#haunted!chara

[g0nefischin]

Got this from one of those incorrect quote generator things

[dr-mobius-real]

they're just kids

[droppingartintotheinfinite]

these two make me insane, actually

[aingeal98]

The true lab has got to be the best section in Undertale because when you first play through, unless you've been spoiled you have no idea that the narrator is an actual character in the game. As far as you're aware it's just Toby Fox being funny. And when you reach the true lab and the narration and dialogue suddenly turns super creepy... Well that's just part of the atmosphere right? Horribly eerie and unsettling but it makes sense tonally.

But then you replay it knowing the narrator isn't some omniscient being, but is instead the ghost of a child who killed themselves that latched on to your soul and has been cheerfully haunting you all game. And when you reach the true lab, you end up walking down memory lane and unearthing the entire story of how why this child killed themselves, and how they accidentally got their brother killed too. On top of that, you're surrounded by monsters that have been experimented on until they're in shambles. And as you're doing all this, the ghost child is right there with you, reliving every part of their horrific trauma and learning even more horrors to add to their guilt.

And suddenly, the creepy dialogue and narrator slips aren't just unsettling.

It's so much worse.

[infizero]

flowey in genocide is literally so fucking upsetting cause its like every other reset he remembers. but when you true reset thats the one time where he also forgets just like everybody else. he has no idea that he had finally found some kind of happiness in true pacifist, he has no idea that moments ago he was literally BEGGING YOU to not reset everything and just let everyone be happy.

(and his sad smile when he says "you've probably heard this a hundred times, haven't you...?" rlly shows how frightened he is about not being the one in control anymore. before he had all the power but now he's helpless to your actions, with no idea how many times this all might've played out...)

but the thing that REALLY gets me is his final moments in the route. the fact that he's evil scheming and everything as usual, and then suddenly the evil smile drops away.

["but seeing you here changed my mind. chara... i think if you're around... just living in the surface world doesn't seem so bad."]

WHICH IS LIKE. POSSIBLY ONE OF THE MOST DEVASTATING LINES IN THIS WHOLE FUCKING GAME. you'd think flowey would be at his MOST evil here, but instead, because he believes you're chara, this is like the closest flowey gets to how he was as asriel outside of true pacifist.

this guy literally has no compassion and has done horrible shit countless times and is planning to do so again, and yet all it takes is chara and that entire struggle crumbles. all of the sudden, maybe just living in this one timeline would be ok. just like how it is in true pacifist.

but of course, chara has become corrupted by our desire to see everything, do everything, complete everything; this isn't the same kid who was asriel's sibling, but rather the personification of that insatiableness we harbor. a demon. and with that comes efficiency, detachment, viewing this all as nothing but something to progress through, something to beat. these people dont matter, this story doesnt matter, all that matters is completion. proceed.

and so tragically, flowey does not get to live out that timeline here. HE COULD HAVE BEEN HAPPY. but no. and as soon as he realizes we are more of a threat than he realized, that's when we quite LITERALLY see him revert to how he was as asriel. desperately trying to appease us. trying to make himself useful. and finally, as he speaks in his real voice, with his real face, we get to see him as what he truly is deep down: a scared kid who never got to grow up. and he's slaughtered into nothingness.

[ebonytails]

maybe im just dumb but what is the difference between kris p and kris t?

TL;DR - They are Kris Dreemurr fictives and we needed a way to differentiate them

Oh you're not dumb, don't worry! It really is a little confusing because we haven't talked about who they or we are in a very long time. I'm going to talk a lot here so you have all the context you might need! If it''s too long,, the TL;DR above is the gist of it.

For context, we are a system! You can read about it a little in our FAQ

Kris T and Kris P are TWO Kris introjects/fictives of Kris Dreemurr from Deltarune in our system.

