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How exactly does the Overwrite work? I mean I get that we'll be able to see eventually what it can do at its full strength in later episodes of Underverse, but I'm more concerned about its relationship with the multiverse as a whole. Think about it. Through context clues, we can infer that what's happening when someone is Overwritten is that their code is being temporarily hijacked and -in more severe cases- being entirely rewritten. This also go for timelines that are also made of code. Makes sense. But for the Overwrite to be as dangerous as it's shown to be, everything has to be made out of code. So what happens when someone tries to Overwrite something that's not made of code? There are some universes that are more organic than others. Without a doubt Something New is a code-based timeline, it even has a player modifying the code in a pseudo-Overwrite to make Killer (which is also an interesting point within itself), but what about Dreamtale? Dreamtale is just a world that was moved into the UTMV by chance because Nim was looking for a place to hide the Tree of Feelings. Is Dreamtale made of code, or are its inhabitants made of DNA and a true Soul? If we consider Dreamtale is also told through the perspective of a fairy tale book, could you argue that Dreamtale's world is made out of text as apposed to code? Does this mean that Dream or Nightmare are immune to the Overwrite? Or does the Overwrite work regardless? Could Dreamtale be immune to corruption or by extent destruction from other code-manipulating outcodes like Error or Fatal? You could make the argument that an AU is not inherently made out of code unless stated or a player is showcased. Would the Overwrite work on them too?

Am I thinking too hard about this? Yes. Yes, absolutely.

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Strings are overrated. According to the original Ask Error comic as well as a couple of asks, strings are actually a very powerful version of Blue magic, able to manipulate not only the Soul, but the Soul's user. This also explains why Error is able to crush Souls with his strings so easily. However, in that same comic, we're shown that there is an Error Papyrus (who gets like a total of two panels to himself but he does exist). CQ has said that they no longer remember what they had planned for Paps, but his Error magic was going to be bubbles, not strings. Building off of this, Blueberror was originally going to have an Error ability based off of stars, not strings. So this means that being an Error doesn't automatically mean you get the ability to use strings. Perhaps if a monster or a human that becomes an Error that doesn't have blue magic gets a different boost to another form of magic, like Yellow or Green. What I'm saying is that while the ability to control Souls with strings is cool and all, I think there's a case to be made that the Anti-Void is -ironically- a source for a lot of creativity with magic. Like imagine the design of a character that has a power set based around broken glass or leech-healing, while still holding true to the relative design of an Error. I think new Errors would different Errored abilities would be a welcome change.

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Just finished playing chapters 3 and 4, and boy was that a ride. I feel like Toby Fox had really done his work, giving answers we've been craving and now we have a much better understanding of the world. Something funny does crop up at the beginning of chapter 3, so spoilers ahead for that.

When chapter 1 first released, everyone had theorized that the Dark Worlds were imaginary. They were entirely fictional, created from Kris and Susie's imagination. And then chapter 2 dropped where Berdly and Noelle enter the Cyber World. If the Dark Worlds were imaginary, then Berdly and Noelle would be playing unwillingly, and Berdly's implied death in Snowgrave would just be a work of fiction. Not to mention Noelle was unaware the entire ordeal in the Dark World had happened at all, so the imaginary theory and everything attached to it was thrown out the window. Fast forward to chapter 3, where Ralsei admits that Darkners really are just objects brought to life in darkness. He states that the brain can't see anything, so it creates a world of its own to make sense of a world plunged in the dark. Ralsei admits he's imaginary, an illusion. So we actually predicted chapter 3's big reveal, thought it was wrong and completely discredited it, only to be proven right the first time. All the while I'm sitting in the corner with my fingers pressed to my lips in thought, thinking "So MatPat WAS right".

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Absolutely!

I don't usually talk about headcanons, but a smaller idea for Killer I had a while ago is that Killer can manually adjust the phase his Soul is in in a similar manner to how Nightmare can: just crush his Soul in his hand. This would be exclusive to him going from Stage One to Stage Two, though, or continuing to reinforce Stage Two in him. That being said, its not him manipulating his Soul that is causing him to change phases, its the pain that comes from it. It's commonly headcanoned that Killer's Soul is extremely volatile. It stores 999999 LOVE and is the container for the majority of his Determination. One way this can be interpreted is that when something touches it, it lashes out (surges with energy, becomes sharp to the touch enough to cut something open, something like that). So if Killer is beginning to feel trickles of emotion, like anxiety or sadness, he can grab a hold of his Soul and have it almost destroy his hand or arm before letting go. The pain would be enough to restabilize himself and continue in Stage Two. I could see a story where Killer observes that Nightmare can manipulate his emotions by molding his Soul. When he's aware he's about to slip into Stage One, he attempts to try it on himself. It goes poorly and winds up with a wounded hand, but it does the job in forcing him back into Stage Two. It becomes a habit, whenever he feels his emotions returning to him, resulting in his hand or arm getting worse worse, to the point that the people he's with (Nightmare, Colour, whatever) try to get him to stop before the damage is permanent.

