be of note is the Tarot Cards. Among some of the changes Toby made to them, one specific one was changing the Hermit from the Mystery Man to Gerson! It seems like nothing at first but, considering the other connections to Gaster that he's shown, maybe this decision has more of a leg to stand on for theories?

Huh, I never actually noticed the blasters look like turtle skulls. That's actually almost embarrassing, 'cause I'm fairly familiar with reptile anatomy.

How to beat humans in the war Step 1:trap them in the shop Step 2:close shop door so they're trapped

What's notable to me is that Gerson never calls himself a hero, and in fact says that he isn't one. I think it's possible that he did some very dubious things during the war, that he regrets by the time of Undertale.

Honeslty I love his character but at first me liking him was basically "I like your funny words magic man". He's so naturally charming.

Dreams aren't only a part of the dialogue. The prophecy calls the DARK as "DREAMS" so there's much more to it than some might think, you are very much on the right track.

9:04 took that as a reference to how Deltarune was conceived, the ending being a dream T Fox had. But you pointing it out within the context of DR makes me so hyped. Knowing the conception of DR came from a dream, Gerson felt similarly, and it’s a game that deals with dreams as well makes me hyped for new meta aspects.

gerson my beloved, he has always clicked with me even before deltarune expanded his mystic even more, im excited for more we have yet to learn

Alvin mentioning that he wishes that Kris could have met Gerson could also have been a hint for people to go back to UNDERTALE and pay more attention to him there as well.

Okay, look, I know at least some people are gonna be mad at the Gerson/Gaster part, but whether or not it's true, those are some _dope_ connections that were made.

The chad Gerson:survived a war with scope bigger than ww1 has absurd lore knowledge knows he cant be killed in geno knows the kings nickname and was called the hammer of justice and has undynes respect The virgin flowey:is just powerful with souls couldnt even get the souls without tricking a child Loses to the same child Tried to kill child before being stopped by old goat And conviced a child to murder before asking for mercy despite clearly betraying them

I always liked ol' Gerson. I'm hoping we get to learn more about deltarune's version as well.

Every shopkeeper in the genocide route feel epic just for being there. Yes even burger pants. “ I can’t go to hell. I’m all out of vacation days”

Gerson really is the coolest of old guys. I'm glad you did a deep dive on him, and just how interesting of a character he truly he is. He's a crafty veteran who has lived long enough to understand how the rules of the world works. And he seemingly had learned in his time during the war that humans operate with the logic of a typical RPG player. His resourcefulness is likely what made him be hailed as a champion amongst his fellow monsters. Also Gerson being a protector makes sense considering he's a tortoise. An animal that is known for being a living tank. Also, here's something you likely didn't know: did you know that Gerson's tarot card is the same as Gaster's? It's true! They are both representors of the Hermit.

This is definitely one of my favorite characters. I just find it really cool he is a veteran of the war; and basically a living remnant of it.

Thanks for pointing out the Gaster paralels

Gerson was such a well fleshed out Character. so much potential, he has only for him to be ignored by the fandom along with his Dialogue in the two routes Geno and Pacifist. such the fate of being overshadowed he had along with the other minor Fleshed out Characters like Burgerpants.

"Gerson Boom" being a reference to Smash doesn't mean the anagram isn't intentional he's from the same game as Asriel Dreemur who gets to have his name be a combo of his parent's names (one of which is ALREADY a pun) AND ne an anagram for Serial Murderer which is intentional as we know. Asgore may such with names but Toby Fox doesn't haha

I've always felt that Gerson hasn't been given the amount of appreciation he deserves. I didn't even know about the murder run's dialogue!

Something to add to the "angel of death" part of the prophecy is it kinda rings true with the pacifist ending as well, considering Azrael is the angel of death, and Asriel is the god of hyperdeath.

