Why Are Human Souls So Powerful? Undertale Theory | UNDERLAB 

The Bogpill. I'll give you a summary at an accelerated speed so you might understand what you are dealing with here. The Bogdanoff twins are a magical pair that have many unique abilities such as telepathy and they are even able to speak to aliens, they do this regularly. They are the rulers of France, they do this with an iron but mostly FAIR fist. This is very important as they know what they are doing, they have an IQ which is estimated to be above 215. The two have broken the space-time continuum to extend their life. They have been around since the Bog Bong many billion years ago at the beginning of the universe. We must listen to the twins, they already saved Europe once with just a phone call, respect the twins. Accept the Bogdanoffs.

I love how as he says that humans can't use magic, the onscreen dialogue in the background says the humans trapped the monsters underground with a magic spell

On the topic of Determination, I think that Undyne The Undying wouldn't have just died when she went Undying, as with the Amalgamates, they only melted. So, logically, Undyne the Undying would have only become a blob of herself, she would still be Undyne but melted, if Frisk didn't kill her. She would live... as a puddle...

Have you ever thought about how Monster Kid says that you can tell if someone's a kid if they're wearing a striped shirt but Temmie (from the Tem Shop) also wears a striped shirt. It's been bugging me all day.

I have a theory idea. The underground represents the four layers of the Earth: Crust: The Ruins, Snowdin, Waterfall and the Capital. The first three are simple - they easily mimic real-life scenery and are the first three areas. The Capital, however, is harder to explain, but is possible to be explained. The Capital mimics a real-life city, and I think it might also be very close to The Ruins, because it's close to the barrier which is right up close to the surface. It can be easily accessed from the CORE because of the long elevator. Mantle and Outer Core: Hotlands. The Mantle and Outer Core are made up of lava, just like Hotlands. That simple. Inner Core: the CORE. The name is the easiest giveaway, but another reason is that the Inner Core is the powerhouse of the Earth, allowing it to run as it does, just like how the CORE powers the underground.

Within Undertale, the point that human souls are objectively weaker than monster souls is hammered in more than once. The only problem is that it's never really explained why! Humans have "determination", but what is determination? Is it an emotion? A liquid? Is it ketchup? Join UNDERLAB as we attempt to work it out along with other mysteries! www.reddit.com/r/Undertale/comments/5utzp1/why_are_human_souls_so_powerful_undertale_theory/

I think determination could be a pun on the word "termination", meaing to end or to kill. That way, being filled with determination is being filled with the absence of death. That could be why it restores HP.

I have idea for the video: If Flowey didn't existed and player didn't visited the undeground... Who would be the most determined monster to control the timeline?

If you read this Underlab: What do you think of MatPat's new video?

i love how the word underlab is empty at first with dust falling around but then the dust disapears and the characters appear representing the two biggest routes

HOW I HAVE BEEN SO BLIND!!? DETERMINATION WAS KETCHUP ALL ALONG!!!❤❤❤

I want to leave a comment but I don't know what to say...... I KNOW! Sans: (Pun) Papyrus: (Anger)

Frisk isn't determined to get through the underground. YOU are the one determined to get through the underground. Also, I like how Toby called it "Determination". When you quit Undertale, lose your determination, you can't load, until you get it back by trying again.

So early king mel is not here

Actually... the 'determination is ketchup' thing has got me thinking... what if sans DOES drink DETERMINATION? Since it's red, and that could mean why sans is incredibly powerful in his fight.

