blackgoldaster

[blackgoldaster]

i also wish i could make my own gaster art that was as good as the art in the fandom

then maybe i wouldnt be so stuck

[blackgoldaster]

Id rather block any fanon sans sympathiser who thinks that Gaster is such a horrible father whose own feelings just dont matter.

I dont have any space in my head for gaster slander, even if it means blocking most of the fandom.

[blackgoldaster]

Deltarune theory: Our choices do matter but the characters' don't

First I wanna admit that I personally never liked the cope that "toby fox is lying" when it came to theories. However it seems at least possible that the "there is only one ending" claim isn't fully true.

This is probably gonna sound fandom-y in some parts but it'll probably make more sense as it goes on...

"Your choices don't matter" is a metanarrative plot of the game, not a rule to the player. Here's why...

Do OUR choices not matter?

From the start this game wants you to know that "your choices don't matter". For example, before Chapter 2 was released. This would show up before you download Deltarune Chapter 1:

Then, after giving a name to the vessel you created and yourself, a second voice (who has yet to be identified) trashes it before telling you that "No one can choose who they are in this world".

That's not the last time we're told something like this. After bullying Kris, Susie cuts you off and tells Kris "your choices don't matter".

An important detail about this is that the battle system in Deltarune is different from Undertale's. One of those differences is that when we attack enemies, they'll run away instead of getting killed. Because of this, people assume "your choices don't matter" simply means that the player can't make any long-lasting choices.

But this is NOT the case, because Ralsei tells us that our choices do in fact matter.

So far, the "Your choices don't matter" motif seems comparable to the infamous "kill or be killed" from Undertale.

But if our choices DO matter, then why is the message "your choices don't matter" so relevant in Deltarune?

Because the player's choices do matter. It's the characters' choices that do not.

What Spamton is really about

Spamton is usually associated with the player, and it's reasonable to assume why. He's mainly puppet themed, and he connects the most with Kris.

But this begs the question... how exactly he's getting controlled??

It's not like there is literally another character directly controlling his actions. He clearly has free will.

So then why does he talk like he doesn't? Why does he see himself as a puppet?

Because he doesn't represent being controlled by Kris's soul.

... he represents being controlled by fate itself.

Remember, we were told that no one can choose who they are in this world. He doesn't get to choose to be a "big shot" again. His life fell apart, and he can't do anything about it.

Spamton was written to be doomed from the start.

... So "freedom" must mean the freedom to choose your own life.

Then, after breaking the strings from Spamton NEO, he says something that can actually give you a whole different context on his battle if you look into it. He tells the whole party that they could be strong enough to remove their own strings.

This line wouldn't make sense at all if he was talking about the player's soul. We all know Kris is being directly controlled by US, but Susie and Ralsei aren't. They can do whatever they want...

... Right?

What Gaster represents

Let's talk about the legend now. In Chapter 1, Ralsei tells Kris and Susie that it was foretold by "time and space".

Time and space has been mentioned before in Undertale:

And deltarune.com looked like this in like 2015:

Translation: "THREE HEROES APPEARED TO BANISH ANGEL'S HEAVEN". and "THIS EXPERIMENT SEEMS VERY VERY INTERESTING."

W.D. Gaster told Ralsei this legend.

This confirms (if it hasn't for you already) that Deltarune is an experiment run by Gaster. Furthermore, he's the one who sends us this game in the first place.

It's also strongly implied that he met Jevil and Spamton, and was the reason they have gone insane.

Why does the obvious need to be said? Ralsei says that the legend foretells EXACTLY how your adventure is destined to go, similarly to how Spamton's failure seems destined to happen.

Gaster chooses what happens to everyone in Deltarune, including the main characters.

Again, it is told to us that no one can choose who they are in this world. Gaster is choosing for them.

But why is he doing this?

Could it be because he wants the player to be the only person in Deltarune who can make certain choices? After all, he wants us to play Deltarune. His experiment is the game itself.

(Sound familiar...? That's because this was already hinted at with Jevil in Chapter 1.)

Or could it be because he just finds the outcome interesting? Just to see what happens? To see what kind of story this could make?

These sound an awful lot like a game developer, huh? It's possible that Gaster is a metaphor for game developers, similarly to how Flowey is a metaphor of the player in Undertale.

That's why Gaster knows exactly what will happen in the heroes' journey. He decided that they will be fated as heroes of a legend.

None of this means the characters aren't real people (in-universe). But it means that everything that happens to them is chosen by Gaster, whether they like it or not.

Except when it's the Snowgrave route, though...

The heroes and the angel

Now that we know the characters can't control what happens, you would think this means the game would only have one route, right?