Gerson is one of my favourites. Thanks for recompiling this after the theory tumblrs closed down. I wish there were more comics about him and his meta manipulation

Leave it to Dorked to dissect characters no one else would. Another awesome video!! Soup :)

Gerson is such a good character. You did him justice! (As expected, I love your essays)

I also find very interesting that in the tarot card set, there was a gaster card, but then it got replaced with a gerson card... hmmm 🤔 Other thing i have theorized about him is that maybe he's a boss monster too, i mean in undertale he's alive and he doesn't have any children that we know of, and in deltarune, on the other hand, we know for a fact that he has a son (and a daughter too, probably) and what do you know he's freaking /dead/ but oh well maybe he's just alive after so long cuz he's a turtle and turtles live a lot

One thing I wanted to mention on Gerson, the implications of the store effect of "I know you can't here, Knowledge like that is how I survived" likely mean that yes, nobody can fight him as he's a shopkeeper, BUT he DID have a hammer, why? Well, In war you can just...blow up the shop. Like, unironically just destroy the shop and now he's an encounterable monster. Also, Gerson is likely only one-shottable and aware of it because 1:He knows about LOVE, 2: He knows you have a L o t of it to be this far into fighting. 3: Damage scaling with LOVE no doubt happened to insane levels in the War. Like, imagine Humans who are level 873 oneshotting EVERYTHING. Asgore is the only monster who can dodge besides sans even if he never uses it, why? Well, at high levels every attack oneshots you, so you cant just sit there and take it. Monsters like Undyne being so full of determination that they don't die is likely seen as a rare ability rather than what it actually is... maybe even something that never came up as monster society was attacked in possibly a blitzkrieg-style war. I doubt they could rely on undyne the undying-like monsters forming, much less do we know for sure that isn't something unique to Undyne, so they always dodge. But the monsters who never saw the war? Why would they know to dodge? Why wouldnt they fight it assuming that its like any normal monster fight, minus the spells. Also why have physical weapons when you have magic? Because melee combat would decimate monsters if they couldnt use something that wouldn't take extra damage from LOVE...something physical like, I don't know...A Hammer or a Trident? This is a mess of thoughts, but it is something worth looking into IMHO, even if its just to discuss the possibilities.

5:38 peak as hero… When I think of what gerson was like it those days, the purple knight from castle crashers comes to my mind.

I just realised that number 7 is like a holy number, and the 7th soul is us

Imagine your on patrol for monsters during the war, and in the middle of a battlefield you see Gerson casually selling his ware

The shop keepers really become badass in the genocide routes. Burgerpants and Gerson go so freaking hard on this route, they should be talked about more.

Great character analysis of gerson dorked

The first thing i did once i was able to explore the town in deltarune was search for Gerson, finding his grave hited me more than expected.

I believe gerson to be some sort of old friend to gaster Being the scientist he is it stands to reason gaster could have aome profound knowledge of self awareness. And since gaster no longer exists gerson wouldnt remember him It would explain how gerson has such knowledge of the rules pf the game, like you not being able to hurt him in the shop Evidence to back this is that soncw sans ia theorized to be gasters son or some other relative, he also contains large knowledge of the game, not to a fully self aware level but knowing how to manipulate the combat system The timeline also backs this up since gerson was presumably around during the war We also know hes quite old yet he doesnt age since he doesnt have children Atleast not in this universe In deltarune we dont know the time pwriod but we can assume its the same as undertales bases on the characters. While qe sont know if ita some kind of alternate universe or continuation we do see geraln is dead because he has a son, thus he aged since boss monsters dont age past a certaon point until they have children I believe gerson has some relation to gaster and thus has his self awareness that he cant be hurt qhile in the shop

That fateful Smash 64 match between Gerson and Superboomfan is the reason why Dreamland is the only stage you can play in competitive smash. The Match was over 52 minutes long. The reason: it was because SuperBoomFan hated hyrule castle for good reason. He showed how easily it can be camped.

I just rewatched a genocide route for the first time since being around 12/13 (im nearly 20 now!) and realised just how much lore there is to unpack about Gerson , this is such a wonderfully made summary of him ! I've been loving your channel recently , very glad to have found it

Speaking of gerson, alvin and meta knowledge i think the dialouge option with alvin were he says that there arent sins in games (aka were asriel confesses the yoshi drop "sin") Is there to calm players of snowgrave after all just watching the route made me feel like a horrible person so having an npc state: "calm down its just a videogame" was just what my psychiue needed!

Undertale is so filled with personality that even a rock has as much personality as a random npc and I hope Deltarune gets an Xbox one release

Love your character analysis so much. I usually watch stuff like this in the background, but yours, yours i save for cozy tea drinking evenings.