Originally we just had Kris T who split in Dec 2018, and then when Chapter 2 came out, Kris P came into our system after that. Of course at first, Kris T. was just "Kris", but since we had a double now, we had to figure out how to differentiate between the two. We knew another Kris fictive from a different system at this time who was nicknamed P. Kris by Susie in our system, and susie wanted to emphasize who she was talking about.

SO. As a small nod to that, everyone decided to nickname Kris P as Kris P, as an inverse of P. Kris.

A little convoluted, I know!

Besides being Kris introjects/fictives though, they also look different! I made some new drawings to try and showcase their differences if that helps :3?

Their dark world forms also look different. Kris T's is simpler, with a shiny soft cape, while Kris P's is more complicated with a hooded cape, which is also described as "very comfortable"

Here's a whole Toyhouse of images of how Kris T. looks like right now! There's also his reference ! vvv

Sorry if you weren't interested in our "life story"! They're not just random characterizations (they are alters), so I wasn't sure how to answer w/o giving you some sort of explanation.

They have their own sideblogs, so if you have specific questions directed towards them, you can always ask here because we'll see it better, or you can send them an ask in their own blogs. Kris T's is @kristalpepsi, and Kris P's is @itswhattheycallyou

[fhtagn-and-tentacles]

HAUNTED HOUSE 

by Ksenia “Iren Horrors” Svincova

[solradguy]

I want to write a newsletter for GUNFIRE GUILLOTINE some day that's about the evolution of Daisuke Ishiwatari's art style and his techniques. AFAIK no one's ever really collected all that information in one place and most of it is stuck behind the language barrier...

It's always been curious to me how many people think his most popular analog medium art was done in watercolors and not in Copic markers like they actually were. Though, he did do a few in acrylic paints or gouache paints too, but those were, as he said in Artworks of GGX 2007, "not as well received" by fans. I've wondered before what his stack of "rejected" pieces for Guilty Gear looks like, and why none of his painted worked got shown at any of the special event GG galleries they've done. The Lightning The Argent cover goes hard af

Anyway, I can't write this until I finish the Character Design magazine GG article translation and I'll have to sift through a bunch of interviews for information to write it too. It's a long way off, I'm not gonna promise or guarantee anything

[promise-keeper-papyrus]

A long time ago, the monster kingdom trapped under Mount Ebott fell into despair. The king and queen had lost two children in one night. The king decided it was time to end the suffering. But his way of doing it was cruel beyond words. Every human who falls down here must die. With enough souls, the king would become godlike and the barrier could be shattered. Then the king would destroy humanity and avenge his kingdom. The kingdom was eager for humanity's destruction...

But the kingdom seems to have forgotten that one of the king's children was human as well, just like we once were...

But it didn't matter to them that we were all scared children.

It didn't matter that we only wanted to go home.

It didn't matter whether we did nothing wrong or attacked in self-defense.

Because to them, we were the enemy.

The enemy of their hopes and dreams.

We were human and our existence was a crime to the monsters.

The monsters hated us in life, celebrated our deaths and treated our murderers like heroes.

Yet they say our species are the evil ones.

We can't destroy the kingdom.

But we have a connection to the beasts that ended our lives.

And we will make them all suffer for it...

I was very brave

I was not killed by the guards

The cold sealed my fate

.

The Queen let me die

She didn't give me a coat

My wounds, frostbitten

.

I had found Snowdin

But I didn't want more fights

Tired of fighting

.

I slept in a tree

I didn't enter Snowdin

I died in my sleep

.

The Queen will not rest

Cowards don't deserve to rest

She will live in guilt

I trusted justice

I befriended the Liar

Those were my mistakes

`

I bonded with him

We traveled to a resort

I thought that he cared

`

He won't look at me

As I ate the poisoned lunch

I died where I stood

.

I didn't stay dead

He tries to hide all his fear

Can't hide from justice

.

I will never leave

He will always feel his sins

He won't forget me

I had once been kind

Too scared to befriend my foes

Well, except for one

.

I had worn a mask

When I first met the Hero

I thought she could change

.