Except it doesn't. There is a secret alternate route that has DRASTICALLY different events from the main story.

Remember, Ralsei says the prophecy predicts their exact journey, and yet we have the option to make Noelle kill both Berdly and Spamton.

The "your choices don't matter" motto does NOT apply to Noelle nor the player.

In fact, this can be proven by the Spamton NEO battle in this route, in which he tells us himself that this route will in fact give us freedom.

Meaning the alternate route is not supposed to happen on Gaster's part.

So how did we change the story? We know that the soul can apparently hold the fate of the world, but how did Noelle get freedom?

Well, Noelle is a special case of a character. For one, both Queen AND Spamton wanted to use Noelle for their plans. It's implied that she's actually very powerful.

This is further proven by her fatal spell that costs 200% TP if you don't have the Thorn Ring.

This means the alternate route can only happen with Noelle. (sorry... no chapter 3 firegrave lol)

But how does Noelle have freedom, like the player, while others don't?

Because both the player AND Noelle are the "Angel"

(he notably says "angel" twice. could be because both of them are right in front of him...)

This brings me back to Spamton. This is why he got obsessed with the NEO form. He thought it would give him this power to have freedom as well.

This also explains why Spamton used to spend all of his time praying in the basement.

He was praying to become an "angel" like Noelle and the player.

This could also give us an idea on what "Heaven" means. Could Heaven be a place outside of the Deltarune world, such as real life? Or something less dumb than that?

A place where Gaster isn't choosing what happens in his life?

Okay now back to this scene. Even though Spamton finally admits that he'll always be a puppet on strings, he says that the main characters could be strong enough to break their own strings.

What does that mean? Why are Kris, Susie and Ralsei so special?

Maybe because they're the only characters who can act in their free will. That's why they're chosen as the heroes of light.

(For reference, "free will" and "freedom" are two different things. The heroes of light have free will, meaning they could do major actions completely unscripted from Gaster. Noelle and us, the players are angels, which is a character that has the freedom to change fate in Deltarune, even if it goes against what Gaster wants.)

After all, we have seen Kris tear out the player's soul in both ending cutscenes, and do things on their own sometimes...

And Kris isn't even the only one who does things like this. Susie interrupts and even ignores the player multiple times.

These details are why the heroes are the only ones who can stop Gaster from choosing their fates.

Ralsei and the shadow crystal bosses

If each chapter has a character like Jevil and Spamton, then secret boss characters are the result of what happens when Gaster tells Darkners the truth about Deltarune's world. But every time, they go insane.

Except for one.

It's been speculated for some time that Ralsei is hiding something. He is.

As mentioned previously, Gaster has told Ralsei the entire story of the game. That doesn't seem to be all he told him, either. Ralsei is implied to know a lot more than he lets on.

So what is he hiding and why is he hiding it?

It's not obvious, but Ralsei knows just as much as the shadow crystal bosses do. He just hasn't gotten insane from it.

One of the biggest piece of evidence for this is when he suspiciously tells Kris and Susie to ignore everything that Spamton says.

Ralsei clearly doesn't want them to know any of this.

Ralsei is also shown favoring the player over Susie. Especially in Chapter 1. For example, he's completely fine with attacking enemies as long as we're the one who commands them to... but lectures Susie for doing the exact same thing if she's on her own.

In this chapter, Ralsei is in general very open with whatever we choose to do in the game, even though he encourages ACTing and being nice. But he wants Susie to completely go against her nature act like a "regular hero".

Lastly, he is shown to intentionally let the player make all the choices in scenarios, whereas Susie often doesn't:

He knows that the players exist, so he goes out of his way to let us make all of the important choices.

Of course, none of this means that he's evil and that he doesn't care for Kris and Susie. He admits that he became appreciative of Susie's personality in Chapter 2 and shows signs of realizing the complexity of personalities as a whole.

... However, he still feels the need to treat the player as top priority, while limiting freedom from Susie and himself.

After all, he even admits that he doesn't know what his own personality is like.

Makes you wonder... is Ralsei just being nice to us to encourage playing the game as a pacifist?

Anyway, how did he even learn all of this while staying completely sane, when the other 2 turned into straight up killers?

... Because unlike them, he accepted it.

Jevil and Spamton both reacted by trying to reach what they see as "freedom".

Did Ralsei have to simply accept everything that happens in order not to lose his mind, instead of attempting to gain freedom like Jevil and Spamton did?

Ending...?

Yes, it has been said more than once by Toby Fox that Deltarune will only have one ending.

However, if "your choices dont matter" is actually more important to the game's story than we think...