Been interested in gerson for a while.

the paralel between gerson/gaster also reminds me of the tarot cards, where toby decided to replace the gaster card with gerson

It's a bit after I watched it, but I wanted to say I've enjoyed listening to these theory videos behind the scenes, so I wanted to thank you in advance for putting the time to make these. This one in particular helped me appreciate Gerson more than I've already had and I feel that's neat. Mostly commented here, because I saw the recent Alphys video, had some thoughts, but haven't had a chance to watch it and it felt unfair to comment before watching it, but I already had this much written up. I'll probably be on mobile or somewhere I can't actually comment by the time I get a chance to watch the most recent video. So I wanted to at least say that these videos are great. I even got around to watching some of the non-Undertale related videos, like the Sonic and Paper Mario ones and they were a good time too.

Holy frick! One new thing, remember the tarot cards with UT characters? I might be possibly be wrong, but guess who got replaced with Gerson? Gaster, gaster tarot card was replaced with Gerson! And i know! This might be going a bit too much into Detail, but it could be important, especially since gerson and gaster presence in Undertale and Deltarune is kind of swapped

Your analyses are always so amazing ♡

Your videos are really good! And you also made one of my favorite undertale comics of all time now that I have read it! Thank you for not only creating great things, but being so inspiring in your work!

7:17 like just imagine: “there’s Gerson the hammer of justice none of our strongest men could lannn… is he building a lemonade stand??? whatever he’ll never see my attacks coming,” *literally runs headfirst into magic shop barrier getting knocked out cold*

Gerson saying "I'm not a hero, I never was" makes me think that he survived the war through more sneaky and even cowardly means. He also agreed that staying underground was the safest option, so he's way more pragmatic than someone like Undyne.

Yooo new undertale analysis love these type of videos

While watching this i was having some thoughts theory, what if gerson Is the knight in deltarune? Maybe he's not really dead and just dissapeared? Maybe someone who's controlling or manipulating him to stay in the dark world? Idk just a theory

Great video. Gerson is such an interesting character to think about.

Gerson being dead in Deltarune is sad, but I won't lie, given that his name is an anagram of Goners, It oddly feels fitting.

I find it really wholesome and funny how undyne followed in gerson's footsteps and became a royal guard like him. this reminds me of her influence over monster kid,who probably would've been the next royal guard (i doubt Papyrus) if asriel didn't shatter the barrier or if frisk didn't kill everyone,if gerson was the hammer,and undyne is the spear....what weapon could they weild?

Woo! Great video, as always!

gerson video, i have waited so long for this moment 🔥🔥🔥

Hm, this was a very nice and well done Video. His really a very interesting Character, I do hope the Deltarune lets us learn more about him like you say. Hm, say, have you done a Video on Temmie yet?

Lovely video - Maybe someday we'll see him at his peak 💪🐢

Didn't expect a gerson video, haven't watched the video, but i know this is going to be very very interesting

I enjoyed your take on Gerson in your webcomic btw. The idea that he has the journal and glasses because the human who had those stayed with him is... nice, y'know?

LOVE EVERY VIDEO FR)M THIS CHANNEL!!!!!

NEW DORKED VIDEO LETS GOOO

your videos are very good, your thumbnails are intruiging and you upload often.

New video. Nice. Thanks for the video

I’m writing a story about what the humans have been up to since sealing the monsters away, and this inevitably lead to me writing the six souls. What they were on the surface, what their journeys were like, and how they died. A few examples are: Hazel (Kindness) looking for a plant to save Ebott Village, tripping into the Underground, and later letting Asgore take his soul during their fight, with the request that the king act swiftly if sickness ever plagues his people. Lady Sylvia (Patience), the newly crissend High Priestess, falling into the Underground after trying to escape the stormy after-effects of her predecessor’s prayer in the recent war, she dies trying to reason with Asgore. But the one that’s important to this video is Alaster (Perseverance). He came to the Underground in search of proof that the mythical race of monsters were real, and ended up under Gerson’s metaphorical wing. The two end up bonding as Alaster becomes the longest living human to survive in the Underground (15 > 30). Alaster probably would’ve kept going too, content with his studies and grandpa-figure, if it weren’t for the plague that rolled through the land. As Asgore promised, he was quick to protect his people, Gerson being one of the first people to get vaccinated. But fate had it out for Alaster, and not only did he get sick, but the treatment didn’t work on him. About a year later, Alaster gave up trying to persevere through the endless battle and willingly put his soul in the jar Gerson had stole sometime prior. The goodbye was emotional, or as much as it could be with the pair’s dynamic, throwing light jabs with a hundred words between the lines.