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I don't usually talk about headcanons, but a smaller idea for Killer I had a while ago is that Killer can manually adjust the phase his Soul is in in a similar manner to how Nightmare can: just crush his Soul in his hand. This would be exclusive to him going from Stage One to Stage Two, though, or continuing to reinforce Stage Two in him. That being said, its not him manipulating his Soul that is causing him to change phases, its the pain that comes from it. It's commonly headcanoned that Killer's Soul is extremely volatile. It stores 999999 LOVE and is the container for the majority of his Determination. One way this can be interpreted is that when something touches it, it lashes out (surges with energy, becomes sharp to the touch enough to cut something open, something like that). So if Killer is beginning to feel trickles of emotion, like anxiety or sadness, he can grab a hold of his Soul and have it almost destroy his hand or arm before letting go. The pain would be enough to restabilize himself and continue in Stage Two. I could see a story where Killer observes that Nightmare can manipulate his emotions by molding his Soul. When he's aware he's about to slip into Stage One, he attempts to try it on himself. It goes poorly and winds up with a wounded hand, but it does the job in forcing him back into Stage Two. It becomes a habit, whenever he feels his emotions returning to him, resulting in his hand or arm getting worse worse, to the point that the people he's with (Nightmare, Colour, whatever) try to get him to stop before the damage is permanent.

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There should only be one timeline

I know you're all looking at me weird, but hear me out. For a moment, let's take our understanding of timelines and alternate universes out of the UTMV fandom and look at them though the lens of our world. What is the reason we do the things we do? Hypothetically, let's say someone adopts a dog. Why do they choose to do that? Well, let's say they always liked animals and wished for company. Why? Maybe they don't have a lot of friends outside of family. Why? Perhaps the influential figures in their life socialize them to prioritize results over relationships. Why? Could be those figures were influenced in a similar way, or even harmed from lack of results due to relationships. Why? The idea goes on. Everything this person knows: their experiences, memories, habits, genetics, etc. influences the way they work, and those factors are also swayed by other people, as humanity is a social species. Those other people are also influenced the same way, with different experiences and genetics. Nowhere in your "code" leaves room for an alternative outcome, no matter how much thought goes into making decisions. There's one pathway, whether you like it or not. There's only one timeline. But there is a way to change that. Two ways, technically. Since decisions and actions are built off of decisions and actions made by you or the trillions of people before, the only way a "branching timeline" would exist is if there was a difference in timelines at the very beginning of time itself. But at that point, fast-forwarding to today, that world would have to be completely different. New choices were made. New people existed. Perhaps even new changes in the earth you walk on has occurred. It's an alternate universe. The other way is if something from outside a timeline is influencing it in some way. Whether someone inside the timeline has the power to change it internally -like through loads or resets, though you could argue that since that person is influenced by the same factors above, their choices have a predetermined outcome as well- or if someone from the outside creates branches themselves, like outcodes. These branches are small changes. They're alternate timelines. I suppose one way to think about timelines is that while your actions are certain in every way from socialization and personal imaginations, those actions do still have an effect on those in the future. Yes, there is only one timeline -you are railroaded to one story- but that doesn't take away the legitimacy and genuinity of your choices. There's only one outcome, but it hasn't been written in the stars.

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The Eddsworld Reset Theory

Has anyone else noticed the continuity oddities with Eddsworld? A lot of the goofy hi-jinks the gang go on can easily be explained by cartoon logic, but there are some things that don't quite... line up. Mostly in regards to character death. This is another long one, apologies.

I get that technically the only major irreversible character death is Jon in the finale, but think about it. People die in Eddsworld all the time, especially during the Goulden Era. Some examples right off the top of my head are the Zombeh trilogy, WTFuture, and Matt Sucks.