I think that determination is...diet coke, how else does MatPat survive? You need to do a theory, its like the process of elimination.... if it's not ketchup it has so be diet coke.That means that... You play as matpat in undertale. Asriel, is a kid.... ba dum tschhhh. But children justassume things right, Asriel assumes your name is Frisk, I mean you don't really speak all the way through undertale so, how could you tell asriel, and I don't see you using sign language in undertale, so your real name.. is MatPat, so this all proves determination is diet coke.This is the best theory I have ever done!!

when memoryhead is hit it says "im lovin' it"

Call me crazy, but I don't think the Dreemurrs are just goats. I believe they are a version of Greek mythology's Chimera. The Chimera is a three headed monster that terrorized Greek countrysides until Bellerophon killed it. One head is a goat head and is also the head that breathes fire. The Dreemurrs are (obviously at least part) goat. They cant breathe fire, but the do have fire magic, as seen through Toriel, Asgore, and a few of Omega Flowey's attacks (not through Asriel because he is THE ABSOLUTE GOD OF HYPERDEATH). The second head is a lion's head. There may not be obvious proof, but The Dreemurs have paws, similar to a lion, and Asgore has a full head of hair and a beard that resembles a lion's. The final head is a snake's head. This is the hardest head to prove, but the fangs on Toriel, Asgore, Asriel, and sometimes on Flowey resemble a snake's fangs. Also the snake is usually seen as a tail, so unless we see Toriel, Asgore, or Asriel's tail(that may or may not exist) we will never know for sure.( I only know all this Greek mythology chiz is because I am a total Percy Jackson nerd and decided to learn more about Greek mythology)

did you mean deTEMMIEnation

This channel deserves more subscribers. So much effort is put into each episode!

the reason that monsters can't hold DT is because, as Alphys explained in one of her entries, monsters are made mostly of magic and they don't have enough physical matter to hold it.

I think determination is something that isn't a feeling, but a trait. A part of your personality, that you can take a piece out of the infinite stuff and keep going no matter what. Btw since monsters have no physical form, I believe that the reason their souls cannot persist after death because they ARE their souls. They AREN'T actually controlling a body.

"While humans are mostly made out of water, monsters are made of magic" Why they don't have enough physical matter.

For my personnal mini-theory and mini-thougths (bad english incoming X) ) : When I first heard of DETERMINATION in Undertale (The fact that it allow a human soul to survive after death), that reminds me of mythology and religion's vision of afterdeath (paradise, hell, reincarnation or else), and also reminds me of the story of the The little mermaids (Andersen's version, not disney's) : It is said that human souls live eternaly (I don't remember exactely so forgive my mistakes), and that the mermaids, on the other hand, don't have afterlife and simply turn into foam when they die (which can be compared on how monster turn into dust when they die). So maybe Undertale was inspired by this story ? (mermaids become more generally monsters and humans are still humans). With the idea of afterlife for humans but not for magical creatures. And more likely, the idea of reset is just "handwaves" to explain saving, load and reset. But since in Undertale, everything you've done have consequences, this take a major role. So this is not supposed to be logical or anything, just some thougths I had when I heard of DT the first time and when I actually look at this now ^^ (so at least you don't have to correct things ^^)

I have a theory but it has 0 arguments. Maybe all humans have the traits of the 7 souls that we see within undertale but the color of their soul determine their major trait.That would explain why the others childrens besides frisk can't reset or respawn. Well seems like I had one argument Finnaly.

Like the video if you are alive.

I think humans used to be able to used magic (the war scene in the beginning seems to take place back when people were accused of being witches and whatever) but when the monsters were gone each generation became more and more doubtful that magic and monsters even existed so eventually everyone forgot how to do it.

My theory: each human had their own "power" depending on their soul type. Some are better for getting through the underground than others. e.g. Patience didn't get past the ruins, but being patient in a world of monsters wouldn't help much. Meanwhile justice soul made it all the way to Asgore's castle. Seeking justice in the underground could be seen as important/useful. Frisk and Chara's souls (determination souls) are the best for getting through the underground because it helps if you stay determined against all odds. This would also explain why Dr Alphys was able to find out about determination because Chara's soul is the only one she was ever able to analyse.

Hey underlab can you try to do a theory of why is Sans so powerful

Make a video about how a fight in undertale works. Because you have a barricade in a fight.