I asked for her help

She guided me to the hotlands

I told her the truth

.

I thought we were friends

She stabbed me right in my heart

But I took her eye

.

She's not a Hero

She was only pretending

Villain in disguise

I had true morals

My integrity

Something that she lacked

.

The Brain was a fool

Only thinks about herself

Despite her claiming to care

.

In life, we don't meet

Her traps are what ended me

Then she stole my soul

.

She had used my soul

For her dark experiments

On her own people

.

A selfish faker

That's all she ever will be

A cowardly fraud

It was all I had

My perseverance

It kept me alive

.

Then I met the Bot

He threw endless bombs at me

Didn't stand a chance

.

He killed me for fame

Treated my death like a joke

An arrogant fool

.

But I will show him

What a true ghost would act like

He'll feel true terror

.

He's in denial

He pretends that I'm not there

But I will break him

I was quite patient

I trained behind the Ruins

The King was stronger

.

I woke up on flowers

The King looked at me and cried

He apologized

.

Don't know how to feel

He killed me, but lost so much

Should hate him, but can't

.

I'm still angry though

Pity is not forgiveness

I will not forgive

.

Already broken

The kingdom doesn't see it

The scars on his heart

[bread-that-draws]

Happy 8th birthday Undertale I’m so glad nothing bad happened to my kids here

[welcometoteyvat]

me, watching chongming stocks go up: it's all coming together

[agentravensong]

The Underground is a Haunted House and Chara's the One Haunting It

propaganda for @hauntthenarrative's poll tournament

Hello! I'm writing this in advance of Chara's next match-up in the tournament against Rose Quartz because, as an Undertale and SU fan, I know it's gonna be a tough one. The ways in which Rose Quartz haunts Steven Universe (the character and the show) are all fairly obvious for people familiar even with just the show's premise.

But Chara haunts UnderTale's narrative just as strongly, if not as obviously. If you already know that and want to vote for them, here's the link to the poll. If you need to be convinced to do so and don't mind UnderTale spoilers (because this will spoil basically the whole game), click the read more, and I'll take you on a journey :)

EDIT: Chara has made it to the finals!!! Here's the link to vote for them!!!

The Basics

If you don't even know who Chara is, here's the primer: they were a human child, the first human to fall into the Underground after the war between humans and monsters that led to monsterkind being trapped down there. Chara was taken in by the king and queen of the monsters, Asgore and Toriel, and became best friends with their son Asriel. Chara's bond with the monsters gave monsterkind hope that they could coexist with humanity once they achieved their freedom.

The underground was full of hope.

But then, Chara gets an idea for how to break the Barrier that's trapping the monsters. A plan that requires their death (though to the rest of the Underground it appears to be the fault of a random tragic illness). A plan that they commit to, but that, unfortunately, fails past that point, because Asriel refuses to follow through on the harvesting of other human souls it requires. As a result, he dies as well, at the hands of humans.

The loss of Chara and Asriel prompts the king to declare that all humans who fell into the Underground from now on must be killed, so their souls can be used to break the Barrier. Because, without Chara, the monsters need a new source of hope. Over the next... 100 or so years, give or take, six more humans fall into the Underground. Their souls are taken by Asgore. Then a seventh falls. And that's where UnderTale the game begins.

Chara as Catalyst

The player doesn't find out about Chara until they reach the final area of the game, when basically everything I just said gets exposition dumped on you while the song that shares the game's name plays (and even then, you don't learn the human's name - remember that for later). However, once you know that backstory, you realize that it is the catalyst for literally everything.

Toriel leaves Asgore because of his declaration of war on humanity, going to live in the Ruins to look after any humans who might fall like Chara did. Therefore, Chara is the reason that Toriel was there to save the playable human, Frisk, at the start of the game and teach them how to survive in this world.