You could argue that the Zombeh trilogy is its own isolated canon, at the end, everyone dies including Tom and Edd who realize they were bit at the end of the third episode, but in WTFuture, Future Edd goes back in time of the current timeline and lands literally seconds after Matt had his arm ripped off. This outright confirms that not only were these characters zombified and then killed, but they somehow came back as they were previously as though nothing happened. Matt Sucks -where Matt gets turned into a vampire- has this as well, with Edd and Tom being nailed to the wall and killed in an attempt to kill Matt, who then burned alive anyway. The very next episode, everyone is alive and well, making no allusions to what had happened in the episode prior. Eddsworld: Beyond actually references this, that Matt and the sun are old enemies. He even hisses at the sun, showing fangs, as though he was a vampire. Is Matt still a vampire? But he died, didn't he? It could just be a silly "if you know you know" reference for those still going back to the older episodes and doesn't really matter all that much in the long run, which is fair. That being said... Also in WTFuture, Matt goes back in time and becomes the ruler of everything, taking the place of every single important historical figure, basically becoming the dictator of the world and its history, (and you thought Tord was bad). Even Matt's own friends are affected by this change, praising Matt and his glorious endeavors as apposed to being mildly annoyed with him as they typically are. The next episode, everything goes back to normal. Cartoon logic. But later, in part one of Hammer and Fail, Matt mumbles this to himself:

If... if every episode is its own contained world, which is how a lot of cartoons typically allow timey-wimey plotlines like WTFuture, how would Matt remember him being ruler? Heck, even the painting of Matt as king is in Tord's room after it's established that Matt's time travel had been reversed.

Does this mean other characters can remember this kind of stuff too? Do Tom and Edd also remember every single time they've died? There is in-canon proof that each contained episode link the each other in a variety of ways, but the beginning of every episode starts the same: the house being in one piece, and Tom, Matt, and Edd, (and Tord, I guess) being perfectly alive and well. In fact, after several episodes of the gang's house being blown up and destroyed (Zanta 2, Space Face part 2, etc.), the only time the house remains irreparable is The End part 2. So what gives? It makes me wonder if there's someone or something that is pulling time-manipulating strings in the background to ensure these characters -and their house- remain alive, even repairing their time-travel based wrong-doings. Something along the lines of a Reset, perhaps? It's important to remember that physical objects and sensations, like the house or damage to the characters bodies, are removed and set back to how they were, but the memories of the characters affected have stayed. Physical changes, mental stays. At first, I thought that if this Reset thing is the responsibility of an actual person, that it'd be Tom. Considering the whole implied-possession character trait and the fact he gets beaten up the most out of the three, (Spares he gets thrown in the trash in favour of a Matt clone only for the clone to never be seen again, he gets electrocuted in Space Face 2, he gets shot in the face with a laser twice (Space Face 1 and Zanta 2), gets a full body cast in Zanta 3, etc.), the Resets would give him a better stand against everything thrown at him as well as lean into his supernatural origins. Plus, he cares about his friends, and has shown displeasure in the idea of losing them, specifically Edd, meaning the Resets might also not be exclusively selfish. But there's another character that fits the bill even more. Take another look at the examples of continuity oddities above. Notice the character in common? Matt. Matt is the one (to my knowledge) most likely to make multiple references to events in previous, seemingly unrelated episodes. He is the only one shown to have kept his memory of WTFuture. Matt is still shown to be a vampire, after having died from burning and having then been seen in daylight several times later with no consequence. Is this a coincidence? Yes, absolutely. You can even tell that Legacy makes strides to avoid this kind of confusion with the noticable lack of character "death" until The End. Is this a fascinating coincidence nonetheless? Oh, yes, absolutely.

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In other fandoms, typically you've got your die-hard canon lovers, your fan-content creators and enjoyers, and your creepypasta fanatics. Undertale's lines for those blur substantially. What counts as a creepypasta? This may sound like a stupid question, but think about it. Let's take Killer as an example. The plot of his story is he was hacked by a player and forced to kill everyone he loves, and eventually (possibly) turns on the player and kills them. He even has the "bleeding eye" effect to seal the deal. In almost every other fandom, they would look at that and say it would qualify as a pasta, but with Undertale's original subject matter and fourth-wall breakage, we all look at him and go "Ah, Tuesday". I really don't think Something New qualifies as a creepypasta. But if not Something New, what about VHS? A Sans hacked by a player so they could get the Hacker's Ending, who has become angry, glitchy, vengeful, and has the ability (and desire) to trap the player in Undertale forever. Kinda similar idea -hacked character attempts revenge and probably succeed- but does VHS count as a pasta and Something New doesn't? What about Horrortale in comparison to The Mount Ebbott Tapes? I probably don't need to explain Horrortale, when the Human leaves the Underground, the CORE fails and everyone begins to starve, but the Tapes is a similar concept: The CORE suddenly explodes from failed experiment to break the barrier, causing people to starve and lose their magic, well before Frisk falls. It's told in the format of Analog Horror, whereas Horrortale is told through a comic. You could make a case that both Horrortale and the Tapes are pastas, but their stories are expressed very differently with varying tones. If anything, I'd even argue that Horrortale is just really dark, and not made to intentionally scare people, only build suspense. This is just something rolling around in the back of my mind for a while now and really have no succinct answer, but I figured I'd just pitch this out to the world to see if anyone else had an answer.