When alphys did the determination experiments keep in mind that the monsters she did that to were dead already. I feel like the way you're looking at it is that all monsters, dead or alive will melt and fuse with "too much determination". I believe that Monsters can use determination like humans however, like alphys mentions at the end of the true lab; "Monsters body's can't handle enough determintation to avoid death" (or something like that) so they melt and turn into dust. Just like what happens to Undyne on a neutral route. Undyne simply isn't determined enough (and she never will be) to avoid death. I like to think this is true because of the essay we read in snowdin; "while humans are mostly made of water (giving them a more physical form) Monsters are mostly made of magic (giving them a magical form?)" . So I believe that monsters just don't have the physicality to maintain the determination. (There may be an exception for Undyne the Undying, but we'll save that for another theory)

The Ending with Alphy running from Undyne's spear made me laugh, good going.

I think you have the timeline mixed up a bit. flowey was made after the six humans had already died. he says himself that asgor already had all six souls, hence why he needed to wait for another human (you) to fall down and distract asore. also it is confirmed in game that at least some of the humans could reset as asgor "nods knowingly" when we say he killed frisk multiple times. and toriel mentions how sometimes when a human fell down she felt like she had already met them, implying that the humans used the reset and met her a second time.

Determination = Ketchup

I love your videos Underlab they are so cool and you are helping me understand undertale more :3

I saw it as the power to reverse death itself. The prefix "de-" means removal of, and "termination" means to bring something to an end. There are two situations where you are allowed to use your determination to change the story (not counting turning off your computer or anything like that): when you have your life terminated, or when the story is terminated. And Flowey follows the same logic, except he can bring other people from their own timeline and into his timeline when he becomes Omega Flowey or Asriel Dreemurr.

You are amazing!!!

You forgot to mention that Undyne can "create" Determination in the Genocide Run.

"Determination" is Spirit Energy, the raw energy of the Soul. However, Human Souls have a different signature or energy property than Monster Souls hence why they cannot mix without the Soul to house the energy in. A Monster with 2 spiritual energies of 2 different properties (Human's being "Determination", the Monster's being possibly Magic) without each being contained in separate Souls cause Monster bodies (vessels?) to melt under the incompatibility. Rewinding time could be a Human Soul with enough energy to react to the magic properties of the barrier to rewind, since Flowey could with the raw "determination" he had; it cannot just be a thing specific Souls do. And to explain Chara's case on being with Frisk is not possession; but leeching. A monster cannot have 2 Monster Souls and human cannot have 2 Human Souls within a single vessel unless specifically created as such (such as Flowey being neither Monster or Human, but in-between despite starting off as a Monster as Asriel); as this is described as being "possessed". Chara leeches off Frisk when they land on top of Chara's Grave to sustain her existance; Chara's Soul has been ebbing away since they and Asriel died. This means Frisk is keeping Chara's remaining Soul alive, and whatever EXP is earned goes to Chara to amplify her Soul, restoring her lost strength. However, this isn't exactly normal and because of this, the more EXP Frisk earns, the method on gaining the EXP corrupts Chara's mind and Soul, resulting in her evil demeanour in a Genocide route; briefly "possessing" Frisk at certain points. Effectively, once you Kill Papyrus is when Chara is in almost full control, only with Frisk retaking their body when you abandon Genocide. Once you reach Sans in a Genocide route, it's only Chara unless you choose Mercy when Sans gives you the option; this is when Frisk regains control albeit briefly. This is why Sans kills you upon sparing his life; he taunts Chara by Dunking her for losing control and (knowing Frisk can Reset everything back to when they entered the Underground; hence how the Barrier plays a part in resetting since otherwise Frisk could escape the Underground by not falling in) asks Frisk to not come back via loading if they are a true friend; obviously wanting Frisk to reset so Papyrus is alive and no one dies. This also explains why Frisk's Soul doesn't "break" against Asriel; it's Chara using whatever they have left of their Soul to keep Frisk's Soul together; since Chara loves Asriel to the point they died to give Asriel the very power he's using in confusion and despair for not trusting Chara before and avoiding all this conflict and sadness. And the reason why Flowey/Asriel assumed Frisk was Chara not only for how similar they both look and projecting his views as a result, but also because Chara's Soul was part of Frisk's Soul upto that point; possibly due to Chara's Soul becoming too weak to be noticeable after helping Frisk's Soul staying in one piece against Asriel.

