#kris chara and frisk are non-binary

[redstarpika]

the year is 2015. people are arguing about the canon gender of the non-binary human character(s) of toby fox's video game.

the year is 2018. people are arguing about the canon gender of the non-binary human character(s) of toby fox's video game.

the year is 2021. people are arguing about the canon gender of the non-binary human character(s) of toby fox's video game.

the year is 2025. people are arguing about the canon gender of the non-binary human character(s) of toby fox's video game.

the year is 2026. people are arguing about the canon gender of the non-binary human character(s) of toby fox's video game.

[gizmogearszz]

There are no cis humans in UTDR

[bulbasauryeee]

i will never stop thinking about the fact that kris dreemurr, protagonist of one of the biggest and most influential indie games of all time, is openly and undeniably nonbinary/gnc. not nonbinary to be singled out, not nonbinary because they're non-human/non-living, not nonbinary to show that they lack personality... just nonbinary for the sake of being nonbinary. and they're the main protagonist!!! it's so cool

and the fact that they're treated the same as everyone else for it and it's not a huge deal to anyone. the fact that everyone in that game, no matter how opposed to them they are, never misgenders them. never finds it weird. never sees them as lesser than for it. kris is in fact seen by many as an important person to be respected; a hero

i knowwww people say this stuff all the time and it's such a small thing (kinda) but god it really does mean the entire world to have representation like this

[starii-lins]

KFC beloved the sillies ever

[annoying-leaf]

Happy pride!!!!

[uomofango]

||•HIII! I decided to make a fanart of K.F.C.(kris, Frisk, Chara) for this pride month!! I made one 2 years ago so I decided to make another one again with more experience in my hands

||•This is the old one made in 2023⤴️

[random-autie-fangirl]

Daily drawings until Deltarune is released: Day 49 of 63- Some mock-up userboxes (not actually userboxes) I made to serve as reminders to the fandom if needed. (I think I might put these on some of my posts, just in case.)

(Also, because of this, I have now drawn canon accurate MK and Kris)

[conkreetmonkey]

idk if I've posted this before, but an UT/DR headcanon I have and don't see in others often is that humans in those worlds are not the same as the humans from ours. They're definitely more similar to us than the monsters are, but they're not the same "species" as what we'd consider to be a normal human in our world.

For starters, they can have bright yellow skin. That is straight-up canon. While we've never actually seen two humans interact in canon unless you want to count the end of genocide (which I won't because I interpret it as Chara talking to YOU, not Frisk), the fact that we now have two separate individuals with this skin tone does sort of imply it's normal. It's not a colour it's possible for a human to naturally be in our world; even when one has jaundice, it's not bright-ass Lego minifigure yellow. These kids are the colour of poison dart frogs. They're the colour of a hazard strip. That's not normal.

Given both this hint that these humans are different and the fact that all 3 humans seen in canon are universally addressed by they/them pronouns and are completely androgynous, I have a headcanon/theroy:

Humans in these worlds have no male/female sexes, no concept of gender, and no differing sexually dimorphic traits.

I do not think these humans have men and women. I think all humans are born as genderless, completely androgynous beings, and have no concept of gender within their societies. I have no idea how they'd reproduce, but I imagine them as having either no genitalia, or all having the same "set," and what it looks/functions like I have no clue. Honestly, I'm kind of leaning towards mitosis.

I like this idea for the following reasons:

Mettaton EX being so androgynous despite his identifying as a binary male would be a thing he lifted from humans, being such a fan of them and all. The thing with the four, five and six fingered gloves heavily implies he wanted his body to appear as human as possible, and I suppose that could mean combining what we would consider to be masculine and feminine traits into one metal genderbeast.

It adds a touch of "gremlinous creature" vibes to all 3 human characters; "inhuman" anatomy despite being explicitly, plot-importantly human.

The confusion about reproduction and just how tf not having gender or bio sex would work I and you are feeling right now is EXACTLY how monsters, the main in-universe demographic of both games, would feel.

Feels kind of Homestuck troll-ey, which is always a plus in any Toby Fox project because it solicits groans.

Things I percieve as flaws in this headcanon:

Kind of discredits the non-binary identities of the human characters, especially Kris, whose themes of identity, control over one's body and teenage angst are strongly complimented by a trans identity. If these characters were born non-binary, though, they wouldn't be trans for continuing to identify as such, for the same reason Mettaton and Mad Mew Mew are trans for being born genderless yet having a binary identity.

While opening narrative doors, also closes them... this is again very Kris-centric because they're older, but I've just seen so many portrayals of Kris as a non-binary kid stuck in a perisex body going through puberty that are really interesting and compliment their angst. Binders, facial hair, periods, voice changes... can't do anything with that anymore if these humans don't go through puberty as we know it, and that makes them less relatable.