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I've been watching Eddsworld recently. Good show, highly recommend. I'm totally new to it, having binged it in a few days and rewatching some episodes I liked, so I don't know much about the theorist side of its fandom. Though I probably should, since I can't help but wonder if someone has commented on this yet. Will have more under Keep Reading cuz the images will make this a little long. Don't take this seriously, it's just for fun.

In part 2 of "The End", the last episode of the Legacy Era, I noticed this in Tord's armoury. (Apologies for low quality)

Excuse me. For those who don't know or have never seen Eddsworld, Tord left the series years ago and came back for the finale, and he and Tom always had an ongoing rivalry. The picture on the wall that's scratched out looks suspiciously like a Tom with eyes and shorter hair. In a uniform that looks suspiciously like Tord's comrades. You know what's even more suspicious? The fact that Tord has the blueprints for a serum that turns people into monsters. In PowerEdd, Tom turns into a big monster* and becomes the thing Eduardo and Edd team up to fight.

*Or at least it's implied since Tom states he never saw the monster despite screaming in agony in a cutaway, plus you can also here a distorted "Lame" just before the monster appears in the next scene. It's not in the captions, much to my annoyance, so take my word for it. Golly gee whiz doesn't that look familiar.

Even if the photograph isn't Tom (especially since we know Tom was born without eyes), it's interesting that Tord possibly has an involvement with Tom's transformation. Were Tord and Tom initially comrades in some government program where Tom was given the serum (and eyes)? If that's the case, is Tom leaving said program why they dislike each other? Why has the serum only triggered now, during the PowerEdd fight? Another thing to keep in mind that just before Tom turns into the monster, he's looking up at someone or something, and says "Oh no".

Did the exposure from all the nuclear power from both Eduardo and Edd trigger the serum inside him? (Considering he gets reverted to human form when he's struck by Eduardo's nuclear beam, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case). Or did a super-villain-esque character (Tord) hide in the shadows and make Tom down the monster Grimace Shake? And why are all the supernatural/mysterious topics always about Tom? Can't Matt have some unexplained fun every so often? Edit: I've gone back and watched some theories, explanations, and deep dives. Tord is the Red Leader of not a government program, but a group of terrorists, and he joined it once he left the group. So while that part of the theory is a bust, glad I know for future reference. Could make a cool alternate story. Besides, I think Tom not already having the serum in his system to begin with is cooler anyway.

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Yknow, there's something I've noticed in several fanworks that I have never seen brought up, explained, or in canon, and its that monsters that Nightmare has restrained with his tendrils can't use magic. This is likely just a chain of coincidences, likely for a) exposition purposes, Nightmare has the podium and is able to lecture someone to his content, or b) rule of cool. Its really anticlimatic in a fight scene or animation where he's slamming someone against a wall over and over only for that person to just teleport away. That being said, it is something prevalent enough in the community for me to notice, so let me pitch an explanation. Nightmare exudes an aura of negativity affecting literally the whole multiverse. If someone were to get closer to him, or, say, have their guts about to be squeezed out because of him, it would make sense for the negative aura to amplify. The closer you are, the worse it gets. Monster magic is derived from intent and emotion, according to one of the books in Snowdin's Librarby. If a monster doesn't want to fight, their defense drops, which is why betrayal kills in Undertale are so lethal. So if Nightmare can manipulate emotions and monster magic strength comes from the emotions their Soul feels, it would stand to reason that whatever Nightmare makes a monster feel can possibly have the effect of just shutting their magic off, or at least severely weaken it. Technically, the same would go for Dream, too, as the whole point of betrayal kills is to befriend the monster first, though I really don't see him pulling that kind of stunt. Shattered on the other hand...