When you are so early the video is broken

mini theroy what if monsters are the embodiement of fear and that is a small part of what a human is so that colud expiln why they arent as strong

Your like button turns blue You look around for Papyrus

Game theory and Underlab back to back! So cool o3o

Nice mix of Watsonian and Doylist explanations in this video.

Wow good theory. I never would've thought of that. (I so badly want to say 3RD LIKE but I'm not because that's obnoxious)

Whats your opinion on Frisks and Charas gender My is both Frisk and Chara are girls but what do you think? Girl/boy/genderless

This actually fits nicely with MatPat's vision of Determination being the polar opposite of Magic.Also notice that the terms Determination and Magic might not mean our own enterpertation of determination and magic,as said in the video

Under lab! I really like your theory's it just interests me!

70 views pre miniute... immpressive! (bad english)

Good video I like it

I like you're theory's keep up the good work =p

There's one theory which says that humans are stronger than monsters because humans have physical bodies, and don't need to "spend" more magic, so to speak, on maintaining a magic-based body, like monsters, which is also why monsters turn to dust when they die (as opposed to leaving a corpse lying there). I believe you can find the "Humans have physical bodies / monsters have magic bodies" thing ingame, in either the Snowdin Librarby or one of the signs in Waterfall.

*Biggie Cheese Walks in the video isnt working bye guy's

i love this video

I hadn't realized this before, but what Underlab said about Frisk "being determined" because they are controlled by the player really did cause me to think about this. Due a quirk of language, saying that something/one is "determined" can mean that they possess the quality of persistence OR that they have been determined (as in, decided) by an outside force. Frisk is determined by the player, meaning that they are decided (or, better interpreted, their actions are decided) by the player. Determination, then, is the power that WE have to be able to determine Frisk's actions and fate. ...I can't say that I've ever used grammar to back up a theory before, but I'm sort of proud that I can say that now.

Determination could be a pun tho: the prefix de- is usually used to mean the opposite of something. So "de-termination" could be this one thing that stops a living thing from dying, explaining the amalgamates

Hey... King Mel's comment isn't pinned (in this moment) MAGIC :DDDDD

Notification squad where are ya??

You get a subscriber for having 111k subscribers! (and because I love undertale).

Determination is a particle created by complex forms of matter with large amounts of chemical reactions such as a living human, it is the opposite of entropy and can be used to restart life in the being it is in or due to Gasters scattering across space and time it can use him to save and load.

First

Every single time I take a quiz on which human soul are you (undertale) I always get the same answer, DETERMINATION

Hmm... maybe the messages that you get when you activate a savepoint, maybe the "you" they're referring to is actually the player itself, the one, who's in control and keeps playing, even with the unknown lying ahead, or having just received a game over...

Dominant traits: Determination, Bravery, Justice, Kindness, Patience, Integrity, and Perseverance. Each are unique, each have their own color, and the children that possessed the souls were likely the owners of the equip-able items in the game.

You techically talked about why determinaton is powerful and what it was, not about the souls. It's shown and talked about the other traits, not just dt. But the video was so cool!

I think that when the monster were injected, the bodies were fusing do to the determination like (monster body < injected dt.) This would make sense for the bodies to fuse to become equal or greater than dt.

Oooh, I like those last two theories! And actually, I saw a theory that determination was ketchup lol.

Knowing you made a great video fills you with determination

Hi UnderLab! Hi King Mel! Nice Video BTW

"Maybe other humans in Undertale have determination, because they're other players" ... that just blew my fucking mind.

Can you do a theory on who would be the best ruler for the underground? Just as a small side project while we wait for a bigger theory maybe?