Asgore's declaration (the catalyst for which was, again, him losing Chara and Asriel) also leads to the development or repurposing of the Royal Guard as a group to hunt humans. Papyrus wants to join that organization, and so tries various schemes to capture Frisk, occupying their journey through Snowdin. Then in the next area of the game, Waterfall, you're hunted by the captain of the Royal Guard, Undyne.

Chara's brief time Underground, becoming an honorary member of monsterkind, is part of the reason why Asgore hires Alphys as Royal Scientist to try and find a way to break the Barrier without killing any more humans. It's a large part of the reason why Asgore has such complex feelings about the deeds he's done.

And then there's Flowey. Flowey, the first character Frisk meets, who tries to kill you while convincing you that that's just how the world is ("it's kill or be killed"). Flowey, who tracks your journey through the Underground and becomes the final boss of all but one of the game's routes. Flowey, who is, to vastly oversimplify, Asriel's soulless reincarnation. Flowey, who learned to see the world as kill or be killed because of what happened to him and Chara. Flowey, who, after what for him has been a literal eternity, sees Frisk as his replacement for Chara: the one person who understands him. By the end of the True Pacifist route, in fact, he sees Frisk as literally being Chara. He says they're the only person who's still fun for him to play with, because they can still surprise him -- because they're the one person he hasn't gotten to see every angle, every detail, every version, of, with his newfound power over time. Because they've been gone.

Chara is the one person Flowey still cares about while being literally unable to feel love. And his enduring connection to them is what allows you to get through to him at the end of the True Pacifist route (arguably the canon ending) and SAVE the world.

But he'll never be Asriel again. And Chara will never come back. Not as they were.

Haunting Everyone (including you!)

That's the argument on a pure "sparks the plot" level. But there's way more to Chara than that, if you know where to look.

For one, there's the way they haunt Frisk and the player specifically. It's their name on your save file, on Frisk's stat menu. They're haunting you before you even know they existed.

And Flowey isn't the only person who projects Chara onto Frisk; Toriel and Asgore do too. Every time a human has fallen into the Underground, Toriel has tried to protect them, because she sees Chara in them. And Asgore, if you spare him after fighting him, sees in Frisk the opportunity to get back the family he lost, to do things right this time (he even forgets that he's divorced).

But even that's not all. Because of course Chara haunts Flowey/Asriel and their parents. But their loss, and the things they stood for, have also been absorbed into the fabric of the monster's civilization.

You see it in the complex feelings the monsters have about potentially finally getting their freedom. Before they fell, all the monsters had was rage toward humanity. But then this kid fell, and the monsters gave them a chance. And, in turn, that child gave them hope.

Young one, when I look at you... I'm reminded of the human that fell here long ago. You have the same feeling of hope in your eyes.

That hope for a reconciliation and peaceful future with humanity remains even after humans killed Asriel, though for many of the monsters it's turned bittersweet. It's what even allows for the possibility for Frisk to befriend every monster, which ends up indirectly being the key to their freedom. And you can also see how that hope has been twisted in Chara's absence, most significantly in Undyne's blind devotion to the cause of freeing her people at any cost, and Alphys’s terrible mistakes made in pursuit of the same goal (which also led directly to Flowey's existence!).

Haunting the Narrative — Literally.

And that leads me to my final major point, the most subjective but perhaps most persuasive of all: the grief the Underground felt from Chara's passing was so strong that Chara's short story has been baked into the present-day narrative of UnderTale itself. Without even realizing it, the main characters are all acting out the beats of that story - their story - again.

I've detailed my reasoning for this reading of the game in this post, so I won't go fully into it here (especially considering how many words I've already made you read), but the basic gist is:

Frisk falling into the Ruins and being taken in by Toriel parallels Chara falling into the Underground and being taken in by the Dreemurr family

Snowdin is cozy and homely to represent how Chara came to feel at home in the Underground, and the sibling dynamic between Sans and Papyrus parallels the budding sibling relationship between Chara and Asriel

Waterfall is where the player learns about the history between humans and monsters and what it would take to set monsters free, meaning that you begin to feel the weight that Chara felt as "the future of humans and monsters", the weight that led them to formulate The Plan. As previously mentioned, Undyne parallels Chara in her determination to free monsterkind, whereas the Monster Kid who befriends Frisk and eventually stands up to Undyne for their sake parallels Asriel, who refused to let Chara kill any humans for their souls as part of their Plan.