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Dust canonically has zero changes to Classic!Sans, aside from determination and the Dusttale plotline. Technically speaking, he's identical in every way, including appearance-wise. So what happens if he exploits this fact? This is absolutely against Dust and his character, but imagine if he was forced into it in some way. Dust has to take the place in a timeline as the Classic!Sans there to scout out for information. Bonus points if its a timeline they're on the surface just to give his misery a little zing. On the flip side of this, what happens if a Classic has to pose as a Dust for a similar reason? Maybe to lay low or escape trouble by pretending to be a more powerful version of himself, of also to gather info on Dust's side of the multiverse, like the Nightmare Gang or something. I could absolutely see Classic running into some trouble and then sneaking through the NG base as Dust while the latter is busy or stuck somewhere. Perhaps Dust has to steal something from a TP timeline or gain leverage on something and needs to act like Classic to do it, or even better pretend to be Classic to gain more betrayal-flavoured negativity for Nightmare.

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Terrible worldbuilding concept: A dystopian world ruled by an iron fisted human where there is this massive fear and defense against the minority but existence of(werewolf, vampire, magic user, real world minority, whatever). Anyone who is this minority hides it for the sake of survival. There are some resistances or help groups for this minority, though they've been either busted over time or have gone into hiding. The powerful human in charge enlists armies and militias to capture and kill any and all members of this race. The plot twist is that they aren't a minority, and humans in fact do not exist. Everyone has been hiding their true lineage from each other that no one realized they were all the same race, and even the "human" leader is just this massive hypocrite who hates their own species.

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Sans-centric UTMV stuff like Underverse is so funny to me cuz like. Imagine you’ve been exposed to the wonders of the multiverse, only to find out nearly every being of multiversal importance is a variant of the same guy. And it’s just some random dude. Like obviously sans has a lot more going on than he lets on but that’s the persona he presents to most people. So if you were from a normal timeline you’d most likely know sans as just “the guy who hangs around grillby’s” or “the guy who works the hot dog stand” or something along those lines. And then you see 2 copies of hot dog guy duking it out for the fate of reality. Could you imagine.

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So it's implied that Horror is supposed to die when his eye is destroyed, right? As it's stated that its the thing keeping him alive. So what does his Soul do? Is it just a canister for his magic? Is it his life force that gets its power from his eye? From what we have seen from Horror, he does still have attachment and love for both Papyrus and to an extent Aliza, so his Soul is still there, but it doesn't seem to determine Horror's life or death. So what happens if his Soul is destroyed? Does he become Soulless like Flowey? Imagine a walking husk of a skeleton that had once would have done anything for his friends and family, now no longer having any drive to do anything. Horror would be absolutely terrifying without a Soul.

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The pot balancing room in Queen's Mansion has a bug where if you talk to the final Swatchling and cross the finish line at the exact same time, you gain the ability to control the pot. This bug has never been fixed.

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The UTMV fandom has got to be a psychologist's dream. For those who don't know, there is a large debate when it comes to what determines a person's behaviour and personality: Nature (oyur DNA, you're born the way you are) or Nurture (your experiences and memories shape who you are as you grow). The UTMV is all about taking this one funny bone man and throwing him into different circumstances and seeing how he reacts and what changes. In AUs, sure Sans' Nature can be different (like whether or not Gaster is his dad, creator, or just a guy), but ATs don't have that asterisk. Geno has the same DNA as Classic, as Sci, as Horror, etc.. Everything that happens around them and what they do shapes their character, to a degree proving Nurture has a more dominant effect on a person's personality. Of course, creators are the ones that determine how Sanses react to certain scenarios so it's not a firm foundation, but its implications are something. Say you have seven clones of the same person and raise them in seven different ways: one has loving parents, one is a lab rat, one is exposed to hardship and labor, and so on. It could be an incredible breakthrough for anthropology, sociology, and psychology. Is it unethical? Probably. Isn't it what we creators do to Sans anyway? Kinda, yeah.

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I was thinking back to Undertale Yellow (spoilers for that) when something dawned on me. Martlet is always doomed to die. Think about it: Martlet is the final boss of Geno and this is the only instance the player themselves kill her. On neutral, she's the only death that is not optional, even if you abort Geno, because Flowey kills her in front of you every single time. The only time she remains alive is in the two pacifist endings, which are coincidentally the only two endings you die for good. There is no scenario where both of you are alive. There is no scenario where both of you are dead. Either Martlet lives with a dead human on her conscious or she doesn't live at all. Same goes for Clover. You are two sides of the same coin, fates relying on one another. There is no happy ending for both parties.