Wow I was not expecting this it was good

*treecycle Posts a soul vid* *underlab posts a soul vid* *it fills you with knowledge

*the convenience of that lamp still fills you with determination*

Yo Underlab What is your intro music? I want to use it for a Letsplay of undertale. Also its not Determintation its De-Temmie-nation.

Holy crap! This is the first time I've seen an Underlab video that didn't have King Mel pinned XD. I kinda miss the guy.

Determination can also be attributed to one of the basic theories of Quantum Mechanics that states (in simpler terms) "You control reality for you decide what event would happen as you act it out, and be the moderator of that happening at the same time" In other words, having the soul of DETERMINATION kinda makes you out to be some kind of god. Then again, my statement would only make sense if you ask this first. "Is it determination, or DE-TERMINATION?"

1:49 they meant mass as in matter, you know like solid material in undertale monsters are made of mostly magic and the magic makes a sort of physical hologram, and when you kill a monster the small amount of matter that they do contain takes the form of dust

Can you do a theory of what happens to napatablook in the genocide run?

You should meat up with game theorisis and make one super video on all the secrets of undertale or at least some of the secrets

Look at undertale amino. They have a theory about determination being yellow.

I remember that the first time I saw Undertale I thought determination was related to the force that drives you in Dark Souls. In both, to a certain extent, you (the player rather than your character) are fighting against the impulse to shut the game down and walk away. The determination comes from your need to see it through, a fight against giving up on the game/world. After that I went off on connecting it to Tomorrowland but I can't remember why. Same story I guess, the need to keep trying even when it's hopeless. So, maybe it does come from you rather than Frisk himself.

I believe that “Determination” itself is a sort of sub-magic. Every living creature has a small amount, including monsters. It’s just with monsters, they have such a small amount, normally if you were to look at a monsters magic you wouldn’t see any DT due to it being such a small amount. Humans on the other hand are the complete opposite, they have the most DT and have the most of all the creatures on planet earth. Enough to distort time and space itself depending on how much they have located in the soul. But just like how monsters have a small amount of DT in their system, Humans have a small amount of magic in their system. But unlike monsters where the monsters have no access to this small amount of DT in their systems, due to the sheer amount of DT in a humans system, they can will themselves to gain a form of magic. But this comes at the cost of a *ton* of training and meditation. And when they do manage to get control of it, it’s nothing like monster magic. This magic is shaped around the person personality and state of mind. And usually comes in the form of physical glass like objects. Just my take on it.

monsters don't have the physical matter to have determination... Undyne generates her own determination in the Genocide Run and technically when you kill her in general really

This is my theory. Determination isn't actually the cause of the resets, The resets wouldn't be possible without determination, but it isn't the cause. I believe that because the way Sans talks about the "anomalies", it seems as though he didn't know at first that we were the ones causing it. Had he known that ALL humans could do that, wouldn't he have said something like "we saw another human causing anomalies"? I think that determination in normal humans would cause exactly what happened with Undyne The Undying. The other 6 humans didn't have this power to reset so they died but then regained full health one time with increased attack & defense but once they died again that was it, their soul could then be extracted. However, since Frisk has determination AND this reset power, they can simply reset if they ever die so that they won't keep going & have to actually die for real the next time they lose a battle. Chara had the same power however they decided to die permanently (I believe the first death may have been falling into the Underground & I think the reason Frisk did not die is because it's a shorter fall into the ruins than it is at the other area in Waterfall which is where Chara landed. Because as you can see from how frisk gets there, Its not only a fall from the surface of the mountain but also to a level of the Underground that is lower than the ruins seeing as Frisk didn't go uphill the whole time yet they fell from the bridge into the small flower patch below & that fall only knocked them out momentarily) by poisoning themselves & simply chose not to reset in order to in act their plan which is the events of the genocide route. Infact, (this last part is just my head canon but) I think Chara tried to do the same thing with the other humans but for some reason they can't interact with anyone who can't control the timeline. So, in conclusion I think Determination is like a magic adrenaline that gives humans & some very very special monsters the ability to go from the VERY BRINK of death to an almost super human state but for their physical form it only works one however their soul alone can live on thanks to said magic adrenaline. Also, I think that if left alone & not contained within a jar the chemical adrenaline within determination will waste away till only the pure magic is left & the soul becomes exactly like a monster soul becoming a ghost. but as I said, the last part is head canon because it makes sense to ME & not part of my actual theory which seems plausible

Will there be a QnA in the future

I believe it's ketchup or mustard or mayo of DOOM!