Hotland... goes kind of beyond the scope of this post, because the Chara parallel requires that you buy into the theory that Chara is the literal narrator of the game. A theory that I honestly believe based on all the evidence (see this video), but I think people's opinion on whether that adds to or goes against the idea that they're Haunting the Narrative in their absence will differ, so. Up to you whether or not you want to look into that.

And then the end of the game is where the past fully catches up to the present, and you decide the world's future.

The monsters will remain trapped by the past Chara represents until you get the True Pacifist ending and let them (and Frisk) start a new phase of their lives (or until you turn their willingness to trust a human against them and bring Chara back Wrong as the agent of monsterkind's ultimate destruction). Until you do that, as long as you keep playing, forcing the monsters to relive their grief (and adding to it), Chara remains. Their story isn't finished. They - what's left of them - can only move on once you do.

It's their name on the save file, after all.

You see? Even if a player doesn't know about Chara until near the end of their first playthrough, and even if they won't really know their full story without going back for the best ending, they're there, haunting the narrative, the whole time. The game, in every sense, would not be the same without them.

Chara was a human child. If you push them far enough, they'll call themself a demon. They loved chocolate and their village's golden flowers. They had a fascination with knives. They drew and gardened. They hated humanity for reasons they never told anyone, but which were strong enough to drive them to climb a mountain beneath which monsters dwelled. They gave those monsters hope. They wanted to give them more than that, and were willing to give their life to those ends. They were the king and queen's child. They introduce themself by saying "Greetings", just as their mother does. They accidentally poisoned their father, and whatever they felt about that came out as a laugh. They made him a sweater. They were Asriel's best friend. They played tricks on him and called him a crybaby. They trusted him with their soul.

They hid their face in the family photo.

They still smiled.

... If you'll let me get a little soap-boxy here at the end:

A large portion of the UnderTale fandom, for a long time, refused to acknowledge all the layers the game gives Chara. Too much of the fandom refused to give them their due analysis as a character in their own right, in a story that is in every way about them and their brother (remember when the song called "Undertale" plays?).

A win for them in this tourney would be validation of the complex and vitally important character they always were.

So. Vote Chara. For me :)

[prettymediocrewizard]

anyways, we finally played a game after a month+ of being busy and my boy blacked out and slept in the trash. enjoy the scribbles

[gulava]

Tagged by @gaydelgard to do this one! ❤️ Thx!

I’ll tag: @corsolatias, @sasukeenergy, @gayknight, @lesbovalentine, @legendofzeldas

[fluxydrawings]

Deltarune podfic im super proud of still that i posted ages ago n forgotta crosspost here 👍 ft the lovely @parasiteking and @officialgleamstar :D

[wreckedhoney]

do i Dar e put this in the main tag even though it is So dumb So silly but also does anyone dig phantom of the opera. does anyone dig it enough to begin making very light and superficial au's.

it's the radio station for kfam. kurt m is falling out of grace with station management, more so because of the Curse that's increasingly gotten worse within the station itself as well as the town. forrest nash is getting booted out of chicago. alas, he finds a mysterious letter addressed to him that a position will soon be open in gallows creek, so off he rides, melancholy into the behemoth of a building, in a dark and spooky town.

kurt m has been scared off, but forrest doesn't believe in ghosts, doesn't believe in demons, and the only person "living" in the basement, "underground," is clive, the janitor, and it's not like he never goes home, so what's the big deal?

until after his first week(?), peggy leaves slightly earlier than he does, and forrest is left alone only to hear a faint whistling coming from alllll the way down the stairs.