... Mmmmaybe this could be teasing a secret ending in the alt route where we challenge this?

Thanks for reading

[blackgoldaster]

Day 19: broken bones

Cw: eyestrain

Was text necessary? No- but I feel like it completes it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Yes I'm 30 minutes late shhhhhhhh- /silly)

[blackgoldaster]

boys!!!

[blackgoldaster]

For satan disguises himself as an angel of light

[blackgoldaster]

☝︎Whenever I think about his font Wingdings, it feels like wing is connected to angel and hand (kind of homologous organ). Other than that, I just really like motif of angels and urge to synthesize them to my favorite characters. And the opposite of angel is a devil. Devil is goat, goat with wings, Asriel.

☝︎Their conversation between in the dark, I guess.

It's been months since the last post of Gaster. I'm still thinking about the sequence of my manga over and over again. Although I came up with some primitive ideas long ago, I haven't found the compromise point of how all of them go like yet. So I'm uploading something another and short this time (maybe next time too).

Be careful that Gaster in each story is independent from any other Gasters!

Next one.

I forgot to put the title.

A Metaphorical Vision Hypothesized by Deflected Mind, or Solution Containing Something Plausible in Extremely Dilute Degree

Bruh bruh bruh.

Thank you for reading!

Here are some bonus☟

☝︎The original sketch of the first picture. Too crowded with symbols! Besides, it's too messy to show... But I still have hesitation to simply discard.

☝︎image of characters in upcoming story(maybe). I just aligned them, that's all. Oh, I know most of my ocs in lab coat aren't wearing it correctly in the pic. I wanted to emphasize their difference. Comments and questions are welcomed!

[blackgoldaster]

Reblogs appreciated but please don't repost/reupload/use.

[blackgoldaster]

misc 1

[blackgoldaster]

a Tear for my dead sons

[blackgoldaster]

imagine: Gaster who experiments on several test subjects but also gives them plenty of love, affection and a happy childhood cuz he believes pain is bad for test subjects and that they need to be in good physical and mental health for his experiments to work.

[blackgoldaster]

Gaster blaster test operation

I finally finished the chapter I announced one week ago. I haven't done Japanese version yet because of the difficulty in using specific font. I will upload it on pixiv and put the link here before long.

JP version is available on pixiv☟☟☟

I recommend you to read part1&2 first!!

This is the link of part2☟☟☟

Same as last time, it's manga. Please read from right panels and lines! I hope you enjoy;-)

Thank you for reading!

comment: I hesitated to draw original lab members, but I thought they help proceed the story... Well, Gaster followers are different in nuance to be his co-worker, if any. The word "follower" sounds like a cult to me.

I'm thinking of drawing next, but I'll be busier. Besides, I'm struggling to summarize and draw. So I can't keep up this pace anymore.

[blackgoldaster]

Deep in the dark,

I don't need the light

There's a ghost inside me

-Alan Walker, "The Spectre"

I just remembered this phrase and thought it matches.

Anyway, let's move on to manga!

It's sequel of the story of 2weeks ago.

Same as last time, please read right panels and lines first.

If you haven't read the part1, I recommend you to read it first.

Here's a link☟☟☟

And this link is for JP version☟

Gaster became a doc! Yay!

Bonus: Parody of AoT. I couldn't help but do. I felt unverbalizable affinity in them.

comment: I actually don't know what tags are appropriate... So I always tag minimum.

[blackgoldaster]

Take one egg...

Yeah... it's about that pills reference...

Warning: some manga stuff

It's manga, so pls read from right lines.

I was meant to proceed it in Japanese, but I did it in English feeling it would do better (I know it'd result incorrect grammar). BTW, It has become 22 pages long! I hope you enjoy my first work...

Edit: I made JP version available at pixiv.

Did you go through?? Thank you for reading!!

Edit: ☟ Part 2 uploaded!! ☟

Now some bonus content!

doodle done with my forefinger but not my pen.

I got some idea for the manga doing this.

WINGDINGS WORDSEARCH TIME!

Generated by https://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/word-search

I edited it with Word soft.

Well, to be honest, there are several unlisted words.

Only who could find them can reach the true answer...

I'll add the complete answer here Feb 29!

Edit(2/29): answer added!

comment: I noticed a dumb mistake on word list. EXPERIENCE was meant to be EXPERIMENT(I chose wrong auto spelled word and never noticed😭). However, I can't simply fix because EXPERIENCE is overlapped at "N".

comment 2: I will upload next manga this weekend.