I think you were on to something with that Ketchup thing

Wait, how come Flowey could reload and save and reset and stuff until frisk came along? if frisk is always determined, shouldn't frisk have always been able to control the timeline? not just when they fell down?

About the point you made "If a human was injected with magic, a similar thing to the amalgamates would happen" I doubt this, because it is said in-game that monster's bodies have much less physicality than humans, which is why they scatter to dust and we stay intact to decay upon death, and it was heavily implied that this lack of real physicality was part of the reason for their reaction. Though it still doesn't explain undyne, however... Then again, it's magic, which, like you said, differs from determination, so it might be possible.

What if determination is the physical manifestation of one's belief and will, your desire to walk down a particular path is so strong it lets you deny your own death, in a way the game part makes senseas you're continuing your story even when you die because you'll come back again and again untill you finish what you've started and if you quit? We'll you weren't determined enough

I have a question. In the world of undertale what do the other traits do? Determination gives you the ability to reset but what about patience perseverance integrity bravery kindness and justice?

I can't help but wonder if, perhaps, the amalgamates were created because determination was injected into monsters on the verge of death, as opposed to strong, healthy monsters? They were already weak to begin with, so maybe this made it so they couldn't hold themselves together. I mean, look at Undyne? I kinda suspect that Alphys has been dosing her with small amounts of determination using the 'pink stuff.' Or, perhaps, a boss monster could hold up to determination.

According to the entry number 5 in the true lab, Alphys writes "I believe this is what gives their SOULs the strength to persist after death. The will to keep living... The will to change fate. Let's call that power DETERMINATION." Using this information, I believe that in Undertale Determination is not matter but an emotional strength. Also, it could be that monsters were always born weaker than humans, and that they never needed to be determined. After that, the humans discovered the power of determination and declared war on monsters, fearing that they would get that power and overthrow them. When the monsters were sealed underground, they were never able to feel determined because they convinced themselves that they would never be able to escape. This also explains why the monsters that Alphys gave determination to and undyne melter after having determination. It was because deep down, the feeling of hopelessness stayed with them forever.

Determination is the power to undo your own death. Death is sometimes called 'termination'. By coming back to life you de-terminate. Determination. De-termination.

You know your life is sad when you can't decide to either watch a theory on a virtual game or tend to your virtual farm.. and you choose both..

Also, humans probably made the barrier with 7 HUMAN SOULS. Notice how it says "The barrier was sealed by 7 of the greatest magicians". That was probably referring to 7 determined humans to make the barrier. Hence why 7 souls are needed to destroy it again.

It all make sense now! every time you go to a SAVE point, the little star thingy pokes you with one of the points, injecting you full of ketchup while you are distracted by something else! But since you didn't notice the star poking you, you just assumed it was the thing you were talking about that filled you with determination, when all along it was that dumb star!!!!

If it is so that monsters are comprised mostly of magic, something stated more than once in the game, then it is reasonable enough to assume that the kind of soul one has dictates the type of body it supports. Monster souls support what amounts to a magic bubble in the shape of that particular monster. Human souls, on the other hand, support entirely physical bodies. Thus, if a monster can get ahold of a human soul, their body would become a more physical presence, which would allow them to combine Magic with Determination, thus increasing their overall power by an order of magnitude.

Hi can you do a theory on where Undying got her determination? Or a theory on what happened to W.D. Gaster and what the thing "IT" fell in to where?