It just feels bad to hc away canon trans rep like this, yk? UT/DR certainly wouldn't be hurting for it without human trans characters, but they're canonically trans, non-binary playable characters in a mainstream game. That is INSANELY rare. I cannot think of a single other example. Trans mcs are rare enough in mainstream media as a whole, let alone non-binary ones. To strip these characters of that to non-binarify their entire species feels a little... tradeoff-ey.

[catperson6]

The children in UNDERTALE and DELTARUNE (work in progress image)

I find it funny how almost all of them are Non-Binary. Toby Fox decided to just not add any cis humans in these games I guess.

I made this image because it's pride month.

Anyway I'm gonna buy UNDERTALE on my Steam account today. (I did play the game on my brother's account before.)

Edit: Noooooo Undertale is no longer on sale!

[asterclaw]

just saw someone say that kris and frisk (and chara) are enby so people wouldn't sexualize them that much (cleeearly didn't work with chara and frisk- holy fucking shit i need bleach sm-)

i always thought that that decision was made so players could more easily relate to them as characters?? or smthn

now im not even sure lmao

[shiftingloreau]

Since nobody else is asking anything and it's been a while

Have you two met anyone interesting?

[kallianthiutdr]

you cannot remove the queerness from utdr without fundamentally hurting the story. there is no label ever put on it but it's there and it has to be acknowledged.

Frisk, Chara, & Kris being non-binary instead of just–whatever the player wants them to be–adds to the themes of individuality and separation between them and the player. For Frisk & Chara, I've made a whole post about their role as narrative stand-ins but also individual characters. For Kris, it's actually ridiculous if you even attempt to claim they aren't non-binary–because they actively reject the player's influence and are the furthest thing from a self-insert. Monster Kid, Napstablook, etc are also genderless. In Deltarune, Seam also.

Also, Frisk considering to Flirt with literally anyone regardless of gender–and that being a game mechanic in and of itself–to me, implies this kid is most likely pan. Whatever you want to call it, their gender-blind flirting is in fact a game mechanic.

Alphys' and Undyne's sapphicness is the key to the pacifist ending. Without setting them up you literally cannot access the true pacifist ending. If it wasn't for Papyrus encouraging his lesbian bestie to send that damn letter, nothing would have happened. (Maybe indeed Flowey would've used another method to make time, but accessing the true lab with Alphys' permission would've been near impossible.) In fact, Alphys' bisexuality and her subsequent crushes are in fact a big part of her character. Not the most important–obviously, Alphys is one of the most layered characters in the game–but in hating herself, the lies she says to appease to Asgore first and Undyne later are undeniably a big part of what makes up her character.

Mettaton's allegorical transness kick-starts the events that lead to the creation of Flowey and the amalgamates. Without him, Alphys wouldn't be royal scientist. No determination experiments, no Flowey, no game. No Mettaton? Half of the hotland segments wouldn't exist, including the MTT resort in which the infamous it's raining somewhere else sequence happens. Mettaton also helps other trans people with their transition, like when he gifted his blue dress to the beautiful trans lioness after being done with it.

Mad Mew Mew's transness, even if unacknowledged by the main game, is constantly brought up by Toby since she appears in occasional News Letters, the alarm clock dialogue, etc, as a way to remind everyone that she exists and is as much s part of this found family as everyone else. She's also a sapphic, with her crush on Undyne also being acknowledged.

Asgore's implications of bisexuality and his inherent homoeroticism when talking about Rudy in the Alarm Clock Dialogue & Deltarune alike aren't game changing aspects of his character but nice touches that inform his relationships outside of Toriel.

The two Royal Guards in Hotland can only be spared through being set-up. Also, their romance cuts the player's nice cream supply.

Papyrus, though nothing game changing can be said about his sexuality, has a well-documented celebrity crush on Mettaton. Also, if you want to bring Toby's twitter joke into consideration, the skeleton brothers could in fact exist in the ace spectrum. And I say spectrum instead of outwardly asexual because Sans befriended our mom last night-

Even though Nice Cream Guy gives free Nice Cream to Burgerpants, he refuses to give free Nice Cream to the human. Burgerpants is so oblivious this could be considered flirting that I wasn't sure if I could count it, but then again Burgerpants is the nexus of a complex, interwoven web of non-reciprocated crushes and he's deeply unaware of the situation at large. This dynamic expands in Deltarune, with Bpants saying that Blue Ears is obsessed and has no sense of personal space–and the latter noting a love for his co-workers and giggling.

So then, In Deltarune, obviously, we have a deeply queer group of people and I think that this queer solidarity is really fundamental to it. I already mentioned the importance of Kris being non-binary .