[blackgoldaster]

Child of Heaven and Hell

[blackgoldaster]

quick breakdown of what i think The Legend (as told to us by ralsei) might be communicating, since i don't think i've actually laid out my thoughts on this before

Once upon a time, a LEGEND was whispered among shadows. It was a LEGEND of HOPE. It was a LEGEND of DREAMS. It was a LEGEND of LIGHT. It was a LEGEND of DARK. This is the legend of DELTA RUNE

this first section is just serving to establish broad themes and symbols relevant to the story. it's scene-setting, and suggests an origin for the legend ("whispered among shadows").

For millenia, LIGHT and DARK have lived in balance, Bringing peace to the WORLD. But if this harmony were to shatter... a terrible calamity would occur. The sky will run black with terror And the land will crack with fear. Then, her heart pounding... The EARTH will draw her final breath.

we know as of chapter 2 that this part describes the Roaring, and vaguely gestures at its cause (the "harmony" between light and dark being "shattered"). in a normal RPG "prophecy," this would be describing the Terrible Outcome that the heroes are destined to prevent.

the part that confounds theorists is how it seems to contradict the next bit, which more or less directly states that the three heroes of legend won't even arrive until after the Earth has died. what this implies is that the Roaring already happened before the game even started. if we're doomed from the start, then what's the point?

if we say that this is a "second take" of the world, then this is actually internally consistent. the Roaring did, in fact, already happen in a different "session" or instance of deltarune's story -- maybe it happened in this timeline, and the timeline was recently reset, or maybe it was a different timeline from which this one was spun off. either way, the world was given a second chance to stop the Roaring, but this only became possible after it had already happened (at least) once.

if we put stock in the idea that gaster wrote the Legend (as it's told by ralsei), we could speculate that this part of the Legend isn't actually prophetic, but rather based on some kind of prior experience, whether because he saw it from the outside or experienced it first-hand.

Only then, shining with hope... Three HEROES appear at WORLDS' edge. A HUMAN, A MONSTER, And a PRINCE FROM THE DARK. Only they can seal the fountains And banish the ANGEL'S HEAVEN. Only then will balance be restored, And the WORLD saved from destruction.

this is, of course, setting the scene for our current "session" and laying out the basic goals for the rest of our journey (or at least, what those goals are *supposed* to be).

under the "take 2" interpretation, this is the section describing the world's second chance. the Roaring is fated to happen, and indeed already has, in a different "session." without intervention, the Roaring WILL happen, by default. so the Legend hasn't simply tasked the heroes with preventing a calamity that theoretically COULD occur, but rather with changing the very fate of a world that is supposed to be DESTINED for that calamity.

"Angel's Heaven" could be referring to some end-state of a Roaring'd world, but it might refer to something else, depending on who or what we think this "Angel" actually is. if we consider the Angel some kind of demiurge, creator figure, or even author stand-in, then "heaven" could even refer to the story itself, whereby the narrative described in the previous section -- the one that prescribes a "fated" Bad End -- might itself be the Angel's "Heaven." it's a world of the Angel's design, that follows Its will; "heaven" in this sense might not refer to the specific quality of someone's Happy or Good Place, but more generally to the Angel's holy domain -- Its sphere of control, or maybe Its sandbox. to prevent the Roaring and change the story's ending is, in a way, to "banish" that story and replace it with a story that the Angel didn't design and can't control -- a story of profane (or perhaps "hellish") origin, which happens to be consistent with gaster's roles as both Actual Satan and the possible orchestrator of the current "session."

Today, the FOUNTAIN OF DARKNESS- The geyser that gives this land form- Stands tall at the center of the kingdom. But recently, another fountain has appeared on the horizon... And with it, the balance of LIGHT and DARK begins to shift...

and of course this is just setting up chapter 1 lol

anyway that's all. thanks. bye

[blackgoldaster]

i think there's something especially effective and poignant in presenting gaster as not only A Scientist, but a Scientific Authority, the highest ideal of a rational figure, but giving him a motivation that's almost embarrassingly irrational, so emotionally base that even he doesn't want to admit to it -- because as soon as the player recognizes themself in it, looks at the beating heart they cut out of him and sees its resemblance to their own, it cuts them down to their own core as well. even this figure of personal liberation, of self-control and strict rationality, is not immune to the whims of instincts so base as compassion or loneliness. he's not immune to being driven mad by his sense of Connection. you wanted him to be detached, to be disaffected, because you wanted to think the story would affirm to you that it's possible so perfectly in-control. you wanted to think that, if you just let your rational mind take the lead, you could get ahead of the story and the power it could wield over you emotionally. you thought you could study and analyze your way out of Feeling Something. but even gaster, the seeming image of detachment and emotional invulnerability, of Study and Analysis, isn't free of the curse of Love. how could you ever think you were any different?