Great video!

20k views is still a lot. You should be greatful.

gerson is so underrated

GERSON VIDEO GERSON VIDEO 🔥 🔥 🔥 and a great one as always, enjoy algorithm food 🍕

Something else about the angel being the “Angel of Death”-there’s a theory I personally subscribe to that Asriel is the angel. It would add some serious irony if Asriel (Azrael) was, in fact, the angel from the prophecy, and the people who called it the angel of death were, technically, absolutely correct.

the thing about gerson being alphys’s predecessor in deltarune instead of gaster drives me insane. I can help but draw a comparison to how irl, the artist of the undertale tarot deck was asked to change gaster’s card to gerson instead. really curious to see where the connection between these two is going.

I wonder what other sort of tricks Gerson used in the war. Like obviously he didn't just put up shop in the middle of a battlefield even though that is a very funny image. What sort of loopholes could he use to save as many of his kind as possible before they inevitably were banished to the underground?

I’ve had a fan theory for years that, as far as I can tell, nobody else has brought forward, that Gerson may actually also be a boss monster. Here’s why I think this; -He is one of, if not the only monster as old as Asgore and Toriel are. -He understands the mechanics of boss monster aging, something which nobody else ever brings up, and in fact the term “boss monster” is only ever brought up again by a plaque describing the war of humans and monsters (which it would not be a stretch to believe Gerson may have helped write seeing as he’s a historian, though he doesn’t have to have) -we are never explicitly TOLD that boss monsters have to be goats, they are simply the only species CONFIRMED to be boss monsters. Then we have what I think might be the best evidence deltarune provides, which made me come up with this theory in the first place: -Boss Monsters only age when they have children, and the universe in which he is dead JUST SO HAPPENS to also be the universe he has a living son. -There is also the fact that no other established characters have been shown to suddenly have children who didn’t exist in Undertale (barring MAYBE Catti, but we know basically nothing about Catty and her family in UT but that is still a potential factor to disprove this evidence) which leads me to believe that maybe the reason Gerson is so old in Undertale despite never having a referenced family may be because his son died, possibly even in the human and monster war (obviously no way to know, but that’d be my guess). I’d say the main argument you could make against this theory is that Deltarune is clearly supposed to be set a few years on from the events of Undertale, and the implication may have been intended to simply be that Gerson is only a few years away from dying in the UT universe. This may well be the case but I still think it’s an interesting idea to consider nonetheless.

Gerson appears in Undertale Yellow as a fun event, you go inside his shop, and into waterfall, but aside from the shop, the rest of waterfall is blocked off

I’d just like to say for I don’t know why that I made him a boss monster in my AUs for him to be able to have fought in the war and also live the about three and a half millennia until Frisk comes along. That might not make much sense grammatically

7:02 ferry cameo

i loved how some people explore Gerson's character back when i used to spend hours a day reading fanfiction. just a happy thought, but it would be sick if Gerson turns out to be the Knight in Deltarune.

you forgot he foreshadowed the undyne the undying battle....

I wish I could find the comic where Gerson kills a human explorer and took his hat, glasses, and journal, it sounds a little odd out of context but it was part of a series about the previous fallen humans

To me it's kind of interesting that there is no (current) explanation on why he is dead. Why it is clear why some of the characters are alive (ie the amalgamate counterparts in DR never got the determination and thus died anyway) and why some are alive (There was no need for Asriel to do Chara's plan), but there is no implications so far of what what did him in. Rudy has the implication of why he is dead in UT (and also his possible fate in DR) if him being the hospital is anything. The closet thing so far is the fact the he knows being a shopkeeper makes him unkillable by the player, along with other valuable knowledge, which he could potential lack in DR, but that's seems unlikely considering the fact he is famous for being a historian (among other things). (I mean it could also imply the war is the reason he needed to have this in the first place, but then that might imply his death in DR might he didn't have a natural death in DR and someone killed him, but that seems like a stretch)

If a Boss Monster's parents died when they were a kid, that would mean they could never become an adult, right, since parents and child age together?