Ralsei is generally understood to be maybe pan due to his general gender-blind openess towards especially Kris. I don't want to really get into his blushing when Kris gets too close or the fountain of love, because, well, he's representative of Asriel–but still. His queer-coding is undeniable.

But onto stronger candidates for this queer conversation, Noelle and Susie's dynamic adds two more sapphics into the utdr franchise. Noelle's crush has always been a massive, dare I say game-changing part of her character. Susie and Noelle met for the first time in Susie's first day of class. Susie had forgotten her pencil, and then Noelle noticed it and offered her candy-cane one. After this nice action of Noelle's, and also by the fact that she genuinely smiled at her, Susie developed a soft side for her and spared her from her bullying.

Then we have Berdly’s whole, “I'M the one Noelle and Susie are falling like dominoes for. And you know what dominoes means, Kris? ,,,You're next.” At another point he calls Noelle to ask her if she will be his date at the festival the next day. Susie tells him to leave her alone. And you can decide to respond that you'll go out with him or sing the Wrong Number song (in any case, Berdly is surprised). If you choose the first option, he says that Kris will have to compete with Noelle and Susie (thinking the two are into him). If it's the second then, he says that Kris will fall under his charm sooner or late. That also suggest a gender-blind attraction. But, in general, his crushes to Noelle and Susie respectively seem performative. And the queer reading that can be done here is undeniable, taking into consideration deltarune being steeped in themes of identity, performance, masks and unspoken internal conflict.

Now, mind you, every single side character can be viewed through a queer lense–in fact, it's damn near impossible not to do that. I just think that's wonderful. Like, have you seen Rouxls Kaard? Queen? Jevil? Spamton? Tenna? The queerness is oozing right through. The side characters in both Undertale and Deltarune are bursting with camp, flamboyance, theatricality–rarely do they conform into typical binaries/boxes wether those could refer to gender, sexuality, or like. Morality man idk.

[akanemnon]

I can’t remember if this has been asked before, but how do the humans prefer to present themselves (as in purely androgynous, fem-leaning, masc-leaning, a combination of these…). I know they’re non-binary, but from what I heard some irl enbies do prefer looking more “fem” or “masc” or neither

Kris and Frisk dress in what feels right in the moment. They have no preference

Chara aims for androgyny

[lynxgriffin]

The humans (Kris, Chara, Frisk) are non-binary??? I thought they didn't have explicit genders but used they/them pronouns

All of them use they/them pronouns, and more importantly, it's made clear in Undertale by the end and especially in Deltarune from the very start of the game that the human characters we play as are intended to be people separate from the player, with their own lives.

No, none of the characters explicitly say 'I am such-and-such gender,' and I highly doubt that any of them ever will. But all of the people in their lives use they/them for them exclusively, the characters are designed with a good deal of ambiguity, and Kris especially wears both masculine and feminine-coded outfits. Especially considering they are far from the only characters in the games with both implied and explicit queerness, the simplest and most direct answer is that they're non-binary.

[kitkat-the-muffin]

When you want to engage with Undertale Red & Yellow content but everyone on YouTube keeps misgendering Chara 🫠

Having control over their name does not give you control over their gender. In the Persona games for example, you may have control over the protagonists’ names, but do you control their genders? Not unless it’s trans rep in fanfic you don’t!

Or in Chrono Trigger, sure you get to change the names of all your party members, but do you change the fundamentals of their identities? Hell naw! The frog guy is still a frog guy, even if you call him John Cena

If you’re playing Pokémon then yes, you have control of their gender because you are literally making a self insert. Same with similar games like Miitopia, where you make all the characters. But in games where there’s already an established hero, and all you do is insert your name, you do not have the right to erase the rest of their identity

Especially non-binary characters, smh. This goes for Frisk and Kris too btw

So unless you’re specifically writing a trans narrative, please do not erase the shriveling fragments of non-binary representation we have left in modern gaming media, I beg of you

TLDR: You do not have control over the canonical gender of a non-customizable character

[utdr-fractured]

Great. Now I imagine every time Kris or Frisk want to eat chocolate, but they know Chara would probably eat it all, they just outrun her until she passes out or something. Something siblings actually do now that I think about it.

– Yours Truly, Anon

You're welcome! As someone with severe asthma, who also has older siblings... It was definitely something that used to happen when we were younger!

Chara having asthma is probably my favorite hc because Kris is a menace. They definitely use Chara's asthma to their advantage to make their young siblings life hell sometimes. However, Kris knows when to step up when Chara's attacks are bad enough. They might be a menace but they're one hell of an amazing older sibling.

(Gentle Reminder: In this AU, all three are non-binary!)